§ December 30th, 2008 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on 20-something-year-old Mikester predicts…THE FUTURE!
Sorry, I’m returning to the well of my 1990s BBS posts again…please enjoy, won’t you?
MsgNum: 1566
From: Mikester
To: all
Subj: Movies?
Date: 08/14/95
Now that the X-Men cartoon has been so popular on television, chances are even better now for an X-Men movie. (Actually, since the poor showing of the Power Rangers movie, maybe studios will shy away from another TV to movies translation.) But, I still think an X-Men movie is inevitable, and I was wondering…what do you guys think about this possibility?
Personally, given Marvel’s track record with movies, the X-Men will probably be a disaster. I don’t WANT it to be a disaster…but given that 90% of movies are crap, and that percentage goes up if it’s a movie based on a comic, it’s a pretty good call that the movie will be bad.
Besides…NO ONE could dress as Wolverine and look anything but laughable.
I do a little better in this next post, responding to someone asking me about the cosmetic changes the Dungeons & Dragons line had gone through. I predict not only 3rd Edition D&D, but I even sort of foretell the “3.5” style of system revision it eventually had. Okay, it wasn’t that big of a stretch, but after my X-Men flub, I need something I can count as a win:
From: Mikester
To: Rand Al’thor
Subj: It’s all one big…company.
Date: 05/26/95
Reply-To: 1210
Yeah, I don’t know why they did that either. Though, TSR has done it before – basically changing the cover art without changing anything inside. I guess TSR felt it needed to liven up the AD&D line a bit, without going to a 3rd Edition version of the game. Think of it as version 2.1.
I can’t be held entirely responsible for this next post, as I was just repeating what I heard/read elsewhere. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Also, I apparently wasn’t a Shadowhawk fan then, either:
MsgNum: 2068
From: Mikester
To: all
Subj: Movie and/or TV Comic News
Date: 01/07/96
I guess there’s a rumor going around that Alicia Silverstone (whom I’ve never seen in anything, though I’ve heard the name somewhere) is playing Batgirl in the upcoming fourth Batman film. This is in addition to the other rumors that Patrick Stewart would be playing Mr. Freeze and Julia Roberts would be playing Poison Ivy. Oh, and Val and Chris will be back (no rumor!) as Batman and Robin. With any luck, there’ll be room for a story or something, too.
There’s a live action Generation X movie (based on the Marvel comic of the same name) coming soon to Fox-TV…the shots I’ve seen of it look…really bad. Marvel also has TV-movies in the works for She-Hulk (ack!), the Punisher, and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (who, in the comics, is dead).
Next year there is supposed to be a live action Shadowhawk series. Give me a break.
Oh God, the “no rumor!” parenthetical aside. And hey, remember when Nick Fury was dead? Good times, good times.
§ December 28th, 2008 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Sean.
Those of you who follow my Twitter account saw me post something about this yesterday, but in case you didn’t see it…one of my longtime customers was shot and killed at the convenience store he worked at, just as he was nearing the end of his overnight shift.
Sean was a nice guy, who’d been coming into our shop on a regular basis since he was a kid. Always cheery, always wanted to talk about the latest comic book-based TV show or movie, always had a habit of accidentally leaving behind one of his gargantuan plastic bottles of water that he’d leave on a counter or next to a shelf while he shopped, which amused us. And sometimes, when he worked for the painting company, he’d come in, splattered with paint, to pick up his books, and he’d flash his hands at me and reassure me that the paint on his fingers was indeed dry.
I know he really loved watching and talking to us about the Smallville TV show, and one of the first things that flashed through my mind when I saw the newspaper article about his death was “now he’s never going to see the Legion of Super-Heroes episode he was so looking forward to,” which I realize is a really dumb and insignificant thing to think, but sometimes you can’t help what your brain churns up when confronted with a tragedy like this.
Like I said, Sean was a good guy, and certainly didn’t deserve to come to the violent end he did. Hopefully the police will catch the miserable, worthless bastards that took his life.
So long, Sean.
§ December 27th, 2008 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on More blasts from the past.
Still perusing some recently-recovered archives of postings from my BBS days…don’t know if they’re of much interest to anybody, but they’re certainly amusing me.
I like this one for reminding me what I was reading thirteen-something years ago:
MsgNum: 1141
From: Mikester
To: All
Subj: My favorite comics, right now
Date: 05/14/95
For no apparent reason, I’m going to list the titles of some of my absolute favorite comics — the ones that, when I crack open one of the many cardboard boxes we get from our distributor and I see that comic inside, I am overcome with joy. (Well, not “overcome,” exactly, but you get what I mean.)
In no particular order, here they are —
1. Swamp Thing (DC)
2. Uncle Scrooge (Gladstone/Disney)
3. Hate (Fantagraphics)
4. Eightball (Fantagraphics)
5. Zippy Quarterly (Fantagraphics)
6. Peep Show (Drawn and Quarterly)
7. Love & Rockets (Fantagraphics) (FUN FACT #1: I’m mentioned in issue #40)
8. Sandman (DC)
9. Preacher (DC)
10. Jim (Fantagraphics)
11. Incredible Hulk (Marvel)
12. Groo (Image)
13. Dr. Radium, Man of Science (Slave Labor)
14. Pirate Corp$/Hectic Planet (Slave Labor)
15. Milk ‘n’ Cheese (Slave Labor)
16. Spectre (DC)
17. Acme Novelty Library (Fantagraphics)
18. Superman (all titles) (DC) (FUN FACT #2: I haven’t missed a Superman comic in about 15 years now)
19. Cerebus (Aardvark-Vanaheim)
20. EC Reprints (all titles) (Russ Cochran)
21. Legion of Super-Heroes (DC)
22. Roarin’ Rick’s Rare Bit Fiends (King Hell)
23. From Hell (Kitchen Sink)
24. Tyrant (Spider-baby) (it’s about the life of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and it has some of the coolest text pages ever seen in a comic book)
25. Bizarre Heroes (Fiasco)
These are just the current titles. This doesn’t include stuff that’s been cancelled (like Grimjack (First), or Eye of Mongombo (Fantagraphics) or Wasteland (DC) or Journey (Aardvark-Vanaheim/Renegade/Fantagraphics) or Dreadstar (First/Epic/Bravura)), but I’m sure you get the idea.
So, what do YOU like?
I’m including this announcement for the then-forthcoming issue of our local mini-comics digest simply because, while this certainly sounds like something we’d do, I have no recollection of planning to include this book with our comic, nor of actually doing it:
MsgNum: 1173
From: Mikester
To: All
Subj: Wood-eye News!
Date: 05/19/95
Issue #5 of Wood-eye should be out in mid-June. It will have a front and back cover by yours truly, and each and every issue will come packed with a free book, “Now That I’m Pregnant, I Have So Many Questions,” while supplies last.
Hey, someone asked what was up with DC’s elemental characters, and I obliged:
MsgNum: 1243
From: Mikester
To: SHADE
Subj: It’s all one big…company.
Date: 05/29/95
Reply-To: 1236
Okay, here’s your DC Comics Elemental Update:
FIRESTORM: Ronnie Raymond’s half of Firestorm currently is hanging out in the comic book “Extreme Justice.” Martin Stein’s half (the Elemental part) is tooling around in space somewhere.
NAIAD: The water elemental popped up in “Spectre” recently.
RED TORNADO: The air elemental is being very weird in “Primal Force” right now.
SWAMP THING: All green and leafy and stuff.
And now…reaction to the Spider-Clone Saga as it was happening:
MsgNum: 1258
From: Mikester
To: Dr. Van Van Mojo IV
Subj: It’s all one big…company.
Date: 06/01/95
Reply-To: 1255
Do you mean the ORIGINAL Spider-man, or the Spider-clone that has actually been the Spider-man in the comics for the last fifteen years? (It was revealed just last week…the Spider-clone is the original Peter Parker. Lemme ‘splain for the uncloned here.
Okay, in the 70s a bad guy created a clone of Spidey and the clone and the original fought it out, with the original (apparently) the victor. However, in recent months, someone claiming to be the clone has returned to the Spider-man comics. However, after a number of issues, it was discovered that the Spider-man that has been featured in the
comics since that original Spider-clone story of the 70s was, in fact, THE clone.
So the Spider-man that married Mary Jane…? Clone. Clone clone clone.
I’m sure it must have seemed like a neat idea…but it reminds me a bit of Alien 3 in a way. You know, Alien 2 was all about Ripley rescuing Newt, and, in a way, turning Newt into a daughter of sorts for her. Then along comes Alien 3, which invalidates every success achieved in Alien 2 by killing Newt. You know what I mean.
Anyway, I hate clones. Yuk. Poopie.
And now, some comic investment news:
MsgNum: 1425
From: Mikester
To: Mikester
Subj: Another comic….
Date: 07/04/95
Reply-To: 1021
“Preacher,” I hear, is the current “hot” Vertigo title. A fellow from an L.A. comic shop dropped in the other day to let us know he’s selling #1 for about five bucks, and at conventions they’re up to about fifteen bucks.
Geez.
And here I am being too earnest for my own good. But, hey, here it is anyway:
MsgNum: 1283
From: Mikester
To: Kassius
Subj: Oh no! Not…COMIC BOOKS!
Date: 06/04/95
Reply-To: 1272
There are comics on darn near everything. You have horror comics, you have historical comics, war comics, autobiographical comics, Robotech comics, western comics, educational comics, humor comics, adventure comics, romance comics, science fiction comics, fantasy comics, comics based on dreams, comics based on television shows, comics with (ahem) naughty parts, comics about slackers, and, of course, comics about flying guys in tights who punch each other.
Comics can be anything. Anything can be comics.
And, finally, while I didn’t note the exact date I said this (sometime in ’95, I’m sure), it perhaps remains the truest thing I have ever written:
“There’s no such thing as a Billy Barty movie that’s COMPLETELY bad.”
I said it…I stand by it.
§ December 25th, 2008 § Filed under End of Civilization Comments Off on Progressive Ruin presents…a Merry Christmas and a Happy End of Civilization!
IT’S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE! Santa has brought you good boys and girls another choice selection from the latest Diamond Previews catalog (the Jan. 2009 edition), so if you’re done opening presents and you’re sick of dealing with your family…well, spend some time with me as we peruse these fine items:
p. 195 – Wizard #210:
If you’re going to throw the phrase “Bosom Buddies” around and
not give me Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari
in dresses, well, I can only express my extreme disappointment.
Though I suppose I should commend Wizard for one of its rare instances of restraint and not giving us, I don’t know, Power Girl and Witchblade in the ad. Because, you know, “‘bosom,’ tee hee.”
p. 217 – Betty #179:
Hey, Betty, I’m pretty sure
Green Day is still performing…they’re just fine, thank you.
p. 244 – Tarot Witch of the Black Rose #55 Previews Exclusive 9th Anniversary Photo Cover:
Normally I’d let the expert in all things Tarotian,
Mr. Sims, handle this, but…
9th anniversary? Really? Unless they’re just really genuinely surprised that they actually were able to keep doing this for nine years. Or maybe the number “9” is some
naked magical thing that they’re referencing. Who knows.
p. 348 – Girls of Gaming Volumes 1 and 2:
“More than just a pin-up book, Girls of Gaming celebrates gaming’s vast line-up of heroines, from the cute, to the sexy, and everything in-between. From Lara Croft to Aerith Gainsborough, from Vanessa Schneider (P.N. 03) to Farmer (Dungeon Siege), the ‘girls of gaming’ are brought to life through CGI renders, concept artwork, and commissioned and exclusive original artwork. Each volume of Girls of Gaming features hundreds of full-color images, interviews with the creators, gamers, and the girls themselves….”
Emphasis mine. Though there’s really no end of things I could have emphasized there.
p. 362 – How to Cosplay Volume 1:
“Step One: Buy mace. Lots of it. Maybe get a taser, too.”
p. 378 – Superman “Mini-Bling” Black T-Shirt:
I suspect a fundamental misunderstanding of the Superman character is at play here.
p. 388 – The Creature from The Black Lagoon Super-Size Creepy Collector’s Figure:
“Hey, who wants a hug? A wet, squishy, vaguely-smelling-of-fish hug?”
p. 412 – Conan the Conqueror Statue:
“Conan, what is best in life?”
“Enjoying the bucking bronco ride at the country-western bar between the wet-shirt contests! Oh, and driving my enemies before me, the lamentation of their women, blah blah.”
p. 416 – Saw – Jigsaw’s Gauntlet Prop Replica:
I should stop being surprised by these things by now, but seriously…what
are you going to do with this?
On second thought…perhaps I would like to remain blissfully ignorant.
p. 420 – Man Ape Mini-Bust:
Every month, I think Marvel has reached the absolute nadir of characters to translate to convenient bust form, and every time I’m proven incorrect.
Man Ape. Seriously.
p. 422 – Offered Again: Marvel Universe Civil War Busts:
So the statues with the series logo and exploding crotches tying into the crossover event from about two crossovers ago haven’t sold out? A B-list villain, a goofy-looking Wolverine, and Spider-Man in that costume he doesn’t wear anymore?
Huh.
p. 426 – Star Trek The Original Series Classic Captain’s Chair Replica:
While I’m the first to acknowledge the sheer awesomeness and power of Kirk’s Chair, it seems the price of $2,717.01 is both steep and annoying cutesy. Plus, it looks like you could probably build your own, given some moderate skill with tools and finding the right kind of chair to build your wooden box base around.
There, that’s a good summer project for some of you. Not me, I’d end up nailing my hand to the Captain’s Log or something. Boy, that sounds dirty.
p. 430 – Star Wars Garindan Mini-Bust:
You really want a statue of
this son-of-a-bitch? This guy totally snitched to the Stormtroopers where Luke, Han and gang were at. Also:
“…Nicknamed by Jabba the Hutt ‘Long Snoot’ for his long, green-black elephantine trunk….”
My first reaction was “oh, c’mon, no Jabba didn’t,” but that freakin’ Expanded Universe, man…no minor character is left untouched. I’m sure in Star Wars: Hoojib Attack Volume Four: The Vengeance of Plif Garindan’s nicknaming was covered.
p. 438 – Super-Bastard Box Art Character Toy Mini-Figures:
Huh, that’s funny…not one of them looks a thing like
Kevin Church.
p. 452 – Twitch the Raccoon Plush:
Yes, that’s little stuffed guts coming out of him, and stitched-on tire treads. This is grossly fantastic.
p. 462 – The Spirit Wrench Keychain Bottle Opener:
While
I’m looking forward to
The Spirit film, I realize that other, less enlightened, folks are deriding this movie adaptation, and it looks like it may be heading for a box office bust. And thus, this item, and the other tie-in products scattered throughout this catalog…well, for one, the movies opening
today, and even if we
did order these items, they probably wouldn’t show up until the film was on DVD. And at this point…I don’t expect there’s going to be a huge demand for Spirit junk.
So I can buy it all for cheap in about six months. Ha HA!
p. 463-4 – Watchmen stuff:
I’m taking a kind of perverse fascination in the marketing of this maybe forthcoming Watchmen movie.
Like the Dr. Manhattan baseball cap, or this flask:
Or the beanies…
the beanies:
I have to admit I like the idea of being able to get a Rorschach lunchbox:
But this:
“…This iconic phrase, coined by the Roman poet Juvenal about the limits on police power, is stamped on this metal keychain!”
What kind of a world is it where one can’t get good Juvenal merchandise without it having to be tied into some big Hollywood movie?
And…okay, you got me. This button?
Kind of awesome.
Marvel Previews p. 14 – Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk #3:
Lies.
Lies.
Marvel Previews p. 101 – Wolverine GN:
“…For the first time ever, experience the storied saga of everybody’s favorite feral X-Man IN HIS OWN WORDS….”
“…And get this, bub…there was this one time the Ultimate version of me fought the Ultimate version of the Hulk, and it seemed like that battle took over three years to wrap up!”
§ December 23rd, 2008 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on The Adventures of Mikester When He Was A Boy.
Or, at least, in his 20s.
Found a few messages from my comics board on the Retreat BBS (which I spoke a little about yesterday). Thought you all might be amused by some of these:
MsgNum: 206
From: Mikester
Subj: “Loveline…it’s your f***ing time….”
Date: 11/09/94
For those of you who are avid KROQ fans, you may be interested in knowing that Todd McFarlane (former Marvel artist, currently doing Spawn) will be a guest host on Loveline in the next week or so. (Loveline runs Monday through Thursday nights, 10 PM ’til midnight, and on Sunday 8 PM to 10 PM (I think).)
Just thought I’d let you in on this tasty little tidbit of information.
(I wonder how many times Todd will have to be beeped?)
[The next one is in response to someone asking if I could tie these two particular characters/franchises together. One person responded that there’s actually a shorter route between the two, and pal Andy was moved to comment to me “man, you’re a geek,” before coming up with his own chain of connections tying Gilligan of Gilligan’s Island to Beavis and Butthead.]
MsgNum: 254
From: Mikester
Subj: Crossovers!
Date: 11/14/94
Okay, I won’t let you hang. I shall now prove to you the extent of my
nerdiness: here is how the Flaming Carrot can meet the Aliens.
1. The Flaming Carrot once met Cerebus.
2. Cerebus met the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
3. The Turtles once met Archie Andrews (of “Archie, Betty and Veronica” fame).
4. Archie met the Punisher.
5. Punisher fought Batman.
6. Batman fought the Predator.
7. And Predators, of course, fought Aliens.
See how easy that was?
[Because you’re going to ask…I’m talking about John Estes in this next bit, who was at our shop signing copies of a bookshelf-format Marvel book he’d painted.]
MsgNum: 476
From: Mikester
Subj: This wasn’t in the job description
Date: 12/11/94
I just spent a good chunk of my day hanging out with a Marvel Comics artist at a Ventura bar watching the 49ers game, and I got paid for it.
God bless America!
[Hey, I was singling out internet folks for everyone’s amusement even back then! EDIT: These are two people I found on Usenet…neither of them are me!]
MsgNum: 2222
From: Mikester
Subj: Found on the Internet
Date: 03/12/96
From: [REDACTED E-MAIL ADDRESS #1]
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: COMICS
SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
Date: 8 Mar 1996 21:53:37 -0500
[REDACTED E-MAIL ADDRESS #2] wrote:
>You people are very dumb. You pay large amounts of money
>for pieces of paper that you think will give you something
>to fall back on in your retirement
> Well guess what , they are just books, and if all of you
>buy up the smae books and keep them in mint condition
>all fo you won’t be able to sell them in your ripe old age,
>when you are a fat smelly old person who can’t work anymore.
>Thats what i think of your little business
>here!!!!
Your such a moron. You don’t know what you’re talking about! I’ve been collecting comics for only five years and already my collections worth four times what I paid for it all together! I’ve got two unopened copies of the Death of Superman and all together their worth over a hundred dollars! Plus I’ve got multiple copies of hot number ones like Gen-13, Spawn and more. Maybe I won’t have enough miney to retire on in a lot of years but I can tell you one thing I’ll have more money than you. So our “little business” is more valuable than you think!
[And here’s a little bit from the front lines of the thoroughly-crashed comics market….]
From: Mikester
Subj: News…
Date: 03/06/96
Reply-To: 786
Valiant is STILL around, which absolutely baffles me. Their days of wine and silk and expensive butter are long over, but their shambling corpse of a company still staggers onward. The only regular titles they have are Turok, Eternal Warrior, X-O Manowar, and Bloodshot. Their only other two “name” titles of their superhero universe, Magnus Robot Fight and Solar, are both canceled. The Windjammer line of creator owned comics is gone (along with all the formerly-Continuity titles). The line of Magic comics (yes, based on the card game) is dead in the water, and has been since the line’s inception over a year ago. The ONLY Valiant title that has done at all well lately is the Mutant Chronicles comic, based on another fantasy game. One element in its doing well is the fact that nowhere on the comic does it say “Acclaim,” “Armada,” or “Valiant.”
It’s a slow death.
