Great Comic Book Covers
Amazing Spider-Man 151 by John Romita, Sr. (Copyright Marvel Comics)
Moon Knight 29 by Bill Sienkiewicz (Copyright Marvel Comics)
Superman 317 by Neal Adams (Copyright DC Comics)
Captain America 110 by Jim Steranko (Copyright Marvel Comics)
Marvel Tales 63 by John Romita, Sr. (Copyright Marvel Comics)
Amazing Spider-Man 82 by John Romita, Sr. (Copyright Marvel Comics)
Aren’t they cool? Not many DC covers, I notice. That means I must be failing to remember some good ones. There must be some good ones from the Neal Adams days. Oh yeah – here are a few. And a great Hulk cover.
Detectives 402 & 404, both by Neal Adams (Copyright DC Comics)
I’m sure there are many more cool covers, but this is what I have so far.
Comics You Should Be Reading! The Sadly Underrated Mister X
I came across Mister X about 20 years ago at a South Jersey convention. It was a great convention, and sadly, it died a slow, painful death by the time the 90s rolled in. Another casualty of the speculators and the mega-cons.
But that’s not what I’m set to be rambling about here. No – that would be a comic book series called Mister X. The first four issues were done by the brilliant Hernandez brothers – Gilbert, Mario and Jaime. Same guys who did Love & Rockets. Another title y’all should be readin’ – and so should I.
I don’t know why Mister X struck me the way it did. Maybe it was the clean art. Maybe it was the fun and interesting story. Maybe it was the bold, clever and dynamic artistic choices made on the covers and on the insides of the covers. The design of the book was excellent. I normally don’t worry too much about the art (more story driven), but the art was sharp and – dare I say it – visionary. The overall visual style was striking from cover to cover.
Maybe not just one thing – no idea really. But it was good. The story was about the architect that designed Radiant City. He returned to “undo the damage he believes he has done…even if it kills him.” This brought him into conflict with a former mob boss who was running clubs in the city. Add into it a cast of killer dames, and you’ve got a fun, interesting, offbeat noir tale. And you’re always looking to find out more about this Radiant City.
It’s an excellent comic with great characters, and like Gotham City, Radiant City is kind of a character itself. The story is a bit hard to follow, but again, it’s so well done it’s worth sticking with it. Even when they go about explaining things, it’s confusing.
After the fourth issue, Dean Motter took over the scripting, and it was still pretty good. Still confusing, but pretty good. Even if I felt that I was never getting the full story, I was entertained. I kept reading, but the ensuing issues, while very good, never matched the quality and style of the first four issues.
Each time I reread it, I remember how much I liked Mister X the first time around. I can’t say anything better than that about a comic book.
Stillers 3, Dolphins 0
What a scintillating game. Non-Stop action! Yeesh. Two pathetic games in a row. The only good things to say: They got the win and no injuries.
It’s a good thing the Stillers have already beaten the Browns twice, otherwise I’d wonder whether or not they can win the division. I sure hope they have better games in them than these last two. Now Steelers fans should be concerned about the Bengals (not Santa) comin’ to town next week. They may be 4-7, but they just finished beating the oil derricks out of the Titans.
Well, five games to go with Cincy, the Undefeateds, Jacksonville, St. Louis and Baltimore still to go. Two weeks ago, I’d have said the Steelers would win 4 of these 5 games. Now I’m not so sure. Let’s hope they have a good game to spring them forward. They’ll need all the momentum they can get for their December 9th game.
Fins & Pats: Pursuit of Perfection
So the Patriots are going to go 16-0. Good for them. I’d rather this did not happen – as I dislike them intensely – but it will be good in one regard. We’ll hear no more about those chowderheads from the 1972 Dolphins. Pride is one thing Fin guys, but you’re really annoying.
And on the other side of that coin is the pursuit of perfection being chased by the 2007 Dolphins. Wouldn’t it be ironic that 25 years after the aforementioned ’72 Dolphins set the standard for perfection, that the current Fin team may set the dubious standard for imperfection? And that they’d do it in the same season that another team topped the undefeated mark?
Let’s hope the Steelers aren’t in a giving mood like they were last Sunday. Still can’t believe they lost to the Jets. Oh, the humanity…
Devin Hester? Oh Please…
What’s up with this Devin Hester love fest? It’s amazing that he has been able to run so many punts and kickoffs back for touchdowns. But it’s also pathetic. He’s a professional football player, right? And the coverage team chasing after him are professionals as well, correct? Then tackle him!
Instead, we get oohs and aahs from the broadcast team acting as though they’ve never seen anything like this before. Like they just discovered the New World. C’mon – where’s the reaction of “I can’t believe Denver allowed this to happen! They ARE a pro team, aren’t they?”
And the discussion of kicking away from him is absurd. You’re a pro football team. Stop him. What are you going to do? Kick out of bounds on every kickoff in a Chicago game? Surrender field position and allow them to start at the 40 every time? Stop him!! Teams should kick right to him and make it a matter of pride to stop him. They should be embarrased every time he gains a yard.
And as for the Patriots and running up the score? If you don’t want that to happen…stop them. And if you can’t do that, do what players of the 60s and 70s would have done. There was no toleration for things like that then. The players policed themselves. This kinder, gentler NFL is for the birds.
Continuing on the Patriots for a mo, I don’t recall seeing Mike Vrabel being put into the game on offense last night. I wonder if Philly would have put somebody on him if that did happen? What is up with that? I hope NFL teams have learned now that if Vrabel is in the game on offense, somebody better cover him.
And it was humorous when Junior Seau was in the game as a fullback. The announcer pointed out that Lawrence Mulroney followed him right into the pile. Except for the fact that he didn’t. He was at least one lineman away from Seau on the play.
Offended Iggles?
If the Eagles were offended by the point spread, as they should have been, then the result of the New England Cheaters/Eagles game is no surprise. Good for the Eagles.
They didn’t assume defeat before the game started and they sacked Brady a few times and got his dress a little dirty. The Eagles also managed to do some great passing against the Pats. I don’t think they would have done so well with McNabb in there. Maybe that absence was a blessing. I guess now we’ll have to deal with his mother and him crying on the Philly sports channels all week.
Too bad – I wasn’t even going to watch the game, and now I am so glad I did. I just wish the Eagles had come up with a few more great plays. Maybe the NFC isn’t as bad as people say.
Cerebus & Dave Sim: Comics’ Most Underappreciated
Boy, this one comes with some controversy. During the 80s and early 90s, Dave Sim was one of the best comic book creators out there – one of those creators to be admired. He wrote and drew Cerebus (who was an aardvark), and it was one of the best comics out there up until its 113th issue. The rest of the run is good, but I felt that High Society and Church and State were the highlights.
What he did is nothing short of remarkable and should have been more celebrated. He wrote and drew all 300 issues of the series. Compare this to the tremendously overblown Bendis/Bagley effort of 100 issues on Ultimate Spider-Man, and you might get a sense that maybe 100 issues isn’t such a big deal after all. It’s nice, but it’s not 300 issues. It’s 300 issues of original story and art – as opposed to 100 issues of retelling the story of a character that was told by legends of the comic book field.
Cerebus covered lots of ground, and was always thought-provoking. The main topics were religion and politics in a fictional world set in the early 14th century. If there was a comic book trend going on at the time, you could bet that Sim would somehow humorously incorporate a parody into the storyline. Super Secret Sacred Wars is an example, as are Moon Roach and Wolverroach. There were also appearances by characters loosely based on Mick & Keith and George Harrison.
The issues gave you credit for having intelligence. His letters pages were more entertaining than some comics that were being published. His Notes From the Publisher were sometimes better than the issue that they appeared in. And during High Society and Church & State, that’s saying something. You got the straight poop about the industry from someone who was actually doing the work – and was the publisher to boot. The letters pages were his opinion, and sometimes were angry and/or sarcastic – which was a refreshing change from the company line nice-nice way Marvel and DC pages. That’s all pretty common now, but this is where it started.
The main knock that I can think of was that there was so much backstory, that you’d be lost if you joined Cerebus in progress. I started at around issue 78, and I managed to figure things out. Of course, this was also around the time that Sim released the High Society “telephone book” that collected issues 26-50.
I don’t think enough credit can be given to Sim for the development of this form of collected volume. Now they are as common as the single issue, but back in 1986, there wasn’t the plethora of trade paperbacks like there are now. After all, the mini-series had just been developed a few years earlier, as had the graphic novel. This was new ground for comic books. This ushered in the idea that these were viable ways to make piles of money and to introduce (or re-introduce) readers to the characters.
The success of the High Society collected book, due largely, I feel, to the quality of the work within, led to more of these books from Sim. Church & State volumes one and two, and so on. After a while, it became obvious that a book would be released upon the completion of an arc, so rumor has it that a lot of collectors eschewed the single issue and just waited for the Cerebus books, thereby killing the circulation figures of Cerebus.
I have mostly the single issues, with the exception of the Cerebus book (issues 1-25) and the aforementioned High Society. I consider this series a watershed occurance in comics. A non-Marvel/non-DC effort that was every bit as good as either company’s output. It was so good that luminaries such as Frank Miller and Alan Moore extolled the virtues of this comic.
More proof? Marvel threatened legal action against Sim when he featured his Wolverine parody Wolverroach on three consecutive covers, thinking that people might buy Cerebus thinking it was a Marvel product. Maybe Sim did push it a bit, but Marvel really needed to lighten up. Image, Dark Horse and other comic companies did that kind of stuff all the time (look at any Wildcats or Next Men issue) and there was nary a writ directed toward that.
Then times changed, and Sim and Cerebus were no longer the relevant, highly regarded creator and comic book they once were. Bendis once disrespected Sim in one of his Powers letter columns – which is kinda ridiculous, because anyone paying attention knows that every independent publisher (and every overrated, overexposed talent publishing independent work – like, for example, Bendis) today pretty much owes a debt to Sim they can never repay for proving, time and again, the viability of the independent market.
To sum up, what makes Sim so special in my mind? These three things are all you need to know and remember:
- He published, wrote and drew 300 issues (for 25 years) of the same title for an independent publisher. And it was one of the best titles out there for at least a good chunk of its run.
- He proved that black & white comics were an eminently viable way to tell comic book stories, and he gave those who were suffering from Marvel and DC fatigue something different to read.
- He helped to pioneer the trade paperback/collected edition books that are so ubiquitous now.
Nothing more needs to be said. If you have the chance, get yourself some Cerebus issues and see if you don’t agree that they are just really great comic books. There aren’t enough of those being published right now. If you do seek these issues out, I envy you – you’re lucky to have 300 new and interesting issues to look forward to.
Marvel doin’ something right?
Who’d a thunk it? If you’ve read the relatively few posts I have on this site (Speaking of which – is anyone actually reading them? A discussion for another time…), you have probably figured out that I don’t necessarily consider Marvel to be a warm, fuzzy comic publisher. But by putting their archive of comics on their web site, they have me singing a new tune.
Here’s some of what I’ve heard is on the site (I must admit that I have not taken the plunge):
The first 100 issues of Amazing Spider-Man by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and John Romita, Sr.
The first 100 issues of The Fantastic Four by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
The first 66 issues of Uncanny X-Men by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (and others)
The first 50 issues of The Avengers by Stan and Jack and Don Heck
If they had stopped here, that would have been a great offering for $9.99 a month, or $4.99 monthly with a year-long commitment. The only changes I could see would be adding things like the first 50 issues of Daredevil, the first 100 issues of Journey Into Mystery/Thor, the first 50 issues of Captain America, the first 50 issues of Iron Man….basically, anything that Stan Lee wrote.
But they do have other offerings. Things like the first appearance of Spider-Man’s black costume (Spider-Man 252 or Secret Wars 8?), Astonishing X-Men, selected titles from the Ultimate line (Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four and The Ultimates), The House of M, current issues of Amazing Spider-Man, New Avengers, Young Avengers and Runaways among others.
All of which I could do without. Most of these are pretty average issues, and they are also collected in trade paperbacks, aren’t they? Enough exposure for Bendis, Whedon and Millar.
Please Marvel – save the bandwidth for the real classics. Instead of posting that stuff, why not post some of the 1970’s and early 1980’s comics that I remember so fondly from my younger years? Stuff like Marvel Team-Up, The Defenders, Moon Knight, Rom, Iron Fist, Doctor Strange, Super-Villain Team-Up (so cool and so short!) and Master Of Kung-Fu, just to name a few.
It would be fun to see these issues again – or even better, for the first time. It’s a great thing for Marvel to enable readers to have such easy and direct access to comics. Marvel – if you want to know what you should post next, send me an email. I have lots of ideas.
22-point favorites
What on Earth? How can a professional football team be favored by 22 points? And yet, with the Patriots, is this really surprising? I’m sad to have to say that the Eagles may lose by more than 22 when it’s all said and done. Is 52-17 out of the question?
And now we’re hearing that McNabb may not start. I am not sure if Eagles fans will really miss him once he’s in Minnesota or Chicago next season. Bet they wish they had Jeff Garcia now. A lot less expensive and a lot less drama. And better results, if the end of the 2006 season is any indication.
And before you Eagle fans get all defensive, I’ve already predicted that the Stillers will get clobbered. My hope is that Baltimore will beat the Patriots up a bit before the Stillers game. If there’s one team you better respect, it’s the Ravens. I don’t think Ray Lewis will take kindly to any offense running up the score on his defensive unit. I’ll only say this once in a blue moon – Go Ravens!
Andy Blank
Mike Frangione
Depends on What the Meaning of the Word 'Blog' is 
Reflections on the Steelers Ehhh Win Over Winless Dolphins
Okay, so there are some positives to be taken from the Steelers insanely boring 3-0 win over 0-11 Miami. Willie Parker went over 1,000 yards for the third consecutive season. Not bad for a guy that was believed to be too small to be a useful NFL back. Now the Steelers just need to get him into the end zone more often.
Hines Ward caught nine passes for 88 yards and appears to be back to form after missing two games. That’s good, as the Steelers will need this guy if they’re going to make a playoff push.
Speaking of playoffs – the win, no matter how ugly, keeps them a game ahead of the resurgent Browns. I’m glad the Browns are good again. I think the NFL is better when the Steelers and Browns are good at the same time. And Cleveland coach Romeo Crennel deserves another couple of years. He wasn’t given much when he took over the Browns.
Next up, Cincinnati. With any luck, they’ll regress a bit from this past week, and the Steelers will play the kind of good games they played before they met the Jets.