31 January 2010

CALVIN & HOBBES: New Visions, Same Spirit

We could claim we're still in a Funnies mood, but the truth is that blogging these amazing fan-made tributes to Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes just seemed like a great way to sign off for the evening. After all, beginning in 1985 and for the next decade thereafter, many of our Sunday's were spent with the inseparable duo -- and maybe yours were, too. We grew up, and there's something heartwarming in the thought of Calvin doing the same, yet never leaving his old pal and fellow striped adventurer  too far behind. That's the kind of magic we found in several of the fan-made illustrations recently uncovered by the creative folks at Comic Alliance.  They've recently featured two different posts full of imaginative and endearing homages to the Calvin and Hobbes strip and its characters, and were careful to select works that best honored and captured the spirit of Watterson's vision. We've posted our three favorites on abbracadabbling; the rest can be found on Comics Alliance HERE...and HERE. Have a great night, dabblers!
 
 Artistic Credits
(Top) Sora1589
(MiddleJaime Posadas
(Below) Sashatiainen

SUNDAY FUNNIES: Special Afternoon Edition... Ka-POW! WWAS??

Abbracadabbling embarks on an even bolder social experiment with The Sunday Funnies: AFTERNOON EDITION!  When the mood strikes us (and when it does, it stings like a bitch!) or when DABBLERS DEMAND IT, we'll supplement our supple Sunday Funnies with -- you guessed it --  even more Sunday Funnies!  As we're so fond of saying, It's a Good Thing When There's Even More of It! (Raley embarrassed her last boyfriend with those exact words and got kicked out of the nursing home.)  So what can you expect in our FIRST (and quite possibly our LAST) Afternoon Edition? Our way-way-way-too-popular Comic Comics is back for an encore featuring some great dialogue from Wednesday's New Avengers. (Good to see Spidey's okay after Superman's pocket rocket surprise!)  Graphically Speaking sneaks back to the blog, too.  Plus, two features you'll ONLY find in the Afternoon Edition -- SUNPMNSFW (we'll let you figure it out) and the Afternoon Academic -- hereafter to be called affectionately, AAAA is interactive and it's fun, and the first Dabbler to get us their Back Issues with the correct answers will WIN a Brand-New Comic Book!  But we'll get things going with HOBNOBBING -- The Home Office News Of the Blog Bulletin-Board - an uncensored inside look  at abbracadabbling behind-the-scenes. An afternoon with lots of larfs and sex and free comics...begins NOW!
HOBNOBBING
Comic Comics with the 
  
   
 Source: New Avengers, Issue #61 (Jan 2010 - Marvel Comics)
Graphically Speaking
 via [link]
SUNPMNSFW
  
WWAS?? What Would Archer Say?
Sex Explained By BIC Pens
(Every position & pairing imaginable - here)
Ka-POW! Batman! T-shirt - $36 @ UrbanRetro
 via [link]
 Afternoon Academic
It goes without saying that there's AT LEAST 100 Quotes that Every Comic Geek Should Know. Like, duh! A fave fellow blogger of ours compiled his Top 100 List (we'll link-source them next week) and we've borrowed just four of 'em for today's meeting of AA! Be the FIRST dabbler to leave us a BACK ISSUE containing who said each quote - and which TV show, book, comic, or movie the quote's from - and we'll reach into our Prize Pile and put a brand new comic book in your hands ASAP. How's that for a Sunday?
Good luck to everyone in AA -- we'll be back in just 7 with more. (Is that a threat?) 
NEXT Sunday Funnies: February 7, 2010 

SUNDAY FUNNIES: What Do Superman and Mylie Cyrus Have In Common? Hint: It's Not A Giant Bird!

In the laudable tradition of the yesteryear's great newspapers, abbracadabbling continues its boldest and bravest comicsblog experiment to date -- The Sunday Funnies!  Every Sunday, we'll help dabblers start the new week laughing with the best of last week's funny stuff -- because as we're so fond of saying, It's not old, it's hilarious!  (We did get kicked out of the nursing home for that, but you guys already know that!)  Our way-too-popular Comic Comics returns for Week Number Two, and The Man of Steel's got a "pocket surprise" for his friendly neighborhood Spider-Man! Then...Silly Snaps and Silver Age Search disappear to make room  for Webcomics Last Week and the semi-irregular Fear of a Disney World!  Graphically Speaking finds its way into the Funnies, and the second installment of Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon keeps the adventure alive.   It's spills, thrills, and a belly-ache today on the comicsblog -- and next week things really get rumbling. Keep it here because you know we'll be back in seven with tons more Sunday Funnies! (Remember, right-clicks make bigger and better pictures!)
Comic Comics
 
  
  Webcomics Last Week
 

[via] [via]
Fear of a Disney World!   
 
 [via]
Graphically Speaking
 
[via]
Alex Raymond's FLASH GORDON
  See Ya Next Week....!

Coming Attractions: (AVATAR) THE LAST AIRBENDER (Redux)

 
  
Since we last blogged about M. Night Shyamalan's next film, (Avatar) The Last Airbender, Paramount Pictures has upgraded the movie's teaser posters to full-on cinema-ready promos.  The buzz has been excellent, and the film's starting to look really sleek. (And we think this Avatar's art kicks the other Avatar movie's ass!)  We're getting all kinds of excited for this movie -- so we thought we'd give all of you a chance to get excited, too.  The teaser's been out for some time, while we're anxiously awaiting the full-length trailer to debut any day now, we'll be satisfied with what we have. So if you've already seen it, take another look; if you haven't, enjoy - and get ready for more coming attractions!

30 January 2010

Say Hello! Fun With CTHULHU (3/3)

Webcomics: Hello Cthulhu - "Happy Holidays" (Episode 85)
via [link]

Elijah Snow of PLANETARY

Elijah Snow from Planetary by Warren Ellis & John Cassaday
Illustration by Chris Samnee [link]

Less Obvious Heroes: WATCHMEN vs. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

J.D. Salinger, the semi-reclusive and slightly mysterious author of The Catcher in the Rye, past away Wednesday from natural causes at the age of 91. Catcher, which was first published in 1951, was Jerome David Salinger’s sole published novel; that, and a handful of short stories,  remain his only public writings.  Nevertheless, there's few among us who haven't met the 16-year-old Holden Caulfield or who could find meaning and relationship in his disaffected quest to be anything but a "phony" -- an unmasked vigilante of sorts roaming a masquerade world.

Having so few published works, comics' prolific pace would have been anathema to Salinger, but it's interesting to see him - and Catcher's Holden Caulfield - through comic book glasses.  From his obsession with privacy to his stature as a cult figure, Salinger would certainly have had much in common with Alan Moore - especially if Moore were to have quit comics all-together following Watchmen. Moore's recoil from the mainstream comics scene is reminiscent of Salinger's own aversion to publishing, to which he seemed to have a singular dislike. Both writers, intentionally or not, also sparked their share of controversy - for Moore, his pornographic novel, Lost Girls, may be his best example; however, Salinger easily trumps Girls, as Catcher in the Rye earned the privilege of being the United States' most-banned book of the 1990's.

Sales-wise, Catcher in the Rye is estimated to have sold more than 60 million copies worldwide since it was first published 59 years ago; it continues to sell about 200,000 copies annually. Watchmen was published 24 years ago, in 1986; The Los Angeles Times reported in 2008 that the graphic novel had sold 100,000 copies the year before, and that DC Comics had printed nearly a million more in response to rising sales spurred by the then-forthcoming Watchmen movie.  In addition, Watchmen's initial print run - as a twelve-issue comic book mini-series - would greatly increase its numbers - although exact data unfortunately doesn't exist (what does exist can be seen HERE).  Even if it did - all things being relative - abbracadabbling would declare this point a draw.

The stories and content of Catcher and Watchmen seem, at least on the surface, to be infinitely different.  Thematically, however, intriguing similarities exist, especially between the main character and narrator of each, Holden Caulfield and Rorschach.  Both characters have issues with masks, either metaphorical or literal. Both are extraordinarily cynical characters, each of them a wanderer in life with heroic intentions of saving others and somehow returning the world to a better, early way of being. Both rail against wealth and corruption, both are unwilling non-conformists and are alienated (if not eventually killed) because of idealistic beliefs they'll never sacrifice.  Both Rorschach and Holden's persistence with their ideals brings their sanity into question, and each is called upon to acclimate to a society they detest. Yet despite of the pervasive sense of alienation  that surrounds the characters,  Holden and Rorschach also remain pessimistic about their  (misguided?) role  as a savior and their mission to uphold an order they believe to be right and just.
 
When we heard of J.D. Salinger's death, we knew immediately it had a place on our blog, for undoubtedly Salinger's influence can be felt and seen in the works of many writers today.  It doesn't seem likely that the author would have considered Holden Caulfield to be a super hero, although his sixteen-year-old protagonist certainly meets many of the genre's criteria to be one. 

Like Moore's Rorschach, Holden is a psychological examination made human.  With no domino mask or cape to his name, Salinger's greatest contribution has given generations of young readers a less obvious hero, but a hero nonetheless.   

28 January 2010

SuperComputer: The Bat and The Bird

Batman and Robin
Right-click to enlarge & download. 

Figures In Action! Linear Legos

Do We Have A LEGO Fetish? Decide for Yourself - HERE!

Today's Random: Circus Freak Batman


...and then we have Adam West on an elephant.