A GIF in the Family.
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No wonder Jean Loring went insane.
So Ray Palmer, in his superhero identity of the Atom, has acquired a mynah bird (by the name of Major Mynah, which makes me want to slap someone…or give someone one of those Gil Kane-patented head-over-heels roundhouse punches) who has an unfortunate habit of repeating things other people say. Oh, and the bird also has artificial Thanagarian wings provided by Hawkman, but that’s beside the point. Anyway, after the day’s adventure is concluded, Ray and the Major show up at Jean’s for dinner, and the bird goes and flaps his big mouth…er, beak:
from The Atom #37 (June/July 1968) by Gardner Fox, Gil Kane & Sid Greene
Ray’s big excuse:
“I have an explanation as far as I’m concerned — but Atom will have to do his own explaining!
“Major Mynah must have been watching the Five Star Final newscast on television — the show that dramatizes the news of the day — even to using the same words the participants used!”
And Ray’s explanation of “oh, it’s just a big conincidence that both the Atom and I now have pet mynah birds” gets this response from Jean:
What th–she bought that? And dig Ray’s solution to avoiding this problem in the future…in the great tradition of Ace the Bat-hound (under Jan. 14th) and Krypto the Superdog, AKA Skippy, Major Mynah will have to wear a disguise.
Quite frankly, I think Jean and Ray are both nuts. The bird’s the only sane one.
As some of you may recall, I recently moved to a new house here in lovely Ventura County, CA. And, when you move to a new house, you suddenly get a whole lot of gardening and window treatment flyers left on your doorstep. I received one such flyer today:
It’s a custom drapery treatment
You can have it all with…
WINDOW WONDER WOMAN”
Now, it seems to me I recall the DC Comics lawyers going after a — oh, I don’t recall, a car dealership or something? — that was using the phrase “Dynamic Duo,” which, it turns out, is copyrighted by the good folks at DC. I wonder how “Window Wonder Woman” (which, according to the flyer, has been around for 40 years) managed to slip past the DC radar? Was adding “Window” enough to keep this person from being harassed by The Man?
In the “thanks but no thanks” department:
“I am looking for a recommendation for something that might get me interested. To give some parameters, I would rule out *standard* super hero or horror stuff (but am open to something different) In general I am a science fiction/space opera fan. Long Epics with good characters. I would be looking more for story than for art. Any direction would be appreciated.”
First response?
“X-MEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, that’s the only comics I ever read, I used to have a spiderman comic with kull in it, and it was great.”
Yeah, these forums posts are a few years old, but it made me laugh. And the guy looking for good comics ended up with the Invisibles, so at least there’s a happy ending.
The tragic death* of "Nutsy" Dave.
from New Beginning #4 (1992) by Terry Kalkanian & Bruce White
*If it makes you feel any better, Dave survives. “Tragic near-death” isn’t as catchy.
"Death of Aquababy" and other phrases I thought I’d never say.
“So, Mike, what’d you do at work today?”
“Oh, looked for the death of Aquababy.”
“That’s ni…uh, what?”
For some reason, that subject was brought up over the weekend, which had me turn to the Overstreet Price Guide to track down the exact issue in which this happened. (I suppose I could have e-mailed Laura, keeper of all Aqua-knowledge, but why make things easy on myself?)
Anyway, I don’t bring this up to talk about the death of Aquababy (which the mighty Dave’s Long Box has already covered quite well), but to talk about Overstreet’s guide notations. You’d think, given Overstreet’s predilection for the lurid, they’d be all over a character death like this. But, no, here’s how it’s listed:
“441-452-Aquaman app.”
Adding insult to Aquababy’s injury, issue 443 is pointed out for special attention:
“443-Fisherman app.”
I’m guessing, since, as Dave mentions, Aquababy’s death is remarkably underplayed, and not even cover-featured, it’s just been missed by whoever it is that decides what gets notated and what doesn’t.
Just poking through the Adventure listings, I see notations that would be of use to fans, like “Death Earth-2 Batman,” and “Unpubbed G.A. Black Canary story,” but then you see something like “Intro. Mighty Girl” in #453. One, I think this is the one and only appearance of “Mighty Girl,” and two, given who Mighty Girl really is, fans may be more interested in knowing that this issue actually features a young Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon (er…SPOILER, I guess).
Now, I’ve heard anecdotal evidence of comic dealers putting crazy notations on some of the comics they’d list in ads, just as a goof, only to see those same notations show up in subsequent price guides. I’m guessing this is the result of price guide researchers scouring comic listings and actual sales seeing these notations, thinking “hey, people must be looking for ‘Mighty Girl’ appearances,” and adding that info to their guides.
I need to start doing that in our ads. “Silver Surfer #59: 1st hatless Thanos – $99.95.”
Hey, as a result of those House of M/X-Men: The 198 shenanigans, did the Sub-Mariner, as “Marvel’s first mutant,” lose his powers? Or is he a different kind of mutant from all those X-folks runnin’ around, and thus unaffected? (The things I wonder about at work, sometimes.)
“The comic book genre has evolved quite a bit over the past few years, though, resulting in a new incarnation called ‘graphic novels.'”
Actually, it’s a positive review of Paul Has A Summer Job, so I shouldn’t make fun. I’d rather have a well-meaning positive article (or an open-minded critical appraisal) than something like this (found via The Comics Reporter):
“I used to be crazy about comic books. But I really can’t figure out why anyone would pay good money for such supposed ‘adult’ versions of the stuff I read back then, or why reams of words have been wasted explicating such ‘books.'”
Ouch. (EDIT: Just noticed that same quote had been posted on the Great Curve’s “Heroes & Villains” entry earlier today. Didn’t mean to step on any toes, there!)
And now…romantic moments with Shag and Sue.
from Soap Opera Love #2 (March 1983) – art by Pete Morisi
And now…a romantic moment with David and Eileen.
from Soap Opera Love #2 (March 1983) – art by A. Martinez & J. Zuniga
Quotes ahoy!
Here is some positive feedback recently left for our store account on the eBay:
“like a log in the fire, burning itself to create warmth and comfort for us all”
“like the snowflake slowly dancing across the scy [sic] to greet the weary ground”
“like a cool wind blowing against the legs freshly discarded from a pair of socks”
Had I known that selling Moebius books would inspire feedback poetry, I would do it more often.
Hey! Here’s an advance look at Spider-Man’s new temporary costume change: “it’s playing an important role in the future of the web-slinger!” So, what’s the general consensus as to how long it’ll be around? Three months? Six months? Will it last out a year? It’ll be gone before the next movie rolls around, at any rate.
A brief look at the DC Comics forums:
“Can Kid Eternity call upon Barry Allen?”
Hey, yeah, can he?
“How far can they take Joker without an R rating?”
“He can kill, shoot, hit someone with a car, throw some joker bombs…make people laugh themselves silly….but what happens when Doctor Joker wants to come out and play? Or if Joker wants to be a hair stylist…I mean…I am not saying show us blood goar and all that…but I mean…even Braveheart got an R rating for all the crap they were doing to William Wallace offstage”
“IMPORTANT 2006 NEWS! SPOILER WARNING! VERY EXCITING!”
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Nightwing Sucks Flash is better”
