Comic Book Resources reports that DC is pulling the plug on Minx. This is too bad. In fact, it sucks. Brian Wood agrees with me.
In lighter news, A Japanese comic is responsible for wild increases in the sales of specific wines.
Also, XKCD continues to rule.
Last year, I posted a Weird-ass Cover Wednesday entry about Adventures Into Weird Worlds. I mentioned that the covers from this title straddle the line between Weird-ass and Awesome so this week I'm going to highlight a few of the awesome ones.
Wow! Just look at this. Anything else I say will only distract you from the awesome that is the cover for issue #7.
Oh, crap! Check out that green dude's knife! Also, is that skeleton ambulatory or is it just hanging around back there. Like a dungeon accessory.
BONUS: Look over on the sidbar. 'Don't lose your head'. Genius!
The art on this one is really cool and it's a great cover but I might not have included it if it hadn't been for the one-two punch of puns it contains. Knight! Shriek! Spectacular!
I...um. Dude. Seriously.
Just...dude.
King Clownape is on vacation this week at the big Stevie Nicks convention but he sent a message for you all.
"Balls"
Terry and Hotshot are here to help you out with your pirate talk.
Take it away, boys!
I'm going old-school on you this week. I've been thinking about Spider-Man a lot lately so I'm going to bring up four of my favorite Amazing Spider-Man covers from the late 1960s. They show why John Romita is considered one of the greats. From the composition to the action to the backgrounds, these are excellent covers that make me want to know what's going on inside the comic.
Thanks, as always, to the Grand Comic-Book Database for the images. Check 'em out. Donate if you can.
Hello, again! It is I! King Clownape I. That's right. I put a 'the first' on my name. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it. I can smoke three pipes simultaneously. Ha!
But enough about me. How awesome do you think I am. Good, good. As it should be. I have met the requirements of my "contract" with the proprietor of this "blog" by allowing all of you unworthy, single-brained subcreatures to gaze upon my magnificence. Now, I leave you. Oprah's on.
Vaklam: Er, thanks, Your Majesty. This week, Weird-Ass Cover Wednesday is actually being posted on a Wednesday!
In 1940, MLJ Comics (which would later be renamed Archie Comics) put out a title which combined The Shield with The Wizard. Or, as they put it, "The G-Man Extraordinary and the Man with the Super Brain". Check out the covers below and see if you can pick up on some of the subtle themes.
#3
This one's a little blurry but you can see what's going on. Lizardy alien dudes with Tommy guns. And the sidekicks are tied to missles. MmmHmm.
The sidekicks are named Dusty and Roy the Super Boy. Make of that what you will.
#5
Shield and Wizard are kicking some NAZI ass! Yeah! But wait. Those goose-steppers are armed with...torches?
Oh, they're burning Roy the Super Boy at the stake. I guess that explains why they don't have guns. My head hurts.
#6
It looks like those lizard dudes are back. And this time, one of them is dressed as Dr. Strange! Nefarious!
It's a good thing Dusty was there to catch the nitro-glycerin. And, oh man! If Roy hadn't been manacled to the vault door just in the nick of time I don't know what we would have done.
Seriously, though. He's smiling. Roy, get help.
The LA Times Online interviewed Eric Powell about the animated Goon movie!
The prospect of a Goon movie is cause to bring out the awesomest image ever:
First, I want to plug another blog I contribute to: Geekzor! It's a listing of weird, geeky ephemera that a bunch of us think is cool.
Francesco Marculiano, the guy who writes Sally Forth as well as writes and draws Medium Large, has put Comic Strip Writing 101 on his site. It is one of the funniest things I have ever read and even has some good advice amidst the drunken ramblings. You know, kind of like the internet.
IGN interviewed David Hine and Fabrice Sapolsky about Marvel's upcoming 'noir Spider-Man' title. Also on the way: noir versions of Daredevil, X-Men, and Wolverine. Because it is written on great stone tablets deep in Marvel's basement that Wolverine must appear in everything.
USA Today online has a story about Alissa Torres, a 9/11 widow who wrote a graphic novel about her experience. It was drawn by Sungyoon Choi.
And just because I can't get enough of it, here's a picture of a bunny cold-cocking a turtle:
I spend a lot of time here making fun of covers from the 50s and 60s but there are some really awesome ones from the past, too. One batch of awesomeness I just found out about is from the period of time that Amazing Fantasy was called Amazing Adult Fantasy, also known as the first half of 1962. My knowledge of Amazing Fantasy up until now began and ended with issue #15 which is the one featuring Spider-Man's origin. On a whim, I looked into the earlier issues and discovered the following covers. Each cover from #6 to #14 is great.
I have picked out some of my favorites to show you but a search for the title on the Grand Comic-Book Database will reveal the rest. Each one is a case study in elegant design and sensational imagery. Sketchy or solid-color backgrounds, crisp foreground images, and spectacular art make these things really jump off the shelves.
Also, the comic has the best tagline ever: The magazine that respects your intelligence.
