For someone who said that he wasn’t going to be posting a lot over the next few days, I sure am keeping Blogger busy. Anyway, just wanted to pop in and recommend Temptation by Glenn Dakin, out from Active Images in that new-fangled trade paperback format. Only $8.95 a copy, it is, and well worth mowing an extra neighbor’s lawn or two to work up the scratch for it. Here’s a link to the publisher’s page for it, which includes a sample strip.

I remember reading these several years ago (either in Honk! or Centrifugal Bumblepuppy, or maybe both) and I’m glad I now have a whole slew of them in one place. Good stuff!

1. I don’t know why everyone’s so upset about Marvel publishing Identity Disc at the same time DC is publishing Identity Crisis. I mean, when they starting putting out JLA/Avengers at the same time DC was doing Avengers/JLA, you didn’t hear any complaining then, did you?

2. Speaking of Identity Crisis, pal Dorian has the best guess as to the Silver Age DC character that gets offed…Hal Jordan! They bring him back on page one, kill him off on page two. Brilliant!

3. Also, how to solve the continuity problem caused by the Doom Patrol being removed from Beast Boy’s origin? Easy – he’s a relative of the Martian Manhunter. Yes, that’s right, he’s the Beast Boy of Mars!

For personal reasons, my weblogging will be a little on the light side for the next few days, so I may not be doing more than linking to other sites, like Flat Earth’s discussion of a great Krazy Kat image pal JP posted on the Comics Journal message boards, The Hurting’s review of Walt Simonson’s Orion series, and your Dave Cockrum link of the day.

I’m short on time today, so all you’re getting is this Dave Cockrum link and an Archie cover:

1. Not much posting today…I actually got up and away from the computer for a while. Wow, there’s air and sun and all kinds of neat stuff outside!

2. Next time you go to your local comic shop, walk in, sorta look around yourself in a puzzled fashion, then ask one of the employees “hey, you wouldn’t happen to have any comic books with superheroes in them, do you?”

2a. I’m fully aware someone’s going to try that on me at my shop…(sigh), yes, go ahead, I brought it on myself.

3. Today’s Dave Cockrum link: Dave Cockrum’s silverfish.

3a. Actually, the whole gosh-darn Silverfish Gallery is very amusing.

Peter David responds to Joe Quesada’s rather crass Wizard World revelation of Captain Marvel‘s impending cancellation.

Added a new little Javascript thingie to my page, which randomizes my user picture just to the right there, above the weblog links. There’s only four different images so far…let me know if it works, causes random crashes, what have you.

1. Mark Evanier is a cruel, cruel man.

2. Reading up on the lowdown from the Wizard World convention here in slightly overcast Southern California…so apparently, the Marvel Comics panel was basically the editor-in-chief announcing a bunch of new titles designed to cannibalize sales from other Marvel titles?

Oh, and DC apparently announced some new Batman mini-series. Oh. Hey. What a surprise.

Check out The Pulse for several articles about Wizard World.

3. Some comic selling observations:

• Over the last couple years, at our store, Grant Morrison’s New X-Men has outsold Uncanny X-Men by about 2 to 1 and X-Treme X-Men by about 3 to 1. Also, Morrison’s X-Men is a huge back issue seller as well.
  

• By keeping full runs of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and Lenore on a rack specifically devoted to gother-than-a-goth-thing-that’s-goth comics, I’ve probably sold hundreds of copies over the last few years…lots of them to that near-mythical comic shop clientele, teenage girls. I’ve sold lots of the “Spooky, The Thing What Squeeks” toys, too.
  

• Street Angel sold fairly well. Even had a couple people add it to their pull lists after I recommended the first issue to them.
  

• Spider-man sales are slowly eroding. I wonder if it has anything to do with too many Spider-man titles on the stands?
  

• For all the grief people give Rob Liefeld over his art, he can still sell comics…well, as long as they’re Marvel comics. Remember those Wolverines he did a couple years back? Sold like crazy. They still sell like crazy, whenever we can get them back in stock. Moral of the story? People say they don’t like it…but they’ll buy it anyway.
  

4. I think it was pal Dorian who pointed out an article on ICV2 that stated, for the month of January 2004, DC Comics’ Watchmen had already sold 800 copies in bookstores. This is for a graphic novel well over 15 years old. These are probably better numbers than some Marvel trades get brand new.

5. I came across this Time Online article about graphic novels where Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns is correctly described as a “black comedy.” Finally somebody gets it. I’ve been saying that Dark Knight Returns is a “comic” book (in every sense of the term) for years. It’s a parody that too many writers afterward took at face value.

6. Comic Treadmill is treading through the 1970s run of All-Star Comics…good stuff!

7. I held one of these in my hands today. Ooooh, it was neat.

8. Today’s Dave Cockrum link: an interview conducted for Comic Book Artist magazine.

I am ashamed to admit that I didn’t see Tony Isabella’s call for International Dave Cockrum Day until this evening. Mr. Isabella’s proposed day for the event was March 18th, but, you know, this is the kind of holiday that should be celebrated over several days.

Today’s Dave Cockrum site: Dave Cockrum.net.

Everything’s Archie #118 (Archie Comics, July 1985), cover by Dan DeCarlo

Sometimes what’s going on in the background of some of the Archie covers is more interesting that the main gag. Looking at the above image, we see that we’re supposed to be amused by professional leerer Archie Andrews’ interest in jogging being solely looking at girls in jogging attire.

However, the stuff going on in the background is a little more interesting. For example, look at this guy:

Look at the grin on that face. That’s not innocent at all. Clearly he’s ogling the girls in the left background:







who themselves appears to be inordinately worried about something. They’re not worried about the buy in the blue hat who’s pretending to read the paper, since he’s out of their line of sight. My guess is that they’re looking at Archie, wondering if he’s going to pounce out from behind that tree to do something uncouth to them. Or maybe they’re just wondering what’s up with Jughead’s orange pants.