Void Indigone.

§ June 9th, 2023 § Filed under marvel, publishing § 17 Comments

Okay, you characters in the comments from Wednesday’s post got all Void Indigo on me, so I thought I’d look into that situation a bit further.

Void Indigo was a graphic novel and short-lived comic series by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerick, released in the mid-1980s under Marvel’s Epic imprint of mostly creator-owned material. Here’s what the cover to the initial installment, released in sequence in Marvel’s graphic novel line between Rick Veitch’s Heartburst and…Dazzler: The Movie?


It made…quite the stir when it was released, for its violent content, upon which I cannot report as Void Indigo remains a blind spot in my Gerber reading. And due to its truncated nature, I never sought it out, since I figured “it never finished, why bother?” But one shouldn’t be so cavalier about dismissing a Steve Gerber script, especially since we’re not getting any more, so someday I’ll get my hands on these and check them out myself.

My expectation is that, by modern standards, the “shocking” content will be less shocking to current eyes (as noted in one of the responses to Wednesday’s post), but I would like to see it myself.

Since I had my 1980s Comics Journals out, I flipped through to see if I could find their article on the whole situation, and lo, there it was, in #95 (February 1995). Here I have a scan of the just the first part of the article, as it goes on for another half-page:


Apparently lateness was being pushed as much of a reason for cancellation as whatever horrible, soul-searing content within the comics themselves. Low sales at would-be-a-huge-hit-today numbers were also a problem. The article mentions later that the customs seizure basically amounted to nothing, as with the book’s cancellation the problem had solved itself.

There’s also a note in the article about Marvel not taking returns on the two issues of this aborted series, saying everyone was sufficiently warned about the book and thus shared the risk is carrying the thing. Which is absolutely bonkers, and I don’t know if they eventually relented or not. I’ll have to search further up in The Comics Journal‘s numbers to see if there’s a follow-up report.

On top of all that, there’s a retailer…actually, the owner of a comic store…actually actually, the “President” of the company, so I’m changing my title at my shop straight away…who expressed a “moral objection” to carrying Void Indigo. So, damn, I have to read this comic now. Just what is going on in this thing?

One additional note: I remember, at the previous place of employment, in a box of papers and other promo materials, there was a Void Indigo thing, apparently released by Gerber his own self, that was either a script for the unreleased #3, maybe outlines for future issues, something. But it was definitely a stack of stapled paper with otherwise unavailable Void Indigo content. What the provenance of this item was, and where it may be now, following the shut-down of that shop and the scattering to the winds (or to my former boss’s storage, or even to my own backroom) of much of that stuff. Wish I could tell you more about it, or that I even looked inside, which I didn’t since I hadn’t read the other entries in the series, so reading later installments wouldn’t have done me any good.

What makes me wonder, though, is that the article says Gerber was behind, so I don’t know that there was even a script for #3 ready. Unless, of course, he finished it later to try to sell the book elsewhere, but…I don’t know, seems very unlikely. I guess that mysterious stack of paper will remain mysterious ’til I track it down.

So, Void Indigo…I’m betting folks would hardly bat an eye at the content today, or at least it wouldn’t be any worse that Crossed or Faust or Eo…you ever see Eo? No, not the Michael Jackson thing, the Tim Vigil comic? Boy, if that retailer above had a moral objection to Void Indigo, he’d probably renounce all worldly possessions and join a monastery if Eo was shoved into his hands. Assuming he didn’t catch on fire.

I guess I’m now on a quest to find Void Indigo. This is terrible. My site is making me buy more comics. That’s not how it’s supposed to work, I’m supposed to be making you all buy more comics from me. This isn’t fair.

The things I find by absolute chance.

§ June 7th, 2023 § Filed under publishing § 12 Comments

So I’d been poking through some of my run of The Comics Journal, just kinda lookin’ at stuff, when by complete chance I came across the following bit in regard to Sisterhood of Steel (discussed just this past Monday).

Despite my disclaimers last time that I didn’t know very much this title, I did know this about it, about the time the series was happening. In issue #101 of TCJ, Christy Marx, writer of Sisterhood of Steel, wrote in to talk about changes she was compelled to make to issue #4, pictured here:


…while wondering in the letter why it had to be done, if the Epic imprint was intended for mature audiences? (She also listed a number of euphemisms for breasts and testicles that she was not permitted to use, but “shit” apparently was okay.) Thought this was an interesting artifact of the period, in that early era of the Big Two testing the waters as to what they felt they could or could not do under the “for mature readers” label.

This is around the same time there was a big hoohar over comics ratings which, hoo boy, I’m not sure I’m ready to get into that whole thing. Will it help/hurt sales? Will it make it easier for The Usual Suspects to target certain books? This was also a period of fear that The Powers That Be were going to come down hard on comics content, wondering if a new Frederic Wertham was going to turn up. (Someone tried, if I recall correctly, but didn’t have quite the impact as Wertham did.)

Marvel itself was experiencing some distributor pushback against the for-mature-readers Moonshadow (as noted in Marx’s letter, and cited as a probable reason for the Sisterhood changes). And a few years prior there was some obscuring of a being’s naughty bits in the Dreadstar Annual‘s reprinting of Jim Starlin’s The Price graphic novel from Eclipse Comics.

Like I said, just thought this was interesting. Given what appears in even your standard issue Marvels and DCs, a lot of this concern over content may seem a little…quaint. But the journey from those early days of the Direct Market with DC and Marvel pushing at their respective envelopes, to superheroes facing off a naked blue man and his fully on-view wedding tackle in a Major Event Book, was a bumpy one. And still ongoing.

The “Archie” mentioned in the image was editor Archie Goodwin.

The Final ’80s Countdown, Part Eleven.

§ June 5th, 2023 § Filed under final countdown § 6 Comments

When I’m not busy annoying people way too into this Flash movie on Twitter, I’m writing about comics here…and that includes the next three titles on the “your favorite ’80s indies” list! Nearing the end of the one-voters here, after (good gravy) eleven installments of this, and I thank all of you for your kind indulgence.

A warning this week…two of the titles I know little or nothing about, and the third is one that probably shouldn’t have been included in the first place. How will your pal Mike overcome these, the worst hardships ever suffered by mortal man? Let’s find out together!

Sisterhood of Steel (Marvel/Epic 1984-1986)

This is one of those comics where the title is of course familiar to someone of my particular generation, growing up and discovering and reading and reading about comics in the 1980s. I knew it was part of Marvel’s Epic imprint of creator-owned comics. But aside from seeing ads for it in other Epic publications and in the comics press, I couldn’t have told yhou anything about it.

Well, other than it was about lady warriors, I suppose, as evident from the title. It took me doing research (i.e. looking at the Wikipedia entry) to learn that the central character of the book was a young warrior named Boronwë. The comic ran eight issues at Epic, and according to my “research,” a plan to continue the series in graphic novel format hit snags at that company, so the creators moved on to Eclipse Comics. There a single graphic novel (Baronwë: Daughter of Death) was published, and as far as I know that was that.

The creator of this comic was Christy Marx, with Mike Vosburg on art. The graphic novel was illustrated by the late Peter Ledger, who had been Marx’s first husband. So, strong talent all around, so I’m sure the comics read and looked wonderful. Unfortunately, I just never read them. And as far as I can tell, none of this material has been reprinted.

I think the original eight issue run, at least, is relatively easy to find. In fact, I spotted a few issues of it scattered throughout an enormous collection I just took in. I remember having stock of those at the previous place of employment, but I can only vaguely remember that graphic novel. Pretty sure we had it back then…I know my old boss would’ve ordered it…but I don’t think I’ve seen a copy in decades.

Seems like a shame this has been out of print for so long. Feels like something that might make a hardcover or something.
 
 
 
 
Space Ark (AC/Apple 1985-1987)

You got me, I’ve got nothin’ on this one. I knew the comic existed, but I can’t even say I sold any of these out the back issue bins while I was at the old shop. I certainly didn’t sell it new, as it wrapped up the year before I entered the business.

The comic is by Mark Cantrell and Ken Mitchroney…Cantrell’s name rings a bell, but a quick look on the Comics Database shows him mostly doing some things for AC Comics, a publisher I really haven’t read much from. Mitchroney’s name I do recognize for sure, most likely from his work on Marvel’s Ren and Stimpy series, though he also was the artist on Myth Conceptions, the follow-up to Myth Adventures (mostly illustrated by Phil Foglio, with Jim Valentino taking over the last couple of issues — am I padding this entry? Maybe).

The series ran five issues through two companies…the first two from AC, and the last three from Apple. (Should also note here the writer on issue #5 was author Steven R. Boyett.) A Space Ark short did appear as a back-up in Usagi Yojimbo #22, where the characters appear to cross over with that title’s lead. I don’t believe any of this material has been reprinted, save the Usagi story that apparently showed up in a German publication.

The comic was a humorous sci-fi adventure comic, featuring the anthropomorphic crew of the Space Ark, headed by Captain Stone (a fox…I mean, he was the animal the fox, not that he’s foxy, though, you know, maybe he is, again I didn’t read the comic). It seems like it’s in a similar mode as Adventures of Captain Jack, and I don’t know if I’m stepping on any toes by even mentioning that, and if so I apologize.

I mean…I know I like Mitchroney’s art, so I’m sure the book looks perfectly fine. I don’t know anything about the tone of the series, how comedic or “dramedic” or wacky or slapstick it might be. I promise, if a copy comes across my desk at my current shop, I’ll take a peek inside.

Special thanks to Wikifur for the additional research source.
 
 
 
 
The Spirit 1983 Series (Kitchen Sink 1983-1992)

Okay, by all rights I should have disqualified this one. This isn’t really in the spirit (cough) of “Favorite ’80s Title” as I’d meant it. The series (running 87 issues over a decade) was, as far as I can tell, mostly reprints in chronological order the post-war Spirit stories by Will Eisner and others. The covers appear to be all new illustrations by Eisner, which are nice.

Now, in no way am I disparaging the material here, and I’m not saying it lacks artistic or historical value by saying it doesn’t really belong in this ’80s comics overview. But it’s not ’80s comics, it’s 1940s and 1950s comics. Yes, there are the new covers, but, well, you know what I’m getting at. I was aiming for books created in the ’80s, specifically.

But on the other hand, this series did run almost 90 issues, the 40-year-old comics competing side-by-side on the comics rack next to, I don’t know, Dazzler and Nth Man and Haywire, and outlasting many of its competitors. I’m not going to say the material is timeless (one specific element remains…controversial), but Eisner’s art and storytelling is otherwise impeccable. Many of the comics that shared the shelves with these reprints owed a great deal to Eisner’s work of the period.

In conclusion, when I eventually do this for ’90s books, don’t nominate series that are all reprints of comics from earlier decades. This one I’ll let slide because, well, it’s Eisner. And who’s gonna stop me? I’M MAD WITH POWER. And yes, I know this may complicate the Miracleman entry a bit when I get to it.

• • •

Okay, enough with that. Only a couple of entries away before we move on to the comics that got two votes! Exciting, no? Thanks, as always, for reading, and I’ll see you on Wednesday probably.

Mike’s Lunchtime Update 3014.

§ June 2nd, 2023 § Filed under lunchtime update § 9 Comments

Just doing a quick early afternoon update since I was too dog-tired to write anything last night by the time I got home:

1. In response to several inquiries about doing something for ’90s comics like I’m currently doing for ’80s comics…well, maybe. Let me get through the ’80s comics first because, as a reminder, I’m on Part Ten and haven’t even finished the books that got single votes yet. This is going to take a while.

I was a little hesitant about doing it again at first, but, eh, why not. But not ’til after I’m done with the ’80s books, so don’t, like, start casting votes now or anything because I’m not going to count them.

2. CalvinPitt noted that when he and a buddy visited my store a while back, I had “talked [his] friend into buying Scooby Apocalypse,” which makes he think a little like maybe his friend thought I pulled one over on him. No, honest, I love Scooby Apocalypse, and I sincerely hold your friend liked it! Please, CalvinPitt, assuage my guilt!

3. Only had two songs in me today, sorry. See you back here on Monday!

Universal Variant Code.

§ May 31st, 2023 § Filed under variant covers § 1 Comment

It’s the stunning return of Variant Cover-age, only because I found one this oddball thing that threw me off for a bit. Now, from the front this copy of the the first issue for 1996’s Kingdom Come looks like your typical first printing of this item:


But when you flip it over to enjoy Alex Ross’s wraparound cover, you notice a strange ommission…no UPC code!


For comparison, here’s what supposed to be in that little white box at the bottom there:


Kingdom Come #1 had a second printing, which this book in question isn’t, as there’s no indication of being as such in the indicia, plus it doesn’t have one of these Roman numeral doodads on the front:


And the second print does have the UPC code, too.

Soooooo…I didn’t know what the deal with this comic was. But I wasn’t the first to be puzzled by this variant, as seen in this message board thread. The thread starts with some business about UPC stickers being plastered on some copies of Kingdom Come, but eventually gets into the blank UPC box thing. One person there says he has the Kingdom Come Collector’s Set in which there was a #3 with no UPC.

I found an eBay auction for the Collector’s Set, from which I liberated this image:


The auction was very thorough in its scanning, giving backs and fronts of all the covers of the included books. No UPC-codeless copies, but it did have two second prints like the message boarder reported with his set.

Thus, if we take the person on the message board at his word, then the collector set was perhaps at least one source for this particular variant. However, seemingly not a consistent one, based on that one eBay listing. (No other open copies seemed to be on eBay, either current or recently ended.) Were the blank UPC copies whipped up to help fill these collector’s sets, which also dipped into the 2nd printing stock? I don’t recall this variation being made available otherwise.

If you’ve seen this version of the Kingdom Come comics, or if you have one of the Collector’s Sets your own self, please report in and let me know. I’d like more data points to nail down the origin of this book.

The Final ’80s Countdown, Part Ten.

§ May 29th, 2023 § Filed under final countdown § 12 Comments

Well, still going through the one-voters from that “fave ’80s comics” survey I ran a while back. It’s been fun going through those and finding what, if anything, I have to say about these “golden oldies.” And I apologize to anyone I just aged into dust by calling these comics from the 1980s “golden oldies.”

This time ’round there’s gonna be a series of which I haven’t read one panel, and even as I’m typing this I have no idea what I’m going to say. Let’s find out together, shall we?

The Rocketeer (Pacific/Eclipse/Comico/Dark Horse 1982-1995)

So here’s another exception to the “list just the initial series” in the header. The Rocketeer was serialized over several years, through several publications and publishers, in what was essentially one ongoing narrative, so I just lumped ’em all together here.

The story, written by Dave Stevens and drawn by him with the occasional assistance on layouts ‘n’ such from folks like Jaime Hernandez, began as a back-up story in Starslayer #2 and #3 from Pacific Comics. From there it continued with two more chapters in consecutive issues of the Pacific Presents anthology (1982-3), then on to a longer installment in The Rocketeer Special Edition #1 from Eclipse in 1984. Comico then released two issues of what would be technically the first Rocketeer “ongoing” series, The Rocketeer Adventure Magazine in 1988-9. And then finally, in 1995, the last part of Stevens’ story would be released as Rocketeer Adventure Magazine #3 by Dark Horse. Phew!

The early chapters, pre-Adventure Magazine, are reprinted in a full-color graphic novel from Eclipse in 1985 (which includes a couple of extra new story pages). In the 2000s, IDW would release collected editions of the whole shebang.

It is a fun story, pulpy 1930s adventure featuring a guy and his rocket-pack, and his pals, including his girlfriend Betty, very obviously patterned after real-life model Bettie Page. Stevens’ art was beautiful and meticulous and there was nothing quite like it on the stands. Sometimes the art felt a little stiff to me, without any real sense of action, but that’s a minor quibble. Despite all the delays, including a car accident, a lawsuit (Marvel suing because they said there’d be market confusion between this character some minor villains called “the Rocketeers” from the ’70s, really about as bullshit a suit as they come), a movie (perhaps you’ve heard of it), Stevens persevered and completed his story on his own terms.

Stevens would never do any more Rocketeer stories, and passed away in 2008. However, there are plenty of other Rocketeer comics out there, including the 1991 adaptation of the film published by Disney’s comics division. Probably of note due to artwork by the legendary Russ Heath, over a Peter David script. Also in 1991 was Rocketeer 3D, which was oddly another adaptation of the film drawn by Neal Adams/Continuity Studios and in, as you may have guessed, 3D.

After Stevens passed, IDW acquired the rights to do new comics, starting with the Rocketeer Adventuresanthology in 2011. Now, the IDW comics can be of…varying quality, but by and large they’re entertaining even as everyone involved is surely aware they’re trying very hard to fill some big shoes. Keep an eye out for the Rocketeer/Spirit crossover from 2013, by Mark Waid and Paul Smith. That’s a good’un.
 
 
 
 
Savage Henry (Vortex/Rip Off 1987-1993)

The temptation to go to ChatGPT and ask it to write this particular section for me is overwhelming. But, learning the lesson from these lawyers getting caught out doing the same thing, I will opt to tell you what I can, considering I’ve not read a single panel of any of these comics.

I remember selling Savage Henry on the rack, but mostly I remember the other series by Matt Howarth from about the same time, Those Annoying Post Bros.. Howarth did some other comics here and there, and at the previous place of employment we just had a “Matt Howarth” section in the back issue bins where we kept them all together. On the somewhat infrequent occasion we had someone looking for his books, that customer was generally looking for issues of all of them, and just keeping them in the same place seemed to make sense.

This comic is in fact a spin-off of Those Annoying Post Bros., a sci-fi/fantasy adventure featuring the band The Bulldaggers and its lead guitarist, the titular Savage Henry. Yes, I had to go to the Wikipedia entry amongst my research (“Siri, tell me about Savage Henry”) and apparently there was a whole pile of real-life musicians who popped up in here. I mean, I knew the Residents popped up in Howarth’s books…I definitely remember that…but, like, Steve Roach? Hawkwind? Andrew Weiss? (No, not that Andrew Weiss.)

I always thought the covers stood out, and Howarth’s art is, I think, pretty neat. I’m sorry I never got around to reading these, I’m sure they’re enjoyable.

Oh, and Savage Henry ran 13 issues from Vortex, before switching over to Rip Off Press for another 17. From that point it had a few new minis from MU Press and Caliber. No collected editions as far as I can tell, but if I’m wrong, let me know.
 
 
 
 
Scout (Eclipse 1985-1987)

Scout was one of those titles I decided at one point, early in my career of funnybook retailin’, to collect and complete. I only ended up getting the first few issues, and can’t remember why I didn’t get more. It certainly wasn’t the quality, as the series was All Tim Truman, All the Time (except for some back-ups and a couple of guest-artist stints, by fellow Joe Kubert School alumni Rick Veitch, Steve Bissette, and Tom Yeates).

The comics feature the adventures of Native American Emanuel Santana in the near-future of a fallen America, seeking out the Great Monsters of the Apache. Inexplicably I do not own #17, which a tie-in to Tales of the Beanworld.

The initial run of Scout was 24 issues, and a couple of related mini-series not by Truman (New America and Swords of Texas. Truman would return with Scout: War Shaman, which would end after 16 issues in 1989. There’s also a Scout Handbook in there somewhere. More comics were planned, but as of yet had not been released. A hardcover for the third part of the planned saga, Scout: Warauders, was recently just funded on Kickstarter, so it looks like there’s more to come.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t brag mention my copy of the “Marauders” vinyl record by Timothy Truman and the Dixie Pistols. Becauyse, you know, it contains an 8-page Scout mini-comic. No collection is complete without it!

Reprints: Eclipse published a couple of trades back in the day, running up through issue #14 of the original series. Dynamite published a couple of reprint volumes in the early 2000s, which get up to issue #15, so…a full comprehensive printing has not yet been unleashed.

Anyway, it’s Truman, therefore it’s good. Look for those issues in the bargain boxes. There’s only a few dozen to track down, it’s not like you’ve got anything else to do.

• • •

And there’s your three for the day! Yes, I know this is taking forever but honestly it takes a lot to even do just three comics for these entries. A new entry in the Final ’80s Countdown is coming soon…thanks for reading, pals!

Just in time for me to have bought all those ROM back issues for the store, too.

§ May 26th, 2023 § Filed under marvel, publishing § 21 Comments

Well, this was as real week for “that’s the last thing I expected to hear”-type news, starting with the stunning return of failed-toy-but-reasonably-successful-comic-character ROM Spaceknight to Marvel Comics!

Now as far as anyone can tell, this “return” seems to be limited to reprinting the original material, in this case in those large Omnibus editions and at least one facsimile edition in the form of a reprint of issue #1. Also included will be those crossover issues that, previously, had been on the reprint-banned list and skipped over in trade collections for other characters. For example, an issue of Power Man and Iron Fist will be in Omnibus #1. (Which has me wondering…Peter David put an unarmored, totally human ROM in an issue of Incredible Hulk…will this Not Approved by the License Holder appearance get into an omnibus?)

At any rate, this is exciting news, with the license holder apparently discovering with the attempted ROM comics revival at another publisher a few years back that the ROM people want is the Marvel version. And my recommendation…if you want these, get your preorders in as soon as possible and buy them right away. No idea how long Marvel has the license, or under what restrictions (like how often can they reprint these books). I don’t know if waiting for cheaper “Epic” paperback collections would be wise.

And I don’t know if Marvel would be allowed to reissue some of their other trade collections that previously omitted any ROM appearances. Most notably, there’s an issue of Incredible Hulk that prominently featured the Spaceknight, #296 from 1984, that when reprinted had all of ROM’s appearances in the story replaced with text pieces explaining what happened without mentioning the character by his at that point unlicensed name. Be nice to have that fixed.

After the ROM announcement, people responded with “wow, now do the Micronauts,” and lo, Marvel done did the Micronauts. Like ROM, these comics will also be issued in the large Omnibus hardcover format, preceded by a facsimile edition of the initial Micronauts comic book. Most of the comments I made about the ROM reprints above can be applied to the Micronauts as well. Order early, order often!

I don’t think the Micronauts popped up in other Marvel comics as much as ROM did, but there’s at least the X-Men/Micronauts mini-series so hopefully that’ll make it in. Also, it’s actually pretty good.

The third, slightly less surprising news, is Image Comics announcing they’re shifting their distribution to Lunar. I mean, “less surprising” in that I figured another biggish publisher would split from Diamond and move elsewhere eventually, and that Image was one of the likely suspects.

Like with Marvel, Image will still be available through Diamond, but likely at a worse wholesale discount. This is a pretty significant hit to Diamond, I would think, and one I thought would be a fatal blow. But, given that apparently a number of retailers have stuck with Diamond for their Marvel business, despite it costing more, I imagine the same will occur with Image. So, you know, Diamond’s not done yet. But I can picture a day, maybe years from now, when the company will be “Your #1 Source for Sexy Anime Bikini Girl PVC Statues, and Only That!”

It will be nice to have a couple different sources for reorders, in case one of the other is out of stock on something. And the distributor competition has been good for Diamond, in that my shipments are relatively error free compared to, well, the last couple of decades. I know that’s not the case for everyone, as when I mentioned this on the Twitters I heard from another retailer that the missing/damaged books in his shipments have been just as bad, if not worse. As such, I’ll just consider myself lucky, and hope they’re not building up to a shipment where all my boxes are delivered on fire or something.
 
 

image from Incredible Hulk #418 (1994) by Peter David, Gary Frank and Cam Smith

The Final ’80s Countdown, Part Nine.

§ May 24th, 2023 § Filed under final countdown § 11 Comments

Continuing the look at your picks for favorite ’80s titles:

normalman (Aardvark-Vanaheim/Renegade Press 1984-1985)

If I can let you in on a little blogging secret here…I wrote the middle bit about Pirate Corp$ first, and spent a lot of time doing so, which doesn’t leave me much time for the other two entries here. As such, I’m going to cheat a little and quote from a post I wrote nearly ten years ago on the topic of the great normalman comic:

“I bought the first issue of normalman back in the early days of my ‘hey, I just found a comic shop and I really want to try comics by people other than Marvel and DC’ phase, mostly because, well, it looked like it would be funny.

“And it was! This probably remains my favorite work by Jim Valentino (then, only ‘Valentino’)…fun, goofy comics about the one guy without powers on a planet filled with superheroes and villains. I recognized the subjects of the parodies on each cover, even if I didn’t specifically know a whole lot about all of them at the time. A couple of friends of mine were also reading the series, and we had a good time talking about some of the gags in the book (such as the ongoing, issue-after-issue roll-call of the Legion of Super-Heroes parody, and the highly-entertaining-to-a-bunch-of-teenagers Man-Man, with his Ganja-Breath.”

I stand by all that. It’s a wonderful series, best experienced in its original individual-issue format with its great parody covers and original coloring, with the caveat that the final issue wrapping up the initial run is in 3D in case you have trouble reading such things. There have been a couple of reprint books (one from Slave Labor that reprints the first series, one from Image that seems to reprint nearly everything) that feature the story in 2-D.

There were follow-ups over the years, like Image’s normalman/Megaton Man special (that brings together lots of indie folks, especially Flaming Carrot), and the 20th Anniversary special in 2004. Hey, we’re due for a 40th anniversary special next year! Hear that, Valentino?

normalman started as a back-up in a couple of issues of Cerebus (#56-7) before popping up in his own series. He also made appearances in the Aardvark-Vanaheim AV in 3D book (1984), Marvel’s humor one-shot Epic Lite #1 (1991), a wild appearance in Journey, plus several other little bits and pieces that are reprinted in that big ol’ Image book. Not reprinted is the Max the Magnificent one-shot from Slave Labor in 1987, featuring the supporting character from normalman as well as normalman’s best pal Captain Everything.

Good stuff all around, with the initial mini being the best. Worth seeking out if you’ve not read it.
 
 
 
 
Pirate Corp$ (Eternity/Malibu 1987-1988)

Okay, usually what I try to do here is list the first ongoing series for each property I discuss here, post a representative issue from that intial run, then in the body of the text I mention the other related series, if any. In this particular case, after the Eternity/Malibu four issue run, there was a transitional issue, the Pirate Corp$ Special released by Slave Labor in 1989 before starting their own ongoing series. That’s what I’ve got pictured here, because that was the first issue I ever bought of this title, for the primary reason that the Fishbone band t-shirt the fella’s wearin’ on the cover caught my eye. Being quite the Fishbone fan at the time, I had to pick it up and check it out, and I’m glad I did.

It’s a sci-fi “dramedy” following a gang of misfits and outcasts that is more sci-fi adventure when it starts out, and progressively focuses less on that and more on character-based stories during its Slave Labor run. Evan Dorkin writes and draws the book, mostly in crisp black and white, detail-filled panels (though the first two Eternity issues are in color). In addition to the four issue Eternity series and the Special one-shot, there were five issues of Pirate Corp$ from Slave Labor from ’89 to ’92, which changed its name to Hectic Planet with #6 in 1993 to reflect the de-emphasizing of the whole “this is a corp$ of space pirates” thing. Apparently there’s a second print of #5 with the new Hectic Planet logo, which I was only reminded of when researching online.

Now I was looking for something else in my collection when I came across all my Pirate Corp$/Hectic Planet comics, so I pulled them out in case I needed to reference them for this now overly-wordy blog post. And it’s a good thing I did because I 100% forgot about Hectic PLanet: The Bummer Trilogy from 2001, which I think is the final “new” bit of this series to see print. “New” is in quotes because it’s reprinting three stories from the anthology series Dark Horse Presents. Oh, and almost forgot the Vroom Socko one-shot tie-in, published in 1993, collecting material from the British comics/music mag Deadline.

The original Eternity run was republished in two black and white issues from Slave Labor under the name Pirate Corp$: The Blunder Years, and there were three trade paperbacks under the name Hectic Planet reprinting the PC/HP series with additional material.

It’s a fun series, well worth seeking out, and those three trades are likely the definitive version so look for those. (“The Bummer Trilogy” may not be included, as it was coming out around the same time as these trades. I can’t tell from the solicits on Diamond’s website and the Comics Database doesn’t have them indexed.)

One more thing, because at this point why not type more: at my previous place of employment, when these comics were being released, all of us at the shop were huge fans and recommended the comic to whomever we thought would be likely suspects. At one point our orders on the title were so high we’d get phone calls from the distributor asking if we’d meant to order that many, or if, like, a finger slipping filling out the numbers or something. “Nope, we want ’em all!” we said, and eventually we figured out we were selling about 5% of the comic’s print run. My former boss Ralph ran into Mr. Dorkin at the San Diego Con about that time and related our sales on the book to him, and according to Ralph he jumped right up and shook his hand. I certainly hope that moment made Mr. Dorkin happy, as much as his comics were, and still are, making us happy.

BONUS: this post from a couple of years ago where I show off an original Pirate Corp$ sketch in my possession, along with a much more pithy appreciation of the comic.
 
 
 
Puma Blues (Aardvark-One International/Mirage Studios 1986-1989)

Again, see my intro for normalman above, as I’m not leaving myself much time to write about this lushly-illustrated series. You owe it to yourself to find the originals for the covers alone, as they don’t make it into this otherwise exceptional hardcover collection.

I said back in that linked post that this was a dense, challenging, and rewarding read, set in the near future of the year 2000. It takes place years after a nuclear event set off by terrorists wipes out a good chunk of America’s wilderness, and nature’s recovery and the resultant mutated animals are the object of study. Again, it’s been a while since I’ve read this, despite having that big ol’ brick of the book in my possession, but it’s one I’ve been meaning to get back to someday. It’s simply just beautiful to look at.

And as I like to remind people whenever this comes up, Puma Blues unfortunately ended up in a dispute between Dave Sim and Diamond Comics Distributors. Dave decided to sell the Cerebus book High Society trade outside of Diamond, and Diamond retaliated by not carrying Puma Blues. Wild times.

• • •

Good gravy, that’s enough for tonight. Back to it next week! Thanks for reading, pals.

They should redo this book in, like, Minecraft graphics.

§ May 22nd, 2023 § Filed under batman § 15 Comments

Just a very quick follow-up on last week’s postings about naughty words in comics…I of course found this panel almost too late to use, which I think you’re agree is perfect:


Found this while flipping through Pepe Moreno’s Batman: Digital Justice graphic novel. I’d posted it on the Twitters, and I felt like it’d been long enough since it was released that I had to explain, no, this was an actual thing that was officially released by DC and not an A.I.-generated abomination. It was a human-made abomination, thank you very much!

But I tease Batman: Digital Justice, which was hailed as a ground-breaking concept, and it was, in a way, in that computers are used in pretty much every level of comic book production. Only things don’t look quite so…computer-y nowadays. Unless they do so on purpose, natch. But Digital Justice was a leap beyond something like the computer-crafted comics Shatter, the look of which I think still holds up in its pixelated retro fashion.

It’s honestly been a while since I’ve read this, but I did read it…it came out in 1990, when you just had to slap a Bat-logo on something and people bought it. And people did buy this graphic novel by the truckload, at least at my former shop. In the decades since copies have popped up in collections now and again and the book is…not the easiest sell now. It’s not primitive-looking enough to be kitsch like Shatter, but just polished enough to look odd to the modern eye. I don’t know if the story itself holds up…Joker gets computerized something something and I’m sure every inch of this book is very much Of Its Time, but then you can say that about pretty much any Batman comic.

So share a kind thought for Batman: Digital Justice, one of the very few Bat-books that will probably not get reprinted anytime soon. But if you ever need a copy, thankfully they’re not hard to find.

Also, when I posted the above panel on Twitter, I thought for certain someone would respond with a certain other panel, but nobody did. Thus, it is up to me:


The circle is complete.

Purge Code Authority – All Words Are Legal.

§ May 19th, 2023 § Filed under publishing § 23 Comments

So in talking about nudity in the Planet of the Apes film and comic I somehow neglected to awkwardly squeeze in my old joke about the French sex farce installment of the franchise Do the Carpets Match the Apes? Ah well, maybe next time.

Anyhow, last time I was talking about how the comic book softened the language just a tad for the last lines of the original POTA, and that the particular phrase would not make its first Comics Code-approved appearance ’til an issue of Justice League in the 1980s. There was a question in the comments from “S” wondering if I meant the word “damn,” leading to this coming clarification.

“Damn,” as we know, has a long history in the funnybooks, though I feel like Marvel kinda avoided using that and “hell” throughout the ’80s, despite leaning hard on them in the ’70s. I do wonder what the first appearance of both would be in comics?

What I was referring to was a slightly stronger epithet, as Taylor says here in the clip from the film. He says “damn” first, then the term I was specifically referencing. NOTE: this spoils the end of the 1968 Planet of the Apes, so if you somehow haven’t seen it yet, please don’t let me be the one who ruins the surprise. BEHOLD THE CLIP.

And as presented in issue #6 of Adventures on the Planet of the Apes (again, reprinted from the black and white magazine), a somewhat bowlderized, certainly less scene-chewing, version of the same event:


That’s the difference of which I was speaking. One invokes God, the other does not.

And here, from Justice League International #12 (1988), is what I believe to be its first use in a Code-approved book:


I presume separating it out in different word balloons helped lighten the impact to let it slip through.

As long as we’re on the topic, the first Code-approved use of “shit” (almost certainly by accident…someone in the Comics Code offices probably just assumed everything was good and rubber-stamped this approval, if anyone bothered to submit it at all) was DC’s adaptation of Star Trek: Generations (the newsstand/”standard” format edition).

First Code-approved version of “pissed off” was, I think, 1989’s Justice League International #23 (Justice League, always pushing that edge!), which I pointed out just a few months ago.

“Asshole” didn’t make it into a Code-approved book, I’m pretty sure, but it did pop up in the first issue of Final Crisis, which was a big DC event book and a weird place for it to appear. (I can’t spot it in the digital version, and my print versions are currently in reorganization limbo, so I’ll have to follow up later.)

I’m sure “ass” all on its lonesome appeared in a Code book at some point, because it sure turns up all the time in superhero comics now. I don’t think “dick” (as in “that guy’s a…” not “whoa, look at the size of that…”) got the CCA stamp at any point, but I think it’s been in the mainstream superhero books of late on rare occasions.

With the Code dead, we’re not going to get to watch more naughtiness still slip through its net (like a “hey, fuck you, Wolverine!” in Uncanny X-Men #Reboot+), but maybe more past examples will show up. I would be curious as to what the earliest examples were of each word appearing in a Code-approved (or at least otherwise standard mainstream superhero comic, either Pre or Post-Code).

I hope I don’t come across as some pearl-clutcher, aghast at such salty language appearing in Little Billy’s comics. Honestly, I’m just amused by how standards change over time, or (in the likely case of the Trek comic) just get bypassed entirely on occasion. It does make it harder for me to just tell a parent “oh sure that comic’s fine for your kid!” only to have that parent march up to me a few minutes later and point out someone in the story shouting “oh hell, my damn balls!” or whatever.

Not that it was easy before, like that one mom who objected to reprints of Steve Ditko’s Spider-Man comics because the women were “too sexy.” …Um, are we talking about the same Steve Ditko here…?”

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