Saturday, February 26, 2011

Great Day of Comics Shopping!

As some of you know, I no longer hit the comic shop every week anymore. A number of factors are responsible – but, chief among them has been my general lack of interest in the product as a whole.

DC Comics, with their constantly shifting incomprehensible continuity, and the use of writers and artists that simply do not stand up to the extremely high quality of the DC Comics line of the ‘80s and ‘90s, leads my disenchantment.

So, now I go every few weeks, and pick up fewer titles – but those I do pick up, I enjoy immensely.

But TODAY, was just one great big ball of enjoyment overload!!!

From Boom! Studios:
MICKEY MOUSE # 305: Reprinting the Paul Murry Mickey serial “The Lens Hunters”. Paul Murry cover!

DARKWING DUCK # 9: Featuring Steelbeak (One of my favorite DW villains) and an outstanding tribute to the TV series MAD MEN on its first three pages! Especially PAGE THREE!

DONALD DUCK # 363: Offers a Geoffrey Blum story ABOUT Carl Barks, the final story hatched from Barks’ brain illustrated by Daan Jippes, and a Barks 10-page mini adventure to close it out. Don Rosa cover!

WALT DISNEY’S COMICS (AND STORIES) # 716: Leads with the Carl Barks written “A Day in a Duck’s Life” (the final story Barks wrote for the DONALD DUCK title in the early 1970s) redrawn in superior style by Daan Jippes and a classic Barks 10-pager to follow. Don Rosa cover!

…AND, biggest surprise.
SPONGEBOB COMICS # 1!!! Was I ever wrong in my speculation that SpongeBob creator Stephen Hillenburg seemed to have no interest in comic books. He’s the PUBLISHER, and he’s working with Matt Groening’s Bongo Entertainment – so it seems off to a good start.

So, finally SpongeBob… and several magnificent issues from Boom!

Boom!’s Disney line is now BETTER THAN EVER! Get on board!

Here’s my Big Day illustrated below! Gosh, I feel like a fanboy again!







8 comments:

joecab said...

You complain, but I know you secretly crave they would add a few new Green Lanterns, like Puce, Plaid and Goofy Grape.

Joe Torcivia said...

JoeC:

At this point, would it hurt if they did all those? I think “Goofy Grape” actually WAS one of the new Lantern colors… for the Zamarons, wasn’t it? (Yes, I drank the drink mix in my far away youth!)

…And, for what it’s worth, in my last Donald Duck script (Issue # 362 – the issue before the one mentioned in this post), I had Donald achieve a “Mauve Belt” in the martial art of “Tae-Qwon-Duk”. At the end, his nephews wonder if he’ll work his way up to a “Fuchsia Belt”… “or Puce”!

Puce is just one of those “funny words” that you can never go wrong throwing out there!

Funny you should mention Green Lantern, because “Blackest Night” was my literal swan song with DC. I REALLY wanted to like it. REALLY! I TRIED reading nearly all of it! But, like other tales such as “52” before it, it was too much of an incomprehensible mess for even someone with MY years of dedication to the DC and GL mythos to tolerate.

Just check this link: http://www.comicbloc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76624

If you need something like THIS just to tell you the order in which to read the issues, then things have gotten TOO out of hand. Even the original “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and its many crossovers and ancillary series didn’t go to these extremes. And even if it did, since it was the first such “event” from DC, we all gave it more attention anyway. Now, it’s just not worth it.

And, I don’t know what DC can do to get me back. Pity, as I was a very enthusiastic supporter and free spender.

But enough of my DC rantings… How ‘bout those Ducks and SpongeBob!

Joe T.

Chris Barat said...

Joe,

So that full-page panel on p. 3 was based on MAD MEN? I've never seen the show. I still hope that Brill hooks the "image makeover" theme onto the plot-train somehow. Perhaps people will get wind of the fact that DW is "working with Steelbeak" and he'll need to do some "image repair," stat!

Chris

Joe Torcivia said...

Chris:

Yes, the full-page splash on pg 3 is a magnificent homage to the opening credits sequence of MAD MEN – as is the named ad-man “Duck Draper” (Don Draper). Indeed, all of the characters sitting around that opening scene are “Disney-fied” versions of various members of the cast!

Just another brilliant piece of work from this title!

Joe.

GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

Man alive, I'm not buying the Darkwing comic (what with never having seem the show--though that may change with my latest venture), but any mention of Mad Men inflames my curiosity. Love that show.

Joe Torcivia said...

Geo:

Furthermore, and not included in my reply to Chris, the primary ad-man/duck was named “Duck Draper” – which is an additional nice riff on both Don Draper and his rival “Duck Phillips”! Someone there really is watching the show – to our benefit as readers!

Joe.

Chris Barat said...

Joe,

Doesn't the use of the MAD MEN cast in duck-form strike you as something that "season XXX" of the TV series MIGHT have done. I can easily see it happening.

Chris

Joe Torcivia said...

Well, I think the same minds behind the DW classic “Twitching Channels” might have given us something similar.