Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin
Putting the bomp in the bomp-bah-bomp-bah-bomp since 1969
So, those odd x-ray superhero t-shirts in the current Diamond Previews, as featured in the latest installment of The End of Civilization?
So I’m still looking for your opinions on the New DC titles now that we’re a few months in and can see how everything’s shaking out at this point. I’m sure in a day or two I’ll get around to doing some kind of meta-analysis of your responses…or more likely, I’ll just directly respond to some of your comments in my trademark “writing a post for a weblog” fashion. At any rate, I’m enjoying what you’re having to say, and I look forward to more responses.
In the meantime, let’s do some linky-linky:
So we’re three issues deep on the New 52 DC titles (and onto the fourth issue for the first-weekers), and we’ve now seen how sales are shaking out for the various series. Justice League, Action Comics, Batman and Detective seem to be the big winners, at least at our shop. Animal Man and Swamp Thing were the surprise hits…and not just at our shop, so you can’t blame the Sterling Factor for the Swampy sales. (“Hey, did you get the new Swamp Thing?” “Nah, wasn’t interested.” “You should really buy it.” “I said I wasn’t….” “I’m putting it in your bag…you’re BUYING IT.”)
But now that we’re a little over three months in…how are you, as readers, liking the titles? Did some start strong for you, then sort of peter out? Or did some grab you right away and then just sort of meander their way out of your hearts and pull lists? Or did some just plain hit the spot right out of the gate, and continue to satisfy month in and month out?
In my case, I thought Justice League started weakly, but improved a bit with subsequent installments. Granted, I don’t know that we needed a “watch the team slowly assemble over several months” storyline, but it’s been enjoyable, and Wonder Woman’s introduction in #3 was a hoot.
Fury of Firestorm didn’t do anything for me at first, which may have more to do with my reaction as a longtime fan to the drastic rearranging of the character’s premise than any particular “flaw” in the book. As more issues have come out, I’m come to appreciate and enjoy the series, though my fanboy jury is still out in regards to the All-New, All-Different Cliff Carmichael.
The other book I didn’t much care for at first is Superman, which, as I noted at the time, was more exposition-dump than story, and more interesting than, you know, entertaining. And that interest stemmed from curiosity about how the New 52-version of Superman differed from the Supes we knew before…I mean, aside from the terrible costume. Again, as more issues have come out, things have improved slightly and the direction of the story is a little more clear. However, I still can’t shake the feeling that we’re not reading stories about the real Superman, but rather some Elseworlds/parallel universe version, which, I suppose, we are, in a way. (And perhaps it seems even more removed to those folks who think the mid-’80s reboot Superman is an imposter.)
Swamp Thing I am still enjoying, naturally, though I do wish a bit that they’d swamp or get off the pot already and get Alec Holland back into Swamp Thing-form. Yes, I know, they’re leading up to it…I’m just being impatient.
That was probably the worst thing I had to say about the New 52 books I’m following…the ones I didn’t care for I dropped right away (Mister Terrific – just didn’t like the writing or art; Justice League International – nothing about it really grabbed me). So, overall, aside from those two, the New 52 titles I started with in September I’ve either continued to enjoy or have moved from “eh” to “okay, I’m enjoying it now” – in the latter case either the books actually have improved or my taste is declining, and there are solid arguments for both possibilities.
Just for the record, here are the New 52 titles I’m reading: Action, Animal Man, Aquaman, Batgirl, Batwoman, DC Universe Presents, Demon Knights, Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Fury of Firestorm, Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: New Guardians, Justice League, Justice League Dark, O.M.A.C., Red Lanterns, Superman, and Swamp Thing. …Gee, looks like a lot when I write ’em out like that. Also, for someone who sure complains about multiple titles for the same franchise, I sure do read a lot of Green Lantern series.
Anyway, please let me know in the comments…how are you feeling about the new DC books you’re reading thus far? Have they improved? Have you dropped any? Have any surprised you? Isn’t O.M.A.C. the greatest? GIVE ME INPUT.
That’s a terrible come-on. Especially since I first read it as “sit on dynamite,” which, I’m sure, can only be taken as a positive statement in very specific circumstances:
And, please, friends, if you can…close your eyes and picture in your mind the magnificent beauty of that Fonz design on a bright orange t-shirt. …You’re welcome.
Here, let’s balance things out a bit:
Yeah, I know, not much of a post. But I did find out there’s a kesselrun.com which is, well, just a pic of the Millennium Falcon, unless there’s some kind of crazy Flash/Javascript/whatever thing also on the site that I’m not letting my browser run. And yes, “parsec” wasn’t used correctly in the original quote from the first Star Wars movie, but Wookieepedia is on it with an explanation of the helpful retcon one of the tie-in novels dropped in regarding that.
So here’s a thing I didn’t know existed until it turned up in these boxes of another store’s stock we recently acquired:
And then, keeping with the overall theme of nakedness on most of the cards, the endgame is as follows:
“Once the points have been added up it must be established how many articles of clothing each opponent must remove. Each player must remove as many articles of clothing as the difference between the points he or she has scored and those scored by the winner.
“It’s up to you to decide how far you want to go to establish when the game ends and if you want to play another game.”
Er, yeah. So much for playing this at the family Christmas gathering, I guess.
It’s a nice looking game, at least…the cards are attractive, with some well-chosen imagery. Not just of naked gals, as I said, but there is the occasional naughty nun, so your mileage may vary. And here is the card back:
So I’ve been doing this for the equivalent of two U.S. Presidential terms. …Can I start the lucrative speaking tours yet? Maybe get a library named after me, at least?
I’ve said it before, and I’m going to say it again, but…I am still surprised every day that this goofy website of mine has any readership beyond a handful of pals. So, my most sincere thanks to all of you. Thank you for sticking with me for all this time and putting up with my nonsense and leaving comments and sending emails and generally reminding me that, despite my occasional low points and periods of frustration with the industry, I do love this art form.
Thanks also to my girlfriend Nora, who tolerates this behavior; to pal Dorian, who only barely tolerates me; to my parents, one of whom reads my site and the other uses my Amazon links; to Former Employee Aaron, whom I miss having around; to the other folks at the comic shop, most of whom haven’t made it onto the site yet, but maybe someday; to my fellow bloggers, some of whom are on this pretty well outdated links page…I’ll update it eventually; to The Bureau Chiefs, with whom I’ve done some funny stuff; and of course, to Comics Blogger #1, Neilalien, who may have retired from regular blogging, but still remains a singular inspiration.
Speaking of the Bureau Chiefs, this was the year that our book Write More Good, based on our popular Fake AP Stylebook Twitter feed, was released. AND NOW THE AMAZON LINK:
I also started occasionally using my Tumblr account this year, mostly revisting old posts with new commentary, or reposting amusing things from friends, or putting up brand new non-comics things that I found. (You can also still find me on the Twitter, on my barely-used Facebook, and on Estate 4.1, the worst Tumblr ever.)
Anyway, like I do every year, I indulge myself in a little backwards glance at some of my self-proclaimed notable posts from the last year. Please, look, enjoy, or be appalled:
DECEMBER 2010:
The terrifying 1960s animated Brainiac, why would Superman waste his valuable time doing this, the Bi-Onic and Possibly Slightly Communist Hand, those elitist superhero bastards versus Swamp Thing, the son of the artist of Supergirl panel showed up in the comments, I still think DC’s animated movie/TV logo is a bit odd, in which I apparently redid work already done in some book or ‘nother, I refuse to accept Minnie Mouse as a sexual being.
JANUARY 2011:
The 2011 Predictions round-up part a-one, a-two and a-three, this Star Trek recipes book is hilarious, my Hembeckian Sluggo drawing, can’t spell “Christmas” without “Pantsless Superman” you know, you have no idea how long I worked on this stupid gag, piecing together the story of how Superman totally killed a dude, pretty sure we’re within spitting distance of the end of the sales-boosting death, God I love Adam West Batman.
FEBRUARY 2011:
Swamp Thing chatting with his animal pals, my last button from Former Employee Aaron, this post about ’90s superhero art has the best title I’ve ever written for a post – seriously, I should have just stopped blogging right then, I do not regret the hours spent putting together Adam West Batman Valentine’s Day post, Superman Meets Pac-Man art (and reader Dave bought it after seeing it here!), SUPERBABY BUSTS LOOSE, solicitations for Joe Kubert’s The Redeemer.
MARCH 2011:
I love pausing cartoon DVDs and looking for in-jokes and sight gags, if only there were some way I could tell fellow motorists of my love for Thor, my totally work-safe Playboy post, pretty sure I busted the spine on my Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy comic scanning the images for this birthday post, NINE DAYS OF MAN THING: day one | day two | day three | day four | day five | day six | day seven | day eight | day nine, more freeze-frame fun.
APRIL (AND A LITTLE BIT OF MAY) 2011:
I think some people didn’t get I was joking, my “Lusty Gutsy” post resulted in someone making the best joke in the comments, BLOOM COUNTY UNCUT aside from a production error, my super run-on post about Swamp Thing’s return, that’s some fine editing in that Swamp Thing Secret Files there Lou, pre-Swampy Wrightson plant-monster, The Adventures of Alec Holland, pal Tom Foxmarnick’s bad-ass Swamp Thing & Man-Thing drawing, suckered into buying Swamp Thing variant covers, hey remember when I tried to stop doing Sluggo Saturdays (1 2).
THE REST OF MAY 2011:
I go on and on about Swamp Thing’s return, more Swamp Thing versus the DC Universe, I had this first Satan Saturday planned for like six months, Former Employee Aaron’s wedding and Free Comic Book Day — two great tastes that go great together, attack of Steve Ditko’s cute werewolf, so I really did watch Smallville for ten freakin’ years, alternate art for that first Search for Swamp Thing cover, let me just overanalyze this old Swamp Thing comic, I actually sat on this Robotman post for months.
JUNE 2011:
My first post about DC’s New 52 thing, I’m an old man and don’t “get” this “digital comics” thingamajig, I never ever ever get tired of Grant Morrison and Ken Steacy’s superhero version of John Constantine, probably my single favorite post-Sluggo Saturday gag, I scanned my Swamp Thing t-shirt, I imagine it would be quite terrifying to be Superboy’s friend, I worked hard on getting a good Barry White/Swamp Thing gag for the title, shame about that Green Lantern movie, Adam West Batman = classic literature, there’s nothing quite like Frank Robbins Superboy.
JULY 2011:
I talk about passage of time between certain comics industry events like it has any meaning, Elasti-Girl and Multi-Woman pound the tar out of each other — go ahead and look — I’ll wait, Klarion: PIMP, dirty filthy dirty comics, I’d probably wear one of these around the store if I had one in my possession, we’re onto your secret identities Supes and Bats, this What If Conan panel makes me laugh every time, “Black Savage” is actually that character’s name, more superheroes from that Foom contest, CONAN VERSUS MAMMOTH, Swamp Thing drawings by Former Employee Aaron and Daniel, that Swamp Thing mini was pretty pointless, Former Employee Timmy brings me Swamp Thing action figure tribute, this is the worst parade-dragon ever.
AUGUST 2011:
What the hell was wrong with kids in the ’60s, I’m glad I was able to find what that gesture was actually called so I didn’t have to say Sinestro was giving people the finger, I can’t get enough Vaughn Bodé, the best thing about posting about comics an’ stuff is when someone involved in it shows up in the comments, which New 52 titles I’m getting (subtract Justice League International and Mister Terrific, add Aquaman, Omac and Batgirl), and here are the Marvels I’m reading, I suggest that caption in a Swamp Thing comic was added after the fact, and Rick Veitch says I’m right, THE THING VERSUS VEGETABLES, Violet is a hideous human being, I love it when members of the actual creative team write to tell me about Swamp Thing tie-ins, I am Swamp Thing’s best friend and it’s OFFICIAL you bastards.
SEPTEMBER 2011:
A little more new 52 sales discussion, and some more, I asked what new DC title you were looking forward to and you answered, here’s why Superman’s new costume is terrible, I totally cave on the Sluggo front and then explain why, Swamp Thing and Abby cosplay, wow Hela — you’re hot, a picture of me being tired and old, I answer some complete stranger’s Swamp Thing question, I have a soft spot for Firestorm, these Swamp Thing shirts should be showing up relatively soon.
OCTOBER 2011:
SUPERMAN VERSUS PUPPY, I deface one of Former Employee Aaron’s drawings, that balloon is still sitting here on my desk, Former Employee Aaron became Former Employee Aaron on this very day, Ambush Bug: Murderer, Curt Swan is awesome, THUNDERBOLTS VERSUS THE UNFORTUNATE TYPO, the only piece of Wolverine merchandising that ever need exist, Batman movie ad slicks, the older I get the more I relate to Lanny Lummox and less to the Raccoon Kids, purchasing comic collections is not for wimps, I still can’t believe this happened, sometimes I don’t mind when people have written in my old comics.
NOVEMBER 2011:
Camels are indeed humpy, please enjoy the Six Million Dollar Man’s body parts, remember when Aquaman’s hook hand was a thing, Christopher Reeve is awesome, everybody loves Chewbacca (except…the Empire), I’m afraid to check if there’s a Green Lantern Confessions Tumblr yet, I really should scan more from this old Monster Manual, frankly I think my capybara drawing is fairly realistic, AMBUSH BUG AND SUPER-TURTLE VERSUS FRED HEMBECK, an awesome Jim Aparo splash and one of the writers of that comic provides a bit of commentary, I’ll take any excuse to post about Composite Superman.
DECEMBER 2011:
Okay, seems kind of silly to separate December out at this point, but let’s look at that great Superboy drawing again, why don’t we? And I didn’t note these in any of the above links, but every month had an End of Civilization, which surprisingly hasn’t ended yet, so go back and take a look at a few of those, if you are so inclined.
