Mikester

I may have twisted my arm while trying to pat myself on the back.

filed under Categories blogging about blogging is a sin, cartoons, superman 3 Comments

From the Superman: The Animated Series episode “The Late Mr. Kent” (originally aired November 1997) comes this bit of editorial commentary:


…”Fans Nix New Duds,” almost certainly referring to the new costume hoohar which began in the early 1997 Superman comics :


Oh, those Superman Cartoon guys. (For more on that costume, here’s a post on that topic that I did nearly a year ago which I still think isn’t half-bad.)

• • •

So long as I’m congratulating myself, I was reminded a few days ago of a particular entry on my site…an entry that, if I were to pick my top ten favorite posts I’ve ever done here, would almost certainly be near the top. So, today’s Progressive Ruin Phunnybook Phlashback: BEHOLD.

• • •

Hey. Hey, you. If you’ve got your blog set up that your sidebar links to other blogs include the title and / or the first line or two of said linked blogs, and you were good enough to include me in that sidebar, please do me a favor. Take a look at my link there. If the excerpt from my site reads “REMINDER! Update your Progressive Ruin feed links,” then…well, please update your Progressive Ruin feed links. Here’s the current feed, which is also linked to by the “SYNDICATE” button at the upper right hand corner of my site. Thank you!

Progressive Ruin presents…the End of Civilization.

filed under Categories End of Civilization 19 Comments

Well, if you’ve been waiting for the onslaught of Green Lantern merchandising crap to begin, this is your lucky month, friends! I barely even touch upon all the GL stuff in today’s EoC entry, but trust me, there’s plenty. Like, the GL board game that’s basically just Trouble, complete with Pop-O-Matic, but with Green Lantern pictures all over it. Or the game where, apparently, you shoot marbles at little Green Lantern stand-ups. Crazy, man. Anyway, see for yourself as you follow along in your March 2011 edition of Diamond Previews:

p. 113 – Aquaman Death of a Prince TP:


Seems like an odd thing to be reprinting, unless DC is gearing up for the Aquababy: Rebirth mini-series.

p. 116 – Power Girl Bomb Squad TP:


So I was just doing my initial glance-through of the catalog when I saw this solicitation out of the corner of my eye. I immediately registered “Power Girl” and “Squad” in the title, but I’ll give you one guess what I briefly, shamefully, misread “Bomb” as. Go on, guess.

p. 136-7 – Green Lantern (Movie) 1:4 Scale Hal Jordan & Sinestro Deluxe Busts:


“No one will be admitted during the thrilling Jello-wrestling scene.”

p. 243 – Crossed Psychopath #4:


Reasonably certain it takes about as long to read the solicitation text as it does the actual comic.

p. 316 – Clint #9:


Well, issue #3 was close, but I think this is the first cover to fully exploit the primary reason this magazine was called Clint.

p. 349 – Green Lantern Movie Young Reader Books:


“And then there was that time Arisia and I were in love…sure, she made herself look older with her ring, but she was actually just about your age, boys and girls!”

p. 353 – The Transformers Vault HC:


Oh, so there’s where Megan Fox went.

p. 354 – The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes HC:


Ooh, I sure hope the word “quantum” is thrown around a lot in this book.

p. 378 – Family Guy Slammers:


Saw the title for this solicitation, and thought, for one horrible moment, that this was actually an ad for Family Guy POGs. Maybe it’s just a non-sequitur reference to the years-ago POGs craze, but what are the chances of a Family Guy-related thing doing that?

p. 389 – Iggy Pop 7-Inch Action Figure:


“More lifelike than the real thing!”

p. 392 – Thor Movie Deluxe Series 2 Action Figures:


I suspect we’ll get some kind of explanation for what’s going on here eventually. Frankly, I’m not sure I want to know.

p. 397 – Doctor Who Weeping Angel Mini-Bust:


If you have any children in your household who are Doctor Who fans, this would be the worst thing to buy them. Trust me on this. Unless, of course, you don’t much like your kids.

p. 405 – Star Wars Silicon Trays Han Solo in Carbonite & R2D2:


These ice cube trays would go nicely with my refrigerator’s built-in crushed ice Hoth Snowscape simulator.

p. 411 – Seven Deadly Sins Resin Statues:


This’ll make Show ‘n’ Tell at the private Catholic school a whole lot more interesting.

p. 417 – Green Lantern Movie Paperweights:


Finally, I have a way to keep my copy of Green Lantern #1 (1941) from being blown off my desk by sudden gusts of wind! Because if it’s one thing comic fans are going to want a paperweight for….

p. 418 – Green Lantern Movie Projection Ring:


I think what I like most about this ring is just how understated it is, what with its ONE FOOT HEIGHT.

p. 433 – Green Lantern Saves Earth Movie Board Game:


Dude, spoiler warning, please!

p. 440 – Doctor Who The Movie Special Edition DVD:


For those of you who didn’t like this when it originally aired in 1995, here’s your chance to not like it again! (And too bad, gang…it’s canon!)

Marvel Previews p. 76 – Marvel Select Red Skull Movie Figure:


Well, it’s nice that Voldemort found work now that the Harry Potter movies are finished filming.

Marvel Previews p. 96 – Rocket Raccoon Guardian of the Keystone Quadrant Premiere HC:


You know, I’m pretty sure this is absolutely the last thing I expected Marvel to reprint in hardco…

p. 101 – Trouble by Mark Millar Premiere HC:


…hold on. Spoke too soon.

Oh, I’m pretty sure this could have been avoided.

filed under Categories advertising 15 Comments

So, believe it or not, I got my hands on two more boxes of 20+ year old comic book promo materials, and am currently unearthing even more wonderful delights of comics retail past…such as this item from the cover of Blackthorne Preview Magazine (February 1989):


For those of you too young to remember, or otherwise don’t know what this was all about, here you go:


You’re welcome.

Also in this Blackthorne Preview Magazine: an advertisement for the original comic book publication of Street Poet Ray (as pal Andrew discussed just the other day):


Some of the details are lost at that size, so click on it for a better look…if you dare.

Mike’s Lunchtime Update 3013.

filed under Categories lunchtime update 1 Comment

  • Those Church ‘n’ Birdie cats, they pulled a fast one…America’s most beloved comic strip about a comic shop, The Rack, has returned! The cast is reintroduced here, and behold, the first “new look” strip! Characters live, characters die, nothing will ever be the same again!

  • And now, as part of an ongoing examination of the work of filmmaker Jim Wynorski, here’s an in-depth look at the cinematic classic The Return of Swamp Thing.

I tried to squeeze the phrase “Peanuts Expanded Universe” into this post, but I ultimately decided against it.

filed under Categories peanuts, sir-links-a-lot 3 Comments

  • Yet another online acquaintance has met me in the flesh, and lived to tell the tale…this time, it’s Bob at Tearoom of Despair, who came all the way from New Zealand for his tour of American comic shops. (You may remember Bob as the fellow who kindly sent a copy of this Swamp Thing comic to me.) He had some nice things to say about, not just me, but some other notable funnybook-sellin’ folks, so go read, already. Also, Bob and his wife were quite nice people, and I was glad to meet them.

    Also, Nik is making me just slightly worried in the comments, there.

  • Boom Studios finally explains its Peanuts teaser by announcing the Peanuts graphic novel Happiness Is A Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown. Honestly, I was expecting a monthly comic of (mostly) newly-produced material, like the old Dell / Gold Key ones from the ’60s. “Peanuts graphic novel” is not a phrase I was anticipating. Looks interesting, judging by the sample pages…Charles Schulz is credited as the writer, and it looks like storylines from the original strips repurposed by new artists into a traditional comic book-style format. Of course, this has me wondering if we’ll see new Peanuts stories in the comic (or graphic novel) format. If so, it’ll be strange having a continuation of the characters’ stories in print (as opposed to new animated specials), as the comic strip point of origin is restricted to eternal reruns.

    Renowned Peanuts expert pal Nat has a few words to say about this, as one might imagine…particularly regarding the publication timeline.

  • Gerry over at CO2 Comics talks about his early cartooning encouragement from his algebra teacher and an honest-to-goodness famous cartoonist!

  • Andrew’s latest Nobody’s Favorites entry attempts to explain the inexplicable.

  • If someone were to ask me just why pal Dorian’s Flop posts were funny, I’d have no idea what to say beyond “they just are, man.”

From the never-ending box of promotional material…

filed under Categories advertising 7 Comments

…comes this swell back cover ad from the fourth issue of the Eclipse Extra retailer giveaway, dated March 1985:


In a fair world, we’d be up to about issue 300-something of Mr. Monster by now. Of course, there have been several mini-series and spin-offs over the years, but there just wasn’t anything quite the like the demented energy and creative diversity of those original ten issues. And while I liked the “serious” Mr. Monster origin story in the series that followed, I had a bit of difficulty getting back into the not-so-serious version of the character presented in the stories published after that second series. Not that I was all “I demand my Mr. Monster be serious stuff now,” but…I don’t know, it just felt like something had changed. Maybe it’s not you, baby, it’s me…perhaps I’d just read enough Mr. Monster at that point.

Anyway, those old Mr. Monster comics were some fine books, even if the later issues didn’t quite grab my fancy the way those earlier ones did. But I’ll tell you, I’d still read the hell out of this crossover!

I have absolutely no memory of ever seeing anyone wear this shirt…

filed under Categories advertising, watchmen 13 Comments

…but surely somebody did:


Almost, but not quite, up there with those Metal Men t-shirts in the “not really explaining what all this is about” department. Though I guess that’s probably the point of wearing a shirt like this…the right people will know, man.

Hey, remember that time in the ’80s when Howard Chaykin did an adult-themed Blackhawk mini-series, and it was relatively popular and there were follow-up Blackhawk comics by other creators that were also adult-ish and slightly naughty and they were still getting enough attention that DC actually produced a little bit of point-of-sale signage to tell everyone “hey, Blackhawk’s in our weekly anthology book?”


And there it is. There’s tape residue on the back, so this sign was up at the shop at some point. Hopefully when the book was coming out in 1988, and not, say, in 1993.

I’m pretty sure this next bit of comics retail detritus, dated 1987, was intended to get names and addresses for store mailing lists…at least, that’s how it should have been used:


In case you can’t read the text:

“We the undersigned, wish to voice our opinion as guaranteed by the first amendment. The Mutant Registration Act as outlined by the government must be repealed if we are to maintain our freedoms as specified in the Constitution.”

Pretty sure “First Amendment” is supposed to be capitalized. Also, has the Mutant Registration Act been repealed yet? I haven’t been keeping up.

The recusal of Neilalien.

filed under Categories neilalien 2 Comments

Today, on the 11th(!) anniversary of his website, the irreplaceable, inimitable Neilalien has announced his semi-retirement from the world of comics blogging.

I’ve often spoken before of Neil’s great influence on, not just me, but many of us who blog about the funnybooks on the internet, and his regular contributions will be missed. But I’m glad he’s still leaving the channel open for the occasional communiqué from the unknown realms into which he’s journeying.

Excelsior, Neilalien!

Now if I can actually play as Galactus, you’ve got a sale.

filed under Categories reader participation, sir-links-a-lot 6 Comments

So I asked for caption submissions for that Swamp Thing/Starfire/Robin pic, and several of you delivered some good lines. I have picked this one as the winner, emailed to me in that time-honored format of the gag motivational poster:


That’s from reader Michael (whose fine first name had no influence upon my decision), and you can visit his website, with many more funnybook-related motivational posters like the above, at Michael Paciocco’s Mind.

Thank you, Michael, and thank you to everyone else who contributed!

In other news:

  • Tim O’Neil writes smart about the passing of Dwayne McDuffie and the great value of his work.

  • Siskoid has his tribute to Doctor Who‘s Nicholas Courtney, in the form of unauthorized Dr. Who CCG game cards.

  • So that Chris Sims guy has a story in Image Comics’ Skullkickers #6 and would like you to buy it. I have read it, and it is the kind of subtle, thoughtful and heartstring-tugging work you’ve come to expect from anything with the name “Chris Sims” slapped on it. Very recommended.

  • Speaking of Sims, he and Matt interview Kevin Church in the latest War Rocket Ajax episode. BONUS: episode title comes from something mentioned during the show that I found on a message board five years ago. Good memories, those guys.

  • I’m not big on this type of fighting game, but after seeing some footage of the Galactus battles in Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, I’m intrigued. Here’s an article with some details on his appearance in the game, and an embedded video showing the big guy in action (short ad at beginning of video, Galactus shows up at the 45 second mark).

  • And now, for no good reason other than that my pal Corey pointed out to me that it was up on the YouTube, here is one of my all-time favorite SNL sketches:


    It’s not so much that it’s laugh-out-loud funny as it is just damned peculiar.