The Comic Reader #123 (November 1975) – art by Mark Evanier
The Comic Reader #133 (July/August 1976) – art by Sergio Aragones
The Comic Reader #161 (October 1978) – art by Fred Hembeck
Uncategorized
What? Matt Drudge trying to create some kind of false connection between a violent action movie and the death of the Pope? Surely you jest! And, no, the text in this piece doesn’t link to any off-site story…that’s pure Drudge editorializing, friends.*
My day at work with Kid Chris:
(Kid Chris is saying this sarcastically in response to a particular comic book…no, not that one): “I like things just one way, and if they aren’t that way, I don’t like it!”
Me: “Wow, you are a comic book fan!”**
In reference to my note about Star Wars Dark Empire being originally announced from Marvel, commenter Bob points out that this information appeared in the last Amazing Heroes Preview Special (#11, from 1990). What’s funny is that I happened to have my copies of the AH Preview Specials out, and I poked through most of them looking for the Star Wars listing…except for some reason I didn’t bother with #11. Ah, well…my ‘zine-fu is not so strong after all.
In case you’re interested, the Marvel/Epic version of Star Wars: Dark Empire was announced as a 4-issue prestige format series, with each issue running 64 pages.
From the mighty Grow-a-brain: a directory of magazine and comic book covers that have been modified (some may say, improved) with cross-dressing shenanigans. I highly recommend #15.
* Yes, I cut the image off there on purpose.
** I’m only kidding…mostly.
No; My zine-fu is strong; a much delayed contest link is given; I sell comics; did you know that fan fiction can be nutty; this title is too long.
No, I haven’t seen the Sin City movie yet.
So I was processing some old issues of The Comics Journal at the shop yesterday, and I just happened to flip open an issue (#110, from August 1986) right to an article on the cancellation of Marvel’s Star Wars comic…which I just happened to have been discussing on this site that morning. A couple choice quotes from the article:
“…An unnamed Lucasfilm official [said] that the book was not terminated: rather, ‘We’re just putting it on hold until the next film is released.’ […] …A Marvel spokesperson [said]: ‘If there’s another movie, we’ll be publishing tomorrow morning.'”
Of course, as it turned out, it was a few years before there was another Star Wars series, Dark Empire from Dark Horse Comics. (And it seems to me that this particular project was in fact originally announced as being from Marvel…can anyone confirm?)
Another quote, detailing the release date snafu I mentioned yesterday:
“The 1983 adaptation of The Return of the Jedi was marred by the early shipment and placement on sale of the issues, revealing the plot twists and surprises of the film before it had opened. Despite Marvel’s attempts at retrieving the shipping books, tens of thousands of the issues were bought and circulated, with the advance story of the film even being read on the radio in one instance, scooping the film’s opening.”
Clearly, things are a lot different now…probably with the realization that the prime time to sell the comics is before the film is released, since demand will almost certainly dip as soon as the movie is actually in theatres.
Hey, you! Yeah, you, readin’ the website. Go enter The House of the Ded’s mighty Bluesman contest giveaway…there are two copies being given away, and they’re both autographed by author Rob Vollmar. It’s free, free, I tell you, so you have no excuse to not enter.
Something I did on Friday that no other comic shop in the country did that day: I sold a full run of Impact Comics. All 112 issues. Yeah, that’s right, you heard me. No, that didn’t include the looseleaf Who’s Who booklets, but I could have provided them had the customer wanted them.
I liked the Impact line, myself….The Fly was the best of the bunch, and I think we’re all in agreement that The Web was…rough going, to say the least. I always had a soft spot for The Comet as well.
Green Lantern-Elfquest fan fiction.
Today is the day we can put Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith #1, the Revenge of the Sith trade paperback, and the Star Wars Visionaries books out for sale on our shelves, as part of Lucafilms’ planned April 2nd merchandising blitz. If you got any of the above comics prior to today…well, you have sinned against God and nature, and George Lucas himself is going to shake his stern and mighty finger at you, as soon as he’s done putting away his huge sacks of money.
For some reason I’m reminded of Marvel releasing Marvel Comics Super Special #27, containing the adaptation of Return of the Jedi, too early, which ticked off Lucasfilm something fierce. I tried to track down more details on this online, and alas found none…I did find a comment someone left on another weblog stating that Lucas cancelled the licensing deal with Marvel because of this snafu. However, the series ran about three more years, and I’m fairly certain it was canned because of low sales.
By the way, a couple days ago I mentioned that Mark Wheatley did the art on the Sith adaptation…in fact, it’s Doug Wheatley. Oops.
New comics day.
I believe as I was talking to pal Tom at the shop yesterday, I referred to the newest issue of Marvel’s Secret War as “a bunch of horse****” — okay, granted, I’d been vaguely irritated for most of the day, and thus not in the best of moods, so maybe that description was a little over the top. But, really, it’s only half comics, with the other half filled with dossier files or some damn thing, and a bunch of pin-ups in the back, including an unfinished Spider-Man sketch that apparently was left over from one of Marvel’s 9/11 exploitation books. Feh, sez I.
As long as I’m piling on Marvel…are there any betting pools out there as to whether or not this newest Daredevil mini-series (Daredevil: Redemption) will be the one that actually finishes? Or will it join Daredevil: Father and Daredevil: That Bullseye Mini No One Cares about Anymore in limbo?
Just so I’m not all anti-Marvel…the new Essential Tomb of Dracula volume is out, reprinting a bunch of stories from Marvel’s 70s horror mags. It’s as good-looking as the previous three volumes, and the only downside is trying to find the time to read it. Let’s hope Marvel gets around to an Essential Man-Thing volume (though judging by advance word on this movie, Marvel may be trying to forget they ever published a comic by that name).
The new bull in the china shop for the comics industry is DC Countdown, which I already briefly talked about last week, since I cheated and read the preview copy we received. Like it or hate it, comic fans are buying it, and this new expanded DC Universe cross-continuity business (of which this title is an integral part) is helping to improve sales across the board on DC’s titles, at least at our shop. I’ve even started buying Teen Titans again, and I’m considering picking up the new, slightly more superhero-y Batman, a series I haven’t read regularly in probably about 15 years.
SPOILERS AHOY
Speaking of Batman, it appears that the big mistake of not making you know who the villain of Hush is being rectified in this “Red Hood” storyline, as the character everyone thinks the Red Hood really is, is revealed to be…the character everyone thinks he is. Whether it’s yet another big fake-out remains to be seen.
THUS ENDETH THE SPOILERS
Another annoyance was the arrival of yet more Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith comics that we can’t put out for sale until April 2nd…the first issue of the mini-series adaptation, plus the trade paperback of the whole shebang. Yes, I peeked at the end. Boy, is the trailer misleading. The art, by Mark Wheatley, sure is nice, though.
There are a lot more new faces on the Comics Weblog Update-A-Tron 3000, and I need to get around to adding them soon…but one I definitely need to add is Jumbotron 6000. Good readin’!
God bless you, Corey Beckner. You are truly a prince among men.
Via Metafilter: Lovecraftian Family Circus.
Enjoy it before the lawyers find out!
EDIT: Er…too late. The lawyers found out, apparently.
King Comics Presents #1 (199? – no copyright date) – cover by Dell Barras
Okay, I didn’t have anything special planned for Easter, so instead you get a comic cover featuring syndicated radio deejay/former late night talk show host/novelty song genius Rick Dees.
If you need actual Easter content, I direct you to last year’s post, in which we get a heartfelt Christian message from, um, the Mighty Thor. (It’s the last post on the page, in case the link doesn’t take you directly to it…someday I’ll fix all the image attributes so everything will load correctly, soon as they invent the 8-day week.)
As long as I’m just screwing around for the holiday, here’s yet another “meme”, this time the dreaded book meme stolen directly from Alan David Doane. It’s a huge ol’ list, so I put it on a separate no-frills page. No need to thank me.
Another time-honored method of filling a weblog post is “wacky search terms” – I haven’t done this in a while, and some of my esteemed weblogging colleagues have been chiming in with their own lists, so I thought I’d play the “me too, me too” card.
Before I get to that, I did want to note that, via my log files, I found someone on the Superdickery message boards had discovered my scan (under Feb. 3, 2004) from Batman #200. For those of you who backtracked the hotlinked image from the message board to my site…hi! I promise you, that image was not altered, as one or two of you wondered.
Anyway…search terms. Aside from the perennial searches for nekkid pics of that gal playing Lois on Smallville, the occasional puzzling search for “mike sterling progressive ruin,” and the usual searches for scanned pages from recent comics to download (just go buy the darn things, you cheapskates), here’s what I’ve got:
chalk+full+of+origin – It’s chock-full!!!
dirty+comics – …And how to clean them, I’m assuming.
swamp+thing+motorcycle – Okay, Orange County Choppers, I have a job for you….
BATMAN+638+WHO+IS+RED+HOOD+JASON+TODD – Sounds like you’ve already pretty much decided.
superman+cheats+for+the+infamous+parasite – I’m sure there’s a logical explanation, but, really, I have no idea.
sterling+looking+for+two+girls+kissing – Yeah, so?
wit+and+wisdom+of+cerebus – File under “world’s shortest books.” Oh, quiet, like I was going to pass up the cheap joke.
bionic+woman+fetish+strength – I’m going to guess that there’s some kind of fan fiction along these lines, but I prefer to remain blissful in my ignorance.
glenn+scarpelli – Uh oh, I hope that wasn’t Glenn Scarpelli looking for this post.
howard+the+duck+mp3s – If you find any, let me know.
lois+lane+comic+drawn+in+the+nude – I suppose it’s remotely possible Kurt Schaffenberger sat at his art table in the buff, but why would you want to know this?
gatlin+guns+BOOM+POW+BAM – So you’re looking for guns and the sounds they make?
the+trash+heap+has+spoken+goth – You mean the character from Fraggle Rock?
sergio+aragones+gay – I’m fairly certain he isn’t. Fred Hembeck isn’t gay, either.
Swamp+Thing+controversy – The only controversy is why you all aren’t reading Swamp Thing!
cartoon+network+toons+naked+on+ebay – Uh, yeah, good luck with that.
when+did+comics+start+glossing+pages – Well, actually, that’s not a bad question. I’ll have to think about that. Marvel Fanfare is the first one to come to mind, but I’m certain there were others prior.
Depressing+Clown+Comic+Book – Ladies and gentlemen – Obnoxio the Clown.
Lois+and+Brian+slash+Gallery+Family+Guy – Wait a minute, isn’t Brian the family’s dog? Oh, ick.
a+site+that+looks+a+lot+like+google+but+is+porky+the+pig – This one made my brain lock up for a couple of minutes.
nazi+daughter+girl+balloons – I’m hoping that they’re searching for old pulp novels.
how+can+i+ruin+my+enemy’s+day – Well, you can fill his website’s access logs with really insane search terms.
List+of+things+I+love – Don’t ask me…I don’t even know you.
Bambi’s+gender – See, I’m not the only person who’s been confused on this important issue!
Oh, and Happy Easter, to those of you who celebrate the holiday.
1. Reviews are beginning to creep in on the Rotten Tomatoes Sin City page, and so far it’s overwhelmingly positive. Here’s hoping that translates to sales on the graphic novels after the movie is released, rather than just selling right up until just before the movie comes out and then dying completely, as usual for comics films.
2. On this page, not only are there two different Bizarro homebrewed beer labels (one about halfway down, the other near the bottom), but there is a recipe for one of them as well. “Drink it! It am awful!”
3. Until last night, I had no idea there even was a character called “Super Lopez” until a random Google search brought him to my attention. Now I think he’s my new favorite superhero. Here’s the official site.
4. Via pal Andy, just in time for Easter…Netdisaster! Hurl meteors at my website! Fry eggs on Ringwood! Flood out Tom the Dog!
Just when I lost all faith in humanity, along comes this.
THE LOCKJAW MINI-BUST
Read more about it here.
Additional linkage:
The Marvel Directory entry for Lockjaw.
Lockjaw stats for the Champions role playing game.
Things we don’t see Daredevil do anymore…
…and that’s a darn shame:
