So apparently what the people want is creepy hobo Charlie Brown, judging by the linkage and traffic I’ve been receiving lately. Thanks for encouraging my behavior, Other Internet Sites, though sadly I don’t have much else in the vagrant Peanuts character vein. However, it does remind me that I haven’t mentioned pal Nat‘s new book The Peanuts Collection, a neat compilation of photos and replica tchotchkes (like trading cards, rare booklets, cels, and such. He brought a copy by for me to poke through, and it’s certainly a neat and beautifully-done package. No Hobo Charlie Brown that I noticed, but you should probably buy a copy anyway, courtesy this little box here:
In other non-Peanuts news, people have been sending me the link to Our Valued Customers, a collection of one-panel cartoons presenting things said by customers and Overheard at The Comic Shop. Reminded me a bit of that mini-comic I did back in ’96, and posted here on my site, though my examples are more general “everyone’s heard ’em” quotes, and Our Valued Customers’ examples are more of the frothing-at-the-mouth type. As has been noted by a pal of mine, I’m not sure I’d draw actual caricatures of my customers and post them online, but hell, I can enjoy ’em and not have to worry about taking the heat if any of them find out. (Though, as I admit in that old post, one person in my mini, aside from the self-portrait, was an intended caricature…she hasn’t come back and killed me in the 14 years since, so I think I’m safe. …So far.)
In other news, some new comics came out this week:
The new Smurfs volume The Smurf King is out…still the same complaint about the lettering I had last time, but that still remains really my only complaint. Some fine, funny, witty cartooning that holds up all these decades later. Don’t dismiss it just because of the ’80s cartoon show…this is genuinely classic stuff.
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #6 – I think maybe if the only superhero comics I’d read from now on were ones written by Grant Morrison, I’d probably be okay with that. I get all the wonderfully strange and inventive and near-celebratory superheroic storytelling that I want from his comics, compared to some other titles where it just feels like pages are getting filled. In this particular case, it’s a shame about the series’ timing, but still remains a satisfyingly odd exploration of the history of Batman and a solid chapter in Morrison’s ongoing Bat-saga.
Glamourpuss #16 – I’m the only person still reading this at our shop. I’m still enjoying it. Not even quite sure how or why I’m enjoying it, but Sim’s goofy combo of fashion industry parody and in-depth examinations of classic comic artists still keeps my attention.
Green Lantern Emerald Warriors #4 – I’m a sucker for still getting this. I just really like the Green Lantern concept, so I’m an easy mark.
Comic Book Guy The Comic Book #5 – End of the series, kind of wish there was more actual Comic Book Guy action throughout the story, but still a funny parade of knocks on the comics industry and the folks who enable it. In-jokey, but not overly so.
Muppet Sherlock Holmes #3 – The parody Muppet minis aren’t as strong as the ongoing Muppet Show series, which means they’re only excellent instead of perfect. Plus, I’m a big fan of Sherlock Holmes pastiches and parodies, so this is right up my alley.
Hellblazer: City of Demons #3 – Really have no idea why this didn’t just run in the regular series. It’s not a bad comic by any means, but the market doesn’t really need two Hellblazer comics on the stands at the same time. Nor does it need three Wolverine titles, but I think I’ve mentioned that enough.
The Incredible Hulks #616 – I was kinda hard on this title last time, since the proliferation of Hulk characters (hence the title change) was wearing on me a bit, but I find myself enjoying Bruce Banner/the Hulk’s responses to the situations they’re finding themselves in. But I’m pretty much ready to be done with the whole Sons of the Hulk thing.
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 – Okay, first, it’s a pain in the butt to type all those periods in that name. Second, I may have mocked this comic a little in the past, but the fact that Nick Spencer, the man currently writing the fantastic Jimmy Olsen back-up in Action Comics, is also writing this is very positive sign. It’s still an uphill battle, trying to get people invested in yet another new revival superhero series, but maybe it’ll actually have a chance if the writing is strong.
Dungeons & Dragons #1 – By all accounts, a good comic, I’m hearing. Yes, everyone is completely surprised by this fact. The retailer incentive variant had a cover that resembled the old D&D adventure modules from TSR, and even included an actual playable adventure that wasn’t in the regular version. IDW has this habit of making the incentive editions the cool thing that might actually sell well, instead of making the regularly-available issue awesome. Don’t put that photo cover of handsome bastard 1960s William Shatner on your variant, put him on your regular Star Trek cover…and don’t make just the variant D&D book look like a module, make ’em all look like that. That variant grabbed the eye of everyone who looked at it, far more than the generic fantasy covers of the regular editions that simply blend in on the rack.
Avengers: Children’s Crusade #3, Avengers Prime #4, New Avengers #6, I Am An Avenger #4, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #1 – sigh.
Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali hardcovers – one version is at the original “treasury edition” size, the other at the standard comic book size (but containing additional unpublished art), and I’m unclear, since they arrived shrinkwrapped…are they both recolored by Neal Adams’ studio? If so, that’s a shame, but the fact remains that this really is one of the greatest Superman stories of all time, and if you can’t get your mitts on the original, I’d recommend the treasury-sized hardcover over the smaller one, regardless of the extra material. This comic needs to be read BIG.
And then there was that time Charlie Brown put on a hat, a heavy coat, and a fake mustache and frightened his friends:
That was his revenge for being rejected by the other kids from “playing house” (not to mention getting him to his ultimate goal…a helping of now-unguarded ice cream and cake). Here is the elaborate role-playing scenario which he hoped would allow him to join the festivities:
Frankly, that’s a bit creepy. You’re your own worst enemy, Charlie Brown.
So the results of yesterday’s poll is decidedly in favor of Ultra the Multi-Alien! Hoorah! I have no idea what to do to commemorate this!
If memory serves, my initial exposure to Ultra the Multi-Alien was on the very early Nickelodeon Channel show Video Comics, which displayed old DC Comics stories panel-by-panel with narration and sound effects. I recall some of the featured stories included Silver Age Flash and Green Lantern stories, some Shelly Mayer stuff (Three Mouseketeers, Sugar & Spike), Adam Strange…and I’m about 79% positive that Ultra was in there, too.
But outside of that, and maybe reading a reprint of his origin in a DC digest, and any cameo appearances he’d made since (like in James Robinson’s Starman), I haven’t had a whole lot of exposure to Ultra. Maybe when that DC Archives: Ultra the Multi-Alien hardcover comes out, I can catch up. However, I am struck by how similar in appearance he is to Metamorpho (immortalized in that song I presented yesterday). Comics really had a thing for characters divided up in fourths like that, didn’t they? Like Super Skrull, or Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man.
And you can’t help but wonder just what’s going on, you know, with their, um, naughty bits. Half and half? Maybe split four ways, like it’s the point where Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico meet? DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT, you know you wondered, too.
By the way, speaking of yesterday’s voting, the Ultra-Humanite would like to contest the results:
So reader Charles emailed to remind me that Netflix, the mail order DVD rental and online streaming service, has added America’s finest film Swamp Thing to its Watch Instantly streaming library. For those of you unfamiliar with Netflix’s rating function, you can rate movies you’ve seen with star ratings (1 to 5 scale), and based on your tastes, it will try to guess how much you would like other films you have yet to rate. In this case, I hadn’t got around to rating Swamp Thing, and Netflix’s suggestion-thingie said that I’d probably think it was a three-star film.
AU CONTRAIRE, NETFLIX. I have corrected your incorrect assumption by giving the film FIVE stars, baby.
However, I have not yet checked to see which version of the film it is…if it’s the one with an extra dollop of nuditivity, or the slightly less nekkid one (as discussed here). I’ll have to check and report back to you folks…as, you know, a public service.
Oh, wait, just looked at the user reviews…someone claims that it’s the censored version, but, being of a skeptical bent, I still prefer to investigate this myself. INTO THE BREACH, MY FRIENDS.
Another follow-up to yesterday’s post…pal Nat, one of the world’s foremost Peanuts authorities (and, by the way, has provided the text for the forthcoming Peanuts Collection hardcover), popped into the comments to suggest that I’ve “subscribed to the myth of the timeless Peanuts,” which is fair enough. Like Nat says, the reprint books we grew up with tended to leave out the strips with celebrity references, which is probably why those references seem so out of place now. (The sports references, like to Billie Jean King, were usually left in, which is of course why they feel like they fit more naturally into the strip’s world.)
By the way…there’s totally a Cheryl Tiegs reference near the end of that newest Complete Peanuts volume.
I think I’ve mentioned before that seeing real celebrity names in Peanuts always catches me off-guard. I realize that it’s not like this is something Schulz never did, but it’s just that…well, I’m not sure how to put it, exactly. Maybe it’s that Peanuts was just so much of its own little world that the occasional intrusion from outside really stands out. Like the celebrity name-dropping, or the Vietnam reference in the strip I pointed out yesterday, or…okay, I was going to point out the Disco Beagle strips (scroll down on that page to see the rest) (EDIT 5-31-11): strips are non longer there, as the official Peanuts strip archive has been shut down) as another kind of oddball thing to find in the Peanuts milieu, but let’s face it, those strips are fantastic.
Anyway, Peanuts…I have, won’t you?
• • •
In other news:
I’d like to thank the folks who were nice enough to get me mentioned three times in Tom Spurgeon’s “Name Five Writers About Comics You Like” survey. That was a very welcome surprise, especially since I usually feel like I’m not so much writing about comics as flailing about wildly, slamming my forehead against the keyboard and hoping something halfway coherent results. Anyway, thanks to those good people, and to all of you, for continuing to come back and encourage this sort of behavior.
Now here’s someone who knows his stuff…and it’s a six year old little stuffed bull by the name of Bully, who’s taking you on a whirlwind tour of Marvel Comics’ many publishers. Pack a lunch, it’s a long trip!
Hey, you guys like awesome stuff that is free, right? And presumably you like reading about comic books, unless you’re coming here for my cooking tips and frank relationship advice, which, well, more pity you. Anyhoo, all four issues of the legendary comics ‘zine The Imp are available for download in PDF format at the publisher’s webpage, entirely gratis. Each issue devoted to a specific topic (Dan Clowes, Chris Ware, Jack Chick, and naughty Mexican comics), and each issue is great reading.
One of my readers, the presumably-pseudonymous Glitch Girl, sent me an email yesterday morning altering me to the Music of DC Comics: 75th Anniversary Edition CD, featuring DC-related theme songs and other music from the past few decades. Of particular note is the track Glitch Girl was emailing me about:
“22. Swamp Thing – Christopher Stone (1991)
– Previously unavailable. Digitally remastered. From the live-action TV show ‘Swamp Thing: The Series.'”
I remember reading this particular sequence when it was new, and even as a kid it struck me as a bit odd. Yes, in a strip where Schroeder knocks out Beethoven on his toy piano and Snoopy keeps a van Gogh (later, after the fire, an Andrew Wyeth) painting in his doghouse, it’s Helicopter Snoopy that most greatly impacted my willing suspension of disbelief. “How…how does that even work?” young Mike wonders. “Does his entire scalp spin around? Does each ear spin freely in its ‘socket?’ How is Woodstock piloting him, exactly?”
I worried about weird things as a kid.
Here’s the full strip that panel is from, embedded here courtesy the official site:
As you may have gathered, I’m currently reading the recently-released Complete Peanuts 1977-1978 hardcover from Fantagraphics, which included the above strip. Now, the sequence of strips from later in the book that this next image comes from is not a story I recall, because I’m pretty sure I would have remembered this character design of the fellow on the left:
That’s a little odd looking for a Schulz design, though perhaps that’s more attributable to the unfamiliar strangeness of any kid character in Peanuts that isn’t part of the regular cast. That fella probably isn’t any more bizarre than, say, Pig-Pen. But mostly I’m just pointing him out because it took me a moment to parse out the character’s face…I had a hard time visualizing that it was his ear on the left there, and his nose on the right. It just looked like a cylindrical blob resting between the turtleneck and the hat. (Link to the full strip.)
Now this panel is awesome:
Yeah, it’s an easy gag, but it’s a perfect gag for the circumstance. And, it’s in the first panel of the strip. I’m sure it would have served just fine as the closing punchline in a strip that wasn’t Peanuts. (Link to full strip.)
For some good Peanuts commentary, may I recommend Roasted Peanuts, a weblog devoted to discussing the strips.
§ May 14th, 2007§ Filed under peanutsComments Off on Oh, man, not that picture again.
I have a reason for running this image again…well, sort of a reason, anyway, as I wanted to run down the titles featured on the newsstand, and see how many of them were used for real-life print publications. So, here we go (omitting repeats and titles obscured by Charlie Brown)…let me know of any additions and corrections:
Mangle – I think the closest we got was Mangle Tangle Tales, published by Innovation in 1990.
Terror – “Terror” was used frequently in titles, but I don’t think it was used as a title just by itself. The closest I found was one of the EC Comics mags Terror Illustrated. And, of course, the Comics Code forbade its use in any titles.
War – A comic by this title was published by Charlton Comics from the mid-’70s to the mid-’80s. Here is one of my favorite covers from that series. (I know it says “World of…” above the “WAR” logo, but the official title was still “WAR.”)
Hate – Of course everyone remembers the classic and funny Peter Bagge series, beginning in 1990 and still occasionally coming out today.
Gouge – Like I told someone in the comments for yesterday’s post, what a great name for a comic. I picture a Punisher-type character as the star.
Kill – Several comics with the word “KILLER” or “KILLING” in their titles, and of course there’s Kill Your Boyfriend. None called just “KILL,” far as I know.
Slaughter – Slaughterman, baby! Close enough for horseshoes.
Choke – There was a title called (I believe) The Choke from Anubis Press. Choke also sounds like something Eros might publish, someday.
Murder Comix/Comics – Renegade Press published a series called Murder in the ’80s, and, though it’s not an exact match, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention one of my all time favorite comic book titles: Murder Me Dead by David Lapham. Man, I love that title.
Ouch! – Seems to me like this would have been the title of one of the many, many Mad Magazine rip-offs that have come out over the years.
Stab! – Unused, I think. What a great title, though.
Throttle – There was an Aircel comic called Full Throttle, which isn’t exactly the same thing. Well, then again, this is Aircel we’re talking about…
Crush – Dark Horse and Image both had comics by this name, but probably not nearly as interesting as the sorta-implied contents in the Crush comic from the Peanuts strip. “In this issue – more criminals crushed! Under collapsed walls! In crashed cars!”
Hit! – Quality Comics has a series called Hit Comics prior to this strip’s 1952 publication date. Debuting in this series: Kid Eternity and the freakin’ Red Bee!
Kick Komics – Nothing called just Kick or Kick Komics, or, God help us, Kid’s Kick Komics, which would only cause problems. There was Kickers, Inc., but not quite the same, really.
Smash – Another Golden Age Quality Comics title that preceded the Peanuts strip. Debuting in this series: Bozo the Robot. Don’t look at me, that’s what Overstreet says. Here, read more about it.
Ruin Funnies – As some of you have noted, this title is strangely appropriate for my site. And there has been a mini-comic with “Ruin” in the title….
Slash – Northstar Comics had a horror comics anthology by this title a decade or so ago. Crow creator Jim O’Barr had some work in it.
Mob – Nothing called just Mob as I recall, but the first closely-related title I can think of is the Kirby-riffic In The Days of The Mob. “Mob” pops up in several other titles, too (Mobfire, etc.).
Killer – As I noted under Kill, lots of titles use variations of the word. However, there was a comic with the prominent logo “KILLER” – though technically the full title is KILLER…Tales by Timothy Truman. And there’s a series currently running called The Killer.
Horror Funnies – There was a book shortly after that Peanuts strip was printed called The Horrors. “Horror” actually is used a lot as part of longer titles, and it too was banned from use by the Comics Code. Nothing called Horror Funnies, unfortunately…I’m amused by the juxtaposition of terms in that title.
Blast Comics – There was a British comics mag called Blast, which is about as close as we get, and “Blast” was used a lot as part of longer titles. Otherwise, the title would have been ideal for one of the many atomic bomb-related comic books from the 1950s (and it kinda, sorta looks like an atomic blast on that cover Schulz drew, there).
So there you go. Like I said, any corrections or additions, please send them my way. There are probably some undergrounds or, more likely, mini-comics that used some of those titles that I may have overlooked. And yes, I didn’t list every single title variation of every real-world comic that uses some part of the titles Schulz created for his newsstand. I mean, what do you think I am…obsessive or something?
The Complete Peanuts volume 3 brings us up through 1956, and the characters are slowly changing into their more familiar forms. Linus is still more toddler than philosopher, Snoopy is still more dog than…well, the anthropomorph he would later become, but Charlie Brown is firmly established as the loser/center of the strip.
What was interesting was seeing some of the strips that haven’t been seen since they originally ran in the newspapers. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the one that references Elvis Presley by name before, and while I remember seeing a number of the Davy Crockett coonskin cap strips, the eventual payoff strip to that particular sequence (“Whatever happened to Davy Crockett?”) was new to me.
Another notable aspect of this project was the varying quality of reproduction of some of the strips. This isn’t a criticism…it’s just a physical reminder of the difficulties of attempting to assemble a collection like this. Given said difficulties, it’s amazing that as many of the strips are as clear as they are.
Something pal Dorian and I have been discussing is the eventual health of this series. Everybody wants the early, hard-to-find Peanuts strips, but we wonder what’s going to happen once the series reaches some of the rough patches…like the highly-reprinted, not-so-good 1980s strips. Obsessive collectors like me will pick ’em up anyway…even lesser Schulz is better than some cartoonists on their best days…but I’m afraid sales will dip at that point. Not just because of the strips, but from “weariness” from buying $30 hardcovers twice a year for over a decade.
Well, I made it through the Carl Barks Library series from Gladstone, I can make it though The Complete Peanuts!
Another strip I’d like to see released in complete collections is B.C. by Johnny Hart. Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’d like to at least have the first decade’s worth, back when it was, you know, funny.
Then again, the last few years’ worth would be interesting to see, just for the “car wreck” aspect of it all.
A number of years ago, some friends of mine formed a band called “Phooey,” which was quite popular in our area. They were sort of a geek-rock, proto-Weezer type group, which actually doesn’t do them enough credit. I only bring it up because I keep coming across panels in comic books and comic strips that use the word “phooey” that I can’t help but think “wow, that would have been good to use on a band flyer.” Even now, ten years after the band broke up, I still think that every time I see a particularly appropriate usage. That Peanuts panel on the right, from the latest Complete Peanuts volume, seemed like a good one.
By the way, the index in The Complete Peanuts does list all occurrences of the word “phooey” (and its variant, “fooey”). Now that’s an index!
My favorite “Phooey” panel for its flyer-usage potential was from an issue of Casper the Friendly Ghost (or perhaps even The Friendly Ghost Casper), where a character was exclaiming “Phooey! It’s no fun to play with girls!” That would have been nice on a flyer for when Phooey was sharing the stage with an all-girl band that one time….
Spotted via the one essential online comics news source, The Comics Reporter…a new DC logo? The heck? What was wrong with the old one? Okay, I guess we’ve had the DC Bullet for a while, and maybe we were due for a change…but all I can think when I look at this new logo is “boy, that’s going to have to be replaced in a few years.”
Not that the logo is all that bad, really. It seems to work okay on the Return of Donna Troy mock-up (in another link stolen from The Comics Reporter). But I’m not really sure I want to see it on every DC book.
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