Mikester

The “spooky guy in pinstripes” was 9-Jack-9, I have more to say about him in a later post.

filed under Categories indies 5 Comments

So Zot! is a solidly satisfying read from beginning to end, not leaving you hanging at the end of issue #36 (or even really at the end of the webcomic), but there is one huge dangling thread left unaddressed. SPOILERS ahead for Zot! #27 (1990):

It’s New Year’s Eve on Zot’s Earth, and Jenny, her brother Butch (who is a monkey in Zot’s world, long story) and their pal Woody are visiting from “our” Earth to enjoy the celebrations. Everyone (or at least everyone with this particular view of the moon) watches the countdown, though just prior to this there is a discussion between Zot and Jenny as to when they actually met. Jenny believes it’s 1966 on Zot’s world, as the two met “a year and a half ago” when it was 1965. Zot says no, that was 1964, it’s 1965 now, and it’s about to turn 1966. And then….


It quickly becomes clear that everyone from “our” Earth saw the year “change” from 1965 to 1965, whereas everyone from Zot’s Earth saw something different:


Later, Zot’s Uncle Max hypothesizes about what happened, addressing it in such a way that it makes it seem like there was something wrong with Jenny and the rest’s perceptions:


…which I always liked as a storytelling choice. From our presumably objection observation as “reader,” the information we’re given by the story is that the year did in fact fail to change. It’s possible we’re seeing it through Jenny’s subjective point of view, but I don’t believe there’s any evidence in-story to indicate what we’re seeing is “wrong.”

Max continues:


…which probably seems at least somewhat plausible to the characters in the narrative, since Zot’s Earth is a sci-fi wonderland and Jenny’s Earth still has crime and pollution and grape-flavored Gatorade and other serious problems.

It’s bit of a frustrating set-up, in that we’re left in the position of knowing there’s some kind of mystery here, and the assumption made by the characters contradicts the reader’s observations. And that’s where this particular plot element stops, as we’re off to the concluding run of “Earth Stories,” where Zot and Jenny are cut off from Zot’s world.

I was trying to find the particular citation, which I thought was either in the story itself, a reply in a later letter column, or in an interview with Scott McCloud, where it was said this revelation may point to an “artificiality” about Zot’s Earth, but I couldn’t find it in time for what passes for a deadline around here. But if what’s left of my brain is remembering that correctly, that may be our one clue as to what’s going on. The hows and whys and whats as to what would have made that other Earth (in opposition to Max’s idea) a copy of “our” Earth…who can say?

Well, Scott can say, but I don’t know if he ever intends to return to that particular milieu. (I have an idea how to bring it back, but unless I am somehow gifted the keys to that castle, I’ll have to save it for my extensive line of Zot! fanfic, where they all meet and hang out with their new best friend, the incredibly talented and handsome Spike Merling.)

Thus, fair warning to anyone coming to Zot! for the first time…well, one, you shouldn’t have read this, I warned you at the start, and two, you’ll end up thinking about this bit of business for the next 33 years, like a certain unnamed comics blogger/retailer might have done.

I did come across another potential future story idea addressed by Scott in the Zot! letter columns that didn’t (or not yet, he said optimistically) appear in a comic, but I’ll save that for next week! Tune in next time, same Zot! channel!

Also you should find a copy of McCloud’s Destroy!! while you’re at it.

filed under Categories cheese dip, indies, publishing 19 Comments

Ray Cornwall asks regarding Scott McCloud’s Zot!

“I know there’s a trade of the B&Ws, but are they newer versions that should be read over the originals?”

As of now, The Complete Black and White Collection remains the definitive reprinting of that run of stories. However, it should be noted that there’s a two-part story from issues #19 and #20 that was drawn over McCloud’s layouts by Chuck Austen that is not included in its completed form. Only McCloud’s layouts are included. Also not reprinted are “#10 1/2,” the mini-comic drawn by Matt Feazell, and the full-sized “#14 1/2” also by Feazell.

One caveat is that, while otherwise this book reprints these stories as they originally appeared in print, the actual page size of the paperback is slightly smaller than the original comics. That’s the only real major change between the two presentations. So if I get what you’re asking, Ray, no, it’s all pretty much the same.

I am not sure of the printing status of this particular volume…Diamond Distributors doesn’t have it, but it appears readily available from Amazon.

The color issues were reprinted in a single volume by Kitchen Sink Press in 1997. Needless to say, it’s out of print. I checked out Amazon and there was a copy for (egads) $195, but other copies were available for $35 and up, so shop around a bit here and on eBay and such.

There are two more volumes in this Kitchen Sink book series that reprint up to issue #27 (except for the Austen-drawn #19-20). These are pretty much supplanted by the Complete Black and White volume.

I should also point out that Eclipse Comics published a small trade of the first four color issues, in case you wanted to know.

So basically, if you want the complete print Zot! comics collection, either buy all the comics individually (most of which I have available for sale at my shop right now, almost all signed!), or you buy that first Kitchen Sink trade, the black and white collection, the original print copies of #19 and #20, and the two Matt Feazell thingies.

Print, I said. Which leads me to what adam has to say

“I discovered zot thru scott’s website in the 90s. has anyone ever collected that series? don’t know how youd print that amazing episode thats just about falling thru the sky tho”

Adam is referring to the Zot! webcomic published at Comic Book Resources a good couple and a half decades ago.

It’s never been put into physical print, especially that one chapter adam mentioned with the long fall panel, designed for scrolling on a screen more than being divvied up across several pages in a book. I suppose it could be put in a single hardcover or something, though, as Scott himself notes, the artwork is a little “jaggy” and may not present well outside this context. Frankly, though, I think it looks fine. Printing it with jaggies an’ all would give it a solid retro feel, I think!

So, Zot! — it’s good, you should read it!

• • •

Speaking of collected editions, the newest issue of Groo: Gods Against Groo, #3, has the latest word from Mark Evanier about reprint collections of our favorite The Wanderer. And that word is “they’re looking into it,” basically trying to find a print format that 1) won’t cost you all your kopins, and 2) wouldn’t break any bones if you dropped it on your foot.

My personal feeling is that mimicking Marvel’s current “Epic Collections,” which are thick softcovers that contain about, I don’t know, about 15 to 20 issues or so, and usually costing about $40, may be the way to go. There are, what, at least a couple hundred Groo comics, plus the two graphic novels, plus other appearances here and there. That is about the equivalent of around 13 or 14 of Marvel’s Epic collections. Feels doable to me, but I’m not a comics publisher who’d have to pay for all that and then, hopefully, keep them reasonably in print.

At least that seems within reason, and that Sergio and Mark are actively trying to figure it out is good news. Sergio Aragones is a master cartoonist and that so much of it is out of print is a real shame. Thankfully the individual issues remain relatively inexpensive when you find them, so at least there’s that if nothing else.

No relation to the University of California Irvine.

filed under Categories indies 7 Comments

So I’ve had Scott McCloud‘s Zot! on the mind lately, inspired primarily by recently processing a nearly-complete run of the series, most of which were signed by Scott. As is usual whenever I’m dealing with comics at the store that I have and love in my own collection, this made me want to reread the entire series. This, on top of the fact that I’ve already got a giant “to read” pile caused by my eye troubles, of course.

That didn’t stop me from rereading a few issues anyway, primarily the 3-part 9-Jack-9 story from the black and white run, a heartbreaking read that also raised a question or two in my mind about the nature of 9-Jack-9 himself. In my brief Googling on that topic (as well as a particular loose thread regarding the nature of Zot’s parallel “future” Earth of 1965), I discovered this documentary. Understanding Scott McCloud’s Zot! is an overview of the comic, as well as a biographical sketch of McCloud, his family, his entry into comics, his meeting the wonderful Ivy…all squeezed into under half and hour. Well worth the watch, and I hope you spend the time to do so:


An addendum: I’ve probably mentioned a million times before that my very first issue of Zot! was in fact picking up brand new the Zot! #10 1/2 mini-comic by Matt Feazell (which I believe I first mentioned waaay back the first month of this site’s life).

That got me to start reading the regular Zot! series when #11 launched the black-and-white run, and naturally sent me back issue hunting for the earlier color run. The elusive #5 was the last one I needed, which took me what seemed to me like forever to find…but probably only a few months, in reality. Nevertheless, every time I come across an issue 5 in the wild, like in this collection I was working on, I can’t help but to think “where were you when I was looking for you back in ’86?”

“I AM DEFEATED!”

filed under Categories marvel, publishing 16 Comments

So I was talking with customer Sean the other day (Sean you may know from his appearances in my comments sections here) about this odd coincidince from a couple of Marvel comics released in 1984.

First off was Fantastic Four #271, released in June of that year, featuring story and art by John Byrne. Featured is a tribute tale in the style of the old Stan Lee/Jack Kirby/Steve Ditko “pre-superhero Marvel” monster comics, in which a strange creature or ‘nother is menacing the Good People of Earth, and someone (sometimes one lone brave man who may or may not be a scientist) must find a way to defeat it.

In this case, the monster is Gormuu, attacks upon whom only seem to make him larger and more dangerous. Our hero of the hour is Reed Richards, in the years before he and the rest of the Fantastic Four were exposed to cosmic rays and gained their super powers. Here we see Reed decide on a course of action, to the shocked response of a pre-Thing Ben Grimm:


Anyway, Reed sets his plan into motion, causing Gormuu to grow, GROW, which is cool with Gormuu at first, until he notices…


…eventually expanding into nothingness, as while he was growing in size, he was not increasing his mass. As such, his atoms dispersed across the universe and Reed chalks up his first(?) kill.

Two months later, in Avengers #250 (by Roger Stern, Al Milgrom, and, for this section of the comic, Roy Richardson), the titular team find themselves in conflict with the villain Maelstrom, who is also absorbing energy to increase his strength.

Vision realizes Maelstrom’s devices and controlling the flow of energy to him and that flow must be stopped:


…but Starfox (Starfox?) sez, he sez that the energy must instead continue to flow, and while the Scarlet Witch is incredulous, Vision, who knows a little something about mass density, picks up what Starfox is puttin’ down:


And couple pages of shouting and punching later, the plan is in full effect, and Maelstrom finds the extra energy he was getting is now out of control:


…and as you can see, totally pulls a Grommu, in fairly similar panels, and also expands into that aforementioned nothingness.

Again, these comics were only released two months apart, so it was a coincidence that the conclusions were so similar, surely. Unless of coursre this was an elaborate practical joke by the creative teams. The big surprise is that while the books were produced by two different editorial offices at Marvel, so the similarities wouldn’t have been caught, Big Jim Shooter not catching this ahead of time seems like it would be unlikely, unless it was too far along in the process to change up the stories. I have no idea, and am not even sure if anyone at Marvel ever acknowledged this happened. Did this ever get mentioned in interviews or reviews of the day that anyone saw?

I was a regular Fantastic Four reader at the time, and had picked up Avengers #250 because I would pick up extra-sised/anniversary issues of pretty much anything whether I regularly read the book or not. I can still remember being taken a little off guard by that Avengers conclusion, thinking “didn’t I just see that same ending somewhere” and realizing it was just a couple of months prior. Again, a weird coincidence, and one I’ve thought about for quite a long time.
 
 
 
 

Specal thanks to Bully, the atomically-dispersed bull, for his production assistance!

I presume the other fella’s name was, like, Blutus.

filed under Categories cerebus, popeye, retailing 11 Comments

So last week, will richards remarked

“I seems ta remembersk a parody featuring Squinteye the Sailor (again, more appropriate than Popeye?), but can’t recall which comic that was in.”

I replied in the comments, but thought I’d point it out On Main, as the kids say. To the best of my knowledge, Squinteye stems from the 1985 release Cerebus Jam #1. This was a comic in which the regular Cerebus team, Dave Sim and Gerhard, team up with another creator to produce a short story. Said creators include Murphy Anderson, Will Eisner, and noted Popeye fan Terry Austin, who co-produced this tale of a Young Cerebus encountering a grizzled sailor down at the docks.

Eventually Squinteye bumps into an old adversary:

…who is dispatched in the typical fashion:

…leaving something of an impact on our junior main character:


According to the story notes in this issue, Sim provided very rough sketches of “Squinteye” and Bluto on the pages, which Austin very meticulously finished, including details like the dead Jeep on the (magically-changing) shoulder.

Like most Cerebus art in the main book, it’s quite stunningly detailed, and Austin fits right in with his legendary illustrative talent. It’s well worth tracking down a copy of this comic…all the stories found within are a lot of fun.

• • •

Snark Shark takes a bite at me with

“twitter: ‘somebody’s breaking street date’

“How much trouble can they get in for that?”

Mr. Shark is referring to a couple of posts I made on the somehow-still-functional-mostly Twitter about a customer who came in Tuesday and indicated a DC book released that day had already been purchased by him days earlier. Given that specific books’ release date was the 14th, if he bought it earlier, then some other retailer sold it too early. (Assuming the customer isn’t mistaken of course.)

Putting street dates on books allows retailers to ship them to stores early, to allow for more time to process and count the received goods, as well as report shortages and damages more a more timely replacement. For example, I received DC Comics due for release on the 21st this past Tuesday, the 14th. My shipments from Penguin Random House (containing my Marvel and IDW and, soon, Dark Horse orders) generally arrive the Friday before the following Wednesday’s release date, though Monday is relatively common too. Diamond shipments with goods for sale Wednesday arrive on that week’s Tuesday, but the occasional delay or UPS error can mean I’m scrambling to process the order Wednesday morning before opening for the day.

For the most part, assuming no shipping delays, this is a lot easier on me than in Ye Olden Tymes, when everything showed up on Wednesday for that day’s release, and hopefully the shipment arrived early enough in the morning that everyone rushed through getting the order counted and shelved and maybe pulled for the comic savers before opening. Unless UPS decided to start at the other end of its route and we ended up getting our boxes at, like, 4 in the afternoon, which did happen. (Eventually we just had the boxes held at the UPS center, and I would pick them up on my way to work that morning.)

Now for early shipments to work, that requires retailers to stick to the street dates, and Diamond used to send out “secret shoppers” to keep tabs on stores and make sure they weren’t breaking street dates by putting material out too early. From all accounts I’ve heard, these distributor spies were obvious as all hell, but to the best of my knowledge I’ve never dealt with any, either at my previous place of employment or at my shop. So, either I’ve never been tagged as a secret shopper target, or my secret shoppers knew what they were doing and actually remained secret. Not that it mattered, since I never broke street dates.

To get to Snark Shark’s question, finally, as to what would be the penalty for selling stuff too early — first they’d stop shipping stuff to you early temporarily, and then I’d have to assume if you’re a repeat offender they’d stop the early shipping permanently. That would mean whatever poor bastard got caught breaking street dates would be back to the Bad Old Process of trying to get stuff taken care of the very morning of its release, which can be done but it’s a pain in the ass.

So anyway, don’t do this, fellow retailers. And again, not that I’m sure this happened in the first place in this instance, as I’m half-convinced this particular customer was mistaken about getting that comic early.

• • •

Again, sorry for the dearth in entries the last few days. There’s a period in March where I have a bunch of medical stuff all in a row, so it might happen again. Be forewarned, be forearmed!

This site could have been solely a “Death of Superman” blog, you realize.

filed under Categories death of superman, obituary 7 Comments

So reading digital comics paid off…by getting a special print edition as a prize! I subscribe to DC Universe Infinite, DC Comics’ online digital library, which comes in handy when I need a scan from a DC book not in my possession, or when I want to, say, reread a bunch of Animal Man without trying to figure out where my copies are in my currently-in-disarray Vast Comics Archives.

Specifically, I subscribe to the “Ultra” level, giving you wider access to DC’s library, along with special offers and freebies…like this free variant edition trade paperback of the 30th anniversary edition of Death of Superman with art by Ivan Reis:


And here’s the back cover…note, no UPC code or cover price:


Inside the front cover, which I didn’t scan here because doing so would likely screw up the book, is a text introduction thanking recipients of this item for being DC Universe Infinite Subscribers, ballyhooing that this edition is exclusive to said subscribers, how great the digital service is, etc.

The book itself contains, in case you can’t see it on the second scan above, the original “Death of Superman” story from the ’90s, plus the Newstime magazine one-shot (the in-universe Newsweek/Time news magazine), and the Day of Doom mini from the early 2000s. There are also several pages at the back, including images of the original art, photos of related promotional material and merchandise, sketches, and even a nice clear shot of the editorial whiteboard used to plan out the story (that I posted blurry pics of way back when, pulled from a DVD extra feature).

For some reason I was under the impression that this was going to be a variant for the recently-released 30th Anniversary Death of Superman Special. But this is nice too.

• • •

On a sad note, Pat, AKA “Jungle Kitty” of the Star-Trek-Especially-William Shatner “Look at His Butt” podcast, passed away recently. I have been a fan of the show since it first came to my attention back in 2006, even appearing as a guest on one episode. As such I always had a special place in my heart for this show and JK and her partner in Trek-crime Lene, and it’s hard to imagine that we won’t be getting any more of their shared discussion on the franchise.

It honestly was one of those cases where you tuned into the show and it sounded like you were just having a friendly and funny chat with your friends about stuff you really liked. I wrote a more extensive tribute to her and the show that Lene will be reading on the next, and likely final, episode of the podcast, so I won’t repeat it all here. But I can definitely say I’ll miss hearing her voice and her passion for all things Trek.

So long, JK.

I could only get “Ojo Saltón” in Google Translate by splitting the name.

filed under Categories popeye 10 Comments

So Reader John sent along a weird item from his own Vast Comics Archive, feeling that I’d be a good home, or at least a home, for this 1974 release. Identified as “Popeye L-2″ on the indicia, this is an educational item for both Spanish and English readers:

This is the front cover:


And here’s the back:


The Grand Comics Database entry calls this a “flip-book,” which it isn’t, really. The front and back covers are both oriented in the same direction, and the pages don’t suddenly turn upside-down halfway through necessitating turning the whole book over to start reading from the other side. The book just reads straight through, with this intro on the inside front cover:


Then you get this story (reprinted from Charlton’s Popeye #96 from 1969, first in Spanish:


…then in English:


…along with other short strips (in both languages) and vocabulary tests and such.

I’ve got to say…I’ve never seen a copy of this. The GCD entry says there are other comics like this from King Features…issue #L-1 is Beetle Bailey, for example.

Anyway, this is a neat item, so big thanks to John for sending it my way!

SPECIAL BONUS: yet another straight-on look at Popeye’s anatomically improbable face:


The pipe doesn’t go in your nariz, Popeye!

The 1990s-est thing that’s ever 1990s-ed.

filed under Categories Uncategorized 10 Comments

Sorry, didn’t get around to writing a proper post last night, so here’s a very autographed copy of Deathmate Black:

…featuring the signatures of (inhales) Jim Lee, Brandon Choi, Mike Heisler, Alex Garner, J. Scott Campbell, Brett Booth, Scott Clark, Marc Silvestri, and Joe Chiodo.

See, here’s a Certificate of Auth–I mean, a “Dealers Attestation” saying so:


And yes, I’ve already sold it, sorry 1990s Image and/or Valiant Comics fans!

No live-action Demon yet, far as I can tell.

filed under Categories dc comics 29 Comments


Sure, I know, everyone’s seen this, James Gunn’s announcement of DC’s movie/TV plans over the next couple or three years. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the announcement that we’re getting a Swamp Thing movie out of this. Maybe.

According to Gunn, this is the first stage (or most of the first stage) of their decade-long multimedia plan of, well, catching up to Marvel. (That Gunn repeatedly uses the word “marvelous” in this pitch is, as I’d said on Twitter, either a poor choice of words on his part, or entirely deliberate.) This “chapter” is titled “Gods and Monsters,” recycling a title previously used by DC, and so called because, like I said before, Swamp Thing is involved here, as are the Creature Commandos, in a move that I’m pretty sure no one predicted. The “Gods” part would be the new Superman film, a movie with the Authority (also a surprise, particularly to the original artist), and Supergirl, and so on. And then there’s the Green Lantern and Booster Gold TV shows coming to HBO Max, not sure which side those fall on. Or I’m just being too literal.

Of course, I’m like someone asked to watch a new Netflix show or pick up a new Marvel first issue…I’ve no confidence in any of this actually lasting. The way the new regime at Warner Bros. cuts/cancels/just outright buries things, like shelving the nearly-complete Batgirl movie and dropping a bunch of stuff off their HBO Max service, I feel like all it’s going to take is for one thing to underperform in this proposed slate of releases, and, poof, Gunn is gone, all the shows are cancelled, and we’re back to square one. And by “square one” I mean “a Batman movie of some kind.”

I mean, I don’t know, maybe Gunn and whatever that other guy’s name was have got some pretty solid contracts locked down allowing them the time to develop these properties. But with Swamp Thing the last in line here, I’m not holding my breath. I’m glad to see it’s on their minds, anyway.