The Thing and 4 Famous Co-Stars!

 

You know what I'm thankful for today?  All of the awesome visitors who make time to stop by and check out these covers.  I am especially thankful to those who leave comments and let me know what they think. 

I've had a few requests for a Thing-led poker night cover, and I finally got around to it here.  I had fun deciding who Ben Grimm might include.  He already had a poker buddy in Lando Calrissian from STF #1943, and back in my MTIO: The Lost Issues days he met Jonah Hex, Wildcat and Hellboy... I'd love to be a fly on the wall for this game.

Flash Gordon and Commissioner Gordon

With Matt Reeves The Batman planning on casting a younger Caped Crusader, the supporting characters will have to be re-cast as well.  It's going to be tough to top Gary Oldman in the role, but I hope whoever the choose looks to his performance as inspiration.  I hear that after voicing Alfred in the Batman Lego Movie, Ralph Fiennes wants to play a live action version of the trusty butler, which I would be all for.

Superman and Space Ghost

I was very sorry to hear yesterday about Darwyn Cooke having to receive palliative treatment for an aggressive cancer.   Cooke's amazing storytelling brought us Justice League: The New Frontier among many other incredible comics.  He is such an amazing talent and deserves all of out thoughts and prayers at this time.  Here's hoping his health improves very soon.

Update... Sadly I woke today to hear he had passed... RIP Darwyn Cooke.

Green Lantern and Space Ghost

Continued from yesterday's cover, we see that The Watcher's warning was not an idle one...

I am glad to see that Space Ghost has found a home in comics again in the pages of Future Quest.  Now that DC has a Hanna-Barbera imprint, I hope we will see some real crossovers between the two sets of characters - GL and Space Ghost would be a great place to start.

Django and John Wayne

Ever since I saw John Wayne smack George Kennedy upside the head with an ax handle in The Sons of Katie Elder, I have been a fan of a good revenge fueled western tale.  It's been nice to see that genre upheld over the years.  Wayne's films were followed up by the great contributions by Clint Eastwood, and today Django Unchained carries on the tradition in Oscar winning fashion.  I think a tale that got all these guys together could be pretty awesome.

Captain America and Stargirl

I first became aware of Darwyn Cooke when I read that he was behind the awesome opening title sequence for the Batman Beyond cartoon.  So when I saw that he was going to be writing and illustrating some DC comics, I was very interested to see how they would look.  I was blown away with the cinematic feel of his stories - reading comics like Batman: Ego was like looking at the coolest storyboards ever.  Then of course, there's DC: The New Frontier, where he really got a chance to flex his superhero muscles.  He's great as moody noirish tales as well, as can be seen with his work on Parker for IDW.

Batman and Lobster Johnson

I really like the extended world that has sprung out of Mike Mignola's Hellboy series.  Abe Sapien and the rest of the B.P.R.D. are cool and fun characters, and I love the addition of 30's pulp hero Lobster Johnson to the mix.  It would be cool to see him share an adventure with Batman, be it in a period piece or taking place in the current day.

Green Lantern Vs. Thor

Ah, Thor battling with his helmet on and Green Lantern looking like a hero and not a disco dancer, two things I am still waiting to see on the big screen.  Thor: The Dark World looks to be fun, but I don't think his iconic helmet will even get the 5 second cameo it had in the first one, a decision that just annoys me.  After the failure of Green Lantern, a sequel is highly unlikely and we will probably have to wait for a JLA movie to see GL again - which might not even be Hal Jordan.  Hopefully they will have revamped his costume then, with a properly shaped mask and much less dependence on pulsating, glowing lines.

Justice Society of America and Captain America

Out of all of Marvel's Characters, I think that Captain America would work the best in the DC Universe.  I don't know if it is his wartime origins or his unashamedly heroic personality, but he seems like he would be just as effective at leading the JLA or JSA as he does the Avengers or the Invaders.  It's probably his ability to see the best in others, and inspire them to bring it out. Whatever the reason, it would be interesting to see how he would interact with comicdom's first ever superhero team.

Wonder Woman and Asterix

I didn't have too much exposure to Asterix as a kid, but when I finally saw some of his adventures, they impressed me as much as the Tintin books I loved so much.  Like Tintin, these were lavishly illustrated, long stories with much better printing and paper than I was used to with the comics of the day.  In a time before graphic novels, glossy paper and computer coloring, they really stood out.

The Thing and Batman Beyond

I would really love to see a Batman Beyond feature film. I have a feeling that Christopher Nolan is going to be saying goodbye to Batman after The Dark Knight Rises, so BB would be a good film to follow it up with. I already have the perfect casting in mind for Bruce Wayne: Clint Eastwood. All they would have to do is adapt the first few episodes of the animated series and you have cinema gold, right there.

It's nice to see the world of Batman Beyond enduring through the character's new ongoing self titled solo series. DC has been smart about taking what works well in their properties' TV and film efforts and weaving them into the comic continuity. Terry McGuiness, Harley Quinn and most recently Chloe Sullivan have all made the leap, and I am sure we will see more in the future.