tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post114756481925703548..comments2024-03-27T19:04:14.544-05:00Comments on The Absorbascon: The JokerScipiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217376618860561999noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1149972994520837772006-06-10T15:56:00.000-05:002006-06-10T15:56:00.000-05:00The book "The Invisible Man" was freakin' awesome....The book "The Invisible Man" was freakin' awesome. And if the Joker can get his own series, why not Killer Moth? It could follow his adventures as a protector of gangsters.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147900289655746512006-05-17T16:11:00.000-05:002006-05-17T16:11:00.000-05:00"Good art and good writing did not make comics pop..."Good art and good writing did not make comics popular, since most of them haven't had it most of the time.<BR/><BR/>Good long-term mythmaking based on resonant initial character concepts do that. "<BR/><BR/>Now? Absolutely. I agree 100%. I think it was the 1990s X-thing that did it. People were trained to buy ALL the X-books and ONLY the X-books, cause of character. Certainly Grant Morrison/Jim Lee Batman outsold the hell outta We3 or.... whatever Jim Lee was doing before Batman. I think it had a pizza boy in it. <BR/><BR/> <BR/> But in the past? Nuh-uh. In the fifties we had EC an' Carl Barks comics, which people most def DID buy based on the artist. Before that, when comics actually sold in the millions and millions of copies, anthology books were dominant. And the drawing on the cover was THE hook to seperate allowances from l'il tyke's fingers.<BR/><BR/>Later on, yeah, people buy based on character. Most comic fans still do. <BR/><BR/>P.S. Aside from being unreadable I thought Dracula was a really good book. <BR/><BR/>P.P.S. And, yeah, I do have a blog somewhere but I'm FAR too lazy to do a complete history of fandom.MarkAndrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16956940483406724174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147788552212399302006-05-16T09:09:00.000-05:002006-05-16T09:09:00.000-05:00"'Cording to my dad "Oh. Well, then.Good art and ..."'Cording to my dad "<BR/><BR/>Oh. <B>Well</B>, then.<BR/><BR/>Good art and good writing did not make comics popular, since most of them haven't had it most of the time.<BR/><BR/>Good long-term mythmaking based on resonant initial character concepts do that. <BR/><BR/>Take the famous "movie monsters". Frankstein, Dracula, the Phantom of Opera, the Invisible Man, et al.-- all of those are based on really awful books. Nearly unreadable ones, in fact.<BR/><BR/>But the underlying idea is what hooks people-- with those characters and comic book characters as well.<BR/><BR/>When Jim Lee and Grant Morrison have their faces on Underoos instead of Batman and Superman, THEN I'll believe that artists and writers are more important than the characters they contribute to.<BR/><BR/><BR/>P.S. Don't you have your OWN blog for this, Mark?<BR/><BR/>I'm using this one already.Scipiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16217376618860561999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147761205833702182006-05-16T01:33:00.000-05:002006-05-16T01:33:00.000-05:00"Following a comic simply because of the artist is..."Following a comic simply because of the artist is like watching films simply because of the cinematographer."<BR/><BR/>Inker maybe. Inker and colorist. <BR/><BR/>Following a comic by artist is (usually, kinda sorta, dependent on a buncha variables) like following a movie by director and actors. <BR/><BR/> But back to my point about you being wrong. People following series by characters exclusively is a relatively new thing... 'Cording to my dad <BR/><BR/>(who ran a comic shop back in the seventies although he's probably not the greatest source ever)<BR/><BR/>organized fans an' collectors started following artists first, and it wasn't 'till later that they started defining 'emselves as fans of characters.<BR/><BR/>Originally, comics by Jack Cole (or whoever) were the big ticket items. Now the first appearance of Nightwing (or however) goes for big bucks.<BR/><BR/>Before that... Well, people bought what they thought was cool. Which is dependent of characters, sure; The best selling comics series ever was "Walt Disneys Comics and Stories" which had Mickey and Donald plastered on each and every cover...<BR/><BR/>But COOL also meant that there was an artist delivering a visual hook that made the tykes say "Mommmy! I want DAT! Only a dime, Mommy!"<BR/><BR/> (Personally I buy comics based on the "Oooh. Shiny" system, where I'll pick up anything I see as novel or unique. Character, artist, and writer are all behind this. Oooh. Or anything with pirates.)MarkAndrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16956940483406724174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147734704253995532006-05-15T18:11:00.000-05:002006-05-15T18:11:00.000-05:00Which some people do. ``v People like comics for a...Which some people do. ``v People like comics for all kinds of different reasons, and none of them are wrong. (Except the people who like them because they're good murder weapons.)<BR/><BR/>That said. "Cashews"? Urgh.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147732742026764052006-05-15T17:39:00.000-05:002006-05-15T17:39:00.000-05:00Following a comic simply because of the artist is ...Following a comic simply because of the artist is like watching films simply because of the cinematographer.Scipiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16217376618860561999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147727238184774452006-05-15T16:07:00.000-05:002006-05-15T16:07:00.000-05:00And, oh yeah, I thought that Creeper story was all...And, oh yeah, I thought that Creeper story was all sorts of awesome. The Joker kidnaps a drunken, bitter version of Charle M. Schultz? Brilliant. Comic Gold. <BR/><BR/>I honestly dug the whole series in all it's lunacy. Much better than Secret Society of Supervillains or (more recently) Villains United.MarkAndrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16956940483406724174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147727104245125332006-05-15T16:05:00.000-05:002006-05-15T16:05:00.000-05:00"I don't know; I don't follow writers, I follow ch..."I don't know; I don't follow writers, I follow characters.<BR/><BR/>That's how people used to read comics before the writer became more important than the character."<BR/><BR/>You're forgetting artists. You ever read a letter page from a DC comic circa 1966? Fans were aware of who the writer was and VERY aware of the artists. <BR/><BR/>The beginnings of organized fandom, usually built around a pen-pal type relationship, were all based around folks expressing admiration for their favorite artists.<BR/><BR/>Specifically, their favorite EC artists. Fans have always been tangentally aware of who was drawing their books (Carl Barks as the "good" duck artist) but to EC fans the artist was THE most important thing.<BR/><BR/> 'Course, in superhero books there's always going to be a large segment of the audience who doesn't care beans about who wrote or drew a comic, just 'cause they're aimed at a younger/younger-at-heart audience. But at least for the last fifty years there've been comics fans who's primary interest was WHO was drawing 'em, not WHO was starring in 'em.MarkAndrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16956940483406724174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147695987385876352006-05-15T07:26:00.000-05:002006-05-15T07:26:00.000-05:00Yes, the Joker/ creeper story sucked, but I liked ...Yes, the Joker/ creeper story sucked, but I liked J.L. Garcia-Lopez' art. He's one of those underrated '80s guys that always turned in good work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147649920034304122006-05-14T18:38:00.000-05:002006-05-14T18:38:00.000-05:00Julian, that's from "The Composite Superman", whic...Julian, that's from <BR/><BR/>"The Composite Superman", which appeared in World's Finest #142, 1964. <BR/><BR/>If you follow the link in the post, it will lead to lots of interesting information about that unique story.Scipiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16217376618860561999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147646514488103932006-05-14T17:41:00.000-05:002006-05-14T17:41:00.000-05:00This is off topic, but I'd like to ask from which ...This is off topic, but I'd like to ask from which comic book is the creepy panel with Joker from the post below. <BR/><BR/><BR/>thanksAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147643505931350302006-05-14T16:51:00.000-05:002006-05-14T16:51:00.000-05:00"Buy 100 Grant Morrison comics, you get more consi..."Buy 100 Grant Morrison comics, you get more consistency."<BR/><BR/>Consistency?<BR/><BR/>Grant Morrison?<BR/><BR/>Okay, you win; that's the funniest thing I've heard today.Scipiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16217376618860561999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147637164226987652006-05-14T15:06:00.000-05:002006-05-14T15:06:00.000-05:00That's how people used to read comics before the w...<I>That's how people used to read comics before the writer became more important than the character.</I><BR/><BR/>And thank God it did. Not that there's any difference in the ratio of quality to crap, but it just makes more damn sense. Buy 100 Superman comics, you're going to get wildly different stuff, and a ton of it is bound to be schlock. Buy 100 Grant Morrison comics, you get more consistency.Bill Reedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14811238618910477219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147632772922761722006-05-14T13:52:00.000-05:002006-05-14T13:52:00.000-05:00Just to nit-pick -- THE JOKER was not part of the ...Just to nit-pick -- THE JOKER was not part of the "DC Explosion."<BR/><BR/>The DC Explosion happened in 1978 -- the basic-format books all got more pages and bumped the price up to 50 cents. Most of them added 8-page backup series, though some just got longer lead stories.<BR/><BR/>Whether the Explosion would have worked or not, we'll never know -- there wasa huge blizzard that blanketed the Northeast and crippled the shipping of comics out of World Color Press in New York for a month. Higher-ups above the DC level saw the sudden drop in sales and immediately canceled a huge chunk of DC's line. Whether this was because they didn't have the operating capital to survive the blizzard's damage without cutting costs, or because they assumed that the sales drop was due to the format change and not the weather, I don't know. But the Explosion was short-lived.<BR/><BR/>THE JOKER, while also short-lived, launched in 1975 and died in 1976, two years before the DC Explosion.<BR/><BR/>kdbAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147620382852631162006-05-14T10:26:00.000-05:002006-05-14T10:26:00.000-05:00I love this series. It was alomst as good as the S...I love this series. It was alomst as good as the Secret Society of Super-Villains! I bought three or four Marvels a week back then, and only one DC - The Joker!<BR/><BR/>I've never read the first issue, though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147615014714003462006-05-14T08:56:00.000-05:002006-05-14T08:56:00.000-05:00The Creeper and the Joker also met in one of the K...The Creeper and the Joker also met in one of the Kaminski/Martinbrough/Buscema "Creeper" issues. Same issue also featured the Bat Monster Truck, which makes it tops in my book.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147614487626672072006-05-14T08:48:00.000-05:002006-05-14T08:48:00.000-05:00"Wolverine, Punisher, the Ultimates..."BWAHAHAHAHA..."Wolverine, Punisher, the Ultimates..."<BR/><BR/>BWAHAHAHAHA!Scipiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16217376618860561999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147614408267919032006-05-14T08:46:00.000-05:002006-05-14T08:46:00.000-05:00I don't know; I don't follow writers, I follow cha...I don't know; I don't follow writers, I follow characters.<BR/><BR/>That's how people used to read comics before the writer became more important than the character.Scipiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16217376618860561999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147608420496450932006-05-14T07:07:00.000-05:002006-05-14T07:07:00.000-05:00Really Scipio, you must like, what two or three wr...Really Scipio, you must like, what two or three writers?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147585482127778012006-05-14T00:44:00.000-05:002006-05-14T00:44:00.000-05:00Yeah, I like Semi-Good Catwoman a lot better. (Mut...Yeah, I like Semi-Good Catwoman a lot better. (Mutter grumble Identity Crisis retcon that they thankfully seem to be ignoring.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147581480561107822006-05-13T23:38:00.000-05:002006-05-13T23:38:00.000-05:00This is weird; but I think the relative defanging ...This is weird; but I think the relative defanging of Catwoman was a logical step in the character's ongoing evolution. She was always a bit of a softy, villain-wise, wasn't she? I mean, she only stole, and protected Bats on more than one occasion, as far as I know.Chancehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00226145896576592193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147580252399462302006-05-13T23:17:00.000-05:002006-05-13T23:17:00.000-05:00imagine what such a series might be like today.Wou...<I>imagine what such a series might be like today.</I><BR/><BR/>Wouldn't that be "The Killing Joke"? The Joker as evil as he ever is, yet told from his point of view in a way that allows us into his head?<BR/><BR/>I love the Killing Joke, by the way, but I don't think I could read that as a series. The Joker is too evil, his motives too alien and monstrous, to retain audience sympathy for an ongoing.<BR/><BR/>Lex Luthor, on the other hand...Stevenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14772087090448461047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147578404484167722006-05-13T22:46:00.000-05:002006-05-13T22:46:00.000-05:00I wouldn't think there'd be a problem with making ...I wouldn't think there'd be a problem with making a homicidal murderer the star of his own series. I mean, over at Marvel they have Wolverine, Punisher, the Ultimates...Ragnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00373059673228550524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147577473501514892006-05-13T22:31:00.000-05:002006-05-13T22:31:00.000-05:00I've got the Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told trad...I've got the Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told trade, and in the end notes (by associate editor Mark Waid), it is noted that original Joker editor Julius Schwartz has no recollection of the JLA story ever being completed, so it is sadly unlikely to exist in publishable form.Mark Cookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00017455633323112356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11737441.post-1147576009553732622006-05-13T22:06:00.000-05:002006-05-13T22:06:00.000-05:00Joker is one of the most fascinating characters in...Joker is one of the most fascinating characters in the entire DCU. It's a shame that the character had to be de-clawed in many ways just for this series.<BR/><BR/>I really think a Joker title with a psychological bent would work very well today. It'd be interesting to see how the mind of such a madman really works. I'm sure there have been storylines that dealt with that but putting it in an ongoing series would give a different perspective overall to the Joker.Chris Funghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18381891322913131298noreply@blogger.com