Since I'm a big ol' Swamp Thing fanboy, I would be remiss if I didn't link to this article about...um, well, about Swamp Thing's sexuality. Well, there you go. Enjoy. (via Neilalien, among other places)

posted by Mikester  @ 23:53 | |

Thought Balloons reads Wizard Magazine so you don't have to...apparently, squirrelled away between the potty jokes and the comic-investing reports is a brief note stating that Evan Dorkin and Mike Allred are working on a Metal Men comic. Oh, please please please be true...granted, this is Wizard we're talking about, so take this info with a grain of salt, but boy, doesn't that sound like a hoot?

posted by Mikester  @ 19:50 | |

An allegedly straight take on Space Ghost is forthcoming from DC Comics, and, as my pal Dorian has said, this could either be absolutely brilliant or an absolute car crash. If it takes the tone of, say, Alan Moore's Tom Strong (i.e. somewhat tongue-in-cheek), it might not be too bad...though it has a long way to go to match Steve Rude's masterful version from a few years back.

I know some hardcore Space Ghost fans were appalled by Cartoon Network's Coast-to-Coast spoof, feeling it impugned the integrity of the character...hate to tell you this, but SG, like most cartoons, was created to keep kids on their butts in front of the TV so the network could force-feed them commercials. There's the character's integrity. If anyone got any entertainment at all out of the cartoons...well, that was most likely an welcome, if unintended, side effect.

And yes, yes, I know Alex Toth designed the character...that's probably the only reason the show worked as well as it did.

Additional linkage: an incredibly comprehensive FAQ for the original cartoon

posted by Mikester  @ 19:37 | |

Hey, I just realized something...most histories of Superman I've read over the years (examples: this online history and the book Superman at Fifty! edited by Dennis Dooley and Gary Engle) mentioned that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created the character in 1934, and that it took them until 1938 to find a publisher willing to take it. If so, that means Superman is 70 years old as of this year!

Mostly it just depresses me since I remember buying the 45th (well, technically, 49th) anniversary issue off the stands:

posted by Mikester  @ 10:03 | |

Sorry...kind of tight for time at the moment, so no real post today. Instead, go look at pal Fred's website...tell him I said "hi."

posted by Mikester  @ 20:04 | |

I've received a couple responses and clarifications regarding my flexidisc post a couple days back:

Graeme McMillan tells me that the M flexidisc is definitely music, not a reading of the comic (by the way, here's the link to the part of Cat Yronwode's site where I got my info...I forget to link it in the previous post).

Bill informs me that he believed a flexi came with an issue of Rip Off Press' Miami Mice...and sure enough, a quick check through the vast Mikester Comic Archives (okay, really, I just looked in the Rip Off Press box at work) tells me that issue 3 of that series did indeed come with a flexidisc, featuring the Miami Mice theme song. Miami Mice, actually, was one of the better (well, less offensive) results of the 1980s "we want some of that Mutant Turtles money too!" black and white boom. It was by Mark Bode, so the art, while a little on the rough side, still had some appeal.

Pal Self mentions the flexi that came with the Bloom County book Billy and the Boingers Bootleg...I still think that's a little out of the purview of this informal survey, but it probably should be noted. The program manager at a college radio station I was doing a little deejaying on at the time was forced to hide the carts on which the two songs from this flexi were recorded -- they were being played too often!

In other news:

• A quick search through Diamond Previews informs me that Antarctic Press is publishing a Hitler comic, from the fella that brought us Luftwaffe 1946. Hoo boy. I've have enough trouble explaining Luftwaffe to people. Yes, I realize that Hitler is a valid subject for examination (otherwise we wouldn't have the History Channel, har har), but I'm still gonna have to look at a big ol' "HITLER" logo staring back at me from the rack.
  
  
• New Frontier #1 -- if there's one thing I demand from a comic that features an Indian fighting a dinosaur, it's realism.
  
  
• Dear Marvel, please make sure 4 of the 5 Hulk titles you are currently publishing are all released to comic shops on the exact same day. That's sure to help sales. Love, Mike.
  
  
• The Shield is one of my absolute favorite TV shows, so I'm the target audience for the IDW comic tie-in that was released today...haven't had a chance to do much more than glance through it yet (I'm writing this instead), but it doesn't look too bad. The likenesses are passable, and I've noticed that the comic uses the word "fuck" -- one of the few swear words they haven't used on the TV show. An interview with the show's creator Shawn Ryan is also included, as is a four-page prose story unrelated to The Shield that you're never going to read. I was kind of hoping the interior art would look like the cover, but no dice. Ah, well.
  
  
• Yeah, I know, none of you like Chris Claremont or John Byrne, but their run on JLA has got to be better that what we're getting right now.
  
  
• Every once in a while, you just gotta steal a link from Fark, so here it is: a Spider-Man Big Little Book. (But be sure to start at the beginning and look at them all. It's a hoot!)
  

posted by Mikester  @ 19:25 | |

I made a passing reference to Trident Comics a couple entries ago, and thought I'd clarify a bit. Trident was actually a pretty good publisher...didn't last very long, alas, but managed to get some memorable books out there. I bought most of their output (I passed on Saga of the Man-Elf or whatever it was called). There was one very well-drawn (and well-lettered!) issue of Burglar Bill by Paul Grist; the very funny Lucifer by Eddie Campbell and Phil Elliott, featuring a vagrant that suddenly becomes in charge of Hell; the Trident anthology book, featuring work by Elliott, Campbell (Bacchus stories), Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, and many others; The Shadowmen and Strand, which might have become very interesting had they lasted longer; and of course the aforementioned Saviour by Millar, which I understand was a nosehair away from being revived at Vertigo. Ah, well...I would like to have seen how the story ended.

And then there's St. Swithin's Day, Trident's only color comic I believe, which features Grant Morrison and Paul Grist's last word on teen angst. Good stuff...reprinted later by Oni Press if you can't find the original.

Interesting thing about the Bacchus stories in Trident...they were part of a series of stories featuring Bacchus travelling with a group of people by boat, relating stories of the characters of Greek myth in his own inimitable way. There was a minor continuity to these stories, which were also being published in Atomeka's A-1 anthology and in Dark Horse Presents...but they were darn hard to piece together given the way they were published. They are now collected, in proper sequential order, in Bacchus Vol. 3 - Doing the Islands with Bacchus from Eddie Campbell's own company.

I suddenly find myself nostalgic for Campbell's The Eyeball Kid. I wonder if there's a word for that.

posted by Mikester  @ 19:11 | |

So the recent resurgence in interest for Alan Moore's "March of the Sinister Ducks" (spurred on by Neil Gaiman's pointing to an MP3 file) had me thinking about other comic book flexidiscs. Here are the only ones I remember:

• Critters #23 (Fantagraphics) - "March of the Sinister Ducks" on one side, "Right to the Blues" by Ty Templeton on the other.
  
  
• Duplex Planet Illustrated #1 (Fantagraphics) - features "Skin" by the Brave Combo and "The" by Jimmy Carl Black and the Grandmothers. "Skin" shows up on the CD "A Place of General Happiness Volume 2."
  
  
• Femforce #50 (AC Comics) - the Femforce theme...I don't have this one, but you can read about it here.
  
  
• M #1 (Eclipse) - according to Cat Yronwode's website, the flexidisc was a soundtrack recorded by Jon J. Muth and Steve Niles. Whether it was just music or a dramatic reading, I haven't the foggiest.
  
  
• Ms. Tree #50 (Renegade) - a one-sided flexi with "The Theme from Ms. Tree," performed by the band Cruisin'. It later showed up on the Cruisin' CD from Beat Brothers Recordings. Max Allan Collins played keyboards.
  
  
• Nexus (magazine) #3 (Capital) - basically a dramatization of the contents of the issue, with everyone speaking really, really quickly to squeeze everything onto the record. Great theme song.
  
  
• Scout #19 (Eclipse) - another one I don't have (only read the first six issues), but it featured blues music by Tim Truman. I think it may have included music from the full-length Scout LP by Tim Truman and the Dixie Pistols (eBay auction here).
  

This list doesn't include the multiple flexis that were included in Mad Magazine specials (I still have a fondness for "Mad Disco," and the greatest one of them all, the one with eight different endings, "It's A Super Spectacular Day!").

With record players pretty much gone the way of the eight-track tapes (hey, I still have a working record player, but I'm old and weird), we can pretty much forget about seeing comics with flexidisc inserts ever again. Chaos Comics had a go at including CDs with their comics...even if they'd been good CDs, it's just not the same. Actually, I'm surprised more comic publishers haven't tried the CD-insert route...I mean, aside from AOL discs.

So, am I forgetting any flexis from the above list?

posted by Mikester  @ 22:22 | |

Hey, I liked Saviour.

(Actually, most of the stuff from Trident Comics was pretty good. Look for 'em in a quarter bin near you!)

posted by Mikester  @ 13:03 | |

1. Currently, one of the busiest threads on the Comicon message boards is the "You Go Ghoul - status?" discussion, about John Byrne's project for Dreamwave. It starts off with a relatively innocent question, almost immediately turns into a Byrne-bashing session (color me surprised), veers into a specific slam on Spider-Man: Chapter One, which then, inexplicably, causes someone to impugn the quality of the original Lee-Ditko Spider-Man! Yes, really. And now, at a 190+ messages later, the conversation has turned to the positive effects of Image-style art. I suggest starting at the beginning and reading all four pages, if you've got nothing better to do...y'know, like me.

2. My most embarrassing comic-related moment: It wasn't until I actually worked in a comic shop that I got the joke in Ms. Tree's name. "Hey, can I see the Ms. Tree back issues?" "Sure, here are the Ms. Tree comi...oh, hey, Ms. Tree! 'Mystery!' I get it!" (Sigh. I'm normally fairly intelligent, honest.)

3. Ennis and Dillon's Preacher is apparently still on track to maybe becoming a movie, though I can't imagine any possible way this will make it into theatres even vaguely resembling the source material. Imagine the meeting for this: "So, what's the conflict in this film? Who's the bad guy?" "Well, the bad guy is God...." "Thank you, we'll call you, please leave now." Just picture the hoo-hah around Dogma, multiplied by 100. Especially if any protesters get their hands on the comics.

(Confidential note to A Specific LiveJournal User -- Hi! I'm glad you like my site, and of course, feel free to post links you find on my site in your own journal. However, you occasionally use my exact wording from the descriptive text for the links...it's a little irksome to see something I wrote show up in someone else's weblog without attribution. Please try to use your own wording in the future...or put my words in quotes with a credit to my site. I mean, if I posted an entire paragraph (or even one line) of unchanged links and text from, say, Journalista without credit to Dirk Deppey, he'd be pretty steamed at me, and rightfully so.

Oh, and that obituary Mark Evanier wrote that you posted word-for-word in your journal a while back? You might want to give Mr. Evanier credit for that as well, since, without any kind of associated linkage or attribution, it gives the impression that you wrote it. Just a helpful hint.

Here's something from Flat Earth on a related topic.)

posted by Mikester  @ 11:45 | |

Here's an offer for a free McGruff the Crime Dog comic book (U.S. residents only, unfortunately). If you would rather just read the comics online, I suggest starting with this terrifying example.

posted by Mikester  @ 10:45 | |

It looks like the Baltimore City Paper Funny Paper online column hasn't been updated in a while...it's not the first time, though, so hopefully they'll catch up in the near future.

If you haven't seen this before, it's basically a mostly-sarcastic look at the week in the local comic strip page, complete with random panels reprinted alongside (and given new humor and meaning by their isolation from the original context...read a few, you'll see what I mean).

Oh, and they really really really hate Mother Goose and Grimm. Go back through a few columns...there's some serious anger at Mike Peters being expressed.

posted by Mikester  @ 19:35 | |

The discussion of Popeye during his 75th anniversary recently (go to Flat Earth for the best coverage) had me thinking about how when I was a kid, the book to check out of the Richard Bard Elementary School library was a Popeye 50th Anniversary edition hardcover, detailing the history of the character, complete with strip reprints. There was a waiting list a mile long to get that book into your hands. Now, 25 years on, how many school-age kids really know anything about Popeye? Not many, I'm guessing.

This article from the Washington Post goes over some of the modern day problems Popeye is having. (found via TV Tattle)

posted by Mikester  @ 19:22 | |

from Batman and the Outsiders #9 (1984), by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo


Thanks to pal Dorian for pointing out this sequence to me

posted by Mikester  @ 18:46 | |

There's a downloadable PDF preview of the new Swamp Thing series at the DC Comics site. It's the same thing that's in the Vertigo Horizon freebie that shipped to stores this week, but in case you haven't been to your local shop in a while, here it is for your convenience.

In doing a Swamp Thing Google search, I found this page, a Swamp Thing message board, though with very few messages. It does have one of those mini-versions of Swamp Thing, like the mini-superhero characters you always see all over the John Byrne Message Board. (Where the heck do those mini-hero things come from, anyway? Who's responsible?) And no, I have no idea why the address for the board is "FanFiction."

And this is pretty neat...a complete chronology of the Swamp Thing universe.

Okay, I'm a big Swamp Thing fan, so sue me. He's one of my two favorite corporately-owned characters...the other being Uncle Scrooge McDuck. Yeah, I know, that makes no sense. I don't suppose I should hold my breath for the crossover.

posted by Mikester  @ 20:06 | |

Mark Evanier reports that longtime Mad Magazine cartoonist George Woodbridge has died.

posted by Mikester  @ 19:38 | |

Via Journalista, a link to an MP3 of "March of the Sinister Ducks" via Neil Gaiman.

I'm downloading it now...it's kinda slow going at the moment, even on DSL. Hopefully it'll sound better than the MP3 I made from my Critters flexidisc a couple years back (the same one Dirk Deppey mentions). I'd even made an MP3 of the B-side, "Right to The Blues," which tied into Ty Templeton's Teddy Payne story in this issue.

posted by Mikester  @ 08:27 | |

Holy crud! Gary Panter is offering original art for $100.00!

(found via Boingboing.net)

posted by Mikester  @ 18:40 | |

Flat Earth has a good idea for all those Peanuts collections that will, over the next few years, become redundant, what with Fantagraphics' Complete Peanuts project -- donate 'em. FE says hospitals, but also schools, libraries, churches...whoever could use them.

Now that new Peanuts strips are a thing of the past, the number of kids who only know it as a product line and not artistic expression will only increase. Today's kids could use a little exposure to the original Peanuts strips...which, along with the collected works of William Shakespeare, tell you pretty much all you need to know about human nature.

Okay, I'll probably hang onto my set of Mattel Peanuts hardcovers...but the rest are going to charities, I think.

Flat Earth -- thanks for the darn good idea.

posted by Mikester  @ 22:40 | |

As a comic book retailer, you have the right to expect clear and concise solicitation information from publishers.

As a comic book retailer, you have a right to expect a monthly comic book to be published monthly, not bimonthly, weekly, daily, or whenever Marv..er, the publisher feels like it.

As a comic book retailer, you have the right not to be a daycare center.

As a comic book retailer, you have the responsibility to carry a wide range of comics and graphic novels, not just Marvels and a handful of DCs. Carry some manga, for God's sake...it won't kill you.

As a comic book retailer, you have the right not to be expected to offer a discount to a customer just because he's buying what he calls "a whole bunch of comics" (i.e. about $10 worth).

As a comic book retailer, you have the responsibility to make a good faith effort toward obtaining comics and graphic novels requested by your customers, if they're available for preorder or reorder. You also have the right not to be blamed if said comic or graphic novel is out of print or otherwise unavailable.

As a comic book retailer, you have the right not to believe a customer when he tells you that he has a copy of Action Comics #1 at home. (Just through personal experience, this would mean there are something like a hundred copies in our immediate area.)

As a comic book retailer, you have the responsibility to make your store a nice place to shop. One would think this would be obvious. Sweep, clean, stock the racks, keep Eminem off the store stereo, change those posters in the front window that are now all the same sunfaded blue color, wear clothes that aren't torn or stained.

As a comic book retailer, you have the right to be respected as a real business, given that you treat it as a real business.

(EDIT: I just realized some people may not know what I'm referring to. Here is the original Comic Book Reader's Bill of Rights...the permalink doesn't seem to be working properly, but it was posted January 10th.)

posted by Mikester  @ 13:06 | |

The Charles M. Schulz Museum will be releasing Li'l Beginnings, a collection of the Peanuts precursor Li'l Folks, exclusively through the museum store and the website. (Via the Aaugh.com newsletter)

The comics connection is slight (Alex Toth did the designwork for the original cartoon), but the Sealab 2021 Captain Murphy Soundboard is a hoot. Harry Goz, you left us too soon.

posted by Mikester  @ 18:51 | |

I've mentioned before that I collect fanzines...and I just acquired another one this past week. It's "Collector Issue No. 1" (I don't imagine there was a No. 2) of The Wonderful World of Marvel, from 1976. Featured in this special "Howard the Duck Issue" --

• a three-color parody Warlock cover ("Warduck") by Steve Leialoha
  
• Howard as Thor "The Thunder Duck" by Gene Day
  
• a three-page interview with Howard conducted by the editor, complete with photos of the editor (Doug Fratz, apparently active in comics and SF fandom in the 60s & 70s) with drawings of Howard pasted in, making it appear as if there's a face-to-face going on
  
• The Comic Reader-style reproductions of forthcoming Marvel covers along with short news items ("In September, the Marvel seventeen page comics will go up to 30 cents." Say it ain't so!)
  
• and, of course, lots of ads (including a nice one for Bernie Wrightson prints)
  

An interesting artifact of this magazine is the discussion of the apparent scarcity of Howard the Duck #1...a whole page (with a black border, so you know it's serious) is devoted to the controversy surrounding the comic's faulty distribution and subsequent high prices. (It's even mentioned in the Howard "interview!") The article ends with "it has been speculated that if no one pays the inflated prices [...] the comic will eventually become numerous and cheap." Well, it did happen eventually...took a monstrous flop of a movie to do it, though.

posted by Mikester  @ 10:53 | |

Flat Earth is writing a lot about Popeye, and you should go read the last few days' worth of entries. Don't miss the discussion of Captain Strong, one of my favorite peculiar cast members from Superman.

Mark Evanier discusses the voices behind Popeye in the cartoons...also be sure to check out the explanation of the Bluto/Brutus quandary.

posted by Mikester  @ 23:57 | |

For your reading pleasure...the entire contents of Planet Comics #17 (March 1942). (via Boingboing.net)

posted by Mikester  @ 09:09 | |

The first fanzine I ever read was The Comic Reader... here's a page with a sample issue from '77 that, coincidentally, is using the descriptive text I wrote for the eBay auction mentioned there. In the early 80s, this fanzine was reprinting a comic strip called "Captain Kentucky" by Don Rosa. Well, I just loved this strip...I enjoyed the way every square millimeter of the page was filled with something, and the whole one-man-operation, rough around the edges, "let's put on a show!" feel to it.

I snapped up Don Rosa's Comics and Stories #1 when it came out in '83, which reprinted his earlier "Pertwillaby Papers" humor-adventure strips. I never did see the second issue of this series on the stands, and I looked for the darn thing for nearly 20 years before a friend of mine found a copy for me in Los Angeles not too long ago. (Of course, all the "Pertwillaby Papers" material, including the spin-off "Captain Kentucky" strips, has since been collected in two nice hardcovers.)

When the announcement was made that Rosa was going to be doing a new Uncle Scrooge McDuck adventure for Gladstone Comics' Disney line in '87, I found myself looking at Disney comics for the first time since the early '70s. Reading Rosa's story, "The Son of the Sun," got me hooked back into reading Duck comics, which of course brought me to the work of Carl Barks, which then resulted in my buying all several dozen Complete Carl Barks albums over a period of a decade, at a rate of about 2 a month (so the Complete Peanuts series, at two volumes a year for just over 12 years, should be a cakewalk).

And now Disney comics are coming out in the U.S. once again. Rosa stories that had only been available overseas are now being released in small doses...just in the $6.95 issues, not the $2.95 ones, of course. But hey, I'm not complaining...at least they're available. And while I'm glad that Disney comics of any kind are available in the U.S. now, I'm also afraid that they're selling mostly to adult Disney fans like me, and not enough to the younger potential fans.

Additional linkage:

DUCKhunt links to lots of Rosa articles and artwork all over the web.

A gallery of sketches, alternate pages, fanzine art, and more by Rosa.

This page has one of the most distressing Duck images you will ever see. Actually, this whole article on the history of Duckburg is good reading.

posted by Mikester  @ 09:37 | |

Spotted on Journalista was this link to a spirited defense of JLA/Avengers. I think I'm going to enjoy this weblog...already the phrase "witness perfect stupidity minions" has wedged itself into my brain.

posted by Mikester  @ 20:41 | |

Pal JP tipped me off to forthcoming Batwoman, Bat-Girl, Bat-Mite, and Ace (temp link) action figures. Soon I'll be able to reenact my favorite Batman cover in the privacy of my own home! Well, theoretically, anyway. I wouldn't actually do that. Honest.

posted by Mikester  @ 15:25 | |

Ah, yes, remember the good old days, when you could have a fun and goofy Batman comic and the fans wouldn't act like some form of horrifying sacrilege had been committed? I mean, just look at that cover...Bat-Mite, riding Ace the Bat-Hound, while carrying a Batwoman sign. It's downright beautiful.

I particularly like it as it focuses on three supporting characters from Batman history that are more or less forgotten now, what with being incompatible the whole "dark avenger of the night" thing. Well, Evan Dorkin did have the highly entertaining World's Funnest which featured Bat-Mite, and there were a couple issues of Legends of the Dark Knight that had a "dark 'n' gritty" (but still funny) take on Bat-Mite drawn by Kevin O'Neill.

Ace the Bat-hound was put down...well, okay, not really, but he did just sorta up and vanish. I seem to recall Bruce Wayne having a dog named Ace in some of the Batman comics from a few years back, but it was just a fannish in-joke...this Ace didn't fight crime and wear a cowl to protect his identity. I think.

And Batwoman? Well, gone forever, most likely, until someone gets the bright idea to revive her, put her in your standard super-heroine "cleavage ahoy!" costume, and build some kind of 12-part mini-series around the character. Or maybe they did revive her and I just missed it...it's not like there haven't been a couple dozen Bat-titles published each month -- those pages have to be filled with something.

Anyway, here's to you Bat-Mite, Ace, Batwoman, the original Bat-Girl (Betty Kane), a swashbuckling Batman that smiled, "Batman's Time Travel Crimes on Venus" stories...to all the silly Batman stories that, I guess, are no longer in favor.

posted by Mikester  @ 21:33 | |

Augie De Blieck Jr. discusses the "comics blogosphere" in his latest column, and after he mentions some of my own favorite weblogs, he kinda sorta mentions mine as he makes reference to my microfiche post. Or, more likely, he's making reference to Neilalien's post that refers to my post. Posts that link to posts that link to posts...it gets a little confusing after a while. We're all so polite, making sure everyone gets proper credit!

Anyway, De Blieck was one of the first online comics commentators I used to follow, and while I don't read his column on much of a regular basis anymore (sorry!), it's nice to see he's still around. Besides, he likes Disney comics, so he's jake with me.

posted by Mikester  @ 19:44 | |

Steve Bissette, one of my favorite comic artists, gives us the skinny on what he's up to.

The eternal question of who'd win in a fight - Jesse Custer or Zatanna - is discussed here.

Yet another "this character is/isn't gay" message board discussion - complete with charming thread title. Gentlemen (and ladies) - start your slash fiction!

The John Byrne forum discusses pan & scan vs. widescreen DVDs...I don't know why, either, but at least they rightfully recognize pan & scan for the abomination it is.

posted by Mikester  @ 23:22 | |

About Comics publisher Nat Gertler crystalizes my thoughts beautifully about the recent much-deserved cancellation of that show with the guy who pretends to talk to dead people.

Speaking of Nat, his company will be releasing the 24 Hour Comics anthology in April -- edited by Scott McCloud, creator of the 24 Hour Comic concept.

posted by Mikester  @ 12:39 | |

I was just thinking about other comics DC Comics has published in the past that would make good material for "manga-style" trades and that wouldn't necessarily be aimed at a superhero-reading audience. How about Amethyst (at least the stories prior to the character being shoehorned into the DC Universe), or Warlord, or Jonah Hex (yes, I realize a couple of those are somewhat superheroish)? How about all those horror stories from House of Secrets or House of Mystery? (My pal Dorian champions the reprinting of "I, Vampire" in particular.) Or how about the countless romance comics?

Or, if you are going to do superheroes, how about reprinting some that might actually attract a general audience, such as Plastic Man or Captain Marvel, or my aforementioned suggestion of the comics based on the Batman Adventures cartoon? Where are the cheap digest collections of New Teen Titans or Justice League of America, now that kids are interested in these characters again? (And, as the manager of a comic store that, believe it or not, does have a large clientele of younger people, I can tell you there is demand for such a thing...the Justice League Adventures and Teen Titans Go comics do help, however.)

Or how about going the other way, sizewise? Thin, oversized hardcovers aimed at children, reprinting Mayer's Three Mouseketeers or Sugar & Spike?

Well, anyway, it's just a thought...with a slight undercurrent of enlightened self-interest, as I'd want a lot of these things in cheap reprint editions.

posted by Mikester  @ 19:39 | |

• Here's an online archive of Catatonic Comix, complete with annotations...this one is my favorite.
  
  
• What exactly is this person selling? Take a look at the seller's other items...looks like an error with bulk listing to me.
  
  
• "gambit is NOT gay"
  
  

posted by Mikester  @ 19:56 | |

Well, images of the Marvel digests have been unleashed on Newsarama, and Fanboy Rampage and Grotesque Anatomy point out the concerns people have in the attached discussion board regarding the design similarity to Tokyopop books.

I find myself more concerned with the people who apparently have never seen the ubiquitous Tokyopop publications; representative quote: "Are they the same format as the 'Archie' ones?"

I'm going to chalk this up to "no decent comic shop and/or bookstore in the area."

(Someone in the discussion does have a good idea, though...how about Batman Adventures in this format?)

posted by Mikester  @ 10:27 | |

Dorian lets the comics world have it with both barrels.

posted by Mikester  @ 10:03 | |

Comics Burrito points out an article in the Korea Herald about a comic shop just for women! Neat.

posted by Mikester  @ 20:26 | |

Marvel fans looking forward to Joss Whedon's run on New X-Men had better hope he doesn't have any other paying work at the same time (see also Kevin Smith, Fray).

posted by Mikester  @ 20:13 | |

Hey, some (mostly) reasonable posts in a Newsarama discussion for once. Who is buying these things? And honestly, who's gonna want this grotesquery?

(...says the man with the Swamp Thing statue)

Anyway, I like the fellow in the discussion who says that he uses his life-sized Spider-Man head as a doorstop. Now there's an untapped comics merchandise market.

posted by Mikester  @ 23:13 | |

While you all are waiting for the trade on your favorite series, I'll content myself with waiting for the microfiche.

posted by Mikester  @ 22:39 | |

Len Wein is interviewed, and not only talks briefly about the connection between his creation of Swamp Thing and Gerry Conway's creation of Man-Thing, but also discusses writing the new Swamp Thing movie. He claims Swamp Thing will be CGI...mostly likely because the whole man in a rubber suit thing from the first film didn't go over so well.

Swampy's costume was a little better in the sequel...and that sequel was either complete idiocy or utter genius. If you get your hands on the DVD, be sure to listen to director Jim Wynorski's very entertaining commentary.

Good luck getting the first film on DVD...due to a mother's complaint (scroll down) the DVD has been pulled, which of course means it's now an eBay favorite. The film itself is goofy and likeable enough, once you get past Swampy's droopy drawers.

Never saw enough of the live-action TV show to form an opinion, though some people liked it enough to start writing fan fiction about it. And for pete's sake, avoid the cartoon!

posted by Mikester  @ 18:56 | |

Well, you all missed your chance to get yourself a Sin City Marv statue for a bargain price from the Steal It Back police auction website.

Some other (closed) comic auctions from the site here and here.

(found via Mike Gunderloy's weblog)

posted by Mikester  @ 12:11 | |

When I was but a young Mikester, I somehow badgered my dad into hauling me out to a comic shop in Simi Valley for a Chris Claremont signing. It was 1984, and I had my copies of the Claremont-written New Mutants #18 (which I admittedly bought just for the Bill Sienkiewicz art) and Man-Thing #11 (last issue of the second series, featuring, as a character, Claremont himself!) clutched in hand, ready for autographing.

Anyway, we got there a few minutes before the signing was to begin. The fans who were already waiting and had only seen Claremont as a grainy black and white photo of a man his blondish hair and a beard on the Bullpen Bulletins page, spotted my dad, a man with blondish hair and a beard. Yes, a gaggle of kids ran up to my dad, X-Men comics in hand, wanting his autograph...and knowing my dad, he was surely tempted to do a little signing.

Alas, my dad's inadvertent impersonation of an X-Men writer was short-lived as the real Chris Claremont arrived and the session began...I don't remember much about it, aside from asking Claremont a super-fanboyish question -- "Uh, Mr. Claremont, what did you think of John Byrne killing off Guardian in Alpha Flight?" "Well, what did you think of it?" was his reply, and I'm sure I stammered out some kind of lame answer while thinking "I know what I think...I want to know what you think!" In retrospect, it was a very politic answer, not having to pass judgement on what another creator did with a certain character and risk having his opinion be blown out of proportion among fannish circles, even in those pre-internet days. Or, just as likely, he just wanted to get through the autograph session without putting up with lame fanboy questions like mine. And who could blame him?

I still have my autographed comics, though...I have a signed Man-Thing #11 and you don't!

posted by Mikester  @ 21:27 | |

It's a Jim Woodring multimedia extravaganza! You can listen to MP3 recordings from his Comics Journal interview or you can watch somewhat frightening animations featuring his character Frank (warning...Realplayer).

posted by Mikester  @ 19:40 | |

Due to the vagaries of shipping company holidays, the High Holy New Comics Wednesday is Friday this week...not much came out, but we still got some fun stuff, like another non-Moore Tom Strong and the new Smax.

The choice item this week, though, was the absolutely gorgeous Young Gods & Friends hardcover by Barry Windsor-Smith, published by Fantagraphics. In addition to seeing material that never made it into the sadly-aborted Storyteller series, we get plenty of behind-the-scenes notes from Windsor-Smith himself about the collapse of the project with the original publisher. It's very depressing and telling stuff about the comics market. The comics themselves are fluff...that's not a criticism, as it's very entertaining and funny fluff that takes itself about as seriously as it deserves, and the fact that it's beautifully illustrated doesn't hurt. It's Kirby's New Gods with a little more self-awareness and a lot more irreverence.

posted by Mikester  @ 20:50 | |

There has to be some word to use in reference to those groups of humorless comic fans who completely misinterpret comments made by a comics professional in an online interview, or simply fail to recognize when said professionial is pulling their legs.

I call it "Morrisoning."

Usage: "Boy, those comic fans are really morrisoning that Newsarama interview."

(In all fairness to the John Byrne message board, regarding my previous comments...that Way interview was a bit over the top. The "who the f* is Giant Man" comment still cracks me up, though...yeah, I know, I'm 12.)

posted by Mikester  @ 12:43 | |