Editor’s note: I totally thought I posted this like, two months, when it actually was supposed to go up…so if you’ve been waiting with baited breath for these trivia answers, here you go. Think of it as my holiday gift to you…
-ed
Alright, as you folks may remember, we here at Star Clipper celebrated out second annual Star Clipper Day. It’s kinda like our store’s Super Birthday… It observes our original store opening back in 1988 as well as our move to our current location in the Loop. This year, we had an Angry Birds Shooting Gallery competition, Local artists hooking people up with sweet art, and a Trivia contest as well. This year, there wasn’t a cool graphic that depicted Jon and myself for a logo, but that’s cool. The point is, there was a TRIVIA CONTEST and we had some awesome sponsors for it. Image Comics, DC Comics, and Jim Mahfood hooked us up with some sweet prizes… And there was one team of contestants that seemed to win just about everything we had. But in the end, everyone got something. If you were walking around that Saturday Night (9/24) you would’ve seen a slew of people wearing Angry Birds Hats… So when I say, “everyone,” I don’t just mean contestants… I mean just about everyone who came in the store after 7PM. But what I want to share with you about that day, are my Top 5 Favorite Answers for the Trivia Contest!
I’ll show you the question and answers first, followed by my favorite response to that Question
#5.
Question: Name the Actor who played the character, “Conan” in the 2011 film, “Conan the Barbarian.” For a bonus point, name the actor who played Conan in the 1982 film “Conan the Barbarian.”
Answer: Jason Momoa, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Favorite Answer: Not Arnold…, ARNOLD!!!! by Indiana Bones & the Temple of Poon
#4
Question: Who is the bombshell actress who replaces Megan Fox as the female lead in “Transformers: Dark of the Moon?” (Jon wrote this question!)
Answer: Rosie Huntington Whitely
Favorite Answer: Nope.png (crossed out) Noriko (then, next to that, a small doodle of a guy shrugging) by Team Gunbuster
#3
Question: What comic book movie was released that featured a detective who specialized in the paranormal, starring Brandon Routh?
Answer: “Dylan Dog: Dead of Night”
Favorite Answer: Fuck. I’m bad at Trivia by WAZ
#2
Question: For three points; Name the writer of “The Walking Dead” comic, the artist on the first six issues, and the artist of all the subsequent isues.
Answer: Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard.
Favorite Answer: Robert Kirkman (Writer), Joe Momma (Artist 1), Amy Farrah Fowler (Artist 2) by Team Demonic Hellcow II
[This is Amy Farrah Fowler from "The Big Bang Theory", as played by Maym Bialik]
#1
Question: In the aftermath of the “Death of Superman,” four new Supermen appeared. For 1 point each, name them.
Answer: Steel (John Henry Irons), Superboy (Kon El/Conner Kent), Cyborg Superboy (Hank Henshaw), The Eradicator
Favorite Answer: Cyborg Superman, Superboy, Steel, (A doodle of a face with giant 80s shades and four (4) wisps of hair flowing to the side with the words “this guy” and and arrow pointing to the picture.) by Team Gunbuster
And that concludes my favorite answers from the Trivia Contest.
It feels like everyone has been talking about DC’s “New 52.” Whether it’s what DC got right or what they did wrong, conversations on comics have felt really focused on their relaunch. I though I’d take a moment to turn an eye towards something else exciting going on this fall. More specifically, I wanted to mention that I feel like Drawn & Quarterly is having amazing Fall. Sure, not all of the work is new nor is any of it rebooted (though maybe Optic Nerve #12 comes close) but it is not often that a publisher has a season with the percentage of top notch comics that Drawn & Quarterly is releasing this Fall.
Here are the five books I am most excited about in no particular order:
1. “Big Questions” by Anders Nilsen
I started reading “Big Questions” somewhere around issue #3 and lost track of the series around issue #12. To this day, I am not sure how I stopped keeping up with the single issues as it was one of my favorite comic hitting the sheves. Nilsen’s fable-like narrative with its dream and meditative qualities hooked me on the series. His pages filled with detailed line work and open spaces made for some great art (which I’m sure didn’t hurt things). The collection has been out for a few weeks and looks great. I am thrilled to be able to finally read the whole tale.
2. “The Death-Ray” by Daniel Clowes
This superhero tale of an outcast armed with a ray-gun instantly became one of my favorite Clowes comics back when I read it in “Eightball” #23. It may have been my weakness for oddball superhero stories that lead me to love it so much but I like to think that it is Clowes’s great writing and excellent cartooning that made it great. My copy of that Eightball issue has been misplaced in storage for years so I am excited to get a chance to read it again!
3. “Daybreak” by Brian Ralph
As much as I love oddball superhero comics, I am just as into the brand of adventure alternative comics that Brian Ralph helped pioneer. His graphic novels “Cave In” and “Climbing Out” are both brilliant. Luckily, “Daybreak” is just as good. Ralph makes some interesting comics with this post-apocalyptic zombie tale told in from a first-person perspective. The story looked great when it was published by Bodega in three volumes and the hardcover collection of all the volumes D&Q is releasing looks even better.
4. “Hark! A Vagrant” by Kate Beaton
I don’t exactly get web comics. Most of the ones I follow are by folks I am familiar with from print comics. Kate Beaton is the first web cartoonist that I think I ever really got hooked on. My pal Katie made me read some of her hilarious comics a few years ago and I’ve been a fan ever since. It is pretty rad to she is finally getting a big release like this.
5. “The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists” by Seth
This last graphic novel is definitely not least. Seth’s first sketchbook graphic novel about comic collectors, “Wimbledon Green,” is one of my favorite books of all time. This new sketchbook work, tackling cartoonists this time, shows the potential to be as equally fantastic!
These great books, along with several other also exciting titles, have been (and will be) hitting shelves throughout the Fall from Drawn and Quarterly. If you catch them around Star Clipper, hopefully you will take a moment to check them out!
DC’s company-wide reboot is now in full effect, and one of the most interesting elements of the entire thing is also one of the most unexpected. In “Flashpoint” #5, the final issue of old DC continuity, a mysterious hooded woman (pictured above) is seen observing Flash Barry Allen’s journey into the new DC time-line. The image stood out to DC fans, and much debate over the identity of the mysterious observer hit comic web forums. The presence of the hooded woman only became more intriguing when she was also spotted in “Justice League” #1 watching Cyborg’s football game.
When the next thirteen issue of the “New 52″ hit the shelves the following week part of the allure of the reboot was checking to see if the mysterious hooded woman appeared in any of the other issue. Not only did she appear in “Justice League” #1, but she also appeared hidden in every single new issue, making her the “Where’s Waldo” of the new DCU. At least she’s not as creepy looking as Marvel’s Watcher.
This type of gimmick isn’t new to the print medium. Playboy Magazine is perhaps most famous for the “hide and seek” schtick, hiding the famous Playboy Bunny symbol on the cover of every issue of their magazine. I have felt like the new content in DC is more “adult,” so maybe they stole this gimmick from Playboy.
The real question however is not, “where is the mysterious woman” but “who is the mysterious woman?” My bet is that she is the Monitor of the new DCU, but maybe that’s too obvious. How about, the figure is… Batman’s mom… who survived the shooting and is keeping tabs on the whole DC crew. Like mother like son. That works, right? I guess not, but I’m sure we’ll get the answer to the mystery of the identity of the hooded woman in a multi-issue summer crossover next year linking all the new DC books together. Seriously.
I’m kind of obsessed with vintage advertisements from the 1950s and 60s. I find the blatant sexism and racism in the old magazine ads absolutely fascinating. I even have a modest collection of the old advertisements and have decorated my kitchen pantries with them. There’s nothing quite as motivational as looking at a vintage Pevley Diary ad every morning with my breakfast cereal that shows a woman standing on a scale and reads, “Summertime and the living was easy… maybe a little too easy. Maybe I should stick to skim milk.”
While looking at the DC September solicitations, I noticed the cover to the new “Catwoman” relaunch and couldn’t help but think it was an amped-up, porn-esque version of the sexism exhibited in the vintage magazine ads I love so much. On the cover, Catwoman is laying blissfully on the top of a building, while the cops pursue her on the street below. She’s so comfortable and relaxed that she’s taking the time to take off her boots, unzip her leather suit to expose her double-d cleavage, and apparently pour the diamonds that she has just stolen all over her chest. But wait, that bag… and those diamonds… they look suspiciously like something a little more x-rated. Let me cut to the chase on my thoughts here. The cover of “Catwoman” #1 looks more like a shady banner ad on a website than a comic book. I know this is a perverse interpretation of the cover but I legitimately believe that the artist intended for this subtext to be completely obvious. Hey, sex sells, and I guess in 2011 hardcore sex sells. I even did an informal poll on my personal facebook page to make sure I wasn’t the only one with a foul mind and the results I got clarified that I wasn’t alone in feeling that this cover was inappropriate. I think my friend Ben Sawyer’s comment said it best, “Wow. Is that supposed to reel in female readers? I don’t think so. Here comes the DC Reboot!”
Yep. You read that right. “Goku Betrays Vegeta.” So here’s the set-up. During the course of Dragonball Z, we are shown a deep rivalry between the Prince of the Saiyans (Vegeta) and the bottom class Saiyan fool (Goku). Originally enemies, they eventually found themselves to be allies in facing shared enemies. During the events of Cell’s World Tournament, Goku was killed saving the Earth from being blown up by the Self-Destructing Cell (Cell, by the way, is some kind of bug-man android). After Goku’s death, the series skips ahead about 7 years and there’s a new (friendly) World Tournament being held and because Goku is special, he was given 24 hours to go hang out with his family and participate in the tournament. Vegeta, having now become apart of Goku’s circle of friends was privy to this information and looked forward to crushing him in hand-to-hand combat… Also, before I continue, I know how stupid the universe of Dragonball sounds to people who don’t care for it, but just stick with me, ok?
So eventually, the tournament is crashed by magically enhanced warriors, one of which is named Spopovich, which was original translated as Supopo Bitchi (which always made me laugh). Spopovich is unrelated to the betrayal, I just like his name. Back on point, all of the Super Fighters forfeit the tournament to go handle the situation. At some point in time, this dude named Dabura noticed that Vegeta really wanted to fight Goku, so he told the bad wizard, Babidi, to magically enhance Vegeta so that could use his energy to release Majin Buu from his magic prison thing. Thus, the rematch of the century was finally here. Goku vs Majin Vegeta. The following battle was awesome in both manga and anime form. But the only thing that’s important about the betrayal is that both Goku and Vegeta were fighting at the peak of Super Saiyan abilities, Super Saiyan Level 2… Or so Vegeta thought.
Eventually, the fight expended enough energy to release Majin Buu. Vegeta got in a cheap shot on Goku and knocked him out so that he could take on Buu by himself. His plan amounted to exploding. Then he exploded. Majin Buu was fine, and Vegeta was dead. Then Goku woke up, turned into a Super Saiyan Level 3 and battled Majin Buu above some city’s skyline. Eventually Goku stops fighting, knowing that he could’ve defeated Buu, but he wanted the kids to have a shot at saving the world. BIG MISTAKE.
Flashing forward a bit, Everyone is either killed or eaten/absorbed by Buu except for Gohan (Goku’s eldest son). Meanwhile Goku is back hanging out in the afterlife because his 24 hours expired shortly after he stopped fighting. Anyway, since things are really bad, the Super God trades his life for Goku’s so that he can go and use these earrings with Gohan to fuse and become the strongest thing ever. But Goku is too late and Buu absorbs Gohan. Then BAM. Vegeta’s back. So Goku’s like, “Vegeta, put this earring on so we can become one really strong dude and be stuck together forever,” and Vegeta’s all like, “F you guy, I saw you turn into a Super Saiyan Level 3, you were holding out on me.”
In a disclosure that should surprise no one who’s read this blog for longer than a month, I’m a fan of Wendy & Richard Pini’s ElfQuest. So when I heard there was a trailer for an ElfQuest film, I was intrigued — and also horrified. As I may have mentioned, I generally dislike comic book-to-movie adaptations. Other than motion, what do films have to offer? A Hollywood version of a story as personal and idiosyncratic as ElfQuest would be a nightmare of misinterpretation and idiotic “improvements.” Wendy Pini (look, I know Richard is also credited as writer, but I’ve always considered the story Wendy’s — arbitrary decisions about creative teams are my specialty) crafted a sweeping story about tolerance, ecological stewardship, tradition vs. innovation, biological drive vs. personal choice and the redemptive power of love — let’s just say that it’s the kind of rich story that only ever arises from a singular vision.
Anyway, this is the trailer:
It turns out it’s not for a feature film — webseries vets Paula Rhodes and Stephanie Thorpe discovered they both shared love for the series and set about making a true-to-the-comic fan film, receiving the blessing of the Pinis as well as some financial aid. It looks good — actually, it looks rather excellent — but as a fan my first thought was “Where’s Skywise? And where’s Cutter, for that matter?” Apparently they couldn’t find any diminutive male actors pretty enough to be elves, so all you get is the female cast.
My second thought was, “Jeeze, if you’re not familiar with the series, you’re never going to get that all those forceful glances at each other are actually the elves ’sending,’ or communicating telepathically.” You also may not catch the menace of those three savage-looking dudes; they’re the humans who move in on the elves territory and force them to find a new home, which in turn becomes the Wolfrider tribe’s initial quest, or “elf quest,” if you will.
Obviously, the trailer isn’t intended to approach the scope of the entire series — it’s a labor of love that seeks to capture the feeling of the book, and maybe whet your appetite for the story. As brief as this is, and as confined as it is to the very beginning of the story, and despite lacking both male elves and trolls, it does have something of the feel of the Pini’s original. I think in fact that is has more going for it than anything Hollywood can come up with. As far as appetite whetting for a movie, I’m a pessimist, so I don’t know that it could do that for me. But if you’re intrigued and you want to see more of the original comic, the Pinis are cool about having the whole series online, which you can read for free at www.elfquest.com. I don’t recommend reading it that way. The series has been printed in several formats — I have a few of the original Warp Graphics softcovers as well as the majority of Marvel’s single-issue reprints from the late-80s, and even a few of the DC b&w digests from the early aughts. These last aren’t ideal, but you can still find them in shops (last I saw, a huge number were available on Star Clipper’s discount wall. Hint, hint.).
Incidentally, while poking around online trying to discover if someone in Hollywood was trying to make a full-on ElfQuest movie, I discovered this article from late 2010 discussing the making of the trailer and the Pinis’ involvement. It mentions that the film rights belong to Warner Bros., and that the attached writer/director of the moment is Rawson Thurber — he’s the guy that wrote/directed Dodge Ball: The Movie. Hollywood, this is why I’m a pessimist…
Spider-Man has a well-documented history of costume changes. Some designs have become iconic secondary costumes, like the black venom symbiote suit and (arguably) the iron-spider suit from the Marvel Civil War-era. Others have landed him in the super-hero worst dress column, like his metal spider-armor from the 90s and his original Fantastic-spider suit with the paper bag over his head. However, fans ultimately respond when Peter Parker dons his original Steve Ditko Spider-threads. Lately though, he can’t seem to decide what to wear. In the last four months Spidey has gone through at least three new costumes. I guess Marvel (or maybe Disney’s?) plan is to create multiple Spider costumes for each business quarter. You should probably keep your eyes open for the 2010 Spider-fashion toy-line hitting the New York runways. Let’s review the recent history of Spider-Man’s costume.
Starting at issue number 650 Spider-Man debuted his newest Spider-stealth costume. I’m not quite sure how you make a functional costume with neon lights, but Peter Parker did it. All those science classes finally paid off for something. The real question though is how a costume with bright neon lights is appropriate for stealth missions… The explanation for ‘neon stealth’ must come in four letters, Tron, which brings us to example 2.
By the next issue of Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel-Disney introduced a whole line of Tron variants. Coincidentally, Spider-Man’s new neon-stealth suit was almost indistinguishable from his Tron variant-cover suit. With all the Tron-isms, I’m sure many of you are eagerly anticipating the Spider-buggie’s return as a Spider-light cycle. Moving on.
A few issues later in issue 656, artist Marcos Martin design what I like to call the ‘Spidey dungeon-burlesque’ suit. There is something that is off-putting about the strategically placed webbing on this new costume. Add a pair of heels and a whip and Dan Slott would be taking Peter Parker in a sensual new direction. Hey, he’s not married anymore. Pete can do whatever he wants to get his jollies, which oddly enough brings us to this:
It’s probably just me, but when I saw Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four’s new costume in FF#1 I couldn’t help but think of the opening scene in “Look Who’s Talking.” Johnny Storm dies and all the sudden the new fantastic four decides to wear virgin white. I guess it is a new beginning for the team, but wouldn’t it be more respectful to Johnny to wear mournful black?
[Find that egg, Spider-Man!]
Of all the new costumes I like the ‘neon stealth’ suit the best. I get the need to update costumes every once in a while, but would it hurt Marvel to leave Spidey in his classic reliable suit for the next couple months before they change it again? That costume allows Peter to dispense the jokes, not be the butt of them.
After ‘The Sinestro Corps. War’ in 2007, Green Lantern quickly became one of the most popular DC titles, arguably only second to Batman. Then by the time the mega-event ‘Blackest Night’ hit the shelves in 2009, Green Lantern and it’s slew of tie-in titles were the first books solicited in the DC section of Previews, solidifying its importance to the DCU. Yet, as ‘War of the Green Lanterns’ launches this week, I can’t help but think the title might be slightly redundant. Wasn’t ‘Sinestro Corps. War’ and ‘Blackest Night’ essentially both wars of the lanterns? Plus, if the Black Lanterns were suppose to be the ultimate threat to the Green Lanterns, and to the universe for that matter, doesn’t a little quarreling between lanterns seem petty in comparison? After reading the first issue of the mini-event, I’m convinced writer Geoff Johns still has a solid direction for the Green Lantern titles.
This week was the first time I was able to take advantage of our new day early comic deliver. I read Green Lantern #64 a day before it’s release, and boy o boy, if any Green Lantern readers would have walked into the store on Tuesday night I would have certainly lorded that over them. I must be power mad. Alas, the GL topic of conversation never got brought up so I guess I’ll just SPOIL the issue for you now.
[This is what you look like when you're power mad]
SPOILER ALERT
If you haven’t been following the lead up to ‘War of the Green Lantern,’ a cloaked villain has slowly been stealing the different colored lantern entities. It is revealed that the entity thief is Krona, a forgotten Guardian of the Universe imprisoned for centuries. Having finally acquired all the entities, he is about to take revenge of the Guardians of the Universe. Meanwhile, Hal Jordan rebels against the Guardians’ wishes and joins with the leaders of all the different colored lanterns to take back the entities from Krona. While Hal and the other lanterns are distracted fighting the story vampire Lyssa Drak (Seriously, please no more vampires) and the Book of Black (Think the Book of Oa from hell), Krona is able to possess the six remaining Guardians with six of the entities. Of course, the final entity Parallax possess the central power battery, causing havoc among the entire GL corps., as each Green Lantern suddenly becomes entwined with Parallax.
As always, the Green Lanterns that aren’t effected by Parallax are Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner, John Stewart and Sinestro, and it’s up to them to set the universe back to normal. ‘War of the Green Lanterns’ might be somewhat derivative of past Johns’ GL story, but it still is in the direction I would like to see the Green Lantern series going. I won’t argue against emotionally possessed Guardians of the Universe.
Guess who’s getting a new ongoing series? Static. That’s who. The hero who is essentially the face of the defunct Milestone Comics from the 90s. Static starred in his own Saturday Morning cartoon series named, “Static Shock”. You all may remember another little blog I wrote that went into greater detail about Static and the rest of the Milestone characters as well as their absorption into the DC Universe following the events of Final Crisis. So far, there has been little to show in the way of the Milestone characters appearing, save for Static being a member of the Teen Titans and the appearance of Static’s hometown of Dakota. The Milestone equivalent of Superman, Icon, appeared in a few JLA issues as well as the Ironman equivalent, Hardware. Oh yeah, Holocaust, one of the “bigger” Milestone villains appeared as new threat to the Teen Titans as well. But it’s been just that. Guest appearances. Well… All that is about to change.
This year we have at least 2 new Milestone series to look forward to. The first being Xombi, a comic about Korean-American scientist who became some kind of immortal through the use of nanotechnology. This series will be written by the character’s creator, John Rozum, and it will be illustrated by Frazer Irving. But honestly, there really isn’t much else I can tell you about Xombi. But hey, I’ll give it a shot. Now, the second series that is set for release is a new ongoing Static title. At the time of writing this, there really isn’t any information as to what exactly will be going on in the book, except for that it will probably take place in Dakota and it may favor certain aspects of the cartoon over those of the original series (Like the title being Static Shock opposed to Static). A personal hope of mine is that the fire-controlling villain known as Hotstreak retains his white-supremacist persona from the comics over the Karate Kid-type bully persona from the cartoon. It’s just a better read that way.
[Cover to Xombie #1]
Now here comes the kicker. Dwayne McDuffie isn’t the one writing this series*. I just don’t know how I feel about it. So who is the new writer then? Felicia Henderson. She was the writer who was responsible for the story arc of Teen Titans that saw Static return to Dakota and deal with Holocaust. But that’s all I know of her work. And from what I’ve read of her work (that one storyline), I’ve enjoyed. So maybe it’ll be alright. As for the art, DC’s putting Scott McDaniel on pencils and Jonathan Glapion on inking duty. This should make for a great art combo, so if I had any worries before, I’m fine now. Also, how awesome is that cover art by Keron Grant at the top of the page?
That’s it. Xombi is set to come out in mid March, and Static Shock is due a little later on in the midst of springtime. So be on the lookout.
*This blog was originally written the day before Dwayne McDuffie’s sudden passing on the 21st of February. I debated with myself for a few days about whether or not I wanted to re-write the section that mentioned him, as I found my words to come across as very insensitive to the matter. Ultimately, I decided to leave the article as it was, with the exception of this paragraph. To me, the comic world lost a very special and important individual and I know that he’ll be missed by a lot of us that live in that world. And while I’ve never met the man, I’ve considered him an inspiration to me. The mark that he left on the comic industry is definitely a good one, and I personally feel that the comics are better for him being apart of their world. So here’s to the legacy that Mr. McDuffie has left behind and what it may mean for the future.
It’s hard not to think the recent mini-crossover Age of X is directly ripping off the legendary Age of Apocalypse. It’s a story of an alternate timeline where the X-Men never existed, but a group of surviving mutants have banded together under the leadership of Magneto. They might not be fighting Apocalypse, but the similarities are undeniable right down to the inclusion of Alpha in the title of the launch issue. Before I read Age of X, I’ve been rereading Age of Apocalypse to see if it lives up to my strong memory.
First, if you choose to reread Age of Apocalypse I suggest starting at Volume 2. The first volume actually collects supplemental material that was published after the actual event. If you read volume 1 and it is your first time reading AoA I think the series will easily not live up to the hype. However, starting at volume 2, you launch into the true starting point of AoA, X-Men Alpha. Here the time wandering Bishop encounters Magneto and his group of renegade X-Men and tells of a time where Apocalypse has not taken over the world.
The story kicks into full gear from that point, as Magneto assigns each team of X-Men a specific mission to verify if what Bishop is saying is true. Of all the crossover issues my favorite is Generation Next. Chris Bachalo’s art holds up better than any other contribution in AoA. The story of Colossus leading a group of untrained mutants into a heavily guarded power plant to rescue his sister Illyana is dire. It has a dark noir feel that still actually leaves me unsettled over 15 years after I originally read it.
Overall, I still think AoA is essential X-Men reading. Of all the events that came out in the 90s this one still remains relevant, even inspiring Age of X. If you’re going to read an “Age of” anything make sure you read Age of Apocalypse first.
One of my favorite bookstores in St. Louis. Star Clipper offers not only the best selection of comic books and graphic novels in the city, but also a cornucopia of art, design and pop-culture related books and magazines. 
