Chris Sims
The Ultra-Rare 1966 Trading Card Of Batman On The Toilet Will Cost You $3,500
Despite my love of the Caped Crusader, my collection of Batman stuff -- ie, not comics -- is actually pretty small. I've got a couple of action figures a few pieces of original art and a few bits and bobs, but really, there's not a whole lot out there that I want. Except, of course, for a full set of those awesome, surprisingly violent trading cards from 1966 featuring the artwork of Norm Saunders. I've been wanting a set of those foryears, but I've only got a couple of them.
Unfortunately, even if I had found myself a set of every card that was actually released, it still wouldn't be complete. It seems that there's one last card, never released to the public: "Batman On Bat-Throne," featuring the World's Greatest Detective on what I can only assume is the World's Greatest Toilet
12 Facts You Might Not Know About The Justice League of America
With the Justice League of America on its way to theaters as a result of some cruel Monkey's Paw wish, this week finds us going back into the history of DC's pre-eminent super-team to rustle up some strange facts about their origin! Find out about their first foes, their weird headquarters, how they were almost brought down by a teen who snapped his fingers a lot, and the strange connections between the JLA, major league baseball and Sailor Moon!
‘Conan Red Sonja’ #1 Has All The Action, Violence And Belts That You Want [Review]
Conan and Red Sonja are the chocolate and peanut butter of the sword-and-sorcery genre. Wait, no. Now that I write that down, it seems like swords and sorcery would probably be the chocolate and peanut butter of the sword-and-sorcery genre, but you get the idea: They're two characters who tend to go really well together, which makes sense given that they're both characters that have more or less defined the genre since they were created -- particularly in comics.
That's why it shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone that Conan Red Sonja #1, despite a somewhat annoyingly un-punctuated title, reads like it came together effortlessly. Written by Jim Zub and Gail Simone, with art by Dan Panosian and Dave Stewart, the first issue breezes through the mandatory fight before the inevitable team-up in a way that's actually pretty engaging, setting up an adventure that seems every bit as exciting as the two characters deserve. And also just full of belts.
Beware Forever: Read The Poem That Won Starlog’s ‘Why You Want To Meet Batman’ Contest In 1988
Of all the strange habits that my friends have, combing through back issues of Starlog on the Internet Archive is probably at the top of the list in a walk. Occasionally, though, sifting through promo pieces for V and Alien Nation turns up something gold, which is exactly what happened this week. While reading the November, 1988 issue of Starlog, Andrew Weiss came upon a contest that offered readers a trip to London to visit the set of Tim Burton's Batman '89. All you had to do was write in and explain why you wanted to meet Batman.
Rat God #1: Richard Corben Draws The Biggest Batch Of Nightmare Fuel You’ve Ever Seen [Preview]
Richard Corben draws scary stuff. I mean, that's kind of his deal -- his work with Mike Mignola on Hellboy has produced some of the most genuinely frightening imagery in that series, including the Crooked Man, my pick for the most unsettling villain that Hellboy has ever fought. So with that said, it should come as no surprise that his new book, Rat God, is stocked up with some of the creepiest stuff I've ever seen.
Buy This Book: Akira Toriyama’s ‘Jaco The Galactic Patrolman’ Is Delightful, Weird, And Finite
I've never really been into Dragon Ball. I mean, look, yes, there was that brief period in high school where I was getting my one and only P.E. credit by taking a table-tennis class, and a friend of mine and I would kick off our shoes in the gym and claim that we had been using them to train in ten times Earth's gravity, but that was more down to being a couple of teenage goofballs than any particular love of the source material. I've seen the show, but I never bought a club shirt with Goku on it or anything, you know?
Even so, I was pretty curious about Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, a new manga from Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama. The only thing that was really holding me back was finding out that even though it was a self-contained story in one volume, it's tied into Dragon Ball, set in the same universe and serving as something of a prequel. I wasn't sure if I'd jump on, but then former CA contributor David Brothers offered to send me five bucks to cover the cost of the first volume if I didn't like it. It turns out that was a pretty safe bet, but I'm guessing he knew going in that it had a scene where a tiny spaceman punches out a monster shark.
The ‘Lego Batman’ Movie Will Ask ‘Can Batman Be Happy?’
I'm going to be real with you, folks: even though we're looking down the barrel of 38 superhero movies over the next few years, the one that I'm looking forward to the most is easily Lego Batman, starring Will Arnett as the Caped and Blocky Crusader. It's been something I've been looking for ever since it was announced, but now, I've got an even bigger reason to want to see it, because we finally have a detail about the plot.
According to a red carpet interview with Arnett, along with cowriters and directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord, the 2017 Batman movie will focus on answering one question: Can Batman be happy?
The Top Five Kickstarter Comics Of 2014
This week, we're taking a look at a handful of comics that were produced with the crowdfunding help of Kickstarter, from magical realism to filthy, filthy porno and more! Did your favorite make it onto the list? Check it out and see!
Bizarro Back Issues: Betty Cooper Sells Her Soul To The Devil To Make Out With Archie (1962)
The last year or so of Archie comics has been defined by one thing: the supernatural. Not only did we get Afterlife With Archie, which saw Sabrina the Teenage Witch dabbling in necromancy and inadvertently bringing about a zombie apocalypse that saw Jughead ripping out throats at a school dance, but it was so popular that we got a separate ongoing series about Sabrina dealing with the Lovecraftian horrors that result from witchcraft.
To the casual reader, this might seem like it's a pretty big departure from the usual Archie storylines about sharing milkshakes and having too many dates to the movies, but those of us who really know Archie Comics know that it's been there all along. Or, at the very least, it's been there since 1962, in that story where Betty Cooper literally sold her soul to the Devil so that she could make out with Archie.
12 Facts You Might Not Know About Batman
As you might expect, there is nothing that upsets CA's resident Batmanologist more than someone being wrong about Batman on the Internet -- truly the greatest of sins -- so this week, we're tackling a handful of misconceptions about the Dark Knight! Does Batman really only use his money to beat up crooks without addressing the root causes of crime? Watch and find out!