I want to thank those of you who have pledged payments to my Patreon account, and I swear I’m not just saying that so I can link to my Patreon account again. I really am thankful for your generosity and willingness to spare a buck or three every month to my endeavors here. It’s very much appreciated. And like I said, there’s not going to be any special contributor-only content or anything, so everything I write for the site will be equally available to everybody. However, Patreon supporters will get to leave with me on my flying saucer to go live in my chocolate castle on Venus when the end times come, so just keep that in mind.
Meanwhile:
Bully, the Little Bull Stuffed with Butter and Syrup, is a few days deep into A Month of Pancakes, which you should dig into immediately. I voted for Pancake Month, and got exactly what I was hoping for! Democracy works, sometimes!
Blogging brother Tim relates his own thoughts on the state of comics blogging (as I did myself, not too long ago). One day soon, it will be just Tim and I standing alone in a wasteland filled with the desiccated corpses of fallen comic blogs, squaring off against each other, HTML tags in hand, studying each other for the smallest sign of weakness.
Pal Andrew tells us about that one time the Jack of Hearts met the Incredible Hulk. Man, there’s nothing quite like 1970s Marvel comics.
The Trouble with Comics gang look at nationalistic superheroing and discuss its impact on the medium. …I’ve been “on hiatus” from TwC for the last few weeks due to scheduling issues, but hope to be back and contributing there again in the near future.
And now, for no real good reason, NEEDLEPOINT JOKER:
Someone brought in a couple of bins holding piles of ’90s Batman stuff, and this is one of three things I bought from them, just because it was so odd. (I bought it specifically to resell to a fella working at my previous place of employment, who is way into the character…and it is at that store the NEEDLEPOINT JOKER is currently on display.)
The other two things I bought were a Catwoman bank and a replica of a ’60s Batman fan club pinback button. Oddly enough, I passed on the signed Batman #500 from one of those home shopping TV shows, even despite being in one of those collectible fold-out comic binders. …The ’90s were weird, man.
Just another brief reminder to get your 2016 comic industry predictions in, so that, assuming the asteroid doesn’t finally strike and Trump doesn’t become president, we’ll all still be around to discuss them next year.
And over at Trouble with Comics, we discuss our favorite funnybook first issues. The character featured in my favorite may not be a surprise to most of you, but the specific first issue might.
I also wanted to note the passing of Thomas Bartkowiak. This isn’t someone from the comics industry…rather, this was a member (and de facto leader) of RadioTiki, a podcast from before, I believe, the term “podcast” even really existed. I stumbled across it in iTunes’ “Eclectic” category of streaming radio stations sometime in the early 2000s, and it was just a bunch of pals from the Chicago area, shooting the breeze and discussing pop culture and their own lives and being hilarious at it. It was a biweekly show early on, but in recent years it was on the “whenever we could find time to get together” schedule, but I appreciated whenever they could do it and never missed an episode. Tom was always energetic and funny and a delight to listen to. I didn’t interact directly too much with the show, but I did have a couple of my emails read “on the air,” as it were, and when I mentioned that I managed a comic shop, Tom asked what new Neil Gaiman comics were out. I happily sent him a set of the then-new Gaiman-written Eternals series, which he seemed pleased by. It was the least I could do for the hours of enjoyment RadioTiki had provided me by that point, and would continue to provide me long past that.
My condolences to his friends and family and fans. So long, Tom…thanks for all laughs!
The latest Question of the Week is up at Trouble with Comics, asking “what is your favorite holiday comic?” My immediate response was going to be the Alan Brennert Supergirl story until I saw the caveat “other than the Alan Brennert Supergirl story,” but fortunately I had another answer ready to go.
When I read this post from Rick Veitch the other day, it had a longer explanation about just what exactly was the deal with the rights re: his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stories. Apparently it went into too much detail as it’s been trimmed down to just what you see there now, but I hadn’t any idea that his TMNT stuff wasn’t being reprinted. It’s a shame, because those were some great comics, and worth seeking out in the back issue bins.
Bully, the Little Bull Stuffed with Illicit Substances and Smuggled Across the Border, brings us the greatest issue of Marvel Team-Up that never happened.
Marvel and Valiant comics artist Don Perlin is experiencing some medical issues, and if you can help out, I’m sure he and his family would be most appreciative.
Recovering from a nasty cold, so when I’m not struggling through work at my very own comic book shop, I’ve been in bed zipping through multiple episodes of Gotham on Netflix. As a result…not much going on here on this site this week. Sorry about that. But I am feeling a bit better now and should be back on my virtual feet around here soon…particularly by the 5th, where I should have something special posted here. But in the meantime:
Pal Dave is continuing his series on old computer games he’s played, including this one I played about a bazillion times on my Atari 800 (and may still play in emulation on my current computer…shhh, don’t tell anyone). Anyway, if you go to that link and play the video, you’ll hear what the ringtone on my phone sounds like.
I can’t pick a recent post to highlight…just read all of pal Andrew’s Armagideon Time for an example of what the best blogging is like.
A very brief sample of the Aliens/Smurfs crossover. It’s everything you’d imagine it to be.
Tom Spurgeon has started up a Patreon where, for a mere two bucks a month, you’ll get a full PDF comics news magazine with expanded industry coverage. Tom is my favorite online comic news person, and I will absolutely support anything that will get more of his writing into my eyeballs. I hope you feel the same way and kick down a little monthly scratch to him.
So, in short: the Supergirl TV show looks like it’ll be plenty enjoyable; the Legends of Tomorrow trailer finally gives me at its end something I’ve been waiting to see on Arrow all last season; the Avengers sequel has some entertaining bits and some awful bits and never really feels like it adds up to a whole movie, as well as giving us a climactic battle that feels like a palette swap of the previous movie’s conclusion – I liked it overall, but it’s not a patch on the first one; and Flash sure has been good, hasn’t it? No meandering about in that show’s throughline.
I still need to catch up on the Marvel side of TV things, and I still need to sit down and watch Constantine (yes, I know it’s cancelled, but it could live on, maybe!), but…it’s hard to grasp sometimes that there are almost more comic book related TV shows and movies than one can easily keep up with. All it took, I guess, were a couple of billion-dollar superherofilms to get us from this to getting a telepathic supergenius gorilla on our flatscreens.
Turned out I had the wrong link to Bully’s Ambush Bug Birthday post in last Thursday’s entry…it should have gone here, so go ahead and visit that link in case you were wondering why I was sending you to one of Bully’s Star Wars entries. Not that you shouldn’t be reading those, too.
Best wishes to Ty Templeton, who recently experienced a heart attack and reports on his own recovery in the Mighty Ty Templeton Fashion. I don’t talk enough about his work here, but I’ve been a fan of his since Stig’s Inferno (read it all here, legally, for free!), and if you can get your hands on a copy of 1987’s Amazing Heroes #111, that’s one humdinger of an interview with the man there.
Also, Cartoon Brew posted a bunch of the character one-sheets for the forthcoming CGI Peanuts movie, in case you wanted to know what real-ish hair on Snoopy and Lucy looked like. I actually am looking forward to seeing what they do with this film, and as someone who managed to survive the 3D Viewmaster Peanutsdioramas, I think I can handle the CGI versions. I do have to say I’m not a big fan of the taglines on the posters, but it’s marketing, so What Can You Do? “Dust a Move,” indeed.
And in other news…I can’t wait for Dark Knight III to come out, which is a sentiment I’m sure I share with many of you out there.
I’m still gathering comic industry predictions for 2015 in the comments for yesterday’s post…get yours in while the getting’s good, or something like that.
Longtime ProgRuin reader/commenter Walaka dropped by my store recently and reveals all the sordid details right here!
Internet pal Karla has a Kickstarter for her forthcoming children’s book that’s not for children Inspector Pancakes Helps the President of France Solve the White Orchid Murders. I contributed, because I must see the finished product. Hopefully you can contribute, too.
Pal Andrew has a few words to say about Marvel’s New Universe, and one title in particular.
Bully, the Sharp-Dressed Stuffed Bull, is celebrating Paper Doll Month! I mean, you all cut your paper dolls out of your comics and dressed them up, right? …No? What are you, chicken?
Pal Dave looks back at merchandise for the original Alien movie, including that awesome and enormous figure of the Alien itself.
Jason Sandberg, of Jupiter fame (and you guys know I like the Jupiter) has some Jack Kirby-inspired paintings up on his site that you should look at, because they’re awesome. And click through to check out more of Jason’s work, too.
And then there was the time Eddie found the worst Magneto doll of all time (scroll to end of post). The Elektra one he also found ain’t great, but it’s a photorealistic representation of Jennifer Garner compared to that Magneto.
Siskoid presents his last, best hope for sci-fi TV blogging: “Your Daily Dose of Babylon 5,” where he plans to discuss every episode. The introduction is here, and as I write this the entries for the firsttwo episodes are up, and you can keep up by following this convenient category.
I enjoyed Babylon 5, though I haven’t rewatched the series since giving the DVD sets (and associated spin-offs) a once-through as I acquired them. It was an interesting experiment in long-form storytelling with the constraints of the vagaries of television production, it gave us the fascinating crisscrossing story arcs of Londo and G’Kar, and it brought us Walter Koenig in a great role that made most folks come to say “Chekov who?” It wasn’t perfect, but what in this fallen world is; I probably never need to hear the phrase “with all due respect” ever again, for example. But there was certainly more to enjoy than to not enjoy, and the occasional (“occasional?”) bit of labored dialogue and rough-edged acting isn’t that difficult to endure given the overall success of the venture.
Hey, I liked it, and I look forward to enjoying Siskoid’s review of the series.
Here’s an article giving an overview of the Kirby family’s side of the battle against Marvel/Disney over the ultimate ownership of Jack’s creations. At the bottom of the article, under “Amicus Curiae Briefs,” are links to PDFs of the actual filings, each with plenty of historical and legal details that comic fans may find of interest. (Thanks to pal Jason for the link!)
In the latest Pal Andrew news, his latest “Nobody’s Favorite” is a comic I remember receiving at the shop, and I remember selling for the few months it was around, but couldn’t tell you anything else about it. Luckily, Andrew has stepped in and refreshed those memories for me.
Andrew is also relaunching his Ultimate Powers Jam, in which he rolls up characters using the Marvel Super Heroes role playing game, and passes along the results to you to flesh out the character and do with what you will. A sample, if you will.
Speaking of Swamp Thing, old pal Batfatty has sent along this back cover by Bill Wray from Cracked Monster Party #7 (1989), featuring Cracked’s mascot Sylvester P. Smythe following the tragic explosion of his bio-restorative formula experiment:
Hey, it’s purt’near the 25th anniversary of that drawing! EVERYONE CELEBRATE
