Page 233 – Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin

Then again…KOREA.

March 12, 2012March 12, 2012 filed under what is it good for 9 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

…okay, now I’m done.

Jean (Moebius) Giraud (1938 – 2012).

March 11, 2012March 11, 2012 filed under obituary 1 Comment

I’d been aware of the work of Moebius before coming across The Incal as it was being serialized in Heavy Metal back in the early ’80s…but there was something about the art, the weird things happening in the story, the nearly dreamlike quality of the whole endeavor, that grabbed my attention.

For whatever reason, I didn’t get all the chapters as they were serialized, but a few years later I certainly snapped up the three volume Incal series Marvel published. Finally getting the whole story together…well, didn’t make things any more clear, but it’s still beautiful and interesting and just plain strange. And that’s fine with me.

Thanks, Moebius, for this and your other wonderful works.

(Here is the L.A. Times obituary, which is a lot more eloquent than I am. EDIT: And here is a much more thorough obituary from Tom Spurgeon.)

Peter Bergman (1939 – 2012).

March 10, 2012 filed under obituary 6 Comments

Peter Bergman (pictured on the right), one of the four or five guys from the Firesign Theatre, passed away Friday morning.

The Firesign Theatre site has a memorial page that you can visit right here.

You were a funny guy, Mr. Bergman. Thank you for all the entertainment and laughs you’ve provided over the years, and I, along with all your family and friends and fans, are grateful that you’ll continue to live on in the work you’ve left behind.

So long, Peter.

This is terrible.

March 11, 2012March 9, 2012 filed under harvey 13 Comments

from Little Lotta #115 (May 1975)

And now, one of the greatest openings for a letter of comment in a Superman comic, ever.

March 8, 2012March 8, 2012 filed under everyone's going to hate me, letters of comment, superman 11 Comments

…The writer goes on to say that, since the Phantom Zone villains can see everything that goes on in the material world and therefore they should know Superman is Clark Kent, why wouldn’t they pass that info on, somehow, to another Earth-bound villain who could wreak some havoc on the Man of Steel.

Which of course brings up the fact that the Phantom Zone villains, while trapped unseen in that other dimension, could see into the real world, and why they wouldn’t, say, hang around Lois Lane’s boudoir and later taunt Superman with that knowledge. “HA HA we saw your girlfriend naked!” “Why, you…SHUT UP, YOU VILLAINS!” “HA HA look he’s all mad!”

I figure Superman probably walked around with some low level of paranoia dogging his every action, wondering if, while he’s using the restroom, or digging for some super-boogers, there’s Jax-Ur, hovering invisibly in a ghostly world, staring directly at him, observing everything and smirking all the while.

letter from Superman #211 (November 1968)…also, the editorial response was that the PZ villains did try, but “the crook just went to a psychiatrist and complained of hearing voices in his head, saying the most ridiculous things!”

A really realistic reaction would have been Fred killing passerby, smashing things with a club, and possibly soiling himself.

March 7, 2012 filed under advertising, cartoons, charlton 12 Comments

So the Great Gazoo is, well, showing off to Fred and Barney about how he knows what life is going to be like in the future of the Flinstoneverse. Well, yes, we all know that the Flintsoneverse eventually evolves into, and crosses over with, the Jetsonverse, and that at some point the Flintstones and the Rubbles travel through time to visit the 1964 World’s Fair, so Fred and Barney should be no strangers to time travel. But when Gazoo offers them a peek into tomorrow, Barney chickens out and settles for asking Fred to get him a present:

Or perhaps Barney didn’t trust that rickety ol’ time travel machine. Or Barney recalls those other time travel adventures and figures enough’s enough…assuming this story takes place after those stories, and that anyone remembers anything about whatever time travel adventures they did have…man, I don’t know. Time travel is complicated.

Anyway, Fred and the Great Gazoo zip into the 20th century, and Fred sees things like airplanes and cars and boats and supermarkets and dancing and other things I’m pretty sure existed back in Fred’s time, only not quite as dinosaur and / or foot-powered. However, I find Fred’s reaction to this particular future invention to be somewhat realistic:

And then Fred wonders about this other modern innovation:

Well, despite the fact that Fred obviously didn’t care for all that smoke, when it came time to pick a little gift to bring back to the past and share with Barney, guess what Fred chose?

Hmmm…that’s not quite the attitude Fred and Barney had about smoking early on!

Of course, modern days smokes are probably a little more potent, and likely too overwhelming for caveman lungs. You may want to consult a scientist for further information about this topic…the topic, of course, being smoking cavemen, time-traveling aliens, and, um, man and dinosaurs coexisting, which really doesn’t come up in this story, but let’s face it, that needs some explaining.

images from The Great Gazoo #2 (October 1973)

Frankly, if I were Kim Luc, I’d still tell those jerks to go jump in a lake.

March 6, 2012 filed under justice league 14 Comments

Dude, whoa:

That’s a dick move right there. And that guy in the yellow shirt…just look at that smug bastard. Kim Luc should just pop him one.

Anyway, Superman happens to be flying by and, having overheard this meeting of the Junior John Birch Society, decides to step in:

And I guess everyone’s learned their lesson, and fast, because sometime between that first scene and Superman finishing his gentle admonishment of these misguided children, “JLA FAN CLUB” was hastily scrawled on Kim Luc’s shirt.

And yes, Red Tornado is colored yellow. I don’t know, maybe Superman’s telling it wrong and the kids somehow now think a character with “red” in his name is mostly yellow. Also, not revealed by Superman? Every member of the Justice League? Totally Communist. Oh no! An ironic comeuppance for those three character members of the JLA Fan Club from Anytown, U.S.A.

This is from The Secret Origin of the Justice League of America mini-comic that came packaged with some toy or ‘nother in the 1980s…you can read more about it here.

BONUS: Clark uses the term “nowheresville.”

March 5, 2012March 5, 2012 filed under superman 13 Comments

So a kid brings in some sample comic strips to get a job at the Daily Planet, and Clark (Superman) Kent quickly determines that the art school that encouraged the kid may be perpetrating a scam:

First, Clark calling the kid “no-talent” seems kind of harsh for Superman, even in his disguise as a mild-mannered reporter. Of course, he’s not calling the kid no-talent to his face or anything, but still. And frankly, the art’s not that bad…clearly Clark hasn’t read some of the black-and-white boom books from the 1980s. Granted, it’s about 20 years too early, but Clark obviously has no idea how good the cartooning world has it.

Anyway, Clark decides to investigate the art school by applying to it himself:

Good gravy, Clark, get it together. …And frankly, I find myself troubled by the idea of a Superman who isn’t super-ambidextrous.

So the art school takes him in, and, via various plot hoohars, finds himself put to work forging famous pieces of art. And because this is a Superman story, Superman travels back in time to learn the skills of the masters directly from the masters themselves. And, on one trip, where exposure to certain energies during his time travel turns Superman younger and, um, blue…well, just check this out:

Imagine if the face on that painting was just left blank. That would have baffled art historians forever. Or imagine Thomas Gainsborough actually being able to paint a normal-looking face despite having a blue-faced boy as a model, just like he was able to paint a frilly fancy-boy outfit based on a model wearing skintight circus strongman gear.

In the end, the forgery ring with the art school front is caught out and hauled up the river to do a dime in the graybar hotel, and there’s even a happy ending for that kid about whom even Superman basically thought “don’t give up your day job.”

THE UNSEEN IRONIC ENDING: dropping newspaper circulation and shrinking comic pages drive the kid into the more stable and lucrative business of art forgery. OH THE TRAGEDY

from Superman #211 (November 1968) by Frank Robbins, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito

Keeping it short today.

March 4, 2012March 4, 2012 filed under obituary, sir-links-a-lot 1 Comment

1. So it would appear to be that the mystery caricature on the cover of Spoof #3 is apparently Tom Jones, based on some of the images I’ve been sent, and the fact that the editor of the book, Roy Thomas, seems to think it’s him, too. Close enough for horseshoes, my friends.

And anyway, we ended up selling that copy of Spoof on Saturday. The mystery was exchanged for about seven bucks.

2. Lost a couple of big names from the comics/sci-fi world just recently: Golden Age great Sheldon Moldoff, and the man who gave Star Wars its look, artist Ralph McQuarrie. My condolences to their families and friends.

3. Pal Dave gives you the latest installment of This Used to Be The Future…funnybook sci-fi, 1960s-style!

4. Pals Dorian and Ken unleash another installment of In A World, their monthly review of the newest movie trailers. This is one of my favorite things. Also [SPOILER] The Lorax appears to be an unholy abomination.