Mike Sterling's Progressive RuinThe reason cows are out of season since 1969

DC Follies.

§ May 17th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on DC Follies.

I know I’m Johnny DC-come-lately in linking to the new DC solicitaion information, but I had to comment on this:

“JSA: STRANGE ADVENTURES #1 …Johnny Thunder decides to become a big-time pulp writer by chronicling the adventures of the JSA. Taken under the writing wing of legendary, real-life science-fiction Grand Master Jack Williamson, Johnny tries his best….” Well, that’s pretty neat! What I wouldn’t give to see Williamson on a cover fighting, oh, I don’t know, the Fiddler or something.

§ May 17th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

Well, I was going to post a sprawling screed about “middle-ground” comics magazines (discussed here, here, here, and here, and probably other places too), but then pal Dorian did it a heck of a lot more succinctly than I would have.

Basic gist of my post That Will Not Be…I want Amazing Heroes back. It covered both the superhero beat and the indies, and usually did so with intelligence and irreverence in the proper proportions. And most importantly…no price guide!

I also came to the realization as I was writing that post that I’d been reading The Comics Journal since I was 13…that means I’ve been buying an issue of TCJ every month (or so) for 22 years. Good gravy. And I don’t know if I’d describe the mag as “elitist” — I think if I were to be as bold as to sum up TCJ‘s publishing philosophy, it would be “entertainment doesn’t have to be stupid.” That’s a dangerous attitude to have in a society that encourages this sort of behavior, but there you go.

In other news:

• Once again, Milo George comes through with some nice flavor text for a cover I posted.
• More Grimjack news can be found here and here. I’m very happy about this…Grimjack was one of my favorite titles, and I still remember a long-ago interview with John Ostrander about future plans for the character that, due to the fall of First Comics, never came to pass.
• A new trailer for The Incredibles is up…turns out there’s a character in this film called “Elasticgirl.” Isn’t that name taken? (Okay, so there’s a hyphen missing.)
  

And, at long last, a review of another Ait/Planetlar book…it’s Electric Girl Volume 1 by Michael Brennan. It’s a fun and very charming book, focusing on a young lass named Virginia who has been given powers over electricity by…well, an invisible gremlin (named Oogleeoog) that only Virginia can see. Now, these aren’t Lightning Lad-type hurling electrical bolts-type powers…these are more like kicking back on the couch and recharging batteries-type powers.

This is a superhero comic stripped down to its barest essence…yes, you have the standard “villains” (killer robot, zombie, mad inventor) but treated in a light fashion, and filtered through the matter-of-fact perspective of the protagonist. It’s all great fun, and it feels more like you’re just following the life of a normal girl (er…as normal as you can get with electric powers and an invisible gremlin) than like traditional super-adventures.

The supporting characters are a hoot, too…Oogleeoog functions as an annoyance in Virginia’s life, but you get the feeling that, despite the fact that his job is to cause problems, he really does care for Virginia and her welfare (most evident in the story, which takes place when Virginia is much younger, where the gremlin tries to circumvent the rules under which he must operate in order to protect her from a possible kidnapper). And then there’s Virginia’s dog Blammo (whose name is the result of another of Oogleeoog’s pranks)…this squat little fellow is quite a character himself, a nice visual gag whose interactions with Oogleeoog and his own solo adventures are always good for a laugh.

The art is very simple and cartoony, and very emotive…faces aren’t much more than a couple dots and dashes, but Brennan squeezes a great deal of expression out of them.

This book is a lot of fun…I have volume 2 here as well, and I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but I expect it’ll be just as good as the first one. Recommended for fans of Andi Watson’s work…and it’s an All Ages book, so I recommend it any comics-inclined kids as well.

§ May 17th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

Word on the street (well, on Johanna’s weblog) is that Grimjack is finally, finally, coming back.

Read more about it on Grimjack co-creator John Ostrander’s message board.

§ May 16th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

Wonder Woman #159 (January 1966)

§ May 15th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

Peter David’s new project for Marvel was apparently announced at the Motor City Comic Con today…Madrox, starring that multiple-mutant Jamie Madrox, according to the people who attended said convention (look in the comments section of this post).

Best part? The return of Strong Guy! Hey, stop laughing, you — I liked him!

§ May 15th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

You know, as long as DC Comics is doing replica editions of old annuals and 80-page giants, why not do one of the 1962 Tasmanian Devil and His Tasty Friends 80 page one-shot from Gold Key (image here)? I mean, DC is owned by Warner Brothers, and they’ve reprinted stories from the Dell and Gold Key Warner Brothers comics before. I get asked for Tasmanian Devil comics all the time…sure, half the time it’s people looking for reference art for tattoos*, but still, kids and adults want their Taz, and it’s getting harder and harder to track down Taz stories in the Looney Tunes comics (both old and new).

* Okay, more like 75% of the time.

§ May 14th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

So a couple days ago I made a passing mention of the retailer accepting returns on Micah Wright’s comics, and made the comment that I wasn’t sure if anyone was really buying those comics based on Wright’s invented military service. Well, the retailer in question popped in and noted that he said the same thing in the column I linked to, which I somehow managed to overlook in my rush to get my post done that day…otherwise, I would have mentioned it. He also notes that no one’s taken him up on the deal yet, but you know what? That doesn’t really matter. The offer alone is enough to generate a great deal of goodwill among your customers, even if they do decide to hang onto their Stormwatch issues. Plus, since this particular topic has been all the rage in the “comicsweblogosphere” and in the real world, this is a good way to get people talking about your store. Hey, as a longtime seller of funnybooks myself, I can appreciate a good publicity stunt when I see one! Like I told him…wish I’d thought of it myself.

I’ve actually been thinking a bit about store publicity lately, as the store I manage is quickly approaching its 25th anniversary and I’d like to try to cook up something special…like a big party for the customers, or a commemorative comic book, or something. (What…”a sale?” Okay, who said that!) I haven’t used this weblog to plug my place of employment, if only because I don’t want any hard feelings generated (inadvertently, certainly) by this site to reflect poorly on the store (or vice versa, har har), but maybe once the 25th anniversary arrives, I’ll have to change that policy.

On other topics:

Near Mint Heroes and Thought Balloons are link-posting madmen! I tried to do the links-weblog thing very early on, but not to the extent that these folks can manage. Journalista may be resting at the moment, but these guys more than make up for it.

My evil Canadian twin Steven Wintle, beneath a great Night Nurse cover, makes a brief mention of Flat Earth’s impending “termination date”…wha huh? What did I miss? Surely this can’t be so!

I’m not entirely sure what to make of Beatles and Bizarros, but thank God it exists.

The many enemies of Superman…

§ May 14th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on The many enemies of Superman…

from Superman #419 (May 1986) by Elliot S! Maggin, Curt Swan, & Dave Hunt

(via pal Corey)

§ May 13th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

Larry Young lists my little ol’ site here as one of his daily weblog stops, which I’m very flattered by. I also owe Big Larry another review of one of his books, so we should see one of those shortly.

In the meantime…you know, you’re not really a weblog until you post pictures of your cats. I don’t have any cats, but I do have this:

Four Color #750 (1956)

§ May 12th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

1. New comics day…but I don’t really have anything to say about the comics that came out today. Claremont and Byrne’s JLA continues, and the art shows a slight improvement over the last issue. Not enough Crucifer in this issue, though, sadly. Action Comics #815 continues the “big, loud, and stupid” storytelling from the first issue…and I don’t mean that in a bad way. Geoff Johns nostalgia-fest JSA #61 digs up some old 1970s continuity for this issue, while prepping the Hal Jordan Spectre for the Big Secret Changes we pretty much all know about.

2. Also, pal Dorian and I, after looking at the previews for next weeks’ X-Men-related comics, have jointly decided to pretend that the X-Men stories ended with Grant Morrison’s last issue.

3. Evil genius Milo George has provided the humorous text sorely lacking in my most recent Batman cover posting.

4. A little bird told me that a comic shop is offering to take returns from customers on any comics written by Micah Wright (scroll way down), following the revelation that Wright didn’t serve in the military as he claimed. I’m not sure how I feel about that…yes, it’s interesting and a nice gesture, but I don’t know if any comics fan bought Stormwatch because of Wright’s alleged war record. Maybe you can make the argument that his invented history did influence purchases of this book, but the comics? I’m not so sure.

5. Heidi MacDonald responds on her weblog to the online brouhaha regarding her comics blogging article in the Comic Buyer’s Guide. I did read the column in question, and aside from briefly noting to myself “someone’s not going to be happy about this” I didn’t really think a whole lot about it. So she thinks some weblogs are dopey. Hey, who doesn’t? I know mine is! (via Grotesque Anatomy)

6. On a Blogger-related note…I’ve been having more trouble than usual getting my weblog updated, due to connection time-outs and whatnot probably caused by heavier-than-expected traffic on Blogger’s servers. I’ve been lucky so far, but sooner or later my luck’s gonna run out and I won’t be able to get my weblog updated, thus blowing the “posting every day” streak that I’ve kept up since this website started. Have any other Blogger users had this problem?