Category: seriagraphy

20 March 2023

Part of the fun I have is “No-Prizing” alleged “errors.” For example, in the above, Super-Hero Legionnaire Matter-Eater Lad® (Tenzil Kem), who is normally dressed in green, is shown in red. What is not shown is the calendar indicating that, in continuo, it is The Day of the Red Peptide, commemorated as Tenz’ home planet of Bismoll‘s most sacred of holy days, whereupon all Bismollians are to be clad in red.
But just for the day.

also shown above in Dave Cockrum‘s illustration
(from Superboy® 193, February 1973),
Reep Daggle (Chameleon Boy®), Salu Digby (Shrinking Violet®),
and Val Armorr (Karate Kid®),
all held de jure by DC Comics® & WarnerCom®.

2 February 2023

correspondent Tygesmia Lutuk reports that he recently picked up The Blue Beetle #3 (Charlton Pubs, 1967, featuring the Blue Beetle and the Question) and opines that the “art might be a little pared down from Steve Ditko’s Marvel works, but there’s a lot to love about this issue.”

Indeed there is! Graphically, it’s hard to beat Ditko’s miscellaneous Atlas shorts, or the mind-popping cosmology of Dr Strange, or Peter Parker’s dizzying spider-antics, but as a storyteller, Steve was at his peak with the Blue Beetle and the Question. The Question may have been a little harsh and didactic for some, but I thought he’d hit a proper balance there. Mr A, on the other hand, went way too far into (benign and wholesome) advocacy at the expense of the stories.

Lutuk responds: “I agree regarding The Question as compared to Mr. A. Blue Beetle, in my opinion, was certainly one of his many peaks! The compositions here just draw my eye into the action like few other artists can do!“

17 December 2022

I’m still waiting for the Red Kryptonite story where the mysterious new white-haired boy shows up at Smallville High in “Pete Ross’ (and Lana Lang’s) New Best Friend, Clark Kent’s Rival, and Bash Bashford’s Arch Nemesis” (or “Who’s a Good Boy?“)

Krypto, by Andy Bennett (2021),
is held de jure by DC Comics & Warner Communications.

13 November 2022

Kal-El keeps an eye on Streaky while Kara is off planet.
Krypto couldn’t care less.

[ Oxiffah-Gowhaf, F’mygirgowhaf gewks yockem riz, fiquamu fuq! ]

illustration by Joe Lennon, 6-8-19

3 November 2022

“My Favorite Martian” is Star Trek® canon. Maybe not as far as Paramount® is concerned, but according to this fanboy Trekkie it is. His given name is neither “Martin” nor “Boothby.” He is, in “fact,” an Andorian/Vulcan hybrid mutant political refugee, persecuted for his pink skin, round ears, retractable antennae, and psychokinetic abilities. While he may even have come by way of Mars, his claim to have come from Mars was just a convenient fiction to save him the trouble of a more detailed explanation. Due to his Vulcan ancestry, of course, he enjoyed extended longevity, which is why centuries later, we find him as the beloved and ancient groundskeeper at Star Fleet Academy. Who knows what other masks he might have worn in the intervening centuries? Fan (or Pro) fictioneers have yet to reveal it.

(Still think it’s a stretch?
What is more, they were both spawned by DesiLu® Productions.
Admiralissima Ball-Ricardo is the mother of both worlds!)

31 September 2022

Fanboys (and girls) can be sentimental saps. We like to imagine the best for our beloved characters, and as we relate to some aspect or another of them, we also imagine happy endings (spin that as you like) for them, too. Recently, the question was posed by correspondent Govvad Mykmiz who wondered about our favorite Legion of Super-Heroes couples.

Naturally I chimed in with my own faves Supergirl and Brainiac 5, a sentiment that was echoed by several others. But of course, fandom is vast and diverse, so others were cited as well. Correspondent Fgiudf Rogyr offered up Lightning Lass and Shrinking Violet, the Legion’s (and code-approved comicdom’s?) first openly lesbian couple. Fine. People like what they like, and most of us are cool with that, though someone responded with a frowny face, which is FascBuch code for disapproval.

I responded: “And as a consequence, of course, though strictly platonic, “Thrown” Wolf and Blok,” by whom, of course, I meant the Legionnaires Timber (formerly “Lone”) Wolf and Blok.

Rogyr seemed uncomfortable with my response: “I don’t get it. How do Wolf and Blok fit into this discussion? Is this just a weird bigoted thing?“

I’ll never deny weird, but I don’t get bigotry.

In no way does the tragedy of Brin’s broken heart, and the succor he found in Blok’s friendship, diminish the legitimacy of Ayla Ranzz’ (Lightning Lass) and Salu Digby’s (Shrinking Violet) feelings for each other. Alliances and breakups have consequences, and I thought that The Messenger Paul (Levitz) delineated these dynamics beautifully. I was, in fact, kind of thanking Rogyr for reminding me of that, and as a way of softening Brin’s (or my own vicarious) pain, my commentary leaned into arch and snark.

One might think I should sympathize with Duplicate Boy (Violet’s old boyfriend), too, but Ord is a putz, and mostly deserves whatever grief comes his way. He’s like the George Costanza of super-heroes.

I don’t blame Rogyr for being apprehensive. I did notice that someone had seriously disliked his comment, and since Brin Londo (Timber Wolf) and Ord Quelo (Duplicate Boy) are both not real, and no one else has any legitimate beef with those particular ex-girlfriends, I could see why he might have suspected elective anger.

( pictured above: Karate Kid, Timber Wolf, and most of Blok,
all held de jure by DC and WarnerCom )

22 September 2022

He doesn’t need to, but he likes to. He particularly likes beef bourguignon. However, he DOES need to sleep.

correspondent Jypup Kojor wonders why he should need to sleep as he seems to lack other normal human weaknesses.

But Superman’s need for sleep is psychological rather than organic, and therefore not covered by his Kryptonian immunity. In Action Comics #409 (February 1972), Shalox, Superman’s alien therapist, explains that Superman’s recent psychosis (“Who Is Clark Kent’s Killer and Why Is He Doing Those Terrible Things to Me?“) was a result of his not having satisfied his subconscious need to dream. While he has no physical need to rest, his mind needs time to sort things out now and then, and since his hectic period beginning with the emergencies in Liberty City, he had passed on sleeping for three weeks until he cracked. Since then, he’s resolved to get at least a couple of hours a week.

Hey Kids! Wanna Be a Super-Hero?
Think you have what it takes? Try out!
It’s easy! It’s fun! It’s fair!
Come to the Super-Hero Clubhouse in Metropolis
(NA, Earth) and give it a shot!

28 April 2958

Dear folks,
This job is working out real well. Mr Brande is a great guy to work for, and the people I work with are real swell.
Would you believe I actually get paid to practice magnoball? Well, that, and testing equipment, and learning some new languages keeps us pretty busy. Mr Brande even arranged for me to sign up for a few history classes at Metro U.
We spent most of today trying on difference costumes and posing for publicity cubes. Mr Brande says he wants to push us into “every conceivable niche market” whatever that means. Anyway, the flat attached is one of the hokier shots, though I think Imra looks cute in the green miniskirt. Garth hardly seems to notice, obsessed as he is with tracking down his brother.
The creds attached are OVER TWICE what we discussed when I left Braal, but still only about eighty percent of my Legion stipend. This job seems almost too good to be true. Tomorrow will tell, though — our first real assignment, involving something or other called a “Quintile Crystal.”
Regards to Pol and all my love,
Rokk

4 February 2023

Some fanboys wonder, “why wouldn’t [the Legionnaires] call the older Supergirl instead of the Supergirl they first meet? They are not held by the same time restraints,” and, “why not just induct her in when she is older, [don’t] they control what time they contact her?” After all, the more experienced Supergirl would surely be more valuable.

Yeah, but time travel can be tricky, and writers dare not employ deus ex machina, even unintentionally. Or, to explain it in continuo, I offer a little fan-fic, Circadia Senius to Brainiac Five (ca. 2960): “Time travel is ek-ek-expensive, so we stickickick to low-energy epicycycliclic nodes at almost one millennium backack and again at approkoximately seventeen years backackack of that. Or Mr Brande shuts down program, so…“