The Comics Conversation

It's an artistic representation of a circulatory system walking through a kitchen, as drawn by Dave Gibbons and written about by Alan Moore. It happens a lot 'round here.

Happy There Is A Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day to all who celebrate.

Emperor D'Ken of the Shi'ar points at a statue of Reideen, from a 1970's animé.

Apparently D'Ken saw Reideen and went mad trying to grab its power. Imagine if he'd seen something like Shin Getter or Ideon, the Marvel Universe would be in ruins!

"English degrees are useless" says man who needs ai to write an email

Nah, nothing that fancy - from Secret Six #2. He's fighting with Catman, who has spent most of the duel openly wondering what Batman had for dinner. This panel is the last moment of the fight, after Batman's pretty soundly beaten him up. Full page/context:

Great up until Robinson left/quit/was forced out by editorial. After that, the varied and interesting cast of characters was largely replaced by yet another Superman, Batman, etc

From the first Hulk story. Rick Jones is leaning back with his legs crossed, tooting away on some little musical instrument, unaware a bomb test is about to happen.

According to Stan, as Simon's assistant he "did a little of everything. I went down and got people their lunches and I filled the inkwells and I did some proofreading and I did some copywriting." Joe Simon's take on Stanley's gofer days: "Mostly we had Stan erasing the pencils off the inked artwork and going out for coffee. He followed us around, we took him to lunch, and he tried to be friends with us. When he didn't have anything to do, he would sit in a corner of the art department and play his little flute or piccolo, whatever it was, driving Kirby nuts. Jack would yell at him to shut up." Simon and Kirby let him hang out with them when they played billiards or went bowling. Oh, and just for the record: The musical instrument in question was technically an ocarina.

I've said it before but I love to imagine Jack Kirby at the drawing board working on this scene. He pauses because he needs a quick visual shorthand to make it clear that this teenage fuckup doesn't care that the men around him are trying to work.

I don't think anyone was expecting that.

#superrobotwarsy

Jeff Lemire & Gavin Guidy Launch JSA Year One in November Jeff Lemire and Gavin Guidy launch JSA Year One in November from DC Comics

bleedingcool.com/comics/jeff-...

Do we need another retelling of the JSA's origin? Despite my enthusiasm for the first issue, this run has left me feeling a little deflated, and this news doesn't inspire me to keep going...

John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake's The Spectre.

Detective Comics 567, a gloriously silly one-shot by Harlan Ellison and Gene Colan.

The teams up between these 3 in the late 80s were some excellent stories, looking forward to seeing where this leads!

The Many Odd Origins of EVEN STEVEN 120+ Page Oversized Hardcover collecting the solo stories of fan favorite EVEN STEVEN, plus new material by KARL KESEL and DAVID HAHN.

I just backed The Many Odd Origins of EVEN STEVEN on @kickstarter.com! www.kickstarter.com/projects/122...

Looking forward to seeing what zany adventures he gets up to.

Apparently Mark Rosewater has claimed 'Whatever your favorite Marvel character is, I promise we are getting there', regarding the upcoming Marvel MTG sets.
Someone remind me in 3 years when I'm disappointed at the lack of a Pete Wisdom card ;)
#MTGxSpiderMan

Saw Fantastic Four today - enjoyed it.
One thought that crossed my mind throughout was how little the FF's adventures seem to rely on their superpowers. They're mostly fun science stories where people occasionally burst into flame or grab something just out of rich.

Wow, they remembered Exoristos! That is an impressively deep cut to include in such a thing.
Plus, y'know, Sandman and other JSA members are always welcome.

Mid century science fiction rules. It's always a million years in the future and everybody's poly and all the cappuccino machines can dream

If we don't get a Clone Saga card in this set, they will have made a grievous error.

I believe the young people call this a 'mic drop'.

YouTube video by The Comics Conversation Who are...the Manhunters?

youtu.be/QBYiq9_tvwE

Ever wondered 'What's the deal with DC's Manhunters? How can they be robot police but also unhappy lawyers'?
Wonder no longer!

The Next Big DC Comics Event From DC Comics Is Called DC K.O. The next big DC Comics event from DC Comics is called DC K.O. from Scott Snyder, Joshua Williamson and Javi Fernández

bleedingcool.com/comics/the-n...

This feels like the reductio ad absurdam of the superhero genre, the entire experience reduced to 'Let's you and him fight'.
I'll wait for more details, but otherwise likely to give this a miss...

A 1940 newspaper clip from the Springfield Leader and Press, declaring: Superman Poisoning American Children, Irate Nazis cClaim."

"Superman Arouses Teutonic Anger" reads the headline in the Amarillo Daily News"

The right-wing backlash against #Superman this week got me thinking: Has this happened before?

That led to the discovery of these headline — from April 1940, when the official newspaper of the SS took umbrage at the comic book hero and ridiculed its creators.

My how times change ...

So, DC, where's this...'Time Masters'?

A fascinating deep-dive into the many attempts at 'ending' characters' stories in a world of never ending battles for truth, justice and so on. So many definitive endings hastily rewritten to keep the IP alive...(some for good, some not so great)

From the New History of the DC Universe #1, this was a pleasant surprise - somebody remembered the Demon Knights! One of the gems from the New 52, a shame that after Cornell left it lost its way.

Grant Morrison writing Deadpool (vs Batman, naturally).

Given how Morrison used the self-aware character shtick in Animal Man, I can only wonder at how they'll deal with Deadpool's constant assault of the fourth wall...

That's my reading material for the week sorted. Looking forward to delving into this again - I first read this run on DC Universe Infinite, but nothing compares to the feel of pages between your fingers.

And just learned that Tod Smith has gone too. A fantastic artist whose work on Vigilante helped elevate the title beyond its slightly confused beginnings.