In with the old and out with the new

Another year has ended and it´s time to take a look back on the year 2013 and see how it looks in retrospect while it´s still fresh in my memory. I know the title sounds wrong but for me most " new  "things in 2013 made me go back and check out the old things. New in 2013 wasn´t really that exciting especially with the NEW 52 still F - ing things up.

Now some people may say that things are looking up at DC since they have gone back from that abomination that was Power Girl´s new costume and returned her original costume. But the simple reason for that was just that even the guys at DC realized how ugly it was ( nicely emphasized by artist CallMePo whom you can check out at his DeviantArt gallery , be warned though there is some NOT SAFE FOR WORK content ) and they changed it back before they lost the few readers they still had.

So besides a few cosmetic changes things are still as bad at DC. Power Girl is still just Supergirl of Earth 2, George Perez has definitely left WORLD´S FINEST and DC since they clearly had no idea whatsoever what to do with him, Wally West is still nowhere in sight and aside from the few good titles left such as AQUAMAN, WONDER WOMAN and some of the Bat - titles like BATMAN, BATMAN INCORPORATED and BATMAN AND ROBIN there´s not much you can spend money on and get your money´s worth. It also gets more difficult because DC still has brilliant ideas like axing LEGION OF SUPER - HEROES to start something like JUSTICE LEAGUE 3000. On one side it´s not surprising if they bring in an artist like Kevin Maguire at the last issue. That´s not going to help since the book´s already canceled. Even Kevin Maguire was so confused by the whole shaking and changing at DC that he defected to Marvel. Not that things are much better at Marvel but he gets to do GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY which is going to be one of the big franchises over there once the big blockbuster movie comes out. It helps the career if you do stuff like that.

But coming back to the Legion of Super - Heroes and the possible reasons why it didn´t fly with the NEW 52 ( no pun intended ) it may be the fact that when you look at the basic idea of the series it is pretty optimistic.

1000 years from now there will be teenage super heroes in outer space coming from different worlds who will be working together to fight for good, protect the innocent and oppose tyranny, injustice, racism and intolerance for the betterment and enlightenment of all sentient beings.

It´s really not that difficult to see why that didn´t really gel with DC´s new grim and gritty iMAGE revival they are doing with such things as FOREVER EVIL and such where Superman is mind controled on such a frequent basis that people are keeping counters on the internet of how many days ( let´s be realistic : how many weeks or months ) it has been since we have seen Superman´s normal eyes and not the red ones.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE MAN OF STEEL ( MOVIE THAT IS ) ?

DC seems to be so hellbent on doing edgy and dark versions of their characters that they have completely forgotten what makes them so great. Is it any wonder that they cannot get it right in their movie adaptions anymore ? Over the holidays I have finally managed to see MAN OF STEEL and the first that that went through my mind was that you have to be exceptionally stupid to get a costume wrong where everybody in the world knows what it looks like. Not that they got the rest right. Okay, somebody in the production team was obviously a comic fan or at least a fan of some superhero tv shows since the scene where Superman steals some clothes is directly swiped from the Hulk tv series. Which was a good series for a tv adaption of a Marvel comic. But Superman is not the Hulk and he doesn´t steal, if he needs something he asks for it. Maybe he would offer to work for the clothes but in any case he would´ve talked to the people. And if he was the REAL deal they would have given him the clothes because he´s the kind of guy you would give your last shirt.

And what´s up with Superman´s Dad getting killed to save some stupid dog ? Which kind of sick bastard comes up with this s - word ?

So let me get this straight. Superman can´t save his Dad because that would expose his super powers. Superman also can´t save the dog because that would also expose his super powers. His Dad on the other hand can try to save the dog and get killed for it. WTF indeed. Is there something in this scene that I don´t understand ? On one side his Dad would have been okay with Clark letting all the kids in the school bus die to protect his secret. But on the other hand he can´t let one stupid dog die. Come on, it´s just a dog we´re talking about here. He may be the best dog in the world ( although that would probably be Krypto ) but would you really let your father die to save a dog ? No, don´t answer that. If your Dad is even remotely like mine was you´d probably go for the dog. Heck, you´d go for a six pack if you were real thirsty. Okay, not really a good example. But let´s get back to the whole Superman / Dad or rather Superman / adoptive parent thing since his real father would be Jor El a.k.a. Russell Crowe. Who did kick some serious butt in the movie.

Okay, let´s get down to the crux of the whole thing. What exactly is Pa Kent teaching his son here ? Do as I say don´t do as I do ? I´m not sure but in my book Superman would have either saved the dog despite his father´s protests or he wouldn´t have let his father risk his life to save a dog. If he went superfast he could have nabbed the dog without anybody seeing him. Because you can always distract people with the old " Oh, look, there´s Elvis ! " stick if anything else fails. And okay, maybe he didn´t have enough control over his powers to disperse the tornado by flying counterwise at superspeed - but then Pa Kent has no business playing the big hero and expecting his son to do nothing about it.

Now there were a few other scenes that had me scratching my head like the final battle with Zod where I would have preferred to see Superman give Zod a lobotomy courtesy of his heat vision like the Justice Lord version did with Doomsday. That would have been preferably to Superman just killing the guy. Or the overall fight where Superman recklessly laid waste to Metropolis without any regard for any innocent bystander.

But I don´t want to get into much more detail because that´s just too depressing since I learned that thanks to the crap fest that is going to be the next SUPERMAN VERSUS BATMAN movie we won´t see a SHAZAM movie. Because - at least according to DC - they are too similar. Need more proof DC has no idea what characters they got their hands on ?

YESTERDAY ALL MY TROUBLES SEEMED SO FAR AWAY

Back to the comics, like I said I´m reading much more of the older DC stuff now  because I find that much more interesting. I´m still reading the SHOWCASE PRESENTS SUPERMAN FAMILY 4 and I find the stories just hilarious ( which I think I already mentioned in an earlier post ). And I have to say that even if some DC diehards may call this sacrilege I like the stories by Kurt Schaffenberger much better than the stories by Curt Swan because of the art. Nothing against Curt Swan - I just added the hardcover of WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE MAN OF TOMORROW ? to my DC library - but Kurt´s art can be downright cartoony in some cases. Which is fitting since he always had the wackier imaginary stories. Two Curts doing the art. Or rather one Curt and one Kurt. Sounds like a good german name too. Kurt Schaffenberger. Although it wouldn´t surprise me to find some german ancestors in the family tree of Kurt Schwan.

And speaking about germans, another of my DC " blast from the past " guilty pleasures on the reading pile ( I finally managed to get a reading pile ) is the second hardcover of LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT - JIM APARO where I read some of the stories but only in the german version.

So I´m really happy to have so many stories by my favorite Batman artist of all time in one book - even if big parts of the book are not of the high quality the first volume achieved. Printing wise, that is. You see, for some people Jim was at his best in the early part of his career but I liked him much more when he had already switched to a much less detailed style with slicker lines and a much more elegant flow - if you will call it that. So in this volume we have the change from his beginnings to starting to become " my Jim Aparo ". But for some reason big parts of the book have been reproduced really bad. Now I don´t know if it has something to do with the quality of the originals. Some of the stories in volume 2 have been included in the third volume of SHOWCASE PRESENTS - BRAVE AND THE BOLD BATMAN TEAM UPS and there was no problem.

In the spanish collection CLASSICOS DC - THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD ( about which I did a whole series of posts that I can hopefully continue very soon ) on the other hand were so many misprinted pages that I just had to skip volume two and three. So I don´t know if it´s a problem with the originals - especially since those were in black and white and the new hardcover is in color - or if the printer just didn´t give as much water on the printing plates as he should have but I really can´t recommend the new hardcover collection to anyone except really diehard Jim Aparo fans who don´t have the stories or who already have them but want to have a nice hardcover and don´t get bothered by printing errors that much.

It´s really a curse sometimes if you have worked in a print company. At first I thought the problem was just with my copy but when the copy amazon sent me to replace my old copy had all the same errors in exactly the same pages I knew that it had to be in the entire print run.

Anyway, if you are a really die hard Jim Aparo fan then you should get it since it has the usual cavalcade of guest stars from A like Aquaman, the Atom and Adam Strange to B like Black Canary to W like Wonder Woman. Everybody is in here, from more obscure characters like Richard Dragon Kung Fu Fighter, Sgt Rock or the Metal Men on to more arcane and creepy superheroes like the Creeper, Deadman, the Phantom Stranger, hobo Plastic Man or Metamorpho to fellow Justice Leaguers like the Flash, Superman, Supergirl, Hawkman, Green Arrow and Green Lantern.

Speaking of Green Lantern, that´s one of the NEW 52 titles that has finally left my reading list. So far the book was still not as f - ed up as many others because they practically left all of the continuity intact. But I think with the RISE OF THE THIRD ARMY Geoff Johns has finally lost me since it´s not only going to be less Dough Mahnke and more Billy Tan but also the constant one - up - manship with always getting more cosmic and more epic has reached my tolerance limit. Man, whatever happened to the guy who wrote such great stuff on Siniestro Corps War, JSA, Legion of Three Worlds or Superman - Brainiac ? I tell you, whenever I re - read the Thy Kingdom Come hardcovers ( and I have done that at least a dozen times so far ) there are pages where I have to fight the tears. They are so heart breaking. And what´s even more : one of my favorite issues has a guest artist and I don´t mind one bit. Because the issue is THAT good.

 
So GREEN LANTERN is definitely gone from my NEW 52 reading list for the forseeable future. Not from my reading pile since I just recently managed to acquire both SINIESTRO CORPS hardcovers at a bargain price.

My brother would say that I keep buying comics I already have ( longtime readers will recall that that was a hypothesis I formulated myself : there are some comics you keep on buying over and over again no matter in how many different forms you already have them and those are the GOOD ones - the ones against which you measure up all the others ) but I still had some of the tie - in issues missing as well as some GREEN LANTERN CORPS issues so here´s my chance to finally read the complete story in the right order. What I really like about SINIESTRO CORPS WAR was that every character was fleshed out really good and had his own little moment to shine. It had the big explosions but also the little, quieter moments and even some humor like Hal Jordan bribing Guy Gardner with his little black book that contains the private phone numbers from all the chicks Hal got lucky with - including the Maid of Macro Mammaries, Power Girl. 

Man, I sometimes forget that Hal Jordan is one of the lucky few who scored with Power Girl. God only knows how he managed to pull that off but he seems to have that effect on women. I mean underage lantern Arisia used her ring to get an adult body to have sex with Hal . Of course this was retconned into the political correct version where Arisia comes from a world where they age in something like dog years making her much older than Hal. Thereby turning Hal from a stud into a gigolo. 

In any case it´s once again time for me to wrap things up since it´s a quarter past four already and the way the internet´s working Today ( and when I say " working " I mean " not working at all " because every time I have to change something or add something at least five scripts are not responding and I have to wait at least a full minute before I can continue ) it will be five o´clock before I have managed to put all the bells and whistles on it. I would have preferred to write a more positive post for the first post in this new year but as things turn out nothing really changes this year around. I´m sorry there´s just a lot of DC bashing in this post ( if you can call it bashing when it´s actually just speaking the truth ) but maybe we can be a little bit more positive in my next post.

Now before I can put this post to sleep ( and then - hopefully - myself since I´m holding off on that for at least an hour ) there are two things I have to do. The first thing is kind of a request that was uttered in the comments of my last post. It took me a while to find a good picture of the Mistress of the Dark, Elvira herself but I hope this one by CallMePo is OK.

The final piece is the video at the end of the post and on this occasion I´m making an exception because normally I don´t post music videos.

And that´s not only due to the fact that most of them get either deleted by YouTube or GEMA blocks them in Germany.  But every once in a blue moon I find something so incredible that I just have to post it. Now my attention was brought to this video by my brother - of all people - which may be one of the few positive influences he has had on this blog like EVER. The video I´m talking about is WILDFIRE by JENI and the reason why I´m posting it is really very selfish. Because I want her to get a gazillion million hits on YouTube. I want her to get so many followers that Facebook crashes and breaks the internet in half. This needs to get viral so you all have to spread the word until she gets a record deal because I need her CD in the store and her songs on my mp3 player. Well, the new one I have to buy because my old ones are finally busted beyond repair.

So here´s the video and I hope you like it and when you do send out the message. And I promise that in my next post I will be more positive - although I might mention why the presents I got this year sucked. Anyway, I hope your new year has a good start and enjoy the video.



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

FEAR is just False Evidence Appearing Real.

Happy New Year ! and some S.T.R.A.F.E.

Finally 2012 has come and I want to wish all my readers a Happy New Year. I hope you survived the holidays in good condition and for those who do not have to work the next days ( I have to - bummer ) relaxing holidays.


I spent the last few days on which I didn´t work watching season 4 of DR. WHO since I had started while waiting for this year´s Christmas special. Now I could have watched it already BUT I wanted to see how the 4th season ends and I must say, BEST SERIES EVER. They really put out all the stops on this one so if you still don´t watch DR. WHO - shame on you.

I´m going to watch the special in a few minutes ( more like an hour knowing how long it takes to even do these short posts ) but I wanted to put a shoutout to my readers on the blog first. There haven´t been many posts last month but I hope to do more this month.

Of course I want to thank my longtime readers for sticking with me ( as TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN is now going for 7 years ) but I also want to greet all the newbies who just found the blog this year or Today. You´re all welcome and if you like what you read spread the word. Speaking of new and blog I want to give a warm " Welcome back ! " to fellow blogger Kitty Pryde whose blog I´D LOVE TO STAY HERE AND BE NORMAL has finally returned from a long hiatus. I haven´t read all new entries yet but that´s because the font size borders on the microscopic. So kudos, and keep blogging.

Since everybody and their dog is doing a best of 2011 list and last year I only posted other lists ( which I may be doing in one of the next posts ) I wanted to do my own version. I have always been a fan of COMIC SHOP NEWS Red K Awards and so I´m giving out my own version of an award. Being broke there is of course no money involved but the honor of being nominated is everything that counts - right ?


First I wanted to call them Outstanding Honored Recipiants For Excellence In Graphic Entertainment or short OHRFEIGE, but that was just too long. So instead I´ll go with Subzero´s Totally Random Awards For Excellence or short STRAFE. Okay, maybe that´s not so lucky but until I can come up with a better name that´s it.

BEST FOREIGN EDITION OF A GEORGE PEREZ COMIC

This STRAFE goes to the spanish edition of Marv Wolfman and George Perez Teen Titans CLASSICOS DC - NUEVOS TITANES. Not only are these some of the best comics ever written but the 500 page hardcovers are just beautiful to read and re - read, which you will do. Trust me.


True, I can´t say how they compare to DC´s newly released OMNIBUS but at 35 EUROS they only cost half as much and are at least affordable for the regular comic reader. Planeta has now lost the rights to DC but they went out in style and gave comic readers ( at least the ones fluent in spanish ) a big present.

BEST GEORGE PEREZ COMIC NOT F - ED UP BY THE NEW 52

Again we enter titans territory. Longtime fans of George Perez or the Titans have of course heard of the unfinished GAMES graphic novel. Long since has the story become one of many urban comic legends until it miraculously resurfaced as an actual comic project that is once again coming out. I have mentioned it a few times and I bought it as soon as it came out. But I didn´t read it right away. There are some comics, special ones, where I like to wait for a quiet moment and the right alignment of the stars to read it so I can give it my full attention.

The way last year had been going there was always something else to keep me occupied but this week I finally read it. Because if I was going to read one last comic in 2011 it had to be NEW TEEN TITANS - GAMES.


And let me tell you, it holds up to all the expectations you may have and more. I´m feeling a bit uncomfortable with these expressions but if the word " nerdgasm " has ever had any raison d'être ( pardon my french ) it´s to describe this comic. In one of the ads the graphic novel is called a swan song for the Teen Titans and I couldn´t phrase it better. George Perez´art is the best it´s ever been and reading Marv Wolfman´s words is like it´s only been a few weeks and not twentysomething years since he last wrote a Titans book. It´s seems that sometimes you CAN go home again.

The only negative thing I can say about it - but which I already predicted before reading it - is that it makes you painfully aware how low the TEEN TITANS have sunk since then. Which brings us to :

BEST TEEN TITANS COMIC NOT F - ED UP BY THE NEW 52

I´d like to say that the pre - new 52 TEEN TITANS comic was really that good, but to tell you the truth the last 6 issues of that run are still lying in my box at the comicshop and that alone should tell you everything there is to know. Too many changes in the writing departement, too many changes in the art departement and really, after Eddy Barrows left there hasn´t been anybody nearly as good on the book.

Adding to that the fiasko of the new incarnation of the book it should be no surprise that the best Teen Titans related comic right now is TINY TITANS by Art Baltazar and Franco. Aw yeah, Titans !


Every issue is funny, witty and can even be enjoyed by new readers who don´t understand all the in - jokes. This is something you can read with your kids and I especially like the " theme " issues like the " all redhead " issue or the " all Batgirls " issue. Highest recommendation.

BEST COMIC THAT CAN´T BE F - ED BY BAD TRANSLATIONS

I know it was technically published in 2010 and was on most Best Of lists in 2011 but since I only read it last year ( and I still haven´t gotten around to get CONGRESS OF THE ANIMALS ) Jim Woodring´s fantastic comic parable WEATHERCRAFT wins this category.


Back when I started reading american comics I probably never would have thought that one of the best comics I would read in the future would have no superheroes, be in black and white and have no words. But that´s the beauty of Jim Woodring´s FRANK series. He has his own way of telling ..... well, what exactly ? It´s not really a story as there is no narrator and the reader takes more the role of a spectator who is just a witness to certain happenings and has to come to his conclusions of his own.


If the events are real or taking place on a higher plane of existence - who knows ? If there is any logic to the comics it more closely resembles dream logic and so it is rather difficult to categorize the comics.


The only thing that is for sure is the feeling of spiritual enrichment you have after reading them. Comics for the mind, body and soul, beautifully drawn, printed in lush hardcovers by Fantagraphics all this without words. I guess that´s why everybody loves Jim Woodring´s comics.

click here for the weathercraft review on comics alliance

BEST WATCHMEN - LIKE COMIC THAT IS NOT WATCHMEN

Ever since Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons gamechanging WATCHMEN comic came out everybody has been waiting for the " next Watchmen " and there have also been a few who have been given that title. So far there have been none who really have come close - at least in my opinion - and I´m not sure if that´s even possible. WATCHMEN has had such a profound impact not only because of the great story, the great art, the big scope which it takes, the complexity and layers upon layers of story and meaning but also because of the time it came out. And because it was groundbreaking and a gamechanger. And that´s where the dilemma is. Once you have broken new ground you can´t un - break it again and then break it for a second time. What´s done is done. So most attempts to recreate such an experience are doomed to failure from the start.

Which is the reason why THE BULLETPROOF COFFIN by David Hine and Shaky Kane came totally out of left field for me. I hadn´t read any announcements, the covers I had seen didn´t really inspire me to run out and buy the comic and apart from an enthustiastic write - up on fellow blog COMICBITS ONLINE I never heard of it.


Now since I trust Terry Hooper´s taste in comics and because it was described as " a must read for fans of comics, superheroes, rayguns, dinosaurs, or pop culture or any combination of it " I ordered the trade and was totally overwhelmed by it. The comic is not like WATCHMEN in the sense that it is not a deconstruction of superheroes but it does manage to show you what really is possible in a comicbook. Comics like these only come around every decade.

I don´t want to spoiler anything but you will start to question things about comic convictions you believe to be true, you will change your thinking about real life and reality as this comic crosses over to the real world and even involves timetravel. No joke. The story is brilliant and even the art that didn´t impress me at first is totally point on. I don´t know if any other artist could have pulled it off. As the sequel begins this year it´s not too late to get this comic and remember rule number one : The Doctor lies.

BEST INFINITELY ONGOING COMIC BY THE SAME CREATOR

This is a no - brainer as Stan Sakai´s USAGI YOJIMBO has now entered it´s 25th year of publication. The black and white samurai saga is still going on strong with stories going from ghost stories to murder mysteries to moral plays to funny comedy as well as everything inbetween.


With a brush stroke that looks really simple while being anything but, Stan Sakai does epic as well as small world stuff depicting everyday medivial Japan and the human spectrum of emotions in funny animal characters that will make you laugh, shout and cry. This is better than any history book and far more entertaining. It´s a series everybody should be reading and it´s going to be on my pull list as long as it lasts.

BEST INFINITELY ONGOING COMIC BY THE SAME CREATOR WHO KILLS THE LEAD CHARACTER ON A REGULAR BASIS

Savage Dragon is dead. This is a sentence you can read in a lot of issues of SAVAGE DRAGON written, penciled and inked by creator Erik Larsen.

And not because they like to remind readers of it but because it happens again and again and again. I don´t know if Dragon is just an especially tenacious character but he just won´t stay dead. He really gets more mileage out of his recuperation powers than Wolverine but Erik Larsen still manages to make you think that THIS one is the final nail in the coffin. This time he even went so far that Dragon´s son Malcolm took over the book with stepsister / secret crush Angel. There were many readers who were sceptical about this risky step all but ready to leave the title at the first signs of weakness. But within a few issues Erik won them over and the book is better than ever.


Nobody is sure if Dragon is ever coming back, if it´s really Dragon who´s coming back or if they even want him to come back. What nobody questions is that this comic that takes place in real time ( yes, really ) has kicked into overdrive with the EMPEROR DRAGON storyline and is only gaining momentum.

BEST CONSECUTIVE SERIES OF COMICS BY THE SAME CREATOR

I know this sounds a bit complicated but now that STRANGERS IN PARADISE and the equally brilliant but shorter ECHO has ended that´s my way of honoring Terry Moore.


When the end of SIP was announced I was sad because I thought it would leave a whole - not only in my pull list but my life. I hadn´t come aboard with day 1 but rather after the third trade had been out and only after a recommendation by WIZARD magazine. One of the things I will be always indebted for to them.

And it was a rough transition. But then Terry moore started ECHO and showed that he can also do drama ( and brilliant sci fi ) in a METAL BIKINI book of all series. Now he has also finished this story and the new RACHEL RISING continues on this path of comic book greatness adding horror to the genres where Terry Moore leaves his distinctive mark.

BEST AMERICAN COMIC ANTHOLOGY WITH DIFFERENT CREATORS

I have mentioned it once or twice, one of the best series of last year - at least in my opinion - has been the new DARK HORSE PRESENTS. With a WHO´S WHO list of creators like Mike Mignola, Neal Adams, Paul Chadwick, Dave Gibbons, Richard Corben, Evan Dorkin, Fabio Moon, Steve Niles, Howard Chaykin, Geof Darrow, Eric Powell, Frank Miller, Steranko and Harlan Ellison it´s totally worth the 8 bucks for 80 pages. Except issue 3.


That was 104 pages for the same price. But really.

Anybody who can pluck down 4 bucks for a 22 page comic from the big two but has problems paying twice as much for what is almost four times the page count can´t calculate. So far every issue has delivered and what is more I have made the experience that my favorite comics are not always the ones by creators I already know but rather comics like Carla Speed McNeil´s FINDER or Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse´s RESIDENT ALIEN.

BEST GERMAN COMIC ANTHOLOGY WITH DIFFERENT CREATORS

Another winner that shouldn´t surprise longtime readers Levin Kurio´s HORROR SCHOCKER series is another one that gets some STRAFE.

Issue 27 has just come out and it´s everything a german comic and horrorfan could want. With every issue Levin manages to keep the high quality level of this homage to old classics like TALES FROM THE CRYPT, HAUNT OF FEAR and the likes while adding a modern touch. Showing that you really can tell a great story in just a few pages he serves up little horror vignettes that always deliver no matter if it starts in everyday life, ancient Rome or the farflung future.


In fact the stories that take place in post apocaliptic futures are always entertaining and full of social commentary about human society. Other fanfavorites are the Stories from the Styx starring Charon, the Ferryman or stories with an historical background and people that really existed like Hermann Cothmann, burgomaster of Lemgo who was called The Witchjudgde.


The list of artists is not as famous as the one of DARK HORSE PRESENTS but not less talented.





Besides HORROR SCHOCKER Levin Kurio also somehow manages to publish several other comics throughout the year like WEISSBLECH´S WELTBESTE COMICS ( Weissblech´s World´s Best Comics ) with such great titles like SCHAURIGER SCHUND ( Scary Trash )


of which the latest issue includes a new look at old classics like HEIDI courtesy of Dirk Eggers, Stefan Hagenow and Carsten Dörr .


preview pages weissblechs weltbeste comics 20 - schauriger schund

preview pages hammerharte horrorschocker / preview pages issue 27

And with that it´s once again time to wrap up things if I ever want to get some sleep before going to work on Monday. I managed to give out ten awards which is a lot and maybe I can come up with a few more in one of my next posts. For now I want to wish you all the best for 2012, good health ( which is only appreciated once it´s gone ) and great comics.


Today I´m leaving with two videos. The first one is DINNER FOR ONE a sketch that has been a fixture for my generation on Sylvester and really, you can´t start the New Year in Germany without seeing DINNER FOR ONE. So for all who missed it here´s your chance.



The second video is the brilliant last minutes of episode 11 of season 4 of Dr. WHO called TURN LEFT. I just love it how they can turn your whole world upside down with two words. And what´s even more Airwolf is that those two words are not only the message but also tell you who sent it.



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

So many comics so little money

Today it's about time to write about the comics I bought on Monday in Barcelona. This time I took my mother's mobile phone with me and the trip was not as catastrophic as my last one as I had more time.


Following my mother's directions instead of getting off the train at Barcelona Sants I stayed till Barcelona Estacion de Francia, which is the last stop of all trains going to Barcelona. From there on I walked in direction Arc de Triompf which is where the NORMA COMICS is situated. Just when I wasn't sure if I was going in the right direction I could see the triumphal arch a few meters ahead. Nevertheless, next time I'm taking the subway from Estacion de Francia.

Since I already had been to the NORMA COMICS shop, this time I went to the FREAKS comicshop which is in the next street running parallel because I wanted to get the new issue of DOLMEN - one of the best comic news mags ever. As usual I was totally flabbergasted when I entered the FREAKS shop. If you are into indie comics this shop has all the cool stuff you might ever need in your life. All the tables are just filled with tons of comics that are usually hard to find or even impossible to get.

American hardcovers, trades, art books, all kinds of comic publications and the spanish editions on top. Add to that the best of american superheroes in the spanish editions and you might understand why I seriously thought about moving in there permanently.

After what seemed like an hour it was time to think about which comics to buy. There were some hardcover black and white collections of the comics that were published in the german KOBRA comics like MYTEK, SPIDER, ROBOT ARCHIE, EYE OF KELLY or STEEL CLAW.


Those series were also published in Spain and one reason why they are still available in spanish comics shops is that some of them were drawn by spanish artists like Jesus Blasco ( Zarpa de Acero ) or argentinian artists like Francisco Solano Lopez ( El ojo magico de Kelly ) who died on the 13th this month at the age of 83 . You can find his last interview here .


Another comic I had to leave for another time was the hardcover collection of Neal Adams' DEADMAN series, not because of the price ( at 30 EUROs it was okay for such a big book ) but because it was just too big. I already knew that I was going to get two of these big hardcover collections from PLANETA DeAGOSTINI so I didn't want to go overboard.


And there was also the fact that I had to get them past my mother somehow. So instead I bought the DEADMAN by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez hardcover that collects the original 4 issue miniseries, issues 5 and 6 of the most recent series as well as all the covers from the DEAD AGAIN miniseries. A much smaller book and at 11.95 EUROS also much cheaper.


The next thing was to decide on which CLASSICOS DC hardcover I would get. I had thought I could get another one of Norm Breyfogle's Batman hardcovers but there were just too many to choose - at least without making a hard decision. One of the possible candidates was the second volume of Marv Wolfman and George Perez' TEEN TITANS run but there was also one that collected George Perez' JUSTICE LEAGUE issues.


I would have liked to get them both but since the comics in the JUSTICE LEAGUE collection were very early George Perez I decided to get the TEEN TITANS one. The only downside was that I had to buy it at NORMA COMICS since FREAKS didn't have it. There also were two volumes of George Perez WONDER WOMAN but I didn't want to start too many series.


Remember that last time I mentioned Gene Colan I said there should be a collection of his issues of Superman with the Phantom Zone story and his Wonder Woman issues ? Well, guess what. Here is Spain there is one. And I would have really liked to get it but again - a bit too expensive and too big for me although at 40 EUROS for 464 pages it's appropiate. Instead I got the JEMM SON OF SATURN collection ( 30 EUROS for 296 pages ) because I always had been curious about the series that in it's inception was supposed to be a book about J'onn J'onnz, everyone's favorite martian.

There also were some artbooks by Adam Hughes but I was more looking for reading material and the really small one was the most expensive because it was signed.

Last but not least I had to get the newest issue of DOLMEN which has an interesting article about PLANETA DeAGOSTINI loosing the rights to DC in Spain and Latin America. Apparently Planeta has been overflooding the spanish market with too many collections each month ( which I can believe just looking at the number of cool hardcovers I would like to get ) and DC always had a hard time selling in Spain. The new company that is going to publish DC in Spain and Latin America is El Catalogo a comicshop and packager with lots of ties to Planeta. For all those who don't know what packagers do : basically big comic companies delegate the part of making comics like translation, preparing everything for the printers, coming up with a layout etc to smaller companies.


In that regard El Catalogo has already been doing the hard part only up to this point they did it for somebody else. At this point there has been no official statement so there is no information if they really were not interested in publishing DC anymore. As always DOLMEN is on the forefront of comic news.

So now the first part of my comic buying spree was over - selecting what to get at FREAKS - and I went to NORMA COMICS to finally start spending some cash. Aside from the second TEEN TITANS hardcover I also bought the first installments of PANINI's new newsstand line MARVEL HEROES. In Spain there is always some unexpensive line that reprints older comics for the newsstands. Here at least they try to keep comics at the newsstands.

As the first parts of these series are normally pretty cheap I got SPIDERMAN - VUELTA A CASA ( JMS' first eight issues on Spider - Man for 4 EUROS )


and LOS CUATRO FANTASTICOS - IMAGINAUTAS ( Mike Wieringo's first five issues, two by Mark Buckingham and one by Stuart Immomen )


with CAPITAN AMERICA - LA LEYENDA VIVIENTE ( John Byrne's complete fantastic run on the book ) for 9.99 EUROS both together.


The next volumes are all priced at 9.99 each and the material is not new but as a line designed to cater more to the casual reader or the non comic reader it's pretty good. And I have to say I would really have liked to get a few more of them as they have such great stories like THE DARK PHOENIX SAGA,


AVENGERS - UNDER SIEGE,


WOLVERINE - ORIGIN, WOLVERINE - OLD MAN LOGAN, THE MARVELS PROJECT or John Romita's DAREDEVIL


and ARMOR WARS issues.


Like I said, not really the most recent stuff but a really high quality selection at a price german comic readers would kill for. I'm going out on a limb here but I don't think you'll see a similar line in Germany. At least not for 10 bucks.


Now that I had gotten more comics than originally planned it was time to find a KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN as they don't have them in Germany ( at least in the part where Neckarweihingen is ) but normally there are not so many people around and it was hard to find one. I also went to El Corte Ingles for the DVD of GREEN HORNET as my mother hadn't seen it yet.

This time I had a mobile phone to call home but the way back wasn't without it's difficulties as the trains were announced to leave on one rail while leaving on the opposite rail. I missed the first train and almost the second one too but I managed to run to the other side of the platform and jump on the train in the last minute. And before getting home we also got more beer. So all in all a pretty successful day.


I still haven't read any of the comics except some parts of the MARVEL HEROES books I read on the train as I atched the episodes of FRINGE and SMALLVILLE I missed last week. But I have read the first volume of Norm Breyfogle's BATMAN stories and they are just fabulous.

In memory of Solano Lopez Today's video is about EL ETERNAUTA his most famous comic written by Héctor Germán Oesterheld. It's pretty famous in Argentinia and the main caracter has become a political symbol.



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