What if we lived in a comic book universe? part 8

Hey...eight weeks and still going. Yeah, I'm kind of surprised too.

As always, feedback is welcome. I know I'm still not up to completely daily postings, but I'm hoping to break that barrier sooner rather than later.

A Tribute to great Superpowers

Doom's (Bad) Day

Because, just about everyone is talking about it. Yeah, Bendis really doesn't have Doom's Voice, does he?

OK, how do we fix this? Well, Could do what everyone else is doing by redialoguing that scene, but really? Been done. So, instead, borrowing an old idea from Chris Bird, and doing Doom's version of the Gettysburg Address

"Fourscore and seven years ago a gaggle of halfwits and the rabble that followed them, rose up against their so-called royalty, an even dimmer collection of unimaginative buffoons, barely the equal of the Accursed Richards! Their conceptions were the meager scribblings of minds lesser than Doom's and thus not worthy of consideration. Even now they wallow in their own inferiority of a civil struggle; such a thing would never occur under the rule of a true leader as Doom! They will spout their mindless prattle like unenlightened apes unable to see the true wisdom of Doom are wont to, and will wail and bleat as the sheep they are as they inter the resources they waste, sacrificed in vain. It is a sad loss, for if all accepted the rule of Doom none of this needless loss would occur; all those whom have been killed would have instead found happy and content lives in the service of the greater good of Doom! But alas, until their leaders submit to the will and wisdom of Doom, they will choke their soil with their own fluids. Those lost souls will be given the greatest tribute of all: they have Doom's sympathy, for they cannot know how they are exploited and debased and made to suffer under such pathetic and pitiful leadership. Like the Accursed Richards, they will not be remembered, save as a minor footnote in the histories. But Doom shall not forget easily, and thus, it is Doom's struggle to complete his task; the creation of a world that knows not hunger, nor sickness nor suffering nor the slightest material discomfort. And surely, for this great work, some minor tribute would be paid to the rightful savior? Is it not good that the servants thank the masters for their generosity? Of course it is such, and of course, tribute WILL be made. The path before you is so clear that even the youngest child can see--that I highly resolve that a world under Doom shall give birth to a paradise, and that above all else, Doom shall endure."

And now, some words from Aaron Stack

Fashion Night!

Because really, some people should know better:

And some do:

Posted for pure Undisputed TRUTH

Stings, don't it?





If Doctor Doom, the (literally) iron-fisted tryant hellbent for leather on world domination and killing a man for looking at his homework says you are a prick, than MAN you need to get some good PR FAST

Dave Stevens 1955-2003

Rocketeer creator and all around great artist and pulp aficionado Dave Stevens passed away today.





Goddamn shame, that is. My friend Derek and I were actually talking about the film on Friday and whether something like that could ever work (Short answer: no). But, at the same time, there's still an art litho of the Rocketeer movie promo poster still hanging in my room, and it's still one of my all time favorite movies.





I can think of no finer tribute to him than this following poster I made a while back, using art from another great artist taken from us too goddamn soon: Mike Wieringo.

PS238 - The best comic you've never read

As you may or may not know by now, I'm a huge fan of PS238, the series that deals with a secret school for the superhuman children. This series could easily have been very "kiddy" or at worst, derivative and weak. But, it is a testament to Aaron Williams' talent that he can make the children complex and fully developed as characters while still allowing them to be, well, children.

That's not to say that it's all about the kids. In what can truly be called an ensemble cast, the story (and many, many) mysteries of PS238 revolve around the staff. Again, Williams is clearly creating an epic in his own right; there are layers and layers of mysteries in the first 12 issues alone than in the entire annual output of Marvel or DC. All of this is to draw in the readers, and the appeal is to humor that is aimed as much at the kids as at the adults. As a side note, I've spent most of my life in and around people who work in education, so let me say that they would appreciate the attempts at "teacher humor" that are on display in this series;

And really, it's all about a lot of great storytelling, with suspense, humor and intelligent plotting. Great characters who at once embody the archtypes they portray while casting them in new directions. Do yourself a favor: jump over to the website and buy some, right now. Or at the very least, check out the early issues of the series, put up as a webcomic.

Your Moment of Funny

Well, there's a downer...

..at least, if you are happy with "Brand New Day"

ICv2 reports that Brand New Day's Debut was the number 2 title, not the number one.


The new top ten reads as follows

134,002 Hulk #1
127,958 Amazing Spider-Man #546
127,626 Captain America #34
113,191 Project Superpowers #0
107,631 Astonishing X-Men #24
105,520 Uncanny X-Men #494
105,070 Ultimates 3 #2
104,793 X-Men 207
101,213 Amazing Spider-Man #547
97,959 Amazing Spider-Man #548

Now, looking at that, you'd still have to say that Spider-Man is doing ok. Well, that is if you choose to accept the following:

1. That the book lost over 30,000 readers in a single month
2. That the book lost readers even with there best, most promoted and biggest names on the book
3. That while the combined total sales are still higher than the Pre-"Brand New Day" sales on the Spider books (Because Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man and Sensational Spider-Man were selling 40,000-60,000), that the sales on the last two issues of this months Amazing Spider-Man are now BELOW that of Amazing Spider-Man Pre-"Brand New Day"

Personally, I'm just a little sad at all this. The move to "three times a month" for Amazing Spider-Man always struck me as a cynical and exploitive move designed to circle the wagons. And even at that, it doesn't seem to be working thus far.

Another observation: Marvel seems to do very well on the month to month sales, doesn't it? But on the other hand, as someone whom at this point is a dedicated TPB buyer, well, there doesn't seem to ever be any hard data for that. Pity. Because I find I buy a larger number of DC trades. I have no idea why this is. DC just tends to trade more products I want. Oh well.

Things about comics which are pure AWESOME

Just a few things I truly, deeply love about comics, all in poster form

ROBOTS!!


GIANTS!!!


Heroics!



Kung-Fu!!!


Radioactive Children!

Soon to be Obsolete Political Posters! Come get!

Just clearing up a couple posters that are pretty much already past their sell-by date. Here you go.

(Hey, look at it this way; he's got skills to fall back on!)

I really thought Rudy would do better. Ah well, given his rather strange interpration of how democracy works, it's probably for the best. It was fun while it lasted.

The Last Year of Smallville in Six Posters

OK, little rushed with a post tonite, because I've some big stuff I'm planning for later to celebrate officially being back. That and a new side project means tonite will be a tad rushed. Don't worry, Things will improve very soon.

So, in the meantime, let me save you hours of pain and a few bucks of buying DVDs and quickly summarize all you need to know about the last year of Smallville:

The Good

The Bad

The WTF?

Enjoy

I HAVE RETURNED!

After a long time, and many other interesting things, I have returned to this blog (Also, took me FOREVER to find old account info).

That said, I'm going to be bringing something new in this iteration. In addition to keeping the old stuff, I'm hoping to update frequently, and provide more commentary on comics, politics, science and engineering.

Now first, words of thanks for all those who have encouraged me to return to this. Sanjay Singh, Patricia Cryan, Mario Di Giacomo, and many many others have been very helpful. My thanks to all.

Equal thanks goes out to those whom have inspired this return. Not the least of which is other great bloggers like MightygodKing, Chris Sims, Dave Campell, Dorian, Mike Sterling, Kevin Church, Johanna Draper Carlson, Dennis Perrin, Barry Crimmins, Tom Tomorrow, and way, way more (as you will see on the new sidebar once I get it up and running). I cannot hope to consider myself in such good company. However, I will try to be a diligent and intelligent member of the community. Oh, and lots of snarky posters.

Which will be the new regular feature. Over, the last few years, I've spent a lot of time on this site, constructing a lot of faux motivational posters (thanks not only to some of the material provided by the blogs above, but also Scans_Daily). You'll be seeing a lot of them over our journey together.

Let us begin