Released Wednesday was Scott McCloud’s big fat Zot! trade paperback, AKA The Complete Black and White Collection. It reprints issues 11 through 36 (more or less…I’ll explain in a moment) of McCloud’s much-beloved Zot! series from Eclipse Comics, and flipping through the book…well, it reminded me of just how much I enjoyed this comic.

I remember there was a bit of trauma at the time, when the book returned after a brief hiatus having transitioned from a full-color, (mostly) light-hearted sci-fi superhero romance to a much moodier, much more emotionally-invested sequence of stories richly illustrated in black and white. Well, I think we got over it right quick, and now it seems strange (at least to me) to think of Zot! as ever having been in color. Not that there’s anything wrong with the color issues, but they feel more like a prelude to the the real meat of the series. The characters’ relationships are explored in greater detail, the villains are fleshed out, McCloud takes more storytelling chances…and there’s still plenty of room for silliness. It’s a rewarding experience, and one I recommend to anyone who hasn’t yet had the pleasure.

Don’t worry about not having those earlier issues…issues one through ten have been reprinted, in color and in black and white trade paperbacks. They’re out of print now, but a search of the eBay or Amazon should turn them up. You may be able to track down the individual comics, too. But even if you don’t, the book stands on its own well enough, and McCloud himself provides copious notes in the volume to fill in any gaps that remain (as well as providing historical, technical, and publishing details behind each issue).

There are a couple of omissions that should be noted. There is a two-part “fill-in” story of sorts that was illustrated by Chuck Austen that was left out, specifically because it wasn’t illustrated by McCloud. Plus, it was self-contained, so you’re not missing any subplotty stuff. You do, however, get McCloud’s original thumbnails for the story, so you do at least get to read it, sorta, in reduced form. Also not included are the Matt Feazell “Zot! in Dimension 10 1/2” stick figure stories, which is too bad since those are a hoot. However, McCloud promises an eventual reprinting of both the Austen story and the 10 1/2 stuff, which would be nice.

Anyway, short version: Zot! – good comic. You should read.

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In other news:

• Inspired by my post on the topic, Richard over at the Balloon Bellows has posted his own “Final Fate of the Peanuts Gang,” reprinted from his late ’90s Bastard Tales comic. Follow-up posts feature more “Final Fates” of other comic strip characters, so check it out.
• “Only one fiendish fellow is nefarious enough to wed the lyrics of ABBA with images from the ’60s Batman movie, old chum…and that fearsome Photoshopper is none other than…pal Dorian!”

  “HoLOLy internet meme!”

• Received my copy of Helen Killer #3 this week…too bad we were shorted on our order of #2 and Diamond never was able to provide replacements.

  Luckily it’s still available directly from the publisher, but just the same, kind of a drag.

• Just watched National Treasure: Book of Secrets via the Netflix last night…I’ve said this before about the previous National Treasure movie, but darn if this doesn’t feel like a Carl Barks Disney adventure comic, only with Nicolas Cage and, um, whoever those other people were, instead of ducks. I could just see Huey, Dewey, Louie and Phooey calling out obscure American historical facts to Unca Nicolas from their Junior Woodchucks guidebook as they crisscross the country looking for treasures and artifacts.

  Now I’m picturing Nicolas Cage with a duck bill being pursued by Ed Harris dressed as a Beagle Boy, and that’s my signal to end this post.

I’m gonna try to keep this short, because 1) I honestly don’t have a whole lot to say about this new Hellboy film, and 2) I’ve got a New Comics Day to deal with in the morning, and I’d like to get some sleep prior to that.

But, overall: Hellboy II is a fun successor to the previous film, with lots of imaginative visuals. The plot’s paper thin, with very broadly-painted emotional strokes, but it moves along at a speedy pace, and it’s a pleasant enough way to spend a couple hours. Plus, Ron Perlman’s portrayal of Hellboy carries the film…he’s always great to watch, though Seth MacFarlane’s vocal work for Johann threatens to steal the show — but more on that in the spoilers section.

Speaking of the spoilers section…look, the SPOILERS SECTION. Everything between this group shot of the BPRD gang and the pic of Hellboy and Abe in the headgear is spoiler territory, partner, so skip ahead if you don’t want to know.

See you on the other side:

• This is a lot funnier film than the comic book source material, probably by necessity. The comics could be awfully oppressive if directly translated, and humor can be very humanizing, needed particularly if your lead is a big red horned devil.
• The removal of Agent Myers from the mix was a good idea (and is referenced briefly in the film), as it returns the focus of the story to Hellboy. Agent Myers was our “point of view” character in the first film, which was unnecessary…Hellboy is our point-of-view character, the skeptical voice, the one with whom we must sympathize when faced with bizarre monsters and annoying bureaucrats. Having Agent Myers around divided our sympathies…or more accurately, “why are we wasting film on Myers, when we could be having more footage of Hellboy?”

  Anyway, he’s gone, and we get more Hellboy. Good.

• So, I haven’t read any other reviews or articles on the film…I got enough spoilers just being in the store, thanks…but was Seth MacFarlane deliberately mimicking the voice of classic vocal artist Paul Frees? He almost certainly must have been.

  The voice was very cartoony, and seems almost out of place at first…but it’s done with enough skill and humor that I was won over quickly enough.

  Speaking of which…Employee Aaron mentioned that Johann and Hellboy haven’t met in the comics, which, far as I know, is right. Just thought that was interesting.

• People kept bringing up the “forest elemental” bit of business to me, for some reason. It was a neat visual, making me wish for a new Swamp Thing movie and what could be done with it.

  I did appreciate the sense of loss surrounding the conclusion of the elemental fight, in regards to another thing from a magical realm, the last of its kind, falling before the needs of humanity. It was a strangely beautiful scene, with a little more depth than yet another “monster defeated by the good guy” battle. The “magic goes away” theme is sort of implied throughout the film, but it was nice to see it directly addressed.

• The spoiler I mentioned the other day in my Twitter thingie? It was the pregnancy thing. Okay, not much of a spoiler, really, but I’d rather have heard about that from the film, not in the store immediately after my saying “I HAVEN’T SEEN THE FILM YET.” What, was I not speaking English?

  I don’t know how I feel about this particular plot element, though. Clearly this is way off from the characters’ relationship in the comics, and I realize the movies are their own thing…but I think giving Hellboy and Liz a couple of Hellbabies may be getting a little too off-model.

• A couple of story elements directly affecting Hellboy: first, the turning of the public against Hellboy because of his monstrous appearance makes sense in the film’s context, I suppose, but it feels out of place to those of us who’ve read the comics. For the most part folks just kinda take Hellboy in stride in the funnybooks, which I think is pretty amusing. The “good guy persecuted because of his looks” thing we’ve seen plenty of times already, and didn’t really need to get it again here.

  Second, I appreciated the reminder that Hellboy is, despite his intentions, possibly the source of humanity’s destruction. Dropping hints for a potential Hellboy III, maybe? Maybe that can be the “A” plot, while the “B” plot will be about Hellboy trying to put diapers on his new Hellbabies, but look out! The baby peed on Hellboy! Ha! And the diaper he put on the kid? It just slipped right off, because Hellboy didn’t do it right! Wacky!

• You will leave the film humming Barry Manilow. DARN YOU, DEL TORO! DARN YOU TO HECK!

Er, that was longer than intended. Anyway, what did you think? Let me know in the comments…I’m goin’ to bed!

I know I’ve been relying on the “wacky panel scans” thing over the last week, but I’ve not had the time to devote to internet shenanigans recently, so sometimes you just have to go back to the ol’ dependables.

Old Batman comics, in particular, have a certain stronger appeal to me when it comes to peculiar visuals. Not to say that, for example, Superman books didn’t have their fair share of oddities, but there’s some ineffable quality to a picture of Batman and Robin in their jungle outfits that rings a note of amusing wrongness in the viewer’s head:

And the look of the villains…I’m not even talking about the headliners, like the Joker or the Penguin, but the one-offs, the forgotten thugs and hoodlums and walk-on ne’er-do-wells…there’s a particular sense of odd beauty to them as well:

But it is hard to deny the temptation to whip out a panel from near the end of a story, leaving the uninitiated to wonder just how Batman ended up waist-deep in a mechanical sea monster’s mouth whilst wearing a kilt:

Some things, however, require neither preamble nor explanation:

Ain’t a person alive what can’t appreciate Batman’s punching justice.

images from Batman Annual #2 (1961) – reprinted from earlier sources

Hey, remember when this was a problem?

It’s seem strange to me now, that a Batman button set with a print run of 10,000 units wouldn’t be enough to meet demand…but this is from a DC Comics order form from the late 1980s, when Batfever was in the air.

This is the set being solicited here…eventually I’ll replace that link with, er, a scan of my own copy of this set. I don’t recall off the top of my head if they had to go to a second printing on this set or not…memory tells me “no,” and that the first set in this series was the only one that had a second printing. If someone out there recalls better than I do, please chime in.

At any rate, for a while there we were seeing these sets pop up in every collection that was brought into the shop through the 1990s. Unopened, dusty, the buttons unworn and unloved. I wonder how many of these button sets ever were actually opened up.

None of these Bat-button sets really sell for anything anymore, so don’t ask me what they’re worth, as the answer will be “diddly squat.” (Or, in this case, seventy-nine cents.)

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From another late ’80s retailer solicitation form, this time from Marvel Comics:

It’s nice that Marvel warned that this was going to be a “Red Skies” crossover, with little or nothing to do with the main “Inferno” storyline. Didn’t stop ’em from throwing the “Inferno” logo on the cover, but…well, can’t blame ’em too much, I guess. I imagine that this singling-out of Doctor Strange #2 in the solicits regarding its Inferno connection may have encouraged extra orders from some retailers as much as it may have discouraged them from others. Probably leaned more toward “encouraged,” which likely helped this then-new Doctor Strange series lessen its second-issue order dip from its first issue numbers.

Again, I don’t really recall our experience, exactly…it’s been nearly 20 years, after all. I do remember that this Doctor Strange series was a bit of the hot item, at least locally, with the first issue acquiring some demand. The first issue still sells, on occasion. The second “Inferno” ish…not so much.

…for this blogging flashback to, oh, 2004 or so:

…when double entendre Batman panels roamed the comics internet freely, and we all snickered at the thought of Superman being a jerk, or Batman and Robin touching each other in an overly-friendly fashion, or Wonder Woman doing something kinky, or whatever.

But, c’mon…”Batman and Robin must put on rubbers?” Obviously they mean rain gear…this can’t even be taken out of context, as the inclement weather context is right there…but, seriously, I can use a cheap laugh right about now, and it doesn’t get any cheaper than that.

image from Batman #89 (Feb 1955) – reprinted in Batman #233 (Jul/Aug 1971)

• Guillermo del Toro, director of Hellboy II: The Golden Army (opening today in a theatre or on a plane near you) lists his many influences in this Entertainment Weekly article — first one noted is the original Len Wein/Berni(e) Wrightson Swamp Thing series.

  Typo alert: article refers to the first Swamp Thing movie as a “misfire.” I think they meant to type “work of genius.” I’ll look forward to the eventual correction.

• Who could replace Martian Manhunter in the Justice League? Why, there’s only one other big green fella who could….

  And to the anonymous commentator there who said he’d love to see Swamp Thing wearing a cape? BEHOLD this drawing given to me by Scott Saavedra nearly four years ago:

  

• It’s Fred Hembeck‘s FRED HEMBECK versus Steve Bissette‘s SWAMP THING (among other shenanigans) in this jam drawing presented by former FantaCo-ite Roger Green. (Be sure to read the lengthy description ‘n’ history of the piece…hopefully we’ll get to see more of the artwork soon!)
• I haven’t posted enough Amazon.com links here lately, he said sarcastically, so here’s another one for the just-over-the-horizon Swamp Thing TV Series Volume 2 DVD:
  
  Okay, I realize none of you are going to buy this, either through that link or not…I’m the only person sad enough to want to sit through…um, lemme check…oh Good Lord, 26 episodes of this. Here’s a review from some other poor bastard who had to sit through it.

• In honor of Hellboy II‘s release, someone’s posted a short list of monstrous heroes. Included is Swamp Thing (in case you couldn’t guess from the link’s inclusion here), Harry from Harry and the Hendersons, and Savage Dragon. Huh.
• Your random Swamp Thing news story reference for the day: right here:
  

  “In a classic horror comic series Swamp Thing, the namesake monster was a ‘muck-encrusted mockery of a man,’ a scientist who morphed into a slimy, green, vegetable-sprouting humanoid who lives in a bog.

  “Kingston Mills can now boast it has three swamp things – a muck-encrusted trio of hapless teenage boat thieves.”

  Be sure to read the article for some classic examples of bad decision-making.

• The Swamp Thing monster truck. Okay, not really anything to do with the Swamp Thing comic, but, hey, monster truck!
• And here’s some Swamp Thing art: a little something from Digital-Tutors;

  “A Swamp Thing Christmas” by Todd Klein for a 1976 issue of Rocket’s Blast Comic Collector;

  This Myspace “thanks for adding me” pic that does terrible, terrible things with color to a completely innocent Swamp Thing cover…small pic here, big pic there:

  

  GIANT ZBRUSH SWAMP THING HEAD (scroll down);

  …And Swamp Thing versus Little Shop of Horror‘s Audrey II. The internet justifies itself yet again.

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Non-Swamp Thing addendum: it’s been pointed out that, somehow, I botched the link to Jason Yungbluth’s “Weapon Brown” strip in my Peanuts post. That’s because I suck. It’s since been corrected in my original post, and here’s the link again. You can even buy your own paper ‘n’ staples copy of Weapon Zero in Mr. Yungbluth’s online store, along with many other funny comics, prints, and other goodies.

I did a brief (by necessity) Twitter review, but I’ll say just a little more about the new Batman: Gotham Knights DVD. I thought it was okay, not as good as the previous DC direct-to-DVD animated efforts, but certainly better than some of Marvel’s recent cartoons. Even at only an hour and fifteen minutes, it still felt a bit draggy in parts…I thought that bit with detectives Allen and Ramirez in the car went on for, what, an hour? Two? The action was nicely done, though, when Batman was actually on screen doing something. It’s certainly pretty to look at.

My favorite segments were the first, with the group of kids each telling each other stories about meeting Batman…we’ve seen this on the Animated Series before, but it still works here, even if the ending is telegraphed a mile away; and the last segment, with Batman versus Deadshot…probably the most like the “traditional” Batman from the comics, unlike, say, “Super Anime Bruce” from one of the middle segments.

Despite that, I’m not down at all on the various visual interpretations of Batman in the film. I may have had a hard time buying that anime Bruce in the “Field Test” story, but the design of Batman in that segment was nice and creepy. Like I said…visually, it’s a treat, but the pacing felt off to me. Maybe I’ll give it another go, and see if it holds together a little better for me a second time.

I also forgot this was supposed to be set in the Batman Begins/The Dark Knight “universe” until the film version of Lucius Fox turns up. And, that guy at the far left in the still up there…did that look a bit like the Creeper to anyone else, or was it just me?

And hearing Batman’s primary animation voice from the last few years, Kevin Conroy, coming out of those different versions of the character was a little disconcerting at first. Just had a hard time matching that up with my memories of the TV cartoons. But that counts as a “Mike problem,” not a “DVD movie problem.”

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In other news:

• Thanks for all the comments and suggestions on my post about what pal Andy called “Peanuts Futurism.” This Achewood strip Max pointed out will depress you immensely.
• Once again they’re trying to make an Elfquest movie. Well, it’s not my bag, but I know people dig this elf thing, and, the Pinis were nice when I met them, so hopefully this time will be the charm.

  “ASHTON KUTCHER IS ‘CUTTER’ IN ELFQUEST: THE MOVIE…COMING THIS SUMMER FROM MICHAEL BAY.”

• More to do with comics than comic books: thanks to a tip from Customer Glenn, I found that Amazon.com has the full George Carlin album Carlin on Campus for sale as an MP3 download for $0.89! The album’s never been on CD, apparently, and this MP3 was obviously recorded from an LP…but it still sounds good, and saves me the trouble of recording from the vinyl myself.

  Anyway, I thought that was a great deal, and I have no idea how long it’ll last, so I wanted to pass it along to you folks, if you were interested.

BIZARRO LINCOLN

BIZARRO BABE RUTH

BIZARRO WYATT EARP & JESSE JAMES

from Adventure #291 (Dec ’61) by Jerry Siegel & John Forte
– reprinted in Superman #202 (Dec/Jan ’61)