Comics

This is one of those things that is unlikely to appear on television vignettes for Black History Month, but it’s interesting nonetheless: Dell Comics published the first comic book series featuring an African-American hero. Lobo had a fairly usual Western backstory, being accused of a murder he didn’t commit, but in 1965 he broke new ground. Unfortunately, due to retailers returning the comic bundles unopened, Lobo only lasted for two issues. They’re hard to find now, but I picked up issue #1 a while back, and I’m still looking for the second one. ...

When last we looked in on Rex the Wonder Dog, he was aiding in the destruction of the woolly mammoth. However, what I didn’t realize at the time is that Rex has a long history of causing extinction-level events. In issue #11, Rex kills a dinosaur with an atomic bomb. Enjoy the adventures of the most dangerous dog on Earth.

Or, Why We Love the Phantom Stranger VI, from the Absorbascon. Personally, while I think “Bond…James Bond” is one of the greatest lines in movie history, I have to pull for the person who unleashes this quote while pouncing on someone: You have touched a life and left a blistering sore on the flesh of Humanity – And you must not be allowed to do so again! (A key difference between hero and villain is the ability to monologue while actually doing something.) ...

Why We Love the Phantom Stranger VI or, The Phantom Stranger versus the TSA “Name?” “What is a name? A quick sound lost to the wind; only a man has substance, not his name, and I am just a man. No name can capture who I am – who anyone is – any more than naming a wave can trap it on the sand.” Metrics of Adulthood Personally, I like these two signs of being an adult: ...

That is apparently at least one possible sound made when you hit Dick Tracy in the head. The only thing I’m wondering is if that sounds more like KLUNK or CU-LUNKW?

When you’re redesigning navigation on a site, one of the important tasks is to assess your most successful outside search keywords — those that keep people around the longest — to see what terminology your visitors use for your content. For instance, looking at my search stats, I should have a Jackie Manuel section, dedicated to one of the greatest defensive basketball players in UNC history. Why is my site a frequent destination for Jackie Manuel searchers? Because I wrote an article in 2005 about Jackie going to a NBADL team that comes up third in Google’s search for “Jackie Manuel.” ...

Good mashup. Link courtesy of TV Squad.

When I run across interesting things to link from my blog, I usually send them to my Gmail account with the best intentions of blogging about them “when I get some time.” Well, that doesn’t happen as often as it should, so I’ll clear out a few items now: 5 Lamest Charlie Brown Cartoons - 10 Zen Monkeys covers the five worst Peanuts animated specials. I can’t agree with the inclusion of Snoopy, Come Home, though. Link courtesy of TV Squad. ...

What if Jack Chick worked with Stan Lee on a religious tract? Yes, children, Galactus is Coming! Link courtesy of Comics Should Be Good!

Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog reviews a story where the dead Batman teams up with another hero to fight crime. Need any more than that? How about this? :) Also, I feel I should mention that Dr. Frankenpalmer explains that while he’ll be contributing to some of the major motor functions, Batman’s mostly going to be operating purely on reflex. Which means that Batman’s involuntary reaction to the world around him is to hunt down evil and beat the crap out of it. ...