So since my computer is starting to go crazy again here are a few things I have to mention in regards to the last topic. Let´s hope that when I got them out of the way I can finally do some indie titles and let´s start with the last thing first. A big part of the last post was about old horror comics and especially Dark Horse´s new hardcover editions of the old Warren publications CREEPY EERIE and VAMPIRELLA.
IT´S NEVER AS GOOD AS THE FIRST TIME
I hope those readers that are into that kind of stuff ordered volume 10 because the price has been upped again and it´s now at 35 EUROS. I have finally read the whole fat book and I really love it. And if you also ordered it and wondered what happened to the contents of issue 51 - it´s not a hoax, it´s not a dream, there is no issue 51. Unlike other comic companies Dark Horse has decided not to make their customers pay twice for the same comics. So since issue 51 is the BEST STORIES EVER issue and has mostly reprints only the games are printed in the book. Now, you may like this decision or not it does have its merit. Okay, on one side if you only buy this one hardcover than you might feel you got the short end of the stick. On the other side if you buy the entire collection you might feel exploited if you have to pay again for the same content. I mean how many times have you complained that Marvel reprints the same comics in their trades again and again and again ? It´s like they say, you can´t please them all but at least Dark Horse is trying something different.
What´s not different is that right after I confessed to spend too much money on comics I go and order Dark Horse´s CREEPY ARCHIVES VOLUME 11. I know, I´m irredeemable but the book is down from 27 EUROS ( which was the price when I wrote my last post ) to 20 EUROS and there are still 8 copies left. And what can I tell you that I haven´t said in my last post ? If you loved volume 10 you will go crazy over volume 11. Like I said it has possibly the only collaboration of Will Eisner and Richard Corben in comics history with Richard Corben providing the coloring for one of Will Eisner´s SPIRIT stories. There´s also a solo SPIRIT story by Will Eisner in this volume as I think it became a regular feature in EERIE.
On top of that there is a story by Neal Adams and the usual plethora of spanish comic masters that was the staple of the Warren comics from that time. If you have waited too long with volume 10 here´s a second chance to try one of them big hardcovers for a bargain price.
CAN DC SAVE POWER GIRL AND THEY REALLY TRYING TO ?
That´s another leftover from my last post. I spend a lot of time writing about the new series WORLDS FINEST and how the Supergirl from Earth 2 in that series is not the same as Power Girl.
Well, it seems that the same realisation is dawning on the creative staff at DC since she will be getting her old costume back in issue 12. Now the real reason is : is it enough to save the title from cancellation ? My answer is that it´s still possible IF they can solve the art problem. It just gets worse and worse and the book seems like a revolving door for fill in artists. They need to get one artist - no matter who it is as long as he´s in the middle of the playing field - and get him to stick for at least six issues. Kevin Maguire can do more pages but ultimately they have to figure out a way to put in more pages by George Perez. And not rushed pages like in the last few issues but his usual polished quality. If DC needs to get some other artists to fill that gap - fine. But they should do it like Marvel when they had Frank Cho and Arthur Adams work on HULK. Just get a Who´s Who of babe artists on the book or some of the old school guys like Mike Zeck, Ron Frenz or Ron Lim on it. I don´t know why DC always has to make everything so difficult.
AND NOW A BIT OF SELFPROMOTION
Longtime reader may recall that three years ago I wrote about some of my work appearing in an issue of the american HEAVY METAL comic. No, not comic art, it was the translation of the short story VODOO DERIVATE written by Bernd Frenz and illustrated by Carsten Dörr. Here´s the link to the post where you can read the whole story.
Well, at that time I had done two translations, the second one for another story by Bernd Frenz, STAR BRIDE illustrated by Martin Frei. You may remember him as the artist on the KOMMISSAR EISELE comics I mentioned in my last posts about the Comicbörse Stuttgart. Now when I did the translation of STAR BRIDE I expected that it would see print soon after the VODOO DERIVATE story but there were some editorial problems or such or I don´t know. I have no idea how the whole thing works and neither the guys from HEAVY METAL nor Bernd Frenz are accountable to me. I did the translations as a favor and really didn´t expect to gain anything by it. So when I didn´t hear about the second story I thought that was that and forgot about the whole thing.
Until I got an e - mail from Benrd Frenz with a link that STAR BRIDE is finally going to see print in issue 261 of HEAVY METAL.
So this is the second time my name is going to appear in print in an issue of the actual american HEAVY METAL comic.
Which makes me kind of proud although I just did the translation of STAR BRIDE, which could also have been BRIDE OF THE STARS but I see why Bernd went with the shorter one of my suggestions for the title. What would be cooler if I actually had a copy of the issue but this time I had no luck at the foreign press newsstand at Stuttgart main station. But I don´t want to be nitpicking. There´s an article about the comic on Comic Report ( sorry, only in german ) so I wanted to give props to my homeys.
What can I say ? I´m just glad that it´s actually in print.
SOME BLOG PIMPING THAT MAKES ME LOOK LIKE A PAUPER
Because it´s really not good form to end this post with accolades of my greatness here´s something to bring me back to reality. While I have barely passed my 400th post, my fellow blog partner over at DIVERSIONS OF THE GROOVY KIND just did his 1500th post featuring none other than Jack Kirby with his first issue of 2001 - A SPACE ODYSSEY.
Groove always has the best of 70s comic nostalgia like splash page features with Sal Buscema and Joe Staton and this post is no exception. I don´t know if there´s anybody interested in pop culture who hasn´t seen the picture but as somebody whose appreaciation of Jack Kirby has grown immensly over the last decade I urge you to check it out if you don´t know the comic. 2001 is one of the most famous movies ever and I can´t begin to describe the joy of seeing the iconic imagery of the movie interpreted by the King himself.
Just breathtaking. And you haven´t seen his big double page spreads with the spaceships. Make sure to check this out, apparently Jack Kirby continued the story of the Monolith in 10 issues of an ongoing, regularsized 2001 - A SPACE ODYSSEY comic. Which is also the origin story for Machine Man for all Marvelites. I don´t know if it´s reprinted somewhere but I sure would like to read it.
And that´s all we have time for Today. Hopefully the computer is not going to cause any troubles during my next post so we can finally come to my indie reads. But before we close there´s always the matter of the video at the end of the post. Sadly I posted the video of the HEAVY METAL movie in my last post because that would have been really fitting for this post. Instead I´m going to post another forgotten item of pop culture, namely the animated movie ROCK & RULE. Yep, we´re continuing the animation movie theme.
While ROCK & RULE may not be famous for its superb animation - although it was quite state of the art in 1983 - the main attraction is the soundtrack that includes songs by Debbie Harry, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Cheap Trick and Earth, Wind and Fire. Like HEAVY METAL I got this one from amazon for 5 bucks. I watched it in the original language version because you can hear the songs better than in the german version which was kind of too quiet but the problem with the original version is that you sometimes can´t hear what they are saying. There are two versions of the movie in the two disc edition I got, the regular theatrical version and a so - called canadian version which is a VHS recording. Since I haven´t watched the canadian version I´m not sure what exactly it is but it may well be the uncensored version. Anyway, not the greatest animation movie ever made but if you like the artists involved it´s a great way to spend a few hours. It also includes the first animation feature from this canadian company called THE DEVIL AND DANIEL MOUSE as well as the making of it and of ROCK & RULE so like I said - a few hours. Here´s the trailer
and the full movie for you to check out :
New to the blog ? Everything you need to know about TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN : top ten posts / more posts of interest
Atomic batteries to power. Turbines to speed.
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