Sunday, April 05, 2015

Proof of live and stuff about my last post

It seems my last post was rather popular or at least much discussed. That´s just typical that a post I can´t answer to gets a lot of attention.


On the other side it proves that I did select the right topic for the post since I knew it would be on the top of the blog for quite some time.

Now before we come to any new stuff I have to address a few things from my last post. First up there are two mistakes I made - which in itself is no small feat since I tried to encapsulate 23 years of continuity in one post. That´s difficult enough in regular titles from the big two companies but in a comic book like THE SAVAGE DRAGON where there are no retcons or restarts it´s ten times as difficult. Add to that that Erik Larsen likes to break the usual tropes of superhero fiction and it becomes close to impossible. Because every silly story in those 23 years still happened.


The first mistake is that I wrote that the Dart who is now the leader of the criminal organization centered in Chicago was the daughter of the original superheroine of that name when in fact she is her niece.


The second mistake was that at some point - I´m not entirely sure where - I mixed up Angel Dragon with Angel Murphy. Which is understandable because not only is their history extremely confusing to begin with ( you can check out the long version through the links I included in the post ) but up until a certain point it is very similar if not the same. And as they look exactly the same I might get some leniency for muddling them up.


Hopefully I have eliminated any inconsistencies regarding the two Angels and if not I hope that some people out there bring any further errors to my attention like Jose Diaz who reported my mistakes. Anyway, usually I like to keep my posts real without changing too much but as this is one post I might want to share with others or even include in my next BEST OF TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN round up I´m making an exception.


I know that I did not get to cover all things I mentioned in detail ( like the blowjob scene with Horridus ) and I promise that there will be - at least - one more post coming up featuring all the various hot babes from SAVAGE DRAGON like Alex Wilde, Rita Metermaid, Ann Stevens, Nixed Men´s Glowbug, Dart, Rapture, Jennifer Murphy, the two Angels or She Dragon.


As with any post there are a few people to thank for providing material I used in making this post or that was just entertaining. My first links fall into the latter category and come from the spanish ADLO blog and ADLO is short for Association for the Defense of Liefeld and Others. The first link is for a post that shows some cover homages Erik did and the second one shows self inflicted censorship in some of the SAVAGE DRAGON issues - I used some of the pictures for my post. We continue the international theme with Giovanni Campodonico´s post about the series - at least that´s what I guessed with my limited knowledge of the italian language.

Ben Herman on IN MY NOT SO HUMBLE OPINION picks some particular issues - SAVAGE DRAGON 28 to 31 - which were even stranger than the usual stories. On Comic Book Resources Brian Cronin takes a closer look at Savage Dragon 193 which started the new direction with Malcolm Dragon as the main character in another installment of the COMICS SHOULD BE GOOD series and he also reveals that Erik Larsen works the image of a friend into every comic he draws in this episode of COMIC BOOK LEGENDS REVEALED . To make the hatrick complete there´s another post about some hidden easter eggs ( this fits right in with the holiday ).


And Russ Burlingame talks with Mr. Larsen on COMICBOOK.COM about the all double pages spread widescreen issue which is SAVAGE DRAGON 199 .

Last but not least I want to thank the big man, Erik Larsen himself, for sharing my post on facebook since I didn´t have time to do that myself. Now I know that at least one of my comic book idols reads the blog.

I already know that the big two read the blog to get ideas for their next collections or big events. I mean I do a post about how great the second AVENGERS run by John Buscema was and the next thing you know is that Marvel does three new trades from that exact period. Or I write a few posts about how I really loved SECRET WARS II and SECRET WARS is now one of the upcoming big mega events. Also there was this post about my love for the INFERNO storyline and Marc Silvestri´s X- Men outback period in general and Marvel does a big Omnibus about that. Mere coincidence ?


Now IDW only has to do an artist´s edition of that material to make my year since they already announced the Mike Zeck book. That´s one format that I really would like to add to my collection but since they are going for something between 125 and 150 EUROS here in Germany I have to save my money until one comes out that I REALLY want since you can count the number of books from that line I can afford on the fingers of one hand.

Anyway, is it just me or have the prices for comics gone up in the five weeks I was away ? It seems all the hardbacks are much more expensive and especially the omnibus books are at premium prices. Which may have something to do with upcoming movies and speculators tripping over each other trying to get the collector issues. Of course none of the books that have become so expensive will ever go for the really big bucks since they only contain reprinted material and the rare issues are the first printings. But that has never stopped the stupid comic speculators from artificially inflating prices for books that are never going to be collector items. If you don´t believe me just read Terry Hooper´s blog COMIC BITS ONLINE.

Okay, when I was still in rehab I made a vow to give myself a real treat for making it through the tough times. But now that all the omnibus books have become so expensive it seems that I will have to wait some time until I can do that. Right now there are two books on the top spot. The first one is the WONDER WOMAN BY GEORGE PEREZ omnibus.


With a regular price of 75 dollars and a pre - order price of 54 EUROS at amazon this is one sweet book for any comicbook aficionado to possess especially since it´s one of Georege Perez most accomplished runs. But there are two reasons against it : first it doesn´t come out until the 25th of August. And second and more importantly DC still hasn´t managed to improve the production quality of their omnibus editions. Which is kind of strange since they have no problems with their Absolute Editions which are much larger sized. So far I have two DC omnibus books and three from Marvel ( four counting the ANNIHILATION omnibus my brother got on his last birthday ) and while both NEW TEEN TITANS books are not very good bound the Marvel books are all right. So you might see why I´m reluctant to add another binding catastrophe from DC to my collection.


Now since I mentioned Marvel it may not be a big surprise for longtime readers that the other omnibus book on my top list is SECRET WARS II.

I did a number of posts about that crossover event and it´s only a matter of time until I add this to my shelf porn. And time is the reason why I still haven´t ordered it. Since it´s one of Disney´s upcoming and ridiculously overhyped big megaevents the book is impossible to get at amazon for a reasonable price and in fact there is only one online shop where I can get it at all. Now I wouldn´t even mind to pay the full cover price for this book - something I haven´t done for any of the other omnibus books I bought so far - and it would be available right now. But it´s only available at an online comic shop where you get one FREE COMIC BOOK DAY comic or if you prefer one GRATIS COMIC TAG comic for every ten Euros spent.


Now under normal circumstances this is not a big problem, especially since I give most of the free comics I get away for Christmas anyway.

But I DO have to pay the full price for the SECRET WARS II omnibus which means that even if I only order one additional comic I´m above the 100 EUROS benchmark. Which in turn means that I get 10 free comics. Now I already have all comics from FREE COMIC BOOK DAY and GRATIS COMIC TAG from last year that I was interested in. I have to wait at least until May when they have the FREE COMIC BOOK DAY comics. Furthermore I have to wait a few more days till the final WONDER WOMAN hardcover by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang is available at amazon to make an order - or read some of the unread books that pile up on my desk. And with that it´s once again time to continue this - and the reasons why I haven´t been able to access the internet the last five weeks - in my next post.

For now I just want to say thanks to all the people who sent me some kind of support like my fellow blogger Terry Hopper - Scharf. I´m on the way to recovery now, I´m back posting and thanks to the ULTIMATE CENTAUR COLLECTION you sent me ( and which I read during rehab ) there will be another post about The Owl coming up. And I can´t wait to see the Green Skies collection finished. Is there any way you might need some fan art ?

And don´t think I have given up on the ultimate Yaya Han post either.


Today´s video section starts off with the return of Terry Hoopers vlog and it´s about time. The audio quality could be better but it´s always time well spent reading or listening to Terry going on about british comics.



Next up is a clip from a tv show I became addicted to while in the rehab clinic in Bad Rappenau. Since there was no internet and I didn´t bring my laptop I had to watch tv to pass the time. It really is incredible how much free time you have without the internet. Anyway, the only other thing on tv Fridays at eight was ELEMENTARY which in my opinion is one of the worst adaptions of Sherlock Holmes. I don´t even get why anybody would want to do another Sherlock Holmes adaption after the brilliant BBC show with Martin Freeman and David Cumberbatch. That´s everything covered.


Okay, since I didn´t want to add another crime show with lots of blood and violence to my tv viewing list - I was just too glad to get away from all that for a while - I chose THE VOICE KIDS. The kids are really talented.

I didn´t get to watch all the episodes - and I certainly won´t be able to see any here - but this is one of the show´s highlights : Bring me to life by Sophie, Duy and Solomia. This really kicks ass even in this bad quality.



Originally I had posted another clip - mainly because it also included the blind auditions of the three - but to make up for that here is Sodomia ( what a name to put on a little girl ) with the aria Time to Say Goodbye.



What I did find is Duy´s blind audition : Let it go. If you don´t know, it´s from Disney´s FROZEN and normally sung by a girl. Duy totally owns it.



I think I already mentioned the spanish tv show TU CARA ME SUENA ( the name could be translated with Your face sounds familiar which may not be correct english but is a real expression in spanish and gives the title of the show a double meaning ) but I don´t think I have already gotten around to post this clip. Is this the real Adele or not ? You must decide.



With all the changes that have happened in my life here is the german troubadour Hannes Wader with his immortal ballad to constant change.



New to the blog ? Everything you need to know about TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN : top ten posts / more posts of interest / best of the best

3 comments:

Terry Hooper-Scharf said...

YER BACK! SUBZERO IS BACK!!! hmm. Well, it's good to see a new blog from you and I no longer have to say to people "He's in rehab...uh, he had a leg operation. He's not in the Betty Ford Clinic!" Mind you, tell people I am in a mental institution and it's "Oh. Another one?" pah!
Bruno Brazil -memories of Zack again!
Well, the videos. I'm using a Vivitar digicam and it is constantly breaking down -there is the added problem that I work with music in the background all day so I completely forgot to turn it off. In future no music! I haven't done videos in...4 years(?) so I had to start from scratch again. Wow. Erik Larsen posted a link to your blog??? So it is true -the eyes of the comic industry are on you??
The Centaur Collection may well no longer be the "ultimate" by the end of the year! More news of that to come on CBO.
Fan art? To use in books like Adventure I'm always open to! I don't think Black Tower has many fans! I am going to re-use that The Bat-Batman illo you sent. At the moment The Green Skies is my priority and while my eyes last out I want to finish my last great epic (you'll get a review copy!). Good to see the blog again and I'll reade over it again later when I find my glasses!

SUBZERO said...

Yep, Erik Larsen. Who knew ?

So what is The Green Skies all about ? Just in case I ever get the time to do some fan art.

And, it´s good to be back. Now let´s see how long that lasts. It took me quite some time to do the last post because the pictures I needed were all over the place so I´m trying to get rid of everything I don´t need. Which isn´t as easy as it sounds because with the kind of blog I write you never know what you may need.

And thanks again for the Centaur Collection. That was a real ife saver and you´re right, the imagination behind some of the stories is incredible. Where did the whole THE EYE SEES come from ?

Terry Hooper-Scharf said...

I'm guessing The Eye Sees All (because I can find no mythos behind this) might have come from The All Seeing Eye of Horus in Egyptian mythology -you find it in Masonic and other sects. A blue eye stone is used in Greece AND Afghanistan. I see a CBO post coming along!
What is Green Skies about? agh. Uh,well Return Of The Gods was the PRELUDE to this. I can't even summarise it. Genocide on Mars. More heroes dying. a cult of alien vampires (seen in Return) creating the Clone Zone Boys, the coming of the Many Eyed One. Huge space...no. There is too much and, boy,does it make Return look tame (and its already at 350 pages!!).
Fan art -anything from Black Tower including Centaur characters. I'm cheap and easy!