Harley Quinn #59 (Variant Cover Edition)

Hey Puddin'!

'Memba when I mentioned back in January that a sweet Harley Quinn fan art piece done by singapore-based artist Derrick Chew, that I'd given the top spot in the fan art listicle I published to geeks.media, was used by DC Comics for the cover of Harley Quinn #58?

Well, I'm very happy to announce that another piece he did – that I'd also used for my listicle – will be featured on the cover of Harley Quinn #59 (street date: 3/6/19)! As stated previously, I'm not going as far as to presume that my article had anything to do with its selection by DC, but I'm beyond thrilled for Chew...and I hope that it did.

When life hands you lemons...make a meme!

Although they've become an immensely popular facet of internet culture, I've only made two or three memes. I can't even recall now what the first one was, and don't know why I didn't think to post the last one I made a month or so ago (inspired by the Aquaman movie) here on the blog. Maybe I'll do that later tonight and back date it to the time when it was made. 

Anywho, it was with, perhaps, a dark sense of humor that I made this new meme. I'd started workin' on it shortly after reading the announcement today that Netflix (thanx much to Disney) has also pulled the plug on Jessica Jones and The Punisher, the last of the streaming network's six Marvel TV shows.

I'd originally started off using a much different image of Mickey Mouse, but figured I'd play around with another that I'd found and everything pretty much clicked with my second attempt in a way that it hadn't really with the first.

The quote used is line of dialog borrowed from Thanos, the big purple alien wearer of the golden Infinity Gauntlet in Avengers: Infinity War and the comic book series that inspired the film.

Not much more to say about it all. Unlike a great number of fans, I only watched Luke Cage and The Defenders, so my heartbreak over the cancellation of the Marvel shows I cared about was already felt and gotten over some months ago. Them's the breaks, as they say.

I did have a twisted bit of fun making the meme, though.

[Press-N-Play®] CZARFACE & Ghostface Killah - Mongolian Beef!!!

Yooooooo!! This new video for the Czarface and Ghostface Killah "Mongolian Beef" joint is everything, all that, and a bag of wasabi peas! A gorgeously garish visual smörgåsbord of old school Eastern and Western influences. I'm givin' it 5 stars, five mics, and–as the Chitown homies Siskel & Ebert used to say–"Two thumbs up! Way up!!"

Directed by: Shawn A. Johnson (Nektr) @oldsoulbrother1

Also, the full Czarface Meets Ghostface album just dropped on February 15th, so make sure to cop that $#%@ wherever good music is sold! And no bootlegs, y'all–buy that $#%@!!! Or...bootleg it AND buy it. I could definitely co-sign on that.

When the Official 'X:Men The Animated Series' Page Uses Your Stan Lee Essay to Inform X-Men Fans

“Hmm @XMenTAS what’s the tea?”

Prompted by a Twitter post made by OMG Facts on January 15, a curious fan of the 90s TV show X-Men: The Animated Series asked show writer & producer, Julia & Eric Lewald (@XMenTAS), about the rumor that Stan Lee based Professor X on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. To my very pleasant surprise, both Mr. and Mrs. Lewald replied with a link to my essay that disproves this popular urban myth.

Pretty friggin' cool, huh?

Happy Belated 80th, Count Dante!

February 2, 2019 marked what would have been the 80th birthday of the man once known as Count Dante (1939-1975). Having grown up in the golden age of martial arts movies reading comics–where Dante's most famous ad for his martial arts system appeared–the Count holds a special place in my heart, and in the hearts of countless others. 

In the fall of 2004 I wrote an essay on Count Dante and published it in the first issue of Kung Fu Grip zine. Sometime last year, I decided that I should probably transfer that piece to the web. As coincidence would have it, a fellow Gen-Xer who both read and liked the piece invited me onto his podcast on February 1st to talk about the infamous cult figure. It was a fun chat.  

I'll post a link to the show when its edited and uploaded to the web in a couple of weeks. But in the meantime, if you've never read "Man, You Come Right Out Of A Comic Book," you can check it out the essay by clicking here. 

BATTLE ANGEL ALITA

It was in the summer of '94 that I fell head over heels in love with the short animated film Battle Angel (renamed Battle Angel Alita in the US). One of the managers at the local comic book shop had unexpectedly handed me his VHS copy one afternoon and asked me to give it a watch.

The obvious echoes of Fritz Lang's Metropolis meets Ridley Scott's (and Phillip K. Dick's) Blade Runner, laced with other original elements by story creator Yukito Kishiro, blew me away. Soon after, I started reading the graphic novels/manga.

Despite being a longtime fan (or maybe because of that), I can't say that I'm looking forward to the live-action film that director Robert Rodriguez and producer James Cameron are bringing to theaters in the coming weeks. Off the top, I don't care at all for Alita's (or Gally's in the manga) facial design. 

I positively love Alita's anatomical design on the flat, two-dimensional plane, but the over-exaggerated, Disney-influenced eyes that the manga and anime of Japan have been known for over 50+ years just looks too grossly unnatural–to me–in a live-action venture.

Rodriguez should have reconsidered taking that approach, I think. 

The off-putting design seen in the trailers, however, is somewhat downplayed in this poster, and it WORKS. In fact, the overall design of the poster is really gorgeous, and I love how the florescent pink and baby blue just pops... 

Heyyyy, wait a minute! (Then again, never mind.)

Despite my disinterest in the film, somehow I still want it to do well. Rodriguez has every thing to do with that; he's yet to make a film I didn't enjoy, and if I could get past the design of Alita–which I can't–I'd probably enjoy this one too.

The poster really does kick ass, tho.

Alita: Battle Angel opens on Thursday, February 14. If you see it, puh-leeze feel free to tell me what you thought about it. I'll prolly just stick with the original anime and the comics.