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Donald Duck and Superman Find Common Ground – Off the Ground!
Despite long histories in comic books, Donald Duck and Superman don’t seem to have very much in common.
Superman never found “Pirate Gold” – much less found it “Again!” …Not that X-ray vision wouldn’t come in handy on a treasure hunt!
And, despite treading on 24-Carat Moons, “Black Moons”, and finding giant lovesick teenage girls on Venus, Donald Duck never “Return[ed] to Krypton”.
But, if you get enough issues under your belt (…or whatever might encircle Donald’s pants-less waist), you’re bound to find something.
I found this!
It’s been too tiring a day to think up a gag utilizing the phrase “Long Distance Carrier”, so please contribute your own!
8 comments:
"Sorry but you're breaking up ... upon re-entry!"
(booooooooooooooooooooooooooo!)
Don’t boo! It’s better than you think!
It could even be an allegory for the events of 2011!
Donald’s comic book title “broke up” when it ended this June, with Issue # 367.
One could certainly say the classic Superman comic book title did the same when DC ended its ENTIRE LINE, and started over – giving longtime readers like myself the perfect excuse to “stay behind” for good!
Perhaps it’s best to not think of them as “gone”, but instead orbiting a more pleasant world (in their respective phone-booths), in a better galaxy where publishers don’t make such idiotic decisions!
Okay, I’ll stop now…
I'm going with a slightly less radical approach: in the past I would have bought a number of comic titles that looked interesting but I wasn't sure about, but with the DC reboot I'm only buying the ones that look best (hi, Action by Grant Morrison) and waiting for reviews on the other titles to see if they pan out quality-wise. Before this would have meant a search for back issues to catch up, but now I can get those anytime on the iPad and at a buck less than cover price if I just wait a month. We'll see how this works...
If there WERE ONE –and ONLY ONE – that I would consider trying, it would be ACTION by Grant Morrison. He’s done too many amazing things over the years for me to ignore.
I MAY still pick one up, if and when I go to the comic shop, which I haven’t done since June… Incredible for me!
Or, for the first time ever, I might do something I’ve never done before: Wait for the (inevitable) trade!
Not gonna do the online version. That’s not a comic book! Or a “book" of any kind!
Joe(s!),
I don't even have the words for my reaction to "resetting" the numbering for Action and Detective. "Stupefied", maybe. And I'm surprised that there hasn't been more of an outcry about it -- in general, DC's wide-line reboot seems that it's surrounded by enthusiasm. Am I the only person who thought that having the two longest-running American comic books, each devoted to one of the two, utterly iconic characters who defined our cultural conception of both what a comic book and what a superhero is, was a legacy their publisher wouldn't ever even think of messing with?
I'm betting that in time, they'll revert to the original numberings -- at least for Action and Detective. Whether that's next year (say in the case that the "New 52" hasn't been the success they'd hoped), or in 10 or 20 years (say when the next generation of editors/executives/etc. is in place, and they decide it's time for another change-up, and a "The Real DC Is Back" campaign ensues, reinforced by editorials, press releases, and interviews waxing reverential about "respecting our history and legacy"), I can't say.
The blasphemy of it aside, I remember briefly talking with you, Joe, last year at NYCC about how deeply entangled and unnavigable DC continuity had become. It's nice, for a change, to be able to buy several just-released DC titles, and feel that one finally has some breathing room.
Let it be said that I've enjoyed all the new #1's that I've read so far. Re: Grant Morrison's Action -- the story's just getting off the ground (well, obviously), but it's definitely an interesting take on the Superman mythology, with new, yet entirely recognizable, twists on not just Kal-El himself, but his perennial "supporting cast" (Lois, Jimmy, and, of course, Luthor).
(And that brings me to some thoughts I've been turning over: these are fifty-two brand-new series, each and every last one starting from square one...only in a sense. In truth, they're heavily based on, and are strategic recalibrations of, long-established [in some cases, VERY long] characters, worlds*, and premises. With the most famous of such, they're definitely playing around with the fact that the vast majority of readers are going to already be quite familiar.)
*[I say "worlds" in the plural because, though this is all intended to be one shared universe, places like Metropolis and Gotham City are worlds unto themselves, icons in their own right.] [...hey, does that mean we can have crossovers with/Crises-with-a-capital-C encompassing both this DC Universe and, er, the "last" one?! You know, the one that just got ditched, scrapped, and blown-to-the-wind wholesale and without ceremony, even thought it'd been plugging along, having a few years ago even withstood its Final Crisis?!] ;)
One could say, "A number's a number. The merit of the stories and the art is what really matters." And sure, I'll keep reading, as long as the comics continue to be the kind of thing that interests me, and I enjoy them. But it wasn't just that the numbers associated with Action and Detective were nothing to sneeze at, they were a meaningful representation of a pop culture/media tradition and institution. And in a competitive sense, they represented that DC, Superman, and Batman -- and not Marvel, Spider-Man, and the X-Men -- were the reigning champs, at least in terms of longevity, if not sales.
Still, in both respects -- that of upholding a generations-spanning tradition, and that of holding a record the competition could never beat, save weekly or daily publishing schedules -- all they would've had to do was keep counting.
Ryan
Ryan:
I keep hearing that Grant Morrison’s ACTION # 1 is GOOD! Why did it have to be GOOD! I was SO hoping there would be valid reasons for me to never go near another DC Comic. Now, I MAY (emphasis on "MAY") change my mind. Of course, I'll still get the paper and staples version -- or maybe a TPB, when collected. I'm just that way.
I LOVE your thoughts about a “Crisis”: "New DCU” vs. “Previously Existing DCU”! Maybe only one can occupy the same space / exist in the end – a la the great ongoing story that is the TV series FRINGE!
Not to mention the “New Coke Irony” of “The Real DC is Back!”
On a completely "other thought". No matter the quality, I'm sorry to see a second ACTION # 1. Should we call this ACTION (Series Two) #1.
THAT, above all other titles, should have remained UNIQUE to the great history of DC Comics.
Why not retire the ACTION and DETECTIVE titles altogether, and just begin another new series with the names "Superman" and "Batman" in the titles?
ACTION and DETECTIVE don't really have any meaning anymore, beyond the original lineage. Now, that's gone. So, what's the point?
Then again, I guess now we can ALL own ACTION # 1.
Joe.
I'm fine with comics going digital for one main reason ... I am running out of room! I've been collecting for 35 years and they're still coming in faster than I can get rid of them. Even after thinning my collection down to the stuff I *KNOW* I want to keep around to read again, that's a lot of longboxes.
If the reboot doesn't work, like you said they can always "retro-boot" back, à la Marvel's failed "Heroes Reborn." But comics needs to try something to attract new reader; they can't rely on an ever-dwindling group of older fans.
(Now excuse me, I have to go get me that Sugar & Spike Archives vol. 1!)
I know that I should never say “never”, but I just can’t warm up to the idea of reading “comic books” on a computer screen.
Not to mention that, no matter WHEN I purchased a comic (1960s thru 2000s) I can still go to that longbox (…one of, admittedly, too many – just like you) and read it ANYTIME I WANT!
In the future, will you be able to read that DC-Digital?
How, and on what medium, will you have it saved? Will the technology of some future time be compatible with the present-day DC-Digital? Is it REALLY yours to keep and enjoy forever? That last question may be what separates “collectors” from “readers”
One day, we’ll know…
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