New Comics Day May 9, 2018: Hellboy; Marvel Team-Up; Superman; Werewolf By Night; Conan; Dick Tracy; Disney
Highlights this week.
Hellboy Omnibus Volume 1: Seed of Destruction
Marvel Team-Up Masterworks Vol. 3
Superman: The Golden Age Newspaper Dailies: 1944-1947
Werewolf By Night Complete Collection Vol. 3
Conan Omnibus Vol. 4
Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Volume 24
Disney Masters Vol. 1: Romano Scarpa: Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Delta Dimension
Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales, Vol. 3
"Arrested Development" Season 5 trailer
Man, I hope it's not as disappointing as season four. At least all the cast members are in the same scenes together.
New Music Friday: Brian Eno; Liz Phair, Frank Sinatra, Jan Berry, Star Wars soundtrack remasters
Brian Eno - Music for Installation
Liz Phair - Girlysound to Guyville (25th Anniversary Box Set)
Frank Sinatra - Standing Room Only
Jan Berry - Second Wave (20th Anniversary Edition)
John Williams / Star Wars: A New Hope (Remaster)
John Williams / Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Remaster)
John Williams / Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi (Remaster)
Pop Culture Roundup: Studio Ghibli theme park; J.R.R. Tolkien's disdain for Disney; Jim Henson; John Buscema; TV 21
Via Open Culture: Studio Ghibli is opening a theme park in 2022 dedicated to its anime classics.
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Also from Open Culture: J.R.R. Tolkien's altogether not fond thoughts of Walt Disney.
…I recognize his talent, but it has always seemed to me hopelessly corrupted. Though in most of the ‘pictures’ proceeding from his studios there are admirable or charming passages, the effect of all of them is to me disgusting. Some have given me nausea…
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Via BoingBoing: A new font is inspired by the work of Muppets creator Jim Henson.
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Davy Crockett presents "The Ferocious Feathers," an early work by comic book great John Buscema.
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Via Crivens! A nice gallery of the 1960s British pop culture mag, TV 21.
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Via Diversions of the Groovy Kind: Spider-Man and Hell-Cat battle Thanos in Spidey Super Stories, 1978.
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Also from Open Culture: J.R.R. Tolkien's altogether not fond thoughts of Walt Disney.
…I recognize his talent, but it has always seemed to me hopelessly corrupted. Though in most of the ‘pictures’ proceeding from his studios there are admirable or charming passages, the effect of all of them is to me disgusting. Some have given me nausea…
Via BoingBoing: A new font is inspired by the work of Muppets creator Jim Henson.
Davy Crockett presents "The Ferocious Feathers," an early work by comic book great John Buscema.
Via Crivens! A nice gallery of the 1960s British pop culture mag, TV 21.
Via Diversions of the Groovy Kind: Spider-Man and Hell-Cat battle Thanos in Spidey Super Stories, 1978.
Pics: New Ant-Man and Wasp Lego set
Some pics from an upcoming Lego set, which is time for release around the time of the "Ant-Man and the Wasp" film, out July 6.
Some relatively spoiler-free thoughts on "Avengers: Infinity War"
"Big event" crossovers have become so routine in comic books that I long ago stopped bothering to keep up. But whoever thought we'd see one on the big screen?
Those of us who grew up on the watered down, change-the-character's-origin/costume/secret identity, superhero TV shows, movies and cartoon series in the 1970s and 1980s never would've predicted that Hollywood would consider audiences interested or smart enough to track 10- or 20-some characters interacting in a huge team-up adventure.
But with Marvel now calling the shots with its own film studio, here we are with "Avengers: Infinity War." And it's a blast.
Nearly every Marvel character featured on screen since the first Iron Man film 10 years ago appears in the film - 20 some characters in all, including Spider-Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Black Panther and the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The film's story draws from artist/writer Jim Starlin's cosmic Infinity Stone storylines, which stretch from his 1970s run on Warlock to his "event' series of the 1990s and there are many references to the previous Marvel films and plot lines.
So why isn't the film, like nearly every comic book crossover since the 1990s, a huge, muddled mess? I think because, unlike most comic book stories these days which are continuity and plot-driven, this one is about characters.
Thanos and his cheesy, gumball machine gems are beside the point. We want to see Thor spar, verbally, with Star Lord and hang out with Rocket Racoon (who the Thunder God dubs "rabbit") and Groot. We want to revisit Wakanda, because Wakanda is the coolest. We want to see Black Widow fighting alien dogs alongside Black Panther's chief bodyguard, Okoye. We wanted to see Peter Parker meet Black Panther's brainy kid sister, Shuri, but that didn't happened ... yet.
Sure, the film might be a tad confusing if you haven't seen all the Marvel movies or if you don't remember the finer points of each. But it doesn't matter so much because the basics are clear - good guys are fighting a big bad guy, and the good guys are all interesting, likable and fun to spend time with. In most comics of this nature creators are so busy messing with continuity and referencing past storylines that characters and their interactions become superfluous.
Yes, the movies still make changes that may not be strictly necessary, and which may annoy hardcore comics fans. But for the most part they are better than today's comics at telling stories about these iconic characters.
I'm always perplexed why Marvel and DC don't got with the characters as they're presented on screen, where they are seen and understood by millions, not the mere thousands who still read comics. Why not use the movie versions and storylines in comics, too? It would make the comics more inviting to newer, younger fans. Fear of sales?
Let's hope that the Marvel movies don't go down the same wormhole of self-referential continuity. And let's hope that we can hang in there to see what happens next because - without spoiling things too much - lots of bad things happen at the end of "Infinity War" and we need to see how our favorite characters come out at the end. Plus, Peter and Shuri. It's gotta happen.
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