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There had been some talk about Arnold Schwarzenegger returning for another Conan movie, but I haven't heard anything about that in a while. Perhaps Arnold is having second thoughts after his return to the Terminator franchise met with less than optimal results. Maybe they are still trying to figure out the best way to present the story of a seventy-something barbarian. It will be interesting to see if anything comes of these plans.
When these two heroes first appeared together in STF #2568, Bob Greenwade (a patron of this blog) suggested that I revisit the pairing, but with the two their winged horse companions. Well, here you go, Bob! I can't blame him for the request, one Pegasus makes for a majestic sight, why not two? Well for one reason, two can be tough to fit on a single cover! I was glad I found a way, though.
I finally watched the first two seasons of Titans, and I can't say I am a big fan of the series. Some of the costumes look good - Hawk and Dove, Deathstroke, the Robins and the CGI Trigon come to mind. The characterizations is where the show falls apart for me. Every character is depressed and way overly violent in their crimefighting interactions. Dove should not be as bloodthirsty as Hawk! Gar Logan only changes into a tiger and then eats people? and what's with all the F bombs? It's the series' favorite word, used frequently by every character, even ones who it is wholly inappropriate for like Bruce Wayne, Kory or Raven. There's some cool power usage (I like how Jericho's abilities were realized), and by the end, it feels like the team wants to move away from their violent tendencies, but these episodes were tough to get through for a fan of the 80's comics.
These two teams first met in STF #1250...
I would like to take this time to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all. 2020 has been trying for everyone but I hope we can all find a way to still connect with our loved ones for the Holiday Season. I truly appreciate all who take the time to visit this blog. Comic reading and collecting has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember, but almost always something I did on my own. This blog has helped me reach out and share my love for the creators and characters in the world of comics with so many others, and that has been a real treat. Thank you to those who share their comments, praise, corrections and suggestions for future covers, you help keep this a vibrant place. A huge thank you of course goes to my Patreon Patrons - your support has helped this blog continue for over 10 years! I can't tell you how much it means to me!
The Phantom Stranger first met The Watcher way back in STF #66...
Sweet Christmas indeed! It will be a mellow one for me this year, with the office Christmas party cancelled and no big family gathering for the first time ever in my life. I will see at least one brother and maybe have a fleeting outdoor visit with my Mom, so I won't be completely alone. I am glad I gave myself a year's subscription to HBO Max as a present, so I'll spend tomorrow with Wonder Woman even if Santa Claus isn't coming!
This Marks The 10th appearance of The Power Couple on this blog.
Rumors have it that Thomas Haden Church may indeed be returning to play Sandman again in the next Spider-Man movie. He is just another in a long list of characters from the first two Spidey franchises that has been rumored to return. The only thing is, the more returning actors that get added to the list, the less I think they will actually get to do. Maybe they will all just have one brief cameo or they'll be a part of a Mysterio illusion sequence. I hope they aren't going through all of the trouble to bring people back just to have them quickly walk through the scenery.
There have been a lot of cool motorcycle designs in comics, from Ghost Rider to Wildcat to Batman and his allies. Judge Dredd's Lawmaster has to sit somewhere near the top of the list of my favorites. It has just a foreboding presence as Dredd himself does, and there's no doubt who it belongs to. I especially like the big chunky wheels.
Wanda/Vision is set to debut in less than a month (finally), and given the intriguing trailer it will be interesting to see how the series develops. I hope that there will be some way for The Vision to survive the series and continue on in the MCU, but I think that his appearance is only due to Wanda's hex magic. I'm guessing by the end of the series, She will have lost him for good and that's what will cause her to snap and make a break the multiverse which will be dealt with in the next Spider-Man movie and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So, I'll enjoy The Vision while we still have him!
This seems like it would be a natural match up. Mojo is all about getting ratings and finding the next big star. Dan Cassidy has been known to hastily enter into bargains with shady characters to further his career in Hollywood - indeed, that's how he became The Blue Devil in the first place. It would be an interesting clash, and a fun one as well.
With the announcement that Secret Invasion will be one of the upcoming Marvel Disney+ series, we can expect a lot more Skrull Action in the MCU. The Fantastic Four was also finally officially announced, but that still seems to be a way off. The Super Skrull's gimmick of mimicking the abilities of each member of Marvel's first family means that he likely will not be a part of these series considering they will not have been introduced yet. Perhaps Kl'rt will still show up though, but just in his un-powered form.
It looks as though ROM's recent encounter with Captain Kirk was not the end of his adventures with The Federation. Michael Dorn is famous for his portrayal of Worf, but these days his voice action work comes readily to mind as well. I've been hearing his signature voice on cartoons for decades now, including lots of comic characters like Gorgon, Steel, Kalibak, Atrocitus, Kraven, Ronan and Bane. He is always a welcome addition.
The passing of Sean Connery had many of us revisiting his classic Bond movies. He still hasn't been topped in the role in my opinion. It's crazy to think that we will be seeing Michael Keaton and Harrison Ford resuming their iconic roles as Batman and Indiana Jones in the next couple of years.
This cover marks the fourth appearance of The Bondsmen. They found themselves in a beastly situation in STF #3050, They had to temporarily replace one of their own in STF #880 and were first introduced in STF #564...
The continuing saga of comicdom's greatest fighting team is here - let's give them their own label - The MK/EM Team! Coincidentally, it's been 1000 covers since their first appearance.
This is the seventh appearance of the MK/EM team - Concern about Eclipso's lasting effect on Ralph arose in STF #3098, Ralph fell under Eclipso's influence in STF #2908, They faced an angry underworld in STF #2831, Psycho Pirate turned them against each other in STF #2732, Ralph came to the rescue in STF #2518, and they first started working together in STF #2169...
It's the thrilling conclusion to the two-part tale!
Continued from yesterday's cover, we see that Piotr hasn't taken too kindly to Gar Logan's interest in Kitty Pryde. For as much of a girl-chaser as Gar is, he certainly hasn't had much luck with the ladies. They're either, taken, not interested, or super-villains in disguise. It's not easy being green.
One of my favorite parts of X-Men and The New Teen Titans was the flirtation between Gar Logan and Kitty Pryde. It's too bad that the planned sequel story never came to fruition, it would have been fun to see that thread followed up on.
Today's tale is only Part One of a Two-Part Story - so make sure you stop by tomorrow for the thrilling conclusion!
I saw the delays in publishing DC's Doomsday Clock maxi-series, so I decided to wait until it was completed and pick up a collected edition of the big DC/Watchmen crossover. I like Gary Frank's artwork and Geoff Johns is usually pretty reliable, but I have read mixed reviews. What say you? Has anyone here read it, and if so, do you feel that it is worth checking out?
I was not surprised when Iceman was one of the first X-Men to get his own mini-series. While he may not have been as flashy a character as Nightcrawler or Wolverine, and not even a member of the "All-New" X-Men, he still had gained fans from his appearances on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. Plus, during the winter months, it was easy for kids to roleplay as him while horsing around in the snow. It was a weird series though!
Adam was left in Hell following the events of STF #3145, so who better than his mystical brother to try an bail him out?
This is the fifth appearance of The Strange Brothers. They were last seen facing their wicked uncle in STF #2801, They were forced to do penance in STF #2649, before that, they were trying to escape from Limbo in STF #2146, and they were first revealed to be brothers in STF #370...
It's always interesting to see Superman have to contend with supernatural situations, so this could be an interesting pairing to read about. Who knows what mischief Jimmy got into to warrant the attention of the underworld?
I thought it would be fun to put these two characters up, and didn't realize until I was in the middle of creating this cover that their outfits were so color coordinated. It's just a pure coincidence, but they really do look like they go together. Let's just hope Thor doesn't use Mjolnir to summon a storm the next time Popeye says, "Well, blow me down!"
I liked when The Guardian was a regular cast member in the Superman titles. Having him work as security for The Cadmus Project provided plenty of opportunities for him to shine even in The Man of Steel's shadow. I also like that he was a clone of the original Golden Age Guardian, and I would have like to have seen that aspect of the character explored further.
The connection on this cover was first hinted at when The Thing first met The Guardian in a MTIO: The Lost Issues! cover back in 2011...
Sure, he was a Superman Knock-off, but there were a couple of reasons that I always liked Hyperion. First, he was a riff on the Man of Steel when it was still a relatively unique idea - in the decades since his debut, I've lost count of all the Superman analogues out there. Then there was a more personal reason - I was glad that such a powerful character had red hair like me! Of course, if he ever makes it into the MCU, that's probably the first characteristic that will be jettisoned!
I've been meaning to pair Metamorpho up with The Hulk for a while now, but I figured it would be a typical slugfest cover. I stumbled on to these matching poses and they inspired me to go in a different direction. It would certainly make for a unique story... and I'm betting out two stars would manage to get some smashing in by the end of it.
It looks like movement is being made on the Black Panther sequel. Rumors say that by that film's end we may have two new faces under the Black Panther mask - Shuri and M'Baku. T'Challa will reportedly die at the beginning of the movie, setting events into motion and hopefully Marvel will find a tasteful way to present that. I did appreciate the all-Chadwick Boseman Marvel title sequence that was released a few days ago, that was a nice tribute.
These two heroes first crossed paths in STF #1471...
Shazam! Fury of the Gods looks to be a jam-packed film. Its got a whole extended Shazam Family to deal with, with promises of DC character Cameos, Sivana's return and presumably some Gods are going to be furious. Still, I hope there's plenty of room left for the antagonist teased at the end of the first film - Mr. Mind! He is one of my all-time favorite villains and I love that he is finally getting a big budget movie treatment.
The Sentinels are are always fun to see, but I have to admit the do seem to be pretty impractical. I mean, I can see the use for mutant hunting robots if that's your thing, but I never really understood why they were built to be so giant. If they are trying to capture mutants, that's hardly a stealthy design - I imagine they are pretty easy to see coming.
I'm not sure exacly what's going on with Superboy these days. For a while there was Kon-El, the clone with DNA from Superman and Lex Luthor. He was killed off but brought back later I think. Maybe he's running with Young Justice now? Then there's Jon Kent, the son of Clark and Lois. Sometimes he's depicted as young, teaming up with Damian Wayne as the Super-Sons and sometimes a bit older, where he's with the LSH. So, there's anywhere from 1-3 Superboys currently out there. I think things were a lot simpler when Superboy was just the Adventures of Superman as a boy!
Grant Morrison has worked on many comic properties and has made quite an impact with major ones like The X-Men, JLA, Batman and more. I've enjoyed the big concepts that he has brought to those runs , but my favorite works of his are when he takes over lesser known or new characters and really runs with them. I still count the first 26 issues of Animal Man to be some of the best comics that I have ever read and feel that Aztek: The Ultimate Man is an overlooked gem of a series.
This was a pairing that I had considered including in my Hanna Barbera/Marvel anniversary issue in STF #3100, but I thought that it was worthy of having a cover all its own. Has anyone seen Scoob! yet? I saw that Blue Falcon and Dynomutt are featured in the movie and I was wondering if it was worth checking out for fans of those characters.
Bob Greenwade, a Patron of this blog, requested the return of the Spider Signal, and I thought that it would also be a good opportunity for the JLA to make up for snubbing Spider-Man's petition to join the team way back in STF #57. The Spider-Signal was first introduced in STF #2378, and made a return in STF #2417...
Rumor has it that Alfred Molina will be reprising Doctor Octopus alongside Jamie Foxx' Electro in the next Spider-Man Movie. Can Thomas Haden Church as Sandman be far behind?
This year may be a bit tougher than most to find things to be thankful for, but I am still counting my blessings. I am glad I will get to see at least a few of my relatives today for the holiday. I am also of course thankful to all who take the time to stop and visit this blog on a regular basis so that I can share my love of comic artists and characters with them. Happy Thanksgiving!
These two teams first crossed paths in STF #2824...
Rumors are still circulating that the Fantastic Four will be introduced or at least set up in the third Ant-Man movie. Director Peyton Reed has been angling for a shot at the FF from even before he started the Ant-Man trilogy so it will be interesting to see if he finally gets the chance to put his stamp on Marvel's first family. If they are indeed slated to show up we should finally hear some casting soon, as the movie is slated to begin filming next summer.
I was looking for something to read recently and picked up a digital TPB of Neal Adam's recent Deadman work. His artistic skills have not waned much at all over the years, and it's great to see his innovative panel layouts and dramatic character poses. The story was just crazy though, with a wild plot that was hard to keep track of. I wasn't complaining that much because it gave Adams an excuse to draw Batman, Zatanna, The Spectre, The Phantom Stranger and The Demon as well as Boston Brand. He left the tale with seeds for a sequeland I'll definitely check out any follow up that he decides to create.
Triton has a great look, and one more appropriate for an underwater hero than Aquaman or Namor. It's too bad that his appearance was so underwhelmingly replicated on the Inhumans TV series - not that he appeared all that much anyway. I'm sure Marvel will take another crack at the property one of these days, but it's bound to be several years before that happens given everything else they are planning to accomplish first.
I still think that Adam Strange has all the elements to make for a great movie. The concept of an Earth man that travels back and forth to a distant planet where he falls in love and battles space monsters is full of potential. Perhaps the box office failure of similarly-themed John Carter has lessened Adam's chances for big screen glory. Still, I think it could work well. Give him a plot that has mysteries to investigate on both Earth and Rann and watch as he tries to solve them both while never knowing exactly when he'll be able to travel between worlds.
It's too bad that DC's animated efforts seem solely focused on the big sellers - Batman, Justice League and Superman for the most part. I like that they have been a bit more varied with their animated shorts and I'd like to see them dig deeper into their library for their full length features. How cool would it be to see an adaptation of Camelot 3000? Of course, a live action feature would be cool too.
The Lost Issues' most famous sister act has returned! This marks the 9th appearance of The Danvers Twins on this blog.
They incurred the Wrath of Lex Luthor in STF #2925...
They faced off with an angry pet in STF #2144...
They battled The Gladiatrix in issue #1872...
They faced a stone centurion in Issue #1808...
They had more robot problems in Issue #1414
They were at odds with one another in Issue #763...
They played a trick on the world in Issue #520...
...and they were first revealed to be sisters way back in Issue #152
I have always thought that Jocasta has a lot of potential as a character. I love her design and origin as a bride to Ultron with the brain patterns of Janet Van Dyne. It's always cool to see her show up and I hope she finds her way into the MCU one of these days.
Sure, he's outmatched here when it comes to raw power, but since when has that ever stopped Han Solo? I liked that he still seemed to be in the smuggling business after all these years when he returned in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and I wish we had gotten to see a little more of that. Han's always at his best when he has his back against a wall but still finds a way to win (or at least escape)!
This is a cover that I have been meaning to get to for a while. Dennis I am sure was part of the inspiration for Calvin after all. I wonder how much more mischief he would have gotten into in his dog, Ruff, spoke to Dennis while nobody was looking (or at least in his imagination).
I recently rewatched the 1989 Batman movie, and while it shows some age, the performances, visuals and musical score still make it a joy to watch. I can't wait to see Michael Keaton return to the character.
Batman and The Hulk have crossed paths a number of other times on The Lost Issues:
They were last seen battling Two-Face and The Bi-Beast...
Then there was the time that they were starring in a TV Movie.
They first met in my first attempt at a 100-Page Giant...
I later presented them in a Golden-Age team-up...
They met during The Hulk's gray phase...
They butted heads in my 900th Issue...
I was looking into images for this cover and was pleasantly reminded that issue #2 of Miss America from 1944 featured a photo cover of the title character. I believe it actually may even be Venus Ramey, the real life Miss America from that year, in the costume. Very cool to see golden age cosplaying done so well!
One blank spot in my comics reading career has been Charlton Comics. I like the characters from Charlton that eventually were purchased by DC and many of my favorite creators (Steve Ditko, Jim Aparo, Dick Giordano and more) did work for the company. So far I have only checked out The Phantom from when he was published by Charlton, and I quite enjoyed those. I'll have to seek out some other collected editions from their library.