Mikester

Given the tail-wagging-the-dog relationship between the Superman family of comics and his various media interpretations, what do you think the chances are of the addition of the “S” emblem to the belt buckle (seen here) making its way to the printed four-color page?

I like I noted briefly before, I don’t think the minor change in costume is any big whoop. No matter what they do, it’s still blue tights, red trunks, and a cape…it’s gonna look silly. The way the actors carry themselves in the costume is what keeps it from being laughed off the screen: the George Reeves Superman looked like he’d kick your ass if you dared to make fun of his suit, and the Christopher Reeve and Dean Cain Supermen were just so gosh-darned nice that laughing at the outfit felt like…I don’t know, like you were kicking puppies or something. Brandon Routh looks like he’s more in the “kick your ass” camp, but I guess we’ll find out once we start seeing some actual footage.

Anyway, here’s an article looking at the evolution of Superman’s costume in the comics.

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I mentioned in my post from earlier today that I didn’t know where I saw the WayneBoring.com link first…but Shane reveals that it was he, he, who did the deed…in this very post!

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At work today:

Pal Dorian: “Why can’t all bands be the B-52s?”

Me: “Because some bands need to be Negativland!”

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Bill Sherman watches Man-Thing, so you don’t have to.

No, I didn’t see the Sci-Fi Channel’s exclusive premiere of the movie too terrible good to go straight to video, Man-Thing. Oh, if only they would rerun it about 1,000 times so that I’d be sure to catch it.

That’s sarcasm, see.

EDIT: Chris Karath sums it up.

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Did you know that there’s a WayneBoring.com? I didn’t know that there was a WayneBoring.com, until I came across a link to it…um, somewhere, which I don’t remember, otherwise I’d credit it, like the gentleman I am. Anyhoo, there’s a brief overview of the life and career of one of the definitive early Superman artists, and even includes an old Amazing Heroes interview.

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From a link completely and totally stolen from the fine and good Gotham Lounge comes this series of eBay auctions, where a friendly young woman kindly offers her comic book wares for sale. I may have to borrow her strategy to get our own eBay auctions a little more action. I wonder if my bikini still fits?

For some strange reason, I feel the urge to bid on a Grendel trade paperback.

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Yet Another Comics Blog is giving away free comics for the entire month of May? Why? Because he’s crazy! Go take advantage of the man and enter his drawing right now!

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Via the site I incorrectly call “Where Threads Come Loose” in the sidebar (it’s really “Incoming Signals” – “WTCL” is the radio drama anthology) comes a link to the official site of Jason Sandberg, whose unfortunately short-lived Jupiter comic was one of my favorites.

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“I shouldn’t know about Supergirl’s panties, I really shouldn’t. But I do. And so do you. What’s that about?” – a great, career-spanning interview with Kyle Baker, over on Terrific Tom Spurgeon’s Comics Reporter site.

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Ever since Laura reminded us, I’ve been meaning to mention here that all-new Girl Genius pages are appearing as an online comic strip. Three pages a week, updated Monday-Wednesday-Friday. Though the actual comic book itself is gone in favor of the web-route, the trade paperback collections will continue.

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So you think you’ve had it tough, putting up with pal Dorian for a year. I’ve got to work with him!

So Tim makes a Swamp Thing post…it’s only fair that I make an Alf post:

Alf #39 (March 1991) – art by Dave Manak

Well, okay, that’s not really why I’m posting this cover (in fact, I had something else planned for today, but ended up leaving the item in question at the store…rats!), but we got this comic in a collection we bought a week or so ago and it really caught my eye. That’s a great, attention-grabbing, and slightly disturbing cover. The corner box is too big, too big! It’s against God and nature! Burn the witch! …Er, sorry, got carried away there.

Meanwhile, inside the comic, things have also gone horribly, horribly wrong. Alf has invented a machine that can create duplicates of things. However, the duplicates are malformed…imperfect, as it were. While Alf is working on his machine, Brian (the youngest member of the family that “adopted” Alf) wanders in with his school report on Spanish Conquistadors. Anyway, hijinks ensue, and Alf is struck by the rays from his own machine, while holding Brian’s report…and this is the result:

“Pizarro-Alf.”

“Pizarro-Alf.”

I am stuck between two immediate impulses: either applaud this as a work of genius, or seek out everyone responsible for this comic and slap them silly.

Tim is my hero…just go look.

So you may remember this post of mine from a few days ago, where I related a brief conversation in which pal Dorian and I were joking about a Watchmen musical.

Well, that inspired a few people in the comments section for that post to up with with song snippets from said theoretical Watchmen musical – particularly N with two songs, and Ed with his one.

And, as it turns out, this ground has been covered before, as Benari relates a few of his own Watchmen songs, written a couple years back. Funny stuff! The people demand their Watchmen musical!

As long we’re discussing musicals…on this page you can find a track from the forthcoming “Robocop: The Musical” – from the makers of “Silence of the Lambs: The Musical”. Warning: most of the site’s content will offend your grandmother.

From Yahoo‘s front page news box:

What’s this? Jim Lee was suing Marvel? No, no, it’s Stan Lee, reaching an agreement with Marvel over some owed coin-of-the-realm. The word “cartoonist” must have thrown me off.

Yeah, I’m probably nitpicking, but given the generally accepted definition of the word, it just seems like one more step in the direction of “Kirby who? Ditko who?” — making sure the general public thinks Lee wrote and drew everything Marvel ever published.

I realize nobody in the real world actually cares about this.

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Commenter John notes here that the Crisis on Infinite Earths novelization is having a poor showing via Bookscan tabulations. I’m sure that doesn’t account for comic shops, which will be the primary source of sales for this book, because dear God, no non-comics fan will be able to read this…so it doesn’t really surprise me that the type of bookstore that Bookscan likely surveys wouldn’t carry many copies. Don’t get me wrong…what I’ve read so far is fine, as long as you’re a comic fan that’s relatively familiar with the material being covered. But no member of the “non-initiated” is going to have the patience for all the Earth-1, Earth-2, Earth-X shenanigans that you’re hit with as soon as you open the cover.

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“Not so comic books.”

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Dear alleged eBay customer: telling us “don’t be a tightass” in your semi-coherent e-mailed rant simply because we’re following postal regulations that are inconvenient for you only has one result – bannination. Move along, chump…I don’t need your business.

Lots to say, no time to type…so I just have a question for you. Since I was discussing novelizations of comic book stories in my previous post, it had me wondering: what is your favorite comic book-inspired prose novel? (Or short story…I know there were a few short fiction collections based around Superman and Batman.) I don’t mean novels just generally based on comic book style stories, like the Wild Cards series. I mean novels based on characters that have actually appeared in comic books…like the Hellboy novels by Christopher Golden (which I’ve enjoyed), or that Captain America novel by Tony Isabella and Bob Ingersoll (a fun read, and I’m not a big Cap fan), or even, God help you, this book.

My favorite, as has been brought up by some of you already as your favorite in this discussion, is probably Elliot S! Maggin’s Last Son of Krypton from 1978. As I’d mentioned, I really enjoy Maggin’s portrayal of Luthor.

So…what’s your favorite?

A few quick notes about today:

1. I don’t need to read Superman/Batman #19 now, since a customer saw fit to pretty much read the entire issue to me today, as I was pulling books for the comic savers.

2. Identity Crisis, DC Countdown, dead Blue Beetle…it was all worth it just to get Detective Chimp back in a comic book again (in Day of Vengeance, in case you didn’t know).

3. I’m going to have to put a “CONTAINS ALL NEW MATERIAL!” tag on the new issue of Zap, aren’t I? Anyone interested isn’t really going to believe that there’s actually a brand new issue out.

4. Hmmm…according to this page, the Crisis on Infinite Earths novel by Marv Wolfman is actually doing fairly well, considering it’s an adaptation of a story involving 20-year-old comics continuity that can’t possibly attract anyone but old fanboys like me. Yeah, I’m going to read it, so sue me. I have a strange fascination with this kind of book: novelizations of events in the comics. I kinda liked Roger Stern’s Death and Life of Superman, Elliot S! Maggin’s Kingdom Come was a lot of fun, and Denny O’Neil’s Knightfall…well, that last one didn’t do anything for me. I always read these wondering how people who don’t read comics would react to them.*

5. We received a surprise in the mail today…a bundle of full-color postcards featuring the cover to the new Batman comic by Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, and Terry Austin…mailed to us by Mr. Austin himself, apparently. Pretty cool!

* Hopefully not as badly as in this review, excerpted on Maggin’s very own review page: “A great sizzling turkey, unpalatably stuffed. Still, if it induces even a handful of readers to switch from comics to books with lots of words, it will have done its job.” Man, what a jerk. (The reviewer, not Mr. Maggin!)

A gag cover reportedly produced in-house at DC Comics, shortly after 1988’s “A Death in The Family.”

(contributed by Mr. Anonymous Smith)

Some of my images from the last few days’ worth of posts appear to have gone AWOL from my webhost. If you see broken or incorrect images, that’s why. I’ll take care of it when I get home from work tonight.

Darn you, internet!

EDIT: Fixed now. Wonder what happened?