Sluggo Saturday #65.
THE BLACK HOLES OF SLUGGO’S FACE
In other news:
“They realized the Con could go on forever.”
BEHOLD: THE LONG CON.
Hey, look, it’s another one of these…another brisk gallop through the latest Diamond Previews catalog, pointing out items of interest for your edification. Whip out your copy of the August 2010 edition and follow along! (Also, an EoC fan asked if he could put together a page of some of his favorite entries, I said yes, and here’s what resulted. Also, in response to some of his comments there, I am slowly going through and adding “End of Civilization” tags to those posts…about halfway done, but I’ll get the rest soon!)
p. 130 – Green Lantern Vs. Sinestro Statue Set:
p. 220 – Steampunk Palin one-shot:
p. 242 – Alice in Wonderland San Diego Comic-Con Johnny Depp Photo Edition HC:
But then I looked it up, and I’ll be damned, it did take in over a billion dollars.
Of course, that still doesn’t answer the question “Why? Why did this film take in over a billion dollars?” or take away the knowledge that any film with this scene managed to do so, but at least I don’t have to bust the chops of my pals at Boom! about the claim.
p. 253 – Warlord of Mars #1:
p. 365 – Plastic Man Close-Up T-Shirt:
…You’re welcome.
p. 379 – Bat Boy 8-Inch Retro Style Action Figure:
p. 380 – Mr. Corn Plush:
This comes in two varieties…the Happy Fresh Version, with a little smiley face, and the impossibly depressing SAD TENDER VERSION:
p. 384 – Living Dead Dolls Nohell Doll:
p. 384 – Lego Brickmaster Atlantis HC:
p. 390 – Mr. Potato Head KISS:
p. 395 – Battlestar Galactica Kara “Starbuck” Thrace Mini-Bust:
“Note: Statue may suddenly disappear from display without warning.”
p. 403 – Star Wars Death Trooper Mini-Bust with Novel:
p. 410 – Evangelion 2.0 Entry Plug Chopsticks:
p. 414 – Doctor Who 11th Doctor Diecast Sonic Screwdriver:
“It comes with three tips – large, medium, and small – and each tip is reversable [sic] with Phillips and Flathead ends.”
So it’s a replica…of the Sonic Screwdriver…that’s actually a screwdriver. Whoaaaa…far out, man.
p. 425 – Disney Traditions Light-Up Tinker Bell Lantern:
“Captain Hook, you fiend!”
Marvel Previews p. 102 – X-Force A Force to Be Reckoned With Premiere HC:
Somewhere, a tree is crying.
Marvel Previews p. 188 – Carnage Poster:
Sorry, gang…was tied up working on some other projects, and suddenly, whoops, no time left to generate anything hilarious or thought-provoking or, ahem, copyright-stretching for the site. So, I’m going to ask you a question, and I’ll do a follow-up post on your responses within the next few days.
And that question is:
What’s your favorite currently-running comic book series right now?
You don’t have to tell me why if you don’t want to, but I’d like it if you did. But the only things I do request regarding your responses:
1. Just pick one series…no “well, I can’t decide between these two, so I’ll list ’em both. Or the top three. Or maybe a dozen.” PICK JUST ONE SERIES, PLEASE. Pretend your life depends on it. In fact, maybe it does.
2. Don’t make fun of other people’s choices. Now, I feel terrible even saying that, because most of you folks who populate my comments sections are usually pretty civil, but, you know, there’s always someone who wants to stir up trouble. So don’t be that guy!
3. I’ll allow some leeway for lame-duck series like Atlas, or comics that are effectively the same series, like the ongoing chain of Marvel’s Hercules comics. But I’m going to force you to pick which among Avengers, New Avengers, and Secret Avengers is your favorite, if this is the case, because I’m a jerk.
EDIT: 4. And one of the early responders reminded me…it doesn’t have to be a traditional comic book series, as in the monthly magazine format…if it’s a manga or other graphic novel series, that’s fine, too.
So with that in mind, tell me your favorite comic book series, please. Your credit card will not be charged, and no salesman will call.
So while attending the San Diego Comic Con, Employee Aaron, as seen here:
Seriously, though, congratulations to both of them…I’ve known Kempo since she was just a kid, and now here she is, marrying this Aaron fella. Tempus sure does fugit when you ain’t lookin’.
Here’s a nice photo of the both of them, taken during one of those rare occasions Aaron remembered which side of the razor goes against his face:
Hopefully someday we’ll get a collection of those early Donald Duck strips, too, which Gladstone used to reprint in their early Donald Duck comics.
Also, apparently the Slave Leias are multiplying. At this rate, by the year 2040 approximately 88% of Earth’s population will be Slave Leias. …I hope George Lucas is happy.
…when I came across this item:
Second, “Luthor” is totally misspelled on the package. I’m reasonably sure this is an official item, which makes the error fairly surprising…and I’ve also found pictures of this product with the correct spelling, so it was caught eventually, in case you were as worried about this as I was.
In other news:
“He just talks like a stoner, so it’d be a lot of fun to write.”
Before any of you say anything…yes, I’d still buy and read it.
From this article, spotted on the Twitter:
“However, DC comics co-publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee said, ‘Watchmen is the most celebrated graphic novel of all time. Rest assured, DC Comics would only revisit these iconic characters if the creative vision of any proposed new stories matched the quality set by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons nearly 25 years ago, and our first discussion on any of this would naturally be with the creators themselves.’”
1. Did DiDio and Lee say it simultaneously, in harmony? Did they sing it to the tune of “Money” from Cabaret?
2. Is this the first public statement that DC would be willing to do new Watchmen stories, whether or not Moore and Gibbons are involved? Because, dude, I’ve got one comic book story in me, and that story is Watchmen 2: Seymour Rising.
But seriously, if there were other statements along those lines in the past, I don’t recall them. Mostly I seem to remember “oh, we wouldn’t cheapen the original with spin-offs” or “if Moore and Gibbons ever want to come back, sure.” But this is the first time they said they’d be more to happy to publish Watchmen Two-in-One #1, Batman and the Comedian, by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis, which I realize they didn’t actually say as such, but I think we can read between the lines, there.
Johanna Draper Carson had commented on her Twitter thingie about it, to which I responded, essentially, that if the Watchmen movie hadn’t killed sales on the graphic novel to the point that DC felt it was necessary to rebuild interest in the series via new material, that we’re probably safe from non-Moore/Gibbons follow-ups. Of course, that doesn’t mean it will never happen, but I think the time for it to happen was during the movie’s lifespan. Of course, we are talking about the comics industry, where barn doors are always closed after the horses have escaped, so new Watchmen material being produced years after its chance at getting as large a potential audience as possible wouldn’t surprise me.
Speaking of Alan Moore, guess who wasn’t mentioned once in this week’s Marvelman Primer? The one mention of Moore’s 1980s revival of the character is a passing mention from a full-page plug for Marvel’s 1950s Marvelman reprint projects:
“If you only know him from his dark, deconstructionist ’80s revival, then you don’t know Marvelman!”
Of course, that ignores the fact that the “dark, deconstructionist ’80s revival” is the Marvelman work most people are primarily curious about. The reprints of the ’50s stories are amusingly entertaining, granted, but it feels like treading water until the details are sorted out with getting those ’80s stories back in print.
Back to Moore…there are plenty of opportunities to bring him up, by the way: there’s a discussion of British comics publishing which mentions Warrior, the magazine where Marvelman’s revival originally appeared, but is not mentioned in the article at all. There’s another history specifically of Marvel’s forays into British comics, which cites their Captain Britain series and mentions creators such as Steve Parkhouse, Chris Claremont, Paul Neary and John Stokes, but does not mention Moore, who wrote what are probably the best-known and most sought-after of the UK-edition Captain Britain comics.
I have no idea how far along, if at all, Marvel is regarding the rerelease of the ’80s Marvelman work. If the answer is “not very,” then I suppose it’s in their best interest to deemphasize that particular run for the time being, especially if they have new material in the works of a different revival of the franchise. But the ’80s comics are very noticeable in their absence from a publication intended to be an overview and introduction to these characters, particularly when the detailed historical articles gloss right over their publications and the writer behind that relaunch.
Or maybe nobody else cares any more, Marvel feels no obligation to cater to that handful of folks who recall some short-run Marvelman series from 25 years ago, and only big ol’ nerds like me are getting all worked up about it. That too is a possibility.