tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15368021146289967292024-03-19T06:17:04.827-04:00When Comic Books Ruled the EarthAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.comBlogger758125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-47595302889473945722015-01-30T23:25:00.000-05:002015-01-30T23:25:00.074-05:00Hooray for Lonnie Loomis!As a teen she favored striped tops, loved her father and two sisters and was quite fond of cats. Lonnie Loomis, middle child extraordinaire, caught between the bossy, demanding eldest Stacy and the irrepressible, attention-seeking, somewhat psychotic, baby Michana. I don't get to read many psychological or psychiatric studies (just the abstracts and second hand articles), but from Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-7299129412920802772014-10-31T16:34:00.000-04:002014-10-31T16:34:53.728-04:00October is Spookey Month: Happy Halloween from the Twilight Zone!
Well, Dell Four Color #1288's version of The Twilight Zone (April 1962). It lacks the social conscience, deep insight into the darker elements of human nature and frequent ironic twist endings we all know and love the TV show for. It has none of Serling's poetic introductions and closings so fondly parodied over the years. The Serling voice is hardly present at all, save for aAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-64461975063556069402014-10-30T17:20:00.004-04:002014-10-30T17:22:23.815-04:00October is Spookey Month: You can't have Halloween without Bernie Wrightson!Hello, Halloween hellhounds! Let's enjoy Bernie Wrightson's delightful Creepy magazine frontispieces. I'm not sure when Creepy started running these, and Wrightson didn't do one for every issue. Sometimes they'd run a full-color house ad for Vampirella or spotlight another talented artist. But Wrightson's frontispieces are rich with spooky atmosphere. And ghoulish Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-91307135100701592752014-10-29T18:07:00.001-04:002014-10-29T18:07:11.719-04:00October is Spookey Month: Someone's rockin' list of the "10 Most Frightening Horror Comics Ever!"
I know nothing of this Herald Scotland site, but I salute the good (or foul, depending on your perspective and whether or not you go through life talking like one of EC Comics' horror hosts) taste of Graphic Content writer Teddy Jamieson. Not only does Jamieson quote Halloween III: Season of the Witch, but he manages to include Junji Ito's horror masterwork Uzumaki on the list. At Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-5228944292733011042014-10-28T06:54:00.000-04:002014-10-28T06:54:00.115-04:00October is Spookey Month: Wally Wood brings you a new path to a life of peace and love in Creepy #38 (March 1971)
Behind a lurid and appealing Ken Kelly ax-maniac cover (Kelly's Creepy debut), you'll find a late career gem in the EC Comics mode written and illustrated by Wally Wood. James Warren, who was not only publishing Creepy at this point but also editing it (along with associate editor Archie Goodwin), must have been particularly happy with Wood's "The Cosmic All," because he Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-48917654279882836422014-10-27T18:08:00.002-04:002014-10-27T18:10:05.118-04:00October is Spookey Month: Tricks and treats with Creepy #36 (November 1970)
I can't decide which is the treat. Is it the dinosaur or the cheesecake? This is the cover to Creepy #36 (November 1970), naturally. Nature being the operant word here. This painting is by Kenneth Smith, who contributed a few covers to the magazine around this time. It's an image that actually appears as a panel in the story "Weird World" inside.
Nicola Cuti Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-41928447734226211782014-10-17T21:05:00.000-04:002014-10-29T19:57:26.152-04:00October is Spookey Month: How EC ruined America's pasttime in Haunt of Fear #19 (May-June 1953)
No, they didn't ruin baseball. That's just me trying to have a little fun and shake things up a bit. If anything, they made baseball better! But EC did get itself into hot water with the government over "Foul Play," a story appearing in Haunt of Fear #19 (May-June 1953). Dr. Frederic Wertham used it as an example of horror comic nastiness in his book Seduction of the Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-39053821722956173952014-10-09T20:28:00.002-04:002014-10-09T20:28:58.082-04:00October is Spookey Month: Batman #319 (January 1980)
Batman #319 (January 1980) sees Batman and Gentleman Ghost battling once again. This mean we get a Halloween treat in the form of a spectacular Joe Kubert cover with Batman in pulpy danger, suspended over a bubbling vat of wholesome Campbell's Tomato Soup with milk added. Just like my dad loved to do! Dick Giordano inks and the result is as rich and creamy as the soup Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-767167161842648652014-10-02T20:25:00.001-04:002014-10-03T01:25:26.191-04:00October is Spookey Month: Batman #310 (April 1979)
Batman #310 (April 1979) is a comic I bought solely for its cover. Even back then I was a big Joe Kubert fan, and I believed the cover artist always did the interior art. I was wrong.
Choosing Kubert as cover artist makes
perfect sense because he and Robert Kanigher co-created Gentleman Ghost as a
Hawkman/Hawkgirl adversary. Gentleman
Ghost debuted in Flash Comics #88 (Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-3434464683888076092014-09-30T19:47:00.004-04:002014-09-30T19:47:42.671-04:00It's October is Spookey Month time again!I know, I know, you're excited about this annual tradition here at When Comic Books Ruled the Earth where we take all of October and examine various horror comics. We're going to take a break from Marvel movies and spend some time chilling with some chillers. The eccentric spelling of "spookey" is in tribute to a local rock band called Spookey. They once did a Halloween-themed Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-57805600300571358272014-09-28T22:17:00.001-04:002014-09-28T23:55:47.611-04:00A little bit on the Disney/Marvel-Jack Kirby settlement...I spent a great deal of time over the weekend on Facebook reading Kurt Busiek's responses to another Jack Kirby fan's skepticism over the Disney/Marvel-Jack Kirby family amicable settlement. I couldn't read the fan's comments (he earned a block for excessive negativity a while back), only Busiek's replies. Which were lengthy and not in the least combative. He just Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-64483064026992100522014-09-28T17:53:00.001-04:002014-09-28T17:53:45.251-04:00Marvel-Kirby...
I did this crappy drawing yesterday to celebrate the best comic book-related news story to come our way in decades.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-54950880933255993892014-09-07T20:36:00.001-04:002014-09-08T02:39:22.600-04:00
Remember back in the old days, during the Cold War, when there weren't so many nuclear-armed superpowers? Things have gotten way out of hand with the proliferation of mass destruction. I'm pretty sure there's plenty of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium circulating around out there thanks to the Soviet Union's collapse. But back when they were the other potential driver of Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-12806781770206450142014-09-05T01:10:00.001-04:002014-09-05T01:10:22.762-04:00"Forget it, Kitty! You're not good enough for us 'X-Babies!"
Ah, I remember New Mutants #13 (March 1984) when Kitty Pryde was like, "Oh, guys, can I hang out with you?" and Dani Moonstar was all, "Nuh uh! You called us 'X-Babies,' so you can take your sorry butt right on out of these woods we're hanging out in and suck an egg!" I was thinking about that the other day. I've always loved the cover by Tom Mandrake.&Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-41154418305710661722014-09-04T23:16:00.000-04:002014-09-04T23:17:30.018-04:00Things to be excited about: Silver Age Teen Titans, Ghosts and Dark Horse's reprints of Marvel Star Wars...I dropped some mega-bucks on DC's Silver Age Teen Titans Archives volumes 1 and 2, Showcase Presents Ghosts and Dark Horse's Star Wars Omnibus: A Long Time Ago... volume 4. These four massive books are on their way to me as I type this, through wind and rain. Yeah, it's a dark day here in Japan with changeable weather threatening to wash out any weekend activities Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-15362463666344729312014-09-03T00:03:00.001-04:002014-09-03T00:07:10.290-04:00Marvel's Marvelous Movies #9: Conan the Barbarian (Marvel Super Special #21, August 1982)
John Milius and I are probably diametrical opposites politically (and in most other ways), but I have to admit I admire the hell out of him. The guy simply fascinates me. He's collaborated with people like George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis and a fella name of Francis Ford Coppola on a little flick called Apocalypse Now. Lucas based the John Milner character Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-79060970281398571832014-08-28T18:18:00.000-04:002014-08-28T18:18:09.501-04:00Happy Jack Kirby Day!
August 28th, Jack Kirby's birthday. It should be a national holiday.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-2954949630015192592014-08-27T01:48:00.001-04:002014-08-27T01:48:21.748-04:00Marvel's Marvelous Movies #8: For Your Eyes Only (Marvel Super Special #19, June 1981)
For your eyes only, can see me through the night For your eyes only, I never need to hide You can see so much in me, so much in me that's new I never felt until I looked at you
--Sheena Easton
Bond. James Bond. I've read many of Ian Fleming's books, I own Sean Connery's films on Blu-Ray (except the silly Diamonds Are Forever, which has never appealed to me beyond a few Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-51036286421423796312014-08-26T00:20:00.003-04:002014-08-26T00:26:38.169-04:00Marvel's Marvelous Movies #7: Why was there never a M*A*S*H comic book, or an E.T. adaptation?
M*A*S*H aired its final episode on February 28, 1983, less than a year after Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial opened to boffo returns on the big screen. These were both cultural phenomena at the time and yet neither inspired any comic book spin-offs beyond parodies in MAD and Cracked magazines.
Granted, a M*A*S*H comic book doesn't seem likely. Then again, the Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-16611610411479166472014-08-25T20:35:00.000-04:002014-08-25T20:35:02.718-04:00Rare copy of first Superman comic book fetches $3.2 mil at auctionRare copy of first Superman comic book fetches $3.2 mil at auction
Yeah, that's a lot of money. I guess. I've always daydreamed about finding a mint copy of Action Comics #1 in the attic or basement. Actually, where I find it is the least important part of the daydream. The having it is the main thing. Comic book dealers Stephen Fishler and Vincent Zurzolo found Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-22445883751902250602014-08-17T21:14:00.000-04:002014-08-17T21:14:33.102-04:00Marvel's Marvelous Movies #6: Raiders of the Lost Ark (Marvel Super Special #18, June 1981)
My friends and I were so in love with
Raiders of the Lost Ark we went to the theater one day in a group, bought
tickets for the first showing and stayed through the last. My memory says we saw Raiders six times that
day, but it may have been four. I don’t
remember feeling any viewer fatigue, just anticipation for each exciting
sequence. I knew what was going to
happen and I Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-15203060939868429892014-07-28T20:46:00.000-04:002014-08-20T19:33:14.425-04:00Marvel's Marvelous Movies #5: Xanadu (Marvel Super Special #17, Summer 1980)Aren't you supposed to go from the ridiculous to the sublime? Well, here we are going in the opposite direction.
Xanadu is a would-be romantic magical musical fantasy starring Olivia Newton-John as a muse who leaps to life out of a mural and changes the lives of Michael Beck and Gene Kelly for the better courtesy the blending of old and new forms of pop entertainment. That is, Big Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-73362784653435199632014-07-16T23:41:00.001-04:002014-07-18T20:36:41.306-04:00Marvel's Marvelous Movies #4: The Empire Strikes Back (Marvel Super Special #16, Spring 1980)
This is my pick for the best of Marvel's movie adaptations, and it's as good as mainstream comics get. First, it's an adaptation of the best of the Star Wars movies and second, it's an adaptation of the best of the Star Wars movies written by Archie Goodwin and drawn by my all-time art dream team, Al Williamson and Carlos Garzon, and with another of those beautiful Bob Larkin cover Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-70483101062085736732014-07-06T19:46:00.002-04:002014-07-06T19:46:58.309-04:00Marvel's Marvelous Movies #3: Star Trek: the Motion Picture (December 1979)
I'm going to tell you upfront this was one of my favorite individual comic book stories when I was 11 years old. I have no idea how many times I read it. The following year, Marvel's Empire Strikes Back adaptation would knock this one (and just about every other comic I'd ever read and loved prior to encountering Al Williamson) down a spot or two on my personal hit parade, but I Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536802114628996729.post-4268909257207386002014-07-01T00:03:00.002-04:002014-07-01T00:03:51.083-04:00Marvel's Marvelous Movies #2: Meteor (August 1979)
Let me start by pointing out the
obvious: Meteor shares its basic idea
with Armageddon (and also Deep Impact, but screw Deep Impact for taking this
material seriously, right?), but mercifully lacks both Aerosmith and dopey
worship of bonehead machismo. In both
films, a giant meteor heads towards earth, and we have to blast it with nuclear
weapons before it gets here. In
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.com0