Video Time is still in the 80s. "Head Over Heels" is my favorite track from Songs From The Big Chair. Tears For Fears was the first concert I ever went to where I paid for the ticket with my own money. It was an awesome show.
Also, the video has a chimp in a library! Genius!
This week's Awesome Cover Friday is extra large because it's about the Marvel Universe's favorite extra-large character.
Galactus!
Few things are more awesome than Galactus. Literally. He raises the awesome quotient of any cover he is on by 64%. I can prove this using algebra.
Also, what's Ben Grimm doing up in the corner, there? Gathering firewood?
I was working on some Weird-Ass Cover Wednesday posts when I ran across the cover for Candy #18 and, well...just look at it.
Mere words simply cannot do this justice.
Also, um, what's going on up there in that 'N'?
King Clownape decided to sit this one out. I'm not sure exactly why. He just wandered off muttering something about a 'history' with Millie.
I've got a soft spot in my heart for Millie the Model and so does Marvel Comics, apparently, because she keeps showing up in other titles. She was at Reed and Sue's wedding as well as issues of The Defenders and She Hulk. She is officially part of the Marvel Universe.
The character originally appeared in 1945 in Marvel's predecessor Timely Comics and later in Atlas Comics. Mad About Millie ran from 1969 - 1970 and was, as far as I can tell, one big advertisement for the era's swingin' sexual revolution. I present the evidence below:
This post has been
This week on Video Time, it's another Police song: Invisible Sun.
Can you tell I like the depressing ones?
Anyway, I think Brolin's a good choice for the character. I wonder how they're going to handle the makeup for the scar.
In other news, the two most recent issues of Jonah Hex are really good.
I'm a huge First Comics fan. They put out some of the best titles of the 80s. My favorite of their publications was The Badger but Nexus was a close second.
The covers below are from the '90s during Dark Horse's possession of Nexus but I will always consider it to be a First title.
Monkeyshines. I see.
You must be kidding. Funny animal comics? I go away for a couple of weeks and this is what I find!
Also, "monkey". How droll. I tire of this. Carry on with your little jape-fest. I expect improvement next week. Serious improvement.
Vaklam: Welcome back, Your Majesty. Monkeyshines is a comic from the 1940s which featured most of the funny-animal tropes anyone who has seen more than three Warner-Brothers cartoons is familiar with. Some of the covers reveal a significant malacious streak. Enjoy!
Also, the characters on the left are all people I went to college with. True story.
Hey, kids! Comics!
Fun for the whole family!
I had forgotten about the LOLcats feed for Noetic Concordance. It takes anything with an RSS feed and sticks the titles on pictures of kitties. Here's my favorite one from the new batch:
Of course, the picture of the kitty was heavily photo-referenced and cribbed from someone else's work.
I may have to use this picture as the intro to any post I do about Land.
It's not comics-related but I thought I'd resurrect Video Time. This time, it's The Police: Synchronicity II.
This video is one of the things from my formative years that really shaped my aesthetic. The post-apocalyptic, thrown-together look showed up in nearly every role-playing game and short story I created for the next ten years. Plus, it's a kickass song.
Are you reading The Comics Curmudgeon? 'Cause you should be. His latest post is an excellent place to start.
Who's awesome? Heidi Meeley is awesome! She's started a new feature on Comics Fairplay called Naughty or Nice.
The latest Comic-Book Urban Legends entry tells the story of Jedi Master Soon Baytes. Teehee.
Check out Polite Dissent for the latest in science-based comics blogging.
And now, your moment of zen:
Long before the movie Weird Science came along, there was a comic book by the same name. Many of the title's stories were adaptations of Ray Bradbury pieces and the covers, most of them by Wally Wood, are spectacular.
Dinosaurs! And spaceships! And a volcano! This thing literally sells itself.
I literally can't get enough of this cover. The weird space creatures (who are wearing the same spacesuits as the humans from the issue above) contrasted with the kids make for a terrific image. Also, check out that dog.
Woah! The composition of this cover alone blows me away (no pun intended). The subject matter is stunning as well. Keep in mind that this issue came out in 1953.
In 1961, Herman Cohen and American International Pictures made a film called Konga. Turns out it was not about the tiny, Swedish village but, instead, about a giant ape. This disappointed many people. Despite this, it was a big hit and Charlton made a comic book out of it. It ran for 23 issues and had some of the ca-ray-ziest covers ever.
King Clownape is still away. He has decided to follow Foreigner during this leg of their comeback tour. So, we have a special guest who will provide the commentary for each issue. Konga himself! Take it away!
Um...guys? Little help? Pardon me, but I seem to be stuck in the-- Hello? Giant ape behind you. Over here. Oh, for the love of!
Funny story: I find that I am often hunted by humanity. So the fact that you, a group of alien invaders, are on the verge of attacking me is, while an interesting twist on the basic giant-monster tropes, rather annoying as I am generally unconcerned by what happens to the inhabitants of this planet.
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.
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.
