Dwayne McDuffie, 1962-2011

How did I miss this news?

We should have had many more years of reading and entertainment. And he should have become very, very rich. He'll have to make do with fondly remembered and dearly missed.

Early cross-promotion

Here's a very early example of a continued story in DC comics. Sort of.

On the left is Adventure 152, starring Superboy. In this story, prompted by a "what I want to be when I grow up" essay assignment, Clark travels to Metropolis to "try on" several potential jobs. He eventually settles on "newspaper reporter". His essay wins a writing contest, the prize for which is presented by a surprise guest, reporter Perry White, who invites Clark to contact him when he's older.

On the right is Action 144, starring Vigilante. (Just kidding.) In this month's Superman story, Clark happens to find the cover page for the edition of the Daily Planet that contains his first by-line. This inspires him to reminisce about having met Perry White while still in high school, and his later attempts to see White in order to apply for a position as a reporter. The same scene of young Clark winning that writing award is seen in flashback.

Both comics would have been on the racks in the same week of March 1950. Neither story has ever been reprinted.

I Wonder who that Woman is

Gutters - Issue #15
by Evan Shaner

You know, the lasso is the least unlikely part of Wonder Woman's uniform. That makes perfect sense. Every superhero should have one. (Heck, Batman has always had one. Spider-Man has the next best thing. GL can make 'em as needed. Captain America is so damn awesome that you stay where he puts you. And the new kids don't need one because they don't take prisoners anyway, they just go ahead and kill the perps.)

What I don't get is the continuation of the trend to celebrate big honkin' landmark anniversaries by throwing out everything that we've loved about a character for thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy years and starting over with the name and a couple of touchstones.

Ah, well. That's probably what Roy Thomas and Jerry Bails first thought when Barry Allen and Hal Jordan first hit Showcase.

Administrative trivia 2

You know what? I changed my mind. Or maybe I rebooted myself. Have it whichever way you like. I realized that I get more pageviews here than on my general purpose blog, so it really makes no sense to shut this one down and move over there.

So I figure I must have been temporarily replaced by the me from an alternate future (maybe 2017, that sounds sufficiently random) where middle-aged balding fat guys are persecuted by the government after passage of Anti-Normal-Old-Coot Legislation in 2012. Yeah, that must be it. Sounds entirely credible.

Suu-ure it does. I've been waiting for the Earth-2 me to show up for most of my life, but I've just figured out he's me. It's the Earth-1 me I have to watch out for.

Or that nerd Barry Allen. Can't trust a man with a bow tie and crew cut.