Polar Bear
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Post by Polar Bear on Dec 19, 2014 17:44:40 GMT -5
Swamp Thing Annual #2, "Down Amongst the Dead Men," by Moore, Bissette, & Totleben This issue served as a tour of the bizarre side of the DC Universe, a template for the future Shadowpact, Demon Knights, Justice League Dark, and Del Toro's Dark Universe project. Oh, and a welcome to hell ... yet, an escape from it. A horror story ... with a happy, romantic ending. Great writing, great art, great storytelling, and highly influential. Hard to live without. Honorable Mention: The Dark Knight Returns #3 (Batman v. Joker), Miller & Janson
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Polar Bear
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Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on Dec 19, 2014 17:36:28 GMT -5
Day Five: Sandman #18, "Dream of a Thousand Cats," Gaiman & K. Jones Mythopoeia is the fictional imitation of and deliberate creation of myth. It's very difficult. Tolkien did it in the thousand-odd page Lord of the Rings, but here, Gaiman manages it in a 22 page comic book. With cats. There's really nothing more I can say except that it's time for me to dig out these issues and re-read them. I feel that the series kind of lost its way in the 40s or so, with only occasional glimmers of its old brilliance, but when it was hot, it was h-o-t. Honorable Mention: Sandman #31, "Three Septembers & a January," the issue about the Emperor of the United States, but there are several that I could mention.
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Polar Bear
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Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on Dec 19, 2014 17:28:40 GMT -5
Sojourn #25 (no story title), Ian Edginton & Greg Land Ian Edginton had always been one of my favorite second-wave British writers, so when I heard he was coming to CrossGen, my favorite publisher, I was thrilled. I had no idea he was going to be THIS good. In this promotional $1 issue, he knocked out a story about humans & trolls that actually made one feel sympathy and respect for the formerly one-dimensional villains, especially their leader. Extraordinarily compelling storytelling--I wish he'd had the opportunity to continue his story. Honorable mention: Crossgen's Negation, probably issue #4 or something like that. I mourned that publisher's demise for years.
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Polar Bear
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Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on Dec 19, 2014 17:19:46 GMT -5
Day Three: Conan #24, "The Song of Red Sonja," 1973. I was only three. It would take me years to discover Barry Windsor Smith, and years more to discover Barry Smith without the Windsor. And then, I'd find Conan. And dislike him as "boring" compared to all of the guys in costumes with super powers. I obviously don't think the same way now, since this comic made it onto my top 12 list. What a gorgeous comic book! A compelling pair of personalities, great storytelling, a done-in-one plot--everything you could ever want. My only complaint is that it was Smith's last issue, just as the pair reached their creative peak. Here's hoping we get a bit more Smith output over the next few years.
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Polar Bear
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Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on Dec 19, 2014 17:12:45 GMT -5
Day 2: Tarzan (DC) #233, anthology issue, 1974 Ah, this is the life. We start out with a great Kubert cover and a lead 18-page Kubert story. Then, we get "The Land that Time Forgot" by Russ Manning, running a full 21 pages! After a six-page Silver Age reprint with art by the under-appreciated Leonard Starr, we get an all-too-rare Rex, the Wonder Dog ten-pager with Gil Kane artwork, followed by a pair of six-pagers (Detective Chimp by Infantino and Congo Bill by Smalle). Rounding out the volume is a Korak story with eight pages from the ever-experimental Alex Nino. Add in a few pages of animal facts, movie trivia, and letters pages, and this is the type of comic you simply can't find on the stands--or the stores--anymore.
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Polar Bear
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Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on Dec 19, 2014 17:02:11 GMT -5
Day 1: Ren & Stimpy Show Special #3, "Masters of Time and Space!" by Slott & Kazaleh, 1994 I can hear you now, saying, "What the heck, Polar Bear?" It's amazing. A young Dan Slott at his nuttiest, writing a choose-your-own-adventure comic book (you have to read it out of order for it to be read in order), full of time paradoxes and illusions, misapprehensions and misanthropy. It's insane, and it doesn't so much get re-read as re-experienced, because there are different choices within the story! Astonishing and utterly unique. Search it out.
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Polar Bear
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Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on Dec 13, 2014 12:00:20 GMT -5
Getting a late start this year, but since I never did the 2005 one, I'll join in, too.
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Polar Bear
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Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on Jun 5, 2014 14:50:38 GMT -5
I find I can listen to Ride of the Valkyries, despite Wagner's anti-Semitism. However, I can't read Thomas Hardy's novels, which have themes I radically disagree with, like the purposelessness of our existence. So for me, the dividing line is relevance.
As someone who really dislikes libertarianism, I could happily read a story by a libertarian about a mother and daughter in tension, but I'd have a lot more trouble reading a story by the same author about a governor and the state senate. Hope that makes sense.
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Polar Bear
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Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on Jun 5, 2014 14:40:16 GMT -5
Epic mouse tales--wow.
I'm enjoying the Dynamite titles I ordered, even if they're a little more intense than my usual tastes.
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Polar Bear
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Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on May 30, 2014 17:39:42 GMT -5
Has anyone tried any of Dynamite's pulp-era heroes, such as Spider, Shadow, Doc Savage, or Green Hornet? Are any of those worth the paper & the time? I'm getting more interested in that era as I age.
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Polar Bear
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Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on May 30, 2014 14:49:39 GMT -5
Glad I found you guys.
Missing: Lone Ranger Captain Jim (CBR Batman mod, may be conflict of interest) The Confessor
And perhaps we should let the two pros who visited semi-regularly know how to find us, should they choose to do so: Kurt Busiek and Scott Shaw!
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Polar Bear
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Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on May 30, 2014 14:39:41 GMT -5
I do like kaiju, both movies and comics. I watched the three 1990s Gamera movies a few weeks ago--surprisingly good.
I own the Gorgo HC and runs of Marvel's Shogun Warriors and Godzilla, as well as Half Century War and some of the Dark Horse version. What I've never tried was the black and white Daikazu (sp?) from the late 80s/early 90s. Does anyone remember what I'm talking about? Was that any good?
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Polar Bear
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Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on May 30, 2014 14:24:57 GMT -5
Wow--the move was pretty much unanimous, I see. Wish Captain Jim had moved, too, I must confess. The only disadvantage about the new site is that my workplace blocks proboards.com. I can only access this place from home--or if I cheat and use my phone, but that costs data, so I can't just browse at leisure. I'm curious how the ads are chosen here. For some reason, they think I want to buy an Original Rainbow Loom kit from Michael's Crafts. I have no idea. I'm starting to get more interested in the pulp figures as I age--the Dynamite line-up, basically. Anyone else find themselves moving in that direction?
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Polar Bear
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Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on May 29, 2014 16:21:38 GMT -5
You didn't miss much. New CBR is cracking down basically due to fear anything could be a bad negative right now. Welcome Polar Bear. So for fear of having a negative, they created a negative, eh? Not the first time that's ever happened. Sounds like a lot of presidential campaigns, in fact. Such cheery talk. Let's see: the seniors I taught this year are about to graduate; I'm back into role-playing games, specifically Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space; we're still homeschooling our six kids, now ages seven to sixteen (with the oldest accumulating hours on his learner's permit towards his driver's license); and we're all in good health. The bad news is, the missing Doctor Who episodes I'm waiting on still haven't been announced, but that's all right, I don't have the money to buy them anyway. Phil Morris and the BBCWW may as well wait until after I've paid off my mortgage, right? Plus, I'm so incredibly thrilled that Fantagraphics is reprinting the complete Don Rosa duck stories, I'll even forgive them the Doctor Who thing for a little while. I've most recently been reading Kirby's 2001 and Machine Man. That's some brain-tingly stuff, lemme tell you! I've also been watching The Prisoner (complete series) and The Six Million Dollar Man/The Bionic Woman (just highlights). Great stuff, but in completely opposite ways!! Okay, I've run out of exclamation points, so it's time for me to stop. I'll be around.
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Polar Bear
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Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on May 29, 2014 12:18:05 GMT -5
Um, hi, guys. I see I missed the big dramatic ... everything. Looks like a lot of pain and suffering was involved. Sorry for what went down--glad I found you after only a month had passed, actually. Glad to see you all. I'll have to fix that avatar once I'm off mobile... I look like Machine Man, not Polar Bear... EDIT: There, that's better.
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