Archive for February, 2006
RIP Andreas Katsulas
I missed this obituary from last week. Andreas Katsulas, who did an amazing job of playing the character G’Kar on Babylon 5, died Feb. 13 of lung cancer. He also had the role of the one-armed man in The Fugitive movie.
The chemistry between him and actor Peter Jurasik (who played Londo Mollari on Babylon 5) was great, and the personal story arcs of those characters was the major high point of the series for me.
It’s time to get this show on the road!
In case you missed it on the Ferret Press home page, here’s the list of shows we’ll be appearing at in early 2006:
- March 5 – Buckeye Comic Con, Columbus, Ohio. A small comic dealers show, admission is only $3.
- April 2 – Gem City Comic Con, Dayton, Ohio. Guests include Paul Gulacy, Frank Brunner, and Dan Davis. Admission is $3.
- May 13 – S.P.A.C.E., Columbus, Ohio. Columbus’ own Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo! Dave Sim and Gerhard will be attending, plus hundreds of other guest!
Friends of the Ferret Chad Lambert (Possum at Large) and Ray Scott (Twisted Gate Entertainment) will also be appearing at some of these shows, so be sure to check the guest lists.
Comic Book Mogul
Friend-of-Panel Sean McKeever has launched “Comic Book Mogul,” an online game where you can simulate being a comic book publisher. Here’s some love from his introduction:
Have you ever wanted to run your own comics company? You think you have what it takes? Here’s your chance to show them all.
Comicbook Mogul is an online publishing business simulator where players develop and maintain their own line of comics and compete with one another for market share, talent, awards and bragging rights.
The game (launched Feb. 28), with every game month lasting 2 days in real time. The pace of the game is designed so that your involvement does not have to be time intensive. You don’t even necessarily have to stop by daily.
To play, hit up http://www.seanmckeever.com and sign up.
Winter Olympics 2014
Weren’t able to get to Turino (or Turin) for this month’s Winter Olympics. Not exactly high on the thought of going to Vancouver for the 2010 games. Well start saving your credits now for the 2014 Winter Olympics which, if all the bribes go through, will be held far, far away on your favorite ice planet, Hoth.
Desert Island Comics, pt. 4
Continuing my countdown of the ten comics I want with me if I’m ever stranded on a desert isle…
The second Superman/Spider-Man crossover featuring the Parasite and Doctor Doom would have made this list, but I have a self-imposed rule that only single issue comics from my collection will be featured, not trade paperbacks. As I no longer have the original treasury edition I purchased in my youth, but rather the Crossover Classics compilation, that excellent tale was vetoed. A different crossover featuring the work of John Buscema does make the list, however. There was a time that these crossovers occurred so infrequently that they really were big events to get excited about; from the 70’s to the mid-90’s, I can recall only four that were published before an Avengers/JLA meeting was derailed for several years. From the dread 90’s to the present day, however, they have been coming out with such alarming frequency and featuring pairings less and less logical that only a handful have been memorable. Ironically (or not), the most noteworthy of these is the very issue that kicked off the wave of inter-company collaborations, certainly the most joyously illogical paring of all:
#7: The Punisher Meets Archie
This is all the grim n’ gritty you’ll find in my long boxes…
Perhaps the powers-that-be at Marvel realized that the Punisher’s fifteen minutes were about over when the idea for this project came up. Whatever the reason, it was refreshing to see they were willing to poke a finger in the collective eye of the portion of their fan base least likely to be able to take a joke: the lunatics who kept the most uninteresting character ever to sustain multiple titles alive. This one-dimensional character should never have grown beyond occasional guest star status in Spider-Man, but for some reason he nearly elbowed mutants of the comic shelves for a few years. Garth Ennis figured out that the only way to make him entertaining was to surround him with incredibly bizarre characters, but this particular comic proves that Supernatural Law (another favorite!) writer Batton Lash beat him to the punch half a decade previously.
The artists make no attempt to blend their two disparate styles, creating some incredibly strange visuals as John Buscema’s brooding Punisher frequently occupies the same panel as Stan Goldberg’s gang of innocent kids. Stare at some of the pages too long and you’ll get a headache trying to assimilate the visuals. It’s truly wonderful to behold.
The Punisher follows the trail of a drug kingpin to the small suburban town of Riverdale where he encounters Archie Andrews, who is involved with a different branch of the same case. A misunderstanding leads to a conflict between the two; after battling to a standstill, they realize they are on the same side and pool their considerable resources against their antagonist…
No, really, that’s what happens.
A mobster known as “Red Fever” who bears a striking resemblance to Archie Andrews arrives in Riverdale. Posing as the head of a pharmaceutical company, he attempts to strike up a business deal with the head of Lodge Enterprises. Lodge’s daughter Veronica, angry from an earlier mishap with Archie, decides to make the boy jealous by inviting his double to the 1950’s themed dance at the high school. Meanwhile, Archie is mistaken for his double by both the Punisher and a group of hitmen stalking the criminal. The hitmen grab Archie and his pal Jughead, taking them away in their car until the Punisher and his lame sidekick “Micro Chip” come barreling in. A scene which surely humiliated Punisher fans everywhere follows, in which Archie and Jughead outfox the vigilante and escape.
At the dance, while Red Fever puts the moves on Veronica, a roadie for the band playing the dance recognizes him and phones his underworld contacts, hoping for a reward. Archie, meanwhile, learns of Veronica’s date and Jughead leaps to the second obvious conclusion: “We’ve got to warn this guy in case the Punisher goes after him thinking he’s you, Archie!” The pair meets Betty Cooper and Reggie on their way into the dance, and the quartet begins searching for their sometimes-friend.
Following the group of hitmen who were tipped off by the roadie, the Punisher slips into a darkened part of the school on his way to the gymnasium. An eerie page shows his ominous figure in the darkened hallways of the school, a murderer walking through a deserted playground. He pauses to reflect on graffiti etched into a locker: “BC + AA”. In that single panel, the gulf separating the two protagonists can be felt yawning between them. Marvel had thirty-seven different Punisher books going at one time or another, and the best moment of characterization ever for the character comes in a crossover with Archie comics. Sigh…
A gunfight breaks out at the dance, Veronica gets kidnapped, and we witness entry #00001 in “Archie’s War Journal.” The whole gang rescues Veronica, and the final image of the Punisher shows him wearing a Riverdale sweater as he climbs into the so-called Battle Van. Priceless. Archie brags, “Y’know, I’m grim n’ gritty, too!” to which Veronica responds, “Then you should take a bath!”
Take a look at the fabulous die cut cover (one of two versions!) and you’ll see that someone thought to boost sales by labeling the comic issue no. 1. I’ve been waiting for issue 2 all these years, but no luck so far. It will probably follow my dreamed-about Alfred/Jarvis team-up.
Monday Morning “Guess the Artist”
Small disclaimer on this week’s page: it’s not from the early career of the artist. It’s actually fairly recent. But the rules are still the same: simply guess the artist. I’m sure this will be an easy page.
Also, I posted the answer to last week’s page. It was Frank “The Tank” Miller. (special tip of the hat to Dave for coining that nickname.)
(click image to stranger-size)
(previous weeks: 9/12/2005, 9/19/2005, 9/26/2005, 10/3/2005, 10/10/2005, 10/17/2005, 10/24/2005, 10/31/2005, 11/1/2005, 11/2/2005, 11/3/2005, 11/4/2005, 11/5/2005, 11/6/2005, 11/7/2005, 11/14/2005, 11/21/2005, 11/28/2005, 12/5/2005, 12/12/2005, 12/19/2005, 12/26/2005, 1/2/2006, 1/9/2006, 1/16/2006, 1/23/2006, 1/30/2006, 2/06/2006, 2/13/2006, 2/20/2006)
Sad News
A bunch of deaths affecting geeks and nerds the world over this weekend.
Darren McGavin, one of my favorite character actors, has died. He had been in ill-health for awhile and I kept meaning to write him a letter, but never got around to it. He played the dad in A Christmas Story, a truly classic character, and was Kolchak the Night Stalker in the TV show. Later he guest starred on Murphy Brown and the X-Files (which admittedly drew from Kolchak). However, my favorite performances of his was as the narrator in the audio books of John D. McDonald’s Travis McGee novels. You can truly see how great of an actor a person is by how they read a novel. McGavin’s readings are outstanding (as are the books if you like tough guy mysteries).
Octavia Butler, science fiction writer, best known for her book Kindred also passed away. I only read a couple of her books (and actually listened to the audio books), but they were good. She was one of the first African-American, female SF writers.
And probably the best known geek of all, Don Knotts, has also died. From Andy Griffith, through a number of Disney movies (Mr. Limpett, etc.) to the ultimate swinger, Mr. Furley, Knotts was never the cool guy, but always seemed more real than most celebrities.
AA Weekend Covers
Another installment of Awesome and Ass covers. And a pseudo-theme this week: green. Enjoy!
AWESOME
(click to enlarge)
Green Arrow #32 (January 2004) by Brian Bolland.
The various incarnations of the Green Arrow series have all had some fantastic covers, so I had a lot of choices. But man, this one is just so…wrong in all the right ways. First of all, it’s by Brian E’ffing Bolland! The dude is the master of the tightly rendered, nearly photo realistic art. Love his stuff. And yes, you could argue that this cover is sexist, and has no place on a mainstream, non-adult comic. And I wouldn’t much argue against it. But, it is damn eye catching. And the expression on young Green Arrow’s (Connor?) face is priceless. I never read this series, but from what I’ve gathered, he’s sort of an uptight, moral straight arrow (pardon the pun,) so in that context this cover is even funny. Not to mention the “I can’t believe he got away with that” factor. Just follow the two protagonists line of sight…
ASS
(click to enlarge)
Green Lantern: Mosaic #8 (January 1993) by Cully Hamner.
Under different circumstances, and perhaps under the Vertigo imprint, this series could have been a truly groundbreaking and thought provoking comic. But unfortunately Mosaic had a lot going against it, from a writer who was nearing his burn-out and exodus from comics, to a talented artist who was nevertheless still very green (again with the puns!) So, the cover…yeah, wow. What a mess. What’s up with the flat green platform, the headlight “glare”, and Jon’s enormous elephant arm? The whole thing is needlessly busy, with no clear sense of design.
(previous weeks: 12/3/2005, 12/11/2005, 12/17/2005, 12/25/2005, 1/7/2006, 1/15/2006, 1/22/2006, 1/29/2006, 2/5/2006, 2/12/2006, 2/19/2006)
The metaclorians are not high on this one..
Traumatized by Dara’s fan-fic posts here’s one: While not a fan-fic pic, Matt ‘I’m no Nerf Herder’ Busch shot,wrote & produced a movie that references Star Wars ad-nauseum. Conjure is the name. How do I know this? Because Matt spammed four communities on livejournal plugging up my friends page. Daaah!! The equivilent of the obnoxious con booth that he’s infamous for. Mercifully I haven’t seen him at a Mid-Ohio in quite a while. This is a horror flick which Matt is upfront about but features him. Oiled up and ready for action with his ‘Star Wars’ illustrator costar (pic above). Not self referential enough? Well the hero in the movie is… a Star Wars licence illustrator. Oh no he didn’t! Matt pinky-swears that all the Star Wars references were okayed by wave of Yoda’s lightsaber. The trailer is slick but one gets a wiff of low budget. Well at least he’s forgone the photo reference and made the leap to photo collage.
Panel Assemble! archives
Panel Assemble! is our new blog comic jam. If you’ve missed an episode, you can now get caught up in the archives. (Check out the small banner in the upper left pane of the blog.)
(Panel Assemble! banner by the ever-amazing Tom Williams)
As they say on TCJ.com, “Hype”
There is an a pseudo announcement / request regarding issue #4 of my comic “Spudd 64″ over on my site. It really is a little too long to include here, so if you have the time and the curiosity, just click here to check it out. And of course, you have my thanks.
For your weekend viewing pleasure…
Catwoman and Power Girl fan films. Watch at your own risk.
Um…nice boobs.
A message from Albert
Hey, what can I say, the dude’s got brains and good taste. (You can make your own here.)
(via boingboing)