Corduroy pillows.

filed under Categories superman 20 Comments


Now, the thing about those images I posted yesterday…I know I read these comics when they came out. I, like commenter Dave-El once was, am a Superman comics completist, at least when it comes to the regular series themselves. So I bought all these Superman annuals for the year 1992, which all tied into the “Eclipso: The Darkness Within” crossover event for that year, and I read them all, and then I slid them into their plastic sleeve-thingies and filed them away into the vast Mikester Comic Archives.

I don’t specifically remember reading them, so I don’t recall my reaction at the time to seeing the art I provided examples of yesterday. I do have a vague sense of not generally caring for these particular comics, but it’s more a feeling of “I didn’t care for this crossover” than “these look really awful.” It’s very possible that, in the Image Comics/Rob Liefeld/extreeeeeeme-art era of the early ’90s, I just took the art in these books in stride…maybe a bit of an eyeroll, perhaps, but I endured it, read the story, and moved on. It’s just that looking at it now, and being able to see it as so indicative of the excesses of ’90s comics, when the need to fill pages was greater than the need for quality control, that the problems really stand out.

In fairness, not all the art in that Action Comics annual was so aggressively…whatever that was. It wasn’t great, or even good, but it was…passable, if wildly uneven, managing to get the story told even with the occasional “…the hell?” panel like that Superman splash.

That Captain Marvel splash panel actually wasn’t too bad artwise, even with the ropes of saliva dripping in his mouth. Mostly I posted it just because of the contrast between Cap’s traditional and ideal whimsical portrayal and his ill fit into ’90s storytelling extremism.

So, anyway: the 1990s. We sure put up with a lot, didn’t we?

image from Superman: The Man of Steel Annual #1 (1992)

And that’s why I try to buy books I want as soon as they’re out.

filed under Categories sir-links-a-lot 3 Comments

It all eventually comes back to Swamp Thing.

filed under Categories retailing, swamp thing 4 Comments

So here’s a thing that slipped past me: I was looking at our invoice for this week’s comics shipment, and noticed that Spawn #202 was on the list. “That’s funny,” I thought. “Didn’t #201 just come out a week or so ago?” And to the cycle sheets I went, and, yes…in just over a month, #200, #201, and #202 have (or are just about to) come out.

That’s not the thing that slipped past me. This is the thing that slipped past me…seeing on the cycle sheets that during 2010, only four issues of the regular Spawn series were released. And the reason that slipped by me is that…nobody complained. Not a single “when’s Spawn coming out?” that I can recall. Now, I know we have people who buy it at our shop…we don’t sell a lot of copies, not like in its heyday when it seemed like everyone was walkin’ up to the register with a Spawn in one hand, a Wizard in the other, and a copy of any given Valiant Comics title in their third hand. But we pretty consistently sell low but steady numbers on the book (with the extree-sized #200 moving about another 40% more copies than normal).

But it seems strange to me that a title that was once so prominent could fall out of notice, that it could be running so late and not attract my attention, or any customer complaints, by doing so.

On the other hand, I’m also not getting any complaints about the lateness of Image United, the “jam” book featuring most of the original Image artists, only because if this had come out on time, I’m pretty sure most everybody would have died from shock.

In other recent funnybook news, people sure have been commenting on the cover to Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1 at our shop:


You can see a larger pic if you go to DC’s page for this issue and click on the pic. But, yeah, that’s an eyegrabber (er, so to speak, given that’s the Emerald Empress and her Eye an’ all), with Keith Giffen and John Dell doing their Kirby-est on that image. No idea if that comic itself is any good, having unfortunately dropped Legion from the reading list after 25+ years of following the title, but, you know, it looks okay, just giving it the ol’ flip-through. It’s the old Legion creative team of Paul Levitz and Giffen together again, which I know might grab the interest of some of you folks.

Something I’ve been getting a lot of requests for in the last week or two is Weird Worlds #1, the premiere issue of DC’s new sci-fi/horror anthology. And I’m suspecting it has something to do with this: here is the cover to #1:


And here is the cover to #2:


Yeah, I know having Lobo on the cover should have been a clue, but sometimes when you’re scanning the rack, you need that logo to pop out at you, and, well, with DC’s white cover theme that month, the titles were all shoved into the corner and not exactly obvious. And so, there were quite a few people who didn’t even know #1 came out, and starting asking for copies when they spotted that logo on the rack on the cover of #2.

Of course, it’s not unusual for people to ask for copies of the first issue because they didn’t notice something was out ’til they saw the second issue. Happens all the time. But it seems to be happening a lot more with Weird Worlds.

And because folks have been asking: yes, I’ve read Aaron Lopestri’s “Garbageman” serial in these first two issues of Weird Worlds, which is very much in the vein of the “man becomes monster in accident, seeks to regain humanity” genre that Swamp Thing belongs to. And it’s fine…I liked Lopestri when he worked on that other title in this genre, Sludge, and while there’s not a whole lot new here, “Garbageman” is still entertaining.

However, it does have me wonder when DC will just put out a Swamp Thing comic, already. They keep trying to fill that niche with comics like “Garbageman” and that Solomon Grundy mini, but, man, I wish they’d quit dancing around Swampy and just throw him out there, already. Okay, I know word on the street is that he’s involved in this whole Brightest Day event hoohar, but we’ll see what happens.

…And that was my “I Demand That a Certain Comic Book Publisher Bend to My Will and Bring Back My Favorite Character” whiny complaint for the day. Hope you enjoyed it.

You know, I do have a birthday coming up in just a few weeks.

filed under Categories swamp thing 5 Comments


Everyone thank Reader Jeff for sending me the links to this auction site featuring Alfredo Alcala’s style guide art for the Swamp Thing cartoon show and Nestor Redondo’s preliminary pencils for the cover to Swamp Thing (original series) #16. How awesome are these?

I wonder what Swamp Thing and his animal pals are talking about in the above drawing? “And…when…you die, I…shall absorb your corpse…into my body…and feed from…its nutrients.” “YAY SWAMPY! You’re the best!”

Progressive Ruin presents…the End of Civilization.

filed under Categories End of Civilization 20 Comments

And then there was that time that Mike went to the “and then there was that time” well again only because he was having trouble coming up with an intro for this month’s End of Civilization. Grab your copy of Diamond Previews, February 2011 edition, and follow along, if, you know, you feel like it. Also, I apologize in advance for the 30+ years out of date Green Lantern joke.

p. 13 – MegaCon advertisement:


So if part of the package is that I can have one other person in the photo with me and either Stan or Shat…what if I decided that the other person I wanted in my photo with Shatner was…Stan Lee? Hey, for that kind of money, I should be allowed to swing that. Stan and Shatner, together. Shirtless. Oiled. …But perhaps I’ve said too much.

p. 55 – Al Capp’s Complete Shmoo Volume 2:


You know, it never occurred to me that the Shmoo were ambulatory penises-‘n’-scrotums ’til I read an article about that very thing in The Comics Journal. Now I can’t unsee it.

p. 134 – Two-Face 1:2 Scale Bust:


Not too interested in the bust, but I bet DC could market the hell out of that tie:

p. 153 – Jericho #6:


“Hey, Mike, how ’bout that variant photo cover?”

“Yup, it certainly is one.”

p. 164 – Recycle Michael:


When I was in grade school, some of the other kids would repeatedly call me “Michael Motorcycle” for no good reason that I could figure aside from the fact that it rhymed. …Thank goodness I got out of grade school before this book came out.

p. 183 – Marijuanaman HC:

“A new hero for our times – from the fertile imagination of music superstar Ziggy Marley.” […] “We guarantee: this is not the comic you think it is!”

Pretty sure I’m going to be fielding plenty of questions and “funny” comments from customers who think this is the comic y’all are claiming this isn’t.

p. 210-211 – Wizard #237 & ToyFare #166:


Well, that’s unfortunate.

p. 224 – Canadian Legion GN:


“Take off, Mordru, you hoser! Cosmic Boy is going to take you down, eh?”

(PLEASE NOTE: My knowledge of Canada is limited exclusively to SCTV. My apologies to my Canadian readers. Those of you who can read.)

(I’M SO VERY SORRY about that “reading” bit. Employee Aaron made me say it.)

p. 228 – Mega Man #1:


Just in time to be bought by the children of the kid customers who originally asked me for Mega Man comics all those years ago!

p. 231-239 – Aspen listings:


Sometimes it feels like these are the same ads that run in every issue of Previews. It’s certainly the same issue numbers every month.

p. 247 – Female Force Kathy Griffin:


So what are the odds that this comic will turn up being eviscerated onstage by Griffin herself?

p. 291 – My Complete Martian The Complete Series Volume 1 HC:


Pretty sure this would have been the Last Thing I’d Ever Would Have Expected to Be Reprinted, but I guess once hell froze over and Sugar and Spike got the reprint-nod, the floodgates are open. Surely the Complete Spunky the Monkey is to follow.

p. 331 – Comic Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope HC:


Episodes I-III had that wacky CGI Bill Jemas “comedy relief” character that annoyed everybody. Thank goodness he’s gone now.

p. 333 – The Green Lantern Kit:


Mike Grell Chin-Jutter sold separately.

p. 334 – The Steampunk Bible:


Turns out the actual translation is “coat of many gears and brass piping,” which seems like it’d be a bit unwieldy, to be honest.

p. 336 – The Meowmorphosis:


You know, if those people fiddlin’ about with Mark Twain’s books went the cat route, we might have been stuck with “Kitty Jim.” …In fact, I’m surprised we haven’t had an animated Huckleberry Finn that’s used that already. You know, so long as we’re destroying literature.

p. 337 – Confessions of the Hundred Hottest Porn Stars SC:


“I cry when I watch Old Yeller.”

“You know what I hate? Airline food! Yeah, that’s right, I said it.”

“Sometimes I don’t want to go to work and just want to stay out of bed all day.”

p. 338 – Star Wars The Clone Wars – A Jedi Adventure in 3-D:


Proving once and for all that nobody looks cool in 3-D glasses. (Another case in point.)

p. 368 – Sanchez and Friends Plushes:


Stuffed critters named “Dirty Sanchez,” “Golden Shower,” “Cleveland Steamer,” and “Donkey Punch,” which, coincidentally, are also rejected names for G.I. Joes. …If “Rusty Trombone” isn’t in Series 2, I’ll be very disappointed.

p. 383 – Angry Bird Plushes:


Not mentioned in the solicitation is that they’re totally going to be used for throwing at things, as they are in the game. They might as well just make throwable beanbags out of ’em.

p. 403 – Star Wars “In Your Pocket” Limited Edition Pocket Keychain:


Really, what they need to do is make one of these talking keychains that just features every iteration of “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” from each film. That’s like a dozen different character voices right there.

p. 409 – Green Lantern Keychains:


“Hey, do you have any Green Lantern keychains with other names on them? I need one that says ‘Chad.'”

p. 421 – Double Dice Sets:


This is the most boring babushka doll ever.

Marvel Previews p. 29 – The Mighty Thor #1:


There was a running gag in later issues of Groo where Sergio would claim that every issue of Groo should be the first issue, and sales would skyrocket. That just came to mind for some reason.

More like “Sir Links-A-Little.”

filed under Categories sir-links-a-lot 10 Comments

  • The Rack, the comic strip about a comic shop by Kevin Church and Benjamin Birdie, has come to a shocking and somewhat abrupt end. This was a fine run of a great comic that wasn’t just nerd jokes and never wallowed in fanboy whining. I’ll miss it.

    Of course, if this turns out to be some elaborate plot stunt by Kevin and Birdie, I’ll strangle the both of ’em.

    For another strip in the same “universe” as The Rack, Mr. Church and Paul Salvi present The Line.

  • Andrew brings us more Nobody’s Favorites…this time, a group of characters I never much liked when they popped up in Legion, and had their own short-lived series I never read. …A ringing endorsement!

  • From a fellow Bureau Chief comes this new project: The Content Farm! Learn how to do things in ways that may or may not be practical!