What sound does the Swamp Thing Signal Watch make?
So I received a nice surprise in the mail on Tuesday…a postcard from Steve Lieber advertising the forthcoming hardcover collection of the Jimmy Olsen series he with with Matt Fraction:
If that cover seems familiar, here’s why.
On the back of the postcard is info about the book, plus a special handdrawn message from Mr. Lieber his own self:
A closer look:
Very nice. Made my day getting this card. And, if y’all haven’t read that Jimmy Olsen series yet, this is as good a way as any to check it out. It’s a great run, very funny and imaginative, and one of my favorites.
In other surprises-shipped-to-the-store news, I received last Friday an envelope from Marvel marked “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 6/16” so I went ahead and opened it up immediately because c’mon guys, I don’t have time for this “do not open until Christmas” nonsense. (And it’s “616 Day” for reasons discussed in the links I put in this post the other day.)
Anyway, inside was a note from Marvel saying they’re trying to get 6/16 to be “Marvel Day” or whatever, and they’re kicking it off with some new, branded variant covers for recent Marvels, like this one for X-Men #15:
So anyway, I put those out for sale on Monday, but not put out for sale was this item, a set of Fantastic Four pins:
Pretty cool, thinks me. And as someone who likes pins, I’m just gonna hang onto these, thank you very much.
I think future 616 Days may be better served by some kind of freebie comic instead of just “collectibles” to be marked up. (And if they’re going to ship pins like these with comics in the future, they might want to do a better job making sure the clasps on the back don’t get crushed into the covers of those special variants when the envelope containing everything is at the bottom of a box with piles of books on top of it.)
Okay, we kinda lost the thread a tiny bit with the Final ’90s Countdown, in which the intention was to only cover titles that began in 1990 or later.
However, this have resulted in a lot of hair-splitting and questionable decision-making and whathaveyou and sometimes something slips through the cracks, like 1989’s The Mask.
So, there will be some sidebars to the Final ’90s Countdown with some “Honorary ’90s Comics” — titles like Eightball and From Hell, all technically beginning in the very late ’80s but are very associated with the ’90s. Look, I’m flying by the seat of my pants here, but these comics should be discussed, even if they were disqualified from the initial vote.
It’s a little bit of a mess, but at least we get to talk about a bunch of good comics!
What is Sue Storm supposed to be standing in — a refrigerator?
I assume that’s meant to be her Fantasticar module, which, to be fair, looks a lot like a refrigerator.
Speaking of Swamp Thing, I saw one of those “Keep Our Swamps Clean” bumper stickers in my neighborhood just the other day. And while looking up online, I found out there’s a second version:
https://www.terror-vision.com/store/keep-our-swamps-clean-bumper-sticker-3-pack
Maybe to avoid copyright infringement with the movie or something? Anyway, I thought the Swamp Thing completists would want to know.
At least the owners took the door off so Sue wouldn’t get stuck in the fridge. I only remember 3 things that happened in Punky Brewster, and one of them is never climb in an old refrigerator and close the door.
Awesome postcard! I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Steve Lieber twice, and enjoyed talking to him. He’s a great artist, too. I have the Jimmy Olsen trade in my big “to-read” stack, and after seeing that cover, I think I’ll read it next.
I so wish I could justify getting that hardcover. There’s even going to be a key, just like in the Supes vs. Ali comic!
In honour of Alan Moore, I propose the Swamp Thing signal watch should go “zed-zed-zed”
@ Mike
Who is Jimmy battling on the cover and how many of the audience members–both DC characters and DC staff–can you list?
Marvel should totally make a bunch of pins featuring characters drawn by Kirby, Ditko, Romita, Byrne, Miller, Perez, etc. –also T-shirts that reproduce classic and key covers.
“What sound does the Swamp Thing Signal Watch make?”
“SCHLORP!”
“Earth’s Mightiest Day”.
Uh, I’m PRETTY SURE Earth’s Mightiest Day was the day Sean Connery was born.
“I think future 616 Days may be better served by some kind of freebie comic instead of just “collectibles” to be marked up.:
Agreed! but they’re owned by greedy Disney now, so I think we all know what to expect.
“The Mask… Eightball and From Hell”
I associate ALL of those with the 90’s so I think you’re OK.
“What is Sue Storm supposed to be standing in — a refrigerator”.
Presumably a fantasticar, but it looks like a tiny yacht.
Every SINGLE one of those looks like it’s from Kirby art. Marvel really should’ve paid that man a LOT more.
Yeah those pins are awesome, and yes they’re all Kirby images.
That image of Reed was used A LOT back in the day for licensing purposes; it’s from the cover of FF#59.
The Human Torch is from a pin up in annual #2.
The other two are bugging me, but at the moment I can’t put my finger on them exactly.
Not a refrigerator but close; Sue looks like she is in her compartment of “the Flying Bathtub,” the other (and in my mind far superior) Fantasti-car, first seen on the cover of issue #3.
What are people’s thoughts on the Fantasti-car in the upcoming Fantastic Four film?
Do you like the overhaul or should they have stuck with Jack Kirby’s Fantasti-car?
Maybe someday The Forever People will appear in a New Gods film and we will get the authentic Jack Kirby “Wonder Wagon.”
* Whiz Wagon–I guess the “Wonder Wagon” would be reserved for all the Wonder Girls, Wonder Women, and the Wonder Twins…
It’s hard to remember which decade some comics were first (or last) published.
I was shocked that Eightball wouldn’t count as a ‘90s book.
I did know that From Hell originally started in the late-‘80s in the pages of Taboo, but I was surprised to see that it took until 1998 for From Hell to be completed, with the first collected edition published in 1999. That would mean that the collected edition I bought in 2000 wasn’t long after the comic was finished.
“thoughts on the Fantasti-car in the upcoming Fantastic Four film”
Anything’s better than the Spider-Mobile!
“it took until 1998 for From Hell to be completed”.
And Big Numbers never DID get finished!
Apparently it is “Earth-Prime Day” and Julie Schwartz’s birthday anniversary ( give or take 24 hours).
https://ripjaggerdojo.blogspot.com/2025/06/earth-prime-day.html?m=1
That Jimmy Olsen miniseries was brilliant fun! No matter what comic book company, Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber should be making many more great comics together!
@Sean
I’m fine with the car, or at least as much of it as I have seen so far. I’d still rather have my beloved and dorky looking flying bathtub, but I’ll take it!
I’m pretty stoked about the film overall. Everything I’ve seen so far has impressed me. I appreciate the hopeful tone that the movie seems to have. For years I’ve thought the only way to really make the FF work would be to put them in a 60’s space age setting.
I’d honestly be happy if they never attempted another movie, but this is the first one since the Corman one to seem to have the vibe that I feel best suits the FF.
Was totally bummed that we never got that New Gods movie, but I have a feeling it would have had to adhere to the bland muted palette of the Synderverse. Hopefully under Gunn, if we do see the 4th World it will be as crazy colorful and psychedelic/hippietronic as it deserves to be!
And yes, seeing the Whiz Wagon would be awesome!
A hopeful Superman and spaceage FF, the summer superhero movies look to be right up my alley!
Is it just me who liked the FF movie form about 10 years ago, minus the part where they changed Dr Doom’s origin? Micheal Chiklis as the Thing was PERFECT.
@LouReedRichards
Yes, looking forward to both the FF and Superman films.
I liked that they showed Giganto fighting the FF in homage to Fantastic Four no. 1 in that recent pizza commercial. I still wish they had gone with the traditional Jack Kirby black and blue costumes–at least for the first film, and the original Silver Surfer. I hope we get a cameo by Wyatt Wingfoot! I think the Fantasti-car looks pretty decent, but again, the Kirby design would have been preferable.
It would be awesome to get a “psychedelic/hippietronic” Fourth World film franchise!
@Snark Shark
Some things were okay with those FF films. I liked their costumes better in that franchise and Chiklis was pretty good! I wasn’t really sold on Jessica Alba as Sue Storm–maybe she would have been good as Crystal if they had ever included the Inhumans in the franchise.
Here is fun casting on a 1970s Justice League film
https://youtu.be/WtJUwzhlZPs?si=RyK8vWmc5Q0H8svn
I’m willing to accept OK casting for Sue and Reed, given the excellent casting for Thing & Dr. Doom!