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Post by DubipR on Jul 22, 2024 17:28:39 GMT -5
Ostrander and Mandrake’s Spectre is probably an all-time top ten book for me. Without a doubt. Best Vertigo book that wasn't a Vertigo title. Ostrander transformed Corrigan into something truly amazing Foglio’s Stanley & His Monster is super fun. Seduction of the Gun is one of Ostrander’s worst scripts. Foglio's Stanley & His Monster and his Angel & the Ape minis are really fun reads. As is his Plastic Man Seduction of the Gun was terrible. Giaranno's art has always been cringeworthy. A real product of the time. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 22, 2024 20:51:51 GMT -5
DC Direct Currents #60 (March cover date, 1993)  From this issue onwards, Direct Currents would become a flipbook with the mainstream DC stuff on one side and the Vertigo line on the other. I would become rapidly interested in one side of the mag over the other. The mainstream side barely has any news -- a Superman special and Modesty Blaise miniseries. The Vertigo side has an introduction to the line and news about Death: The High Cost of Living and Enigma by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo. They namedrop Tundra's Skin, which is cool. The Vertigo solicitations have the Vertigo preview, some posters and a trade paperback collection of Books of Magic. The late Rachel Pollack takes over as the writer of Doom Patrol. The mainstream solicitations have bugger all. The Modesty Blaise graphic novel was an adaptation of the first Modesty Blaise novel, which was adapted from Peter O'Donnell's unused script for the Joseph Losey film (with Monica Vitti, Terence Stamp and Dirk Bogarde). Giordano did great work; but it seemed to come out of nowhere. Titan had been reprinting the strips and Ken Pierce had put out the early stuff, earlier in the decade (the Jim Holdaway strips and the Neville Colvin material) and I think Comics Reveue was collecting other stories; but DC seemed an odd place to land. Wish they had adapted the other novels as those were usually pretty darn good. Sandman and related were my main Vertigo, at the start, other than Sebastian O, which I picked up because it was Steve Yeowell and I liked his work on Zenith, with Grant Morrison. Morrison's script was a different matter and it smelt more than a bit of Michael Moorcock ideas repackaged. The only Jerry Cornelius pastiche I ever liked was Luther Arkwright and even that gets a little too bonkers, for my tastes, though Bryan Talbot's art keeps me in a forgiving mood, when it gets out of control. Sebastian O and Enigma were both originally commissioned for Disney's Touchstone imprint, which they abandoned before publication and the material was brought to DC. Like I said before, man I miss Karen Berger. One of the best editors DC ever had, along with Archie Goodwin. |
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Post by commond on Jul 23, 2024 16:10:48 GMT -5
DC Direct Currents #61 (April cover date, 1993)  The regular cover this month features the introduction of yet another comic book line, this time focusing on culturally diverse superheroes. The comics were created by Milestone Media, a coalition of African-American writers and artists who felt that minorities were severely underrepresented in American comics. The books were published by DC but fell outside of their editorial control. Occasionally, this led to DC being "uncomfortable" with some of the storylines. Unfortunately, for the creators involved, they introduced the line at a time when comics was experiencing a glut of "new universes" and didn't receive the full support of retailers as the market began to slow down. That and the unfortunate situation that many perceived them as "comics for blacks." The line did last until 1997, however. Hardware ran for a respectable 50 issues. DC would eventually absorb the characters into the DC universe after Final Crisis. The Vertigo cover features the debut of one of the best DC books of the 90s, Sandman Mystery Theatre. We also have a new Legionnaires series, spinning out of the recent events in Legion of Super-Heroes, and a Len Wein/Carmen Infantino miniseries called Danger Trail. Vertigo offers us their first graphic novel, Mercy, by J.M. DeMatteis and Paul Johnson. Batman is slowly building the hype towards Knightfall. This slow build was also reflected in the sales at the time. This was the period where they opted not to publish any of the Superman titles, which absolutely killed DC's sales as the Superman books were their top selling books at the time. Not a great time to launch a new series at DC when no-one's reading your books.
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Post by DubipR on Jul 23, 2024 16:54:46 GMT -5
Sandman Mystery Theater was freaking fantastic. Some of Wagner's best writing, as his take on Wesley Dodd was so unlike everything else before hand. I like that Guy Davis drew him a little pudgy and make him more real. The romance between Wesley and Dian is one of my favorite comic couples. Only wish DC would do a super compendium or Omnibus for that series. It rightfully deserves it.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 23, 2024 16:55:06 GMT -5
DC Direct Currents #61 (April cover date, 1993)The Vertigo cover features the debut of one of the best DC books of the 90s, Sandman Mystery Theatre. Quoted for truth. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 23, 2024 21:00:53 GMT -5
i covered The Danger Trail in my spy comics thread; it was actually pretty darn good, with plenty of action and intrigue.
I picked up the early Legionnaires issues and enjoyed Chris Sprouse's work; but, I didn't stick with it. I think they should have just started it fresh, then, rather than a little while down the road. It was a fresher, more engaging take on the characters, especially after all of the darkness.
Loved Sandman Mystery Theater. I had been lukewarm on Guy Davis, from what little I saw of Baker Street; but I thought he proved to be a heck of a visual storyteller.
Icon was the only Milestone book I picked up for more than the first couple of issues; but, it was never really my cup of tea, though it was done well. I was pretty well burnt out on superheroes and it took a very fresh take on things or something more lighthearted to recapture my interest. James Robinson soon proved to be up to the task and Kurt Busiek, with Astro City, as well as the Batman Adventures team.
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Post by commond on Jul 24, 2024 15:35:18 GMT -5
DC Direct Currents #62 (May cover date, 1993)  On the regular side of things, we have another attempt to do something with The Atom. This one has art by Steve Dillon, which may be a redeeming feature. On the Vertigo side, they're pushing for two new releases per month, which may be asking a lot. Ann Nocenti seemed like a good fit for the Vertigo line, but Kid Eternity would be the first Vertigo title to get canned. There's a new Lobo oneshot, some Superman releases to cover the void while we want for his return, and Milestone's version of Superman, Icon. Vertigo, meanwhile, offers us the Victorian nightmare of Sebastian O by Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell. Knightfall begins without any type of preview in the newsletter. I find that odd, especially with how badly the Batman books had been struggling sales wise. Eclipso #7 has art by Ted McKeever, which is strange to see, though he'd soon be doing work for Vertigo. Ms. Tree has her last special at DC, which I believe is also her last comic book appearance. Now that I put two and two together, it would have been nice if Ms. Tree had gained a new life as a Vertigo book. New Titans is beginning its march towards issue #100, but it doesn't seem like anyone cares anymore despite how many times Direct Currents puts New Titans on the cover. I'd love to hear a passionate defense of New Titans from anyone who was still reading it in 1993. Swamp Thing has a new haircut that makes him look like a grunge singer.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 24, 2024 16:11:00 GMT -5
DC Direct Currents #62 (May cover date, 1993)On the regular side of things, we have another attempt to do something with The Atom. This one has art by Steve Dillon, which may be a redeeming feature. On the Vertigo side, they're pushing for two new releases per month, which may be asking a lot. Ann Nocenti seemed like a good fit for the Vertigo line, but Kid Eternity would be the first Vertigo title to get canned. There's a new Lobo oneshot, some Superman releases to cover the void while we want for his return, and Milestone's version of Superman, Icon. Vertigo, meanwhile, offers us the Victorian nightmare of Sebastian O by Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell. Knightfall begins without any type of preview in the newsletter. I find that odd, especially with how badly the Batman books had been struggling sales wise. Eclipso #7 has art by Ted McKeever, which is strange to see, though he'd soon be doing work for Vertigo. Ms. Tree has her last special at DC, which I believe is also her last comic book appearance. Now that I put two and two together, it would have been nice if Ms. Tree had gained a new life as a Vertigo book. New Titans is beginning its march towards issue #100, but it doesn't seem like anyone cares anymore despite how many times Direct Currents puts New Titans on the cover. I'd love to hear a passionate defense of New Titans from anyone who was still reading it in 1993. Swamp Thing has a new haircut that makes him look like a grunge singer. I read a little of New Titans, when Perez came back (still kind of disappointing, though) and during the whole Widebeast thing, when Jericho turns heel (or is revealed as one....and I mean Joseph Wilson, not Chris Irvine, for the wrestling fans out there) and Deathstroke kills him. I liked Tom Grummett's work, and tht had a bit of gravitas to it; but, no, the magic was mostly long gone. I didn't care much for the Kid Eternity prestige format mini and skipped the series. It took a little while before Vertigo was tuning out stuff that was more up my alley, rather than predominantly horror and esoteric things. Sandman Mystery Theater was one of the first, in that direction, Sebastian O, to a certain degree (more for the Steampunk world); but when we started getting stuff like Terminal City or American century, we were more in my wheelhouse. Ms. Tree's end I would put down more to the state of the market and that it just wasn't financially viable, for anyone. Collins had enough success in the mystery world and was soon to be dabbling in Hollywood. |
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Post by commond on Jul 25, 2024 15:45:11 GMT -5
DC Direct Currents #63 (June cover date, 1993)  Superman's back. That didn't take long. On the Vertigo side of things, we have Sandman #50, which of course was the Ramadan story illustrated by P. Craig Russell. This particular issue of Sandman got a huge boost from the hype around Superman's return and was the best selling non-Superman book for DC in April, 1993. Can't think of a more deserving book in the DC line to reap the rewards of the market craziness. Inside, there's another Lobo special, a Kamandi Elseworlds miniseries, another Milestone book (Static), and a new Justice League title, Justice League Taskforce. Halfway through the mag we get a full page spread of the silhouettes of the four new Supermen. Vertigo is also offering a Game of You trade paperback and a special Brother Power the Geek one shot by Rachel Pollack and Mike Allred. Again there's a Tundra mention as Allred is credited as the creator of Madman. Valor surfing on an asteroid is pretty cool.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 25, 2024 18:01:22 GMT -5
Issue #50 was where I was finally able to jump onto Sandman, as I acquired the other trades (I had the first two, from their initial release). Before that, every time I found a comic in the LCS, it was in the middle of a storyline. I should have done it with the Sandman Special; but, I was young and stupid.
Allred got a ton of attention for Madman, so the Tundra mention doesn't surprise me. DC wasn't above mentioning other companies and works and was collaborating in crossovers with Dark Horse and, eventually, Comico, for Batman/Grendel (though their bankruptcy nearly killed the project). It was a different story, with Marvel, though they made a truce and collaborated, for a short period of time. It seems those days are long gone; but, never say never.
Adv of Superman #500 was the book that nearly killed my local, as they massively over-ordered, based on Superman #75. They broke even, barely, but the return shut them down, as they speculated in that, too, to deaf ears.
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Post by commond on Jul 26, 2024 15:37:58 GMT -5
DC Direct Currents #64 (July cover date, 1993)  This month's regular page gives us Bloodlines, the latest DC crossover event. IIRC, this event introduced The Hitman. John Wagner has a new ongoing monthly series called Chain Gang War. It lasted a dozen issues. For some reason, DC felt the time was right to collect the Legends miniseries into a trade paperback. Spectre gets a shot in the arm with a glow-in-the-dark cover. Zatanna gets a miniseries but it's a non-Vertigo book, which I don't agree with. They finally run a piece on Knightfall, however it's on the last page of the previews. Weird. Flip the book and you've got Skin Graft: The Adventures of a Tattooed Man, which I only ever saw in house ads. Apparently, he was a Green Lantern foe. J.M. DeMatteis has a new miniseries called The Last One. I saw in a Vertigo editorial page recently that they had a bunch of these type of projects ready to roll out through '93 and '94. I suppose it's impossible to be familiar with them all. I like that DeMatteis has an avenue to express the more serious side of his writing. Marc Hempel also has a new Gregory book. There's also a Vertigo graphic novel called Tell Me Dark, which they don't bother previewing.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 26, 2024 21:42:23 GMT -5
"I, Gregory!"
Loved those books! Hempel had some really funny stuff there, if also somewhat disgusting (though not as bad as Rick Veitch's Maximortal). Piranha Press was a nice imprint, while it lasted.
I totally skipped Bloodlines. I don't even recall it interrupting anything I was reading, though I'm sure it must have affected at least one book.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Jul 27, 2024 8:59:30 GMT -5
Flip the book and you've got Skin Craft: The Adventures of a Tattooed Man, which I only ever saw in house ads. I think you mean Skin Graft. |
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Post by commond on Jul 27, 2024 16:17:43 GMT -5
DC Direct Currents #65 (August cover date, 1993)  The regular cover this month is yet another attempt to do something with Catwoman, this time based on her appearances in Batman Returns, Batman: The Animated Series, and Showcase '93. This series is written by Marvel's Jo Duffy with art by Jim Balent of Vampirella fame. There's a Batman: Sword of Azrael trade paperback available, and probably the coolest book DC released this month, the long awaited Batman vs. Grendel series! The blurb is far too short and the coloring makes the art look like shit, but I was all over those when they came out. There's some crossover between the "space" books, Green Lantern, L.E.G.I.O.N '93 and The Darkstars, and The New Titans reaches its 100th issue to little to no fanfare. Mark Waid brings us a Metamorpho miniseries, and there's another Ragman miniseries with Joe Kubert doing the covers. On the flipside, Vertigo brings us Jonah Hex: Two Gun Mojo. I'm a diehard Fleisher Jonah fan, and I don't consider the Vertigo Jonah to be "my" Jonah, but I do respect the fact that they brought Jonah back. Plus Truman's art is always a treat. Vertigo also bring us The Vertigo Jam featuring short stories featuring the stars of each ongoing title. There's also news about the new "The Face" arc in Sandman Mystery Theatre. Looking through the solicitations, Russ Heath is doing a Legends of the Dark Knight story. I'm always curious when older Silver Age greats do work like this. Collen Doran is penciling Eclipso, which continues the odd run of artists on that book. Guy Gardner is doing a Year One story. Spare us.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 27, 2024 18:24:22 GMT -5
DC Direct Currents #65 (August cover date, 1993)The regular cover this month is yet another attempt to do something with Catwoman, this time based on her appearances in Batman Returns, Batman: The Animated Series, and Showcase '93. This series is written by Marvel's Jo Duffy with art by Jim Balent of Vampirella fame. There's a Batman: Sword of Azrael trade paperback available, and probably the coolest book DC released this month, the long awaited Batman vs. Grendel series! The blurb is far too short and the coloring makes the art look like shit, but I was all over those when they came out. There's some crossover between the "space" books, Green Lantern, L.E.G.I.O.N '93 and The Darkstars, and The New Titans reaches its 100th issue to little to no fanfare. Mark Waid brings us a Metamorpho miniseries, and there's another Ragman miniseries with Joe Kubert doing the covers. On the flipside, Vertigo brings us Jonah Hex: Two Gun Mojo. I'm a diehard Fleisher Jonah fan, and I don't consider the Vertigo Jonah to be "my" Jonah, but I do respect the fact that they brought Jonah back. Plus Truman's art is always a treat. Vertigo also bring us The Vertigo Jam featuring short stories featuring the stars of each ongoing title. There's also news about the new "The Face" arc in Sandman Mystery Theatre. Looking through the solicitations, Russ Heath is doing a Legends of the Dark Knight story. I'm always curious when older Silver Age greats do work like this. Collen Doran is penciling Eclipso, which continues the odd run of artists on that book. Guy Gardner is doing a Year One story. Spare us. Based on Balent's art, I'm betting he based Catwoman more on a stripper in a cat outfit than Michelle Pfeiffer or even Adrienne Barbeau. Somehwere, there was a beach missing a lot of silica. Loved Batman vs Grendel, and was both amazed and pleased that we finally got it. i had attended the 1991 Atlanta Fantasy Fair, where Matt Wagner was one of the guests, and he had a splash page from it, on display, lamenting that it didn't look like it would ever see the light of day. At the time it sounded like it was going to be lost to thr ages, like Perez's JLA/Avengers (before we got the later version of that). Wagner and John K Snyder III were both doing some interesting art commissions, where instead of traditional sketches, they were using colored cardstock and pint markers to due character art. The cardstock served as the central color (like red, for Captain Marvel), then the markers added highlights, faces and othe colors. They were really cool. Snyder also talked about a Dr Mid-Nite mini that Wagner was writing and he was drawing, which didn't get published until 1999. Loved the Vertigo Jonah Hex, between Tim Truman art and Joe Lansdale on the story. Lansdale is the king of the "weird western" and the perfect fit for the character. It was a good way to do a western, for the modern audience. It didn't hurt that Tim Truman was deliberately homaging Clint Eastwood, from The Outlaw Josey Wales. |
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