J.L. Switzer

(Beartato and Reginald, in a museum, gaze upon the Mona Lisa) BEARTATO: There it is. The Mona Lisa. The most famous painting in history. REGINALD: Wow! What's it do? BEARTATO: It... what? REGINALD: Why's it famous? What's it do? (Beartato thinks.) BEARTATO: I don't know. REGINALD (to nearly museum employee): Excuse me! Sir? What's it do? EMPLOYEE: You're the first person to ask! Watch this! (The employee yanks a pull-string. Mona Lisa's eyes spin around and her mouth opens like a puppet) MONA LISA: Honk honk! Honk honk! (Everyone is delighted. This is true art.)

True Art

Oh man I wish I had that much extra cash in the budget right now. The detailed interior of the house! Shifty-looking li'l Krillin! TWO adorably cheerful little Gokus! Only thing it's really missing to my eyes is the turtle, but I forget, maybe he wasn't around for the PRECISE moments this recreates.

Yes, the children of America in 1987 yearned for pajamas featuring Menasor's scowling face from the cover of Transformers issue 22, the portrait cover that had the Marvel Comics 25th anniverary art border. (Never understood why Menasor of all characters got that honor.)

(By the by, the reason I'm not doing one of those big long cover threads like I had done the last few years is because it had gotten to a point where any time I sat down to read comics the fact that I "had" to snap the covers and "had" to have a take was actually giving me anxiety.)

Got thru 4 of those, a couple Ultimate X-Men, and an Ultimate Spider-Man, and still have a ways to go on all of THAT.

Also read the 1st issue of that Deniz Camp Vertigo zombie book. Stipan Morian's cartooning is GREAT, but I think my distaste for zombie stuff in general tempered my reaction to it.

Rotten, badly-paced, morally bankrupt "global war on terror"-age star-fucking comics that only have any value cuz Bryan Hitch is a pro and drew them all pretty and, sure, they also gave us Sam Jackson in the MCU. As comics go, the "save America" issue of this has more substance than that whole run.

So yeah, when money's more stable I'm going to have to go back issue hunting for THIS. Great. And then I started Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri's Ultimates and, it is wild how much better THIS Ultimates and Al Ewing's 616 Ultimates from the LAST decade are than Mark Millar's rotten fucking Ultimates.

As for the Ultimate stuff, I am over a year behind, and read ... y'know, I didn't buy ANY of Black Panther until I tossed (mostly later printings of) the first 4 issues into some eBay order, and oh right, Stefano Caselli drew this and I LOVE his art, and the story's intriguing. Aw geez.

So, read six of those and one issue of Absolute Wonder Woman, which didn't move the needle much in terms of story but felt good to get back to. Hayden Sherman is also a fucking star, and I hope they stick with this book for a long damn time, because I am OBSESSED with the way they draw Diana.

... y'know, Nick Dragotta has been good for a VERY long time (you DID read East of West, RIGHT?!?), but it's so nice to see him doing such phenomenal work on SUCH a big fucking stage, man. Gabriel Walta's damn good, too, but it kinda felt like an intrusion getting to 4 and not seeing Dragotta there.

4. Started playing catch-up on Absolute & Ultimate books. God DAMN, those are actually really good comics! Whaddaya know, Absolute Batman lives up to the year-plus of hype! And while a lot of that's on Snyder's thoughtful reconstruction of the mythos for a modern fallen age, let's not discount --

... the cliffhanger where Kara collapses was too much. Had to read the next one. Tho I did still stop with THAT issue and saved the rest for ... eh, probably sometime in the next 24 hours, but still. Brisk, lively comics that take her history into account without letting it overwhelm the series.

3. I then segued right into the ongoing Sophie Campbell Supergirl, which I read the 1st issue of when it came out and somehow failed to continue reading in all these months, and it is DELIGHTFUL, and I was going to stop with the Super-Pets issue with Paulina Ganucheau art in the 1st half, BUT --

2. I finished the most recent volume of Birds of Prey. Kelly Thompson again does not disappoint, and I do wonder what book Sami Basri might be doing now, because whatever it is I should be reading it. Also, I have a big stack of Batgirl to read & I will be disappointed if Barda never guest stars.

The funniest thing about reading immediately-pre-Crisis Batman, suddenly I'm like, oh, THAT'S why Mayor Hill was the mayor on Batman: TAS, and THAT'S why Vicki's the love interest in the movie -- there's details that make things about the Bat-media I grew up with make a lot more sense.

It's also REALLY weird that in the months following Year One you see Batman issues drawn by, like, Dave Cockrum and Ross Andru -- from a story that STILL feels modern and fresh, to, here's these really old-school Marvel guys drawing stuff that seems old-fashioned compared to the pre-Crisis books!

Random thoughts about the comics I finally read tonight:
1. I've been reading a lot of '80s Batman the last few weeks, and while I do really find myself enjoying the pre-Crisis soap opera, I also do get why you'd make a hard swerve away from that.

INC ETTING UP CLA MORE MINES IN AMBULANCES MUST BE AGAINST THE GENEVA CONVENTION! NERLANSEN HOETFUCERE THEM UNDER- NEATH THE AMBULANCES DID YOU KNOW THAT MOST DEPARTMENTS ARE ILLEGAL UNDER THE RULES OF THE GENEVA CONVENTION?

Larry Hama, telling it like it is in a kids’ comic in 1983

When we're done with this bullshit, I need someone to underline and circle in red all the parts of the Constitution that guarantee that I don't have to listen to this or incorporate it into my worldview. This is not a Christian nation, and I'm getting increasingly testy about that particular lie.

RETRO ABSOLUTE BATMAN🦇

As an absolute (hehe) super-fan of what @ssnyder1835.bsky.social & @nickdragotta.bsky.social are putting out with this phenomenal book every month, I just had to mash up Absolute Bats with some of my retro flavours!

I am sincerely and completely done with anyone whose religious beliefs drive their public policy. My read of the Constitution is that I am free from having to care about your gods and your books and your rules because that is your fucking business. I want that line enforced. Stringently.

I believe that any belief in End Times prophecies and how military deployments might help accelerate the Apocalypse should disqualify you from being anywhere near the levers of control, and honestly, from holding any office of import. Keep that crazy made-up nonsense to yourselves.

(And of course there's forty-some other things from previous weeks -- lots of action figures, discs, graphic novels, and whatnot -- if ten-year-old Transformers combiners and forty-year-old animation art from the infamous original failed Robotech sequel/side-story ain't your bag.)

Afternoon, all! Glad to see folks ARE bidding on the three highlighted items, but the self-inflicted state of my finances demands that I say -- if any of these three things is up your alley, please check out the auctions and, if it hasn't gotten too rich for your blood, throw your hat in the ring. 😁

Misa's Bday ~ 🎂

#RetroAnime
#Macross
#Fanart

... that, or if it included the cut (or clip -- honestly I forget if there were other differences) from the Japanese LD my sister had where after the Count is killed the screen doesn't just flash red, it shows his face disintegrating against a flashing background. (I swear I didn't dream that.)

Also I'm suddenly wondering if the most recent Vampire Hunter D blu-ray is any different than Sentai's last edition or if it's just a package refresh. Though I do think either way the only thing that'd get me to buy it on blu-ray again would be bringing back the Streamline dub.

OK, I also don't have the Lupin episodes off of that "Tales of the Wolf" tape, but that's because I'm waiting on Discotek to finally put Part II on blu-ray.

Huh, it looks like it's been over 15 years since the Silent Möbius movie was available on disc, where's THAT on blu-ray?

In fact, I think the only thing that's currently (or has semi-recently been) available in that trailer I don't currently own a copy of is Doomed Megalopolis. Should get on that sooner rather than later.

When was the last time Neo-Tokyo was available on disc? Shocked to see it's streaming on CR.

State of the Art Japanese Animation (Orion Home Video/Streamline Pictures) YouTube video by Popular Culture Archives

YouTube decided to recommend multiple uploaded copies of the 8Man After English dub theme this evening, so I had to re-watch Streamline Pictures' most memorable use of said theme: the "State of the Art Japanese Animation" trailer ... which reminds me, SOMEONE needs to re-license the 3x3 Eyes OVA.