Thursday Link Party: Alan Moore Dodgems Logic

Bleeding Cool has the first review I've seen of Alan Moore's new magazine project, Dodgem Logic. Sounds like a fascinating read; like Rich Johnston, it kinda makes me want to try and put together a local version. In Orlando. A true HOTBED of creative innovation and risk-taking. Maybe Disney's Dodgem Logic?

This week's gonna be mostly NOT COMICS, I fear, but you'll be too busy watching the Macy's parade and eating large fowl to even read this, so who cares, right? It's the last day before a four-day weekend. Let's just go with the flow.

This week's "Man, 4thLetter is awesome" post is from Gavok who defends the recent Franken-Castle storyline in Rick Remender's Punisher run. Gotta say, it sounds like fun creepy comics and I will probably track down the trade.

Are you excited that they're actually making an American Gladiators movie? And if so, can I punch you in the face?

One of the great underrated comics bloggers out there, Pillock, offers a philosophical dismantling of Geoff Johns fans.

Charlie Jane Anders at io9 has a pretty comprehensive overview of the history of media tie-in novels, and a link to a detailed & damning tale (warning: link is to a Word doc) of one helpless writer's treatment at the hands of the Roddenberry juggernaut back in the days before the Great Bird of the Galaxy flew away forever. A must-read for long-time Trekkies who like hearing the dirt behind the scenes.

Bookgasm has a picture-packed report from the Toy & Action Figure Museum in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. Who knew?

Finally, in case you're sitting at work practically alone like I am and it feels like one of those YouTube days, here's some viewing material...

Topless Robot linked to this short documentary from the late seventies on the "cutting edge" computer graphics used in the original Star Wars.



Part one of a three-part Mike Wallace interview with TV legend Rod Serling from 1959. Click here to see parts two and three. Fascinating stuff.



I realize this has made the rounds two or three times already. It's the Muppet "Bohemian Rhapsody." If you haven't seen it, see it now; if you have seen it, find someone who hasn't seen it, and make them watch it.

I am thankful for the Muppets. Happy turkey day.

Thursday Link Party: Alan Moore's Pop Career

That's Alan Moore, who turned 56 yesterday, orating one of his many pop music compositions. Searching for it also pulled up this exceptional blog post about Moore's many recorded contributions to the culture. Happy birthday, old bean. BONUS MOORE: A rare 1999 short comics story.

I haven't read the comic, and my feelings on Mark Millar are...mixed, but the trailer for Kick-Ass looks like it might be wrong-headed and fun. It's certainly one hell of a high concept, one of those head-slapper ideas that you know will be wildly successful and wish you were making money off of it because diapers are expensive and they just keep getting filled up...ah, fine then, where were we? Oh yes. Links.

Jack Kirby. "Psychic Blood-Hound." What more do you need to know? DON'T ASK JUST CLICK. (via Super I.T.C.H.)

A nice companion piece to David Wynne's Killing Joke defense...Gavok at 4thletter! has an interesting theory positioning Jason Todd as Dick Grayson's "Joker," his archenemy/opposite half.

More this week on Grant Morrison's New X-Men run, this time from Tim Callahan at CBR.

Sigrid at Fantastic Fangirls reviews S.W.O.R.D. #1 quite favorably. Have I mentioned I'm excited for this book? I'm excited for this book. It's on its way to me via the US postal service now. I anticipate its arrival.

Over at Alert Nerd, I posted an old dusty spec pitch I wrote for the Thing's short-lived comic series, back in the days when I thought the best way to happiness and success was writing unsolicited pitches for short-lived comics series.

NOT COMICS: Abraham Lincoln moves a few steps closer to gaining sentience and taking over the planet.

Thursday Link Party: Alan Moore Goes Gorillaz

Alan Moore ain't happy; he's feeling glad. He's got sunshine in a bag. And a gig to write the libretto for an opera by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. That sounds satisfyingly weird.

The other big Moore story this week was the crazy lady in Kentucky who kidnapped her library's copy of Black Dossier because she felt the content was unsuitable for children. Reading about it makes me sad for our country and sad for that lady, who should be locked up someplace dark and prayerful where she can't hurt others. On the other hand, there's something satisfying about Moore still being able to create work so provocative to some that it requires this treatment:

The proof is in her knapsack, in a bright yellow flexible file folder, hidden from prying eyes. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume IV: The Black Dossier. It has pink and yellow highlighter tags sticking out, marking the pages that contain explicit sexual content.

Shudder. Anyway. Onward and hopefully upward from the pits of censorship hell. While I'm feeling ranty...

I try hard not to be all pre-judgey when it comes to movies, comics and the like, but the "Sgt. Rock to the Future" movie sounds absolutely idiotic. Inglourious Basterds did pretty well...wouldn't another kick-ass WWII flick with a slightly recognizable property be a safe bet? Why buy the rights to Sgt. Rock and then take away anything that makes the character and stories what they are? Who's serving the Crazy Juice in Hollyweird these days? That crank in Kentucky needs a couple swigs.

I was pleased to find not one but two custom Batmobile links this week. Via Dave Campbell, here's a look at the BatSmart, an ecofriendly Batmobile designed by George Barris, who built the Batmobile for the 1960s Batman TV show. At the ever-reliable Bat-Blog, a more bad-ass white trash take on the Batman's conveyance with this customized 1970s Corvette. Also, Batman-related currency.

NOT QUITE COMICS: My friend Steve Hockensmith announced he's the writer on the upcoming Jane Austen/zombie mashup prequel book, Dawn of the Dreadfuls, which sounds like buckets of fun. Congrats to him; his Holmes on the Range novels (the first one's on sale in paperback at Amazon! Five bucks! Great stocking stuffer!) are absolutely worth a read for any fan of cowboys and Sherlock Holmes, two great tastes that taste great together. Like Kentucky and a nude Allan Quartermain. Mmmmm.

Thursday Link Party: A More Sincere Pumpkin Patch

Man, I love It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

Comics Alliance caught a great image from artist Steven Sanders (S.W.O.R.D., Five Fists of Science) featuring Lockheed and Kitty Pryde doing their best Chuck D and Flavor Flav impersonation. So cool. Have I mentioned lately how excited I am for S.W.O.R.D., basically The Thin Man in space starring the X-Men's Beast and Agent Brand? I am very excited for S.W.O.R.D., yes, I am.

Twitter pal Scott Cederlund has a great review up of a somewhat under-the-radar book from a few weeks back, the Joss Whedon/Fabio Moon one-shot Sugarshock, collecting comics they put together for the online-only compilation MySpace Dark Horse Presents. Reading it, I found myself sharing many of Scott's observations although he's far more articulate in phrasing them than I could ever be. It's a very scattered book, lacking focus and heft, but it has a slight goofy charm, and more Fabio Moon is always a good idea. Guy could draw the phone book and I'd buy it.

I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy James Hem's new comics movie column over at Bleeding Cool, as long as he keeps contributing turns of phrase like this:

Paul Cornell has been hawking his Black Widow series to SFX. It only exists to plug the Iron Man 2 film right? And to get people “ready for” Scarlett Johannsons’ character? Surely what the typical fanboy needs to do to get ready for Johansson in a catsuit is to sit on their hand for half an hour?

Ha ha ha! It's funny cause it's true cause we masturbate.

Sean T. Collins over at Savage Critics has a great defense up of The Dark Knight Strikes Again that puts the work in a really fitting cultural context. I'm still torn on the book myself but I do think it says something that there's still intelligent things to say about it years after its release.

Inspired by a recent post over at Bat-Blog, I put the term "comic book" into Google's new Life magazine archive and in ten minutes dug up a few gems:

• A January 1964 profile of Roy Lichtenstein
• A June 1946 piece on Li'l Abner and artist Al Capp
• A November 1944 story on "junior geniuses" contributing war inventions to the Captain Midnight comic, including a brilliant machine gun/palm tree mashup that, like DKSA, was years ahead of its time

Anyway, I'm sure there are a multitude of treasures within that archive waiting to be uncovered by other intrepid internet explorers, so have at it.

NOT COMICS: The world's only analog blog.

(Post image courtesy Cape and The Bat-Blog)

Thursday Link Party: The Webbing Represents Something Else, I Think

Let's take the long way today, a rambling spin through the interwebbes. We'll start a little far from comics but get there quick. Trust me.

This titanic (get it, cause he directed the movie Titanic, and I'll shaddap now) profile of James Cameron is a must-read, especially if, like me, you get a little dizzy when you think about seeing Avatar in a few months. (via Kevin Church)

Didja know Cameron wrote up his own treatment for a Spider-Man movie back in 1991? And it's online? Read and imagine what could have been.

Supposedly Bruce Campbell will have a larger role in Spider-Man 4, which won't be directed by James Cameron but will be directed by Sam Raimi. I'm glad to hear that as Campbell's extended bit role as the enthusiastic French waiter was for me perhaps the most entertaining part of Spider-Man 3.

Ya know who I'd love see writing a Spider-Man movie? Grant Morrison. (Okay, not really but it's a transition. WORK WITH ME PEOPLE.) Ya know whose upcoming series Joe the Barbarian I'm superexcited about? Grant Morrison. Pretty excited about Sean Murphy too, who is already looking to be KICKING ASS on this book.

Morrison's All-Star Superman did pretty well on the Best Comics of 2008 Meta-List, an indispensible resource once created by Dick Hyacinth but this year created by Sandy over at I Love Rob Liefield (title ironic, I think) using the original formula created by Chad Nevett.

Speaking of Superman, I agree wholeheartedly with Kiel Phegley that Hipster Superman sucks and slutty Halloween costumes do not kick ass. As he says:

But boy oh boy is there a big difference between someone, male or female, who is confident with their body and sexuality and looking to explore that and some who just wants to be slutty. And holy shit, will there be a lot of people slutting it up out there on Halloween this year.

I like skin as much as the next dude but I've got a daughter now and if she tries to parade herself around like a hooker one day a year, I swear to Jesus I will ground her until she's at least as old as those ladies in Grey Gardens.

Finally, I just loved this piece of iPod Touch art that Lea Hernandez created. So evocative and beautiful.

Thursday Link Party: Sick of Myself

Under the weather this week, so forgive me if this veers too often into non-comics territory. You're tough. You'll get over it.

Comics Alliance has news that all five episodes of the Spider-Woman motion comic are now available for free on Hulu. I'm not personally a huge fan of the format, especially using Bendis' writing; the first episode for me highlighted how unnatural his scripting sounds when actually spoken. But I could see it working with certain comics, and I appreciate the attempt to experiment with major creators and characters.

NOT COMICS 1: Apparently there's an audio-animatronic Remy the Rat who will visit your table at a restaurant in Epcot. If I could afford it, I'd be there in a heartbeat, as I'd love to be entertained by a robotic rat while I eat French food.

Geoff Boucher at Hero Complex writes about the unlikely friendship between Frank Zappa and Jack Kirby, plugging an article by Jeff Newelt in Royal Flush magazine. Also scope that awesome Zappa-as-Kirby-character piece by Rick Veitch. (via Mark Evanier)

NOT COMICS 2: You're a geek, so you probably like They Might Be Giants, right? I know I sure do. Rolling Stone has a track-by-track interview with the Johns celebrating the 20th anniversary of Flood. Blue canary in the outlet by the lightswitch; who watches over you?

I adore the Bat-Blog. There, I said it. Right now you can read an entire Super Powers pack-in minicomic featuring Batman on the site.

NOT COMICS (but it oughta be) 3: Hamtramck Disneyland. See it to believe it.

Thursday Link Party: Comic Book-Themed Food Tastes Better

Being links I found of interest as I explored the hinterlands of the interwebs this week. Perhaps you've already seen them. If so, I apologize. I will try to read your mind harder next time.

A 1990 exploration of Will Eisner's comics typography. (via Paul Pope)

Denny O'Neil talks about how to write comics, in the first of a series at Bleeding Cool. This is the only place I will ever feel it appropriate to mention that O'Neill has always reminded me of my tax guy, to a scary degree, in both physical appearance and general demeanor.

NPR's Monkey See blog offers an appreciation of HOBODARKSEID that kinda overexplains a joke that's only funny if you get it already. Also, spoiler alert: It reveals HOBODARKSEID's true identity. (It's Hawk from Hawk & Dove, although it was originally supposed to be Captain Atom. I like jokes on the INSIDE!)

Jonah Weiland remembers the short-lived Marvel Mania restaurant at Universal Studios in California. Is it weird or pathetic that I wish I could have spent $34.95 on a Galactus-themed sundae? Does it help if I explain my pleasure at drinking a Warp Core Breach in Quark's Bar at the Las Vegas Hilton? Is anybody listening to me? (via The Beat)

Nothing to do with comics, but funny as hell: Dave Lartigue transforms his computer problems into an Agatha Christie drawing room mystery. Spoiler alert, again: Lady Printer did it. With a USB cable.

Thursday Link Party: Lonely Astronauts Go To Church

Sam Henderson has pages up from a Kennedy parody comic of the 1960s, "Bobman and Teddy." (via Craig Yoe)

Staying in the sixties, Jog tackles both the Beatles and a rarely-discussed Beatles comic in his latest edition of The Watchman at Comixology.

Kevin Church expands his webcomics empire with The Loneliest Astronauts, collaborating with artist Ming Doyle on the strip. It launches September 29 (but you can set up your RSS reader now). As the site describes it: "They’re light years from home on an airless moon, living on carefully-rationed supplies, and unable to contact Earth. The worst part of all this? They hate each other’s guts." (via Kevin Church)

Graeme McMillan continues his dissection of the Claremont/Byrne X-Men run with a look back at how far the mighty fell after Dark Phoenix.

If you are fascinated by such things, here's a bit more financial corporate nitty gritty on the Marvel/Disney deal. (We need a word like "Kremlinology" for all these behind-the-curtain Marvel type things. I'm open to suggestions.) (via Robot 6)

I am incredibly excited about the new Gabriel Ba/Fabio Moon book for Vertigo (cover shown above). It's on sale in December; here's a preview.