Read - Hulk (2014) and Indestructible Hulk (2011)

Hulk (2014) #1

I haven't been reading much Marvel Now, as I haven't been thinking Marvel was treating their main characters very well.  Not sure what they are doing with Spider-Man - seems like they are trying to completely alienate any readers over 3 years old - keeping old storylines best left forgotten (e.g. Brand New Day, Clone Saga, Ezekiel, Goblin-Stacy...).

However, I relented and read Hulk (2014) and Indestructible Hulk (2011) - read in wrong order, but liked both.

Both series seem to have gravitated to a good version of the Hulk, having his intelligence somewhat variable, and having a better "relationship" between Banner and Hulk - "Hulk smash, Banner Build" or whatever the verbiage is.  They went a little too spacey for a while, but seem to be drawing from the history of the character in a positive way.

Finished (Comic): "All-Star Batman and Robin (2005)" - Miller and Lee - DC Comics

I read the 10-issue "All-Star Batman and Robin" series by Frank Miller (writer) and Jim Lee (artist).

The story was a gritty re-telling of the origin of Robin - his circus acrobat parents murdered in front of young Dick Grayson after a performance attended by Bruce Wayne.

The characterization of Batman drew criticism due to the quite remarkable cruelty he displayed - being very stoic and harsh to Grayson's grief, even smacking him across the face and expecting him to hunt and eat bats in the bat cave for food.

Odd behaviour aside, the story does run well, and shows a very adult re-telling, with appearances by the Joker, Batgirl and Black Canary.  As an "outside continuity" story, it's worth the read - the art, in particular, make the story worth looking through.  Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Plastic Man and Superman also have cameos.

There is a fair bit of humour - the catchpharse "I'm Goddamn Batman" starts in issue #1, and seeing an early version of Superman having to run over the ocean to France to fetch a doctor is pretty amusing.

If these covers look different, that's because DC was in the "buy many copies because I made many covers" mode.

 
  
 


 
  

Read "Graduation Day" Mini-series - DC Comics 2003

I know, a little behind the times, but I've just read Young Justice and Teen Titans Graduation Day.  I never really liked the Teen Titans, maybe I was too old to find the teen sidekicks interesting, and wasn't reading comics much during the Young Justice years.

A very nicely put together story - the two teams fail in a mission to handle an unknown robot-lady and end up hospitalized.  Superman appears, a little wooden and non-communicative.  Turns out to be a malfunctioning robot with super-powers turned on a bunch of kids.

Not sure what I was expecting, but it turned out to be an interesting mini-series.

The Great Visit of 2014 - Superman's House

The Great Visit of 2014

March 21 to 23^rd, 2014 I had the opportunity to visit Cleveland to attend my daughter’s dance competition.  My son and I took the opportunity to visit the home of Superman.

The Superman story is a very interesting tale.  Jerry Siegel (the writer) and Joe Shuster (the artist) began collaborating during High School in Glenville, OH (now part of Cleveland), putting images and articles in the Glenville Torch (high school newspaper).  The submitted stories to early science fiction magazines and wrote fan letters, all with the dream to become newspaper cartoonists, which was a very lucrative and fame-creating role in the depression era.

Superman was not an immediate hit.  It took persistence to keep flogging the character, and they worked on other features in the meantime.  Comic books were in their infancy and the initial ones were re-prints of newspaper comics.

The forerunners of the current DC comics decided to try to produce a comic book with new material, and they had the Superman strips which had been submitted.  Siegel and Shuster re-vamped the daily strip to a single story, and for $160, Superman was the cover feature on Action Comics #1, cover dated June 1938.

Action Comics #1, June 1938 launched the modern super-hero comic.

Nobody predicted the success of the Superman character.  Siegel and Shuster were just happy to find a paying job.  However, as the money started to roll in, and rolled away from Siegel and Shuster, they began to have second thoughts of their “take” on the value of their creation.

Siegel, in particular, had a long series of legal battles with DC Comics over the profits related to Superman.  These cases settled several times, though the value of the character kept increasing, so before the ink was even dry on any particular agreement, it immediately seemed to be ripping off the creators.

The neighbourhood, which would likely have been a working class neighbourhood in the high school days of Siegel and Shuster is now in pretty rough shape.  May homes are borded up, some lots bare.  A few homeowners have kept up their properties, but seem to be losing the battle with time.  Siegel’s house is still present, and well maintained, and does have a family living in it, so it is not a museum.  Decorations and plaques mark the home as being special and keep the memory of what once was alive.

Street signs in the neighbourhood recognize the famous friends - Kimberley Avenue is listed as "Jerry Siegel Lane".  

My son Bennett in front of the house that Jerry Siegel lived in when creating Superman in the 1930's.  Much of the neighbourhood shows the rough times working class Cleveland has gone through, but this house is inhabited and in good shape.

A Superman Logo and a Superman "S" from the early Shuster art adorns the fence in front of the former Siegel home.

The plaque reads:
This is the house where Superman was born.

Writer Jerry Siegel (1914-1996) was a teenaged boy who lived her during the Great Depression, one of the toughest economic times for Cleveland and the country.

Jerry wasn't popular.  He was a dreamer, and he knew how to dream big.  With his best friend, artist Joe Shuster, these two boys created a bright fantasy world of spaceships, strange planets and a a city where a young man in red an blue tights could leap over tall buildings in a single bound.

They called him Superman.

They didn't just give us they world's first super hero....They gave us something to believe in.

The Superman "S" shield as depicted in early Superman works in Action Comics by artist Joe Shuster.

On the top floor you can almost imagine the creation of Superman, and can almost glimpse him in the windows.

Joe Shuster’s home is no longer present, but the location is marked with blown-up pages from Action Comics #1, the first appearance of the Man of Steel, Superman.

We made two visits to this neighbourhood – the first was shocking, as I hadn’t anticipated such a run-down neighbourhood.  However, shock aside, the second visit showed a more positive side – a team of neighbours were spring cleaning the vacant lot across the street from the Siegel home.

Some panels are missing, but this is the lot of the teen home of Joe Shuster, the artist of the Superman creation team.  These panels are from Action Comics #1, which recently sold for over $3 million.

Parkwood is the street that connects Amor (Joe Shuster Lane) amd Kimberley (Jerry Siegel Lane).  It is appropriately called "Lois Lane".

A downloaded image of the Shuster home lot when the fence was more complete.

 A plaque marking the neighbourhood of Siegel and Shuster at E105 St. and St. Clair Ave.

The plaque reads:

Home of Superman

(on front) Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Two Glenville High School students imbued with imagination and talent and passion for science fiction and comics, had dream become reality in 1932.  They created Superman, the first of the superheroes ever to see print.  The 1932 prototype was a villainous suerhero.  Superman then became the hero who has been called the Action Ace, the Man of Steel, and the Man of Tomorrow. 

(on back) Although the success of Superman spawned an entire industry, publishers and newspaper syndicates did not originally accept the creation.  Superman did not appear until 1938 when he became a lead feature on the cover of Action Comics No. 1.  As co-creators of the most famous of mythical beings, Siegal (sic) and Shuster infused popular American culture with one of the most enduring icons of the 20^th century.  Superman has appeared in animated series, live-action series, major motion pictures, advertisements, and comic books, where his popularity grows with each generation of readers.

The Ohio Bicentennial Commission

The Ohio Historical Society

2003

A very good book (which I picked up in Cleveland on this particular trip) is called "Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster--the Creators of Superman" by Brad Ricca.

http://us.macmillan.com/superboys/bradricca

A map can be found around Cleveland (comic book stores and elsewhere) marking milestones in the Superman creation legend.

Comic Company Crossovers

 

When I was a kid I saw the oversized Superman-Spider-Man comic on the shelves of the store.  I loved that story, not just Superman and Spider-Man, but Jimmy Olsen and Clark Kent meeting Peter Parker, Perry White meeting J. Jonah Jameson.

I've always carried a soft spot for the crossovers.  I later found that there were other crossovers, not just Marvel and DC.  Here is the list I've created - ordered by companies and years.  I doubt it is complete, but it probably has all the Marvel and DC crossovers.

Please let me know if there are any more.

I have included some odd titles which aren't really crossovers:

"Stan Lee's Just Imagine...." is a series where Stan Lee re-creates DC's key characters (e.g. Just Imagine Stan Lee's Batman).
  
The "Amalgam" comics aren't exactly crossovers, they also are re-imaginings, where a DC and Marvel character are mixed together (e.g. Batman and Wolverine, or Storm and Wonder Woman, or Superboy and Spiderman).

Title	Year	Companies	Total Issues
Judge Dredd vs Aliens	2003	Dark Horse and 2000 AD	4
Just Imagine – Stan Lee's	2001	DC (and Marvel)	12
Batman & Judge Dredd - Judgement on Gotham	1991	DC and 2000 AD	1
Batman & Judge Dredd - Vendetta in Gotham	1993	DC and 2000 AD	1
Batman and Judge Dredd - The Ultimate Riddle	1995	DC and 2000 AD	1
Judge Dredd & Lobo - Psycho Bikers vs Mutants from Hell	1995	DC and 2000 AD	1
Batman & Judge Dredd - Die Laughing	1998	DC and 2000 AD	2
Batman and Grendel - Devil's Riddle/Devil's Masque	1993	DC and Comico	2
Batman vs Predator I	1991	DC and Dark Horse	3
Batman vs Predator II	1995	DC and Dark Horse	4
Superman - Aliens	1995	DC and Dark Horse	3
Batman and Grendel - Devil's Bones	1996	DC and Dark Horse	2
Batman vs Aliens	1997	DC and Dark Horse	2
Batman vs Predator III	1997	DC and Dark Horse	4
Batman - Hellboy - Starman	1999	DC and Dark Horse	1
Batman - Tarzan - Claws of the Cat-Woman	1999	DC and Dark Horse	4
Superman vs Terminator - Death to the Future	1999	DC and Dark Horse	4
Green Lantern vs Aliens	2000	DC and Dark Horse	4
Superman vs Predator	2000	DC and Dark Horse	3
Justice League vs Predator	2001	DC and Dark Horse	1
Superman vs. Aliens II - God War	2002	DC and Dark Horse	4
Superman and Batman vs. Aliens and Predator	2007	DC and Dark Horse	2
Catwoman and Vampirella	1997	DC and Harris	1
Batman - Spawn - War Devil	1994	DC and Image	1
Spawn and Batman	1994	DC and Image	1 1 1
Superman and Savage Dragon - Metropolis Superman and Savage Dragon - Chicago Superman vs Spiderman	1999 2002 1976	DC and Image DC and Image DC and Marvel	1 1
Batman vs Hulk	1981	DC and Marvel	1
Superman vs Spiderman	1981	DC and Marvel	1
X-men vs New Teen Titans	1982	DC and Marvel	1
Batman – Punisher	1994	DC and Marvel	1
Punisher – Batman	1994	DC and Marvel	1
Darkseid vs Galactus	1995	DC and Marvel	1
Green Lantern – Silver Surfer	1995	DC and Marvel	1
Spiderman – Batman	1995	DC and Marvel	1
Amalgam Comics	1996	DC and Marvel	12
Batman – Captain Amieica	1996	DC and Marvel	1
DC vs Marvel	1996	DC and Marvel	1
DC vs Marvel – All Access	1996	DC and Marvel	1
Silver Surfer – Superman	1996	DC and Marvel	1
All Access Unlimited	1997	DC and Marvel	1
Amalgam Comics	1997	DC and Marvel	12
Batman – Spiderman	1997	DC and Marvel	1
Daredevil – Batman	1997	DC and Marvel	1
Hulk vs Superman	1999	DC and Marvel	1
Superman – Fantastic Four	1999	DC and Marvel	1
Batman – Daredevil	2000	DC and Marvel	1
The Darkness - Batman	1999	DC and Top Cow	1
JLA - Witchblade	2000	DC and Top Cow	1
JLA and Cyberforce	2005	DC and Top Cow	1
The Darkness and Superman	2005	DC and Top Cow	2
Planetary Batman - Night on Earth	2003	DC and Wildstorm	1
Batman and Danger Girl	2005	DC and Wildstorm	1
Witchblade - Darkchylde	2000	Image and Top Cow	1
Tomb Raider - The Darkness	2001	Image and Top Cow	1
The Darkness & Tomb Raider	2005	Image and Top Cow	1
The Darkness and Vampirella	2005	Image and Top Cow	1
Misc Witchblade issues		Image and Top Cow	16
The Punisher Meets Archie	1994	Marvel and Archie	1
Shi and Daredevil - Honour thy Mother	1997	Marvel and Crusade Comics	1
Wolverine Shi - Dark Night of Judgment	2000	Marvel and Crusade Comics	1
Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness	2007	Marvel and Dynamite	5
Backlash and Spider-Man	1996	Marvel and Image	2
Badrock and Wolverine	1996	Marvel and Image	1
Deathblow and Wolverine	1996	Marvel and Image	2
Spider-Man and Gen 13	1996	Marvel and Image	1
Spiderman and Badrock	1997	Marvel and Image	2
Avengers and Ultraforce	1995	Marvel and Malibu	2
Nightman vs Wolverine	1995	Marvel and Malibu	1
Prime and Spiderman - What's A Hero Anyway	1995	Marvel and Malibu	1
Prime vs The Incredible Hulk	1995	Marvel and Malibu	1
Rune vs Silver Surfer	1995	Marvel and Malibu	2
Ultraforce and Spiderman	1996	Marvel and Malibu	1
Devil's Reign	1996	Marvel and Top Cow	9
Ballistic and Wolverine	1997	Marvel and Top Cow	1
Daredevil and Shi - Blind Faith	1997	Marvel and Top Cow	1
Wolverine and Witchblade	1997	Marvel and Top Cow	1
The Darkness - Hulk	2004	Marvel and Top Cow	1
Witchblade and Wolverine	2004	Marvel and Top Cow	1
The Darkness - Wolverine	2006	Marvel and Top Cow	1
Cyber Force and X-Men	2007	Marvel and Top Cow	1
Unholy Union	2007	Marvel and Top Cow	1
Witchblade and Punisher	2007	Marvel and Top Cow	1
Magdalena - Daredevil - The Devil in Longhand	2008	Marvel and Top Cow	1
Team X and Team 7	1996	Marvel and Wildstorm	1
WWIII	1997	Marvel and Wildstorm	4
Painkiller Jane vs. Darkness	1997	Top Cow and Event Comics	1
Witchblade Devi	2008	Top Cow and Virgin Comics	1