Tina appears to be a bit forward.

filed under Categories Uncategorized

A brief exchange with Kevin Church on the Twitter (starting with this post) reminded me of the awesomeness that is DC Comics Presents #4 (Dec. 1978). It’s Superman and the Metal Men, written by Len Wein and drawn by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez:


There’s a whole lot goin’ on in these three panels, it’s hard to say where to begin. The Metal Men are all so expressive, and Superman has that great “pleased to meet you”/embarrassed-by-the-hero-worship look on his face. I think my favorite bits, though, include the exchange he has with Tin, as well as Dr. Klyburn of S.T.A.R. Labs admonishing Supes just a bit.

Also via Kevin, I learned that a sample of Mister Garcia-Lopez’s Metal Men strip for the forthcoming Wednesday Comics weekly book is up on DC Comics’ weblog, and you can see the penciled page (prior to Kevin Nowlan’s inks) right here.

In which I invite you to look at my butt.

filed under Categories Uncategorized

So I was interviewed recently for the long-running Kirk-centric Star Trek podcast Look at His Butt by the show’s lovely and charming hosts Lene and the possibly-pseudonymous Jungle Kitty. No, don’t worry, no butts are discussed, least of all mine, but we do talk Trek for about 20 minutes, discussing my thoughts on the new movie, merchandise past and present, the Trek funnybooks, and so forth. (I totally blanked on who was publishing what Trek reprints in trade paperback form, so please excuse my errors.)

Anyway, I’m no good at extemporaneous speaking for things like this, but if think you can handle my word salad-esque babbling, you may find the podcast here. Please feel free to give it a download and a listen. And thanks again to the ladies for inviting me on…this really is one of my favorite podcasts, and it was both fun and a bit strange to have these familiar voices suddenly talking to me!

My nickname for Kevin Church is likely unacceptable.

filed under Categories Uncategorized
  • Reader Gary clarifies just what was going on with those issues of Annihilation involving other rival godlike beings competing with Galactus…apparently not people from his homeworld stored in that cylinder. It’s amazing the things I find myself typing on this site.
  • The Churchmonster has started his spin-off strip from The Rack, which stars longtime supporting character Lydia. Nice art by Max Riffner…go check it out.
  • Somehow I neglected to mention the “Rebuild Len Wein’s Comic Collection” project, replacing books lost in his recent home fire. Details on how and what to donate are at the link.
  • Tim talks about the fact that there aren’t a whole lot of the “old guard” of comic bloggers still standing, from that particular wave that included Tim, myself, and pal Dorian. One of these days, with my copious amounts of free time, I should take a look and see who is still around from the days when I first started my site. I think there may be more than we initially suspect. Also, it feels weird that I’m an “old guard” comics blogger…there are plenty of people who’ve been at it much longer, I know (like the all-powerful Neilalien), but I guess 5+ years is nothing to sneeze at, either.
  • Speaking of pal Dorian…in a shocking change of pace, he presents provocative pictures of pretty women in his latest Doctor Who post.
  • Please continue putting your Free Comic Book Day thoughts in this comments section…I’ll be addressing them soon, honest.

Wrapping up a week o’Galactus.

filed under Categories galactus

Just a couple of brief Galactus notes, then I’m going to give the site a rest for the day before tackling responses to my Free Comic Book Day posts from the last few days.

First, Reader Joel notes in this post‘s comments that some of Galactus’ pals from his home planet, presumably ones from that giant cylinder Galactus shot off into his space, did come back during the Annihilation event hoohar. I didn’t realize that, and I suppose that’s what I get for not reading everything!

Secondly, I trust everyone saw that this came out last week from Marvel:


That would be issue #2 of the Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular, a callback to that publishing stunt Marvel did 20-something years ago where the assistant editors purportedly took over the books while the editors were at Comic Con, and proceeded to do wild and crazy things with the titles. Anyway, this comic didn’t sell worth beans for us, even if it did have Galacta, the daughter of Galactus.

And finally, reader John Lancaster, who’s been contributing banners for this site ever since I started taking submissions, put this together for me way back when and I never got around to using it since it was larger than the specified dimensions for my banner. But here it is, half size but full awesome:


I was planning on wrapping up Galactus week with some kind of explanation as to why I like the character so much, but my attempts were essentially variations on “he’s just awesome, man.” I suppose I just admired the out-thereness of the concept, a giant super-powered alien who shows up and wants to eat your planet, who wasn’t really villainous since he was simply just trying to survive, and also had a bitchin’ helmet. Plus, the character’s concept was so strong that he maintained his dignity, his gravitas, and even a measure of melancholy regardless of circumstance…even when he was pining for Dazzler.

Reminder: if you have any thoughts or questions about Free Comic Book Day, feel free to throw ’em into my comments section from yesterday and I’ll likely address them in the next day or so.

But for the rest of today…I’m relaxing!

Free Comic Book Day 2009, and ‘I.O.U. One Galactus Post.’

filed under Categories free comic book day

Okay, finally got together my links to my previous discussions of Free Comic Book Day…they’ll probably migrate into somewhere in the sidebar for easy access:

2004: 1

2005: 1 2

2006: 1 2 3 4

2007: 1 2

2008: 1 2 3 4 5

Not much to add this time beyond what I’ve said before. We gave away nearly every FCBD book we had for this year, and business appeared to have been up from last year. No major problems, everyone seemed happy, Dana (kid sister of former employee Nathan #2) brought us cupcakes and soda, pal Dorian brought us cheeseburgers and fries, and a couple of readers of my site (hi guys!) came out all the way from Bakersfield to enjoy FCBD at our shop.

So, all in all, another successful Free Comic Book Day. Again, like I said, I don’t have any new insights about the event this year, but if you have any questions or observations for me, please drop ’em in the comments section. (Just keep in mind I’ve already answered the “does it bring in new business” question.) Also, I did manage to get in some “live-Tweeting” of the day on my Twitter thingie. Includes a completely unnecessary Blackhawk battle-cry and gratuitous references to the rock band Foreigner. I’M DESTROYING INTERNET DISCOURSE.

Also, I’m curious as to what your favorite FCBD offering was this year. I’m a bit partial to the John Stanley Nancy/Melvin the Monster giveaway, myself, but you probably guessed that.

I haven’t forgotten about Galactus Week, though we have had seven days in a row of Galactus posting here. I think I still have a thing or two to say about the fella, so I’ll try to do that Monday to wrap up.

Free Comic Book Day!

filed under Categories free comic book day


Today’s the day! Mosey on over to your local funnybook store and get your free comics! And think good thoughts for folks like me, who’ll be on the other side of the counter surveying the mayhem.

Also, in case you missed it…my scheduled post for yesterday is finally up, after Blogger’s 24-hour-long publishing outage which affected a large number of its users…including, of course, yours truly. I apologize for the interruption in the regular delivery of your required daily doses of iron-fortified Progressive Ruin.

Wolverine, Kid Chris, Employee Aaron, and Naked Galactus.

filed under Categories galactus

So reader DJ requested I scan ‘n’ post a panel from page 16 of Super-Villain Classics #1 (May 1983) for Galactus Week. Assuming he meant the page numbered 16, and not the actual page 16 (counting from the front of the book, including ads), I’m fairly certain he’s speaking about this panel, since he didn’t specify which exact one he was talking about:


So yeah, it’s Naked Off-Panel Galactus assembling his gloves, booties, delicate underthings, his awesome helmet, and so on. Well, you know, those clothes had to come from somewhere, I suppose. Not like he can go store-bought with his outfit…I mean, I’ve heard of Big ‘n’ Tall, but this is ridiculous!

But it’s this other panel on the page that really got me wondering:


Briefly, Galactus is the last survivor of the universe that existed prior to the currently-existing one…his ship was trapped intact in the “cosmic egg” that eventually exploded and created the universe, expelling the ship in the process. The “lifeless companions” mentioned in the caption are Galactus’s shipmates, from his home planet, who died prior to entering the “cosmic egg.”

So, according to that panel, there exists floating around in the Marvel Universe cosmos a shipload of Galactus’s people (barring the ship flying into a star or a black hole or something). Dead, sure, but you know how death never seems to stick in superhero books. They went through the same process, more or less, that transformed Galen the scientist into Galactus…maybe their incubation period is just lasting a little longer. Maybe there’s a gaggle of Galactus-type beings about to appear in the Marvel Universe.

Hey, just throwing that out there. Just seems like an interesting and overlooked detail from the origin of Galactus.

Here’s something I’ve been meaning to comment upon for a while now: Marvel is fiddling with the Wolverine release schedule, so that #73 (the first part of a two part story) comes out before #72 (the penultimate chapter of the “Old Man Logan” story). The reason given is so that following the excitement built by the new Wolverine movie, the hordes of new fans flooding into comic shops across the nation will have an issue of Wolverine that’s more of a jumping-on point, rather than be in the middle of an ongoing story.

That’s all well and good, but overlooks a couple of things:

1. Wolverine #73 won’t be out until nearly two weeks after the movie opens, so movie-driven traffic into comic shops, if any, will be good ‘n’ done by then. If the comic was coming out THIS week, that’s one thing. Two weeks from now…why bother with the schedule shuffle?

2. It’s not as if there’s any shortage of Wolverine comics on the stands at the moment. Having one of those comics be in the middle a story isn’t going to make a difference. Perhaps having a fresh batch of reprints of the early issues of “Old Man Logan” ready for the film’s release would have been a better idea. (Reprints have been solicited and ordered, but won’t be in for another week or two, at least).

Here are a couple of points in Marvel’s favor, however:

1. The recently-begun Wolverine: Weapon X series, which by most accounts ain’t half-bad, and is as good a starting point as any for anyone inspired by the movie to check out the source material. Has the added bonus of being available (with a new printing this week!) in the prime movie-inspired-comic-purchases window of opportunity (i.e. prior to the film’s release).

2. The Free Comic Book Day Wolverine comic, which, surprisingly enough, actually is appropriate for All Ages. This should make a lot of kids happy this weekend.

Speaking of Free Comic Book Day…here are Kid Chris and Employee Aaron pausing for a moment from their prepping and sorting for the Big Event this Saturday:


Please note Kid Chris is wearing a FCBD shirt, a FCBD button, and a FCBD baseball cap. Now that‘s commitment, friends. I’d like to see that same level of commitment from the other employees, Aaron.

You know, looking at that photo, Kid Chris looks a bit like Sylar from Heroes, there. PLEASE NOTE: Store not responsible if Kid Chris attempts to eat your brain.

Well, before I go even more on a tangent, I’ll just note that we’re well on our way to being prepared for the Big Event. I’ve written about Free Comic Book Day pretty much every year since I started the site (search the archives in late April/early May for 2005-2008 for previous posts on the topic…I’ll try to put together the actual links in the next day or two), so I’m not sure what else to add, really. I’m sure I’ll do the usual postmortem, and I’m going to try to do a little live-Twittering that day, if I have time. Pal Dorian has done his regular FCBD preview review (though I have four more that came in this week that I’ve not been able to get to him yet).

Among my many posts on the topic, I’ve offered hints and tips for funnybook sellers on how to have a successful FCBD, which I shall sum up thusly: 1. Clean your store. 2. Don’t be dicks. (To be fair, I haven’t quite mastered step 2 yet.)

So, in conclusion — Free Comic Book Day:


I will. Won’t you?

And just to wrap this post up with a little bit of a tearjerker…The Rack says goodbye to one of its cast members in today’s strip.

But don’t worry…the character will soon be starring in this here new strip, the URL of which may be a spoiler if you haven’t been following The Rack over the last couple of days.

Galactus presents…the End of Civilization.

filed under Categories End of Civilization

“HUMANS! Galactus must FEED upon the life force of worlds for sustenance, but must not expend any more energy than necessary in conquering those worlds for consumption. My herald upon your world, the Silver Sterling, has spent the past 50 months examining your world’s cultural artifacts and sending his reports to me…and it’s become increasingly clear that your world will pose NO difficulty for me to consume.

“You can examine my herald’s previous reports in the links present in the sidebar of this primitive communications medium. His current report, taken from your Earth publication Diamond Previews, of the Earth date May 2009, begins NOW. So says GALACTUS.”

p. 129 – The Dark Knight 1:6 Scale Joker (Gotham City Police):


Commemorating that approximately 1 second of screentime Heath Ledger had in this particular costume.

p. 168 – Beserker #2:


“As seen on the Today Show” — by no one who’s actually going to buy the book. (Well, okay, that’s not fair…there are always some people that’ll buy anything they’ve seen on TV, whether or not it’s something they’re likely to enjoy.)

p. 189 – President Evil one-shot:


Okay, it’s great people are excited about our President, and that comic publishers have discovered that slapping Obama on a cover is a good way to grab sales…but seriously, enough is enough. I’m hoping for a “Sub-Mariner Meets President Taft” special just to mix it up a bit.

p. 196 – Archie Double Digest #200:

“Archie’s dad receives the promotion he’s worked a lifetime for, but it comes at a price: the family must relocate and leave Riverdale! […] It’s the most poignant ‘New Look’ story yet.”

I’m pretty sure we’ve seen this story a number of times in Archie comics before. Then again, you can say that about pretty much any Archie story. Then again, you can say that about pretty much any story in any long-running comic book. Well, maybe not this story, but you know what I mean.

p. 210 – Female Force #5:


Okay, we’ve had five issues of origin stories for Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama, and so on…I’m getting a little impatient for the Female Force superteam to finally form and start fighting crime together. I mean, c’mon.

p. 333 – Batman Brave and the Bold T-Shirt:


Tying into the popular children‘s cartoon. Shirts available in Adult Medium through XXL.

p. 346 – Star Trek TOS Series 5 PX Salt Vampire:


I’ve been trying to come up with something to say about the Salt Vampire figure other than “OOH AWESOME,” which is just sad so perhaps I should just move on.

p. 352 – The Exorcist Possessed Regan Electronic Deluxe Box Set:


There’s a crucifix joke in here somewhere, but I ain’t gonna make it.

p. 374 – Walt Disney Classics Collection Runaway Brain Figurines:

Now, I know this is based on a specific, relatively recent animated short, but still:


GAH.

p. 378 – Batroc Mini-Bust:


If ever a bust cried out for a full-figure statue, it’s Batroc. A statue of him in mid-leap, along with a sound chip containing readings of choice bits of his dialogue in an over-the-top French accent. That’s how you make Fine Art even finer, my friends.

p. 380 – Thor The Frog God of Thunder Mini-Bust:

And now…the greatest Marvel statue ever made:

p. 384 – Star Wars Chess Set:


Not shown is the Jar Jar Binks piece, that occasionally pops up and completely disrupts the game and generally makes everyone miserable.

p. 384 – Star Wars Legacy Darth Talon Mini-Bust:


Remember back when Star Wars was this mostly sexless thing? I miss those days. (And don’t throw Slave Leia in my face..er, so to speak. That never really did anything for me. Heresy, I know.)

p. 401 -Sif Ex Ikki Tousen Sonsaku Fighting Repaint Figure:


I’m assuming the panties haven’t been repainted.

p. 410 – Watchmen Be@rbricks 3-Pack:

Oh, dear…you may wish to avert your eyes:


Good God in heaven. Dig this Comedian:


That’s like the worst Mouseketeer ever.

Those do have the effect of making the plain vanilla Watchmen Kubricks a little more acceptable:

p. 412 – Land of the Lost Chaka Funko Force Bobble Head:


As much of a Land of the Lost fan that I am, I’m gonna have to draw the line here, I think.

p. 413 – Star Trek Romulan Ale Energy Drink:


I don’t know, man…the last thing you want to deal with is a wired Romulan, I tell you what.

p. 415 – Robin Secret Wishes costume:


This should awaken some new feelings in a few people. Also, I realize “Secret Wishes” is a brand name, but my initial reaction to seeing that is “what are they saying about Bruce, exactly?” Yeah, I know, a “Batman is totally gay” joke, I’m sorry.

p. 416 – Bizarro Deluxe Mask:


This is honestly far more terrifying than it has any reason to be. Casts a new light on those wacky Silver Age Bizarro stories.

p. 418 – Stargate SG-1 Coaster Set:


This seems clever and yet strangely…diminishing, for some reason.

p. 420 – Disney Traditions Mickey and Minnie Kissing Figurine:


Man…furries, I swear.

Marvel p. 3 – Reborn #1:


“Solicit to be revealed soon,” says the spot where the solicitation information should be. Totally not involving the return of the currently presumed dead Captain America, or totally not trying to make you think it involves the return of said dead Cap.

p. 103 – Mephisto Vs. Premiere HC:


This series gets the deluxe hardcover treatment. Really. Well, okay, there’s some nice John Buscema art, but…c’mon, you’re surprised by this book, aren’t you? It’s not just me?