Author Archives: Darkseid Ramone

Mr Didio: Roger Langridge and Plastic Man … Make it happen!

Not a lot of time left for posting since I came back from holidays, but this I had to show you: Roger Langridge’s Plastic Man.

All the image come from his website, where he also sells his original art … and if you are into original art, then just go and order something, as they are more than reasonably priced. I also got an extra sketch on my order … Mr. Langridge is a true class act!

I wonder if he would come out of his self-imposed work-for-hire retirement for Plas? I would certainly buy it …

Urban Heroes: The Savage Skulls

So, here we are again, this time back to biker gangs (if I do enough of these, I think a gang map will be necessary) … We move to Florida this time, to meet the Savage Skulls (from Team America #2, available anywhere with a quarter bin).

Things start off manly enough: Wolf is trying to become part of the Savage Skulls …

01

It is at this moment that, Len and his sister Georgianna interrupt a conversation between a bunch of semi-naked guys who were fighting with chains one minute before. Even though Wolf tries to get Len to leave (“Amigo, estas loco!”), it’s too late … The Savage Skulls are all about taking advantage of easy preys (presented here in animated stereovision in a futile effort to maintain the dynamism):

left right

After that, things get confusing and only people who care about Team America will care, and let’s face it, nobody does … Suffice it to say that the Savage Skulls live to see another day!!!

09

Four-wheeled Wonders of Comics: The Anti-Mobile and the Errorcar

As part of an effort to catalog all things forgotten in the world of comics, we start a new section dedicated to the incredible vehicles in the different comics universe. There’s not much of a plan for this section yet, but I was reading the wonderful World’s Finest #159 when I noticed that both stories there (both the main Superman and Batman feature and the Green Arrow reprint) featured absolutely insane cars. My initial thought was ‘What are the chances?’ and then immediately ‘I need to find out’, so we will try to see if there’s anything better, car-related, than this issue.

The magic in this book starts with the cover:

WorldsFinest159

What’s that? Grant Morrison wrote comics back in the 60’s under a fake name? It possibly hasn’t happened yet!

The whole issue is brilliant from start to finish, with the convoluted secret origins of the Anti-Superman and the Anti-Batman being hard to explain in mere words. You could do worse things than getting yourself a copy (Showcase Presents World’s Finest Vol. 3 or Superman/Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told, Vol. 1, I don’t think they include the Green Arrow backup, though).

Of course, if we are talking about cars about the Anti-Batman, that can only mean one thing … Ladies and gentlemen, I give you … the Anti-Mobile!

anti-mobile

And from the backup reprint of Green Arrow (who actually had his own Showcase volume reprinting this story: Showcase Presents: Green Arrow, Vol. 1), from a story that involves a clown version of Green Arrow (following up on the birth of the Bizarros in the Superman comics the previous year) and a gang of furries stealing the Arrowmobile, the Errorcar:

errorcar

Appendix: And just in case someone thinks I am making this stuff up, here are the furries:

furries1 furries2

Fantomas vs Batman (and other Turkish classics)

So I finally checked, and to answer my own question, yes Fantomas vs Batman does exist (or did at some point). I had to dig in my DVD collection to find Onar Films’ release of Kizil Tug Gengiz Han, which includes the Turkish Fantastic Cinema Guide booklet.

I will admit to not having watched the movie yet, but I was really interested in the booklet. It was writen by Bill Barounis, the genius behind Onar Films. I didn’t get to meet him in person, but we exchanged a few emails about his obsession: Turkish cinema. He wanted to recover and release as many unknown or long-thought disappeared Turkish movies as possible. He got to release a few with his own money, out of his love for those movies. Then, a couple of years ago, he passed away.

I would like to share with all of you the pages of the guide dedicated to superhero films in his memory (there are other sections about Horror, Fantasy, Karate, Historical, Western, Science Fiction and a General, let me know if there’s anyone interested and I might scan the rest).

We miss you, Bill!

guide1

guide2

guide3

And, of course, I would be a piece of shit if I didn’t include this:

mandrake

New Frank Quitely next week: Jupiter’s Legacy

It’s spring (and starting to feel like it), Friday and we have new Quitely coming next week, so it’s clearly Frank Quitely gallery time …

Probably one of the only Artists working in comics, this guy can draw anything and it’s a fucking miracle we still get comics from him, so enjoy him while it lasts. Hopefully, Jupiter’s Legacy will be good. Mark Millar’s run on The Authority is still one of my favorite runs of anything ever, but I am not really enjoying Millar’s latest work … In any case, the art will make this a pleasure for the eye, so I am in for the whole run.

Digressing here, but how disappointing was it that Quitely only drew the first 3 issues of Batman and Robin? Following him with Philip Tan, really?

Friday, spring, … I tried to get some of his lesser known stuff in here, so enjoy: