This week’s best cover is Showcase Presents Ambush Bug. I love how DC made the big three green for this cover as they weren’t on the original Action Comics 565.
Star Trek The Next Generation: The Last Generation #6, IDW. Meh, It looks like they didn’t know how to end this thing, so they just did.
The War That Time Forgot #11, DC Comics.
Trade Paperbacks: Showcase Presents Ambush Bug DC Comics. It’s Here! All the Ambush Bug goodness from the1980s and early 1990s stories. BTW, what the hell happened to issue #6 of the Ambush Bug Year None miniseries?
Supermen! The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941 Fantagraphics. In your face golden age stories by some of the greats of comic book history but with forgotten characters that weren’t quite so great (although I've got a special place in my heart for Basil Wolverton's Space Hawk). I love this because it’s a time of experimentation. The writers and artists are learning their craft and there aren’t any established rules yet. Sure to please fans of “I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets.” It also has an excellent introduction by Jonathan Lethem. For more see here.
Magazine: Back Issue #33 TwoMorrows Publishing. The teen heroes issue. I’m not all the excited about this issue but it does have an article on Power Girl. Finally I’ll have some clarity on her mixed up back-story. Oh and Nova is in here too.
Update: Rob! pointed out that he had has a piece published in this issue of Back Issue #33. Its about the Teen Titans Megos. It was the first article I read and I didn't even pay attention to who wrote it! How cool and stupid is that!
It’s the Second Annual Atomic Romance Awards! This is my special tribute to the comic books of 2008 that have earned fame or infamy in my little corner of comic fandom. The Atomic Romance Awards reflect my personal preferences so that's why some obvious choices may not appear. But before we begin I'd like to take a moment to thank She-Hulk, my Co-presenter this time around. Also, I'd like to thank all of you, my net buddies, for stopping-by Atomic Romance this last year. It's been one hell of a ride.
Now on with the show!
Best Overall Title: The Astounding Wolf-Man, Image Comics Runner-up: Conan the Cimmerian
Best Writer: Robert Kirkman for both Astounding Wolf-Man and Walking Dead (and probably Invincible too, but I'm nont reading it right now), IDW
Runner-up: J. Michael Stryzinski for The Twelve, Marvel Comics (He could have won top honors if he had finished this series)
Best mini-series: Star Trek: Assignment Earth, IDW Runner-up: The Age of Sentry
Best Adventure Comic: Tor, DC Comics Runner Up: The War That Time forgot,DC Comics
Best Sword and Sorcery Title: Conan the Cimmerian, Dark Horse Comics Runner-up: Wolf-Skin, Avatar
Best Sci-Fi: North Wind, Boom Studios Runner Up: Star Trek: The Hollow Crown, IDW
Best Art: Chris Weston, The Twelve. Marvel Comics Runner-up: John Byrne, Star Trek: The Hollow Crown. IDW
Best Horror: Necronimicon Runner-up: The Crossed
Best Death: Rebecca gets accidentally slapped to death by Zecheriah the vampire, The Astounding Wolf-Man #7, Image Comics Runner-up: Drunk Officer pulped by a propeller in Phantom Eagle #1, Marvel Comics
Best Cover: Army@Love: The Art of War #3, Vertigo Runner-up: Amazing Spiderman #560
Worst Cover: 1985 #4, Marvel Comics Runner Up: The Man With No Name #2, one of the greatest western characters ever is drawn to look like Bush
Best Dramatic Moment: Dynamic Man (from the 1940s) discovers interracial marriage, The Twelve #2 Runner-up: Captain Wonder at his wife’s grave, The Twelve #2
Best Butt: She-Hulk on King Size Hulk #1 Runner-up: damsel in distress on cover of Conan the Cimmerian #2
Best Animal Hero: Monkey Speedball, Marvel Apes Rocket Raccoon, Guardians of the Galaxy
Best Geekout: Reading how Mirror Kirk assassinated Mirror Pike in Star Trek Mirror Images 1-5
Worst Costume: THE BLUE BLAAAADE! Oh come on, could there possibly be any other choice from 2008!? Runner-up: Jack Pot
Best Costume: Female Starhawk, Guardians of the Galaxy #5 Runner-up: The Crimson Reporter, The Twelve, Marvel Comics
Favorite Hero: Ambush Bug (If you can call him a hero)
Favorite Villain: Cranio, The Man with the Tri-Level Mind! The Age of the Sentry Runner-up: Catman, Secret Six
Horniest Villain: King Crimson, Dark Tower, Marvel Comics
Best New Character: Ape X, Marvel Apes
Worst New Character: Jackpot
Best Fake Covers: Marvel Apes
Best Essential or Showcase Presents: Savage Sword of Conan… Ha!
Most Likely To Piss Off PETA Badger Saves the world
Best Gunfight: Brothers in Arms#4 Runner-up: Bat Lash #6
Best Formerly Ugly Aliens that Are Now Sexpots: Skrulls
Best Sword Fight: Wolfskin Annual, Avatar
Best Reprint: Dr. Who Classics, IDW
Best Cross of Hellraiser Cenobites with Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality: Army of Darkness: Home Sweet Hell
Lamest Series I’m glad I didn’t read: It is a Tie Secret Invasion/Final Crisis and all of the spin offs
Best Single Issue: Fantastic Comics #24 Image Runner-up; Jonah Hex #33, DC Comics
Best Comedic Moment: Ambush Bug, it turns out, is responsible for the death of Sue Dibney, Ambush Bug Year None #1 Runner-up: A Medieval wizard buys a shit-load of goods at S-mart, AoD/Xena #1
Best Free Comic Book Day Comic: Gumby… of course
Best Trade Paperback: Zot!: The Complete Black and White Collection: 1987-1991 Runner-up: Captain Carrot and the Final Ark!
Biggest Warm Fuzzy: The Medieval Silent Knight is revealed to be an ancestor of Superman’s adopted Family, Brave and The Bold #10, DC Comics.
Best Collection of Older Comics: I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets Runner-up: The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics
Best Cameo: ‘Mazing Man: Ambush Bug: Year None. #1 Nazi Super Villains in the entrance way in Berlin Building The Twelve #1
Coolest Country in Marvel Atlas Volume 2: Boca Caliente (doesn’t that mean spicy hot mouth?)
Dumbest Moment: New Gods, New Gods New Gods!
Best Monster: Giant Eyeball Demon, Iron Man Legacy of Doom #4, Marvel Comics Runner-up: Ursus the Ultra Bear, The Age of The Sentry #2, Marvel Comics
Best Golden Age Retcon: The Twelve, Marvel Comics Runner-up: Fantastic Comics #24 Image
Worst Golden Age Retcon: Project Superpowers, Dynamite Entertainment
Worst Retcon Period: Red Sonja #29, her own Goddess set’s her up to get raped and have her family murdered.
Best Pimp Scene: Star Trek: Mirror Images #2, IDW
Best Terrorist Acronym: NACHO (Nihilist Anti-Capitalist Hate Organization) Badger Saves the World IDW
Best New Trick for an Old Dog: John Byrne doing Star Trek Comics Runner-up: DC Fontana doing Star Trek comics
Most Ruined Character: Red Sonja Runner-Up: The Wasp… because she’s like dead
Best Supporting Character: Cheeks the Toy Wonder (Of course) Runner Up: Abdul Alhazred, Fall of Cthulhu, Boom Studios
Best Western: Jonah Hex
Best Nonfiction Comic: Comic Book Comics, Evil Twin
Biggest Yawn: The Flash is coming Back!!!!! Zzzzzz
Best Revival from Suspended Animation: The Creature Commandos in Action Comics #872
Best Origin Story: The Black Widow, Twelve #8 Runner-up: Ungrounded Super Agent The Twelve #6
Lamest Promotion: Those Skrull "Who Do You Trust" ads Runner-up: What were you doing final crisis
Best Crossover: The Army of Darkness/Xena: Why Not, Dynamite Entertainment
Title I would Have Liked To Try from the Beginning But It Was Always Sold Out: Guardians of the Galaxy
Favorite Lesbian: Golden Age Black Widow, The Twelve, Marvel Comics She was Goth before there was Goth...
Best One Liner: “Hi Lois! I’ve got a weenie with your name one it” Earth 2 Superman. Ambush Bug: Year None # 3
Best Meh Ending: Y: The Last Man.
Best Capturing of the Spirit of 1980s Comics: Amazing Spider-Girl
Best Corporate Foot-Stepping: Moonstone vs. Dynamite over the publishing rights to The Phantom.
Biggest Disappointment: Project Superpowers, The heroes have been stuffed in a jar all these years? ...give me a break... Runner Up: What... No Poo flinging in Marvel Apes?
This week’s best cover is Back Issue #31. Howard's barbarian look kinda reminds me of Runequest.
Ambush Bug #3, DC Comics.
Red Sonja #39, Dynamite Entertainment.
Conan the Cimmerian #5, Dark Horse.
The Age of the Sentry #1, Marvel.
Magazine: Back Issue #31 TwoMorrows Publishing. The Steve Gerber tribute issue. Great articles on Howard the Duck, Omega the Unknown, Man-Thing, Destroyer Duck, and Thundarr (yeah!).
Last week, someone broke into to a relative’s house where I was storing most of my comic books… Now, I was greatly concerned about the safety and wellbeing of my relative but of course when I was told some of my comics were dumped on the floor and rifled through, I freaked.
My relative’s stuff looks OK for the most part and I told them about securing themselves from ID theft, but it really looks like the perp(s) were looking for money of which there was none. After looking around at what was searched through, I realized that the perp(s) spent the most of their time looking through my comics. Weird. I don’t have them in any kinda order despite a few title groupings, so I can’t be entirely sure that they didn’t steal any comics but if they did, they didn’t take much. I think they might have grabbed a random stack out of one box. I don’t have any real valuable comic books anyway, but I do have a few Bronze Age gems that they could have grabbed if they knew what they were looking for… but thankfully, they didn’t. I thought at least my early ‘80s X-men would have been taken but I guess they wasted their limited ransacking time by looking at Alpha Flight, Excalibur, and Power Pack.
A few comics were damaged but I’m just glad my collection is basically intact. This is one of the few legacies’ I have to give to Swinebread Jr. Needless to say, I removed my collection post haste to a new location.
Weird Fact: I discovered, while checking my comics over, that I have three copies of the Ambush Bug Christmas Special. Hmmmmm…. …all in excellent condition…
Here you can see the boxes are open and the comics are on the ground. I wonder if Gilded Lily on the cover of Alpha Flight #20 freaked ‘em out so much they stopped searchin’ TRY TO FORGET HER!
The drawer style storage boxes had been quickly opened and checked. Nope, no Action Comics number one here…
This drawer box was looked through by pulling up a few random issues but then the perp also shoved the box closed and bent fuck out of Amazing Spiderman Annual #20. You know this issue. It’s the one where time traveling Arno Stark kills the Blizzard…
This week’s best cover is Ambush Bug: Year None #1.
You might come to the conclusion that I’m a hardcore freak. How could I possibly even pick up my comics right after my son was born right? Well, it wasn’t like that… really! My wife demanded salad rolls from one of our favorite Vietnamese restaurants and what ever my wife that just gave birth wants, she gets. This restaurant just happens to be across the street from the comic book store. So I thought, what the hell and swung by to get this week’s small stack. I do wonder though, if this was her unconscious way of allowing me to get my weekly dose of comics? she’s the greatest. Ambush Bug comes out the same week as the birth of my son. It doesn’t get any better than that…
…OK, maybe I am a hardcore freak…
She-Hulk #31, Marvel Comics.
Fall of Cthulhu #14, Boom Studios. Now we know why the Harlot was so pissed off.
Pistolfist #1, Bluewater Comics. Revolutionary War Superheroic action.
Black Summer #6, Avatar. The explosive end.
Ambush Bug: Year None #1, DC Comics. The return of the thought balloon, and other zanyness. I’ve sure got a new appreciation of Buggy’s relationship with his son, Cheeks the Toy Wonder. nyuck, nyuck, nyuck!
In honor of Ambush Bug’s triumphant return to comics this week, I dug up this old DC house add from 1986. It’s for buggy’s second miniseries Son of Ambush Bug.
And nope, my son isn't here yet but I sure have been talking to my wife's belly to coax him out. I know it will be this week though.
I can see it now: "well son, you were born the same week Ambush Bug: Year None came out and ah.. the Dark Knight busted box-office records..."
Memory through pop-culture... *gulp*
I don't know if I'm gonna laugh or cry this week... ...yeah, yeah I know, it's both...
Fans are getting pretty excited about the news that there is gonna be a Jonah Hex film, but It looks like the image of Thomas Jane as Hex is not real. See here
We're at the dawning of the age of ambush bug, am-bush bug... AM-BUSH-BUG! (to the tune of Age of Aquarius). I know it is a short age but I gotta' get my laughs while I can. nyuck nyuck...
It's about time superhero comics were funny again!
A mistake on my part was not attending more panels. I paid my 20 bucks to get into ECCC and I didn’t really take advantage of it. I guess I was a little too focused on getting creators signatures. The only panel I attended was DC Nation. I really wanted to hear what Dan Didio, Executive Editor of DC Comics, sounded like. He’s supposed to be the guy that’s ruining their whole line of characters right? ☺
It was actually quite a weird experience for me if the truth were told. I’d never attended anything like this. Being in a large room where the minutia of a fictional universe is being discussed was just odd. I realized I had no idea what was going on for the most part with the DC Universe. Not a surprise as I’m not reading most of their stuff. Maybe I was also taken aback at being out geeked by most of the folks there.
As for Dan Didio, I have to say he’s a pretty charismatic guy. He’s certainly knows how smooze a crowd and he has impeccable comic timing. His timing is so good I actually think he’d make a good standup comedian or actor. So maybe I was somewhat lost during the DC Nation Panel and haven’t agreed with many of his editorial decisions but he sure made the hour spent in the room quite fun.
Didio’s next threw out a question to the audience: “How many people picked up €DC Universe’ #0.” While 90% of the room held their hands high, Didio playfully shot back with, “Why isn’t every hand raised?”
When a fan jokingly said that he didn’t purchase the issue because it didn’t have Ambush Bug in it, Didio pointed out that Stephane Roux just completed the latest “anti-inspirational” ad which will feature the character. He said it’s an image of Ambush Bug with the word “Unvictorious” underneath it, which seemed to please the audience.
That fan was me. That’s right. I’m a huge Ambush Bug groupie, so why not get this panel discussion off and rolling with the bug. I always assumed that the DC folks, including Dan, hated the character, so why not have a little playful sniping. What was funny was that Ambush Bug got mentioned several times throughout the event. So much so, that Dan stipulated that the last question could not be about Ambush Bug. I even got up at one point and asked couple of questions just so I could mention Ambush Bug again. The first question was just something so I could sound normal but the second question was “any chance of a Jonah Hex / Ambush bug crossover?” Dan seemed to get frustrated and cried “who would want to see that?!” Kurt Busick said maybe it could be Ambush Bug’s ancestor Bush-wacked. Heh, heh.heh It would be funny though as some sort of Joke I suppose. Hey Keith Giffen You listening?
Dan went into he audience several time to coach questioners to great humorous affect. This is the gal that asked about titles for new readers because most of DC's titles are too continuity heavy and confusing.
Heidi and James Meeley I met up with Heidi and James Meeley from Comics Fairplay at the space goat booth. We had a great conversation about many aspects of comics and blogging. Our chat was one of the most fun things I did that whole day. Now that I know they like a good microbrew, I can’t wait for an enjoyable pub conversation between us. They said they were going to try to make it to Portland for the next Free Comic Book Day. Maybe they can take a trip sooner, but either way it will be fun to have them visit the city of roses and talk comics. They also introduced me to Laura “Teagan” Gjovaag of Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog. She was really nice and inquired if I was an Aquaman fan since she was. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I’m more of a Sub-Mariner kinda guy. Being really angry and kicking Nazi butt is more of my thing. Oh and the pointy ears too. Gotta’ love them pointer ears.
Michael Alan Nelson I swung by the Boom Studios booth and said hi to Michael Alan Nelson. He’s the guy that’s been writing most of the Cthulhu Comics. I told him how much a mythos horror title was needed and that Fall of Cthulhu and Cthulhu Tales fit the bill perfectly. As you can see he’s got a Mohawk now. Michael was such a straight looking guy before; the knowledge of the outer void must be affecting his mind.
Jeffery Brown Here’s Jeffery Brown. He’s signing my copy of Big Head. Jeffrey is most known for his autobiographical comics but Big Head was a nice departure. It’s a title that’s made deceptively simplistic looking. I think it’s great because it captures the magic and imagination of childhood while at the same time expressing the angst of adulthood. Plus, it’s really funny too. I recommend it to readers whose habits cross back and forth between mainstream and indy comics.
EDIT See Hughes' Ambush Bug Post post (here) with images from issue three.
Because it took a Woman, Jann Jones, to bring back Ambush Bug (see here). First Captain Carrot now my favorite wacko Green teleporter! DC has just pulled ahead of Marvel in my book. (Which wasn’t hard to do mind you)
Ambush Bug is reemerging this summer and all the stupid, comic book events we’ve all been complaining about are gonna’ get skewered. And Yes, Giffen and Fleming (the original creators) are crafting these latter-day Loony Toons. Finally…! Thank you Jann.
If this new Ambush Bug is a hit, then maybe we might see his adventures collected. One can only hope.
Nods to Occasional Superheroine for hipping me to the info (here)
A smile has appeared on this old fanboy's face because it's time to laugh again.
I came across this list of “Top Ten... cancelled shows we miss” here. It was fun to read especially as it was from a British perspective, although something needs to go to make room for The Tick.
This got me thinking, what cancelled or unfinished comic series do I miss. Hmmmm…
Guardians of the Galaxy: I’ve always liked these sci-fi heroes from the 31st century. Their stories were set in an alternate timeline that’s a post-apocalyptic lovers wet dream, with the bionics Wars ala Deathlok, the Martian invasion (War of the Worlds) ala Killraven, and the Badoon conquerors nearly wiping out the human race. I also really liked the fact that these were space-fairing superheroes. Just when the Guardians title was gonna start tying up Killraven’s history with that of the Guardians of the Galaxy it got canned.
Hex: Hey I loved the scifi, and mad max action of this comic. Who cares if was in continuity or not. With Vietnam vets, road reapers, robot guard dogs, time travel, and the Jewish Batman how could you go wrong? I don’t care what anybody says, Jonah Hex’s bounty hunter characterization stayed true despite the fact he was blazing a trail across the irradiated wasteland and not the old west. It was cancelled with issue 18 so we never got to see how he made back to the 19th century… and what was up with those Dogs of War guys anyway?
Scout: A post-apocalyptic western, with Hopi mysticism and political disintegration. Great stuff. We got Tim Truman’s first two story arcs in Scout, and Scout: War Shaman then bam, the third series never appeared. I’m singing the blues, what happened Tim?
Squadron Supreme: After Mark Gruenwald’s magnum opus mini-series, “Squadron Supreme” about a Marvelized version of the JLA taking over the world to save it, I was expecting a regular series with these characters. Then Mark had to go and die… Later, Squadron Supreme: New World Order raised my hopes for a moment but it didn’t lead to anything.
1963: Alan Moore’s parody of Marvel Comics in the Silver Age. Great one shots like Mystery Incorporated, No-one Escapes the Fury, Horus Lord of Light, and Tales of the Uncanny were supposed to be tied up by an annual. Then Image went through big changes and the last part of project was shelved, never to return.
Miracleman: What can be said about Miracleman that hasn’t been said before. Hmmm.., How do you take a British rip-off of Captain Marvel and make it one of the best superhero stories ever written? Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, that’s how. Now have Eclipse Comics go bankrupt, a confusing distribution of rights and Todd Macfarlane, and then you get a character that’s perpetually stuck in litigation with an unfinished story.
Ambush Bug: This character and his comic series totally changed my perception of reality; on top of that, the bug is really funny. Rarely do you get a character that breaks the forth wall. I never even thought it was possible to do something like that until Ambush Bug came along. Through several mini-series, the fans were treated to some of the funniest tales that had ever been put in a comic book. A good analogy would be to say that this character is the Monty Python of Comics. Ambush Bug made such an impression on me that I actually photocopied one of the issues and read it in my speech class in high school. Well, DC has reduced Ambush Bug to minor appearances and sightings. Bring back the Ambush Bug mini-series DC! We could all use a good laugh.
Xenozoic Tales: the inspiration for the Cadillacs and Dinosaurs cartoon. Xenozoic Tales is Mark Schultz’s unfinished pulp masterpiece set in a future world were the Dinos have returned and Humans eke out a simple existence in the ruins of a past civilization. Well written and amazingly illustrated, this series captures the magic of 1930’s adventure strips with modern sci-fi edginess. (From the back of volume one of the collected stories) “Once you let the profound creativity of Xenozoic Tales sink it’s teeth into you, you’ll be screaming for more!” Uh, Mark, …I’m screaming for more here…
Claw the Unconquered: Ok nobody read this title or they dropped it quickly after getting the first issue , but I loved it. Perhaps folks didn’t like it because it wasn’t made clear that this title was a continuation of the Red Sonja/Claw crossover “Devil’s Hands.” I found the Sword and Sorcery action crossed with the curse of Valkin’s demon hand very compelling. The title character was like Conan mixed with Elric. We were just getting started when the whole title was brought to a quick end due to lack of sales. I blame Wildstorm for not handling the transition from the Red Sonja/Claw crossover to the claw series very well. Hmmm… perhaps Red Sonja can come back and rescue him in another mini… yeah right. Not gonna happen.
Sectaurs… Just Kidding
I was gonna pick Airboy too, but I just came across an announcement that it’s being revived by Moonstone. See here. I hope it's good.
