Mikester

Just noticed that pal Dorian has put in a little voting widget on his side project site Mike Sterling Is A Big Cheater Pants. Now you, the home viewer, can vote on just how big of a cheater pants I am. Just head over to Mike Sterling Is A Big Cheater Pants and look for the radiobutton thingie in the sidebar.

…but I got bit of a late start, it looks like that post will be a bit time intensive, and I’m still recovering from a cold I’ve been trying to shake all weekend, so WAH BLOGGING’S HARD. But I still love you…well, most of you, anyway…so here are a couple of awesome panels I wanted to share.

Like this one from Atlas Comics’ Targitt #1 (March 1975):

Frankly, I need to do an extended look at this comic someday, because for at least this first issue it’s an entertainingly-goofy two-fisted adventure book. Of course, this being Atlas Comics, there’s a complete turn-around in the comic’s premise in the very next issue, with the FBI agent title character getting a superhero costume.

And then there’s this panel from another Atlas title, Phoenix #4 (October 1975):

…and you can’t really turn up the drama much more than that, except that the title character begins his suicide attempt in the very next panel. But that panel up there…man, that’s like a giant emo monument to bleakness. Well done, sirs, well done.

Anyway, kind of a lame post, I know, but if I tried this again you all would rise up against me with your rakes and torches and I’m already facing that from the employees.

So, with any luck I’ll get around to discussing those predictions tomorrow. If, you know, you’re still interested.

Targitt #1 by Ric Meyers & Howard Nostrand, Phoenix #4 by Gary Friedrich, Ric Estrada & Frank Giacoia

• So the Final Crisis series and miscellaneous tie-ins have had two covers for each installment: the “stripe” cover, with a single thin image down the center, or the full “character focus” cover (for the lack of a better term), featuring an image that’s spread across the entire front of the book. I’ve been sticking with the “stripe” covers, to keep my collection of this series visually unified because sad old fanboys like me do things like that.

  But I made an exception for Final Crisis Secret Files, as it gave me a choice between a “stripe” cover with a generic pic of Wonder Woman, and this:

  
  Why yes, I’ll take a cool Frank Quitely cover, thank you.

  Also, from just a quick glance about the internets, apparently I’m the only person who liked this comic. Go ahead, tell me I’m wrong for liking it, you know you want to.

• The big nerd to-do yesterday was the announcement of the actor taking the role of the Eleventh Doctor for the long-running Doctor Who franchise, and the lucky fellow finding himself the target of angry message boarders everywhere is Matt Smith. I’m not a hardcore Whovian, but I do enjoy the show and, while any reasonable person realizes it’s too early to make any real kind of judgment call, I find myself looking forward to Smith taking on the role and seeing what direction the show goes in.

  Of course, I can hope for a nice, clean break from the subplots and supporting characters from the previous few years. I think the still-remaining specials starring the current Doctor, David Tennant, will go a long way to putting some distance between the baggage of the previous seasons and giving the new fellow a fresh start. I mean, it’s not like we’re not going to get the prerequisite Dalek episode(s), but just so long as we don’t get “hmm, well, let’s pop in and see how Rose/Martha/Donna is/are getting on” for at least a while, that’ll be fine. Because I’m sure the show’s producers are depending upon my approval.

  Anyway, yesterday on the Twitter, during the pre-announcement hoohar that was happening on that site, I posted this message:

  “I think Dr. Stephen Hawking was a very brave choice for the eleventh Doctor Who.”

  …because 1) hey, he’s British, and 2) like Hawking isn’t enough of a geek himself to totally take the role if they offered it to him.

  A few of my Twitter pals took up the phrasing of “I think ___________ was a very brave choice for the eleventh Doctor Who” and the end result was, well, this, some of which I thought were pretty funny, and plus had the added bonus of making me responsible for a little Twitter havoc. I’ve finally accomplished something.

  (Tip of the toupee to Dave for the Twitter search link.)

• Also yesterday on the Twitter, I posted my idea of creating a massage parlor targeted at comic fans, with the entire staff costumed like Kitty Pryde from her various incarnations. This will make me rich beyond imagining.
• I haven’t had a chance to go see The Spirit yet, but I’ve been having more and more customers tell me that they enjoyed it. No, really.

  I’m picturing it as some kind of terrifying fever dream of a film, from what I’ve been hearing (and by what I’ve seen, since I cheated a little and looked at the trading card set). I may not get around to it until I rent it from the Netflix, but I’m gonna see this flick, sooner or later.

• Apparently Saturday at the shop it was Former Employee Reunion Day, as about a half-dozen or so former employees popped in and out throughout the day (with the unusual exception of former employee Jeff, who I swear has been at the shop more often now than when he was employed here). Ironically, the two people who are supposed to be here, Employees Aaron and Tim, are out all weekend, leaving poor Kid Chris to fill in.

  I know none of this is important to anyone, but I felt I had to mark the day so that at least I remembered.

• What did reader Joshua give me for New Year’s Day? Why, he gave me All Star Swamp Thing, that’s what. Thanks, Joshua!

WHAT.

From here.

So I’m going to be doing some follow-ups on posts from the beginning of last year (with perhaps the exception of my “resolutions” post, of which I accomplished pretty much none), and I’m starting off with my predictions before looking at some of the ones you folks made. You know, it’s only fair.

1. DC will further experiment with higher price points/expanded page count anthology-esque titles like Countdown to Mystery. I don’t think we’re going to say goodbye to the $2.99 format this year, but I think its end is likely near…$3.25 or $3.50 is imminent.

Well…I was right about the $2.99 format not going away, but there sure has been a lot of chatter about the seemingly imminent $3.99 price point standard (with a lot of wondering about skipping any intermediary price levels). Of course, the transition hasn’t happened yet, so there may yet be hope for a $3.25/$3.50 price level before we hit that four buck mark.

And I really was thinking there’d be a lot more action from DC on their $3.99 anthologies, since I thought that was a pretty good format. Will the forthcoming Adventure Comics series be $3.99? Seems like a natural.

2. The Spider-Man “One More Day” boondoggle won’t be reversed, at least certainly not within its first year…that would be tantamount to Marvel admitting it made a mistake, and we know how they don’t like that. […] However, I think, at least from the creative end, the problems involved in this reboot will become increasingly evident (from “continuity patches” to the undermining of reader confidence in Marvel’s storytelling).

I am seeing some questioning about what is still in Spider-Man continuity and what isn’t…apparently Peter and Mary Jane were shacked up for a while in this new revised continuity? That Harry’s death was faked? I don’t know. By and large, though, people seem to be enjoying the new Spider-Man comics so long as they try not to think too much about the deal-with-the-devil elephant in the room.

I seem to recall spotting a report somewhere or ‘other about Spider-Man sales dipping…they seem to be holding okay, more or less, at our shop, which surprised me, as I honestly expected some measure of Spider-fatigue to set in. Like I’ve argued before, a lot of my customers decided that they only wanted to read one Spider-Man book, and that book was the flagship, Amazing Spider-Man. One monthly book was enough for ’em. But now, being forced to buy three titles a month when they were reading only ASM specifically so that they didn’t have to buy three titles a month…that didn’t result in the backlash I was expecting. So, you know, good. Always like to sell more comics than less.

But I’m going to have to track down overall sales figures on the title, so I have something more to go on than just my experience at the shop.

I am curious how long it’s going to be before we see an announcement for another ongoing Spider-Man title, however.

3. Final Crisis will be a straightforward and clever mini-series, as these events go, which will be decried as “weird” and “hard to understand” by the usual suspects because Grant Morrison is writing.

Nailed it. Next…?

Okay, it’s a shame about the scheduling. But the comic is a blast, honest!

4. Sales on the next Stephen King’s Dark Tower series will be nowhere near the sales on the previous mini. It’ll be ordered high, certainly, and the first issue might sell well, but the drop-off will occur even more quickly than it did on the initial series, as the hardcore King fans will just wait for the next collection.

Overall, sales are pretty low on Dark Tower monthlies for us…the hardcovers do okay, but the periodicals aren’t bringing in the King fans like they did at first. The novelty’s worn thin, I guess, as the King fans who aren’t already comic book fans have appeared to have given up on trekking to the funnybook store once a month and are waiting for the collections. The Stand is selling about the same, if not a little less.

5. On a related note…some comic from Marvel or DC will be hailed as the “breakout comic” that finally gets the general non-comic-reading audience to start buying funnybooks on a regular basis, while ignoring the fact that said general audience is only buying that “breakout” comic and nothing else.

Well, I don’t know that anything really stood out as being pushed as the “breakout” book. I certainly saw my fair share of customers who only bought Buffy or (to a far, far lesser extent) Dark Tower or Anita Blake, but those had been around for a while and thus didn’t get the “certainly this will save the comics industry!” talk that this sort of thing seems to get.

6. And finally, comic fans will finally catch up to me and realize the inherent beauty, humor, and satire of All Star Batman and Robin. I will be hailed as a genius of incredible foresight for being the internet’s primary proponent of ASB so early on in that book’s history. Money and awards will be showered upon me, women (and 10% of the men) will throw themselves at me, and I will go down in history as the comic internet’s wisest, and most stunningly handsome, observer.

ALL DOCUMENTED, ALL TRUE.

Seriously, though, I saw a few reactions to that issue of All Star Batman with the Robin Vs. Green Lantern fight which seemed to indicate a turning-around of opinion, at least to a limited degree, on this title…at least some acknowledgment of “oh, okay, now I get this comic!” Okay, that’s just anecdotal evidence, but at least it there was a little positive commentary on the series!

---

Okay, more commentary on YOUR predictions after the weekend, hopefully.

• Reader Patrick pointed out something I didn’t know about…well, I knew about the John Stanley Melvin Monster collection, but I didn’t know about the forthcoming collection of his Nancy comics. That’s really cool…thanks, Patrick!

  Now if we can get The Complete Ernie Bushmiller Nancy, we would indeed be living in a perfect world. Hey, we got Herbie Archives…surely anything is possible in this future world of the year 2009 (well, just about 2009, anyway).

• From the eBay: “MARVEL LEGENDS CUSTOM THE WATCHMEN” – to wit:
  
  That’s one ripped Dr. Manhattan. He’s Too Much Man for his trunks, apparently, since they don’t connect in the back, there. Or maybe that’s supposed to represent how the buttfloss just sort of disappears into OKAY I’M NOT WRITING ANY MORE ABOUT AN ACTION FIGURE’S BUTT.

  The Comedian has a killer mustache, too. Seriously, check this set out…the fella has nice big pics of all the figures, and it’s a pretty amusing traditional-superhero interpretation of the characters.

• Say, remember that Swamp Thing/Sluggo pic Employee Aaron drew for me for Christmas? Pretend you do anyway.

  Well, he drew a curious character pairing for pal Dorian as well.

  What Aaron did this year was ask his friends what two characters they wanted him to draw for their Christmas presents…and when Dor told him which two characters he wanted, Aaron made the mistake of asking “what position do you want them to be in?”

  Oh, the evil, naughty laughter that emanated from deep within Dor’s darkened soul. And I laughed, too, since I’m also a bad person.

• I just found out via the Twitter that the new Wild Cards novel is out, which somehow escaped the Mikester Nerd Radar. I’ve been a big fan of the Wild Cards-iverse since that first paperback came out in the mid-1980s, and I know some of you out there enjoy the series, too…so, here you go:
  
  Yeah, excuse the blatant commercialism, but I get a buck apiece for each one of these sold through my site, and I just need to sell about 300 of them so I can finally buy that Xbox 360 and fulfill my lifelong dream of blowing up the online gaming avatars of Chris Sims and Kevin Church. Because, really, they got it comin’. And how it can be “lifelong” when I’m older than both of them…eh, don’t ask.

• Oh, okay, maybe they don’t have it comin’. To make up for my not-really-actionable-threat-I-was-just-joking-honest, here are links to Action Age Comics, with Free Funnybookin’ from Sims and some of his known accomplices, as well as Church’s new project Waimea, beautifully illustrated by Michael Dake.

  And of course, don’t forget Church and Birdie‘s The Rack, the comic that provides absolutely no escapism for me whatsoever since it takes place at a comic shop and mocks me with its accuracy.

• And that’s probably about it for now. I hope everyone has a good New Year, and don’t try to drink too much (though if your name’s “Kevin,” “Ian” or “Tom” it’s probably already too late) and try to stay safe. I want to see all of you back here tomorrow in one piece.

  Okay? Okay! Happy New Year, everyone.

Sorry, I’m returning to the well of my 1990s BBS posts again…please enjoy, won’t you?

MsgNum: 1566
From: Mikester
To: all
Subj: Movies?
Date: 08/14/95

Now that the X-Men cartoon has been so popular on television, chances are even better now for an X-Men movie. (Actually, since the poor showing of the Power Rangers movie, maybe studios will shy away from another TV to movies translation.) But, I still think an X-Men movie is inevitable, and I was wondering…what do you guys think about this possibility?

Personally, given Marvel’s track record with movies, the X-Men will probably be a disaster. I don’t WANT it to be a disaster…but given that 90% of movies are crap, and that percentage goes up if it’s a movie based on a comic, it’s a pretty good call that the movie will be bad.

Besides…NO ONE could dress as Wolverine and look anything but laughable.

I do a little better in this next post, responding to someone asking me about the cosmetic changes the Dungeons & Dragons line had gone through. I predict not only 3rd Edition D&D, but I even sort of foretell the “3.5” style of system revision it eventually had. Okay, it wasn’t that big of a stretch, but after my X-Men flub, I need something I can count as a win:

From: Mikester
To: Rand Al’thor
Subj: It’s all one big…company.
Date: 05/26/95
Reply-To: 1210

Yeah, I don’t know why they did that either. Though, TSR has done it before – basically changing the cover art without changing anything inside. I guess TSR felt it needed to liven up the AD&D line a bit, without going to a 3rd Edition version of the game. Think of it as version 2.1.

I can’t be held entirely responsible for this next post, as I was just repeating what I heard/read elsewhere. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Also, I apparently wasn’t a Shadowhawk fan then, either:

MsgNum: 2068
From: Mikester
To: all
Subj: Movie and/or TV Comic News
Date: 01/07/96

I guess there’s a rumor going around that Alicia Silverstone (whom I’ve never seen in anything, though I’ve heard the name somewhere) is playing Batgirl in the upcoming fourth Batman film. This is in addition to the other rumors that Patrick Stewart would be playing Mr. Freeze and Julia Roberts would be playing Poison Ivy. Oh, and Val and Chris will be back (no rumor!) as Batman and Robin. With any luck, there’ll be room for a story or something, too.

There’s a live action Generation X movie (based on the Marvel comic of the same name) coming soon to Fox-TV…the shots I’ve seen of it look…really bad. Marvel also has TV-movies in the works for She-Hulk (ack!), the Punisher, and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (who, in the comics, is dead).

Next year there is supposed to be a live action Shadowhawk series. Give me a break.

Oh God, the “no rumor!” parenthetical aside. And hey, remember when Nick Fury was dead? Good times, good times.

from Tip Top Comics #186 (May/June 1954)

1. TUMBLING

2. JUMPING IN PLACE

3. JUMPING IN PLACE WITH A JUMPROPE

4. SPORTS

5. PUBLIC DRUNKENNESS

from Green Lantern/Green Arrow #94 (Apr/May 1977)
by Denny O’Neil, Mike Grell, Terry Austin & Dick Giordano

Okay, maybe Green Arrow was trying to hold up to some superheroic “no swearing” ideal, but…c’mon, it’s Green Arrow. I think we can assume he’s not shy about expressing some salty language.

And I threw in that first panel there partially for context, but mostly for further examples of Mr. Queen’s talent for phrase-turning. And his heroic stance, of course. When Green Arrow akimbos at you, you know you’ve been akimboed at.