Continued on 2nd Page Following

Batgirl #1

2011-09-10T16:39:00.000-07:00

*SPOILERS*

The almost original Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, is back, and as you can see with her new textured gloves she can open a mean pickle jar and dispense gardening justice. We all know that what was 25 years, or so, for us, and, it seems, three years ago for Babs, she was shot in the spine by the Joker and was unable to walk for the rest of the century and a bit. This is part of the new 52, so just how much this Barbara has in common with the Barbara we all grew up with seems to sort of be up to the reader. I for one don't mind the ambiguity, but if there's one thing continuity bears hate, it's ambiguity; so this could end being a big snag for the titles in the new 52 where some of the old history apparently either applies or is at least duplicated, but they don't exactly tell you.

The writer is Gail Simone and artist is Ardian Sarif who at his best actually reminds me a bit of Herb Trimpe, strangely (though this could in part be down to the inking of Vicente Cifuentes) - but who unfortunately has a few anatomy problems to work out, as evidenced by a Spider-man-esque splash page of Batgirl swinging through the city in which her body parts look a bit distorted. There is also a certain amount of spatial confusion on a panel to panel basis, but it is still overall quite decent. There is nothing outstandingly distinctive about his style, at least so far, but it is cinematic and does the job.

As far as the writing goes, there are some neat touches. I like the idea that Batgirl's eidetic memory, which is something that has been referenced probably as far back as her first appearance in Detective #359, is a kind of burden as she is tormented by the memory of the Joker's attack on her, which, as she mentions in the narration, was part of a home invasion - neither contradicting nor sustaining the exact version of the event we saw in The Killing Joke. This is also interesting because in a way, it is almost that this attack is now at least one of her motives for fighting criminals, just as the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents is for Batman. As a matter of fact, this does accomplish the feat of turning a story idea I never liked into something interesting. However, that this version of Barbara Gordon had some affiliation with Batman before the incident is made plain in one caption; but it's not clear if she was actually Batgirl or not. Again, ambiguity. I'd be just as happy with the stories just going forward without that being cleared up or obsessed about much, but that likely won't happen.

In this version it seems that event happened three years prior, and Barbara has actually regained the use of her legs and is now very anxious to take down some criminals. And so in the opening story, we see her confront a group of home invaders, she gains a somewhat irritating new roommate, a villain named the Mirror is introduced, and then we end on a cliff hanger. My main beef is the continuing use of the first person narration via captions, which have essentially replaced thought bubbles in modern comics. They have that weary, jaded tone that's in every comic, I wouldn't mind seeing something different. But this is a decent reboot, and Batgirl's costume, a little more textured, looks good back on Babs.

On a scale of one to ten I'm giving it a B+. Nothing blew me away but it sustained my interest and I will get #2 and probably more because I want to find out more about The Mirror.

Shuffling Through the New 52

2011-08-22T17:29:00.000-07:00

Well, it's a bold move and I'm all for boldness. My biggest concern about the new DC Universe about to be born is that it seems tailored to appeal to the audiences which already exist, rather than being its own new and innovative thing. When Superman first appeared, it was not known that the audience for him existed. When Stan Lee started creating the Marvel universe, he was not trying to match what was seen as having popular appeal, in fact he went against that, and it worked, obviously extremely well. Looking through the materials for the new 52, what I see is an attempt to match current tastes, rather than something which is new and surprising and different. Heck, as much as I don't like Watchmen, I'll admit that when it came out, it was not much like anything that had ever been seen but it created its own audience. I tend to feel something that is deliberately made to appeal to trends is doomed, and it is perhaps especially fatal in the comic industry because theoretically one wishes to create a continuity to last at least 20 years, and if the designs are so obviously matched to current tastes, it means updates will be needed in a few years.

Maybe that's where comics are heading. I hear Marvel's Ultimate line is restarting, so it could be that the future of comics is in kickstarting a new continuity every few years. Basically like doing a remake of a movie once a decade. I suppose there is no real reason that these things can't be done just because they haven't been. I'm fairly certain that Superman and Batman, and probably at least some of the rest, will be around in some form in 200 years, and likely they will look different and have undergone some significant changes. Just as I am sure that the myths and legends that survive from previous civilizations did not first appear as we know them.

I personally have decided to give most of the more iconic books a pass, and will concentrate on some of the interesting looking other books. While I love the big guns, I am also a fan of DC's history of offbeat characters as well as their horror comics. My pull list as it stands is:

Batgirl - I have always liked the Barbara Gordon Batgirl, and am now interested in what will be done with her returning to the costume. While it is controversial that she is back, I always felt her original injury itself was a bit of a cheap move, ie the shock value of having something from a prestige one-shot have lasting consequences in the main universe.

Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE - I'm a fan of Creature Commandos, its original run in Weird War Tales, and this looks like it could be that kind of fun.

Demon Knights - I realize Medieval superheroics might sound like the essence of corny to some, the concept appeals to me and I love Etrigan and his original series.

DC Universe Presents - This one looks like a sampler, so it might give me some idea about the rest of the stuff without me taking the plunge on a lot of other books.

I, Vampire - I'm a fan of the old House of Mystery series, which was certainly ahead of its time and foreshadowed characters like Angel. This actually looks like it could be a prime example of what I'm talking about, in the sense of pandering to current tastes, but I'm going to give it a try. For some reason this paragraph will not de-italicize, my apologies.

Justice League Dark - While the name could not be more distressingly on the nose, and I normally hate "dark" superheroes, I like the idea of a team of super supernatural people, which has been done before to a lesser or greater degree, but this group of characters is intriguing. It just might be there's a kernel of originality in among all the typicalness of it. We shall see.

So that's probably it, it's possible I might end up feeling like I missed the boat on something, but I've also gotten a bit tired of the task of getting rid of comics I decide I don't need to keep around for rereading. These ones I'm getting will at least be unique and if they're cancelled early, I can fit them in my section of quirky misfires like Brother Power the Geek. For the ones I'm not getting, I look forward to reading the thoughts of other bloggers.

It's not to say I don't have the highest hopes for the relaunch, and wish DC well. I love comics and would like them to last for eternity. I'm probably a bit jaded but this is just not the first reboot I've been around for, as it won't be for most of you, and it's made me a bit sad to see how in the last ten years, since the phenomenon of more exposure through films, comics have become increasingly obsessed with the "cool" factor, rather than being fascinating for those indefinable but joyous reasons they were in the past. But time marches on. Anyway, it's not the first time DC has changed according to its audience's perceived needs.

Marvel Paperbacks I Have Loved

2011-07-06T15:08:00.000-07:00

These days it may be hard to believe there was ever a time when comic stores didn't exist, and there wasn't a place to walk into to find hot and cold running reprint editions, repackagings of every kind for the various types of comic book fan.

No, for people wanting to read the early issues of Marvel characters we had limited options. Among them were these paperback editions, which I own a few of. I remember borrowing some from friends as a kid. There was always a sense of awe while reading them as if I was finally getting to explore the early, primordial times of characters I'd come to know well from comics of the late seventies and early eighties. It was a feeling akin to learning the most cosmic secrets of the universe.

However, at the time I did not own any, and I'm not sure where they were sold, whether they were available at book stores or if they were sold in 7 Eleven next to the regular comics, though if they were I don't remember.

The ones that I own now I bought at conventions in the years since, some in the nineties, or more recently.

In the case of this Captain America one,

...I've actually bought it twice. I bought it once in the nineties and then it disappeared, I believe a roommate might have absconded with it. But I came upon it again at a mini-convention in May for a few bucks, and was overjoyed. Well, maybe not overjoyed, but joyed. It starts off a reprint of Avengers #4 and the epic return of Cap after years of being a human popsicle worshipped by Eskimoes. Then it goes into some early sixties solo adventures from various sources, one tale of a rescue in Vietnam before going into some freshly created WWII era stories, I mean freshly created in the sixties. I wonder how many other Vietnam rescue stories of Cap there were? Lee and Kirby maybe had trouble fitting in the ultimate patriot character with the morally ambiguous times, but that was what I imagine made him right for Marvel at that time, the fact that he was a man out of his era trying to fit in. Anyway, it's been great to have this book for boning up in anticipation of the film.

This Hulk one is a nice thing to have,

...because, as it says, it contains Hulk's first six issues from his earliest series. I believe in the first issue he has been recoloured green from gray, I suppose for the sake of consistency. But of course in these earlier appearances Hulk's personality is much more like what would eventually be the "Gray Hulk", he's shrewd, aggressive, and swaggering, not the more well known "Hulk Smash" style. I enjoy both depictions but anyway these first six issues are a great read, even teeny tiny as they are. This is the same material that is contained in the first volume of Hulk's Masterworks series.

And speaking of which, I now own the first Marvel Masterworks volume for Fantastic Four, but still hold onto this -

...because it was the first format in which I read the first six issues of the World's Greatest Comic Magazine.

I also have fond memories of these -

...which were many early adventures of the good doctor from Strange Tales. I recall the bizarre Ditko multi-dimenstional imagery blowing my young mind when a friend lent me his copy in grade six. It was a definitely a case of me feeling like I was actually being shown what goes on behind the thin veneer of what we mortals call reality. I've never read these stories in any other form, to read them any other way would just feel...strange.

Wait, now that I think of it that's actually not true, I have a Marvel Treasury with some of those in it, in fact it uses the same cover. I imagine the two books were published in conjunction. So some of the stories I have read tiny, and supersized. No middle ground.

For stories from other books that I did eventually read in other formats, it actually was a bit odd to suddenly see them so large, or regular sized. It was a bit like taking a movie you're used to watching on TV and then suddenly seeing it on a regular sized movie screen.

I believe there were more in this series, I saw a Spider-man one at that mini-con, but since I own his original stories in both Masterworks and Essentials formats, I let it go. It would be tough to go from having read something regular sized to readng it tiny, and I sometimes have to put my completist urges on the backburner in order to have the money to indulge other completist urges. Priorities!

I have some other Marvel paperbacks, pictured below, but these were more general as far as material goes, and used a cut up technique so that almost normal-sized panels are made to fit, usually about two per page. The Daredevil one reprints, in black and white, a couple early stories with art by the great Wally Wood, although I must confess, while the art is great by most standards, I don't feel that he brought his a-game, for whatever reason.

It contains two stories, the first one with the Fellowship of Fear from Daredevil #6, which was also the last story with DD's original yellow and red costume. The second is the first Stiltman story from #8.

This X-Men one is also black and white and is simply the seminal story from Giant Size X-Men #1, which shocked the world with its introduction of the second team of X-Men, one of the most successful revamps in human history; as well as the story "Psi War" from Uncanny X-Men #117.

And lastly, this Hulk one, which also uses the cut-up technique, though it's actually in colour, and features the Jarella story "The Brute that Shouted Love at the Heart of the Atom", from Incredible Hulk #140, and "They Shoot Hulks, Don't They?" from Incredible Hulk #142.

The January Jones Effect

2011-06-29T17:11:00.000-07:00

...is a term I have coined for when a performer appearing in a comic book film has a name that sounds even more like a comic book character's name than the name of the character they are playing.

New case in point is the young actor Sebastian Stan, appearing next month as Bucky Barnes, Captain America's ill-fated sidekick in the motion picture Captain America: The First Avenger being released on July22

Will the appearance of Bucky in a successful film convince movie makers that boy sidekicks can work in superhero flicks? Only time will tell, old chum, only time will tell.

Gene Colan Takes On DC Icons

2011-06-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

The prolific and unique Gene Colan passed away at age 84 on June 23. He was a master of storytelling and action pacing. In terms of visuals, for some reason the word that comes to mind for his style was "slippery". Everything had a liquid feel to it, as though each comic panel morphed into the next one. I loved his work on Marvel's clever and absurdist Howard the Duck with writer Steve Gerber. The same team took on the Man of Steel in The Phantom Zone miniseries of 1982, exploring the furthest reaches of the titular nether region; which also meant some other DC Icons slipping into the fray. Here are some selections with inks by Tony Dezuniga.

Green Lantern's Light!

2011-06-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

****SPOILERS****

Green Lantern is a superhero movie that dares to be fun and exciting and return the comic book hero to a time when it was about good versus evil. The movie reminded me of what I love about comics, a feeling that has taken a beating with some of the torturously dark films of recent years.

Now this was more like it. I found Green Lantern to be more in the spirit of superheroes than almost any movie I've yet seen. I've gotten quite used to the idea that when I see a superhero movie, it's going to be the movie version, ie a version of a character made acceptable to regular movie viewers, at best meeting the fan half way. The thing is, often this almost seems to be how fans want it, there is a sense of embarrassment over the fantastical excesses of the four-colour universe. Because of this I'd come to believe a superhero movie is just never going to be as enjoyable, as limitless-feeling, as reading a comic.

This is one of the first comic movies I can remember that so fully embraces its comics roots, sparing just about nothing and thus becoming a fantasy and science fiction film as well as a superhero movie. It's really only hampered by being an origin movie, and because of that there are not going to be huge dramatic surprises, as we see a hero gain power, and a villain gain power, and then a clash, although even that contains some interesting twists. To those who see Green Lantern as derivative, what they don't realize is how many things actually derive from GL, from the style of his costume, which preceded Spider-man, to the Green Lantern Corps, which, as a powerful universal peace force, was surely an influence on the Jedi of Star Wars - though admittedly the Lensmen series of books was an influence on the Green Lantern Corps.

Some of the CGI is being criticized, but I really have yet to see a film where CGI isn't apparent, including the highly praised Avatar, which I stopped watching after about forty minutes due to the leaden heavy-handedness of its story. Certainly the big boss villain of this film, the giant evil cloud with a head called Parallax, in some shots reminds me a bit of Malebolgia from the original 1997 Spawn movie, but at least his mouth movements are in unison with his words ( I think Malebolgia was supposed to be uttering thoughts telepathically but that was never apparent). There is at least a wonderful malevolence to the Parallax monster, its sense of being evil incarnate palpable but without it being overdone. I've read some compare its look to giant fecal matter, but if someone's stool looked remotely like that, they would be well advised to see a doctor immediately.

To me an important element of this film was the way in which the viewer is reminded that superheroes fight for the good of humanity, believing it worth saving. After a slew of comic book type movies with a sort of juvenile jadedness, actually daring to return to the roots of what a superhero story is about is a powerful message, one I believe audiences will respond to. It doesn't have a bunch of "cool" or "hip" dialogue. There is nothing - ugh - "badass" in sight. So many comics I've read in the last ten years seem to create dramatic situations simply so the hero can utter a tough guy line. While this movie has some drama, and gives its characters lives, it never loses its focus on being a superhero film about powers and saving the world. There are no long-winded dramatic scenes to try to convince us this is all "real", an element of many comics and comic movies that to me always takes away from the reality, the fact it's being taken so deadly seriously seeming to make it all the sillier.

Ryan Reynolds really surprised me. Going in, I always liked the way he could pull off smart-guy roles, such as in Blade Trinity, but here I was pleasantly surprised by his capacity for sweetness and sincerity, especially in the scene where he pleads with the nicely rendered Guardians for the chance to try to save earth - a scene that strongly evoked similar confrontations from the comics where Hal Jordan has to tell his immortal bosses that they don't know everything.

There is little about the dialogue that doesn't work for me. Many comic fans feel embarrassed by romantic dialogue, but the truth is that relationships work that way. I loved some of the scenes of Hal and Blake Lively's Carol speaking, set against a wistful, dreamy sunrise background, and there is much amusement in how she deals with his new powers and dual identity.

Mark Strong was incredibly charismatic as the still (at this point) heroic Sinestro, and I greatly appreciate that the actor reportedly fought to ensure that Sin would not be revamped with a goatee and a pony tail, as if an alien would be aware of the fashions on earth and thus feel embarrassed to have a non-hip mustache. Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond looked like a classic movie monster as he begins to mutate. His tweaked origin I felt was integrated more satisfyingly into the the larger story than in many superhero movies with multiple villains.

I love the other members of the Corps who appear, Abin Sur and Tomar Re both projecting a sense of nobility, and Kilowog appearing suitably menacing and ominous. Unlike some reviewers, I'm glad that the Corps is not part of the final action scenes, because for me the movie was about Hal. But I greatly enjoyed the scenes where Hal is part of a giant Corps assembly, and we can see many of the members who have been part of the comic mythos since the Silver Age.

The action in the movie is big and fun, with many amusing green energy constructs, and in the end, Hal's way of defeating his opponent is pure classic comic book. I left the film when it was over with a sense of excitement about the endless possibilities of superhero stories.

X-Men: First Class

2011-06-04T14:40:00.000-07:00

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

Here we are with the exciting new "one post every six months" format. It's been way too long, but it started with losing the internet temporarily and also was related to me initially wanting to only reach 100 posts.

But with this outrage called X-Men: First Class being foisted on the public, I can no longer keep silent!

Just joking, I didn't dislike it that much, I just didn't love it. I sort of want to feel the excitement that other people experienced from the new X-Men movie but it didn't have it for me. I'm not trying to convince anyone who liked it not to, because to me, in the grand scheme of things, someone enjoying a movie that I didn't particularly like is not the worst thing in the world, in fact if someone enjoys an evening at the movies it's pretty positive.

First of all let me say my problem is not, as it is with a lot of fans, that the First Class has nothing to do with the original X-Men team, which we all know consisted of Ringo, Gilligan, Shaggy, Potsie, Drooper and Snork. I completely support film tweaks of original material when there is reason to go back in with more recent revelations, and so forth, or just to not be extremely laborious and predictable - I'm a big Smallville fan, after all, which, more often than not, played fast and loose with the mythos in a knowing way, such as how Lena Luthor was depicted. I would hardly expect a film production company to invest in a story that wasn't very successful its first time around even as a comic book, as in the case of X-Men and its original team. Do those "hardcore" fans really want a step by step retelling of the original Marvel stories, with scenes such as the X-Men using their powers in construction jobs to raise money? I mean, I'd get a kick out of that, but I think some of the so-called "purists" would scream bloody murder. Just not cool enough. Comic fans hate being exposed to the general public as liking silly things.

I'll run down some of my problems with X-Men First Class.

One is that while we were given an origin for Magneto's hatred of mankind that contained absolutely nothing surprising but which instead, in typical prequel fashion, drew it out painfully, we actually learn nothing about where Xavier's humanitarianism really comes from. It seems like this iconic mutant's entire basis for his sunny outlook is simply that, having grown up rich, he experienced few real difficulties and was sheltered, having no chance to view either humanity's darker side or its more heroic side, which basically makes him seem naive. Granted, he's psychic, so in a way he is privy to everyone's thoughts and experiences. Maybe he's optimistic because he's able to tune in on some of people's finer thoughts, but that would also of course mean he could see their most evil thoughts. How does he sort that out? How does he deal with the potential disgust? But that's another thing - in this version, Xavier seems to just roam around in people's minds with no compunctions, and not just for tactical purposes, though he does that as well. He's depicted as virtuous, but at no point is it viewed as slightly shady for him to change someone's mind on an issue using psychic tampering. He is depicted as doing so quite playfully, and is not shown as having a moment of realization that this might not be much better, from an ethical point of view, than Magneto using his own powers aggressively.

Most of the young mutants have extremely generic, blurry personality types, with none of the actors, save the young actor depicting Hank McCoy, the kid from About a Boy, using acting ability to imbue the character with a sense of life as a good actor does when a character is underwritten. Havok seemed like a very poor man's version of Chris Evans' Human Torch from the much-maligned Fantastic Four movies. Angel, based on some new concept Angel, and portrayed by the daughter of Denise Huxtable, goes from being horrified that villain Kevin Bacon's forces have just slaughtered a bunch of men to suddenly joining up with him because of...why? Because some of those guys who were just brutally slaughtered made fun of her when they were alive, I guess. I've been made fun of before but I would still be utterly traumatized to see the perpetrators actually brutally killed, and I sure wouldn't want to then put myself in the hands of the killers. She sure didn't seem that cruel or that naive. I have to say I can not reconcile that side of her with anything shown previous to that moment; not as we can see the development of X2's version of Pyro.

In the end Magneto kills Sebastian Shaw by very slowly moving a coin through his head. He's bulletproof but supposedly this action contains no energy at all for Shaw to absorb because it's happening very slowly. Huh. Because to me, it might work better to throw Shaw's ship into space with him in it to see if he could absorb a vacuum. Or if Mags isn't quite up to that at this stage in his Jedi career, wrap a section of the hull around Shaw and then throw him into space. But it wouldn't have the poetic justice, I grant you. And putting things in space isn't as cool and "badass", which seems to be the esthetic demand for all films deemed worthy by fanboy masses.

I could sit and pick apart leaps in logic all day but I would bore everyone, especially myself. Comic geeks like myself are on shaky ground when they pick apart logic. In the approximately 4,000 comics I own there is probably an overall average of 10,000 crazy leaps of logic. But those comics, mostly, are fun to read, and I didn't find the film much fun at all. I will happily go along with crazy logic if it's for something fun that doesn't take itself so deadly seriously as this movie does, and if I have something invested in the characters. I mean my other blog is about how much I love b-movies, so I'm not trying to present myself as a snobby, serious film critic. X-Men First Class has moments, but there is also a lot of tedium waiting for something to happen. The action scenes I found were actually less exciting than the fight at Jean Grey's parent's home from the hated (by most) X-Men: The Last Stand; I felt much less invested emotionally because I hardly cared about the characters. If any of the nominal good guys had died I'd have been unlikely to cry myself softly to sleep that night. Also, the climactic scenes were choreographed and filmed sloppily so it was hard to make any spatial sense. I applaud the ambition of introducing battleships to superhero action, but not a lot of the action felt very visceral at all. There was nothing to match Wolverine's battle with Deathstrike at the end of X2, and as a villain Bacon doesn't measure up to Brian Cox's (admittedly less dynamic-looking) Stryker, even if he cuts footloose on making evil facial expressions while involved in mundane activities such as sitting in a chair.

If you liked the film, more power to you. I always say, if everyone felt like I do about everything, I'd lose my individuality and I sure wouldn't want that; and having fun watching a movie other people don't like isn't a sin. I know, I do it all the time.

Just so we don't all leave with a bad taste in our mouths, here's some art from a piece I always loved, a backup Steve Mellor did for Spider-ham back in the day. Mellor's style is great, I would have loved to have seen more superhero stuff like this.

Comics in Electra Glide in Blue

2010-11-27T06:08:00.000-08:00

Electra Glide in Blue, 1973's vehicle for future Baretta star and future murder suspect Robert Blake, is an occasionally brilliant but often hamhanded look at some of the social ills of the early seventies through the eyes of a diminutive Arizona motorcycle policeman who longs to be a detective. Comics seem to pop up with quite a bit of frequency and unfortunately, as is often the case in older movies and some newer ones, are used to characterize the mentally ill and the stupid.

In this scene, a crazy elderly man portrayed by Elisha Cook, the wonderful veteran actor of Maltese Falcon and Shane, among many others, is involved with a scuffle with orderlies at what seems to be a combination nursing home and mental health facilty. Someone is passing out comics and saying something like "Who wanted Batman?", and all these disturbed elderly men are reading comics. In the foreground, Cook and the orderly are literally fighting at each other with rolled up comics.

It's difficult to see any of the comics clearly, but the one being read in the middle ground, as this detail shows...

Is almost certainly this issue:

A nursing home where they casually pass out Kirby FF issues? I can't wait for retirement!

Throughout the movie, we are also subjected to Blake's partner Zipper, a cretinous cop who lives for three things: his motorbike, cracking hippie skulls, and the comics he reads in the shade while pulled over from the highway.

Whatever comic he's reading here as Blake pontificates, we don't get to see the cover, and it looks slightly outsized to me. According to Zipper, it's a Wonder Woman, as he keeps referring to Wondie's "meat and potatoes". And to think the Lynda Carter show was still in the future.

This film's worth a look as it does capture the era of hippies gradually going from a peace and love thing to more of a drug subculture, as portrayed in Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comics. In the late sixties, they were dropping out, which meant in the seventies they were just dropped out with nowhere to go, only they knew they hated the fuzz and the pigs hated them. Members of the band Chicago play several of the hippies.

Continued on 2nd Page Following - Before The Force, There Was The Source

2010-11-25T18:47:00.000-08:00

I always thought Kirby's depiction of Orion had kind of a Peter Noone thing going on.

Of course, that was only the way his features appeared due to Mother Box altering his appearance from Apokaliptian hideousness. Could be that Mo-Bo has a "teen heartthrob" setting.

But Don't They Realize Lead is the Only Way To Block Kryptonite?

2010-11-23T16:23:00.000-08:00

If you haven't heard yet, a Utah-based company, Vandor, has been ordered to recall DC hero collector glasses after tests commissioned by the Associated Press showed it contained more levels of lead that is deemed safe for children. Therein lies the point of contention, because Vandor says they were marketing the glasses to adult collectors but the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says no dice, they're kids glasses. I guess I can see their point, though, since kids are always going to like superheroes. So if you bought any of these, hold onto them! They're about to become scarce.

Super Spectacular Regular Sized 100th Post!!!

2010-11-21T14:13:00.000-08:00

Here I am at number 100 and it feels pretty darn good. Thanks to my Rogues Gallery of regular followers and to all the very valued drop-ins and drive-bys for giving me a place to yap about that giddiest and ginchiest of all topics, and for all the insightful, thought-provoking, and informative comments. The best people to learn from are those who know more than yourself, so luckily for me, that's practically everybody!

In comic collecting news, I marked the occasion by putting a bid on Justice League of America #100. My League collection is still a bit spotty down at those numbers, but not for long.

Stray Thoughts on Tonight's Aquatastic Episode of Smallville!

2010-11-19T18:09:00.000-08:00

- There's nothing like making out with your sweetie after blowing something up.
- We definitely got a bit of angry nineties Aquaman.
- Mera's not too hard on the peepers.
- I liked her way of talking, sort of Kirby-esque.
- I really like the effects for Aquaman's swimming, it's nice the makers of the show get that he swims very fast. Even in the Spidey movies they didn't seem to convey that his wallcrawling is supposed to be quite fast and scrambley. As Jeremy Piven said on Entourage, Aquaman is Spider-man underwater. I'm just free associating, but hey, it's Friday.
- Just me or were Justin Hartley's line readings at the beginning quite stiff? He improved a bit as the episode went on. He seems to act better in scenes that are more action oriented.
- "Squidlips" "...we got off on the wrong fin." Oh, that Lois!
- I like the idea that when Aquaman's been depowered by lack of water, getting hit with a splash is almost like a Banner-into-Hulk kind of moment.
- I'm glad we saw Mera's powers in action.
- I like how in Smallville, the return to the farm is always symbolic of a return to peace and happiness, however temporary.
- I feel silly for not seeing the ending coming! At the same time, it was nice to be surprised, I'm glad I usually avoid material on upcoming episodes.
- I have a feeling before the season is over, the line "an eye for an eye" will be uttered.

Gold Key Fever!

2010-11-18T15:21:00.001-08:00

Is it wrong to shop in the 50 cent bin? Should these bins be eschewed by the "serious" collector? Am I a "serious" collector? Nah, I consider myself more a wacky, slapstick collector.

I dunno, sometimes I find stuff there in better condition than stuff I've paid more for online. Anyway, it serves me well when I know I'm sort of impulse shopping, buying something I'm curious about but that I probably won't want to collect all of. What I'm collecting purposefully right now will probably keep me occupied for the next five to ten years. Also, it's just nice occasionally to actually pay less than a dollar for a comic.

So here's a few things I picked up recently for four bits.

I've heard the name Magnus: Robot Fighter bandied about quite a bit. In fact, unless I'm mistaken there's a revival on right now. It turns out that he's a guy who fights robots - in the future. You can't go wrong. What is it with the name Magnus in comics, anyway?

Well, Star Trek is pretty self-explanatory. It's the comics spinoff of one the greatest TV shows known to science. This issue is rather late in the run, the earlier ones have groovy photo collage covers and are now worth quite a bit as Trek collectibles. I remember when these comics were persona non grata to collectors but times change.

And that is just a cool, crazy cover, what can I say? It's a spaceship that looks like a bat and I want one. One of the things that makes Gold Keys amusing is how everything is presented with deadly seriousness, so even Magnus or Trek reads like a Classics Illustrated. I can remember as a youngster the painted covers deterred me, I think they looked too grown-up. Now they look quite funky to me and I will probably have them out in the comic room for their aesthetic appeal.

For those who don't know, there are more fun covers to look at, and words to read, on Gold Key Comics!

The Best Part of Waking Up is Super-Heroes and Super-Gorillas

2010-11-15T06:35:00.000-08:00

Wanting something to read during breakfast this morning - I can read comics while eating with little risk of damage to the comic, it's one of my gifts, I grabbed this out of the DC Specials section, perhaps my favouritest section of all.

With my usual banana, toast, and OJ, I enjoyed Superman taking on a Krypton gorilla, The Flash being fooled by Grodd into thinking Grodd had sped up everyone in the city, and Batman and Robin versus a diabolical criminal that wanted to put Batman's brain into a gorilla and pin a series of crimes on him.

I don't advise eating while reading a comic unless you are a trained professional like myself. One of the things to make sure of is that it is about a foot away from where the food is, so the food is between you and the comic, to avoid spillage. Not too far away, or you won't be able to see it. Also, keep a hand clean for page turning. Place the comic on something protective, at least its empty bag and board.

And it happens that my copy of this is unfortunately in about fair/good. Probably don't want to try it with a near mint Detective Comics #27, even with a great set of skills.

Bootleg, Not a Bootleg?

2010-11-14T10:35:00.000-08:00

I got this baby at a con in 1994 from one of the tables selling figures.

In the small print on the cape, it says, "(copyright symbol) D. C. COMICS 1992 COMICS SPAIN" but I have doubts about how legit it is. Do they write DC as D. C. in Spain, with periods and a space? Well, perhaps they do. But this is certainly not the most exquisitely sculpted figure, as a close-up reveals perhaps some bad facial surgery in Superman's past.

One idiosyncracy is the symbol on the back of the cape. Though I'm fairly certain even comic colourists have made the mistake of putting red in it when it should be all yellow.

Another interesting feature is his gigantic feet, which I must admit do help him balance.

Just for comparison, here's the Crisis Bizarro figure, who actually looks handsomer than this Superman. I just somehow feel the Thing of Steel would like that. Or hate that.

And just for fun, and so you can get a sense of the size of Spanish Possible Bootleg Supes, here he is next to a well-known small wind-up robot. I like how the slats on my JVC boombox make it sorta look like they're on the Death Star. Well, they do to me.

I actually like this figure. I guess I have to say it's the pose, that's some powerful-looking stuff, and he looks all right on a shelf, even if he has a face only Lara and Ma Kent could love.

Continued on 2nd Page Following: Yellow Hot-Pants!

2010-11-13T14:48:00.000-08:00

Supergirl's got to use what she's got, to get just what she wants. From The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #9, my contribution to the "things wrongly coloured yellow" field of studies as pioneered here on The Aquaman Shrine. I do prefer the hot pants version of her costume, I'd rather wear shorts than a skirt if I was a girl who was flying, and landing.

Always good to come across the name of my blog during my casual back issue reading. The problem with modern comics is they don't have these handy warnings. I hit a page of ads and I'm lost.

Stray Thoughts on Tonight's Episode of Smallville

2010-11-12T18:06:00.000-08:00

- Doozy of an episode.
- Lots of cute women, especially Teri Hatcher and Helen Slater.
- I like that Teri's hair was like it was in the early days of Lois & Clark, which was on the air 15 years ago when the tapes were from. Quincy-dence?
- I was wondering if Clark actually had a VHS around. I guess so.
- Teri Hatcher + Michael Ironside = Erica Durance
- The Smallville version of Desaad is much prettier than the comic version and
- I'm a bit surprised they don't have him wearing a hoody. I miss the greasy maitre d' hairstyle.
- I like Granny Goodness, she's nicely creepy.
- Love the Furies.
- Was that a real trap or was it Clark's bachelor party?
- Tess is not Big Barda but she's...
- QUITE the shock reveal at the end.
- Jor-El is Warlock!

Let us now bask in the glory of Teri Hatcher on the Love Boat, for we all know the early eighties was the absolute highest point of western culture, it's all downhill after that...

Jheri Curl Causes Omnipotence! Plus: Twinkies, Twinkies, Twinkies!

2010-11-12T14:13:00.000-08:00

So I'm watching Dark City the other night and trying to figure out who Rufus Sewell reminds me of with his dark jheri curl hairdo and his ability to manipulate all matter. Then it hit me.

Of course, the Beyonder as he appeared in Secret Wars II, minus the white disco suit! Proving once again, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Germans love David Hasselhoff. Well...it doesn't disprove it.

In other news, I thought one thing I haven't yet posted is a Hostess ad, and I can't seem to find this one on any places that usually do so, including the estimable Hostess Ads site. So here is my contribution to the ongoing quest to put all Hostess ads online so they will be enjoyed for generations to come until Kamandi happens.

Twinkies. It's what's for dinner.

Now if you'll excuse me, tonight is Teri Hatcher night on Smallville. Yes!

My Recent War Comics Reading: Haunted Tank

2010-11-11T09:49:00.000-08:00

While I think comics have a very respectable tradition in war stories, it is generally not my thing. However, I am also always curious about areas of comics I don't know much about and recently purchased Haunted Tank Showcase Vol. 2 new, as it was going at a very affordable price. It turns out the cheap price was probably due to a misprint on one of the pages where a page was printed twice, and then the correction glued on. I learned about the mistake here. , strangely on a Marvel Masterworks board.

While superheroes are just usually more my thing, I definitely recognize the excellence in storytelling with the art of Joe Kubert and Irv Novick, both of whom I always appreciate, and Russ Heath, who is fairly new to me. Robert Kanigher wrote all the stories. I'm quite familiar with him from his brilliantly nutty Metal Men and Wonder Woman. His Haunted Tank tales show how multi-faceted and complex he really was. Likely no story is going to get across what war is really like, but instant and brutal death on both sides of World War II accompany the travels of the Haunted Tank in North Africa. Jeb Stuart, the commander of the tank, receives cryptic warnings about his next battle from the ghost of a civil war general, but are these visions real or is Jeb cracking up? As well as a depiction of the trauma of being in the heat of battle, the reader gets a sense of the weariness and isolation of soldiers.

When Comic Book Thugs Look Like Charles Bronson Part 4

2010-11-09T16:47:00.000-08:00

"Thug" doesn't exactly fit, but I'm going with it. Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes #212, 1975, as Cosmic Boy, "on a break" from his relationship with Night Girl, though clearly still thinking of her, watches what I suppose is Death Wish: The Thousand Year Anniversary Special Edition. His date Sinde seems to like it - a girl who likes action movies might be a keeper, but Rokk is back with Lydda by the end of the story. Of course Lydda actually beats up bad guys on a regular basis, and looks good in her new costume, so I can't really blame the boy, even if having a girlfriend who has superstrength when in the dark might sometimes be problematic.

I Impulsively Bought Essential Hulk Vol. 6 Yesterday...

2010-11-08T17:17:00.000-08:00

I was at the book store and looking at perhaps buying something, maybe Superman: Earth One, which, despite some trepidation about potentially ephemeral revisionist versions of characters ("fresh and exciting" one week, expensive bird cage liner the next), I thought might be important for me to read as a lifelong Superman fan. But suddenly, I saw the Hulk book and realized that's what my mood was. It could be that I've been enjoying reading Herb Trimpe's Hulk, the blog, which has reawakened my senses to the appeal of seventies Hulk. I believe this particular volume is slightly past the more significant part of Trimpe's contribution, although he is a contributor on two of the issues - inked by Joe Staton in one case, which certainly interested me. And of course there are other notable artists. Sal Buscema's style, for instance, I recognize instantly, and something about it just says "seventies Marvel".

This is the first Hulk Essentials Volume I've bought. I have a tendency to read series and characters from whatever point interests me, and then put together the saga in my head, perhaps rereading it in order later. I have some eighties and nineties Hulk, and I've read the original 6 issue Silver Age series in the form of a digest I own (which recoloured the originally grey Hulk green). I of course have a fondness for the Jade Giant from the Bixby/Ferrigno show. As I've mentioned before, from a certain age I've been stronger for DC, but I have a fondness for Marvel at its best. I do love Marvel in the seventies. The first reason might be nostalgia, sure, I was a little kid at the time. But my more analytical side says that it appeals to me because the ideas were still fresh, but were now being worked on by a second generation of creators able to unearth some of the potential hinted at in the original work by Stan and the gang, expand on it, broaden it. I will read and enjoy Silver Age Marvel, but also find it tends to blend after a while with a sameness to the histrionics, almost unavoidable due to the scripting and direction of a single brilliant, strong creative personality, aided and abetted by a small group of brilliant, strong talents. So in my mind DC owns the Silver Age partly because of greater variety - having had the advantage of more creators and editors. Sixties DC covers I find endlessly entertaining, Marvel covers of the time are usually not my style and some I find downright bland. Okay, I have to be honest, I like covers that have dilemmas, captions, and exclamation points. I like covers that make it seem absolutely vital I read the comic to find the important information located therein. For me, Marvel did their best at that in the age of the Osmonds.

But though the companies tend to get compared a lot, I sometimes feel with the early days of Marvel it's like comparing The Honeymooners to The Simpsons. Or Gilligan's Island to Lost. Surface similarities but a whole host of reasons why it's not really apt. And in the seventies, of course, the two houses were exchanging talent so much it seems a bit odd to be totally loyal to one. Who would only watch their favourite actor's movies with one studio?

Okay, but about this volume. This era of Hulk I find I am enjoying a lot, as I thought I would. I tend to like comics that are the adventures of an itinerant character who keeps travelling and running into weird stuff. I love Kamandi for that reason, and this is entertaining in the same way, with the added feature of Hulk's incredible strength coupled with his often confused grasp of situations being a great combination to create problems but also provide a visceral, gratifying solution. When the young man at the store was ringing up my purchase, he said, "Essential Hulk Smash!" Exactly!

Teen Titans on Miami Vice

2010-11-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

It's always great when two of my favourite things overlap, especially if those two things are rather incongruous and seemingly irreconcilable. In this case, I'm referring to the Teen Titans and Miami Vice, that hallmark of eighties neon noir cool.

Here is a shot from the MV episode "The Fix", airdate March 7, 1986.

Yes, that is none other than Tales of the Teen Titans #60, evident from Trigon's beaming face, displayed in the van of the Vice Squad's surveillance crew of Switek and Zito. There's another comic or mag overlapping it but I can't tell what that is.

I'm almost certain the comic probably was meant to be belonging to Stan Switek, who was the relaxed hipster of the Squad, as evinced in a previous episode, "Made For Each Other", where it was shown he was a die-hard Elvis fan (though of course Crockett's pet alligator was actually named Elvis, which might mean Crockett is the bigger King fan, I suppose).

Here he is sweating it out in the van with Zito. Switek was portrayed by Michael Talbott, a somewhat weighty comedic actor who might have had a more prominent career now in the age of Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, and Zach Whatsisname (though I realize he most resembles Chris Penn in the above pic).

I can definitely see comics being great for passing the time in a surveillance van, though certain detectives get to listen to it all from afar in the cushy, cushy offices of Miami Vice, and have other things to occupy their time such as making their hair look awesome.

Also notable about this episode is that the main villain is...Cosmo Kramer!

Yes, a young, pre-Seinfeld, pre-unfortunate rant, though post-whatever it was with Andy Kaufman on Fridays Michael Richards plays the guy trying to fix fights and get a prominent, basically good but gambling-addicted judge (Bill Russell, in the middle above) in his pocket. The vice gang is tapping the judge's line.

"Levels, Jerry!"

All of this unfortunately comes to a head when the judge decides to blow away Kramer and then himself just as Sonny arrives on the scene. Crockett must hold some kind of record for the amount of people who have shot themselves in front of him.

This episode is also notable for being directed by Dick Miller, star of such Roger Corman b-classics as Bucket of Blood, The Terror, and Little Shop of Horrors, though people who are not as into the b-movie scene will probably remember him from Gremlins and as the gunshop owner that Arnold shoots in The Terminator - "You can't do that!" "Wrong." BLAM!

Continued on 2nd Page Following: Superboy #167

2010-11-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, yes, a super-strong flying baby, sure, fine. I was believing everything until they said that said baby could crash through a window so fast it wouldn't make any noise. What is this, *snicker*, some kind of supernatural windowpane? What about the falling glass? Air friction burnt it up? I expect realism from comics, dagnabbit!

But not really. I want amazing insanity from any Superbaby story, and they generally deliver. And that is one reason I chose this as this week's installment of the regular feature, an appearance of the blog title in a back issue.

Central Canada Comic Con 2010: Costume Contest Pt. 2

2010-11-03T14:13:00.001-07:00

Again please excuse the graininess. That top THX 1138 guy had a great and original costume that probably did not offer much visibility. The guy that was Optimus Prime did an amazing job and actually transformed into a truck, using an attachment he brought with him, so I am impressed with the dedication of Transformers fans. I have no idea if Mysterio could see out of his helmet but the outfit is impressive. I have to say I admire people who are willing to walk around all day in these cumbersome things.

Central Canada Comic Con 2010: Costume Contest Pt. 1

2010-11-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

I was about a million miles away from the stage so my camera was on super duper zoom, so excuse the graininess. Though I kind of like the blurry pic of the Hobgoblin, almost looks like some hastily snapped candid distance shot from the Marvel Universe that might be on the cover of the Daily Bugle. I'm glad I got the Doom and Sue staredown; they had a great Thing with as well but my camera didn't clear in time for me to get him. And Joker and Harley were a highlight, as they actually serenaded each other with a quick song, it was nicely done.

Happy Halloween! Some Costumes from Central Canada Comic Con 2010

2010-10-31T07:23:00.000-07:00

I'll have more stuff in the days ahead including pics from the always-delayed costume contest. I had a pretty good time although I didn't really do the celeb thing this year because the ones I was interested in seemed to be no-shows, or something. There were clearly some organizational issues but on the other hand, there were lots of good costumes and anyway not paying outrageous amounts for autographs left me more money to fill gaps in the collection with the very bountiful back issue and collectible tables.

Boo!perheroes Week, Part 4: Action Comics #415, Superman in "Meet the Metropolis Monster!"

2010-10-27T17:26:00.000-07:00

It all begins innocently enough...

I just hate when people hover over me at work! But it turns out Handsome isn't there to wash the windows, he's got another agenda as he bursts into Clark's office and rips open his shirt, and it ain't romance. Soon a no-holds barred superfight is in progress...

Dollface falls back out the window and gets embedded in the ashphalt. I'm going to assume Clark didn't superspeed to rescue him because...it all happened too fast? But anyway, the creature yet lives!

Only it's real...in a comic book. Soon the always copyright-conscious Daily Planet is reporting on events and admitting a similarity of the creature to an established icon.

Later, the monster is seen on a rooftop with an attractive female with him, making like King Kong. Superman uses his super-sniffer to track down the musty smell he caught earlier, except...
Yes, all he finds is a human male lying in an alley next to the title of this blog. The man appears to have a connection to Herman Munster, as he relates that he created the monster and that it has mortally wounded him so he could not stop it. The man dies, even as the monster appears to be rampaging around the city, terrorizing the always self-reliant Metropolis police force. Ah, the days before the SCU.

Superman, meanwhile, has flown the apparent inventor of the monster to his Fortress of Solitude, where he slaps together a Bring People Back To Life Machine, only I think some of the instructions are in Japanese so it might not work. But note the blog title has followed them all the way to the North Pole! I'm everywhere, man!

Supes does some mad scientist stuff, jolting the body back to life, and just then the monster breaks into the Fortress with a CRRAASSSHHHH.

They have another tussle, only now the monster can speak and chastises Superman for allowing the humanoid to escape, because it's the real menace.

At no point is it mentioned that the monster creating a hole in the wall might have helped the
humanoid escape, because now it's flashback time. The waviness around the panel below means flashback, not that you have cataracts. Whew, that's a relief!

You get the gist. It's the old "alternate dimension where monsters are regular people" gag, and this particular monster created an artificial humanoid. In an interesting inversion of the Twilight Zone "Eye of the Beholder" concept, the uggos in that dimension somehow know they are hideous, despite there being no one to compare themselves to...hmm...and so the inventor that Superman has been assuming is a monster on a rampage attempted to create beautiful specimens. He explains that he was unable to explain before, because his vocal cords had not adapted to the earth atmosphere. I have no zinger for that. The logic is sound.

But anyway, somehow due to the way Superman revitalized it, the humanoid is breaking down into giant cells, which are going to multiply and presumably swallow the earth.

But stopping the cell-being is really not too difficult, they're still in the North Pole so all it takes is some freezing. Later, Superman apologizes to the "inventor" for judging him solely based on his appearance (and that he ripped off Clark's clothes upon first meeting him).

Oh, yeah, and the girl the monster had been seen with earlier was actually another of his humanoid creations. I often refer to my friend's wives as their "female humanoid", which may be one reason I don't really have friends. The inventor goes with her back through the dimensional portal, promising he'll create a mate for her. Yeah, that's the first thing I'd do. Well, I think we've all learned an important lesson about tolerance, bringing the dead back to life, and skirting copyright. It's a cool issue, a fun story, and I like the various tributes to the Frankie mythos, even having Superman in the role of mad scientist. It's alive!

A Halloween Film Recommendation: The Flesh Eaters (1964)

2010-10-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

AMC has been filling the gaps this week showing this, and it's one of several well done sixties horror movies that does more with less. I hear you saying, but Aaron, what does this have to do with comics? Shouldn't this be on the B-movie blog? Well, the comic connection is that it was scripted by none other than Arnold Drake, creator of Doom Patrol as well as Deadman.

Boo!perheroes Week, Pt. 3: Fantastic Four #239, "Wendy's Friends"

2010-10-25T17:26:00.000-07:00

Oh we got a scary one for you tonight, kids! The tale begins as a mysterious figure walks into the Baxter Building past the always alert doorman O'Hoolihan.

Faith 'n' begorrah! Who could this be? She makes her way to the reception desk where Johnny is repairing the robo-receptionist. Then the scene shifts to the laboratory of Dr. Reed Richards, and the stubble, as ever, tells us he has just failed in another attempt to turn Ben back into a human.
Johnny brings the mysterious woman in to the workout room, and once she enters we discover it is none other than the legendary...

...whom Ben has referenced frequently throughout the series. Until now she has been like one of those people in sit-coms that are referred to frequently but never seen, but here she is in the flesh.

But that just sets it up for the main story. Aunt Petunia meets the rest of the FF, and relates that she is not there for a social visit. She wants the FF's help back in her town of Benson, where she lives with her husband, Ben's uncle Jake. She says the town is in danger of being frightened ...to death!

They jump in the Fantasticar and soon they are in Benson, Arizona, where an archaeological dig is taking place. They meet famed archaeologist Dame Ruth Efford, who began the dig following the discovery of an arrowhead by a local little girl named Wendy.

That same night, some of Dr. Efford's students go wandering the desert. When suddenly -

The bodies are found, the next day, apparently with expressions of horrific fear on their faces - related to us with a conversation between Johnny and a pre-Nova Frankie Ray. Frankie gives Wendy a ride back to her home, where she discovers the little girl is being abused by her father, and Frankie threatens him if he touches her again.

There is some dialogue over what it could be they are up against. Dr. Richards says it may be something they simply can't fight. We then see Wendy, in despair over her father, go wandering into the desert alone at night. She is seemingly taken up into a maelstrom of sand, and then the scene cuts to the Thing asleep in his bed at the Benson Motel.

I love that picture because it's not often one sees a monster awakened by bizarre creatures in the middle of the night, a bit like if the Frankenstein monster were being abducted by aliens or something. Suddenly these proto-Gremlins critters are everywhere in the hotel, and as the FF runs out, they see Benson is in chaos. The FF do what they can, putting out fires, but in the morning all the townspeople get in cars and leave.

Wendy has turned up with her father, who says the creatures shows him he can change his ways. It is up to Reed Richard to try as best he can to explain what happened.

The ending is a bit odd, as it almost seems as if the FF just leave Wendy there by herself, but I assume that her now-reformed father is somewhere about. She walks to a secret cave only she knows, and we are left with the following chilling tableau.

It's an interesting, mysterious story. I like that the FF doesn't really get to the bottom of things, and don't exactly have anything solid to fight. Not that I'd want every issue to be like that, but it's cool to have a Twilight Zone story in a superhero comic.

The critters in the ish remind me a bit of this little gem -

WhooOOooO*perheroes Week, Part 2, Adventure Comics #408: Supergirl in "The Face at the Window"

2010-10-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

It all begins as Linda and her fellow reporters at K-SFTV are standing around, using hip lingo and making politically incorrect analogies.

After a lengthy introductory sequence, they get in the news van and drive around all day until they finally find the splash page.

Yes, it's another creepy house, and this one is also owned by an old man, as in our last tale of the mighty and the macabre. Exactly why the reporters are going there is not clear. Anyway, the old man's not too keen on reporters snooping around the place, which is obviously a dead giveaway that all is not kosher with the property. The old man supposedly lives alone in the house, but-

Creepy! Let's zoom in on that -

As they say in Pepe le Peau cartoons - le yipe! Well, I've got goosebumps. It's the kid in Three Men and a Baby all over again! Well not really all over again, that movie hadn't been made yet.

As all this is going on, there has been a bit of a sub plot involving Linda's co-worker at the station, Nasthalsia, though more commonly known by the apt name of Nasty, getting up to all sorts of shenanigans to try to prove Linda is Supergirl. What a terrible person, coming up with a crazy story like that! Well, except we know she's actually right, but we don't want her to know that, and we definitely don't want her telling other people about it, and Nasty is a notorious blabber mouth. Who works at a TV station. Yeah, you get the picture.

So anyboo, Supergirl has developed the picture she took at the house, only in the picture there is no face! Don't front like you're not terrified by now, don't even play that!

She goes back to the house determined to prove she was right lest she face the good-natured condescension of her co-workers. Nasty also heads to the house, correctly believing Linda will investigate as Supergirl. Nasty dons a black cat-suit not unlike Diabolik's. Speaking of outfits, it is important to note at this point Supergirl is wearing a suit made for her by the Kandorians, because she is having a problem with her powers going on and off. The suit can duplicate some of her powers, and is also quite fashion-forward.

Supergirl skulks around the house a bit, admonishing herself with various bits of good, if obvious, advice, and just generally narrating her own adventure, as many of us are wont to do.

Linda deals with being creeped out by continuing to address herself in her thoughts, probably for the sense of detachment that it provides.

Yes, Nasty is so nasty she even blames Supergirl for what are clearly her own decisions. She surrenders to the old man, who says he will call the police. Then he hears sounds of someone else, and that someone else is, of course, the Maid of Might.

Fortunately either her invulnerability holds up or else the suit does. Either way, she manages to apprehend the old man, only now the little girl is missing. Supergirl's frantic search for her reveals something interesting.

I personally don't see how superheroes would find anything "impossible to believe" after a couple years on the job. If we didn't know he was evil before, referring to the little girl as "brat" definitely puts him over the top. She seemed like a pretty well-behaved little ghost. For ghost she was, as Linda later revisits the house and-

So it's another story from the early seventies, again with a creepy house, an old man, and a dead child. It is interesting to note in both cases the child had actually died from a disease and was not murdered, probably a requirement of the Comics Code Authority, which is fine with me.

*(that's a ghostly WhooOOooO, in case that's unclear)

BOO!perheroes Week, Pt. 1: Teen Titans #43 "Inherit the Howling Night!"

2010-10-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

The Teen Titans are just hanging around outside a creepy house at night. Well, you know how teens like to loiter, perhaps they thought it was a 7-Eleven. So our story begins with the Teen Titans hanging out outside the creepy house witnessing a group of hideous demons involved in a juggling act with a small boy. Those demons appear to be strictly nogoodniks, so our gang of hipsville adolescents is on the case, tigers!

Kid Flash, being the fastest, goes whipping into the house to put the kibosh on this horrific activity, but it looks as if due to some magical interference he's getting nowhere fast!

Clearly some evil vibes are afoot in this crazy place! The rest of the heroic youngsters are similarly thwarted, until mystically mental Lilith waves some mandrake root at the beasties, causing them to disperse...for now.

The old man tells them a story of the curse that had plagued the dump for years, since around the time of the birth of little Davey, when various implements and weapons took on a life of their own and attacked and killed his mother and his father, the son of the old man. Ever since then there have been numerous attacks by demons and the place is just generally a supernatural bummer. So of course the Titans decide this will make a fabulous place to spend the night.

The next morning, Speedy decides to make an udder freeloader of himself.

Don't have a cow! Ouch!

As Donna enters the barn, some proto-Evil Dead hijinks take place.

Not just in the barn, but in the house as well -

Gonna need a lot of pancakes to mop that up!

Robin is getting off pretty light, especially considering he's watching Davey in the house. The demons use some potent flower scents to knock him out and steal the kid. As usual, it's up to Lilith to try to get down to cases, after they spot a ghost on the stairs that the old man, Cyrus, reveals is his departed daughter-in-law Rebecca.

Lilith's powers give her a technicolor, surround sound vision of how Rebecca was left alone in the house with Davey when he was a baby. The child took ill and before she could do something about it, he died, and she swore to the night she would give her soul to have her child alive again. Obviously someone listened, for the baby was seemingly returned, safe and sound. Only later did the various weird things happen that ended the lives of his parents.

The ghost disappears and the flashback disperses, and the demons are outside again playing hot potato with Davey.

Even when confronted with the supernatural, detective skills can come in handy. Robin is one of the world's greatest detectives. I'm not sure if he comes in 2nd or 3rd, bearing Elongated Man in mind...but even the world's 3rd greatest detective still has to be pretty good, right?

Robin figures out there is something significant where the demons are go-go dancing every night, and has Kid Flash zip out there and uncover it, and what the it is turns out to be a small trunk containing...

...this is years before Beast Boy will change his name to Changeling, by the way. Somehow, Cyrus figures out that what he must do is slay the unclean thing that has been posing as his grandson.

...and so ended the last Titans adventure of their original run. They would be on hiatus after #43 for several years. When they did return, the groovy age was over and the disco age had begun.

Teen Titans seemed like a good place to start BOO!perheroes week, a look at horror in superheroes stories. It's interesting to read the original series and see it evolve from superhero adventure into a horror series. It provides a microcosmic look at how it was that only a few years after the peace and love era, suddenly fascination with the supernatural and monsters was everywhere. In issue #25, in a famous story, the Titans were indirectly responsible for the killing of a peace activist named Dr. Swenson. Bob Haney, as writer, then seemed to have a hard time coming up with solid menaces for the kids to face. After all, if they were fighting crooks and villains, wasn't that really not very peaceful? But as the series started getting further into the seventies, the problem seemed to be resolved by having the Titans fighting ghosts and demons, as you just saw. Even pacifists can't object to fighting monsters, can they? And so we might see how the peace and love era eventually gave way to a new age of horror in entertainment.

Horror-a Monsters!

2010-10-22T23:12:00.000-07:00

Kickin' off the countdown to Halloween with a kickin' comic ad from 1969. Boo! (Scary boo, not disapproval boo.)

Continued on 2nd Page Following - Phantom Stranger #1

2010-10-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

From 1969. A name is uttered, a legend begins anew.

Some of My Weirder Superman Stuff Pt. 2

2010-10-19T18:39:00.000-07:00

This doesn't come with the building back drop. It does come with an iron-on Superman symbol, and as far as I'm concerned history ended with invention of iron-on technology. There's really no way to improve on that.

Batman: Brave and the Bold Marathon

2010-10-18T17:59:00.001-07:00

Here's the view from my official cartoon-viewing sleeping bag in my bedroom. As I reported yesterday the last couple days I've been doing a B&B marathon, rewatching the early episodes with Season One Volume One DVD I just bought which contains the first thirteen episodes. I love the light Diedrich Bader-voiced Batman and also the often offbeat guest characters. Sometimes they are more beloved of me than at other times, but I always respect the show's producers for digging for less well known characters. I also love the teaser beginnings where we join Bats and a friend in the middle of an adventure, a bit like the opening of a Bond film. My favourite episode of this group might be "The Eyes of Despero" which features a great beginning with Dr. Fate, and then goes into a Green Lantern Corp adventure with Guy Gardner, G'Nort, and a slightly different version of the origin of Sinestro - though the fact that Hal Jordan, who does appear, is absent for most of the origin of his own archenemy does seem a bit strange. In the B&B-verse, Sin seems like more of an archenemy for Guy. Be that as it may, we also get an alternate version of the famous "One punch!" scene. Oh, and of course, Despero is the villain, and the show's designers went with his slightly less aerodynamic original side-to-side head-fin style, in one of many tributes to the Silver Age. And speaking of fins, I enjoy the hail-fellow-well-met, bon vivant, Prince Vultan-esque version of Aquaman, and the "Evil Under the Sea" episode is another favourite. I can sort of take or leave the new Blue Beetle, though I really like the first episode with Kanjar Ro and the awesome gamma gong.

The first episode of the show that I ever caught was "Terror on Dinosaur Island", and I was hooked. They had me at talking gorillas riding giant pterodactyls as steeds.

The Bat-blog has just reported on these neato B&B cars.

A Probably Bootleg Superman Shirt

2010-10-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

I like to show you some of the stuff in my collection, not in the interest of, "Hey everybody, look at the stuff I've got!" but because I rarely encounter people in real life who appreciate some of the things, so I figure who but comic blog readers can I share it with? Otherwise it's just me which seems like kind of a waste.

Anyway, I am proud of this beauty, which I bought when I was sixteen which means the shirt is now legal to drink in most states. I got it at a store called Records on Wheels in the unfortunately-named city of Regina. It jumped out at me when I was just beginning to admit my lingering love of Superman to myself and everyone around me. I'd gone through a bit of a phase of Superman denial for approximately ages 12-15, when suddenly X-Men was the taste du jour and all else pretty much was considered too far fetched, or something. Not that I really stopped liking Supes. My sister and I watched the Reeve movies about every weekend, it's just that I didn't start getting public about liking Superman until around this time, a phase which has lasted right until the present day.

I guess I chose to begin the era of Superman glasnost by buying an undoubtedly unlicenced shirt, but I definitely thought and still think it's pretty groovy-looking. Over the years it's gotten pretty worn and delicate, so if I wore it around I'd have to be wary of random muscle flexes and stray breezes, but hopefully I'll find some good permanent way to display it.

While the graphic, at first glance, might seem to be Kal contemplating the explosion of Krypton, perhaps in memory, a closer look reveals the continents of the planet Earth, and so this is more like some jaded punk rock thing about how there is no hope, or something. I dunno. I like it cuz it has Superman on it, what can I tell ya?

I apologize for the sporadic post schedule this past week but I've had to put in extra hours at my day job. Mind you, I've also managed to squeeze in watching a lot of Brave and the Bold episodes, having purchased the DVD of Season One, Part One - and oh I hope I do not get burned by not finding a part two and instead having to purchase the entire season if I want to watch the rest. Though I guess it would serve me right for buying bootleg shirts. I do rationalize the occasional bootleg purchase with my certainty of having put thousands of dollars in DC coffers over the years, but who am I kidding? The guilt's killing me.

By the way a school chum once told me that there was a version of this shirt where Supes is saying "Oh $#it". Except with the actual word, but this was a guy who had a tendency to be full of same. Anyway I prefer this one.

Some Stray Thoughts on the 200th Episode of Smallville

2010-10-15T22:08:00.000-07:00

- * Possible spoilers.
- I really really enjoyed it.
- Okay, I like that James Marsters is Brainiac Five. Not green, I don't think, though they had kind of an interesting glow on him.
- In fact, the lighting for Smallville in general and this episode in particular is always skilled and interesting.
- Some of Tom's and Erica's best acting as their respective characters.
- So glad to see Clark confront the death of his earthly father in a way that seemed to touch on every previous version of it.
- Also glad Clark may be out of this self-bashing mode.
- Seeing future Clark was way wicked, wicked awesome.
- Also liked the reference to Daily Planet staffer Ron Troupe. Can't remember if they've had him but I don't think so.
- Who else wants a Smallville version of Steve Lombard?
- Ollie needs Clark...awwww.
- Disco ball in a barn, yes!
- Chloe...alive? I hope.
- I caught a spoiler on next week's episode and am pretty excited.

Kamandi on 2nd Page Following

2010-10-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

This week's selection is another Kamandi panel - now bigger and with more motorcycles! From Kamandi #13. Yes, I've been rereading, almost obsessing over, this crazy title which can be addictive. I am way on the Kirby bandwagon, and especially for the seventies DC stuff - I think what I like is that he had this unfettered, energetic, enthusiastic imagination that was like a kid playing and coming up with the craziest stuff he can think of, coupled with the storytelling skills of a mature and accomplished artist. That's just a very rare combo.

Judge Dredd Pinball

2010-10-12T18:47:00.000-07:00

I went on a one-man road trip yesterday (Canadian Thanksgiving) to the resort town where my family has a cottage. It was a suprisingly warm day. One of the things I love about the town is the arcades where they have all manner of old video games and pinball. Thought I'd post this pic I took since Judge Dredd is a comic character.

My Fantastic Four #110 "Variant"

2010-10-10T19:04:00.000-07:00

...and speaking of FF, a while back I went and traded some of my reject comics in to help fill some gaps in collections I'm sticking with. I decided a while back that I was going to start my collection of Fantastic Four where Essentials #5 leaves off, at #110, and fill my collection of originals up to about #400 or so (I collected from the late 200's up as they were coming out). Trouble is, as I was trading I got mixed up and took #110 thinking I had to start there, and the one I took was the one pictured above. Everyone's face looks weird, but I actually thought that was because the witchy woman Agatha Harkness was working some of her magic. Remember the phrase "eldritch glow" that was always in scary comics? That's what I thought was responsible, but after looking on cover browser, I realized the colours of that issue are actually supposed to be natural. Looking into just what it was I had, it is apparently an "initial" print where the colour plates were mixed up, that somehow got released to the unwashed masses. So I'm kinda glad I got mixed up and took this issue, it's neat-looking.

Another FF by-the-by: Did anyone else ever find Franklin Richards scary when his eyes glowed? That just kind of freaked me out as a kid.

"Welcome to Winnipeg, Miss Alba...Oops!"; or,Taking a Staab at Central Canada Comic Con

2010-10-09T15:59:00.001-07:00

There are several reasons I love Winnipeg's annual Central Canada Comic Con. One is that it only takes me about ten minutes to drive to our fabulous downtown Convention Center, where it is held. The other is that there are usually a lot of tables selling a lot of back issues for not a lot of dinero. The costume competition is tons of fun to watch, especially since it always happens around Halloween. But maybe the biggest reason is the often quirky array of guests, and this year is no exception. The recently added Rebecca Staab being an example.

I guess it seems like a bit of a strange choice because her most prominent comic book credential is that she starred in a movie that was never officially released, the 1994 version of Fantastic Four. I sincerely think it's actually kind of cool to be able to meet someone from that film, something sort of peripheral to all the main stuff. So often at cons they get guests who were in shows that lasted a while, or movies that at least were released, usually successful. But I mean I never go to one and meet the guy who played Peter Parker in the very short-lived live action Spider-man show. Or what about the guy who played Dr. Strange in the pilot they filmed? What happened to him? Do these guys make convention appearances?

Rebecca is actually a former beauty queen (Miss Nebraska) and has done a considerable amount of work on television shows, even appearing in an episode of Seinfeld, which to me makes it doubly cool to be able to meet her. Seinfeld's one of my fave shows, and since Fantastic Four is my favourite Marvel comic, I plan to go up and shake her hand and get her to sign...something, hopefully an 8X10 of her as Sue Storm, though there has to be some legal hurdle to clear for her to sign pics of a Marvel-owned character...or does there? I dunno, I'm no lawyer. I've been scouring my collection of comic magazines for covers with her but no dice. Maybe just an extra ish of FF with Sue promently on the cover? That could work I guess.

I'm also hoping to finally get my hands on a copy of the film which I've never seen - though I realize it may be available online I hate watching long things on my computer. Some nefarious character is sure to be selling bootlegs at the con. Or maybe she'll be selling them. Ooh, I'm getting excited!

Just so it's clear, we do get an array of the more usual kind of guests. We have Jack O'Halloran - Non from Superman II, yay! - and Ray Park who was Darth Maul, the Toad, and Snake Eyes. Also, um, the guy that played Harry Kim in Star Trek: Voyager. And of course last year I got to meet Julie Newmar, Adam West and Marv Wolfman, which kinda blew my autograph budget, anyway. I'd go broke at some of the bigger cons.

Continued on 2nd Page Following - Kamandi #8

2010-10-07T17:50:00.000-07:00

(Writing Kamandi #8 keeps making me think of Commando 8, the air conditioner in Seinfeld.)

The Fancy Way To Read Classic Superhero Comic Strips

2010-10-06T15:25:00.000-07:00

This is from the current catalog of Easton Press Leather Bound Books. My mom is addicted to these and brought it to my attention that they are finally binding something worthwhile. Haha, I joke - I like a lot of the books they put out, which either look like or are made to look like they belong in the library of Dr. Frasier Crane. When it comes to collecting classic books, I generally prefer pulpy old paperpacks with trippy painted covers, but to each his own. I'm pretty happy with trade paperbacks for my classic comic strip needs, but I suppose if you want to read some original Sunday Superman while wearing a smoking jacket, in your comfy easy chair in the study, whilst sipping a Cognac and smoking a fine cigar, the good people at Easton will set you up.

I also included the Universal Monsters book in the scan because it looks quite cool, and shows the Easton people rightly recognize an overlap between comic fans and classic monster lovers. The catalog also advertises a leather bound copy of the book Stan Lee: Excelsior; as well as many bound volumes of classic sci-fi that apparently include reproductions of the pulpy covers, such as the E.E. Smith "Lensman" books that were likely an inspiration for the Green Lantern concept.

Emma Stone is Gwen Stacy / Iron Man 2 / Will Farrell

2010-10-05T17:00:00.001-07:00

Movies come in as a distant third for how I enjoy superheroes...actually make that fourth if I count live action TV as separate from movies: comics, cartoons, live action TV, and then movies. But one of the big stories in the comic movie category today is that Emma Stone will be in the rebooted version of Spider-man as Gwen and not Mary Jane as expected. Hardcore Spidey fans are likely mostly happy if the leading Spidey girls are placed in the correct sequence. I wonder how far Emma's read into the Spidey saga and the fate of her character? If things end up going the same way, you just never know with these movies. I personally found Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane to be one of the weak links of the Toby Maguire cycle - I mean she was such a constant downer and so emotive, not bottled-up, vivacious and seemingly carefree as she was in comics until the eighties or so.

As I've said, I don't really count on movies to deliver me the superhero goods the way comics can, so I'm rarely disappointed, just sometimes pleasantly surprised. I just think that you can't cram what's awesome about comics into two hours. Producers necessarily having to keep a sharp eye on special effects budget cuts down considerably on the sense of artistic freedom, not to mention the limitations of appealing to a mainstream audience. That being said, last week I watched and enjoyed Iron Man 2. It was meandering and disjointed, with plotlines dropped and picked up quite arbitrarily. I liked that aspect of it, it reminded me of reading several months worth of comics. The superhero action was pretty fun and solid and looked good. Sam Rockwell stole every scene he was in as Hammer. Gwyneth Paltrow was kind of another downer love interest, though I've never followed Iron Man enough to know what sort of person Pepper Potts is supposed to be. Mickey Rourke was good but not in it enough. Scarlett Johannson was in it a lot, or should I say a lot of her was in it. Anyway, considering it's not a character I'm usually that into, it was entertaining enough, and I was glad the origin was out of the way in the first film. The second movie in a superhero series is so often my preferred because it can just get right into it.

Finally in comic movie news, if you haven't heard already, comedy actor Will Farrell set a Guinness record this week by having 1,500 people turn up at an event dressed as superheroes. Finally, a worthwhile world record. Farrell also blabbed a bit on his own opinions of superhero movies, video of which is available here.

With a Bloodcurdling Scream in the Night, Jerry Lewis Kicks off the Silver Age in 1955

2010-10-04T16:28:00.000-07:00

Well, okay, we generally credit Showcase #4 and Barry Allen for kicking off the Silver Age in 1956. But obviously, nothing comes from nowhere, and I wonder how much the Martin and Lewis movie, Artists and Models, helped to bring awareness of the superhero genre creeping back in 1955. Jerry Lewis is Eugene Fullstack, an early comic nerd who spends a lot of the movie just reading piles of comics, especially the adventures of Bat Lady, a pulchritudinous spacey crimefighter, before actually meeting her, or at least the artist's model who dresses as her played by none other than Shirley MacLaine.

Eugene seemed to really favour a brand of superhero with a sci-fi twist as were becoming popular at the time (he probably also liked Martian Manhunter and Captain Comet, though no "real" superheroes are mentioned in the film). At night he dreams about a sci-fi superhero of his own creation, Vincent the Vulture, much to the chagrin of roommate Dean Martin in this proto-Ernie and Bert scene.

Note: Special thanks to Dan of It's a Dan's World for giving this blog a recommend on his excellent page of comic awesomeness!!!

Let's Get Small! Cat Grant Gets Smallville-ized

2010-10-02T05:38:00.000-07:00

I try to avoid any spoiler info so last night's first appearance of Cat Grant surprised me, I just hadn't previously thought about her coming on the show at all, but it makes sense since it's gotten so Daily Planet oriented. Other highlights of last night's episode included a brief appearance of Glorious Godfrey - via a rant over the radio (definitely expecting that role to expand over the season); Clark wearing the old red striped tie; and an appearance by the Suicide Squad though I still can't figure out who the lead guy is - Flagg? Sgt. Rock? Maybe I missed something.

Though no one will ever replace original Cat Grant Tracy Scoggins on Lois & Clark for me. Hmmm, wonder if Tracy will make an appearance on Smallville?

Tracy trivia: Her first TV appearance was on an episode of Dukes of Hazzard

An Update on the Collection Room

2010-10-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

Well, some progress made since the last time I posted a pic of my collection room. In the mirror you can see my other Showcases - Oh how I love those, so addictive.

An Arbitrary Panel With the Name of This Blog - Featuring The Suave Pickup Stylings of Mr. Dirk Morgna

2010-09-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

Just so the blog's a bit thematic, I'm making this a regular feature. And also just to emphasize the name of my blog may not be the jazziest, catchiest, the coolest or the hippest...but you can't beat all the retroactive advertising.

Spidey's Sick Day/Snow Day - The Amazing Spider-man #277

2010-09-29T15:38:00.001-07:00

I've been sick the past couple of days and woke up today after a night of fever remembering this story from the mid-eighties, which was during the high point of my Spider-man fandom. Right away it will be noticed this is during the black suit era, not the suit that was Venom but the handmade version that the Black Cat whipped up for him because she preferred it to the classic, more colorful Mexican wrestler version. I actually feel the same way, even though I'm usually a rabid traditionalist when it comes to costumes.

This particular story, "Cry of the Wendigo" by Charles Vess (story and art), was not the first story in the issue but a backup feature. It was certainly the better part, as the first part was just a tie in to the Daredevil "Born Again" storyline that would be Frank Miller's swansong work on the character who originally catapulted him to well-knownness. I think however it's possible that the Vess thing was meant to be the entire issue but ran too short so they had to whip up the lead-in, but that's just a guess.

So in the superior back-up story, we are first treated to the eye-grabbing splash page shown above, as Spider-man appears to be inexplicably lost in a blizzard. But after a series of panels where he seems to freeze to death, it is revealed...

...that it was all a dream.

Feeling restless, Parker's not about to let a little thing like a blizzard stop him from swinging around the city, I know I sure wouldn't - though of course I'm Canadian.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city it is revealed that the Canadian ambassador and his family have arrived in town. I actually only realized, rereading it today, that it was supposed to be the ambassador from Canada. Well, what did I know when I was 12? They don't name my home and native land, but they refer to having journeyed down to New York and brought the weather with them. Trivia: The current Canadian ambassador to the U.S. is Gary Doer, who used to be the premier, kind of like governor, of my province, Manitoba.

It turns out to be fortunate Spidey has left his cozy bed, as there are nogoodniks about who promptly kidnap the ambassador's little daughter. Spidey chases their van and grabs the girl, but then he is on the run when...

So there is the inspiration for the title, and the other clue of it being the Canadian ambassador. Spidey meanwhile is starting to realize that he's ill and should be in bed. A cold or flu is hampering his strength and other powers considerably. However, when the baddies show up again, Spidey proves he is worthy to be called hero...

After some dazzling Spidey acrobatics and various kicks to the face, he carries the girl to safety but tells the now contained bad guys he will have to send the police after them. One is about to shoot Spider-man in the back - bearing in mind the cold and blizzard are hampering the old Spider-sense - when a sudden blast of snow, led by what appear to be some icy claws, descends on the villain.

After getting the girl back to her parents Peter wisely chooses to head for bed, leaving kidnappings and so forth to New York's many other superheroes.

I'm glad I remembered this. It's a simple but great story. It's nice to see a superhero take on regular villains and I am glad nothing terrible happens, and at the same time, with the dream and Wendigo (does it really exist? - we are left to ponder) it has sort of a horror feel. I sometimes think the horror aspect of Spidey could be played up more - I mean in a lot of ways, he's much like a fifties sci-fi movie monster (an influence seen in several Marvel characters) only his spider-ness doesn't manifest visibly.

That was an era when I was really into Spider-man, and now that I've been able to sample several different eras of Spidey, I still personally prefer it. He was somewhat less angst-ridden and more heroic than in some earlier versions. Issues during this time, usually written by Tom DeFalco and drawn by Ron Frenz, often had to do with Spider-man feeling discouraged by overwhelming odds but having to pull himself together, which probably helped bolster my own spirits during my early adolescence.

Tossing & Turning...Mutant X...Teen Titans...Adam...Mr. Jupiter...Lilith...Emma...Mad Mod...Thunderbirds...

2010-09-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

Over the last week and a half I've been watching the first season of Mutant X. I saw the box for only $15 and remembered I liked it, so I went ahead and got it and have no regrets. It's the kind of simple show that many superhero fans tend to hate, but I like it because - despite it being based on no one particular comic book - unlike a lot of live action superhero shows it doesn't really seem to try to find the middle ground between comics and regular live action for non -comic fans. It just has a lot of straight up superheroics, albeit plain-clothesdly, but this was coming out early in the decade that I sometimes think of as the plainclothes era. And there is at least an explanation in the concept for the characters not having flamboyant outfits, which is that they try to keep a low profile. It's obvious that it was meant to spin off from the success of the X-Men movies, but with the difference that these people gain their powers after birth, and fight to protect a world that "doesn't know they exist" rather than one that "hates and fears them." I personally can never decide which one of those phrases describes my own life, but I digress. I can definitely see an argument for the show being a generic mishmosh, but I like that it sort of has elements of many superhero teams. For instance, they have a cool base and jet that seems a lot like...well, practically everybody, but they also all get special rings like the Legion. I'm kind of a sucker for any story with special rings. I also like that the effects and sets on the show are very basic. Some might criticize, but I personally like a concept show that just makes do with what it has and goes ahead and tells crazy stories. I like that the show just goes ahead without trying to seem plausible, most shows trying to seem believable just end up insulting my intelligence. This show rewards my faith, my suspension of disbelief. I get a kick out of techno karate scenes, what can I say. It is certainly the kind of show that, for better or for worse, bears the distinct stamp of the time in which it was made, making it an inevitable eventual time capsule.

Now, in watching it, I was trying to decide who their leader Adam most reminded me of as far as older mentor/team leader types go. There are many obvious comparisons such as Reed Richards, Niles Caulder, Professor X...but two of those guys have superpowers, and of course two are in a wheelchair and one of those is also slightly creepy and questionable. The quality Adam does share with them all is his superintelligence. He can technobabble as well as Mr. Fantastic, and invents some nifty gadgets.

Adam is fatherly but slightly mysterious. He is usually benevolent but can occasionally fly into a temper and chastise his young charges. He is able to be friends with them but never lose their respect. So that's when it dawned on me.

Of course, he's like Mr. Jupiter from Teen Titans in the late sixties and early seventies! Both are super intelligent but not super powered, have secret bases with training facilities and seemingly unlimited resources. Both are named after mythical father figures. Both possess mature good looks and are sharp dressers. Both are trying to teach the young heroes to use non-lethal means to make the world a better place.

And of course, both often appear in the company of a pretty girl with mental abilities.
In the case of Mr. Jupiter it is the ethereal, if slightly aloof, Lilith, who often experiences precognition.
In the case of Adam, it's the warmer Emma, whose powers of empathy, or "telempathy" as it's sometimes called, sometimes manifest a bit like the powers of Princess Projectra of the Legion, but also sometimes give her a kind of precognition.
Emma even has red hair in one of the seasons.

Once I realized Adam was making me think of Mr. Jupiter, it suddenly dawned on me that, although the obvious comparison of the show's villain, Mason Eckhardt, is to Andy Warhol, in a less specific sense he dresses quite sixties mod with his plastic framed glasses, shag hair, and finely cut pin striped black suits.
Which of course invites comparisons to...the Mad Mod!!!

Granted I used a pic from the cartoon show to make an easier comparison. But I do have a feeling that the makers of Mutant X were probably fans of Teen Titans, or at least channelled it as one of the many influences on this fun show, which also reminds me a lot of Thunderbirds, one of my all-time favourites.

(Mason Eckhardt is certainly mad, one of the things I enjoy is the staple plot element, at least in the early ones I've been watching, where some henchman of Eckhardt's, eager to prove himself, tries to get a prestigious assignment. It's fun to see how their inevitable foiling at the hands of Mutant X lead to the chilling Eckhardt, portrayed wonderfully by Tom McCamus, to, shall we say, dispense with their services.)

It's For Real and It's Spectacular

2010-09-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

Teri Hatcher is finally coming to Smallville as the mother of Lois Lane. Since Lois' mother is dead in Smallville continuity, she will be appearing via old Lane home movies, according to my sources, in the 8th episode of the season. This technique gets around the fact that Teri is really only about fourteen years older than current Lois Erica Durance and still a bit young to be the mother of a 30-something. I find it quite exciting - among my many disreputable comic fan credentials is that I was a fan of Lois and Clark. Teri was actually the first incarnation of Lois that made me understand why Clark was so hung up on her. I don't mean just that she was attractive, but her Lois had a lovable personality beneath her brash demeanor. Erica Durance has played the part a bit differently, in that while Teri's Lois was using her tough exterior to conceal a certain softness, Durance is tougher through and through, though certainly likable.

In other Smallville related news, Chloe Sullivan is set to make her comic debut this week, after many teases and false hopes, in the Jimmy Olsen backup in Action Comics. It's about time she was incorporated into the Superman comic world. It may seem like the tail wagging the dog, but Jimmy himself first appeared in the Superman radio show in the early forties before being adapted into the comics. There are more modern cases of extra-comic characters being incorporated into the comics, Harley Quinn coming to mind first. Not clear is if she will actually be Lois' cousin as in the show.

Some Stray Thoughts on the Smallville Season 10 Premiere - Spoilerish!

2010-09-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

- The picture above in no way represents the episode. But I liked the ones with Zatanna.
- I think about 40 people were either knocked unconscious or regained consciousness in the new episode, titled "Lazarus"
- It gives some people conniptions how the show rearranges Superman chronology but I like it, it makes it unpredictable; and you can always tell the writers did their homework.
- The adult Lex clone was nicely creepy, and, in one of the show's patented reversals from previous Superman history, I liked that he was older than the last time we saw him, as opposed to the clone from the comics in the nineties who was younger (and an Amish Australian, I think)

- Another example of the Smallville patented reversal was in the episode when they made you think Ollie was going to lose his fortune, but then he didn't.
-They're really teasing us with the Superman costume, but I got a feeling we won't see it on Tom until the end of this, the final season. So I'm really not going to think about it till then.
-Hopefully this season we'll see all the heroes they have featured so far on the show that aren't regulars; Aquaman, Black Canary, Flash, Cyborg, Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Stargirl, the Wonder Twins, Zatanna, Martian Manhunter, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl...did I miss anybody?
-The effect for putting on the Helmet of Fate is like The Mask...which I kinda dig. I would have also liked to see Chloe launch into a rendition of "Cuban Pete"
-I'm not crazy about the oppressively dark mood of the show, come on, let's have a little fun!
-That being said, I do feel what the show is striving to do, in the long run, is lead the entire superhero genre into a lighter mood, but by first starting where it's been this decade, in shadows. Who better to lead than the original superhero?
-I got a little misty when Pa Kent appeared, and I think the whole scene was kind of a tribute to The Adventures of Superman #500
-Wear a tighter shirt next time, Lois!
-I think if they ever have any more of the Legion members, actor Jesse Comacho would make a jim-dandy Bouncing Boy, one of my favourite characters.

-The little Alexander Luthor clone is interesting, and obviously a bit of a tribute to the Crisis on Infinite Earths kid...who I think later became an A-1 nutjob, though I haven't followed continuity too tightly in the last few years. But didn't we learn that all this time it was his hand that people keep seeing at the beginning of time, or did I dream that?
-The Fortress Jor-El simulacrum really needs to lighten up.
-I've got a feeling I know what that shadowy figure at the end portended, people kept saying things like "Darkness is coming". Hmmmm...

-Cool! But the show has been known to throw curveballs.

What is YOUR Desert Island Comic/Collection/Trade Paperback?

2010-09-22T16:29:00.000-07:00

If I ever, for some reason, had to make the sad choice of only having one comic book, collection or trade paperback with me for the rest of my life - this would certainly be a top candidate. It's a great sampler of DC's team-ups and group adventures since just before the Silver Age to the eighties. It starts off with "The Terrible Trio", a story that teams the most famous characters, Superman, Batman and Robin against three big baddies. Other highlights for me include a two part Green Arrow (pre-goatee)/Aquaman adventure from Adventure Comics #267 with art from Ramona Fradon; a super-groovy Atom/Flash team-up from Bob Haney and Alex Toth; Adam Strange and Hawkman together in "Planets in Peril", which possibly began the Rann/Thanagar relationship still being explored today. It's nice to have the first pairing of teen heroes that would become the prototype for the Teen Titans, from Brave and the Bold #54. There's an odd but interesting story about how Tomar Re, the birdheaded Green Lantern, suffers guilt because Krypton was in his space sector, and wonders if he could have done more to prevent its destruction. There are also some indispensable team-up stories like "The Flash of Two Worlds", without which it is difficult to imagine comic history, and the first teaming of the Justice League and the Justice Society. There is also the first Dennis O'Neal/Neal Adams Green Lantern Green Arrow story, the one that kicked it all off. I'm not a huge fan of the Hard Traveling Heroes era but I acknowledge it has a place in comic history. As the volume goes on, it gets to a couple teamings that are interesting though not particularly hard hitting - Batman and the Creeper, and Superman and Swamp Thing, the latter by Alan Moore, whose work I usually don't like. I find the story here to be okay but nothing special other than the opening shot of a stubbly, addled-looking Superman driving a car.

On top of it being a great sampler in terms of characters, many of the great writers and artists are represented. Bob Haney, Gardner Fox, Bruno Premiani, Alex Toth, Ramona Fradon and Mike Sekowsky, to name several. Here's a look at the back cover of my copy, illustration by Carmine Infantino and Bob Smith - with a nice array of characters.

My Favourite Thing I've Gotten Online So Far

2010-09-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

I have the Crisis on Infinite Earths Batman in the picture for scale, what I'm really talking about today is the Secret Origins DC Mini Comics. These were originally sold in little plastic bags with Leaf Tart and Tangy candies in the mid eighties. I believe I got every one at the time except for the Superman one, which means I had Hawkman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and the Justice League of America. Despite my love of Superman he may have been low on my list of priorities because I was already abundantly familiar with his origin but in the dark about the others, even Batman, as the Batman I grew up with was mostly the Adam West or Super Friends version who didn't like to dwell on the past much. It actually never even occurred to me that he needed a motivation to be Batman, aside from its own innate lure. What kid wouldn't want to be Batman just for its own sake?

So it was from these tiny comics, two panels a page, 16 pages each, that I got my crash course in DC history. Unfortunately, my own copies vanished at some point, so I was left to wander the earth - or my yard at least- alone, forlorn...until I found them up for auction online. Well, it was six of them - in fact the ones I'd previously owned minus Justice League. I was the top and only bidder, so for a buck I took 'em home, which actually amounts to less than I originally paid; though of course they didn't come with any candy this time. Since the older I get, the more I become susceptible to completist fever, I may have to track down the remaining two at some point. But I'm darn happy to have these, and as a collector I find it's all the bargains I get that help justify the occasional insane splurge.

When Comic Book Thugs Look Like...Alfred Pennyworth?!

2010-09-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

There is probably an overlap between Batman and Punisher readers - including, at one time, myself - but I thought I'd post this for the amusement or possible dismay of those who are only familiar with the former.

Yes, it did happen, it was not a dream, not an imaginary story, it was in 1988 in The Punisher #10. Any resemblance between this character and Alfred is probably quite intentional, as his name in the story was Alfred Coppersmith. He was the villain of the issue. He calls people "diphead" and everything, he is not to be messed with.

The DC tributes, or ribbing, or whatever it was, did not stop there, as at one point Frank Castle, the Punisher, disguises himself as Clark Kent...sort of.

Story is by Mike Baron, art by Whilce Portacio.

They See Me Rolling

2010-09-19T18:37:00.000-07:00

From Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #69 - I rather think the Nightmobile, which Supes and Jimmy used in their alter-ego identities as Nightwing and Flamebird for tooling around and solving crimes in Kandor, was a pretty cool machine. It's too bad Jimmy couldn't use it to impress Lucy Lane, but on top of it only being used in his secret identity, all of it took place in a bottle on a table in a hidden fortress in the North Pole. Girls never believe it when you tell them about stuff like that.

The Collection Room So Far

2010-09-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

As a collector I sometimes to like to see where and how other collectors store their stuff, so here goes with my stuff, but this is a work in progress. I intend for this to be sort of a "before" picture, but it might be a while until the "after" happens. I had to move recently and previously did not have one lone room in which to store my stuff, so this is a bit of a novelty for me. I do have about six more boxes that can't be seen, stored elsewhere for the nonce. It's not the hugest collection, but it gets me by.

You can see I'm not finished yet because obviously I don't intend my Super Friends lunch box to be hiding behind a stack of Marvel Essentials forever. Over on the right, on the floor there is stuff I'm planning to get rid of due to it being doubles, or just stuff I'm not much interested in anymore. And that is indeed a Britney Spears Slurpee cup over on the dresser that I use for putting various things in. And you can also see a couple portable drawers full of my cassettes from the eighties. Rock on! Somewhere in there is a tape player.

The most important thing relating to the room might be this object that I whipped up, MacGyver-like.

The door to the room doesn't click shut, allowing the feline delinquent who wanders my premises, searching for cheap thrills, carte blanche to go in and sharpen her claws on various items with impunity. Just as it appears, I made this thing out of three hair elastics and a hook from a picture frame. I'm pretty darn proud of it, I just loop the elastics around the door knob and hook the hook onto the, um, metal thing that the clicky thing should click into ideally. It works quite well! It's strong enough the door doesn't budge if she tries it, so there's no danger to her. Why do so many of us collectors live with kitties, the natural enemies of delicate stuff? Probably because they're not judgemental about our lifestyles, as long as the vittles keep a-pouring.

How To Modernize an Old Comic Book Without Too Much Work

2010-09-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

The original panel, from Amazing Spider-man #270, November 1985:

And now the modernized, completely fresh and up to date, mature...heck, dare I say it, even "Ultimate", replacement:

That antiquated old story has suddenly been brought 25 years into the future and is now a thoroughly modern, adult piece of literature that you can beat people over the head with if they say comics aren't for grownups! It's that easy!

(Edit: Second panel altered by myself for satirical purposes)

When Comic Book Thugs Look Like Charles Bronson Part 3

2010-09-16T16:18:00.000-07:00

From Amazing Spider-man #331, art by Erik Larsen, who I never liked much but I do kinda like how the whites of Spidey's eyes have expressions. Spidey's line here is pretty tough, though Punisher looks a little embarrassed, like he's thinking "Just let me do the tough guy lines." This is obviously an acknowledged tribute to CB, kinda too bad he has to be the bad guy. I must admit I've been watching Death Wish movies all week on AMC, there's something about them I can't take my eyes off. I just kind of enjoy Paul Kersey's casual, laid-back, go-at-your-own-pace brand of vigilante justice. For some choice Chuck clips and lines, look no further than here.

Bonus comic connection - Gavan O'Herlihy plays the main villain in Death Wish 3, and he was also Brad, the washed up jock fiending on Lana Lang in Superman III. Good things come in threes! He was also the first Chuck Cunningham on the first season of Happy Days, the retconned-out-of-existence older brother of Richie (I assume there was some kind of Crisis at Arnold's that changed reality).

I Suppose This is Comic Related...

2010-09-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

...since there have been Coneheads and Ghostbusters comics based on the movies of Mr. Dan Aykroyd. I was fortunate enough to meet him last Saturday at an event promoting his line of wine and other spirits. I don't drink but bought a bottle of wine as a keepsake and he was nice enough to shake my hand and sign my Blues Brothers poster as himself and as Elwood. Neat!

Do You Dare to Solve the Diabolically Ingenius Coded Blog Entry in Picture Pun Form?

2010-09-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

Above is a picture of Barry Allen in his first appearance and origin in Showcase # 4. The drawing is by Carmine Infantino. It's safe to say that Carmine Infantino probably

than any other artist in the Silver Age. I would guess that Mike Sekowsky is probably second, if we're also talking about when Barry's in uniform as Flash.

Thought This Might Be Fun...Comics Scene 1993 List of Planned Comic Book and Related Movies

2010-09-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

Click on image to read the list of projects supposedly in the works at the time. It's interesting they were already talking about Aliens vs. Predator back then. I think that looking back, if I could go back in time and tell people which ones actually did end up getting made, there would probably be some surprise.

This Week's Big Three

2010-09-12T07:31:00.000-07:00

Batman and Robin #14 - The main reason I still read this is curiosity about Dick Grayson as Batman. I like Mr. Grayson for being simultaneously one of the toughest people in the DCU and at the same time one of the more lighthearted (at times). This series has definitely turned out more grotesque and less fun than I hoped, but I keep going with it, for some reason. I want Whirly-bats and I want Bat-Mite. But what I've got is the Joker, Damian (don't people know not to trust a kid named Damian?), and the revolting Professor Pyg. Mind you, the element of Damian does interest me a bit, as I remember reading and enjoying Son of the Demon way back in the eighties, and I'm glad it's been reshuffled back into continuity after status for some time as an unofficial Elseworlds. Ras Al Ghul is my favourite Bat-villain, except for the Penguin maybe, so naturally I'm curious about a character who is his grandson and Batman's own kid all at the same time. I give this ish, oh, let's say a 6 out of 10. Grant Morrison's writing is confusing, the art storytelling is quirky, but on the other hand there are a lot of face kicks and other Bat action. I'm not really feeling the characters much, though, even scenes between Dick and Alfred are kind of perfunctory, not a lot of meat there.
Doom Patrol #14 - Ambush Bug, Ambush Bug...is there a place for you in this jaded world? Well, he'll make room, if Keith Giffen has his way. The first page of this comic being some of AB's trademark metereferencing is fun, then we get into the more serious part of the issue itself, with Rita Farr grown to giant size and squeezing her ex-squeeze Steve Dayton so we can actually hear the bones pop, via comic book sound effects. Yuck! By the way I'm not crazy about the current version of Elasti Girl's costume, which has some slick looking elements, but then the part covering her midriff looks like a cross between an eighteenth century corset and a third grader's sewing assignment. Maybe I missed something, and it's functional...? Which reminds me, maybe I don't know much about women's clothes but you know that commercial where the mother has borrowed the daughter's shirt? Am I wrong, or is that not actually a really hideous shirt? I don't mind the weird green but then it's got that totally non sequitur ruffle thing off to one side and...well, I just think they should burn the damn thing rather than use whatever product it is that supposedly gets the stains out.

Oh, the copy on the cover says "Super-Chief!", a witty reference to a more obscure DC character, who was a Native American with superpowers from the Silver Age. I'm sure most of you probably knew that. I've only know about him for a couple of years, since first reading about him in Michael W. Barr's book on Silver Age sci fi comics.

Adventure Comics #518 - Saving the best for last...

By the way, I can't now write a high number for the Adventure Comics issue without thinking how now my Adventure Comics #503, which says "Final Issue!" on it is now out of date thanks to the relaunch. It's turned that issue (which was in digest form, by the way) into lies! But in all seriousness, I'm kind of glad they revived this venerable title. I've often said, at various functions - society balls, boardroom meetings, looting sprees - that if there was one title I'd like to own a complete run of, it would be Adventure...as it is, I'm working on the fifty or so issues that were Supergirl adventures, some of the quirkiest early seventies stuff I've read.

But now to this issue. I must admit I like the cover, and I'm not even a big fan of Doomsday. Additionally, I'm not sure if his towering that high over Superboy is meant as sort of symbolic, ie he will cast a large shadow over the Superman legend type thing, but I dig the rendering of that big nasty. Cover is by Scott Clark and David Beaty. The story, "Whispers of Doom", takes us a bit further into Legion continuity than we were in the last issue, as they have now gained a few more key members such as fan favourite Ultra Boy.

Anyway, Paul Levitz, Kevin Sharpe, and Marlo Alquiza deliver a great issue for action, drama and fun. Levitz has still got it, even more so. One of the highlights is a scene where a young Phantom Girl flirts with Superboy - and it's nice to see her in that old unrevealing costume with the big P on the front. We also see a young, pre-Legion Dream Girl, in fact her home world of Naltor provides much of the focus for this story. And there are some other key elements which may or may not be suggested by the cover.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Nicolas Cage

2010-09-09T17:19:00.000-07:00

Not much beef on this cake, admittedly, but this is today's Beefcake Week selection from the 1993 Marvel Swimsuit Special. I must admit I really like this one, it's a good gag and the painting itself is actually kind of strangely lovely and skilled, a lot of intricate brush strokes go to make up this striking image. Also I like that this is one of those comic related images that is fairly odd in context, and just plain bizarre out of context. One wonders what future archaeologists will make of this sort of thing.

Wolverine's Been Over-Exposed Over The Years, But This is Ridiculous!

2010-09-08T19:21:00.001-07:00

Oh, by the way, I'm bringing back "...but this is ridiculous!" I think its time has come 'round again.

I'm really getting into this Beefcake Week idea, mostly due to it giving me a use for the Marvel Swimsuit Specials, so I'll be throwing a few more at ya. I guess this keeps the blog from being too DC-centric, even though I'm sure I've spent less than a hundred bucks on new Marvel stuff in the last ten years. Generally, in terms of overall comic collecting, I'm kinda like 65% DC, 25% Marvel, 10 % other stuff (Gold Key, Dark Horse, Archie, etc.)

I think I can guarantee there won't be any more real brain scamblers like the Punisher one, just nice tasteful ones...sort of. Anyway, I really actually like todays. The art and colours are nice, and the camp fire gives it a nice cozy feel. I could conceivably wear those shorts Logan has on. Let me hasten to add I'm nowhere near that hairy. He is rather hirsute, isn't he? And how often do we get a chance to say the word "hirsute"?

The narration, by the way, is supposed to be by the Troll character Pip. As I recall he was part of the Adam Warlock cycle of stories, which was actually a really good seventies saga. I tend to think of the seventies as the time when the Big Two were on their most even keel, in terms of being about equal in quality, though I still lean towards DC just cuz. Super Friends, for one thing. I could go on.

A Contribution to Beefcake Week

2010-09-06T16:31:00.001-07:00

Yes, SallyP at Green Lantern Butts Forever has declared this Beefcake week, which I figured gives me a chance to get some mileage out of the 1993 Marvel Swimsuit Special, which yes, really happened, and which I still have kicking around. The concept was that all the Marvel heroes, and antiheroes I suppose, go for a beach vacation at Monster Island, the island that first appeared in Fantastic Four #1. That explains the funny little creatures in the background there.

So this is Frank Castle, the Punisher, who has been portrayed by Dolph Lundgren, Tom Jane, and Ray Stevenson. Ladies can decide which of those actors they would want to see in this tasteful little number that is guaranteed to be burned into your mind for all time. Well, he is the Punisher after all. Click on the pic if, for some reason, you want it bigger.

Saturday Cartoon: Green Lantern In "The Vanishing World"

2010-09-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

Some people would use some of that fancy, hifalutin screen capture technology. I just pointed a camera at the screen and took pics while enjoying some sixties DC Filmation Superheroes. If you haven't watched any of these, they're a trip, and like many retro cartoons, best enjoyed on a big wide screen where you can really see the groovy, spacey graphics stretched out bigger and well, slightly wider than they were originally presented. For your Saturday infotainment, here are some sights and sounds...no, I guess that would just be sights, from the Green Lantern episode, "The Vanishing World". Just think of this as being kind of like a 2-D Viewmaster on a slight angle and we'll be fine. Okay, this is possibly the lamest idea for a blog entry yet, but here we go.

First is the intro, with the face of a Guardian, and it isn't the colour loss from taking a pic of a TV screen, the Guardians in the sixties Filmation GL really don't have blue skin.

It could be that, despite all the weirdness coming up in the episode, the producers thought throwing a big blue face at the audience first thing might throw them off. But then, cartoon colourists love to annoy comic fans.

Next in the intro:

Hal Jordan in big-fist Kirbyvision!!!

So then the story starts, as Hal, flying in a plane, they got that right at least, is contacted by his faithful sidekick Piefa-what the...? Who's this blue kid???

Yes, there is no Pieface, aka Thom, in this cartoon, instead there is a young man from Venus, I believe, whose name is Kiro (I think that's how you spell it). Perhaps they thought Pieface would be offensive to Eskimoes, or Inuit as we call them in Canada. Strangely, Kiro speaks just like a stereotypical Eskimo, making him simultaneously offensive to the Inuit and the Venusians.

Then the proper title of the episode appears over a shot of...um...something...

Looks like Ferris Aircraft way back there, anyway - though I don't think Carol ever appears. One of the things I like about the Filmation DC cartoons is how the title of an episode appears after some action and sort of floats over the graphics, it somehow makes it seem more like a moving comic.

So it isn't long before Kiro gets his scrawny blue @$$ captured by some space nogoodniks.

They don't like Venusians so much.

GL will have to rescue him, first taking his oath.

The scene of GL taking his oath is nice, and the power battery looks particularly beautiful. Strangely, in the cartoon, he only says the last two lines of his famous oath.

So Hal takes to the air.

And that is my camera playing tricks, he doesn't have red hair in the cartoon. Wouldn't wanna step on Guy Gardner's toes.

So next our heroes are on the Vanishing World, an asteroid that appears for an hour once every year before vanishing into another dimension, hence its name. As can be seen, its wildlife is none too friendly.

But that's no problem when you can zap your troubles away with the power ring.

But it doesn't take Kiro long to get caught by another charming native life form, a pink snake that shoots fire out of his mouth, natch.
I was clearly getting too excited to hold the camera steady by that point, so if you feel like watching the episode, here it is. Though it won't be quite the same as watching it on a widescreen, you will get to hear how sloshed the voice for Hal sounds. Well, it's wonderful stuff. I do so love the superhero cartoons.

Camp in Darkness: Screen Test for Sixties Batman

2010-09-03T01:05:00.000-07:00

I find it fascinating to watch this original screen test for the sixties Batman show, with Adam West and Burton Gervis, soon to be renamed Burt Ward. While I am a big fan of how the show turned out, it's interesting how this no frills production almost seems aimed at modern audiences of the grim and gritty era. Maybe it's the lack of music and fast cuts, and the dim lighting, but this just is like an entirely different view of the show. The slow pull back shot from a dim Batcave, with no music, I find sort of eerie. Also interesting is Bruce Wayne referring to his parent's murder. I'm not sure how often that happened on the show, according to my sources it was mentioned in the first episode. I have unfortunately never been able to watch the entire series, partly due to its lack of release on DVD.

All that being said, I prefer how the show turned out. I'm not much of a fan of grim and gritty, finding it harder to invest any interest in superheroes and costumed crimefighters when they are taken incredibly seriously. That's when they start to seem truly silly to me. But the screen test is interesting as a study of how presentation affects tone, since as far as the script goes, other than Bruce's reference to his parents, it's not much different from any other episode. If you slow things down and cut the music and much of the lighting, tada! Grim and gritty.

Equally fascinating is this other version of these scenes with two different players, including Lyle Waggoner as Batman. Waggoner would later go on to play opposite Lynda Carter in Wonder Woman, as the incredibly fortunate Colonel Steve Trevor.

I'm Slightly Disappointed...

2010-09-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

Don't get me wrong, I'm still quite excited that this CD will be coming out on the confirmed date of October 12, in time for me to rock out to it a number of times before the Central Canada Comic Con...but it does seem like there were either some line-up changes at the last minute, or else that what was originally reported was inaccurate. Here is a recent list from The Source, which I think is fairly reliable, while here is a list from one of the web sites that was previously reporting a different line up. I notice that "Save Me", the Smallville theme, is now missing, and probably more disappointing is that the Puffy Amiyumi Teen Titans theme is not on there. "Save Me" I can probably take or leave. It's a good song but not one I can listen to over and over. On the other hand I love the Teen Titans theme. Maybe some considered it too Anime or something, but it gave the Teen Titans a theme as catchy and recognizable as the classic Spider-man or Batman themes. It seemed to acknowledge their sixties roots while also being completely modern in sound. I can't help but think the exclusion of both of those may be due to a distaste of those shows among some fans, but they're both shows I like and feel present valid alternate views of the characters.

More mysterious is that the theme for the Justice League show, the one before Justice League Unlimited, is also now gone. I don't know about you, but that opening used to almost give me a lump in my throat with its epic grandeur. Some might say I need to get a life, but I've got the life I want.

But I am glad that the theme from the sixties Superman filmation show is included. It's the only sung theme Superman has ever had, I believe, and its fairly jazzy and catchy, maybe the closest the Man of Steel will ever get to that kind of theme that Spider-man, Batman, even Wonder Woman have from their shows and that have become geek anthems. Of course the MoS slaughters everyone in the recognizability of his classical John Williams theme from the Christopher Reeve movies (also included), so it all evens out.

Yeah, I know I can listen to any of these on youtube any time I want, but I like the idea of having them all in one package. I am looking forward to listening to the Super Friends theme on road trips or whatnot, while I'm heading down the highway. And I knew there was a reason I put a CD player in my collection room.

Back Issue Highlights: Batman Family #13, 1977

2010-09-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

I realize, the more back issues of the seventies Batman Family I get, that it could really have been called Dick Loves Babs. A lot of it is the Boy Wonder, or I suppose Teen Wonder by that time, hitting on the Dominoed Daredoll. Issue #13 was a slam-bang full length novel that also featured Man-Bat. Here's a Dick and Babs moment I really liked.

I got my fingers crossed for those two crazy kids! Sure, that may have been a little disappointing, but at least Dick could have a rare chance at a do-over for a love confession. He might want to rethink the "big sister" line. I do like the idea that Babs is a bit older than him, it seems in recent years like her age when she started out has been pushed down progressively.

A Use for Old Cigar Boxes

2010-08-30T17:57:00.001-07:00

Yes, my DC Digests, plus a couple Marvels on the right there, fit perfectly into this old Marsh Wheeling cigar box. I've only smoked a couple cigars in my life, but I do feel I'm getting to the age now where I could smoke a cigar and not look too silly, I mean any sillier than anyone smoking in this day and age. I could also wear a trenchcoat now and not look like a putz, so yes, I could be Columbo if I wanted. But I digress. I love those DC Digests from the late seventies and early eighties. There was a time where it was the easiest way to read classic stories from the Silver and even Golden Age. I've got a bunch of "theme" Superman ones (vs. aliens, Kryptonite, Lex Luthor, etc.) Plus Metal Men, Supergirl, and a few others. They made a bunch. I pick 'em up when I see 'em. Some day I may need a bigger cigar box. The one on the far left is an Archie's Mad House, I love the crazy stories they had in those. On the far right are Fantastic Four, with a reprint of the first six issues of their title, and the Hulk, with six issues of his original series, which I really like and from where Peter David derived the "Grey Hulk" for his run, the smarter, nastier version of the Hulk, though in that digest he's coloured green in all issues. I used to have a Captain America digest, but I think some nefarious villain scooped it. I'm sorry about that because I like early Jack Kirby Cap stories from the Silver Age, they had that tragic quality of his being a man out of his time. They also had some of his two fisted Golden Age tales as well, if I recall.

In my other comic news, today I finally completed my run of DC Challenge!, with issue 12 arriving in the mail. I also received a worn copy of Phantom Stranger #1 and Superboy #87 featuring the first appearance of Thought Beasts, those wonderfully impractical Kryptonian monsters. I'm not buying back issues for a while until I finish a stack I'm still working through. I'll probably be sharing some highlights, coming up.

Superman/Batman #75: She Was Physically Forgotten But Then She Slipped Into My Pocket With My Batmobile Keys...

2010-08-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

I'm not the biggest Frank Quitely fan so I don't love this cover, and I'm not that into "mood" covers in general, I prefer action, and speech bubbles, and maybe some kind of dilemma. But this turned out to be a fun issue among my new comics this week, and the interior art on the main story is by Jerry Ordway, so I'm not complaining about that. Then also factor in that the story is by Paul Levitz and incorporates the Legion of Superheroes, well, it's potentially as much a milestone as it wants to be. The story itself isn't very groundbreaking, mind you. Standard fare. However, I personally never care much about the setup to create an unusual team-up, I guess I'm just not very picky. An evil clone is pursued all over the time stream by the Legion, running into Superman and Batman and then Superboy, though if they wanted to make it as symmetrical as this title usually is, they could have also had the teenage Bruce Wayne. Maybe teen Bruce could have gained superpowers and gone to the future and become "Legionnaire for a Day!" but then lost his powers and memory. Can you tell I read a lot of Silver Age? Well, that doesn't happen, but this fun scene does:
I'm wondering what Batman had to clear out of that pouch so Salu could fit in there...maybe he just has to hope they don't run into any sharks that day. And can people in the DCU see those labels all the Legionnaires have? Is that a feature of the flight rings, like a nametag? Anyway, that scene is something new, though I imagine Ray Palmer has probably had to ride around in one of Batman's smelly, chemical-soaked pouches before. A final note about that, I really like this version of Shrinking Violet's costume, it's like the 2960's never ended. It's got that groove.

But that's not all! There are a bunch of bonus features, including a two page Supergirl/Batgirl tribute by Adam "Girls Don't Have Hips" Hughes. Here's a chunk of it:
...leading up to, you guessed it, the number one "Most Memorable" moment in DC History, so fortunately timed on the part of Adam Hughes. I cut that out because seeing that once was enough...and am I the only one who found it more memorable when the Joker shot at and missed Fire (JLI Annual #2)? I guess so.

Some other new fish:

Justice League of America #48: The "Dark Things" crossover with the Justice Society wraps up into a neat little package with everyone pulling together, believing in themselves, drinking milk and staying in school. There's some sentimental Alan Scott schlock andddd...big finish, big finish, jazz hands! But it's actually a good ish, I don't mean to sound negative, basically good old fashioned saving the world against a cosmic threat type stuff, nothing wrong with that. And Kyle Rayner gets off some good zingers, I miss that from the Magnificent Seven days. One in particular has to do with what may be the most noteworthy moment, the always semi-creepy Obsidian declaring he has to "join" with his sister Jade. Never before has the word "ickypants" taken on such significance.

Superman: Secret Origin #6: It's Superman's origin. Again. I once swore I'd never buy Superman's origin. Again. But apparently I was wrong, what got me out this time was, well, I guess that it'd never been done by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank before. Now that we've reached the end, I'll sum up by giving Johns about a 3 out of 5, there were some neat tricks, but a lot of cliche stuff, like "the army is always evil, and any angry woman is always right". I can turn on the TV and see the same thing. And I really find it kind of unimaginative that Clark is embarrassed initially to wear his costume, I would much prefer it if despite Clark being a nice, good person, he is also kind of a strange boy with strange powers who just wants to wear a strange outfit. And the way Superman's goodness and optimism is handled is also pretty well by rote. Frank really outdid himself artwise, even if I don't really need the two main characters to look so much like Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder. But his range of expressions brought me back to Kevin Maguire, and that was a lot of fun, and the action sequences were pretty solid. I also think I like the new look of Metallo, it's a throwback that even includes a nod to Curt Swan thigh high boots, but also has its own unique horror-movie creepiness. So a 4.5 out of 5 for Frank's art.

It's 2010 and UPC Codes Are Still Gigantic

2010-08-25T05:29:00.001-07:00

How is it that you need tweezers to pick up a cell phone these days but the always unsightly UPC codes are still almost the same size as they were in the 1980's? Bah!

(Of course I also just wanted to post this Super Friends Digest cover, but look at how the UPC is blocking Wendy! Is there no limit to human evil? Or primate evil in general?)

Kellogg's Batman and Robin Postcard Cutouts

2010-08-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

These babies were lurking in the dark recesses of my collection...Back in 1997 they were on boxes of Kellogg's cereals. I apparently didn't find anyone to mail them to. I like how in the second pic, Clooney Batman is contriving to cover the much-maligned nipples, likely for the sake of impressionable cereal-eating youngsters. I never quite had the problem with the nipples most fans are supposed to have - if a suit features an idealized male torso, they might as well go all the way. Why be delicate about fake nipples and not fake abs? Of course, they didn't do the equal and opposite for the Alicia Silverstone Batgirl, and I'd just as soon keep anatomical correctness above the belt...

My Fave Splash Page of the Week, and Some Rambling on Tom DeFalco

2010-08-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

Obviously not a from a new comic, but it was new to me, Superman Family #188. I could just live in the pic, a Kurt Schaffenberger masterpiece, it's so full of the things that make me happiest. Well, the really nice thing is this was one of a bunch of back issues I got this week at a local store that is nice enough to allow trading, so I brought in a bunch of stuff I was no longer interested in - some things I hadn't read in 20 years and had not really though about in that time - to get things that just appeal more to me now. I got a bunch of Superman Family, Super Friends, as well as the first issue of DC Comics Presents, which is part one of a two part story. The curious thing is, I read the second part years ago, when I was a kid, and loved it, but it is only now that I will be able to read the first part. The copy was going for $16, so I was very glad to get it without paying up front.

This particular issue of Superman Family was interesting to me as I noticed a lot of the content was written by Tom DeFalco, who would later go on to a run of Amazing Spider-man that I personally found to be some of the more fun Spidey I ever read, as well as becoming the Marvel E-I-C, and writing Fantastic Four during what for me was the last great period of the FF - though I freely acknowledge that's just my personal taste. I don't consider myself the bearer of absolute standards for comic awesomeness, I just know what I like and go with that.

I did a bit of reading on DeFalco, on Wikipedia, and found out he originally worked at Archie Comics prior to doing some stuff at DC. Most significantly, he came up with the idea of Archie Digests. Many of us who grew up in the 70's or 80's probably can't picture our youths without those.

Well, till next time, this is me saying, don't keep your Kandor all bottled up, express yourself!

Soy Un Perdedor Pt. 2

2010-08-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

"Just some scared bozo". I wasn't even planning a part 2, then this beauty jumped out at me from World's Finest #218, so it was meant to be. In Supes' defense, he and Bats are pretty frustrated over not finding Capricorn.

Soy Un Perdedor

2010-08-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

You know you've got problems if even Superman is making fun of you in his thought bubble. Kal-El's a nice guy but he has his limits. From Superman #391.

Adventure Comics #517

2010-08-15T08:30:00.001-07:00

Things are heating up in Paul Levitz's return to the characters that made him, the Legion of Superheroes. It's only relatively recently in my own comic collecting, within the last ten years, that I began to realize how addictive the whole mythos can be, but the fact is the Legion has everything geeks could possibly want all in one glossy package. I'm catching up on Levitz back issues even as I'm buying the new ones, so hopefully it doesn't all get too jumbled.

This ish is pretty fun, at least the lead story about Saturn Girl in the early days of the three founding members. We see a workout version of SG's costume, and then there are some events involving a female Science Police liaison whose name is neither Gi Gi nor Shvaughn, and that's all I'll say about that. As the cover hints, there are some shenanigans with Cosmic Boy, the purpose of which Paul Levitz is currently explaining, in a note included on today's Legion Omnicom. The second feature is the new Atom arc, but I only skimmed over that, it had some rather boring stuff involving Ray Palmer's father that just looked like typical "fill in the background" aka "slow down the pace". No thanks. Y'know, it probably occurred to Gardner Fox, writing the original Atom stories, that he could go on for pages about the Atom's family background, but he probably realized that would be dull. David Copperfield kind of crap.

What Comic is Stefanie Powers Reading?

2010-08-14T09:50:00.000-07:00

Stefanie Powers knows a thing or two about being cooped up. She was kept in a small room in Die Die My Darling and on Hart to Hart she was kidnapped every other episode at least. In the "classic" seventies sci-fi movie The Astral Factor, also known as The Invisible Strangler, she's the girlfriend of cop Robert Foxworth, and seems to be cooped up by choice, high on something for the entire movie and seemingly never leaving his apartment. What does one do when cooped up? Why, read comics, of course! She is seen reading a comic book at one point, and, nerd-o that I am, I tried to identify this one but couldn't. It certainly, by the lettering, appears to be Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes. The Superboy part is especially clear. But I could not find a cover that matches. Doesn't help that the movie is grainy. It, the cover, looks as if someone is sitting on the left and looking at people captured on giant white slabs, or something. My hypothesis is that this comic doesn't actually exist, but was whipped up by the props department, which is what sometimes happens. It was possibly made by cutting up pre-existing comics and making a collage so it could not be identified. Which means some defenseless seventies comics were destroyed. Oh, the humanity!

Later in the movie Stefanie gets off her butt and starts earning her keep with a job selling GRIT. Okay, not really.

Some Favourite Selections from the 1997 JLA Gallery - Part 5

2010-08-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

Crisis on Aaron's Scanner! I'm afraid my scanner cut off Black Canary, but it was her or Martian Manhunter. I like that the picture works as either pre-Crisis or post-Crisis. It's by Stuart Immonen, whose work on I was enjoying a lot at the time.

Some Favourite Selections from the 1997 JLA Gallery - Part 4

2010-08-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

Penciller Gary Frank and inker Cam Smith - I loved these two together in the nineties, on Incredible Hulk and then Supergirl. This is not Frank's finest image - Wonder Woman's on her tippytoes or something, she just looks awkward. Batman seems out of proportion. What I did like is that their art as a team stood out because they didn't go insane with the detail lines, and their people had a natural, if ideal, look to them. I do like that Superman sort of looks like Paul Newman, and has a cocky smirk, as if to say, "I'm a nice guy, but I'm also aware I can put my fist through about anything." Note Wondie's Catherine Zeta- Jones-esque wall-eye, which Frank seemed to like, I remember a number of his girls had that. The colourists sort of went to town on shading her Wonder Twins (sorry) though. She would have looked more natural before the colouring process. Kinda too bad because Frank and Smith were among the few not giving women outrageous implants in the nineties, especially in the time they worked on the Marvel side of things, when the X-Men was nothing but detail lines and huge breastses. DC was generally more tasteful, Marvel less so, and I've got two Marvel Swimsuit Specials to prove it. I can't claim a friend gave them to me. I'm not sure if Power Girl wrecks the curve or is the exception that proves the rule. But enough about that.

Some Favourite Selections from the 1997 JLA Gallery - Part 3

2010-08-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

Here's one by Craig Hamilton, a tribute to the cover of Brave and the Bold # 28. A great looking diorama of the scene was circulating at the San Diego Comic Con this year, with a Starro action figure that may or may not actually take over your mind - it could all be part of a plot.

In this case, Aquaman's gloves have been coloured green as opposed to the yellow of the original. Reading the Aquaman Shrine regularly has made me aware of such things. Conicidentally, the Shrine has another tribute to this pic up today.

Record Shopping with Bizarro

2010-08-10T09:18:00.001-07:00

Like many, in addition to collecting comics, I am also a casual record collector.

Anyhoo...

A few months ago whilst perusing my local record shop, my eye was caught by an album called Freaks in Sensurround by a band called The Freaks. What really caught my fancy was some of the imagery on the very distinct album cover, as I turned it around to see:

Not just a picture of Bizarro, but also a song about him! There was more:

Next to the handsome fellow in the Metallica t-shirt - Yes, it's Jimmy as Elastic Lad and Lana as Insect Queen, as seen in Silver Age Legion adventures! Next to them is Marlon Brando's Jor-El, which is an interesting and unconventional mix of mediums and eras. And of course there's Oompa Loompas, ya gotta have Oompa Loompas. The rest of the busy album cover is various images from pop culture (or simply culture, as I think of it), such as Charlie's Angels, Dee Dee Ramone, and Crispin Glover as he appeared in River's Edge. This eclectic mix was promising, and I took the record home with me and rocked out. It's a great album from the late eighties. I could not find out much about Freaks other than that they considered their style of music to be "Orange Rock". It's a bit like a stripped down glam metal, with topics more akin to punk bands. The Bizarro song is all narrated by Bizarro Number One and has fun lyrics like:

Bizarro baseball - strike out to win!

and

Me am Bizarro, Bizarro Number One,

Me not like earth, me think it dumb!

Evidently they were going with the style of Bizarro speech where he speaks badly, but not backwards. Bizarros were never really consistent about that, but it wouldn't be very consistent for Bizarros to be consistent.

Incidentally, there is a record label from Uruguay called Bizarro Records. I don't really know what kind of stuff they put out.

Some Favourite Selections from the 1997 JLA Gallery - Part 2

2010-08-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

This one's by Don Hillsman, and jumps ahead to the JLI era. I like it because you don't always see a pic where Guy Gardner looks so heroic. I also like that Guy's using so much power against Despero that he has to hold his wrist steady. Ice is down, so it's on. Click on image to get it bigger, if you so desire.

Some Favourite Selections from the 1997 JLA Gallery - Part 1

2010-08-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

While going through my nineties JLA box the other day had an "Oh yeah, I remember this" moment - good ol' galleries, comics consisting entirely of what could have been covers, images that captured certain periods, in this case of the Justice League, by different artists. This week I'll feature some of my faves from the crop.

I'll start with this, old school Justice League of America by Jay Stephens:

Crazy Letters of the Silver Age - "Give Her a Sock in the Snoot!"

2010-08-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, part of the fun of getting originals is finding out the fans of the sixties were almost as crazy and obsessive as us. Name has been removed by my awesome photoshop skills, but it was a girl's name. From Jimmy Olsen #69:

The story referred to in the response involves Jimmy finding a Viking girl who turns out to be a robot, natch, controlled by Jimmy's 3-person fan club who want to make Lucy jealous so Jimmy will stop being so pre-occupied by his crush on her. Hilarity and some smooching ensues.

Steve Ditko and Chuck Norris - Together At Last

2010-08-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

By "at last" I mean it happened 23 years ago under Marvel's Star imprint. It lasted 4 issues, of which I possess the first two, not intentionally, but as part of one of those "you can have these but you have to take all these" kinds of deals from a friend, by grace of which I shall one day be able to do a fairly exhaustive retrospective on Ninja Turtle knockoffs of the eighties, which no doubt audiences are clamouring for.

As we can see from the splash page, Chuck Norris is indeed so amazing that even houses, normally unable to form thoughts, are able to gain sentience just so they can think about his greatness.

But wait, it's actually a kid doing the thinking, staring at the photo that the splash page actually was. Which is kind of a neat storytelling device.

And that little boy grew up to be...the guy who invented those ubiquitous Chuck Norris slogans. And now you know...the rest of the story. Nice inking job there, I like the clean brushwork by Art Nichols.

But not all is harmony:

There's always that one guy who's just too cool to jump on a bandwagon. Get with it, ya mask-wearing weirdo!

This ish has been covered more in depth here on Stupid Comics. It's not really a stupid issue, but man I wish Ditko had sent Chuck to a funky Dr. Strange dimension to do battle with weird beings, armed only with his wits, nunchuks and feets of fury. We had to settle for nice, normal mask-wearing lunatics.

I Really Just Kinda Like This...

2010-08-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

It was made three years ago but what the hey, just found it today doing a search for Professor Zoom. My crisis Zoom fig has a special place of honour standing in front of my lava lamp, I just dig his colour scheme. He played a key role in my favourite comic issue of all time, DC Comics Presents #2, about which I'll probably blather on at length at some point.

New Arrivals

2010-08-06T16:48:00.001-07:00

It's nice to get home on a Friday and find some new arrivals from Ebay to add to my ever growing, somewhat haphazardly-collected collection of back issues.

The first is this one, Jimmy Olsen #69 from 1963.

I've known about the Nightwing and Flamebird thing for a long time, since way back when I first read the Superman Encyclopedia and discovered the amusing yet epic charms of Silver Age Superman stories, but because I have not yet purchased Superman Showcase Vol. 4 I have yet to read the first story in Superman #158 where Jimmy and Supes first shrink down into Kandor and become the Batman and Robin-esque heroes. This issue I just got officially marks their second foray, so so much for reading things in order, but I'm sorta used to that anyway. I have nothing but respect for people who wait until they've collected an entire series before delving in from issue one, but I just can't do that. Perhaps if I collected more Marvel it might be a necessity because of the storylines where one thing always leads into another - though I do collect Fantastic Four and tend to just read in any old order, then one day when I have them all (well I'm shooting for about the first 400 via a cocktail of reprints and originals) I'll sit down and read them all again. In the case of Silver Age Superman titles I tend to just grab the ones that appeal to me, I so far have not made any commitment to getting all of them! That'd be lots! I have set my sights on collecting all of DC Comics Presents, the Superman title that started in 1978, teaming him other people in the DCU, and I have about half of its 97 issue run. I figured that was one pre-Crisis Supes title I had a chance of getting a complete run of, any other ones will have to wait until I strike it rich.

The other item that I received is Justice League of America #98. This is from 1972 and a glance at the cover tells us we're moving away from the Silver Age.

Lots had happened in the world in the 9 years since the other ish, so now we're drawing pentagrams and having seances! It might be the Rob Zombie fan in me, but one thing I do tend to grab when I see them is covers with Superman and some form of deviltry, covers like Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #103 or Superman #419. In this case, I'm completing my run of the original JLA series so it sort of suits both concerns, and I saw this one pretty cheap so I grabbed it. It's a Neal Adams cover. I'm a fair to middling Adams fan, though he's far from my favourite artist, but it does kind of annoy me that these days if a back issue just has a cover by him you can just add a zero to the end of the price you'd probably pay if it wasn't by him. But I got this one at a great price, no complaints from me!

Condition is not a top concern with me. I tend to go about Good, Very Good, Fine especially when it comes to older issues. I figure an original is still an original, and I wouldn't even trust myself with something I paid a bundle for and have to handle like plutonium. While some people are doing that, someone has to treasure the ones that have gotten a little knocked around over the years, as long as they've got all the pages and so forth. I like that I can read them without having to really stress. Someone has to buy the copies when other people upgrade. Maybe someday I'll get upgrade fever. Well, I did recently replace a Justice League of America #200, but that was an extreme case, my first copy was missing several pages and the previous, presumably young, owner had drawn parts on several of the heroes which didn't exactly charm me upon rereadings! Call me delicate.

When Comic Book Thugs Look Like Charles Bronson! Part 2

2010-08-05T16:06:00.000-07:00

Favourite Martians

2010-08-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

This striking image, though I think there may be something slightly off about it, can't quite figure out what, appears on the first page of Justice Society of America #41 and is drawn by Mark Bagley and Rob Hunter. I think on the periphery of my awareness, in that careening cosmic vapour I call my mind, I had grown aware of the existence of a girl Martian in the DC universe but this issue made me want to find out about her, so I did some research.

She's a white Martian, and I know what those are from having read the the original Blanx stories in Justice League of America #71 and #144 of the original series, and the first arc of the nineties reboot, and some other stories. They're mad, bad, and dangerous to know. I see that through various storylines in the Teen Titans, which I haven't collected for a few years, not really because I didn't like it but because of redirecting comic funds to back issues and suchlike, that she has been revealed as one of the good ones - or maybe the good one.

Anyway, I like the idea of Miss Martian, as it seems like time Martian Manhunter had a kind of girl counterpart. This all falls under the heading of a larger concern, which is that I was thinking about how my Martian Manhunter cred was, for as I revealed in the now classic entry of July 28, I recently bought a shirt with MM, along with several other heroes, on it and started thinking about what a genuinely great character he is. So fortunately there is the great and informative blog, Idol Head of Diabolu, which also looks at Jemm Son of Saturn about whom I unfortunately know very little, though he recently made an intriguing cameo in I believe it was Adventure Comics, in a sequence that I think is meant to help tie together his Saturn with that of Saturn Girl.

I'm not really going anywhere with this, other than that looking at Idol-head and other sources, I feel I might have almost half MM cred, anyway. I have a pretty good number of what are the key MM stories, in one form or another - by which I mean some are reprints of old classics. But I've read those two I mentioned as well as his kind of comeback in DC Comics Presents #27, plus his return to the Justice League and of course the Oreo years in JLI. And didn't he turn into a woman one time in Justice League Task Force? Though I admit I don't have those issues, I was reading a friend's copies. But I guess he has always been there and I think for Justice League members he would probably be the same, the guy who's always there but you don't think about much. Kinda reminds me of me, maybe that's why I like him.

But I really know nothing about his little Silver Age buddy, Zook. Think I might have to go out and get the Showcase reprints soonish.

Comic Collecting in a Cold Climate

2010-08-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

Well, another reason to be glad I live in Canada - the cold climate is good for my comics! This from the story of the guy in Alaska who is selling off the Batman #1 that was found in a dresser.

Quote from Fairbanks Daily News:

"Barry Sandoval, director of comic auctions and operations at Heritage, said the auction house has handled many copies of Batman No. 1, but he said Wheat’s copy is notable because the low humidity and cool temperatures in Fairbanks have kept the paper in excellent condition. Old comics were printed on notoriously cheap newsprint, but the pages in Wheat’s copy remain crisp and white."Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Fairbanks comic book collector s vast collection puts him in the spotlight

Arbitrary Captions!

2010-08-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

When Comic Book Thugs Look Like Charles Bronson! Part 1

2010-08-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

10 Moments in DC History That You Won’t See On the Top 75

2010-08-01T16:01:00.000-07:00

CBR is presently having readers vote on top moments in the history of DC comics, with a list that’s fun to read for the stroll down memory lane it provides. It got me to thinking of some of the perhaps lesser, but nevertheless significant moments.

1. Wondertot is evasive with her mother – Wonder Woman #130, 1962 by Robert Kanigher, art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito

This unforgettable face kicked off a series of “Nothing Happened” stories. Nothing would ever be the same.

2. Wendy, Marvin and Wonderdog meet Zan, Jayna and Gleek – Superfriends #7, 1977, by E. Nelson Bridwell, art by Ramona Fradon and Bob Smith

I really think to Superfriends fans this is actually a pretty huge moment!

3. Superbaby almost kills a guy – Superboy #124, 1965 Writer: Otto Binder Artist: George Papp

Long before comics turned dark, we almost saw a superpowered baby kill a dude. That would’ve been pretty dark, never mind Wonder Woman and Maxwell Lord decades later, that’s kid’s stuff. Considering this is also the issue where Lana Lang becomes Insect Queen, Superboy #124 is key, baby.

4. Reveal why Cynthia not turned on by Scooter – Swing With Scooter #1, 1966 Written by Barbara Friedlander and Jack Miller, Art by Joe Orlando

Who could forget the one girl on the cover of Scooter’s inaugural issue not totally into the Brit import? The shocking revelation behind “Zippsville” comes at the end of the issue, and it’s a humdinger.

5. Sugar and Spike realize they can understand each other – Sugar and Spike #1, 1956, Written and Drawn by Sheldon Mayer

I mean if they hadn’t, there wouldn’t have been much of a comic.

6. Flip of the Maniaks appears to be attempting suicide – Showcase #69, 1967 by E. Nelson Bridwell, art by Mike Sekowsky and Mike Esposito

Another proto-dark moment of the Silver Age. He does land on a trampoline, talking hipspeak all the way.

7. Robin kicks Johnny DC in the face. Inferior 5 #6, 1968 – Written by E. Nelson Bridwell, Art by Orlando and Esposito

Ouch! That’ll learn ‘im!

8. Stanley’s Monster dresses like Superman – Stanley and His Monster #111, Written by Arnold Drake, Art by Winslow Mortimer

Thus is born Super-Hulk, whose legend will live on for the next several pages of wackiness.

9. Brother Power gets a makeover – Brother Power the Geek #1 Writer Joe Simon, Artist…uncertain, most say Al Bare and Bill Draut

Well, he gets his hair combed, that’s something anyway. I dunno, to me Bro-Po’s look actually anticipated a few later rock stars, I won’t say which ones.

10. Lois goes black – Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane # 106, 1970 – writer, Robert Kanigher Artists: Werner Roth and Vince Colletta, Cover Artist: Curt Swan

The girl reporter takes a bold stride into the seventies with this classic issue and cover, years before Nick Fury did it.

Runner-up: Batgirl gets a run in her tights. Detective Comics # 371, 1968 Writer: Gardner Fox, Artist: Gil Kane and Sid Greene

Batgirl finds a way to distract thugs during a fight, with her pulchritude, though Batman and Robin are presumably too focused to be distracted.

Bonus Moment: Brother Power decides the lazy ways of the hippies are not for him…

…but I decide the lazy ways of getting two moments from one issue are for me! And we see our logo on the bottom the page, so it’s time to sign off for now! Goombye please!

My Batman Family Album Part 3

2010-07-31T07:37:00.001-07:00

Just call me Wong Foo. Sorry about the glare from the Barry Allen, but you can see Julie's purrty face, that's the main thing.

Which concludes my 3 part series...I realize there is a glaring omission of (baby on board, something something) Burt Ward, but unfortunately I have yet to catch up with the Bird Boy. But someday...someday...I might just write him at his website.

I got Adam and Julie at last year's Central Canada Comic Con, Yvonne Craig was a gift from a dear associate that she got at another con...so unfortunately I never actually met the star of Kissin' Cousins, Mars Needs Women and Ski Party. But it's nice I can pretend I did. Adam and Julie I did meet, though because I'm a tall guy I have a tendency to scare celebrities, especially with that crazy obsessive gleam in my eye.

Arbitrary Captions! He woke up that morning...

2010-07-31T07:25:00.000-07:00

Justice League of America #47: Jaded Captions and Sexy Gorilla Butt

2010-07-30T16:52:00.000-07:00

writer: James Robinson

artists: Mark Bagley and Rob Hunter

One of the signs of the bogus maturity of comics, as I talked about in the previous post, is all the captions instead of thought bubbles, which presumably we are meant to take more seriously than thought bubbles because they are less "comic book". Yeesh! With that typical first person "jaded" voiceover. Enough already! I like James Robinson but his writing's full of them, the legacy of Dark Knight Returns, which was 24 years ago. Speaking of jaded, this ish gives us a lot of Jennifer, also known as Jade, Alan Scott's daughter, as she is rude to Donna Troy and then regrets it in her jaded caption. Everyone's got captions which are all identified by colours and symbols, because that's so much clearer than thought bubbles, right? Okay, I'll calm down. Enough about the captions, Aaron!!!

It's a pretty decent ish of Alan Scott being possessed by the Starheart along with Obsidian and Doctor Fate. If you're into bondage, there's Jay-Flash, Wildcat, and Sebastian Faust in one full page drawing and they're all tied up at the moment.

Wildcat: Alan, stop him! Come on, Alan! Come on! Fight this! You can, Al! I...We, know you can...

Jay-Flash: We believe in you, buddy. Your will is steel!

That's some fresh dialogue for ya!

Anyone with any vulnerability to the Starheart is going apesh*t. Speaking of which, the splash page treats us to a nice view of Congorilla's hairy butt. There's a wonderful blog called Green Lantern Butts Forever at least partly dedicated to its stated subject, but as far as I know there is no blog dedicated to the butts of DC Gorillas, so feast your baby blues:

Reading and Reading Comics: Study From the Canadian Council on Learning

2010-07-29T10:39:00.001-07:00

A study released last week by the Canadian Council on Learning showed what many of us have known for a while, that people who read comics are likely to read more, period. As in read books with words and no pictures. At least half the people I've ever know who collected comics were also voracious readers of novels, short stories, or fact-based books. It really has to do with the type of person who gets into any kind of reading. Generally it's a solitary sort of person, an imaginative sort of person, probably a sensitive person. At least in many cases. Despite stereotypes, comic collectors are usually fairly intelligent, though some may be high functioning in certain ways, and not in others.

I went through kind of an odd phase around the time I was university age. I was into comic books, but I was also into what is called literature, that is I liked to read books by Faulkner, Hamsun, Camus, Dostoyevsky, Thomas Wolfe, James Joyce, Hemingway, Kafka, Gide...and felt as if somehow the two things had to be mutually exclusive. I was probably operating under an impression I had unconsciously absorbed from society, that I had to be one thing or the other. I would go a few months of being a lit-buff, then I would shift to being a comic fan, read only comics for months, then sort of "clean up", go into reading rehab, and go back to reading "real books" for a while. This went on for a couple years until one day it dawned on me that if I liked both things, that in some ways they must be reconciled. If one person can like two different things, they must have more in common than is commonly realized. And so I became a guy who could have a backpack with The Stranger and Justice League: A New Beginning riding side by side. As the years went by, I realized I was not the only one who had discovered a fascination with these two sides of reading, as more "serious" authors who were apparently also comic fans appeared on the scene, writers like Jonathan Lethem, Junot Diaz, and Michael Chabon, and incredible superhero literature novels like Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible were published.

Are comic books "literature"? To me they have a ways to go before evolving into something like that, partly because of many main stream comic collectors who are not highly literate, who tend to think in terms of something being cool or sucking. It's been a while since I read a Times Literary Supplement, but I don't recall new novels being measured on a scale from "lame" to "bad-ass". Harold Bloom has probably never used the term "kick-ass". Generally the superhero books that have been considered "literature" among comic books are full of deliberately shocking situations, thin characters who are much less identifiably human than say Jughead Jones, and trite dialogue; that to me become more of an embarrassment than evidence when they are wielded as examples of how the medium has "matured". Then there are the non-superhero comics that appear which also seem to be labelled literature, but which are often moody or sentimental one-sided whine-fests, completely missing the depth, the subtlety, and self-awareness and beauty of genuine literature. Just because the characters don't have superpowers does not make them works of art. Most comics that come out that have a genuine feeling to them are overlooked because of not being cool. They don't have badass characters, or the right kind of macho posturing. Cool is the rule.

In some ways I wouldn't exactly want comics to be literature. I like that it's its own unique form that can create kinds of stories that are almost totally unprecedented in history, legends beyond the old legends. I often think the quality of comics, its value, is in the way that the imagination can be so freely transferred onto the page, and that this is one reason why they have become a permanent home of the superhero genre. The style of comic storytelling in itself is actually incredibly sophisticated, and has been for decades. It's easy to take sequential art for granted, but hey, even Da Vinci never came up with it, even if his designs would eventually help inspire the creation of Batman.

For more on the CCL study, read here.

Comic Ads: Green Machine

2010-07-29T02:08:00.000-07:00

I had one of these bad boys from Marx Toys, and it was indeed the hottest ride in town. Other kids had the Big Wheel but I thought and still think this was way wickeder. Those controls were dope.