Mikester

So you may have noticed some quirky behavior on my site over the last day or so. Well, Blogger has had some kind of odd glitch where I’d publish a new post, it’ll be on this site for a while, and somehow Blogger will, unbeknownst to me, somehow yank that post back off the site when I’m not looking. And I know the post was up for at least a small amount of time, because user comments will accrue before the post goes AWOL.

This happened with both my Monday posts, so I’m taking some measures to prevent this kind of behavior from happening again. But if it does happen…well, hopefully this post will have been up long enough for folks to read the explanation.

Anyway, in response to my occasionally-there Monday post about Warner Brothers comics, the late Tim O’Neil makes the good point that one of the reasons there’s so little collectors’ aftermarket on the Warner Bros. books is the lack of notable name talent generating memorable runs on the titles. Like I said in my reply to him, I had considered that in my early draft of that post, that there was no “Good Rabbit Artist” attracting the fans like Carl Barks as Disney’s “Good Duck Artist.” I left that comment out because 1) I wasn’t sure there wasn’t, and 2) I wanted to go to bed sometime before 2 AM, so I didn’t feel like doing the research.

But now, here I am, paging through my Overstreet Price Guide, trying to see if any artists are noted in the various Warner Bros. titles. I see Pogo creator Walt Kelly credited on some early Looney Tunes, but not on any of the “biggie” characters. And Carl Barks drew one of the Four Color Porky Pig comics. And that’s pretty much it. That’ll attract the Kelly and Barks collectors, but that’s not the kind of long artist/character association that created the amazing legacy of, say, Barks on the Disney duck books.

So basically these comics have to sell on the virtue of 1) the characters, and 2) the fact that they’re old comics. And like I said, the characters they want are the Tasmanian Devil and Marvin the Martian, not any of the bigger characters like Daffy Duck, etc.

I never thought the comics themselves were all that bad…sure, the characters’ visuals were occasionally off-model, but the stories themselves were amusing if slight, with the occasional Barksian adventurous aside. Not great, but passable, disposable entertainment…not the kind of thing that attracts a rabid following.

But where else but the comics would you learn of the evil treachery of Cicero Pig? Where, I ask you?

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When I was going through that large Dell/Gold Key collection over the weekend, something came to mind about the characters I was looking at. Do kids today know who any of these characters are? I’m not talking about now-obscurities like “Snooper and Blabber Detectives” — I’m talking about characters that, when I was a kid, were nearly unavoidable. For example, Woody Woodpecker…is Woody still being rerun anywhere? Rerun enough, and in a good time slot, that kids might have a chance of discovering him?

How about Popeye? Or Felix the Cat?

I don’t mean this to come across as “old guy complaining about how kids don’t appreciate the classics.” Because, really, for one, I don’t like Woody Woodpecker. And two, it’s just the way things go. Cartoons like Heckle ‘n’ Jeckle and Beany & Cecil were slowly being phased out when I was a kid, so if stuff like Woody and Felix are falling into the next generation’s memory hole, it’s not without precedent. But they seemed so ubiquitous when I was young, it’s sad to think they’re forgotten relics now.

DUDE.

HEX PROMO POSTER FROM 1985.

At last, at last…I finally got a copy of this:

Now, I’m not much of a Looney Tunes collector, but isn’t that a great cover? The dark-humored “Tasty Friends” gag gets me every time. Sure, it’s not in great condition…you can see the insect damage at the corners and along the edges, but given that this is the first copy of this book I’ve seen come through the shop, I’m not going to be picky.

Inside, it’s cover to cover mayhem, with the Tasmanian Devil destroying everything in sight and trying (and never succeeding…wouldn’t that have been a comic!) to eat his fellow Warner Brothers cartoon characters.

This was from the period where Gold Key was experimenting with the borderless panels, like so:

Like I said, I’m not a collector of the Warner Brothers comics. Not that I have anything against them…the few I’ve read I’ve enjoyed, but you can’t collect everything, you know. And if I were so inclined, it would be quite easy for me to put together a sizable lump of WB comics for myself from the store stock. They turn up quite often in collections, but there is almost no demand for them among our clientele.

Demand for the Warner Brothers comics, at least for us, generally breaks down into two groups:

1. That one international customer who orders a handful of inexpensive funny animal books every few months or so.

2. People who need pictures of the Tasmanian Devil and/or Marvin the Martian for tattoos.

And no, I didn’t buy this comic for a tattoo…if I were to get a tattoo, it’d be of the top image on this page.

Anyway, it looks like the Warner Brothers books have been overshadowed by their Disney cousins as far as demand and collectibility goes. We have boxes of Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig and Daffy Duck back issues, most of them in average condition for only a few bucks each, but they’re rarely perused. We don’t turn ’em down when they come in…they’re still old comics, after all, but it’s not worth paying very much for them given the slow turnaround.

We acquired this, and many other Dell/Gold Key and Dennis the Menace comics from the early ’60s in a sizable collection that turned up at the store on Saturday. Most of them were in similar condition to the Tasmanian Devil comic, every Dell Giant had pencil on the puzzle pages, and a few comics just fell apart in my hands. Two comics were taped together into one larger book.

But there was plenty of good stuff in reasonable condition to be had, too…the first six or seven Jetsons comics, a Gold Key Jonny Quest #1, lots of Four Colors, and lots more.

Also included in this collection was a box full of Peanuts paperbacks…some dating from the late ’50s, early ’60s, as well as a few of the ’70s Peanuts Parade books, most of which are in nice condition.

There were also two boxes of Mad Magazine, running from the late ’60s into the ’80s. Mads are kind of a hard sell, given their enormous print runs from the time period these issues range. There ain’t no shortage of them, making this a buyer’s market. But some of these are absolutely gorgeous…they weren’t just read once and put away. They almost look as if they were unread…our copy of this issue, with its nearly all-white cover, is almost blindingly clean and shiny. Several special issues are included, all with inserts intact, with the usual exception of this issue not having the Zeppelin. Man, every time we see this issue, it never has the Zeppelin. It was just too cool for kids to resist tearing it out and assembling it, I guess.

So that’s how we spent our weekend…processing a bunch of old funnybooks. There are worse ways to spend one’s time, I suppose.

ad from He-Man Real Life Adventure Magazine #2 (July 1954)

So a couple months ago, in a previous “End of Civilization” post, I poked a little fun at Wizard‘s promised Spider-Man 4 feature. Well, that issue is now here, so let’s see how well I guessed the contents.

Question #1 from the ad: “Will Sam Raimi Direct?”

What I said a couple months ago:

“Maybe…apparently he was asked at the 2007 San Diego Con about it, and he says he might, if he likes the script. However, they’re still short a scriptwriter for the fourth film.”

What Wizard says in the newest issue:

“‘I don’t know if I’ll just be a producer on it, but if I can work with the writer in such a way that directing would be right for me, I don’t know,’ teased [Raimi].”

Question #2 from the ad: “Does Tobey Maguire Return?”

What I said:

“If the studio dishes out the cash, sure. If not, no.”

What Wizard says:

“[Maguire says] ‘…If they come up with a good movie, and the whole team wants to come back together, then I’m up for it.'”

Article continues, mentioning his Robotech project possibly taking his time away from Spider-Man. Basically comes to similar, if less cynically put, conclusion as I do: maybe yes, maybe no.

Question #3 from the ad: “Who Will Be The Villains?”

What I said:

“Well, there’s that whole no scriptwriter thing, but of course the moneymen may want certain villains used that’ll make good toys, t-shirts, etc. But I’m guessing we’re probably not getting Dr. Octopus, Green Goblin, Venom, Sandman, or ‘Hobgoblin’ (or whoever Harry was supposed to be). We’re probably not getting Frogman or the White Rabbit, either. Unfortunately.”

What Wizard says:

Venom is “unconfirmed” (i.e. no), Goblin not likely, other new-to-the-film-franchise villains mentioned.

So, for the most part, I came pretty close, I think. The article is, as expected, a whole lot of speculation and no real answers beyond “maybe this’ll happen” and “maybe that actor will come back.” But then again, the movie is three or four years away, so what solid info was anyone expecting?

They also have one of Wizard‘s casting calls, where they do have a great suggestion for a new Peter Parker (you’ll just have to look yourself…or maybe I’ll talk about it on the site later), and Joss Whedon is suggested as a possible replacement for Raimi, to which I say a two word phrase that rhymes with “fat chance.”

That’s enough Wizard for the moment. There is a creator retrospective on “The Death of Superman” which, as readers of this site might guess, I had plenty of interest in, and, for some reason, a video game quiz where I was able to answer the questions about games from before 1984, and had no clue about the later ones.

I’m old.

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Random speculation about Death of the New Gods: so, we haven’t seen the newest Mister Miracle, Shiloh Norman, yet. Having escaped the Life Trap in the Seven Soldiers event, perhaps Norman is going around trying to bring the other New Gods through a similar transcendental experience, taking them to a higher plane of being…an act that leaves their old bodies behind, with the appearance of having gone through a violent death.

And if they’re not really dying, perhaps that’s why the Source isn’t responding to their demises.

I realize none of that makes any sense to anyone not “in” on the whole Fourth World thing. My apologies. “It’s a Kirby thing…you wouldn’t understand.”

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We had about a half-dozen Countdown and 52 titles this week. Seems to me being hit with so many at once is going to make customers have to pick and choose which ones they buy. And I suspect the ones that are starting this week (like Crime Bible) will be passed over in favor of tie-ins already being read. It’s possible that books skipped this week will be picked up in following weeks, but most of the time, superhero comics do the majority of their selling in their initial week of release. We’ll see what the cycle sheets say in a couple weeks.

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Strip reprints of note this week:

Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories – a collection of strips from this site, and it will AFFECT YOUR BRAIN.

Zippy: Walk a Mile in My Muu-Muu – I really don’t know what to tell you about Zippy to convince you to read it at this point. Either you’re a Zippy person or you’re not a Zippy person. If you are a Zippy person…hey, more Zippy is out! Hurrah!

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A follow-up to the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 news from Tuesday…the rest of the MST3K cast not involved in other MST-like projects, including the show’s creator (Joel Hodgson), and the original Mads (Trace Beaulieu and J. Elvis Weinstein) — i.e. the original cast of the show — are starting Cinematic Titanic, yet another MST-a-like with riffing of bad films, only with the silhouettes at the screen’s side rather than at the bottom. Later additions to MST are also joining in…Mary Jo Pehl and the legendary TV’s Frank, Frank Conniff.

Pretty much the entire on-screen staff from MST3K is now involved in new projects doing what MST popularized…riffing on bad movies, with the seemingly ironic exception of MST3K.com itself, planning to focus (as far as I can tell) on animated shorts.

It’d be nice if all these folks somehow got together, worked out their differences (I seem to recall some word of friction behind the scenes) and produced full-fledged Mystery Science Theatre again. Clearly there’s some demand for MST-like material…a revival of actual MST would probably go great.

I know it really doesn’t matter…listening to Mike, Kevin, and Bill on a Rifftrax or on a Film Crew DVD is nearly identical to watching one of the latter day MSTs. Adding robot puppets and the Satellite of Love and the Hexfield and so on are probably unnecessary extras to the actual point of these things — the riffing on the film — but wouldn’t it be swell to have ’em back?

EDIT: I didn’t realize that the newest Mystery Science Theatre 3000 boxed DVD set, Volume 12, came out this week. There’s now a handy Amazon link to said set in the sidebar HINT HINT NUDGE.

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Pretty much the only person I saw in costume at the shop yesterday was Employee Aaron, who was dressed as Air Pirates Mickey Mouse (basically, Mickey in aviator gear). How does one react to that?

Also, on the drive home from work, and on a drive over to a friend’s house that evening, I saw several young women dressed as Elastigirl from The Incredibles…apparently that was a popular costume this year. Who knew?