You are currently browsing the archives for December, 2004
§ December 14th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on
Found via FARK, an article about The Superhero Book in which the book’s author claims the stupidest idea in comics is “super pets,” like Krypto or Beppo the Super Monkey. If by “the stupidest,” she means “the most absolutely fantastic,” then I agree completely.
On Crocodile Caucus (just added to my weblog listing, by the way) is a discussion of the apparently much-missed Amethyst Princess of Gemworld, judging by reaction elsewhere on comicsweblogosphere. Early on in this weblog of mine, I suggested (under January 11, if it doesn’t load correctly) that Amethyst would be a good candidate for a manga-sized trade. I still think it’s a good idea…I’d bet it’s a franchise just waiting to happen for DC, who could use some more female lead characters.
§ December 13th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on
Though my first official day of shopping today was not as bad as I’d feared, it was still bad enough to put me in mind of one of my favorite bits of writing regarding the season, courtesy Charles Dickens and Ebenezer Scrooge:
from Marvel Classics #36 (1978)
Okay, it’s not
word-for-word from Dickens, but you get the idea!
§ December 13th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Amazing World of DC Comics Special Edition #1
The temptation to just leave that image in a post of its own was overwhelming, I’ll have you know. Since I’m a nice guy, I’ll tell you that it came from this publication, which I just obtained recently:
This was a special digest-sized edition of DC Comics in-house fanzine, produced specifically for a Superman-focused convention in New York. Some of the contents include a short history of DC Comics, an “interview” with the
Earth-One and Earth-Two Supermen (written by E. Nelson Bridwell), a gallery of different artists’ interpretations of the Man of Steel, a reprint of “How Superman Would End The War” (produced by creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster for
Look magazine in 1940), a reprint of a comic drawn by Curt Swan and Stan Kay as a Kellogg’s cereral premium – here’s a sample panel:
…plus an article by Jack C. Harris on the origins of various heroes’ costumes, including this great shot of Superman as the Devil:
…and pencil roughs by Neal Adams for an unpublished(?) Supes story:
You can read more about this issue, and other issues in the
Amazing World of DC Comics series at
this site. (The link to the page about this Special Edition appears to have a typo…you can reach it
here.)
§ December 12th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on
1. Don’t know how I missed it on Friday, but Scott Saavedra posted his proposed revamp of Swamp Thing.
I’d buy it in a heartbeat.
2. Given the discussion on this here weblog of the recognizability, or lack thereof, of Superman by the general public, I was amused when I came across this Action Comics cover on a related theme.
§ December 12th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on
1. Okay, so after the short discussion in the comments section of my post on Friday, I may have to reconsider what I thought was the universal knowledge of the character of Superman. However, at the very least, most people should be able to look at a guy in a red cape and blue tights and recognize him as the corporate symbol of “Superman,” even if they know absolutely nothing about the character. You know, much in the same way people see Mickey Mouse…they know he represents Disney, but any details of his personality or adventures or relationships with other characters are long since supplanted by his primary existence as a corporate trademark.
I hate to think of Superman heading in that same direction, but perhaps someday Superman will only be known as a generic representation of “a super guy” — Luthor, Lois, the Daily Planet, all forgotten except by the 30,000 people who buy his comics each month.
Not a day goes by when I don’t see Superman’s “S” emblem as a (probably unlicensed) decal on the rear window or bumper of a car…I wonder if there’s a percentage of people with these stickers who have no idea who Superman is.
1a. I wonder, when the first Tim Burton Batman movie came out, how many people were surprised to find out that Batman’s origin involved the death of his parents? I don’t believe it was ever explicitly stated on the 1960s TV show, which is how most people knew the character.
How many people thought the filmmakers got David Banner’s name wrong (“What? ‘Bruce?’ Who’s that?”) in the recent Hulk movie?
When I saw the Lord of the Rings movie in the theatre, after the film was over, someone sitting behind me expressed astonishment that the story was going to continue into a second movie. So, really, I guess I shouldn’t assume that certain bits of knowledge are known by everyone.
2. Last night’s Justice League Unlimited was the long-awaited episode written by Warren Ellis, and it was worth the wait. Ellis delivered what the people wanted…a gaggle of super-heroes and a whole lot of mayhem, with a smattering of amusing dialogue that probably annoyed some overly-serious superhero fan somewhere. Not me, though…with Atom’s complaint of being “tired and old,” and Batman somewhat sarcastically noting that he was in need of help since he couldn’t fly, there were some honestly-earned grins along with the action.
It was also nice to see an alien spaceship that looked…really alien, for once. Plus, we finally got to see the Shining Knight in action! Given that it seems like 75% of the members of the Justice League either a) fly and punch, or b) fly and shoot energy beams out of their hands, focusing on the member that’s carrying a sword and riding a flying horse brings some welcome variety. The characters whose sole powers appear to be the ability to shoot guns (Nemesis and the Vigilante) show up as well.
Overall, a fun episode…one of the few to actually take full advantage of the large cast of characters.
3. H doesn’t like the new Swamp Thing series. That’s (sniff) that’s okay…it’s fine, really, you don’t have to like it. (sniff)
§ December 11th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on
Just on a whim, I did a Google search on the phrase “I’m chalk,” just to see what would pop up (given the frequency that particular phrase occurs on this site), and I ended up discovering that a lot of people use the phrase “I’m chalk-full” instead of the correct “I’m chock-full.”
Yeah, I know, exciting.
§ December 11th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on
§ December 10th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on My Day with Dorian
- D: “You know what we need? We need more gay comic bloggers.”
(pause)
M: “Um…why are you looking at me?”
- You know what’s fun to see? Girls trying to flirt with Dorian at the store. And no, no one ever tries to flirt with me…aside from Dorian’s boyfriend. I’m not sure what conclusion I should draw from that.
- M: “You know, if they do make a new Superman movie, they should just skip the whole origin sequence thing. Everyone should know it by now.”
D: “No, they don’t. Most people don’t know anything about Superman.”
M: (eyes widen in shock; monocle goes flying off) “WHAT? Superman’s like one of the most recognized fictional characters in the world! Maybe they don’t know the exact details, but at least they know the ‘strange visitor from another planet’ business!”
D: “You know it because you manage a comic shop. Comic fans, maybe little kids who watched the cartoon, and that’s about it. The majority of the audience doesn’t know or care.”
M: “Buh-buh-buh” — and that’s when the gunplay started.
§ December 10th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on
1. Regarding that link to the article about Japanese animation I posted last night: if you can believe it, that was actually on Yahoo‘s front page as a featured news story! Okay, I know not everyone is as mired in this stuff as I am, or as most of you are, so it’s likely news for a lot of people somewhere, but it was still amusing.
FARK seems to have picked up on this as well, and the accompanying discussion is the “anime is kewl” / “anime is teh suck” debate that you’re probably already imagining.
1a. Speaking of news articles related to our hobbies: when was the last time any of you saw a “BAM! POW! Comics Aren’t for Kids!” (or “BAM! POW! Comics Are Big Money!” or whatever) headlined news story in the wild? I don’t mean ironic uses in the comics press…I mean in, like, an Associated Press article, or in a local weekly paper, or anywhere else that doesn’t balk at using references to a 40-year-old TV show* when writing their headlines. I think it’s been a good decade since I’ve seen a headline like that…but then, I haven’t been looking.
2. There’s this Metafilter post regarding the comics market boom and subsequent bust, with a link to someone relating his experiences as a comic dealer during said boom/bust.
As someone who rode out that particular period, the one thing that sticks in my head is the large number of people asking for “comic book Becketts.” The Beckett guides, for those of you who don’t know, are prices guides focusing on sports cards. For some reason, people were leaving the sports card hobby in droves and diving headfirst into comics as the “hot, new collectible.”
I also remember getting asked a lot about what comics would be good “investments.” My general answer was that they should buy comics they like to read, so that they’ll always be worth something to them. But not enough people listened, I’m afraid.
3. Yesterday at work, pal Dorian was looking at the latest San Diego Comic Con update flyer, and read aloud the phrase “John Cassaday, best known for his work on Astonishing X-Men….” I responded that this was probably a fair statement, since more people are reading Astonishing than Cassaday’s other major project, Planetary.
However, which series do you think people will still be reading in 5 years? Or 10 years? The series published by the company whose parent company has shown a long-term commitment to their trade paperback program, or the company who has let even their most recent paperback releases go into spotty availability? Plus, as soon as the new hot writer and/or fad comes along and sends the X-titles into yet another direction, support for the older “new” directions will drop in favor of the new “new direction.”
Of course, it helps that Planetary, when it is done, will be a self-contained unit. Contrast that with Astonishing, which will be just a sequence of chapters in the ongoing serial of the X-titles.
3a. I don’t intend this as a criticism of Whedon and Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men run, honestly. Cassaday’s art is, as always, stunning, and Whedon…well, the comic’s not aimed at me, but I can tell that Whedon is at least attempting to tell a story sans the usual Claremontisms and continuity baggage, and with a light sprinkling of wit. As X-Men comics go, it’s not a wire hanger in the eye.
4. Recently acquired at the shop: a big ol’ pile of Classics Illustrated and several Dell and Gold Key comics of the ’60s and very early ’70s, plus a smattering of Marvel monster books and some of your standard-issue nutty ACG comics. Expect to see some of these popping up over the next few weeks, both here and on Dorian’s site. I’ve got a good one for tomorrow, so be sure to tune in.
Anyway, some of the Classics we received were some of the harder-to-find ones…the later issues that only had three or so printings (compare to the first issue, “The Three Musketeers,” which went through over 20 printings). There are a couple I’ve never seen in all these years, such as #166 (“Tigers and Traitors”).
As I was noted the printings of each of the Classics we received, I started thinking about this series…why did some issues go into multiple printings, while some (such as the Edgar Allan Poe issues) have only a couple printings, and a handful (such as Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol”) only have one printing? You’d think the Dickens story would be reprinted every year around Christmas for the run of the CI series, but nope…only one edition in 1948.
5. 2005 is not really shaping up to be a good year for comic book inspired films, it seems. Shane over at Near Mint Heroes posted a link to this Fantastic Four promo image which doesn’t fill me with a lot of hope (not that I had any in the first place); I’m still not sold on the Sin City film; Elektra is…well, for God’s sake, just look at it; and I have even lower expectations for Constantine after reading that interview with the director in Wizard. Batman Begins is the only one I’m not dreading…but we’ll see. It’s got a long way to go to wash away the memories of the previous four live-action Bat-films.**
I think I’ll just stay home those nights and read a book.
EDIT: Pal Tom points out something I missed at the above Fantastic Four link:
“Marvel’s first family of comic superheroes takes the world by storm as the longest running comic book series in history comes to the big screen.”
As Tom says…what about Action? Or Detective? Maybe they meant Marvel’s longest-running series.
* Admittedly, it’s a cool 40-year-old TV show.
** Well, okay, three for me…I still haven’t seen the fourth one, since just its trailer was warning enough.
§ December 10th, 2004 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on
This just in: “Japanese Animation Catching on in U.S.”
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