Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Miscellania


Jill's kid started a Bird-Watching Blog

So, young junior naturalist Arden H-W has started a blog all about his bird-watching hobby.

Here.

The League is impressed. That kid is going to be the next Audubon. His blog posts are also already five times more coherent than anything you're likely to find here at League of Melbotis.

I look forward to seeing what bird he covers next.

So Where Are the Kents in the Silver Age?

Fans of Silver-Age and Bronze-Age comics will note that the Kents are alive when Superboy is a lad, but by the time he becomes Superman, they're MIA.

Well, at some point, DC decided to address what happened. And somehow, this is the story they put on the page.

And, honestly, this sort of story makes more sense than 85% of what you're going to find in the typical Silver Age Superman story.


Mad Men

Did everyone get the important tip for office safety in this week's episode of Mad Men?


Not picking up JSA anymore

For the record, I'm agreeing with Simon and dropping JSA in December, if not before. Makes League cry, but... this just doesn't look fun.

Schwapp! sums it up nicely
.

Also, the perspective or something is completely off on the ocver to JSA All-Stars #1. Without getting too much into it, as an example, Cyclone (front right) looks like she was drawn in at the last second by an 8th grader who doesn't know how big parts are, or where they really need to go.


sometimes it helps to look at your drawing before inking and coloring it

Comic Previews and My Precognitive Abilities

A few days ago I was going through some Superman back issues and stumbled across a cover with 70's-era Superman buddy/ foil, Vartox, the character with the worst design in all of comic-dom. I paused and said to myself: they should really find a way to bring this guy back, without changing a damned thing.

Well, not change anything other than how seriously a reader in 2009 is likely to take ol' Vartox.


Vartox, by the way, is most likely what a very drunk comic artist decided was acceptable after seeing Sean Connery in the worst costume of all time in Zardoz.

Well, ask and ye shall receive. DC December 2009 Solicitations were released Monday.

Power Girl #7, coming in December:


The fellow on the ground is Dr. Mid-Nite. He is cool.

I am really growing to like this Power Girl comic.

10 comments:

Simon MacDonald said...

I have said my piece on the current state of JSA. Amazingly enough the best JSA title currently being published is JSA vs Cobra!

The League said...

Someone at DC will notice that sooner or later. Its unfortunate that Didio and Co. seem to assign jobs by who their pals are instead of by who is going to carry the title forward in a way the audience would most likely follow, while building on that same audience.

Simon MacDonald said...

Don't even get me started on Dido and Co. They literally ran my favourite character Nightwing into the ground over many years of mishandling. Maybe things will change a bit now that Levitz is out.

The League said...

I keep waiting to hear who Nelson will put in there to replace Levitz. It has to be a total circus at DC right now.

I have no preferred choice, but i have people who I think would run the company into the ground that have been mentioned.

NTT said...

Who's the creative team on JSA and its variant now? I don't keep up with floppies anymore. Last I heard, Willingham and Sturges were the new writers. And who's the artist that went to Marvel?

Simon MacDonald said...

Yes, it is Willingham and Sturges. The artist who left for Marvel is Dale Eaglesham. He's currently doing FF.

The League said...

I know its probably not hip to like someone as set in the grand-old-style as Eaglesham, but he does it astoundingly well. I've thoroughly enjoyed his work.

I will flatly say that (a) I don't read Fables, so I have no attachment to Willingham as a writer. When I do read him, he seems mired in the 70's and 80's style. (b) Matt Sturges' work is usually fairly flat, which is why I think it meshes with Willingham. His Blue Beetle is usually very middle of the road, and not as much fun as the work by Rogers that preceded it.

Simon MacDonald said...

I didn't catch on to Eaglesham until his work on Villians United which I thought was a great colaboration between him and Simone. I actually met him here in Ottawa as he lives on a farm about an hour outside the city. It was just before he started on JSA but was unable to tell anyone. Both he and his wife seemed like genuinely good people.

I used to get Fables in trades all the time. I've slipped a bit on that trend recently and I will probably get back to it some day.

The League said...

I love Eaglesham's stuff, and I am considering picking up the FF in trades now that I know that's where he went. I'm not a huge FF collector, but I want to see what the guy does over there.

It'd be nice to see him on JLA or the Superman titles some day.

Simon MacDonald said...

Yeah, I've never been a big FF fan myself. The combination of Hickman/Eaglesham is interesting though. The only complaint I've heard about their first issue is that Mr. fantastic looks like he's been doing 'roids.