While I am still working on my second post on Alan Davis x - cellent run on EXCALIBUR - as well as on my unfinished posts - I wanted to start at least two posts this month and since we have already covered DC Comics and Marvel Comics series in our last posts it's once again time for that independent comicbook series in - between. And this time I chose one of my all time favourite science fiction series : CrossGen's THE NEGATION written by Tony Bedard and Mark Waid and illustrated by Paul Pelletier .
Now it's been one year and five months since I did the first part of the FLASH : CHAIN LIGHTNING saga and I thought that by now my next Paul Pelletier post would be a spotlight post on his run on THE TITANS but as always life likes to throw you a fast curveball when you least expect it.
So before we come to the art I selected for this post ( normally these posts start with the original art pages that I find online but this time I only found one this being a comicbook series that was not published by the big two comicbook publishing companies ) I guess I have to explain a few things. My faithful followers are already in the know but for recent comicbook converts - or those who never venture from the main comic publishers - I probably have to wax philosophic about THE NEGATION and what the heck a CrossGen is since I never made a proper spotlight on it.
I bet if you mention CrossGen Comics to comicbook readers from my generation the first thing you will hear is a sigh because of its untimely demise. But I am getting ahead of myself here. It was the year 2000 and things were not as promised in all those science fiction novels, tv series and movies. The comicbook market was still dominated by DC Comics and Marvel Comics but the implosion from the comicbook boom in the 90s had left its mark and comic book stores were going out of business.
DC Comics had become so desperate that they tried to sell all of their characters to Marvel Comics a few years prior and the only reason why they did not buy them was that they didn't think they could have sold that shit. Marvel Comics had to file for bankruptcy and things got so bad that they agreed to do the mega crossover DC vs MARVEL ( or MARVEL vs DC depending on who you prefer ) just to keep their companies afloat.
Besides the big two companies there were a lot more smaller comicbook companies with iMAGE Comics coming in at third place followed by long running companies like Dark Horse or Archie Comics or new publishers like Valiant Comics who shuffled the cards for a completely new game.
And onto this then came CrossGen. As frequent visitors of the blog know I am not a big comic historian and prefer to give my own take on things since you can get some facts wrong but you can always rely on your own experiences. The first time I heard of CrossGen was in the comicbook shop - probably like everybody else - with an ad about a new publisher who was trying to take on the big boys. The pitch was that it would start with five new series - each one arriving in comicbook shops at a different week so that you would have them spread out through the entire month - and if you subscribed to all four you'd get a money back guarantee.
Meaning that if you bought the comics and didn't like them you could just send them back and would get your money back no questions asked.
The five titles they started with were MERIDIAN, a folklore fantasy book written by Barbara Kesel and illustrated by Joshua Middleton and Steve McNiven, SIGIL, a military science fiction space opera written by Barbara Kesel, Mark Waid and Chuck Dixon and drawn by Ben Lai, MYSTIC, magic fantasy by Ron Marz and Tony Bedard and drawn by Brandon Peterson, SCION, a King Arthur - esque fantasy book written by Ron Marz with art by Jim Cheung and last but definitely the CROSSGEN CHRONICLES. It was written by Barbara Kesel, Ron Marz and Mark Waid and unlike the other titles it was coming out every three months because it was illustrated by none other than the man, the myth, the legend George Perez himself.
Which for me was the dealbreaker. Because I was not so sure if I really wanted to start with another comicbook company since I already had a lot of books on my pull list. But they got George Perez. Plus at that time comics were not coming out on such a regular basis and while titles like DANGER GIRLS and BATTLE CHASERS were big hits with the comicbook fans the wait between issues could be anything from a few months to years so there was enough of a time gap to give something new a try.
Because that was another big thing with CrossGen Comics, one of the promises that they made was that all the books would be on time all the time. And as far as I know there was only one time where they could not deliver the books on time and that was due to the printers screwing up.
At first the whole deal with CrossGen Comics seemed to be too good to be true and as most of us who have fought in the comicbook trenches had to learn at great personal cost in most cases that is because it is not. CrossGen proved to be one of the lucky exceptions to that rule.
The company was founded by Mark Alessi, a guy who had made a fortune selling his software startup and wanted to make comics. But unlike most comicbook publishers at that time he hired artists and writers full time, paying them a salary, health insurance, dental and benefits. For that they had to relocate to Tampa, Florida where they would all work in the same building much like the bullpen in the early days of Marvel Comics.
Another thing that made CrossGen different was that they had a lot of female protagonists which at that time sadly still wasn't commonplace and what got them a lot of backlash from more conservative comicbook readers which still blows my mind. I thought that since the days of Chris Claremont's UNCANNY X - MEN comicbook readers had gotten more used to having independent women in more prominent roles than just the damsel in distress but maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part.
As for the comics themselves, after the first wave there was a second wave of titles and a third wave and every new title was better than the one before. Besides the regular issues CrossGen also reprinted the books in two formats : regular trade paperbacks that collected singular titles ( and which took up more and more space in my comicbook collection ) and two sampler paperbacks that collected all the different titles from one month. Especially the last one was very popular for those who tried to check out the books since they were cheaper than buying floppies.
One thing that united the series was that in each title was a character that had a sigil mark on his body that granted him powers. Each issue was self contained but also part of a longer ongoing saga and while you got a distinctive world in each title they all were part of an universe.
Like I said, at first the whole money - back guarantee and shipping on time seemed like a gimmick but as time went on CrossGen not only delivered on their promises but because of the quality of the books, the ready availability of the trades and a program where you could get the entire catalogue online for a very small price they quickly rose to a big player alongside iMAGE or Dark Horse Comics and became a welcome alternative to Marvel and DC's male dominated constantly late books.
So right now you are probably wondering if they were so fantastic what happened to them ? Pacing. While most of their books were at a top level where writing and art were concerned they simply grew too big too fast. For three years CrossGen Comics experienced a time of unheard of prosperity but things quickly took a downward spiral when an investor backed out and Mark Alessi found himself without the necessary funds.
To make matters worse Mark Alessi did not communicate these problems with their fans nor business partners and started not paying freelancers.
Soon they went belly up' and while some of the stories were wrapped up - a lot of them by lesser talent - a lot of them were left open ended.
After some time Marvel Comics bought the rights to all their characters but the main reason for that was to get their hands on ABADAZAD written by J. M. DeMatteis with art by Mike Ploog as there were a lot of people interested to convert the intellectual property into children's books.
With all that said CrossGen Comics are still a worthy read since they were not only top notch but also a welcome alternative to super hero comics as they proved that comics about fantasy, science fiction, swords and sorcery, magic, pirates, detectives, horror stories and anything in - between were viable options that could easily find broad mass appeal.
They also furthered the idea of having female protagonists and many artists like Paul Pelletier, Steve Epting, Jim Cheung, Butch Guice or Steve McNiven made a huge leap in their artistic development while working at CrossGen Comics so they were quickly snatched up by the Marvel Comics bosses once CrossGen Comics folded and went on to fortune and fame.
But I think that the two things I personally am most grateful for in connection with CrossGen Comics have to do with George Perez. The first one is CROSSGEN CHRONICLES in which George got to visit all the different realms of the CrossGen universe and although he did not get to do a lot of issues all of them are double - sized masterworks. And the second thing is JLA / AVENGERS. I know what some of you are saying : it is not a comicbook published by CrossGen Comics. But the thing is if not for Mark Alessi that book would not have happened. Because George Perez was still under contract with CrossGen Comics when plans to do that comic began to manifest and if Mark Alessi had not put a clause into George Perez contract that allowed him to do JLA / AVENGERS aside of his contractual obligations to CrossGen it would not have happened.
Okay, I think that was enough of a history lesson - I can just picture a part of my audience snoring from boredom - so let's get to the topic of Today's post : THE NEGATION. This came out as part of the second wave of CrossGen titles and starts off as Star Trek : Deep Space 9 meets Prison Break and then becomes so much better and so much more important.
Strangely enough it is one of the easiest series to get you into the CrossGen universe as it contains characters from a lot of other series ( more from the world of these books than characters who have appeared in them ) while at the same time being one of the most complicated. But maybe that is a sign of superb writing. The art in most of the run is by Paul Pelletier so there are no complaints in that department and there are so many twists and turns that the reader doesn't see coming that it is an ultimate joy to experience. I think the only negative thing I can say is that it ended too soon and thus left NEGATION WAR with a cliffhanger.
Speaking of cliffhangers, attentive blog followers may have noticed that we are already over our usual 23 pictures per post quota but don't worry, we'll get to more Paul Pelletier NEGATION goodness than you can shake an almost omnipotent lawbringer at in part two of this . Scout's honor.
talking about my crossgeneration
crossgen stuff
crossgen links
crossgen videos
jim cheung
marvel vs dc
crossgen digest
retrospective
lost in space
deep space nine
star trek
nana visitor
There also was ship´s counselor Deanna Troy who was the consolation officer in the first version, an orgasmic tantra priestess from the planet Betasex skilled in all techniques to be used by the crew as stress relief.
Between missions the male crew members would take turns drilling her relentlessly in every orifice of her body and as a certified interstellar blow up sex doll diplomatic dignitaries from other planets - who always had extremely big schlongs - would practice sex techniques from earth with her so they could perform satisfactory during the deepthroat orgies.
Her role was changed to pass american censors but they still put buxom 38D - 22 - 36 wet sex dream Marina Sirtis in a snug uniform with a very generous cleavage so that some of her breast parts were scenes in which she was leaning forward for the male viewers or just breathing heavily.
What is strange is the fact that for someone who is just supposed to give people advice she wore an incredibly sexed up outfit that would totally defeat the purpose of counselling. Because all male crew members - with a big emphasis on the " member " part - would be thinking about ripping her uniform off and banging her brains out and knowing it would be really uncomfortable. I guess the reason why they only made her kind of telephatic was that if she knew what the male crew members were thinking she couldn´t walk ten feet in the Enterprise and would never visit the bar. Speaking about the bar, if her role was to give people sage advice why did Guinan do basically the same ? So while still unverified the idea of Deanna Troi not only as the ship´s cleavage but also the ship´s adult entertainment system does have its merit. On the other side we know that the holo deck was used for the same thing. It´s so confusing.
What I could verify is that in the original draft Deanna Troy was supposed to have three breasts, Tasha Yar had an unhealthy sexual crush on Wesley Crusher and Captain Picard couldn´t help but noticing the ship´s Doctor Beverly Crusher´s natural walk resembles that of a striptease queen.
Who is constantly duking it out with vulcan sex massage addict T'Pol played by 38D - 22 - 35 pop culture cutie Jolene Blalock ( who really knows how to put the " fuck " in " science fucktion " but more about her in part two ) as hottest sexbomb in the Star Trek universe is inflatable DD Borg playmate with the big melons and a skintight bodysuit to match sexborg Sex With Nine superbly portrayed by DD Busenwunder Jeri Ryan.
I´m sure there were thousand of Star Trek fans who wanted to be ass - imilated by her. Or better tit - imilated by this bodacious Borg sex drone.
Jeri´s juicy breasts were so incredibly huge - her mouthwatering measurements are 40DD - 22 - 36 - that they made her skintight suit darker and darker so you couldn´t see them as good but to no avail.
Seven of Nine is THE ultimate cyborg sex machine every sci fi fanboy wants to have multiple borg - gasms with since the blond sex freak is a literal sex machine who is not only built like a pornstar with Jeri Ryan's PLAYBOY Playmate Of The Year hardbody, as a cyborg she has lots of stamina and endurance and she also can take a lot of sexual punishment so you don't have to be gentle with her and can really ram it home with her. You will definitely get a lot of mileage out of this cyber sex amazon.
Somebody who immediately realized Busenwunder Jeri Ryan's pornstar potential was Star Trek : Voyager producer / showrunner Brannon Braga who had several casting couch auditions with the bigbreasted real life blow up sex doll behind closed doors until she agreed to be his sex slave.
For which she had to wear several iconic slave girl outfits from previous Star Trek shows. He completely slam - fucked her brains out six ways to Sunday dicktaming her in the worst way while relentlessly pounding her most vulnerable spot until he had moulded it to fit his cock like a glove.
Once Jeri was his submissive sex toy Brannon had the wet sex dream assume all the positions of the Kama Sutra - forwards and backwards - in steamy all night ejaculation sensation squirting sessions throughout her entire tenure on the show and completely wore his schlong out on her.
Jeri tried her best to make us forget the shortcomings of the writing but couldn´t compensate for a plethora of always darker bodysuits that tried to hide her porn star physique. Since I have re - posted Jolene Blalock´s cult siren entry more often than Jeri Ryan´s cult siren entry I have re - posted Jeri Ryan again after I gave her post the old once over in 2019 .
love doctor
From one hot Star Trek sexbomb we come to another as Brian Tenold takes a look at the science fiction cult classic Eliminators from 1986 starring none other than blonde 40D - 27 - 35 beachbody Denise Crosby best known as horny Security Chief Tasha Yar on Star Trek : The Next Generation whose unleashed sex drive turned Data into a pleasurebot.
Which some people have a problem with but to be realistic her character was always very sexually charged on the show and in the first draft they even wanted Tasha to be a closet nymphomaniac due to being sexually assaulted on her home planet by rape gangs on a daily basis once her teenage body busted out and they wanted her to develop an unhealthy sexual desire to dicktame underage nerd Wesley Crusher. They changed the sexbot for the teenager - which was probably going over better with the board of tv censorship - but they brought the rape thing up whenever they could almost as if Tasha Yar didn't have any other personality traits.
The movie was written by Paul De Meo and Danny Bilson who were the creator of the 90s The Flash tv show with John Wesley Shipp in which Denise Crosby later guest - starred in the 15th episode called " The Deadly Nightshade " so there is your comic book connection right there.
SUPERMAN'S GIRLFRIEND TERI HATCHER : THE BEST THERE IS ...
Now The Flash is not the only DC Comics super hero show Denise Crosby ( who did a naked PLAYBOY photoshoot ) was on because she appeared as Dr. Gretchen Kelly in three episodes of Lois & Clark, The New Adventures Of Superman with my favourite Lois Lane in live action, not so desperate 38C - 22 - 33 former cheerleader Teri " I'm not a stripper ! " Hatcher .
Teri is still the gold standard when it comes to portraying Lois Lane since she was the first actress who made it believable that Superman chose a mortal over such ultimate sexbombs like Wonder Woman or Big Barda .
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Check out my last post on cult siren Teri Hatcher to read more about her comic book connections like her appearance in Tales From The Crypt or Tango & Cash where she showed her incredible body and dancing skills .
Speaking of Tango & Cash it is often cited as one of the most 80s movies of all times which should be no surprise since it came out in 1989 and so caught the 80s at their height but also gave you a taste of 90s excess. It goes without saying that the exotic dance by Teri Hatcher - who really knows how to do those high kicks - alone is worth the price of admission.
kurt russell
debt of honor
dark side of the moon this science fiction horror movie from 1990 takes place in the far future of 2022
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Bohica !
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