Matt Haley Pin-Up Day
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
Direct Currents: Friday, December 17, 2010
CW to adapt DC's 'Raven' into series
The CW is looking to adapt "Raven," a half-demon also known as Rachel Roth, into a series. Diego Gutierrez, who most recently served as co-exec VP on "V," is writing and will exec produce.DC Newcomer to Initiate DOOMSDAY Return in STEEL #1
We talk with Steve Lyons, the writer of DC's STEEL #1, about kicking off the return of Superman killer Doomsday.David E. Kelley Hasn’t Committed To Wonder Woman TV Series Yet
We may have to wait a while for the return of Wonder Woman to live-action television. That’s because writer-producer David E. Kelley, who was reported in October to be adapting the superhero project, hasn’t “necessarily committed” to the series.Chris Roberson & Phil Hester on Taking Over 'Superman' and 'Wonder Woman' From JMS
The new guys seem to realize JMS was crap and are going to fix it. That's my take, anyway.GIFFEN & SIMONE talk DOOM PATROL-SECRET SIX X-Over
Writers Keith Giffen & Gail Simone talk about what's coming up in Doom Patrol & Secret Six, as the 2 series crossover in Feb.FABIAN NICIEZA on RED ROBIN's Place in BATMAN, INC.
Now that Bruce Wayne has returned, how does Red Robin fit in with Batman Inc.? And what about Cassandra Cain? Fabian Nicieza clarifies.The Justice League XXX – Another Studio Joins The Superhero Porn Bandwagon
Best Art Ever (This Week) - 12.03.10
The proliferation of social media is an incredible boon for lovers of comic book art, design and illustration. Sites like Flickr, Tumblr, DeviantArt and other countless blogs and feeds bombard us with a ceaseless supply of artwork by professionals and fans that is variously excellent, clever, funny, innovative, and numerous degrees of awesome.Comic Book Legends Revealed #289
This week, learn the odd story of Todd McFarlane, Felix the Cat and Spider-Man! Did John Buscema really adapt an entire film from a decades-old memory of the movie? Plus, more about Wonder Woman's costume change!BLOGS
The Absorbascon
You're a Mean One, Iris West
The Anti-Didio League of America
Celebrating Ten Years of Batgirl: May 2000
The Aquaman Shrine
Aquaman (Vol.6) #21 - June 1996
Aquaman (Vol.6) #22 - July 1996
Aquaman (Vol.6) #23 - Aug. 1996
Aquaman (Vol.6) #24 - Sept. 1996
Batman: Odyssey #5 - Jan. 2011
Justice League Unlimited: "Ultimatum"
Young Justice - "Independence Day"
Armagideon Time
You know they’re done…
Being Carter Hall
Watched: Smallville, "Icarus"
Comics Make Me Happy!
Harley Quinn Pencils by Loston Wallace
Continued On 2nd Page Following
Comics in Electra Glide in Blue
Diana Prince: Wonder Woman
Super Friends #24 (April, 2010)
Diversions of the Groovy Kind
"The Curse of the Ancient Weapons!" from Detective Comics #452 (July 1975)
"The Grandee Caper!" from Wonder Woman #203 (August, 1972)
Every Day Is Like Wednesday
Superman seems pretty stressed out.
Think about this for a moment, won't you?
Firestorm Fan
OFFICIAL: Deathstorm Represents 1990s Villains
Girls Gone Geek
WTF? Wednesday: Boys Will Be Boys
The Idol-Head of Diabolu
Koma Designs Martian Manhunter Resin Model Kit
The Comic Reader #219 (September, 1984)
J.M. DeMatteis's CREATION POINT
PORTALS TO OTHER DIMENSIONS—TEN CENTS EACH!
Jon's Random Acts of Geekery
Cool Stuff BONUS! 1966 Batman "Blue" Cards, Part 1!
Cool Stuff BONUS! 1966 Batman "Blue" Cards, Part 2!
Justice League Detroit
2010 Aquaman by Rafael Lam
2009 Zatanna Barf Bag Sketch by Andy Kuhn
Kingdom Kane
"The Case of the Blonde Bombshell" from Strange Adventures No. 182, November 1965
Once Upon A Geek
Listen Up: Who’s Who for You!
Power of the Atom
The Super-Hanukkah Song
The World's Smallest Jewish Super-Hero?
Albert Explains It All
Silver Age Comics
Showcase #73: The Creeper Becomes DC's Question
Siskoid's Blog of Geekery
Reign of the Supermen #42: Electric Superman Red/Superman Blue
Dial H for Heroine
X-Patrol Strikes Back
Slay, Monstrobot of the Deep!!
Journalistic Ethics At the Daily Planet
Tell Us What You Really Think, Kal-El
Superman Goes Gangsta
Subject : THE SUICIDE SQUAD (Task Force X)
The Suicide Squad's greatest hits.
Supergirl Comic Box Commentary
Review: Superboy #2
Review: Action Comics Annual #13
Review: Action Comics #895
Review: Action Comics #895 - Jimmy Olsen Second Feature
The Thought Experiment
69 Days of Wonder Woman: Day 36, Muppet connections
Daily Batman: A naked leg being the invitation, or, “Who’s your Dada?”
Thursday, December 16, 2010
The Daily Planet Weekend Review Section 12/16/10
The Buy Pile by Hannibal Tabu
Reviews by J. Caleb Mozzocco
Comic shop comics: Dec. 2-8
Library comics: An update
Comics Of The Weak by Tucker Stone
Someday We Should Just Admit That We're Looking To Get A Big Juicy Hard-On, Like We Did From Mister Miracle
Reviews by Sally P
Less Whacking, More Reviews for Friday, December 03, 2010
Bouquets and Brickbats for Thursday, December 09, 2010
Reviews by Diabolu Frank
Wednesday Is In A Sorry State All I Care #90
Fire: The Definitive Collection (2001)
AICN Comic Reviews Shipping Week: 11/24/10
What I Read... This Week? (Tuesday, December 14, 2010)
IGN Comic Book Reviews
Todd Klein's And Then I Read:
Newsarama's Best Shots Comic Reviews:
- T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #2, The Flash #7, Knight & Squire #3
- Detective Comics Annual #12, Batgirl #16, Red Robin #18, Superboy #2
- Brightest Day Volume 1, Secret Six #28, Batman: Orphans #1, Action Comics Annual #13
- Brightest Day #15, Vertigo Resurrected: Winter's Edge
- Batman and Robin #17 & Much More!
- Detective Comics #871 & Batwoman #0
- Batman Incorporated #1, Streets of Gotham #17, Zatanna #7, Nightmäster & More!
- Justice Society of America #45, Young Justice: "Independence Day" & more
- VAMPIRELLA, THE TRAVELER, More
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Weird Worlds and Howard Chaykin's Ironwolf
A while back I agreed to be a partner here at DC Bloodlines, a contributor looking at the wonderful world of the DCU. After a couple of posts however, I have become something of a slacker, a member in name only, the equivalent of a friend who sleeps on the couch, lives in the apartment, but doesn't help with the rent. A New year's resolution of mine is to start posting here more.
And why not get a jump-start on the new year and my resolution?
DC recently solicited a 6 issue mini-series title Weird Worlds, the first issue coming out the first week of January. The cover is posted above; here is the official description.
Each month, you'll be treated to new 10-page chapters in three exciting serials. In this debut issue, Kevin Van Hook and Jerry Ordway bring you the continuing adventures of Lobo, everyone's favorite Czarnian (after all, he's the only one left, so he'd better be your favorite). Aaron Lopresti introduces you to his newest creation, the kind-hearted monster called Garbageman. And Kevin Maguire takes you to the farthest reaches of outer space with the introduction of a hero called Tanga!
Now two of my favorite creators are working on this book. I love Aaron Lopresti's work and thought his Wonder Woman was about as close to perfect as you can get. And Kevin Maguire is simply fantastic.
But this isn't the first Weird Worlds that DC has published. And that's one of the things I like about DC, this sense of tradition.
In 1972, DC published the first Weird Worlds, a short lived science fiction title that lasted only 10 issues. The first 7 issues were comic versions of Edgar Rice Burroughs' characters such as John Carter, Warlord of Mars. But the last three issues were headlined by Ironwolf, a character created by Howard Chaykin.
The Ironwolf stories in Weird World's 8, 9, and 10 read like a Who's Who of talent. Chaykin plotted and drew the stories. Denny O'Neil scripted Chaykin's plots. And Walt Simonson was the letterer! The stories are simply jammed with so many ideas that you get the sense that Chaykin had a complete universe in his mind. Wildly imaginative and understandably rough in some spots, the stories are like looking into the laboratory of Chaykin's mind, seeing some themes that run through many of his subsequent works.
Now I am an old timer, but I wasn't buying comics in 1972.
But I am a huge fan of Howard Chaykin. In the late 80s I discovered Chaykin's work - The Shadow, American Flagg, and Blackhawk. They were complex stories, with layers on layers. They were sexy, something my mid-adolescent self thought was unbelievably fantastic. And Flagg and Blackhawk were world-weary 'heroes' who felt betrayed by all sides despite being 'good men' at their core.
The Flagg stuff was just about the best thing on Earth for me back then (and still is now) - filled with politics and actions, as well as stunning art and snappy dialogue. With three home runs in a row, I decided to hunt down as much of Chaykin's past work as possible - the Atlas Comics' Scorpion, Marvel's Dominic Fortune, and DC's Weird Worlds. And I have since collected Chaykin's subsequent stuff.
Ironwolf is a lord from the planet Illium, a world with an incredible natural resource, anti-gravity trees that are used to build space ships. Illium is one planet within an Empire, ruled by the beautiful but wicked Empress Erika Klein-Hernandez.
Being a man of honor, Ironwolf doesn't want to share his world's trees with the Empress' barbarian hordes who will simple invade and conquer. When the Empress commands Ironwolf to relinquish control of the forests, Ironwolf makes a snap decision. He rebels, slaughtering the barbarian troops there, and escaping.
There is definitely a nice mix of both science fiction and fantasy throughout the series. Wooden space ships?
Ironwolf's ship is the Limerick Rake (Chaykin always did have a nice sense of wordplay) and looks more like a pirate ship than a galactic cruiser. The 'sword' at the front of the ship is actually seen ramming other ships.
With a righteous fury, Ironwolf starts to attack the Empress' troops any time he can. He and his crew are skilled warriors and seem to be racking up victory after victory. Finally Empress Erika calls in her secret weapons - The Blood Legion and their leader Omikel. The Blood Legion are a troop of vampire soldiers, loyal to the empire and incredibly strong.
So science fiction, a pirate theme, and now vampires. Quite a nice concoction that Chaykin is creating here. Moreover, as with most of Chaykin's work, there are plenty of beautiful strong women throughout the books.
Heading back to his home planet, Ironwolf discovers that his squeamish and foppish brother has lied down with the Empire and has ceded the anti-gravity forests to the Empress.
Rather than allowing the trees to get in the hands of fascists, Ironwolf actually destroys his legacy, his birthright. He burns down his world's forests! Nice panel work here, Ironwolf small, confined to the prison of the panel, back to us, shoulders slumped. But it also shows what a man of conviction he is. This unwillingness to cross personal ethical lines and the ability to sacrifice things to accomplish bigger goals are common characteristics of the best Chaykin characters.
And the Scottish togs add to the feel of the book. There is a medieval sort of feel to the politics here ... lords and ladies, landed gentry, etc. Ironwolf seems more the rogue and outlaw dressed like this. At the end of this first issue he has officially joined the rebel forces, working with comely rebel Captain Sheba O'Neal, and determined to bring down the Empire.
The second issue's story involves Ironwolf trying to assassinate the Empress by impersonating an actor and playing Hamlet for her in a private showing.
Again, Chaykin sort of floods the stories with small flourishes that add to the complexity of the world. Here we learn of Urchin's Blood, a drug that drives men insane with courage.
The plot fails and one of Ironwolf's comrades gets killed in the process.
The last issue has Ironwolf on the run, fleeing to a rebel world to repair the Limerick Rake. This world is the home world of Janus Vanmeer, a noted rebel leader.
These rebels turn out to be just as bad as the empire. The planet's ruling family is peddling Mikah, an addictive drug which turns men into mindless giants. Are you a good guy if you are working with drug dealers? Are you rebelling if the underlying reason is to secure a bigger drug market for profit? Ironwolf wants no part of it.
The issue ends with the discovery that rebel leader Janus has been using Mikah and is now a grotesquely muscled brute. Ironwolf barely survives a skirmish with Janus, killing him in the process.
The last page of Weird Worlds #10, the last issue of the title, sums up Ironwolf's character - and most of Chaykin's best protagonists: Cody Starbuck, and Reuben Flagg, and the Midnight Men, and Harry Kraft of American Century.
Ironwolf feels like he is battling a corrupt world from all sides. He is a dreamer ... a dreamer of peace and decency ... but he is a dreamer who can fight. That is the quintessential Chaykin hero.
Here are the covers to the other two issues of Weird Worlds that starred Ironwolf. Weird Worlds #10 sports a very nice Mike Kaluta cover.
These books are sort of cherished by Chaykin fans, the petri dish of his later stuff. They can often be found at conventions cheap, sometimes in the 50cent boxes.
Chaykin came back to the Ironwolf character in 1992, co-writing Ironwolf: Fires of the Revolution with frequent collaborator John Francis Moore. This one shot graphic novel again sports incredible talent. Mike Mignola penciled the book and P.Craig Russell inked it. Some of the events of these Weird World stories are recapitulated here but it also brings the story to something of a close. This work melds nicely with the Chaykin/Garcia-Lopez mini-series Twilight, re-imagining the other silver age space heroes like Tommy Tomorrow and Space Ranger, another very good mini that can be found cheap.
If you are a Chaykin fan of any level, I would definitely look for the Weird World issues. In the late 1980s, DC collected the three issues and reprinted them in one book. That is simply titled Ironwolf and is probably just as hard to find as the original issues.
Chaykin's later works all seem like echoes of the ground-breaking stuff on the late 80s and early 90s. But there is usually some glimmer in them that keep me coming back. So I have read Bite Club, his Challengers of the Unknown, City of Tomorrow, and the more recent Dominic Fortune. Still, of all those recent stuff, I am still more apt to reread Ironwolf or Flagg or The Shadow or Twilight.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Who's Dat: Anti-Man
PERSONAL DATA
Real Name: Boris (last name unrevealed)
Other Aliases: Anti-Man
Occupation: Rebel leader
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliation: Rebel forces of Santa Culpa, formerly the Blackhawk Squadron
Base of Operations: Santa Culpa
First Appearance: MILITARY COMICS #2 (1941)
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 190 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Red
HISTORY
The Russian Boris was one of the first recorded members of the acclaimed international World War II aviation aces known as the Blackhawk Squadron. Boris was accepted as a friend by teammate Chuck Wilson, but was distrusted by other members, and vanished without explanation early on. Well after the war, it was revealed that on an early mission raiding the island lab of the enemy scientist Professor Distov, Boris was caught in an explosion and left for dead.
Unbeknownst to his fellow Blackhawks, Boris had been exposed to a form of anti-matter energy Distov had been experimenting with, which protected and transformed the Russian. Boris was then drawn to another source of anti-matter, found within Mount Sebastion in the South American country Santa Culpa. This source renewed the strange new powers Boris had acquired, so he remained in the country. Boris worked with Professor Ortega to create a battle suit to help him wield the energy under the title Anti-Man. Not only did Anti-Man become the head of a rebel army in Santa Culpa, but he even conspired with President Carlos in his plot to overthrow the government.
Fearing his former comrades in the Blackhawk Squadron might interfere with his plans, Anti-Man began to harass and kidnap members of the group. Before Boris could gather the entire team and work out a suitably diabolical revenge, the Blackhawks in Santa Culpa managed to escape and route Anti-Man's coup. Having been abandoned by Carlos and having murdered Prof. Ortega to protect his secrets, Anti-Man was forced to face Blackhawk and Chopper on his own. Despite his powers, Boris was beaten into submission and captured. Preferring death before further dishonor, Boris caused the anti-matter in Mt. Sebastion to erupt, seemingly taking him with it. The Anti-Man has not been heard from since.
POWERS & WEAPONS
With his anti-matter powers, Boris managed to survive a deadly explosion, presuming that was not the very source of his abilities. Afterward, Anti-Man could fly and fire "anti-blasts" of energy from his fingertips. Anti-Man was still physically susceptible to conventional attacks, so he wore a suit of armor for protection.
Created by Will Eisner and Chuck Cuidera
Monday, December 13, 2010
1984 Green Lantern Postcard by George Pérez
Absolutely without fear, the Emerald Crusader, Hal Jordan, was given the magnificent ring of power. Green Lantern serves the Guardians of the Universe as one of the famed Green Lantern Corps, fighting evil in all its forms.
Green Lantern Hal Jordan was one of the first super-heroes I ever encountered, but he had about the least presence of them all. He was a Super Friend, and I would catch one of the old ‘60s Justice League of America shorts every now and again, but it’s not like he had his own cartoon like Aquaman. The earliest comic I saw Hal Jordan in was from the Hard-Traveling Heroes days, involving a generic cult that kidnapped Green Lantern, but his ring had managed to reach Green Arrow. It was a gorgeous looking comic, and even though Jordan was the jobber of the tale, I didn’t hold it against him that time.
When his Super Powers Collection figure came out, it was instantly my favorite. Hal was too barrel-chested, and his lantern jaw too similar to Superman’s, but the glorious costume design of Gil Kane rendered in three dimensions could not be denied. The simple color scheme of green, black and white came off as so much more refined than the standard hero fare, and a domino mask has an air of sophistication about it. Most heroes had black hair, and quite a few were blond, but brown was a unique shade reserved for a select few (with heavy hitters Peter Parker and Bruce Banner also so graced.) I think my favorite part was that drop of emerald jewelry amidst the negative space of Green Lantern’s white glove that only hinted at the incredible power resting on his finger.
I’m sure I encountered Hal sometime in the interim, but my next strong memory was from the mid-80s, in an issue of Green Lantern with the Javelin as the featured villain. I believe the character was designed by Dave Gibbons, and he looked good, but what really stuck with me was how a dude with a hollow javelin filled with yellow paint had managed to place Green Lantern in a life or death situation. Hal‘s vulnerability to a color was already a joke to me by then, and his diminishing presence in the DC Universe didn’t help. John Stewart seemed to handle his ring with much greater competency, and Guy Gardner had loads more personality than either of them. Hal would pop up here and there, like in Millennium tie-ins, but he had already become my third choice and falling in the role of Green Lantern. In fact, it kind of ticked me off that Stewart’s wife was killed because he was among the majority of GL corpsmen who lost their rings at decade’s end, excluding Hal, who was written as a total douchebag in his Action Comics Weekly run. I gave Hal several more tries in the years that followed, which only led to several more fails on Jordan’s part.
The first comic book professional I ever met was Bill Willingham, who turned up at a convention shortly after drawing a chapter of “Emerald Twilight.” I told him Hal Jordan didn’t mean that much to me, but I thought it was wrong that fans had invested over thirty years into a hero before having him become a mass murdering madman. If I recall correctly, Willingham was either diplomatic or simply agreed with me, so we moved on to discussing The Elementals and how nice Terry Austin’s inks looked over a Huntress short story he’d done in a recent Showcase.
I continued to irregularly follow Green Lantern in the late ‘90s, because that book was always having guest stars over that I found more interesting than Kyle Rayner. I also went back and read Denny O’Neil’s work in the ‘70s, as well as Steve Englehart’s in the ‘80s, and came to the conclusion Hal‘s going nuts was actually foreseeable. Jordan was indecisive and open to suggestion, was prone to erratic behavior, made colossally stupid decisions in dramatic fashion without regard for the consequences, and basically was a screw-up with more power than he deserved. Fans fought over the new status quo, but for a decade DC insisted that Hal Jordan was and would always be the very evil Parallax, which I accepted. Even when Hal sacrificed his life to reignite the sun and eventually became the Spectre for a time, I was alright with it. Only when DC announced that Hal Jordan would be reborn as Green Lantern did I have reservations. There were plenty of theories as to how this could be done, my personal favorite being that evil Hal had been a clone created in a Guy Gardner story right before going nuts as Parallax, but things played out different. The real Jordan had done all that evil, only under the influence of an extraordinarily powerful alien entity. Now see, heroes get possessed by evil all the time, and Kyle Rayner specifically would be in this creature’s thrall a few years later. However, like most heroes in those circumstances, Rayner had regained his autonomy after a few issues, not a dozen years following a massive body count. Even that was slowly retconned, with Coast City, Kilowog and even Arisia (killed by Major Force in a completely unrelated story) brought back to life in as arbitrary a fashion as possible. What they were selling, I wasn’t buying.
Here we are in 2010, with next summer promising a big budget Green Lantern motion picture that I personally have little interest in seeing. For the second time in the Geoff Johns era, John Stewart has been promised a co-starring role in an ongoing series, only to become a bit player supporting a boring honky lead. In fact, Twitter was all atwitter about why a white guy was playing Green Lantern after a generation of fans had been turned on to the character outside of comics by a black GL in the Justice League cartoon. DC Comics spent most of my life cultivating a hatred of Hal Jordan, and I’m afraid it will take a lot more than Warner Brothers throwing millions of dollars at a Ryan Reynolds vehicle to change my opinion.
Friday, December 10, 2010
1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes Character Card Blank & Checklist
An interesting aspect of the Mayfair '89 card set was that beyond the 75 DC name brand cards, there were an additional three blanks to use in creation of your own characters. That's all well and good, except that each of the three also included a DC copyright, which could be taken to mean that DC claims ownership of any characters placed on those cards. I wouldn't expect the matter to ever go to court, because it isn't like anything folks came up with wouldn't be a multi-generational carbon copy of a preexisting DC character, but it still rubs me the wrong way.
The cards were not themselves numbered, but I thought listing them in alphanumeric order would be helpful, and it certainly paid off when I missed listing Manhunter Mark Shaw on my first pass...
- Animal-Man
- Aquaman
- The Atom
- Batman
- Big Barda
- Black Adam
- Black Canary
- Black Orchid
- Blackhawk
- Blue Beetle
- Booster Gold
- Bronze Tiger
- Captain Atom
- Captain Boomerang
- Captain Marvel
- Catwoman
- Changeling
- The Cheetah
- The Comedian
- Count Vertigo
- The Creeper
- Cyborg
- Danny Chase
- Darkseid the Destroyer
- Deadshot
- Doctor Fate
- Doctor Light
- Dr. Manhattan
- Duchess
- Elongated Man
- Fire
- Firestorm
- The Flash
- Gnort
- Green Arrow
- Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
- Green Lantern (John Stewart)
- Guy Gardner
- Hawkman
- Hawkwoman
- The Huntress
- Ice
- Jericho
- John Constantine
- The Joker
- Jonah Hex
- Lex Luthor
- Manhunter
- Martian Manhunter
- Metamorpho
- Mister Miracle
- Mr. Mxyzptlk
- Nightwing
- Nite Owl
- Ozymandias
- The Penguin
- Plastic Man
- Power Girl
- The Question
- Raven
- Robin deceased
- Rocket Red
- Rorschach
- The Sandman
- Sergeant Rock
- Shade the Changing Man
- Silk Spectre
- The Spectre
- Starfire
- Starman
- Superman
- Swamp Thing
- Troia
- Vixen
- Wonder Woman
- blank card
- blank card
- blank card
This concludes Mayfairstivus 2010. I was surprised by many of these selections, as well as some omissions, but maybe we'll catch 'em all next year. Special thanks goes out to...
*Tom Hartley, for the inspiration and solicitation.
*Shag, Boosterrific & Anj, for the quality and quantity of their posts.
*Everyone else who participated and made this such a fun event.
If you wonder what this mess was all about, I'll let Albert explain it all, not to mention sing The Super-Hanukkah Song, and examine who is The World's Smallest Jewish Super-Hero?
There were a lot of Mayfairstivus listings that went beyond the above character cards that's I'd also like to catalog:
- BOO$TERRIFIC:
- A Mayfairstivus for the Rest of Us! Day 2
- Mayfairstivus Day 3 - Booster Gold Gaming Modules
- A Mayfairstivus for the Rest of Us! Day 6 - Skeets
- A Mayfairstivus for the Rest of Us! Day 7
- Mayfairstivus Day 8 & Out: The Time Sphere
- Firestorm Fan:
- Remembering the Game
- Mayfairstivus Day 2 – Firestorm
- Mayfairstivus Day 3 – Elemental Firestorm
- Mayfairstivus Day 6 – An Element of Danger Module
- Mayfairstivus Day 7 – The New Thinker and Brimstone
- Mayfairstivus Day 8 – Weasel, Mindboggler, Stalnoivolk and Zastrow
- Mayfairstivus Finale – Mayfairstivus – Multiplex and Plastique
- The Idol-Head of Diabolu:
- Despero's 1990 The Justice League Sourcebook Entry
- Despero in the Who's Who in the DC Universe Role-Playing Supplement 1
- Gypsy in the 1990 Mayfair Games DC Heroes The Justice League Sourcebook
- Justice League Detroit:
- Dale Gunn in the 1990 Justice League Sourcebook
- Steel - Deceased in the 1990 Mayfair Games DC Heroes The Justice League Sourcebook
- Vibe - Deceased in the 1990 Mayfair Games DC Heroes The Justice League Sourcebook
- Once Upon a Geek:
- DC Heroes RPG
- Mayfairstivus Day 2 – 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Edition
- Mayfairstivus – Be Part of the Legend
- Speed Force:
- Celebrating The Flash in the DC Heroes RPG
- Captains Cold & Boomerang in the 1989 DC Heroes RPG
- Supergirl Comic Box Commentary:
- Celebrating The Mayfair DC Heroes Role Playing Game
- Mayfairstivus Post 2: Supergirl In The DC Heroes Game (featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes)
- Mayfairstivus Post 3: Brainy And More Supergirl Stuff
Finally, here is the participating blogroll:
The Anti-Didio League of America
The Aquaman Shrine
Booster Gold: BOO$TERRIFIC
Comics Make Me Happy!
The Continuity Blog
DC Bloodlines
Diana Prince as The New Wonder Woman
Doom Patrol: My Greatest Adventure #80
Firestorm Fan
Flash: Speed Force
Girls Gone Geek
Green Lantern Corps: The Indigo Tribe
Hawkman: Being Carter Hall
Justice League Detroit
Martian Manhunter vs. The Idol-Head of Diabolu
Once Upon A Geek
Power of the Atom
Supergirl Comic Box Commentary
Thursday, December 9, 2010
1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes The Creeper Character Card
I don't get the Creeper. To a large degree beyond my control, I was exposed to a lot of Steve Ditko as a kid. I thought his work was weird, stiff and kind of unpleasant. I preferred John Romita Sr. on Spider-Man, Frank Brunner or Gene Colan on Dr. Strange, and if exposure was unavoidable, a heavy handed inker like Wally Wood over Ditko himself. Even his occasional appearances in bizarre venues like Cracked Magazine were unsettling. I had similar uncertainty when it came to Gil Kane, who I grew to love, and Jack Kirby, who I came to respect. I certainly learned to appreciate Ditko, and I especially adore his trailblazing run on Strange Tales, but I'm just not into anything I've seen from the '70s up (especially if Ditko lacked a writing partner.)
The one Ditko creation that I find in no way creepy is the Creeper. I guess it's one of those instances where an unintentionally funny guy tries to tell a joke, and it's just stilted and sad. I often think Ditko was just trying to recreate his Marvel successes through something of a scientific process. Industrialist/inventor Ted Kord was the kind of man Ditko likely imaged Peter Parker would grow to become... a productive member of society like pre-reveal Norman Osborn. Captain Atom, Shade the Changing Man, and even ROM Spaceknight traded in trippy visuals similar to those of the Master of the Mystic Arts, but unambiguously grounded in science fiction instead of the metaphysical. Hawk and Dove had bright, iconic super-hero costumes and dynamic, acrobatic fighting styles, but they were hardly twice the Spider-Man. It seems like the Creeper was intended to plumb the eerie depths of Ditko's heyday on Spidey, but I think a word more immediately associated with the Creeper is garish. He's an ugly character with a miserable design and a secret identity with an untenable worldview whose principles its own founder betrayed. The Question is creepy because he's supposed to be an admirable hero while preaching borderline sociopathic objectivist nonsense, while the Creeper is just a bellicose buffoon.
From my criticism, you might think I hate the Creeper and/or Steve Ditko. Absolutely untrue. Ditko was one of those rare comic book creators with the strength of conviction to make political and moral stands, offering controversial opinions and using his art as something more than a paycheck for fantasizing. One of the major failings of The Hawk and the Dove was that rather than confronting '60s youth with hard, cold conservatism, liberal scripter Steve Skeates forced words into the characters' mouths and bias into the narrative that made the book just as pandering and pointless as every other wannabe hip crap on the stands. Ditko's heroes still spoke in absolutes at a time when guys like Green Lantern were becoming wishy-washy wusses. You need contrasts and extremes to point the way toward or away from directions as necessary. I'll take Ditko and Gill's giddily jingoistic Captain Atom over O'Neil and Adams' preachy, meandering Green Arrow stories seven days a week and twice on Sunday. Besides, nobody outside of maybe Charles Burns can draw hallucinogenic visuals like Ditko.
Unfortunately, none of this helps the Creeper. Jack Ryder was maybe a bit right wing, and Keith Giffen got some mileage out of making him a Morton Downey Jr. stand-in for a while, but it never really fit with the Creeper persona. Maybe if the alter ego were some sort of were-Marxist, but Ditko created the Creeper very much in the Shadow mold of hard-nosed vigilantes who only pretended to be madmen. There was an attempt to play the Creeper as suffering from the effects of mood-altering drugs tied to his transformation, but that only allowed him to be dismissed as something of a junkie. Some have tried to play him as a good Joker, but the whole point of the Clown Prince of Crime is that he's an unpredictable anarchist maniac. Heroes can't just randomly torture/maim/kill anyone with the misfortune to cross their path, and if they only direct their violent tendencies against the deserving, they're just a much sillier take on the Punisher.
So I say again, I do not get the Creeper. Dichotomy can be fascinating, but rather than a walking contradiction, he's more of a shuffling negation. Everything that could/should work about the Creeper is diluted or muzzled by another aspect. His powers and abilities are just a bit too potent for him to mingle with the more realistic nighttime rooftop set, but too weak to hang with the big boys, and he looks terribly out of place in either company. When you're such the odd man out that a pack of misfits like Justice League International or the Outsiders don't even suit you, there's no place to ever call home.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes Power Girl Character Card
Having lost their short term domination of the comics market (due to default from Dell's devastating split with Western) to Marvel Comics, DC tried to glut the market with any concept they thought could potentially sell. Fanboys had been clamoring for the Justice Society of America at least since Earth-2 had been established, but a funny thing happened on the way to the 1970s. Not only did the JSA look almost like a dadaist JLA (Flash with a hub cap hat! Color blind Green Lantern! Bat-Robin! Mr. Gas Mask! The Sorcerous Spittoon!) but it was a total sausage factory (with distended middle aged veins.) The J.S.A. needed some P.Y.T.s, and Sylvester Pemberton just wasn't going to cut it. Earth-1 wasn't exactly flush with heroines for Earth-2 to parallel, and it would have just been sad to simply port over the pre-New Look beards Batwoman and Bat-Girl. Instead, we got The Huntress and Power Girl.
Initially, Helena Wayne wasn't all that different from Barbara Gordon, but the added responsibility of being the sole guardian of Gotham City in a world without Batman made up for that. Power Girl needed no such qualifiers, because while she may have been the Supergirl of Earth-2, her look and personality were distinctly different from any heroine who had come before her. Cocky, liberated, and extraordinarily capable, DC had really hit the jackpot with Kara Zor-L. Unlike the Huntress, Power Girl had a strong enough personal "brand" to sustain herself when her ties to Superman were severed after the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Still, the '80s and '90s were unkind, giving Kara a frigid bitchy one-note personality and bland new costume in Justice League Europe, then knocking her up with a magic baby, and let's not even get into all the Atlantean headaches. Now she's back to being Superman's other cousin, which I honestly disapprove of, but I can't complain about her fun solo series and spotlight role among the JSA All-Stars restoring Kara's former grandeur.
What I can complain about is Power Girl's wimpy pose on her character card. I guess 1989 was an uncertain time for her, and how she would relate to the DC Universe, but still. Thankfully, there was no such compromising of her stats. Kara's Dexterity was equal to the sensational Wonder Woman, and only two points below Superman. Power Girl's Strength massively eclipsed the Amazing Amazon's by 6 points, which on its own is a higher number than most DC characters got. A Body of 15 was equal to the Martian Manhunter and Lobo, not to mention a point above Captain Marvel. Intelligence of 9 was comparable with Batman, J'Onn and Diana, with Will and Mind only one point below those first two. Influence of 8 was equal to or higher than most Justice League mainstays outside the Trinity. Spirit was about the same or only slightly less than that lot. An Initiative of 42 was about twice the average, well above most DC characters, Superman and Darkseid being notable contemporaries. Her Flight speed was just below Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman, and just look at all those double-digit Powers and Skills. Written correctly, Power Girl could be a premier super-hero, regardless of gender.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes Jonah Hex Character Card
For some reason, I thought Jonah Hex was more of a "classic" character when I was a kid. I mean, a Hex ad was in one of the first comics I ever read, so imagine my surprise to learn he wasn't much older than me at the time. I wasn't familiar enough with Spaghetti westerns back then to realize Hex was basically just an uglied-up comic book adaptation of Clint Eastwood's various mercenary characters from then-disreputable Italian movie productions. Hex was himself only fifteen years old when DC finally decided to cancel its last cowboy comic, and turn Jonah into a temporally displaced Mad Max rip-off instead. None of which mattered, because Hex was plainly the baddest sumbitch around, and that attracted really talented artists to draw him, so I had a hankering to read his adventures long before I could get my hands on any.
Since Michael Fleisher wrote so many of Hex's stories, weird was surely ingrained into his being. Not only would that explain the post-apocalyptic tangent, but stuff like never seeming out of place on cartoons or JLA crossovers or whatever other nutty stuff was thrown his way. Jonah's even come face to face with his own stuffed and mounted corpse, and probably just took solace in the fact he could tell he had a lot more years of hell to raise before his trip to the taxidermist. Whatever comes, Hex is liable to just make some dismissive sound, adapt, and keep working out in his head who he figures needs killing in his immediate future. The reb abides.
For instance, Hex found himself not just decades into our nuked out potential future, but at least a good five years ahead of comic book fashion, sporting those Rob Liefeld shoulder pads before Rob himself had made it to DC. That same future apparently requires juggling as a survival skill, the pin/ball going out of frame my only explanation for that ridiculous pose. An internet friend suggested he might be threatening to shoot an invisible giant in the scrotum. Hex is just hard enough to do it to, and if that sounded gay, are you surprised my mind went there while looking at Hex in his cruising gear? A man has to go through a lot of two dollar whores to live down that leather queen get-up.
As far as stats go, Hex fits right between Blackhawk and Sgt. Rock, and yes that was probably another queer joke involving lunchmeat. Hex has the now seemingly standard contact stat column of 7s and a 4 in Strength. He's got the mental and bodily endurance of Rock, and a hair more Will and Spirit than 'Hawk. His bottom row stats are otherwise lower than either, which I guess indicates Hex is a bit more broken in his soul. Jonah is the best in a fight, whether with fists or armed. Hex is the only one of the three with Animal Handling, which is two points higher than Wonder Woman's. His Military Science is limited to tracking, and three points beneath the Amazing Amazon's. Never figured Wonder Woman would need to be called in for comparison with Hex, but Scalphunter never got a card, so that's how it is.
Monday, December 6, 2010
1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes Blackhawk Character Card Front
Blackhawk is another character like Captain Marvel, Blue Beetle and Plastic Man who was major league in his day, but can't seem to be made to work properly anymore, and not for some time. They started screwing up the Blackhawk Squadron in the '60s by converting them into the worst super-hero team contemporaneous with the Inferior 5. The '70s lost the powers, but kept some of the poor fashion sense, with tight pants and plunging necklines to go with the sexed-up "Carley's Angels" vibe. There was a well received but poor selling return to the WWII era in the early '80s, which was my first exposure to the group.
When Howie Chaykin decided he'd like to make corporate money again in the late '80s, he first did a Shadow revival for DC, and when that worked out, somebody figured Blackhawk was the next obvious step. Chaykin loved the period for its scummy underbelly, and so Blackhawk became a precursor to Mad Men by showing "the Greatest Generation" for the adulterous, hard-drinking, money-grubbing parents of the "Me" Generation that they were. It surely stuck in many a craw, because Blackhawk himself was virtually unrecognizable in Chaykin's portrayal, but it sold well enough to land him a slot in Action Comics Weekly. I could have sworn Marty Pasko wrote the strip, as he did Secret Six, but it turned out Mike Grell was at the helm for the initial eight part serial. Regardless, it was Pasko who joined strip artist Rick Burchett for the rest of Blackhawk's involvement in the weekly experiment, which then spun off into the sixteen month run of a mature readers solo series. That book launched in 1989, and is surely the reason for Blackhawk's odd inclusion in this card set.
Especially after my fanboy tangent yesterday, it behooves me to compare Blackhawk's stats with Sergeant Rock. The only physical inequality in the stats is Sarge's extra and well-earned point of Body. Rock's Will and Mind are far stronger, possibly influenced by Janos Prohaska's boozy cool and the shadow of doubt Chaykin's revisions cast over the Blackhawk canon. Rock also has the superior Aura, Spirit, Military Science, Weaponry, Martial Artist and Weaponry skills. However, the difference was always within a point or two. Blackhawk is best with a stick in his grip, either through 7 Charisma at the bar or 12 Vehicles when flying. Blackhawk has far better connections, and most importantly, an X-F5F Skyrocket with a Flight of 9 and Bomb of 15. So that's why he was the one to survive the war...
Sunday, December 5, 2010
1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes Sergeant Rock Character Card
Gerard Jones in The Comic Book Heroes opened his chapter on 1986 with a paragraph full of sentence fragments that made the case for it being essentially the greatest year for comic books ever. Think about it: Miller on Batman and Daredevil. Moore on Watchmen, Swamp Thing, and "Whatever Happened to the Man of Steel?" Byrne on Superman and Action Comics. Chaykin on the Shadow. The Charlton Heroes resurrected at DC. The CBLDF established. Murray & Golden's The 'Nam. Maus. Fleisher vs. Groth & Ellison. Kirby vs. Marvel. Dark Horse Comics founded. Marvel bought by New Line Pictures and launching the New Universe while DC rolled out it's first post-Crisis on Infinite Earths offerings. It was as though Jones were riffing on Billy Joel's 1989 hit "We Didn't Start the Fire."
Speaking of '89, that was all over by then. The Shadow was canceled. The Legion of Super-Heroes were screwed by the "Five Year Gap" and retroactive removal of Superboy. The promise of Cosmic Odyssey flamed out in another misguided attempt to reclaim the glory of Kirby's Fourth World Saga. Miller was off making movies. Moore had sworn off DC entirely. Byrne left DC, and in his place were Action Comics Weekly and the long dull road to the Death of Superman. The draining of Justice League International dry had begun. There was the noble but doomed experiment of Piranha Press. Perez was off the art on Wonder Woman, and only on Action Comics for a few months before the one-two punch of War of the Gods and The Infinity Gauntlet left him sitting on the sidelines for much of the next decade. Hawkworld ruined Hawkman continuity and made him a murderous junkie fascist. Emerald Dawn made Green Lantern a drunken convict. Most of DC's Silver Age relaunches were middling or busts, its history was in tatters, and all those '80s titles you loved were dead or dying. Rather than being the beginning of comics as a widely accepted art form, 1986 was the peak from which to descend, one superficial knock-off of DKR & Watchmen at a time. There were bright spots, like Neil Gaiman's The Sandman and Morrison's Doom Patrol, but the onset of '90s ennui was imminent.
I mention all this because here's a Sgt. Rock RPG card, surely because after fifty years of near continuous publication, a toy line, and a still simmering (but eventually aborted) Arnold Schwarzenegger feature film adaptation, his ongoing series had been canceled in 1988. Sgt. Rock Special continued as a (mostly) quarterly reprint series until the movie plans were official dead in 1992, and sporadically ever since. Rock was one of the last living reminders of a time when DC reached out for mainstream audiences beyond the valley of the dorks, and clearly there wasn't enough love from the cape & cowl set to save it. This card's inclusion was itself a commentary on how out of place Sgt. Rock was within the comic scene.
That said, Frank Rock had surprisingly good dexterity and a completely predictable hardcase constitution. I've never read that many of his comics, so I'm really impressed with his Intelligence of 7. That cache of strong Hero Points, martial skills, and the Danger Sense kept him alive through more action than most in The Great War, and he can actually use lethal weaponry without being in any way out of character. I suddenly find myself wanting to pit Rock against a bunch of street vigilantes like The Huntress and The Question in a craphole like Hub City for some urban warfare. It could be like Death Wish 3, or when Jonah Hex got transported to a post-nuke wasteland. It's so wrong, and yet, Easy Company versus the Watchmen fills my mind with such imagery...
Saturday, December 4, 2010
1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes The Huntress Character Card
Ah, the Huntress! Regardless of Pre-or-Post-Crisis, I'm a fan. It's funny that a lot of these cards resemble Huntress co-creator Joe Staton's artwork, and this pose looks like it came out of one of his issues of her solo series, yet the art style clearly isn't Staton's.
Anyhow, Huntress' stats reflect the character as she was considered immediately after her Post-Crisis reincarnation, and they're pretty accurate through to the present. You're not likely to find a playable character with less than a 4 in Dexterity, as 3 is an athletic normal human, and you or I would likely be a 2 or less. A 7 is plenty agile enough to press most urban vigilante types. Strength of 3 is about right for a human female that isn't a steroidal body builder. Body of 4 is a respectable human level, and Huntress did get knocked on her ass a fair bit during these years. I could see her at a 5, but that's what they gave Black Canary, and Dinah definitely takes more punishment with grit. Intelligence of 5 is about the best Helena could manage, and it isn't bad. A Will of 6 seems a might low for someone defined by her contrary attitude, so I'd bump her up one or two. Then again, her occasional dances with mental instability could have probably cost her pieces of Mind, so we'll call that a wash. Influence isn't her strong suit, and her Aura is almost certainly too high, but a case could be made for more Spirit.
The Huntress has a nice set of skills, with Martial Artist and Weaponry specifically compensating for her low Strength. I'd argue her Detective skill is an important enough factor in her intelligence that her INT could be lowered. I love Bertinelli, but I wouldn't try to make that argument against her if she were still a Wayne.
Looking at these cards definitely provide perspective on the characters. You see, while I love the Huntress, why would I want to role-play as her? Within the Bat-Family alone, there are plenty of other characters with stronger stats than Helena-- better acrobats, stronger fighters, more intelligent, etc. If you hanker for a silent range weapon, Green Arrow or Roy Harper can do anything Huntress can, from further out, with greater impact and variety. Huntress made a lot more sense when she was the Dark Knight Daughter, the product of and replace for Batman and Catwoman upon their deaths. Huntress gets most of her story mileage today from her gender and attitude, but I don't feel the character will be "complete" without a stronger hook than "the other other Batgirl." Even in Birds of Prey, she plays third fiddle to Black Canary and Oracle. I expect better, Helena. You can be more than this...
Friday, December 3, 2010
1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes John Constantine Character Card
It struck me while looking at The Irredeemable Shag's Mayfair Box Set Retrospective how well each reflected their tumultuous times. The 1985 edition had a convoluted George Pérez cover simultaneously referencing his best-selling New Teen Titans and his transitioning into Crisis On Infinite Earths plus nods to the still newish Brainiac redesign and the Super Powers Collection (with the Joker's giant whacking hammer.) Get inside, and it's all kid/licensing friendly pastel blues and José Luis García-López stock art. Jump to 1993, and instead of a boxed set, Mayfair offered up a foil enhanced cover on a rejiggering of their standard player's manual by one of the few fan favorite artists DC still had in their stable. The only way it could have been more 1993 is if Dan Jurgens had drawn it instead of Kevin Maguire.
Right there in the middle was the 1989 box. A simple, iconic, sophisticated cover design with a spot varnish, just in time to capture the new "maturity" of super-hero comics in Moore & Miller's wake, not to mention a bid for mass audience acceptance coming of Tim Burton's Batman. Inside were all these businesslike charts and guides in fluorescent colors, like Gordon Gekko's business prospectus. Mingling with the long underwear types were the Watchmen, Sgt. Rock, Blackhawk, all those gun-toting Suicide Squaders, and an assortment of pre-Vertigo icons like Neil Gaiman's Sandman and Alan Moore's Hellblazer. Strange, transitional times-- like those few years rap, rock, and pop were allowed to co-mingle before they were forcibly segregated by the grunge explosion.
So here's a rather haggard and comic-booky John Constantine, really embracing the paleness associated with enhancing scans of twenty year old cardboard through digital contrasting, just like a proper limey. You might not think much of John's stats if you focus on the physical, as he's a normal man of middle age. However, that intelligence of 11 is a genius intellect one point below Batman's, and his Charisma of 10 is equal to Lex Luthor (but with 4 points more Will.) Think about that for a second. John can manipulate Lex Luthor. On top of that, he's a twelfth level Occultist, which means he can identify, construct and manipulate all sorts of mystical artifacts, cast ritualistic spells, jack with other people's magic, receive premonitions... I can't even begin to summarize what he can do, because it takes a whole other sorcerous sourcebook I don't own to work it all out. Plus, if Constantine can't do something, his Omni-Connection and charm can almost guarantee he can find and con someone into doing it for him. Plus, they can't even avoid him, because his Initiative of 25 gives him the drop on most characters outside the omniscient or upper echelon in publishing prominence. John Constantine is such a magnificent bastard.
Belated thanks to Tom Hartley, whose offering of a batch of about 30 character card scans was the taste I needed to seek more. He then sold his box set for a very reasonable price to a poor student to facilitate this crossover, because I just had to scan them all for myself.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes Captain Marvel Character Card
I loathe the many inadequacies of DC Comics. There are all these great characters in their stable to be a fan of, but at the end of the day, their entire existence is about promoting two thirty-something white male protestants as the be-all and end-all of super-heroics. If someone besides Superman or Batman sells for DC, they'll play it out for a while, but as soon as the worm turns Property #3 will be abandoned or sabotaged to feed the World's Finest machine. Only in the last few years have Green Lantern and the Flash been given a sustained marketing push across all media. Wonder Woman remains a licensing goldmine but publishing afterthought. Meanwhile, Marvel Entertainment is worth a fortune because they spread the love across a whole spectrum of characters whose individual popularity ebbs and flows, but as a whole work to consistently sustain the company.
The above rant was inspired by Captain Marvel. You see, in his day, the guy outsold Superman. He had tons of merchandising and spin-offs, his own movie serial and TV series, cartoons and almost as many imitators as Superman himself. The name Shazam was so well known it became a regular catchphrase on one of the most popular sitcoms of all time. Your great-grandfather or grandmother think The Avengers was just a British spy show, but they know Captain Marvel. Their son at least knows Shazam. Yet, time and time again, DC has mismanaged the character in one failed launch after another. You know how Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? Captain Marvel at DC. He looks like Superman, but is written as dumber and less powerful, in an increasingly antiquated manner, by progressively lesser known creators. That sounds like suck-cess to me!
As you can see above, the Big Red Cheese has some almost unparalleled stats. A point of dexterity over Wonder Woman, two points of strength over Martian Manhunter, two points of bodily resilience over the Spectre. Yet somehow, the Wisdom of Solomon equates to a measly 4 Intelligence, his anti-psychic/magic defenses are middling, and he's 4-10+ points below the Man of Steel in everything. I won't even get into the 2+ times disparity in Hero Points. This guy is supposed to be a contender? This is how you handle what was once among the most famous heroes in the entire world? Holy Moley! Mess with a Kryptonian bull, and you get the horns, by golly!
Belated thanks to Tom Hartley, whose offering of a batch of about 30 character card scans was the taste I needed to seek more. He then sold his box set for a very reasonable price to a poor student to facilitate this crossover, because I just had to scan them all for myself.
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