“Realistically.”

filed under Categories batman, publishing 9 Comments

In response to my not-at-all-about-Batman-#50 post from the other day, I’ve had a few folks here and there note that a “these characters get married!” comics event isn’t really the same as a “this character dies!” event, and, well, yeah, sure. There’s more of an implied permanence, I think, with marriage in comics, versus a death in a comic basically having the “well, how will our hero get out of this one?” question implied. (Though maybe that question is implied in the former situation as well…joking, I’m joking.)

However, to clarify my thoughts on the matter…I don’t think the nature of the event itself matters so much as the fact a specific event was specifically marketed and then not delivered. It’s kind of a moot point now, I suppose, as the initial sales window for Batman #50 has come and gone, and hopefully retailers managed to sell the majority of their copies that they almost certainly ordered large-ish numbers on. I mean, yes, realistically, Batman and Catwoman shouldn’t get married, such a major change to iconic characters may be too much…but then again, Superman and Lois Lane are married. And have a kid. And for that matter, Batman has a child as well. Those are all fairly significant changes to the status quo, so yet another marriage didn’t seem entirely out of the question. And besides, all these changes could be swept away in the next series of relaunches/reboots when everyone gets tired of dealing with them.

Like I said, no beef with the story itself, or the tie-in “Prelude to the Wedding” issues and whatnot. But the “invitation” postcards and retailers being encouraged to do in-store celebrations…that’s the sort of thing that seemingly should only be occurring with an event that’s actually happening, not “FAKE-OUT! Nothing’s changed!”

It reminds me in a little way of the Fantastic Four issue where it was promoted as a big deal character death (complete with putting the issue in a black polybag deliberately reminiscent of the “Death of Superman” issue) and it was reasonably clear within the story itself that there wasn’t really any death happening. I wrote about it way back when, and yeah, a character goes missing, and the rest of the team is bummed and thinking he’s dead, but…it just felt like marketing overhyping a minor plot line that would get resolved in short order. I mean, most character death stories are like that, I guess, but this one in particular. Under normal circumstances that issue would have been follwed by the next one emblazoned “THE SEARTH FOR THE HUMAN TORCH!” and then we’d have that goin’ on for four or five issues.

So that’s that. I know a lot of you agree with me that the Batman “event” build-up was misleading, which I appreciate. Everything sold great anyway, so yeah yeah, I know, what are you complaining about, Mike? I just hope it doesn’t encourage more fake-outs: “hey, if we just TELL them that Iron Man is going to lose a leg in isue #12 and then never actually do it…they’re still gonna buy it!”

Okay, no Batman marriage stuff in the next post…I mostly promise!

Steve Ditko (1927 – 2018).

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Sometime in the late ’70s, my grandmother gave me a bag of comic books she picked up at a swap meet or thrift store, which included a number of oddball comics I hadn’t seen before. I remember specifically a Classics Illustrated adaptation of Frankenstein (my first exposure to this series), but there were also a handful of first issues from Atlas Comics, which I’d never heard of. Grim Ghost was one, and still remains a favorite to this day…and there was also Destructor #1, the splash page for which was pictured above. I don’t know how much Steve Ditko work I’d been exposed to at that point…I know I had a few Charltons from the period Ditko was working for them, so I probably saw some of his stories there. But I always thought that splash page was a pretty cool drawing. “Hey, this Steve Ditko guy isn’t bad, he should draw more comics.”

I’m a wee bit more knowledgeable about his output now, and about his personal beliefs and artistic standards. He definitely stuck to his guns all the way to the end…I just wish fewer people felt compelled to knock on his door and bother the man in recent years. I mean, he pretty famously wanted to be left alone to work on his comics, right, so, I mean, what were people expecting? “Oh, sure, yes, YOU’RE the one who’s got through to me! You will now be my best friend and I shall reveal to you all my secrets!”

Sheesh. I mean, okay, I admit that deep down I kept a tiny flame alive for Stan Lee and Ditko reuniting for one more Spider-Man story, or that Ditko would finally decide to give one tell-all interview, both of which would surely occur now that flying pig technology has been perfected and Hell finally installed those air conditioners.

Anyway…Steve Ditko. There’s no mistaking his work for anyone else’s, and, especially in his later years, he did it the way he wanted to, beholden to no one’s editorial edict. It was low-hanging fruit to poke fun at some of his odder moments, I admit, but sometimes genius takes you in strange directions, and few geniuses were stranger, or more amazing, than Steve Ditko.

So long, Steve.
 
 

image from Destructor #1 (February 1975) by Archie Goodwin, Steve Ditko and Wally Wood

Spoilers for Batman #50.

filed under Categories batman 15 Comments

So you’ve found out that Superman is about to be killed, fighting the alien monster known as Doomsday. Pretty wild, right? I mean, it seems pretty obvious that DC Comics wouldn’t actually kill off Superman…er, would they? There’s a lot of anticipation and promotion building up for the issue where the deed is done. It’s being talked about, not just in the fan press, but on actual real news programs on actual television. It’s popping up on talk shows, in newspapers. You decide…hey, you need a copy of that! You’d better get yourself to the local comic book emporium and…whoa, stand in line to get in? In a huge line? Wrapping around the building? Holy cow, this must be huge! You can’t wait to get your hands on it!

And finally, it’s yours! You were lucky enough to get a copy, and at cover price even, despite stores being caught very off guard by the immense demand for a comic they’d placed order numbers for about two or three months prior. And look at that bag! That solemn black bag with the bloody red “S” on the front…that’s gotta mean Superman is dead, right? Defying all laws of collectability, you tear open that bag, marveling at the black armband you can wear to mourn Superman’s passing, at the promotional trading card advertising the forthcoming “Death of Superman” set, at the stamps highlighting characters from this momentous event. All these geegaws and tchotchkes, produced specifically to support the idea that the Man of Steel is gone, sacrificing himself for the greater good.

But the story, the story…! How does it actually happen? Everyone and everything is telling you that Superman dies, but just how exactly does he die? You’d better sit down and read the darn thing…I mean, you opened the bag, might as well. And you pore over the story, flipping through splash page after splash page of this knock-down, drag-out battle with Doomsday, as Superman’s friends and family look on in worry and fear.

And then, there it is. The climactic moment…Superman and Doomsday unleash their mightiest blows upon each other, each felling their opponent with their final exertion of strength. Now, there they both are, silent and unmoving on the ground, the air still with shock from the onlookers. Lois rushes to Superman’s side, tears in her eyes…tears matching the ones in your own eyes as you turn to the story’s final page…

…Whereupon Superman opens his eyes, sits up, puts a firm hand on Lois’s shoulder, and reassures her “Oh, I’m fine, Lois…that was some battle, huh?” Superman then stands, as the crowd that had gathered around the scene lets out an exuberant cheer! “Thanks, everyone! But you’d better stand back while I and the good men and women of the Metropolis emergency services clean everything up! We’ll have our fine city back in tip-top shape in no time!” You look at the final image of the story, with Superman’s smiling face winking at you, the reader, with the concluding caption reading “NEVER the end!” scrolled along the bottom of the panel.

And you wonder…okay, this was pushed as the Death of Superman. All the promotion, all the ads and radio spots and news stories and the cardboard tombstone standees DC sent out, was around the idea that Superman dies. Stores were encouraged to participate in their own homegrown celebrations — or, rather, wakes — for Superman’s passing. And despite all that, despite the endless promises of his demise, no such thing happened. Not to say it was a bad comic, by any means. It was professionally done, entertaining, and presented a kind of extended physical conflict for Superman that was rarely seen in the comics. But, regardless, you feel a little bit like you experienced something of a bait-and-switch, where marketing promised you one thing, but the actual storytellers had something entirely different in mind. That maybe the story should just have been left to work out as it worked out, without the ultimately misleading promises that this was an “event,” an unprecedented occurrence in the Last Son of Krypton’s life, rather than simply another exciting adventure.

There can be red herrings, and fake-outs, and surprise endings in stories, and you think that’s fair play. That’s all part of storytelling. But you think it seems a bit unfair when the marketing pushes the story as being one kind of event, with the implied promise that if you follow that story, the event would be delivered. …Oh well, lesson learned, you’ll be a little more wary of the insidious workings of the hype machine next time. But honestly, what are the chances they’ll try something like this again?

Progressive Ruin presents…the End of Civilization.

filed under Categories End of Civilization 5 Comments

There it was just a-walkin’ down the street, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum Diamond Comics” — it’s the newest installment of the End of Civilization, seemingly closer than ever, so bust out your copy of the July 2018 Diamond Previews and follow along while there’s still time:

p. 44 – Bully Wars #1:

PRIVATE BULLY L.S. BULL REPORTING FOR DUTY and maybe some hot dogs, SIR:


 
 
p. 100 – Stranger Things #1:


For the full 1980s nostalgia effect, this comic should be in black and white, guest-star Concrete and/or Boris the Bear, and feature plenty of Tom Peterson references.
 
 
p. 104 – Mystery Science Theater 3000 #1:


Now if, TV’s Frank forbid, this particular issue turns out to not be any good, will a future issue of the Mystery Science Theater comic feature Jonah and the ‘bots riffing over pages from the first issue? And if that issue doesn’t work out, the next issue riffs over that issue? Just endless recursion…maybe the Overstreet Price Guide’s first “infinity contents” notation.
 
 
p. 147 – Star Trek Vs. Transformers #1:


If the Enterprise doesn’t transform into a giant robot at some point during this series, I’m calling my congressperson.
 
 
p. 154 – Batman/The Maxx #1:


Ah, I can’t wait to hear all the people who see this on the shelf start reminiscing about how they used to get high and watch Batman and the Maxx on MTV back in the day.
 
 
p. 178 – From Hell Master Edition #1:


Wait, a colorized version of From Hell? This is going to just wreck the market for the From Hell coloring books I’m, um, totally not printing up in the back of my shop.
 
 
p. 196 – Vampirella/Dejah Thoris #1:


“Hey, Dejah, why are we both dressed like this?”

“You know, Vampi, I feel like this is just pure titillation.”

“Well, let’s do something about it!”

VAMPIRELLA/DEJAH THORIS: THE EVENING GOWN AGENDA #1, COMING SOON
 
 
p. 311 – Garfield Complete Works Volume 1 1978-1979 TP:


I can’t believe a comic strip about our 20th President has been running for so long. I’m just afraid some of the political humor from the earlier volumes will seem a bit dated. Here’s hoping for annotations!
 
 
p. 311 – Guide to Groot A Sound Book HC:


Look, there’s only one way this can go, which can’t possibly be what they do with it, but the solicitation text sort of implies it, but there’s got to be other stuff mixed in, like general sound effects and such, but I would love nothing more than if each sound button on this book was just “I AM GROOT” in slightly different inflections. I mean, that’s what it has to be, right?
 
 
p. 332 – Lego Star Wars Ideas Book:


…And a lot of those ideas involve dudes making Star Wars Lego adventures with no girls in them. Hey, it’s a better use of their time than petitions or manifestos no one at Lucasfilm/Disney will ever take seriously ever.
 
 
p. 333 – DC Super Heroes: Super Heroes Say Please! Board Book:


“Ma’am, may I rip off your head and kick it around like a hacky sack, please?”

“Oh my, this young Lobo gentleman is so polite!”
 
 
p. M109 – Universal Monsters Dracula 1 Inch Punk Pin:


Not many people recall Dracula’s short stint as the drummer for False Confession, but we old-timers remember.
 
 
DC Previews p. 48 – Scooby-Doo Team-Up #42:


It’s the all-gorilla Scooby-Doo Team-Up issue! Finally, the shocking sequel to the all-gorilla Swamp Thing annual:


 
 
Marvel Previews p. 2 – Return of Wolverine #1:


What, he was gone? How can we miss you when you won’t go away?
 
 

Special thanks to the bulliest of all bulls, Bully the Little Stuffed Bull, and his pal John for their assistance. Plus, happy 7th birthday to Bully!

Harlan Ellison (1934 – 2018).

filed under Categories obituary 3 Comments

A contentious figure, certainly, but very much a talented one, whose writing has loomed large in my life for many, many years. There’s a whole lot one could say about him, good and ill, and no matter your opinion on him, I’m sure it’s entirely justified. Still, it’s going to be weird thinking he’s no longer out there, being angry about something, pissing somebody off, or writing something amazing, or doing all three at once.

So long, Harlan.
 
 

image from Adventure Comics #479 (March 1981) by Marv Wolfman, Carmine Infantino and Dennis Jensen

My question about Red Hood’s current origin status is the worst thing I’ve ever typed.

filed under Categories cartoons 5 Comments

I’ve been taking it easy of late, spending my nights watching movies and not thinking about work, health issues, the world in general…you know, this “relaxing” I’ve heard so much about. About a week or so ago I borrowed the animated Batman: Ninja movie from Netflix, which wasn’t very good…it was like having to watch the cut scenes for a video game you weren’t able to play, plus the film was afflicted by a particularly screechy Joker that seemed to occupy 175% of the movie’s runtime. But that got me to pull out some of the previous DC direct-to-home-video animated features that I own and give them a rewatch.

Well, okay, this current spate of rewatches really started with an initial viewing of the new Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay movie, the latest in DC’s “R” rated cartoons for the kiddies. It was…better than I expected it to be, actually. Plenty of action and humor and a surprising callback to the Flashpoint cartoon (which kicked off DC’s current “animated universe” continuity)…it certainly keeps your interest as everyone chases after the story’s MacGuffin (the “Get Out of Hell” card from Gail Simone’s Secret Six run. As I sort of referred to on Twitter a bit ago, the superpowered community in the DC universe is likely aware of concrete evidence of the existence of an afterlife, just from the course of doing their usual business. So, for most of the characters in this film, “Hell” is a very real thing they are desperately trying to avoid, adding an extra layer of…well, dread, I guess, to the proceedings. Anyway, a pretty good film that I’m sure Mom or Dad just threw into the DVD player for Little Billy to watch, resulting in quite the shock.

Hell to Pay has the usual trailers and “sneak peeks” for upcoming DC cartoons, including a new adaptation of “The Death of Superman” (I discussed their previous go at it here). Well, I have a specific complaint about it I’ll make a little farther down this post, but really, DC, you can do better than this:


The next movie I watched was Superman Unbound, the adaptation of that Geoff Johns/Gary Frank Brainiac story. Another good one, I thought…this precedes DC’s animated universe continuity, and I seem to recall saying somewhere or ‘nother at the time that it was a shame the film was setting up a sequel that would probably never come. It also throws in the Clark/Lois romance that 1) establishes that Lois totally knows that Clark is Superman, and 2) ends with Clark’s proposal to Lois, which, again, won’t be followed up on in anything. Probably some folks coming to this movie cold are thrown off by this sudden change in the status quo that is for the most part not reflected in any of the other films. Or just as probably, don’t care, and leave it to big goofs like me who think about things like this too much. Aside from all that…a big, bruising Brainiac that can physically go toe-to-toe with Superman still seems a bit weird to me, but remains an interesting take on the character, differentiating him enough from Lex Luthor so that he’s just not “the smart guy from space” where Lex is “the smart guy from Earth.” My animated Brainiac preference remains the one from the Superman: The Animated Series, however.

Followed that up with a couple of Batman-specific films…Batman: Under the Red Hood gives us, well, the Red Hood, a reborn Jason Todd who comes back under circumstances a lot less Big-Event Heavy than the ones in the original comics. Is Infinite Crisis/Earth-Prime Superboy still the catalyst for Red Hood’s return in post-Flashpoint continuity? Seems like it shouldn’t be. And yes, I feel shame for even wording that question. Aside from all that, I enjoyed John DiMaggio’s deep-voiced Joker…still a maniac, but a more controlled, dangerous maniac, as well as Wade Williams as the entirely-contrasting Black Mask, histrionic and entirely bonkers. The film ends on a remarkably melancholy note, as Todd’s initial venture as Robin the Boy Wonder is recalled. A very downbeat but effective film.

Son of Batman was the next I watched, introducing Damian Wayne to the new animated continuity. I…don’t really have much to say about it, aside from it doing a good job showing why this character was so divisive for comic fans at the start, and progressing this new Robin into a character you want to see more from at the end. And you do see more of him, since as part of the Animated Universe, Damian will pop again…

…such as in Justice League Versus Teen Titans, which I’m currently in the middle of rewatching. Aside from the “Old Comic Fan” disease I’m experiencing due to the incongruity of Cyborg being in the Justice League, and his place in the Titans being taken by the newest iteration of the Blue Beetle, it’s been a fun film. One thing watching this film reminded me of, however, was Superman’s post-New 52 reworked costume that the Animated Universe is using:


It…it just doesn’t look good. I mean, I guess I can live with it, and now that Superman’s costume is now about 99% back to its usual look in the comics, hopefully these cartoons will follow suit. Alas, not in time to keep this costume about of that Death of Superman movie (which the trailer shows Clark running into action and stripping off his shirt to reveal the Superman getup…even though the collar should have clearly been sticking out from underneath his clothing). Ah well, what can you do.

Not sure what I’m going to watch next…there’s that one Batman film with Batwoman, which I know I saw but don’t entirely recall. Or there’s the Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, which I seem to remember being fairly slight as these films go, and not caring for it much. Maybe time for a second try? We’ll see.

So that’s what I’ve been doing, instead of blogging…totally being a couch potato. Sometimes, just for the sake of keeping one’s head on straight, that’s just what you gotta do, so please don’t judge too harshly.

Back soon with more stuff. Thanks for reading, pals.

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

filed under Categories 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.

You don’t know how many times I typed “Sting” as “String.”

filed under Categories swamp thing 9 Comments

So this kind of blew my mind: Sting to write introduction to John Constantine anniversary hardcover.

The surprising element is that Constantine’s creation in Swamp Thing was inspired by artists Steve Bissette and John Totleben’s desire to drawn a character based on Sting. Now, for whatever reason, based on nothing in particular, I’d always half-believed that DC downplayed that particular connection to avoid any…legal shenanigans, perhaps. I don’t know. That’s probably part of the reason why this came as such a surprise to me. (The other reason was thinking Sting’s response would be “They based a WHAT on me? They want me to do WHAT? Get outta here.”)

But nope, there it is, officially announced by DC Comics. And if you click on that first link, you’ll see an actual honest-to-goodness video of Mr. Sting speaking about the occasion, dressed like Constantine. I mean, if only that could have been our movie version of John, right? (EDIT: video is gone from the DC post, but you can see a clip here.)

Anyway, the most shocking element of said video is his pronunciation of “Constantine” — as the dreaded “Constan-TEEN.” You maybe remember my longstanding losing battle against this, starting way back when with this here Swamp Thing panel:


…but, man, that’s it. I admit defeat. If Sting says it that way, then, you know, that’s just how it’s going to be. MY WAR IS OVER.