That’s some devoted gang. Do you think they broadcast 24/7, or did they wrap up their broadcast day at midnight, and started up again at 6 or 7 in the morning? Did the gang write up the stories themselves, or just read ’em direct from the newspapers? Did they have a wacky “morning zoo” pair of radio personalities discussing today’s top crime stories along with sound effects and…well, I was going to say “call-ins from listeners,” but if it’s just Luthor, then, well, you know. But then again, maybe Luthor did call in…he’d never get a busy signal, and the call screener would always know who it was.
Anyway, probably still more listenable than most radio programming.
from Action Comics #295 (Dec 1962) by Leo Dorfman & Jim Mooney, as reprinted in Super DC Giant #24 (May-June 1971)
Dave Wolkin brings us Eight Nights of Wolkin, examining the Jewish identity as represented in comics. It kicks off with this entry, which ends with the greatest Marvel Comics licensing idea of all time.
Some people just write posts for their comics weblogs. Bully, the Little Stuffed Bull, presents full-blown epics. To wit: The Business Cards of Superheroes.
And now, a brief commercial message starring, apparently, a cousin of Swamp Thing’s:
So, from 1966’s The New Adventures of Superman cartoon, here is the episode that introduces the first (I believe) animated version of Lex Luthor. Here he is sitting at his console of evil Christmas lights:
He’s using his console to make contact with someone who might give him some new ideas on defeating Superman, which, okay, sure, even supervillains need to outsource once in a while:
…And today’s supervillainy consultant is — drumroll please — Merlin, the famed wizard of Arthurian legend!
Well, sure, why not. Anyway, Merlin’s big idea is for Lex to cook up some of Merlin’s Magic Marbles which will turn him into a child, thus evading Superman’s attempts at finding and catching him.
I was just going to leave it at that, with a “’60s cartoons so crazy” conclusion, but you people want to see Young Lex Luthor:
On the right, with the head full of black hair. Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s supposed to be red. Or reddish brown. Or brown. The dude on the left is one of his henchman, also reduced in age, though frankly he doesn’t look much different from his adult self.
And here they are, with Lex just openly mocking Superman (who doesn’t recognize him) by asking for an autograph:
Oh, no, let’s just stand here with our bags of loot in front of the guy with x-ray vision.
Anyway, I haven’t seen this cartoon since watching in in reruns (repackaged with some Aquaman cartoons, I believe) sometime in the 1970s. So far, going through this DVD, I haven’t spotted any particular episodes I remember, but boy, the theme song and the music sure bring me back:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic strip, 8-12-1992, by Dan Berger & M. Kelleher, as reprinted in Comics Revue #80
Not quite at Morrison’s Animal Man / “I can see you!” levels of “we’re all just characters in funnybooks” awareness, but still a somewhat amusing and unexpected (if certainly not intentionally critical) bit of self-commentary on the “final battle” cliché.
So this week’s comic shipment is thankfully a little lighter of a load than in the previous weeks, what with those new comics days with six simultaneously-released Batman comics and three Deadpool comics and such. And that’s a good thing, since we have a shorter “new this week” window due to comics showing up on Thursday (at least in the U.S.).
Some new items of interest:
Achewood Vol. 3: Home for Scared People is the latest print collection of the long-running and popular webcomic. The hardcovers for this series (and other Dark Horse web-to-print comic reprints) have all been quite handsome-looking and packed with content…lots of value for the price.
Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers #1 – Pal Ian expands his Disney comic empire with this, a second Disney cartoon comic featuring his sharp scripting. Ian’s probably feeling what I’d be feeling if I’d been given the scripting chores on a Land of the Lost comic.
Marvelman Family’s Finest #6 – sold a bunch of the first issue, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be the only person at the shop buying this last issue. The lettering may be a tragedy, but I’ve been enjoying the unpretentious, simplistic fun of the stories…but it seems that while there’s still interest in the character, reprints of the original stories are not what the people want. (Yeah, I know, “no duh.”) I get the feeling we’ll be seeing a new Marvel Universe version of Marvelman before we get the reissues and continuation of the Moore/Gaiman storylines from the ’80s / ’90s.
Lady Death #0 – When the Crossgen version of Lady Death came out, the primary complaint about it was that she was wearing too many clothes. …And this was coming from the female fans of the character. Well, if those readers are still around, I suspect this’ll be more to their taste.
Rasl #9 – Latest installment of Jeff Smith’s sci-fi adventure/crime/mystery series…took an issue or two to get into it, and now each issue doesn’t come out quickly enough for me! Nice work, quite a switch from Smith’s previous project Bone.
Shadowhawk #5 – I suspect this series must sell for somebody somewhere. We’re getting a copy for the rack, which will end up going in the back issue bin at the end of the month. I don’t want to cut the order entirely, because you never know when someone might come in looking for it, and it’s just one comic, after all, so it’s not that much of a burden to carry it. But, man, poor ol’ Shadowhawk.
Boys #49 – While I generally enjoy this violent and dark-humored anti-superhero comic, I think maybe I’m about ready for this freaks-and-bastards parade to wrap up. Especially with the series getting stretched a bit thin with a couple of additional concurrently-running mini-series in the last year or two. Still sells relatively well, though, so why am I complaining?
Classic Marvel Figurine Collection #134: Son of Satan and Classic DC Figurine Collection #69: Detective Chimp – at last, they can fight!
Gumby’s Gang #1 – The return of Gumby to the comic stands, though without creators Bob Burden and Rick Geary from the previous series. I do love Gumby, so I’ll give it a look, but the new guys have big shoes to fill.
Wolverine: Best There Is #1 – sigh.
She-Hulks #2 and Ant-Man & The Wasp #2 – the first issues of both of these sold out pretty quickly for us. Here’s hoping everyone comes back for the next installments!
Jonah Hex #62 – Well, the movie didn’t kill the comic, but it sure gave it its best shot. By the way, I finally watched the movie the other day via the Netflix, and…man, instead of rolling the end credits at the one hour, 12 minute mark, this film totally should have gone another forty-five minutes with some full-on sci-fi Hex action. …You know I’m right.
From the Superman The Animated Series episode “The Last Son of Krypton – Part 1,” in which Sul-Van flies and crashes a small aircraft in an attempt to distract Krypton’s police force:
“Those…aren’t…PILLOWS!”
This scene struck me as a bit odd upon my first viewing of the DVD (and the first time I’ve seen this episode since it originally aired in 1996). And, upon listening to its commentary track, I’m glad to know I’m not the only one, as most of the commentators burst into an extended fit of giggles when Sul-Van’s “crash pillows” made their appearance. Of course, they never explain why they’re laughing, this commentary being on a DVD intended for children an’ all.
This could all have been avoided if only they’d applied some other color to those crash pillows. Did that long-ago issue of Amazing Heroes teach us nothing?
(Here’s the link to the full “those aren’t pillows” clip from Planes, Trains & Automobiles, in the off-chance you require some context.)
Happy Thanksgiving to those of us in the U.S. who celebrate it, and Happy Thursday to everyone else…and what better way to commemorate either event than with paging through the latest Diamond Previews (December 2010 edition) and discovering what bounty awaits within this paper cornucopia. Follow along, pilgrims:
p. 93 – Adventure Comics #523:
Is there really such a thing as a “jumping-on point for new readers” for anything Legion-related? I’m not even sure this was true way back in Adventure #247.
p. 132 – Blackest Night Firestorm Bust:
This is not a good look for Don King.
p. 138 – Star Trek Infestation #2:
“Say, Mike, how can I get the ‘zombie-fied’ Star Trek logo cover?”
“Only if you’re bad.”
p. 205 – Marvel Select Thor and Loki Movie Version Action Figures:
“Verily, my microphone is too cumbersome and awkwardly formed!”
“At least yours isn’t too tall!”
p. 215 – Victorian Secret: Girls of Steampunk:
Oh, Antarctic Press.
p. 218 – Betty & Veronica #252:
“Betty and Veronica swap their faces with John Travolta and Nicolas Cage in a story you won’t soon forget!”
p. 233 – Political Power: Glenn Beck:
“You know, when the fascist totalitarian socialists bring this country to its knees, you’re gonna need the basics to ride out the coming storm…plenty of gold, a stockpile of survivalist seeds, and plenty of copies of this, the Glenn Beck comic book, because brother, you’re gonna need the paper.”
p. 298 – Owly & Wormy: Friends All Aflutter HC – Young Readers Picture Book:
Because there was so much reading in the previous Owly releases.
(Yes, yes, I know, the 40-page hardcover is a more kid-friendly format. I was a children’s librarian for several years, after all. And survived.)
p. 314 – Gumby’s Gang #2: Starring Prickle:
“Prickle heads for England in search of his ancestral roots and finds out more about dragons and dinosaurs than he bargained for! Meanwhile, the Blockheads’ evil robot version of Prickle has infiltrated Gumby’s rock band and is wreaking havoc on Gumby, Pokey and Goo. Will Toy Town survive the wrath of…The Prickleton 8000?!”
Well, that’s it, reading that solicitation has driven me insane.
Then again, the seeming purpose of any Gumby animated short was to drive the viewers insane, so this is right in line, I suppose.
p. 321 – The Classic Marvel Figurine Collection Magazine Special – The Blob:
“And then I hold the cows above my head in each hand like this, and squeeze their udders directly into my mouth!”
“Blob, that’s really more than I wanted to kn….”
“And then you should see what I do with the pigs!”
“Oh God, please stop talking.”
p. 327 – Star Wars Mysteries of the Jedi HC:
“…Then George Lucas grafted a bunch of half-baked New Age-y ideas onto a modified chivalrous knighthood, with a little of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai mixed in, and….”
“Wh…what?”
“Um, I mean, ‘and then the Jedi used their great command over the Force to bring peace to the galaxy.'”
“…Aaaaahhhh.”
p. 335 – Extreme Anger Military Tee:
Granted, that’s a better name than “Dislocated Jaw Hulk T-Shirt.”
p. 352 – Spy Net Video Watch:
Well, sure, what’s more covert than the GIANTEST WATCH ‘N’ WRISTBAND EVER.
p. 353 – Barbie Dynasty Doll:
Barbie’s Lily Pond Catfight Playset sold separately:
p. 361 – Lucha Libre Luchador Masks:
It’s nice of Diamond to explicitly market to Chris Sims like this.
p. 389 – Norman Phartephant Plush:
“This 10″ elephant plush toy makes eight different ‘phart’ sounds, along with an ‘oops’ and ‘sorry,’ all activated by a squeeze of his tail!”
p. 393 – Star Wars: Darth Vader Limited Edition Ceramic Cookie Jar:
He’s filled with midi-cookie-ans!
…Okay, that was bit of a stretch. I’ll have better jokes when the Cookie Jar Jar is eventually released.
p. 394 – Disney by Britto: Mickey Summer Box and Figurine:
Uh, oh…Mickey’s tripping hard! And oh the irony, it’s from his own tattoos! Walt won’t be pleased.
p. 401 – Oh Gnome You Don’t Board Game:
Just posting this as a warning to Employee Aaron that I’ll be saying “Oh Gnome You Don’t” incessantly at the shop over the next few weeks.
Marvel Previews p. 48 – Venom/Deadpool #1:
“…The House of Ideas asks and answers: What if the Venom Symbiote possessed Deadpool!”
“Pssst…hey, Deadpool, it’s me, Venom. You know, I had about a million series of my own back in the ’90s, until people got sick of me and I had to go away for a while. But even I didn’t have them all running concurrently. Just sayin’.”
Marvel Previews p. 97 – Namor Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 1 TPB:
Dropping this in here because John Byrne’s Namor series came out twenty years ago, and if I’m going to feel old, so are the rest of you.
So it’s been a while since I’ve brought you some “found art” drawn within one of the old comics or magazines we’ve had floating around the shop. I’ve actually had this particular example for a while, but it ended up getting dumped in a box in the backroom and forgotten until I dug it out again the other day.
Sure, it may look liked your typical beat and mold-spotted copy of Marvel Comics Index: The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (1976), featuring a photo checklist (with credits) of Spider-Man comics:
But within…oh yes, within….
Apparently, the checklist, which only goes up to #151, wasn’t enough, as the previous owner of this index wrote, in red pen, on the “NOTES” page issue numbers #152 through #204, with checkmarks by each number through 194. Apparently the first appearance of the Black Cat was the last straw for this Spidey collector.
Also on the notes page were other details of this person’s collection:
Make no mistake…this dude got all the Spider-Women. Oh yeah.
And while the index does contain a character appearance/issue number listing which is primarily supervillains, there apparently was a need for a separate list of just the bad guys, without such distracting indexing information:
The masterpiece of this particular copy of the Index is this hand drawn and colored image, found on the inside back cover:
At the bottom corner of the inside back cover, written in tiny, tight handwriting, is the signature of the artist, and presumably the former owner of this item:
We salute you, Chris, and your youthful intense obsession with the webslinging wallcrawler. It’s my guess that you’re probably in your forties by now, at least…I wonder if you remember doing all this, and if you do, if you ever wonder what happened to that old Spider-Man mag in which you spent so much time writing and drawing.
