Thomas Ott: CLEAN UP!

Thomas Ott is on his way to becoming one of my favorite cartoonists. With noir-like atmospheres and twist endings, he seems to seamlessly blend classic horror influences, yet maintaining his own unique 'voice' (if you can say that about wordless comics).
Just have a look here at this quickie that seems to effortlessly convey the themes of guilt and madness, while still being entertaining and convincing.

from TALES OF ERROR (ISBN: 1-56097-533-4)







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The Great Rodeo Robbery

Here's a rarity that a lot of people probably haven't seen; it's a supplement for FOLEY'S Department Stores that was slipped into various Texas newspapers with the Sunday advertising. It features both the Hulk and everybody's favorite wallcrawler, who coincidentally both happen to be in Texas together.

No credits given for writing or art.
from SPIDER-MAN AND THE INCREDIBLE HULK (advertising supplement to the HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 1982)

















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PETER BAGGE'S SPIDERMAN AND LINK POST

If you click on the thumbnail and read the editorial by Peter Bagge (taken from the fanzine COMICS COMICS #2, 2006), you'll get an idea of just how Mr. Bagge feels about Spiderman (and superhero comics in general).
Once you've read that, it'll come as no surprise that this is a very mean-spirited parody of Marvel Comics (and actually published by Marvel. *SUCKERS*!!!). Despite his motivations for the story, many parts of this parody (and accompanying editorial) ring very true.
In the same way that he had been painfully honest with the BUDDY BRADLEY series from HATE, he hits upon many of the things that are actually wrong with comics. I'm assuming that it was this brutal truth which made this one-shot so unpopular amongst the more hardcore fans out there. Too many comic fans take comics, and themselves far too seriously. If that sounds like you, you might not like this little four page excerpt so much.
As a big fan of the aforementioned BUDDY DRADLEY series, I've always admired Bagge's honest and pessimistic approach to satire, and this was no exception. This is a somewhat rare book that most people have a hard time locating, but I loved it.

By Peter Bagge.
from STARTLING STORIES #1, June 2002





Peter Bagge's take on another classic character, KOOL AID MAN
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★BONUS LINKS★
(because you spend too much time looking at the same sites over and over)

♦ONLINE COMICS

HULK! THE MANGA!-untranslated
ADVENTURES OF GAWD ALMIGHTY
COMIC WEB-several stories
EL GORGO
DARNA-Filipino comic
MILE HIGH STORYTIME
WORST COMIX EVER
AXE COP
THE SISTERS OF MERCY-rock-n-roll comic

♣WEBCOMIX

GARKOV- interactive
WULFF & MORGENTHALLER
RANDOM GARFIELD-interactive
PASS FAIL
LET'S BE FRIENDS AGAIN
VIRTUAL SHACKLES
ELECTRIC RETARD- WARNING: extremely sick humor

♠COMIC STRIPS

MICKEY MOUSE (1935)

♥OTHER COMICS RELATED STUFF

REMIX THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY
BOOTLEG ACTION FIGURES
CUBECRAFTS-cut and fold papercraft dolls

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Sunday Funnies: STEVE CANYON

Steve Canyon ran from January 13, 1947 until June 4, 1988, making it one of the longest running classic adventure strips of the twentieth century. As of 2006, it's finally getting the deluxe treatment; Checker Books is publishing the entire run of the strip in one year increments.
It's fairly easy to recognize that these two short stories are comprised of re-purposed daily strips (which happened often during the 40s/50s when publishers wanted a comic magazine of a popular strip, but were too cheap to commission original stories), but they're edited fairly well, and provide a decent introduction to the characters. On the downside, twelve pages is nowhere near representative of the longer, complex narratives that the strip was famous for.

By Milton Caniff.
from COMICS HITS #52, November 1951














Read through the Steve Canyon archives at RIPHAYWIRE.COM
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DEADPOOL: Dead Man Talking

BREAKING INTO COMICS THE MARVEL WAY is two issues of short stories featuring works by a full dozen new artists, all of them new to the Marvel ranks. While I did feel that this was a great idea, the sad thing I realized was that in a few of the stories the excellent art entirely surpassed the substandard writing efforts from their 'veteran writers'. It just begs the questions: Did they not feel that the fresh talent was worth writing a good story for? or Were they just 'phoning it in' because their careers aren't in as much jeopardy as the artists' are?
Regardless of what else was going on with the other writers and artists collaborations, this particular short episode seemed like a perfect match. The art style seems to mesh well with both the character of our favorite mercenary, as well as with what's going on in the story.

By Frank Tieri and Matteo Scalera.
from BREAKING INTO COMICS THE MARVEL WAY #2, May 2010



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The Incredible Team of Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk

Mister Mxyzptlk had already been around since 1944, causing trouble and just generally annoying Superman whenever possible. Since Bat-Mite was such a similar character (except that the Mite's annoyances were always accidental), it was inevitable that they would appear in a story together. And they did, more than a few times over the years, usually with hilarious results.
This is their second team up, by Jerry Coleman, Dick Sprang, and Sheldon Moldoff.

from WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #123, February 1962














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