Plastic Man is good at finding keys. He just becomes one.
Police Comics #5
Comic Magazines Inc (December, 1941)
Here’s a fun game for you. Count how many times the enemy is a Nazi or part of the Axis versus a regular crook. We have our first costumed villain, though proper supervillains are still a ways off in this series. And of course the cops are still not the main heroes of the story, but at least they show up in the story.
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Note that we’re still getting season 2, this doesn’t necessarily mean Kurtzman is gone since I don’t know how strong his contract is as put together by the Trek-hating guy who left ViacomCBS as it remerged with Paramount, IDW is supposed to be making the tie-in comics last I heard, and they’re going to have to prove to me they’ve learned their lesson with future projects.
For those of you who missed last week’s reveal, you may find it odd that I’m using a graphic novel. Usually this article series features fictional prose rather than a autobiographical comic. Well, it’s a bit long for me to sit down and read all at once. The size of a usual omnibus trade collection, this was something I ended up with at Free Comic Book Day, a “misprint” edition of an account of the band Pocket Vinyl as they try to break a record by doing 50 concerts in 50 days across all 50 states. Personally I want to see how they got to Hawaii and Alaska and made the deadline.
I’ve been to their website and their music is not to my taste, though the idea that the band performs while the pianist’s wife paints live on stage sound interesting. There’s also a webcomic in the same art style (Elisabeth Jancewicz is the artist and Eric Stevenson the co-writer of the book) but you need to be on Instagram to read it, and it’s just another service I’d do little to nothing with. Scanning these pages is a bit difficult seeing that it’s bound the normal way books are, so unlike a Scanning My Collection article I probably won’t have images. I don’t want to damage the book whether I keep it post-review or not. I got it free and I wouldn’t sell it (unless the misprint edition is somehow worth a ton of money now, it just wouldn’t feel right and even that’s only because I need money right now), but either way having it in good readable condition is important. Maybe I’ll steal a scan from someone else if I have a text wall. Speaking of which, let’s break this one and review chapter 1 of 11.
The Strangers #13/Ultraverse Premiere #4 flipbook
Malibu Comics/Ultraverse (June, 1994)
The Strangers: “Battle With Boneyard”
WRITER: Mike W. Barr (plot) & Steve Englehart (plot & script)
PENCILER: Mike Gustovich
INKER: Thomas Florimonte
COLORING: Moose Baumann & Violent Hues
LETTERER: Susan Dome
EDITOR: Roland Mann
Ultraverse Premiere
LETTERER: Patrick Owsley
EDITOR: Roland Mann
Prime: “Anatomy Of A Hero” part 2
WRITER: Len Strazewski
PENCILER: Frank Gomez (also UP cover)
INKER: Troy Hubbs
COLORING: Keith Conroy, GCOX3 (also UP cover), and Foodhammer!
Credits come from the Grand Comic Database, because they don’t seem to be listed in the comic, at least not in the scans I’m using.
Ladykiller: “Market Realities” part 1
WRITER: Kurt Busiek
PENCILER: Kris Renkewitz
INKER: Jeff Albrecht
COLORING: Mickey Rose, Tim Duvar, & Violent Hues
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I was never able to see it in theaters or find the home video, but I did get to see it online. It does feel like a longer episode of the show, like the original miniseries, Invasion From The 21st Level, or the Master Renegade’s debut. I still enjoyed it but it’s not as good as the Transformers movie because the stakes were still at the show’s level. I like the show and the toyline, but a theatrical movie deserved something more. I also like GoBots but getting Marvel on their side really gave the Transformers an edge.
Sure, it required adoption, cloning, and fourth-dimensional jerks…
I can give credit where it’s due. Restoring young Jon while keeping old Jon for his fans was the right move. Sure, they only aged him up because they hate kids (won’t even make Superman comics for them anymore) and used the queer shield against everyone who wanted young Jon back because they really enjoyed watching him team with Damian as the Super-Sons (what, you think they actually cared about the LGBT+ community when DiDio just wanted to remake the DC universe in his image?). The fact that they did it is still cool. How long they keep this up is another matter entirely. I still don’t trust them. If it’s not DiDio acolytes they still have snobs and activists to deal with while the corporates only care about potential movie IP. Skydance still has to convince me they’ll give comics their due, but I’m not holding my breath.
Over at The Clutter Reports I hit the next phase of my cardboard drawer divider project.
Coming up this week the last document for CBS Transformers as I look at a sample script for their Saturday morning rework. Also Chapter By Chapter begins its first graphic novel as I begin looking at How To Completely Lose Your Mind. Plus the usual videos, comic reviews, and whatever crosses my path or mind. Have a great week, everyone!
Here’s a confession that might get me in trouble. I never really got into Chuck Norris movies. It’s more timing than anything else. I knew who Chuck Norris was, and not just because of his lackluster and forgotten cartoon. (I kind of liked it as a kid but I knew it wasn’t as good as it could have been.) He tried to do the same thing as Mr. T, entertain kids and give good moral lessons but the writing just wasn’t there even though the concept was sound. It was really the only thing I could catch as a kid because most of his films were made for adults and I was a kid. It was catered to adult tastes, and I’m not complaining. I just came about at the wrong time. The only Chuck Norris vehicle I really got into was Walker: Texas Ranger, and even that I’ve never watched regularly.
Sadly we lost Norris yesterday. Despite all the internet memes about how superhuman he was, Carlos Ray Norris passed away in a hospital while on vacation in Hawaii, after being hospitalized for a “medical emergency”. As of this writing no cause of death has been reported. So I wanted to post something for Saturday Night Showcase as tribute to someone who did so much for entertainment.
I chose Lone Wolf McQuade, a 1983 action movie that inspired Cordell Walker in the original series. It’s also one of his first roles as the heroic lead and debut of the facial hair that solidified his signature look. Jim “JJ” McQuade is a Marine turned Texas Ranger who gets along with his ex-wife and her new boyfriend. When the boyfriend is killed and ex hospitalized by Rawley Wilkes (David Carradine), McQuade has to bring the villain to justice as only a Chuck Norris character can. Enjoy.
The Clutter Reports (my other site) Atop The Fourth Wall Crisis On Earth Prime Lean Into Artcast Bully Says “Comics Oughta Be Fun” Siskoid’s Blog of Geekery
Cartoon Hero’s Lair SF Debris Four Million Years Later
BW Media Spotlight 