“DO NOT BRING YOUR EVIL HERE.”
The good news – a teaser trailer for the upcoming Swamp Thing TV series guest-starring Blue Devil on DC Universe:
The bad news: due to some behind the scenes stuff, the series order was cut from 13 episodes down to 10:
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In which I have some minor spoilers for Teen Titans Go! To The Movies but don’t spoil the best joke.
So in my most recent attempt to make the money I’m spending on Netflix worthwhile, I’ve been getting a handful of discs…yes, actual physical media…from them a little more often than I have of late (for example, I finally watched and returned that copy of The Quick and The Dead I’d had in my possession since July), One of my recent borrowings was of Teen Titans Go! To The Movies. a nice, gentle skewering of the superhero movie trend with plenty of laughs…the biggest being Robin’s final line in the film, which still makes me sensibly chuckle even now. Won’t spoil it here, and while it is revealed in the Wikipedia entry on the film, without its context and delivery it’s not nearly as hilarious.
Some of the film’s humor was clearly “not a joke for you, a guy who’s about to turn 50 years old” but I thought most of it was pretty accessible, and to be fair, the Challengers of the Unknown jokes were totally for me, so take that, kids.
Speaking of being totally for me, there was no small amount of Swamp Thing guest-starring action, and a big thanks to fine human being Kevin Church for GIFing up this sequence on my behalf:
We can only hope this is what he looks like in that upcoming TV series on the DC streaming service.
A couple of more things about Teen Titans Go! To Mike’s Blu-Ray Player:
Not a fan of fart jokes generally, but I gotta say, that was a good one in this film.
And, the “mid-credits” bonus scene featuring the original, not entirely-gag driven version of the animated Teen Titans, setting up a Teen Titans Vs. Teen Titans Go movie that is apparently still A Thing That Is Happening: well, that should be weird. It’s the battle between the fans who hated that first Teen Titans cartoon and the fans that really hate the new Teen Titans Go! cartoon!
Also liked the handful of gags aimed at Marvel’s direction (especially the Big Cameo which I’m very glad was actually voiced by him and not someone doing an impression). Frankly, I was a bit surprised not more was make with the comparison between Deadpool’s real name “Wade” and Slade’s real name (“Slade”)…I can see why they avoided the topic of their identical last names, given certain story events.
Oh, which reminds me, I thought the repeated gag of everyone rolling Slade’s name around in their mouths to appreciate how evil it sounds was a solid one.
Of course, the darkest laugh is one I already sort of knew about, when the Titans are travelling through time to restore superhero origins they had undone for, you know, reasons, in which Robin…facilitates Batman’s origin. Hoo boy. All those people in the late ’80s/early ’90s who mimicked only the grim ‘n’ gritty parts of Dark Knight Returns only wished they were that dark.
So anyway, it’s a good bit of fun, worth a rental if you haven’t seen it already. Or if you have, it’s worth it just to freeze frame on some of the movie posters that pop up in the background here and there. Plus, if you’re a Swamp Thing fan…well, I already showed you why it’s worth your time.
Why this wasn’t pressed on dark green/brown vinyl, I have no idea.
Okay, I’ll get back to your questions next week (and feel free to add more to the list if you’d like!), but your pal Mike has an early morning doctor’s visit and thus is keeping it short so he can hit the sack a little earlier than normal.
So today I’ll just show off this copy of the original Harry Manfredini soundtrack to the first Swamp Thing movie from 1982, a sealed copy of which I’ve had in my collection for quite some time:
…Well, formerly sealed, as I recently purchased a new turntable to listen to a bunch of records I inherited from my grandparents, and have been going back and revisiting some old vinyl from my own collection as well. This particular record I bought online way back in the early days of eBay, if I recall correctly, and I never did get around to popping it open…so there it was, sitting in a box in the house, just waiting for the day I finally, carefully, slit open the shrinkwrap and exposed that platter to the light..and to the needle on my player.
Anyway, this turntable also has a built-in recording function, where you just slap in a flash drive and press the “record” b¨tton and whatever’s playing gets output as an MP3, so now I can have this muck-encrusted musical of a man emitting from my (apparently passé) MP3 device whenever I wish.
Now if I can just get the hit theme song from this cartoon as a single 45, I’ll be set:
And yes, that off-kilter pic of the album is the same one, more or less, that I put on the store’s Instagram. I post lots of neat pictures there, so you should totally follow me. If you don’t, it’ll hurt my feelings. (sniff).
Look, I did my best to avoid spoilers.
So there I was, reading Saga of the Swamp Thing #21 via the DC Universe streaming service app, as one does. And I gotta say, those pages look pretty good on a 50-inch hi-def TV…the colors really pop, the linework is nice and clear, it looks great even to my aging eyes.
But as previously established, there I was, reading that issue, when I noticed something a little unusual about this panel:
“Hold on,” I said to myself, out loud, like a character in a comic book,”those feet are missing the ‘color hold’ images representing the kicking of the feet as [REDACTED] suffocates in [ALSO REDACTED]’s mossy chest,” which you can see here in the printed original:from late ’83/early ’84:
I noticed another color-held image earlier in the book made it through to the digital version fine, but just thought this was a Thing of Note™. Still, nice to see the art all blown up big ‘n’ stuff.
EDIT: As per BobH’s comment…yes, the online version of #24 does leave out the last line from the last page.
images from Saga of Swamp Thing #21 (February 1984) by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette and John Totleben
Geeking out.
So I just spent a lot of my bloggin’ time going through issue after issue of Swamp Thing comics, scouring the letters pages for a specific missive. Alas, still haven’t found what I’m looking for, but I did come across this letter in Swamp Thing #72 (May 1988) inquiring after infamous DC character Brother Power the Geek and his possible connection to ol’ Swampy:
And that was the definitive answer until Swamp Thing Annual #5 (by Neil Gaiman, Richard Piers Rayner, et al.) in, um, 1989, guest-starring you-know-who:
…where said The Geek was runnin’ around and wreaking accidental havok and basically evidencing abilities similar to Swamp Thing’s. In fact, one of Earth’s previous plant elementals shows up to explain:
So there you have it, Mr. Letter Writer from 1988. That annual from the far-flung future of 1989 tells you that yes indeed, the process was in motion to create a Hippie Elemental but was interrupted. Ah well, these things happen.
Also, while looking through all these Swamp Thing comics, this particular idea came to mind, so of course I put it on Twitter:
I think we can all agree this is something that should happen.
I’ve typed an awful lot over the last couple of weeks…
…so today I’ll just remind you to head to your local comics emporium and pick up this week’s new release of Scooby-Doo Team-Up #40, guest-starring Swamp Thing:
That is indeed Swamp Thing, cute little pug nose an’ all. (Why, that makes my Twitter avatar almost canon!) Anyway, this issue will make you long-time Swampy fans very happy, I think.
Also look for Swamp Thing in this week’s debut of Justice League Dark as well! Two covers to choose from, both prominently featuring that muck-encrusted mockery of a man. (Or be like me…don’t choose, just get ’em both!)
You don’t know how many times I typed “Sting” as “String.”
So this kind of blew my mind: Sting to write introduction to John Constantine anniversary hardcover.
The surprising element is that Constantine’s creation in Swamp Thing was inspired by artists Steve Bissette and John Totleben’s desire to drawn a character based on Sting. Now, for whatever reason, based on nothing in particular, I’d always half-believed that DC downplayed that particular connection to avoid any…legal shenanigans, perhaps. I don’t know. That’s probably part of the reason why this came as such a surprise to me. (The other reason was thinking Sting’s response would be “They based a WHAT on me? They want me to do WHAT? Get outta here.”)
But nope, there it is, officially announced by DC Comics. And if you click on that first link, you’ll see an actual honest-to-goodness video of Mr. Sting speaking about the occasion, dressed like Constantine. I mean, if only that could have been our movie version of John, right?
Anyway, the most shocking element of said video is his pronunciation of “Constantine” — as the dreaded “Constan-TEEN.” You maybe remember my longstanding losing battle against this, starting way back when with this here Swamp Thing panel:
…but, man, that’s it. I admit defeat. If Sting says it that way, then, you know, that’s just how it’s going to be. MY WAR IS OVER.
A Progressive Ruin Breaking News Alert!
A live-action Swamp Thing TV show is coming to the DC Universe digital steaming app-thingie-whatever:
This article gives a pretty good overview on what’s going on, though the paragraph regarding the character’s comics history in the ’70s and ’80s appears to be garbled a bit. Also, the article notes that the show going to series depends on the how good the initial script is, so it’s not 100% a for-sure thing, I guess? Anyway, from the brief description given there, it sounds like they’re conflating Abby Arcane with Alec’s wife Linda Holland to, I don’t know, simplify the set-up of the series? Get to the romantic tension right away without contending with the whole “dead wife” thing? To save costs by reducing the number of actors in that pilot episode? I say “pilot,” assuming they don’t go all Netflix on us and take an entire season to approximate the original property. (“SEASON ONE ENDING CLIFFHANGER: Will Alec survive the lab’s explosion?”)
Well, not that I need another streaming TV service or anything, but DC played dirty pool and now actually have me considering dropping the dough on this. Not that they’ve said how much dough will be required…hopefully more towards about $6 or $7 a month, and not something stupid like $25 a month, $275 for a year – that’s one free month! We’ll see.
In other Swamp Thing media news: what’s that Dave Sim character up to nowadays?
And to be honest, I’m not 100% sure of “1,006.”
Yes, it’s Action Comics #1000 week, marking the 1,006th issue of that series, including issues #0 and #1,000,000 from the pre-New 52 series, the second New 52 #0, those four lenticular issues #23.1-23.4, and am I forgetting something else? Yeah, probably, but here we are, a Superman comic with #1,000 on the cover, which ain’t nothin’ to sneeze at. I’ve taken a copy home (as promised, the version with Mike Allred’s 1960s tribute cover) and I’ve read it…it’s a nice anthology book, with little space wasted. And yes, the red trunks are back, in every tale in this issue, though their return is never really explained. It is commented upon in the Bendis story, using a variation of a joke I made here and I’m sure was made by everyone else on the planet as well. I hope they never explain it, any more than “eh, I just felt like puttin’ ’em back on. LEMME HAVE MY SPACE PANTS.”
Now, beyond the content, I’m just worried about how it’s going to sell. I won’t go into it all again (that first link above has more detail, if you’re interested) but I ordered what I think should be plenty. I filled the large number of preorders I had, and now, assuming the normal level of extra interest this would attract amongst my regular customer base, I should have enough, unless everyone decides that they have to have the same specific variant cover and shun the other nine covers…then I might have a problem. Or if there’s a news story extolling readers/viewers “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GO OUT AND BUY THIS COMIC,” in which case I’m totally not prepared. Well, we’ll see. Hopefully reorders will be available if necessary, because a $7.99 price point is a bit too high a price point to be taking a lot of ordering risks.
Oh, hey, I guess Steven Spielberg is finally going to be making a Blackhawk movie. Pretty sure he first made some noise about this in…the early 1980s, I think? And while I said on the Twitters that I’m hoping for some War Wheel action, I think you’ll all agree with me that what we really want from a Blackhawk film is WEIRD MUMMY INSECTS:
I mean, do you want Just Another World War II movie, or do you want that? Or this? You’re reading this site, I think I can guess your answer. Or your other answer.
So a while back I was told a new creator took over the Nancy comic strip, and when I looked then it didn’t do anything for me…but it’s starting to grow on me. I think it’s improving, actually, and this nicely Bushmiller-esque strip from the other day has been making the rounds. Granted, there’s something unnatural about Nancy and Sluggo referencing the internet, but then most of Nancy and Sluggo’s world is nightmarishly unnatural, so, you know, what else is new?
Oh, almost forgot to mention…Swamp Thing will be appeared in Scooby-Doo Team-Up #40 this July:
My Swamp Thing love is so strong, the actual editor of the comic made sure I heard the news back in January. I am genuinely excited about this.
Remember when my Swamp Thing posts were all like “HEY, SWAMP THING’S HAND IS IN AN ISSUE OF INFINITE CRISIS.”
An Addendumdedumdum to My Most Recent Post: it is now The Future, so I may now reveal the truth behind that No-Prize. It is, in fact, a No-No-Prize, a simulacrum, a deliberate reconstruction of what how a No-Prize may have appeared, constructed by a friend (not Rob, as previously theorized) who shall go nameless here lest Stan the Man himself call down the Merry Marvel Marching Society upon him for such perilous perfidy. Anyway, said friend assembled the pics, slapped ’em on envelopes, and sent them to me and at least one other person just for laffs. YOU GOT ME, FRIEND I AM PROTECTING FROM THE MARVEL ZOMBIE HORDE.
So the only comic news this week is the revelation that Swamp Thing is returning to the funnybook pages (like, again…he’s always up to something, somewhere, since he’s come back to the regular DC Universe). He’s going to be a member of the revived Justice League Dark title, along with Zatanna and Detective Chimp, as God intended:
…yeah, that’s a new look for him. Saw someone on Twitter (can’t remember who, now) commenting that he’s basically been made to look like Alan Moore, which, okay, that’s kind of funny. Anyway, I’m looking forward to this and the other dozen or so new Justice League titles DC is releasing in the wake of that movie’s success.
What’s that? You want more Swamp Thing news, you say? Well, you’ve come to probably the right place, as there are a couple of new toys, or at least new to me, that just came to my awareness thanks to being pointed out by pals on the Twitter (and images for which I “borrowed” from this good person’s Twitter feed. First up is one based on the Justice League Action animated series appearing on a Cartoon Network near you.
And then this second one is from the “DC Super Friends” line:
Interesting that both feature Swamp Thing with his traditional weapon of choice, the Huge-Ass Club. Anyway, I suppose I’ll have to track these down, too, even though I’m trying to buy less doodads and tchotchkes but there’s always the Swamp Thing Exception Clause in my life contract as I pass through the other end of middle age.
Here’s a thing I somehow missed back in the toy stores of yore, but now reproduced in the new popular digital format all you kids are into: the handheld Swamp Thing game from Tiger Electronics, in all its emulated glory.
Anyway, while all you nerds are playing your funnybook game, I’ll be over here playing this manly sportsman-like Electronic Quarterback from Coleco (which, all kidding aside, I actually did play back in the late ’70s, as a friend owned it — I had a basketball version, for some reason, though that specific game appears not to be amongst the emulated here).
So I did watch SyFy’s new Krypton show (as discussed previously) and…yeah, it seemed interesting enough. At first, it seemed like it was going to go the Smallville route of making the Superman story unnecessarily complicated for the sake of getting any kind of compellingly-watchable TV show out of all this nonsense. But of course this pushes everything far enough back that Superman himself, as we know him, while offstage (for now) and the target of some kind of time-traveling threat, is relatively untouched by the proceedings. In Smallville, despite knowing that yes, this was just a different interpretation of the character, it was difficult to draw a line from what we were seeing in that show to what we knew about Superman. Just…too many weird continuity shenanigans. That’s more the problem with my fanboy brain than anything the producers were doing, admittedly. In Krypton, though, actual events on Krypton are enough of an open book that I could theoretically avoid any such issues.
And I say “theoretically” only because I’m way behind on the few shows I do watch, and adding one more to the pile isn’t going to help matters any. I watched this first one more out of curiosity, but I expect I won’t end up watching any more ’til it’s on a streaming service or discs I can rent from Netflix. I will reiterate that directly connecting the events of the show to the “present” of Superman’s time was the gimmick needed to get me at least somewhat interested, more than just giving us A Game of Space-Thrones That Is Sorta Connected to Superman, Eventually.
Hey, my old pal Brandon is doing a little research for a collector’s guide project he’s working on, regarding “all your favorite giant rubber animals, dinos and monsters […] Toys by Imperial Toy, Chitech, Dor Mei & more!” If you’re on the Twitterers, you can follow that link and direct-message him there. Or if you’re not on the Tweetings, you can email me and I can pass along your contact information. If you can help him out, please do! Thanks!
