WHAT MUST NOT BE: Linus Versus the Pooping Robot.
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Yes, I realize it’s probably no good.
So, whenever I actually was able to make time to try to catch the Swamp Thing live action TV series, for some reason it was usually the same episode…the one that started off with a little person running for his life through the swamp, being pursued by…well, some creature or madman or something, I forget. And my other brief remembrances of the show generally involve the scenes with the title character, only you’d just see his head behind a bunch of shrubbery or a wall or what have you, probably so they wouldn’t blow the episode’s budget by putting Dick Durock into the entire Swamp Thing get-up just for that shot.
Anyway, I keep thinking that, hey, maybe it’d be nice for this show to make it onto that DVD format that’s all the rage, in complete season sets, so I can finally be convinced that, yes, there are episodes of the series that don’t involve little people being chased through a swamp. Though wouldn’t that be something if that’s what they were all about? “Swamp Thing – Defender of Little People!” It’d still be on the air today, I bet.
Rich, evil mastermind behind the Roots of the Swamp Thing website, is encouraging people to vote for its DVD release over at TV Shows on DVD. Apparently you have to be a member of that site to vote, but if any of you out there are members…well, Mike needs more TV to watch, apparently, so vote early, vote often. Hell, they put Firefly on DVD, why not this?
And now…a moment of ABSOLUTE HORROR.
So a couple weeks ago, pal Dorian sent me this Raccoon Kids image from one of DC’s old funny animal comics for use as one of my sidebar pics:
And, just now, as I was prepping the image, I realized something.
“Why is the anthropomorphic raccoon child wearing a coonskin cap?”
That’s a bit like Ms. Piggy in a commercial for a bacon breakfast platter, or Cicero Pig cooking a hot dog, I think.
Maybe there were a couple other Raccoon Kids that met…untimely demises prior to the commencement of this series?
(Yes, yes, it could be fake coonskin. Still creepy. Or maybe it’s lemurskin.)
"No practicing or exercise needed!"
from Crime and Punishment #29 (August 1950)
EDIT: For more “rubber wonderskin,” see Kevin.
In which I’m a lot nicer than I need to be.
So Employee Aaron told me that, for his birthday, he received the Superman Returns DVD. This particular edition of the DVD was the one available at Wal-Mart (“boo, hiss,” yeah, I know) that came packaged with a digest-sized reprint of the classic last pre-Crisis Superman story “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow” by Alan Moore, Curt Swan, and their other super-pals.
I had to ask. “So, Aaron, this reprint…did they get that intro text into the book that was left out of DC’s most recent reprinting?”
“Uh, Mike, did I actually just hear you pronounce out an entire hyperlink?”
“Don’t change the subject…is that text in there or not?”
“How do you keep a jerk in suspense? I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
And thus, the next day Aaron brought in the digest, and lo, there was indeed Mr. Moore’s original intro text:
A different typeface than the original, sure, but at least it’s there. So if you have to have a reprint of this story, and you don’t mind the smaller size, and if you can brave your local Wal-Mart, it’s out there for the taking.
Which reminds me: does anyone know if DC has corrected the “missing text” problem in the DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore trade? I haven’t reordered it for the shop since learning about the error, and it probably wouldn’t do any good to call the Powers That Be to ask about it, since the last time I tried to explain this particular problem to someone, I could hear the blank stare over the phone.
So, if you all know, pass the info along, please.
In other “news:”
- Related to what Ragnell had to say: if you post a public message in a publicly accessible forum or weblog, don’t be surprised if said public message is publicly linked in someone else’s public forum or weblog for discussion. See, it’s this whole “hyperlinking” thing upon which the “World Wide Web” is based…you should look into “the Internet” sometime and see how it works. Anyway, if you’re that skittish about your naughty fanfic being seen…you’re on LiveJournal, for God’s sake, friend-lock it.
And, again, in reference to this specific instance Ragnell is talking about…if you’re going to call bloggers “stupid,” and your examples are the folks who linked to you, Dorian and Kevin, who also happen to be two of the smartest people in the blogosphere — then you chose poorly, friend.
And, no, I’m not linking to the discussion in question…I realize there’s a base kind of irony to that.
- “According to breaking internet reports” (i.e. almost certainly B.S., until we get it from a real source) Samuel Jackson may be playing Nick Fury in the new Iron Man movie. Oh, good, more photo reference for Marvel’s “Ultimate” Nick Fury.
Anyway, no news yet on Mr. Jackson’s official web site.
- Nothing to do with comics, but everything to do with all that is good and holy in the world: I know it’s been on Boingboing and whatnot, but I’m posting it here anyway because it’s as if God Himself came down and posted a video on the YouTube. Ladies and gentlemen and Ian, I give you…the best video on the internet:
Tired blogging.
UPS showed up at the store on Wednesday, with our shipment of the new comics, at 3:30 in the afternoon. Needless to say, that was one crappy Wednesday. I still haven’t pulled for the comic savers yet, so I have that still waiting for me.
And there’s a Tomb of Dracula statue that’s gone AWOL, floating around somewhere in the UPS warehouse’s tender mercies, and hopefully that will show up today.
So I’m pooped. Pooped like a really poopy thing. Let me just mention an item or three I picked up this week:
- The Incredible Hulk – The Complete Collection DVD – Okay, not a “new this week” item, but somehow it slipped past me in the original solicitation, and I just happened upon in while doing reorders. Sure, I’ve been reading the Hulk comics for about 25 years now, but there are 20 previous years that I don’t have in the vast Mikester Comic Archives and couldn’t resist getting ‘em all in a relatively cheap and compact format. Stats: Every issue up to Dec. 2006, including annuals and the Tales to Astonish stuff. They’re all scanned to good-sized PDF files, and while I’m not 100% thrilled with reading comics on a computer screen, I’ll deal. Particularly if gets me out of having to buy those way too expensive issues with the first appearance of Wolverine.
- Mantlo: A Life in Comics – a dense, inexpensive (only $7.50) magazine-format tribute to the work of comic writer Bill Mantlo, who, fifteen years ago, was seriously injured in an accident and left an invalid in need of constant care. All proceeds from the book go directly to Bill’s care, and if your store doesn’t have a copy, you can buy one here.
Now I know Mr. Mantlo’s writing is, shall we say, not as polished and celebrated as other more famous comic writers. Sometimes it was a little clunky, the dialogue sometimes improbable, and he wasn’t exactly subtle…but some of his comics still stick with me, still resonate with me, decades after I originally read them. They were fun, they were weird, they were outright goofy…I have a great fondness for a lot of his work. His Rom comic took a toy license and actually did something worthwhile and entertaining with it. His Alpha Flight was bizarre and creepy, particularly when he was paired with Hellboy‘s Mike Mignola. And his Hulk run was especially imaginative and compelling during its last couple of years. A lot of the stuff people seem to associate with Peter David’s run on the Hulk had its origins in Mantlo’s work.
And for God’s sake, the man gave us Rocket Raccoon. He’s achieved immortality simply for that.
I’ve only barely started going through the book, but there appears to be plenty of good readin’ ahead. Pick up a copy…it’s cheap, and the money goes to a good cause.
- Schulz’s Youth, a collection of Charles M. Schulz’s comic strips about teenagers, is finally out this week, and makes a good companion to your Complete Peanuts hardcover volumes. In fact, I daresay your Complete Peanuts collection is incomplete without it. See Big Nat G for more details. Available in hardcover and softcover formats.
And now for no good reason, another random sketch of mine:
SWAMP KEENE
Yeah, I don’t know either.
Maybe he can fight my Jack Kirby action figure.
“Stan Lee gets his own action figure”
“[Hasbro] will pay plastic tribute to the 84-year-old creator of Spider-Man, the Hulk, X-Men, Fantastic Four and other comic-book heroes by interpreting him as a 6-inch tall Marvel Legends action figure. The toy shows Lee’s likeness wearing khaki pants, a blue windbreaker and eyeglasses.”
Fantastic Four review leads to firing.
“Projectionist fired for bad movie review”
This Ain’t It Cool News review, in fact:
“[Jesse] Morrison, writing under his on-line pen-name of Memflix wrote a review under the headline, ‘Memflix crushes all hope for Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer.’”
[...]
“This may be the first time an on-line reviewer has lost a job for voicing an early opinion online.”
