Tagged: dc
Comic Cover of the Week: Brian Bolland’s VIGILANTE!
I’ll say it again here, there’s not many people out there in the comic book world that can craft a cover like Brian Bolland can! Most well known for his spectacular artwork in perhaps the greatest Batman story ever told ‘The Killing Joke’, Bolland continuously delivered truly epic covers throughout the 1980s! Here’s another amazing one for DC’s ‘Vigilante’, an anti hero that really hasn’t gotten enough respect over the years imo. Annual number 2 hit the shelves in November, 1986 and still impresses today!
Comic Cover of the Week: John Byrne’s Super-JOKER!
So sooner or later The Joker was bound to get tired of Gotham and Batman! 1987’s Superman #9 has one hell of an awesome cover by John Byrne and the story is pretty fun as The Joker stops by Metropolis to make people go crazy with his deadly laughing gas! He’s also managed to bring along a robot Superman with a freakin’ nuclear bomb inside, thats when Superman steps onto the scene! He easily foils the Joker’s plan asking point blank why he came to Metropolis, Joker simply laughs and says “Ooh Superman…Why not?”
What I really love here is just seeing seeing The Joker on the cover of a Superman comic, something we rarely, if ever, had seen before this. It’s always great I think when we see a traditional villain of one superhero square off against another. Byrne captures the Joker in his own unique way here on this amazing cover I want on a t-shirt! My only issue is I wish The Joker had been able to give Superman a better run for his money!
Comic Cover of the Week: Batman’s DEADLY 1973 New Year Holiday Special!!
First let’s get this out of the way-HAPPY DAMN NEW YEAR! Let’s hope 2021 is leaps and bounds better than 2020, I mean things can’t get worse can they? Well back in 1973 Batman had one shitty ass New Years in issue #247. He and Robin had their hands full trying to stop a weirdo in a holiday sweater who’s planted canisters of nerve gas all around Gotham! Phew I’m glad I’m only suffering from a hangover and not doing THAT today. Check out this blast from the Caped Crusader’s troubled holiday past with this sweet classic cover drawn by Dick Giordano & Gaspar Saladino!
Comic Cover of the Week: Elvira’s Creepy Christmas Adventures!!!
Who knew everyone’s favorite Mistress of the Dark, Elvira was also down with the Christmas holiday cheer?! Yeah! Well back in 1987 DC comics indeed released her special holiday adventures, ‘Elvira’s Haunted Holidays’ part of her “House of Mystery” series. This however is not only a collection of spooky X-mas tales but they also feature the iconic bombshell as the main character of the creepy adventures! This classic cover, drawn by José Luis García-López kicks off the month here with some true Christmas spirit of this largely forgotten one shot comic book!
The Retro “JUSTICE LEAGUE” Movie I Wish was a Reality!
The Snyder cut Justice League movie is I guess all the rage for the HBO Max, but to me I think it looks like more bad DCEU stuff that’s not aging well! Luckily for me someone decided to make this cool retro trailer for the Justice league, featuring some of my favorite faces from the past! This one is a ton of fun and I wish it was the movie they were premiering! I’d be signed up for sure! So maybe in the mulitverse alternate reality this is a real thing?!!
JOKERMANIA: The Joker Returns In More Than One way!
Damn there’s a lot of Joker news going around these days, first and foremost the release of the upcoming solo ‘Joker’ movie’s trailer that dropped today! Joaquin Phoenix stars as the clown prince of crime and if you haven’t seen it check it out now:
I’m totally impressed with all I’m seeing here with Phoenix’s take. It’s looks totally intriguing and so far of all the movie Jokers I actually think Phoenix looks most like the actual comic book version of the character. He lost a TON of weight for the role and finally we see a much thinner version of the character more in line with his comic book look, instead of say Nicholson’s more “husky” version and Leto’s “jacked up Juggalo frat boy” style Joker. Add to this the fact that Phoenix is a grade A actor with the chops and then some to make this more than some glossy CGI superhero flick. I think there’s also a truly mysterious quality to this new movie, as it’s not connected to anything out there in the current DCEU. Is Batman somewhere out there in this version of Gotham? Is this the start of a whole new DC movie universe altogether? It’s odd because we, not too long ago, were just introduced to a new Joker in Suicide Squad. So this random Joker flick certainly came out of left field. So far I’m fully invested and going as far to say this one is one of my most anticipated movies of 2019. What do you think?
…..So there’s yet ANOTHER new Joker as well that’s set to appear in the season finale of the Gotham Tv series and boy thhis one looks pretty damn crazy literally. The Joker appears to be some sort of psychotic burn victim and is yet another pretty damn bizarre version of the character. Again I should say I’ll literally take anything to avoid more Jared Leto Joker! I’ll admit I’ve never watched Gotham simply because I tend to avoid shows that are are on regular TV as I find most to be bland as hell. This though raises the level of interest and just maybe I’ll give it a shot!
Still one of my favorite and overlooked Jokers remains to be from the legendary Batman Dead End short film from 2003 and feature the Joker played by the late Andrew Koenig. The look of the Joker here is ripped straight out of the comics. If you’ve never seen it check it out, it’s a TON of fun and has plenty of twists!!
Christmas Comic Cover of the Week: Lobo vs Santa Claus!!
It’s time too take a look at some cool Holiday themed comic book covers from yesteryear! Here’s a great one waaay back from 1991, the Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special! This crazy Christmas tale feature Lobo as he goes on a hunt to execute Santa Claus, why you might ask? Because the jealous drunken Easter Bunny hired him to do it! A super bizarre Christmas adventure features a total bad ass superpowered Santa to who’s ready to throw down with just about anyone. I love this cover art too by Simon Bisley and the odd disclaimers that can be see on it “Seriously suggested for mature readers” and on the bottom right hand corner reads, “WARNING: Contains Bad Taste In The Form Of Ultra-Violence, Icon-Bashing, And “The Finger.” More Offensive Than Christmas Usually Is.” A total classic 90’s odd ball adventure from DC comics!
Wait but THAT’S not all in 2002 someone made this into a damn short film, no kidding check this shit out!!
Comic Cover of the Week: Elvira’s House of Mystery!
Here’s a totally excellent comic book cover way back from 1986 done by the always awesome Brian Bolland, who in my opinion is easily one of the best cover artist of all time. This one’s a great portrayal of the legendary Elvira in House of Mystery #1!
With the Halloween season coming in mere days this one’s worth a second look and re-read. Cassandra Peterson still wows fans to this day with her iconic persona, she still looks as great as she ever did, perhaps she really is UNDEAD?!!
Comic Cover of the Week: Wonder Woman vs. The Joker!
With all the excitement over the latest movie sensation that is Wonder Woman I thought it’d be cool to show off a couple of my favorite covers by the master himself Brian Bolland. It’s no secret that Bolland is easily one of the best comic book cover artists of all time and of course after his classic artwork in The Killing Joke it’s apparent no one can capture the clown prince of crime quite like he can. I dig these two Wonder Woman covers as well because it’s not every day that you see Diana facing off against The Joker.
The first one Wonder Woman #97 is from 1995
….and the second a bit more recent #41 from 2015.
A couple of my favorites!
Is Marvel Comics Exploiting Diversity?
I’ve been seeing an increase of stories recently online & on social media about Marvel Comics and it’s continuing sales slump. Most of the articles bring up the hot topic of diversity, some say that Marvel’s record low sales of their comics books are simply because of rising cover prices & lack of fresh new ideas for their characters. Others say that it’s directly due to it’s attempt at diversifying it’s star characters by changing their race, gender & sexual orientation. Most of their popular character’s titles have had a bit of a revamp lately, for instance Wolverine is now female, so is Thor, so is Iron Man, Cap is black, the Hulk is now Korean-American etc. etc. You get the point. Could these changes really be the reason why sales are down? Do people just simply hate diversity in the Marvel Comics titles?
I really doubt that it’s really that simple, though rising cover prices and lack of fresh ideas definitely doesn’t help their low sales. What I see personally happening is a bit of a trend within Marvel Comics that feels a bit insincere. I honestly don’t really mind that the traditional characters have been replaced but I do feel Marvel’s move to make all these changes to their most popular titles feels as if they’ve been exploiting diversity to make a quick buck. What I’m saying is that it feels like Marvel is just trying way too hard to be current on these topics rather than crafting interesting stories. I don’t believe you can simply take all of your money maker superhero titles, simply change their identities and expect them all to suddenly bring you boatloads of cash because you finally decided to make them more diverse. It’s just not that simple folks. Continue reading
Universal Dork 