So in honor of my buddy Aaron getting hitched this weekend, I figured I'd dig out Gumbo and share it with the blogosphere. Back in 1994, before he became Mr. Transformers, Aaron set up Deadline Studios and created the character of Gumbo. Aaron handled the art and co-writing, while Jeff McCormack handled writing duties on the book. Even though Aaron had a large scale story plotted out, they only ever produced two issues (which ends on a helluva cliffhanger), but I still have them. My Gumbo t-shirt, on the other hand, is unfortunately long gone -- lost somewhere in moves between Florida and Michigan and Ohio. Regardless, here's a scan of Robin Lindsey's great painting for issue #1, and McCormack's painting for the cover of issue #2.
Like it says on the first page of the first issue of Gumbo, "When you lose time, it's forever." Savor the day, buddy. Congratulations! Here's wishing you and your bride a long, happy, healthy life together! Cheers!
Marvel Noise episode 37 was released today and includes another installment of "Marvel Unbound". As always, here on Random Thoughts Escaping is a corresponding entry with links and such. Enjoy!
I have always been intrigued by Marvel's anti-heroes. These complicated characters who often reside in the gray area between the forthright do-goodery of Captain America and the vile nastiness of Doctor Doom are the kinds of characters that I appreciate most.
Ever since first picking up Marvel Team-Up #122 back in 1982, Man-Thing has always seemed pretty cool. Mute, woe begotten, misunderstood. Whenever he shows up in a Marvel title, I'm generally on board. I'm the same way with Marvel's original anti-hero, Namor the Sub-Mariner. I love the angry guy with pointy ears and winged-ankles. He's fiery and arrogant as often as he's exposed and well-intentioned. The oldest comic book I own is one of my dad's that my grandma had kept and given to me: issue #33 of Atlas Comics' Sub-Mariner from 1954. It's falling apart, but its great Bill Everett cover of Namor ripping the oxygen tube of a Soviet diver in half is still hanging on. And I lapped up the mid-'80s four issue mini-series from back in the day.
When I started to really get back into comics last summer, I noticed the Sub-Mariner limited series on the shelves of my local comic book shop, but didn't pursue it at the time. I did keep my eye out, though, and when I saw it coming in trade paperback, I made sure to grab it. Written by Matt Cherniss and Peter Johnson, its proper name is Sub-Mariner: Revolution.
In continuity, it follows the events of Civil War. Tony Stark is Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Mac Gargan's Venom is a member of the Norman Osborn-led Thunderbolts. And all hell is breaking loose. The story revolves around a rogue Atlantean sleeper cell in the Pacific Northwest that is causing problems both above and below sea level. Namor is not trusted by the U.S. government and his kingdom is in disarray because of internal fighting. Throw into the mix some familial conflict and the need to evacuate all of Atlantis (along with the requisite Sue Storm cameo), and you get a fairly entertaining tale.
Much like the current Might Avengers Secret Invasion tie-in issues, this limited series jumps back and forth in time often and confusingly. And although the story arc might not seem as important as some of the others that have shaken things up over the last few years, by the time you get to the final four pages of the book that consist of a first and second epilogue, there is a nice dose of intrigue left hanging over the Marvel Universe. (And if anyone knows if and where this story thread is picked up, please let me know over at the "Marvel Unbound" thread of the Marvel Noise forum. Thanks!)
Phil Briones' art is enjoyable, and his full-page Wolverine on the last page of issue #2 is awesome! There are no real extras in this trade paperback to speak of, but it does include the art from all six covers of the original monthlies which is pretty cool since the six covers were done by five different artists. The covers by Leinil Yu and Marko Djurdjevic on issues #3 and #4, respectively, are fantastic!
Despite containing a somewhat under the radar story and not being able to boast the extras that entice fans to double-dip, you can pick up Sub-Mariner: Revolution for less than it would have cost you at the comic book shop the first time around as monthlies, and I think you'll get your money's worth.
I have not read Bone, but my son loves the Scholastic graphic novels, and John and his daughter are also big fans. So when I heard over on Comics Playground that the Wexner Center for the Arts down on the campus of The Ohio State University was going to have an 80 panel exhibit of Columbus-based Jeff Smith's work and influences, I suggested the four of us make the short road trip down I-71 to see it. (The hours down and back were filled with a memory provoking '80s playlist on the iPod for the dads, and DS games and Bone trade paperbacks for the kids!)
We had a great time and saw some great work. We were the only four guests in the gallery, along with a security guard. We took our time, soaking in each panel over the next 90 minutes or so. Beautiful stuff. And afterwards, the kids got Bone plushes from the gift shop, then we called one of our old friends from college and met her and her husband for lunch at Eddie George's Grille 27 over on High Street (where my son happily peed on the Michigan logo in the urinal -- I'm so proud), followed up by sharing a small Cold Stone Creamery cup of Ghirardelli chocolate ice cream with Reese's Pieces mixed in with my son. What a great way to pass the day!
With today's Marvel Noise podcast comes the third edition of "Marvel Unbound", a new entry here on Random Thoughts Escaping, and fresh opportunity to bandy about the topic in the Marvel Noise forum's "Marvel Unbound" thread. Enjoy!
I picked up the Giant-Size Marvel trade paperback at a comic book show recently. I had flipped through it on the shelf of my local comic book shop numerous times, but couldn't justify pulling the trigger at full price. So when I saw it at the show for half-off the cover price, I figured I had little to loose. To be honest, I was buying it largely for the Giant-Size X-Men #1 issue, which I don't think I had ever read previously, but I was treated to a couple of surprising personal undiscovered gems, along with suffering through a clunker or two.
There are seven "Giant-Size" issues included in the collection with cover dates ranging from June 1974 through June 1975. The defining characteristics of a "giant-size" Marvel comic of the mid-'70s -- a part from the original comics boasting "68 Big Pages" -- appears to be the parsing of the stories into "chapters". And that breaking up of the work into multiple parts sometimes felt a bit forced in a couple of offerings here, particularly in the Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1 and Giant-Size Creatures #1.
The stories captured in Giant-Size Avengers #1 and Giant-Size X-Men #1 are both foundational to their respective titles. The Roy Thomas Avengers issue features the All-Winners Squad in flashbacks and reintroduces the Whizzer to the Marvel U. This is really the first chapter in a storyline that isn't fully resolved until eight years later in the pages of Bill Mantlo's Vision and the Scarlet Witch four-issue mini-series (one of my favorites, and the trade paperback is a potential future installment of "Marvel Unbound"!). Len Wein and Dave Cockrum's X-Men offering turned out to be a solid introduction of now-iconic characters like Storm, Nightcrawler, and Colossus. For being the reason behind this purchase for me, it lived up to the hype.
The Giant-Size Invaders #1 and Giant-Size Creatures #1 were the least satisfying of the bunch. I have never been a huge Invaders fan despite liking Namor, and the Creatures story included here -- featuring Werewolf by Night, Tigra (as "The Were-Woman"?!), and HYDRA was tedious at best. Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4, on the other hand, with the introduction of Madrox, was a lot of fun! And so was Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1 featuring Spider-Man! I had never read a Morbius story before, but have been meaning to get my hands on one since "Backwards" Dave McFall featured the character in his "Bring 'em Back" segment in episode 26 of Marvel Noise. I thought the issue was a lot of fun -- including the use of John Jameson and pulling the Daily Bugle's Joe Robertson in to move the story along, and subtle details like Jameson being on a date at a restaurant with a 666 street number was amusing.
My favorite find in this collection, though, is Giant-Size Defenders #4. Man, what a fun story! I'd forgotten how great the dynamics of this non-team team can be. By way of an Egghead beat-down, Hank Pym's Yellowjacket is cleverly drawn into the story, eventually joining Nighthawk, Doctor Strange, Hulk, and Valkyrie in their battle with the Squadron Sinister. Steve Gerber's oversized tale is wonderfully creative and thoroughly entertaining. By far the most satisfying read of the collection for me, it was a great surprise to find here!
Despite the lack of extras in this collection, the pair of foundational stories, the trio of solidly entertaining books, and even the couple of stories better left in the vault, provide an entertaining snapshot into what the House of Ideas looked like in a thirteen month period nearly 35 years ago. Giant-Size Marvel is worth your time even if you have these buried in a long box somewhere in your collection!
So I finally signed up for Twitter. As Mark and I were discussing among ourselves, I'm not really sold on the value of these crazy little bite-sized thought nuggets just yet, but, hey... everyoneelseisdoingit, right?
But I wonder... if I post a Twitter tweet about this blog entry, will the folks "following" me get caught in some kind of Matrix-inspired loop?
"You hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability."
We were able to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull by pure chance Friday night. It was a 6.40 showing, but the theater was hardly full and there was no line at the box office. (Although I have to assume the later showings were more crowded.) The movie itself was actually pretty good. I had been very skeptical of this one based on what I'd seen early on. Harrison Ford is old. Cate Blanchett, who I adore, sports a horrible black bob haircut and an even worse Soviet accent. Shia LaBeouf hadn't really done much to impress me. Karen Allen looked kinda freaky. But... the movie held its own. A little meandering three-quarters of the way through as it devolved into typical Spielbergian daddy issues and close encounters, but otherwise pretty solid. The Ford-Allen chemistry seemed genuine, and LaBeouf was really fantastic. I would have no problem with him taking over the franchise moving forward. In short, it wasn't as good as Raiders, but wasn't as bad as Temple of Doom, I'd put it right on par with Last Crusade, and there's no shame in that. Now we just need to see what the Raiders Guys can do with this. Speaking of Indy, my buddy Mark is again plundering the depths of his comic book collection for treasures and coming up empty. After hoping (and failing) to make a papalprofit off Catholic nostalgia for the heady days of Pope John Paul II, he turned his attention to Marvel's adaptation of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones. Again, Mark found no market for the treasures of our youth. I remember his copy of the movie adaptation (what a cool cover!), and I actually have the first four issues of The Further Adventures. According to the reliable folks over at the Comic Book Database, the series lasted for about three years before petering out. I can't speak to where the series may have gone during that time, but I recently reread the first couple of issues written by the legendary John Byrne and thought they were pretty good.
The "Action Transvestite" here doesn't refer to Blanchett'sunfortunate look in Indy 4, but rather the comic genius of Eddie Izzard. We are huge Izzard fans around here. We have Unrepeatable, Glorious, Dress to Kill, andCircle on DVD. The new material in Stripped is some of his best yet! Saturday night he performed in the same venue we saw him at during the Sexie tour stop back in 2003 -- the Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square Center(the second largest theater center in the U.S., behind only New York City's Lincoln Center). Despite being only about an hour and forty minutes long, the concert was packed with highlights,including his musingson Captain Random (a.k.a. God), Wikipedia, paper darts (that's "paper airplanes" us Yankees), the origin of Duck a l'Orange, and the persistence of badgers. While everyone in our group agreed it will be difficult for Izzard to ever match the gold standard that is Dress to Kill, this was some fantastic stuff and made for a great night out of good friends, good food, and great entertainment!
So in honor of my buddy Aaron getting hitched this weekend, I figured I'd dig out Gumbo and share it with the blogosphere. Back in 1994, before he became Mr. Transformers, Aaron set up Deadline Studios and created the character of Gumbo. Aaron handled the art and co-writing, while Jeff McCormack handled writing duties on the book. Even though Aaron had a large scale story plotted out, they only ever produced two issues (which ends on a helluva cliffhanger), but I still have them. My Gumbo t-shirt, on the other hand, is
unfortunately long gone -- lost somewhere in moves between Florida and Michigan and Ohio. Regardless, here's a scan of Robin Lindsey's great painting for issue #1, and McCormack's painting for the cover of issue #2.
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