Tuesday, November 24, 2009

I'd read it

Just in time for me to post as a reminder where this blog's name came from. A cool sketch (just one among many) by "Doc" Shaner.

Monday, November 23, 2009

I love this stuff

Meet Miss Miracle and Big Bard.

Sometimes you don't need a reason to do a gender swap story, you just do it.

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Even after everything that's happened...

...after death and dismemberment and the destruction of universes, after Identity Crisis and Death of the New Gods and Final Crisis and the Darkest Night...

...the DC Universe is still a place where this can happen.

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

And I thought Alan Scott was colorblind

The original Green Lantern, you may recall, wore a uniform of red, black, purple and yellow. Now that's a color scheme to strike fear into evil-doers.

But he had nothing on Bob Phantom, published by the company that would one day become Archie Comics. Origin? We don't need any of that. This is the flippin' Golden Age. How can you not love that costume? Green, red and orange. He reminds me a little of Kurt Busiek's Crackerjack, from Astro City. Orange and green are not often used together in superhero costumes. Nor anywhere else, now that I think of it. And with good reason. Plus those bare arms and legs, which says to me that this is a man who does not give a rat's ass what you think.

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Landmarks :: Detective Comics #300

For most of what I think of as the first three ages of comics (gold, atomic and silver), anniversary issues meant nothing. It was assumed that readers were children, with rapid turnover and short attention spans. You'll notice that the smallest thing on the cover is the issue number.

Surely if #300 mattered to anyone, they would have introduced a better villain than the Polka Dot Man. It wouldn't have taken much: The Matt Hagen Clayface had just debuted in #298, and he proved popular enough for a return appearance in #304. Surely the schedule could have been shuffled enough to swap stories.

Ah, but that is the genius of hindsight. I'm sure at the time, the Bizarre Polka Dot Man looked far more promising. You never know. Detective #400 introduced the Man-Bat, who struck me as a one-note character, but somehow he's still around.

Detective Comics #300 marked 25 years of continuous publication. It wasn't quite 25 years of Batman: That had to wait until Detective #327, for reasons you'll know if you think about it. That issue was a big departure from what came before, since it introduced the Infantino "new look" Batman, but still there wasn't a single mention anywhere in either comic of Detective's, or Batman's, silver anniversary.

image via comics.org

 

Posted via web from Dreaded Purple Master