Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin
Putting the bomp in the bomp-bah-bomp-bah-bomp since 1969
Whoops, sorry, meant to post something for today, but I was a little too worn out last night and turned in early instead of, you know, blogging. So, um…hi, how are you?
I’m still taking your 2018 comics industry predictions, and thus if you are so inclined please chime in with your contributions.
That’s probably it from me for 2017, so I hope you all have happy and safe New Year celebrations, and I’ll see you again in that science fictiony-sounding year of Two Thousand and Eighteen!
It’s That Time of year again, where I ask you, the four or five remaining Progressive Ruin readers, for your comic book industry predictions for 2018 A.D., which you can place right here in the comments section of this very post.
The rules are, as always:
1. Don’t read the other predictions before entering your own.
2. Don’t criticize other people’s predictions.
3. Don’t predict any real person’s death.
4. Limit of three predictions per person, please! THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE, PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE IT. This rule also means “no multi-part list of somewhat-related predictions under one bullet point pretending to be a single prediction.” C’mon, take it easy on your pal Mike.
In a few days, I’ll start looking back at your predictions for 2017, going over the hits and the misses and the “I’m not sures,” so pack a lunch or three for that particular journey. But please, in the meantime, fill up the comment section here with your visions of the near future. Your participation remains a big part of what I enjoy about doing this website, and is always appreciated.
So what do you think Santa is watching on his TV?
Here’s what he’s watching on mine!
I hope everyone has a happy holiday, however you celebrate it! (And if you celebrate it by using that above “blank” in some nefarious fashion, all the better!)
Some early entries: Franklin Harris brings us some Christmas angels, Bully the Little Twittering Bull fills the center square with the only obvious choice, and Adam Knave digs into this site’s shady past for his selection.
Sorry for the downtime here…I missed posting Wednesday due to Christmas stuff, and, well, What Can You Do? I haven’t even had time to see that new Star Warsian film that’s so popular with all the kids these days.
So, basically, I’m just checking in here so 1) you know I’m still alive, or at least was alive as I was typing this, and 2) I’ll hopefully be back in the swing of things once Christmas is behind us.
In the meantime, here’s something I’ve been meaning to link to for a while now that may be of interest to you Peanuts fans. Pal Nat, internationally-recognized Peanuts expert and dapper man about town, has started a Peanuts podcast to accompany his long-running AAUGH Blog. Nine episodes so far, with special guests, interviews, and other Peanuttery shenanigans all hosted by Nat himself, and available either through direct download or online listening at the site, or through the usual podcasting platforms. Go, listen already.
Thanks for reading, pals, and I’ll be back with more Actual Content of my own in short order. I hope you all enjoy your holiday season, however you celebrate it!
So in case you don’t follow me on the Twitterers (and I wouldn’t blame you…my Twitter is dumb) I recently put up some pics there of more items excavated from the Endless Stacks of Boxes of Promo Stuff from the Old Job. And, just for posterity’s sake, and due to the fact that once again blogging time is at a minimum, I thought I’d put ’em up here too.
First up is this 1984 Vortex Comics poster, advertising the Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez run on Mister X:
…and every time I’m reminded of the Mister X series by the Bros., I tell myself “I really need to get my hands on those comics” because (gasp!) I’ve never actually read them. I mean, I’m pretty sure I read a preview/interview about these comics in Amazing Heroes at the time, which got my interest up a bit, but never actually took that final step into purchasing them. Well, what can I tell you, I was a boneheaded teen…as opposed to the boneheaded adult I am now.
Next up is this 1984 poster promoting Marvel’s Doctor Who comics:
…that’s maybe drawn by Dave Gibbons, or maybe Steve Parkhouse, or…well, I’m not 100% sure. We had some back-and-forth on the topic on the aforementioned Twitter. I’m leaning toward Gibbons, personally, though the extra rendering on Tom Baker’s face there is throwing me off a bit. Perhaps one of you can set me straight.
And then there’s this 1992/3 poster pushing Neil Gaiman’s guest-writing gig in Spawn, with some very subtle references to his work on Sandman:
Huh, an Image poster poking fun at DC while advertising Marvel’s hot new character. Interesting.
So pals Cathy (she of the medical mini-comics) and Andrew (he of the nuclear-powered nostalgia) have joined forces to CONQUER THE WORLD…and also to bring you this comic strip about one of Andrew’s…adventures, shall we say. It’s a great piece by a couple of my favorite creative folks, and I hope y’all enjoy it, too.
And I gotta make time to go see the new Star Wars movie. Look, I gotta have priorities.
From the Die Kitty Die Christmas Special by Dan Parent and Fernando Ruiz that’s out today, a close-up of a handful of titles on a comic rack:
That first one is Space something-or-other, which I thought was Force at first until, duh, I noticed there’s a rocket ship on the cover. That second one is The Bat, which can only be a parody of Spider-Man, I’m sure you’ll all agree. But that third one…that’s Capybara Girl, while being a clear take-off on Squirrel Girl, is totally a comic book I would read, given my life-ling appreciation of the world’s largest rodent.
I’ve written about Die Kitty Die before…Archie Comics artist Parent mixes a little satire of the comics industry with some very mild cheesecake and the occasional rude gag (like this issue’s pottymouthed Mrs. Claus) and a whole lot of silliness, all wrapped around the not-dead-yet title character, Kitty…who is also a witch, by the way. It’s cute and fun and despite appearances, not for kids…and it’s put the idea of “Capybara Girl” out into the wild, so it’s okay by me.
Okay, my eyes are a’burnin’ something fierce, being irritated from the ash in the air and all, so let me go back to those questions you folks left me way back in ye olden times and knock a couple of those out in short order today:
Gareth Wilson kicks this one my way:
“Are martial arts interesting enough to be the basis of a modern superhero?”
The short answer is “sure, if the comic is any good.” With the right creative team, a clever enough take, and a wee bit of luck, pretty much anything is fair game superhero-wise.
The big problem is translating the excitement of a martial arts battle that one could see in live action into static images on a page, and have it compete on anywhere close to an equal basis for a kung-fu fan’s attention. It helped that the huge faddishness of martial arts during the 1970s stoked desire of pretty much anything along those lines in any medium, so that did feed into comics readership. And it didn’t hurt that comics like Master of Kung-Fu and Iron Fist were generally pretty good.
Not to say martial artist-type characters weren’t around prior to that…DC had Karate Kid, for example, and there was Karnak of the Inhumans over at Marvel. However these guys weren’t the primary focus of their respective books/appearances, but rather team players whose powers would be used as the plot warranted. They were just part of the mix.
Nowadays we’ve got…I guess just Iron Fist as the martial arts title from the Big Two (and there was a Bruce Lee comic from an indie company, though it’s been a while since one has come out). Iron Fist does fien, and Bruce Lee seemed to be gathering a reasonable following while it was running. Oh, and there was that Master of Kung-Fu one-shot that came out a week or two ago…that sold okay. So, I don’t think there’s any particular objection to martial arts heroes in the comics marketplace…they have as much of a chance at being of interest to a comic reader as anything else. As I said, depends on execution and a little (or, well, maybe a lot of) luck.
Now whether it’s interesting enough to carry a live-action superhero in, say, a TV show on a video streaming service. …No. No, it’s not.
“Are there any superstar comic book creators left, I.e. anyone whose comics sell on the basis of their involvement alone?”
Well, there are certainly creators who’ll get people to pick up books, sure, but you’re saying “superstar,” like BIG BIG NAME people. Like, say, Frank Miller or John Byrne at their 1980s heights, is how I’m interpreting this. Folks who’ll grab everyone‘s attention on whatever project they’re working on, regardless of what it is, and whose movements are forefront in the fan press, and so on.
You don’t really see too much of that sort of thing anymore, mostly because most comic book sales are down in the dumps and that’s hardly the place from which superstars spring. Well, I mean, you’ve got Raina Telgemeier, who is a genuine Comics Superstar, who’s probably put out single volumes of things that have larger print runs than all of Marvel’s monthlies put together, but that’s probably not what you mean.
In the regular ol’ comic book market, as opposed to Telgemeier’s dominance of the bookstore market, I don’t know if there is one single Big Name Personality that would have fit the old Miller/Byrne mode. I mean, I guess Miller still does, in that anything he’s attached to tends to attract eyeballs and discussion and so on, if maybe not sales (though Dark Knight III did well). Todd McFarlane is kind of out of the public’s eye right now, though I bet if one day he said “f**k it, I’m gonna draw Spider-Man again” he’d rocket right back up to superstar status.
Honestly, though, I can’t think of a Big Time Creator still doing work who crosses enough lines of interest like that. Maybe Brian Michael Bendis a few years bacK? Honestly, I’m not sure who, if anyone, quite fills that criteria any more. If you have any suggestions, drop ’em in the Usual Place, if you’d like.
As you may have heard, Southern California is undergoing an onslaught of wildfires, with one of the hardest-hit areas being Ventura County. Now, Ventura County includes the city where I live (Oxnard) and the city where my store is at (Camarillo), but I have been (so far!) fortunate enough to not be in any immediate danger, as the fires are mostly around me, but not near me or headed towards me. Of course, this could change at any time, and there’s always the possibility that a new fire could start, God forbid, so I’ve been trying to keep an eye on what’s happening.
Several friends and customers haven’t been so fortunate, as many of them live in the actual city of Ventura, which is, like, right there in the danger zone. In fact, my former place of employment had to shut down at least for a day due to mandatory evacuations in their area. I’ve heard from folks who live only blocks away from where houses burned down. I have a friend who still has his car full of his possessions in case he needs to bug out. An apartment complex on the same street where I used to live in Ventura years ago burnt to the ground. And of course everything is covered in ash and clouds of smoke. It’s a real mess out there, and I hope everyone stays safe.
This page can keep everyone updated on the situation, and also provides a couple of places where people can send donations.
Anyway, think good thoughts for all of us out here, and here’s to everybody getting through this as best as they’re able.
Hey, remember blogging? That’s a thing this fellow you’re reading right now has done for fourteen years, long past anyone’s interest in actually reading blogs! That’s okay, I’ll probably soon switch over to that all-video format all the kids are into. Auto-playing video, of course…that’s what the people want.
But honestly, thank you to everyone who’s kept reading this site after all these years, and of course big thanks to my internet pals who continue to support this behavior. Special thanks to my girlfriend Nora, my family, and pal Dorian, who have all pretty much just accepted this is how I’m going to waste my free time. Big thanks to Neilalien, The Most-Firstest of Comics Bloggerers, for his longtime support.
This year, my store Sterling Silver Comics just had its third anniversary, and it’s still going strong. If you’re in the area, drop by and say hello! If you’re not in the area, feel free to give me a call. Oh, and buy something, if you’d like…I won’t stop you!
I still have a Patreon, though my planned regular reviews of Swamp Thing comics hit a snag when suddenly my extra blogging time disappeared. Still planning on keeping that going, though perhaps at a more reasonable pace…I keep saying the new installment should be up soon, but really, the new installment should be up soon. No, really, stop laughing.
Speaking of free time, I still chime in on the Twitterers once in a while, opining on your favorite comic book movies:
…or talking about my day-to-day delights running a funnybook store:
…or relating the vengeance Diamond Previews has exacted upon me for all my End of Civilization posts:
…or telling you about my exciting dream life:
…or remembering this especially-timely Brush with Greatness:
…or admitting this very specific personal problem:
…or just straight-up twittering about Twitter:
…and sometimes my friends pipe up with some True Facts:
Anyway, enough about me posting stuff online, now here’s more about me posting stuff online! Once again I’ve pointed out the highlights, the lowlights and a few of the middling-lights on this site from the past year for your perusal, entertainment, or reawakening of terrible memories. Enjoy, won’t you?
DECEMBER 2016:
The Teen Titans are weird, the passing of my girlfriend’s mother, METRON VERSUS DISCO, some comic book lettercol funny business involving my home town, boy Suicide Squard was not a good movie, so long Carrie.
JANUARY 2017:
Unleash the Youngblood trading card, a nice Swamp Thing pic by a pal and a Richie Rich cover I messed around with, who else dares to draw a connection between Wolverine and the Three Mouseketeers.
FEBRUARY 2017:
So long Dan, at long last the Flaming Carrot one-shot is mine, Wendy the Good Little Witch versus the World, I end up talking a lot about Swamp Thing in this Justice League Dark movie review believe it or not, the award-winning (well, not really) story about Willie and the Bug comic, “The Arch” if you can believe it, BAMM-BAMM CAN SEE YOU.
MARCH 2017:
This is a terrible joke I’m totally proud of, I write a bunch about Don Rosa, I made a joke here about Dr. Manhattan stealing Superman’s red trunks that other people came up with independently and it turned into this whole Twitter thing and anyway I still think it’s funny, this birthday post worked out nicely, so long Bernie, DC’s “hardcover/softcover” plan (parts one and two and oh here’s three), Archie Vs. Swamp Thing, Archie Vs. Arcane, a brief discussion of DC’s Hanna Barbera books.
APRIL 2017:
A little about Logan, rating Swamp Thing creative teams (one and two), that is one fancy-pants leap, a look at the initial installment of “The Button,” what in the comics world has caught me by surprise of late, presenting a Halloween ad in April because why the heck not.
MAY 2017:
Oh my God Reggie, Free Comic Book Day before and after and after-er, we’re very close now to finding out how Nekkid Manhattan will actually be handled, so long Rich, the first freebie installment of the Swamp Thing-a-Thon which I will be getting back to soon I promise, yet another Howard the Duck movie post in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Seventeen.
JUNE 2017:
And here’s another Howard the Duck movie post, let me know when Riverdale shows Jughead doing this, so long Best Batman, the amazing Ing takes my ideas and makes them beautiful, the Zero Month video is both terrifying and beautiful, Brit buttons, JONAH HEX TALK, I sold this comic so it’ll be another 10 years before I see another one, on second thought maybe you’d better just shoot Charlie Brown, FOX AND THE CROW TALK.
JULY 2017:
The Spidery-Mans movie, JUGHEAD WANTED BY JOHN LAW, come to think of it Betty’s legs do seem awfully scrawny, that’s a weird use of dialogue I don’t think I’ve seen too often, who were those mystery Legionnaires (as to be seen soon on The CW, “Dare to Defy”).
AUGUST 2017:
The mystery of that specific issue of Saved by the Bell, always time for a little Garcia-Lopez Superman and Firestorm, you probably hadn’t heard how good this new Mister Miracle comic is so thank goodness I’m here for you, can you believe some dumbass got on my case about taking the apparently extreme position of not liking Hitler, I will be talking about the Death of Superman ’til the day I die, your guide to price guides, I think Helper was probably my earliest “what th–!?” moment in comics, I still can’t believe I had this comic in my hands even briefly, it’s no Google Doodle but here’s a Kirby tribute.
SEPTEMBER 2017:
Where’s my Eisner…nay, my Pulitzer…for how I altered this Preacher page, let’s not do this again, a customer-made Swamp Thing drawing, so long Len, Batman ’89 retail and cultural memories and the market crash and a little Dark Knight thrown in (one and two and three and Bob and Ted and Carol and Alice).
OCTOBER 2017:
Good Lord Batman CONTINUES (here and here and also here), the missing DC Comics event book, Comic Show News issues #1 and…#0, the Swamp Thing Omnibus and an old ad slick, the return of Maximortal, the end of the original New Teen Titans series.
NOVEMBER 2017:
Boris the Bear is here to teach you about variant covers, Marvel wasn’t quite sure what to do with this comic were they, the Classics Rack, more about variants (specifically those DC test covers), a promo for Swamp Thing #60, Valiant would like you to order more Valiant please, a follow the book plug with PAPER TALK, an old promo poster and some Xerox humor, the joy of Not Brand Echh.
DECEMBER 2017:
However tangentially I still consider this a Death of Superman post.
For reading all that, here’s a pic of me taken literally moments ago, sitting at my store counter waiting for Godot my weekly Diamond Comics shipment to arrive:
Thanks again, and I’ll see you again in a couple of days.