A GIANT SINGLE-COLOR REMEDIAL RUBIK’S CUBE
Sluggo Saturday #111.
A GIANT SINGLE-COLOR REMEDIAL RUBIK’S CUBE
A GIANT SINGLE-COLOR REMEDIAL RUBIK’S CUBE
“I swear you two will drive me to an early trap!”
So I totally lied to you, as it turned out I did have the debut appearance of the Brat Finks:
…which just goes to show the vast Mikester Comic Archives is even more vast than I am aware of.
Also, just get a load of this guy:
You will never be this happy.
image from Fox and the Crow #94 (October-November 1965)
So just before Stanley and his Monster debuted in Fox and the Crow #95…
…the Brat Finks were already there, beating Stanley and said monster by one issue:
Okay, that panel actually is from #95, and not their first appearance, but I was collecting SAHM stories, not Brat Finks stories, so I don’t have #94 in the Vast Mikester Comic Archives.
…Mostly I’m just posting this here for the sheer 1960s-ness of the title “Brat Finks.” Also, for that one Brat Fink wielding the axe:
Out of context like that, we’re just one brief leap away from a funny animal EC horror comic. Tales from the Habitrail, with your host The Old Hamster Wheel Keeper.
…Sorry, gang, I think Christmas is getting to me.
image from Fox and the Crow #95 (December 1965/January 1966)
I don’t know why I’m fascinated with the existence of Spanner’s Galaxy…
…other than being a fun oddball superhero sci-fi mini-series published by DC in the mid-1980s. There were a fair number of these from DC at the time, like Atari Force (nominally a tie-in to the video game company, but ended up being an imaginative and exciting adventure series beautifully drawn by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Eduardo Barreto) and Sun Devils (Dan Jurgens’ space opera, characters from which appeared in later Superman comics, if I remember correctly).
No point to this really, other than a brief twinge of nostalgia for when DC would publish comics like these, not under a separate imprint like Vertigo or Helix, not as any kind of spin-off or tie-in to a superhero comic…just short runs of strange sci-fi or fantasy stories (or, rather superhero comics with sci-fi or fantasy trappings) that were here, told their stories, and were gone.
from Spanner’s Galaxy #1 (December 1984) by Nicola Cuti & Tom Mandrake
No post today.
…Yeah, I know, I suck. Sorry, it’s just been one of those weeks so far, and it’s only…about five minutes past midnight on Tuesday as I write this? Urgh.
Anyway, I am going to get to the New 52 comments eventually, I promise, and I’m working on other site content-type stuff, so I’m not going anywhere. But, you know…Christmastime abhors a vacuum, and my free time has been pretty much shot for the next day or three. I’ll be back up to speed eventually, but for the time being…please have some patience, and sorry for the lack of real, or at least coherent, content.
…Er, yeah. No post today. See you tomorrow, with any luck.
So I don’t even know why I do this to myself.
I suppose I should probably get around to discussing your responses to my inquiry about how folks feel regarding DC’s New 52 initiative. …Especially since, thanks to Jim, we’re up to 52 comments! Coincidence? …Nah.
I’m probably going to go through over the next day or so and respond more thoroughly to specific comments, but the first thing that I noticed was that a few people are not entirely thrilled with Action Comics thus far, citing plot or art concerns. And, I can understand that….
A PROGRESSIVE RUIN ACTION ALERT! Okay, I just deleted several rambling paragraphs about changes to the Superman franchise and how this new status quo may be interfering with Morrison’s storytelling, or at least reader interaction with same, and blah blah blah you can read what I already wrote about some of my disconnect with this New 52 Superman here. In essence, I think Morrison may have been better served picking up from where the previous Superman creative teams left off, and just telling crazy new stories with the franchise’s toys (like he did with his New X-Men run) without having to deal with these editorially-mandated alterations. Of course, “Superman’s New Costumes!” gets more real world media attention than “Mad Scottish Writer Takes Over Superman, Vows Revenge” so that probably wasn’t going to happen.
Anyway, a lot of what I wrote felt awfully dismissive of people’s reactions to the actual plotting and pacing of the stories, which I totally wasn’t intending to do, so out all that went. I do think there’d be less of a disconnect if it were stories about the Superman we knew and not the post-Flashpoint version, but that wouldn’t necessarily address any storytelling concerns folks might have. I mean, I like Morrison’s Action quite a bit, and it’s selling very well for us, but I can see where people might not be so into it. “‘Your mileage may vary,’ he clichéd.”
I do admit that I’m not sure I like how Jimmy Olsen is being drawn in Action. I prefer the “Representational Archie Andrews” version of the character.
Urgh. My struggling over even that bit of incoherent weblogging took up all my ProgRuin time tonight, and then some, so I’ll get to your specific comments and such tomorrow. Especially those terrible, terrible things being said about Swamp Thing.
…Yes, today’s post was bit of a carwreck. Please enjoy its flaming glory, and I’ll see you tomorrow.
It’s not a Sluggo Saturday post…
…but it’s Saturday, and it’s a link to a Nancy and Sluggo strip by Nikki Burch, sent to me by pal JP. …Enjoy!
That really is one of my favorite Superman covers.
We’ve lost some fine comics folks recently…Batman artist (and man credited with creating the Joker) Jerry Robinson, Captain America cocreator Joe Simon, and fine comic book and comic strip artist Eduardo Barreto. There’s a lot more to those folks than my too-brief intros above, so I suggest reading the linked articles. Or Google around.
In particular, whenever I think of Barreto, I immediately associate him with two things. One, I remember him as the guy who took over from Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez on Atari Force (and did a swell job, by the way); and two, I remember him as the artist, both covers and interiors, for this two-part Kryptonite Man story:
To this day, that Superman issue remains one of my favorite examples of a real attention-grabbing comic book cover.
So long, Jerry, Joe, and Ed…my condolences to their family, friends, and their fans.
In entirely unrelated news, I’ve been informed that there may again be a glitch in the RSS feed for this site, and new posts may not turn up as “new” in the feeds. If you’re not seeing new posts from me in your readers, unsubscribe then resubscribe and see if that fixes things. I’ll test things from my end over the next day or three and see what I can determine.
…If you’re not having problems getting new posts from my site in your feed, please disregard everything I just said. If you don’t read my site, you stink. So there.
The nose grew progressively less pointy as the years wore on.
Yeah, what about Classic Cliff Carmichael, personal nemesis to Ronnie (Firestorm) Raymond, and reboot-victim of DC Comics’ post-Flashpoint universe? Oh, sure, there’s still a Cliff Carmichael in the new Fury of Firestorm comic, but whither the attitude? Whither the pointy nose? Whither the amazing near-Asimovian sideburns? Nowhere, sez I. Well, maybe a little of the attitude, but still, without those sideburns…just not the same.
Speaking of the post-Flashpoint DCU, I still want to hear what you think about the New 52 so far, and if your opinions have changed on any of the titles in the three or so months we’ve been reading. Again, not sure if I’m going to have any kind of significant follow-up to all this feedback, but you’ve had some interesting things to say, and besides…doesn’t it feel good to get these feelings out? Sure it does.