Mikester
Dorian knows that he didn’t invent the idea of finding subtext in comic images, but the “Subtext? What Subtext?” thing is sort of his continuing schtick. That’s all he’s saying. That, and that he doesn’t want to look like he’s “borrowing” from someone else the next time he does “Subtext? What Subtext?” — which is what it would have looked like since the site in question is one of the more highly-visited comics weblogs.
The person who posted has since apologized and added a link to Dorian’s site in that post, which is cool, but a couple other people in some of the related threads continue to miss the point. Unsurprisingly.
In happier news, Dorian is now the top Google search for “Nanny Dickering,” so his cunningly evil plan has come to fruition.
In 1983, Eclipse Comics released this portfolio of images based on the just-released Swamp Thing movie directed by Wes Craven. Why it was released by Eclispe Comics rather than Swamp Thing’s publisher DC Comics, I have no idea…perhaps DC wasn’t set up to publish portfolios (though they started doing so just a couple years later, to the best of my knowledge), so perhaps the Swamp Thing movie licensing was left up to the film’s producers, with no say by DC. (Maybe someone reading this can set me straight.)
Anyway, this set features four 11 by 14-inch full-color plates by Paul Gulacy, so they at least look nice, despite being drawn from scenes and characters in the film. The first plate is the same image as on the cover sheet above (sans logo).
Plate two is probably the best image in the set, and I’m not just saying that because of its focus on Adrienne Barbeau. Well, okay, maybe I am, but in this picture Swamp Thing actually looks like Swamp Thing, and there’s a feeling of suspense as “Alice Cable” waits for the approaching “monster.” (An aside for those few Swamp Thing fans who aren’t familiar with the movie…the government liason Matt Cable in the comics was changed to “Alice Cable” for the movie, and Alec Holland’s wife Linda in the comics was changed to being his sister, as to allow for a “Beauty and the Beast” relationship between Swamp Thing and Alice. However, by the time the second movie rolled around, Swampy was gettin’ it on with Heather Locklear, but that’s another story.)
Plate three features Gulacy’s most “guy in a rubber suit” image of Swamp Thing in the entire batch, with Swampy just looking like a bald green guy with some fairly prominent veins. Despite this, it’s still not a bad image, with a good sense of motion and great detail on the figures and faces (which don’t show up very well in this picture I took, I realize).
The classic battle of muck-encrusted mockery of a man versus chemically-mutated Frenchman is represented here in this image, from the film’s climatic battle. Interesting to note that even when drawn by Paul Gulacy, the mutated Arcane costume doesn’t really look any better. And I know that it wasn’t really Louis Jourdan in that costume, but I’m going to pretend that he actually was, because that idea makes me very happy. Anyway, it’s a nice image — points for showing Swampy knocking Arcane around with a club, points off for a marked lack of Adrienne Barbeau.
(Another aside…holy frijole, Louis Jourdan is 85? And yes, he’s reportedly still alive.)
Here’s a nice feature on pal Randy regarding his illustration work for Star Wars.
Randy’s a good guy, and has been doing our front window paintings for years…we’ve had Plastic Man fighting Wolverine, we’ve had Darth Maul in a Santa hat, we’ve had Spider-Man kicking back at the beach, and we’ve had this:
You can find a clean copy of that image on this page.
All of Randy’s window designs are lots of fun, and always get a great deal of attention and positive comments from customers and passers-by. If you like his art, you have a chance of getting an original piece by him from the Star Wars Heritage card set, as he’s one of the artists supplying the sketch chase cards.
On a completely unrelated note, apparently Bazooka Joe has had new people join his gang. (I can’t believe we lost our chance to have a Goth girl appear in Bazooka Joe comics. Crud!)
Felix the Cat #55 (September 1954)
So there I was, poking through issue #169 of Amazing Spider-Man (written by Len Wein, illustrated by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, from June 1977) when I spotted the following panel:
Okay, that’s definitely your standard-issue mid-to-late-70s Stan Lee caricature, but what’s with the careful attention to detail with those two kids? That seemed a little unusual.
Well, the answer to that is no farther away than this issue’s letters column:
Say it with me: “SPIDER-MAN DANCE CONTEST.” One can only imagine. The TV show Wonderama is recalled on this page — one of the reader-contributed memories mentions said contest. It appears that someone in a Spider-Man costume did “The Spider-Man Dance” on the show, and then the contest was to see which kid in the studio audience could best perform that same dance. Actually, the way the memory is actually phrased, one could infer that Stan Lee did the dance as well. I really, really hope Stan actually did do “The Spider-Man Dance.” If that’s wrong, I don’t want to be right.
By the way, since some of you are probably wondering, here’s a little more information re: Vera Valiant.
And what the heck, here’s Stan the Man’s very own Marvel Universe-style page.
Please, please, please tell me that the promo for next week’s episode of Smallville — the one apparently about “meteor rock”-enhanced cosmetic surgery — was not blurbed with the phrase “KRYP/TUCK.” And especially please tell me that the phrase wasn’t in giant green letters.
Anyway, this week’s episode was a little more focused than the season opener, as Clark, Lois, and eventually Lana all join in the search for the formerly presumed-dead and now just presumed-missing Chloe. We also get some closure (maybe) on the Lionel Luthor arc from last season. I do call a big “no way” on Lois digging up her cousin’s grave in broad daylight without being noticed, however. But we do begin to get a feel for how a relationship between the brash Lois and the usually reserved Clark would actually work.
Oh and (big SPOILER) I also call “no way” on how Chloe survived. If my memory serves, didn’t the house explode as soon as the front door shut? It didn’t seem as if there was enough time for the escape scenario described in this episode to play out.
In other news:
Peter David says his upcoming storyline on Hulk will only be five issues long, unlike the usual six issues Marvel seems to insist on for eventual trade paperback reprinting. David will still do a sixth stand-alone story…so we’ll get all six of those in a trade anyway, I’m sure. I particularly like this comment of his:
I could (pardon the expression) pad it out to six, but what’s the point of that?
Gee, I can’t think of any writers at Marvel who might be doing that. Can you?
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Atlas Archives is a site devoted to the brief existence of the 1970s publisher. The Grim Ghost is a particular favorite of mine.
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The Comic Treadmill looks at what must be one of the greatest records ever, “Songs & Stories About The Justice League of America.”
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I’m glad to see someone else has noticed the same problem I had with the last issue of Green Lantern…namely, Kyle just taking the bad guy at his word that Mom is fine and dandy. Did anyone even look at this script before it was published?
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I don’t really care what the new Sin City trade dress looks like, just so long as the books are available when people ask us for them, what with the interest in the movie and all. You know, just for a nice change of pace.
I’m not holding my breath, though. Yeah, I know what Dark Horse is claiming, but that smoke’s been blown our way before.
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Rick, who runs the fine and good weblog Eat More People, has voluntarily removed himself the Comics Update-A-Tron 3000 due to his reduction in funnybook-related content, but don’t let that stop you from visiting! This month, he plans on discussing a different horror movie every day — a worthwhile endeavor.
Fight Batman Fight!
Via pal JP, an eBay auction for a poster for another unauthorized and completely insane Batman movie, right up there with James Batman, Batman Fights Dracula, and Alyas Batman and Robin.
The Bat-Mite idea was better.
You like the new comics, hmmmmm?
- One gets the feeling that Chuck Austen’s run on JLA (which ended with today’s release of #106) may have been better had it been cut down to, oh, say, one issue. This particular issue was slightly better than the previous parts, and did get an honest laugh out of me (Batman’s line “I just have a way with children”), but boy, this storyline was near Marvel-esque in its eventual-trade-paperback-release padding.
- Palookaville #17 is a very frustrating experience. It’s the latest installment of the “Clyde Fans” storyline, and it’s beautiful and brilliant, as each chapter has been previously, but the huge gap between issues is driving me crazy. Not quite as bad as, say, Charles Burns’ Black Hole, but I wish I could get more than one issue a year.
- Green Lantern #181 wraps up this iteration of the GL series in sort of a “blah” fashion. While it was nice to see Kyle get his revenge on longtime nemesis Major Force, some plot points sort of bother me. Yeah, I’m gonna have SPOILERS, so skip or deal, mister. Okay, first, I didn’t buy that Kyle would just hand over his ring to MF* — seems a little out of character. And second, Major Force is a killer, who had murdered Kyle’s girlfriend way back when…is Kyle really taking MF’s word that he didn’t kill Kyle’s mom? What the…? And after all is said and done, Kyle never bothers to check on Ma and make sure she’s okay, and just zips off into space? Sheesh.
- DC: The New Frontier #6 wraps up this heavily 1960s-flavored series with a final battle against the giant walking-island alien monster thingy. Yeah, it sounds stupid, but it’s a good excuse to get all the classic DC heroes together, and when it all looks this pretty, you don’t worry too much about the plot contrivances. There’s a stunning two-page spread featuring all the heroes going off to battle…it’s a scene right out of every 90s action movie, where the group of heroes are walking side-by-side toward the camera in slow motion…you know, that scene, the one we’re all sick of seeing by now. Well, there’s one of those in this comic (only without the whole “slow-motion” part) and it looks great. And the epilogue on this comic is something else…a variety of snapshot images of DC’s Silver Age, presented with a speech on the New Frontier by President Kennedy. A nice ending to an enjoyable book.
- Adam Strange #1 – this must be the week for purty comics, because this one is absolutely stunning. Even if you’re not an Adam Strange fan, you gotta pop open this book and take a gander. Another thing I enjoy about Adam Strange — not just in this book, but in most of his recent appearances — every time he’s on Earth and he’s trying to explain to someone other than another superhero about his space adventures, he’s treated like he’s nuts. It’s a cheap joke, but still funny. Yeah, I’m easily amused.
- I only get two comics-related magazines on a regular basis: The Comics Journal, which I’ve been reading for well over twenty years now, and Alter Ego, which generally has enough material of interest in each issue to keep me picking it up every month (though it feels like it’s been biweekly lately). There’s a lot of stuff packed into each of these magazines, and the older I get, the less time I seem to have to devote to reading them. Basically, I’m saying that I have a high resistance to picking up yet another comics magazine. However Back Issue #6 got me today, with their Halloween issue containing — you probably guessed it — articles on Swamp Thing. Gosh dang it! Features interviews with Swampy’s creators Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, plus Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch, and even a discussion of who came first, Swampy or Man-Thing. Also, I’ve learned in this magazine that there exists a 1984 promotional videotape from DC, featuring Alan Moore discussing his work on Swamp Thing. We’ve gotta have one of those around the back room of the store somewhere….
- Also picked up today: Hellblazer #200 (nice to see Steve Dillon on the book again, even if just for this special issue; comic now has the logo that emphasizes “Constantine,” which will probably disappear once the Constantine movie finishes its run); Luba’s Comics and Stories #5 (Gilbert Hernandez continues to do that voodoo he does so well…for some reason, the “ALL NEW!” on the cover really tickles me); Superman #209 (we’ve had about three issues’ worth of story in 10…but give me a national monument come to life to attack Superman, as in this issue, and much will be forgiven); and the Dark Horse Comics Halloween mini-comic (reprinting “Stray” by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson from the Dark Horse Book of Hauntings).
- Also arrived today: Superman: Man of Tomorrow Archives Vol. 1 (which I might have picked up if I weren’t broker than a broke thing that’s broke), more Classics Illustrated Junior reprints (I wonder if anybody other than Classics Illustrated collectors are buying these? Kids won’t touch ’em in our store), Captain Canuck: Unholy War #1 (what? Again? I remember the last time they tried to revive Captain Canuck…didn’t really go over too well then), Challengers of the Unknown Must Die trade paperback (I really liked this mini-series…and this looks like a nicely-packaged collection), and Tarot Witch of the Black Rose #28 (I’m not asking this to be critical, or to hold anyone up for ridicule, or anything like that…I’m honestly curious: if you like this comic, why do you like this comic? What is it about this comic that makes you buy it every month?**)
- Not arrived today: Superman/Batman #12, which is a no-show to stores serviced by Diamond’s Los Angeles warehouse. Well, we’ve all waited, what, two months? What’s another week?
In other news:
New theory on the Identity Crisis killer, hashed out with pal Corey: Bat-Mite! Who else could get past all the security equipment? And how does he benefit? By putting together a mystery that only his hero Batman can solve! See, it all fits!
Wow! Ed cuts to the chase about the perceived direct correlation between the low quality of certain comics and articles written about same.
In 1978, a young Will Pfeiffer, inspired by the recently-released Star Wars, creates his own comic book: Space Force Frog!
* For some reason, “Major Force” strikes me as a really dumb name, and I don’t want to type it any more.
** Of course, people can ask me the same thing about Liberty Meadows.