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Nothing much to do with comics, except for my spotting these on the streets around our store:

Individually hand-lettered signs, repeatedly misspelling the word “garage.” Here’s another:

And there were even more farther down the block.

I like the sound of it, actually. “Garge.” “GARGE!!!” It’s sorta evocative of…well, something, I’m not sure what. It sounds dangerous, like it’s something large and unpleasant and will probably eat the housecat. BEWARE OF GARGE.

Urbandictionary has a definition for “garge” if you can believe it. Apparently that use of the term is Steve Jobs’ fault.

I just used up that much space posting about misspelled garage sale signs. I apologize.

Here’s some other news:

• Sadly, legendary comics artist Gene Colan is not doing so well these days, and there’s a letter from his wife on his current situation here. Clifford Meth is in the process of putting together a benefit auction which you can read about at this site, and keep watching that space for further details, I imagine. I stole that second link from Newsarama, which has a series of fan appreciations attached to that post.
• I thought I’d take a look at how DC Universe #0 is selling on the eBay, as it was suggested here and there as an “investible” item due to “low orders.” Given the 50-cent price tag, it was pretty easy for stores to order a royal buttload of these things for negligible cost, so I had a hard time believing it’d accrue that much value. I suppose in the short run, there can be fast turnaround, as some stores apparently have reported sell-outs…and the announced second printing may fuel some panic purchasing of the first prints.

  I seem to remember there being some minor price spikes on a previous promotionally-priced one-shot from DC, Countdown to Infinite Crisis, which also received a second printing. A quick eBay search reveals…a whole lot of first printings available for sale at about a buck piece, if not less. And some are even paired up with DC Universe #0 for a buck.

  Anyway, let’s look and see how DC Universe #0 is doing:

  Well, searching completed auctions, a couple have sold for a buck, and one seller seems to be having some luck selling sets of two for a dollar as well. Very common are people selling multiple copies, like this auction for ten copies (at $8.17). The only expensive (relatively speaking) individual copy I’ve seen is this one for $3.75.

  In current auctions, there ain’t no shortage of copies at 50 cents, and plenty at a dollar.

  I imagine that as Final Crisis goes along its merry way, there may be increasing demand for DC Universe #0, but that’ll drop off when the series is completed. And that it’s common enough that anyone who “invested” in it isn’t going to be retiring on that wealth anytime soon.

  And as long as I’m on the topic, here’s an auction for Tony Daniel’s three Batman/Joker pages from DC Universe. $1,200 and it’s all yours. Those aren’t bad pages to have, really. I don’t have that kind of scratch at the moment, but they’re neat to look at.

• Speaking of the eBay, a search of completed auctions for Free Comic Book Day 2008 stuff reveals a whole lot of sold Iron Man Heroclix (at about $2 to $3 a pop), and a handful of Hellboy promo comics at $2 each. Guess those are the items the people want from this last go-around.
• Speaking some more of the eBay, we just recently received this positive feedback on our eBay account:
  

  “my wife says i have too many books. oh well. one more on the pile”

  Another happy customer. You’re welcome!

• Going back to the topic of Final Crisis: when I was but a young Mikester, I really appreciated DC’s digest reprint line, particularly when you were reading, say, a Roy Thomas’ All Star Squadron, and there’d be a footnote in the story like “SEE ALL-STAR COMICS #36 (1947) – Ye Ed.” and you’d be all like “WTF Roy?” But then they’d reprint that story in one of the digests, and all was forgiven. Okay, maybe they didn’t do that too terribly often, but I that’s how caught up on DC’s continuity and character backgrounds, so those digests did a good job getting me up to speed.

  Anyway, that’s a long-winded explanation as to why I appreciated DC’s recent reprinting of the Justice League story featuring Libra, who, as you all know, will be a Featured Villain in Final Crisis. It’s a nice way to catch people up since just about everyone on the planet went “WHO?” when Grant Morrison dropped that name. Also included is that two part JLA story where the villains switched bodies with the heroes, which played into Identity Crisis a while back. Kinda wish it’d been reprinted then, but better late than never, I suppose.

• Those Trek-lovin’ gals at the Look at His Butt weblog/podcast discuss a few of my recent Star Trek-related posts in their latest show (in the last quarter of the program). They say quite a few nice things about me, which of course I greatly appreciate. Thanks, ladies!
• And sometimes I get my nerd on for Mystery Science Theatre 3000, where, sadly, I discuss the alleged personalities of Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo in this response to Tim O’Neil’s post. (That post has a SPOILER for DC Universe #0…well, technically it’s a spoiler, but if you haven’t heard by now….) Don’t know why I’m linking it here, exactly, except to reemphasize we’re all fanboys about something.

BEHOLD

THE NOSE OF VALIDUS

Here’s another shot of the nose of Validus, done in a Gil Kane-esque “right up th’ nostrils” style:

from Superboy #203 (July-Aug ’74) — the actual issue,
not an Archives reprint for once — by Cary Bates, Nick Cardy (1st image) & Mike Grell (2nd)

And now, a special message from the Legion of Super-Heroes:

“WOW!” indeed. Superboy digs chicks:

EDIT: Read more about said chick over at pal Dorian’s.

SAD VALIDUS IS SAD:

Isn’t that just the cutest little sad face you’ve ever seen? Now, are those eyebrows on Validus’ brain, or are they on the clear covering over his brain? And what about those appearances where it looked like he had a nose in there, too?

And here’s another thing…I’m too used to latter-day Val, I suppose, who merely grunted and roared. Every time I see the older stories with Validus, including his first appearance in Adventure Comics, it kinda weirds me out to see him actually speaking. Like this:

Whoa, what? STOP THAT.

images from Superboy #216 (April 1976) by Cary Bates & Mike Grell, Superboy #217 (June 1976) by Jim Shooter & Grell, and Superboy #219 (Sept. 1976) by Shooter & Grell, all reprinted in Legion Archives #12

At some point today, if/when you find yourself within the appropriate situation, I want you to jut your index finger out at the person with whom you are speaking, and demand:

“Are you space-crazy?”

If he (or she) responds “no,” he’s probably lying, because space-crazy people ain’t gonna own up to it. If he responds “yes,” then run, run away as fast as your little footsies can take you because he’s space-crazy and he doesn’t care who knows it. Or he does care, and he just told you prior to space-stabbing you with his space-knife.

If he responds with “Her dreams always come true, Chameleon Boy…that’s why she’s a Legionnaire!” — well (unless you actually are Chameleon Boy and you’re talking to Brainiac 5) definitely don’t mess around with that person, because he’s a comic book fan and you know what they’re like.

image from Superboy #220 (Aug 1975 – reprinted in Legion Archives Vol. 12) by Cary Bates, Mike Grell & Bob Wiacek

A little context for the panel posted yesterday:

So the reason Clark knocked out (somehow) Lana with a couple apples is that he had to give her the slip so he could respond to the Legion’s call by traveling through time and meeting them in their stomping grounds of the 30th century.

Let’s think about that for a second.

Clark has to leave right away, fly off into the timestream, and exit the timestream at the point from when the signal was originally sent. He couldn’t wait, say, a couple of hours, spending that time liplocked with the cute redhead, and then travel to that point in the future (a journey that will now be shorter, using my particular example, by two hours). He’s already traveling in time…what, he’s going to be late?

Maybe there’s some kind of fixed thousand-year-gap between Superboy’s existence in the 20th century and his appearances in the 30th, which causes him to avoid overlapping his own timeline. He leaves April 4th, 1973 at 2:14 PM, he arrives in April 4th, 2973, at 2:14 PM. That would mean if he started his return from that particular journey on April 7th, 2973, 5:10 AM, the rigid 1000-year-gap would force him to end up back in his time on April 7th, 1973 at 5:10 AM.

If that’s that case, then Clark would have to leave right away upon hearing the alarm. The longer he waited, the farther past the signal’s origin that fixed 1000-year-gap would be pushed.

Of course, this “theory” would be contradicted left and right in the Legion stories, but I have a vague memory of some kind of precaution being referenced in-story to Superboy maintaining his subjective timeline during his time travels (i.e. preventing 1973 Superboy visiting 2979 Legion, and then in his very next trip visiting 2978). And of course, none of this references the Time Trapper/”pocket universe” thing where TT would guide travels in time between the Legion’s 30th century and the “pocket universe” 20th century Earth with Superboy. But the less we mess with that, the better.

Well, actually, the less we mess with any of this, the better. Just kiss the girl, Clark, you sap.

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Briefly:

• I haven’t mentioned Free Comic Book Day since my Tuesday post, so I’d better catch up:

  I found a contender for worst handling of FCBD, perhaps beating out the guys who closed down in the middle of said day to go see Iron Man. That would be the store that gave away FCBD books…

  …with purchase.

  You couldn’t just walk in and get handed/pick up free books, the explicit purpose of the event. You had to buy something to get the giveaways.

  YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG.

• I shouldn’t complain…at least Marvel’s trying. When the first X-Men movie came out, there were no readable then-currently published X-comics for any potential new audience seeking out material like that in the film.

  It’s nice that Marvel launched a new Iron Man ongoing series this week, and so far, it’s sold about twice the numbers we normally sell on Iron Man. Primarily, it’s been going to folks who regularly come to the shop. I’ve even had a few of our subscribers ask us to add it to their lists.

  But I can’t help but think how many we could have moved had the new Iron Man comic came out last week. That would have allowed me to hand over a brand new Iron Man #1 to all the FCBD customers new and old, riding that IM buzz, asking for something with Iron Man in it. Ah well.

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And now, my favorite bit of dialogue from my Legion of Super-Heroes Archives vol. 10, reprinted from Superboy #200 (Feb 1974) by Cary Bates and Dave Cockrum:

I wish my fingers were even deadlier than before.

from Superboy #197 (Sept. 1973),
reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives #10,
by Cary Bates & Dave Cockrum

Frankly, I think those apples would have been more likely to cause some irritation than an outright knockout. “OW! Stupid apples. Anyway, Clark, pucker up!”

So the Iron Man movie had a 100 million dollar weekend, and by “weekend” they mean “starting from about last Thursday afternoon,” which is when it started showing around here…and presumably everywhere else for that matter. I managed to catch a Monday evening showing at the local theatre, which I tend to prefer for your standard-issue blockbuster movies. Smaller crowds, you see…our theatre was only about half-full, if that.

Short review: quite good, filled with snappy dialogue, easy-to-follow action, a strong sense of humor and wonder, and very clearly defined character motivations. And everything you’ve heard is true: Robert Downey Jr. kills as Tony Stark. Quite possibly the best superhero casting ever, since Christopher Reeve put on that red cape.

And now, some more SPOILER-iffic comments about the film. The SPOILERS begin right after this still of Iron Man shooting off his arm-rocket, and end when you see the still with the big blowy-upness. Did I mention SPOILERS?

• I do like that Iron Man’s wartime origins were kept intact, even as the location of the war itself was updated to someplace more relevant to today’s audiences. I do like the subtle…well, sorta subtle…reference to Iron Man villain the Mandarin, with the name of the group that kidnapped Stark (“The Ten Rings”).
• I have to admit, that absolutely last song I expected to hear on the soundtrack was Suicidal Tendencies’ “Institutionalized.” Many many years ago, my friends would ask me to draw skulls on the back of their white shirts so they could make their own homemade Suicidal Tendencies clothing. That has nothing to do with the movie, but I just wanted to establish my punk cred, maaaaan.
• It seems odd that the shiny, glowy power source would sit in what looks like an unprotected well and completely exposed through the armor. I’m assuming that maybe there’s some clear cover that slides over the thing, or something, because why wouldn’t someone just aim their guns at the big glowing target? Or why wouldn’t Iron Man just reach into Iron Monger’s chest and yank out the stupid thing?
• Speaking of which: the effect of Stark essentially having a metal-lined shaft in his chest is supremely disturbing and effective.
• Okay, show of hands…who wants their own 3-D holographic interactive computer interface like the one Stark uses in the film? Yeah, me too.

  In fact, and I’m totally stealing this observation from a fellow weblogger though I don’t remember where I saw it, I like that the science and tech in this film is of the “half hour into the future” kind…just advanced enough to help along that suspension of disbelief that something like Iron Man could be built.

• They mostly get around the “we can’t have Spider-Man wear his mask too much, so people can’t see our star” problem by including several shots of Stark, in the dark of his mask, his face illuminated by the many in-mask interfaces.
• Stan Lee’s cameo bothered me somehow. I refuse to acknowledge Stan Lee as a sexual being.

  On the other hand, it is amusing to think that’s how Stan Lee actually is all the time, going to fancy parties with armloads of babes.

• There is a lot of alcohol flowing in this film, certainly setting the groudwork for Stark’s most famous character flaw.
• The climatic battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger was just as long as it needed to be, not stretching out to uncomfortably long sequences to keep the explosions and mayhem coming. And doesn’t Jeff Bridges make a great villain? It’s a nice quiet menace, not really chewing any scenery until he’s actually in his Iron Monger suit. At that point, he spouts out some good old fashioned comic book type dialogue, but Bridges sells even that quite well.
• As long as I’m mentioning the supporting characters: Gwyneth Paltrow does a good job as Stark’s assistant Pepper Potts, and Terrence Howard brings a lot of humor to the long-suffering yet steadfast Jim Rhoads. There’s a cute bit where Rhoads (who eventually gets his own armor in the comics) looks wistfully at one of Tony’s old suits. I don’t mind the occasional concession to nerd-centric inside jokes…I’m not that jaded.
• The conclusion of the film is spot-on perfect, keeping completely in character with Stark’s “what the hell…full speed ahead” way of dealing with the world. The shock of Stark’s announcement, and the immediate leap into the credits (with Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” playing in the background) makes for a fine last jolt of excitement for the audience….
• …At least until the post-credits sequence, and I planned to sit there and wait for all the credits to scroll by so I could gets me some Samuel Jackson “Nick Fury” action. Watching the credits, I noticed one of the names of the production artists (or storyboarder, I forget) was “Stephen Platt.” Surely not THE Stephen Platt, of ’90s “Hot Artists as Decided upon by Wizard” fame? A quick Googling seems to confirm that yes, it is the same guy. Huh.

  Also caught the creator credits, stuck in there somewhere: “Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck, and Jack Kirby.”

  Earlier in the film, there was a particular ring tone associated with a call from Tony Stark that made some people in the audience giggle a little. I didn’t quite get why until I saw a credit for the Iron Man cartoon theme in the credits. I never saw the Iron Man cartoon, but I’m gonna guess that was what the ring tone was. If so…that’s a pretty good joke for the more attentive fans.

  By the way, most of the audience cleared out, except for the three people directly behind us, who were yakking it up during the entirety of the credits. Which, you know, fine, it’s just the credits, no big whoop. But, seriously, these were three of the stupidest people alive. It hurt to listen to them. Their dumb caused pain. And they weren’t even waiting for the “secret” ending…when it started, their responses were essentially “wait…there’s more?”

• As for the actual coda itself…Samuel Jackson introducing himself as “Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D.” really, really made me want to see that Nick Fury film.

  And the tease for a potential “Avengers” flick — I’ll believe that when I see it. Though apparently it’s more likely than a Justice League of America movie at this point.

So there you go. Pretty brave move including Dakota Fanning as “Iron Girl,” but I think the fans will really take to her.

So, what did you all think of the movie? (And if you posted reviews on your own weblog, please drop ’em in the comments section so I can go back and read them…I’ve been avoiding reading reviews until I saw the film!)

Did I mention pal Dorian’s reviews for this year’s Free Comic Book Day books? Some of the big linky-link sites haven’t linked to his reviews yet, so I thought I’d give them another push before the Big Day. So go, read.

Also, you should be reading Armagideon Time, a great weblog about comics and music. You like comics, don’t you? And music? Sure you do. Bitterandrew writes about these things, and related topics, in a very concise and intelligent way, and you will be a better person for reading his thoughts. That’s my personal guarantee to you.

And you should also read Get Off The Internet, because it’s a hoot.

So, a few of the new arrivals:

• I don’t often buy the Back Issue magazine, mostly because I’ve been having a hard enough time lately keeping up with my reading without yet another 100-page magazine being added to the pile. Why, it’s as if I don’t have as much free time to read stuff, particularly over the last four and a half years. Why, I wonder what I’ve been doing for the last four and a half years that’s been eating into my extra time?

  Anyway, I don’t normally pick up Back Issue, as I said, but this one seemed to have enough material right up my alley to get my attention. Lots of Hulk stuff in this issue, including a history of Hulk vs. Thing fights and an interview with Herb Trimpe (featuring an exclusive Trimpe drawing of Doc Samson, the Hulk, and Captain Tootsie!).

  Plus, there’s an interview with Ron Wilson. Man, I love Ron Wilson, and I don’t care who knows it. Dig this, if you dare, straight outta The Thing #5 (Nov. 1983):

  
  Wilson’s art always felt very Kirby-esque without feeling like a complete imitation. All the characters felt like they had a weight, a heft to them…just a lotta big meaty people doing big meaty things. Well, okay, I could have put that better, but the phrase popped into my head, and now it’s in yours, too.

  So, yeah, back to the subject at hand: I thought Back Issue #28 was worth picking up. There’s also a look at the Teen Titan’s Terra (all three of ’em), a history of Mark Shaw, Manhunter (by customer Jim – hi, Jim!), an examination of Kid Miracleman, and the article that made me finally decide “(sigh) okay, fine, I’ll buy it” – a look back at the Trial of the Flash storyline that killed the second Flash series. Hey, I liked that story, anyway.

  And it’s all under a crassly amusing Drunk Iron Man cover by Darwyn Cooke (which you can see here). And yeah, that page says the mag will be in stock on May 21st, but it’s in shops right now, so go pester your local retailer for it, if this sounds like something you’d be interested in.

• DC Universe #0 – essentially your prologue for the imminent Final Crisis brouhaha, featuring some nice art, a brief tour around the DCU, and a surprise reveal at the end that’s apparently been spoiled by every single internet site in existence. It’s a nice little whetting of the appetite for whatever Grant Morrison is about to unleash upon us in his Final Crisis series.
• Blue Beetle #26 – the all…well, mostly Spanish issue, featuring a copy of the script in English in the back for those of you monolingual types. Here’s a sample of the translation:
  
  Whew! Thank goodness that was there or I never could have followed that page!

  Okay, that’s just me being a jerk. But I am curious how this will sell…we do have a large Hispanic population in our area, and we receive requests for Spanish language comics on a reasonably frequent basis. Regular readers may be a little put out by having to flip back and forth from the story to the translation, if their Spanish is on the rusty side, but I may be selling this comic for quite some time to come.

• The New Gods action figures were probably our fastest selling set of DC Direct figures in a long, long time. I’m half-surprised they didn’t find a way to squeeze a Batman figure into the assortment, like every other DC figure series in recent memory. The figures themselves do look very Kirbyish, though Orion‘s alternate “savage face” head doesn’t look right to me for some reason. And Darkseid looks great. The best part, I think, would be the bases for the figures, made of translucent plastic and featuring some fine Kirby Crackle. Well done, well done.
• Helen Killer #1. Remarkably bad taste. And yet, remarkably fantastic. I direct you to this review by internet pal Chris, which I agree with wholeheartedly.

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In other news:

• My citation in the Plastic Man Wikipedia entry was removed because it was a “citation from a blog,” though the links to my site from the other four or five Wiki articles are apparently still okay, I guess. But the actual point I was making, that it was silly to require a “citation” to prove that a humorous sidekick is, in fact, a doofus, apparently fell upon sympathetic ears. The line in the article now reads “Woozy Winks, a comedic sidekick” — no citation for “comedic sidekick” required, presumably.

  I hope none of that sounds like I’m irritated or anything. I’m pretty amused by it all, to be honest.

• I’ve had a couple reports…excuse me, a couple OF reports from folks saying they couldn’t download the PDF preview from the House of Mystery page. I had no problem doing so yesterday, and I did it again just now, so I don’t know what’s up with that. Maybe a temporary issue, maybe a setting in your browser…who knows?
• Frank asks:
  

  “Were there noticeable jumps in back issue sales when hit movies based on lesser-known comics were released? I’m talking about stuff like Blade, Men In Black, and The Mask.”

  To a certain extent…I don’t recall if there was increased readership for The Mask prior to the movie, but there was enough interest apparently to keep a number of follow-up minis pumping out, though none of them really sold all that well. But I think The Mask was already had a bit of a cult following in the comics market, which may have provided the audience for this minis more than any influx of new readership from the film.

  In the case of Blade and Men in Black, increased demand prior to the films’ releases primarily came from people who smelled a buck. Speculators were buying the Malibu issues of Men in Black hoping for a price jump, but actual readers didn’t appear to care, or even be aware there was a Men in Black comic. As far as Blade goes, there was only interest in the character’s first appearance in Tomb of Dracula #10. No interest whatsoever from anybody in any of the other Blade series.

  And, as usual, once the movie comes and goes, so does the movie-inspired interest. Well, Tomb of Dracula still has its demand, but more from people hunting key ’70s books than from anyone trying to exploit the films.

  Also, Tom had a question about movies affecting comic sales. I know most of you folks who’ve been reading my site know my opinions ‘n’ experiences on the matter, but if you want to see them yet again, here’s my answer.

  My particular thing with the Iron Man movie is that IM’s comic sales are so down in the dumps as it is, with increased reader apathy toward the character due to his consistently negative portrayal over the last few years, that perhaps a movie as well-received as this one apparently is could only help sales. Thus, I’m curious as to whether or not the Iron Man may have the opposite effect on post-film comic sales. It’s too much to hope that non-comic fans will suddenly become Iron Man readers after seeing the flick…that’ll never happen. But maybe people already buying comics will start adding Iron Man to the reading pile, assuming Marvel’s able to put out anything that even slightly resembles what potential readers experienced in the theatre, not to mention in time to take advantage of that brief bump in interest. Not that Marvel’s managed it yet (remember when the Hulk movie was out, and the Hulk comic barely even featured the title character? Never quite got that, frankly).

  Just so I’m not Mr. Negative Ned…you know what run of Iron Man I really liked? Around issue 190 to 200, which you can see at the bottom of this gallery page. Tony rebuilds his old armor, fights stand-in Iron Man Jim Rhodes, guest appearance from Shaman, and tries to regain control of Stark Enterprises, while introducing his new armor. (Which was actually spoiled by debuting in an earlier issue of Secret Wars II, but don’t tell anyone.)

• Yet Another Comics Blog is celebrating his fourth annual Free Comic Book Month (which, by complete coincidence, is in the same month as Free Comic Book Day). Every day for the month of May, he’ll be giving away a comic book out of his collection, and all you gotta do is send in your name and address, and a list of five comic series you enjoy. Read the details and help the man stripmine his collection!

And now, for no good reason, Iron Man versus Man-Thing:

from Iron Man Annual #3 (1976) by Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema & Jack Abel

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Following up on yesterday’s post:

• There was some discussion in the comments as to why Iron Man hasn’t had the sales bump comic books usually get prior to the release of films based on them. Generally responses have ranged between “Iron Man hasn’t been a very likable character lately” and “Iron Man comics, by and large, aren’t very good.” And either theory has its merit, though a comic not being good is rarely a detriment to sales, as proven by [insert title of comic you don’t like that sells well here]. But those are as good reasons as any for a lack of interest in Iron Man comics…though if the movie is as good as I’ve been hearing from reliable sources (as opposed to, say, Ain’t It Cool News), maybe we’ll actually see a reversal of the usual trend. Maybe a comic book movie will finally inspire sales after the movie’s release. Not holding my breath, but we’ll see.

  It’s the total lack of even the investor-types that has me puzzled. There’s always at least two or three people who come sniffing around for key issues and first issues and “excellent to mint” (gah) copies for resale, even for the movie series that have been around for a while and the sales bumps are no longer as significant as they were for the earlier films. Like the example I used yesterday…Spider-Man 3 didn’t generate a whole lot of funnybook activity, but I still had that guy buying all of the issues with the debut of the black costume. I would have figured I’d have more people looking for Iron Man #1, or that issue with the debut of Thanos, or the greatest issue ever, or whatever.

  If anything, our Iron Man sales are down. Even the brief flurry of customers I had looking for those Warren Ellis issues a few months back have dried up.

  Curious to see what happens after the film’s release.

• Phil notes that Swamp Thing had a brief, brief cameo in the House of Mystery preview in the latest issue of Fables. Phil’s belief is correct: that isn’t a new drawing of Swampy…in fact, it’s from page fifteen of the first issue from 1972, drawn by Bernie Wrightson.

  Well, “cameo” is overstating it, since the cameos of the various Vertigo stars amounted to inset bubbles with old art and new dialogue espousing the virtues of this new House of Mystery series (or whatever they were doing — I don’t feel like double-checking). This series does look interesting, though, from what little I’ve seen. Hopefully it’ll feature more Cain and Abel than what’s just in the preview…haven’t had enough of them since The Dreaming was cancelled.

  Here’s DC’s page for the series, including a PDF file of the preview.

• I can’t believe I’m now the citation for Woozy Winks’ doofus-ness in the Plastic Man Wikipedia article. Well, at least until it gets revised away by someone with no sense of humor. EDIT: Citation since revised away by someone with no sense of humor.