Regular blog visitors are probably tired of hearing me say that I shouldn't start another post while there are so many posts I have not finished. So why am I doing another one Today ? Well, Yesterday I could not open my picture archive for hours which made me realize that I should get those pictures on the blog as long as I can. And since I just finished with most of my Spider - Man stuff I decided to do the overdue birthday post for Sal Buscema - who celebrated his 87th birthday on the 26th of last month.
Now you might ask yourself how is it possible that I could not access my picture archive ( again ) Yesterday for hours and the reason is that when your computer is telling you that " Your files will stop synching soon if you do not pay me my file protection ( extortion ) money. " it is not talking about the usual shenanigans your laptop does to annoy you until you pay the ransom fee for One Drive like not showing you previews of the pictures on your computer, or not showing them unless you download - or alter - the pictures Today. Of course this is immediately null and void the next day or as soon as you close the folder and open it again. Oh, did I tell you that you only get preview pictures if you open the folder first ?
Yes, if you open it AFTER downloading the pictures you don't get Jack.
But no, when it says " stop synching " it means that it just won't open any folders no matter what you do. Better living through technology, my a$$.
Maybe it's just me but the longer I work with this laptop the more I get the impression that whoever designed this thing never used it for the normal things you do with a laptop like blogging. Or basically anything.
But you didn't come here to hear me ranting about my problems and I only mentioned them because it ties in to the genesis of this post. As I said I just finished putting ( most of ) my newest Spider - Man files in order among them new original art ( or old original art because I can't access the pictures I have on my old laptop ) for Sal Buscema's awe - inspiring 8 year run on PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER - MAN.
That's right, after getting the title off the ground providing the pencil art for the first five issues and doing most of the issues from issue 7 to issue 20 Sal left the title for greener pastures only to return and take over the pencil art ( and sometimes the inks ) from issue 134 to issue 218 - something most artists working Today can't wrap their head around.
With all that said I still have the feeling that our pal Sal - and especially his run on SPECTACULAR SPIDER - MAN - is very underrated and mostly ignored by the majority of Today's comicbook buying audience that is mostly interested in the main title AMAZING SPIDER - MAN and so called " key issues " which are first appearances of characters - preferably those who appear in movies and tv shows. So unless the Puma ( who will also be featured in this post ) is in the next Spider - Man movie I don't know if they ever will have any interest in this title. Although if I remember correctly the Puma's first appearance was in an issue of AMAZING SPIDER - MAN as an antagonist for the Beyonder. Curses, foiled again. And like I often say it all comes back to SECRET WARS II - my favourite crossover.
Yes, I said it but because I have already written about that at length in a plethora of other posts I won't bore you with that particular story again.
Now as longtime readers know I like to have a little theme to my post and so I have done my own Best Of with all the stuff I found especially cool about this run. We had a lot of Punisher pages in my last post about Sal Buscema's SPECTACULAR SPIDER - MAN issues so we are continuing the tradition with a few more pages I did not get to post the last time.
Another big part was of course the storyline about the crime boss Tombstone and his first appearance was in issue 36 of WEB OF SPIDER - MAN. Drats, foiled again. Anyway, this part is the only one that was collected in a trade paperback - the aptly named TOMBSTONE - and I can't understand why such a money grabbing company like Disney has still not thrown the follow up volume on the market. Shape up, guys !
I have also thrown in some Demongoblin for good measure - the storyline where the Hobgoblin gets a power upgrade during the INFERNO crossover ( my favourite X - Men crossover about which I have written six posts ) that also turns him into a demon is always a big hit at parties - and the obligatory Puma, one of the most underrated characters in the Spider - Man universe next to Silver Sable. Who might get her own post soon.
As for the rest of the new material I have left all of the stuff with Harry Osborn as the Green Goblin for my next post on Sal's SPECTACULAR SPIDER - MAN and I will also include some classic villains like Vermin.
By the way, it seems that my Sal Buscema Spider - Man posts are always well timed since my last one was my 900th post while this one is number 1,285. Compared to that 10 unfinished posts don't look too bad. What is that you say ? I can´t go without including the usual links to earlier Sal Buscema posts for new readers ? Okay, the things I do for my followers.
There is one tribute post about all the different books Sal worked on in 2015, one post in 2014 where I talked about his run on The Incredible Hulk ( which lasted ten years ) where I also mentioned other favorite periods in Hulkstory, another Hulk post where I listed which pages were missing in my french issues of Gamma and another Hulk post to pimp volume 7 of the Essentials which was offered for 8 bucks at amazon.
I also posted issue 1 and issue 2 of Amazing Spider - Girl where he inked over Ron Frenz in 2017 and managed to do a follow up post ( in which Mayday Parker's clone goes up against Tombstone ). Furthermore I did a special Thorsday spotlight about one of my favorite Mutant Massacre crossovers as well as another Hulk post with the complete original art for THE INCREDIBLE HULK issue 273 , the long overdue ROM SPACEKNIGHT spotlight post and one about his run on the original DEFENDERS. Who are not Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Misty Knight, Collen Wing, Alias and Daredevil .
We are starting off the bonus section of the post by giving props to the usual suspects, mainly the good folks from Comic Art Fans and Heritage Auctions who provided the scans of the original artwork without whom this post would not have been possible. This time around we have just a few links since I deleted all the links in connection with the SUPERIOR SPIDER - MAN story for personal reasons. Nonetheless there is the always trustworthy hardest working man in comicbook blogging Brian Cronin over at COMIC BOOK RESOURCES who reveals the secret reason why Mary Jane discovered that Peter Parker was Spider - Man and also ponders the question if Peter Parker was considered to be a good photographer .
IT'S SO FUNNY HOW WE DON'T TALK ANYMORE - ABOUT CHAPTER ONE
The 90s was definitely a mixed bag for Spider - Man fans. There is one series however that never is talked about and which started as a good idea : since John Byrne had successfully revamped DC Comics biggest icon in the THE MAN OF STEEL mini series and the following Superman books ( which started the greatest period in Superman's publishing history with artists like Jerry Ordway , Bob McLeod , Kerry Gammill , Dan Jurgens , Jon Bogdanove , Mike Mignola , John Byrne , George Perez , Ron Frenz , Jackson " Butch " Guice , Tom Grummett and Paul Ryan on the books ) why not do the same with Marvel Comics most popular hero ?
Like I said, the general idea was solid but John Byrne's changes to the original origin story of Spider - Man were so minimal that they could be - and were - easily ignored by other writers. On top of that the art was not that good and so John Byrne's SPIDER - MAN : CHAPTER ONE became another comic series that joined the ranks of forgotten lore in limbo.
Speaking of Spider - Man's origin, it is still one of the greatest superhero origin stories in pop culture but sadly Today's comicbook afficionados are too busy scolding Stan Lee for taking credit for work he didn't do - even if he was not the one who wrote that he was the sole creator of the Marvel universe - that they forget to give him credit for the work he did.
Now I am not saying that Stan Lee created the Marvel universe alone but he was the one to come up with the original idea of a teenager who is a crime fighter - not a sidekick - and he also put down those words that made those stories so enjoyable to entire generations of comicbook fans.
And maybe he didn't do everything that reporters claimed in articles he did but for decades he was the face of Marvel Comics and their greatest spokesperson who was one of the first comicbook editors in chief who not only put all the creators in the credits but also gave them clever nicknames to make them sound cooler to the readers. He created the whole bullpen thing and always made the audience feel like they were members of an exclusive club by not talking down to them like others.
He also wrote STAN'S SOAPBOX which was a little column that appeared in every Marvel comic every month, where he elaborated on his ideas for a better world that run the gamut of topics from if Spider - Man should be drawn with or without the webbing under his arms - which a lot of lazy artists don't do - to the future of the comicbook industry or racism and bigotry and everything in - between. I could go on for hours but I think you get the idea so I will get off my little soapbox here ( see what I did there ? ) since the following video does a much better job of talking about Stan Lee's achievements without ignoring the mistakes that were made. But that's only natural because we are all only human. Excelsior.
And since we are on the subject of Spider - Man's origin story we have another edition of Marvel Mal Anders about Sam Raimi's opening act of his Spider - Man trilogy for my german followers. But don't worry, we will come back to this series in the part for all my spanish speaking visitors.
As I mentioned I left all the " Harry Osborn as the new Green Goblin " pages for my next Sal Buscema Spider - Man post but since I have no idea when - or if - I can write that I am including an article by Brian Cronin at COMIC BOOK RESOURCES about how Harry Osborn became an even more unsettling Green Goblin than his father as kind of an appetizer for that.
ICH SAG WILLEM ER SAGT DAFOE ICH SAG WILLEM ER SAGT DAFOE ...
Speaking of unsettling versions of the Green Goblin, one of the best that has also become one of the most iconic - despite the costume that has often been compared to the Power Rangers outfits - is Willem Dafoe's portrayal in the first Sam Raimi Spider - Man movie. Even though I do remember that when the film first came out a lot of critics called his acting " campy " but over the course of time it vindicated itself to such an extent that Willem Dafoe not only returned to the role in " Spider - Man No Way Home " but I would even go so far that he is the main villain in the movie who does the most damage to Spider - Man / Peter Parker.
Of course Norman Osborn was just one of the many roles Willem Dafoe has played over the course of his long and illustrious career and I have to admit that I have not seen his latest performances. In any case here he's being interviewed by Pedro Pascal who obviously is a big fan of Willem.
We have the obligatory batch of videos with real life DD Power Girl Sonia Edde who could play Gwen Stacy's Mom even though that would take the relationship with Peter Parker in a different direction. Because old Peter would be thirsting for the Mom rather than the daughter like in the song Stacy's Mom by Fountains Of Wayne and don't worry I had to look up the name of the band too. Here we have some of the newer videos of Sonia Edde where the camera is a bit nearer plus a Behind The Scenes video.
By the way, I still haven't been able to find any information on Sonia's measurements so if anybody out there knows more about the subject - or any other additional intel - please let me know in the comments below.
We are returning to the world of spiders and men with Archnophobia one of the more underrated movies in the genre of spiders trying to wipe out a community movie with Jeff Daniels, Julian Sands and John Goodman.
Now usually I try to include the same movie as in the preceding review video - or at least a similar movie that falls into the same category - but there are other times when I will include a movie that has nothing to do with it just because it is that good. And it's not every day that I get to include a movie that not only stars Marlon Brando and Mathew Broderick but it's also one that I've actually seen and thus can recommend to you.
The next video about legendary Marlon Brando is one I am not sure you will actually be able to see because these documentaries by french tv station ARTE ( financed by Germany ) do tend to get deleted by YouTube at an alarming rate. In any case I included it for the followers from the old homestead I still have left and if it DOES get deleted I am hoping that I can re - upload it before I have to put the finishing touches on it.
IT'S SPIDERS, SPIDERS EVERYWHERE or RING MY ( CATHERINE ) BELL
It's back to killer spiders with 2001s Arachnid although instead of many small spiders we have one giant one which is also a staple of horror or science fiction movies since the classic Tarantula movie from 1955.
Usually Buck Fernandez reviews older movies but every now and then he throws in a more recent film especially when it is a spanish production like in this case. By the way, if the actor who plays the male lead - Chris Potter - looks familiar that might be because he also plays the romantic love interest for bra - busting 38D ( !!! ) - 24 - 35 brunette Catherine Bell a.k.a " the juggs of JAG " to her legion of fans ( her 38D weapons of mass erection are 100 percent natural by the way ) in the Good Witch movies.
As well as in the tv show. Longtime followers of the blog know that I casted Catherine Bell as Catwoman in the Hollywood edition of my ever so popular CASTING THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA MOVIE series .
Speaking of all natural Busenwunders, the main attraction for the male audience is real life Power Girl Neus Asensi and being a spanish actress I could of course not find out her measurements. Since she has worked primarily in spanish productions her list of films will probably not mean much to my audience outside of Spain but my spanish visitors might have seen Neus in the record breaking Torrente movie as well as the sequels Torrente 2 : Mision En Marbella and Torrente 5 written and directed by Santiago Segura who also plays the main lead. She has also appeared on such super popular spanish tv shows like Ana Y Los Siete with spanish 38B - 25 - 35 sex symbol Ana Obregon or Los Hombres De Paco ( about which I have written a few times on this blog ) but the most important movie in her entire resumes is 1999s The Heart Of The Warrior which has become a cult film here in Spain especially for everybody who has ever played Dungeons & Dragons - or any other roleplaying game for that matter.
Coming back to the comicbooks with everybody's favourite webslinger this is where the bad boys come in and here is a list of underrated Spider - Man villains. Which of course includes Tombstone because as I said Sal Buscema's run on SPECTACULAR SPIDER - MAN is very underappreciated.
MADONNA DON'T PREACH JUST STRIP or SILVER SABLE IS GOLDEN !
Apropos underrated characters from the Spider - Verse, since I already mentioned Silver Sable I thought I could throw in my hat for a round of comicbook movie casting and nominate cult siren Madonna for the role.
I know that as far as movies - and especially live action adaption of comicbooks - Madonna has had some very bad luck but if we go back to Madonna's golden days when she was at the height of her popularity and also her physical peak form she would have been a great Silver Sable.
Plus it also gives me a good excuse to feature Madonna who hasn't been as often in the pop culture trivia / cult siren section as she deserves keeping in mind how prominently she starred on my relaxation vhs mix tapes I used to record in my younger years and she was always bumped up every time she did a new bonerinducing song / music video like Pappa Don't Preach, Like A Prayer, Material Girl or Open Your Heart To Me.
I am not one hundred percent sure if it was Material Girl that first put her in the " Ultimate Pop Sexbomb " category but I am most definitely sure that Pappa Don't Preach if not lifted her into that category then at least cemented her status as such in my mind forever with her little black outfit that seemed to be at least five sizes too small to contain her big boobs but most of all her bonerinducing hip shaking fertility dance.
But the coupe de grace was really her wardrobe malfunction when her nipples poke out of her top that tried in vain to keep her bouncing tits covered. It was only a short moment, really one of those " blink and you will miss it " moments but it was just enough to make sure that Mtv only showed it after midnight. Besides making all potent males of that time stay up late after midnight in the hopes of catching the uncut version - which they did not always show even if it was way after midnight - it was the best publicity for Madonna who became even more famous for this.
Speaking of which, here are three videos with Madonna with blonde hair as proof that she could definitely pull off a great Silver Sable since it is only a short road from blonde to platinum blonde. She also shows her superior stripper skills which may not be an indispensable skill set for the role although I am sure we could somehow work this into the script.
Plus we wouldn't even have to resort to the usual skin flick tropes like " somebody is killing strippers / prostitutes and in order to catch the killer Silver Sable has to go undercover as a stripper / prostitute ".
Because with her background as a mercenary with a special interest in hunting down war criminals ( since her mother was killed in front of her by war criminals ) she does not need any other motivation. It practically writes itself. There would be one of the biggest war criminals that Silver Sable is chasing but he is too well guarded for a direct attack except for when he is at his favourite joint, an elusive strip club that specializes in the most erotic dancers with longer legs and exceptionally big breasts.
Being especially well endowed in the chest area herself and adept at the most exciting dances from around the world ( a special interest that she picked up from her various travels around the world and which always comes in handy in her missions and when she has to convince Spider - Man that a collaboration would be for both their benefits ) it is child's play for Silver Sable to get hired for the club especially after she gives the drooling owner a private lapdance behind closed doors. And with " private lapdance " I mean having hard sex with him many positions in.
Once she is in Silver Sable has to get her targets attention which is not that difficult since she quickly becomes the new star attraction thanks to her bonerinducing dance performances. The hard thing is waiting for her opportunity because the war criminal only visits the strip club at the end of each month and the only vacancy in the dancer's roster opens up after the first week. So Silver Sable has to endure two long weeks of spreading her legs wide for a horny and drunk clientele who more than once get so excited that they drag her from the stage and try to take turns at her.
Thankfully her martial arts background helps her fend off most of those unruly customers and in the few cases where she can't - because they are just too big and strong or there are just too many of them - some of the members of Wildpack are among the customers and can intervene.
With all things put in motion the plan goes along beautifully once the war criminal Silver Sable is after visits the strip club and as the new main event she catches his attention right away. I don't know if I would make Silver Sable pose as a high society prostitute outright or if sex is something the strippers are forced to offer to the premiere clientele.
In any case Silver Sable would have to get closer to the guy and the only way to achieve that would be to become his willing sextoy. There also would be an attack on her homeland Symkaria the guy is planning so she could not kill or arrest him right away and instead he gets to slambang her brains out without mercy in the worst way until he can't get it up anymore practically wearing his dick out on her which would give us plenty of occasions of seeing a nude Madonna in action spreading her legs like a phillipino prostitute. Like I said, it practically writes itself.
To close things out - about Madonna at least - here we have a video with her as a guest on The Graham Norton Show and I don't want to write too much about the other guests that appear in this episode just in case the video gets taken down by YouTube and I've to find a replacement for it.
EL CONDOR PASO : EHAPA AND CONDOR COMICHEFTLE PIONEERS
Anybody who has read this blog over an extended period of time knows that I write a lot about the german translations of DC Comics and Marvel Comics in Germany so I don't have to repeat all the problems that came with it like omitted pages / panels, erratic order or gaps in publication, bad translations, small formats or insufficient binding - especially in the earliest pocket books by Condor. So Today I wanted to include a different video from Crayton's Comicblog where he does not talk about a series or comicbook creator but rather the significance Ehapa Verlag and Condor Verlag ( the latter one published Sal Buscema's SPECTACULAR SPIDER - MAN issues in Germany ) had in the german comic market at that time.
As well as throughout the decades ( 18 years of publishing Marvel Comics in the case of Condor Verlag and 24 years of publishing DC Comics with Ehapa Verlag ) and how they paved the way for all the other companies that followed. Because as somebody who has had a big - and uncredited - impact on the german independent comicbook industry I know only too well that with all the criticism that might be warranted you should never forget the pioneers who fought in the trenches and their achievements.
We continue the spider theme with the 1958 movie Earth Vs The Spider or Revenge Of The Black Spider how the film was called in Germany.
Since the picture quality of the video above is not the best - it has barely the minimum quality for posting on the blog - I am including the original version in HD for all my visitors who can understand english and so it's not just a repeat of the previous video this is a double feature with The Monster From Green Hell that came out a year prior. I know this is kind of cheating since it is from a new channel I only found Yesterday so I couldn't include it when I originally made this post but if we have to suffer the downsides of me taking two years to finish a post we should also be allowed to reap it's benefits. At least that's my humble opinion.
BUXOM TRAMPS AND VAMPS AND THE WORST MOVIES OF ALL TIMES !
And speaking of reaping the benefits of my tardiness, longtime visitors of the blog may remember that I have written about Oliver Kalkofe and his program Schlefaz which is the short version for Schlechteste Filme Aller Zeiten or in english Worst Movies Of All Times. It is a program that I did not enjoy very much because while I know what they are doing - namely taking a page out of the book of the queen of Halloween, the gothic 42E ( !!! ) - 21 - 37 blow up sex doll of our collective wet nightmares, the horror hostess with the mostess, Elvira , Mistress of the Dark - they are neither as witty nor as funny ( and definitely nearly as busty ) so their antics throughout the movie seem rather annoying than entertaining.
Also I have never understood the need of german tv stations to point out the obvious to their viewers but maybe that is a german thing they need.
That said this program is sometimes the only chance for german movie lovers to see trash classics like Vampirella or the Perry Rhodan movie.
And since this format is obviously very popular in Germany and I have found a lot of episodes - and in good quality to boot - I have decided to include them in my posts. Lately I have been going through the posts, retroactively including them in the bonus section but I am making a time jump with this one. This is a nice way to include one more movie for my german audience and who knows ? I might even begin to like this format.
Speaking of my german visitors, just the other day I came upon a few episodes of Hurra Deutschland ! and I had completely forgotten this existed. Or better said I probably wiped it from my memory. For those living outside of Germany you have probably heard of the british tv program Spitting Image where the british make fun of their celebrities and politicians with overexaggerated, grotesque puppets. It is known for it's dark british humour and biting satire of current events. Well, Hurra Deutschland is the german version and like every german tv show that is based on a tv format that originated outside of Germany it is the worst.
I think Schlag Den Raab is the only german tv format that originated outside of Germany where the german version is even better than the real thing. Anyway, back to Hurra Deutschland, the big problem here is that the main populace in Germany still has the idea ingrained in their brains that politicians are somehow superior beings and that the people are always obliged to obey them. And that any form of even the slightest critique or portraying them like ordinary flawed humans is a cardinal sin.
Or to paraphrase V from V For Vendetta : politicians should not obey the people, people should obey the government. So while the politicians and celebrities are presented in puppet form they look more flattering than their british counterparts. And while the british show them as really sick and despisable human beings in the german version they all come off as misguided but lovable silly buffoons. I think the only time when germans REALLY critique politicians and bring all of their flaws and dirty laundry to light is in Kabarett which is kind of a political stand up comedy. And that is only allowed because Kabarett has such a longstanding tradition.
Switching back to the videos for my spanish speaking visitors El Muro Comic takes a look at the six issue mini series Spider - Man : Blue by Jeph Loeb and the late Tim Sale . To tell the truth Tim Sale's art style is not one of my favourites even though he was a very meticulous artist and in some of his works - like the beautifully rendered Superman For All Seasons - he really knocks it out of the park. So while Spider - Man : Blue is not on the same level it is a good read that you should enjoy with his other colour coordinated miniseries Daredevil : Yellow and Hulk : Gray.
PUTTING THE " BUSEN " IN " BUSENWUNDER " : ALINA MASQUERADE !
Since people complain that I am always featuring the same female cosplayers Today we have a brand new contender for the world title of " cosplayer with the biggest boobs " with Alina Masquerade in her Black Cat cosplay that showcases her huge melons in a very generous cleavage.
One of the few cosplayers on the planet who can give hasian cosplay blow up sex doll Yaya Han's XXL - sized 44D porn implants a run for her money is Angie Griffin with her all natural 46E melons but cosplayer Alina Masquerade tops even that with her giant - sized 52H gazongas.
That's right men of culture, that's 52H ( !!! ) so it should be no surprise that she is most famous for her bonerinducing Jessica Rabbit cosplays.
Here we have an interview with Alina Masquerade all dolled up as Jessica Rabbit and I can't tell you what it is about because all my blood has left my brain and is pumped right into another part of the male anatomy.
Speaking of Jessica Rabbit, let's take a look at the groundbreaking classic Who Framed Roger Rabbit ? that introduced entire generations of males to their first toon fetish. What always cracks me up is watching reaction videos to this film because of all the millennials whose minds are blown when they realize that this animated masterpiece was done completely without computers. But that's just how they did things back in the 80s.
Speaking of the most bonerinducing cartoon ever banned on celluloid who basically invented rule 34 I already included the first part of my Top Ten Jessica Rabbit Lookalike Busenwunder casting in my FANTASTIC FOUR FRIDAY WITH JACK KIRBY post of 2022 with the second part in my Frank Robbins INVADERS tribute post - also from 2022 - but I never did part 3.
I know that I put a link to where it was supposed to be but since it is not in that post I have no idea if it ended up somewhere else or I just never got around to do it. Although seeing as there are still a few videos with possible candidates I haven't posted I am inclined to believe the latter.
Coming back to Spider - Man and the 80s the first animated version of everybody's favourite wallcrawling webspinner first aired in Amerika in 1967 but it was first shown on tv screens in Peru in the 70s and still in reruns in the 1980s. Which is one of the reasons that particular cartoon tv show became so popular in Peru and also throughout Latin America.
Now I thought about replacing this cartoon compilation with a newer one that is an all super hero episode but I think I will keep that one for my more recent posts since it can be included in any number of super hero related postings. Anyway, here we don't have an episode of the 1967 Spider - Man cartoon show but the one that followed it and if you want to skip the other cartoons ( although I have no idea why you would want to do that ) you can find the Spider - Man episode at the two hour mark.
STAYING OUT OF THE SPIDERVERSE : TRY TO MAKE AN EFFORT DISNEY
Now with all of the obligatory comicbook movie casting stuff out of the way you are probably asking yourself : " But SUBZERO, what about newer additions to the female versions of Spider - Man like Spider - Gwen or Silk ? " to what I respond a firm and sound : " Well, what about them ? "
As regular followers of the blog may remember I was willing to ignore my initial disgust of the Spider - Gwen concept and give these characters a try with the True Believer issues of Silk and Spider - Gwen because you can't go wrong with trying out a new title if it's only one dollar, right ?
Wrong.
It seems I had to learn that even if you only pay one dollar you can still feel robbed. And those that are regular blog visitors know that this was neither the first time I picked up some True Believer issues nor the first time I bought comicbooks for a dollar or less. Heck, I wrote a few posts about my comicbook loot where I ordered a bulk of discounted issues .
But despite how bad some of those books might have been - and believe me there were some real stinkers among them - I still had the feeling I got my money's worth in terms of entertainment. Which granted, may not be much with a comicbook that you got for 20 cents but at least it had some kind of redeeming quality even if it was only a lame fart joke.
With the True Believer issues of Silk and Spider - Gwen on the other hand it felt like highway robbery and I'm pretty sure that I still would feel like I paid too much even if they were FREE COMIC BOOK DAY issues.
Besides having really uninteresting writing - not just bad but also of no interest to the reader - those books had what I can only very generous describe as fanart. And believe me, as someone who has spent his fair amount of time in the trenches rubbing shoulders with comicbook pros I have seen the difference between good fanart and professional artwork.
So no, unless a miracle happens and Disney tells Marvel Comics to get their s - word together you won't see any new additions to the Spider - Verse in my comicbook movie casting lists because so far all of these new books read like fanfiction. And not even good written fanfiction at that.
But that seems to be the case with most of the books Marvel Comics publishes nowadays. Which should not surprise anybody because if you start hiring creators - and I am using the term in the broadest sense here - based on gender - or the non existence thereof - sexual orientation or race instead of real writing abilities all you'll get is glorified fanfiction.
I'm just glad that I had the foresight to quit reading Marvel Comics when I did because apart from some scattered projects - like Alex Ross sublime Fantastic Four : Full Circle - that remind people why Marvel Comics was called " The House Of Ideas " and quickly changed from the young and hip upstarts to the bestselling leader in comics it is not a pretty picture.
As people who have been following the blog over the years know I have stopped writing about comicbook related news because it has become too depressing and filled with so many personal vendettas that I can't keep track anymore. Plus they have become stranger and stranger with headlines about comicbook " professionals " begging people online for drugs and money. There are so many people online claiming that most comicbook professionals have a second job to support their comicbook career and that there is nothing wrong with that. And I beg to differ.
Because if you have a second job because you don't get paid enough in your comicbook job to make ends meet - well, that is called a day job.
You know, what people have to sustain hobbies - like making comicbooks.
Because real comicbook professionals - those are the people who earn enough with their comicbook work to NOT have to get a second or third job. And that's not my definition, that is the definition of the IRS. If you are making comicbooks - even if you are a completely legal proper and registered comicbook publishing company - as long as you don't are at a point where you earn an income that alone can sustain you without any financial backing from the government is is legally declared as a hobby.
So all of those so - called professional comicbook writers need to do what the real comicbook pros used to do in ye olden days to make ends meet : write another comicbook. Because back then you couldn't expect to make a living just penning one title. Which is why writers like Doug Moench or Gerry Conway wrote huge amounts of Marvel Comics output.
Not to further a political agenda ( which doesn't mean that they didn't tackle socio political topics ), educate the stupid unwashed masses, guilt trip them with their SJW propaganda, womansplain or outright insult the readers. But to earn a living and do what they loved : entertain people.
Not make them feel better about themselves by conning unsuspecting comicbook fans out of their hard earned money or building a franchise to turn into a movie deal or a tv show because that is the hip thing to do.
After writing so much about the making of comicbooks I thought I should include a video about this topic. But since my readers are probably tired of my own exploits as a comicbook publisher here is an episode of Comic Tropes where Chris regales us of his own efforts to publish a comicbook.
I think this is something most comicbook fans can relate to and while I have many regrets I managed to print a few comics. Even if they were not the greatest at least I can pride myself that I gave it my best shot.
We have a rare double feature with the combo of Brandon's Cult Movie Reviews for the 1990 cult classic Hardware that was co - written by none other than Kevin O'Neill, artist and co - creator of MARSHAL LAW with Pat Mills and THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN with Alan Moore .
And I have to say I like the movie of THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN much more than the original comic series it was based on.
Originally I only included the spanish dubbed version of Hardware but because I came across the original version I decided to also include it.
Sorry meine lieben Landsleute aber es gibt leider keine deutschsprachige Version auf YouTube. But anyways, since the spanish version is 1:29:56 minutes and the english version about 1:23:50 I suspect the spanish dub version is the uncut version. Or at least less cut than the english movie.
TO SUFFER THE CLERKS AND ARROWS OF OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE !
We come to another comicbook related video as Ayer Nomas spins the tale of the failed pilot for a tv show based on the independent hit movie Clerks produced, written and directed by Kevin Smith - author of such great runs like DAREDEVIL - GUARDIAN DEVIL or GREEN ARROW - QUIVER.
Now one of the perks taking almost forever to finish these posts is that between the time I start a post and the time I can put the final bells and whistles on it many a things can change. When I put up the first pictures there was not a lot of stuff about the failed Clerks tv pilot but since then interest has picked up. So I did a bit of research and indeed found it in a halfway decent quality. Well, maybe not decent but at least watchable.
This may be a re - post because when I first came back to Spain there was a period where I spent a lot of time on the internet and was just burning through the ComicPop episodes. So I am not sure if I gave it the thumbs up after watching it or if I actually already used it in one of my posts. In any case I figured this was an apt time for a re - post especially since I don't see myself making any posts about this GRREN ARROW run in the future ( Don't get me wrong, I like the story to some extend it is just that this blog is more art - centric. And no offense Phil Hester's art style reminds me too much of all the cartoon shows with a blocky art style that mimicked BATMAN - THE ANIMATED SERIES without understanding why it worked so well on that show. ) and if you know if I already used it please let me know in the comments below and maybe I can replace it.
We come to the tv episode of the day for my spanish followers with The Misfortune Cookie from the rebooted 80s Twilight Zone tv show starring Elliot Gould who was a prolific actor during my misspent adolescence.
It's back to Kevin Smith with an episode of Inside Of You with Michael Rosenbaum and this man has done it all. He has made movies, he has written comicbooks, he wrote a script for a Superman movie that never saw the light of day, he has even directed some episodes of The Flash.
I think that the only negative thing that I can say about him is that Jay And Silent Bob Reboot is almost unwatchable because of all the woke crap he put in. But maybe that was just Kevin Smith paying his dues to the Zeitgeist to see his movie done. Apart from that I think he is a chill guy who has a deep knowledge and passion for comics and it's always interesting to listen to his interviews or just him talking about comics.
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I'm not even supposed to be here today.
