There’s no limb I won’t go out on.
So Dave (of the fine and good Yet Another Comics Blog) points out that the new Legion series is not going to have 40 pages of story in each issue, as I said, but rather that each issue would be 40 pages long, ads and all, comparable to the first issue of Seaguy. That would still be 32 or so pages of story, about 10 more than your average funnybook…not bad, but I think we’ll still see a drop in page count (or a price increase) before too long.
And then there’s pal Mark, he of Dorothy of Oz fame, who makes the (I believe) very correct claim that in issue 25 of Saga of The Swamp Thing, it’s a caricature of Sting, not John Constantine, who makes an appearance. However, due to the physical similarities, some people have claimed that issue 25 marks a “cameo” appearance of Constantine, predating his actual first appearance by over a year. In fact, look at this exchange in the letters column of Swamp Thing #54 (Nov 1986):
“Close scrutiny has brought forth one fascinating observation I’d like to share with you concerning Mr. Constantine. Everyone knows he made his debut in ST #37. But has anyone taken a close look at issue #25? … In panel 2 [of page 21] a sobbing Abigail Cable is standing next to – yeah, that’s right – John Constantine! I always wondered how Constantine could have known so much about Abby and Swampy. The bloke must’ve been following them around for months, maybe years.”
And the official editorial reply, from Karen Berger her own self:
“Aren’t you the observant one…. Great spotting on Constantine’s first appearance.”
I’m sure this is just Karen keeping a fan happy, but I’m sure you see where the confusion comes in.
Anyway, the very reason Constantine was created was because the Swamp Thing artists at the time (Steve Bissette and John Totleben) wanted to have Sting as a character in the series (cited in this Alan Moore interview excerpted here). Which, in a roundabout way, brings me to a possible reason behind the casting of Keanu Reeves in the Constantine movie.
Remember the Rocketeer movie, based on the comic by Dave Stevens? The Rocketeer’s girlfriend was named Betty, after the famous 50s pin-up model Betty (or Bettie) Page, and she was at least in part modeled after her. Well, in the movie version, that character’s name was changed to “Jenny,” reportedly out of fears that Page could possibly sue.
Well, according to that page I linked to previously, Sting is aware that there’s a comic book character based on him, and that DC did have some fear that there could be grounds for a lawsuit. Perhaps the people behind the Constantine movie, realizing this, made a conscious effort to separate the Constantine character from its origins as much as possible, as a big-time Hollywood movie with an equally big-time budget may be more of a target for legal action than a small-fry comic book with a cult following. So, instead of a blond Englishman, we get a black-haired American. “See, Mr. Sting, it’s nothing like you!”
Or, more likely, Reeves was the one who said “yes” to the script.
Anyway, all this pondering makes my brain hurt. Mike no like think.
