Let There Be Bike Shorts: A Profile In Comics-Geek Courage

Supergirl: Doesn't she look happy about the news that she gets to wear pants now? DC Comics

 

by Glen Weldon

Last week, we learned about a man possessed of a bold and praiseworthy vision. With a single editorial edict, this brave iconoclast dispensed with venerated tradition and blazed a new path, knowing only too well that his decision might unleash a frothing nerdstorm of outrage.

The man in question: DC Comics editor Matt Idleson. The pronouncement he issued was just eight words long, but such is its paradigm-shattering power that it will surely stand one day in the annals of comic book history, alongside "With great power comes great responsibility," "Truth, Justice and the American Way," and "Shazam!"

Thus spake Idleson:

"I never want to see Supergirl's panties again."

And with that, the character of Supergirl — in a stark departure from many years of institutionalized cheesecakery — started wearing red shorts under her skirt.

It's not a big deal, but it's a pretty big deal, and here's why:

1. The decision suggests that superhero comics may at long last stand ready to evolve beyond the adolescent objectification of the female form in which they have so gleefully wallowed for long decades; and

2. Supergirl flies, duh. She hovers over people's heads. In a skirt.

After the jump: Hot pants, headbands, belly-shirts and other petty indignities foisted upon the Maid of Might over her long and storied career.

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10:30 AM ET | 07- 1-2009 | permalink

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8 Practical Uses For The Giant Graphic Novel 'George Sprott, 1894-1975'

George Sprott:Seriously, it's really big. Glen Weldon

 

by Glen Weldon

... Once you're done reading it, that is.

And you really should read it; it's pretty great. Mononimal cartoonist Seth delivers an intriguing, multifaceted meditation on the life and death of a fictional small-time television personality.

It's a thoughtful, quietly compelling read: His omniscient narrator keeps apologizing to us for getting the details wrong, while a parade of Sprott's colleagues and family members offer up eulogies that intersect in oblique, surprising ways.

George Sprott was originally serialized in the New York Times Magazine, but now that it's been bound in a handsome single volume, you can pick up on the momentum of the thing, the intricacy of its structure and the melancholic grace of the writing.

Seth mixes in flashbacks from Sprott's life as an Arctic explorer -- we turn a page, and a coldly beautiful blue-white landscape stretches before our eyes. Turn the page again, and we're back in the sepia-toned routine of television's golden age.

And then there's the sheer size of this great honking slab of a book. At 12 inches wide and 14 inches long, George Sprott is only the latest in a slew of graphic novels that seem to have been proportioned for natives of Brobdingnag. Last year's mammoth comic anthology, Kramer's Ergot 7, clocks in at a massive 16 inches by 21 inches. Seaweed, Ben Balisteri's loopy all-ages seafaring adventure, measures 12 inches by 15 inches; even DC and Marvel's regularly published Absolute and Masterworks collected editions are super-sized.

Titantic tomes repurposed, after the jump.

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10:11 AM ET | 06-24-2009 | permalink

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The Cap Came Back. Well, That Was Quick.

Captain America: Death be not proud...nor necessarily permanent. Marvel Entertainment

 

by Glen Weldon

For most of us, Death is the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns.

For superheroes, Death is more like Tijuana, and they've got round-trip tickets on the Baja Shuttle.

You may have heard that Captain America is coming back from the dead next month. (Technically true, but for completeness' sake we'll note that the story of his return actually begins in a special issue, Captain America #600, in comic shops now.)

Yep, the cycle of death and rebirth is as much a part of superhero comics as Superman's kicky blue highlights. Often the Death of a Hero is little more than a stunt, but it can be a well-intentioned one -- a chance to let an overused character go fallow for a year or twenty, so that readers' hearts might be made to grow fonder.

Cap, who was struck down by an assassin's bullet just over two years ago now, is only the freshest example in the venerable tradition of spandexhumation.

After the jump: Many other heroes have shuffled off this mortal coil only to shuffle right back. How does Cap's return compare? We rank the dynamic dirtnaps.

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10:38 PM ET | 06-16-2009 | permalink

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Defending the Universe, With Guns, Grit and Really Steep Fines

Rex Libris: Just another heroic librarian. You probably know many. SLG Publishing

 

by Glen Weldon

Rex Libris, titular hero of James Turner's smart, stylish and breathlessly paced comic series, is a custodian of great and terrible secrets who must perforce do endless battle 'gainst those who would seek to corrupt, destroy or abscond with the collected lore of the ages.

Which is to say: He's a public librarian.

Rex Libris: Book of Monsters, the second volume chronicling his feats of derring-do among the Dewey decimals, is in stores now.

Why you should check it out (heh) after the jump. (Because..."check it out" ... library .... )

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10:35 AM ET | 06-10-2009 | permalink

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So Why Isn't This Once-Mighty Super-Guy More Famous?

Who is this guy?: We're willing to bet a lot of you will get it wrong. DC Comics

 

by Glen Weldon

See that smiley red goober over there on the right? For almost a decade, his was the best-selling comic book in the country. During World War II, this guy was outselling Superman back when that really meant something: Millions of Americans thrilled to his monthly adventures.

He's starred in his own movie serial, his own cheesy Saturday morning kids' show, and he helped usher in the modern era of corporations suing one another silly over copyright infringement.

Pop quiz: What's his name?

A. The Flash
B. Shazam
C. Lightning Man
D. Captain Marvel
E. Marvelman

Hint: The rookie mistake is to confuse the guy's name with his catchphrase. Don't worry, though. Lots of folk do that, and it's understandable. I mean, Lord knows I never referred to the "Git R'Done" guy as anything but Git R'Done Guy. Not that it came up much.

But there's a reason this hero's name doesn't spring to mind as easily as that of Superman, Spider-Man and Batman, even though it really should.

After the jump: His real name, his troubled past and why it's taken until now for modern comic book creators to figure out what to do with him.

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10:43 PM ET | 06- 2-2009 | permalink

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Question: Who's the Longest-Running Fictional Character Ever?

Long-running fictional characters: Sure, there are a lot of candidates, but who takes the prize? iStockphoto.com

 

by Glen Weldon

"Longest running" is open to interpretation, so let's define our terms:

In any medium, what character has been consistently featured in continuous new adventures over the longest stretch of time?

Got that? Just the three criteria, here:

Consistent:

Makes regularly scheduled appearances — no yawning gaps between adventures.

Continuous:

The character's adventures form a central narrative that builds on what has gone before. (Read: Katzenjammer Kids, I know you've been around a long time, but you're a gag strip, not an ongoing narrative. Thanks for playing, we have some lovely parting gifts.)

New:

The constant churning out of fresh content, not simply adaptations, retellings or reprints.

So: Guesses?

After the jump: We review the top contenders, provide The Answer, and explain why The Neverending Story should really have been a horror film.

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11:59 AM ET | 05-20-2009 | permalink

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What To Call the Comic Book?

Comic books: Or maybe you'd like to see them called something else? Just not "monthlies," please. iStockphoto.com

 

by Glen Weldon

Oh, sure: Those of us who read them just call them "comic books." But those who produce, distribute and sell them tend to call them something else.

The industry needs to distinguish the single issues of ongoing titles that come out every Wednesday (i.e., classic comic books) from their heftier cousins: the graphic novels, anthologies and bound collections of single issues that eventually get published in trade paperback format.

The thing is, they can't agree on what to call those single issues. Currently, different publishers and retailers toss around at least five different terms for the classic, three-staple funnybook.

This will not stand.

The time for humoring such higgledy-piggledy laxity in the nomenclature is over. Let's help the comics industry out.

After the jump: The five most commonly used terms, why none of them are any good, and how you can help.

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11:10 AM ET | 05-13-2009 | permalink

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Tights, Camera, Action: We Note Notable Superhero Fan Films

by Glen Weldon

Last Sunday's launch of an ambitious, technically impressive Tolkien-geek fan film shows how far the medium has come.

Where once uberfans were content to tromp out into the backyard to videotape themselves lightsabering the snot out of one another, new technologies have rendered the days of rough in-camera edits and hand-puppet dianogas obsolete. And even though any Fett with a Flip camera can turn out a respectable product, many fan films represent sizable investments of time, resources and effort.

Take, for example, the genre of comic book fan film.

Batman: Dead End (above) is perhaps the most famous example of the form. The 8-minute film went live on the Web right around Comic-Con 2003, setting off a nerdsplosion of interest in director Sandy Collora, who's gone on to helm an actual, you know, movie.

To my way of thinking, Dead End is notable for two reasons:

Dispelling the Memory of Adam West's Bat-Belly
Dead End proved that simple, true-to-the-comics circus tights can look great — as long as the guy who's sporting them has 4 percent body fat and biceps the size of your head.

Okay, Did NOT See That Coming
Right around the three minute mark — after Batman and one very aggressively eyebrowed Joker trade blows and bon mots, events take a turn. A silly, silly turn.

After the jump: We scour the tubes for the best and the brightest superhero fan films. Also the weirdest.

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10:18 AM ET | 05- 6-2009 | permalink

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Free Comic Books: Say it Soft and it's Almost Like Praying

Free Comic Book Day: Just what you've been waiting for all your life, if this is the kind of thing you wait for. iStockphoto.com

 

by Glen Weldon

This Saturday, May 2nd, you can walk into just about any comic shop in the country and get handed a bunch of free comic books.

Now me, I've had dreams like that.

But Free Comic Book Day is not intended for those of my ilk, who've already given ourselves over to the medium.

No, FCBD is the annual rite by which the nation's comics retailers band together to harvest fresh new souls -- people like you, who do not, as a matter of course, set foot inside comic shops.

Understand that you won't be able to just start pawing over the shelves. No, there'll be a passel of books provided by comics publishers, set aside specifically for FCBD giveaways. Some shops will allow you to pick and choose among them; others will simply hand you a pre-selected packet. You can use the FCBD site to locate a participating store near you.

And it will cost you nothing, nada, bupkis, zilch.

You may recognize this as the "your first taste is free" business model, so successfully embraced by the Columbia Record and Tape Club. Also, crack dealers.

Which: yeah, pretty much.

After the jump: A sneak peek at this year's FCBD selections, which do -- I repeat: DO -- include a healthy dose of Shatner.

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10:16 AM ET | 04-29-2009 | permalink

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Faster Than a Speeding Bullwhip: Superman Creator's Kinktastic Art

Secret Identity: Turns out the co-creator of Superman was up to some things you might not know about. Abrams ComicArts

 

by Glen Weldon

We've previously noted that the creators of some of America's most noble comic book characters got up to some decidedly ignoble stuff themselves. And yet the artist Joe Shuster, co-creator of Superman, is a special case.

I don't refer here to his 1940 arrest in a Miami hotel lobby for "loitering hatless," although God knows that any man who'd indulge in acts of flagrant public hatlessness merits close watching. There's the children to think of.

No, what makes Shuster's case special — and the subject of a new book by comics historian Craig Yoe — is the newly-discovered fact that 16 years after Superman's first appearance, when faced with dire financial straits, Joe Shuster turned his artistic talents has to, well, smut. Dirty, depraved, utterly hatless smut.

After the jump: "Tales of terror and thrilling spiciness that will leave the reader spellbound!"

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10:51 AM ET | 04-15-2009 | permalink

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Why a 42-Year-Old Superhero Cartoon is Better Than a Pony

By Glen Weldon

Need a break?

Lookit: Over at Marvel.com, they've just started streaming episodes of the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon. The first episode went up last week, and they'll post a new one every Thursday.

Now granted, the animation itself is pretty slapdash (Spidey spends an awful lot of time web-swinging across town, passing the same six buildings several times along the way), but there's much to recommend.

First, of course, the theme song: When its brassy, six-note opening blast gives way to the syncopated drum lick, try to keep from butt-dancing; try.

Then the lyrics kick in, and start going all Socratic Method on you:

Is he strong? Listen, bud: He's got radioactive blood!

Can he swing? From a thread! Take a look overhead!

Sure, it's no "In her satin tights/fighting for your rights," but it is, I think we can all agree, patently groovy.

Then there's the jazzy, infectious score, complete with surf guitar. Hey, Spider-daddy-O! Hang eight!

Listen -- really listen -- to the sound effect of those wrist web-shooters: so perfect, so difficult to emulate with the human mouth. Millions have tried.

Finally, the voicework. Paul Soles was the very first actor to voice Spider-man (just five years after the character was created), and lent him a sardonic, wisecracking tone that I still hear in my head every time I read a Spidey word balloon. (That's Paul "Hermy the Elf Who Wants to Be a Dentist" Soles, FY proverbial I.)

Still not convinced?

After the jump: Why this show's a cultural touchstone -- to some of us, anyway. Plus the pony thing.

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12:03 PM ET | 04- 8-2009 | permalink

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Like Beatrix Potter, If Beatrix Potter Made More Jokes About Vomit. And Satan.

Skelebunnies: You only think you know how not-safe-for-work comics get. SLG Publishing

 

by Glen Weldon

Okay: This won't take long.

Because the comic up for discussion today lives or dies by its premise. You dig the premise, or you resolutely do not, and I'm not likely to sway anyone from either position.

Don't believe me?

The Premise: Undead bunnies do beastly, unspeakable things for fun and profit. (Mostly fun.)

Still with me? Huh. Okay, here's The Plot:

* Two cute fluffy bunnies get vomited upon by a demon;

* Acidic demon vomit, natch, strips their flesh;

* Satan recruits them to go and do horrid things to the pure and innocent creatures of the world;

* Which they do, until they chafe under his infernal yoke, and then;

* They take their doing-horrid-things business freelance.

Did I mention they have a flying zombie steed named Pretty Pretty Pony Macabre? Because they have a flying zombie steed named Pretty Pretty Pony Macabre.

The final set of facts if you're still undecided, after the jump ...

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1:04 PM ET | 04- 2-2009 | permalink

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A Comic Book History of the Comic Book's History

Comic Book Comics: The history of the comic book is certainly interesting enough to inspire...a comic book. Evil Twin Comics

 

By Glen Weldon

The American funnybook boasts a long but as-yet-not-particularly-storied history. Only relatively recently have cultural historians and biographers begun to train their gaze on the men and women behind the comics medium.

Which is odd because they're, you know, a colorful bunch.

Take, for instance, the whole gang of cigar-chomping, mobbed-up publishers who decided, in the '30s, to switch from churning out porn to churning out comic books, to avoid getting hassled by the Feds.

Or the bondage-lovin', polyamorous psychologist/inventor who created:

1. Wonder Woman,
2. Her magic lasso (which compels people to tell the truth), and
3. The modern polygraph machine (or anyway a precursor thereof.)

Or the screwed-over co-creator of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, who gradually retreated into the life of a Pynchonesque recluse. (If you can imagine Pynchon really, really digging the collected works of Ayn Rand.)

Or the celebrity psychiatrist who blamed juvenile delinquency on comic books, and thus ushered in a new era of comic publishers .... getting hassled by the Feds. The guy made some fair points (yes, a decidedly creepy injury-to-the-eye-motif did in fact pervade the comics of the time). But his stubborn tendency to mistake the subtext for the text caused him to make a series of assertions (Batman and Robin = gay lovers, Wonder Woman = lesbian) that would go on to inspire generations of hacky stand-up comics.

After the jump: Comic Book Comics, funnybooks about funnybooks that are actually, you know, pretty funny books.

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12:42 PM ET | 03-25-2009 | permalink

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Bag, Board, And Slab: Why You Can't Talk About Collecting Comics Without Invoking the Grim Spectre of Death

The problem with preservation: This comic book recently brought a pretty penny, but at what cost do collectors court collectible prices? DC Comics

 

by Glen Weldon

On Monday, a copy of Action Comics #1 -- the 1938 comic featuring the first appearance of Superman -- sold for just over $317K in an online auction.

Most news reports couldn't resist the story's warm 'n' fuzzy aspects, of which admittedly there were a lot, including:

1. The seller purchased the comic in question back when he was nine.

2. At a secondhand shop.

3. In the early 50's.

4. For 35 cents.

But fewer noted this drier, vaguely bookkeeperish detail:

5. Only about 100 copies of the book are known to exist, in any condition.

Now, details 1-4 are potent stuff indeed; I get that. Reading them, you can't help but imagine a barefoot, tow-headed youth proudly sauntering out of the local malt shop with his new purchase, shoving it deep into the back pocket of his overalls -- next to the slingshot -- and joining his friends for a game of, let's say, marbles. Gee (you perhaps think to yourself) whillikers.

That more mundane, only-100-copies-in-existence detail? Well, it just doesn't have any of the same nostalgic, human interest, Dennis the Menace juice. Comparatively speaking, it's pure Mr. Wilson.

But it's really the entire point. It's the fact that so few copies exist that makes a $317K auction price possible. (Note, please, that I said possible, not understandable. Because, really people, $317,200? That noise is B-A-N-A-N-A-S.)

The other thing that makes it possible: The fact that the cohort of comic book collectors is essentially a deep turbid salty ocean of serious OCD.

After the jump: The collector's Sisyphean effort to seal his comics away forever in a safe, protected, unchanging and completely airless environment, which is not, like, symbolic or anything, and you really shouldn't go looking for any larger emotional truth about comics collectors anywhere in that. Because you won't find one. Because it's not there. So just shut up.

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1:39 PM ET | 03-18-2009 | permalink

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From The Surprisingly Well-Stocked Department Of Comic Book Epics About Chivalrous Sword-Wielding Mice

Mice Templar: We can only hope this will be one of many mouse epics. Image Comics

 

by Glen Weldon

It's not all that surprising: I mean, there's certainly a precedent for stirring tales of anthropomorphized medieval warrior members of the genus Peromyscus.

There is. You got your Reepicheep, from the Narnia books. Your Matthias, et al, from Brian Jacques' Redwall series.

You got your .... uh, Reepicheep....

Not .... a long list, granted, but enough to have inspired two contemporaneous comic book epics about noble (and ignoble) rodents:

Mouse Guard by David Petersen, the first six issues of which are now collected in a nifty hardcover ("Fall 1152") from Archaia Studios Press, and

Mice Templar by Bryan J.L. Glass and Michael Avon Oeming, the first six issues of which are now collected in a hardcover of coequal niftiness (The Prophecy) from Image Comics.

It's striking how very different these two books feel, despite the remarkable number of surface similarities they share.

NOTE: That's remarkable as in "inspiring remarks", not remarkable as in "get the lawyers on the phone."

The first issue of Mouse Guard hit stands in February of 2006, and Mice Templar debuted in August of 2007, but both books, we are told, had been in the works for many years. (The backmatter found in the Mice Templar hardcover is understandably emphatic on this point.)

So this isn't a Wife-Swap-and-Trading-Spouses type situation. It's more a The Prestige and ... That-Other-Movie-About-Magicians type situation. [Ed. Note: The Illusionist?]

After the jump: Their similarities, their differences, and an answer to the burning question, "Yeah, but which one brings the Cuteness?"

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10:30 AM ET | 03-12-2009 | permalink

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'Watchmen' Movie vs. Graphic Novel: Is There A Third Option?

by Glenn McDonald

Sometimes pop-culture reporting can be perilous. For instance, I was preparing for the Watchmen movie last week by re-reading the original graphic novel. Then two new DVDs came across my desk -- a reissued documentary on Watchmen creator Alan Moore, and a 2-disc Watchmen "motion comic" that ports the original pages to digital format.

Foolishly, I attempted to digest all four of these pop-culture artifacts in a single weekend. Bad move. I keep hallucinating about Malin Akerman and I haven't blinked in 72 hours. Don't try this at home, young people. Leave it to the professionals.

Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic, issued and marketed in conjunction with the theatrical film, is a fascinating specimen that offers a third option for those debating the merits of the film versus the graphic novel. It is an attempt, essentially, to apply film language to the comics format and sell a DVD version that you can watch instead of read.

Exploring the motion comic, after the jump...

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11:20 AM ET | 03-11-2009 | permalink

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'Watchmen' And The Myth Of The Movie As The Ultimate Form Of Storytelling

Watchmen: Does there always have to be a movie? Warner Brothers Pictures

 

by Marc Hirsh

There's a movie opening today called Watchmen. Perhaps you've heard of it. It's gotten a bit of press lately, most of which has involved some variation of the headline "Who watches Watchmen?," because headline writers are just that clever.

Most of the coverage has also fixated on the long, roadblock-studded path from the original 1986-1987 run of the comic book to the silver screen. To hear the media tell it, those of us who love Watchmen have been waiting for this day eagerly for over 20 years.

The thing is, I don't think we have.

The comic as its own fully realized form, after the jump...

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9:09 AM ET | 03- 6-2009 | permalink

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It's Comics, People, or: On Moon-Launched Vampire Missiles and the Need to Lighten Up

Dracula on the moon: It's really better enjoyed than analyzed for its relationship to archetypal heroic blah blah oh look, we just fell asleep. Marvel Entertainment

 

by Glen Weldon

It comes with the territory: When you're someone who hits his local shop every Wednesday to pick up the week's new comics, you tend to find yourself hip-deep in one-sided conversations.

I've shrugged my way through my share of Who-Would-Win-a-Fight conversations, for example. I get why they exist. Never saw the appeal.

And you can't spend more than four minutes in a comics shop without hearing from the vocal contingent of Comics Suck Now, Unlike in [Year Speaker Was Twelve Years Old], When All Comics Were Brilliant and Awesome and Shiny and Cured Rickets.

Most troubling/enervating/tiring are those comic book buyers who, for whatever reason, seem incapable of embracing their fondness for funnybooks without first struggling to contextualize that fondness in the language of graduate-level Humanities seminars.

This lot have so thoroughly internalized Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces that they've grown a little too damn comfortable with words like "mythos."

Can we all agree that "mythos" is a not an everyday word, and should not be treated as such? And further, that dropping "mythos" into a conversation when one is sporting a t-shirt upon which Wolverine is engaged in an act of disembowelment tends to leach the word of its power?

To these folk, the Avengers aren't the Avengers, but instead a pantheon of epic archetypes around which mythopoeic narrative tropes have organically accreted.

Superheroes, they assert to all who'll listen and to many who won't, are our contemporary gods and demi-gods, whose adventures embody the modern mythic architecture that we, as a society, collectively construct to house our cultural fears and ambitions.

Thing is: all that heady circumlocution smacks of a desperate thirst for validation.

And some things shouldn't be validated.

Some things don't need to be.

Some things, like, for example, when Dracula launches vampire missiles from the moon.

After the jump: Dracula launches VAMPIRE freaking MISSILES. From the freaking MOON.

Continue reading "It's Comics, People, or: On Moon-Launched Vampire Missiles and the Need to Lighten Up" »

3:48 PM ET | 03- 4-2009 | permalink

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So, Yeah: Batman's Dead, or Something

Batman: Well, he sure looks dead, doesn't he? DC Comics

 

by Glen Weldon

In comics, always bet on "or something."

You won't go wrong, particularly when the putative corpse in question is -- as in the case before us -- a multiple-franchise-spawning chunk o' intellectual property whose heavily marketed multimedia presence has infiltrated mass culture to an absurd, and in some cases profoundly unflattering, degree.

In superhero circles, see, death is a chronic condition. It's inconvenient, yes -- but treatable.

Case in point: Last month, DC Comics once again sent one of its most recognizable characters into the Great Beyond ... or somewhere thereabouts.

In the Caped Crusader's absence, DC will launch Battle for the Cowl, a multi-issue series in which Robin, Batgirl and the rest of extended Bat-family... well, battle. For the right to wear the pointy ears.

"Battle for the Cowl." Hey, it beats what they called a very similar plotline back in the 90's, when Bruce Wayne literally broke his back fighting crime.

(He, um, got better. But for a while a Bat-vacuum existed that nature thoroughly abhorred. I wasn't too crazy about it either, frankly, as it allowed this cheesy, "TO THE EXTREME!", quintessentially '90s chump of a character -- your garden-variety brainwashed, gene-spliced, French-Catholic-assassin in fire armor -- to take over the Bat-books for a time.)

Back then, DC editors ushered in the guy's doofy stint as interim-Batman by asking the question: "Who Will Inherit ... the Mantle of the Bat?"

"Mantle of the Bat." Doesn't really sing, does it? Not sure why. Maybe it's the faux-gravitas of it, which just comes off sounding ineluctably dumb. Or maybe it's because the word "mantle" puts you in mind of things that stick to rocks.

After the jump: The facts, such as they are, behind the Dark Knight's Dubious Dirtnap.

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11:56 AM ET | 02-26-2009 | permalink

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The Great Comic-Book Cover Time-Sink, From Whose Bourn No Geek Returns

A world of covers: This online catalog just might bring out your inner undershirt. iStockphoto.com

 

by Glen Weldon

www.coverbrowser.com.

It's all there in the url, really. You click, you browse. Forever.

Browse what?

Covers. Hundreds upon thousands of comic book covers, is what. ForEVer.

Oh. Yeah, okay.

Whee!

No, yeah, fine, I guess. But wait, no: What is there to love about a website that simply archives old comic book covers?

Um...I mean...everything? I don't ... I don't understand the question.

Surely it's just a means of cataloging, no? And thus sort of like getting excited about a particularly adroit application of the Dewey Decimal System?

.... What's your point?

And anyway it's not like there aren't several sites that archive comic book covers, if that's really what warms your particular cockles. And those sites, unlike this one, provide useful, concrete information about the issues in question -- year, featured characters, plot synopses.

Pfft. That stuff just gets in the way of the pure, crystalline adrenaline rush of four-color goodness. The allusive, right-brain, stream-of-consciousness, goose-pimply....

Seems sorta ... squishy, is all. Lacking in rigor. I mean check out that nondescript homepage. Where do you even start? How do you know when you're done?

Ah, you just need someone to get you started.

After the jump: We get you started.

Continue reading "The Great Comic-Book Cover Time-Sink, From Whose Bourn No Geek Returns" »

8:27 PM ET | 02-17-2009 | permalink

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Watching Watchmen, or: No, But I Read the Comic Book

Watchmen: There are plenty of good reasons to read it before you see the movie. DC Comics

 

by Glen Weldon

So: Watchmen. Heard of it?

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's 1986 graphic novel? Blah blah postmodern masterpiece, blah blah deconstruction of superhero tropes, blahdee blah changed comics forever?

And (now that the lawyers have finished thumping one another about the head and neck) coming soon to a theater near you? March 6, in fact?

Sound familiar?

I know: As a rule, brainy NPR types like y'all prefer to read a given book before seeing the film made from it. That way, when you meet up with other brainy NPR types, you can discuss the sundry alterations that were made to the plot for the sake of budget, running time, narrative cohesion or monumental directorial stupidheadery.

But what about those brainy NPR types who haven't read Watchmen but have seen the trailer, which promises the kind of desultory superhero stuff (slow-mo fight scenes, big 'splosions) that one expects from comics-to-film projects?

They might well think: Why bother? It's just more masked dudes in fetish gear running around beating up on folk, no?

No.

After the jump: Reading Watchmen before watching Watchmen -- the case for.

Continue reading "Watching Watchmen, or: No, But I Read the Comic Book" »

3:11 PM ET | 02-11-2009 | permalink

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New York Comic-Con: Where Were All The Comics?

Don't be a Helo: Tahmoh Penikett was at a loss to explain why the Dollhouse crew was at NY Comic-Con. Fox

By Laurel Maury

I walked something like 200 feet into New York Comic-Con without seeing a single comic book.

Booths for video games, regular books, Dungeons and Dragons, sure. Toys, everywhere. But this year, the four-year-old NY Comic-Con seemed to be about everything but comic books.

What did go on? Well, Joss Whedon's new TV show, Dollhouse, premiered its first episode on Sunday. Japanese pop idol Sho Sakurai turned up to promote a movie; British It Girl Peaches Geldof wandered the convention floor with a film crew, courtesy of Nylon magazine.

The panel for the British sci-fi show Torchwood was mobbed. Booths sold T-shirts, corsets, vinyl dolls, messenger bags (really cool ones from Gamma-Go), even doorbells.

But it was increasingly clear that big "cons," as comic book conventions are called, are no longer the comic book geek's natural habitat -- they're places to see and be seen, where Hollywood and the gaming industry try to get products into the hands of early adopters.

Joss Whedon, Tahmoh Penikett, and The New York Times on pimping it Comic-Con style, after the jump ...

Continue reading "New York Comic-Con: Where Were All The Comics?" »

11:55 AM ET | 02- 9-2009 | permalink

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Obama-Spidey: The Intervention

The Obama-Spidey buying frenzy: This has to stop. Marvel

 

by Glen Weldon

Hi, America. Why don't you sit down? We need to talk to you.

Don't worry about the groceries. We'll put them away. You just sit over there in that empty chair in the center of the room, okay? The one facing us. Right.

Great.

Now, we know you're surprised to see us here. I mean, you come back from the store and here we all are, crowded into your living room like this. (Gary had to go get some extra chairs up from your basement; hope that's okay.)

The reason we're here today, America, is because we love you. We do; all of us in this room care about you very much, and we want you to get help. We're here to tell you that you need to get help.

You need to stop buying the Obama-Meets-Spider-Man comic book.

After the jump: The first step is admitting you have a problem.

Continue reading "Obama-Spidey: The Intervention" »

10:48 AM ET | 02- 4-2009 | permalink

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The Coffee-Table Book that Launched a Thousand Snippy Blog Posts

Bat-Manga!: It's hard to say what's nuttier: these Batman adventures, or what happened when the book containing them was published. Random House

 

by Glen Weldon

Last week, NPR's Day to Day profiled Chip Kidd's newish book, Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan. Among other things, Kidd's great honkin' slab of a coffee-table book reprints and translates a handful of Japanese comics from 1966, which were themselves originally created to cash in on the success of the US-made Batman TV show.

Thomas Friedman was right: The World is Flat. Also, Geekier Than You Might Imagine.

To understand what makes Kidd's book such a compelling cross-cultural artifact/frickin' hoot, you have to understand what made those Japanese Bat-comics different from other Bat-comics. Very, very different.

And to understand why the comics blogosphere got their collective Captain America underoos in a bunch about Kidd's book, you have to understand ... well, not much really. Except maybe that the intimate apparel of the comic book geek exists in a perpetual state of pre-bunching.

After the jump: The terrifying menace of Lord Death Man, Go Go the Magician, and the comic book blogosphere.

Continue reading "The Coffee-Table Book that Launched a Thousand Snippy Blog Posts" »

11:59 AM ET | 01-28-2009 | permalink

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Let Us Now Praise Archie Andrews, Lone Survivor of the Great Checkout Stand Apocalypse

Last man standing: The world has changed a lot, but Archie is still going strong. Archie Comics Publications

 

by Glen Weldon

Used to be, comics were everywhere. Not so long ago, squeaky spinner racks crammed with four-color whimsy were thick on the ground; you couldn't enter a drugstore, supermarket or bookshop without spotting this here large, friendly sign.

But over the course of the 1980s, the spinner rack, and the comic books it carried, steadily disappeared from the country's Pick n' Saves and Pathmarks. No longer could a kid repair to the newsstand to thumb through the latest issue of Marvel Team-Up while his mother puttered down the condiments aisle.

Even the most popular comics, with the toughest, too legit-to-quit heroes -- your Wolverines, your Hulks, your Supermans -- abandoned newsstands, retreating like frightened woodland creatures to the relative safety (and steady sales) of the comics specialty shop.

The sole survivor? The only comic book character that can still be found in every supermarket in the country, where he merits prominent point-of-purchase placement alongside US Weekly and Fabulous Fruitini Orbit gum? A skinny teenaged redhead in a sweater vest.

The question: what is it about Archie Andrews that has allowed him to bravely weather a sales environment harsh enough to send the X-Men fleeing for cover? Did he get Mr. Lodge to front him some cash? Is that weird tic-tac-toe thing inscribed on the side of his head some kind of eldritch protection sigil?

We explore this mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a letterman jacket, after the jump.

Continue reading "Let Us Now Praise Archie Andrews, Lone Survivor of the Great Checkout Stand Apocalypse" »

6:31 PM ET | 01-22-2009 | permalink

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Until Retroactive, Reality-Altering, Demon-Wrought Reboot Do Us Part

by Glen Weldon

This is not our topic today: We hope you're not too sad. Marvel

 

So yes, as you have likely heard, the Obama-Meets-Spidey issue of Amazing Spider-Man comes out today.

This has duly occasioned the predictable, but no less puzzling, mainstream media response that such publicity stunts are engineered to bring about. If you're interested, you can read about it here, or here, or here, or here or here.

Not here, though.

No, here we've got bigger, less nakedly exploitative Spider-fish to fry, namely: Marking the one-year anniversary of the Quickie Divorce that Quite Literally Changed the (Marvel) Universe.

After the jump: A disquisition on matters matrimonial and meta-human, or: Why the cosmic annulment of Spidey's marriage to Mary Jane made for a better comic, and why Lois and Clark need couples counseling.

Continue reading "Until Retroactive, Reality-Altering, Demon-Wrought Reboot Do Us Part" »

6:45 AM ET | 01-14-2009 | permalink

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Why the Universe Owes 'The Dark Knight' a Frickin' Oscar

by Glen Weldon

Comic book fans, like most species of geek, treasure our outsider status. The fact that said status is largely self-imposed and self-perpetuated isn't so much important — we're all about the treasuring, over here. And the brooding.

Thus, as a species, we're given to snottily rejecting anything that smacks of the popular, of the cultural mainstream. You can always count on us to find a way to prize even the most ham-fisted tale of four-color adventure over, say, Gossip Girl. And to be kinda jerky about it in the process. It's reflexive and reductive and not remotely fair, but there it is.

So why, you may ask, are we comic book geeks now pulling so hard for The Dark Knight to receive an Oscar nod, of all things?

(Especially when we're the kind of schmucks who ruin your Oscar party by gobbling up the Funyuns while opining to all within earshot that the Academy Awards are an empty exercise in feeding the nation's collective middlebrow sensibility. And that, further, they certainly have nothing whatsoever to say about artistic merit.)

So why do we suddenly care so damn much about a stupid Oscar? Why do we feel we are owed one?

Four words: Legends of the Superheroes.

And, okay, five more: Charlie Callas in a bodystocking.

After the jump: The live-action superhero abomination that still haunts our unquiet dreams. (And no, it's not Elektra) ...

Continue reading "Why the Universe Owes 'The Dark Knight' a Frickin' Oscar" »

9:16 PM ET | 01- 6-2009 | permalink

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Toward a Comics-Geek Taxonomy, Plus Five Flatly Awesome Comics

by Glen Weldon

Know this: Among those few, those happy few, those bands of geeky brothers and sisters who dutifully hit their local comic shops every Wednesday to pick up the week's batch of new comics, there exists a host of distinct species and subspecies.

Blue Beetle: What it has to do with my No. 1 Geek Confession of 2008, after the jump. DC Comics

 

Let's start with the most basic split in the trunk of the comic book fan's taxonomic tree. And it's got nothing to do with DC vs. Marvel.

No, this classification is even more fundamental, and it's bound up in one's essential character. Which is to say: It's not what you read, it's how you read.

After the jump: Reading habits as Rorschach blots, the five ongoing series that consistently end up at the bottom of my pile, and why that's a good thing.

Continue reading "Toward a Comics-Geek Taxonomy, Plus Five Flatly Awesome Comics" »

11:54 AM ET | 01- 2-2009 | permalink

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2008: The Year Everyone Everywhere Officially Got The Whole Comics-Are-More-Than-Just-Superheroes Thing, So Now We Don't Have to Talk About it Anymore

Liquid City: If we were making a list, which we aren't, this would be on it. Image Comics

 

It's best-of-2008 time in comics land, with smart types of all stripes weighing in with their choices for the year's outstanding achievement in the field of funnybook-making.

I have no list for you, parumpapumpum, mostly because it's taken so long to work my way through all the lists that are already out there. (You can peruse the excellent choices of several professional comic book creators here.)

Anyway, I'd pretty much be copy-and-pasting the great list(s) of NPR's own smart type, Laurel Maury. (Go read; I'll wait.)

I really like her picks, with only a few quibbles (it's been a while since I've found much new or interesting in Warren Ellis' particular brand of brutal super-nihilism, but the guy knows how to tell a story. I'd also throw in some love for Image Comics' Liquid City, an out-there anthology of southeast Asian comics that is as bracing as it is baffling, and it's often pretty darn baffling.)

Maury cleaved her list in twain, Best Graphic Novels and Best Superhero Graphic Novels, which puzzled me at first -- isn't a good book a good book, whether or not its characters happen to favor cerulean circus tights? What's up with this separate-but-equal jazz?

But I think what she's up to here -- and I invite her to correct me if I'm wrong -- is reaching out to you, the reader who still hears the phrase "comic books" and thinks "superheroes." (And, more to the point, promptly follows up that thought with, "Yeah, no thanks.")

Here's the thing, though: I'm not entirely convinced that you exist.

After the jump: Why I don't believe in you, and 2008 as comics culture tipping point.

Continue reading "2008: The Year Everyone Everywhere Officially Got The Whole Comics-Are-More-Than-Just-Superheroes Thing, So Now We Don't Have to Talk About it Anymore " »

8:07 AM ET | 12-24-2008 | permalink

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'Far Side' Reenactors Are Delightfully Odd Ducks

The Far Side lives: Contributors to a Flickr pool act out their favorite cartoons, to sometimes arresting effect. Photo illustration by The Rocketeer, via Flickr.

 

Gary Larson's The Far Side ran new strips from 1980 to 1994, but the nearly 15 years that have passed since he retired haven't quieted fans, who find their own interesting ways to pay tribute.

Currently circling the internet is the Far Side Reenactments Flickr pool, a collection of photos and illustrations from different contributors acting out their favorite Far Side panels. Above is The Rocketeer's version of this strip, in which the big, bloodshot eyeball is closer than it appears.

I am also partial to this toe-oriented effort and to this one -- who can forget the School For The Gifted?

1:53 PM ET | 12-23-2008 | permalink

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Eleven Non-Spoilery Reasons To Read "Breakfast of the Gods." Like, Right Now.

Does this man look dangerous?: Breakfast Of The Gods suggests that you exercise caution. Quaker Oats

 

by Glen Weldon

In no particular order, you will be taken in by:

1. The premise — a dark satire in which the breakfast-cereal mascots of your innocent, tow-headed youth wage a pitched and at times violent battle for their homeland.

2. "Crunchum Eternum."

3. The panel in which Cookie Crook gets referred to as a "skel."

4. The issue titles, which keep getting better and better:
Issue One: "The Last Good Morning."
Issue Two: "O Cap'n, My Cap'n."
Issue Three: "Apocalypse Yum."

5. The author's "Please, Please Don't Sue Me" page at the end of each issue. (On his blog, Jones accurately describes Breakfast of the Gods thusly: "...the series stands as both a pop culture-drenched labor of love and a minefield of serious copyright infringement." Which: yeah, pretty much.)

6. The "Lucky strikes" joke.

7. The identity of the central villain of the piece, which you've probably already guessed, but is still flatly awesome.

8. The Trix Rabbit as Mickey Spillane.

9. I say again: "Apocalypse Yum."

10. "One can do one's damnedest." Sniff. Seriously: Sniff.

11. The way you hear James Mason's voice in your head whenever you read Toucan Sam's word balloons.

Go, now.

But before you do, know this:

The navigation isn't as fluid as it could be -- once you finish the first issue, you'll have to scroll down past the comments to find a way to access Issue Two, etc.

Also, Issue Three (which -- have I mentioned? -- is titled, "Apocalpyse Yum") is still not quite finished.

And finally, fair warning: Dig'Em's dialogue ... gets a little blue.

11:35 AM ET | 12-17-2008 | permalink

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O Come All Ye Geeky: Comics Bloggers Count Down to Christmas

WISH Factor 5: When surly heroes meet holiday cheer, the geekdom gets a warm-fuzzy feel.

Marvel

by Glen Weldon

This time of year, some of the more evolved members of the preternaturally peevish comic book blogosphere briefly admit the holiday spirit into their hearts — and upload it to their servers.

The gratifying result: Online! Comics-themed! Advent calendars!

Of course, the Internet boasts many flavors of clickable yuletide countdowns, so why should you -- and let's assume here that your personal interest in comics might be described as less-than-ardent — choose to spend your precious mouse-clicks on funnybook-related calendrical diversions?

A fair question. But rest assured that even if your heart does not thrill, as does mine, to the wildly incongruous mashup of Christmas and comics (Hulk in a Santa Hat! Hee!), this year's batch is a strong one: a potent holiday cocktail of the educational, the adorable and the What the Hell?

Plus, the closer we get to December 25, the better the odds that we might catch a glimpse of — cross your fingers — Caroling Batman.

When sleigh bells meet spandex: We rate your (implausibly plural) comic-book advent-calendar options, after the jump ...

Continue reading "O Come All Ye Geeky: Comics Bloggers Count Down to Christmas" »

1:10 PM ET | 12-10-2008 | permalink

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Baggin' On the Sea King, or: The Comedy Meme that Ate Atlantis

Sea monkey: Even Stephen Colbert can't resist taking a dig at Aquaman. Comedy Central.

 

by Glen Weldon

Aquaman. King of the Seven Seas. Swift and Powerful Monarch of the Ocean.

Dude can't catch a break.

In the popular mindset, he's become a quite literal joke, and a tired one.

And so to all those cut-ups, wags and wacky funsters who have helped to spread the now pervasive "Aquaman is Lame" meme, I say this:

Enough. Basta. Move on.

Credit where it's due, though: Thanks to you, said meme itself — the very act of pointing out that the highly specific nature of Aquaman's power-set would logically circumscribe his effectiveness as a deterrent of crime and administrator of justice (i.e., "The guy talks to FISH!") — is now officially the hoariest, hackiest arrow in the quiver of pop-culture commentary.

Qua humor, it is to our Internet Age what "And what is the deal with airline peanuts?" was to the skinny-necktie 90's.

It is not remotely fresh; it is fresh's antithesis, its polar opposite, its mortal enemy. It's what steps onto the Enterprise wearing a goatee after a transporter malfunction strands Fresh Himself in the anti-matter universe.

Stephen Colbert, bless him, recently managed to put a silly new spin on the Aquaman joke. (It's right around the one-minute mark). It's not bad, actually, as Aquaman gags go -- just dumb enough to crack Colbert up, which is fun.

But that's the exception. The rule itself is pretty grim.

After the jump, a short history of the Aqua-gag, involving Dave Chappelle, Craig Ferguson, Family Guy, Entourage, and the many others who've mistaken the Sea King's orange tunic for Komedy Gold.

Continue reading "Baggin' On the Sea King, or: The Comedy Meme that Ate Atlantis" »

3:48 PM ET | 12- 3-2008 | permalink

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Five Hefty Tomes to See You Through Your Turkey Coma

Too much turkey? Recover on the sofa — with a nice big book full of easily digestible pictures. iStockphoto.com

 

by Glen Weldon

And so it begins: Another noisy, stressful, cousin-crammed festival of starchy overconsumption. Tomorrow, you will feast. And drink. And listen helplessly as your great-uncle updates you on the medical status of his bowels.

And then on Friday morning, you'll stumble from bed a bleary, still-bloated mess. In your compromised state, the shopping mall may beckon. Ignore it.

Instead, do yourself a favor: Hie your tired, tryptophan-addled butt to the nearest couch.

And take a book with you. One that:

1. You can polish off in a single lazy afternoon, and yet
2. Is so thick it could drop even a particularly belligerent yak.

After the jump: Five thick-but-quick books made for long gray weekends like this one.

Continue reading "Five Hefty Tomes to See You Through Your Turkey Coma" »

11:35 AM ET | 11-26-2008 | permalink

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A POTUS Among Us: In Obama, Comics Fans Spy a Fellow Traveler

Geek in Chief? Comics artist Alex Ross may have been prescient about the President-elect. © Alex Ross. Used by permission.

 

by Glen Weldon

So yeah, as previously noted, there was this article in Britain's Daily Telegraph, entitled "Barack Obama: The 50 Facts You Might Not Know." Here's another fact you might not know: That article created a bit of a stir last week among one specific and defiantly geeky sector of the populace.

Across the vasty funnybook blogosphere, that article's very first item — just eight little words — sent hearts to fluttering, tongues to wagging and computer pixels to ... um, doing whatever it is that computer pixels do. Phosphoring, let's say.

The eight little words? "He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics."

Actually, it wasn't all eight of those words. It was just the second one.

Collects.

That one verb sent a thrill up the leg of many a funnybook fan, and got us parsing away like so many Talmudic scholars. (If Talmudic scholars wore XXL X-Men tees.)

To wit:

Well, let's just start with that verb tense. As in: Present! As in: Continues-to-this-very-day!

To say nothing of the word choice itself. To collect, after all, is a fundamentally different prospect than, say, to read. Because packed neatly inside collect is the notion of cataloging, of alphabetizing by publisher, title or lead character.

The word collect is redolent of the chase, of the perpetual, never-to-be-slaked thirst for completeness that is the very engine of full-on geekery.

So yeah, it's an intriguing prospect, a fanboy POTUS; I get that.

But I hereby caution my geek brethren and sistren to curb the collective enthusiasm until we know more.

After the jump: We coldly examine the evidence ...

Continue reading "A POTUS Among Us: In Obama, Comics Fans Spy a Fellow Traveler " »

5:19 PM ET | 11-19-2008 | permalink

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Burma by Baby Carriage

Strolling through Rangoon: Guy Delisle's Burma Chronicles Drawn and Quarterly

 

by Glen Weldon

Resolved: The best travelogue you'll read this year is a funnybook. About a not particularly funny place.

Writer-artist Guy Delisle has previously documented his stays in Shenzhen, China, and Pyongyang, North Korea, in two well-received graphic novels.

Both books are marked by Delisle's deceptively simple, cartoony style, by his eye for architectural detail, and by an easy, unforced sense of humor.

And, when you put it all together, some of the most effective and fully realized travel writing out there.

Here's why: Delisle's words and pictures neatly capture the sense of bemused alienation travel bestows. He's alternately fascinated and frustrated by those around him, yes, but he manages to depict them without falling into any of The Three Traps of Travel Writing.

That is to say, he never:

A: Idealizes
B: Condescends
C: Imagines that millennia-old cultural barriers can be crossed in a matter of months. By him. Because he's soooo much more sensitive and insightful than any stupid tourist.

After the jump: How all that comes together in Myanmar ...

Continue reading "Burma by Baby Carriage" »

12:12 PM ET | 11-12-2008 | permalink

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Post-Election Funnybook Roundup: Who Killed Cock(y) Robin? I Killed Cock(y) Robin.

'A Death In the Family': Your trusty comics blogger? He's responsible for this outrage. DC Comics

 

By Glen Weldon

Now that the last balloons have dropped, we as a nation can take comfort in the knowledge that, one again, millions of us exercised our right to vote and so set in motion the peaceful transfer of power that is the hallmark of this, our American democracy.

And let me note one other thing: That this latest round of quadrennial participation in the Grand Experiment resulted in not even a single masked, pixie-booted young crimefighter getting beaten to a bloody pulp with a crowbar.

And then blown up.

By an evil clown.

Just moments after he'd been reunited with his long-lost mother.

All worth noting, because that's pretty much exactly what happened the first time I ever voted, just over 20 years ago. My vote -- and those of my like-minded fellows -- killed Robin, the Boy Wonder.

And we'd do it again.

After the jump: The day a surprisingly tiny number of geeks (and a 900 number) accomplished what even Gotham's greatest villains never dared to dream.

Continue reading "Post-Election Funnybook Roundup: Who Killed Cock(y) Robin? I Killed Cock(y) Robin. " »

10:10 AM ET | 11- 5-2008 | permalink

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'Garfield Minus Garfield': What's A Cat Comic Without A Cat?

Garfield Minus Garfield: Without Garfield's retorts about how glad he is the day is over, things look a little more bleak. Ballantine Books

 

by Laurel Maury

Early in 2008, Irishman Dan Walsh started posting online copies online of Garfield -- with Garfield removed. The goofy, 30-year-old comic strip featuring the lasagna-loving tabby and Jon Arbuckle, his girlfriend-less owner, has been adored since the early '80s. Without the cat, a dark humor emerged that resonated through the growing world of webcomics. Within a few months, www.garfieldminusgarfield.net was receiving 500,000 hits a day.

Garfield creator Jim Davis became a fan and asked Walsh to work on a book. Now accompanying the rather lavish Garfield: 30 Years of Laughs and Lasagna, by Jim Davis is a small green book, Garfield Minus Garfield.

How the project started, how the fan mail looks, and teaming up with Jim Davis, after the jump...

Continue reading "'Garfield Minus Garfield': What's A Cat Comic Without A Cat?" »

9:51 AM ET | 10-30-2008 | permalink

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Funnybook Roundup, Halloween Edition: "Braaaaaaaaaains...."

Dead Men 'Walking': There are plenty of graphic-novel zombie chronicles, but The Walking Dead leads the shambling herd. Cover detail, 'The Walking Dead,' Vol. I. Courtesy Image Comics

 

by Glen Weldon

Since the post-World War II heyday of EC Comics, horror's been a signature comic book genre.

Which is really odd, when you stop and think about it. For a couple of reasons.

Reason One: Comics by their very nature defy what is perhaps the most frequently cited horror tenet, namely: The scariest stuff is the stuff you don't see.

(In funnybooks, you see everything. That, in fact, is more or less the idea.)

Oh, sure, writers and artists can set a mood, using language, line, shading and color. They can even build tension, of a sort, in that millisecond before you turn the next page.

But (Reason Two) what they can't do is make effective use of tension-and-release, the two-stroke engine that drives horror narratives. If you've ever watched a movie through your fingers, you know what I'm talking about: The slow build of sick dread, the sudden shock, the screaming relief.

The funny thing about each of those tropes, see, is that they are largely functions of pacing.

And I'm going to let you in on a dirty secret about comics: Pacing? Doesn't exist.

After the jump: Why horror comics have to settle for unsettling; assorted zombie matters; and the Monster at the End of this Post.

Continue reading "Funnybook Roundup, Halloween Edition: "Braaaaaaaaaains...."" »

1:38 PM ET | 10-29-2008 | permalink

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'We Call Him JMS': Comics Fans
On the Man Behind 'Changeling'

Hero worship: Former Spider-Man writer J. Michael Straczynski is busy talking up his film Changeling this week, but that won't stop our comics guys from talking up his funnybook-world fame. Tony Rivetti Jr./Universal Pictures

 

by Trey Graham

Today on Morning Edition, NPR's Elizabeth Blair talks about the true story behind the new film Changeling with screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski -- who'll be better known to many Monkey See readers as the creator of TV's Babylon 5 and a longtime writer for Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man.

Wait, did somebody mention a superhero? Cue Monkey See's funnybook blogger Glen Weldon. Glen came down to the mothership earlier this week for an in-studio chat.

Joining him: fellow Marvel geek Jim Lesher, who works on NPR's Operations Desk. (The Ops crew keeps us plugged into the rest of the world, keeps us from fighting over studio time, handles logistics for remote broadcasts, and much more.)

And you know how it is when you put a couple of, ahem, enthusiasts in front of a microphone. Elizabeth asked two, maybe three questions, and the guys were off to the races.

Among the topics: 9/11 in the Marvel universe, Babylon 5 and what it taught TV about the Internet, and the Spider-Man storyline that drove Straczynski out of his skull. Plus: Comics-specific audio extras -- stuff you won't hear in the Morning Edition story -- taken from Blair's interview with Straczynski.

The result? Click the play button above, and hear for yourself.

2:00 AM ET | 10-24-2008 | permalink

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Cue the (Word) Balloon Drop: A Presidential Comix Cavalcade

Here they come to save the day: McCain, Palin and Obama get bio-comics. And there's a fourth — but it's not about the candidate you'd expect. IDW, Bluewater

 

by Glen Weldon

How do I love [preferred candidate]? Let me count the swag:

With lawn signs do I love him. With baby tees, and hoodies. And buttons. And with bumper stickers, desktop wallpapers, magnets (refrigerator/car), lapel pins, hats (baseball/ trucker), coffee mugs, water bottles and funnybooks.

Wait: funnybooks?

Funnybooks.

Four different candidates vying for national office are now the subjects of their own comic-book biographies. But they're not necessarily the four candidates you'd imagine — and you'll never guess which one got snubbed.

After the jump: Profiles in four-color courage, and the identity of the mystery snubbee ... REVEALED! ... (Yeah, okay, it's Biden.)

Continue reading "Cue the (Word) Balloon Drop: A Presidential Comix Cavalcade" »

4:58 PM ET | 10-22-2008 | permalink

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Funnybook Roundup: The Quick, the Dead, the Dumb & the NA na na na na na na na NA na na na na

Who's that girl? She lost her gig this week. The answer, after the jump. Silhouette by Trey Graham, NPR. Image: Marvel Comics

 

by Glen Weldon

So Marvel Comics canceled one of its titles this week. Not a big deal, on the face of it: books get canceled all the time. Out with the old, in with the New Avengers, and all that.

The thing is: The character who's getting her plug pulled is the only female superhero in Marvel's 70-year history who's managed to carry her own book for more than 100 issues. Reaching that milestone is no mean feat; it puts her up there with your Supermans, your Batmans, your Hulks and your Iron Mans.

And I'm willing to bet you've never heard of her.

After the jump: Who she is and how she came to be. Also: creepy manga, the dumbest title of the week, and the theme song that propelled an entire generation into lives of abject geekery ....

Continue reading "Funnybook Roundup: The Quick, the Dead, the Dumb & the NA na na na na na na na NA na na na na" »

3:55 PM ET | 10-15-2008 | permalink

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She Could Kick James Bond's Butt Six Ways to Sunday

Chace scenes: SIS operative Tara Chace anchors Greg Rucka's Queen and Country Oni Press

 

by Glen Weldon

Last week we asked you to weigh in on the girls-and-comics question (questions, really) and your thoughts were gratifyingly weighty, indeed.

If I may attempt to sum up:

1). The stubborn predilection for pulchritude (read: chicks with gazongas the size of Pilates balls) that is manifest in mainstream-comic representations of creatures female seems to inspire more eye-rolls than outrage.

2). Some of the things y'all look for in a funnybook include:

• Plotlines that are intricate and satisfying, especially if said plots are driven by:

• Characters who are smart, interesting, strong and relatable. If they happen to be female: Bonus.

Okay, A: Can I get an Amen? And B: Queen and Country.

The comic series that checks all those boxes, after the jump ....

Continue reading "She Could Kick James Bond's Butt Six Ways to Sunday" »

6:21 PM ET | 10- 8-2008 | permalink

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I Blame the Boob-Window — Or: Why Girls Don't Read Comics

Girls power: What do Power Girl and her ever-present "boob window" have to do with the shuttering of Minx? The Monkey has a theory.

DC Comics

 

Last Thursday, DC Comics announced it was folding Minx, the company's line of graphic novels aimed at teenage girls, just a little over a year after the imprint's much-ballyhooed launch.

Now, the moment that word came down, the vasty comics blogosphere started filling up with words of its own: that familiar blend of opinion, analysis, finger-pointing, and the sentiment expressed so frequently on the Internet it should have its own Blogspot macro: "If-only-they'd-listened-to-me."

One big reason the fall of Minx so intrigues the comics cognoscenti: Minx was a part of DC, and DC is a part of Time-Warner.

So its demise means that even a girl-targeted comics line that gets produced, distributed and marketed under the aegis of mega-gargantua-Brobdignagian corporate overlords — overlords with Scrooge McDuck-size piles of cash at their command — can't find an audience.

Why don't girls read comics?

That, it turns out, is a stupid question.

After the jump: the comics that girls are already reading, the comics they aren't, and what the belly shirt has to do with it all.

Continue reading "I Blame the Boob-Window — Or: Why Girls Don't Read Comics" »

1:00 PM ET | 10- 1-2008 | permalink

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Never Trust the Kid Who
Always Wanted to be Thor

Whenever a small child bravely imagines himself a hero to the world, his future in the workaday world of dull adulthood becomes ever more tightly constrained. Have fun, little guy!

iStockphoto.com

Do kids even have favorite superheroes anymore? Although the li'l ones of my acquaintance seem happy enough to pass an idle summer afternoon at the latest superhero flick, the exploits of costumed crime-fighters just don't fill them with the kind of manic fervor that long ago seized an 8-year-old me. (And never fully let go.)

If, as I suspect, kids no longer tear across each other's backyards with beach towels around their necks, the world is an emptier place for it. I once asked my nephew, then 8 years old himself, to name his favorite superhero. I still remember the way he looked up slowly from his game of Madden, his small round face a mask of confusion and -- I really don't think I imagined this -- pity.

Might as well have asked him to tell me which Katzenjammer Kid he preferred.

But back when I was a lad, a kid's favorite superhero told you a lot about him. It was a kind of playground shorthand that conveyed to other kids exactly what you thought you were about -- and helped you size them up at the same time. It's what we used before adolescence set in, when taste in music took over the job.

The seven most popular playground choices, and what they really said about the chooser, after the jump ...

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Always Wanted to be Thor" »

2:08 PM ET | 09-24-2008 | permalink

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'Local' Girl Makes Good. Eventually.

Local zero? Not for a minute.
Brian Wood & Ryan Kelly/Oni Press

Megan McKeenan, the young woman at the center of Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly's comic series Local, is a tough character to like. Which is probably why I ended up liking her so damn much.

Simply put, she screws up. Like, a lot. For most of Local's 12-issue run, she screws up both royally and serially, propelled from bad choice to bad choice by a high-octane blend of impulse, selfishness and emotional need.

Or to put that another way: She's in her early 20s.

Addicts, relocations and growing the *#@! up, after the jump ...

Continue reading "'Local' Girl Makes Good. Eventually." »

11:30 AM ET | 09-17-2008 | permalink

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Early-Onset Schizophrenia Has Never Been More Adorable

Spelling B.: I Kill Giants protagonist Barbara Thorson sees dark magic where her classmates don't.
Image Comics

The second issue of I Kill Giants, a seven-issue mini-series written by Joe Kelly and illustrated by JM Ken Niimura, hits stores today.

Why I'm telling you this: Issue #1 off-handedly accomplished something that, I assert, comics can do better than any other form of entertainment: It set up an intriguing tension between its narrative content and its visual style, and it really lived inside that tension.

Erm. Let's see if I can put that another way, without waxing quite so grad-school insufferable.

More direct language, plus a sneak-peek page, after the jump ...

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2:00 PM ET | 09-10-2008 | permalink

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Marvel's Simian Super-Heroes
And Other Monkeyshines

We feel an odd kinship: Monkey See is beside itself over Marvel Apes.
Illustration: Lindsay Mangum, NPR/Marvel Comics

Apes. They are to comic books what guest-appearances by Charo are to television: A once-pervasive element of the form, now fallen into sad disuse. Cheesy? Yep. Nonsensical? Sure. Yet possessed of an essential grooviness that is self-evident.

Back in a more whimsical era, comic pages teemed with gorillas, chimps, monkeys and the bad puns that inevitably follow in their musky wake. The reason was decidedly unwhimsical: Putting a primate on the cover boosted sales.

But this gorilla glut didn't last forever, and today it's a fondly remembered period in the history of comics publishing that continues to inspire scholarship -- well, musing, anyway.

Tomorrow, however, Marvel Apes # 1 arrives in comic shops.

The Strange Allure of Apes in Capes, after the jump ...

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And Other Monkeyshines " »

9:35 AM ET | 09- 4-2008 | permalink

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In Which Superman Returns, Looking Kinda Mopey

Broody heroes? We've been down this road before, and the scenery ain't always pretty.
DC Comics

So Warner Brothers has decided it needs to clean the slate and reboot the Superman film franchise.

Okay, I get that. Sorta.

I mean, yes, sure, Superman Returns got too mired in sticky-sweet nostalgia for the '70s Richard Donner film.

But it banked over $200 million in U.S. theaters, and that's not counting sales of DVDs and Superman Returns Limited Edition Four Cheese Pasta Roni. This is a flop?

Here's the bit I really don't get, though: Now that The Dark Knight has become the highest-grossing film of the year, Warner Pictures President Jeff Robinov says he wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone. He sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.' DC properties.

"We're going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it," Robinov says. That goes for the company's Superman franchise as well.

Hoo boy. Hey, moviegoing public? We comic book geeks have something to tell you, because we've been down this road before.

It was called the '90s. And, trust us, it doesn't end well.

Why you should fear the super-mullet, after the jump.

Continue reading "In Which Superman Returns, Looking Kinda Mopey" »

10:05 AM ET | 08-27-2008 | permalink

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