And then there was that time Super-Turtle and Ambush Bug teamed up to fight Giant Fred Hembeck.
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At least I spelled it correctly.
So it’s only fair, if I’m going to present some anonymous person’s drawing on my site for everyone’s entertainment, I should put up one of my own. Thus, behold this stunning 1974 illustration of the world’s largest rodent by a 5-year-old Mike:
If I were drawn like that, I’d be angry too.
Here’s to you, former owner of this Monster Manual for first edition AD&D…
…who felt that the lack of an accompanying image for the Gelatinous Cube entry was an omission that could not be overlooked:
Also appreciated: the clarification that the 2-8 hit point damage it can inflict is caused by “digestive fluids” and not by, say, the Cube hitting you with a polearm.
Green Lantern Confessions dot Tumblr dot com.
So ever since I made my “Green Lantern is a romance book” joke a couple of days ago…
…I now can’t stop reading double-meanings into Hal ‘n’ Sinestro’s adversarial banter.
Also, I am tempted to start a “Swamp Thing Confessions” Tumblr which is just pictures of me reading Swamp Thing comics, each with the caption “I like reading Swamp Thing comics.” Because surely that’s confessional enough.
image from Green Lantern #125 (February 1980) by Denny O’Neil, Joe Staton and Frank McLaughlin
“…And starring Edward G. Robinson as ‘The Editor-in-Chief.'”
So I was complaining just yesterday about how all these different variant covers and ratios and hoops I have to jump through to get said variants was beginning to really drag me down, maaaaan, and subsequently proved myself a hypocrite by acknowledging my desire for the Swamp Thing variant covers.
Well, I’m gonna double-down on my hypocrisy since I fully intend on getting the “first appearance” variants for the Boom! Studios Peanuts series:
That’s the “How I Hate Him” variant (note: not actual name for the variant, but it should be) for the first issue, and following issues will feature Lucy, Linus, and Snoopy, and good golly I want ’em all. Basically, I guess this means I’m against comic book variant covers except for the ones I’m personally interested in. That seems fair.
If you don’t mind, I’m going to respond to a couple of comments from yesterday’s post…and even if you do mind, I’m going to do it anyway since it’s my site:
- My ol’ internet pal Roger Green sez
“It was the variant covers of Spider-Man #1 and those Valiant(?) #0s that made me crazy back in the 1990s.”
Yeah, it was Valiant with the #0s…and Malibu/Ultraverse, and DC Comics, and probably plenty more. (It was all Robert Crumb’s fault.) But those didn’t bother us nearly as much as the Spider-Man #1 variants…specifically, the prebagged editions (which you can see at the bottom of this page).
Seriously, Marvel charged you an extra quarter so you could get a copy of the comic sealed in a polybag specifically as a collectible. The pages inside might as well have been blank. Hell, they could have been blank…did anyone buy one and open it? Anyway, I haven’t seen one of these prebagged editions in a long time…after 21 years, that polybag is probably slowly turning back into oil and becoming one with the comic at this point.
- Alex asks
“Speaking of upcoming books… how do you feel about the upcoming Dardevil crossover with the Amazing Spider-Man book? You still get Mark Waid writing for both, with the main artist on the Daredevil portion (I believe), and what looks like a fun little plot, buuuuutttttt…
This does sort of run against the ‘self-contained’ vibe that book really should keep, right? Do you think these sorts of things can be pretty good and turn out alright when you get the right guy steering the ship?”
I’m not totally against crossovers. Keeping it simple with just Spider-Man and Daredevil, and, like you say, having Waid writing both titles…that sounds like a good time. And it’s very Silver Age-y Marvel, with a nice, simple crossover between a couple of characters. No cosmos-spanning, every-Marvel-title-spanning menace needed.
My main objection with crossovers is more with the company-wide event-type things that force folks to push aside their own storylines to make space for the Beyonder or for Atlantis Attacking or whatever. And even then, depending on how the creative teams handle it, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. (The Crisis on Infinite Earths tie-ins in Green Lantern at the time are a good example of using crossover-event shenanigans for a book’s own benefit.) But for readers who aren’t following every event that comes down the pike, having yet another tie-in to a separate series they’re not interested in, yet another “INFINITE FEAR COUNTDOWN INVASION” branding above the comic’s regular logo, can be bit of a turn-off.
I wonder how the creative teams of these books feel when it’s time for the thrice-yearly event tie-in? Is it “oh boy, a challenge!” at fitting the editorially-mandated event into their plotlines, or “ah, crud, there go my plans for the book over the next month or two,” or a mixture of both?
I’m probably oversimplifying things a bit, but I picture the editor, puffing on his giant stogie, picking up the phone to call his writer to say “Look, there’s this event we’re having, see? And it’s gotta go in all the books, see? And we want you to play along, see?” And the writer, knees shaking, stammers out in reply “y-y-y-yes sir, Mr. Big, sir,” and immediately hunches back over his typewriter, sparing only a brief, sad glance out the window at yet another sunset he will again only experience from his under-lit office.
Anyway, Alex, I hope that answers your question. And probably created some new questions in the process.
Oh, hey, remember comics?
I thought I’d spare you yet another trading card post, and give you instead a comment or three about the new DC solicitations, some of which I could have saved for the next End of Civilization post, but what the heck:
- A couple of notes right off the bat: first, I’m getting a bit tired of all these variant covers. Yeah, I know, “Standard Comics Fan/Retailer Complaint #18,” and Marvel’s just as much to blame as DC, but still, seeing “variant cover will feature the standard edition cover in a wraparound format” and “1 in 200 black and white variant” and “1 in 25 variant” and blah blah blah over and over again…it gets wearying.
Also, sure are a lot of guest artists in this month’s solicitations. In all fairness, I should note Rob Liefeld is still hangin’ in there on Hawk and Dove (which isn’t selling too badly at the shop, by the way).
- “The awesome consequences of this high-stakes battle” in Justice League #6 will resonate within the series for years to come!” or until everything’s rebooted again. Or just cancelled outright and all the characters are simply handed over to the licensing and movie/television divisions.
- Speaking of new artists, the next story arc on Batwoman will be drawn by Amy Reeder and Richard Friend, which may give some fans of the title the vapors when they don’t see J.H. Williams’ art. But, Reeder’s work looks like it’ll fit in just fine, and I’m looking forward to it. But I can already hear a customer or two telling me “it looks different!” I’ll assist them in bearing the transition, I promise.
- Oh, good, they’re bringing back Batman Beyond (as Batman Beyond Unlimited)…that previous series did fairly well for us, and hopefully the several-month break between series didn’t kill that momentum.
- Green Lantern #6:
“Sinestro and Hal are left at a crossroads. They must pick up the pieces of their lives. The question is, will they do it alone…or together?”
Had no idea Green Lantern turned into a romance book.
- And speaking of variant covers, Swamp Thing has ’em. Dammit.
- A couple of interesting Batman trades this time around: Batman: Birth of the Demon, collecting the three Talia & Ra’s Al Ghul storylines into a single volume; and the Legends of the Dark Knight: Jim Aparo hardcover, gathering together his early Brave and the Bold work. Aparo was always one of my favorite Bat-artists, always doing solid storytelling, and it’s nice to see a volume devoted to his output.
- Absolute Final Crisis at $100, New Teen Titans Omnibus at $75, even volume 6 of The Flash Archives at $60…seems like it’s really the wrong market for these reprint projects at those price points. Nobody pays full price for these things. The only way we can compete with Amazon on these books is by selling them at a percentage off the list price, not nearly as deep as Amazon’s standard discounts, but hopefully low enough that the convenience of having the book in hand right there and then outweighs having to wait for the book to ship out even with the additional savings. …Ah, retail.
- The solicitation for the Black Orchid Deluxe Edition hardcover notes that it reprints the “4-issue” series…it’s only a three issue mini, but the page count of the hardcover is about 20 pages over that of the mini’s page count, so I suspect there will be some extra bonus hoohar in there.
- Fables #114 begins an eight-part back-up series painted by Shawn McManus…I do love the Shawn McManus art, so I’m certainly looking forward to this. Not that I don’t usually look forward to Fables anyway.
- So, a Green Lantern Vs. Parallax statue for $300, or a $125 Atrocitus statue based on the GL animated series? I suspect both would look equally good as centerpieces on the dinner table.
Captions for Moonraker trading cards…or names of sex acts.
Well, okay, this is James Bond we’re talking about…they’re probably both card captions and sex acts.
Anyway, speaking of Jaws, I really hope a new, “rebooted” version of the character doesn’t appear in the new James Bond films. I prefer to think he remains reformed and that he and Dolly, as seen here:
…live happily ever after. Yeah, I’m a big sap.
Anyway, let’s get a good look at this handsome bastard:
Pretty sure “Agent 007” is the name of a sex act of some kind, too.
So I can avoid being pulled over by a UFO for speeding.
from UFO Magazine #5 (March 1979)
And here’s a little something else from the same source.
Sluggo Saturday #109.
GENERAL SLUGGO
from Bums, Beatniks, and Hippies/Artists & Con Artists (1991)
What a Wookiee.
So let’s wrap up at least this week’s worth of trading card posts (I haven’t even got to the Moonraker or Battlestar Galactica cards yet!) with a long, lingering, and hairy look at everyone’s favorite Wookiee. No, no, not this guy what with his enjoyment of virtual erotica…I’m talkin’ about Chewbacca:
And here’s a shot of him with his best, and clearly cheery, pal, Han Solo:
Here’s a card that has a caption so nice…
…they used it twice:
And remember, kids: spiff up your Wookiee…
…and check him regularly for ticks and worms.
