STOP DINOSAUR-ON-DINOSAUR CRIME.
from Four Color Comics #749 – “Secrets of Life” (1956)
- Something I mentioned to pal Dorian in e-mail re: his commentary on Penance: in an odd sort of way, the concept of the Penance character is almost like a distillation of what makes a Marvel superhero a Marvel superhero. Marvel’s original gimmick, the one that separated their output from DC’s, was “superheroes with problems” — they had money troubles, they caught colds, and they worried about their loved ones in a slightly more complex fashion than simply “I must protect my girlfriend from the supervillain!”
Penance is “superheroes with problems” made drastically more literal. It’s no longer professional or personal problems, it’s “pain = superheroics.” The very act of self-flagellation is what powers Penance’s abilities.
Interesting, if silly. And I don’t think I need to be Dr. Polite Scott to figure out that if this stupid costume (with all the inward pointing spikes) were real, the person wearing it would probably be, if not dead, then at least severely impaired in short order. Presumably, as a superhero, he’s gonna be doing a lot of fighting, which means a lot of motion and a lot of impacts, which means there’s gonna be a lot of ripping and tearing of flesh inside that suit.
- Another POSSIBLE SPOILER thought about Civil War #6, since I probably haven’t mentioned it enough in the last week: I can’t believe they’re still pretending the two sides of the “war” are on some kind of equal ground, that each side has its points. One character states as such in this issue, and instead of underlining the supposed ethical balance between the two sides, as the scene is probably intended to do, it just paints that character as being really, really dumb.
- I’m sorry I didn’t get around to mentioning this earlier: the co-creator of my favorite funnybook character, Swamp Thing, has himself a weblog. Go visit Len Wein’s Weinwords and say “hello.” Tell him I sent you. (“Hey, Mike sent me!” “Um, who sent you?”)
- Just saw that pal Ian reviewed our store. Well, we never have Sugar and Spike comics (because I keep them all) and I’m not friendly in the slightest (I’m a big ol’ grumpypants), but otherwise it’s fairly accurate. Thanks, Ian!
- Pal Dorian has a picture of my site as viewed through his Wii…and I first saw this picture on Employee Aaron’s PSP. I’m going to assume you know what all that means, because I’m not sure I do. The only video games I’m familiar with come on cartridges and plug into one of these.
And here, for no good reason, is the cartoon from the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special; i.e. pretty much the only reason to suffer through the damned thing. Enjoy, won’t you? (And yes, there are a few seconds of the live action part of the show at the beginning…AVERT YOUR EYES.)
EDIT: Oops, the video has left the building, apparently…but you can still learn more about George Lucas’ secret shame (I mean, aside from Phantom Menace) at Starwarsholidayspecial.com.