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Tim points out the arrival of a Composite Superman weblog, riding that wave of Composite Superman-mania that’s sweeping the internet. File this with the Hulk weblog and the Green Arrow weblog.

The first comment on the Composite Superman weblog is from “Composite Jimmy Olson,” who must actually be the Bizarro Composite Jimmy Olson, since the last name is spelled incorrectly.

On a related subject, there’s still no Archie Andrews weblog. Surely Archie would have something to say? (“Dear Blog – Jughead eats and eats and eats, and I think he has a problem. I hope it’s not a tapeworm.”) On the other hand, given Archie Comics’ sense of humor about this sort of thing, maybe it’s not such a good idea.

On a totally unrelated subject, pal Andy links to what he very accurately calls a “joke roundup” being held by Defective Yeti. I had contributed two jokes to the list yesterday, and they’re about 50 posts down. A note to people who know me personally…no need to go look. You know which two jokes they are.

Will Pfeifer, inspired by the forthcoming action figure I pointed out here, details the glory that is…the Composite Superman. (He also gives me a nice “shout-out,” as the kids say, in the process. Thanks!)

And Tim points out that the action figure in question is “the Nerdiest Object Ever Discovered.” He makes a good argument…but it could be nerdier. It could an action figure of the imposter Composite Superman from World’s Finest #283 and #284.

However, when you get right down to it, this is truly the Nerdiest Object Ever.

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And so the time has come to update the Weblogroll of Doom. Just added:

Talk to My Face – “Comics & Other Media from A Woman’s Perspective” is her own description…anyone who titles a post “Reading Elfquest Makes Me Feel Weird” is jake with me.

The Pickytarian – lots of good comics reviews.

Trusty Plinko Stick – occasional comics posts, other fun stuff mixed in as well.

Chipped Ham – comics and TV news and reviews.

Repent Sinners! – probably my favorite weblog name ever. Nice colorful layout, with discussions of comics and other related things.

Plus, I added the site of swell cat Mr. Dan Kelly, which I was reminded of when pal Dorian added the link to his own site.

Also, since Sean Collin’s weblog is no more, so I’ve moved his All Too Flat site to the “Also of Note” section. Go check it out…lots of neat things going on there.

And though Grotesque Anatomy is no longer a going concern, I can’t quite bring myself to drop it off the list. So John Jakala gets a little “(ret.)” next to his weblog…as does the much-missed Flat Earth.

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Your ACAPCWOVCCAOE* update:

Pal Corey has been under the weather the past few days, and his health needs to take precedence over his weblog. I’m sure you all join me in wishing him well…he’ll be back soon.

And this guy…he’s got himself some impending nuptials to prepare for, which also must take precedence over the weblogging. I’m sure he’ll be back shortly as well, so let’s wish the poor bastard the happy guy the best of luck!

* As always, the Associated Comics And Pop Culture Webloggers of Ventura County, CA And Outlying Environs for sho…er, long.

Blondie #199 (July 1972) – art by Paul Fung Jr.

We received our autographed Fallen Angel signature plates today, and they are very nice. David even sent me one more than I had asked for, which was very nice of him. And these aren’t cheap, either…they’re good ‘n’ sturdy, black and white with red spot color on the Angel herself. David’s signature is in red on the left hand side, and presumably the right hand side is left open in case you track down artist David Lopez at a convention. So, a big thank you goes out to Peter David for this generous offer!

I’d also like to send out a “thanks” to Augie De Blieck Jr. for the nice mention in his Pipeline column on Comic Book Resources. (I’m not really that obsessive about Swamp Thing, am I? Not about my precious, my preciousssss.)

Contests:

Ed at The Low Road is giving away a copy of Adam Sacks’ Salmon Doubts, and all you have to do to enter is send him something “fishy.” You have until October 31st to enter…details here.

The Peiratikos are offering up copies of Scott Pilgrim, with a Scott Pilgrim T-shirt as an additional grand prize. Just tell them why you think you would enjoy Scott Pilgrim. People who enter illustrated entries are eligible to win an original watercolor by Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley. Deadline is November 5th…details here. By the way, how many more times can I fit the title Scott Pilgrim into one paragraph?

And let us not forget Shane at Near Mint Heroes, offering up a copy of the Walking Dead trade, as well as the 24 Hour Comics volume. Just send a man a zombie story by October 31st…details here.

I should be offering up a contest of my own, soon…probably after these other contests conclude, so keep watching this space!

1. Because I love you: Comic Book Bondage Cover of The Day. New to me, though one fast Google search later, I see the mysterious as he is ubiquitous Neilalien has it on his links list.

2. The more I think about Big Sir, the more he bothers me. Especially that bit where the other Flash villains use a dead mouse to…well, just go read the entry.

3. The new DC solicitations are up, and while I might have something to say about them later, I do have a couple things I’d like to note. First, while I have no complaints about a Seven Soldiers of Victory Archive, I really have to wonder if DC actually thought there’d be more demand for that, rather than a Sugar & Spike volume. I mean, c’mon DC, you’re killing me here.

And second, there’s going to be a Composite Superman action figure. DC can’t decide if it hates me or if it loves me. It doesn’t give me the Sugar & Spike, and yet it gives me this:

DC, don’t play with my affections!

3a. For more DC solicitation fun, visit pal Ian. How one man can be so bitter about comics and never have actually worked in a comic book store is beyond me.*

* I’m not really bitter about comics. It’s a joke, son.

To think you almost missed the delights of…Swamp Thing Puffy Stickers:

Produced by Noteworthy during that golden age for Swamp Thing merchandise, 1991, each package contains six stickers each. As far as I know, only two assortments were ever released. Here’s the other one:

If you’ve been following along with my previous Swamp Thing merchandise posts, you’ll notice that the licensors got a lot a mileage out of the same art (particularly if you look at the Presto Magix set). For example, the piece used in the bottom right of the first sticker sheet appeared to be the standard Swamp Thing image used to represent the entire line.

If I were a crude man, I’d say that this sticker makes Swampy look like he’s…um, doing his business:

Giant Swamp Thing threatens to crush the Earth if you don’t do rhyming things:

1. Pal Bugfish has gone and got himself one of those weblog type things that’s popular with all the kids these days…it’s Nat Pike’s Wired for Sound, where he discusses music. So go take a look, you.

2. (Here be SPOILERS) Finished Marvel’s Essential Monster of Frankenstein volume, finally…the earlier chapters, drawn by the always-excellent Mike Ploog, are the highlight of the book, though later chapters get points just for sheer weirdness (the Monster teams up with a robot and they wander off to find peace? Wha–?). The transformation of the Monster from being fairly erudite to being a Hulk-esque “AARRRR! Fire…hate fire!” type of fellow is a little disappointing. Well, it makes sense within the context of the story, but the novelty of a monster that can speak and express itself clearly was welcomed. Also disappointing the brief mention, and discarding, of the idea of attempting to determine just whose brain Dr. Frankenstein ended up using in the Monster. Maybe someone more familiar with Frankenstein lore can correct me, but I think that’s a unique idea, and it’s a shame no one followed up on it. I mean, that brain had to come from somewhere…is any trace of the old personality still in that brain? What if the old mind attempted to reestablish itself over the new mind in residence? Well, I think that’s compelling, anyway.

The book is wrapped up with several stories from Marvel’s black and white magazine line…and boy, those are plenty weird as well. The “mind-transference” storyline involving the scientist, the trapeze artist(!), the Monster, and a mouse, with the end result of the mouse’s mind getting control of the Monster’s body, is really something else. There’s also an odd continuity glitch in this storyline…the mouse with the scientist’s brain survives being destroyed by the mouse-brained Monster at the end of one chapter, but a flashback in the very next chapter shows the Monster most definitely killing the mouse. Suppose it’s too late for a No-Prize.

Anyway, like I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I hope Marvel continues to reprint their horror titles in this format…as well as other titles from their black and white magazine line. Wouldn’t you like to see a Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu Essentials volume? I know I would.

3. Speaking of which, the next volume of Essential Tomb of Dracula is due this week, wrapping up the reprints of the color series, and including stories from the first four issues of the Tomb of Dracula magazine. The first two volumes were great stuff for good value, and the third should be more of the same. This new volume kicks off with issue #50, guest-starring, oddly enough, the Silver Surfer. I’ve come across this issue several times over the years, and each time I flip through it and just sorta shake my head. It’ll be interesting to see how the story now fits in context, now that I’ve read the majority of the series.

I hear tell from a little bird that it’s AiT/Planetlar head honcho Larry Young’s birthday today…so to help him celebrate the big 8-7*, let’s dip back into that long-neglected box of review copies Big Larry sent me way back when and take a look at a book Larry himself wrote: True Facts: Comics’ Righteous Anger.



Well, it would be kind of a crummy birthday present if I didn’t like this book, so I’m glad to say that I enjoyed it a great deal. It’s a collection of columns Larry wrote for the now defunct Savant website describing, in great detail, just what it takes to get a comic book published and put into the hands of potential readers. The volume is a slim 120 pages, but don’t let that fool you — it’s stuffed with lots of good information for the aspiring comics creator/publisher. It’s written in a casual and friendly tone…this isn’t Mr. Young shoving numbers and addresses and instructions at you. This is Larry writing you a letter, telling you about his day, his friends, and, oh, yeah, how to decide on a printer for your comic, how to promote your material and yourself, how to run your business like a business, and so on. Also, it’s not just hard numbers being discussed, but mindsets as well, particularly the kind of singleminded dedication you need to work in comics.

The information comes in a variety of forms, from straightforward instructions on how to put together and distribute a press release, from a San Diego panel interview, from an observation of a person in a bunny costume at a wedding (yes, that does have something to do with comics), and from his own days working at a comic store. All these methods of delivery keep your interest, and though some may not have an explicit connection to the main theme of getting your comic book published, some of Larry’s stories (particularly the one about the person trying to sell his “valuable” comic book collection) go a long way to giving hopeful self-publishers a sense of perspective regarding their work and the industry they’re in.

The columns originally date from 2000, so for this 2002 edition Larry thoughtfully adds updates when necessary, sometimes correcting some outdated information, or occasionally just adding a tad more discussion borne of an extra couple years of hindsight.

This is a nicely done book, and a valuable resource to anyone thinking about entering the industry. I would even recommend it to comic fans who have no intention of publishing their own books, because 1) who knows, maybe it’ll spark some interest, and 2) maybe it’ll give them a little more empathy towards the people who actually have to work to provide them with a little entertainment. Anyway, file this with Scott McCloud‘s Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics, as well as Will Eisner‘s Comics and Sequential Art…it’s a nice supplement to the material presented in those highly-regarded volumes.

My only real quibble…please, no more use of the term “cha-cha” — Dennis Miller has ruined it for everybody!

In other news:

Smallville‘s latest episode says “so long” to Lois, at least for the time being, and puts an end to the Lex/Clark rift, also for the time being. About the latter…that’s too bad, because as the story was working out, it seemed very much to me that Lex’s eventual enmity with Superman would have its roots in Clark treating Lex like absolute crap. I suppose that would be going a little too far off model, even for the producers of Smallville. The less said about this week’s adversaries (cheerleaders with mind-control Kryptonite punch? Wha–?) the better, though I did like Lois’ confused reaction to Clark’s reference to “meteor rock.” Really, it’s the appealing cast that make this show fun to watch…goodness knows it’s not plots like this episode’s.

Pal Ian discusses Howard Chaykin’s Scorpion. I really liked most Atlas Comics…yes, even Morlock 2001.

The Shatner totally name-checks the city of Ventura in “That’s Me Trying,” a track off his new album Has Been (listen for free here). Therefore, for no more reason than that, I hereby dub the Shatner an honorary member of the Associated Comics And Pop Culture Webloggers of Ventura County, CA And Outlying Environs**, with all rights and privileges thereof.

* Please don’t kill me, Larry.

** As always, IDIC for short.

Ghostly Tales #108 (November 1973) – art by Tom Sutton