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Post by Reptisaurus! on Nov 21, 2017 5:35:36 GMT -5
No, seriously. Why do we not talk about Street Poet Ray all the time?
Was this a feverish hallucination? Did I just imagine this? It's very existence definitely symbolizes... something about mainstream comics publishing.
How... why... what... where..... who....
How did this happen! For the love of all that is good and holy, how was this even possible?! Who at Marvel said "Yes, we should publish this, despite the fact it is nothing like the rest of our comics line and also it is unimaginably terrible. Let's get right on that!"
Street Poet Ray keeps me up at night. Street Poet Ray haunts my dreams.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Nov 21, 2017 21:29:06 GMT -5
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Nov 21, 2017 21:29:32 GMT -5
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Nov 21, 2017 21:30:31 GMT -5
"Do Not Look Like Thought it Would."
THIS IS THE STRIP THEY CHOSE FOR PROMOTIONAL ADVERTISING!!!!
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Nov 29, 2017 10:34:15 GMT -5
I'd never ever heard of this before. I naturally assumed it saw release in the late '60s when Marvel was first expanding its line and attempting to reach the hip generation, but this came out in the early 1990s??
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Nov 29, 2017 11:56:37 GMT -5
yeah. I've never seen an issue of this anywhere. I've heard rumors it only sold like 5,000 copies or something, but I don't know if that's true. I know if I ever find one in a dollar box or something, I will definitely buy it!
I love obscure Marvel books, but this one has become legendary. It's basically what Night Nurse was when I started collecting, the infamously "bad" series everyone makes fun of - and that turned out to be a fantastic comic once I actually got to read it.
I expect Street Poet Ray to be horrible, though.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Nov 30, 2017 15:51:43 GMT -5
I'd never ever heard of this before. I naturally assumed it saw release in the late '60s when Marvel was first expanding its line and attempting to reach the hip generation, but this came out in the early 1990s?? Nah, although there was a little bit of a precedent in the '70s called Comix Book - Edited by Dennis Kitchen with a bunch of underground cartoonists (Kim Deitch, Trina Robbins... The first chapter of Maus!) Although that made sense - Comix Book dropped in the middle of the '70s Head Shop/Underground Comics boom. Street Poet Ray came out when the '80s Black and White Boom was damn near over. And Comix Book was readable.
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Post by MDG on Dec 1, 2017 7:35:35 GMT -5
I'd never ever heard of this before. I naturally assumed it saw release in the late '60s when Marvel was first expanding its line and attempting to reach the hip generation, but this came out in the early 1990s?? Nah, although there was a little bit of a precedent in the '70s called Comix Book - Edited by Dennis Kitchen with a bunch of underground cartoonists (Kim Deitch, Trina Robbins... The first chapter of Maus!) Although that made sense - Comix Book dropped in the middle of the '70s Head Shop/Underground Comics boom. Street Poet Ray came out when the '80s Black and White Boom was damn near over. And Comix Book was readable. Correction: This first chapter of Maus was in RAW, several years later. Comix Book reprinted a proto version that appeared in Funny Aminals (sic). Someone--I think it was Denis Kitchen--said Marvel chckened out pretty quickly with Comix Book. They dropped it after the third issue and Kitchen Sink published #s 4 and 5. "Marvel" never appeared on it--they wanted to insulate themselves from possible fallout.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Dec 1, 2017 9:17:39 GMT -5
Oh, okay. Yeah, I did read the first two page "Maus" strip (Maybe in MetaMaus?)
Weird that Comix Book only lasted three issues. It didn't strike me as much worse than Marvel's Black and White mags, and Stan (at the time) seemed hungry for hipster recognition...
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Post by Rob Allen on Dec 2, 2017 0:40:32 GMT -5
I sure was disappointed when Comix Book went away. I would have kept buying it, but I never saw issues 4 & 5 until last year when I bought both from the hippest comic shop in Portland, Floating World floatingworldcomics.com/.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2017 1:11:15 GMT -5
It looks like there were 2 issues of Street Poet Ray that were put out by Blackthorne publishing in 1989, the year before Marvel published the 4 issues it did. Not sure what was behind the move from Blackthorne to Marvel or why Marvel would pick up a series from a small indy publisher to continue it.
-M
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 2, 2017 20:29:05 GMT -5
"Do Not Look Like Thought it Would." THIS IS THE STRIP THEY CHOSE FOR PROMOTIONAL ADVERTISING!!!! I've got to admit that I was actually amused by that page. Hey, we've all been there, right? I remember when Marvel published this. Heck, it's one of those strong comic book memories, where I can remember where I was when I saw it for the first time. I didn't buy it, but I thumbed through it, baffled.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Dec 4, 2017 12:58:57 GMT -5
It looks like there were 2 issues of Street Poet Ray that were put out by Blackthorne publishing in 1989, the year before Marvel published the 4 issues it did. Not sure what was behind the move from Blackthorne to Marvel or why Marvel would pick up a series from a small indy publisher to continue it. -M According to Wikipedia, Blackthorne lost lots of money when they licensed Michael Jackson's Moonwalker and the movie tanked. It says they laid off eight of their nine employees in November 1989 and ceased trading in 1990.
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Post by Duragizer on Dec 4, 2017 13:35:38 GMT -5
I could legitimately enjoy a comic as bizarre as this if only the art was better.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Dec 5, 2017 10:40:30 GMT -5
It looks like there were 2 issues of Street Poet Ray that were put out by Blackthorne publishing in 1989, the year before Marvel published the 4 issues it did. Not sure what was behind the move from Blackthorne to Marvel or why Marvel would pick up a series from a small indy publisher to continue it. -M According to Wikipedia, Blackthorne lost lots of money when they licensed Michael Jackson's Moonwalker and the movie tanked. It says they laid off eight of their nine employees in November 1989 and ceased trading in 1990. Was that a theatrical release? I've barely heard of it (There was a video game!) and I care a lot about pop music.
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