'Best of TBH Politoons'
Cory!! Strode On Graphic Novels
Showcasing Essentials
Marvel comics has had a lot of success with their "Essential" line of graphic novels, which was big, thick, black and white books that reprint about 25 - 30 comics for $15. The line has shown that there is a market for comics reprints of comics from the 60's and 70's if done properly, and as a comics fan, it's the best idea a comic company has had in years. It is now possible to go into a comic shop and buy 7 books that reprint the first 160 issues of Spider-Man, or the first 70 issues of the Fantastic Four, or any of the other well-known Marvel comics.
DC (who publishes Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman) have decided to get into this market as well, and have started their "Showcase" line with Superman, Green Lantern, Metamorpho and Jonah Hex.
And if you have heard of Metamorpho or Jonah Hex, you probably already know about these books, as they are obscure characters that have a small, but loyal following.
The one most people will be seeing in the bookstore, however, is DC Showcase Presents Superman, which retails for $10, has over 500 pages, and reprints classic stories from the middle 50's in black and white. Yep, these are the stories that Bartcop read as a kid, and has talked about on the website from time to time. These are also the stories that made Superman the best-selling comic from the mid 50's to the mid 70's (when Spider-Man and the X-Men took over that position).
As I read the stories, I was struck by just how similar all of the stories are. Each 12 - 16 page tale has Superman dealing with a puzzle of some kind and figuring out how to solve it. Compared to modern comics, there isn't a lot of action, and usually Superman throws a single punch, unlike comics today which can have entire issues that are nothing but fight scenes. A standard status quo had been achieved by the mid 50's, and nothing much ever changed in Superman. Most "villains" were the same kind of bland criminals used in the Superman TV series, Lex Luthor and Brainiac both show up in this volume, but they are also involved in "Puzzle stories" where Superman has to figure out their plan.
In the 50's, editor Mort Weisinger would design covers and then have writers come up with stories based on the covers, which is why so many of the stories have to do with "How did Jimmy Olsen turn into a lion" or "Why is Superman helping a criminal rob banks." Back when comics were sold on newsstands and were an impulse buy, kids bought comics based on the covers, so Weisinger knew he had to get a reaction of "Wow! I HAVE to find out how that happened!"
And yes, these stories are for kids, and were very specifically aimed at kids in the 50's. They haven't aged well, and while the reproduction of the stories is crisp, clear and doesn't show that these stories were first printed 50 years ago, after reading two or three stories, it's hard to read through the entire book because there is a "sameness" to it all.
Reading through this book, and then reading the reactions to it on line made it easy for me to see who this book is for. If you were a Superman reader in the 50's and 60's, this is a must buy for you. If you weren't, this is a simple nostalgia piece that wears out its welcome pretty quickly. While it is a big, cheap package, for someone looking for a better Nostalgia rush, pick up "Superman in the 50's" or "Superman in the 60's", which try to reprint either the stories that everyone remembers, or were the best being put out at the time. DC Showcase: Superman gets a 2 out of 5 for casual readers, and a 5 out of 5 for fans of 50's comics.
Cory!! Strode (The Best Dressed Man In Comics) has written comic books, novels, jokes for comedians, Op Ed columns, the on-line comic strip
www.Asylumon5thstreet.com and has all kinds of things on his website, www.solitairerose.com
Yep, I have turned in my notice at my job (working 90 - 100 weeks is not good for a person after about nine months), so I should have more time to review! I've even planned on updating my webpage in the next couple of weeks! However, I am looking for a job in management or HR in the Minneapolis area, so if any Bartcop-E readers know of open positions, I'd love to hear about it.
And thanks to Marty for being so patient as I try to get my head above water and get back to where I have time to READ comics, let alone review them.
New Video - Episode 3
Dick Eats Bush
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Leaders Failing to Keep America Safe: Report (Reuters)
The Bush administration and Congress are ``moving at a crawl'' against nimble terrorists, leaving the country vulnerable more than four years after the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, the former September 11 Commission said in a scathing final report on Monday.
SECOND-ANNUAL WORLD AIDS DAY REPORT CARD GIVES POOR MARKS TO U.S. RESPONSE (hrc.org)
'These grades are not simply letters in the alphabet; they are emblems of our government's failure to respond to one of the most devastating health crises in history,' said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.
Michael Blanding: Accidental Activists (AlterNet.org)
For Craig and Cindy Corrie, the death of their daughter in Israel was the start of a new mission in life: continuing her campaign for human rights in Palestine.
Torture and Secrecy Scandal Intensifies (Democracy Now!. Posted on alternet.org)
Amy Goodman interviews members of the international community who are increasingly concerned about how the Bush administration treats suspected terrorists.
Jarrett Murphy: Open and Shut: Four years [after 9-11), we still have ten big questions
2. Who gave the order to try to shoot the planes down?
The commission is noticeably vague on this point.
MaryAnn Johanson: The Power of Belief (altweeklies.com)
This is the one, after The Lord of the Rings, that-if you're any kind of proper geek at all-you've been looking forward to with a mixture of glee and dread. So it is such a relief and a joy to report that it's hard to imagine how much more right director Andrew Adamson, his four FX houses and his perfect cast could have gotten The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Ward Sutton: Democrats Still Waiting For Just the Right Moment to Have an Actual Idea (Cartoon)
Hubert's Poetry Corner
YOUR WOMAN. MY WOMAN! YOUR WIFE TOO?
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, clear & cool.
Dear old Dad called tonight - he & the Babe will be here for Christmas!
Holy crap - where'd I put that vacuum cleaner?
A new flag - Slovakia (it's #93).
'Musicians' Village' Planned
New Orleans
Singer Harry Connick Jr. and saxophone player Branford Marsalis are working with Habitat for Humanity to create a "village" for New Orleans musicians who lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina.
More than $2 million has been raised for the project dreamed up by Connick and Marsalis - a neighborhood built around a music center where musicians can teach and perform, said Jim Pate, executive director of New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity.
The first $1 million came from benefit concerts in New York three weeks after the storm, said Quint Davis, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival producer who helped arrange the concerts.
Branford Marsalis said the project is a thank you to the musicians "who made it possible for people like me and my brother Wynton and Harry Connick Jr. to get out and spread the word."
New Orleans
Performs at High School
Kanye West
Kanye West's first album is titled "The College Dropout" and his lyrics often extoll the benefits of a real-world education.
But Monday found the 27-year-old rapper at Santa Monica High School, performing a rousing, six-song set and answering questions after students won a local radio contest.
West's visit began with a contest that radio station KPWR-FM announced in November. The rules were simple: West would perform for the Southern California student body that cast the most votes for its school on the contest Web site.
Some students gathered together and spelled K-A-N-Y-E W-E-S-T on their sweat shirts with masking tape. Others wore T-shirts featuring West's post-Hurricane Katrina statement: "Bush doesn't care about black people."
Kanye West
CBS Offering Online for Free
March Madness
For the first time, the NCAA men's basketball tournament will be available online for free.
CBS, CBS SportsLine.com and College Sports Television are teaming up with the NCAA to provide free streaming video rights for out-of-market game coverage, titled NCAA March Madness on Demand.
Beginning March 16, 2006, fans will be able to watch live broadcasts of the NCAA tournament from outside their viewing area via NCAAsports.com, the official NCAA Web site. The effort will be supported by advertising sales.
March Madness
Taking The Belzer Route
Eddie Izzard
English comedian Eddie Izzard will star in the FX drama pilot "Low Life," one of two that got the cable network's green light Monday.
The other is "Dirt," from executive producers Courteney Cox and David Arquette. FX plans to pick up at least one of the pilots to series, to premiere in late summer. If both shows make the cut, the second series would premiere in early 2007.
"Low Life" is the first FX pilot to feature a family front-and-center. Izzard will play the father of a family of traveling con artists who, after hitting a spiritual and midlife crisis, settles down with his wife and kids in a suburban community.
Eddie Izzard
In Production
'Get Smart'
Peter Segal, the director of several Adam Sandler movies, will turn the classic TV spy spoof "Get Smart" into a feature. Steve Carell is attached to play hapless secret agent Maxwell Smart.
The series, which ran on NBC from 1965 to 1969 and then on CBS for one season, starred Don Adams as Smart, a.k.a. Agent 86, a spy for Control, fighting the evil forces of Kaos. Warner Bros.' big-screen version will contemporize the setting, with Control falling on hard times and not getting the big government funding other spy agencies, like the CIA, do.
'Get Smart'
Baby News
Jackie & Adam Sandler
He played a big daddy on the big screen. Now Adam Sandler is taking on the role in real life.
The 39-year-old funnyman and his wife, Jackie, are expecting their first child in the spring, People magazine reported on its Web site this week. Jackie, 31, had a small role in the comedian's 1999 film, "Big Daddy."
ackie & Adam Sandler
Items To Be Auctioned
Sidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet's clarinet, soprano saxophone and love letters were scheduled to go on the auction block Wednesday.
Among the 32 pieces up for sale at the Hotel Drouot auction house: the fake leopard-fur jacket Bechet often wore onstage, estimated at $11,800.
Daniel Bechet, a drummer who lives in France, organized the auction. He will finance a foundation dedicated to his father's memory in the south of France from the profits, the auction house said.
Born in New Orleans in 1897, Bechet died in France. He composed the famous "Petite Fleur" and performed with artists including Louis Armstrong and Josephine Baker.
Sidney Bechet
Trimspa Sued By Live 8
Anna Nicole Smith
Anna Nicole Smith went too far, a production company has charged, and it wants Trimspa to pay for it.
The producer of the Live 8 concerts has filed a lawsuit against Trimspa Inc., claiming that the company's reputation was damaged by the buxom Trimspa spokeswoman's attire and conduct during a televised concert last summer.
Live 8 Productions LLC is seeking more than $500,000 in compensatory damages, claiming Trimspa failed to pay for a handful of 30-second promotional spots that aired during the July 2 broadcast on ABC. The lawsuit also seeks unspecified punitive damages, as well as additional unspecified damages for Smith's behavior.
Anna Nicole Smith
More Topless Photos
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston is suing a paparazzo, claiming he invaded her privacy by using a telephoto lens to photograph her topless at her house.
The lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court alleges that photographer Peter Brandt must have observed the 36-year-old actress "from a great distance through invasive, intrusive and unlawful measures."
Brandt said he took the pictures three weeks ago while standing on a public street in Los Angeles about 300 yards from her house. He said was trying to photograph Aniston with Vince Vaughn, who was at the house at the time. Aniston and the 35-year-old actor are reported to be dating.
Jennifer Aniston
Gets 180 Days
Henry Hill
Henry Hill, the former mobster immortalized in "Goodfellas," was sentenced Monday to 180 days in jail for threatening his wife and another man last summer.
The judge ordered the sentence to be served concurrently with a six-month term Hill is already serving for attempted methamphetamine possession. Hill pleaded no contest to making terroristic threats.
Hill, portrayed by Ray Liotta in the 1990 mob movie, was also given credit for time served after Hill's wife and the other victim wrote letters on his behalf.
Henry Hill
U.S. Snubs Canada
Climate Talks
The United States snubbed a call by host Canada on Tuesday for 189-nation climate talks in Montreal to launch a two-year search for new ways to fight global warming.
"The United States is opposed to any such discussions," the U.S. delegation at the November 28-December 9 talks said in a statement, reiterating remarks by chief negotiator Harlan Watson earlier in the week.
The United States, a source of a quarter of all greenhouse gases, has repeatedly said it is not interested in U.N.-led talks on the long-term, seeing them as a prelude to caps on emissions like under the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol. Washington opposes Kyoto.
Climate Talks
Iron Lady's Daughter
Carol Thatcher
Carol Thatcher, the daughter of British former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, was crowned "queen of the jungle" when she won a popular British television reality television contest.
A 33-1 outsider to win the crown in ITV's "I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!," Thatcher, 52, entered the Australian jungle insisting that, unlike her mother, she was no "Iron Lady."
The younger Thatcher ate Kangaroo testicles and fish eyes, and after swimming across a lake with poisonous frogs, snakes and furry bushrats on her head, she offered to repeat the challenge in order to win pudding for fellow campers.
Carol Thatcher
Breaking Tradition
New Secrecy
Breaking a tradition of openness that began in 1816, the Bush administration has without explanation withheld the names and work locations of about 900,000 of its civilian workers, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
"Citizens have a right to know who is working for the government," said Adina Rosenbaum, attorney for the co-directors of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group at Syracuse University, who sued under the Freedom of Information act to get the data.
Using FOIA, TRAC has obtained the data on compact discs every three months since 1989. But the federal government began publicly naming its employees, their job category, salary and workplace in 1816.
The last complete data set provided by OPM covered 2003. Since then, all records of civilian employees of the Defense Department have been withheld and name and duty locations were withheld for an estimated 150,000 other civilian workers, the lawsuit said. The others work in 650 occupations at 250 different agencies including the Federal Trade Commission, the National Park Service and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration.
New Secrecy
Died From Lead Poisoning
Ludwig von Beethoven
Tests on the hair and skull fragments of Ludwig von Beethoven show the legendary 19th century German composer died from lead poisoning, a group of US scientists announced.
Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois said bone fragments from Beethoven's skull, tested at the country's most powerful X-ray facility, had high concentrations of lead, matching an earlier finding of lead in his hair.
The source of the lead is unknown, but they said some people speculate that Beethoven drank a respectable amount of wine, and the lead may have come from a wine goblet made with the metal.
Ludwig von Beethoven
In Memory
Gregg Hoffman
Film producer Gregg Hoffman, who developed an eight-minute film into the horror hit "Saw" and its gory successor "Saw II," died unexpectedly after complaining of pain. He was 42.
Hoffman began working for Disney in 1995, rising to become a senior vice president of production and earning a producer credit on the family comedy "George of the Jungle" (1997).
He joined Oren Koules and Mark Burg at their management and production company, Evolution Entertainment, in 2003. Soon after, he saw the eight-minute clip about a serial killer called "Saw" and proposed making it into a full-length feature. The original story was by James Wan, who went on to direct the feature "Saw," and Leigh Whannell, who starred in it.
The "Saw" films' success led to multi-picture development deals with Lions Gate and Dimension Films. Hoffman was working on "Saw III" and "Crawlspace" when he died.
He is survived by his wife, Lucienne; two children; his mother; and a sister.
Gregg Hoffman
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