You are currently browsing posts that matched "solomon grundy"

Naked except for the felt hat.

§ July 2nd, 2009 § Filed under archie, captain america, don't bother clicking on the tags since they don't really go anywhere yet, retailing Comments Off on Naked except for the felt hat.

Oh what in the Sam Hill is this?


This is from the Xena Warrior Princess parody in Betty and Veronica Double Digest #172, new this week. I’m assuming this story is a reprint. Surely Archie isn’t doing a Xena parody NOW. (Given that this is Archie we’re talking about, you can never be quite sure.)*

Anyway, drink in the Jughorse, who certainly takes his place in the ranks of Disturbing Archie Pictures, along with this.

Speaking of this week’s comics, I had a couple of variations of this discussion (which ties in what I’ve been going on about over the last couple of days):

Customer (looks at Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth #1): “So, is this a new Deadpool one-shot?”

Me: “No….”

Customer: “Oh, it’s another Deadpool mini-series?”

Me: “No, it’s the first issue in a new ongoing series.”

Customer: “So wait…Deadpool has two ongoing series now.”

Me: “Yup.”

Customer: (rolls eyes)

Some people bought, some people didn’t. But most people who commented on it demonstrated varying levels of disbelief.

Which, just as a tangent here, reminds me of something else that occurred to me today. our sales on the current version of the MAX-line Punisher and the sales on the created-pretty-much-just-to-tie-into-events Marvel Universe Punisher series together equal about what the MAX Punisher series on its own sold under Garth Ennis’s tenure. Of course, as it was pointed out to me, this is Garth Ennis writing the Punisher we’re talking about, so it may be a bit of an unfair comparison. But still, thought it was interesting to note.

Oh, and that Captain America: Reborn thing started this week, and while we did get our anticipated upsurge in interest from our regular clientele, Marvel’s hoped-for repeat of high demand from the general public for Cap’s death didn’t materialize. Which is why we don’t base our orders on the potential of media coverage, because 1) it may not happen, and 2) it may turn out nobody cares. I seem to recall talking a lot about this on the site around the time of Cap’s alleged death. Don’t really want to repeat myself, but I’m pretty sure you get the gist.

But our customers want it, and I got enough for them, and everyone’s happy. Looks okay, too, as these things go…I’m not really a Cap fan, and I can count the number of his comics I own on the fingers of one hand, if I use the hand with the extra pinky, so it’s not like I’m the target audience for this anyway. Hopefully the people who do read it enjoy it, and if it does generate some new Cap readership beyond the stunt aspects of this particular saga, even better.

Some good stuff that came out this week includes Muppet Robin Hood #2 (not the exercise in perfection that the Muppet Show comic is, but still amusing and well-drawn), Batman and Robin #2 (a streamlined machine of a comic, not a word or an image wasted and absolutely wonderful), Fantastic Four #568 (penultimate chapter of the Millar/Hitch run, with a guest-scripter over Millar’s plot…the build-up of what seems to be a truly menacing villain continues, though with one issue to go, I suspect the defeat will be relatively prosaic compared to what came before), Tales Designed to Thrizzle hardcover (the first four issues, now with the black and white bits in color, but still just as fantastic and funny), Prince Valiant Volume 1 (a new and gorgeous hardcover reprinting the Hal Foster original strips from 1937 and 1938), and Solomon Grundy #5 (sorry, my “Swamp Thing in the DCU” need is still not fulfilled, though this isn’t a bad read by any means).


In other news: well, I won’t bother with the bullet point formatting, this time, since I’m just sending you over to Doctor Strange fan Neilalien’s essay on what Marvel is doing with the character. Hint: he’s not terribly happy about it, and I can’t blame him.

* I suppose a quick Googling would resolve the query, but it’s not like I really care all that much.

The Progressive Ruin Questionnaire-Fest 2009, Part Six: The Undiscovered Country.

§ January 25th, 2009 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on The Progressive Ruin Questionnaire-Fest 2009, Part Six: The Undiscovered Country.

Okay, one last time answering your questions:

  • glmmrtwn asks

    “Hey Mike, did you ever do a post on that really weird DC Comics Presents issue where Superman teams up with the Swamp Thing (I think it was issue 12)? It was by Steve Englehart and Murphy Anderson and was pretty trippy. In continuity or not?”

    Hmmm…that was number 8 of DC Comics Presents, and I don’t think I ever really did much with it aside from including a few panels from that story at the end of this post. I don’t think there’s anything about the story that makes it explicitly non-continuity. Well, aside from the miscoloring of Swamp Thing’s word balloons and thought bubbles, but that hardly counts. It does feature the first meeting between Swampy and Solomon Grundy, which is sort of obliquely referenced when the two characters meet again in Swamp Thing (second series) #67, where they greet each other as old acquaintances. Since DCCP #8 is the only (“on-screen”) prior meeting of the characters, I suppose it’s still continuity.

    On a related note, when Swamp Thing encounters Deadman in Swamp Thing Annual #2, Deadman refers to having encountered Swampy before…which we only saw in the Challengers of the Unknown comics that guest-starred them both. Of course, it’s vague enough that the two characters could have “met” under as-yet-unrevealed circumstances, and not specifically those Challs issues, the canonicity of which remains vague given the Swamp Thing storyline contained therein spins off from issues of the first series explicitly deemed non-continuity by DC editorial.

    Wow, you never really know just how much nerdity you’ve got welling up within you until it all just spills out like that.

  • John Parker wants to know

    “What’s the first comic you remember reading?”

    That’s a very good question, and I think I tried to pin it down before on this site, though I can’t find the exact post at the moment. I remember some Donald Duck, some Pink Panther, some Teen Titans, all from about the early/mid ’70s…like, ’74, ’75. I didn’t really become interested in following comics on a regular basis until the Star Wars comic book launched in ’77, which hooked me in well and good.

    Unfortunately, I can’t remember the exact comic that was my first. My hunch is that it was a Disney comic, since I read a lot of those as a young Mikester. I have very clear early memories of looking at panels with Gyro Gearloose’ helper Helper and wondering what was up with that guy. Those would be my earliest memories of comics.

  • Fnord Serious has some questions for me:

    “What is your favorite dead multi-book superhero universe (New Universe, Charlton, Shadowline, Ultraverse, etc) ? I am partial to the Marvel 2099 books myself. If you could bring said universe back, would you like a continuation of the previous continuity, a reboot (like the !mpact revival of the Archie/MLJ heroes), or integration into a preexisting universe as with the Milestone characters currently being brought into the DCU?”

    I think my favorite was the Jim Shooter-era Valiant comics. I liked nearly all the books, they meshed together well, and when taken together formed an interesting and certainly quirky shared universe. If it were to return, I’d prefer a continuation of the previous continuity, since in this specific case we did see a rebooted continuity supplanting that Shooter-era, and it didn’t really do anything for me.

    “I always enjoy your tales of the history of comics retail. I particularly enjoyed your observations on the 90’s crash. As a comics buyer I never thought it had started as far back as Turok #1. More of those posts are always welcome.”

    This is one of those times when I wished I had tags on my posts, because a “market crash” tag would be very useful right now to send you all to my previous writings on this topic.

    In the meantime, though, here are more links to my writings about the crash than you could ever possibly want: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

    Not sure what else I’d have to say about it, but stay tuned…you never know when I’ll be inspired.

    “Anything to say about Doctor Who? I never got into it as a kid, but Mrs. Serious & I have enjoyed watching the recent revival on DVD.”

    I wrote quite a bit on the topic about a year ago, and my thoughts on the topic haven’t changed much since then. Curious about how the new Doctor will be, but that’s still a ways off yet. And I’m still renting the occasional old Who serial from Netflix.

  • Dan Wars demands

    “So how many comic books do you have, anyway?”

    I was actually asked this in one of my previous Q&A sessions. I said about 20,000 then, so…lessee, about 8 new comics a week…let’s say another 1,000 added to that.

  • Employee Aaron tempts fate by asking

    “What kind of vampire would you be?”

    The firin’ kind.

  • Anonymous puzzles me with

    “How many ways can you show us how to solve ‘Zzzax Mmmaze’ using edited scans from 1980’s issue #12 of Marvel FUN AND GAMES MAGAZINE?”

    Er…I suppose any number of ways, if I’m using edited scans. I can remove all the lines of the maze, I can Photoshop (poorly) a bridge stretching from the Start to the Finish…that sort of thing.

    “And can you do it better than your (currently active) comics blogger friends on a meme?”

    I don’t know…that Dave runs a mean Photoshop. I wouldn’t want to challenge him to a combination scanning/rap contest.

  • Anonymous asks

    “Do you believe that old Swamp Thing comics can forsee and prevent disasters in the future? Like say, THIS ONE predicting THIS?

    Embrace the undeniable wisdom of SWAMP THING comics.

    EMBRACE IT!”

    Dude, you don’t need to tell me twice. As soon as Swamp Thing starts giving me lottery numbers and horse race results, I’ll be totally set!

  • Billy inquires

    “Can you comment on the first part of this piece?
    http://www.comicbookresources.co…rticle& id=19650

    Specifically, are Marvel titles really the only reason folks go to comics stores?”

    Well, no, but Marvel and DC do drive the weekly comics sales event, so missing one or the other would be bad news all around.

  • Okay, now for a couple of questions that popped up in the comments sections for my answers posts…like these few from Flossin:

    “-I know this blog doesn’t really deal with Marvel stuff (and I can see why) but here’s a question: Since everybody is sick of Wolverine and the fact that he’s everywhere, what do you think would make him ‘cool’ again for the people that got sick of him when he started being overexposed and overrated?”

    i do deal with Marvel stuff from time to time…I’m more of a DC guy, but I don’t have anything against the characters living at the House of Ideas. Well, aside from Night Thrasher. That name, man, I swear.

    As to your Wolverine question…well, the answer is in your inquiry. When you only saw Wolverine once a month in Uncanny X-Men, the character’s mystique and uniqueness stood out. Now that he’s “overexposed,” as you say, the novelty’s worn off. Cutting back his appearances could go a long way to restoring some of that novelty…though the train may have totally left that station as the character has practically no mystery left.

    “Did you ever in your life wore clown make-up and/or costume?”

    I did wear white face make-up during my brief participation in one of those Haunted House tours that set up at the fairgrounds once a year. I wasn’t a clown, though…I was some kind of…evil cave-dweller or some darn thing. I don’t know.

    “Do you like Madcap?”

    I liked this one ish of She-Hulk well enough, I guess.

    “When will the fourth issue of ‘Ultimate Hulk vs Wolverine’ be out?”

    You’ll have to ask my eventual grandchildren for the answer to that.

  • Nate wants to know

    “Power Pack, great super team or greatest super team?”

    I suspect this question may be biased.

  • Dwayne “the canoe guy” asks

    “One last question: What if, somehow, Jonah Hex got absorbed into Swamp Thing? Would a bounty hunting plant elemental be the most bad-ass thing ever or the biggest joke ever seen?”

    While a Swamp Thing bounty hunter would be cool, I don’t know that simply absorbing Hex’s body would be enough to give Swampy the gunslingin’ skills. Though that’d be a useful ability. “Hey…I need…piano playing…abilities.” (absorbs Franz Liszt) (Swampy starts tickling ivories)

And (phew) I’m more or less done. Thank you for putting up with this past week of question-answering, and especially thank you for the kinds words and continuing patronage of this site.

Tomorrow: fewer italicized words!

My fanboyishness is showing.

§ January 11th, 2009 § Filed under Uncategorized § 1 Comment

I keep getting e-mails (and at least one comment!) about this interview with DC Comics’ Dan DiDio. In particular, this bit of business discussing the impending Solomon Grundy series:

“People will ask, ‘Where’s Swamp Thing in the DCU?’ and one of the things that we thought we could do with Solomon Grundy that can be interesting, that can be part of the DCU, and maybe fill that need that people are looking for in a more brute-like character such as Swamp Thing. I’m not saying, mind you, that Solomon Grundy will be like Swamp Thing in this miniseries, but that he’s a type of character that’s similar to Swamp Thing.”

Huh.

Whenever the topic’s come up before regarding Swamp Thing returning to the regular DC Universe from the mature-readers Vertigo imprint, the answer has generally been “Vertigo won’t let him go.” Which, I guess, is understandable, since Swamp Thing is one of the most well-known properties in under Vertigo’s umbrella, though perhaps more for the movies than for any of the comics.

So what appears to be said here is that what the audience is looking for is that niche of…well, let’s set aside the description of “brute-like” since that’s bit of an oversimplification of Swamp Thing’s appeal. Let’s go with the “man trapped in a monster’s body” niche, since that appears to be the direction they’re going in, based on that Faces of Evil: Grundy comic that came out last Wednesday. Anyway, so DiDio’s saying that what the audience wants is that niche filled, and since they can’t get Swamp Thing, Solomon Grundy will do.

And I can see what he’s saying. You’ve got the man stuck in a monster’s body, you’ve got the (sorta) fresh take on the regular DCU as seen though the horror genre filter, and you’ve got a character that’s still firmly in the DCU, and not co-opted by the mature-readers imprint.

But I think the premise established here is wrong. I don’t think the people who want Swamp Thing back in the DCU so that particular character type is present in the shared superhero universe. I think it’s simply because they* like Swamp Thing, and would like to see the character again. Not a similar character, but that specific character. And, if I can explain my personal reasoning, the last couple of Vertigo Swamp Thing series didn’t last very long, and maybe getting the character back in the DCU may help in generating some fresh interest in the character with, you know, crossovers and such. Yes, I want my Swamp Thing versus the Teen Titans comic…what of it?

Not saying I wouldn’t enjoy a good Solomon Grundy comic, though I was a tad annoyed that the Faces of Evil one-shot didn’t have an ending, but a lead-in to the forthcoming series. I still liked it well enough.

But it ain’t no Swamp Thing.

* And by “they” I primarily mean me and Rich.

Can you tell that I really didn’t have anything ready for today’s post?

§ October 28th, 2008 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Can you tell that I really didn’t have anything ready for today’s post?

  • I’ve not been in a Halloweenish mood this year, as I’ve mentioned previously, and I’m afraid that’s getting reflected on my site with a lack of spooky posts and scary scans. (Though I think yesterday’s YouTube link qualifies!) I have been trying to do banners that sorta fit into a Halloweeny theme, which is one of the reasons why I haven’t yet switched over to the random banner rotator that I’ve been promising for months now.

    A couple of my blogging brethren have been picking up the slack, however: Dr. K has been doing his Halloween countdown (don’t miss his great Solomon Grundy costume!), and as I’ve noted before, Armagideontime is doing a Halloween countdown as well, complete with MP3s.

    And I’d be remiss if I didn’t point you in the direction of Plastic Pumpkins‘ celebration of all things All Hallows Eve-ish.

  • Speaking of Dr. K, he recently received a letter from a mother who wants to answer her 4 year old son’s questions about Spider-Man and Superman, and Dr. K gives her the lowdown.
  • Big Bad BeaucoupKevin draws a comparison between Grant Morrison and David Mamet, and discusses storytelling in the comics medium. Good, interesting reading.
  • And since Kevin brought it up in that post:

    Really, Marvel. Rulk. That’s what you’re calling the Red Hulk.

    That’s dumb. And given that this comic is profoundly stupid, that’s saying something.

    I’m not saying I don’t like the new Hulk series, mind you…it’s big, loud and stupid in a way that I’m generally enjoying, even if I agree with Kevin’s particular criticisms of this book. It ain’t high art, it ain’t deep, but it’s nicely drawn and kinda fun in a dumb action movie sort of way.

    But I’m totally drawing the line at calling the character “Rulk.” You folks stop that right now.

  • So I was thinking about a comic which would have a lead Catwoman story by Chuck Dixon and Jim Balent, and a back-up story starring the Ted Kord Blue Beetle, and it would be called Here You F’n Go. Pal Dorian suggested that every story begin with a shot of Spoiler’s memorial in the Batcave, and that there be pages with blank word balloons and a note for readers to “write in your own dialogue, since you, the fans, are clearly better at it then those of us who are paid to do this.” Dor’s title: Quit Your F’n Bitching.

    Of course, we realized this thing wouldn’t even sell Street Poet Ray numbers, since its target audience probably accounts for 0.001% of comic sales. But that didn’t stop us from having some shrivel-hearted, mean-spirited fun.

  • Yes, I was trying to avoid using the word “fuck.” I run a clean blog, here.
  • I also realize the irony of putting that bit of business right after my “Rulk is a stupid name” post, thank you.
  • Do you people even remember Street Poet Ray? Just kind of curious. How many of you have ever actually seen a copy of it? (Would you like to buy some from us? I’ll make you a swell deal.) Here’s a blog entry from a chap at Marvel discussing this publishing misstep.
  • You know, now that DC’s started the “triangle number” system of keeping the multiple Superman comics in order again, they’re not going to get me to buy the Supergirl book, too, since they’ll be slapping that triangle on that book, too. I’m not going to buy Supergirl just to keep the triangle number run complete. I’m not. I’m not.

    I probably am. I hate myself.

  • We’re getting in those McCain: The Comic Book and Obama: The Comic Book titles from Antarctic Press this Wednesday, so we’ve pretty much got a week to sell them. To be honest, that’s a week more than I was expecting since I thought for sure they’d be out after the election.

    As for the IDW biographies of the candidates we received a few weeks ago…we sold out of Obama, have a couple remaining of McCain, and a couple remaining of the flip book. COMIC SHOPS: HOTBEDS OF LIBERALISM.

    Seriously, though, I thought J. Scott Campbell did a knockout job on the covers for those IDW books, which really helped sell them at our shop. Good caricatures, and the candidates’ superheroic poses in front of the flag was perfect.

  • Somehow I missed that IDW actually registered presidentialcomics.com to advertise these books. Might be a dry spell on that site, though, for the next three years or so until the 2012 election gets going.
  • So, how many Halloween-themed books will we see arriving the first week of November? There’s always one or two!

"…Get professional help if you enjoy it yourself."

§ February 13th, 2007 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on "…Get professional help if you enjoy it yourself."

In the wake of the announcement of a director for the film adaptation of Frank Miller’s Ronin, I thought I’d pop over to Amazon.com to check out some reader reviews for this graphic novel. Alas, I only found one really good one:

“dangerous to kids, May 14, 2001
Reviewer: A reader
Miller’s works might not be deliberately designed to inspire boys to go on a vigilante killing spree, but since they have no other themes than making such things look cool to teenagers one wonders what else they could be for. In Ronin, his worst offense, he somehow manages to mix his usual themes with ethnic tokenism and other absurd forms of political correctness. Don’t show this stuff to your children, and get professional help if you enjoy it yourself.”

If I’m remembering correctly, it got some mixed reviews in the fan press at the time. I don’t have the quote right in front of me, but I believe it was Gary Groth who said that Ronin was better than 90% of the comics on the market…but it was still crap. I thought it was pretty good, myself, which means I’d getter get some of that professional help that Amazon reviewer recommended. (Though some of you probably already think that I should get help, given my continuing defense of Miller’s All-Star Batman. You all may laugh at me now…but you’ll be sorry someday! You’ll see!)

Anyway, in other news:

Former Swamp Thing artist Steve Bissette is featured in a DVD extra for the film Head Trauma (reviewed here)…he and his son provided artwork for a Jack Chick-style religious tract used in the film. Also, Bissette has announced (in the middle of this lengthy post) that he has some new comic book work coming out this year.

GlyphJockey has Sparkler #91 up for your enjoyment, as well as a selection of random panels from that issue (some repurposed into computer wallpaper) for your delight and edification.

Booksteve has some Bob Oksner ladies on display, along with a period article about the artist.

I realize there’s no shortage of ’em, but Tim O’Neil finds yet another stupid thing about that Civil War series.

Speaking of Civil War, Spencer is having a “Make Your Own ‘Get Your Civil War On'” contest…so warm up your “cracking wise” muscles and get started.

Missed it, but thanks to P-Tor I’ve seen the glory: what if Billy Batson’s magic words were “ALAN MOORE!” It’d be fantastic, that’s what.

And, for no good reason, here are Solomon Grundy and off-model, one-armed Swamp Thing fighting Superman:

from DC Comics Presents #8 (April 1979) by Steve Englehart & Murphy Anderson

Newer Entries »