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As I was pulling out my Cerebus collection to begin, someday, the Great Cerebus Re-Read Project 3000, something about issue #300 kept bugging me. Spoilers ahoy, if you haven’t read the entire series:

Okay, so if Elrod was, as it was revealed around issue 170-180 or so, not an actual person but some kind of magical extension of Cerebus that Cerebus inadventently created, wouldn’t Elrod’s appearance in Cerebus’ afterlife vision in #300 imply that 1) something’s fishy about this particular afterlife, or 2) Cerebus is simply imagining the whole thing? (Or, I suppose, there’s a third possibility…that Cerebus’ creation had enough of an independent will to generate a soul for itself that could make the transition into the afterlife.)

Boy, heady stuff for something that began as a parody of Windsor-Smith’s Conan.

Neil Gaiman points to this cute cartoon about the origins of Vertigo.

It’s hard to believe that DC’s Vertigo line and massive bookstore presence (which, in turn, opened the way for other graphic novels, arguably including the current U.S. manga boom), plus the successful careers of several writers (including Gaiman), can all be traced back to DC hiring a little known British writer to take over a failing revival of a short-lived 70s horror title.

Text on poster is as follows:

“WANTED:

GRANT MORRISON

FOR CRIMES AGAINST REASON

Doom Patrol writer Grant Morrison is accused of the following unnatural acts:

• Corrupting the minds of impressionable comics readers
  

• Altering DC characters beyond recognition
  

• Twisting a nice, wholesome superhero book into his own bizarre personal nightmare
  

Previous offenses: Animal Man, Arkham Asylum

Those unfamiliar with Morrison’s outrageously surreal writing should pick up the subversive Doom Patrol immediately.

But use extreme caution – weirdness can be addictive.”

This is an official DC Comics promotional poster, dated 1990. I was going through some old boxes of stuff we had stored away in the back room and found this treasure.

I’m amused by the fact that the things DC trumpeted as Morrison’s virtues on this poster are pretty much the same things said by comic book message board Morrison-haters. You know the type: “ew, it’s weird and and I don’t understand it, therefore it’s bad.”

And yes, those are lamps coming out of his head. I believe this is the “light bulbs = ideas” metaphor made literal. God bless Grant Morrison.

To wrap up my week-long tribute to Dave Cockrum, I give you another illustration of Cockrum’s beloved X-Men character Nightcrawler. I’m sure we all wish Mr. Cockrum well, and, credit where credit is due, good on Marvel for helping out.

Special thanks to Tony Isabella for the nice mention of this site in his online column.

Submitted for your refusal…er, approval: another Dave Cockrum link, a page of live-action superhero photos (don’t miss the tattoos), and a great Lois Lane cover:

For someone who said that he wasn’t going to be posting a lot over the next few days, I sure am keeping Blogger busy. Anyway, just wanted to pop in and recommend Temptation by Glenn Dakin, out from Active Images in that new-fangled trade paperback format. Only $8.95 a copy, it is, and well worth mowing an extra neighbor’s lawn or two to work up the scratch for it. Here’s a link to the publisher’s page for it, which includes a sample strip.

I remember reading these several years ago (either in Honk! or Centrifugal Bumblepuppy, or maybe both) and I’m glad I now have a whole slew of them in one place. Good stuff!

1. I don’t know why everyone’s so upset about Marvel publishing Identity Disc at the same time DC is publishing Identity Crisis. I mean, when they starting putting out JLA/Avengers at the same time DC was doing Avengers/JLA, you didn’t hear any complaining then, did you?

2. Speaking of Identity Crisis, pal Dorian has the best guess as to the Silver Age DC character that gets offed…Hal Jordan! They bring him back on page one, kill him off on page two. Brilliant!

3. Also, how to solve the continuity problem caused by the Doom Patrol being removed from Beast Boy’s origin? Easy – he’s a relative of the Martian Manhunter. Yes, that’s right, he’s the Beast Boy of Mars!

For personal reasons, my weblogging will be a little on the light side for the next few days, so I may not be doing more than linking to other sites, like Flat Earth’s discussion of a great Krazy Kat image pal JP posted on the Comics Journal message boards, The Hurting’s review of Walt Simonson’s Orion series, and your Dave Cockrum link of the day.

I’m short on time today, so all you’re getting is this Dave Cockrum link and an Archie cover:

1. Not much posting today…I actually got up and away from the computer for a while. Wow, there’s air and sun and all kinds of neat stuff outside!

2. Next time you go to your local comic shop, walk in, sorta look around yourself in a puzzled fashion, then ask one of the employees “hey, you wouldn’t happen to have any comic books with superheroes in them, do you?”

2a. I’m fully aware someone’s going to try that on me at my shop…(sigh), yes, go ahead, I brought it on myself.

3. Today’s Dave Cockrum link: Dave Cockrum’s silverfish.

3a. Actually, the whole gosh-darn Silverfish Gallery is very amusing.