§ February 28th, 2008 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Progressive Ruin Presents…the End of Civilization.
Once more unto the breach, my friends, as we plow together through another Diamond Previews catalog. Pull out your copy of the March 2008 edition, pour yourself a frosty drink…and hey, get me one, too, while you’re at it…and follow along as I document the horrors within. (Previous installments, as always, are located in the sidebar somewhere, beneath all the ads.)
p. 183 – Top Cow Summer Reading Set:
“Get a grab bag of 10 awesome Top Cow comics in this mystery pack and kick off your summer right! Plus get at least 1 limited edition variant cover in each pack!”
“They’ve been gathering dust on the warehouse shelves, so it was either this or the recycler! Enjoy your copies of Hunter Killer and Universe!”
p. 216 – Fathom #0:
“Michael Turner’s Fathom makes its triumphant return for the thrilling third volume!”
And once it hits about, oh, issue fourteen or so, when this series peters out, too, I’m sure we’ll see the fantastic fourth volume of Fathom, with yet another number 1. Excuse me, number 0.
The day a Fathom series hits issue #25, I may drop dead from the shock.
p. 252 – The Man with No Name #1:
Oh, hey, a comic based on the old Clint Eastwood movies! Cool! Hmmm, what’s this variant cover, here….
A…a zombie variant? You’re kidding me, right?
“Featuring covers by regular artist Richard Isanove (Dark Tower), as well as a special ‘zombie’ cover by Arthur Suydam….”
Oh dear. Why, why?
p. 398 – 500 Essential Graphic Novels SC:
I hope that’s the actual cover (a panel from
Watchmen, in case you didn’t know), because I find it amusing that a book about this “fascinating and innovative form” is being sold with an image of an old man about to be beaten to death his one of his own trophies.
p. 399 – Native Americans in Comic Books: A Critical Study:
Oh, my. This won’t end well, will it? (“Positive portrayals of Indians in comics: Turok. Now, onto the other 250+ pages of this book….”)
(Yes, I know there were other positive portrayals. Don’t poop on my joke.)
p. 406 – The Men’s Underwear Kit:
“This complete kit contains all the essential underwear-repair power tools a man could need, including needle and thread, iron-on patches, two safety pins, an elastic waistband, duct tape, white-out, and a 32-page Instruction MAN-u-al that clearly demonstrates the ins and outs of proper maintenance and repair to turn that one pair into an ever-wear.”
Not stocking this book, because…well, look, I love my customers, but the last thing in the world I want to think about is THEIR UNDERWEAR.
p. 410 – Seagalogy: A Study of the Ass-Kicking Films of Stevan Seagal SC:
Solicitation includes warning that the writer of this book is “known to millions for his hilarious [sic] reviews on the Ain’t It Cool News website.” So consider that before you order it,
Sims.
And besides…on this very page is a book about a man who holds more knowledge about ass-kicking than Mr. Seagal could ever hope to achieve:
There is nothing wrong with you that the Shat can’t fix…
with his hands.
EDIT: Okay, apparently I picked on the one person at AICN with actual talent, judging by some of the response I’ve been getting. I mean, honestly, what were the odds of finding the one guy? Anyway, here’s his site, so read up, you.
p. 411 – Facebook Book SC:
“…Full of anecdotes (true and semi-true), tips (useful and useless), and other insights, including chapters on the Ethics and Etiquette of using the ‘Book, what your profile really says about you, and a Facebook dictionary.”
A new release from the “Direct to the Remainder Table” library, apparently.
p. 412 – Star Wars Holocron Pop-Up Limited Collector’s Edition:
“Last chance! Less than 50 still available” out of a 500 copies print run, says the solicit. Hmmm…wonder why…oh, wait, it must be the
three hundred dollar price tag.
p. 425 – Elvis Is Trading Cards:
p. 428 – Silly Supermarket 2008 Stickers Trading Cards:
“…The affordable and easy-to-complete 30-card die-cut set pokes fun at some of todayís most popular brand names, including ‘Spite,’ ‘Small Bark Franks,’ ‘Chef Poor-Artie,’ and more!”
I wonder if the set includes a parody of Wacky Packages?
p. 438 – Wolverine Enameled Cufflinks:
“On those rare occasions when Logan, the X-Man better-known as Wolverine, needs to dress up for a formal event, he uses these cufflinks to give his dress shirt that extra touch.”
So Wolverine wears cufflinks…with his own face on them? Does anyone else do this? I mean, aside from Donald Trump?
p. 456 – The Princess Bride Fezzik the Giant Talking Plush:
Dude, this is totally an André the Giant plushie doll.
That talks. In a fair and decent world, this would have it all over those Elmo things.
p. 468 – Mandrake the Magician Statue:
For the
eighty-year-old in your life.
Oh, okay, fine. To be fair, he does have a killer expression:
“BEWARE! I DO MAGIC AT YOU NOW!”
p. 474 – Star Trek Icons Commander Spock Bust:
Sigh. Okay, here we go…obvious joke in 3…2….
“Captain, it appears something has happened to my arms. I find it most…
illogical.”
No, I’m not proud.
p. 476 – Star Wars Kustomz Sandcrawler Rotocast Figure:
As it says, that pick is not the final version of the product, as they apparently need to pour more jugs-full of ABSOLUTE CREEPINESS into this item. GAH.
p. 517 – Predator 20th Anniversary Edition Machete:
I have to say, when I reflect upon my fond memories of the initial
Predator movie, what comes to mind generally
isn’t the prop machetes they were wavin’ around.
p. 520 – Nintendo NES Controller Belt Buckle:
I shudder to think of the number of nerdy and inappropriate sexual advances this thing is going to be responsible for. “Hey, baby, wanna enter your cheat code?”
p. 523 – Sweeney Todd Shaving Kit:
In a strange way, this is sort of brilliant.
Also, there’s two full pages of Sweeney Todd stuff in this catalog. This would be known as the “Hot Topic Restock Section.”
And as long as I’m on a bit of a tangent, there sure is a lot of merchandise for last year’s movies in here. How much more Pirates of the Caribbean stuff am I going to sell? Is now really the right time to order Cloverfield one-sheets? Yes, I know there are DVDs still being (or about to be) sold for these properties, but that doesn’t seem to drive the merchandise frenzy the same way an actual film in an actual theatre does. I can’t help but think this is a lot of stuff of the “well, couldn’t sell ’em in real stores, let’s dump ’em on the comic shops” variety.
Or, again, it’s all there to restock your local Hot Topic.
p. 523 -Tin Motorcycle with Rider:
“Slightly chubby and very charming, this roguish motorcyclist enjoys the ride on his tin motorbike.”
Only noted because “Slightly chubby and very charming since 1969” will be added to my rotating taglines.
p. 529 – Hulk board games:
I can’t decide which is my favorite…the “Hulk Smash” board game:
“Smash your way through a cityscape, Hulk-style, in this Make ’em, Move ’em, and Mash ’em constructive (and destructive) board game!”
The “Operation Hulk” board game:
“Poor Hulk is sick, so you better operate quick! Combining classic Operation game play with the Incredible Hulk, this board game features light-up and ‘roaring’ effects.”
But I think it has to be the Don’t Wake Hulk” board game:
…if only because you apparently play various Marvel Super-Heroes doing their damnedest not to stir the wrath of a groggy Hulk from his mid-afternoon nap.
p. 534 – Monopoly Peanuts Edition Board Game:
Well, crap, I suppose it was only a matter of time before they finally hit upon a Monopoly variation that I’m going to want.
Hey, you know what’d be funny? “Monopoly – The Das Kapital Edition.” Well, okay, maybe not that funny. Look, I’m writing this at one in the morning after a New Comics Day…you’re lucky you’re getting complete sentences out of me.
Marvel Previews p. 35 – The Invincible Iron Man #1:
Hey, you know what we’re not going to need after the
Iron Man movie comes and goes from general release? Yes, that’s right — multiple ongoing
Iron Man series…how’d you guess? Especially since
no Iron Man comic sells well at our shop, after Marvel spent the better part of a year making sure fans no longer liked him.
Well, at least this series looks pretty good. Maybe this one can stick around when they cancel the rest.
Marvel Previews p. 108 – Essential Rampaging Hulk Vol. 1 TPB:
Just so I’m not Mr. Gloomypants McGripealot, I will say this collection of the stories from the Hulk magazines will be absolutely fan
tastic, even if
Mr. Shooter’s absolute nadir as a comics writer won’t be around ’til the next volume. (Yes, Jim Shooter wrote something worse than
Warriors of Plasm. Hard to believe, I know.)
§ February 25th, 2008 § Filed under turok Comments Off on The Turok Son of Stone DVD.
So I watched the Turok Son of Stone direct-to-DVD cartoon over the weekend, and…well, overall I enjoyed it, though it’s a bit different in tone from the comics I grew up with.
For one, Turok is a lot more angry and violent and moody in the cartoon than he ever was in the original Dell/Gold Key comics. There’s a whole lot of him in the cartoon lookin’ like this:
In the comics, Turok was more of a rational father figure to his young companion Andar, attempting to teach by example, and often presented as a civilized counter to the savage Lost Land and its primitive inhabitants. However, in the movie, Turok is…well, I already said. “Angry and violent and moody” – cast out from his tribe, nearly everyone he loves dies, etc., so I guess he’s got good reason to be a bit on the miffed side.
And did I say violent? There is a surprising amount of blood and violence in this cartoon, with lots of graphically depicted knifes in chests, spears through bodies, gunshots to stomachs, the occasional head and limb flying here and there. To wit:
Which, for some odd reason, reminded me of an
Eternal Warrior cover (issue #35) from later
Turok-publisher Valiant Comics:
Yeah, that’s the comic that came with the “protective” white wraparound cover warning of the “graphic image” hidden therein. Yeah, we all thought it was dumb then, too.
Er, anyway, back to the Turok movie. On the good side, once the gang is in the Lost Valley, there is plenty of Turok-fightin’-dinosaurs action. For example, AXE TO THE HEAD:
And there’s a nice sequence with Turok fighting a bunch of these critters, though realistically that arm would have been yanked right out of that socket, there:
Yeah, I’m demanding realism from my “Indians fighting dinosaurs” movie.
One minor complaint — at no point does anyone refer to a dinosaur as a “honker.”
On second thought, maybe that was a good thing.
Also included on the disc is a 20-minute documentary giving an overview of the character’s history, focusing mostly on the comics and cast/crew interviews for the film, with only passing mention of the video games. At one point it is mentioned, with a straight face, that the first Valiant Comics issue of Turok sold 1.7 million copies, leaving unmentioned that many of those copies ended up unsold and dumped in bargain bins, as the comic was over-ordered for an investor market that had mostly abandoned Valiant by that point. Or maybe is was mentioned…there were plenty of obvious edits in the interviews. But there’s a lot of talk about the origins of the character, with several contributions by comics writer/historian Mark Evanier, and there are even a few words from the Native American advisor on the film, who made sure the costumes and weapons were reasonably correct.
Overall, I did like the cartoon…it packs a lot of action into a fairly short runtime (about an hour and a quarter), and while the plot holds no real surprises, it all moves along entertainingly enough. And while this is not quite the original Turok character, there are several undeniably cool moments of Turok-vs.-dinosaur badassery. Older Turok fans may be taken aback a bit at the amount of blood splashing around, and you may want to screen it first before unleashing it on any kids. But, if you’re an older kid, and if you’re an old Turok fan who can handle some minor adjustments to the premise, give it a shot. At least a rental, or, ahem:
§ February 22nd, 2008 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on By which I mean "Wolverine’s penis."
So I’ve been sitting on this issue of Adventures of the X-Men #4 (July 1996) for a while now, because it features C’thulhu and “the ancient R’lyeh texts” and other kinda-sorta Lovecraftian things being raised by the Marvel Universe demons, the N’Garai. It all sounds a lot more interesting than it actually is, so basically, I never got around to it.
But I was poking through the comic again, and noticed something. The story begins with Cyclops out riding a motorcycle and coming across trouble, which, you know, is gonna happen. As the story progresses, the motorcycle gets lost during some battle or other, and the issue ends with Wolverine whining about it:
First, if you knew anyone who referred to himself as “the old Canucklehead,” I’d imagine you’d do your best to stop knowing him in short order. Second, I tried to cut off as much Gambit as I could in this scan…I apologize for not being entirely successful. Third, Wolvie explicitly says the motorcycle was his, but let’s look at the license plate of the motorcycle Cyclops was riding:
So, the posssible explanations:
1. This is Cyclops’ motorcycle — he bought the cycle, registered it, paid extra for the personalized plates — but because Wolverine is a big greedy grabby jerk, he decided at some point prior to this story to lay claim to it, and uses it whenever he feels like without asking Cyclops for permission. And, thus, feels it’s his bike.
2. It actually is Wolverine’s motorcycle, and he has the “ONE EYE” personalized plates to mock Cyclops for not being cool enough to have a bike of his own.
3. Wolverine and Cyclops went in “halvsies” on buying the bike, and Cyclops won the coin toss and got to personalize the plates.
4. It actually is Wolverine’s motorcycle, and “ONE EYE” actually refers to…um, something else. Compensating much, Wolvie?
Well, here’s a bit of the C’thulhu-esque shenanigans at work in this story…this is the only cool part, honest. I couldn’t even fit it all on the scanner:
And Wolverine, of course, can’t shut up about it. I always figured Wolverine was a little more stoic than this:
