I don’t think I’ve ever seen them referred to as “the little reptiles” before.

§ August 26th, 2024 § Filed under retailing § 19 Comments

Hi pals! Okay, going back to that March 1986 Bud Plant catalog and looking at the second page of those ordering recommendations for comics retailers. (Reminder: I had some brief follow-ups on that first post here.)

Now I have lots of these old catalogs. I can keep doing this for weeks, but I know that would drive you all crazy, and me as well. I do plan on dipping into these on a semi-regular basis as I find them fascinating looks into comics retailing history, and sort of nudge my own brain cells a bit to remember how some of this stuff played out. (Or I bug my former boss Ralph, from whence these catalogs came, to see if he remembers.)


I know we seemed to have plenty of these in backstock, and they would sell out of the bins occasionally, but I can’t say for sure if they flew off the new comic rack upon release. The initial rush of Turtlemania had slowed a bit by this point, so I don’t think throwing a Donatello or whathaveyou into just any book equaled Big Sales Numbers. Yes, look for your follow-up on this once I pester Ralph about it.


I really wanted more March Hare than what we got. Sadly, a #2 was never to be. (I write a little about it here in this obituary for Keith Giffen.)


T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents is one of those properties that holds strong sway over the folks who remember (or have sought out via back issue bins) the original series and its handful of tie-ins, primarily inspired by the great artwork of Wally Wood and others. However, most attempted revivals seems to fall flat on their faces…I think DC and IDW were the latest attempts? It’s hard to keep track.

There were a lot of shenanigans regarding ownership of the property in the 1980s, such as what was going on with this very series noted in the above tip. That sixth Deluxe issue was never released.


Ouch. There was a time when giants of the past were not appreciated in the then-present, like Kirby and Ditko. It’s hard to tell exactly the tone of the tipster here, whether the world would not appreciate Ditko drawing Daredevil, or whether Ditko’s style as it was then did not suit the character.

Eh, I don’t know, looks okay to me (inks by Klaus Janson):


Okay, now this remains a very popular issue, almost just for that awesome cover alone. When that was available as a poster, it was like printing money. If Marvel’s listening (and their ears are everywhere — ew, gross) let me just say two words: FACSIMILE EDITION.

I mean, just look at this thing:


I cut that one off because the he does go into several solid reasons why the Classic X-Men reprint comic was a good idea, but that can be a whole other post on its own. Rather, I wanted to note the reference ot the Dreadstar reprints from the period, and I want to make sure I track down his comments on that because I can guess what he said. SPOILER: retailers and distributors weren’t thrilled with the Dreadstar reprints…not because of the contents, which are fine, but because of Marvel’s apparent “crowd out the competition” publishing strategy. You can read about it in Comics Journal #97 (where you’ll find a mention of my old boss Ralph in there).


While not getting the same attention as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles et al., I feel like Miami Mice is one of the better-regarded of that subgenre of the blank and white book, the “funny animal parody” comic. I mean, it was published by Rip Off Press, one of the classic underground companies, and appealingly cartooned by Mark Bodé. I’ve even sold copies of this out of my shop relatively recently.


I…I, um…that’s hard to say, honestly. One more question for Ralph: were people excited about the whole “New Universe” endeavor from Marvel at the start, or was it a whole lotta “oh, now what?” Like, was there enough interest to bump up sales on magazines with behind the scenes secrets and info like Comics Interview?

Just checked my own ‘zine collection, and I don’t have a Comics Interview #33 in there, but I do have #36, which has a big “NEW UNIVERSE” banner across the top of the front cover. So I guess there was enough interest to double-dip on the topic!

• • •

And speaking of double-dipping on topics, I’ll probably check out another one of these tips columns soon. Consider yourself forewarned!

In which I bug my old boss about comics he sold in 1986.

§ August 23rd, 2024 § Filed under collecting, retailing § 14 Comments

Okay, I’ve been dealing with bit of a stomach bug the last couple of days, so I’m going to keep this short. I had planned to look at the second page of distributor tips (first page here), but that’ll have to wait until next week.

I will address a couple of items from Monday’s post, however. I spoke to my former boss Ralph in regards to the Champions comic (based on the superhero role playing game, not Marvel’s weirdo team from the ’70s). Turns out, yes, the comic did sell very well initially, and, shockingly, did sell primarily to gamers versus your usual comic book fans. However, sales petered out pretty quickly.

And in regards to Watchmen #1, my assumptions as to his order numbers were correct…Ralph did order a lot, but not as many as, in retrospect, he should have because despite Alan Moore being red-hot in comics at the time, this was still an untested concept with new characters. As it turned out, he ordered pretty close to what he needed for the initial month or so, not quite selling out on the rack. But yes, he wished he’d ordered more, given how things worked out!

Also as an aside I asked him about Howard Chaykin’s Shadow mini and how that did for him, since that was offered in the tips page as the title to base your Watchmen numbers on . Yes, it sold very well, thank you (I know I bought a set!). I’m pretty sure I’ll find his specific orders in the stack of Bud Plant catalogs I have here, so when I track it down, I’ll provide an update.

And on Wednesday’s post, Daniel T asked if I have any plans for my comics after I go to the great comic convention in the sky? (Or, since I’m presuming a comic convention, more likely the other place.)

Well, given how I’m been feeling the last couple of days, not quite sure I want to dwell overlong on my presumed-eventual death. To be completely honest…I’m not sure. If comic book stores are still around, I’m presuming my collection will be taken to one of those, much like I’ve seen more than my fair share of collections of the recently passed make it into my store. At the very least, my collection may be better organized, theoretically, once I finally get everything sorted.

Ideally, if I live long enough, I’d like to get my personal collection winnowed down to a fraction of where it is now. My recent attempts at making passes through what I’ve got to sacrifice to the store have been relatively unsuccessful, however, so I may need to develop stronger willpower.

The whole “donate to the university” thing could be a possibility, at least for the fanzines. I’d hate to see that collection broken up, but hey, I’ll be pushing up daisies by then, chances are slim that I’d be in a position to really care.

And, you know, it’s possible I’ll have a family member who’d want to keep it all. That’d be fine with me.

At the very least, if, as I said, I live long enough, I could have one heck of a dollar sale and just move everything out. Come to the “Mike’s About to Croak” Sale, the first weekend in March 2056 at Sterling Silver Comics!

Oh the things I’ve ‘zine.

§ August 21st, 2024 § Filed under zines § 19 Comments

So I’m a collector of fanzines, as I’m sure some of you have clocked over the years. The first ‘zine I was into was The Comic Reader, which began in the early ’60s and ran through issue #219 in 1984.

I started tracking down issues of this in the early ’90s, sometimes buying a lot or two from a seller in the classified ads of the Comic Buyers’ Guide, a dozen for ten bucks. Once eBay came along, I found more there, even as the prices slowly began to creep up. The most I ever spent was $30 on a copy of #11 from 1962 (follow that link to discover its original publisher Jerry Bails’ reaction to my purchase).

Now, prices had been creeping up a bit on these, as other collectors started to discover them, and I’ve sort of held off filling holes in my own run…especially as the ones I need tend to be the earlier issues. A check on eBay recently shows a lot more copies of The Comic Reader than I remember seeing on there before. While by and large not as expensive as I’d thought they’d be, there is the occasional extreme example that shows me I got quite the bargain on that #11 way back when:


So, you know, if any of you want to do some early shopping for Christmas presents for me….

But all that said, I did acquire some more issues for my collection, 7 in all from my former boss Ralph, making my run of The Comic Reader complete from issue #81 all the way to the end. I do have some scattered issues prior to that, but it’s nice to have an unbroken streak of about 60% of the series. (And did I just put in a bid on some other issues I’m missing, since I was looking at eBay? Maaaaaybe.)

I thought I’d show off a few here for your amusement, specifically the ones with the full art front covers. Like this one cover dated March 1972:


A great Thor drawing by our pal Rich Buckler, no? Maybe I should also note that for a time, The Comic Reader was combined with another fanzine, Etcetera, hence the hybrid name on some of these. Oh, and also, future DC Comics head honcho Paul Levitz was the editor on these.


Issue #87 here, also from ’72, contains the news that DC acquired the publishing rights to the original Captain Marvel, which was a HUGE deal at the time, leading, eventually, to copies of that first issue filling quarter and 50-cent boxes everywhere for decades. Until, you know, someone realized “oh wait so many of these were dumped in bargain bins that now there aren’t so many still in mint condition” and that’s how Shazam #1 is suddenly a pricey book.

Anyway, the story inside says “DC bought rights” which makes it sound like they owned the characters outright, but DC was actually licensing the characters from original publisher Fawcett until DC acquired them in full years later. And I’ll just note here that cover is by Alan Kupperberg, since I didn’t say so before and I’m not going back to reedit.


Now that’s a cover! Bernie Wrightson just Shadow-ing it up all over the place here on #88. Looks great, very striking.


As is that Don Rosa drawing of Jack Kirby’s Demon. This ‘zine was published in ’72, pretty close to the same time the first issue of The Demon was released. These guys work fast! Also, if you’re not familiar, Don Rosa did lots of ‘zine illustration (on top of all those Lance Pertwillaby/Captain Kentucky strips) prior to becoming famed as The Other Good Duck Artist on all those Uncle $crooge and Donald Duck comics he’d eventually start doing in the ’80s. That said…I’d read a Demon comic he wrote and drew. That’d be pretty buck wild.

Should note those two spots at the bottom center…that was from an old rusty staple that had held the mag together in the mails. Now that ‘zine looks like a really tiny, sloppy vampire bit it.

As an additional bonus, these Comic Reader had originally belonged to someone who eventually passed them along to my old boss Ralph, who apparently had them stashed away for years. That certain someone?


That’s pretty cool. Yes, I obscured the address…he doesn’t live there anymore, but I’m sure whoever does would prefer not to have a parade of strangers at the door, looking for that handsome mustachioed man what does the cartoons.

Yes, “Bud Plant” is a real person, I’ve spoken to him on the phone.

§ August 19th, 2024 § Filed under byrne reboot, retailing, watchmen § 11 Comments

So I was going through some of my old boss Ralph’s distributor catalogs an’ such that he’d saved for all these years and found a new treasure trove of material. In particular, it’s the “recommended order numbers” type of thing that I absolutely adore. A while back I featured some tip sheets from a distributor published in the early ’80s (1 2 3), and on a mildly different note, remember this distributor’s suggestion for ordering future issues of Miracleman?

Anyhoo, I found a punch of mid-1980s Bud Plant catalogs with just pages and pages of ordering suggestions, and they are absolutely wonderful, a great mirror into a particular period of this ridiculous industry’s history. Like my fascination with fanzines (hopefully more on that in a future ProgRuin post), these bits of editorializing mixed in amongst the many listings of orderable products let’s us see kind of what people were thinking about comics at the time. And to my specific interest, what people were thinking from the sales/distribution side, versus the fan side (though in fairness, often the twain shall meet).

This selection of excerpts comes from the March 1986 Bud Plant catalog, under this amusing logo:


One thing I’d sorta forgotten about was that Dave Sim was trying to keep Cerebus to a very tight schedule, with the intent of the last issue, #300, coming out in a specific month and year. So, when he fell behind, he had to catch up, and he did so by just crankin’ out those issues Bill-Jemas-at-Marvel style with no regard to monthly release:


I’ll tell you, as someone super into Cerebus at the time, I wasn’t happy about those small publishing gaps, but sure liked it when a several issues came out right on top of each other.


You know, I was never quite sure what happened there. I think I figured this whole time “Eagle” and “Quality” were the same company, and just underwent a name change. At any rate, we filed their miscellaneous titles together at the previous place of employment. Just never looked into it, I suppose. I guess, despite my best efforts, I’ve learned something today.


Ooh boy, I do love me some Eclipse comics. Thought I’d just lump ’em all together here rather than doing the titles individually. Stuff like Scout and Mr. Monster are mostly forgotten today, which is a shame, but those are solid books worth seeking out. And the Mr. Monster title underwent many stylistic changes over its short run, but all were entertaining. I seem to recall that Giffen story mentioned there was pretty good.

“Hamsters 3-D #1″ is of course “Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters,” the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles knock-off out of the gate (the last one out of the gate being, I’m pretty sure, this title). This comic, flying in the face of all logic and reason, still has legs, and in fact sold some issues of it (including one of the 3-D mags!) on Sunday. It’s probably some residual effect of the Turtles’ continuing popularity, dragging the Hamsters along in its wake. And pretty much just the Hamsters…you don’t see the Geriatric Gangrene Jujitsu Gerbils or the Pre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung-Fu Kangaroos doing that, do you?

Champions I do not recall selling a lot of, to be honest. I mean, I started in comics retail a couple of years after this, so maybe I missed the title’s heyday, but it certainly didn’t sell a whole lot out of the back issue bins. I’ll have to ask my former boss if it did sell, and if it did get that crossover gamer audience.

And ah yes…the aforementioned Miracleman, and in fact the very issue discussed in the link I posted above. But I checked the order listing in this catalog, and it credits Alan Moore with Chuck Beckum (AKA Chuck Austen), and there’s a mention, both in this tip and in the solicitation, of the New Wave preview. This sounds like the contents of #8, as the actual published #9 is the “birth issue” by Moore and Rick Veitch. As the tip also notes, this is around the time of the flooding of Eclipse’s offices, so scheduling was a total mess at this point. Plus, unless I’m missing something, Miracleman never had a Frank Miller cover.

Okay, now here are a couple I should probably save for more discussion of the Superman reboot by John Byrne, but, eh, here they are anyway:


Now here’s the Thing: I actually have Ralph’s original order numbers for all these comics, handwritten in these catalogs. And it just so happens that I have the February 1986 catalog as well, and comparing numbers…yes, Ralph followed this advice, and ordered twice the number he did on issue #96 (with Blue Devil). Now further investigation will likely show what his average order numbers were on the title (he might have bumped it up a little for the Blue Devil issue, since folks liked that character).


What’s interesting here is the optimism for Byrne’s version of Superman, though the start of the tip almost reads like the opposite reaction. Byrne was hot hot hot at the time, so I suspect people were pretty excited for the Big Changes coming up. I mean, some people weren’t thrilled about the changes, I know, but given the Super-titles’ crap sales at the time (therefore necessitating the revamp), they weren’t reading those comics anyway. And they probably bought the Byrne issues. So there.


Okay, I love this one because of the “Better than The Shadow tag, which of course means “order more than you did on The Shadow” but for all the world looks like “hey, Watchmen might be a better comic than The Shadow, maybe check it out.”

Did Ralph follow this advice? I don’t know, I haven’t found his Shadow numbers yet. But this is referring to the Howard Chaykin Shadow mini-series, which, as I recall, was a very popular comic (even as it outraged the Shadow purists who were still alive at the time). Ralph’s Watchmen orders were high, the highest of any DC that month, but still it seems like they were lower than I expected, relative to all the other numbers I’m seeing. Then again, this was a new comic featuring new characters at a higher price point even if by admittedly a hot writer…and nobody had any idea this was going to turn into a phenomenon. Mostly just 20-20 hindsight surprise, is all.

Okay, those were just from the first page of that month’s tip sheet. Will I look at more of these in the near future? Probably! I’ve got at least two dozen or more of these catalogs here…I could probably just talk about this for the next few months. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind.

“Gordon’s aware?”

§ August 16th, 2024 § Filed under batman § 24 Comments

So the last time I was talking about the whole “Does Commissioner Gordon Know?” thing, I brought it up in the context of the Batman: Arkham Knight video game that’s like, nearly a decade old at this point but I’m still trying to plow through it after an extended break.

Specifically (again, SPOILERS for the game) Gordon removes Batman’s mask, revealing Bruce Wayne beneath. I thought this was the initial reveal to Gordon, and wondered about the lack of depiction of his reaction. Over on Bluesky, Steven K noted to me that Gordon had known Batman’s secret ID prior to this in the game. Now, in my defense, I did have, as I told you all last time, there was a four year gap in my playing of Arkham Knight, so it’s not surprising if I didn’t remember that.

Given the nature of video games, I can’t exactly rewind and rewatch those moments. I could hie myself hither to YouTube where I’m sure the whole story has been stitched together into a standalone “movie,” but I’m trying to avoid Arkham Knight content there ’til I have more the game completed.

Anyway, back to the comics, where apparently there are a lot more instances of suggestions re: Gordon’s knowledge than I was recalling. Supposedly there are a few in Scott Snyder’s New 52 Batman run, and boy howdy I don’t know if I’m ready to reread all that. I may crowdsource that bit and ask you folks to point me in the right direction there.

Actually, earlier Thursday evening I reread, for the first time in probably decades, the initial appearance of Batman (or “The Bat-Man”) in Detective Comics #27 from 1939. Featuring the work of Bill Finger and, uh, what’shisname, “Rob’t Kane” it says here, we get the crude beginnings of the property that will eventually peak with this. The story involves Commissioner Gordon and his friend, lackadaisical wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne, and a series of murders being investigated by the mysterous Bat-Man. At the end of the story, Gordon ponders


But of course at the end of the story, we get the big reveal:


And it’s really hard to imagine a time when we didn’t know Bruce Wayne was Batman. Well, I mean, sure, this debut adventure ain’t exactly a brain-twister, and it’s pretty obvious Bruce is going to be revealed as being this costumed vigilante. Still, it’s neat to think at least for a few pages, like Commissioner Gordon above, we didn’t know that Bruce and Batman were the same person.

Now let’s jump ahead a few decades to Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #125, cover dated January 2000, by Greg Rucka, Rick Burchett and James Hodgkins. We’re nearing the end of the lengthy “No Man’s Land” storyline here, where Gotham, cut off from the rest of the country following an immense earthquake, has descended into even more lawlessness than usual. This event is mostly noted for the debuts of the Cassandra Cain version of Batgirl and the mainstream DC Universe version of Harley Quinn. But on top of that, I especially remember this particular sequence, where Batman tries to regain Gordon’s trust following some acrimony between the two over the course of the previous months:


Well, that’s a lot to chew on, certainly. I really think this as close as we come in regular DC continuity (post-Crisis, pre-Flashpoint) of nailing down the specific ambiguity (how’s that for a phrase) of Gordon vis-à-vis Batman’s secret identity. Maybe he knows, maybe he has his suspicions, maybe he could find out if he really wanted to.

If DC Comics came to me and said “okay, you’re in charge of Batman now,” the first thing I’d do, after publishing a new version of this story, is nail down this as absolutely the status quo of Gordon’s relationship with Batman. Gordon probably knows, but refused to confirm his suspicions for plausible deniability. How well that would hold up in court, even superhero comic book court, I have no idea, but it’s that fine line that keeps Gordon from busting into Wayne Manor and arresting Bruce Wayne for illegal vigilantism.

And I like that. I like that in the superhero genre, where the instinct is to pull more people in on the secret, there’s one guy who honestly just doesn’t want to know, at least for sure.

As I stated above, I’ve been informed that there may be more to this in the New 52 era of Batman, and hopefully I can track down some of this instances in the near future. There may be also some bit of business in Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, which would bookend nicely with the bits of Miller’s Batman: Year One I discussed last time. And yes, I know about the sequence in one of the animated shows where Gordon finds out and raids the Batcave…should probably mention that as well.

It looks like I have a little more research to do, and if you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know!

House of Secrets #92s.

§ August 14th, 2024 § Filed under collecting, swamp thing § 6 Comments

So this week DC is releasing a new facsimile edition (including all the original ads an’ such) of House of Secrets #92 from 1971, featuring the first appearance of Swamp Thing by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson. Here are the different flavors you can pick up:

You can get the plain ol’ version with a standard comic cover:


You can get the “blank sketch cover” in a lovely shade of green, upon which you can get your favorite artist to draw, I don’t know, the Heap or Man-Thing or whatever:


You can get the shiny foil-covered edition, and the scan I made ain’t the greatest, but if you’ve been in a comic shop lately, you know what this particular enhancement should look like:


And most surprisingly, in a bit of collaboration between Warner’s comic book division and those other divisions that make theoretically money, we get a version of this comic with a cardstock cover plugging the forthcoming Beetlejuice Beetlejuice sequel (art by Kelley Jones):


Yes, that means four more versions of this comic to add to my collection of House of Secrets #92 reprints and, of course, my original copy of the actual thing.

A long, long time ago (about 18 years now!) I did post here listing all the versions of this comic that I own. I keep meaning to update it, and have occasionally listed new reprints of the story here and there in subsequent posts. Thus, the plan is this: creating a new page on this site devoted solely to House of Secrets #92, with notes on the various reprints in either single comic book form or in trade paperback/hardcover.

This is kind of a last second decision, so I have nothing ready to go just yet, since I kind of have to track down where all my copies of these reprints have gotten off to. My collection at home remains in some disarray, though I’ve been making progress in getting it under control of late. But I do want to gather together all my reprints, do fresh new scans, and put ’em all in one standalone place that I can point to and say “look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair.”

So there we go…nearly 21 years of doing this site, and I can still find ways to make my life more difficult. But at least it’s additional incentive to get my comic act together at home.

Spoilers for Batman: Arkham Knight, of all things.

§ August 12th, 2024 § Filed under batman § 8 Comments

So I am a sporadic video game player, with a probably soon-to-be-supplanted modern system at home, and a variety of games. Having grown up in what was basically the Golden Age of Gaming, I have lots of Atari 2600 games converted to my system (including the excellent documentary/game collection Atari 50th Anniversary), as well as several compilations of arcade games of my youth (gotta play my Dig-Dug.

But the other genre of game I love is “open world,” where to at least some extent you are given free reign of the playing field to adventure and explore as you please, without necessarily having to play the game’s story as scripted (though of course you have to sometimes to get into new areas and acquire new tools and skills). Red Dead Redemption I and II and the various Grand Theft Autos are prime examples of this.

Another good example would be the Batman: Arkham series of games…Arkham Asylum and Arkham City I’ve both played and enjoyed on a previous system, and there’s Arkham Knight which I have for my current console. They all feature relatively good-sized maps (the first game concentrating on the asylum’s massive grounds, and the latter two in Gotham, or portions thereof), and plenty of opportunity flip around rooftop to rooftop both causing and stopping mayhem in equal measure.

I was playing Arkham Knight a while back, and got stuck at a particular part of the game, one that, despite several replays, I just couldn’t get through. Specifically, the tank-drone assault on the GCPD which you have to fight from within your Batmobile. Now, while having the ability to drive the Batmobile (or at least this weird tank-version of it) can be fun, the game-specific missions involving the vehicle can be a real slog. Especially when you’d rather be ziplining your way through the Gotham skyline.

Being frustrated at the game, I decided to put it aside for a while and play other things, letting it rest while I thought occasionally about alternative strategies.

Well, I finally returned to it, figuring a year or so off may have recharged my enthusiasm for the game, and started it up again, determined to finish what I had left behind…which is when I noted the last save on the game, the last time I played it, was in mid-2020.

To paraphrase an example I presented on social media when I discussed this there, that’s like if I got stuck on Pitfall II on the 2600 before I started high school, put it aside, then got back to it as I was preparing to enter college.

But you may be pleased to know that, having returned to Arkham Knight, I finally figured out a strategy to get through that sticking point and moved onward in the game’s plot. In fact, I got to one of the major endpoints of the game…not the endpoint, there’s still plenty of game to go, but it was definitely a wrap-up to one of the main storylines. [SPOILERS] at this point, where during the ending of this particular plot, Batman’s identity is revealed to all.

How it’s revealed is interesting, in that Commissioner Gordon is the one forced to pull off Batman’s mask. The interesting bit is that we don’t really get Gordon’s reaction to the revelation, at least not so far as I’ve seen in the game. (Maybe there’s more when the main plot resumes.) We do get lots of reactions from the street thugs Batman’s monitoring equipment catches (lots of amusing comments like “the mystique is gone” and “I can beat up that rich boy anyday” and so on). My favorite reaction is from one of Batman’s police allies, who tells him “Bruce Wayne, huh? All the same to you, I’ll stick with ‘Batman.'”

And to finally get this back to comic books, this got me to thinking about the status of whether or not Commissioner Gordon knows Bruce Wayne is Batman. In this age where heroes are revealing their identities left and right to allies and loved ones…well, maybe not that often, but secret I.D.s in comics are a little less cut ‘n’ dried nowadays. (Especially in TV shows, where I.D.s would get revealed right away and suddenly the superhero has a support team of friends, coworkers and family.)

There are two pretty famous examples of Gordon vis-à-vis Batman’s identity. One of the most famous ones is from Batman #407, part four of “Year One” by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli which Batman out of costume rescues Gordon’s son.


Batman is basically face-to-face with Gordon, unmasked, but Gordon does give him this out:


As I recall (I don’t have the specific reference in front of me) it was Miller’s intention to leave it ambiguous as to whether or not Gordon is in on the secret.

Now usually Batman comics are written as if the secret is not shared, and that’s the general status quo for the characters. But there’s an event a few years later where the amnbiguity is brought to the forefront yet again, and I’ll discuss that later in the week.

Not so much mad as jealous.

§ August 9th, 2024 § Filed under mad magazine, original art, pal brook § 4 Comments

So pal Brook (whom I should make a category for on this site, he comes up often enough) (and so I have) made another original art acquisition…this time, an original page from a Mad paperback by Angelo Torres:


This is, believe it or not, Brook’s fifth page from the same book. I told him to keep going and get all the art from it…surely that wouldn’t be too hard.

I believe the book in question is History Gone Mad from 1977, drawn by Torres and written by Tom Koch. Brook only told me the name of the book multiple times and my aged brain didn’t retain the info. But, that seems to be the likely suspect.

And the piece is great…I love seeing the paste-up work and the handwritten page number on the original art at the top. And the linework is so clean, as is the toning. This is a beautifully and expertly executed piece of illustration.

The hand “acting” is wonderful, with the fella digging into his pocket for change, and the messenger waiting for the tip to be placed in his hand:


And oh, that messenger’s face — perfection:


And yes, that is a little “a. torres” signature newly added to the piece at the bottom there, between those wonderful pairs of shoes. What a great art piece this is. Thanks to Brook for letting me get my dirty hands and even dirtier blog all over it.

No Bat-Mite yet.

§ August 7th, 2024 § Filed under batman, cartoons, television § 9 Comments


So there’s a new Batman cartoon, showing on Amazon Prime instead of Max for reasons that I’m sure make sense to Warner Brothers (I’m guessing $$$). Regardless of its streaming home, the series is a lot of fun, moody and exciting and well-acted.

In this age of Too Much TV, it’s nice that series have scaled back their season lengths, and Batman Caped Crusader‘s first (and hopefully not last) season runs a tight ten episodes.

It’s a period piece, set in the 1940s-ish, and as a result sometimes the cityscapes don’t look all that much different from those in the 1990s Batman: The Animated Series, with its “timeless” retro-setting with occasional modern tech. Producer Bruce Timm was involved with both iterations, so there are some “DC Animated Universe” house style similarities, but Caped Crusader is a little more free with a variety of ethnicities and body shapes.

Batman himself resembles the earliest incarnations of the character, all grey and back with smaller black gloves. Alfred isn’t the familiar slim interpretation but rather the plus-size version from the Golden Age. However, characters from comics published in later years appear in the cast, such as Barbara Gordon (first appearing in the 1960s), Harvey Bullock (the ’70s) and Flass (the ’80s).

Interestingly, at least in the earlier episodes (I’ve only watched the first eight thus far) Batman’s attitude toward Alfred is…not quite the familial one we know. It’s more “master to servant,” Batman being more blunt with his commands and referring to Alfred by his last name “Pennyworth.” There is a moment in one episode where Alfred appears down for the count, and Batman, believing him to be dead or nearly so, declares “I can’t do this without you!” Whether that’s out of love for the person who was essentially his surrogate father, or or a more practical “I need you for my crimefighting support team!” is at least a little ambiguous.

There is a throughline in these episodes that appears to be leading to the introduction of a major Batman villain. Not the Joker, who thankfully hasn’t shown up in the episodes I’ve seen (despite a related character doing so). The Joker, like the Daleks in Doctor Who, can very easily overstay his welcome, though I feel this cartoon might give us an interesting interpretation of him. Depends on how interesting a job they do on the villain they are going to present at the end of the season. Presumably. Haven’t seen that episode yet.

Anyway, it’s a good program, slightly edgier than its Bat-cartoon predecessors. Not like the animated Harley Quinn-levels, but the language is just a tad saltier. Worth a watch, and at only ten half-hour episodes, it won’t take too much time for you to get through…says the guy who hasn’t watched the last two episodes yet.

“Presenting Miracleman by The Original Writer, and The Writer After That.”

§ August 5th, 2024 § Filed under miraclemarvelman, publishing § 10 Comments

I want to address a matter that’s been at the back of my mind. One that was spurred on by some unexpected shopping patterns at my store.

Over the last few days I’ve seen an uptick in sales on work by Neil Gaiman, graphic novels and comics and such. And the reason this surprises me is that, well, Mr. Gaiman is in some hot water at the moment. And frankly, it doesn’t look good.

Now, it’s possible folks haven’t heard about what’s been going on. Which is fair, a number of people restrict their interactions with comics to “buying comics” and don’t, say, pursue that interest via online news or whathaveyou.

It’s also possible that they have heard, and are buying the books out of some solidarity with Gaiman, showing him support in his time of need.

Or that they heard and don’t care one way or the other. He’s just a name on a spine or in a credit box, and that’s it. No particular attachment one way or the other.

Whatever the reason, and I am sure there are more nuanced ones that those options, nevertheless I saw more sales on his books than I’ve seen in a bit.

Thinking to a comparable circumstance, Warren Ellis‘ work I haven’t seen any interest in lately. I had a person picking up Transmetropolitan trades about the time news broke about him, but that was pretty much it, despite DC and other publishers keeping his work available for order.

And I get the occasional request for back issues of Joss Whedon‘s Astonishing X-Men. Marvel also has collections of this title either available or soon to be.

Which has me wondering, if/when Gaiman is found to be guilty of any or all accusations, what happens to his published work?

Look, I know all things considered, this is the least important part of the equation. Women getting their stories heard and everyone, including Gaiman, getting their day in court is top priority. “Publishing funnybooks” is the last thing anyone’s worrying about.

But I’m still curious. DC Comics has put a lot…I mean, a lot…into Gaiman’s Sandman. I presume that’s still a solid seller for them, in its multitude of formats. Plus, there’s a high profile TV show based on it, about to launch a second season, in which Gaiman himself was heavily involved. So there’s some real money at stake here.

Is Netflix going to pull Sandman off its service? Unlikely. Will it get a third season? Frankly, given that it’s Netflix, I’m surprised it got a second season, so if it were not renewed, that wouldn’t be a huge shock, and it may only likely be partially related to Gaiman’s conduct.

Just as it seems unlike DC will drop Sandman from its graphic novel backlist or any current or future projects. I expect both in DC’s case and the TV show’s case, if the Gaiman thing goes even more south than it already has, we’ll see a lot less “FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF…” blurbs in relation to him. Stuff will stay in print, like Ellis’ and Whedon’s, but without the huge “ANOTHER MASTERPIECE BY THIS GREAT WRITER” in the solicit copy.

I can see them as pushing the Sandman and related characters as being, well, “bigger” than the man who created them. Emphasizing other writers and artists who work on the material, new and old. Yes, Gaiman will likely still get checks, but aside from a tiny “created by” blurb inside you’ll never know he was ever involved. They’ll be “DC Comics Characters” more than “Neil Gaiman’s Characters.” Much like how Astonishing X-Men is an X-Men Story, not a Joss Whedon story.

And then there’s Miracleman.

Miracleman, with all its publishing and ownership travails, finally, finally continuing its story over the last year or so after a 30-something year interim, with Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham back at the helm.

It’s been noted before that Miracleman comics coming back haven’t been that big of a deal in today’s market, for varied reasons as “culture has moved on” and “Marvel really futzed it up.” Frankly the only sales pitch the series had for modern audiences was, and no slight meant to Mr. Buckingham, “Here Is A Comic Book Written by Neil Gaiman.”

Well, there goes that, probably.

There’s still a final chapter/mini-series pending, and I lay pretty good odds that it’s going to be drawn and written by Mark Buckingham. He’s already been listed as “co-writer” so I suspect that “co-” dropping off in short order. Maybe with an “additional material by NG” if necessary.

Given the DC Universe Rebirth-esque reveal at the end of this Timeless one-shot, it’s pretty safe to say Marvel’s anxious to get Marvelman (as distinct from Miracleman) into the Marvel Universe proper. As such, with controversy a-brewin’, Miracleman: The Dark Age may be pushed through a little more quickly than expected, so Marvel can get that behind them and into laying groundwork in their comics for that Marvelman movie someday.

Or they’ll just quash it entirely…”indefinite postponement” and all that. Who knows.

Outside of the unique Miracleman situation, I suspect no matter what happens, DC and other publishers aren’t going to give up their cash cows. They might try to disguise the cows a bit, changing the brands on their sides so it’s less obvious they came from Gaiman’s farm, but they’ll keep milking them as long as they can.

Again, none of this is important, considering the situation. It’s just something that crossed my mind and thought I’d try to work out here. Suffice to say…this situation is so very disappointing and saddening.

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