I’m very sorry about the Popeye thing.

§ October 15th, 2007 § Filed under popeye Comments Off on I’m very sorry about the Popeye thing.

Hey, you. Yeah, you. Do you like funnybooks? Do you like funny funnybooks? Do you have even the slightest interest in the history of comics?

Do you have twenty-five bucks?

Then BEHOLD:


900 PAGES OF HEMBECK

All his “Dateline:@#$%” strips, all his Fantaco magazines, many fanzine illustrations, and lots, lots more. I don’t throw the phrase “Highest Recommendation” around too often, but I’m using it now. This book has my absolutely HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION…Hembeck is one of the comic industry’s great comedic treasures, and to have this much of his work in one place is almost too good to be true.

So tell your local retailers that you must have this book. And any retailers that are reading this? Order a few less copies of some of those titles currently warming your shelves, and order some copies of this instead. God will smile favorably upon you for doing so.

(A certain Mr. The Dog and a Mr. Doane have a few words on the subject as well.)


I’ve had some links from a message board lately to my memories of the ’90s comic market crash…so if you’re coming here from there…hello! How are you? Some of you may not agree with some of my conclusions, or may not like my observations, but this is how I saw it, and your mileage may vary.

If you want to read more of my ’90s crash memories, here are some links:

Turok #1 and Adventures of Superman #500 and their roles in the crash

My readers’ contributions as to which comics had a part in the crash

A brief follow-up to release dates of certain ’90s titles

The tragedy of Deathmate

I welcome questions re: the market crash, and I answer: 1, 2, 3, 4


And now, a stupid thought I had after dealing with a bunch of copies of Marvel’s Champions comic:

I wasn’t a reader of that title, so I’m asking…did a scene like this ever happen in the comic?

Angel: “So, hey, Ghost Rider…what’s your deal?”

Ghost Rider: “Sold my soul to the devil.”

Angel: “Huh…tough break. Anyway, what’re we going to do about that Nazi bee-guy?”

Did any of the Champions ever try to get Johnny Blaze out of his satanic contract? You’d think they’d attempt to help out a teammate who was, oh, I don’t know, in danger of losing his immortal soul to Old Scratch.

Then again, I suppose the conversation could have gone like this:

Angel: “So what’s your deal?”

Ghost Rider: “Sold my soul to the devil.”

Angel: “Uh, yeah…that’s tough.” (THINKING: “Yeah, sure, buddy…I know you’re just another closeted mutant.”)

So if they think Ghost Rider is just, I don’t know, Vanilla Ice-ing them, trying to be all tough and saying he’s “from the streets” (or “fueled by Satan”), I can buy Ghost Rider’s teammates not going out of their way to help.

But then again, most Marvel heroes tend towards the “credulous” side of the scale…plus the Champions met Zeus face to face in one issue I looked at, so I’d have a hard time believing they wouldn’t accept a deal with the devil, too.

So, I don’t know…just some random blathering. Don’t mind me. ‘Course, it’s all moot if the Champions did try to help out their flaming skull-headed pal….


More random nuttiness:

Following the odd Popeye-esque arms on the Punisher that I spotlighted a few days ago, I had a very, very strange vision:

Swee’Pea, Olive Oyl, and Poopdeck Pappy’s bulletstrewn and bloodied bodies, laid across the grass of Central Park, with Popeye, sailor suit stained with red, falling to his knees and wailing in despair “NOOOOOSK!”

He then enters his mission of vengeance as the Pop-isher, heavily armed (in more ways than one), his black shirt featuring a white skull with one eye squinting.

(“Stars and Stripes” starts playing)

“I’ve had all I can stands…”

(cocks shotgun)

“…and I can’t STANDS NO MORE!”

Supporting cast: Bluto as Jigsaw, Wimpy as Pop-isher’s assistant Microwimp.

Yeah, yeah, I know…”up the medication.”


Employee Jeff: “Next time I go to a convention, I want to see Dan Didio and Joe Quesada get into a fight…”

Me: “…Wearing Speedos.”

Employee Jeff: “GAH! No!”


I’m still accepting contributions to the “Mike’s Lookin’ for New Title Banners” drive…in fact, there’s no deadline, so as long as this site is active, feel free to send ’em in as inspiration strikes. Remember: 825 by 100 pixels, “mike sterling’s progressive ruin” all in lower case monospaced Courier font. Prizes probably won’t be awarded, no money will change hands, fame and fortune will probably not be yours, there’s no guarantee I will use your banner, or for how long. I’m simply exploiting your goodwill for my benefit, and I thank you for it.

Seriously, though, you folks have been sending in some fun banners, and I do appreciate the time and effort you’re taking. I plan on beginning to showcase them sometime this week.


NOT COMICS, as Mr. Spurgeon would say: I’ve been listening to an enormous amount of Jack Benny lately. Nothing cheers a fellow up quite like Jack, Mary, Rochester, Don, Phil, Dennis, and the rest.

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