You need Yogi, Boo Boo, Snagglepuss, Chopper, and Ranger Smith in a pie fight:

from Yogi Bear #20 (Oct. 1973) by Gwen Krause & Ray Dirgo

A (hopefully) brief follow-up to yesterday’s post:

1. After typing the name “MODOK” fifty times, it began to look really, really strange to me. Well, stranger, anyway.

2. The post is already in the Wikipedia entry (subject to change, of course, Wikipedia being what it is).

3. And although nobody asked, one of the reasons I do these character linkdumps (more here) is because, for whatever reason, I find myself occasionally obsessed with a particular character and need to do a linkdump like this to drive it out of my system. Since I’ve been using images of MODOK as wallpaper for the work computer, and I’ve been singing songs about him, a linkdump for everyone’s favorite Mental Organism seemed necessary. MODOK fever…catch it!

In other news:

• The Complete Wu-Peanuts Collection, which comes to me via pal Ian: “Your desktop PC is a trap to put a crick in the black man’s neck and carpel tunnel his fingers.” Probably not safe for work, if your boss doesn’t like you reading dirty words on company time.
• I’m currently reading volume 17 of the Wild Cards series, Death Draws Five by John J. Miller, released in hardcover in early 2006 by iBooks, which had also published volume 16 of the series a year or two previous. I only mention it here because there was a several year gap between volumes 15 and 16, and because these two new books are only in hardcover (with iBooks no longer an ongoing concern, following the untimely passing of founder Byron Preiss, softcover versions may not be immediately forthcoming), some of you old time Wild Cards fans out there may not even be aware there are new installments in the series. I didn’t even know #17 was out until several months after its release, and that’s only because I plugged “wild cards” into Amazon’s search engine just on a whim.

  For those of you who don’t know what Wild Cards is, Wildcardsonline.com details the history and background of the series. Short version: it’s a long-running prose novel shared-universe series where people infected by an alien virus gain superpowers, unless the virus kills or deforms them instead. It’s convoluted, improbable, uneven, and greatly entertaining…just like some of those funnybooks you folks are reading.

  And some good news…Tor Books has picked up where iBooks left off, and is committed to publishing three more novels in the series. You can read a sample from the next book on Wild Cards mastermind George R. R. Martin’s official website.

• “Comic relief for budding young graphic artists” – I like the idea, though hopefully the superhero focus is from the article’s writer, and not from the actual workshop:
  

  “Comic super heroes have captured the imaginations of young people for generations.

  “Now a workshop at Penrith Library is helping youngsters not only enjoy the genre, but also encourages them to become comic book authors.

  “The first Graphic Novel writing workshop was lead by former Queen Elizabeth Grammar School student Owen Johnson.”

  […]

  “‘The main reason I wanted to do the workshop is to widen the understanding of what comic books and graphic novels can achieve and get more kids into reading them, but also making them. Comics have always had a stigma of either children or dusty old collectors as an audience. I’m working with teenagers in the area to show that they can be relevant and fun for them as well.'”

The inevitable Wikipedia entry on MODOK.

Another MODOK history, but with sound files from the character’s cartoon appearances!

Here’s a listing of MODOK’s appearances.

A little more detail on MODOK’s history with the Hulk can be found here.

And, from the same site, a small sampling of artists’ renditions of MODOK.

Coming later this year from Marvel is MODOK’s 11, and here’s some cover art.

ELVIS MODOKS.

Ludickid explains the appeal of MODOK. “He has incredibly mental powers and is an asshole.” Well said.

Jeff Parker presents the greatest Marvel cover for 2007.

“This is a wonderful Marvel Original Production cel of Mandarin and Modok from the Episode Title ‘Data In, Chaos Out.’ Comes with Original Hand Painted background.”

The absolutely fantastic many moods of MODOK, as drawn by WadeFurlong.

And now: MODOK on a moped.

MODOK is no match for children…extra bonus drawing of MODOK by one of the children, which is really cool.

They’re Out of Stock, but you can see the covers for The Journal of MODOK Studies right here, and you can read a review at the bottom of this page.

Mental Organism Designed Only for Knitting.

The Sensual MODOK looks at the ladies.

MODOK is on ComicsSpace, natch, and has a link to a great gallery of original art which includes, among other pieces, MODOK versus Vampirella. (MODOK in underpants…NOOOOOOOO!!!!)

At the bottom of this page lurks the custom MODOK Mini-Mate.

“Ask A Super-Villain: MODOK:”

“HJ: Would you tell us about your college band?

M: Depeche MODOK? Oh good lord. Do I have to?”

Flixens has a casting suggestion for a MODOK movie.

A few artists draw themselves as MODOK.

MODOK the Hutt, done as a commission.

Myspace MODOK “only listens to K.M.F.D.M […] We Both Named Acronyms!!!!!!!!” He would also like to meet Robot Nixon. Hey, me too!

Barbelith loves MODOK.

A Tribe page extolling the virtues of a MODOK presidency.

Here’s a review of Marvel Novel Series #6 – And Call My Killer…MODOK!, starring Iron Man and written by William Rotsler.

Iheartmodok.com – look at the page source for additional info.

Find a MODOK motivational print on this page, four down.

WARNING – SELF-LINK: Pal Dorian and I discuss the gratuitousness (or lack thereof) of MODOK.

CIVIL WAR: I’M WITH MODOK.

Killer MODOK #1 mock-up cover can be found at Bob Layton’s site.

The MODOK Marvel Value Stamp (six down).

Either the worst parallel Earth ever, or the best: it’s Earth-MODOK-Had-An-Itch.

A look at the MODOK Marvel Battle Dice figure, and here’s the Heroclix fig.

The MODOK Gallery of Fine Art.

Once seen, it cannot be unseen: the MODOK Halloween costume!

Here’s the official ToyBiz page for the Marvel Legends Build-A-MODOK series (where, if you’re unfamiliar, each figure in the series comes with a piece of MODOK, which you can assemble into the complete figure). The page has a link to an image of MODOK, which, apparently, has 32 points of articulation, somehow.

Here’s an extended review of the Build-A-MODOK, and Chris Karath matches the figure with a background.

And here’s a look at the original MODOK action figure.

Giorgio Comolo presents MODOK versus Arnim Zola in one of the Greatest Images Ever. (Thanks David C!)

MODOK BORGNINE! (Thanks, RJ!)

“…With the moral realignment challenge, I try to figure out how a superhero and a supervillain might appear in the comics with their morality reversed.” And here you go.

Scipio comes up with an unsettling love connection for MODOK.

MODOK makes the news.

Alas, the burden of the last name MODOK: “The most common hit on google for modok is a devilish cartoon figure. I would like to counteract this by creating a site where everybody can learn the attractive side of people carrying this surname.”

Dave’s Long Box takes a gander at MODOK’s female counterpart MODAM.

images from Captain America #313 (January 1986) by Mark Gruenwald, Paul Neary & Al Williamson

from Four Color Comics #749 – “Secrets of Life” (1956)

• Something I mentioned to pal Dorian in e-mail re: his commentary on Penance: in an odd sort of way, the concept of the Penance character is almost like a distillation of what makes a Marvel superhero a Marvel superhero. Marvel’s original gimmick, the one that separated their output from DC’s, was “superheroes with problems” — they had money troubles, they caught colds, and they worried about their loved ones in a slightly more complex fashion than simply “I must protect my girlfriend from the supervillain!”

  Penance is “superheroes with problems” made drastically more literal. It’s no longer professional or personal problems, it’s “pain = superheroics.” The very act of self-flagellation is what powers Penance’s abilities.

  Interesting, if silly. And I don’t think I need to be Dr. Polite Scott to figure out that if this stupid costume (with all the inward pointing spikes) were real, the person wearing it would probably be, if not dead, then at least severely impaired in short order. Presumably, as a superhero, he’s gonna be doing a lot of fighting, which means a lot of motion and a lot of impacts, which means there’s gonna be a lot of ripping and tearing of flesh inside that suit.

• Another POSSIBLE SPOILER thought about Civil War #6, since I probably haven’t mentioned it enough in the last week: I can’t believe they’re still pretending the two sides of the “war” are on some kind of equal ground, that each side has its points. One character states as such in this issue, and instead of underlining the supposed ethical balance between the two sides, as the scene is probably intended to do, it just paints that character as being really, really dumb.
• I’m sorry I didn’t get around to mentioning this earlier: the co-creator of my favorite funnybook character, Swamp Thing, has himself a weblog. Go visit Len Wein’s Weinwords and say “hello.” Tell him I sent you. (“Hey, Mike sent me!” “Um, who sent you?”)
• Just saw that pal Ian reviewed our store. Well, we never have Sugar and Spike comics (because I keep them all) and I’m not friendly in the slightest (I’m a big ol’ grumpypants), but otherwise it’s fairly accurate. Thanks, Ian!
• Pal Dorian has a picture of my site as viewed through his Wii…and I first saw this picture on Employee Aaron’s PSP. I’m going to assume you know what all that means, because I’m not sure I do. The only video games I’m familiar with come on cartridges and plug into one of these.

And here, for no good reason, is the cartoon from the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special; i.e. pretty much the only reason to suffer through the damned thing. Enjoy, won’t you? (And yes, there are a few seconds of the live action part of the show at the beginning…AVERT YOUR EYES.)

EDIT: Oops, the video has left the building, apparently…but you can still learn more about George Lucas’ secret shame (I mean, aside from Phantom Menace) at Starwarsholidayspecial.com.

…with me singing “Hello, MODOK” to the tune of “Hello, Dolly.”

I need a vacation.

1. Distributed the few copies we had of Civil War #6 to customers with comic saver boxes at the shop that I expected to pick up their stuff within the next day or so.

2. Posted a sign by the new Civil War: Frontline #10 stating that shipments of CW #6 had been severely shorted to all retailers on the west coast, and that we no longer had any copies for sale.

3. Proceeded to answer questions about why Civil War was shorted, prompting a reworking of my sign for Friday.

4. Answered lots of phone calls from people asking if we received the new issue of Civil War.

5. Also took yet another call from the kid who keeps asking us what Alex Ross Justice action figures we have in stock, which has nothing to do with Civil War, but I swear he calls about every four days and asks for the same thing every time.

I did flip through the new issue of Civil War, and, if I can say something about it without being too much of a spoiler-pants: the Punisher’s characterization in this series, particularly in the new issue, reminds me a bit of how Bill Mantlo used to write him in the early ’80s. You know, that stuff they had to explain away later in the Steven Grant/Mike Zeck mini as being caused (if I’m remembering correctly) by drugs slipped to the Punisher by his enemies. I’m too used to reading Garth Ennis’ darkly calculating, brutal, “unstoppable engine of destruction” Punisher, I guess, since the Dumbass Punisher most everyone else writes always catches me by surprise. Not saying “crazy, unthinking Punisher” isn’t a valid interpretation of the character, mind you.

For more Civil War talk, particularly about what’s been done to a certain character in this event, pal Dorian has SPOILERS AHOY for you interested parties.

A couple other new comics day things:

Now that the DC Comics we left-coasters were supposed to get last week finally arrived, I was able to check out Justice League of America #5 for myself and see what I assumed was going to be a Swamp Thing reference and/or appearance, judging by this comment Michael left. It turned out to be just a dialogue reference, but hey, that’s good enough for me.

The new Comics Journal (#280) not only has a lengthy Frank Thorne interview and an interview with Finder‘s Carla Speed McNeil, but forty full-color pages of reprints from the legendary Crime Does Not Pay. That’s gotta be worth spending your hard-earned dough on.

Because of the DC delays, we ended up getting four Superman books this week: Superman itself (#658), a darn fine read in writer Kurt Busiek’s hands; Superman/Batman #31, an unusually coherent installment of this series, featuring the return of the last character you’d expect; Superman Confidential #3, which I skipped reading since the initial installment didn’t grab me; and the wondrous All Star Superman #6, about as flawless of a comic book as can be managed…and Krypto the Superdog is in it, too, for that extra touch of quality.

Customer Gary let me know that he’s interviewed writer Brian K. Vaughn twice on his radio show, once in March and again in November, so follow those links and listen to the podcasts, why don’t you?

So not only was our order of Civil War #6 allocated (like everyone else on the west coast), but we discovered, when the order arrived, that our allocation was shorted by Diamond by a few copies. Nor did we receive the variants we were invoiced for.

Well, poop.

For those of you who are still wondering about the Civil War west coast delay thing that I’m going to be explaining to our customers for the next week, Comic Book Resources gets the story from Diamond and Marvel. Bad weather is what did the deed, apparently.

One side effect of this situation is finding out the exact numbers some other retailers are ordering on Civil War, and seeing that, on average, it’s about half of what we’re ordering…and we’re nearly selling through on all copies. This comic may not be my cup of tea, and the domino-effect of delays it’s caused throughout Marvel’s publishing line is aggravating…but darned if the thing doesn’t sell well. Still could do without the irritation, though.

But at least the new All Star Superman should be out. All Star Superman makes everything better…soothes all pains, heals all wounds. God bless you, All Star Superman.

And now, the Spider-Man Play Shave Set:

“Discover good grooming habits wth [sic] the Spider-Man Superhero Play Shave Set and make bath time fun time…”

For some reason, I picture the Wolverine Play Shave Set just containing a big ol’ knife. And the Superman Play Shave Set would come with replica pieces of his exploded rocket ship from Krypton, so kids could pretend to reflect their “heat vision” off them to shave their imaginary invulnerable beards…okay, that went too far into nerdy-land, didn’t it?

Then again, three years into this site, it’s probably too late to start drawing the “too far” line.

Because I don’t have enough ways to waste time online, I now find myself with a Last.FM account. Friend me if you’d like, or even if you don’t. Come make fun of my musical tastes…I’m listening to Throbbing Gristle, streaming through Last.FM’s webplayer, even as I type this. Fantastic.