R: Dark Horse Presents #57, December 1991, art by John Byrne
(Click picture to largify)
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Separated at Birth: Here Comes...
R: Dark Horse Presents #57, December 1991, art by John Byrne
(Click picture to largify)
Friday, March 02, 2007
The Unsettling Slang of Miss Gwen Stacy
from Spider-Man: Blue #4 (Marvel, October 2002), script by Jeph Loeb, pencils and inks by Tim Sale, colors by Steve Buccellato, letters by Wes Abbott
Gwen. (heartbeat thumps wildly)
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Signs of the Oncoming New Speculator Crash, Part 1
A real post later. But in the meantime, from the pages of my StatCounter referral tracker...
Oh, yep. Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter is the comic that's gonna put your kids through college. Better CGC that puppy and fast!
The Scariest Google Search of them all!:
Oh, yep. Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter is the comic that's gonna put your kids through college. Better CGC that puppy and fast!
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Reviewsday
While in Seattle last week, I was so busy-busy with work that I didn't even get a free moment to dash into the excellent Zanadu Comics, so no comics at all last week. I trotted down to Forbidden Planet off Union Square at lunchtime Monday to remedy the situation, and I just realized I missed The Spirit #3. Hey good-lookin'! I'll be back to pick you up later! But in the meantime, even though I was frugal with my dimes as all my month-end bills come due (who knew you could rack up that much credit at the Indian food delivery place?!?), there were a handful of fun comics galore this week. And none of them are Civil War #7, which I riffled through on the rack, said "Huh. That was it?" and put back on the shelf. Hah! I've run rings round you economically, Joe Quesada!
SIMPSONS COMICS #127: This comic is fun. The Simpsons is comics' most consistent laugh-factory...but I came dangerously close to grading this with an amber sorta fun. How's that possible? Well, at first glance this is a bit of a déjà vu: in an attempt to bring the family together, Marge makes Homer read aloud to everyone from Swiss Family Robinson. Because it's Homer, he's reading not from the Penguin Classic but from the Classically Illustrated comic book version ("Butchering Stories by the World's Greatest Authors") and each of the Simpsons takes part in the story. I immediately ticked that off against the comic because this is the second issue in a row which recast classic tales with our favorite Springfielders. Even the show itself only does two of these a year: the annual Halloween special and a springtime trilogy of classic tales. But this one was done with such a light and clever touch I couldn't hold a sameness of theme against it: it uses an effective and clever comedy device of dry, matter-of-fact narration accompanied by the punchline of Homer doing something rock-stupid below. It spares no tropical island cliché for comedy effect: Lost, Gilligan's Island, Cast Away, Survivor, Titanic, Lord of the Flies...it's even got a Robinson Crusoe reference for H and Mag over at The Comics Treadmill to add to their catalogue of Crusoe-referencing comic books. It won't take you a "three-hour tour" to read this book, but you'll be rolling in the "isles." Tee hee.
52 WEEK 42: This comic is fun. Ask Douglas Adams: Good things come in packages that say "42" on them. After a quick-quick interlude where Montoya faces the face (sadly, Pete Townshend does not appear in this issue), the rest of 52 Week 42 belongs to the Stretchable Sleuth, Ralph Dibny, who proves not only that he's the Elongated Man (in a wonderfully dramatic and well-timed return to superhuman form), but that he is The Man. I didn't like the whining, suicidal, morose Ralph in the early issues of this book: I kept on lamenting aloud: "But he's a detective! He can't be this stupid!" Thankfully, the creators didn't forget that either. Ralph figured it out. He knew. And he gets his final triumph over two immortal enemies in the traditional Ralph way: he used his detective skills. Longer-time readers of this blog will know what I reference when I quote something I wrote many weeks ago: "Will Ted be there?" Well, this story probably has a "Will Sue be there?" behind the scenes. Come and see, Ralph. Come and see.
THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #1: This comic is fun. Moth-holed as the Bully change purse may have been this week, I couldn't pass this change to Pick Up One New Comic Title I Haven't Been Reading: the 2007 re-launch of one of my favorite DC team-up titles of all time, The Brave and the Bold. There's a wonderful moment on nearly every page: Batman and Green Lantern discussing recent movies. Actual detective skills. The boys hits Las Vegas. A fond reference to Barry Allen. A story that's basically done-in-one but whose larger ramifications continues next issue. The Best Line of the Week: "Batteries to power...turbines to speed!" And most important, the character I think needs to be recognized officially as Most Improved Post-Infinite Crisis: Batman! I'm lovin' virtually every Bat-book these days: the creators have kept the best of the nineties-soup-up of the Dark Knight (the guy who can take out the Justice League and can stare down Mongul) without the batdickery of the later nineties: Bats is still stern and serious, but he regards his partners, including this issue's Green Lantern, as bringing valuable skills that work well in conjunction with his own. Now that is a Batman I wanna read about, and throw in Bruce Wayne chatting up sexy-cute casino hostesses, and it's like we're on Earth-Haney all over again, only with fewer gorillas. I like George Perez's art, but it's in conjunction with Mark Waid's writing that this one absolutely sparkles, so as long as they're on this book I'm riding right along with them, shotgun in the Batmobile (even if Bats isn't in every issue!) That's why THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #1 is the most fun comic of the week...and I've surely got my hooves crossed that it becomes one of the most fun of the year.
SIMPSONS COMICS #127: This comic is fun. The Simpsons is comics' most consistent laugh-factory...but I came dangerously close to grading this with an amber sorta fun. How's that possible? Well, at first glance this is a bit of a déjà vu: in an attempt to bring the family together, Marge makes Homer read aloud to everyone from Swiss Family Robinson. Because it's Homer, he's reading not from the Penguin Classic but from the Classically Illustrated comic book version ("Butchering Stories by the World's Greatest Authors") and each of the Simpsons takes part in the story. I immediately ticked that off against the comic because this is the second issue in a row which recast classic tales with our favorite Springfielders. Even the show itself only does two of these a year: the annual Halloween special and a springtime trilogy of classic tales. But this one was done with such a light and clever touch I couldn't hold a sameness of theme against it: it uses an effective and clever comedy device of dry, matter-of-fact narration accompanied by the punchline of Homer doing something rock-stupid below. It spares no tropical island cliché for comedy effect: Lost, Gilligan's Island, Cast Away, Survivor, Titanic, Lord of the Flies...it's even got a Robinson Crusoe reference for H and Mag over at The Comics Treadmill to add to their catalogue of Crusoe-referencing comic books. It won't take you a "three-hour tour" to read this book, but you'll be rolling in the "isles." Tee hee.
52 WEEK 42: This comic is fun. Ask Douglas Adams: Good things come in packages that say "42" on them. After a quick-quick interlude where Montoya faces the face (sadly, Pete Townshend does not appear in this issue), the rest of 52 Week 42 belongs to the Stretchable Sleuth, Ralph Dibny, who proves not only that he's the Elongated Man (in a wonderfully dramatic and well-timed return to superhuman form), but that he is The Man. I didn't like the whining, suicidal, morose Ralph in the early issues of this book: I kept on lamenting aloud: "But he's a detective! He can't be this stupid!" Thankfully, the creators didn't forget that either. Ralph figured it out. He knew. And he gets his final triumph over two immortal enemies in the traditional Ralph way: he used his detective skills. Longer-time readers of this blog will know what I reference when I quote something I wrote many weeks ago: "Will Ted be there?" Well, this story probably has a "Will Sue be there?" behind the scenes. Come and see, Ralph. Come and see.
THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #1: This comic is fun. Moth-holed as the Bully change purse may have been this week, I couldn't pass this change to Pick Up One New Comic Title I Haven't Been Reading: the 2007 re-launch of one of my favorite DC team-up titles of all time, The Brave and the Bold. There's a wonderful moment on nearly every page: Batman and Green Lantern discussing recent movies. Actual detective skills. The boys hits Las Vegas. A fond reference to Barry Allen. A story that's basically done-in-one but whose larger ramifications continues next issue. The Best Line of the Week: "Batteries to power...turbines to speed!" And most important, the character I think needs to be recognized officially as Most Improved Post-Infinite Crisis: Batman! I'm lovin' virtually every Bat-book these days: the creators have kept the best of the nineties-soup-up of the Dark Knight (the guy who can take out the Justice League and can stare down Mongul) without the batdickery of the later nineties: Bats is still stern and serious, but he regards his partners, including this issue's Green Lantern, as bringing valuable skills that work well in conjunction with his own. Now that is a Batman I wanna read about, and throw in Bruce Wayne chatting up sexy-cute casino hostesses, and it's like we're on Earth-Haney all over again, only with fewer gorillas. I like George Perez's art, but it's in conjunction with Mark Waid's writing that this one absolutely sparkles, so as long as they're on this book I'm riding right along with them, shotgun in the Batmobile (even if Bats isn't in every issue!) That's why THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #1 is the most fun comic of the week...and I've surely got my hooves crossed that it becomes one of the most fun of the year.
Monday, February 26, 2007
So Happy Together
(continued from my last post)
Of course, all's well that ends well:
Panel from Giant -Size Avengers #3, February 1975,
written by Steve Englehart and Roy Thomas,
art by Dave Cockrum and Joe Giella, coloring by Petra Goldberg
That was a close one, Thor. Don't make the same mistake twice...this time, don't wait until it's too late to tell Tony what a good friend he is.
By the way, we all know what a Trekkie Dave Cockrum is (see, f'rinstance, Shi'ar Starfleet uniforms in his early Uncanny X-Men). So don't ya think Unca Dave, in the panel above, was channeling a li'l bit of the old "Amok Time"?:
Of course, all's well that ends well:
Panel from Giant -Size Avengers #3, February 1975,
written by Steve Englehart and Roy Thomas,
art by Dave Cockrum and Joe Giella, coloring by Petra Goldberg
That was a close one, Thor. Don't make the same mistake twice...this time, don't wait until it's too late to tell Tony what a good friend he is.
By the way, we all know what a Trekkie Dave Cockrum is (see, f'rinstance, Shi'ar Starfleet uniforms in his early Uncanny X-Men). So don't ya think Unca Dave, in the panel above, was channeling a li'l bit of the old "Amok Time"?:
Paging Dr. Phil
Thor likes to (mis)quote Tony:
Panels from Avengers #100, June 1972, written by Roy Thomas,
art by Barry (Windsor-)Smith, Joe Sinnott and Syd Shores
Tony likes to (mis)quote Thor:
Panel segment from Avengers #101, July 1972, written by Harlan Ellison and Roy Thomas, art by Rich Buckler and Dan Adkins
Golly, guys. It's okay to admit you like each other. C'mon, why don't you have a quiet moment and admit you wanna be good friends?:
Panels from Avengers #130, December 1974, written by Steve Englehart, art by Sal Buscema and Joe Staton, coloring by Bill Mantlo
(burying my head in my hooves in dismay) Oh, guys, guys, guys. When will you learn love is the answer? And you know that for sure.
Panels from Avengers #100, June 1972, written by Roy Thomas,
art by Barry (Windsor-)Smith, Joe Sinnott and Syd Shores
Tony likes to (mis)quote Thor:
Panel segment from Avengers #101, July 1972, written by Harlan Ellison and Roy Thomas, art by Rich Buckler and Dan Adkins
Golly, guys. It's okay to admit you like each other. C'mon, why don't you have a quiet moment and admit you wanna be good friends?:
Panels from Avengers #130, December 1974, written by Steve Englehart, art by Sal Buscema and Joe Staton, coloring by Bill Mantlo
(burying my head in my hooves in dismay) Oh, guys, guys, guys. When will you learn love is the answer? And you know that for sure.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Can of Cream of Mushroom Soup.
Off to Seattle for a few days to help out John sell fabulous Norton books to the good folks at Amazon.com. Hello Mister Mulliner! Here we come!
I'll be back by Saturday but the combination of a red-eye flight and an unnatural terrifying fear of the Javits Center means I won't be at New York Comic-Con this weekend. My only regrets is that i shan't be able to meet the many of you who may be there! (I will be at BookExpoAmerica in May and San Diego Comic-Con in July, so there's no escaping a little stuffed bull! Hope to see you at one of those!)
In my absence, how about some fun 'n' games and a good ol' fashioned fill in the blanks craft project? Pull out your crayons, get your parents' permission to use scissors, and fill out the following any way you want. Remember: neatness and references to the Haneyverse count!
Go wild; you needn't limit yourself to filling in the faces: Photoshop the heck outta it if you want. I'll print the best and I'll print the worst—heck; I'll print all of 'em that aren't obscene (assuming anyone actually does one) this weekend. Prizes will be awarded!
So, I'll be back on Saturday, Bully fans—be good to yourselves and each other.
EDIT on 2/28: Contest extended if you want to enter! (Welcome, folks from Superdickery!) It's just been so hectic that I haven't had a chance to put up the couple excellent entries I've gotten, so if you want to face the face of Supes and Bats, go right ahead! Prizes for all! I should have a chance to put up entries sometime during the week of 3/4 and apologize for the delay.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
The Unsettling Slang of Mister Clint Barton, Part 3
Panel segment from Avengers #109 (March 1973), written by Steve Englehart, art by Don Heck and Frank McLaughlin
Special bonus "sometimes it takes a handcapped man to say what we're all thinking but are too afraid to say" panel!::
Panel segment from Daredevil #99 (May 1973), written by Steve Gerber, art by Sam Kweskin and Syd Shores
Monday, February 19, 2007
Milhouse of M
Happy President's Day!
Today is a day to celebrate and honor our past presidents, and not just the two we most often think of in conjunction with this day, the two that had their holidays smushed into the Amalgam Universe single day off that we now get instead of the delicious double-shot two days from years of yore. No, don't simply remember George Washington and Abe Lincoln, but also Thomas Jefferson, William Howard Taft...um...Benjamin Franklin Pierce...Jimmy Stewart...John Wayne..uh...Sam the Eagle...and the rest. Like my pers'nal fav'rite, Theodore Teddy "Bear" Roosevelt, a man who knew a thing or two about saying "bully!"
But as you hoist a rich chocolate milkshake today to the likes of Presidents Zachary Taylor, Oliver Wendell Douglas and John Zoidberg, don't forget to toast comics' greatest Presidential guest star, a man who, like Son of Satan, couldn't hold down his own book but made more guest appearances in comic books through hisreign of terror distinguished presidential term. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand up as "Hail to the Chief" plays and salute the many comic book roles of President Richard Nixon:
Yes, our Man Dick has led a colorful and diverse comics life, and in his many appearances, he's been written more in perfect character than any given page of any Civil War tie-in portrays Tony Stark. Mark Gruenwald had an unwritten rule that for a character to appear in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, he had to have made three significant appearances in Marvel comic books. I spot references to three distinct Marvel Universe stories above, and I'm sure there were many more I've missed. (For instance: behind the scenes of the historical Doctor Doom/Doctor Kissinger partnership in Supervillain Team-Up #6.) Wouldn't you love to see a Richard M. Nixon page in the next Official Handbook? His stats, specs, origin story, significant appearances, allies (Halderman, Erlichman, Mitchell and Dean), powers, weaknesses (Congressional commitees)?
But I say a token half-page in the next edition of That Marvel Seventies Handbook is not enough. If the epitome of 1970s Marvel, Ghost Rider, can make such a roaring return to popularity, why not President Nixon? Email Joe Quesada today at Marvel.com and ask, nay, demand a two-fisted all-out-action Nixon monthly comic, all done in the Mighty Marvel fashion. Nuff said, True Believers...and Make Mine Nixon!
Today is a day to celebrate and honor our past presidents, and not just the two we most often think of in conjunction with this day, the two that had their holidays smushed into the Amalgam Universe single day off that we now get instead of the delicious double-shot two days from years of yore. No, don't simply remember George Washington and Abe Lincoln, but also Thomas Jefferson, William Howard Taft...um...Benjamin Franklin Pierce...Jimmy Stewart...John Wayne..uh...Sam the Eagle...and the rest. Like my pers'nal fav'rite, Theodore Teddy "Bear" Roosevelt, a man who knew a thing or two about saying "bully!"
But as you hoist a rich chocolate milkshake today to the likes of Presidents Zachary Taylor, Oliver Wendell Douglas and John Zoidberg, don't forget to toast comics' greatest Presidential guest star, a man who, like Son of Satan, couldn't hold down his own book but made more guest appearances in comic books through his
Alien reality television star!
Fantastic Four supporting character!
(More important than Sue, slightly less important than Ben Grimm and Galactus)Suicidal criminal empire mastermind!
Panel from Avengers Forever #12 (October 1999), written by Kurt Busiek and Roger Stern, art by Carlos Pacheo, Jesus Merino and Steve OliffPresident for Life!
Non-consecutive panels from Watchmen #10 (July 1987), written by Alan Moore, art by Dave Gibbons and John HigginsSkrull!
Panels from Avengers Forever #5 (April 1999), written by Kurt Busiek and Roger Stern, art by Carlos Pacheo, Jesus Merino and Steve OliffYes, our Man Dick has led a colorful and diverse comics life, and in his many appearances, he's been written more in perfect character than any given page of any Civil War tie-in portrays Tony Stark. Mark Gruenwald had an unwritten rule that for a character to appear in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, he had to have made three significant appearances in Marvel comic books. I spot references to three distinct Marvel Universe stories above, and I'm sure there were many more I've missed. (For instance: behind the scenes of the historical Doctor Doom/Doctor Kissinger partnership in Supervillain Team-Up #6.) Wouldn't you love to see a Richard M. Nixon page in the next Official Handbook? His stats, specs, origin story, significant appearances, allies (Halderman, Erlichman, Mitchell and Dean), powers, weaknesses (Congressional commitees)?
But I say a token half-page in the next edition of That Marvel Seventies Handbook is not enough. If the epitome of 1970s Marvel, Ghost Rider, can make such a roaring return to popularity, why not President Nixon? Email Joe Quesada today at Marvel.com and ask, nay, demand a two-fisted all-out-action Nixon monthly comic, all done in the Mighty Marvel fashion. Nuff said, True Believers...and Make Mine Nixon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQenrY-T9_-EUVG2XBTW-ZiSnvw_V3JFU-8tiFlhrdgKCUBaE56ekbiILucymY9gA-xa4zdGy_z1Njojw78Z-YnlUiN4PIRRurK7GzqoEg3B-PmXl2RJaS1ZaVKVCEHP-m-WVr2xjqailLu1jlzylysiBGc3sVXLXNMFDzAURyrHhKBfcqyO4/s1600/button-libertybellmarch.jpg" "It's...")
