Would you believe that not two panels later the evil Raakj nearly flings Green Lantern off of a futuristically high place, and that two panels after that he is so corrupted by power that he nearly strikes down the woman that he was doing all of this villainy for in the first place?
If only I could figure out whet this reminds me of. Repo Man?
Archie's Gag Bag was an Archie Comics classic feature, a page full of one-joke strips that was usually stuck between a couple of longer stories. Never before has the feature's title been as relevant to one of the gags.
In an amazing coincidence, both Betty and Veronica made exactly the same sound in a similar circumstance.
(And I didn't get hurricaned to death! Just had no power for maybe 30 hours)
I'm sitting here waiting for Hurricane Earl to finish crawling up the coast of Nova Scotia to trounce us - okay, I'm sitting here reading old Superman comics, but I'm aware that the storm hasn't started yet and I'll know when it gets here, and that's almost like waiting - and so I thought I'd try to get topical with my Unfunny. This is as close as I could find:
This is middle-era Shorty, after his stint in the Navy but before he becomes a scuba diver. He takes no guff.
Oh hey, the wind is picking up. If Halifax is unexpectedly flattened and I'm never heard from again, consider that punchline as proof of my prophetic genius. Otherwise, have a good Saturday.
- from Superboy No. 22
This was a very good week for me, comics-wise. New Tick, new King City, new Astro City… Stumptown, Secret Six and I, Zombie, Strange Science Fantasy and Gorilla-Man. Any one of these is enough to make me happy and a week that includes all of them makes me feel like I might have done an especially excellent good deed while I wasn’t looking and this is my reward. I’d better find an old lady to conspicuously help across the street, just in case.
Despite this bounty of riches, though, the thing that [really] got me going yesterday was the fact that The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects was there, just waiting for me to shell out some dough and take it home.
If you’ve never read Mike Mignola because you weren’t that into horror comics, or because you’re daunted by the volume of material in the Hellboy library, or for no good reason at all, you should check this out. First of all, while it’s not exactly light and fluffy, it’s lighter and fluffier than Mignola’s other books, and it’s damn funny as well. It's his atmospheric, portentious horror done as an absurdist farce (and I guess that's the reason to read it if you do already read Hellboy), complete with zombie Prussians, Victorian pseudoscience and TNT-powered rocket transports.
Secondly, this is it. There are no other Screw-On Head stories, and tragic as that may be it makes it very easy to catch up. And fourthly, the “other curiosities” of the title are similarly absurd and irreverent and include both a new tale featuring Emperor Zombie's unfortunate companion Dr Snap and "The Magician and the Snake", a comic co-written by Mignola's then-7-year old daughter Katie.
I’ve been carting my floppy version of the Screw-On Head comic around for years. It’s been from one end of this country to the other with me. It may be the first thing that Dave ever convinced me to buy. And the reason that I have never left it behind or shoved it up in my parents' attic or failed to retrieve it from a friend's grubby mitts is because it is delightful. I own a lot of comics and I love a lot of those comics but for sheer every-damn-time joy it's basically The Amazing Screw-On Head and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen No. 72.
Now if you'll excuse me, I must go and read it again.
I was going to post a humourous picture to illustrate exactly how hot, but I cannot bring myself to use this furnace-machine for that long. Please picture, say, the Human Flame shooting fire at someone, or Plastic Man melting, or Superman saying that it is hot. Thank you.
Yes, the Toronto Fan Expo was this past weekend and no, Those Who Live Between Wednesdays could not attend. Why the others could not do so I'm not at liberty to say (hint: you don't think that nuclear missiles just spontaneously defuse themselves mid-flight, do you?) but as for me it has something to do with being dead broke, plus in the wrong part of Canada.
But do not despair! I have received word that Owen Craig and Isaac Mills of Mondo Magazine did get to go, and what's more, they've written up a multi-part account of their good times for all of us to check out.
First, Owen checks out the DC Nation panel and meets some creators.
Isaac takes in a showing of Batman '66, complete with Adam West Q&A.
Owen comes back with Stan Lee, the Delorean and, most excitingly, hot yo-yo action.
And then: Sunday. After two hectic days, our heroes take it a bit easier.
Meanwhile, Isaac takes in some artists' panels.
And that's that. As I mentioned, I spend a lot of my time sans money - and maybe the room full of comic paraphernalia has something to do with that, I don't know. What am I, a rocket mathonaut? - so I've never actually had the opportunity to go to a con. Or an expo. I will someday, though, and I'm glad that there are folks out there reporting the experience for guy like me with comical moths flying out of their wallets. Thanks, Owen and Isaac, because now I have a better idea of what I will find, and I will be prepared.
Particularly for Dan Didio, because as far as I can tell, that guy is everywhere.
Living Between Wednesdays is a place for people who love comic books and superheroes.
