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While I hurriedly replace all the hamsters in the wheels that run Progressive Ruin Industries, please enjoy this fine Sluggo-riffic post from that best of all little stuffed bulls, Bully. A finer hooved friend one cannot have.
And for those of you who have expressed concern…no, “technical difficulties” is not a euphemism for “Mike is sick…again.” It actually was a computer problem. Things are on their way to being back to normal after many hours of computer hoohar and an ill-advised purchase of a more powerful disk utility tool than the one provided with the system, which I ultimately ended up not really needing, but I guess I have it now just in case I ever do. Don’t make significant purchasing decisions with money you don’t really have at 1 in the morning when you’re exhausted and pissed at your computer, kids!
But at any rate, I’m at the point where the initial problem is resolved, and now I’m just restoring from back-ups and redownloading software and system updates and just plain getting everything back to where it was, so it should be business as usual sooner rather than later.
Thanks for your patience, and I’ll see you all tomorrow.
§ December 17th, 2011 § Filed under sluggo § 4 Comments
…but it’s Saturday, and it’s a link to a Nancy and Sluggo strip by Nikki Burch, sent to me by pal JP. …Enjoy!
§ October 1st, 2011 § Filed under sluggo Comments Off on I’m taking a day off…
…so I’m going let my good pal Dorian handle the Saturday Sluggo shenanigans.
See you folks tomorrow!
So here’s what my original plan was:
After posting the final Sluggo Saturday and writing up my goodbyes, farewells, and amens, my initial intention was to do “Satan Saturdays.” However, I found I didn’t have immediate access to a sufficient number of devilish images to use for this project, so the plan changed slightly, to what you’ve been seeing me do over the last few months.
And…well, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the results. I mean, they were okay, I guess…I’m inordinately proud of myself for the Sea Devils Saturday entry, for example. But it felt a little forced to me, and turning these things up was more of a chore than a joy. And most importantly, they just weren’t tickling that same part of my brain that the Sluggo Saturdays were.
My goal was to do the “[character name beginning with the letter S] Saturday” thing for a year, and on the anniversary of that last Sluggo Saturday post, drop in a new Sluggo Saturday completely without notice. And then continue on with other characters, as before. Obviously, I didn’t make it that far.
So, um…apologies for making such a big deal out of my dropping the feature. I really intended to retire it, honest. But just when I thought I was out of Sluggo, Sluggo pulls me back in.
This doesn’t mean I plan on doing Sluggo Saturday every Saturday again, though…I’m going to try to keep it a little more sporadic than that, running when inspiration strikes. I’m also not continuing the other “S-Saturday” feature, unless, again, I come up with a good’un. Other than that, I have no idea what I’m going to be doing with my Saturday posts since I don’t have another regular feature planned. I suppose I could always go back to characters angrily pointing at this.
So the new DC Comics solicitations are out and the only important comic worth mentioning is, of course, Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search for Swamp Thing #3:
Seeing Deadman on the cover there brings to mind
those old Challengers of the Unknown issues where the Swampy/Deadman team first got its start. A good omen!
The solicit reads:
“The search ends here as John Constantine finally finds out Swamp Thing’s dark motives – and what they have to do with him!”
…so it sounds like this mini-series is addressing the whole “murderous Swamp Thing” coda from the end of Brightest Day #24, as I figured. Also, there’s a variant cover for this issue, too, but I don’t know what it is yet. But I’m sure I’ll buy it.
Speaking of being a huge sucker, I’ll probably be grabbing one of these as well:
HEROES OF THE DC UNIVERSE SERIES 2: SWAMP THING BUST
DESIGNED BY GARY FRANK
SCULPTED BY JEAN ST. JEAN
Guardian of the Green!
Swamp Thing rises again, as seen in the unforgettable final issue of BRIGHTEST DAY!
Summoner of life, this Elemental possesses super strength and can manipulate all forms of plant life – even those alien to earth.
The cold-cast porcelain bust measures approximately 5.75” high x 3.5” wide x 5.75” deep and is packaged in a 4-color box.
I don’t know why the description of Swamp Thing’s abilities makes me laugh, since, well, that’s pretty accurate, I suppose. Just seems funny seeing it all laid out there like that. I never really think of Swamp Thing as possessing “super strength,” but, yeah, I guess he does at that. Dude pulled a helicopter out of the air in Saga of the Swamp Thing #20, after all.
But of course, this will be my third Swamp Thing statue. As I said on the Twitter the other day: “The upside to Swamp Thing coming back: more Swamp Thing crap to buy. The downside: more Swamp Thing crap to buy.”
But here’s something that’s entirely free. FREEEEEEEEE. Drawn and sent to me by reader Thomas, the most spectacular mash-up of them all…that muck-encrusted mockery of a ruffian, SLUGGO THING:
Oh man, that nose.
Oh, okay, not really. Actually, this is a drawing by one of my favorite cartoonists,
Scott Saavedra, who was good enough to send the original art my way many years ago. Turns out I never posted it on my site in all this time, and the image doesn’t appear to be up on Scott’s site anymore, so…here you go. Pretty awesome, I think. (It says “Swamp Gas Gun” on the swamp gas gun he’s holding there, in case you can’t make it out.)
In other cool drawin’ news, Ming Doyle, artist of the swell webcomic The Loneliest Astronauts (written by close personal friend Kevin Church), drew this fantastic Nancy and Sluggo sketch that will forever change your perception of the characters. Forever, I say.
And then there was the time when I won the eBay auction for this awesome original Fred Hembeck sketch:
…which should be winging its way to my home via the tender mercies of the post office within a week or two. Can’t wait!
There was another recent Hembeck sketch auction that I was tempted by, but alas, couldn’t squeeze that into the budget this time around. Still recovering from Christmas an’ all, don’t you know. (Thanks to pal Dorian for informing me of these auctions…I spend so much time selling things on the eBay that I rarely do any actual shopping there!)
Speaking of Sluggo, which is a rare around these parts I realize, Boing Boing’s David Pescovitz put up a post about Sluggo expressing his inner beatnik. In the comments there, Twitter pal MrJM was good enough to remind folks about my Sluggo Saturday shenanigans, which Mr. Pescovitz responded by describing that little project of mine as “so much fun,” which was much appreciated.
Pal Andres also turns up in the comments, blaming me for hooking him on Nancy and Sluggo. I am an enabler.
One other person in the comments wonders if the two Sluggo beatnik panels presented there are from the same strip, or even by the same artist…and another person notes that he believes one of the panels is by noted Nancy-ologist Bill Griffith. Well, I can assure both these folks that 1) the panels are from the same strip, 2) the strip is by Ernie Bushmiller, and 3) the strip in question appears in Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy Vol. 4 (a flip book with “Bums, Beatniks and Hippies” on one side, “Artists and Con Artists” on the other), published by Kitchen Sink Press in 1991.
But anyway…”hello” to any new folks popping in! I’m Mike, I sell funnybooks for a living, and I like Sluggo and Swamp Thing and All Star Batman and Robin. …Hey, wait, where are you going? Come back!
• • •
In other news:
- Benjamin Birdie, artist of America’s most beloved webcomic about a comic shop, The Rack, has started a new project entitled “Benjamin: Yesterday” in which he expresses the many moods of Benjamin Birdie in a daily sketch diary. No words, no “strips” as such…just a single drawing of Birdie being Birdie, every day. Very nicely done.
- Dr. Polite Scott has posted his Best (and Worst) Comic Book Medicine of 2010 awards, and it probably comes as no surprise which writer dominates the “Worst Medicine” categories. (Though the linked Superboy story — not by this writer — is amazing.)
- A Nice Cup of Comics – a Tumblr celebrating the intersection of comic books and the drinking of tea, which relaxes the mind and soothes the soul. And who couldn’t use a little of that, nowadays?
Another recently arrived purchase from the eBay: a companion Sluggo magnet for the one I received a few days ago:
This Sluggo is kinda sorta posed the same way as the Sluggo in
the last Sluggo Saturday, only
sans moustache.
• • •
Arrived at the store this week is an assortment of buttons called “DC Superheroes Have Issues,” and some of the buttons feature pics of superheroes and villains with captions identifying their particular problem and, perhaps, intended to comment on the wearer of said button. Like, Batman’s says “Needs Anger Management,” Flash’s is “Speed Freak” (er…), Dr. Fate’s is “Painfully Shy” (because of the full facemask, you see), and Joker’s is “Just Crazy,” which is pretty funny, actually.
The best one is probably this one:
And while this may be a problem of the Penguin’s (though perhaps overstating it a bit):
…that’s…um, well, what can you say, really. Apparently, expected demand for this button was low, as this was the only one in the box. Or maybe it’s a Rare Chase Retailer Incentive Embossed Foil Die Cut Cover – Death and Return of Captain America and Superman Autographed by Alex Ross and
Buck Rogers and
Silver Spoons Star Erin Gray Button! Starting Bid $129.99! L@@K! H@T! We Take PayPal!
…Er, sorry about that.
For some reason, I Googled “morbidly obese Penguin” and up came this page, and apparently the phrase is some kind of internet thing. Maybe. I guess. Who can tell?
• • •
Finally got around to reading some of this week’s comics, and regarding Grant Morrison’s
Batman and Robin #16…without getting into spoilers, let’s just say that they weren’t kidding about it being a “game-changer.” I mean, we knew where it was going, given the premise of
Batman, Inc., but how it got from here to there is something else. Of course, my first reaction to reading it is “I wonder what they’re going to have to do when they eventually change everything back to the way it was” since, like any comic book character with this long an existence and with this much tie-in merchandise and other media translations, the inertia of its own history and reader/general public expectations always tends toward reverting these kinds of temporary fiddlings with the formulas. But, given the kind of change made, and the relative significance of the character, I suspect the transition back to the old status quo may be as traumatic as the change over to the new one…and I also suspect Morrison has said transition already built into place for when the time comes.
Oh, the comic was good, too.
BEHOLD: obtained from the eBay, a magnet of Sluggo with a bat ‘n’ ball:
Don’t know much about it…a quick Googling seems to date this magnet to the mid 1990s. It looks older than that to me, but that may just be because Sluggo is eternally a creature of the ’40s or ’50s.
I have another eBay-obtained Sluggo magnet coming in the mail, and there may be more yet to come. Watch this space for all the latest Sluggo magnet news!
…
DON’T TAKE YOUR EYES FROM THIS SPACE. EVER.
• • •
In other news:
- CO2 Comics has a neat archival comics project in the works…not of actual comics, but of the 1980s and 1990s zine Comics Interview. The 11-volume project is titled David Anthony Kraft’s COMICS INTERVIEW: The Complete Collection, with volume one, currently in release, coming in at a whopping 680 pages.
Comics Interview was a fine mag, each issue stuffed with interviews with comic creators, publishers, showbiz celebrities, and even the occasional fan. Some of the interviews included in this debut book include Steve Gerber, Keith Giffen, Berke Breathed, Joe Kubert, Walt Simonson, Don Rosa, Matt Wagner…man, there’s a lot of them. Just go to the site and click on the animated book cover-thingie and you’ll see the contents yourself.
I have to admit it never occurred to me that those old Comics Interview zines should be collected into a more permanent form, but it sure seems like a good idea and I’m glad its being done, rescuing all these interviews from obscurity. Maybe this’ll lead to more zines being collected…c’mon, complete Comic Reader!
- In the mood for something…spooky? Then treat yourself to an uncanny tale of mind-bending horror, courtesy El Gorgo!
- Bully, the Little Stuffed Bull, finds a thread and follows the heck out of it! What terrible secret unites the Fantastic Four with one of the most beloved films series of all time?
- Awesome Hospital wraps up Chapter Two of its ongoing webcomics saga, and if you haven’t been reading so far, it’s too late…TOO LATE! (Or you could just read the archives.)
And in Halloween-ish webcomic news…Cool Jerk‘s Paul Horn joins Kevin Church in a weeklong zombie-riffic adventure in The Rack. People live…people die, and The Rack will never be the same!
So pal Dana dropped by the shop on Wednesday to bring us some homemade cupcakes in honor of my birthday this past weekend, because she is awesome. Even more awesome was the birthday card she drew for me with the wraparound cover:
Yes, that’s Sluggo and Swamp Thing giving each other the high five. And they’re both wearing sombreros. Note that Sluggo is wearing a sombrero on top of the hat he normally wears. This is the greatest thing ever. (
Here’s a little context for the whole sombreros thing, in case you’d forgotten.)
• • •
In other news:
- The spam catchin’ plug-in on my site seems to be catching genuine comments, and there’s no easily-implementable white list function to correct this issue. Until I can find a little time to tinker with this, if you post a comment and it doesn’t show right away, don’t worry…I go through the spam folder every day and I’ll find and approve your comment eventually. I apologize for the inconvenience.
- Sad to report that my non-readership streak of Antarctic’s books remain unbroken, as, despite my initial hopes for the title, a glance through Time Lincoln didn’t do anything for me. Sorry! No hard feelings, I hope…it’s not you, baby, it’s me.
And, as pointed out in the comments…the Time Lincoln logo is very reminiscent of the Time Warp logo. Probably should have realized that myself…I keep coming across copies of Time Warp at the shop, after all.
- I may have seen this image a couple of weeks ago, and have been dying to link to it once it was posted. And at last, here it is: Chris Sims and Rusty Shackles bring you an installment of Great Comics That Never Happened that has to be seen to be believed. I would buy the hell out of this comic. (SPECIAL NOTE TO MY DAD, WHO READS MY SITE EVERY DAY: Click on “Great Comics” link, Dad.)
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