Four-Color Coverage

Saturday – 03 September 2016
Salt Lake Comic Con 2016 has come to an end.

This was, quite possibly, my most fun time at the con to date. I had a great time seeing friends, reacquainting with others, meeting new people and being a panelist for the first time! (Hopefully, I’ll get to do it again next year!) There were some things and people that I did not have the opportunity to see, but I really can’t complain about this year’s con experience.

This morning, Sara and I took Team DiVa to the Con (ahem… “the costume party”), so that they could see people in costumes. We found “a few” Captains Marvel, to Diana’s glee, but we had a hard time finding a Ms. Marvel for Vanessa. I was hoping to see the young lady (also pictured below) that I saw on Friday; she was nowhere to be found today. Sara managed to find both a Captain AND a Ms. Marvel – at the same time – who were both happy to take pictures with the girls. This happened while I was having a brief meet-and-greet with Phill LaMarr (Pulp Fiction, Mad TV, the voice of Green Lantern John Stewart on Justice League). WHEW!

We left Comic Con, so the girls could have lunch and some down time. I realized that I needed some recovery time, as well.

I returned to the Con a little after 5 PM… to find that the main floor was closing at 7 PM. Fortunately, I had managed to check off most of the boxes on my “To Do” list during the earlier visit. I visited with the Dr. Volt’s crew and managed to get more than three pictures of cosplayers today. I wrapped up the evening attending a panel with three-fourths of the lovely ladies from the Hello Sweetie Podcast, and three other panelists.

I think that Salt Lake Comic Con 2016 was fantastic convention and hope that it was a great success for all involved. I’d also like to thank and congratulate the staff and crew of Salt Lake Comic Con for putting on a great event… and for letting me be a part of it this year! I look forward to what SLCC 2017 brings.

And here are the pictures…

Thursday – 01 September 2016
For a No Bad News Thursday, today wasn’t horrid. It didn’t start off as what I would have called “perfect,” things came together by the end of the day and it ended with a bang! The day started with me at work and not at the Mark Hamill and William Shatner Salt Lake Comic Con panels that I had originally planned on attending. Oh, well. (As the song says: “I guess this is growing up…“) The work day came and went I left work a little early and made my way downtown.

People. Everywhere.

Many/most of them were in costume. It was great to see the array of characters and the work that people put into their outfits. (I only took one picture.) Of the standouts I recall, there was:

• A really great Rule 63 Flash (Jay Garrick)
• Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers),
• Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan),
• Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell, in a costume that looked to be primarily body paint),
• An armored “trooper” that I don’t think that it was a Stormtrooper, and
• Squirrel Girl.

I made it to the convention center, picked up my badge, and hung out at the Dr. Volt’s Comics booth before heading to my panel discussions.

Wile E. Coyote… Special Guest! (What!? It has the same initials as “Super Genius!”)

Leigh George Kade (Geekshow Podcast and Frisch) moderated both discussions. They were fun and hopefully informative. Audience members asked a number of good questions across a decent spectrum from – we even fielded a few questions after each panel ended. I think that augurs well. (And, if it doesn’t… just let me sit here and enjoy my little delusion. Thank you.) The fifty minutes passed far too quickly – it felt like we had just gotten a good head of steam built up when the “Five Minutes” sign was waved. Hopefully, I’ll get an opportunity to be a panelist at a future con; if not, I’ve scratched an item off my bucket list that I didn’t even know was on the list!

For now: Sleep.
And tomorrow: Work… and Salt Lake Comic Con: Day Two!

Friday – 10 June 2016
This evening, I spent some time getting reacquainted with a series that caught my eye a while back: Bandette, from Paul Tobin, Colleen Coover and Monkeybrain Comics.

Bandette is… well… here, let’s just take a look at what Mr. Tobin had to say about it (excerpted from an interview on Comicsverse)¹:

Bandette is a carefree teen thief in sort of a fake Paris. Its a very French comic, its very Tintin-inspired. Even though I do love things like Colder and doing really unsettling horror, there’s also a very carefree side to my writing, very whimsical. Bandette is that for me. She’s a thief who works with the police every now and then. She fights a secret organization of evil masterminds called FINIS. And she steals a lot of things! Basically, it’s as charming as we can make it.

And there you go. And that, along with the picture above, is about the best possible summation of Bandette. Ever.

But, just in case that wasn’t enough, there’s also the description on Monkeybrain’s Comixology site:

The adventures of Bandette, a young costumed “artful dodger”, leader of a group of urchins dedicated to serving justice, except when thieving proves to be a bit more fun. The story of Bandette treads a thin line between Tintin and Nancy Drew, with a few costumes thrown in. Bandette and her crew at turns join forces and cross swords with the mysterious master thief known only as Monsieur, and one B.D. Belgique, perhaps the most harassed police inspector of all time.

I don’t recall exactly how I first stumbled across the title, but I think that it might have been a Free Comic Book Day offering. However it happened, it was an excellent find. It’s light-hearted and fun, which is getting difficult to find in books that aren’t rated “All Ages.”² It is also a welcome change of pace from the traditional cape-and-tights fare that most people think of when they hear the words “comic books.”

Bandette #3 (cover)

If you’re looking for something new – and fun – to read, I suggest heading over to Comixology and checking out the first issue of Bandette. She’ll steal your heart. (And your candy bars!)

¹ – The interview can be read in its entirety here.

² – This is not intended as a knock against “All Ages” books nor books for older readers. -Disclaimer Man

Wednesday – 02 March 2016
For those who don’t know: the name “World’s Finest” or “World’s Finest Team” is usually applied to the pairing of Batman and Superman.

Batman and Superman: World’s Finest

If we look at the way the trailers have presented the introduction of the Dark Knight to the Last Son of Krypton – antagonists rather than reasonably amicable crimefighters –  it is (somewhat) understandable why Warner Brothers chose to go the “Batman versus Superman” route.

That said, YouTube user Adeel of Steel has created a mashup of Tim Burton and Michael Keaton’s Batman teaming up with Richard Donner and Christopher Reeve’s Superman to take on The Joker and Lex Luthor (Jack Nicholson and Gene Hackman, respectively). And it is fun. See for yourself…

Tuesday – 01 March 2016
For a team/comic that hasn’t had their own title in nearly two-and-a-half years, the 30th Century’s  Legion of Super-Heroes has been popping up in a bit of comics-related press in the past few weeks. (As far as I’m concerned, this is far from a “bad thing.”)

There was a cover shot of LSH #300 in DC Comics’ press video for the upcoming “Rebirth” event/non-event…

LSH #300

…apparently, there was a nod to the Legion in last night’s episode of Supergirl…

Legion Flight Ring

…and the team – or, at least, the founders – are featured in the upcoming LEGO Justice League: Comsic Clash… which means it’s pretty much a shoo-in that I will watch this video.

After watching the above clip, I went to heat up my lunch. Waiting for the microwave to do its thing, I noticed I was humming Madonna’s Material Girl. In and of itself, that’s not so bad… but not really Legion-related. The thing is: I caught myself reparsing the lyrics from:

‘Cause we are living in a material world
And I am a material girl

to

‘Cause we are living in a material world
And I’m an immaterial girl

…referencing Phantom Girl and her abilities.  Thankfully, I stopped before I started changing the verses to fit a 30th Century theme. For now.

Send help.
Please.

Monday – 29 February 2016
The New York Post offered up this article today: Robot secretaries are a real thing now.

They’re only 30 years late with this one – the Fantastic Four has had a robot receptionist since 1982:

Roberta

Better late than never, I guess…

Sunday – 24 January 2016
I just finished watching the latest trailer for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Yes, I was watching the football games in which they aired. However, I didn’t sit through many/most of the commercials, so yes, I just saw the newest one online. But, that’s not the point. The point is, with this trailer…

…something in the way that Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne spoke to Alfred about the threat that Superman posed struck me as sounding very similar to the origin of the protocols that Batman developed in the pre-New52 DC Universe, as seen in Mark Waid’s “Tower of Babel” (spoilers) storyline in JLA (and whose story was the basis of the Justice League: Doom animated feature):

Tower of Babel deals with Batman‘s perceived betrayal to the superhuman community by keeping and concealing hidden records concerning the strengths and weaknesses of his allies in the JLA, which include plans to neutralize his allies in a fight. His files are stolen by the criminal mastermind Ra’s al Ghul, who uses them to defeat the League through a coordinated attack in order to prevent them from interfering with his latest scheme, the reduction of the global population.

There appears to be a lot of pent-up rage in Affleck’s Bruce Wayne, but it sounds like all that he wants to do is find the key to defeating the heir-apparent to the “most powerful being on the planet” title… and then retire to the Batcave for a Bat-beer. Corollary to this thought, I can’t help but wonder if we will see Batman taking notes on other members of the League (as we meet them) and compiling methods to best neutralize them, as well. As much as I think I’d enjoy a live-action take on “Tower of Babel,”” I think that we will see the League taking on Thanos Darkseid as the main villain of the Justice League movie.

Something else just dawned on me about the Clark Kent/Superman side of the equation… and I’m a little bothered by the fact that it didn’t occur to me sooner. I’ve seen this trailer before:

…but I didn’t think of it in the same comic book terms as I did the Bruce Wayne one. Until now. Listening to Clark and Perry’s discussion after watching the Bruce Wayne clip, I was almost immediately reminded of Man of Steel #3 (1986) in which Superman goes to Gotham City to take on – and take down – a certain “bat vigilante”:

Let’s just say that their first meeting was “strained,” at best. It was also very well written and included a couple of twists that made the not-quite-a-team-up work under the tense conditions. Clark’s comments in the trailer seem to resonate with one of Superman’s internal monologues from MoS 3, in which Superman goes over what he knows about Batman.

As I said, just a couple of quick thoughts. What do you think?

03 August 2015
Let’s look at comics and comics-related things!

Let’s get a few random items out of the way first.

• 25 Greatest Animated Comic Book Covers
• Badass Women to Read if Kelly Sue DeConnick Is Your Hero
  
• Has anyone else tried reading comics with those old red-blue 3D glasses? No? You should give it a shot.
• DC Comics Bombshells Creates World Where Women Were Heroes of World War II
  • Buy This Book: ‘DC Bombshells’ #1 Knocks It Out of the Park
• Nostalgia Overload: ‘Star Wars’ Movies Get Little Golden Books Adaptations
• Ant-Man. If, for some reason, you still haven’t seen it, you’re missing out on Marvel Studios’ take on a comedy heist movie.

Okay with those out of the way, let’s talk comic books…

For me, one of the bright spots in comics is the writing and art of Thom Zahler. He first came to my attention for Love and Capes, which billed itself as “The heroically super situation comedy.” And that’s exactly what it was. But, while serving up romance in a world where costumed heroes exist is nothing new, Love and Capes made the romance the focus of the book, rather than superheroics. This doesn’t mean that readers never saw heroic feats; but the real story followed the growth of the relationship between Abby Tennyson, owner of a small bookstore, and Mark Spencer, accountant by day/superhero by… well… night and day, really. The dialog was crisp and the situations in which Mark, Abby, and their friends found themselves felt believable. And, the comedic timing – after all, it did call itself a ‘situation comedy’ – worked in a way that didn’t feel forced. Check out the website, linked above, or pick up issues or trade paperbacks from IDW Publishing.

Mr. Zahler’s latest offering is the four-issue mini-series, Long Distance:

Long Distance #1 by Thom Zahler

The description for this series:

From the creator of Love and Capes, Thom Zahler! While stranded in an airport, Carter and Lee meet and hit it off immediately. Problem is, he lives in Columbus and she lives in Chicago. Can they manage to have a relationship separated by three hundred miles, a time zone, and the entire state of Indiana?

As someone who has been in a couple of long-distance relationships, the dialog and the situations feel realistic. Zahler manages to find the proper balance of the giddiness that accompanies a new romance along with the added tensions of distance, work, commentary from friends, and time. Because of the care that he puts into all of that, Carter and Lee go from being “just characters in a comic book” to a couple of people to whom you can relate.

Issue #3 of Long Distance hits stands this Wednesday. I highly recommend picking it up – along with Issues #1 and 2 – as part of your comics haul.

Saturday – 28 February 2015
Looking at the comics below, I realized that I had a little something that should be recognized for Black History Month:

Those books are:

• The first issue of Marvel’s Luke Cage: Hero for Hire;
• the first appearance of DC Comics’ Green Lantern John Stewart; and
• The first issue of Marvel’s Black Panther.

All of the books were found, courtesy of my local comic shop, Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection. They know me well and look out for me.

They also afforded me the opportunity to have the issue of Green Lantern signed by Neal Adams, the man who created John Stewart… who just happens to be my favorite Green Lantern. Even better, he recounted the story of how he came to create the character:

Mr. Adams looked at me and asked, “So you found something else…?” I replied that of all the Lanterns, John Stewart was my favorite. He signed it and, putting down his pen, said: “With this, you’ve earned the right to hear the story of John Stewart.” He then proceeded to tell this story:

He had gone to Julius Schwartz with the idea that Green Lantern Hal Jordan needed a backup, in case something happened to him. Schwartz told him that Jordan already had a backup: Guy Gardner.

Adams retorted with: “So, a purple alien comes to Earth, dying, and sends his ring out to find a worthy successor. It passes Batman, Superman and all of the other heroes in the DC Universe and finds… a test pilot. Now, I’m a big fan of Chuck Yeager, so I get it. But, when the time comes to find another worthy person, the ring goes out again… and passes Batman and Superman – again – and finds… a white, blonde, gym teacher. What about all the other people in the world? Is it just going to pass them by?! Twice!?”

“Gardner needs to get hit by a bus. If he just breaks his arm, he’ll be back – good as new – in a month. If he gets hit by a bus, he’ll be out of action for a while. There would have to be a new backup.”

Schwartz realized that Adams wanted to introduce a minority character as Jordan’s backup. He tried to dissuade him by saying that Hal Jordan’s mechanic was Asian. Adams said, “Yeah, and you call him ‘Pieface!’ That’s offensive.” They went back and for a bit, but Schwartz eventually relented and said “Denny (O’Neill) will write it and YOU have to draw him.”

And he did.

When the story was done, O’Neill handed it off to Adams… who didn’t get far into the story before finding another point of contention: the name – “Lincoln Washington.” He confronted O’Neill, who told him that it wasn’t his idea and that Schwartz had come up with it. Adams went to Schwartz “…and closed the door, because I knew there would be shouting.” He argued against the name, calling it not only offensive, but also noting how blacks of the day were changing their names to get away from ‘slave names.’ He also told Schwartz that he could keep the name, if he was adamant, but that e would also fill his office with letters from angry readers. Schwartz responded that he “…[knew] guys with those kinds of names,” and then asked Adams what kind of name he should give him. Adams simply replied, “A name. A real name. Just… pull out any name.” Schwartz eventually relented and told Adams to come up with a name. He picked “John Stewart.” He then laughed and asked, “How was I supposed to know that he was going to be come a comedian?”

He wrapped up his story with the following epilogues:

“This story has two endings.

Ending Two: DC wound up making a movie with Hal Jordan, Green Lantern. There were 10 million kids who were asking ‘Who’s Hal Jordan!?’ Putting Jordan in the movie, they basically went from Gil Kane straight to Geoff Johns, jumping over me and Denny O’Neill – our names weren’t even credited. And, DC lost $150 million dollars on the movie.

Ending One: When I pitched the idea of a black Green Lantern, I did it because I could draw a black person and no one else could or did. All of the artists, even the black ones, were just drawing white faces and then having them colored to be black. And they were drawing them with wavy hair. Black people don’t have wavy hair, they have kinky hair. It takes a whole lot of shit to make it wavy. And we also had to put the color notations in our artwork, so that the colorists would know how to color the characters. Black characters up to that point were all light-skinned, we used to call it ‘khaki brown.’ When I put in my color notations for John Stewart, I made him dark. Julie Schwartz and (publisher whose name I don’t recall) came to him and asked, ” Are you sure that you want him this dark?” Adams confirmed his intention. He then added, “Then they asked me something that has stuck with me until this day: ‘Aren’t black people going to be offended?” Adams laughed and said, “You can send me the first letter.”

And, with that, I can let Black History Month and #BlackComicsMonth go.

Wednesday – 23 July 2014 It’s Batman Day.

(c) DC Comics

In celebration of Batman’s 75th anniversary, DC Entertainment is partnering with thousands of comic book retailers and bookstores across the nation to celebrate “Batman Day” on Wednesday, July 23. As part of the festivities, fans who visit participating retailers receive a free, special edition of DETECTIVE COMICS #27, featuring a reimagining of Batman’s 1939 comic book debut, designed by Chip Kidd with a script by The New York Times #1 bestselling author Brad Meltzer.

In addition to the comic book, DC Entertainment is providing retailers access to an assortment of other collectibles to help in the celebration of “Batman Day” including a Batman 75thanniversary cape, bookmarks featuring essential Batman graphic novels and four Batman masks designed by comic book artist Ryan Sook spotlighting a variety of the character’s iconic looks from his 75-year history.

For more information, click here.