Badasses on Parade

It's been a while since I put up a Baddass Files entry for you but Scott from Polite Dissent has done it for me by celebrating Teddy Roosevelt.

Speaking of badasses, check out this dude from the cover of Black Diamond Western. He's gonna knock that door down with his head!
I also want to bring your attention to the guy in the front who is such a huge Charles Biro fan that he has put his name on his hat. And the fellow on the far left whose concern for his floors has caused his beer to defy the laws of physics.

Why Comics Fairplay Rocks

Obviously Noetic Concordance is in a bit of a slump. Regular updates will return but I'm not sure when.

Until then, check out one of the best comic blogs that is being updated regularly: Heidi Meeley's Comics Fairplay.

Her recent post about Jodi Picoult's Run on Wonder Woman is some of the best comics writing I've run across. The rest of Heidi's site rocks, too. Sometimes literally.

Heidi MacDonald: Can Anyone Here Tell A Story?

Heidi MacDonald talks about lame, autobiographical comics. She's not saying all autobio comics suck but this quote sums up a great deal of her argument:

When Cervantes wanted to rebel against the badly written romances of his day, he didn’t write a long novel about being a smart guy who was sick of reading about the relatives of Amadis of Gaul. He made up a story! About a made up guy who had made up problems and friends, even though intelligent, sensitive readers could recognize their own foibles and dreams in those problems. Cervantes was making things up. God love him.

Thanks to Randy Lander for linking to this over on his blog.

Ramping Back Up

OK, I pretty much took September off due to back-to-back vacations and catching whatever plague has been affecting the rest of the comics bloggers. I've also let a couple of features slide and I want to get them back on track. Wednesdays and Fridays should remain the same but I want to resurrect Blogging the Crisis as well as to get back to It Came From the '90s, which has only had one installment, so far.

Here's a list of the Crisis posts for any of you who have started reading since they took a break:

Introduction, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Part 7 will be up by the weekend. While you wait, here's a Dick Tracy cover which didn't make it into the latest Weird-Ass Cover post:

Click to embiggen

You can see Dick trying to figure out whether hitting the bride will help or hinder his War Against Crime!

The Most Amazing Picture In The World

photo by Alan Light

Will Eisner. Jack Kirby.

I wonder what they're talking about?



From Alan Light's set of pictures from the 1982 San Diego Comic Con, via Mike Sterling

Man, Comics Award Shows Are Rough

Hank Ketcham presents the severed head of Sergio Aragonés to Shel Dorf.

photo by Alan Light

From Alan Light's set of pictures from the 1982 San Diego Comic Con, via Mike Sterling

That Comic Book Database Sure Is Grand

I've got a bunch of reviews on the way but they won't be ready until some time Tuesday afternoon.

However, I wanted to mention a long overdue addition to the sidebar. The Grand Comic Book Database is exactly what it says it is. Wednesdays and Fridays would not be the same around here without the GCD. Check them out and donate if you can.

Hey Kids! Blogs!

Here's some stuff from around the blogosphere:


Heidi Meeley once again shows why she's one of my favorite bloggers by declaring Blog Positivity Day! I'm in! Who's with me?

Scie-Ence! Justice Leak! has a roundup of DC's recent offerings which I agree with to a signicant extent. Short version: DC puts out a bad comic; world continues to turn.

Speaking of things I agree with, Devon Sanders has a tale of the once and future Saturday morning.

Finally, Dave Campbell has begun Suicide Squad Week which is just about the damn coolest thing ever. Waller r00lZ! It begins here. And sort of here.

Oh, and here's a crossover that didn't make it into my latest celebration of all things weird-ass.

You're welcome

Sympathy for the Meme

Go over to Mike's place and pick one up for yourself.

Separated At Birth?

Thanks to Yedna for pointing out that there is something weird about the costumes The Order wears. I just figured it out:



At least The Order got to be drawn by Kitson.

Two Quick Blog Notes

Added to the sidebar: Munsonisms.

As of this posting, Noetic Concordance is the number one hit for Iron Man Ruined Marvel.

I'm not saying the two items above are related but I'm not saying they're not.

Also, check out this excellent page from a recent issue of Gødland:

(Click the image for an article from last year about Gødland where you can find more scans and an interview with Joe Casey. Can you tell I like Gødland?)

Warning. And BEARS!!

Those of you who read this blog via any kind of RSS feed are gonna see a bunch of old posts in the near future. Sorry about that. To make it up to you I implore you to check out these disturbing bears from the lovely and talented Bully.

Let's Get Ready To Rumble

Comic Pants has started a new Rumble Pants tournament. Go over there and vote for Taskmaster. I don't know who the hell is voting for Deathstroke but there need to be more voices of sanity and propriety over there.

Heidi Meeley's got some good stuff to say about Kyle vs. Hal both present and past. Check it out! I have gone on and on about my love for the GLC and ambivalence towards the human GLs and I will, no doubt, do so again. Make Mine Mogo! Also, Soranik Natu rules.

Comics Should Be Good has an excellent interview with Jimmy Palmiotti who is may favorite comics writer right now.

Finally, other people walk the walk when it comes to The Transformers but Tom Foss talks the talk.

Jonah Freakin' Hex

There's a blog that's entirely about Jonah Freakin' Hex, man! Why have you kept this from me? I thought we were friends.

Barton Fink! Barton Fink!

The super-awesome Heidi Meeley sent her blog through Mingle2.com's rating machine. I did, too. Here's what I got:

That's about what I figured. I am puzzled by the examples it gave for the rating, however:

* death (5x)
* gay (2x)
* hells (1x)

OK, let's address the "gay" thing first. I'm guessing their official reason for including it is that many porn sites have a gay section. However, most of the uses I've seen of the word are PG-rated at worst. Also, this blog uses "gay" primarily because it's the last name of one of our contributors (i.e. my wife).

"Death" and "Hells"? WTF? I don't even know where to start with those. I would have figured my frequent uses of words like "fuck", "shit", and "Mark Millar" would have set off the R-rating alarms. Go figure.

Separated at Birth: End of Civilization Style

Thanks to the internet's Mike Sterling for his latest End of Civilization post. As I was reading this one I noticed a couple of familiar faces. Separated at birth? You. Be. The. Judge.

Pop-up Vader and a Sleestak




Chubby-face Thor and one of those Horde dudes from Strikeforce: Morituri.

The Eight Questions of Blazing Death

Brian Hughes tagged me with the "Eight Facts" meme. Well played, Mr. Hughes. Well played.

Here are the rules:
- Each player starts with eight random facts about themselves.
- Those who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight facts and post these rules.
- At the end of the post, choose some people to get tagged and list their names.

1. I can't ride a bicycle. Never learned.

2. I have run completely around a sovereign nation. OK, it was The Vatican but it counts. I didn't mean to do it. A friend and I turned the wrong way out of the Sistine Chapel which we realized at the same time we discovered we only had a few minutes to get back to the tour bus.

3. I married exactly the right person. Melissa (that's her name up there in the upper right-hand corner) and I have been married for 12 years and we are deliriously happy. The fact that she's a bigger geek than I am is a major contributing factor.

4. My mom has been online longer than I have. Seriously. Her blog. goes back to 2002 and she was into the chat rooms and other stuff back when I was still in college (in the very early 90s) and didn't even have email.

5. I have a 'radio voice'. I would have a 'radio job' if I had jumped into that career early. At least once a month someone says to me, "Have you ever considered being on the radio?"

6. I kinda liked the Fantastic Four sequel.

7. I created a S.H.I.E.L.D. subsidiary team called S.W.O.R.D. when I was in Jr. High. Special Weapons and Operations Reinforcement Division. You're welcome.

8. I do not own a TV. I still watch some shows via DVD and download. I mean, I'm not a communist. However, we realized that we hadn't turned the TV on in months so we (almost literally) kicked it to the curb.

Bahlactus, Heidi, and Tom, I tag thee!

OuijaNet

I can't quit staring at the OuijaNet image Jeffrey Rowland created. I mean, dude, check it out:

You can buy the damn thing on a shirt or a mousepad. I can't guarantee that it'll smite your enemies or bring you riches but who knows?

Many Happy Returns Of The Day

Happy 1st Birthday, Again With The Comics!

Stuff I Like

I have a couple of people I want to direct your attention towards. I've been reading and/or listening to both of these people for a while now but I haven't posted about them since they are not specifically comics-related. They're both going to be guests at Hypericon this year so I'll get to meet them in person. Cool!

Actually, I have met Elilzabeth Donald before. She and I attend some of the same cons. She's an excellent fiction writer but I want to point you towards her geek blog, CultureGeek. Click back through her recent posts. She's just done a cool Superman series with all kinds of Man-of-Steel info.

Mark Kinney is one of my favorite podcasters. He is one of the hosts of All Games Considered which stays at the top of my playlist. He's just started a geekblog of his own called Mark of the Geek. Check it out. Seriously, check it out.