comic noize

Stegron The Dinosaur Man.

morgado — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:15:04 +0000

In my last post, I mentioned how some of my earliest superhero exposure was through the Spider Man feature in The Electric Company magazine. It was also my earliest exposure to one of the best worst Spider-villains ever: Stegron the Dinosaur Man.

Love this guy. He’s basically the Lizard, only a dinosaur. Get rid of the humans, rule a world of lizards, only instead of lizards it’s dinosaurs. Gotta love it.

Ol’ Steggy doesn’t get out all that much, but he still shows his scaly face every now and again, usually in some form of Savage Land related shenanigan. You know what’s weird though? His name is Stegron, and in all his mainstream Marvel appearances, he looks the part. Orange skin, spikes down the back, big tail… yet, and I swear I’m remembering this correctly, when I first encountered him in the pages of The Electric Company, he had green skin, no tail, and triceratops horns. I can find nothing to back this up, but I swear that’s how he looked. Which of course makes no sense since he was still Stegron the Dinosaur Man and not Triceraton the Dinosaur Man…

Am I seriously the only one who remembers him looking that way in that appearance? I even know the issue number: Electric Company magazine #113. Alas, there are no copies up on eBay right now for a confirmation purchase…

You Find a Porcelain Bowl Attached to the Floor…

pkindlon — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 18:00:20 +0000

Countdown to Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day continues with today’s auction. It’s the original rulebook for Gamma World, the science fiction stepbrother of D&D also made by TSR. Gamma World’s setting was way post-apocalyptic, to the point anthropomorphic animals wander the wastelands, plants mutated into thinking beings, and any materials of the 20th Century were considered ancient relics. The problem (or joy, depending on your perspective) of role-playing this sort of setting is that everyday 20th Century items must be treated like arcane sources of befuddlement. Your character doesn’t know what a toilet is, so when he stumbles across one in an abandoned army barracks, he might think it’s a feeding troth. Or a throne. You, the player, have to act that out, much to the enjoyment of your crew. HILARITY!

While you’re at it, pick up this bad boy. A campaign module for Gamma World from 1982. Even if you never play, this one is worth it for the art which is imbued with a heartfelt amateurism that is just incredible.

Spider Man Lot.

morgado — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:12:20 +0000

As a child of the late 70s, some of my earliest superhero exposure came from Spider Man’s Electric Company appearances, both on the tv show and in the magazine. Mainly the magazine. As this was the 1970s, the company line was to draw Spidey exactly like John Romita did, which explains why to this day the Romita/Kane/Andru era Spidey is some of my all time favorite stuff. So lots like this, that span the decade? A jackpot.

Ah Cyclone… you never really got your due, you French version of Whirlwind you.

Please note issues 150 and 170 both taking the same “all my enemies are attacking me… I must be going MAD!” route, right down to using the same exact lines. I got a kick out of that.

Super Plants?

morgado — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:11:49 +0000

I legitimately never had a clue that there was enough crossover business between comic book fans and fans of gardening to justify the merchandising coup that is DC superhero planters…

You learn something new every day. Definitely cool to see Captain Marvel filling out the 4th spot.

Top 100 Summer Comics #12

Bob — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:25:45 +0000

So if you have been detached from the comics world for a minute, lemme catch you up.

Essentially, the Scarlet Witch flipped the entire world inside out and created an alternate reality before reverting to the one we know and love… except that now there’s a whole lot less mutants. (I would go with the “no more mutants” tag, but you know, it’s outdated.)

In the process, she kinda killed Hawkeye, who obviously was not okay with that. So… what happens next?

#12 – New Avengers 26

Hawkeye finds her, disguised as a simple villager in the frozen in time villages of Wundagore Mountain. The Witch seduces him, things go down, and he realizes he is in no position to exact revenge from a demigod. Bendis spins a great yarn, one of the many in New Avengers, but Alex Maleev is on point. A style which is both gritty and smooth, he was the perfect artist to pen this issue – an underrated feature is his ability to develop facial emotion and buildup through his panels, which is on full display here.

We Begin Our Dungeon Crawl Today

pkindlon — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:45:18 +0000

So I’m told September 11th is this year’s Worldwide Play Dungeons and Dragons Day. Yes, that’s a real thing. To celebrate, this week’s posts will have a sword and sorcery bent to them. Yesterday’s post was about demon rape, which is an angle I’ve never roleplayed in D&D, but I’m sure someone has. Today, we’re going with the other pillar of being an alienated 16 year-old: hallucinogenic mushrooms.

This auction for original art by Tony DiTerlizzi first featured in 2nd Edition Monstrous Manual. Anyone who has played D&D has seen this piece. It’s a subtle classic and needs to be in the hands of someone who will appreciate it.

This post is timely because in the news today researchers revealed hallucinogenic mushrooms have proven useful in reducing stress in cancer patients. No shit. It’s called being high, man. Also works on AIDS patients, Lupus patients, burn victims, people with broken ankles, those suffering from twitchy eyelids, hiccups and athlete’s foot.

Top 100 Summer Comics #13

Bob — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:04:20 +0000

Bad luck is for suckers, so here’s #13.

Alan Davis bangs out one of the best annuals. Maybe the coolest X-book that doesn’t really feature any true X-Men.

New Mutants? Check. Pre-Ninja Psylocke? Check. O.G. Excalibur? Check.

Doug Ramsey saving the day? DOUBLE CHECK!

Here’s the thing – I never liked Doug Ramsey. He sucked. He was the most transparent attempt at an everyman / everychild for the meek and meager to relate to. As if Cannonball wasn’t lame enough?

When he was killed (or put down like a poor old dog in my opinion) the New Mutants were able to grow. The team could face dangers and conflict with a different tone – simply put, Doug’s greatest contribution was dying. However, this is the best Doug story, and Alan Davis knocks it out of the park. I think this was the era when Arthur Adams was the king of the x-annual, and I think Alan Davis rose to the challenge. Home run issue for anyone who likes any of the following.

1. Alan Davis art (seriously, some of his best stuff)

2. New Mutants

3. Excalibur

4. Word Balloons galore aka Claremontian storytelling

5. Doug Ramsey aka Cypher aka the lamest duck.

Cash a Savings Bond and Buy This Now!

pkindlon — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:17:15 +0000

So here’s a piece that almost certainly never saw publication and was created by someone who either used a pseudonym when signing this work or went on to a career in insurance and never painted again. So why the high asking price for this piece?

Well, it was recovered from the Eerie Publication offices. Could it be that the Eerie name carries such weight that even an unpublished work by an unknown is gifted with value by association? Maybe. Could it be that the seller is insane and attempts to sell everything in his/her life for 600% over market value? Could be.

But here’s the real deal: This piece just rules. It’s amateurish and ugly with a strong raped-by-demon imagery that probably got the artist reported to the school psychologist by a concerned lunch lady. It’s worth every penny. Hell, this seller should double the price. If poorly crafted pieces of shit like the Taj Mahal are considered “priceless” then this thing deserves at least that much.

Vacation!

pkindlon — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:00:53 +0000

What’s the statute of limitations on a character? Like, when is he so ubiquitous that to do your own version of him isn’t parody and isn’t theft, it’s just… homage? A character like Superman is part of the cultural milieu, interpretations and new takes are expected.

But what about bit players? What about the characters who aren’t quite as universal?

The Impossible Man made his first appearance in 1963, almost 20 years after the first appearance of DC Comic’s resident reality-bending imp, Mister Mxyzptlk. Are they really that similar? Well, hard to say, because there aren’t too many other points of reference for cross-dimensional mischief makers but I think it’s fair to say one influenced the other.

This auction is for one of Impossible Man’s Summer Vacation Spectaculars he starred in back when people would buy anything. Because today is a holiday, IM is getting the nod over Mister Mxyzptlk. Impossible Man knows how to keep it breezy.

Top 100 Summer Comics #14

Bob — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:41:03 +0000

I’ve mentioned Acts of Vengeance enough on here that really, I need to recommend you check it out. Marvel is putting out an omnibus so I’ll get that up at some point. But this corner of the meta-crossover was so good I often forget it was even consider a part of it.

#14 – Uncanny X-Men 256

This is by far the coolest the Mandarin has ever been. Claremont and this newbie artist by the name of JIM LEE just upped the ante on the whole game with this 3 issue jaunt. Psylocke returns as a crazy ninja assassin and Wolverine is trying to get her back, despite looking like a Jersey Shore cast member trying to wake up at 7 am. Not pretty.

The best part about all this? Not surprisingly, Lee’s pencils were absolutely on point. The tone and imaging of the book resonates so well that the story was leaping off the pages. A great story that was just taken another step by the visual – perfect example of the validity and value of comic books in the literary marketplace.