Vixen, Quiz Question Answers and Black Widow in the shower

BACK TO BASICS … OR UPSETING MR. HEINTJES AGAIN.

What with the trifecta of nicotine withdrawal, calorie counting and excess exercise, I’ve been ignoring my responsibilities to my fanatic fan base. I’ve not made myself available as the stunning font of knowledge through the regular program we (how many of me are there?) like to call “Ask The Dwo.” Okay … okay … everyone stop laughing.

The reason that this upsets my longtime friend Tom Heintjes is two-fold. First he’s responsible for my DWO nickname (yeah, you pronounce it like it was a word … you say du-woh … it doesn’t rhyme with “two”) so he thinks he retains some control over its use. Second he disapproves of “the Dwo,” it is his opinion that my nickname should be “dwo” without the “the.”

Now that I’ve completely bored everyone who stopped by to read about funny books, let me say this to Mr. Heintjes. Get Over It.

None of this changes the goal of this humble program. Ask me a question. Any question. I’ll attempt to answer it. I can’t guarantee that you’ll like the answer. So put on your thinking caps. And if you’re stumped for ideas, you can always check out the BACKGROUND page for ideas. I’ve got an answering “Ask The DWO” post coming up next week.

2nd String Character Hall of Fame – Round Two

With DC’s sorceress Zatanna winning the first round of this fanatic, unscientific and only reasonably fair competition of 2nd String Comic Book Characters, it is time to move on to the 2nd round for 2nd Stringers. The new updated voting box is in the sidebar. So now it is time to …

Blue Devil #1

MEET THE NOMINEES

BLUE DEVIL (DC hero)

Created by writers Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn and artist Paris Cullins. First appeared in a preview story published in Fury of Firestorm #24 (June 1984). That story led directly into Blue Devil #1, also cover dated June 1984. Daniel Patrick Cassidy is a special effects wizard and stuntman hired to create and play the title character in the movie Blue Devil. To that end Cassidy creates a full-body costume with a hidden powered exoskeleton and built-in special-effects devices. When two of his co-stars accidentally free a demon named Nebiros, Cassidy uses his costume to drive the demon back, but not before being blasted with mystical energy. After the fight, Cassidy finds that the blast had permanently grafted the Blue Devil costume to his body.

Should I EVER listen to Marv Wolfman?

My life and career have intersected with the wondrous Marv Wolfman at many points along the way. I am proud to call him my friend … or at least a friendly acquaintance. If you’re reading this Marv, the next lunch is on me. I plan to pay up really soon. 

TRULY GREAT: Tomb of Dracula #54 cover by Gene Colan

I first became aware of Marv Wolfman in high school when I was reading as many Marvel Comics as I could get my hands on. Sometimes that was quite difficult. Remind me to tell the story someday soon about how I almost froze to death during high school in my pursuit of new release comics.

For a comic frame of reference, I essentially grew up in Smallville. I lived on farmland five miles from the nearest town, Claremont, Minnesota (pop. 620). It had one very small convenience grocery store that carried comics. Even though new comics came in only once a week or so, I visited that little rack of comics every day at lunchtime.

The end of the Jack Kirby Comics Industry Awards: a lesson in honesty

In yesterday’s post, I wrote about how the Jack Kirby Awards were established. It was a reaction to the Comics Buyer’s Guide Fan Awards. It came from a germ of an idea from either Gary Groth or Kim Thompson at Fantagrapics Books. The goal being to establish awards based on the votes of comic professionals, ones that might be respected both within the industry and in the outside world. 

I also promised a little melodrama as well as some lying and betrayal, so strap in for this reasonably long second chapter of our adventure in comic industry awards.

Miscellaneous Monday: Dec. 8, 2008

FANATIC QUIZ QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Name the eight “Gorilla” creators

In November of 2000, at Mid-Ohio Con, seven comics creators gathered to celebrate the launch of Gorilla Comics. At the panel discussion all but one “gorilla” was present. The imprint was announced to be part of Image Comics. During the panel, Image publisher-at-the-time Jim Valentino played host, holding the microphone for fans as they got their questions answered.

The high visibility imprint lasted less than a year, the victim of faulty financing from a dot.com entrepreneur. Who were the eight “gorilla” founders?

DID I MENTION THAT I LOVE ME SOME MAN-BULL

Name your favorite second-string hero / villain.