Category: Comics

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Now that I’ve got the complete Alias comic book in TPB form, I’m selling the individual issues on eBay. In getting that set up, I was reminded of an interesting piece of symmetry between Alias and another Bendis series, Powers.

Both feature ex-heroes who now work as “normal” detectives. Christian Walker is a homicide cop, and Jessica Jones is a private investigator. Early on we learn that Walker’s hero identity was Diamond. When we finally get the details of Jessica’s back story, it turns out she went by the name Jewel.

The similarities pretty much end there, though. Despite the names and circumstances, the characters, stories, and overall feel of the two books are quite different. Alias is “comic book noir,” and Powers is a cop show in a city overrun with super-powers. Alias tends to be far more character-driven. Jessica gets into trouble during investigations, but it’s her and the people she’s looking for who are most affected. Powers works on a bigger scale, looking at superheroes as celebrities, and when things go wrong, they affect everyone.

(I’ve got a dozen or so issues of Powers up for auction as well — for the same reason!)

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I recently rented two of the Justice League DVDs. So far I’ve gotten through the opening 3-parter, “Secret Origins,” and the 2-part “Paradise Lost.” I have no idea how far into the series the second disc is.

A scene that stuck in my mind was the newly-formed League looking around their headquarters. As the heroes are deciding whether to join, the Flash remarks on its well-stocked kitchen and offers, “Iced mocha?” Wonder Woman tastes one and says, “Mmm, they don’t have anything like this on Themyscira. I’ll stay.” Aha! The way to an Amazon’s heart is through iced mochas!

So it was even more funny in “Paradise Lost” when the Flash started fantasizing about Paradise Island: “The beach, hundreds of women, and me, the first man they’ve seen in, well, ever. And what do I have with me? Iced mochas for everyone!”

Anyway, on to the review: It’s certainly better than I remember Superfriends being. It does still have a significant cheese factor at times, Continue reading →

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I was thinking about the series of “Rogue Profiles” we’ve been getting every once in a while in The Flash and realized that quite a few villains based their M.O. on a childhood trauma.

It’s been long established that Heat Wave was trapped in a walk-in freezer during a school field trip, and has had a life-long obsession with heat. So when he decided to go into crime, a flamethrower was a natural choice.

The Pied Piper is another one: he was born deaf, and his wealthy parents found a doctor who could give him hearing. Naturally he became obsessed with sound, so sonic tech was his weapon of choice.

The Trickster was born into a family of acrobats but afraid of heights. So he invented “air walker” shoes, which he later used to start his criminal career — by holding up and robbing airplanes. Continue reading →

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Well, I picked up JLA Secret Files 2004 today. Not because I read JLA, or even Justice League Elite (I read the first two issues, but it hasn’t really grabbed me), but because I figured there’d be a good image to scan of the Flash’s alternate costume for JLE. (It’s odd to be using that abbreviation again.)

The main story, as it turned out, focused on the Flash dividing his time between the two teams as they work cases that turn out to be related. It’s an OK story, up until the end, which features the most boneheaded use of super-speed I’ve seen in a long time. Continue reading →

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Via PeterDavid.net:

To promote Fallen Angel, DC re-released the first issue as a free promo edition and sent it out to comic stores this week.

It seems someone’s already selling it on eBay as a “Hard-To-Find Retailer Variant.” In fact, based on the auction start time, it looks like it went up Thursday afternoon, within hours of it being available to, uh, “sell.”

Keep in mind that this has the word “FREE!” emblazoned in at least 48-point type on the cover (you can read it clearly even in the thumbnail).

Of course at $6.49+$3.85 shipping it’s already creeping up on the cost of the trade paperback ($12.95) that contains the first six issues. Anyone who’s just curious about the book and can’t find the promo copy would probably be better off ordering the trade instead.

This is the kind of thing you’d expect on Opposite Day. Selling something free. Marketing the reprint as a collectors’ edition. Heck, just targeting the collectors’ market for a book that’s more suited to people who actually read comics.

“We’ll clean ’em out the American way.
For something free, they don’t care what they pay!”
—The Engineer, Miss Saigon

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A few years ago I lived in the city of Lake Forest (formerly El Toro) for a bit. One of the interesting things about Lake Forest is its collection of streets named after characters and places in Lord of the Rings. (And yes, these were around long before the movies were made.)

I still drive past Gondor Drive on my way back from the comic store, and I’ve been meaning to get a picture of the street sign for a while. It turned out to be too hard to shoot without actually aiming, so I turned onto a smaller street where I knew I could catch Elrond Lane:

Corner of Elrond and Ridge Route

Other Tolkien-inspired streets include: Buckland Lane, Bywater Road (and it is at least near water), Rivendell Drive, Shadowfax Drive and Brandywine Lane.

While checking the Thomas Guide for some of the ones I missed, I just discovered a neighborhood with Sesame Street, Muppet Lane, Big Bird, Oscar, Grover, and Cookie Monster. And Kurmit [sic], though I suppose that could be a typo.

And then there’s Dana Point, which has the Street of the Green Lantern. Of course, it has about 20 named Street of the fill-in-the-blank Lantern — Blue, Amber, Golden, Silver, Violet, etc. [Update: Here are some Green Lantern Street photos.]

Update Sep. 24: Here’s a blurry picture of the Gondor street sign:
Gondor Street Sign

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While looking at website referrer logs, I came across an article at Radio Heroes detailing Gorilla City (Or, What if Grodd Was One of Us?)

The site is all about “reviewing—well, okay, making fun of” a series of audio-drama comic books, and this one tells a tale of Batman in Gorilla City, and how he uses trancendental meditation to defeat Grodd, the Super-Gorilla!

No, really!

I haven’t listened to the sound clips yet, but the write-up is great!

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