Showing posts with label Teniversary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teniversary. Show all posts

Monday, May 25, 2015

This is how I'm celebrating my Tenth Blogiversary.


So c'mon over and join in the fun! There's plenty of cookies here for everybody. But not for long! (Nom nom nom nom nom.)

Speaking of it today being the exact tenth anniversary of my blog...we were talking about that, weren't we? Anyway, hey! Remember when this blog used to look like this?


Back in the good old days when they biggest I could make images across was a mere 400 pixels! From there it was only a small skip and a leap and a couple cookies to get to what is now more-or-less my current and long-running template. Dig that decorative header!


Eventually I laboriously and manually retweaked the code in the template to make it a thrilling VistaVisionesque wide-screen, so I could at last do this:


Anyway, I've been blogging for ten years this very day, and most of it (as Arthur Dent has said) seems to have made some kind of sense.

Now usually 'round about these here parts I take a look back at the past year and re-present some of my favorite posts from the last three hundred sixty some-odd days. But this time around and because I've had my attentions split in other directions over the past year so I apologize if I don't bring you big wordy posts every night , I'm going to highlight the best of the best. They are all in fact, best! And, more important, fun! And in that spirit of fun, let's take a look back through ten years o' fun by spotlighting the top entertainment of the time and then My Favorite Post of Each Year! (Believe me, if I picked more than one post a year, we'd be here all night, folks, and I know you all have homes to go to and cookies of your own to eat.)

2005: We're all munching popcorn and cheering Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith to go away! The movie version V for Vendetta starts an annoying trend of ass-hats wearing plastic Guy Fawkes masks! Over on the television, there's a penguin! And, Craig Ferguson replaces Craig Kilborn as on The Late Late Show and no one notices because they're both named Craig! In comics, Scarlet Witch totally destroys her chance of ever appearing in a major motion picturing my making it so there were no more mutants! And we all get to lug home the one thousand pound boxed set of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes! And in your local movie cineplex, Batman starts beginning! So do I, on May 25 at Comics Oughta Be Fun with a buncha reviews! But the first post for which I ever got some attention on the blogosophere was an attempt to write a more-little-stuffed-bull-friendly version of Frank Miller's All Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder! Mind you, I did a much better version of this a few years later, once I'd sharpened my Photoshoppin' skills (it's a bit difficult with hooves).




2006: We were all rocking' to the Crocodile Rock sexy back of Justin Timberlake! (Personally I don't see what's so special about his back.) And Gnarls Barkley drove us "Crazy!" He also put out a song if I remember correctly. (Tish-boom!) We were watching (through our hands covering our faces) Superman Returns, and Casino Royale proved that Daniel Craig could crash a Aston Martin DB9 much better than those cartoon cars over in...well, in Cars. The debut of Hannah Montana gave us no idea what a freak Miley Cyrus would grow up into, and Tina Fey trampolined into our hearts on 30 Rock! And while DC Comics steps boldly in a "One Year Later" that everyone in comics fandom has already forgotten about, yours little stuffed truly brings you the true story of Easter, as told by comic books with bunny rabbits on them! It's blasphemelarious!




2007: Released onto the comic shelves is the miniseries that should have been what the new DC movie is: Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator! We all contribute just a little bit to the decline of the art of cinema by actually giving Michael Bay honest-to-god money to see Transformers! (In related news, The Big Bang Theory premieres.) National Treasure: Book of Secrets confirms what we knew all along: the National Treasure in everyone's heart is Nicolas Cage! Drew Carey takes over as host of The Price Is Right, inspiring a can-do attitude in overweight be-spectacled nerds everywhere! And Carrie Underwood speaks out on the national problem of copying somebody else's answers on your SAT test in her kick-assin' anthem "Before He Cheats!" Also, I addressed The Problem of Thor Bridge Thor Clone by creating The Mighty Clor! Altho' it's from 2007, here's a complete version I re-assembled in 2010. And yes, I know really need to re-do this and get rid of all those hideous barred-I's.




2008: DC releases Final Crisis! Fanboys complain it's too hard to understand! (Look, the bullet travelled back in time, so...) Marvel releases Kick-Ass! On the other hand, they also debut Runaways, so it all balances out. Top films of the year include comic book properties Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and Mamma Mia! (I still miss the Mamma Mia! comic book series from Charlton.) Beyonce demands that I put a ring in it and I immediately get my nose pierced! Katy Perry kisses a girl! And American culture reaches its nadir with television's A Shot at Love 2 with Tila Tequila, Paris Hilton's My New BFF, Living Lohan, and Speed Racer: The Next Generation! (And then, Batman: the Brave and the Bold, so that all balances out. And I plink of my toy banjo and retail you with The Ballad of Lieutenant D'Amato, the Star Trek blue shirt who though he was safe!




2009: We all get very panicky about the approaching doom of Y2.01K, but manage to entertain ourselves until the end of the word by keeping a "Poker Face" along with Lady Gaga, learning how to pronounce the word "Syfy," and enjoying the newest issue of Marvel Team-Up: Spider-Man and President Obama! Also, Batman died. (Awww.) But that's okay, because we're putting on 3D glasses to see blue people in James Cameron's Avatar. Why, 2009, my life would suck without you. Also, without Angel Love doing her cover of a classic song by Eric Clapton!




2010: Ke$ha's Tik Tok! NBC boots Conan O'Brien off The Tonight Show! The New Doctor eats fish fingers and custard! Most of the most popular movies have a number in them (Toy Story 3! Harry Potter 7.1! Iron Man 2! 127 Hours!). And Rihanna develops amnesia and has to ask Drake what her name is! (Answer: Rihanna.) But the entertainment spectacle of the year and surely an early entry for the decade's finest bovine-based TV mystery program is Encyclopedia Bull, Bovine Detective!




2011: I downloaded the MP3 of P!nk's smash hit "Pancake Perfect," cheered up my pals Charlie Sheen and Gilbert Gottfried after they were fired from their lucrative media gigs, flew the friendly skies with Christina Ricci on Pan Am, enrolled at the Jean Grey Academy along with Wolverine and the X-Men, and OH FOR PETE'S SAKE WHY DID I SEE PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES?!? To recuperate, I pointed out that Commissioner Gordon is a Jerk.




2012: The world ended on December 21. Which didn't give you much chance to reflect on the obvious pun which I spun into an elaborate post where the worlds of James Bond and Monty Python collide: You Only Quarrel Twice!




2013: It's Taylor Swift's year! Hit singles like "I Knew You Were Trouble!" The record-breaking "Red" concert tour! The ceremonial ousted of her from country music, symbolized by Kenny Chesney burning her effigy on the steps of the Country Music Hall of Fame! Her blink-and-you'll-miss-it romances with Joe Jonas, John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal, Taylor Lautner, Bill Clinton, Ellen Degeneres, and Joe Quesada! And then Taylor Swift invaded the Marvel Universe! She's always doin' that.




2014: A cuddly raccoon with a gun is America's most improbably movie star! The Flash zooms onto our TVs and into our hearts! Every motion picture released domestically is a sequel to another one! Jughead eats his Riverdale pals in Afterlife with Archie! I start to run out of exclamation points for this post! Then, suddenly, it happens. The most exciting Bully post of 2014. So exciting that I just went out and got another case of exclamation points! An entire month of Archie's Generic Celebrities!


I also apologize for starting "365 Days of KirbyTech" in 2014 but never finishing it.


2015: All that's been on my Twitter feed for the past two weeks sums up 2015: MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDER ROAD FURIOSAY ROAD. But we were also watching Marvel's Avengers 2: Ultron Boogaloo, Marvel's Agent Carter, and Marvel's Daredevil. If you missed Daredevil, here's where you can catch up on what happened in last week's episode. Over at CBS, network of the Giant Eye Who Watches You, David Letterman retired! And, on the imminent horizon: Sharknado 3: Now With Even More Sharknados and a Piranhacane Too! And as i approached my tenth blogiversary, I'm pretty pleased and tickled-pink happy with Scott McCloud Must Be Turning in His Grave, Part 1 and Part 2.

So, there ya go! Ten years of messin' around with comic books. If you take only one thing away from my blog, however, I'm hoping it's this one thing:


Oh! Lookin' at that old header reminds me to remind you to scroll upwards to check out my all-new, in-celebration-of-ten-years-on-the-internet comics header, blog header, beautifully created by Isaac over at Two Strip Technicolor! (Check out how you can commission your own header graphic or icon from Isaac here.) Thanks, Isaac!

Well, that's about it for my Teniversary. Goodnight and thanks for reading, everybody! I'm off to bed!


Teniversary Countdown #1: V #10? I coulda had a V 8!

Today is the tenth anniversary of my blog. (Please, do not blow up Big Ben to commemorate it!)


Panels from V for Vendetta #10 (May 1989); script by The Original Writer Alan Moore; pencils and inks by David Lloyd; colors by David Lloyd, Siobhan Dodds, and Steve Whitaker; letters by Steve Craddock


NOW WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU KIDS


Eh, that's better.

More (I promise), today!

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #2: The Thing and Black Widow cosplay John Steed and Emma Peel


Panels from Marvel Two-in-One #10 (July 1975), script by Chris Claremont, pencils by Bob Brown, inks and colors by Klaus Janson, letters by John Costanza

No, not that Avengers. This Avengers:


Saturday, May 23, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #3: Wholesome funny animal comics, my fuzzy butt


Panels from "Slightly Sidetracked" in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #10 (July 1941), script by Ted Osborne, pencils by Floyd Gottfredson, inks by Al Taliaferro, reprinted from the Mickey Mouse comic strip

And later...


Friday, May 22, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #4: Guys with horns are always the finest lovers (present company included)


Panels from Saga #10 (February 2013); script by Brian K. Vaughan; pencils, inks, and colors by Fiona Staples; letters by Fonografiks and Fiona Staples

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #5: Previously, on the CW's The Flash


Panel from Flash (1987 series) #10 (March 1988), script by Mike Baron, pencils by Mike Collins, inks by Larry Mahlstedt, colors by Michele Wolfman, letters by Steve Haynie

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #6: This guy was working on a WPA Project in Exposition


Panel from the Bruce Nelson story "The Blood of the Lotus, Part 2" in Detective Comics (1935 series) #10 (December 1937), script by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, pencils and inks by Tom Hicke

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #7: Giant Green Star Wars Rabbit!

Continuing the exciting countdown to my tenth blogiversary by posting favorite panels from comics' tenth issues! And starring my favorite Extended Universe Legacies character from Star Wars: GIANT GREEN STAR WARS RABBIT!


Panels from Star Wars (1977 Marvel series) #10 (April 1978); plot by Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin, script by Don Glut, layouts by Alan Kupperberg, pencils by Howard Chaykin, inks by Tom Palmer, colors by Françoise Mouly, letters by John Costanza

Monday, May 18, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #8: Huey told Louie about a thing he saw / Had two big horns and a wooly jaw



Panels from Uncle Scrooge (1953 Dell series) #10 (June-August); script, pencils, and inks by Carl Barks, colors Western Publishing Production Shop, letters by Garé Barks

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #9: We can be heroes just for one day

One of my (many!) favorite moments from the new Ms. Marvel series:


Panel from Ms. Marvel (2014 Marvel series) #10 (February 2015), script by G. Willow Wilson, pencils and inks by Adrian Alphona, colors by Ian Herring, letters by Joe Caramagna

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #10: You finally made always make a monkey out of me


Panel from "Jungle Jimmy Olsen" in Jimmy Olsen #10 (February 1956), script by Otto Binder, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Ray Burnley

Friday, May 15, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #11: The one guy shoulda bought a yellow suit


Panel from Green Lantern (1960 series) #10 (January 1962), script by John Broome, pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Joe Giella, letters by Gaspar Saladino

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #12: The Greatest Green Lantern of Them All


from Justice League International (1987 series) #10 (February 1988), plot and breakdowns by Keith Giffen, script by J. M. DeMatteis, pencils by Kevin Maguire, inks by Al Gordon, colors by Gene D'Angelo, letters by Bob Lappan

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #13: Truth, Justice, and the American Way

Hey kids, comics! Fun, delightful, laugh-inducing comic books!


Panels from "Superman Goes to Prison" in Action Comics (1938 series) #10 (March 1939), script by Jerry Siegel, pencils by Joe Shuster, inks by Joe Shuster and/or Paul Lauretta, letters by Paul Lauretta

Whoa! That's some pretty serious brutality in our comical book there. Let's turn the page. I'm sure it will be much better there...


Oh dear! oh my oh my. Let's hurry along where I'm sure here will be a light and funny bit featuring Clark Kent and his co-workers...


AIEEEEE! This funny book is makin' me scared! Protect me, Superman! Help me, Man of Tomorrow! Do something heroic!


S-S-S-S-S-Superman? Did you really just say


Superman! Adventure champion of children the globe over!


Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #14: Because of course that's what happens in an Aquaman story


Panel from Aquaman (1962 series) #10 (July-August 1963), script by Jack Miller (?), pencils and inks by Nick Cardy

Monday, May 11, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #15: Remember back when they'd give a villain her own series? Oh wait


Panels from Harley Quinn (2000 series) #10 (September 2001), script by Karl Kesel, pencils by Terry Dodson, inks by Rachel Dodson, colors by Alex Sinclair, letters by Ken Lopez

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #16: Quiet or papa spank


Panels from "The Isle That Time Forgot!" in Batman (1940 series) #10 (April-May 1942), script by Joseph Greene, pencils and figure inks by Jerry Robinson, background inks and letters by George Roussos

Saturday, May 09, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #17: Spidey is tired


Panels from Amazing Spider-Man (1963 series) #10 (March 1964), script by Stan Lee, pencils and inks by Steve Ditko, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Sam Rosen

Friday, May 08, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #18: You spin me right round, Spidey, right round


Panel from Marvel Team-Up (1972 series) #10 (June 1973), script by Gerry Conway, pencils by Jim Mooney, inks by Frank Giacoia, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Charlotte Jetter

Thursday, May 07, 2015

Teniversary Countdown #19: B.A.B.Y., Lois baby

Hoo boy, Lois Lane! As a comic magazine you are both a strike against women's liberation everywhere and yet a gold mine to bloggers. I could spend an entire month of Teniversaries covering the stories in Lois Lane #10 and you'd laff until you cried, not unlike a Night at the Comedy Club featuring Olly, the Onion Stand-Up Comic. (He'll run rings round the other comics!)

Anyway, here's the time...bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!...when Lois...hee-hee-hee-hee!...turned herself into a baby! BWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA!


Splash panel from "The Cry-Baby of Metropolis!" in Lois Lane #10 (July 1959), script by Robert Bernstein, pencils and inks by Kurt Schaffenberger

Yes, this story is chock-full o' TOPLESS LOIS LANE. (Hello, Google image searchers!)

What happens is pretty much par for the course in any issue of Lois, three times per comic: a scientist pal of Superman's develops a mysterious de-aging ray! Naturally, Lois steps right in it to avoid a few wrinkles. Wrinkles, really? What are you in these stories, Lois...twenty-five? Twenty-seven? Well...not for long!


The only cure for the de-aging process? A good solid hyper-radioactive blast of Superman's X-ray vision! Sure, Lois never wanted kids anyway. But since Superman scolded Lois earlier in the story for doing all the rock-stupid stuff she usually does, she spends he rest of the adventure covertly trying to get Superman to shoot his X-ray eyes at her without telling him. And she's got to do it before she disappears backwards into a fetus and then a collection of zygotes, which wouldn't make a great Superman comic. Thus follows a ridiculous plot line of Lois's scheming that Jack, Chrissie, and Janet would have scoffed at.

And yes, of course Superman knows already, the big alien jerk. He was letting Lois learn her lesson. Because to Kal-El, it's all about ethics in Superman journalism.


90% of Lois Lane stories during the fifties are about "Superman teaching Lois Lane a lesson." This is one of them. (The other 10% are about Clark Kent teaching Lois Lane a lesson.) So let this fable of folly and foolishness end on the promise that Superman just might spank the half-naked woman he loves while she is a baby as her rival smirks on. The Silver Age, ladeez and gentlemen! This surely must be The Greatest Lois Lane Story Ever!

Extra Lois-Bonus Bonus Lois!: Remember the classic scene in Superman III: The Quest for Richard Pryor where Evil Jerk Superman pushes the Leaning Tower of Pisa into a fully upright position? Sure, we all do! Mainly because it introduced a new member of the Superman supporting cast who has delighted readers of the Man of Steel for years, the Sensational New Character Find of 1983 (just narrowly squeaking out in the voting over Jason Todd, Amethyst, Primcess of Gemworld, and Beta Ray Bill), Singing Italian Guy!


Man, everybody loved that guy. That's why I'm sorry Singing Italian Guy never appeared in the second story of Lois Lane #10, which was all about Lois dating Dean Martin for some reason.


Panels from "Lois Lane's Romeo!" in Lois Lane #10 (July 1959), script by Robert Bernstein, pencils and inks by Kurt Schaffenberger

Thank you, Superman, for helping keep artisanal creators and merchants of plaster replicas of the tilty Tower of Pisa in business for yet another year!


So, because she had a tenth issue of her comic book, we salute you, Miss Lois Calliopepants Lane! And what the heck, also you, Singing Italian Guy!


Panels The Superman Movie Special [Superman III] one-shot (September 1983), script by Cary Bates, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Sal Amendola, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by Ben Oda

Yes, remember this as The Greatest Lois Lane Story Ever!