Archive for January, 2010
The 90s brought us ridiculously popular Image team books, and ridiculously unfunny send-ups of those team books. Exhibit A: Petworks vs. WildK.A.T.S.
First of all, I’m not sure how much demand there was for a parody of Wetworks and WildC.A.T.S., but at least try and make it look funny. Nothing about that covers tells me this is going to be clever or humorous in any way. I have a feeling even Cracked magazine would have turned this down.
I’ve recently been accused of being somewhat undiscriminating when it comes to Batman comics. I think I’m just good at finding good Batman comics, but to prove I have some standards, here’s a Batman story I didn’t care for.
“The Eighth Deadly Sin” was a two-part story running through Batman Annual Detective 27 and Detective Comics Annual 11. It shows Batman (Dick Grayson), Robin, Azrael and the Question tracking down a 7-Deadly Sins-themed cult trying to sacrifice children to raise an Eighth Deadly Sin. Story is by Fabian Nicieza, with art by J. Calafiore and Tom Mandrake.
So, first off, there’s the whole attempted child murder thing:
Then the spirit of Lust tries to seduce Damian Wayne (who is, like 11, right?)
Zombie Dr. Wertham is all like, “I told you so.”
But the part that irked me the most is how ineffectual Dick Grayson is. First, he calls in the Question to solve the mystery of the cultists. Then, the Question’s friend Aristotle Rodor basically googles them. Maybe there was more detecting that got cut for space, but still.
But then, here’s Dick Grayson staying with the shaken-up victim, and letting the Question go down into the sewers to fight the cultists and rescue Robin.
Generally, I like Dick Grayson as a character, and I think him in the cowl equals basically the Denny O’Neil Batman. I’m open to that. But if he keeps this up, Batman’s going to crawl up through time and kick his ass.
I feel a Ditko fixation coming on, so it’s time to start looking up some of those old Charlton Watchmen templates and oddball series’ he made for DC in the late 60′s and 70′s. Of course, I’ve read most of his work at the House of Ideas from the 60′s and from his return to Marvel in the early 80′s, but that decade he spent bouncing around the other publishers is as much a mystery to me as, well, Steve Ditko is to anybody. This is the sort of thing that makes swearing off new books to go live in Back Issue Land so damn rewarding.
Like Kirby, Ditko is a genius who can crank out an endless series of bizarre and captivating concepts coupled with arresting visuals– then demonstrate just how crucial Stan Lee was to the creative mix at Marvel by producing a series that is brilliant but remarkably short lived. As Spider-Man is more about Peter Parker than superheroics, both these artists needed Stan to put a human heart at the center of their cosmic vision. Seperately they each turned out numerous great concepts of which all but a couple of Jack’s died within a handful of issues. For us Ditko fans that means we’d better enjoy the hell out of those eight issues of Shade the Changing Man, as well as the six issues of the series which brings me here today…
Beware The Creeper #1
I’ll have to revise my list of favorite comic book covers, because I’ll be damned if this one doesn’t crack the top ten. The visual presence of the title character is a treat, as well; the artist who gave us the best superhero costume design ever with Spider-Man pulls off another visual gem with only yellow skin and a pair of red Hanes briefs. Lord knows I’d hate to see that coming after me in a dark alley. If there’s a flaw to be found on the cover, it’s with the question posed by the copy: “Where Lurks The Menace?” I’ve read the book and I still don’t know, because the bad guy inside is called The Terror. Steve may have got the greater creative freedom he craved at DC, buy maybe he still should have called his editor once in a while.
The story is a very densely written murder mystery plotted by Ditko and scripted by a “Sergius O’Shaughnessy”, which the internet tells me was a pen name for Denny O’Neil. There are plenty of characters zipping in and out of the panels as possible suspects and as many names to keep track of as in a Miss Marple mystery, but who cares? It’s the Creeper bounding through a gaggle of thugs we want to see, and we get plenty of that, too.
Ace TV reporter Jack Ryder is as involved with the case as his cackling alter ego, which may be the only problem I have with the book. The guy is a square jawed bareknuckle brawler himself, leaving me to wonder why he didn’t have his own series even before the Creeper came along (the character’s origin is only briefly alluded to here, having been covered in a single issue of Showcase before moving on to his own first issue). The secret identity is supposed to be the reader’s gateway into the fantastic world inhabited by the costumed persona, but Jack Ryder seems just as idealized and distant as his alter ego.
So it’s been a busy few weeks, between the holidays, a much-needed vacation, New Year’s, and Hanna’s birthday. Add to that the old “when it rains, it pours” factor: after nearly a year of not having any big writing gigs in ’09, I ended the year with 2 minis for IDW. Not that I’m complaining – far from it – but it’s made for a very chaotic end of the year.
So now we’re starting a new year, and I think I’ve got my deadlines under control. And news related to those projects is what I wanted to briefly share with you guys and gals. (I’ll keep them nameless for now, since neither has been officially announced yet, but I think you know about the sci-fi one…)
So on my latest project, I recently found out that the editor I’d be working with is none other than Bob Schreck. Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about this, and at the same time a bit nervous. But whatever happens, I have a feeling it’ll be a great learning experience.
The second bit of news is in relation to that aforementioned sci-fi book. After many tries to bring my fellow PANEListas into one of the books I’m doing at IDW, I finally succeeded. I pitched Andy’s work for the cover artist on the book, recreating the look and feel of old movie posters, and Chris Ryall dug it. So Andy will be providing the “variant” covers for that 4-issue mini. (Yeah, I’m not a fan of the whole variant cover thing either, but so it goes.) I’m sure we’ll get sneak peeks at his work at upcoming Panel meetings.
Looking forward to the new year. Hope it’s been off to a good start for everyone here.
This has been circulating through email quite a bit lately, so you’ve probably seen it, but it’s worth posting. It is, without a doubt, one of the most amazing things I’ve seen.
“Kseniya Simonova, the winner of Ukraine’s Got Talent, has become a YouTube phenomenon by telling stories through sand animation.”
I don’t think she has an official website, but you can always find out more about her on Google or via YouTube.
It’s the first weekend of 2010, and for our weekly feature, I present to you Xena Warrior Princess vs. Callisto:
Topps, better known for baseball and other collectible trading cards, made a brief foray into publishing comics. Most of their books were licensed properties, such as Zorro, The X-Files, and Xena. Who is Callisto? Um, I don’t really know, since I never watched that show. Young Dara would have probably loved it, what with its potent mix of boobs and a fantasy setting. But alas, by the time that show made it to the airways, Young Dara had grown up and while still interested in boobs and the fantasy genre, he no longer had the patience or suspension of disbelief necessary to sit through such a cheesy show for his fix.
