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Let me know in the comments about the huge forthcoming DC war comic reprint initiative that I somehow missed.

§ June 22nd, 2018 § Filed under self-promotion, what is it good for § 1 Comment

So earlier in the week, comments were left on my war comics post regarding where one could find inexpensive reprints/collections of those very books. As was noted, DC put out several black and white volumes of their war books when they were still doing the Showcase series of paperback reprints.

Many of DC’s old war books had been reprinted, in digests and specials and 80/64/48-Page Giants over the years, but it’s been a while, and as the market is wont to do, even those reprints have crept up a bit in price. Now as it turns out, most of the war books I received in this collection I was talking about on Monday are in…less than pristine condition, and priced accordingly, so if anyone wants some cheap war comics and won’t be too particularly about the shape they’re in, I’m your guy!

Now all this talk about war comic reprints reminded me of one item that I rarely see…the last time I saw it was several years ago at the previous place of employment:


Totally stole the image from here, and if you look at the publisher listing you can see many of the other titles that were of the same ilk. Including, for example, the most famous of the bunch, Origins of Marvel Comics and Son of Origins, which I’ve seen pop in collections several dozen times versus the whole one time I found that America at War volume.

I’m sure once this Blackhawk movie gets a little closer to release we’ll start seeing some collections of those comics come back into print (with any luck, those great Mark Evanier/Dan Spiegel stories from the ’80s). Maybe it would be too much to hope that other war comic collections would follow suit? Maybe if Arnold Schwarzenegger had actually made that Sgt. Rock movie we would have had all the war comic reprints we could stand.

Even that first copy of Adventure Comics #247 I ever bought felt like I’d seen it plenty of times before.

§ June 18th, 2018 § Filed under retailing, what is it good for § 13 Comments


One strange aspect of being involved in comics retail for so long (officially 30 years this September)


is that despite all the old comics and collections that have passed through my hands, both at my previous place of employment and at my own shop


and how familiar to me many, many individual issues and covers of other genres of comics have become, DC Comics war titles always seem fresh and new to me.


I’ve held multiple copies of Amazing Fantasy #15, but I’m pretty sure it’s the first time I’ve ever beheld many of these recent war comic acquisitions in person (such as this copy of DC Special Series #13 from 1978).


DC’s war comics don’t turn up in collections very often or in much quantity, at least compared to their superpowered cousins


whether it’s due to copies not surviving, readers not giving up their copies, or simply scarcity from comparatively lower sales (particularly in latter-day examples).


Even the rarest superhero comics have a feeling of “been there, seen it” that the war comics do not, possibly due to the extra coverage they get, the extensive reprinting, the familiarity of the characters and situations.


Occasionally I’ll even find one in a collection I want to keep…the irony, in regards to this discussion, that the comic in question prominently features superhero covers is not lost on me.


But as much as I get that “new to me” feeling from individual DC war issues I rarely encounter, don’t get me started on the Charlton war books.

Comics Are Educational, Part One: How to Kill Juggling Nazis.

§ June 13th, 2013 § Filed under what is it good for § 13 Comments


I submit that panel four is at least somewhere in the top 25 Best Comic Panels.
 
 

from Men of War #3 (November 1977) by David Micheline, Arvell Jones & Romeo Tanghal

Then again…KOREA.

§ March 12th, 2012 § Filed under what is it good for § 9 Comments

So “Then…KOREA” took the nerdinet…well, not so much by “storm” as “a light spring drizzle,” but a few folks were amused by it, and that’s good enough for me. Pal Dorian featured it in one of his always-wonderful “Flop” posts, Greg went a little nuts with it in one of his weekly comics review columns, and even a Korean-themed podcast picked up on it. And a reader with the intriguing handle of “Interstate Shogun” gave me the should-have-thought-of-it-myself idea of putting it at the end of this series of panels.

I also had a couple of them come in by email:

Reader Daniel contributes this, inspired by a recent “Funkywatch” column by Chris Sims:


And then reader Mike B. unleashed this nightmarish vision (an idea also also touched upon by reader Dwayne):


Thanks to you folks for participating in this silly thing. I’ll probably give “Then…KOREA” a rest here for a while, since I don’t want to burn everyone out on it, but before I put it away:


…okay, now I’m done.

YOGI NOOOOOOO

§ February 29th, 2012 § Filed under cranius, sir-links-a-lot, swamp thing, what is it good for § 9 Comments

Ah, how could I have forgotten CRANIUS:


When wondering about how many “classic villains” Swamp Thing actually had, I totally forgot about Cranius, the most Un of all the Un-Men, until my blogging brother Tim O’Neil was good enough to remind me of our brain-handed friend.

Don’t worry…I’m not going to get all Cranius-crazy on you again, but yeah…the return of Cranius. Wouldn’t that be something if that were the case?

Anyway, in some site news…I almost decided to fix the commenting settings to require names and email addresses from folks who want to leave a comment, but decided I didn’t want to inconvenience everyone. Besides, it’s not as if someone couldn’t stick a fake email address in there or anything. However, I can ban IP addresses…I don’t want to, and hopefully I won’t have to.

Enough about that…let’s get to some more entertaining stuff:

  • Happy Birthday, Superman!
  • Here are some Frank Frazetta-inspired Cerebus drawings by Dave Sim…including a interesting color commission that sort of expresses Dave’s feelings about superheroes.
  • Finally, one of these “Keep Calm” things that I actually like…almost certainly because it features a certain Little Stuffed Bull of some note.
  • Andrew picked a good’un for the latest installment of Nobody’s Favorites…but mostly I’m just jealous of that post title that I wish I’d thought of first.
  • And now, some “Then…KOREA” pics.

    First, from the aforementioned Bully, the Little Stuffed Bull, comes this slightly revamped version of a post of his from a couple of days ago:


    From the equally aforementioned Andrew comes this shocking tale of an evening’s festivities gone horribly wrong:


    And the esteemed Dr. K has this, a tale of tragedy:


    Oh dear.

“Then…KOREA”

§ February 27th, 2012 § Filed under what is it good for § 10 Comments

From Battle Stories #5 (September 1952), here is one heck of a transition:


I mean, holy cow, just look at that panel:


And then, of course, I started thinking about what other comics could benefit from this very same sudden transition, like Adam 12 #4 (August 1974):



Or perhaps Peanuts #2 (2012):



This is what I think about, late at night, when there is no one around to stop me.

Note that you never see a comic blurbed as having “7 Lusty Gutsy Red Tornado Stories.”

§ April 4th, 2011 § Filed under self-promotion, what is it good for § 6 Comments

I’m mostly just pointing out this comic, G.I. Combat #211 (January 1979):


…because of the most excellent cover blurb:


Oooh yeah. That’s not something you’d see on today’s comics (with the possible exception of El Gorgo).

Of course, that’s “lusty” in the general sense of “characterized by healthy vigor” as opposed to “bow chicka wow wow,” despite all appearances of the “A Luger for Lisa” story advertised on the back cover:


NOTE: At no time in the actual story does Lisa tool around in a bikini top. She does, however, pack some heat.

I suppose the other stories are plenty lusty and gutsy, though having three Haunted Tank stories in one issue really was kind of pushing it, even if one of them is titled “A Nice Day for Killing,” which sounds nicely men’s true adventure magazine-ish.

The best story is “The Steel Storm-Troopers” (or “The Steel Stormtrooper,” as the cover would have it), where American troops fight Nazi robot soldiers, and we get some swell panels like this, approved by the Comics Code because, hey, it’s just a robot:


Oh, lusty, gutsy comics. Nowadays we’ve got talky, paddy comics, and pretty sure we’re not better for it.

• • •

Speaking of lusty gutsy books, the Fake AP Stylebook book Write More Good by me and a few people who aren’t me is coming out tomorrow…tomorrow! Here’s a sample chapter, and immediately below is the Amazon link:


I know I’ve been mentioning the book a lot, and I’ll probably mention it again tomorrow on the actual release day because, hey, I’m pretty excited about it. Thanks for putting up with me in the meantime, folks.

covers by Joe Kubert, interior panel by George Kashdan and Fred Carrillo