Mikester

Batman’s just swingin’ away there on an off-panel water tower or low-flying plane or something.

filed under Categories batman, byrne reboot, superman 10 Comments

Continuing our look at the final pre-reboot Superman stories of the 1980s that aren’t by people named “Moore” or “Gerber,” we now come to World’s Finest #323, cover date January 1986:


It’s by Joey Cavalieri, José Delbo and Alfredo Alcala, and it’s pretty safe to say here Alcala is the star of the show, with his inks applying some heavy texture to the events within:


And check out this swell pic of ol’ Supes himself:


Here’s a close-up, and please, try to avoid swooning:


Anyway, the story has to do with a magical darkness enveloping Metropolis and both Superman and Batman work their separate angles trying to solve this mystery. Of most import to the purpose of this issue, Superman finds himself overwhelmed by the mystical menaces that lurk within the shadows:


But things work out in the end, the bad guy (and bad wolves, no relation) are defeated. However, Batman has some words for his partner:


I mean, it’s only that the cover has the words “THE END” in big, bold letters, and shows Bats and Supes waving goodbye to each other, that we read “oh no, has the World’s Finest team broken up for good?” into this. On the face of it this isn’t a “we’re breaking up” speech, but a “c’mon man, get your act together” one.

However, this is the last issue, and this version of Superman is going away forever (while Batman, with minor adjustments afforded by Frank Miller’s work on the character, is Eternal) and thus it’s time to put a cap on this comic that’s run continuously since 1941:


The story gets a tiny bit metatextual in specifically referencing the real world passage of time in regards to the length of the series’ run. And it’s not a happy ending, in that our heroes’ partnership, while not necessarily dissolved, now has some points of contention in the mix. Which of course sets the groundwork for the New Status Quo being brought in by John Byrne for his revamping of the Superman franchise.

If this all sounds just a little familiar, it should because I discussed this very thing, like, two months ago. I feel justified in repeating myself in that DC is repeating itself as well, in that it had introduced a breaking of the Superman/Batman team (with events surrounding Batman and the Outsiders) and resolved it in an extra-sized World’s Finest #300.

We don’t get that resolution for this later iteration. The issue comes to an uneasy conclusion, “the battle’s done, and we kind of won” if you’ll forgive the quote from the musical Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode. And that tone continues for quite some time, emphasized specifically in Byrne’s version of the relationship, and it takes several years before the two are canonically friends again in current DC Comics.

Outside the aforementioned Moore and Gerber stories, this may be the only “regular DC pre-Crisis continuity” story that actually tries to…well, not so much “wrap things up” as “straight up end” its particular piece of the shared universe. It’s a slightly sour note made the more-so in that it’s a precursor to how things are going to be vis-à-vis the Superman and Batman team, at least for a while.

I mean, I’d heed that warning.

filed under Categories howard the duck 5 Comments

Was just looking for something quick and easy to post up here because 1) I’ve written a bit this week, and 2) it’s a holiday weekend, and 3) I found this image file in my back-ups:


Judging by the image’s date, I believe it was intended for use in this post I wrote about the Howard the Duck movie and its utilization of “quack-fu” versus the deeper satirical commentary of its usage in the comic.

As far as I can tell, I haven’t used that pic on the site. I have used it as a desktop wallpaper at one point, however. So here it is, sceen-captured by yours truly via VLC off my DVD and unseen except on my home computer until now. Let Lea Thompson’s warning of Howard’s fighting prowess warm your heart through this weekend.

The devil you say.

filed under Categories byrne reboot, superman 13 Comments

Time to continue my look at the next-to-last issues of the Superman books…of course, after Action #582 and Superman #422, the final issues before Alan Moore’s conclusions those series. After the main ongoings, there’s not a whole lot left, but there is the team-up title DC Comics Presents.


Written by Blue Devil’s cocreators Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn, and illustrated by an art team I’ve never seen in the combinatinon before: Joe Staton on pencils, Kurt Schaffenberger inking. The results do look nice:


.Also a nice touch is Superman just calling Blue Devil by his real name, Dan, which he does a couple of times through the book. It’s a friendly expression of the position the two hold in relation to each other, with Superman as the experienced pro and Blue Devil as the starry-eyed newbie.

The villain of the piece is Terra-Man:


…one of Superman’s somewhat…sillier members of his rogues gallery, who…well, I’ll let the comic explain:


I mean, I suppose when you get right down to it, “Space Cowboy” is no goofier than “Evil Toymaker” or “Magical Imp” as adversaries. But with his flying horse and his ray-gun six shooters and other Old West-themed sci-fi tech, he at least makes for a visially interesting bad guy.

And this is his last appearance, at least in this form. “Space Cowboy” doesn’t make the transition into the post-Byrne reboot milieu, with the new Terra-Man being a businessman using magical abilities with the goal of protecting the environment. Which sounds noble an’ all, but of course his methods run afoul of Supes and, well, it’s not quite as fun and silly as the classic version. Especially since the new Terra-Man is just straight up murdered by Black Adam, which isn’t fun at all and let’s get back to this story.

Anyway, Terra-Man has some scheme to divert a space train (which looks just like a regular terrestrial train, but it flies, because why not) to Earth to rob it, and there are lots of robots and space menaces and such that divide Blue Devil and Superman’s attention, and it’s all colorful and entertaining. Of note is this particular shot, when Blue Devil is on Terra-Man’s horse right behind him:


That’s a good pic, I think.

Everything works out in the end, natch, with Superman slightly uncharacteristically holding Terra-Man up so that ol’ BD can deliver a punch to his puss:


Now this was just an entertaining team-up, bringing together one of DC’s primary heroes with one of the publisher’s newest characters. There’s no real sense of…well, “import” isn’t quite the word I’m looking for, and “foreboding” carries a connotation that’s not really appropriate. Like the previous two stories I’ve discussed, there’s no sense of “well, this it is, this is the last time you’ll see Superman and his supporting cast in this form,” even though it is.

However, the last panel does end on this note:


“Riding off into the sunset” of course plays into the Old West-iness of it all given Terra-Man’s involvement, but in retrospect it’s hard to not read that as the Very Idea of What Superman Is at This Moment riding off as well.

The next, and last, issue is Steve Gerber and Rick Veitch’s conclusion to one specific section of the Superman legend, as they address the Phantom Zone in a sequel to Gerber and Gene Colan’s Phantom Zone mini from a few years prior. It’s a much more grim and nightmarish scenario than the wacky Blue Devil adventure, and seems to be the forgotten “Final Pre-Byrne Superman Story” as the focus is usually entirely on the Alan Moore/Curt Swan “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” two-parter.

It’s a good comic, but very dark in tone, so it’s probably only proper that Superman had that one last wild team-up with Blue Devil before closing the doors and putting up the chairs and making room for the new regime.

My own commission rates are still rock bottom.

filed under Categories commissions, Uncategorized 16 Comments

Once again posting plans have been derailed due to Real Life stuff…I mean, last night, the blogging mind was willing, but the flesh was weak. Okay, to be fair, the mind’s pretty weak too, but hopefully I’ll be back in blogging shape later this week.

In the meantime, the buzz on the street right now is about DC Comics President/Publisher/Man About Town Jim Lee and his recently announced art commission prices:

“For the first time in over 15 years, Jim Lee will be taking commission requests to be delivered exclusively almost all shows he is appearing.

“This offer is an exclusive for show attendees only and won’t be shipped out. There is a limit to six per show so act fast to get yours.

“Penciled and inked by Jim Lee.

“11 by 17 inches, full figure one character with limited backgrounds for $20,000, if more than one character or extra backgrounds or recreation of other covers not drawn by Jim will be $25,000 to $35,000

“9 by 12 inches, waist on up figure with limited backgrounds is $9,000 to $15,000, will have backgrounds and more you pay can have other characters or scenes.

“small head shot, sample is shown, $1000. Size is 3.25 by 7 inches and side profile only.

“Blank cover comic, only bust shot with no background $8,000. And 12k if it a wraparound. Jim Lee will supply the blank cover comic but you can supply at the show if you like.

“Jim Lee will ultimately choose which commissions request he wants to fulfill. Once chosen, payment must be paid in full before the show. He may choose to live stream the creation of the commissions at his studio or at the show.”

There’s some online outrage at these rates, but, honestly…you get that money, Jim Lee. The dude is one of the Top Guys in comics, head of one of oldest and biggest comic book publishers in the country, and even though his output is usually limited to the occasional cover, still remains one of the industry’s superstars. He’ll get takers, no problem. In fact, as I’m writing this I’d be surprised if all slots weren’t already filled.

Is there anyone else in the business right now who could get this level of commission prices? I’d say probably just Todd McFarlane, someone with a similar background (rose to fame working for Marvel, split off to form Image Comics) and is held in similar regard by their fans. I suppose if Steve Ditko were still alive and were, well, an entirely different person, he could have opened up to commissions on this level.

Anyway, this is pretty wild news and has me wondering if other artists are suddenly going to reconsider their own rates. I mean, not up to Jim Lee levels (though I can picture a couple of former Huge Superstars who’d try to pull this off) but maybe thinking “…I can probably bump things up, like, 10% to 20%”). Worth keeping an eye on.

Nancy and Bill!

filed under Categories low content mode, nancy 5 Comments

Okay, instead of writing another big ol’ blog post today, I gotta do some research an’ such for a project I’ll be working on Friday night. I’ll let you know what that is in a week or so, but in the meantime, please enjoy this lengthy and informative report on the recent Nancy Fest at Ohio State University. Wish I could’ve gone!

And speaking of which, here’s Bill Griffith talking about his book about Ernie Bushmiller, Three Rocks and the importance of particular artists…along with a nice view of his art studio:

Thanks, pals, and I’ll be back Monday.

Yes, a Wolfman wrote comics about a wolfman and a vampire.

filed under Categories byrne reboot, superman 12 Comments

I’m continuing my look at the last pre-Byrne reboot Superman stories not by Alan Moore or Steve Gerber. Last time was Action Comics #582, and now here’s the other ongoing solo title, Superman #422 from August 1986:


I’m pretty sure you’ve seen that Brian Bolland cover before…probably one of the most striking in Superman’s history, and I promise you if you were scanning the shelves the month that came out, your eyes would’ve gone right to it. And if you didn’t throw it into your “buy” pile you had a stronger will than I, as I definitely dropped some coin of the realm on it.

I’ve written a little about this issue before, in an article I wrote for another site back in 2006 but I’ve since reprinted here. I didn’t really say much about the story itself, focusing instead on that masterfully worrisome if potentially misleading cover.

The story in this issue is written by Marv Wolfman, channeling his Tomb of Dracula-era scripting powers to give up some horror-toned captions for the opening pages of this issue:


As you can see, we’ve got ourselves a werewolf in Metropolis. And it’s not long before Superman investigates, and he and Mr. W. Wolf get into a scrape. Superman is injured, so he concludes


And he heads to his Fortress of Solitude to run data on his super-conmputer, but not before thinking


…which, um, excuse me, Mr. Superman, wasn’t one of your former girlfriends an actual mermaid? And of all the wild stuff you’ve seen and experienced, you’re drawing the line at “werewolf?” C’mon, son.

Anyway, we get more clashes with said werewolf, in which we get the reason for that cover:


…as well as some shocking, at leaset for a 1980s Superman comic, nudiness from our star. Though the Comics Code-mandated crosshatch shorts in that one panel don’t convince the eye very well that it’s supposed to be shadows, but What Can You Do?

Anyway, if I may spoil the surprise twist here, it turns out there’s a cadre of scientists who somehow created a serum to turn people into werewolves, including themselves. Thus, the supernatural “magic” aspect of Superman’s injuries in battle had a scientific origin, which…blurs the whole “Superman is vulnerable to magic” idea at work here, which is addressed in-story:


…so I guess Science just created a magical werewolf? Or something? there’s some handwaving going on in here trying to justify it, but man, I don’t know. But like I suggested to Superman above, I suggest to myself “I’m drawing the line here?”

Ultimately, Superman defeats the werewolf scientists with the help of that first werewolf we met, who was actually on the run from those scientists, and wasn’t a bad guy after all. Just under the thrall of a science-y magical lycanthropic formula potion. These things happen, I guess.

Along the way we got another batch of nice Curt Swan art, because it’s always pleasant to see his work, even if the disparity between Wolfman’s 1970s-horror-comics-style somewhat overwritten captions contrast with Swan’s generally bright and cheery style. It all looks fine and professionally done, of course.

The big surprises are theh inkers…well, Larry Mahlstedt in my mind is more associated with his finishes on Keith Giffen’s pencils over in Legion of Super-Heroes, but at least he’s from within the superhero genre. It’s Tom Yeates also doing some inking that seems pretty wild, given his prevalence in other genres. Particularly horror, since he did draw about a dozen issues of Saga of Swamp Thing prior to this. But that’s probably one of the reasons he’s on this issue, to provide a little moodier tone to the art. …Or they needed to finish these pages and he was available. Either/or.

This story gives us kind of our final “magic hurts Superman” story for the pre-Crisis era, blurred definition of “magic” or not. The Byrne reboot does establish that particular vulnerability again, I believe with the reintroduction of Mr. Mxyzptlk in Superman #11 in 1987. It’s that blurriness of definition that’s interesting, expanding the range of what can or can’t hurt Superman to a certain extent. But it’s more likely that, if the Super-titles had continued on as-is, that specific idea would have been dropped.

Unless there’s the implied idea that Mxyzptlk’s powers are simply based in a physical science far beyond ours given his fifth dimensional origins, on top of Arthur C. Clarke’s “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” but let’s save that for another time.

‘Til then, let me leave you with this panel that I, as a long-time comics blogger, find very relatable:


 
 

special thanks to Bully the Little Stuffed Werebull for production assistance!

Today I learned there’s a hyphen in “no-goodniks.”

filed under Categories byrne reboot, superman 19 Comments

So everyone knows the last issues of Superman and Action before the Byrne Reboot of 1986: Superman #423 and Action #583, the two-part send-off to the Silver/Bronze-Age version of the Man of Steel, written by Alan Moore and drawn by Curt Swan, Kurt Schaffenberger, and George Pérez. It’s a classic story, giving a final wrap-up to all the important supporting characters, heroes and villains and clearing the slate for the new version of the franchise.

But before that happened, we got the last two regular ol’ Superman stories to appear in his two ongoing solo series. Today’s topic is the story in Action Comics #582 (cover date August 1986) by Craig Boldman, Alex Saviuk and Schaffenberger:


“REBIRTH” it says there, presaging DC’s later use of the term for the 2016 more-or-less soft relaunch of their superhero line. It’s a pretty striking image, drawn by Saviuk and Murphy Anderson, very much one of those “what the heck is going on here” covers that the industry used to do so well, inspiring the curiosity to pick a book off the shelf…which is halfway to buying the darn thing. NO BROWSING, THIS ISN’T A LIBRARY and I used to be a librarian SO I KNOW

Anyway, the focus in this issue is the possible revival of Superman’s parents, Jor-El and Lara. Supes discovered that a couple of extra brain waves were stored in his head, so he goes to an alien civilization next door to borrow a cup of advanced technology to get those patterns embedded into bodies of their own:


And, voila, his actual biological parents are back!


[SPOILER] Of course, they’re not it’s part of a scheme by some alien no-goodniks, though we get a bit of business with Clark introducing them as his real parents to his friends:


…kinda makes me wish the return of Jor-El and Lara was actual, in-universe thing. Imagine Lois thinking “hmmm…every time Clark, Jordan and Lora disappear, Superman, Jor-El and Lara appear. I wonder….”

So okay, it wasn’t actually them, but this issue functions as a last hurrah for the Kryptonian heritage we once knew, John Byrne will be introducing a radically different version of Superman’s birth parents in the very shortly forthcoming Man of Steel mini-series:


…along with a new vision of Krypton:


While Action #582 doesn’t play up the import, it is nice to get this last glimpse at what was before getting the new What Is. At least for a while, before the new car smell of the reboot wears off and efforts are made to put the pieces back where they were before Byrne came along.

NEXT TIME: the last pre-reboot story in Superman that isn’t the Alan Moore one!
 
 

special thanks to Bully the Little Pre-Reboot Bull for production assistance on today’s post

Nothing to sneeze at.

filed under Categories little lulu, moustache 6 Comments

So Pal Joe dropped this by the store for me on Thursday, a real oddity of a book…the Little Golden Book Little Lulu and Her Magic Tricks from 1954:


If you look closely, you may notice the table in front of Lulu and Alvin, with all th ecrafts and goings-on there, is actually three-dimensional. Because that’s not just a drawing, that’s an actual gosh-darn pack of Kleenex tissue paper embedded in a hole cut into the cover! Here’s a shot of the inside front cover:


(Yes, it’s upside down, that how it looks when you open up the cover.)

Here’s the small-print text into on the copyright page, which is like a place where you’d put something for parents to read, but it’s definitely written as an in-universe explanation for kids:

“For a long time Little Lulu was wondering how she would look in a Little Golden Book. Here, finally, she makes her bow — and of all things — as a magician.

“It was a a pleasant surprise to us to discover that Little Lulu knew how to make cute toys and other objects out of Kleenex tissues. It occurred to us that thousands of other children might want to make these, too, and so we asked the International Cellucotton Products Company how they would feel about making up for us a special pack of tissues for Little Lulu’s book. They cheerfully agreed and we are properly grateful to them.

“Have fun, and we hope the things you make turn out beautifully.

— THE PUBLISHERS”

Children: never too young to learn about corporate collaboration. Also, what kind of Steve Jackson’s Illuminati-type name is “International Cellucotton Products Company,” anyway.

Most of the book is about Lulu and her magical tissue shenanigans, as per these pages:

And the last pages are devoted to Kleenex Krafts:


What’s really amazing to me is that book and its tissues and the tissue package’s attachment to the cover have remained intact for seventy years. That no kid ever popped the tissue back out and started making Kleenex bunnies or whatever. I mean, granted, after the first year or so of ownership, the likelihood of that happening goes down quite a bit as the book gets stowed away in a box in the garage for the next several decades, but still, it’s a sight to see.

But apparently not too uncommon a sight, as a quick glance at the eBays shows plenty of intact copies of this book to be had, at far more reasonable prices than I expected. (And far less than the price expected by whichever anonymous bookseller had pencilled in a light “$75” on the first page at some point in this book’s lifetime.)

So, I don’t know what I’m going to do with this book. I feel oddly protective of its intact nature, despite there apparently being plenty out there in similar condition. But I can’t keep everything, so probably into my shop it goes, as some price I can live with. Plus a contract to be signed by the buyer promising he’ll never open up that pack of Kleenex.

And I’m sorry to say, magician costume and mustache are not included:


…but you’ve probably got enough tissue around the house to make those, right? There’s black non-Kleenex tissue out there, I looked it up. But beware, the International Cellucotton Products Company will find out.

I could look at videos like this all day.

filed under Categories retailing 4 Comments

Here is a 1970 news piece on the Canadian comic shop Memory Lane, run by George Henderson:


1. George Henderson is better known as “Captain George,” prolific ‘zine publisher of mags like Captain George’s Whizzbang which you’ll see plenty of in that vid.

2. The customer they speak to in that clip is George Olshevsky, whose name I knew from somewhere in the comics biz but couldn’t place it. I meant to look it up, but hadn’t before I put the video on Bluesky, and no less a person than comics legend Paul Kupperberg reminded me. He was the person behind the various Marvel Index publications, and has sadly passed away…you can read all about Mr. Olshevsky in this obituary.

3. Just seeing the thick stacks of Silver Age Marvel on the shelves was jaw-dropping, particularly since I’ve been acquiring and selling lots of those over the last year or two. Boy oh boy I’d love to be able to reach into that clip and pull out those piles of books for my shop.

3b. Seeing the person flipping through the box of unbagged Silver Age books caused quite the reaction in me. “BAG THOSE BOOKS, reduce that wear and tear!”

4. “The first Superman can sell for as much as $300!”

augh

5. The piece ends on the very odd note of “sometimes comics get stolen but the police don’t take it seriously,” which, huh, okay.

6. I would dearly love to be able to wander around in that store at the time. I’ve been in little shops sort of like this, with stacks and rows of old unbagged comics, but alas not with material of this vintage. Plenty of black and white boom comics, though, which…come to think of it, I’d still love to paw through those.

Cameo appearance by the worst Hawkman mask.

filed under Categories golden age 24 Comments

So Daniel T made a joking reference to how All-Star Superman would be abbreviated, which reminded me of this panel from another “All-Star” comic, All-Star Squadron #3 (November 1981):


Oh Roy Thomas, you’re such a card! Actually, I think the Golden Age Superman would have totally abbreviated it that way and not worried about being “careful” about it. Like I was, when I used the shorted version “ASQ” at the shop the other day.

• • •

Sorry for the short Monday post, I had some family stuff to attend to, but I should have one of my usual overly-wordy entries here later in the week. Thanks for reading, pals!