Storm by Clayton Henry

Read more »

Marvel Profiles // artwork by Mike Mitchell (2016)

Marvel Profiles // artwork by Mike Mitchell (2016)

Read more »

New Comics Day

   Here's what I picked up at the comics shop today:

- Comic Book History of Comics #2 - Bring on the super-heroes!

- Daredevil #14 - The art of murder.

- Flash #12 - The speed of darkness.

- Guardians of the Galaxy #15 - The Thing catches up.

- Hawkeye #1 - It's the other Hawkeye.

- Totally Awesome Hulk #13 - Space jam?

- Jessica Jones #3 - A kidnapping and a discussion.

- George Perez's Sirens #6 - The end at last!

- All New X-Men #16 - Monster vs. monster!


   And I received review copies of:

- Black #3 

- Britannia #4

- Wrath of the Eternal Warrior #14

- Young Terrorists #2


   And that's it!

Read more »

BABE OF THE DAY - LYNDA CARTER...

Here she is, fellas - the stunning LYNDA CARTER.

I wonder what she's wondering about?  (She does a lot

of that - which is no doubt why she's named WONDER

WOMAN.)  Probably whether I'd say yes if she were

to ask me out on a date.  (Yes!)

Read more »

DC: The Big Book Of Girl Power

I have been moseying in and out of shops lately, doing some in person Christmas shopping. I find it a bit 'old school' to actually be looking on the shelves for something special that is perfect for someone special. And when I don't know what to get someone, online shopping seems weird. Sometimes I just need to look on the shelves and see if something grabs me.

And it was while in a book store that I stumbled on DC The Big Book of Girl Power by Julie Merberg. And, luckily for me, a good friend has young children and I thought this would be a perfect gift.

The book itself is a nice look at DC female characters focusing on an aspect of their personality or power and delivering an empowering and uplifting message. Lucky for us, Supergirl is included. And not only that, she gets two pages!

I apologize for the blurry pictures.

The first Supergirl page has a great shot of Supergirl flying out of her crashed rocket, sporting my favorite costume (and one similar to the show) with a red skirt and full shirt. And this looks like Jose Luis Garcia Lopez pencil work.

The first text box talks of her crashing on Earth.

But I like that it says that Wonder Woman helped train her. While that is only canon in the Loeb/Turner incarnation, the idea that these two would work together is a great message.

And the next page showcases her powers. The main image is definitely a Garcia-Lopez character study. It is a great action shot of her smashing a boulder.

And there is a sort of generic list of her power.

The last statement says she uses her powers to protect Earth, her new home.

What I like about this is the breadth of heroes we learn about. There are pages with Hawkgirl, Mera, Raven, Bumblebee, Black Canary, Batgirl, and Katana. The ending splash page showcases them all. The internal pages look like the art was done by Scott Kolins on some pages.

There is a feeling of a bit of cross-promotion with DC Superhero Girls with Bumblebee and Katana earning pages. But overall this is a little Girl Power Who's Who for new readers. Maybe this is the entry drug for new comic fans.

It will make a wonderful holiday present for any young reader!

Read more »

RAMBLING REPOST: THE MYSTERY OF THE MYSTIFYING MEMORY...

Many years ago I had a dream.  I dreamt I was in a shop

and saw a CORGI TOYS ASTON MARTIN DB5, but in a

bigger scale than its previous two releases.  I opened up the box,

took out the car, looked at it, and was quite impressed by this new

model.  Then I awoke from my dream, realized I had only been

dreaming, and was slightly disappointed by the fact.

A couple of years later I'm upstairs in JOHN MENZIES,

and my eyes fall upon a familiar object.  A JAMES BOND

Aston Martin by Corgi toys, and it's the bigger scale model that

I saw and handled in my dream.  I'm astounded.  Had I had some

kind of prophetic vision, or was it simply a coincidence?  Surely

the latter, because there's no such thing as being able to see

into the future, is there?  Tell me, is there?

That was back in the '70s.  The car was issued in 1978, so

my dream must have preceded the actual event by a year or

two.  But such things don't happen, do they?  Tell me, do they?

It's because of my doubt over such things that I've begun to con-

sider other possibilities.  Could it be I'd seen the car, but forgot-

ten it, then had a dream about it as if I was seeing it for the first

time?  Perhaps that's why I believe that the dream came

first, but that I'm simply mistaken.

Thing is, I had the dream more than once before I saw

the car for what seemed like the first time in real life.  So

now I'm in the position of wondering exactly what to believe.

Did I see the car first (but forget), and then have the dream - or

could it have been precisely as I thought for many years after-

wards before the doubt set in?  Obviously it's got to be either

one or the other, but which one?  Tell me, which one?

Or maybe there is another explanation.  Perhaps it was

only in my dream that I felt I hadn't previously seen the car

before discovering it on sale in a shop.  That's to say, I'd seen
the car in a shop, but dreamt I hadn't spied it until after seeing
it in a dream;  a 'dream within a dream' in other words, that
never happened despite me believing it had.  (I sure hope
that makes some kind of sense to you all.)

Ever had anything similar happen to you?  Something

you think you dreamt about that seemingly came true, but

now you're not quite sure if you remember things as they ac-
tually happened, or whether time is merely playing tricks

with your memory.  Tell all in the comments section.

Read more »

Number 1985: Crimebuster, anti-fascist!

A couple of days ago I presented a story from the pre-superhero days of comic books, and Lev Gleason, who formed the company that published Daredevil,Boy Comics, and Crime Does Not Pay, was one of the original comic book men. Gleason had been involved with Maxwell C. Gaines and Louis Silberkleit in the very early comic book business. Gleason was the first editor of Tip-Top Comics beginning in 1936. He later got financial backing to start his own comic book publishing business, and named it after himself.*

I believe Gleason was a brilliant man who did a brilliant thing: he hired Charles Biro and Bob Wood as his editorial team, which put his small list of titles among the top sellers all through the 1940s. Biro had a knack for the sort of attention-getting devices in comics. He created a costumed character called Crimebuster by putting a hockey uniform and cape on a boy, Chuck Chandler, who has plenty of smarts and moxie, but no superhero powers. Because of the strong and dramatic storytelling that character sold comic books throughout the 1940s, and only ended when Gleason closed his company in 1956.

“Crimebuster in the Touch of the Leper” is an anti-Nazi story from Boy Comics #5 (1942). I love the design elements of the splash page. Uncle Sam, the Nazi swastika standing in for the “s” in sabotage, all eye candy for the newsstand looky-loos to induce them to part with a dime.**

*You can read a fascinating 2010 article from The Comics Journal written by Gleason’s nephew. It tells a lot about the publisher and his left-leaning political philosophy.

**Another trick to get the dimes from kids was the continued story. I am sorry to keep you folks hanging. When you get to the end you will find Crimebuster confronted by gorgeous blonde twins, and the promise of Iron Jaw for the next issue. I don’t have that issue, but you can read Boy Comics #6 at the Digital Comics Museum. Unfortunately for me, it is a fiche copy, and I have enough troubles with my aging eyeballs without trying to read a fiche.

Read more »