Comics blogger? I prefer the term “Panelogical Onanist.”

§ May 4th, 2012 § Filed under free comic book day, pal plugging, sir-links-a-lot § 1 Comment

Don’t forget that tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day, and I’ve written about it plenty in the past, so click on that “free comic book day” tag on this post (or just click here) to see what I’ve said in previous years. I’ve been spending the last few days preparing for this Saturday, sorting out our comics into the prepackaged age-appropriate baggies (you can read about that particular strategy here) and planning out whatever sales and such we’re going to have that same day.

This year we ordered even more comics than in previous years, particularly since we had really upped our orders last year and we were still mostly through our FCBD stock halfway through the day. I’ll let you know how we did this time around!

Oh, and formerly employee Aaron and his lovely wife (and part-time employee) Kempo will be gracing us with their presence and helping out at the shop that day, since I guess this year they’ll be able to make it. I mean, they claim they had something more important to do on Free Comic Book Day last year, but pffft, whatever.

So, Free Comic Book Day…get yerself to a funnybook emporium and help yourself to some freebies. I recommend the Donald Duck Family comic from Fantagraphcs…I think that one was my favorite from this year’s batch. For reviews of most of this year’s offerings, I pass you along to pal Dorian.

• • •

In other news:

  • Andrew isn’t just a pal and a fellow Bureau Chief and one of my co-writers on Write More Good(still available, still funny!), but he’s one of my favorite comics ‘n’ pop culture commentators as well. He’s celebrating the sixth anniversary of his weblog Armagideon Time this week, and he’s still one of the best writers in our particular cultural niche. …That’s a “damning with faint praise” compliment if ever there was one, but he is darned good, and if you aren’t reading him yet, get started already!

  • Hey, Daniel Butler, artist of Copernicus Jones and my swanky new Twitter icon, now has a t-shirt shop. With monster shirts. You like monsters, right? Of course you do. Go check it out.

  • PALS LOOK AT PREVIEWS: Dorian has his monthly installment of Previews for Gays, and Dave has his own Previews overview as well, and I’m glad Dave tackled that “NERD? I prefer the term Intellectual Badass” t-shirt, because frankly, my brain locked up pondering the damned thing.

  • And what the heck, here are more plugs for books: Matt Wilson‘s Supervillain Handbook is out and totally orderable by clicking on this thing here:


    I read his self-published version a couple of years ago, and it’s a hoot.

    Also, She Died in Terrebone, the excellent year-long webcomic by Kevin Church and T.J. Kirsch, is now available in a single volume, and it’s a bargain at only ten bucks.

  • Bully flips for Batman. And let’s be honest…who doesn’t?

Don’t worry, I’m reasonably certain this isn’t leading into another two weeks’ worth of Man-Thing posts.

§ May 2nd, 2012 § Filed under collecting, giant-size man-thing § 12 Comments

Some follow-ups to Monday’s Man-Thing post, because why not?

Chad asks:

“Out of curiosity, is there enough Man-Thing material to generate a second omnibus?”

There’s more Man-Thing out there…there was this short-lived ongoing, the serial from Marvel Comics Presents, assorted cameos, that one Giant-Size Spider-Man issue, I think an Iron Man annual, this thing, and so on. I don’t know if it’s another 1,200 pages, or anywhere close to justifying another omnibus, but it’s a not-insignificant amount of Man-Thing.

Also, the more I think about it, the more I am coming to believe that the omission of Marvel Two-in-One #1 from the contents listing I reprinted in my last post was simply an accident. It’s not impossible that they left that issue out for whatever reason, but it seems very unlikely. I’m betting it’s in there. …Well, not enough to bet $125 on it, but I’ll let one of you buy it and tell me for certain.

Richard adds

“And of course we may never see the reprint of the Man-Thing appearance in ‘Micronauts’ because of all the legal rights involved.”

And that’s a shame. I feel pretty safe in suspecting the solution is “money, and lots of it” but I doubt the financial return in obtaining usage rights to reprint one story would be worthwhile. But, heck, it’s not like that particular issue is too hard to find. Ask a comic book guy near you! Or even ask me…I’ve probably got one or three in our back issue assortment, somewhere.

Someone remind me to poke through my Overstreet when next I have an opportunity to see if these reprint-verboten issues are suddenly commanding slightly higher prices than their freely-reprintable comrades surrounding them in those particular runs. I think there’s a Hulk trade paperback just recently solicited that skips over this issue, and of course there’s that one issue of Power Man and Iron Fist that’s forgotten by God and man and Marvel’s reprint department. I’ll have to see if the stockpiles of those issues I’ve been investing in are sellable now…wait, what? No, I didn’t say that. Must’ve been someone else.

And speaking of Man-Thing…I don’t think I’ve noted anywhere on the site yet that Steve Gerber’s final Man-Thing script is seeing print in the forthcoming three-issue mini Infernal Man-Thing (starting in June), illustrated by Kevin Nowlan. Here is Nowlan’s cover for #1:


…which is one of three covers for that first issue, and you can see the other two in this Marvel.com article about the series. …No, I’m not getting every variant cover for this series. Why, that would be crazy.

That’s a lot of Man-Thing.

§ April 30th, 2012 § Filed under blogging about blogging is a sin, giant-size man-thing § 13 Comments

So then there was this in the most recent Previews catalog: a 1,200 page Man-Thing Omnibus:


And here is what it contains, cut ‘n’ pasted directly from the solicitation text because I’m not going to retype it:

“Collecting ASTONISHING TALES (1970) #12-13; FEAR #11-18, and material from #10 and #19; MAN-THING (1974) #1-22, GIANT-SIZE MAN-THING #1-3 and material from #4-5, INCREDIBLE HULK (1968) #197-198; MARVEL TEAM-UP (1972) #68; MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #43; MAN-THING (1979) #1-11; DR. STRANGE (1974) #41; and material from SAVAGE TALES (1971) #1, MONSTERS UNLEASHED #5 and #8-9, and RAMPAGING HULK (1977) #7.”

First thought is, as Chris more or less implied in his response to my Twitter post about this book, if anything deserves to be called Giant-Size Man-Thing, it’s this monstrosity. Secondly, it seems odd that they’d pass up Marvel Two-in-One #1 while including Marvel Two-in-One #43, which is also (as I recall) the second part of a two-part story. Plus, there are a couple of other appearances of Manny in this general time period that don’t appear to be part of the contents…but they gotta leave something for Man-Thing Omnibus: The Second Volumening, I guess.

The $125 price tag is a bit dear, but let’s face it…no one is going to pay full retail for this. And it’ll probably cut off circulation to your lower extremities if you keep this book in your lap while reading for too long. But, it would be nice to have good reprints of this material, in color, on white paper. Some of the older comics were printed on…not the best paper available for magazine use, and certain artistic decisions (like printing white text on black backgrounds) can make some of the stories a bit of a challenge to read. I’m interested, of course, but I may just hold out for a more affordable format. (A color format, I should add, since I know Marvel has the black and white Essentials books reprinting a lot of this same work.)

One more note: I could have sworn something like this already came out, but I didn’t see any record of it in our distributor’s stock listings. Maybe I was just imagining things…Man-Things, that is!

…Yeah, sorry.

• • •

A brief site update: I think I am a lot happier with the reduced posting schedule. I’m enjoying working on the posts more, and it feels like I’m actually having something to say rather than having to say something. Even the single-image gag posts are the result of just having come across those images and wanting to share them, rather than scouring books seeking out something to scan.

In addition, the new schedule frees me up to do things like, oh, reread the entire run of The Boys thus far, in preparation for the series wrapping up in the few months. I don’t have a whole lot to say about that, other than noting that the story certainly flowed a lot more smoothly for me reading it over a relatively short period of time, instead of an issue a month for about six years. Easy to lose some of the nuances, and to lose track of some of the set-ups and payoffs, of the plot when you’ve got four weeks between installments.

Anyway, got sidetracked a bit there…what I’m trying to say is that I’m ultimately pleased with having dropped the pace down a bit here at the site, and I hope that comes across in what I’m doing. Thanks for your patience, and for sticking around and reading my nonsense.

Wonder Woman versus Jean-Paul Sartre.

§ April 29th, 2012 § Filed under wonder woman § 6 Comments

image from Wonder Woman #208 by Robert Kanigher, Ric Estrada & Vince Colletta

Progressive Ruin presents…the End of Civilization.

§ April 26th, 2012 § Filed under End of Civilization § 25 Comments

Don’t let my reduced posting schedule fool you…I’m still keeping tabs on the End of Civilization, which should be ending, oh…any time now, I think. Please dress appropriately. Anyway, pop open your copy of Diamond Previews, the May 2012 edition, and let us observe the wonders as they pass before us:

p. 96 – Superman #11:


It’s terrible. …Next question?

p. 152 – Before Watchmen: Rorschach Statue:


“There he was, just walkin’ down the street
Singin’ ‘hrm hurm hurmy hurmy hrm hurmy hurm.’”

p. 154 – Ame-Comi Heroine Series Arisia PVC Figure:


Somehow this makes that whole storyline where Hal Jordan enters a relationship with Arisia after she uses her ring to age herself from adolescence to adulthood even worse.

p. 158 – Jericho Season 4 #1:


You know, if I wait long enough, I’ll finally get that Otherworld: Season Two comic book series that I’ve been waiting for. JUST YOU WATCH.

p. 169 – Star Trek The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2:


This issue: The Fourth Doctor meets Captain Kirk! Next issue: the Peter Cushing Doctor Who meets the post-reboot Enterprise crew!

p. 236 – Glamourpuss #26:


And now, exhibit A in how it’s hard to explain why I like this comic:

“It’s Zootanapuss vs. Cosplay Lass and her Kosupure Kaos Posse. Who will win? Can Bunny face down Mr. Rat, da Killa Chinchilla? Toma dis Kitty put you in a coma? QT McWhiskers, yo butt be will kiskers? Also in the History of Photorealism in Comics, Dave Sim continues to compare the various versions of the September 6, 1956 car accident that claimed the life of Alex Raymond.”

God bless you, Dave. You keep printin’ it, I’ll keep readin’ it.

p. 357 – DC Super Pets: Swamp Thing vs. Zombie Pets TP:


Yes I’m getting it shut up it’s beautiful

p. 374 – Watchmen Dr. Manhattan Symbol T-Shirt:


AHEM.

p. 386 – Star Wars Death Star Magnetic Bottle Opener:


Admiral Motti: “This bottle opener is now the ultimate power in the universe! I suggest we use it!”

Darth Vader: “Don’t be too proud of this technological terror you’ve constructed. The ability to pop open a Bud is insignificant next to the potential of the Force.”

Admiral Motti: “Dude, c’mon, just toss me a bottle from the cooler. You’re standing right there.”

p. 398 – Yummy Black & White Cookie Plush:


Kirk: “You’re black on one side and white on the other.”

Yummy Black & White Cookie Plush: “I am black on the right side.”

Kirk: “I fail to see the significant difference.”

Yummy Black & White Cookie Plush: “He is white on the right side. All of his people are white on the right side. Clearly I am yummier.”

p. 411 – Star Trek USS Enterprise Plush:


“Captain, our ship has been converted to a…squishy material via as-yet-unknown means, and we are being grasped by a giant hand.”

“…”

“Captain?”

“…What is this? Fourth season? Fifth? What’s happened to our scripts? …Oh, for the days of ‘Spock’s Brain.’”

p. 419 – Harry Potter Mechanical Death Eater:


You know, someone out there is, by default, the World’s Biggest Mechanical Death Eater Fan. Probably without even knowing it.

p. 419 – Green Lantern Movie Prop Ring:


Replica prop ring: $35. Actual ring worn in the film: Oh, I don’t know, maybe $50 or so. …How ’bout $45?

p. 426 – The Relic: Kathoga Creature Pre-Built Model:


Is this is a good time to complain that Agent Pendergast got screwed out of appearing in this film? …No? Okay.

p. 427 – Star Wars Death Trooper Statue:


…I’ve been sitting here for more than a few minutes trying to think of a gag for this thing and…well, words fail me, apparently. Is it not enough simply that this exists?

p. 434 – Disney Mickey Mouse Ultra Detail Figures:


I’m going to assume, for no good reason, this is a Mickey Mouse version of the Tron Guy. Maybe a Mickey Mouse version of this fella can be next.

p. 452 – Crusty Zombie Toenails Snack:


Is there like a contest to see just how gross a name you can but on a food item and still get people to eat it? There was like “Dried Zombie Skin,” and various drinks pretending to be blood, and there’s Soylent Green Crackers on the same page as this toenails thing. “So, wha’cha eating?” “Oh, just some Intestinal Choco-Pellets.” “…Excuse me, going to throw up.” “‘Throw-ups?’ I have a bag of those, too!” “…Urp!”

p. 462 – Spider-Man 14″ Super Deformed Plush:


I swear, at first glance I thought this was a Spider-Man head resting on top of a hand, like our old pal Cranius. …That would make shooting his webbing a bit awkward, I’d bet.

Marvel Previews p. 11 – Wolverine and the X-Men #14:


…Why, with Japanese-Porn Man, of course!

Marvel Previews p. 45 – Space Punisher #1:


…That’ll do, Marvel. That’ll do.

I mean, just look at it.

§ April 25th, 2012 § Filed under cartoons, moustache § 5 Comments

BEHOLD THE MAJESTY

OF THE APESTACHE

from The Return to the Planet of the Apes episode “Invasion of the Underdwellers” (1975)

Get a load of these jerks.

§ April 23rd, 2012 § Filed under idiots § 26 Comments

So a reviewer posted what seemed like a fair-minded, reasonable if not overly-glowing review of the Avengers movie, and made the mistakes of 1) not being 100% positive about the film, 2) accidentally calling a character by the wrong name (since fixed), and 3) being a woman, resulting in some of the following somewhat over-the-top responses in the comments:

“This pathetic ***** will do anything to get some traffic for her shit little blog. Hope it paid off you stinking ****. Perhaps next time the guy who’s **** you sucked to get the job will send someone who’s actually capable of remembering a character’s name for longer than two minutes.”

“She asked her boyfriend what score she should give. Just stick to rom-coms, bitch.”

“Hope your site got the hits it so desperately craves, you sad pathetic excuse for a human being.”

“You actually wanted this movie to suck, didn’t you? I’ve seen your other reviews, and your bias opinions on pretty much everything. You spelled names wrong, you got names wrong, You somehow managed to think that explosions and aliens means Transformers. You have no business being a critic if you are going to act like this.”

“Bitch what the fuck is wrong with you, I knew there would be bad reviews from some people but not from spiteful assholes who bash shit for attention.”

“She didn’t bash it for attention, it’s starting to become clear she’s a DC fangirl, so she actually had an agenda.”

When folks tell you “don’t read the comments” — well, this is pretty much the reason why. I hope the people who left these comments are proud of themselves. (Sadly, they probably are.)

And as esteemed pal Ken says in his tweet on the topic, the last paragraph of that review “is a call to action for anyone making superhero ANYthing.” Well said, friend. Too bad the point will be missed by the folks desperate to defend their beloved film from what they somehow see as such a horribly negative assault.

Now here’s a hell of a thing.

§ April 23rd, 2012 § Filed under collecting § 24 Comments


So here’s a slabbed ‘n’ graded copy of Civil War #2, 2nd printing, that turned up in a box of unsold stock we acquired from another store. It’s an interesting artifact of a once red-hot comic book crossover event since supplanted by a cascade of other crossover events, themselves all secondary to the pursuit of the movie tie-in dollar which may or, more likely, may not trickle down from the cinematic breadwinners to their poor print cousins.

This particular edition itself is of note, a second pressing of the issue in which Spider-Man publicly reveals his secret identity, with a new cover reflecting said event to apparently take advantage of the real-world (as opposed to just comic book press) media attention. The revelation itself pretty much had “reset button” written all over it, and sure enough, shortly after Civil War was over and we were all on to the next thing, Spider-Man’s secret identity status quo was restored and thus, what small importance this issue had in the grand scheme of Marvel’s things was no longer what it was.

Currently, no one is really seeking out back issues of Civil War, and even the sales of the books collecting that series and its army of tie-ins have fallen the farther away we get from that event’s heyday. And now we have this…an item produced to exploit interest in a specific plot twist, since undone, in a Big Event Series, since…um, unbiggened, I guess.

This item’s only claim to collectibility at this point is that it’s sealed in a plastic slab, with an official condition grade assigned to it by a grading company. And, as we can see on auction sites and as used to be demonstrated by helpful graphics in the now-defunct print edition of Wizard Magazine, “slabbed” comics can often command much higher prices (or at least are set at higher prices) than the same comic without a slab.

If the story I was told of this item’s lineage is accurate, it was apparently offered, as is, slab and all, through the monthly distributor’s catalog as a prepackaged collectible. The price marked on the store sticker is $59.99, which is like twenty times the regular retail cost of the comic by itself. I was also told the item was ordered by mistake and could not be (or simply wasn’t) returned.

This is an empty collectible. Now, to be clear, I’m not accusing or blaming anyone for this. There was a time when this was possibly a viable item. There was demand for this series, for this particular issue, and interest was high in that plot development. And the graded ‘n’ sealed books are usually of interest to some collectors. However, you can infer a “sell-by” date on some items, and it’s reasonably clear this is one “collectible” that has outlived itself.

It’s my problem now, and hopefully I can get a few bucks for it on eBay.

I hope none of my potential bidders read this.

SURF N’ WHEELS.

§ April 21st, 2012 § Filed under charlton § 20 Comments


SURF N’ WHEELS


SURF


WHEELS


SURF


WHEELS


GOOFY-FOOT


SURF


CRACK


WHEELS


BUTT


KICKS


FIST


UNHORSED


MORE BUTT


THIS GUY

 

images from Surf N’ Wheels #1 (November 1969) – thanks to Ralph for the loaner

“Just old and stupid since 1969.”

§ April 18th, 2012 § Filed under I have no idea how to tag this § 22 Comments

So I saw in my site referrals a particular Google search (“comic books stupid”), which I then searched myself to see what would come up, and lo, there was this question on Yahoo Answers:


I like all the assumptions being made there, like there’s this incredible cachet of “coolness” surrounding the reading of comics. Seeing movies based on comics, sure, or maybe watching TV shows about people who read comics, but actually reading them? C’mon. And I’d like to hear more about the “good ones like ‘Spiderman’ and ‘Xmen.’” that the questioner apparently likes, in contradiction to the tone of his inquiry. They sound sort of similar to Spider-Man and X-Men…I wonder if Marvel knows about them?

Anyway, some of the responses to the question are pretty good, if occasionally veering into the “yeah, that’s not helping” realm. Then again, I shouldn’t be so quick to judge, because I was sitting there thinking how I could explain why I like comics, and…well, I can’t really articulate it. I mean, I could probably explain why I like certain comic books, or why I like particular genres of comics, but even then my explanation may not get much farther than “because Green Lantern has this awesome ring that does anything he wants and it’s awesome, yeah I said ‘awesome’ twice, shut up.”

But as to why I like comics in general? I don’t know. I simply like reading, whether it’s just words, or words with pictures. I think most people like comics, even if it’s just reading the funny pages in the newspapers…I’m sure people still do that, even if it’s perhaps not the universal experience it once was.

Maybe I just was never conditioned to not like comics, to not dismiss an entire storytelling method because someone told me it was stupid or worthless. And that I found enough of value in this medium that when I did start to get exposed to people who thought comics were worthless, I realized they were wrong. Not that every single story was a treasure, of course, but that comics were no more or less worthy a medium than any other. A bad TV show doesn’t invalidate television any more than a bad comic book invalidates comics.

Preaching to the converted, I know. But it did get me to wondering, as I said, how I would specifically explain why I like comics. An appreciation of the craft of cartooning, and the usage of drawings to communicate a story? Or, like one of the respondents to the original inquiry stated, “the unique experience of visually experiencing a story on paper.” Or on iPads, nowadays.

I could be going about it the wrong way. Perhaps my answer to “Why I Like Comics” should be “Jack Kirby. Carl Barks. Bernie Wrightson. Ramona Fradon. The Hernandez Brothers. Gilbert Shelton. Curt Swan. Charles Schulz. Sergio Aragones. Paul Chadwick. John Severin. Shary Flenniken. Mike Mignola. Jim Starlin. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.” And so on.

While I may not have a particularly pithy or detailed explanation as to why I like the comic book medium beyond “I enjoy stories told with pictures,” I do know that I would have missed out on a lot of great work if I’d rejected comics outright. Plus, I wouldn’t currently have a room full of Swamp Thing merchandise in the house…which probably also falls under the previously mentioned “yeah, that’s not helping” category.

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