In case I haven’t made it clear the November Booked! event was cancelled and the AniMangaPop! event is the replacement event.
Month: June 2014
Tales From The Kryptonian on Erlangen
Hey, everyone -check out Subzero’s posting on his Erlangen Comic Messe adventures -click the blog roll link, folks!
The First Spiderman Fan Film Ever By Donald Glut 1969
Hollywood -THIS is how its done! I really wonder how many dollars they spent? Oh, and PLEASE read the info on You Tube about Don Glut and his career/films!!
Oh, Stransky noted a credit for Mark Harmon in this -I believe he’s Spider-man(?). Yes, THE NCIS TV series Mark Harmon!
Ohh -A CBO Newbie Country
Just noticed CBO is receiving a lot of hits from Korea which has never been listed on the visitors list before so…
한국의 모든 만화 팬 오신 것을 환영합니다!
Bristol -Here Comes AniMangaPop! -EXCLUSIVE!!!
First thing to note is that this event takes place on the same day as the Small Press and Comics event at the old fire station in Broadmead. Don’t panic -VISIT BOTH!!!
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The Man Who Hates Marvel and DC….well, not quite.
I know that it must seem to some people who read this blog -the UKs Number 1 comic blog- that I hate Marvel and DC Comics with a vengeance.
Well, that just goes to show that; a) you are not reading my posts properly, or; b) you have never spoken or talked to me about comics. And why would you? I mean, CBO was on Yahoo 360, WordPress and is now on blogger and has been around 14 years?? Jeez, I really need to get out, meet a woman.
And every time the Bristol Comic Expo was publicised I kept saying “If you see me come up and say ‘hello’ -I don’t bite!” And in all of those years how many people did? Zero. I used to get “Hey -I saw you at the Expo!” which is like saying “If they had never built Fukishima there would never have been that ‘minor’ accident!” Irony and sarcasm…not blending very well together today.
Prosaic.*
But if you’ve ever read the interview I did –what?? You have never read it?! But it’s an interview with me and I am one of the –the– greatest British comic creators ever (there’s a little short-arse reading this now that will start writing to mates “You see? He really has a Christ complex!” A “Christ complex”, honestly. Why go for #2 when you could be #1 -a GOD!!!!). Any how, the interview is here:
http://hoopercomicart.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/phil-latter-talks-to-terry-hooper.html
You’ll see that I never hated Marvel Comics nor DC for that matter, though I was a died-in -the-wool Marvelite from day one and, boy, the arguements with my older brother, Peter, over which company was best -he was, I really am ashamed to say this, a…a..DC fan. oh I feel sick. But now that we have things like the DC Showcase Presents (published after realising, as Marvel did YEARS before, that there was money in the idea) and Marvel Essentials we know which was the best.
During a bout of ill health I read through volumes 1-9 of the Essential Avengers and volumes 1-6 of The Showcase JLA. Both covering roughly the same periods except DC Comics screwed everyone because they jumped off the black and white collections for the extra cash in three issue, colour hard backs (‘thanks you money grabbing morons).
Now I have been a major fan of the JLA-Justice Society of America cross-overs since I was about 9 years old. I have the various collected colour reprints in paperback and re-read them now-and-again. But the one thing you notice is that DC comics were still treating its fans as semi-dullards. The stories could be quite simplistic and, oh please forgive me, but the not awe-inspiring writing of Denny O’Neill (insert rasberry blowing sound). Seriously, it was preachy -as was a lot of DC writing by the then “young guns” of comics. Some good stories but when you get to the JLA its got bad. Pollution is bad -bad-. War is BAD. Drugs are BAD (yeah, right, and what were a lot of those creators doing at the time at DC and Marvel? I guess that sermon is “Hypocrisy is GOOOOOD, man. Blow.”).
At the same time Marvel were doing cosmos spanning stories, anti-heroes, supernatural characters, sci fi and they were not “preaching at the kids” or talking down to them. And in many ways Marvel had some of the best creators -some pulled over from DC.
So the mystery is why was Marvel kicking DC Comic ass in sales? I have no idea (insert sarcastic look here). OH, EMOTICONS WHEREFORE ART THOU??!!!
Anyway, I still like the old JLA books for all their faults and, after all, those characters in the books were the ‘real’ characters. Not the heavily bastardised versions of today. Heroes who put everything on the line and where the risk of death was real -old time comic fans will know which characters I mean. Sadly, after Crisis on infinite Earths DC, as well as Marvel Comics, realised there was a lot of money in killing off characters/universes and then re-booting them until the next kill-off.
And a reader will notice how, by the late 1980s, comics at both companies were getting worse. Don’t get me wrong -there were still good books and stories but the boost needed from recruiting British comic creators -and for those of you who do not like this it is still a fact- to revive US comics which were hitting the skids was dying off.
Miller/Janson & Varleys The Dark Knight Returns and Moore and Gibbons’ Watchmen changed things for what might, in a debate, be called the worst. As two stand alone series, yes, they were good but remember that Dark Knight was, basically, a DC comics “imaginary tale” type story -if somewhat darker than the norm! But it sold and so the regular Batman series (take your pick) all became Dark Knight inspired and changed for the darker feel. And this concept was picked up for the movies. Good though they are (certain exception we WILL NOT mention here) they are the darker, more-inclined-to-kill Batman.
And Watchmen. Moore had tried similar by “re-creating” Marvel Man/Miracle Man. In fact, pre-Watchmen, Moore had tried the “old, gaudy coloured costumed good heroes are gone but now we have darker charactered anti-heroes” idea a few times before. Now the series might seem not a big deal to younger readers -mainly because DC and every other comic company has been picking the bones of that series ever since.
I just found that I was reading and re-reading the very same story and ideas over and over ad infinitum from Marvel and DC. The characters were no longer the same and their values were….well, have any of them got values anymore?
When I was a kid, now you’re talking a working class kid in some tough areas, Captain America was BIG amongst British readers. Truth, honesty and keeping your word while fighting for the under-dog. Unbelievably he was setting us a good example. They have tried to bring that idealism back with the movies but the character in the comics changes so much and just is NOT Captain America.
How badly things had changed I wrote a post about. I tried –really tried– to get back into the Avengers, now second raters, and my views are here:
http://hoopercomicart.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/i-went-to-infinity-and-beyondbut-they.html
As for my other all-time favourite Marvel team, the Fantastic Four, well. Dead to me. I just find it hard to believe -though I should not – just how bad it has become. And now in the newly re-booted movie idea one of the characters becomes black. Yeah, to be PC they changed the characters. Could they have introduced Wyatt Wingfoot a native American? No. An opportunity to bring in the Black Panther -an african king? No. AWFUL.
Again, as in many cases, the art is not bad but the writers appear to have no idea who or what the characters WERE and they –the Fantastic Four- became “just another comic” and how they dare to keep that “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” banner I don’t know. Well, I do. Lack of integrity.
I think a great example of how things go wrong -especially when Disney calls the shots- is in the animated TV series Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes which might have had slightly “blocky” figures (as per the Batman animated series) but was fantastically created and brought so many facets of the Marvel Universe together -including the Fantastic Four (LOVE the fact that every time the Hulk meets The Thing the Hulk attacks!). Two series of absolute thrills, twists and fun.
Then came the movie and the animated series so unimaginatively titled Avengers Assemble. Utter ass-water. “Its got to have the movie cast of characters. Slightly better animated but the biggest load of shit story-lines and dialogue we can get” -were the people involved (also involved in the previous two great series) too busy bending over the table and taking the pay-cheques to feel any lack of integrity. I know, I know “It’s just a job” and, sadly, that’s the attitude of a lot of the new “hot shot” writers the companies employ: “It’s a shitty comic book characters -who cares other than fat fan boys?”
So, to make it clear, to me, right now Marvel and DC are dead, lacking in ideas and integrity and treating fans -who apparently love being treated like this- like moronic, walking piggy-banks. I am concentrating mainly on my pre-1995 DCs and Marvels that were still, to an extent in the early 1990s, being well written.
Now you can hate me.
A quick footnote to say that I just re-read one of my favourite Geoff Johns series –Day of Judgement which is STILL a great read!
*Comic Bits Online has been sponsored throughout June by the word Prosaic. Please support little used words in 2014.
From The House Of NO Ideas -Nazi Smashing Major Event….
…..But They’ll Leave The KKK and Extremist Militia Groups Alone
Magneto Confronts the Red Skull as the March to Axis Begins
Take an exclusive first look at David Yardin’s cover to Magneto #11 and hear from editor Daniel Ketchum!
This October, Magneto confronts his past by taking on one of the most powerful villains in the Marvel Universe.
As previously reported, MAGNETO will be part of the March to Axis leading up to this fall’s major Marvel event. Issue #11, on sale October 8, has the Master of Magnetism putting his mettle up against the Red Skull, more powerful than ever before.
“One of our inspirations for this MAGNETO series was the scene in [the ‘X-Men: First Class’ film] where Magneto was hunting down former Nazis,” says editor Daniel Ketchum. “Well, there’s currently a very powerful villain with a Nazi past throwing the Marvel Universe into chaos…using the mutant brain of Magneto’s deceased best friend. So there was no way that Magneto wasn’t going to step up to challenge the Red Skull here.”
Get an exclusive look at David Yardin’s cover to MAGNETO #11 below, then pick up the issue on October 8!
More on Marvel.com: http://marvel.com/news/comics/2014/6/27/22768/magneto_confronts_the_red_skull_as_the_march_to_axis_begins#ixzz361NPefDT
Hey, the movie has Magneto chasing Nazis so, like everything else gets changed in comics continuity after a movie…Magneto goes after ex-Nazis.
Firstly, any ex-Nazis are going to be in their late 80s or 90s by now. In fact, if Magneto is chasing after Nazis because of his childhood experiences then he must also be in his 80s? WHY wasn’t he doing this in the 1960s?
Oh, right. That was a pre-reboot Magneto before the next rebooted Magneto came along to be…rebooted. But, come on…has the derelict house of lack of ideas sunk this low?? And Xavier’s Brain? Oh dear heavens they even rip-off 1950s B-movie plots.
Out of date. Out of ideas.
Here is one idea: a series in which Marvels heroes track down and smash the Ku Klux Klan and other organised American racist groups? Oh -how about the heroes start smashing heavily armed US militia groups?
Idiot. What was I thinking? Lose Disney and Marvel fans?? Shame on me. We KNOW all terrorism starts at the Canadian and Mexican border, right?
BWAHAHAHA..erm.."Wolverine Dies"……..hahahahahaha
It’s the storyline that has the whole comic industry buzzing, and Marvel is proud to officially unveil the ‘Mortal Variant’ to DEATH OF WOLVERINE #1! Gorgeously rendered by superstar artist Ed McGuinness, the cover captures Logan as he reaches the end of his long life. This jaw-dropping cover can be ordered through the previously announced Exchangeability program.
From writer Charles Soule and artist Steve McNiven, this landmark limited series chronicles the iconic mutant’s grisly final days as he battles through a gauntlet of his greatest foes. Left without the help of his mutant healing factor, the once indestructible killing machine known as the Wolverine has found himself mortal for the first time in a long time.
As mainstream media buzz continues to build around this highly anticipate series, retailers are encouraged to check their Marvel Mailer for ordering and exchangeability information for this exclusive cover.
What does a world without Wolverine look like? Find out when first issue of DEATH OF WOLVERINE hits comic shops this September!
"Am I a good man?" – Doctor Who Series 8 Teaser – Doctor Who – BBC
Sigh. DC Comics and a Spoiler….like I care.
DC Comics got me so excited that I really did wet myself. Well, I spilt some coffee. Here, read this from the DC comics website but….
SPOILER ALERT!!!!
Is Jessica Cruz Doomed?
SPOILER ALERT: If you have not read Justice League #31 yet and do not wish to know what happens, stop reading this post now (major spoilers ahead!).
The “INJUSTICE LEAGUE” continues with Chapter Two: “Power Players.” Bruce Wayne is confronted by Lex Luthor while Earth 3’s Power Ring terrorizes Jessica Cruz – choosing to use her in a plan to annihilate the Earth ! And a new team, teased in Justice League #27, arrives on the scene!
Power Ring isn’t a Lantern’s ring. It seems to have a will of its own. How does it work? What does it do to the host it chooses? Furthermore, why does it want to destroy this world?
Below, take a look as help arrives to take down Power Ring. But can Power Ring be stopped without causing harm to Jessica Cruz? Sound off in the comments section about the debut of the Doom Patrol to the New 52!
JUSTICE LEAGUE #31, written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Doug Mahnke, Keith Champagne and Christian Alamy, is available in stores now.
My question is: Why should I give a **** considering the Earth, well, in fact EVERY Earth, in the “DC universe” has been destroyed and brought back so many times that even one of the worlds most sophisticated computers in Switzerland given the task of trying to work out DC continuity and the whole Earths destroyed and brought back question blew a fuse.
Next question: WHY the **** is Geoff Johns writing everything for DC or, more to the point, WHY is he still writing. Guy burned out of ideas loooong ago.
Oh, the Doom Patrol brought back again…..John Byrne was doing a great job on the last (?) DP incarnation and DC scrapped it with so many dead ends the entire DC universe needed to re-boot…or was that me? And, oh my what very prosaic cool outfits…I am just staggered.
I like the word “prosaic”. Its a cool word to say. Come on, say it: P R O S A I C. Cool,huh? I think it was created just to describe 95% of comics today but 100% of Marvel and DC output. snicker I said “output” you know like “human output” -poop. Snicker
Doug Mahnke good artist. Geoff Johns …how do you blow a rasberry….? snicker I said “blow”!
My other question is for Dan Didio. WHEN THE FECK ARE YOU GOING TO QUIT??!!
DC Comics and Marvel are screwed and dead. And consider this headline:
David Goyer Thinks Only Virgins Know Who Martian Manhunter Is, Considers She-Hulk to Be a “Giant Green Porn Star”
Seriously. Find out who David Goyer is (I couldn’t give a shit but I have to read these things) and what an utter arschloch he is here at the Outhousers:
http://www.theouthousers.com/index.php/news/127499-david-goyer-thinks-only-virgins-know-who-martian-manhunter-is-considers-she-hulk-to-be-a-giant-green-porn-star.html
And here is the hoot for you. You go to the DC Comics site with its spoiler alert but the first thing you see is a large image of the Doom Patrol. Utter, utter asses.
Comic Bits 20 