The Department of Redundancy Department.

filed under Categories swamp thing, this week's comics 3 Comments

So here’s the thing about that Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search for Swamp Thing series:

The end of Brightest Day was about the Swamp Thing “elemental spirit,” bereft of the personality template of Alec Holland and running amok, being brought back under control by “reinfecting” that elemental spirit with the personality of Holland.

The Search for Swamp Thing is about…the Swamp Thing elemental spirit, bereft of the personality template of Alec Holland and running amok, needing to be reunited with Holland’s mind to be brought under control. It’s repeating a conflict and, presumably, a resolution that we already saw at the end of the Brightest Day event (which, admittedly, was undone almost immediately as seen in one of the cliffhanger epilogues at the end of Brightest Day #24). Of course, we haven’t seen the last part of the story yet, but it seems like a done deal, judging by solicits for the upcoming Swamp Thing series, that Holland will once again become Swamp Thing. (SPOILER ALERT, I guess.)

The main purpose of the series is, I guess, to reemphasize the return from the Vertigo imprint of Swamp and John Constantine, having Constantine interact with Batman, Superman, etc. (And just to keep Swamp Thing in the public’s eye, of course.) But really, if it weren’t for that Brightest Day epilogue re-setting up the Berserk Swamp Thing hoohar to be resolved, we could have skipped right from BD #24 to that new Swamp Thing #1 in September.

I don’t know. I’m too much of a Swampy fanboy to argue that there should be fewer Swamp Thing comics, and all things considered, I still find this comic to be inept but amusing. But it certainly feels…redundant in its goals, both in reestablishing the status quo for the character and reintroducing the character to the DC Universe, tasks already accomplished a couple of months prior.

Also picked up this week: the seventh volume of the Smurfs albums, The Astro Smurf. This is the Smurf story I’ve most recently read prior to this new publishing effort, having borrowed an older English album edition from pal Dorian about a decade ago. Haven’t read this new edition yet, but I liked it the last time I read it, and suspect I’ll still like it now, even if it’s in this smaller digest format.

Another new item this week I haven’t had a chance to read yet: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen – Century: 1969. Any new League comic from Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill is most welcome, even though Kevin’s response has me intrigued.

To be frank, I’m not even sure I’m quite following what’s going on in this comic.

filed under Categories blogging about blogging is a sin, swamp thing 5 Comments

As you may have noticed, I’ve been in bit of a Low Content Mode for the last few days. Sorry about that, but on the days I wasn’t feeling under the weather, I was otherwise occupied with Real Life stuff and haven’t had the time or energy to put together my typical way-overwritten commentary on things barely anyone cares about.

I’m not going anywhere, but I’m just going about it a bit more slowly at the moment. I’ll be back to normal operating standards, such as they are, soon.

In the meantime, here’s the variant cover by Ivan Reis for Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search for Swamp Thing #2, due out this week at your local funnybook store:


Yes, the Constantine/Superman interaction is about as awkward as you’d think. More details here at the DC Comics blog, where it was apparently posted a month ago and I somehow missed it. …It’s a hard thing, gettin’ older and slower.

I was going to write about San Diego Con news, but here are some Swamp Thing sketches instead.

filed under Categories employee aaron, pal plugging, swamp thing 2 Comments

So I was not having a good time of it at the shop at one point last week, and Employee Aaron left me a Post-It Note sketch to cheer me up:


Yes indeedy.

And I’ve posted pics of these before, but the originals just showed up in the mail and they’re absolutely fantastic and I wanted to scan ’em again and show them off:


These are from internet chum Dan, and you can see more samples of his art over at his Tumblr (like Omac vs. Omac or totally awesome Metamorpho), and I’m guessing you can probably contact him through there for commissions of your own.

And before you ask…yes, I’ve been bugging both Employee Aaron and his lovely wife, who is also a talented artist, to start taking commissions. I’ll let you know as soon as they do…and it’d better be soon.

Also, this is the greatest thing out of this year’s San Diego Comic Con.

Slug Saturday #1.

filed under Categories saturday 6 Comments

TERRIBLE SAN DIEGO CON COUPLE COSPLAY IDEA

NUMBER FREAKIN’ ONE

from Web of Spider-Man Annual #4 (1988) by Steve Gerber & Cynthia Martin

“SUPER-TEETHING BISCUIT.”

filed under Categories letters of comment, superman 6 Comments

While the “me am Superbaby!” talk is a little annoying, granted:


…that seems like something of an…extreme response.

BONUS: by using this particular standard:


…count the number of civilized men at the San Diego Comic Con. I suspect there will be an equal number of headbands and neckties.

I expect plenty of agreement with at least part of the last sentence.

filed under Categories this week's comics 8 Comments

So I generally like Daredevil, though I haven’t been much interested in what’s been done with the character over the last, oh, decade or so. When this new Daredevil #1 came out this week, I didn’t have any intention of picking it up, but 1) just look at this gorgeous cover:


…and 2) Mark Waid was writing it, so I thought I’d peek inside at a page. Or two. Then three. Then four. Then…ah hell, fine, I’ll buy it. It does a great job of giving a fresh, non-angsty start to the character without forgetting everything that’s gone before, with the vast majority of the past decade’s storylines basically summed up by Daredevil with (paraphrasing) “yeah, things have been pretty crap for me recently.”

The one recent plot development that does carry over into this new series is the public exposure of Daredevil’s secret identity, and the problems that Matt Murdock has trying to deny everything while that particular genie slowly crawls back into the bottle. It makes for an entertaining read, as this way of dealing with the identity-outing is quite a bit more down-to-earth and (please pardon the expression) “realistic”-seeming than, I don’t know, amnesia spells or deals with the devil or the thousand different ways Superman protected his identity in the Silver Age. No Daredevil robots here!

Anyway, it’s a fun book, with more of a classic House of Ideas feel with its appealing combination of melodrama, exciting superheroics, humor and charm. Here’s hoping it can avoid any intrusive crossover company events and be left to develop on its own, without interruption.

• • •

Also of note: Sergio Aragonés Funnies, filled with single-page gags, autobiographical stories, and funny shorts, all from Sergio’s masterful pen. The only thing wrong with this comic is that it only started now, and hasn’t been running for decades.

Rocketeer Adventures #3 – each issue’s been a mixed bag, though that makes it sound worse than I mean. It’s all fine and entertaining, with some standouts and other stories just simply “pretty good,” which mostly only suffer in comparison to Dave Stevens’ original Rocketeer stories. So, you know, there’s no shame in coming in second to those. I liked Ryan Sook’s lead story in this new issue the most, and while I think I would have preferred Joe Lansdale and Bruce Timm’s story to be an actual comic story and not just prose-with-pictures, I’m not going to complain about a new Joe Lansdale short story that happens to be illustrated by Timm. I mean, honestly.

Also, each issue has featured the “main” cover by Alex Ross, and a more limited cover reusing Stevens’ art from previous Rocketeer-related publications. I’ve been sticking with the Stevens covers…nothing wrong with the Ross covers, but it feels more…”right” to get the Stevens ones, I guess. Or maybe I’m just being a sentimental ol’ dope.

ATTENTION COSPLAYERS ATTENDING THE SAN DIEGO COMIC CON.

filed under Categories FOOM, giant-size man-thing 10 Comments

You might as well give it up, because you can’t beat this:


Scanned from FOOM #10 (June 1975). I sure hope the poor guy had some battery-operated fans in there. Also, he wasn’t carrying a sign – that’s the title of the article superimposed over the photo. I only mention it because I know you jokers will crack wise about it in the comments.
 

Tomorrow: some non-FOOM content. Hopefully.

I don’t get how that first guy’s digestive tract would work.

filed under Categories FOOM 10 Comments

So I’ve been going through this recently-acquired run of FOOM magazines, Marvel’s self-produced news and interview ‘zine, and it turns out that entries for that character creation contest I mentioned yesterday appeared in more issues. Issues #2 (Summer 1973) and #4 (Winter 1973) had some fine examples of reader creativity, like this fella:


I would totally have loved to see, like, the Avengers fighting this guy. Reminds me a bit of the dude Superman’s fighting at the end of this post.

And then there’s this dude:


Pfft. “Wolverine.” Like anyone’s gonna go for a character with that name.

There are some now-known folks from Before They Were Famous Funnybook Creators who contributed to this contest. I think this is the same Bill Morrison who’d go on to work on Simpsons comics:


…but I’m pretty sure this is the same Steve Rude of Nexus fame:


Has twice the absorbing power of competing absorbing super-characters! Cleans up big messes fast!

Issue #4 also had an extensive list of entrants’ names, including several folks who would go on to be comics pros (or at least have the same names as comic pros). A few that stick out include Bill (“William”) Jaaska, Steve Vance, James O’Barr, Larry Mahestedt, Stan Woch, Jerry Ordway, Fred Hembeck, and Carl Potts.

“Reggie Hudlin” pops up, but no idea if it’s the same guy. Could be! Also in the list? A certain Mr. “Danny DiDio.”

Like I said, this was just a list, so I have no idea what character concepts they may have submitted. I’m guessing Didio’s was “Annoying-Online-Fandom Man.”