Saturday, July 31, 2010

Experiencing Strange New Changes; or "Movin' on Up".

Couldn't decide whether to go with the puberty change or the Jeffersons theme song as metaphor, so I used 'em both.  'Cause that's how I roll.

So, yes.  Comics Cavern has recently switched platforms.  There was no way of doing this without some turbulence - when the Cavern's primary residence was on Tumblr, I put up some 2600 posts while mulling how the heck to get out of there to a better blogging platform, while keeping those URLs intact.

The truth?  There is no way.  And every minute I wasted tarrying there, postponing the inevitable move, only made matters worse.  So Comics Cavern has, for all practical purposes, been born again, rebooted with a new home on the Blogger platform.


So, in the very short term, while Google and Yahoo and Bing etc. update their databases, I expect there will be quite a few landing-page errors, and I'm sorry for that.   The good news: during this short transitional period, if you wanna see the post you clicked on and it leads you to a "page not found" error, all you gotta do is this little trick:

Say, the post you clicked on was https://www.comicscavern.com/post/867328380/razorfist-booty-warrior.

If you get a "page not found" error, simply replace the www.comicscavern.com part of the Web address with http://comicscavern.tumblr.com, so that the address reads thusly:

http://comicscavern.tumblr.com/post/867328380/razorfist-booty-warrior

And you will be delighted to find a horrifically tasteless Norman Osborn/Boondocks mash-up about what Normie's in for now that he's in Avengers lock-up.

In no time at all, the search engines, my friends and readers, and the rest of the civilized world will find themselves at home and - like me - happier - at the new Comics Cavern, which will look a lot nicer, operate crazy fast and smooth like a blog should, and be jam-packed with loads of great new features that wouldn't have been possible at tumblr.  Those old posts, or "Classic Cavern", can still be accessed via the method explained above.

But the new stuff - the sweet stuff - you'll find it right here, at the new, improved, extra-sexy Comics Cavern - on Blogger now and into the glorious future!

Stick with the Cavern, True Believers - the best is yet to come!  (mashing up my classic Marvel and DC marketing slogans - nice, right?)

Excelsior!

Graphic.ly - New Platform, New Comics


Digital comics publisher Graphic.ly - one company out of many leading the digital comics revolution, has made some bold moves in this, SDCC season, the time one wants to make such moves.

First off, they finally have an iPad app!  It is, in my opinion, pretty damn sweet.  But you know, you don't have to take my word for it, it's free and all so you can just grab it here and if you don't like it - nothing ventured, nothing lost.

Not sure I got that phrasing 100% right,but you get the idea.

They've got a whole bunch of new books added to their library, as well.  Here are the latest titles added to Graphic.ly's virtual inventory:

Archie
Betty #138, #139
Betty and Veronica #221

Bloodfire Studios
Intergalatic #1-3
Kindergoth #1-4

BOOM! Studios
Challenger Deep #1
Cover Girl #1-5
Fall of Cthulhu #1, 2
Galveston #1-4
Hawks of Outremer #1
Hunter's Moon #3-5
Irredeemable #14
Poe #1-2
Unthinkable #5
Kill Audio #1-6
Cold Space #2
Incorruptible #7
Swordsmith Assassin #1, 2

Lead Pipe
Contropussy #1
Japanese School Girls in Love

Marvel (iPhone/iPad only)
Avengers #56-72
The Amazing Spider-Man #2-25 (minus #17)
Captain America #1-10
Invincible Iron Man #1-2
Iron Man V4 #2-6

Paper Street Comics:
Pencilneck #1
Careful #1



Don't know why Amazing Spider-Man No. 17 was excluded, but I'm guessing it's either:

a) Fear of audience Osborn burnout

b) Steve Ditko's having a crazypants Ayn Rand objectivist fit; or

c) Something to do with weird Human Torch licensing drama. That, after all, is how we ended up with that Fantastic Four cartoon with that metallic abomination H.E.R.B.I.E. taking Johnny's place in the group way back in the mesozoic era of Marvel animation.

I honestly have no idea, but I'm going with b), just 'cause Ditko is known for two things: his creative genius and his crazy-pants freakouts.  In any case, kudos to Graphic.ly, and Viva La Digital Comics Revolución!

Trailer Madness 2: Smallville Season 10

I suspect you took time out of your busy schedule to catch this at Comic-Con - but if you were too busy?  Or in Intensive Care, following an incident in Hall H?  Or just plain couldn't make it to the con for that matter?

Here ya go - the promo clip for Smallville's tenth and final season!

Friday, July 30, 2010

Yea, I Bestow This Unto You

I expect this to be everybody's wallpaper, Twitter backgrounds, avatars, etc. by this time tomorrow.


That's right - Nathan Fillion as "Star Wars Kid".

With a bad teenager moustache and some sort of chef's hat/beret combo going on up there.

I leave it to you to decide how best to pay tribute to me in return for this unstoppable coolness.  But decide quickly, for I am a vengeful god.

Trailer Madness 1: Avengers Animated Series

Remember Avengers: United We Stand?  It was cute, with all the D-Listers wondering if they could ever live up to the Avengers legend and all that?

This ain't that.  This is designed to get you drooling for the Avengers movie, which Marvel clearly is convinced is going to re-define both the company and comics movies for the new generation.  It's way too soon to tell whether that's actually gonna happen or they'll trip on their own ambition.


As for the cartoon?  See for yourself.  The Avengers animated series debuts this fall on Disney XD.

And THAT'S How You Kill a Space Monster!

'When this whole intergalactic crossover war is over and the bodies have been counted, that move is going to be taught in space combat school.  And re-enacted in the docu-drama starring a the head of Ben Affleck on a robot body.  And depicted in art that will be featured everywhere from museum walls to prog-rock album covers.


It's the Thanos Imperative, and the Silver Surfer is taking us to space-monster blastin' school!

Captain America: Protect Ya Neck!

So clearly I'm one of those guys who over-thinks these sorts of things, like the guy from Mallrats who was obsessed with the Thing's wang, but who on earth thought it was wise to send Captain America into the battlefields of World War II with nothing preventing him from getting stabbed in the neck?  Was the theory that Nazis never sneak up from behind out of some code of honor or scruples?  'Cause they weren't real big on either of those.

A Battlestar Galactica Spinoff That ISN'T Caprica!

I don't want to get my hopes up - or to disparage Battlestar Galactica and it's spinoff series Caprica, despite the fact that the former let me down pretty hard with it's post-writers strike, rushed final season, and the latter simply does not do it for me, despite it's stellar cast.  Just - meh.

I believe the technical term is "Dollhouse Syndrome" - to be applied to television shows that have every reason to be stellar and yet, despite a crack creative team and a of cast out of your fanboy-or-girl dreams, feels like a chore to sit through.

And the worst part is, seasons the first thre seasons of of BSG were just like the greatest thing ever.  That 2-part premiere of season three?  Mind-blowing!  Galactica deserved a much better ending than it got.

Or, failing that, a much better prequel.

So, you can understand why I was very excited to see this article at the the Chicago Tribune:

An online series called "Blood & Chrome" is in the works, one that would follow the experiences of a young William "Husker" Adama in the first Cylon War.
Ohhhh yes!  Especially after the excellent, all-too-brief,  Husker scenes in the Galactica movie Razor?  I am so in!   Let's end - or begin,  or whatever - after all, this has all happened before, and will happen again - with the fire and passion and awesomeness that defined Galactica until it fizzled out.

Let's re-light that spark!

Current status: playing "All Along the Watchtower" on vinyl, feeling cautious yet optimistic.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Newsboy Names


Ah, Big Words.  You always use such - ah - big words.

Verily, this telltale characteristic assures that your sobriquet is ne'er far from our thoughts.

I mean, uh, it makes it easy to tell you apart from the other ones.  Like that scrapper, Scrapper.  Or that swimmer - the tragically named Flippa-Dippa.

I loves me some Newsboy Legion - how could I not?  Kirby's Fourth World Omnibuses are to me what the Complete Works of Shakespeare are for normal people.  But I could never get over those unfortunate Newsboy Legion names.

I mean, you've gotta assume "Hi, my name is Flippa-Dippa" is the very last thing you hear at a party before all the women walk out.

On an unrelated note, how about that  Doiby Dickles?  Man, he sure loved that doiby.

Slave Leia-Con

Now that the smoke has cleared and I've sifted through mountains of pics from Comic-Con, in which I counted more Slave Leias than I did Wolverines and Batmen combined - not to mention hilarious anecdotes like this one from Rich Johnston - I think it's safe to say that Slave Leia-Con is no longer an "if", but a "when".



I just want to be on record as having called it when that day arrives.  And, you know, be on the VIP list and stuff.

The Wakandans' Other Secret Weapon

We all know by now that the Black Panther's  native Wakanda is home to a massive stockpile of Vibranium, which has contributed enormously to the nation's strength, intelligence and remarkable ability to not get entangled in the global strife that we Americans seem to attract like moths to a flame.  In fact, we learned in Doomwar that Vibranium is even more bad-ass then we suspected.  Like, magic and stuff.



What many didn't know, until Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of our Fathers, is that Wakanda has another devastating weapon in it's arsenal: cold, sharp, biting sarcasm!

Del Toro + Cameron = 3D Cthulhu!


Awesomeness cubed!  According to Deadline, Guillermo del Toro's next project will be directing a 3D film, to be produced by James Cameron.

And that film is set to be an adaptation of the Citizen Kane of pulp literature - H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Tish Yloh!

Dammmmn that Dean Juliette draws him some sexy comics babes.  Check out his Happy Birthday Zatanna!



She can give me a morally ambiguous  magic lobotomy any time!

Wonder Dog: OG


No offense to Zan and Jayna, But Wonder Dog will be my Super Friends comic relief 'till the day I die.

And yes, I'm still watching Super Friends Season One Volume Two.  It's been a crazy productive day, if you count watching cartoons as "research".

Which I do.

Didn't see that coming

Seriously, the first time you watched Empire Strikes Back, did you ever imagine that our culture would rise so high in concurrence with the economy crashing down around us like the horror stories from the '20s old people used to tell, and you'd wake up one day and suddenly Slave Leia is a career option?


I mean yeah, we hoped!  But who knew?!?  

This meeting of the Virgin League of America will be called to order




Wolverines, Gambits, Psylockes, Monarch Henchmen, Black Widows and big-ass tiara Luke Cage, presiding.

Current Status: Watching Super Friends

Specifically, the just-released Season One, Volume Two.



If loving the sight of Green Arrow fighting giant ants is wrong, I don't want to be right.

We've Moooved!


...to a new blog platform! You can still see the old Comics Cavern tumblr over at comicscavern.tumblr.com.

But new stuff will be posted here mooving forward.