The Week That Was 020325

Muhammad Ali, 2025 hype meter, and shameless plugs

Summer Movie Report Card 2013

No time for a preamble, here's 2013's Summer Movie Report Card! 

Iron Man 3

A huge step above the lackluster previous film in the series and a worthy follow-up to The Avengers, I still would have liked a bit more of Iron Man himself and more nods to the shared universe. Nevertheless, there's no denying this was well-crafted and tremendously fun, largely carried by Robert Downey Jr.'s phenomenal performance.  
A

The Great Gatsby

To Better Know A Hero: Superman

This week sees the release of Man of Steel, Warner Bros. attempt to rejuvenate the Superman film franchise following the snoozefest that was Superman Returns, and, presumably, finally get around to launching a cinematic superhero universe to rival Disney/Marvel's. More importantly, the release of the film finally provides me with an opportunity to do a timely post examining the history of comics' first superhero (also, be sure to check out friend-of-the-blog Blam's Adventures in Comicology blog. where, amongst other things, he is in the midst of a daily Superman cover retrospective celebrating the character's 75th anniversary.  

Real Name
Clark Kent/Kal-El 

First Appearance
Action Comics #1, June 1938
  
Nicknames and Aliases
Supes, The Last Son of Krypton, the Big Blue Boy Scout.

Thoughts on DC Comics' Recent Big Announcement

For those of you that haven't heard, DC Comics (publisher of comics starring Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, amongst others) recently announced that in September, they would be canceling all of their existing comics (including, presumably, Action Comics and Detective Comics, two series which have been in continuous publication since the 1930s) and replacing them with fifty-two new comics starting with issue #1, some to be re-launches of existing titles while others will be entirely brand new. Additionally, the new comics will feature DCs existing stable of characters in new or altered costumes designed by superstar artist Jim Lee and feature "updated" origins, and Lee would be providing the regular art for the re-launched Justice League, featuring all of DC's "big guns". Also, it was announced that with the debut of the new comics, DC will launch a new digital comics policy, which will enable readers to download issues of the comics on the same day the print issues hit stands.

Countdown to Christmas #3: Christmas Trees

After Santa, the Christmas tree is perhaps the most recognizable secular symbol of Christmas. As a kid, I always got excited when the Christmas tree was setup because it was fun place to play with my GI Joes (Christmas tree lights make great lasers). As my brother and I got older, my mom got picky about what kind of ornaments went on the tree, so we each got a small three foot fake tree for our bedrooms, on which we could hang our handmade and fun ornaments.

"Merry Christmas to all..."

"... and to all a good night!" 

To Better Know A VILLAIN: General Zod

Because YOU demanded it! 


Real Name: Dru-Zod

First Appearance: Adventure Comics #283 (April 1961)

Powers and Abilities: On Krypton, General Zod is a highly trained soldier and strategist. When empowered by the radiation of a yellow sun, he possess abilities similar to Superman, including super strength, speed and stamina, flight, invulnerability, x-ray and heat visions, amongst others.

A Rainy Sunday at Microcon

Microcon was held a few Sundays ago at its now-usual venue at the State Fair's Progress Center. I'm not sure if the steady rain kept people in or kept them away, but it was a mad house inside, at least for the two hours or so I was there. If the show keeps growing at this rate, it'll soon outgrow the Progress Center. As it was, I have nothing but sympathy for the creators, dealers and volunteers that had to manage the throng of people all day.

In my zeal to get out the door early and pick up my brother, I managed to forget my camera and my want list (which made shopping a little trickier and more memory-based) so no fun pictures. Needless to say, the costumed folk were out in force once again, from MCBA's regular Superman to a full compliment of Star Wars characters, including a neat looking Clone Trooper in and amongst all the Stormtroopers, and an impressive Jango Fett.

Arriving shortly after the doors opened my brother and I, slightly soggy, made a beeline for the Half Price Books table. My brother was looking to pillage their discounted Manga inventory as he had done at Fallcon last year. In moments, he had dropped fifty bucks on $300 worth of Manga. While he ravished the Manga, I picked up this little gem for $3.00:

I have no idea what this comic is about, but the cover features Lex Luthor sucker punching a pre-teen Superman in the back, and that, my friends, is worth three dollars.

While my brother lugged his sack of books to the car, I made a lap of the floor. I wasn't planning on buying any graphic novels, since my local comic shop was having a big sale the following weekend, in which all books would be 50% off, which is about as good a deal as I can find anywhere. However, I caved for one 1/2 off Showcase that I knew my LCS didn't have in stock: Batman and the Outsiders.

This early 80s book featured Batman quitting the Justice League (because they wouldn't help out a colleague of Bruce Wayne, who was being held captive by an enemy country) and reluctantly forming his own team of "outsiders" to help him. I was introduced to the humorous crappiness of the stories and the gorgeous Jim Aparo art by Siskoid's hilarious page-by-page analyses a while back, and have wanted to continue reading the series since.

With my recently-updated want list sitting uselessly on my desk at home I had to rely on my memory to make any comic book purchases, which meant, for the most part, hitting the broad strokes of my collection, things like X-Men and Avengers, for which I know by heart the issues I still need, and avoiding diving into bargain boxes for quarter comics.

I did manage to find a copy of Flash #54 for fifty cents, an issue Dave Campbell raved about way back when that I've kept my eye out for ever since, so I could experience the fun myself.

Then I picked up two issues of Iron Man, #98 and #99, that were old enough that I knew I didn't have them yet.

Usually, I like to methodically work my way backwards through my acquisition of X-Men and Avengers comics, purchasing, for example, issue #95 before #94, and so on. But this time I found plenty of good deals for issues all over the range of my want list that I threw that notion out the window.

To wit, I scored three issues of Avengers in good shape, all for under $5 a piece: #62, #104, #114

Apparently, I've exhausted the stock of my usual dealer for late 70s X-Men comics, as he didn't have any issues I don't already have this year. But I still managed to add two more issues of X-Men to my collection, #74 and #84:

These are all from the "reprint" period of X-Men's publishing history, in which low sales had led the book to being canceled for a time before it was brought back simply as a place to reprint older stories. Despite the lack of original content, at $8 an issue, these were a steal.

And that was the end of a soggy, quick-and-dirty Microcon for me. As usual, more than anything it simply whetted my appetite for Fallcon in October.

200 Posts and Counting...

By blogger's count, this is the 200th post on Gentlemen of Leisure. To celebrate (and to publish some more comic book-related material) here's a look at the 200th issues of some notable comic books.


Amazing Spider-Man: Spider-Man confronts the Burglar that killed Uncle Ben.


Avengers: Ms. Marvel's mysterious and speedy pregnancy results in her giving birth to a rapidly aging son, who turns out to be Marcus, son of Immortus, who brought Ms. Marvel to Limbo a few issues previous in order to hypnotize her into having sex with him so he could impregnate her with himself in order to be born back on Earth. In the end, he goes back to Limbo with a seemingly willing Ms. Marvel. The Avengers are okay with all of this this for some reason...


Batman: Awash with fear thanks to the Scarecrow, Batman and Robin recall their origins and rededicate themselves to crime fighting, eventually turning the tables on the fear-mongering rogue.


Captain America: Jack Kirby writes and draws an issue celebrating the bicentennial of Captain America's comic and America's.


Fantastic Four: The Fantastic Four battle Dr. Doom to prevent him from using his Hypno-beam to enslave the United Nations.


Iron Man: Tony Stark dons a new suit of Iron Man armor after a lengthy absence (brought on by the resurgence of his alcholism) to take down his rival Obadiah Stane in a story from which the movie drew partial inspiration.


Justice League of America: The original Justice League members, possessed by aliens, battle the newer recruits in chapters illustrated by character-appropriate artists of the day.


Superman (vol 2): The modern Superman continuity is slightly (and quietly) rebooted as a Supergirl dies and Superman battles Brainiac 12 in the future.


Uncanny X-Men: The X-Men battle Fenris while Magneto goes on trial for crimes against humanity. In the end, he accepts stewardship of the X-Men when Professor X leaves Earth to hang with his alien girlfriend (he claims it's for health reasons...).


Wonder Woman (vol. 2): The "Down to Earth" storyline, which helped define Wonder Woman's role as an Amazonian ambassador of peace, concludes while several backup stories celebrate the character's history.