Occasional Links: The Lex Is Leaving Edition

Old-Skool Popeye Will Mess You UP


He'll punch ya in ya jewels. And eat spinach when you cry.

Afraid of Popeye:


All kinds of awesome:


Came up inexplicably in Google Image search results and I figured, "what the hell...":


Is There a Link Between Valentine's Day And Infidelity?

"The National Retail Federation predicts that over $17 billion will be spent on Valentine's gifts this year. A significant portion of that money will be spent by cheaters buying gifts for their secret lovers, and most of these gifts will be delivered in person – either on Valentine´s Day, the day before, or the day after."

It is also estimated that Mephisto steals approximately 2,700 marriages during the holiday as well.

Wide-open social calendar during Valentine's Day:


Approximately how many times men have either used my name as a variation of "Valentine" or "Valkyrie": 27. Annoying? Yes.


Did The Cloverfield Monster First Appear In GI Joe?


Via Tom Biro's blog is a story about a first appearance of the Cloverfield monster in the 1980s GI Joe cartoon. Is it true? You be the judge. Remember, knowing is half the battle!

Meanwhile the hit JJ Abrams film continues to make some moviegoers sick...

I'm one of those happy view who get really nauseous during movies or video games with shaky cameras or saturated color -- so I will catch the movie in bite-sized clips on YouTube.



Kwick Kwotables:


"...today comics have become much more politically correct and political correctness is a disease that is slowly strangling western civilisation."
--Alan Grant

(How long should Lex fans watch Smallville?)
"For only a couple more months, because then I'm done."
--Michael Rosenbaum


"I have failed at my task as Sorcerer Supreme of this dimension. I-I don't think I can help you anymore."
--Doctor Strange, New Avengers Annual #2

"He just wore the costume that Alex Ross designed. He's a big Alex Ross fan, basically."
--Ed Brubaker on what deep symbolic significance the new costume represented for Bucky.


VIDEO: "TOM CRUISE IS CRAZY" (can you blame him?)

Occasional Superheroine Videocast: Amazing Spider-Man #547 & Robin #170

Today on the vidcast I review:

Amazing Spider-Man #547
Robin #170

Occasional Links: The Superhero Mama Edition

DIY Spidey


Pictures of a guy and his super-advanced homemade Spider-Man costume. Plus Photoshop. Suits for sale. Classic or black. Webshooters not included.


DIY Superheroine

Time is running out for Shadowline's "Who Wants To Create A Superheroine" contest. Entries due by January 31st, details are here.

“I’d been hoping to see a super-hero book with a strong female lead to act as a counter-point to our popular Bomb Queen series, but none were forthcoming. So I decided to come up with a contest to create a super-heroine for the 21st Century.”

If anybody is looking for any inspiration on that "superheroine for the 21st Century," here are some pics of Bomb Queen:

Yep, that's the "superheroine for the 21st Century," I guess...


Night Thrasher = "BADICAL"

I always found Night Thrasher from The New Warriors to be very emblematic of early 90s comic books, and apparently the blog Of Course, Yeah! thinks so as well:

"But back in 1990? You bust some Tae Bo out on the local pimp and he be all convinced you were trained by the ghost of Bruce Lee himself! And the scarf? Well damn, make all the fun you want and but when you're laughing and there's a BLACK! METAL! FIST! PILFERING! OUT! JUSTICE! IN! YOUR! FACE!...you'll think twice about dissing on dudes with a little bit of balls when it comes to fashion. "

Me, I just love the "TRAKA TRAKA TRAKA" skateboard SFX.


"I Am Darkhawk, I AM The Night"

Speaking of "badical" 1990s superheroes, Project Rooftop has an awesome redesign of Darkhawk's costume by Joel Carroll


Divorce, Spider-Man Style



Erik Larsen added his two cents to the "One More Day" debate on a Newsarama forum and suggested that a Peter/MJ divorce might have worked better:

"Have Peter and MJ get divorced. She can't take the pressure any more--living with Peter is giving her nightmares--he's always in danger--always getting hurt--Peter's always late for stuff because of Spider-Man and every time she can't help feel that THIS will be the time that he never comes back--and she just can't stand it. It's all too much. She files for the divorce. She leaves him. He becomes that much more of a loser. He could try to make things right--promise to give up the tights and all that but--great power and great responsibility and all the rest and he has to save somebody and she goes through with it.

And Spider-Man getting a divorce would be big news--in the real world--but Marvel has always prided itself on realism and a divorce is a realistic solution--not a "comic booky" solution. Marvel would get a LOT more mileage out of a tastefully handled divorce than a hastily executed mind-wipe."

Peter could have then called these guys:



Videos: The Bizarro YouTube Superhero Awards

Choose between --

"Spider-Man Does Barbie": (NSFW, sort of) Buddies get drunk and their toys get wild in this soon-to-be-classic

"Transformation To Superheroine": (NSFW, sort of) Man or woman in creeeeepy anime mask slowly puts on superheroine outfit. The messed-up camera angle really contributes to the David Lynch quality of the production.

"I'm A Superhero": A nice "Blair Witch" vibe with the camera work, as mom dresses like superhero to "experience childlike freedom with her son." My mom never did this for me.

Occasional Links: The Lazy Friday Edition

Quick Hits:

Wow. Brand New Day really de-aged Peter Parker, huh? Actually It's a Young Tom Breevort as Spider-Man.



The new posters for the 4th Indiana Jones film have arrived. I wanted a Shia leBoeuf poster, actually. He's the Cuteness.


Enjoy this passel of webcomics on One More Day & Brand New Day:
Peter Forgets He Loves Mary Jane
Divorce/Satanism/Abortion
The Watchmen do "One More Day"



Don't know what to do with your old vinyl collection? This collection of photos called "Sleevefaces" might give you some ideas. Or you could just line them up against a wall for sale near my subway station and become part of the local color.



New York City has inspired and played host to numerous superhero adventures, and beginning Jan. 17, the Roundtable Ensemble will present the world premiere of the superhero-themed play Save the World at the American Theatre of Actors.

Conan the Barbarian returns to the big screen (can a Beastmaster remake be far behind?)

VIDEO: And the de-aging of Peter Parker still continues:

Spider-Man: Jackpot and A Brand New Butt

In response to my post regarding Jackpot's butt, "Brand New Day" editor Stephen Wacker has made a request to me for equal time -- pointing out that Phil Jimenez had already depicted Spidey's butt on the cover of "Amazing Spider-Man: Swing Shift":


Curiously, it has also been pointed out to me by "D the G" that "Jackpot" makes her first appearance in May 2007's "Swing Shift," a Free Comic Book Day issue written by "Brand New day" scribe Dan Slott:


Could Jackpot really be Mary Jane?


This of course brings me to Firestar. "Firestar?", you say? What does her butt have to do with anything?

Legend has it that originally Mary Jane was supposed to be Firestar (originally called "Heatwave") in the 1980s "Spider-man And His Amazing Friends" cartoon:

This model sheet looks curiously like MJ, doesn't it?

Pic From Spider-Friends.com

So the question remains: if Jackpot is indeed Mary Jane, is "Brand New Day" an attempt to marginalize or spotlight her? If there have been complaints in the blogosphere regarding Mary Jane's passivity, would Mary Jane-as-superheroine go far to dispel that?

More news as it develops...

Occasional Links: The "Trouble With Harry" Edition

Francostein

Harry Harry Harry!

Who has hair like that in reality, anyhow?




Quote Of The Week:

" What I don't want is for this to turn into a public pissing match."
--JMS, at the end of a loooooong e-mail to Newsarama "clarifying" "One More Day" issues



"Old Superman"/Thirtysomething Slacker Spider-Man


On a Byrne Board thread discussing "One More Day," John Byrne reflects on the phenomenon of comic book characters aging along with their creators & editors:

"This is something that has long bedeviled Superman. He has a tendency to turn into a middle-aged guy, as his writers, artists and editors turn into middle-aged guys. I remember vividly a model sheet Curt Swan did of the character back in the late Seventies. There he was with a kind of jowelly face and a thick midsection, looking a whole lot older than his traditiona "29". When Jose Garcia Lopez was hired to do the style guide for the characters, it was something of a revelation to have his Chris Reeve- like Superman being held forth as the official version!"

This brings me to the apparent Mary Jane-less Peter Parker in "Brand New Day." He is back to living with Aunt May, unemployed, oversleeping, and over-qualified even for crap jobs. In a word, there is a slightly disturbing injection of realism into Peter's current situation. I had to move back to the family home for three years when I was in my late twenties. Your mom waking you up for breakfast the first few days is cool and awesome. Several months later, it becomes depressing. It must be even more depressing if you are a dude and get that nice five-o'clock shadow going.

Should comic books grow with the readers? Should they reflect the realities of life such as your elderly Aunt yanking your lazy unemployed ass out of bed and refusing to cook you wheatcakes? Should middle-aged readers read a middle-aged Superman?

Harry, what do you think?




The Bible, Manga Edition


I knew this would happen eventually...

Welcome to the kick-ass Jesus of The Manga Bible, "God's Word as you've never seen it before!" The first English manga version of the world's bestselling book was released in February last year. The publisher, Hodder Headline, describes it as "a faithful adaptation of the Bible, injected with new energy" by the "dynamic, action-based artwork" of Siku, "one of the UK's hottest comic talents". Siku's other work includes Judge Dredd in the comic 2000 AD and a computer game, Evil Genius.

Check out the notes the publisher provides for youth group leaders to make Jesus more palatable for today's kids:

Teachers and youth groups can consult online notes on how to introduce The Manga Bible. "Start the session by going around the group and asking everyone to answer the question, 'Which celebrity do you most admire?' " the notes advise. "Explain to the group that we're going to look at one of the most admired 'celebs' of all time: Jesus …

That's right, kids: You have Tom Hanks, Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, and Jesus. Not necessarily in that order.

You can read more about the Manga Bible here.

Epochs of Val

You know how various segments of Earth's history has been separated into epochs? I've realized that my life so far can be separated into four general epochs:

Daniel Striped Tiger -- 1-10 yrs.

Ralph Macchio -- 10-16 yrs.

Young Alec Baldwin -- 16-25 yrs.

Old Alec Baldwin -- 25-35 yrs.

I am currently in the Old Alec Baldwin period of my life. The next epoch may be CGI Cary Grant in a Mentos commercial, I'm not sure yet.



Turn Those Old Comics Into Gold

On New Comic Day (The Holiday Delay Edition) on Friday, why not use your brand new DIY comic book wallet to dispense your cash for more comic books? Keri Smith takes you step-by-step through the process of making one.

Still the best wallet:

Jules don't do any DIY.



Video: Spider-Man With Wah-Wah Guitar

For a long time I thought the 1070s Spider-Man Tv series was just a dream I had as a toddler. But no, it was real. Complete with wah-wah guitar.