Mikester

Cracker Jack ad, 1955

So a while back, someone got the idea to strip Garfield comic strips of Garfield’s word balloons, and without that counterbalance, or interaction, Garfield’s owner Jon was made to appear (well, more so than usual) as a pathetic and bitter old crank who constantly rants at his pet cat.

And then someone took it a step further, and removed Garfield entirely, making Jon even more depressingly pathetic.

Well, I’m going to take the next obvious step, and remove not just Garfield and his thought balloons, but Jon, Odie, the rest of the supporting cast, the backgrounds, the copyright notices, Jim Davis’ pasted-in signature, the whole shebang.

And BEHOLD…GARFIELD MINUS EVERYTHING:

And for you purists…GARFIELD MINUS EVERYTHING, EVEN THE PANEL BORDERS:

ENJOY THE BRILLIANCE.

So, from yesterday’s post, I did want to mention that I was going to note our Italian hypnotist-supervillain friend bore some slight resemblance to long-time DC nogoodnik Vandal Savage:

I didn’t bring it up, for whatever reason, but fortunately commenter Corey was first out the gate and noted it immediately.

Because, really, if there were going to be an Italian hypnotist-supervillian, wouldn’t he have to look like that?

Also, a few of you had some pretty good supervillain names for this guy, but I’m particularly struck by Dumma’s suggestion of “Mesmerollini.”

Okay, I know I’m going on about this perhaps a little too much, but c’mon…whadda story! If it turns out to be a hoax, I’m going to be terribly disappointed.

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In other news:

• Why is pal Dorian my pal? Because of stuff like this. And you should see the ones he didn’t post!
• Special “Links Stolen from the Mighty Tom Spurgeon” Section:

  First, DC has announced that some tasty hardcovers are headed our way. Noted in the article are deluxe hardcover editions of Camelot 3000 and the original classic Captain Marvel story The Monster Society of Evil, which folks seem to be pretty excited about. I’m interested in the Absolute Edition of Ronin, Frank Miller’s sci-fi/horror mini-series from the mid-’80s. Not that it needs better reproduction or anything…the paper it was originally printed on could probably withstand a nuclear attack, but “Absolute Edition” means BIGGER PAGES, and it’ll probably look stunning. Plus, I’m sorta curious about any kind of bonus material that could be provided.

  Also noted in the article is that one of the criteria for putting something into an Absolute edition is whether it could be used to promote other material being published by DC. Interesting, and I suppose it makes sense considering the likely expense in producing these things.

  Second link “borrowed” from Mr. Spurgeon: crazy huge Carl Barks reprints, at about $100 a pop for about 900 pages of comics per volume…ten volumes in all. These look like real bullet-stoppers, and will likely cut off all circulation in your legs if you try to read ’em while sitting on the couch. Tempting (the comics, not the lack of circulation), but I already collected all the Gladstone/Gemstone “Carl Barks in Color” volumes, and I’m not ready to do that again, better paper/coloring or not. They do look pretty nice, though.

• Jonah Hex and G.I. Joe’s Snake Eyes…separated at birth?
• Remember when I used to put some kind of “tag” or “watermark” or whatever on my images? I don’t do that anymore, mostly because I’m lazy, but it does help me notice when one of my old scans has gone walkabout, like in this Fark thread about a Salon review of The Ten Cent Plague. (It’s a Supergirl panel, just a few comments in.) It was an amusing surprise (and kudos on the fella for not trying to hotlink it…I don’t wanna pay for Fark traffic!).
• I promise never to say “gone walkabout” ever again.
• I better note it here, because I keep getting e-mails about it…if you want to watch the live-action Swamp Thing TV show online, well, your prayers are answered. And if you want to buy it (the first two seasons, anyway), well…hint hint:

• I’m one of the seven intellectuals in America! At least, according to this Zippy the Pinhead strip where he and Claude debate the merits of Nancy and Sluggo. (Thanks for Cole for the tip!)

I was going to use this image from The Brady Bunch #1 (Feb. 1969) as my sidebar icon for the week, but the text would have been too small. But I love the out-of-context-ness of it, so I’m sharing it with you anyway:

In case you couldn’t tell, I acquired a copy of The Brady Bunch #1 over the weekend. I now have half the full two-issue run! And, as some acquaintances of mine know but some of you may not, if there’s one thing I love nearly as much as comic books, it’s The Brady Bunch, so I’m absolutely ecstatic that I got my mitts on this fine publication:

Likenesses in the stories tend to be…shaky, but acceptable. You can usually tell who’s who, with the exception of Alice. It took me a minute to realize this was supposed to be Alice, and not some crazed rogue housekeeper who sneaked into the Brady household when Tiger wasn’t performing his guard dog duties properly:

Given that the comic was released very early in the television show’s history, I suspect that we’re lucky any of the likenesses come anywhere close.

I imagine I’ll be pulling pics from this comic over the next few months, so you probably haven’t seen the last of it here. And with any luck, I’ll track down the second issue as well.

By the way, when I showed the comic to pal Dorian over the weekend. his immediate response to the cover was “who’s the old lady playing Cindy?”

Yeah, that particular pic wasn’t the most flattering one they could have used, was it?

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For those of you keeping track, I’ve decided to start reading my third manga series. I’m not a big manga guy, by any means — that’d be the aforementioned pal Dorian, who’s remains our manga consultant for the shop — but I don’t have anything against it, and I’m perfectly happy to stock it and sell it. Rarely does anything reach out and grab me as something I gotta read, however.

The first was Gyo, with its nightmarish images of fish with legs scuttling out of the ocean and creeping the crap out of everyone on land. Once the story starts trying to explain things it becomes a little less interesting, but still, scary images abound and remains a suspenseful read.

The second was Parasyte, which I’ve written about here, and I’m awaiting volume 3, which should be out in May. Oh, and volumes 1 and 2 are currently unavailable from Diamond.

Now, the third one I’ve just started is Death Note, which I know pal Dorian read and enjoyed, and it seems bleak and horrific enough to keep my interest. Don’t worry, I promise not to end up like this guy. While the premise is creepy enough (a student discovers a notebook which, if he writes a person’s name in it, that person will die), I’m enjoying the battle of wits between the story’s “hero” Light and the mysterious super-detective “L.” It’s twelve volumes (plus a 13th “appendix”), and they’re all relatively inexpensive, and they’re usually available from Diamond.

Hmmm…I think I’m beginning to see a pattern in the type of manga I like. No Ranma 1/2 in my future, it appears.

Next on the list will probably be The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, once I wrap up Death Note. Unless, of course, some of you folks have some suggestions. And I know you do!

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Just saw this video news story (warning: autoplays) on the Yahoo! about a guy in Italy who hypnotized a clerk into giving over money from her register.

C’mon, look at the guy:

How is this guy not a supervillain? He’s got the super power, he’s got the look…all he needs is a snazzy name (something sufficiently Italian, because, you know, the whole Italy thing), and he’s all set.

from The Brady Bunch #1 (Feb. 1969)

Didn’t have time to find an appropriate Easter-related image for today, so here’s some Sunday morning Brady bedroom frolicking for your edutainment.

Happy Easter, where applicable.

Friday at the store:

• A fellow comes in shortly after we open, and hands me three comics…’90s Marvels, nothing special, even if they’d been in mint condition, which they weren’t. I politely decline, saying we have these particular comics in stock already. He asks what they’re worth, and I tell him that they aren’t really worth much of anything, as they’re very worn, and mint copies of these books are easy to come by. He thanks me, and leaves.

  A few hours later, a fellow from the thrift shop down the street comes in. Says he just acquired some comics and was wondering if they had any value. He shows me…

  …you’re way ahead of me…

  …the very same copies of those three comics I’d seen earlier in the day. Hoo boy.

• Took a moment to go through the new Overstreet guide, and saw that they’re still presenting comics in the CGC plastic slabs on the “Cover Gallery” pages. Now, the fun of the gallery pages is being able to see nice examples of various comic book covers. Presenting them inside the slab means that the size of the cover is reduced so that the CGC box is freely advertised plainly visible. I don’t want to see the fancy plastic box your comic is in…I’d rather have a better look at the cover.
• Reorganized the multiple manga shelves we have at the front of the store. Well, Employee Jeff did a lot of it…I was “supervising.” But we were thinning out some of the now-dead stock for eventual price reduction or eBay sale, and making room for some of the more popular titles, and now people will hopefully be able to find things on those shelves.
• Conversation Employee Aaron had on the phone:

  Customer on phone: “Did any new female action figures come out in the last couple of weeks?”

  Aaron: “Yes, we have the Golden Age Wonder Woman….”

  Customer on phone: “Oh, really? …Is she hot?”

  Aaron: “Uh…it’s not a bad figure….”

Whenever the new Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide arrives, as the 38th annual edition did this week, my usual ritual is to go immediately to the House of Secrets listing and see what #92, the first Swamp Thing, is up to.

$1,000 in Near Mint. Hokey smokes.

Haven’t had much time to peruse the rest of the book, but, boy, it does seem larger. And heavier. The print doesn’t look any smaller.

I did look in the glossary, if only because I happened to flip right to it when I was glancing through the volume. I know I’ve spoken about this before, but I remember when Overstreet used to say that “Bronze Age” was…well, let’s refer to the glossary in the 28th edition from ten years ago:

“Non-specific term not in general acceptance by collectors which denotes comics published from approximately 1970 through 1980.”

There ain’t no “not in general acceptance” qualifier in the new guide, which means that “Bronze Age” has been used in enough ads as a marketing term that everyone’s finally used to it, I guess. We’ve even used it around the store once or twice, without any measure of sarcasm. But I’m resisting “Copper Age” (allegedly books from about ’84 to ’92) with all my might.

“YOUNGBLOOD #1 Liefeld art – Key book from Copper Age” – Sounds more impressive that way, doesn’t it?

Anyway, here are the generally accepted “ages” of American comics, and my entirely unfair definitions that I’m sure somebody will take offense to even though I’m obviously speaking tongue-in-cheek:

Victorian Age/Platinum Age (sometime in the 1800s or so, running until Superman came out): nobody cares.

Golden Age (1930s – about the mid ’50s): the stuff you can’t afford, which is okay because a lot of it isn’t as good as you seem to think it is. And that stuff that is good you really can’t afford, so don’t even bother.

Silver Age (mid ’50s ’til about the late ’60s): the origin of 90% of scans on blogs. Remembered by the general public via the Batman TV show from this period.

Bronze Age (’70s, more or less): the other 10% of blog scans. Also, you can’t believe that comics from this period are being priced this high. I mean, who’s gonna pay more than a dollar for Stalker? I mean, honestly.

Modern Age (’80s onward): all that crap everyone’s got too much of. Has the virtue of finally lumping Watchmen and Deathmate into a shared category, aside from “Things Made of Paper.”

And there have been other “ages” to divvy up the Modern Age stuff even further, like the aforementioned “Copper Age,” and some wag came up with “Polybag Age,” plus there’s “Chromium Age” which may have existed only in my head, but it’s oddly appropriate. If you’re cynical, like I know I am, “Final Age” may be a good one, too.

Er, anyhoo…I’m gonna try to finally sit down and give the new Overstreet a good goin’ through in the next day or two, and see if there’s anything else of note I can bring up.

Hmmmm…how much are all those Nancy and Sluggos now…?

…and, of course, a picture of Nancy:

from Nancy and Sluggo #123 (June 1955)

• Bitterandrew talks smart about the relaxed standards the comics industry (and others) have regarding perceived excellence.
• Dafna whips out her overview of Peter David’s panel at Wizard World L.A.
• Pal Dorian brings the classic comics: “One Day I’ll Kill You.”
• Chris Karath’s action figure photos – starring Earth 2 Batman and Hawkman, among others.

from The Amazing World of DC Comics #8 (Sept. 1975) – written by Carl Gafford,
spot illos by Carmine Infantino

So long, Arthur.

All four of those scans are of books from my personal collection. The first, 2001 A Space Odyssey, was a hardcover library discard that I bought circa 1979/1980 at a neighborhood garage sale.

It cost twenty-five cents. Rarely has a quarter been invested so wisely.

Thanks for the stories, Sir Arthur.