So certainly a lot of hay has been made out of this new trailer for next year’s Man of Steel flick, in which a young Clark apparently risked exposing his strange, otherworldly abilities while saving folks on a bus. Pa Kent seemingly isn’t thrilled about this, to which Clark remarks “should I have let them all die?” Pa’s response: “Maybe.”
Well, people certainly didn’t like that, as it seems quite at odds with the traditional view of Pa Kent as the wholesome farmer who instilled his solid down-to-earth values of fairness, honesty, and justice into his adopted boy. I suspect (despite my Twitter gag that Pa’s advice would inspire in Clark a reign of bus-destroying terror) that Pa may in fact have more to say in the actual film beyond the snippet of dialogue we’re dramatically teased with in the trailer. I would doubt we’re being given a Pa Kent who is literally telling his son that he should have let people die to protect his secret.
But then again, maybe the movie is giving us a darker, grittier Pa Kent. A Pa Kent who wants every body buried, every skeleton kept in its closet. A Pa Kent who cares so little for his son’s moral upbringing he won’t even tell Clark to put some shorts on, for God’s sake.
Anyway, the trailer looks interesting, if perhaps too serious. It definitely establishes Superman as a powerful and impressive being, somber and bearing the weight of responsibility for the world, but here’s hoping they make room for some fun as well.
Also, every time Superman movie buzz happens, I’m reminded we could have had Dudley Moore as Mr. Mxyzptlk and how disappointing every Superman film becomes in retrospect.
So this is a thing that I thought was long gone, somehow accidentally lost or thrown out during one of my changing of domiciles over the last decade or so. However, it was recovered by my father just over this last weekend, found stashed away in my parents’ home where I apparently kept it for safekeeping during one of those moves. And thus, here it is, back in my possession, and I bid you cast your peepers upon this, and weep at its beauty:
This thick paper sign, dated 1990 and measuring about 22 by 30 inches, was intended for insertion in a metal standing frame that would sit out in front of the toy store, advertising to all the mall shoppers that located within that very business were
such wonderful items as these awaiting purchase. And presumably when it says “Collect Them All!” it’s referring to the toys themselves, and not commanding you to collect all the Official Toy Headquarters.
This was given to me by a toy store employee at the time…no, I didn’t fall at his feet and beg for it tearfully, he actually was a customer of mine and just dropped it off at the shop for me of his own free will and not, say, by hypnotic suggestion. But anyway, now that I have it in my hot little hands, will I follow through with my promise at the end of this post and nail it to the front door? Or perhaps I simply will let this post stand as a testament to the fact that I, Michael Ricardo Anatoly Sterling, am the owner of the Last Remaining Official Swamp Thing Toy Headquarters in the Universe. So let it be written, so let it be done.
Funny, it only feels like I’ve been doing this for no more than about, oh, say, twenty or thirty years. But here I am, still plugging along with my slow decline into irrelevance, and here you are (presumably), still putting up with it. Thank you folks for sticking around and reading and commenting and just generally tolerating this sort of behavior. I really do appreciate it.
Thanks also, as always, to my girlfriend Nora, to my parents, to pal Dorian, to my fellow comics bloggers and Bureau Chiefs, and of course to Comics Blogger #1 Neilalien — all of whom are probably secretly plotting an intervention to break me of this blogging habit.
Speaking of which, this was the year I finally, finally stopped updating the site every single day. It took a combination of multiple computer failures (at home and at work) and my immense frustration with same, to drive me away from the internettings for a brief period in time in mid-April. I’m sorry for any concern that may have caused at the time, but I literally could not look at a computer for a few days. But, that did break me of the daily update addiction, and like I’ve said once or twice since then, the reduced schedule has increased my enjoyment of the site, and hopefully yours as well.
And what did I do with my free time? Why, started up a pog website, of course, thanks to a mid-August arrival of a storage unit’s worth of pog store stock. I’m still planning to stop that site in February or March, so enjoy it while you can, pals!
In the last year, I’ve popped up on a couple of other sites: I was interviewed about life in comics retailing here, and I sullied Bob’s fine comics blog by deliberately goading people with this bit of hoohar. If you want me to make a cameo appearance on your site…well, don’t let those two examples scare you off. Particularly if it’s a paying job!
I’m also still hanging out on the Twitter, where, over the past year, I’ve made deep and insightful observations on the comics industry such as these:
Seriously, that last one…I hear that story about once every week or so. “Thanks for your hours of labor, Bill…here’s a box full of comics that smell like cat pee.” “MY FORTUNE IS MADE!”
Anyway, aside from all that, I occasionally posted on this site right here, and here are a few highlights, or lowlights, from the past twelve months:
DECEMBER 2011:
Kicked off year 9 with a look at a naughty Milo Manara card game, the lovely gams of Zatanna and Green Lantern, I will never be cool enough to wear this Fonz shirt, superhero skeletons – the latest fad, I really do completely unironically love Spanner’s Galaxy, the Brat Finks 1 and 2, the infamous Swamp Thing Holiday Hiatus: 1 2 3 4 5 6…
JANUARY 2012:
…and 7, Richie Rich has got money and looks, yes I actually did scan an all-black panel for this post, always time for a Gil Kane splash page, the greatest Gelatinous Cube drawing of all time, trying to find time to reread comics and the follow-up post, behold the infinite sadness of non-white Joker, GRENDEL ‘n’ MAGE TALK: 1 2 3, I thought more people would be amused by this Joker thing, at long last here are the lost Swamp Thing pages.
FEBRUARY 2012:
The greatest Watchmen prequel that never was, it had been so long since I’d done a gaming post that I created a new “gaming” tag without realized I already had one, surely marketing this mask was just asking for trouble, the publishing implications for the Watchmen prequels, hey I finally sold this thing on the eBay just last week, Sgt. Fury teams up with…Dracula!?!?! — how can this be, I am far happier about this Valentine’s Day post than I have any reason to be, I’m never going to top this animated graphic so I might as well just shut it all down then and there, it’s the Champ, I really intended to do more of these, the introduction of…THEN, KOREA and some follow-ups: 1 2.
MARCH 2012:
We think that’s Tom Jones, seriously this was really creepy in the cartoon, CLARK KENT VERSUS ART, FRED FLINTSTONE VERSUS THE FUTURE, they didn’t really think out the full horrible potential of the Phantom Zone, the manifest destiny of Little Lotta, one more THEN KOREA post, no idea what I’m going to do for my 44th birthday, Krypto thinking “look at those eats!” is truly the best thing from the Silver Age, I’m expecting the restraining order from Mr. Snyder any day now, holy crap IT’S SLUGGIUS, there’s probably a series of jokes about what Peanuts character created what Internet-related thingies, Enndo obeys no man while also probably having too many Ns in his name.
APRIL 2012:
The Sluggo/Swamp Thing mash-up you’ve been waiting for (or dreading), pal Casie whips out an awesome green drawing, the Great Progressive Ruin Hiatus begins in this post, I check in here, I ‘splain what’s goin’ on here, the second Ghost Rider movie was really something else, why do people like comic books, more butt, Mike vs. CGC, Mike vs. misogynist jerks, college finally pays off, boy that Man-Thing sure is big, if only I had a way of describing it.
MAY 2012:
I don’t get enough credit for creating the term “panelogical onanist,” Free Comic Book Day 2012 – The Hideous Aftermath, the greatest shirt I’ve seen this year, nobody had anything to tell me about these insanely rare mini-books, I’m wearing my Commtech Chips right now, here’s the good X-Men Versus The Avengers comic, ADAM 12 VERSUS SATAN, I swear I get multiple “Avengers sucked” Google referrals every day since I posted this, the moustache of Jimmy Olsen.
JUNE 2012:
This comic ended up going to the home of the biggest Gil Kane fan I know, and in conclusion these Before Watchmen books are solid mid-rangers at our shop, it was only a matter of time before a Snooki cameo on my site, aside from the shitty writing and the nonexistent editing this book wasn’t all that bad, I am getting serious inquiries via Google as to whether or not the sticker’s presence affects the book’s value, my favorite Swamp Thing panels, “fast as hell,” I never get tired of these kid-drawn monsters, yes Suckmaster Burstingfoam, I see your regular comments on this post (and I swear they make me laugh every time), you have no idea how long I tried to find a good panel with Shipwreck.
JULY 2012:
I’ve heard from a lot of people who’ve had this book and want it again, boy it’s a good thing variant covers are a thing of the past, Alan Scott – the Swamp Thing connection, yes okay fine everything you own is worth millions, CHARLIE BROWN VS. RUSSIA, that is one dreamy Swamp Thing, oh that Richie Rich, MIRACLECOSTELLO, the rare Swamp Thing / Archie crossover, I never thought I’d see a Swamp Thing kid’s book, but here we go.
AUGUST 2012:
Ghost Rider Butt! — er, I mean, buttons, the beginning of the end: THE POGMAN COMETH, turtle power, Squinky Thing, the most terrifying announcement made on my site in its nine years of life (and in response, my single most favorite comment a reader has ever made), the explanation for said announcement, I beat the rush on the Heckblazer joke, some vintage X-Men criticism, this is one groovy cover.
SEPTEMBER 2012:
The Todd McFarlane Action Figure (and the follow-up), Doctor Who Meets The Omen, the Time Bandits comic is a lost classic, I take a peek at Swamp Thing #0, I get all weepy-eyed over an old Archie Annual, Popeye Versus Bull, those 1980s revisionist Popeye comics were darned peculiar, I miss the Jupiter comic, I missed Doop.
OCTOBER 2012:
I ask you folks what creators are without-question must-buys (and the follow-up), that’s a lotta Swamp Thing artists’ signatures on that cover, my look at the Dark Knight Returns cartoon of course brings in Swamp Thing, I managed to sell some Jungle Annuals because of this post, in which I talked my girlfriend into smuggling me some comics from Mexico, POPEYE NO, people sure seemed to take a liking to my Lovecraft/Fantastic Four pastiche, yet another brief discussion of media impact on comic sales, I’ve held this comic in my hands and I still don’t believe it’s real, all those years of Sluggo Saturdays has brought us to this,
NOVEMBER 2012:
Debbie Preston sounds like a happenin’ gal, I go way too in-depth on Swamp Thing continuity stuff — sorry about that: 1 2 3 4, now that I’ve started watching the first season of American Horror Story this panel takes on a whole new meaning, that is one groovy ad, it’s a lot funnier when you hear me doing this in person I swear (I hope),
DECEMBER 2012:
Have I mentioned that I love Golden Age Sub-Mariner, because I love Golden Age Sub-Mariner, more Swamp Things from foreign and exotic lands.
Plus, don’t forget civilization ended all year long. And sometimes there were Saturdays…maybe with Sluggo, maybe not.
Again, my sincerest gratitude to all of you for reading my site. I comment every year about how I’m surprised anyone aside from a few friends even care about anything I have to say here, so I am very grateful for your readership.
And for reading all of that, you get this lovely portrait of me, as drawn (I believe) by Former Employee Jeff:
Yes, Swamp “Thong.” Let’s not dwell on that. Also, my arms are marginally longer than pictured. Otherwise, that’s almost like looking at a photo.
Now, on to Year Ten!
So you may remember my brief lamentation regarding my girlfriend not spotting any copies of Swamp Thing during her most recent trip to Mexico. To assuage my despair, longtime reader, and resident of Spain, John P. informed me that he had an item or two that might be of interest. And one internationally-shipped package later, BEHOLD:
That is
Super Powers #6, a digest-sized comic published in Portugal in 1987. It reprints, in color, issues #29-#31 of
Saga of the Swamp Thing from 1984, comprising Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, John Totleben, and Rick Veitch’s Arcane trilogy. Leaves out the annual that wraps up the storyline, however.
That’s okay, though, as the comic does feature fan art:
That wasn’t bad, I thought. (And before you ask, no, it’s not autographed…that signature is printed on the page.
This next item is the newest of the bunch that John P. was good enough to send – this is the first issue of the New 52 Swamp Thing series, as issued in Spain:
It’s a squarebound book, presenting the first four issues (and cover images) of the Scott Snyder/Yanick Paquette/et al. series, on nice slick paper with no ads (except some house ads inside the covers).
Here’s an earlier La Cosa Del Pantano, dating from 1988:
It’s 48 pages, staplebound, also adless save for house ads and a couple of pages of editorial matter at the back. It reprints
Saga of the Swamp Thing #21 (1984), with Moore, Bissette and Totleben’s revision of Swampy’s origin, followed by the first chapter of the Nukeface story from issue #35 (1985).
The fourth and final item John P. sent me was another digest from Portugal, Batman Ano Um #1 (1987):
It reprints, as you might have guessed, or perhaps divined by looking at the scan above, the first chapter of “Batman: Year One” by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, and has as its back-up story the Moore and Shawn McManus story from
Saga of the Swamp Thing #28:
There’s also a Marv Wolfman/Don Newton
Vigilante story in there, too. An interesting mix of material, I thought. Also of note, there’s a one-page of biography for Batman’s cocreator Bob Kane…and another biography on the facing page for the usually-overlooked Bill Finger.
The Portuguese comics also include this ad for the publisher’s Hulk comic:
…also featuring Sub-Mariner and Rom.
Since my Portuguese is a little rusty, I typed part of this ad into the ol’ Google translator to see what they were saying about our Incredible friend:
“The hate comes up – Hulk loses control
“With terrible nightmares that lead to irreversible abyss of madness, Hulk becomes a savage monster that brutally destroys everything in its path. Read this fantastic story. And much more!”
Also: “Rom the Space Knight” is okay, “Rom, o Cavaleiro do Espaço” is fantástico.
Anyway, a big thanks to John P. for sending these my way. They’re great, and I really appreciate them! The Swamp Thing Shrine grows ever larger.
