My Favorite Martian .... New York Comic-Con Special!!

Hey, if you are planning on attending this weekend’s New York Comic Con, and if you’re a fan of the classic 1960s TV show My Favorite Martian, Starring Bill Bixby and Ray Walston, then Hermes Press has something cool for you.

Debuting at the NYCC, My Favorite Martian: The Complete Series-Volume One will be sold at a special convention price of $29.99, which is a whopping $20 off of its retail cover price! If you’re new to Hermes Press’ line of classic reprints, this is a good one to start with. My Favorite Martian had a great run in comics with scripts by the prolific Paul S. Newman and terrific art contributions from Russ Manning, Dan Spiegle, and Mike Arens. Now, Hermes Press has digitally remastered the original Gold Key comic book of the ‘60s in another of their library of quality hardcovers. Packaged with a sweet retro ‘60s design, My Favorite Martian can be found at the Hermes Press booth (#1903) this weekend at NYCC (while supplies last). A second volume, which collects the British comics, is due out next year.

My Favorite Martian: The Complete Series-Volume One, Hardcover, 224 pages (regularly $49.99), on sale at NYCC for only $29.99!!

Rulah Jungle Goddess in "Blood Lust of the Biting God" (Fox; 1948)

The Catacombs favorite golden age cutie, Rulah Jungle Goddess reappears after entirely too long an absence in the terrifically-titled "Blood Lust of the Biting God" from All Top Comics #11 (May 1948); originally published by Fox. The Alec Hope credit belongs to either Matt Baker or Jack Kamen, but the GCD doesn't help clarify the matter; so flip a quarter and take your pick. I'll be posting some newly discovered Rulah jungle adventures in the near future, so if you're a fan (like me), please stop by from time to time. The Catacombs is grateful to Don "Zu-Gogo" Falkos for providing the scans for this story. Note: The copyright for this issue, its contents and artwork belong to the original publisher and/or the creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes.

Enjoy!

Stargazing Dog

Takashi Murakami tells the story of a man who has not kept up with the rapidly changing pace of society and how that failure has brutally sidelined him as a result in "Stargazing Dog", a smash hit manga bestseller with sales over 560,000 and a movie that opened this summer. 


Daddy is down and out. Life has conspired against him, and everything is coming undone. Fed up, he sets out in his car to just get away from it all to nowhere in particular. All of the people around him having abandoned him, but he discovers that the one companion he can count on utterly is his dog who follows him blindly, faithfully and completely, to the end. 


NBM Publishing proudly presents the original Japanese phenomenon in a new black & white volume for only $11.99. 

Thanks, Stefan!

"A Never-Ending Battle" at New York Comic-Con (Oct. 13-16, 2011)

Attendees of the New York Comic-Con (next week; Oct. 13-16) will be treated to a special documentary preview of  “A Never-Ending Battle,” the first episode of a new film from the creative team responsible for the award-winning PBS documentaries “Broadway: The American Musical” and “Make ‘Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America.”

The screening is made possible by special arrangement with Ghost Light Films,Inc., Reed POP and Bonfire Agency, LLC (this early heads up for Catacombs regulars comes from Ed Catto of Bonfire Agency). Featuring rare footage along with new interviews with industry legends such as Joe Simon, Stan Lee, Jim Steranko, Neal Adams, Michael Chabon and Jules Feiffer, segments of the first episode – “A Never-Ending Battle: 1938-1954” – will be previewed on Friday, October 14, 2011 at 4PM in Room 1B01 of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center at 655 West 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan. An on-stage interview and Q&A with filmmakers and cultural historians Michael Kantor and Laurence Maslon will take place immediately following the screening.

With principal production funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, “A Never-Ending Battle” is slated to air as the first episode of a three-part series on PBS stations early in 2013. The series will explore the American art form of the comic book superhero and its complex interrelation with American culture over the last 75 years. Throughout this period, comic books artists, writers and publishers have unleashed thousands of exotic, bizarre, heroic and seductive adventurers upon the American public; some have become instantly recognizable all over the globe, many have crashed miserably under the weight of their own lack of inspiration, but all were created in the hope that they would connect with some aspect of the American consumer. In this regard, the film explores how the evolution of the costumed crusader reflected our social, political and cultural history. Fervent fans, casual viewers, and everyone in between will discover much to marvel over in this informed overview of the adventures of America’s most popular genre of historic fiction.

"Gal" Friday! Nicky Whelan

As a heads up for anyone out there who might be sympathetic to my plight, I'm just gonna mention that I would REALLY like to be in possession of the necessary skill set to lure this young lady into a relationship. Mind you, that's not an unusual affliction here in the Catacombs, as generally each weeks new (and lovely) "gal" Friday selection holds a special level of appeal that could easily get me to commit to being treated like dog shit for the rest of my life. With a smile on my dopey face, I might add!

Anyway, I don't recall where or how this Australian hottie came to my attention, but as I ruminated over her pending post. Ruminated?  Yeah, lets just agree to call "it" that! Her blond good looks, sexy accent, overall physical perfection, and lest I forget, my own affable desire to finesse everything else, all conspired to leave me in a bit of a foul mood.

Adding insult to injury, there were plenty of dumbasses this week who plain out annoyed me. At work. At home. On the highway. And everybody debating anything in the political arena.

Still, "Gal" Friday must proceed, so feast your eyes on Australian actress and model Nicky Whelan. She is best known for her role as Pepper Steiger in the Australian television series Neighbours. Stateside, Whelan appeared in the final season of Scrubs as Maya, an Australian medical school student and in the 2011 film Hall Pass, which co-starred Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer, and Christina Applegate.

It's tough knowing that I'm not going to get her for Christmas, or my next birthday, or at home as a surprise on a crappy day. That makes me sad, and I usually prefer brunettes too. That makes it a double-bummer!  Take a gander at these sweet pics, down a brewski, and toast the fickle deities of the universe; because they don't play fair at all.

Dr. Voodoo in "The Ape Men" (Fawcett; 1941)

Since Halloween arrives at the end of the month, I intend to gear my golden age comic book posts towards the unusual or eerie as much as possible.

In the jungles of Brazil, Dr. Hal Carey's parents gave their lives tending to the natives of a tribe called the Blancas (because they were “white Indians“), and raised their son Hal to take over for them after they died. Shortly after this happened, Hal (later christened Dr. Voodoo) defeated the evil medicine man Okoro and became the leader of the tribe. During his golden age career Dr. Voodoo's adventure were very well drawn by noted golden age artist Mac Raboy. The stories were like those of Prince Valiant, only set in a jungle, with Hal, his girlfriend Maxinya and a jaguar called Jappa facing everything from headhunters to tribes of giants and dragons. This short tale simply titled "The Ape Men" is from Whiz Comics #13 (Feb. 1941); originally published by Fawcett, with art by Raboy and story by John Hampton. The Catacombs is grateful to Don "Zu-Gogo" Falkos for providing the scans for this story. Note: The copyright for this issue, its contents and artwork belong to the original publisher and/or the creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes.

Enjoy!

Potpourri!

This week has been a bit too full of stuff & goings on. Month Two of the DC relaunch (blehh), Steve Jobs passing (a true innovator), well-known character actor Charles Napier passing, new books-movies-fall TV, etc. So bear with me for a few extraneous comments that I just wanted to get off of my chest and thanks for the kind indulgence.

Alan Davis joins regular writer Ed Brubaker as the ongoing artist of Captain America beginning with Captain America #6 and I am so there! Cap has enjoyed quite a bit of renewed popularity in recent years thanks to Mr. Brubaker (and a handful of topnotch artists), but as much as I like the "Living Legend of World War II", I haven't bought very many issues. Don't get me wrong, I was pleased with how they revived Bucky and set him up temporarily as the replacement for Steve Rogers as Cap, but Marvel has been a bit of a mess for me under the Quesada regime and the most that I can manage is to "cherry pick" those few things that actually entertain me. Right now that only includes Alpha Flight, Avengers: The Children's Crusade, and Thor. I hope that the Defenders relaunch will measure up, and I have no doubt that the presence of Alan Davis will make Captain America a do not miss.

What's up with "Lord of the Jungle" from Dynamite? Their upcoming adaptation of the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs hero Tarzan doesn't even bear his famous name. Shades of Disney. Has the House of Mouse driven off another public domain character, by locking up trademark rights to the name?  I mean that animated Tarzan flick they made in 1999 was good fun, but I have wondered how their version would impact other licensed or fair use of this character ever since. What is the status of the Burroughs estate these days and if they still retain their original ownership rights, why would they even want this title published without the most recognizable name in jungle lord history sitting on top of it?

Spider-Man: Edge of Time is an exciting new video game by the Activision-owned developer Beenox. The story was written by Peter David, and the game begins in the present day, as Peter Parker/Spider-Man battles Anti-Venom. But before long, Anti-Venom robs Peter of his powers and apparently kills him...

The game then rewinds to events in the year 2099. Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man investigates the Alchemax scientist Walker Sloan. While spying on him, Miguel discovers Sloan's plans: to travel back in time and obtain power and fortune by founding Alchemax much earlier than it was originally established. Miguel arrives just as Sloan enters his Gateway, but jumps through the portal too late to stop him. Trapped between times, Miguel watches helplessly as the original Spider-Man is murdered by Anti-Venom and history is changed for the worse. Upon his return to 2099, having been unaffected by the time change due to being trapped in the portal when the change took place, Miguel discovers that Sloan's changes to the timeline have reduced New York City to a dystopia.

In the new timeline created by Sloan, Alchemax has been founded in the 1970s, apparently replacing the Daily Bugle, and Peter Parker himself works there as a scientist. Realizing this, Miguel uses Peter's DNA, stored within the company's archives, to create a chronal link between the two so that he can warn Peter of the truth about Alchemax and his impending death on the 66th floor of the building. This allows the two distinct versions of Spider-Man to join forces across time to set everything right.

This game is superior to last weeks X-Men: Destiny, which although fun enough, was just too basic and abrupt in playthrough for the money. You can actually play X-Men: Destiny from start to finish in about five hours or so; not so much with Edge of Time. The graphics on this Spider-Man game are also much more intense, and there are many challenges to be experienced that will add to the overall gaming experience. Highly recommended!

1980's Flashback: Ambush Bug

Art by Keith Giffen

Ambush Bug was created by artist Keith Giffen as an intentionally silly character who first appeared in several Superman-related comic books in the early 1980s. His real name is supposedly Irwin Schwab, but he has mental problems that prevent him from truly understanding reality, so even his actual identity may be no more than a delusion on his part. Ambush Bug's primary power is teleportation. At first, this was a function of his suit; as he was limited to teleporting to where small receiver bugs were located. Following an explosion, Ambush Bug internalized this power. It became apparent, in DC Comics Presents #81 (May 1985), that the Bug must say, "Simon says," to utilize this power, although that is no longer necessary.

His origin is disputed, although the most commonly accepted origin is that Brum-El (a historical allusion to Beau Brummel, as well as a reference to Superman's father Jor-El) of the planet Schwab sent his clothes from his supposedly doomed planet, hoping that his wardrobe would survive, only to have it intercepted by a giant radioactive space spider. In the resulting crash, only two articles of clothing survived: the Ambush Bug suit, which was subsequently found by Schwab; and "Argh!Yle!", an argyle sock with a Doctor Doom-like complex, complete with metal mask.

This oddball hero became popular enough to be featured in two comic book miniseries and several specials, all plotted and pencilled by Keith Giffen and scripted by Robert Loren Fleming. Although he is largely considered an absurd character, his popularity amongst artists has led to many "cameos", sometimes with as little as his antennae being visible. He has appeared semi-regularly in the new Doom Patrol series since 2010 along with his partner called "Cheeks, The Toy Wonder", a doll he thinks is alive (complete with its own costume).

Ambush Bug #1 (June 1985)

Cave Girl in "The Man Who Conquered Death" (Magazine Enterprises; 1954)

Cave Girl returns to the Catacombs today in an eerie tale called "The Man Who Conquered Death" from Cave Girl #14 (1954); originally published by Magazine Enterprises. This is a different type of jungle adventure for her, written by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Bob Powell. Blending elements of science fiction and horror to great effect, Fox demonstrates why he later became a mainstay of similar silver age stories over at DC Comics. Cave Girl witnesses the death of her monkey friend Chico (who is killed by a boa constrictor) and then learns that King Tom of the Bokeela tribe has been murdered. Later she doubts her own sanity as both seemingly return from beyond the grave. As she investigates the mystery of their revival, Cave Girl herself is imperiled in a bizarre time trap. The Catacombs is grateful to Don "Zu-Gogo" Falkos for providing the scans for this story. Note: The copyright for this issue, its contents and artwork belong to the original publisher and/or the creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes.

Enjoy!

The Twelve .... finished!!

Following the publication last month of DC Comics decades long gestating New Teen Titans graphic novel "Games" from the original creative team of Marv Wolfman and George Perez, it seems that 2011 will continue the trend of putting things to rest.

Here [courtesy of Facebook] in his own words is artist Chris Weston on Marvel Comics delayed 2007 series, The Twelve:

"Last Friday, I turned in the final page of The Twelve, a mere five years and fourteen days after completing the first. The Twelve was, fittingly, a twelve-part Marvel Maxi-Series reintroducing a dozen forgotten Golden Age characters to current continuity.

This series suffered a huge numbers of delays to its publication, firstly because of its writer, Joe Michael Straczynski, who apparently fell out with with Marvel over something or the other. Subsequently, I have since shouldered my share of the blame too, as my acquaintance with the film director, Albert Hughes, led to some time-consuming work on "The Book of Eli" and his abandoned live-action adaptation of "Akira".

I think Joe's probably man enough to accept his initial delays might have caused me some irritation, most of which would probably have been assuaged if he'd just been a bit more communicative. But the absence of scripts gave me all the justification I needed to accept my own offers of film work... and, let's just say, those experiences helped abate any residual exasperation on my part.

However, the main point of this blog is to say "thank you" to Marvel for being so patient with me. I have some inkling as to exactly why they didn't fire me; the book was already delayed, after all... and the hiring of a new artist may have damaged sales of the resulting graphic-novel collections. However, Tom Brevoort was very understanding of my decision to accept the film work... and remained tolerant, supportive and patient. Thanks, Tom.

I'd also like to thank the readers who have waited so long for the book to be completed too. I was always aware how annoying this would be for them. I hoped they would accept the one-shot I wrote, "Spearhead", [released May 2010] as some kind of peace-offering and place-holder; one that would seamlessly combine with the main series.

So what are we left with? I think there's a provisional schedule drawn up for the release of the rest of the series; February for issues 9 & 10 and March for the final two, I believe. These will be preceded by various reprints of the previous issues... and followed by some hardcover collections. I'll keep you informed of release dates through my twitter account.

Is it worth the wait? Unlike certain creators I could mention, I can't give you hyperbolic sales patter in the manner of: "It's the best thing since all The Seven Wonders of the World combined! Your heads will explode with the sheer awesomeness!", mainly because my mum did her best to raise me not to show off and that shtick is pretty tiresome now.

What I can tell you is: I think Joe has written a great ending. All the characters were really well conceived and defined already... and they are given a great send-off. You won't find any spoilers here, but I don't think you be shocked if I admit that not all of them make it to the end of the story. I think Joe has done a great job on the whole of the series; it's touching, funny, exciting, scary... and would make a damn good film.

As for the art? I put a lot of time and effort into it and hope it surpasses what I produced on the series before. But I'll let you be the judge. Be sure to let me know what you think, but only if you loved it, 'cos I'm a shallow compliment-junkie who can't take criticism too well!

Right; onto other stuff. First stop: a quick trip back to the Nerve Centre, then... who knows?

Not me."

If you've visited the Catacombs from time to time, you may recall that I've posted on this wayward series several times since its collapse in late 2008. Due to some of my more critical comments, Chris Weston actually emailed me to clear up aspects of the delay that were truly beyond his control. Chris had specifically asked me not to discuss some of the points that he covers in his own statement (above), and I've kept his confidence, only alluding to vague "difficulties" in the intervening years.

I for one, am glad to know that this entertaining book will finally reach its conclusion, but I would still fail to see why any publisher would ever hire Straczynski again. I wish Chris the best of luck on his future endeavors, and hope that the return of "The Twelve" in 2012 proves to be a rousing success.

Editorial Diatribe from the Catacombs: Where's the narrative?

There are four types of captions in comics: Location & Time, Internal Monologue, Spoken, and Narrative. Location & Time captions were formerly the same font as your dialogue only inside a caption box and italicized. The mainstream companies have begun using various blocky, sans-serif fonts to indicate locations and time stamps. In most cases these are italicized and can be lowercase as well as having drop caps or outlines. Internal Monologue captions, largely replacing (thought balloons), are the inner voice of a character. These are typically italicized. Spoken Captions are the vocalized speech of a character that is off camera. These are not italicized but make special use of "quotation marks". Finally, Narrative captions feature the voice of the writer or editor and are also italicized. - Courtesy of Blambot & Nate Piekos

OR. Virtually all of it can be eliminated, given the proper setting and tone of a given story. Or. The writer and/or artist is particularly gifted in storytelling in the first place and all of the above is irrelevant. Here (see above), it would help if the editor who was responsible for hiring creators who produce stuff like this, would actually crack the whip or withhold payment. See below!

The page (again, above) is a current Newsarama preview of an upcoming Dark Horse Comics Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Lost Suns #5. Apparently neither the writer or the artist thinks that their reading audience has the mental capacity to actually READ a story. Look at this pathetic excuse of a comic page. Look at all of the wasted space that could have been utilized to tell a better story, or at least provided us with some descriptive information. Does Dark Horse think that this creative team is so visually innovative, or their work so remarkably revolutionary, that they can simply dispense with actually giving their readers something for their money? Of course, every page is part of a larger story, but each page is supposed to individually have a beginning-middle-end flow to move the EYE along the page and to entice the reader to want to go to the next page. Nothing about this page makes me want to buy it. And they thought including this in a preview would do so?

Sadly, as all of you well know, this has become the norm. Unfortunately for us all, this kind of sad omission of real story CONTENT probably has more to do with a declining readership, than any number of ridiculous reboots meant primarily to stroke the egos of latter-day creators, who can't actually create much of anything it seems; like words on a page. And lets say that you are one of those tools who truly doesn't give a rats ass about this kind of thing. Would you really buy this page for the kind of cash most creators charge for their original artwork?  If the common charge of modern artists creating "poster" quality images for resell on the convention circuit is true; would you buy THIS image at a premium price? 

I'm including three pages of old school artwork from past masters of the form to demonstrate what a real comic book page is supposed to look like. The artwork by Jack Kirby, Murphy Anderson and Don Heck ably demonstrates that even during action sequences with "quiet" panels, there is still story to be told. These pages show that even during static or contemplative moments, story remains to be told. You will notice that even in the absence of the main character speaking in some panels, all of the remaining space can be used to set the tone, to provide descriptive information, or to just fill in the blanks. I guess these days, when much of the audience is mentally blank, it doesn't matter.

The only remaining comment that I can muster in response to that poor comic page up at the top of this post (due in stores on October 12, 2011) is, "Ugk - -"

"Gal" Friday! Jenny Poussin

I'm having one of those days where a headache has been my constant companion from the moment when my eyes first opened this morning. No amount of coffee, Advil or prayer has alleviated the throbbing ache, so this weeks "gal" Friday selection is being culled from my floating pool of backlogged beauties. Gotta love those save files.

Somebody over in my links section, probably Joe Bloke's Grantbridge Street, featured this chick a while back too, and I've been meaning to do the same. So, here she be!

Jenny Poussin is a Canadian fitness, bikini and glamor model whose work in lingerie and exotic wear catalogs eventually led to her regularly doing even more revealing & hardcore work. She is quite nice to look at, but I would really liked to have seen this young lady's figure before she added the fake boobs. I'll just have to imagine how nice her fabulously fit frame would have been with the natural stuff that she started out with. Sigh!

Still, she's certainly welcome here in the Catacombs, and really; why quibble?