“Gordon’s aware?”

filed under Categories batman 24 Comments

So the last time I was talking about the whole “Does Commissioner Gordon Know?” thing, I brought it up in the context of the Batman: Arkham Knight video game that’s like, nearly a decade old at this point but I’m still trying to plow through it after an extended break.

Specifically (again, SPOILERS for the game) Gordon removes Batman’s mask, revealing Bruce Wayne beneath. I thought this was the initial reveal to Gordon, and wondered about the lack of depiction of his reaction. Over on Bluesky, Steven K noted to me that Gordon had known Batman’s secret ID prior to this in the game. Now, in my defense, I did have, as I told you all last time, there was a four year gap in my playing of Arkham Knight, so it’s not surprising if I didn’t remember that.

Given the nature of video games, I can’t exactly rewind and rewatch those moments. I could hie myself hither to YouTube where I’m sure the whole story has been stitched together into a standalone “movie,” but I’m trying to avoid Arkham Knight content there ’til I have more the game completed.

Anyway, back to the comics, where apparently there are a lot more instances of suggestions re: Gordon’s knowledge than I was recalling. Supposedly there are a few in Scott Snyder’s New 52 Batman run, and boy howdy I don’t know if I’m ready to reread all that. I may crowdsource that bit and ask you folks to point me in the right direction there.

Actually, earlier Thursday evening I reread, for the first time in probably decades, the initial appearance of Batman (or “The Bat-Man”) in Detective Comics #27 from 1939. Featuring the work of Bill Finger and, uh, what’shisname, “Rob’t Kane” it says here, we get the crude beginnings of the property that will eventually peak with this. The story involves Commissioner Gordon and his friend, lackadaisical wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne, and a series of murders being investigated by the mysterous Bat-Man. At the end of the story, Gordon ponders


But of course at the end of the story, we get the big reveal:


And it’s really hard to imagine a time when we didn’t know Bruce Wayne was Batman. Well, I mean, sure, this debut adventure ain’t exactly a brain-twister, and it’s pretty obvious Bruce is going to be revealed as being this costumed vigilante. Still, it’s neat to think at least for a few pages, like Commissioner Gordon above, we didn’t know that Bruce and Batman were the same person.

Now let’s jump ahead a few decades to Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #125, cover dated January 2000, by Greg Rucka, Rick Burchett and James Hodgkins. We’re nearing the end of the lengthy “No Man’s Land” storyline here, where Gotham, cut off from the rest of the country following an immense earthquake, has descended into even more lawlessness than usual. This event is mostly noted for the debuts of the Cassandra Cain version of Batgirl and the mainstream DC Universe version of Harley Quinn. But on top of that, I especially remember this particular sequence, where Batman tries to regain Gordon’s trust following some acrimony between the two over the course of the previous months:


Well, that’s a lot to chew on, certainly. I really think this as close as we come in regular DC continuity (post-Crisis, pre-Flashpoint) of nailing down the specific ambiguity (how’s that for a phrase) of Gordon vis-à-vis Batman’s secret identity. Maybe he knows, maybe he has his suspicions, maybe he could find out if he really wanted to.

If DC Comics came to me and said “okay, you’re in charge of Batman now,” the first thing I’d do, after publishing a new version of this story, is nail down this as absolutely the status quo of Gordon’s relationship with Batman. Gordon probably knows, but refused to confirm his suspicions for plausible deniability. How well that would hold up in court, even superhero comic book court, I have no idea, but it’s that fine line that keeps Gordon from busting into Wayne Manor and arresting Bruce Wayne for illegal vigilantism.

And I like that. I like that in the superhero genre, where the instinct is to pull more people in on the secret, there’s one guy who honestly just doesn’t want to know, at least for sure.

As I stated above, I’ve been informed that there may be more to this in the New 52 era of Batman, and hopefully I can track down some of this instances in the near future. There may be also some bit of business in Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, which would bookend nicely with the bits of Miller’s Batman: Year One I discussed last time. And yes, I know about the sequence in one of the animated shows where Gordon finds out and raids the Batcave…should probably mention that as well.

It looks like I have a little more research to do, and if you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know!

House of Secrets #92s.

filed under Categories collecting, swamp thing 6 Comments

So this week DC is releasing a new facsimile edition (including all the original ads an’ such) of House of Secrets #92 from 1971, featuring the first appearance of Swamp Thing by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson. Here are the different flavors you can pick up:

You can get the plain ol’ version with a standard comic cover:


You can get the “blank sketch cover” in a lovely shade of green, upon which you can get your favorite artist to draw, I don’t know, the Heap or Man-Thing or whatever:


You can get the shiny foil-covered edition, and the scan I made ain’t the greatest, but if you’ve been in a comic shop lately, you know what this particular enhancement should look like:


And most surprisingly, in a bit of collaboration between Warner’s comic book division and those other divisions that make theoretically money, we get a version of this comic with a cardstock cover plugging the forthcoming Beetlejuice Beetlejuice sequel (art by Kelley Jones):


Yes, that means four more versions of this comic to add to my collection of House of Secrets #92 reprints and, of course, my original copy of the actual thing.

A long, long time ago (about 18 years now!) I did post here listing all the versions of this comic that I own. I keep meaning to update it, and have occasionally listed new reprints of the story here and there in subsequent posts. Thus, the plan is this: creating a new page on this site devoted solely to House of Secrets #92, with notes on the various reprints in either single comic book form or in trade paperback/hardcover.

This is kind of a last second decision, so I have nothing ready to go just yet, since I kind of have to track down where all my copies of these reprints have gotten off to. My collection at home remains in some disarray, though I’ve been making progress in getting it under control of late. But I do want to gather together all my reprints, do fresh new scans, and put ’em all in one standalone place that I can point to and say “look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair.”

So there we go…nearly 21 years of doing this site, and I can still find ways to make my life more difficult. But at least it’s additional incentive to get my comic act together at home.

Spoilers for Batman: Arkham Knight, of all things.

filed under Categories batman 8 Comments

So I am a sporadic video game player, with a probably soon-to-be-supplanted modern system at home, and a variety of games. Having grown up in what was basically the Golden Age of Gaming, I have lots of Atari 2600 games converted to my system (including the excellent documentary/game collection Atari 50th Anniversary), as well as several compilations of arcade games of my youth (gotta play my Dig-Dug.

But the other genre of game I love is “open world,” where to at least some extent you are given free reign of the playing field to adventure and explore as you please, without necessarily having to play the game’s story as scripted (though of course you have to sometimes to get into new areas and acquire new tools and skills). Red Dead Redemption I and II and the various Grand Theft Autos are prime examples of this.

Another good example would be the Batman: Arkham series of games…Arkham Asylum and Arkham City I’ve both played and enjoyed on a previous system, and there’s Arkham Knight which I have for my current console. They all feature relatively good-sized maps (the first game concentrating on the asylum’s massive grounds, and the latter two in Gotham, or portions thereof), and plenty of opportunity flip around rooftop to rooftop both causing and stopping mayhem in equal measure.

I was playing Arkham Knight a while back, and got stuck at a particular part of the game, one that, despite several replays, I just couldn’t get through. Specifically, the tank-drone assault on the GCPD which you have to fight from within your Batmobile. Now, while having the ability to drive the Batmobile (or at least this weird tank-version of it) can be fun, the game-specific missions involving the vehicle can be a real slog. Especially when you’d rather be ziplining your way through the Gotham skyline.

Being frustrated at the game, I decided to put it aside for a while and play other things, letting it rest while I thought occasionally about alternative strategies.

Well, I finally returned to it, figuring a year or so off may have recharged my enthusiasm for the game, and started it up again, determined to finish what I had left behind…which is when I noted the last save on the game, the last time I played it, was in mid-2020.

To paraphrase an example I presented on social media when I discussed this there, that’s like if I got stuck on Pitfall II on the 2600 before I started high school, put it aside, then got back to it as I was preparing to enter college.

But you may be pleased to know that, having returned to Arkham Knight, I finally figured out a strategy to get through that sticking point and moved onward in the game’s plot. In fact, I got to one of the major endpoints of the game…not the endpoint, there’s still plenty of game to go, but it was definitely a wrap-up to one of the main storylines. [SPOILERS] at this point, where during the ending of this particular plot, Batman’s identity is revealed to all.

How it’s revealed is interesting, in that Commissioner Gordon is the one forced to pull off Batman’s mask. The interesting bit is that we don’t really get Gordon’s reaction to the revelation, at least not so far as I’ve seen in the game. (Maybe there’s more when the main plot resumes.) We do get lots of reactions from the street thugs Batman’s monitoring equipment catches (lots of amusing comments like “the mystique is gone” and “I can beat up that rich boy anyday” and so on). My favorite reaction is from one of Batman’s police allies, who tells him “Bruce Wayne, huh? All the same to you, I’ll stick with ‘Batman.'”

And to finally get this back to comic books, this got me to thinking about the status of whether or not Commissioner Gordon knows Bruce Wayne is Batman. In this age where heroes are revealing their identities left and right to allies and loved ones…well, maybe not that often, but secret I.D.s in comics are a little less cut ‘n’ dried nowadays. (Especially in TV shows, where I.D.s would get revealed right away and suddenly the superhero has a support team of friends, coworkers and family.)

There are two pretty famous examples of Gordon vis-à-vis Batman’s identity. One of the most famous ones is from Batman #407, part four of “Year One” by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli which Batman out of costume rescues Gordon’s son.


Batman is basically face-to-face with Gordon, unmasked, but Gordon does give him this out:


As I recall (I don’t have the specific reference in front of me) it was Miller’s intention to leave it ambiguous as to whether or not Gordon is in on the secret.

Now usually Batman comics are written as if the secret is not shared, and that’s the general status quo for the characters. But there’s an event a few years later where the amnbiguity is brought to the forefront yet again, and I’ll discuss that later in the week.

Not so much mad as jealous.

filed under Categories mad magazine, original art, pal brook 4 Comments

So pal Brook (whom I should make a category for on this site, he comes up often enough) (and so I have) made another original art acquisition…this time, an original page from a Mad paperback by Angelo Torres:


This is, believe it or not, Brook’s fifth page from the same book. I told him to keep going and get all the art from it…surely that wouldn’t be too hard.

I believe the book in question is History Gone Mad from 1977, drawn by Torres and written by Tom Koch. Brook only told me the name of the book multiple times and my aged brain didn’t retain the info. But, that seems to be the likely suspect.

And the piece is great…I love seeing the paste-up work and the handwritten page number on the original art at the top. And the linework is so clean, as is the toning. This is a beautifully and expertly executed piece of illustration.

The hand “acting” is wonderful, with the fella digging into his pocket for change, and the messenger waiting for the tip to be placed in his hand:


And oh, that messenger’s face — perfection:


And yes, that is a little “a. torres” signature newly added to the piece at the bottom there, between those wonderful pairs of shoes. What a great art piece this is. Thanks to Brook for letting me get my dirty hands and even dirtier blog all over it.

No Bat-Mite yet.

filed under Categories batman, cartoons, television 9 Comments


So there’s a new Batman cartoon, showing on Amazon Prime instead of Max for reasons that I’m sure make sense to Warner Brothers (I’m guessing $$$). Regardless of its streaming home, the series is a lot of fun, moody and exciting and well-acted.

In this age of Too Much TV, it’s nice that series have scaled back their season lengths, and Batman Caped Crusader‘s first (and hopefully not last) season runs a tight ten episodes.

It’s a period piece, set in the 1940s-ish, and as a result sometimes the cityscapes don’t look all that much different from those in the 1990s Batman: The Animated Series, with its “timeless” retro-setting with occasional modern tech. Producer Bruce Timm was involved with both iterations, so there are some “DC Animated Universe” house style similarities, but Caped Crusader is a little more free with a variety of ethnicities and body shapes.

Batman himself resembles the earliest incarnations of the character, all grey and back with smaller black gloves. Alfred isn’t the familiar slim interpretation but rather the plus-size version from the Golden Age. However, characters from comics published in later years appear in the cast, such as Barbara Gordon (first appearing in the 1960s), Harvey Bullock (the ’70s) and Flass (the ’80s).

Interestingly, at least in the earlier episodes (I’ve only watched the first eight thus far) Batman’s attitude toward Alfred is…not quite the familial one we know. It’s more “master to servant,” Batman being more blunt with his commands and referring to Alfred by his last name “Pennyworth.” There is a moment in one episode where Alfred appears down for the count, and Batman, believing him to be dead or nearly so, declares “I can’t do this without you!” Whether that’s out of love for the person who was essentially his surrogate father, or or a more practical “I need you for my crimefighting support team!” is at least a little ambiguous.

There is a throughline in these episodes that appears to be leading to the introduction of a major Batman villain. Not the Joker, who thankfully hasn’t shown up in the episodes I’ve seen (despite a related character doing so). The Joker, like the Daleks in Doctor Who, can very easily overstay his welcome, though I feel this cartoon might give us an interesting interpretation of him. Depends on how interesting a job they do on the villain they are going to present at the end of the season. Presumably. Haven’t seen that episode yet.

Anyway, it’s a good program, slightly edgier than its Bat-cartoon predecessors. Not like the animated Harley Quinn-levels, but the language is just a tad saltier. Worth a watch, and at only ten half-hour episodes, it won’t take too much time for you to get through…says the guy who hasn’t watched the last two episodes yet.

“Presenting Miracleman by The Original Writer, and The Writer After That.”

filed under Categories miraclemarvelman, publishing 10 Comments

I want to address a matter that’s been at the back of my mind. One that was spurred on by some unexpected shopping patterns at my store.

Over the last few days I’ve seen an uptick in sales on work by Neil Gaiman, graphic novels and comics and such. And the reason this surprises me is that, well, Mr. Gaiman is in some hot water at the moment. And frankly, it doesn’t look good.

Now, it’s possible folks haven’t heard about what’s been going on. Which is fair, a number of people restrict their interactions with comics to “buying comics” and don’t, say, pursue that interest via online news or whathaveyou.

It’s also possible that they have heard, and are buying the books out of some solidarity with Gaiman, showing him support in his time of need.

Or that they heard and don’t care one way or the other. He’s just a name on a spine or in a credit box, and that’s it. No particular attachment one way or the other.

Whatever the reason, and I am sure there are more nuanced ones that those options, nevertheless I saw more sales on his books than I’ve seen in a bit.

Thinking to a comparable circumstance, Warren Ellis‘ work I haven’t seen any interest in lately. I had a person picking up Transmetropolitan trades about the time news broke about him, but that was pretty much it, despite DC and other publishers keeping his work available for order.

And I get the occasional request for back issues of Joss Whedon‘s Astonishing X-Men. Marvel also has collections of this title either available or soon to be.

Which has me wondering, if/when Gaiman is found to be guilty of any or all accusations, what happens to his published work?

Look, I know all things considered, this is the least important part of the equation. Women getting their stories heard and everyone, including Gaiman, getting their day in court is top priority. “Publishing funnybooks” is the last thing anyone’s worrying about.

But I’m still curious. DC Comics has put a lot…I mean, a lot…into Gaiman’s Sandman. I presume that’s still a solid seller for them, in its multitude of formats. Plus, there’s a high profile TV show based on it, about to launch a second season, in which Gaiman himself was heavily involved. So there’s some real money at stake here.

Is Netflix going to pull Sandman off its service? Unlikely. Will it get a third season? Frankly, given that it’s Netflix, I’m surprised it got a second season, so if it were not renewed, that wouldn’t be a huge shock, and it may only likely be partially related to Gaiman’s conduct.

Just as it seems unlikely DC will drop Sandman from its graphic novel backlist or any current or future projects. I expect both in DC’s case and the TV show’s case, if the Gaiman thing goes even more south than it already has, we’ll see a lot less “FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF…” blurbs in relation to him. Stuff will stay in print, like Ellis’ and Whedon’s, but without the huge “ANOTHER MASTERPIECE BY THIS GREAT WRITER” in the solicit copy.

I can see them as pushing the Sandman and related characters as being, well, “bigger” than the man who created them. Emphasizing other writers and artists who work on the material, new and old. Yes, Gaiman will likely still get checks, but aside from a tiny “created by” blurb inside you’ll never know he was ever involved. They’ll be “DC Comics Characters” more than “Neil Gaiman’s Characters.” Much like how Astonishing X-Men is an X-Men Story, not a Joss Whedon story.

And then there’s Miracleman.

Miracleman, with all its publishing and ownership travails, finally, finally continuing its story over the last year or so after a 30-something year interim, with Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham back at the helm.

It’s been noted before that Miracleman comics coming back haven’t been that big of a deal in today’s market, for varied reasons as “culture has moved on” and “Marvel really futzed it up.” Frankly the only sales pitch the series had for modern audiences was, and no slight meant to Mr. Buckingham, “Here Is A Comic Book Written by Neil Gaiman.”

Well, there goes that, probably.

There’s still a final chapter/mini-series pending, and I lay pretty good odds that it’s going to be drawn and written by Mark Buckingham. He’s already been listed as “co-writer” so I suspect that “co-” dropping off in short order. Maybe with an “additional material by NG” if necessary.

Given the DC Universe Rebirth-esque reveal at the end of this Timeless one-shot, it’s pretty safe to say Marvel’s anxious to get Marvelman (as distinct from Miracleman) into the Marvel Universe proper. As such, with controversy a-brewin’, Miracleman: The Dark Age may be pushed through a little more quickly than expected, so Marvel can get that behind them and into laying groundwork in their comics for that Marvelman movie someday.

Or they’ll just quash it entirely…”indefinite postponement” and all that. Who knows.

Outside of the unique Miracleman situation, I suspect no matter what happens, DC and other publishers aren’t going to give up their cash cows. They might try to disguise the cows a bit, changing the brands on their sides so it’s less obvious they came from Gaiman’s farm, but they’ll keep milking them as long as they can.

Again, none of this is important, considering the situation. It’s just something that crossed my mind and thought I’d try to work out here. Suffice to say…this situation is so very disappointing and saddening.

“I’m sorry, Hawkman can’t come to the phone right now, these Crisis-filled months really did a number on him.”

filed under Categories byrne reboot, justice league, superman 8 Comments

Okay, it’s been a little while since I’ve done one of these, so let’s catch up. I’ve been looking at Superman’s final pre-Byrne-reboot stories, but not the famous two-part story in which Alan Moore and Curt Swan that ended Superman and Action, putting a cap on the Silver Age version of the character. And not the last issue of DC Comics Presents, Steve Gerber and Rick Veitch’s sequel of sorts to Gerber’s Phantom Zone mini from a few years prior.

Instead, I’m looking at the last “regular DC universe” stories Superman appeared in, to see how that approached the coming end to this version of the character, if they addressed it at all.

Started off with Aciton #582, with a story that gives us our final “Last Son of Krypton” tale.

Here’s Superman #422, putting an end to Silver Age-era Supes with a terrifying Brian Bolland cover.

Here was the next-to-last issue of DC Comics Presents, #96, with Supes and Blue Devil.

And when we last met here for one of these, we had World’s Finest #323

For today, I’m taking a brief look at Justice League of America #250, cover date May 1986, by Gerry Conway, Luke McDonnell and Bill Wray. Bluesky pal Greg noted a certain panel below that ties into some of the stuff I’ve been talking about in this series of posts, while also reminding me that I think this is the final issue of the series to feature Superman as an acting member. Justice League continues on through issue #262, past the Byrne Superman reboot (starting cover date October 1986), but I don’t think Superman shows up in the series again, as least not to this extent.

By this point Crisis on Infinite Earths had been finished for a couple of months, so this is appearing in the gap between the end of that event and the Byrne reboot coming a few months later. Calling this version of Superman the “pre-Crisis” one is bit of a misnomer, since this lame-duck period did go on for a short while after Crisis ended. But I know that’s an uphill battle, given Crisis and the reboot occurred more or less at the same time.

All that nitpicking aside, what was up with Superman in this specific issue? The plot, in short, is that an alien entity has taken over the hold Justice League headquarters, incapacitating the current team headed by the Martian Manhunter (the one with Gypsy and Vibe and Elongated Man). An emergency signal goes out, calling back the “classic” members for help. Notably, characters like the Atom, Aquaman and Hawkman/Hawkwoman are specifically called out as not responding, due to changes in these “Crisis-filled months.”


Not mentioned is Wonder Woman, who straight up died (or was reverted to her original clay form) at the end of Crisis and had not yet been reintroduced in the cover-dated February 1987 Wonder Woman #1.

Anyway, all the heroes show up and (SPOILER) defeat the alien, but along the way we have bit of an uncomfortable meeting between Superman and Batman, who at this point are on the outs yet again, as per World’s Finest #323, cover date January 1986:


I mean, that’s not a happy look on Superman’s face there.

Later, during the course of the story, Superman has this telling thought balloon (the one Greg had noted):


…which…doesn’t feel right, y’know? Yes, that’s the coming status quo for the characters once John Byrne steps in and reworks everything, but at this point in the shared histories of the characters, it feels harsh. Especially since, as I’ve noted in that post, we’d been through the whole Bats/Supes break-up and resolution before.

At the end, as the new and old members of the team have a post-adventure mingle, the prospect is brought up of reforming the JLA:


…an explicit statement that this is a “new [post-Crisis] world,” which isn’t technically a statement on the finality of the pre-reboot Superman’s place in the team. However, given that this Justice League series is a remnant of what had come before, and that a new Justice League title more suited to the Modern DC wouldn’t be coming ’til cover date May 1987 in the wake of the Legends mini-series event, and Superman wouldn’t be on that team ’til years into its run…this functions as well as anything as a “goodbye” between Superman and the team book he’d been associated with for so long.

And by the way, cover date April 1986, the month after Justice League #250, we get this:


…so at the end of JLA #250, when Batman says this to taking over as leader of the Justice League:


…but then eventually agrees…was that a spoiler for events in next month’s Batman and the Outsiders? Or was there enough of an overlap between cover dates that this two comics were basically out simultaneously? Or, since I haven’t yet read this run of BATO, was the writing pretty clearly on the wall for something like this happen so it wasn’t that much of a shock?

And…as far as I know, that’s pretty much it for the pre-reboot Superman’s last major appearances in the various titles in which he’d been features, aside from those Moore/Gerber specials. If I missed a small cameo somewhere, let me know, and I can type overlong and confusingly about that one too!

Apologizing for weird inputs since 1969.

filed under Categories pal plugging, publishing, television 4 Comments

So in response to my ponderings about why the I Dream of Jeannie comic only ran two issues and why special attention seemed to be paid to Barbara Eden’s likeness, reader RAR unpacked the following:

“Mark Evanier has addressed this topic a few times. Basically, the publisher would send the comic to the relevant studio for approval, and sometimes the studio would send the comic to the individual actors (or their representatives) for their approval, and sometimes those actors (or, more likely, their representatives) would get very particular about how they were depicted.”

Additionally, RAR mentions a specific example, brought up by Mr. Evanier, that Forrest Tucker was being particular about his likeness in the F-Troop comic, resulting in a photostat of an approved drawing used repeatedly. Which sounds similar to something I’ve heard about the Kyle Baker-illustrated Dick Tracy comics from Disney, tying into the Warren Beatty movie, where Beatty only approved certain drawings of his face to be used in the books. (And by the way, the War Rocket Ajax boys looked at the series recently…it’s a good comic!)

I did some searching on Mr. Evanier’s site, using a variety of search terms (if Mr. Evanier reads this, I apologize for the weird inputs) and couldn’t track down any stories related to this. I even checked through his three paperback collections of columns from the Comic Buyers’ Guide and no dice. I totally admit that I may have missed it, and Mr. Evanier is a very prolific writer and only some of his writing is represented on his website and in his books. It certainly seems like something he would have written about!

EDIT: It’s been pointed out in the comments that Mr. Evanier commented on that F-Troop post with information that backs up RAR above, which I somehow missed. Sigh.

However, in doing an internet search, I did find some discussion of the likeness issues in both F Troop and I Dream of Jeannie, presented on another blog well over a decade ago. This entry here shows how they dealt with the Approved Forrest Tucker likeness in storytelling. And this entry about I Dream of Jeannie focuses on the repeated use of a specific Larry Hagman likeness, which I somehow missed in my brief glances through the copies I had. The writer also mentions some repeated usage of a Barbara Eden likeness, but notes the artist put a little more effort into actually drawing the character.

Sean asks if that was Tony Tallarico on the art chores for I Dream of Jeannie. Apparently the answer is no…the Grand Comics Database entry gives a name with a “?” after it, with an additional note that it’s unlikely this person was the artist (based on information from the previously-linked blogger) so the credit remains unknown.

At any rate, the mystery remains as to why only two issues. Again, I presume sales weren’t great, the usual reason comics don’t continue.

• • •

Hey, you may have heard a little something about Robert Downey Jr. being cast as Doctor Doom for a couple of forthcoming and presumably hastily-rewritten Avengers movies. “What’s up with that?” you may be asking. I mean, beyond the “look we got RDJ back, please start watching our movies again” flopsweat of it all. Well, my pal Kurt devoted an episode of his podcast, Welcome to Geektown, discussing the connection between Iron Man and Doctor Doom, and lays out a reasonable theory as to how they’ll be using Doom in the movies. It’s a short podcast, and worth a listen!

I dream of Jeannie with the light photo reference.

filed under Categories television 6 Comments

So a few weeks back, I had a small collection come into the shop (that shop being Sterling Silver Comics, located in beautiful midtown Camarillo, CA, near the post office, the fire station, the Chinese restaurant, and the poolhall), which contained a variety of books from various time periods and equally various contiitions. Amongst this motley crew was a copy of I Dream of Jeannie #1, published by Dell Comics in 1965:


Now, I haven’t had one of these in my possession for quite some time, so it was nice to see it again. That’s one of the more fun photo covers for Dell/Gold Key’s many TV and movie adaptations.

Well, one week later I was surprised to find, in another collection from an entirely different person, the second issue of this series:


Clearly it’s in…slightly lesser condition than the first issue, but just by pure chance, from two different collections, I have somehow acquired the full run of the original I Dream of Jeannie series!

Yes, “full run,” as there were only ever two issues produced, the first cover-dated April 1965, and he second December 1965.

Given that the TV series ran for five seasons, and lived on in reruns for decades, I was surprised there were only ever the two issues. (Another company would release a few new comics based on the property in the early 2000s.) I figure the reason was likely money…wasn’t selling enough copies to make either the licensee or the licensor happy. The length of time between issues gave them enough time to gauge sales, I’d imagine, and the second issue’s performance may have killed interest in trying a third.

Another possibility was that the final product didn’t make the rights owners happy and they pulled out. It’s happened before…the comic book based on the Sequest DSV TV show got canned after one issue when star Roy Scheider objected to its content. I have no real reason to suspect that was the case, but the oddly detailed likeness for Barbara Eden throughout the book (compared to other characters) hints to me that someone was paying very close attention to what has happening here:


So maybe there was some extra interference from the studio making sure Jeannie was up to snuff. I mean, I have no idea, I’m just recklessly speculating here…maybe just the comic’s editor was insisting on it, knowing what was going to sell the book. Or the cartoonist working harder on Eden’s likeness vs. everyone else’s. Regardless, her face doesn’t always seem to match the rest of the art.


At any rate, here it is, a full run of I Dream of Jeannie. Had it in my shop for about a week…and yes, it’s already sold. To the same person, so the series remains intact!

I suppose that could be another Uncle Dudley from an Earth where he has powers.

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[SPOILERS for the Crisis on Infinite Earths animated movies]

So you all know Uncle Dudley from the Marvel/Shazam Family, right? The good-natured codger who is privy to all the Marvel Family’s secret IDs, and hangs out with them, and when trouble comes a’callin’, he quickly doffs his outer clothes to reveal his homemade Captain Marvel costume beneath? Who then complains that his ol’ “Shazambago” is acting up and can’t use his powers (of which he has none) and one of the other Marvels picks him and carries him to their destination. And while they do, they usually think “We all know he doesn’t actually have any powers, but we love him anyway and play along with him!” You know, as they carry this civilian into outright danger.

Anyway, he makes a brief cameo in the new Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths where he flies under his own power through space with a glowing fist, and then shoots an energy blast out of that fist at the bad guy:


I watched all three of this Crisis on Infinite Earths direct-to-home-video animated features from DC Comics, and…well, it wasn’t great.


The premise is that the New Animated Universe that forms post the Flashpoint animated movie from 2013 is under attack, with parallel Earths being wiped out by an unknown enemy, and, well, you probably know the story.

Well, that story from the comics is not the story presented here in the film, which is an even more disjointed accumulation of nonsense than the source material, except lacking the the always-excellent George Pérez art to carry it along. There’s an awful lot of characters standing around looking at things, or staring and/or taping on displays that tell the viewer nothing. The Bad Guy isn’t defeated so much as conceded to, as the heroes run away to a safe bolthole and presumably the destruction of the parallel Earths won’t extend to this new one they just cobbled together.

Lots of your favorite characters show up, only to sit still in space and let anti-matter wash over them. Sorry, Booster Gold fans! And I’m never quite clear if the bad guy is destroying entire parallel universes or just targeting parallel Earths, because it sure looks like (and characters act like) it’s the latter.

Not to say there aren’t a few good points, the main one being Matt Ryan, the One True John Constantine in Media Adaptations, reprising the role yet again and stealing the show whenever the character shows up. In one of the twists I actually like in this reworking of Crisis, Constantine takes Pariah‘s role, as the man cursed to watch the multiverse die, and he’s the reason why it’s happening. (Okay, in the original it’s revealed Pariah wasn’t at fault, but John definitely is here).

Not so efficient a swap is Supergirl stepping in for the Harbinger role, which is primarily there to set up a version of her death, which ends up being moot anyway.

So, they throw a lot of parallel Earths at us, most of which mean nothing to us except maybe mildly duplicating Earths from print. It isn’t really until we start seeing some familiar multiversal faces that, hey, suddenly we’re intrigued. Like, here are decades-old properties that mean something to us, not Earth-221 that we see all of once, where Firestorm is left-handed instead of right-handed.

Two of the Earths we see just as they get destroyed is Super Friends Earth, featuring our heroes as they appeared in 1970s cartoons. And the Batman from the 1990s animated series, voiced for the last time by the now-deceased Kevin Conroy. And if that’s to be Batman’s last line ever spoken by Conroy, it’s a good one to go out on. …But where were these guys fighting alongside the other heroes in this film? That would have improved the proceedings. (Earth-One Wonder Woman: “Let’s go punch those guys!” Super Friends Wonder Woman: “Wait, hold on, let’s set up some traps!”)

I don’t know. This is all just clearing a path for however long the James Gunn and the other guy whose name I never can remember’s regime presides over the DC Comics media-that-ain’t-comics empire. The plan is for…everything to tie together now? With characters in live action films voicing their animated versions as well? We’ll see how long that lasts.

Probably lots more to say about this, but these are just the immediate thoughts on the matter. It’s not the worst of the animated films (that would the 2023 Legion of Super-Heroes flick) but it ain’t good.