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And now, from the 1940 Popeye cartoon “Puttin’ on The Act,” Popeye’s three terrifying impressions:
Jimmy Durante:
Stan Laurel:
…and Groucho Marx:
A credit both to the makers of this cartoon and to the immortality of these particular performers that their caricatures here are still instantly recognizable to us 72 years later.
Well, most of us, anyway…after finding out a couple of years back that one of my girlfriend’s nieces had never heard of the Three Stooges, and after having one young employee at the shop who’d never heard of Vincent Price, I shouldn’t take anything for granted. I’m sure as generations wear on, general knowledge of these “immortal legends” will increasingly become solely the interest of hobbyists and specialists.
…Though I have a hard time imagining that about Groucho Marx. That hair, nose, and moustache…the glasses and cigar. It’s all so embedded in our culture that I can’t see it ever going away, though I suppose it must. I’m guessing kids play with toy Groucho glasses from discount stores even now, without knowing that they’re inspired by a real person. Well, a character performed by a real person…you know what I mean.
I’m guessing of all these caricatures, it’s Groucho’s that’ll have the greatest chance of outliving knowledge of the actual man. I can see the glasses ‘n’ cigar becoming…well, continuing to be, since they pretty much are already…a generic symbol of “comedy,” but to the point, maybe centuries hence, where folks just think that image represents the idea of humor, with not one of them realizing that there was once a person who wore those glasses and wielded that cigar.
Of course, with the enormous proliferation of reproducible and storable media, it seems unlikely that Groucho and his brothers will be forgotten, but, a thousand years from now, ten thousand, fifty thousand…who knows? Maybe our giant-brained, spindly-limbed descendents will be wearing funny plastic glasses and wagging their cigars at each other, their big fake black eyebrows bobbing up and down, without any idea whom they’re imitating.
So my girlfriend took another trip to her hometown in Mexico recently, and, like last time, I asked her to grab a few comics for me while she was down there. She couldn’t find any Swamp Thing, sadly, but she did come back with Aquaman, a couple of Avengers comics, a Marvel Adventures: Avengers/Spider-Man flipbook, and this:
You may have noted the double-set of credits on the cover – that’s because the Mexican
Superman comic contains the stories from both the U.S.
Superman and
Action Comics series, which I thought was interesting.
Also, from the text pieces in the back:
For some reason, reading “No More Lois and Clark?” in Spanish makes it seem even more…dramatic, somehow? I can hear “no mas Lois y Clark?” being breathlessly declared in a telenovela commercial. And believe you me, I’ve seen my fair share of telenovelas.
Anyway, like I noted last time, the production values on these are pretty high…slick, thick covers, nice white paper interiors. What few ads there are seem to be house ads or ads for comic-related merchandise (save for a Ticketmaster ad for upcoming rock concerts). And it should probably be noted that one of the Avengers issues I received, Secret Avengers, contained two issues of that series.
ALSO NOTE: “anti-Superman” is pretty much the same in Spanish as in English. Such unfortunate sentiments need no translation, apparently.
So we go a year or three without having any copies of the
Tarzan’s Jungle Annuals in the shop, and then, suddenly, we have about a half-dozen copies turn up in a couple of different collections within days of each other.
There are some comics I see all the time…I’ve mentioned how often early Spawns show up in piles of books people are trying to offload on us (why, just yesterday I turned down a bunch of those Spawns, most of which were in lousy condition anyway). And not just Spawn…pretty much the same variety of overprinted ’80s and ’90s comics turn up on such a regular basis that I can almost turn down offered collections just at a glance. I never actually do that, because perhaps hidden among the foil-embossed Avengers and the hologram-cover Web of Spider-Mans and the Turok Dinosaur Hunters might be, you know, a comic or two I might actually have use for. In fact, in that collection with the Spawns, nearly all the other comics were in heavily-worn, unsellable condition, and the ones that weren’t were comics for which we had excess stock already…but I found a nice copy of the deluxe Robin #1, which isn’t the most expensive comic in the world, but they do sell and I can use ’em.
But, yeah, like I said, I do see a lot of the same comics turn up, but those ’80s and ’90s comics I expect to see, since most of them are as common as really common things. However, it’s not often that we get duplications on 60-year-old Tarzan comics…particularly extra-sized, squarebound Jungle Annuals that are prone to spine-splitting and losing pages and otherwise going to pieces through mishandling over the decades. I thought that was neat enough to be worth noting.
Also, a few weeks back we picked up a copy of Creepy Things #6 (Charlton Comics, 1976) in a collection, followed by a copy of the 1977 Modern Comics reprint of that same issue in another collection a day or two later. Is it COINCIDENCE, or something more…MYSTERI — no, it’s coincidence.
A few folks have emailed me about this over the last week or two, and now that I’ve finally watched DC’s latest direct-to-DVD cartoon, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part One, I can finally comment on Swamp Thing’s cameo:
Here’s another look at the rack, with the camera pulled back a bit so you can more clearly see that the proprietor of this shop needs to maintain the timeliness of this stock a little better:
I mean, that
Swamp Thing came out in ’88,
Crisis on Infinite Earths came out in 1985, etc. Someone doesn’t believe in “back issue bins.”
A couple of other notes about this DVD (or, rather, the Blu-ray, which had the special features I’m about to comment upon):
1. In one special feature, they flash a number of “groundbreaking” or “important” comics on screen, and apparently included this one as part of their “one of these things is not like the others” game.
2. The Bob Kane documentary lists Kane’s birth year as 1915, notes that Kane was asked to develop a new superhero in the wake of Superman’s initial success in 1938, and also mentions (a couple of times!) that Kane created Batman when he was 18. …The numbers ain’t addin’ up, there. I get that there was probably some fudging of dates here and there over the years for a number of reasons, but it seems funny that these “facts” were included in this documentary without comment when a moment of math reveals some issues.
At least Bill Finger got a mention, however. And it was nice to hear about Kane’s reaction when he first saw the crowds waiting for the first Tim Burton Batman movie.
3. The actual cartoon itself was pretty good…yeah, I know, why get the cartoon when most of us already have the original comics memorized. But I liked seeing how they adapted it, and I enjoyed the voice work…though what I am sure is the real highlight of the performances, Michael Emerson as the Joker, is yet to come in Part Two.
4. Though members of the Mutant Gang repeatedly say “nasty,” at no time, as far I noticed, do any of them say “balls nasty,” which is a damned shame, what that is. Almost a deal breaker.
Ain’t no debating it…it’s time once again for the End of Civilization, coming as it must once a month, every month, until the End finally sticks and I can at last go to my rest. Grab your copies of Previews, October 2012 edition, and follow along if you wanna:
p. 57 – Star Wars Dawn of the Jedi – The Prisoner of Bogan #2:
You’d think there would be more buzz about this impending Star Wars/Thundercats crossover.
p. 144 – Batman Arkham City Statue Harley Quinn:
You know, I was fairly indifferent to the Harley Quinn redesign:
…until I saw the hip tattoo:
Nope, sorry, refuse to accept this.
p. 145 – Batman The Dark Knight Returns Action Figure – Batman:
“Oooh, I have such a crick in my neck…where’s my ointment?”
p. 151 – Star Trek The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 #8:
The shocking conclusion to the series! Maybe more people talking to each other! Possibly the Borg and the Cybermen appear!
p. 168 – Joe Palooka #1:
So are 90-year-old fans of the original Joe Palooka comic strip already starting Internet petitions and complaining on message boards about this revamp tying the beloved character to mixed martial arts? Because I can’t stop picturing that.
p. 231 – HoboCop T-Shirt:
Aren’t homeless people
hilarious? Imagine if they were also robots!
p. 304 – Annoying Orange Volume 1: Secret Agent Orange:
All this Internet hoohar getting converted to funnybook form
will eventually lead us to
4chan: The Comic Book and I’m not quite sure the world is ready for that to happen.
p. 344 – DC Chess Figurine Collection Special #2 – The Bat Signal:
INTERIOR: THE STUDIO APARTMENT OF THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BAT SIGNAL FAN
Bat Signal memorabilia fills the room, on shelves, on tables,
hanging from the ceiling. At a table in the center of the room
sits THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BAT SIGNAL FAN, hastily unwrapping a
package.
WORLD'S BIGGEST BAT SIGNAL FAN
Finally, it's arrived! My Bat Signal chess piece!
At long last, the Signal can stand alone over my
board, a solitary sentinel illuminating all with
its beacon of justice!
THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BAT SIGNAL FAN opens the package, and pulls
out the DC Chess Figurine Collection Special #2. A look of despair
passes over his face.
WORLD'S BIGGEST BAT SIGNAL FAN
My...my Bat Signal! Batman is...attached to the top!
No! Why must my spotlight share the spotlight?
THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BAT SIGNAL FAN stands, then falls to his knees.
WORLD'S BIGGEST BAT SIGNAL FAN
Noooooooooooooo!
THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BAT SIGNAL FAN looks down, eyes closed, a
single tear falling from one eye.
WORLD'S BIGGEST BAT SIGNAL FAN
[softly]
Why must my spotlight...share the spotlight?
p. 353 – Star Trek FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the First Voyages of the Enterprise SC :
What in God’s name is left? What color toe fuzz Walter Koenig had at the end of each shooting day? Gene Roddenberry’s daily gas mileage? The number of appearances of the letter “b” in each script, from first draft to the final broadcast product? (Then again, I’m sure there are still some questions about a certain lead actor’s hair that are up in the air.)
p. 354 – Star Wars The Clone Wars – What Is A Sith Warrior? HC:
Usually dudes that end up getting arms or heads cut off, or simply just cut in half. Many don’t put a whole lot of effort into establishing retirement plans.
p. 354 – Star Wars The Clone Wars – Who Are The jedi? HC:
Apparently a bunch of super-powerful near-mystical dudes who know and see everything but can’t tell a guy they encounter pretty much every day is, like, the most evil person in the galaxy. Hey, everyone has their off moments.
p. 361 – Legion of Monsters Black T-Shirt:
This is a terrible comic, but it had an awesome cover and I think I’m totally going to get this. If you see me explaining to random passerby who happen to notice my shirt that “look, I love this cover, but I insist that you don’t take my wearing of this shirt as an implied approval of the contents of
Marvel Premiere #28,” please take me aside and give me a good talking to.
p. 367 – “Bring Back Firefly” Brown T-Shirt:
I’m reasonably certain whoever owns
Firefly is making far more profit continually selling “Bring Back Firefly” merchandise to those diehard fans, versus losing their asses by actually
bringing it back.
p. 368 – Superman Snap Back Cap:
Another piece of Superman merchandising where he still has his red trunks. …Just noting its existence is all.
p. 373 – Star Wars Han Solo in Carbonite Magnetic Bottle Opener:
Now, if I can somehow hollow out and convert my
Life Size Han Solo in Carbonite Statue into a bottled soda dispenser, life would be perfect! Well, perfect aside from my constant weeping at how lonely I am, but hey, still pretty good!
p. 376 – Walking Dead Silicone Gelatin Mold:
December 2012: “Wow, that’s pretty gross! Cool!”
Easter, 2013: “Yeah, okay, that’s funny, but, um, I don’t know.”
Halloween, 2013: “Hey, that old thing! That’s perfect for Halloween!”
Thanksgiving, 2013: “Um, you know, I don’t think Grandma finds that all that amusing.”
Christmas, 2013: “No. No, put that back in the cupboard. You remember how Grandma didn’t care for that.”
Easter, 2014: “OH FOR GOD’S SAKE”
Halloween, 2014: “Hey, you still have that zombie jello mold? Yeah, get it out, it’ll be great!”
p. 383 – Mr. Potato Head DC Spuds Classic Batman:
Well, that’s sort of upsetting and disturbing. I don’t think Mr. Potato Head can get any weirder than tha….
p. 383 – Mr. Potato Head DC Spuds Joker:
…GAAAAAAAH.
p. 392 – Star Wars Kenner Rocket-Firing Boba Fett 12-Inch Action Figure:
In case you were wondering how you were going to put out the eye of any, say, giant squid you happen to come across.
Also, I picture something like this happening:
p. 395 – Portal Turret Plush with Sound:
Only pointing this out because just look how happy and satisfied that guy is. Don’t you wish you were feeling that level of comfort right now? …Well, you will in a second:
p. 398 – Lost in Space Dr. Zachary Smith 3:4 Scale Bust:
Well, of course that’s awesome in and of itself? But what would make it even
more fantastic? An
animatronic Dr. Zachary Smith 3:4 Scale Bust, with
sound! Just imagine Dr. Smith’s visage tracking your movement across the room, sneering at you with haughty disdain, and occasionally calling you a “bubble-headed booby.” Why, that would be a little something like Heaven.
p. 405 – Star Wars Han Solo “Mynock Hunt” PX Mini-Bust:
Harrison Ford is Han Solo as Frank Booth in David Lynch’s
Blue Velvet Harvest, coming soon to a theater near you.
p. 416 – Doctor Who Tardis 3D Ceramic Teapot:
I’m a little teapot
Short and stout
Here is my handle
Here is my reversed-polarity neutron flow
p. 433 – Halfling Slippers:
I’m just going to go out on a limb here and say some of you…um, probably don’t need
fake hairy feet.
p. 437 – Doctor Who Fez and Bowtie Kit:
Well, I
made my statement on the bowtie thing a while back:
…but I’m okay with fezzes. Yes, that’s right, I’ve picked my side in the Great Bowtie Vs. Fez War. Are you WI’ me or are you AGIN me?
p. 451 – Yahtzee Doctor Who Collector’s Edition Dice Game:
So I hear as a tie-in to this product, all of the Eleventh Doctor’s exclamations of “GERONIMO!” in various episodes will be reedited into exclamations of “YAHTZEE!” for future reruns.
p. 458 – Big Tits Zombie DVD:
Just in case you were wondering where
Previews stood on the whole “usage of ‘tits’ in the general catalog listings” thing.
p. 462 – Watchmen Ultimate Cut BD + DVD + Graphic Novel:
It’s nice that they include the original comic so you can follow along with the movie and see for yourself the exact point where everything just kind of falls apart. I mean, beyond most people’s default assumption of “when they decided to make a movie of
Watchmen.”
…to pal Brian for going to that Cincinnati comic convention where there was a mini-reunion of Swamp Thing artists, and getting this comic signed them and sending it my way:
That would be Steve Bissette, John Totleben, Rick Veitch, and Tom Yeates.
Awesome. Thanks, Brian!
Here is some video from the Swamp Thing reunion panel at that con.
So thanks for your responses to my question yesterday…I really wasn’t quite sure what I had to say on the topic, and I’m still not quite sure, but I think I can at least circle the runway even if I don’t land.
Anyway, this particular thought process was kicked off by a comment to my Saturday post, in which I claimed it took the return of the character of Doop to finally get me to pick up a copy of Wolverine and the X-Men. And reader Chance left his response, quite rightly chiding me slightly for not being moved to read said comic simply by the presence of writer Jason Aaron and artist Mike Allred, both of whom are quite formidable talents.
My reply to Chance was that, while there are plenty of creators out there whose work I do enjoy, I don’t necessarily have a desire to read every single project they do. I think Aaron, for example, did a swell job on Punishermax and I liked his run on Incredible Hulk. And Allred…I was a big fan of Madman and The Atomics for quite a while, though admittedly I kind of…I don’t know, burnt out on them, I suppose. It’s not you, baby, it’s me. But it takes a lot to get me to buy into the X-franchise nowaways, and the last time I regularly read any X-titles, it was New X-Men by Grant Morrison and his army of artists, and X-Force/X-Statix *starring Doop* by Peter Milligan and that Allred guy.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough that Allred and Aaron were on the book to get me to pick it up…but it didn’t hurt, either. Had it been just them and no Doop, probably no sale. But that it featured Doop, and it was illustrated by Doop’s original cocreator, and it was written by a writer whose work I have enjoyed…all those facts together got me to pull the trigger on grabbing this book. And even then, I still sorta hemmed and hawed over it for a couple of days. Well, it’s not like I tossed and turned in bed nights on end, drenched in sweat, haunted by the existence of this comic book, agonizing over my decision. But I’d see it on the rack at work, think “hmm, wonder if I should pick that up,” and then finally just decided “ah, what the hell.”
But Chance’s question did open me up to thinking about what creators I do follow without question, whose names I see on books and pick up without pausing to wonder if this was a project I’d be interested in. To use a couple of names that I mentioned in this category yesterday…let’s say someone like, oh, say, Fantagraphics has picked up the rights to that old Chaos Comics character Purgatori. (Okay, stop laughing, work with me here.) It’s been a while since I mentioned Purgatori around these parts, but…that’s a character I’ve never much cared for. I’ve often commented here that I think it’s a terrible character and a terrible comic, which…okay, I know the character has its fans, and I shouldn’t just harshly dismiss it like that, so let’s just say the Purgatori property has been firmly established as not being something in which I’d have any interest. Ever. For any reason.
So let’s say Fantagraphics gets the property, and they eventually announce at a San Diego Comic Con a new Purgatori graphic novel by Los Bros. Hernandez.
Would I buy it? Absolutely I would buy it. Are you kidding?
The Hernandez Brothers have, over the (gulp) decades I’ve been following their work, totally gained my trust. Everything they’ve been involved in, I have enjoyed. And I know enough about them and their creative talents to know that, if anyone could rehabilitate the character of Purgatori in my theoretical example to the point of making me want to read a comic with her, it would be these guys.
Reader philfromgermany noted in his comment, after listing the creators he always follows, that the indie artists and writers usually are working on projects they themselves developed, as opposed to some of the folks who frequent Marvel and DC books who might end up on established properties one might be indifferent to or outright dislike. And I think that’s an important distinction, and one I was sort of pondering when I was trying to write this post for Monday. Though that’s not to say there aren’t lines that can’t be crossed…one indie book comes to mind by a creator I almost always followed which promoted a bunch of previously-debunked conspiracy hoohar…a great disappointment.
But creators working on their own material does do away with some expectations a reader might have toward any given project, depending mostly on one’s appreciation of that creator and trust in his/her storytelling talents. A new original Dan Clowes graphic novel, sure. A Batman graphic novel by Dan Clowes…well, okay, that sounds amazing, but if you really, really hate Batman, even the most pure, unadulterated love you have for Mr. Clowes may not be enough to get you to pick it up. But I have picked up superhero books I’d had no previous interest in because of creators involved…like that run of Birds of Prey written by Gilbert Hernandez, which remain the only issues of that series in my collection.
I’m probably contradicting myself all over the place here, but what can I tell you. I have complicated feelings about funnybook buying. But outside of Aragones, the Hernandez Brothers…um, Clowes, and Chester Brown probably, and someone mentioned Jim Woodring in the comments, so I’m probably good with that too…there aren’t that many people who get a full, complete pass with me in the comics I buy.
Of course I simply can’t afford to read everything, but there are still plenty of names out there that grab my attention, if not necessarily my comic-reading dollar. You can get me to look, but not everything is going to be up my alley. (There’s at least one artist whose style I do really enjoy, but the only thing in recent memory he’s done that I actually wanted to read was, um, a while ago.) Picking and choosing what I read I think gives me a lot healthier relationship with this hobby than simply buying every single thing that comes out that may involve an artist or writer I’ve enjoyed in the past. Sometimes it does come down to a Doop appearance to get me to fish out that wallet.
Okay, I’m not sure if any conclusions are drawn, or if we learned anything today. But Chance’s question stirred up some thoughts that I tried to lay out here in my usual exceedingly verbose and sloppy fashion, and I certainly hope he doesn’t take this as an attack or an overly-defensive response. Thank you, Chance, for inspiring me to explore, just a little bit, some of the strategies some of use in making our comic-buying decisions…and giving some of us an opportunity to think about those creators whose work always gives us joy.
Are there any comic creators out there whose new work you automatically pick up without question? Whose work you know, beyond even the faintest shadow of a doubt, will be worth both your time and your money, and that you will enjoy?
I don’t mean writers or artists whose presence in a project is enough to get you to take a look, or to pique your interest. We all have lots of names in that category. I mean creators who put out work and your response is “I don’t need to know word one about this comic, just take my money for it, goodly comic book store clerk.”
I’ll start by giving you the first three names that came to mind as I thought about who’d fit into this category for me: Sergio Aragones, Jaime Hernandez, Gilbert Hernandez. I absolutely buy all of their work as it comes out, without hesitation. And I have never been disappointed. (Well, okay, that one issue of Jon Sable, Freelance was a bit…odd, but I liked it anyway!)
Anyway, like I said in the title of this post up there, I’ve been sort of pondering some other (likely shallow and obvious) thoughts on this topic over the weekend, but I want to hear what you think. If you’ve got a creator who’s an insta-buy for you, please let me know in the comments.
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