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Reviews and commentary by Tony Isabella
"America's Most Beloved Comic-Book Writer & Columnist"
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TONY'S ONLINE TIPS
for Tuesday, August 2, 2005
My pal PETE VON SHOLLY e-mailed me the above cover spoof after reading last Friday's REPTILICUS/REPTISAURUS retro-review. Is it any wonder I consider him a comic genius?
There is amazing/colossal/incredible fun to be found at Pete's VONSHOLLYWOOD website...
www.vonshollywood.com
...including exclusive-to-the-website comics, previews of his current and forthcoming work, and, of course, an online store where you can - and should - order all sorts of spiffy Von Sholly books and merchandise. Someday, when the world recognizes Von Sholly for the brilliant mad visionary he is, you will be able to stand proud and tell them you put a few extra bucks in his pocket back in the day. And you'll thank me.
I have no reviews per se for you today, though I am working on another batch of "lightning round reviews" and some movie reviews and some other reviews. What I do have for you is an assortment of hopefully entertaining odds and ends.
Let's have at them, shall we?
******
ARCHIE COMICS NEWS
Several items caught my eye when I was looking over the Archie Comics solicitation information for books shipping in November, so I'm sharing them with you.
Craig Boldman, my favorite of the current Archie writers, has a story in ARCHIE #562 [$2.25; ships 11/23]. Veronica is taken to dinner by the son of one of her dad's clients. Archie and Betty go to the same restaurant. Sounds like typical Archie hijinks, but I bet Boldman has a few surprises waiting for us.
ARCHIE AND FRIENDS #96 [$2.25; ships 11/9] has three stories which might be of interest. Writer Tania del Rio and artist Chris Lie take a look at the earliest days of the Josie and the Pussycats band. In a tale by George Gladir and Rex Lindsey, the Archies meet the world-famous Rolling Pebbles band. The Gladir/Lindsey team is also represented by a story spotlighting resident Riverdale comic-book artist Chuck Clayton.
BETTY AND VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #138 [$3.59; ships 11/9] has a story inspired by Mattel's new Betty and Veronica Barbie dolls. No word on whether or not Barbie herself will appear.
And, if you can't wait for Christmas, there are holiday-themed stories in BETTY AND VERONICA #213 [$2.25; ships 11/2], JUGHEAD & FRIENDS DIGEST #7 [$2.39; ships 11/30], and VERONICA #166 [$2.25; ships 11/16]. Look for my reviews of at least some of these comics in November.
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COMICS IN THE COMICS
Veteran TOT readers know how much I love what I call "comics in the comics," newspaper comic strips and panels with guest-stars from comic books and strips or with self-referential humor. So you would think I'd have been delighted when Greg Evans' LUANN devoted four weeks of daily strips to two of its characters trying to sell their self-published comic at San Diego's Comic-Con International. Guess again.
The nightmare started with the June 27 strip with supporting characters Gunther and Knute attempting to sell the first issue of their PADDY 'N' PENROD - about a crime-fighting pad of paper and a ball-point pen - to Luann. In an uncharacteristic act of charity, she bought a copy.
Having sold exactly one copy of their comic, the lads decide to further their success by getting a table at the convention and talking Luann and pal Bernice into dressing up as their creations. It just gets uglier and less funny from there...
...especially when Luann's rival Tiffany shows up in a skimpy costume, earning $1000 a day as a booth babe for an obnoxious kid from their high school.
Even a couple of guest stars can't save this extended story, whose ending defies even my willing suspension of disbelief. The boys actually sell out of their first issue and break even on their publishing and convention expenses. Pull the other one.
I usually enjoy LUANN, at least when Evans focuses on her far more interesting and sympathetic older brother. I wish I could be more positive about what was surely a well-intended salute to indy creators and the convention itself. But I can't. Indeed, I think I breathed an audible sigh of relief when I realized the story had come to an end on July 23.
Gunther and Knute plan to sell the second issue of their comic book at next year's convention. I wish them luck...just as long as I don't have to spend another month with them.
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DAMN NATION
Hollywood likes Andrew Crosby's DAMN NATION a lot more than I did. According to various sources, MTV Films got the feature film rights to the Dark Horse mini-series and Cosby will be writing the screenplay as well as serving as executive producer of the movie. Reading the mini-series, which had a fairly slim script and muddy painted art, I wasn't sure if the monsters therein were zombies or vampires. Judging from these reports, they are, indeed, vampires, living in a now-quarantined United States with a US government-in-exile based in London.
You can read my reviews of DAMN NATION here...
www.worldfamouscomics.com/tony/back20050720.shtml
...and here:
www.worldfamouscomics.com/tony/back20050725.shtml
While I certainly stand by those reviews, I also congratulate Crosby on his success with DAMN NATION. I'm thrilled whenever a comics creator lands a gig like this one. I hope the movie is both creatively and financially rewarding for Crosby.
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TELEVISION CRITICS AWARDS
The TELEVISION CRITICS ASSOCIATION gave out their 2005 awards on July 23 in Los Angeles. In June, TONY POLLS voters were asked to make their picks from the nominees for these awards.
How well did your choices compare to those of the Association? Let's check out the results.
PROGRAM OF THE YEAR went to ABC's Desperate Housewives. The Tony pollers went with The Daily Show With Jon Stewart with 34.56% of the vote. The desperate-but-gorgeous housewives came in fourth with only 9.56% of you voting for them.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY went to Arrested Development on Fox. You voted for The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, giving it 57.36% of the vote. In the Tony Polls, Arrested Development placed second with 20.93% of the vote.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA went to Lost, which mirrored the Tony Polls results (47.20% of the votes).
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN MOVIES, MINI-SERIES, AND SPECIALS went to BBC America's The Office Special. In the Tony Polls, The Office Special (39.24%) tied with HBO's The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.
OUTSTANDING NEW PROGRAM went to Lost, once again duplicating the Tony Polls results (42.24%).
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY was awarded to Jon Stewart of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. Once again, the Tony Polls were in agreement with 59.50% of the vote.
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA was awarded to Hugh Laurie for his work in Fox's House. He won in the Tony Polls as well with 30% of the vote.
The OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CHILDREN'S PROGRAMMING award went to DeGrassi: The Next Generation on Noggin. The Tony Pollers voted for SpongeBob SquarePants (41.05%).
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN NEWS AND INFORMATION went to PBS's Frontline. In the Tony Polls, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart won with 67.57% of the vote.
The HERITAGE AWARD honors shows which have had lasting impact on television and popular culture. The Association awarded it to Nightline. The Tony Pollers chose Sesame Street with 41.41% of the votes.
Finally, the CAREER ACHIEVEMENT award went to Bob Newhart, who was also the favorite of the Tony Pollers (56.10%).
The Tony Poll voters matched the critics six times out of 11, which is much better than I did. I only matched the Association on one award: Individual Achievement in Comedy.
Want to see more entertainment industry polls of this nature? Let me know and I'll see what I can come up with.
******
TONY POLLS
Every Tuesday, I post new questions on my TONY POLLS. A few weeks back, inspired by an online petition asking Archie Comics to revive THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS, I asked you for your thoughts on such a revival. Here are the results...
A group of comics fans are petitioning Archie to publish a revival of THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS. If the characters were revived, and assuming the creative team was acceptable to you, would you buy their comic book?
YES.....69.35%
No.....30.65%
One of my readers commented he thought I'd loaded the dice by including that bit about the creative team. That wasn't my intent, but I can see that being a valid question. In any case, with the question as it was worded, I voted YES.
If the Mighty Crusaders were revived, which of these super-hero team styles would suit you best?
AVENGERS (Roy Thomas).....19.17%
JSA (current series).....10%
Avengers (Kurt Busiek).....9.17%
Fantastic Four (Stan Lee & Jack Kirby).....7.50%
JLA (Grant Morrison).....7.50%
Justice League (Kieth Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, & Kevin Maguire).....7.50%
Teen Titans (Marv Wolfman & George Perez).....6.67%
Defenders (Steve Gerber).....5.83%
Justice League of America (Gardner Fox).....5%
Super Friends (E. Nelson Bridwell).....5%
Mighty Crusaders (Jerry Siegel & Paul Reinman).....3.33%
Batman and the Outsiders (Mike W. Barr).....2.50%
THUNDER Agents (Wally Wood & company).....2.50%
Authority (Warren Ellis)....0.83%
Avengers (Brian Michael Bendis).....0%
Ultimates (Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch).....0%
Watchmen (Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons).....0%
X-Men (Chris Claremont).....0%
X-Men (Grant Morrison).....0%
Other......0%
Clearly, no one wanted a grim-and-gritty approach here...with the majority, including myself, going with the traditional AVENGERS ala Roy Thomas. I considered Mike Barr's Batman and the Outsiders and Kurt Busiek's Avengers as well, but Roy's AVENGERS was pretty much my favorite comic book the entire time he was writing it and thus got my vote.
Which of these classic version of Mighty Crusaders heroes would you most like to see in his or her own title?
FLY.....20.72%
Shield.....19.82%
Hangman.....11.71%
Black Hood.....10.81%
Comet.....6.31%
Cat Girl.....4.50%
Fox.....4.50%
Jaguar.....4.50%
Steel Sterling.....4.50%
Web.....3.60%
Fly Girl.....2.70%
Bob Phantom.....1.80%
Wizard.....1.80%
Black Jack.....0.90%
Mr. Justice.....0.90%
Zambini.....0.90%
Captain Flag and Yank.....0%
Fireball.....0%
Firefly.....0%
Inferno.....0%
I was all over the place on this one, mostly because I started thinking how *I* would write these heroes. I considered the Fly, but couldn't stop thinking of him as an Archie version of Marvel's Daredevil - the Fly is also a lawyer in his civilian identity and, by virtue of his name, would be particularly well-suited to take out the criminal trash - but was afraid Fly Girl would end up with a knife through her heart.
I considered the Shield, but, given the times, any patriotic hero I wrote would have to make his first priority getting the Bush administration out of office and into prison. That might be a tad too controversial for Archie Comics.
I considered the Web, who unfairly suffers the disrespect and ire of his wife, first as a lighthearted Neil Simon kind of super-hero and then as a dark matrimonial comedy. So I talked myself out of that vote pretty quick.
I ended up voting for THE JAGUAR because I think his multitude of animal powers could be fun to write. I might even be able to do some stories on my environmental concerns.
Have you signed/plan to sign the above-mentioned "Bring Back the Mighty Crusaders" petition?
Yes.....31.25%
No.....68.75%
I hate to admit this, but I didn't sign the petition. I have had some bad experiences with petitions in the past. So I decided to show my support in other ways. Like these polls.
However, if *you* haven't signed the petition and would like to, you can do so at:
www.bringbackthecrusaders.com
Given that "crusaders" can be a loaded word in these days of the West invading the Middle East, do you think this super-team would be better served by taking a new name?
Yes....11.86%
No.....80.51%
Undecided.....7.63%
I considered all three of these options. I voted UNDECIDED, but I'm now leaning towards NO. Anyone who would confuse the Fly and his pals for the pseudo-religions pirates who used Jesus as an excuse to invade and plunder likely wouldn't give a fig about this comic book anyway.
This week's TONY POLLS questions are mostly concerned with how and on what you spend your comics-buying cash. You can cast your votes at:
www.worldfamouscomics.com/tony/poll
Thanks for spending a part of your day with me. I'll be back tomorrow with more stuff.
Tony Isabella
<< 08/01/2005 | 08/02/2005 | 08/03/2005 >>
Discuss this column with me at my Message Board. Also, read Heroes and Villains: Real and Imagined.
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THE "TONY" SCALE
ZERO: Burn your money before buying any comic receiving this rating. It doesn't *necessarily* mean there's absolutely nothing of value here - though it *could* - but whatever value it might possess shrinks into insignificance before its overall awfulness.
ONE: Buy something else. Maybe I found something which wasn't completely dreadful in the item, but not enough for me to recommend it when there are better comics available. I only want what's best for you, my children.
TWO: Basic judgment call. I found some value, but not enough to recommend it. My review should give you enough info to decide if you want to take a chance on it. Are you feeling lucky today, punk? Well, are you?
THREE: This denotes something I find perfectly respectable. There are better books out there, but I wouldn't regret buying this item. Based on my review, you should be able to determine if it's of interest to you. Let the Force guide you.
FOUR: I recommend anything earning this rating. Unless you don't like the genre, subject matter, or past work of the creators, I believe you'll enjoy this item. Isn't it uncanny how I can look right into your soul that way?
FIVE: Anything getting this rating is among the best comicdom has to offer. You should buy/read this, even if the genre/subject matter doesn't appeal to you. It's for your own good. Me, I live for comics and books this good...but not in a pathetic "Comic-Book Guy" sort of way.
Please send material you would like me to review to:
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840 Damon Drive
Medina, OH 44256
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