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§ August 15th, 2006 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on "Swamp Thing / You live in a swamp…."
Saga of the Swamp Thing #20 –
one of the Greatest Comics Ever, according to this fine person.
George Khoury details what happened to the long-awaited, now-cancelled TwoMorrows Swampmen book. (Thanks to Rodrigo for the heads-up.)
Frannie draws a cool Swampy image.
Here’s a transcript of Joe Bob Briggs’ comments during a broadcast of the first Swamp Thing movie.
Something Awful details various colored ribbons and their meanings. The green ribbon is, of course, for the remembrance of Swamp Thing:
“For those of you who simply fail to understand the importance of Swamp Thing, think of him as an organic Robocop that lives in a swamp. Then you will see his true beauty.”
Someone on Craigslist is looking for the Swamp Thing cartoon, because “I just watched it as a kid and would like to watch it again.” Disappointment, ahoy! Um, actually, I was going to put a link here to the Amazon.com listing for the cartoon’s DVD release, but it looks like it’s out of print. Wow, go figure.
This interview with the Mountain Goats swings into a comics discussion, in which it is mistakenly decided that Man-Thing is better than Swamp Thing.
Swamp Thing clay bust.
A brief examination of what went wrong (and the one thing that went right) with the first Swamp Thing movie.
Brian picks the best comic logos, with Swamp Thing’s logo making the honorable mention list.
Who would win in a fight: Hulk or Swamp Thing?
“Um I think its a stalemate but if I had to pick a winner I would lean towards the hulk just Hulk smash puny plant”
Apparently, a couple years ago a copy of House of Secrets #92 sold for over four grand because it was sealed in one of those plastic boxes that seems to magically encourage crazy spending.
Joe Crowe appreciates Swamp Thing! Well, the movies and TV shows, anyway.
This weblogger recalls that show from the early years of the Nickelodeon cable channel, where a comic book would be shown panel by panel, with the dialogue and captions read aloud and the sound effects…er, sounded, I guess. Yes, the original Len Wein/Berni Wrightson Swamp Things were used on the series.
And now, here are some men dressed as Smurfs singing a song called “Swamp Thing” that may or may not be about the comic book character.
§ August 14th, 2006 § Filed under swamp thing Comments Off on House of Secrets #92.
House of Secrets #92 (June/July 1971) featured an eight-page story by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson titled “Swamp Thing,” about love, betrayal, revenge, and a swamp monster, taking place approximately in the early 1900s. Sales were brisk, and reader reaction was positive, so this one-shot Swamp Thing story was retooled into an ongoing adventure strip set in the present day (resulting in some highly regarded comics, some less-regarded feature films, a live action TV series and cartoon, an action figure line, and, yes, even
chalk).
DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #9 (May 1981) was the first time I was able to purchase the story from House of Secrets #92 for myself. This particular tale certainly stood out among the bright and cheery origin stories of the Atom and Krypto the Superdog. This is Copy #1 of this story in the Vast Mikester Archives.
Saga of the Swamp Thing #33 (February 1985) was a fill-in issue of sorts, which contained a reprint of the House of Secrets story, making this Copy #2 of this story in my collection. The new framing sequence for this story, which drew a connection between the original Swamp Thing and the newer Alec Holland version of the character, makes what could have been just a fill-in into one of the most important and influential comics of the series. Not only did it establish that the current Swamp Thing was the latest in a long chain of swamp creatures throughout Earth’s history (a plot thread that would play out through the rest of this series), but it also gave us the first “modern” usage of the old DC horror comic hosts Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel, formerly humorous wiseacres introducing short scary comic stories in their respective anthology titles, were now explicitly described as the Cain and Abel from Christian theology, Cain continuously murdering Abel in an eternal repeating cycle. This new (or old, I suppose) interpretation of these hosts was carried into Neil Gaiman’s Sandman and its spin-off, The Dreaming.
Roots of the Swamp Thing #5 (November 1986) was a deluxe format reprint series, representing the first ten issues of the original Swamp Thing series by Wein and Wrightson recolored and, for the first time, on nice, bright white paper. As a bonus feature, this last issue of this series included the original House of Secrets story, making this Copy #3 in my possession.
House of Secrets #92 (June/July 1971) – At some point in the late 1980s, I was able to purchase for myself an actual copy of the original House of Secrets appearance. The comic looked like it had been hit by a truck, and I think someone had used it to clean a shellac brush, but it was only a couple bucks and, by God, I finally had an original copy of the story (making it Copy #4 in the collection).
Swamp Thing: Dark Genesis trade paperback (first printing, 1991) – This trade collected the classic ten-issue run by Wein and Wrightson, and also contained the House of Secrets story. This is Copy #5 of the story in my possession.
House of Secrets #92 (June/July 1971) – At some point in the early 1990s, I was able to upgrade my first copy of House of Secrets #92, which a generous man with poor vision would have graded as “Poor to Fair,” to a copy in Very Fine. Set me back a cool $60, but given what it would cost now to buy it, I ain’t complaining. Let’s call this Copy #4a, which is also the copy I scanned for the image at the top of this post.
DC Silver Age Classics House of Secrets #92 (1992) – To commemorate the end of their printing comics at the World Color Press plant in Sparta, IL, DC released a series of classic comic reprints that were the last books off of those presses. Among the “Silver Age Classics” was House of Secrets #92, which kinda stretched the definition of “Silver Age” a little, but, since I apparently needed Copy #6 of the original Swamp Thing story, I was willing to overlook that little fact.
Essential Vertigo: Swamp Thing #14 (December 1997) – DC Comics began reprinting the Alan Moore issues of Swamp Thing in black and white in this series, partially to show off the fine linework in the art, but mostly because it would have cost too much to recolor everything for the new offset printing process. Anyway, this issue reprints Swamp Thing #33, mentioned above, making this a reprint of a fill-in with a reprint inside. I think this is the only U.S. printing of the original HoS story in black and white, but I know this is Copy #7 of the story that I’ve purchased.
Millennium Edition: House of Secrets #92 (May 2000) – To celebrate the turn of the millennium, DC Comics released reprints of notable comics throughout the year (complete with a cool gold foil “Millennium Edition” stamp on the cover that was designed by one of my long-time customers). And, yes, House of Secrets #92 made an appearance, and, yes, I made it Copy #8 of the story in my collection.
And I know there are more reprints of the story out there. One of the Swamp Thing trades reprinting the Alan Moore run contains issue #33, and I believe there were a series of black and white reprints in the U.K. that also contained that same issue.
But, for now, I think eight copies of the same story is plenty. I don’t want people to think I’m obsessed or anything.
§ August 13th, 2006 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Ultimate Avengers and Neal Adams and fungus.
So I rented the Ultimate Avengers 2 animated movie, and…well, the first one was no great shakes, but it was watchable and moderately interesting. This new installment? Just bland, bland, bland, unfortunately. All the characters from the first film are back (with the addition of the Black Panther), and there’s a lot of running around and shooting aliens and stuff, but for a movie that’s an hour and some change, it sure dragged. The scenes that are supposed to be emotionally involving aren’t (something the first film generally managed), and the characters and relationships that are genuinely interesting (like the extremely damaged Bruce Banner and his attempts to make himself relevant to Betty) you just don’t see enough of.
Special features: thankfully, there is no “text commentary” this time, considering how badly they botched it on the previous DVD. You do get brief previews of the forthcoming Iron Man and Dr. Strange direct-to-DVD cartoons, and there’s a short “blooper reel,” consisting of redubbed scenes from the first movie, that’s so embarrassingly unfunny that it has to be seen to be believed. There’s also a nearly half-hour long featurette on the making of The Ultimates comic (containing interviews with Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch) that’s fairly informative, and concludes with this telling line from Hitch:
“My kids don’t read my comics, but they’ll sit and watch this.”
Pretty much sums up the comics market as a whole, doesn’t it? Kids, for the most part, won’t read superhero comics, but they’ll watch media based on them.
I didn’t get to listen to very much of Neal Adams’ interview on Coast to Coast AM last night/this morning. I don’t know if, like last time, he started off the interview talking about the comics industry, its history, and his place in it like the last time he was on the show…I did manage to catch how, according to his theories, the real reason the dinoaurs died out was because, as the Earth expanded in size, gravity increased to the point that the larger dinosaurs were no longer able to survive in their new heavier gravity environment. I don’t know how this explains the demise of smaller dinosaurs, but still…fantastic.
Don’t worry, Greg…I don’t get the Tom’s case-book meme either! I wasn’t intending to start anything, really…I just had that gag in my head, and, as I was looking at the blank version of that panel, I thought, just on the spur of the moment, “well, let’s throw it up on the site and see if anyone else can do anything with it.”
I have a long way to go to top pal Dorian’s internet fungus, however. I’m still getting traffic from that!
§ August 12th, 2006 § Filed under cap and the falcon Comments Off on And now…another moment with Cap and the Falcon.
from Captain America #137 (May 1971) by Stan Lee, Gene Colan & Bill Everett
§ August 11th, 2006 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Friday misc.
1. I’ve been a little behind on keeping up with the comicsweblogosphere lately, which is how I missed the Random Panels “Bat Blank” challenge, in which contributors were encouraged to supply their own dialogue…well, just go look. Anyway, I inadvertently copy-catted this by throwing out my own user-friendly blank image in my last post. Random Panel’s Brandon was a good enough sport, however, to post his version of Tom’s case-book.
2. Neal Adams is making a return visit to the Coast to Coast AM radio show Saturday night to talk about his, shall we say, unconventional scientific theories. As I noted regarding his last appearance, I don’t buy any of these theories in the slightest, but Adams does make for good radio.
3. I haven’t yet watched this video ‘blog of a fellow ripping into Wizard Magazine…I’d rather read a weblog entry at my own pace than watch an entry at someone else’s…but it’s apparently the hot topic of discussion at the moment.
For more Wizard critique, several months ago pal Dorian posted one of his own that I recommend.
§ August 11th, 2006 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on A little something for the Green Lantern fans.
Okay, what would
you have Tom write in his case-book? Here, have a blank:
§ August 10th, 2006 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on "Play a major roll."
From the back cover of the X-Factor: The Longest Night hardcover:
So what kind of biscuit
is Quicksilver?
§ August 10th, 2006 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Thursday misc.
Hey, that sounds familiar.
It doesn’t surprise me that other folks are predicting this resolution to the current Spider-Man storylines. (Not saying I was the first, just to be clear.) Of course, if this idea gets to be widespread enough, we may have another Armageddon 2001 deal on our hands, with Marvel cooking up some other completely convoluted solution.
Eh, whatever. However they do it, it’ll all be put back together before Spider-Man 3 is in theatres, most likely.
My Canadian evil twin, Steven (formerly of Flat Earth fame) was good enough to point me to an online Swamp Thing mention that made it past my radar. The Skeptical Inquirer investigates swamp creatures, and Swampy gets a name-check (and a graphic novel cover scan).
It’s an odd convergence of this site and my other one. THE BARRIERS HAVE BEEN BREACHED.
There were some new comics out this week, too, I guess: a new Little Lulu volume, number 11 in the series, came out, and if you aren’t buying them by now, there ain’t anything I can tell you now to get you started.
The new issue of Cinefantastique arrived, and it’s the San Diego Comic Convention 2006 preview issue. Oh, that’s unfortunate. (I’m assuming the mag made it to places with real magazine distribution prior to the con….)
I kept nitpicking the new Green Lantern action figures that came out this week (like “Saalak is the wrong shade of pink!”), and then, after realizing what I was doing, I had to just set them down and walk away.
The new edition of The Little Man, Chester Brown’s collection of short pieces, also was unleashed this week…I kept picking up a copy, flipping through it, trying to decide if I needed to own it. Well, it does have a new cover, and some expanded footnotes…it’s a good looking book, but I think I need to wait for a week when I didn’t have to pay for a bunch of highly necessary automotive work. Feh, stupid real world. But for those of you out there who have a little more coin of the realm than I do and don’t own this material, I recommend you give it a go. Bizarre humor, interesting autobiographical tales, and an emotionally-involving story or two. Good reading (here’s a sample).
Speaking of Drawn and Quarterly, looking about a month back on the D&Q blog, there’s an announcement of some progress on a new issue of Joe Matt’s Peep Show. It’s really been five years since the last issue?
If you see a lot of Blackhawk comics on pal Dorian’s site…well, you can blame me. I’m the fella what forced them upon him. “Excuse me, good sir…would you like to buy some of…these?” (Unfortunately, I didn’t have any of the Blackhawks with the really offensive Chop Chop for him…I just had the ones with the slightly less offensive Chop Chop.)
And, by the way, deciding to poke in on Dor’s site while you’re at work can provide a surprise.
§ August 9th, 2006 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on I don’t know where the closing parenthesis went either.
Pal Dorian reads more weblogs than should be healthy, generates nice installment of Blog@Newsarama’s Meanwhile column. “Meanwhile…now with more gay!” Fantastic.
” A Cap/Superman super strength question (intelligent folk only!”
“Hi, I’ve got a super strength question that’s kind’ve bugging me. This isn’t the usual fan-boy, junk about who is stronger/who’d win Cap or Supes ?
“No, my question is this. Despite the fact that Clark Kent an unlimited energy source (the sun), he cannot seem to be able to bash any supernatural/magical creature around! Yet, they can smack him back and Clark will feel it just like you or I would! Dracula , or any vampire, seems able to beat up on Clark , and even mesmerize him. Yet, these vamps are nowhere near his strength/power level.
“Now on the other hand, Capt. Marvel & the Marvel Family can beat the tar out of any such creature! Does this mean Cap’s powers are greater than Supes– or just different? Are the blessings of ancient, pagan gods more powerful than an unlimited energy source? Does anyone know?”
I was just going to leave it at that, since I didn’t think there was going to be any discussion in that particular thread that would be better than the set-up.
But I was wrong. Oh, so wrong.
Ladies and gents, some comic book free verse:
“Wonder no longer.
As mentioned above—
in SUPERMAN-102—
Supes and da Cheese (altho in personality, dialogue, etc–more BB, SUPERKID ((‘BIG’ in spandex)) than CM—-
HAMMERED each other–
all out–
no holds barred—
no quarter given—
to a DRAW–
indicating that they ARE EQUALS!
However—
Complicating things—
CM HAS KAYOED SUPES a couple of times—
with surprise, unexpected-by-Supes, sucker-punches, TRUE—
but still—
knock outs—
(and a knock-out by any other name–
is STILL a knock out)—
putting Supes in dreamland for 10 minutes or more.
In addition—
somewhere–
(SUPERMAN-BATMAN-4 Perhaps?)—
Supes himself ADMITTED that in an all-out slugfest–
Cap, due to his magical power sources—
WOULD HAVE the ADVANTAGE.
As for ME–
as one of the VERY FEW readers posting on these boards—
who has enjoyed—
supported—
followed–
analyzed—
BOTH characters since their BEGINNINGS in the GA—
I like to view them as COMPLEMENTARY EQUALS—-
EACH being better–
more powerful than the other—
in SPECIFIC instances–
depending on circumstances, outside influences-conditions,
plot commplications, etc.
C-O-M-P-L-E-M-E-N-T-A-R-Y EQUALS—
yeah—THAT’S the ticket—
Which SHOULD BE SATISFACTORY to ALL intelligent, logical, unbiased fans of BOTH.”
It’s…it’s beautiful….
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