CATCYCLE

Man, Wildcat so needs this.

DESPERATELY SEEKING STAN

Over at Slay, Monstrobot of the Deep!!, Snell brought up the topic of Stan (The Man) Lee's movie cameos. After I mentioned that Stan should just do random cameos in films besides Marvel movies, Snell was kind enough to point out that Stan has, in fact, been doing that for years!

In fact, I think Stan's cameos may be more widespread that even Snell is aware of. Why, all I had to do was pick a random dvd out of my collection and there was Stan!


Ridley Scott's A-Lee-in

It really makes me wonder what other movies he's been in. The hunt is on.

FCBD 2008

Well, I hope everyone was able to take advantage of Free Comic Book Day. Today was actually the first time for me. For some strange reason I've never paid much attention to FCBD in the past, which is surprising since it contains both the words free and comic book.

It was Red 5 Comics that made me take notice this year. Any opportunity to read more adventures of Atomic Robo is always welcome.

I was also excited to get FCBD issues of Dynamite Entertainment's Project Superpowers and Dark Horse's Hellboy. Dark Horse has surprisingly become my #2 favorite publisher in the last year or so with Hellboy, B.P.R.D., The Goon, Fear Agent, and Buffy Season Eight.

As for my #1 favorite publisher, I'd just like to say, Shame on you, DC. A reprint? Again? And to top it off it's a comic with only two issues remaining before the series ends! Seriously, DC, I'm disappointed.

Look, I'm not saying that All-Star Superman isn't a good comic. But it's Superman. He arguably the most recognizable comic character in the world with merchandising, movies, and animation behind him. If you're going to do a reprint, why not pick something that could benefit from being seen by the free comic masses? Why not a comic that is continually lauded as suitable (and enjoyable) for all ages, but hasn't found a mass audience yet? A title like Blue Beetle, maybe?

Wonderfully free.

Dynamite, Dark Horse, Red 5 and others can all provide new content for FCBD and you can't? Are you telling me that you can't come up with a single-issue story that showcases your rich stable of characters? You don't even have to do a full comic. How about half an issue?

How about a 16-page original story with, say, the Justice League? If you're trying to lure in new readers, use the group that's got the most characters that even non-comics readers will recognize. Then use "trailer" pages similar to those that have been used with Justice Society, Booster Gold, and Green Lantern to tease upcoming stories in other titles. Throw in a few house ads and you're done.

All I'm asking is that you put some thought into it, rather than treating it like an afterthought.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some new, non-DC, free comics to read.

JOINING THE BIG LEAGUES

James Robinson's upcoming Justice League series has it's artist. Dan DiDio has announced that Mauro Cascioli will be handling the art chores for this eclectic group. You may recall my praises of his work on the last couple of issues of Trials of Shazam! I'm very happy to see that Mauro has landed the gig for what will undoubtedly be a high profile series launch.

Cascioli's Starman from Justice League

Just remember what I said, Mauro. You need to give the ladies HUGE BREASTS! This is your shot at the big time and you're up against seasoned, professional boob artists! This is no time for realistic, or even plausible proportions! Embiggen those bosoms like there's no tomorrow!





Yeah, yeah, it's been over a month since I updated the blog. So sue me.


P.S. Please don't sue me.

CURRENT MOOD LEVEL: POPEYE

So I'm down to averaging one post a month, am I? That's sad. Any less frequent and they may hire me to be a comics writer.

There are several reasons for my lack of posting, but probably the main one is that DC has forced me to set the official Cape Spotting! Mood Level to Popeye, because as the sailor man said, "I yam disgustipated."

I guess I've just finally had it up to here [1] with DC killing characters. I mean, I expect a high body count during an official Crisisbut it's just getting to the point where the only reaction I have to another death ranges from mild indifference to severe annoyance.

Let me start off by saying that I'm not completely against death in comics. I grew up loving Barry Allen [2] and was distraught to see him die in COIE. Ted Kord is a great character that I was shocked to see murdered in Countdown to IC. But the thing is, their deaths meant something to me and more importantly, they meant something in the overall landscape of the DCU. Now characters are being killed with such frequency merely for shock value that it's not even shocking.

I'm probably bitter because a number of my favorite characters have been sacrificed lately. Scratch that. I'm definitely bitter because a number of my favorite characters have been sacrificed lately. And not even in "good" deaths.

Big Barda was killed in Death of the New Gods. Yes, I have no doubt that the New Gods will all be restored in the not-too-distant future, but will it still be the same Barda that I know and love?

Knockout was killed for the same reason as Barda, beginning the ruination of the Secret Six.

The Trickster was murdered by Deadshot in the middle of bonding with the Pied Piper [also 2] and though I'm holding out hope that he'll be back in the upcoming mini that Keith Giffen is writing concerning Neron and and the war for hell, he definitely won't be the same.

I'm not a huge fan of Pied Piper on his own, but he's one of the Flash's Rogues and that's all that matters to me. I haven't gotten this week's Countdown yet, but he certainly looked like he's played his last tune.

Miss America (of the Freedom Fighters) might be dead in a completely Hawkeye "Not like this!" way, but it seemed so utterly random that I have trouble believing it. I could certainly be wrong, however.

I suppose my biggest outrage was in the latest issue of Salvation Run. Killing off Monsieur Mallah and The Brain? Come on, DC! I love these characters [again 2]! I don't read comics for the black-clad, knife wielding psychopathic mass-murdering "dark" characters. I want to read about a beret-wearing French gorilla and a his brain-in-a-jar lover who also happen to be terrorist masterminds! And what was the purpose of their brutal slaying? To show Grodd as a bad-ass just so the Joker (afore mentioned psychopathic mass-murderer type character) can one-up him.

I could probably think up several more if I thought about it but honestly, I'd rather not think about it. It displeases me so.

Sigh.

Just so you don't think I'm completely disgruntled, thank you for giving me five straight months of Wildcat headlining JSA Classified. (Was that so hard?)



[1] Use your best guess as to where here is. There's no quiz on this.
[2] In a strictly platonic and non-sexual way.