Superfolks should be out this week in your finer comic shops, in a new edition from About Comics. It’s an interesting read…varies widely in tone from cartoonish parody to social satire, but it’s compelling stuff for those of us who have been reading comics for a while, and can see where its influence has played out in the industry.
I came across this months-old discussion of aborted DC Comics projects that I found interesting…and one of the items discussed, the New Teen Titans graphic novel Games by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, is, after all these years, back in production. If only the same would happen to, say, Joe Kubert’s Redeemer, but how likely is that, at this point.
Further discussion of Alan Moore’s proposed DC crossover series (and alleged Kingdom Come inspiration) Twilight can be found here. And here’s a brief mention of Rick Veitch’s proposed King Hell DC crossover series – in Spanish.
Then there are those series that got cut off midstream…like Mike Baron and Barry Crain’s Sonic Distruptors (only other site with anything of significance is here – where he also mentions that he can’t find any sites on the series) – I seem to have a very vague memory of a blurb in an Amazing Heroes news column suggesting that the series would be concluded in a graphic novel by Baron and Mike Mignola. Which, of course, didn’t happen.
Andy Helfer and Kyle Baker’s Shadow series is another famous example of runs cut short…probably because the owners of the Shadow had heart attacks when they saw what was done to him – take a look at the last cover for the best example. I thought it was a hoot, myself. And, once again, my aforementioned vague memory seems to tell me that a wrap-up graphic novel by Helfer and Baker was announced as well…my guess is that it never got past the “no way are you going to be allowed to do that!” stage. Oh, well.
(And this has nothing to do with comics, really…but I found this page during my Google searches, and goodness, how old is that Quicktime logo?)
What’s the stupidest way they could bring back Hal?
First (and best) response: “Carol Ferris gets pregnant, baby Hal crawls out (complete with costume and/or facemask).”
(“Have him become the new Spectre” is a very close second.)
Kudos to my friend Corey for bringing this important topic to my attention.
Andy just pointed out on his excellent site that Sony Pictures is promoting Spider-Man 2 by offering Blogger and Livejournal templates and icons.
Well, give them credit for trying something different, anyway.
(Where’s my Santa Sangre template?)
I was looking for information online about the sadly-incompleted Fantagraphics mini-series Eye of Mongombo (the only thing I found of significance, beyond sale listings, was a mention halfway down the page in an outdated comic FAQ), and I found this page listing comic book characters that physically transform into either animals or the opposite sex. It’s just part of a larger site that catalogs such examples of shapeshifting in books, movies, paintings, etc. Keep in mind the elaborate list of notations as you peruse the entries.
God bless the internet.
Chester Brown, who brought us the alternately nightmarish/dreamlike comic book Yummy Fur (which gave us the immortal piece of dialogue “I’m not a penis! I’m the President of the United States!”), and the unfortunately truncated Underwater (not to mention the Bible adaptation back-ups in both series), recently had a hardcover collection of his Louis Riel: A Comic Strip Biography released by Drawn & Quarterly. It is honestly one of the best looking hardcovers I’ve ever seen.
In searching for links, I found a missing-the-point review of Yummy Fur collection The Playboy [EDIT: link dead] (the review from May 28, 2001), and some three-year-old news about a Yummy Fur movie [EDIT: link dead]. Wha huh? There’s a Yummy Fur band, too.
(post updated 7/2016)
My pal Dorian, after looking at the preview copy of next week’s New X-Men #150: “Boy, the hardcore X-Men fans are going to hate this issue.”
Me: “Why, does something fun and interesting happen?”
Dorian: “Yup.”
(post updated 7/2016)
All the other comic weblogs are doing it…so here’s one of my favorite superhero comic book covers:
Okay, so it’s not within the last 10 years…don’t bring me down with your “rules,” old man.
Honestly, though…Doane’s choice [EDIT: link dead] is very nice…it’s hard to argue with Seth, who is a master of layout and design. You can’t go too wrong with Brian Bolland, either.
(post updated 7/2016)
My friend Corey and I were talking about comics today. Specifically, we were talking about Steve Englehart’s run on Green Lantern (and the series it turned into, The Green Lantern Corps) from the late-80…and we were just laughing and laughing. We both really loved these comics…not because they were any good, but because they were just equal parts silly, over-the-top, and outright insane. Englehart brought us a dead Green Lantern kept alive by his ring, a funny-animal GL (Ch’p), Kilowog hanging out with Gorbachev, Arisia aging herself with her ring to pursue a relationship with Hal Jordan, bizarre sexual tension between Hector Hammond and Star Sapphire, of all people…all kinds of craziness was going on in this comic. And there was a real sense of menace (well, B-movie level menace) from the villains, too…old GL nemesis Sinestro seemed more dangerous than ever, and before he became a buffoon (and way before he became some kind of shape changing alien warrior…wha huh?), Guy Gardner was a fairly threatening villain as well.
Anyway, these GLs were a hoot. Just plain ol’ stupid fun comic books. You look at some of the fans in the online message forums, and you’d think there’s no room for a comic that makes you laugh anymore. They’re all so serious, and and so concerned with the characters’ “dignity.” Sigh. I’ll tell you what…Englehart’s GL was a damn sight more entertaining than that whole Jim Lee/Batman/Hush thing.
(post updated 7/2016)
I honestly didn’t intend this to turn into yet another comics weblog, but, well, sometimes things just happen. So, to make up for it, here’s a link to a site that, as far as I can tell, has nothing to do with comics whatsoever.
(post updated 7/2016)
