Comic Books

It’s been a few weeks since my pro-pro-wrestling tirade. With another pay-per-view about to hit the airwaves in a day, I figured I’d check in on my on-and-off-now-on again male soap opera. And just as I remembered it, here I sit with a head full of opinions and 1062 words to blather out into the interwebs in hopes one Vincent Kennedy McMahon stumbles upon it and makes sweeping changes to his on-air product I know he never will. But I’m getting ahead of myself. For those uninitiated (but still here, considering that I’ve mentioned pro-wrestling in the intro, and somehow you weren’t instantly turned away), the smart marks of wrestling have long known the biography of Vinnie Mac. The studious entrepreneurial son of a small regional promoter, Vince grew up in the biz but longed for more than just bingo halls and the occasional stadium show. After his father’s passing, Vince soon acquired more and more territories. In time, his WWF had laid waste to the independent circuits, giving birth to what would end up becoming the largest ‘sports entertainment’ promotion in the world. Per his worked-shoot (or for the laymen, a pre-approved scripted performance that appears to be off the cuff, drenched in 4th wall breaking commentary), Paul Heyman put it best: “…your father shook the hand of every promoter in this country (and said) that he’d never compete against them, that his son would never compete against them. And when your father died, you competed! And with your ruthless, merciless, take-no-prisoners attitude, you drove everybody out of business, didn’t you, Vince? You ran all the competition into the ground and you stole all their ideas and you made yourself a billionaire out of it!” In short, Vince McMahon built an empire the way we assume Lex Luthor might. On the backs of the broken men he stepped on. And we the people lap up his product like the faithful slaves we are. But what else are we to do? The only other promotion with national distribution is TNA. And their roster, for better or worse, is comprised mostly of people who used to work for the WWE (nee WWF; they lost a lawsuit). I know that I should appreciate their shows more, but when I watch it, it reeks of why I end up tuning into Raw or Smackdown instead: the best production values, larger than life personalities, and every now and again… an amazing in-ring performance that can’t be topped. In their heyday competitors like WCW and ECW were able to match Vince through sheer will power and creativity. But Vince like all great moguls found ways to literally steal the ideas of those who could bump his ratings a notch, and become all the stronger. When ECW redefined hardcore, and WCW turned Hulk Hogan into a venomous heel, Vince gave birth to the Attitude Era. He poached ECW’s star pupil Steve Austin. He created the Hell in a Cell match to push his very best punching bag – Mick Foley – into the forefront of extreme entertainment. And in due time, both promotions collapsed in a heap under Vince’s checkbook. Their rosters were absorbed, bleached, processed, and what little was left remained a now redubbed WWE Superstar. So WCW and ECW can join Milestone and Wildstorm in the graveyard of the creative. Meanwhile, Vince boldly went where no promoter had in the past: he became his own greatest star. Casting himself as both the evil genius and fool, the McMahon/Austin feuds of the late 90′s are what helped eventually destroy McMahon’s competition. Don’t believe me? It’s the actual story mode of the WWE ’13 video game. I entitled this article “The Devil In Plain Sight” because I’m truly tickled by the fact that Vince McMahon’s power only continues to rise and ooze out from his Stamford, CT offices. How so you ask? I’ll cite my two favorite examples. The first, C.M. Punk. The Chicago King of the Indies was brought into the WWE and was immediately shoved towards

Daredevil #159, 1979 - For half a million dollars, a shadowy client hires Eric Slaughter and his thugs to kill Daredevil. Frank Miller follows the opening page with a dramatic two-page wide panel. Throughout the story, each panel seems purposefully designed. In one clever technique, Matt Murdock repeats the same pose as his alter ego in a previous panel, creating a more seamless transition

Source: Butcher Billy’s post-punk Justice League (2013)Type: Fan-made AmalgamBrazilian mash-up sensation Butcher Biller does the Justice League as post-punk/New Wave music artists at the link above. Superman is The Smiths' Morrissey for some reason. Guess he's going by looks.DISCOGRAPHY!"All You Need Is Me, Metropolis" "Now My Heart Is Full (of Kryptonite)" (song for Metallo)"We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" (off the album World's Finest)"Girlfriend in a Coma" (Lois in the New52)"Wonderful Woman" (ditto)"How Soon Is Now (and If I Spin the Earth Faster, Is It Sooner?)""Half A Person" (song for Composite-Superman)"I Keep Mine Hidden" (off the album Secret Identity)"Satan Rejected My Soul""In the Future When All's Well" (for the Legion)"Doomsday Is Squeezing My Skull"/"You Have Killed Me" medley"Vicar In a Tutu"

"How odd. I usually get on terribly well with children."TECHNICAL SPECS: First aired Nov.1 1980.IN THIS ONE... The Doctor goes into the Starliner while the the Outlers hijack the TARDIS and Romana gets bitten by a humongous spider.REVIEW: I hate to keep playing timekeeper here, but only some 19 minutes of new material in this, and a LOT of it is padding as the Doctor skulks silently through the woods and then the ship. When somethings DOES happen on screen, it's usually the heroes doing something stupid or incomprehensible. The worst instance of this is without a doubt Romana going on and on about the river fruit spider (ewww, they've been eating that; do they all have a bad case of worms? it would explain the way Adric walks) being "just a spider" as the Outlers run. While I'm glad to see the female companion isn't squeamish (in this particular instance), that thing is immense and deadly-looking. It's just not credible that she would stand nonchalantly as the thing jumped on her face (list makers take note: this is the second time a cliffhanger has Romana bitten by a bug bite; time to invest in some kind of spray). The Doctor opens the door to the Starliner, lets the baby Marshman in, inadvertently arms it, and for some reason doesn't hear the message piped through the corridors (conveniently-placed P.A. speakers, I guess). I totally don't believe him when he protests that he likes to leave things as he found them, the old meddler. Has writer Andrew Smith (or script editor Chris Bidmead) not seen an episode since the Hartnell days? As for Adric, there doesn't seem to be much to motivate his refusal to lead the Outlers to the TARDIS for safety, though as it turns out, they do attack Romana. Still, Full Circle should have decided if Adric wanted to be an Outler (as he claims) or if he just wanted to be near his brother to criticize his choices. And then he dematerialized the TARDIS because he flips a tiny switch instead of opening the door with the big giant lever? Come on!But the stupidity isn't all the characters'. Take, for example, the tedious stuff about the TARDIS' weight. Not only do Romana and Adric discuss it in "Decider talk", making it over-complicated with "five times ten to the six kilos in your gravity", but that figure is obviously wrong. First, why not just say 5 million kilos? Second, not ony have we seen the TARDIS carried off by savages and such in the past, but IT HAPPENS IN THIS VERY EPISODE! There's no way the TARDIS interface (the door/box) weighs as much as the interior dimension - it's lighter on the outside! So excuse while I roll my eyes at the supposed danger of the Marshmen using the TARDIS as a super-heavy battering ram. The episode is showing signs of Bidmead's influence and I don't like it. Basically, his interest in very boring things like maths and computation (let's just call them undramatic, math lovers!) and yet complete failure to represent them believably in a real world context. The JNT era has just traded technobabble with mathbabble. It certainly doesn't inspire confidence that his idea for a new companion is a math wiz, like the Time Lords aren't already walking calculators. Speaking of JNT, his hatred of K9 (obviously a war of the initials) goes a bit too far in this episode. Just as K9 rolls in with his fun action theme, an Outler with a simple stick knocks his head off. Sure, he can be repaired, but that one's a bit distressing for the kiddies who love the metal pooch. So Full Circle has tonal problems too. So can I say a few good things about the episode? Of course I can. I like how the new Head Decider is shaken by the secrets he must keep. I like how Login (why don't they all have computery names like this?) forsakes his daughter, but is quick to regret when he hears she might still be alive. The Doctor vs. the Deciders has its moments of humor, though we're far from his old insolence. The Marshmen are impressive-looking monsters, and in a twist, we're sympathetic to the the baby

This--and apparently a few other variations--was available for local theaters to use as giveaways to promote the low-budget 1958 American-International horror movie, HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER--sort of a follow-up to I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF and I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN. Anyone know who did the artwork?

VisitEngland, the UK’s national tourist board has recruited Wallace & Gromit as 'Tourism Trailblazers' to inspire Britons to take a holiday at home this year. (It's a busy time for the duo - earlier this month, they notched up the 1000th daily Wallace and Gromit strip in The Sun, created by the Titan Comics team). The campaign kicked off with Wallace & Gromit exploring the country’s most exciting holiday spots on their motorbike and sidecar, plus the duo are now starring in a new animated TV ad, which is going out across TV and cinema screens in the UK. Nick Park, Creator and Director of Wallace & Gromit, said “Leisure time has always been very important to Wallace & Gromit, so it’s great to see them making this holiday choice. A nice cup of tea and some tasty local cheese is always a favourite so they won’t be disappointed with their holiday in the UK. The ad was produced at Aardman studios in Bristol and you can take a sneaky peek behind the scenes in the video here.

This is one of those odd, tragic stories that you see so often in the comics industry… a particular injustice that was the final contemptuous boot in the ass to a talent that the comics industry had already beat like a piñata for most of his career. Probably you already know about Batman, Bob Kane, [...]

The Challenge of Smoke Wade, 1951, Robert J. Hogan Sometimes it takes a lot of character to refrain from pointing out the unintentional homoeroticism of western paperback covers…

Each week we gather up all the incredibly spectacular comic art that will never appear in actual comic books. The reason they won't is because artists often draw sketches for fun or commissions and post them on their websites, blogs and Tumblrs. We all love comic art so we need to make sure each amazing piece is seen and admired. Some artists arrange commissions or sell original art through their sites so be sure to check them out for more information. Terry Dodson was recently at Supanova and posted another commission on his Deviant Art Page of Death. Peter Nguyen posted a W.I.P. sketch of Wonder Woman he's doing for a friend's mom on his Tumblr. Skottie Young posted some more Daily Sketches on his website. He sometimes offers these for sale in his online store. Phil Noto recently posted a bunch of sketches on his Tumblr. They may not be directly comic related but they are absolutely worth checking out. Todd Nauck is a drawing machine. Check out this great pieces he posted on his Tumblr and Instagram.Dave Johnson posted a couple sketches from Dallas Comic Con on his Instagram. Adam Kubert posted this "quick" sketch for a friend's 9-year-old on his Tumblr. Imagine what he could do if it wasn't a "quick" sketch! Michael Walsh posted a Swamp Thing and Abby commission on his Tumblr. Rafael Grampa posted a couple amazing sketches on his Instagram this week. Gene Gonzales has a sketch cover up for auction on eBay. There's not much time left. He also posted a Sailor Jupitor commission on his blog.Yildiray Cinar posted a Wizard World pre-show commission on his Instagram. Ryan Stegman is at Motor City Con and has posted a bunch of Spider-Man commissions already on his Tumblr. Sean "Cheeks" Galloway posted this rad Magneto pic on his Deviant Art Page. He titled it "Magneto Sends His Crushing Love." Marcio Takara has been posting a lot of W.I.P. sketches on his Tumblr. I wonder if we'll ever see the finished products. Mahmud Asrar posted a digital sketch from Game of Thrones on his Tumblr. Brett Booth does a lot of character designs for DC. He posted an unused Relic sketch (a new character appearing in GREEN LANTERN) and a Superman sketch on his blog.Ale Garza posted some commissions from Motor City Comic Con on his Instagram. Francis Manapul has been making his Instagram followers drool as he posted a step by step process of this sketch featuring Spider-Man, Batman and Hellboy. That's it for this week. With the conventions continuing this weekend, we're bound to see a lot more great sketches pop up during the week.