Comments on: Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #128

By: Jono11

Jono11 — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:44:02 +0000

"Iâ€™d be curious to see what reasons DC gives for burying his â€˜Kid Amazoâ€™ story that was so incredible?"--Late, I know, but just came across your comment.

Kid Amazo got released in JLA Classified this past year.

By: Michael-Sensei

Michael-Sensei — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:37:57 +0000

Though I loved the Marvel series, my all time favourite Godzilla crossover had to be the bizarre DH one where he battled Charles Barkley!

By: ghost rider

ghost rider — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 14:56:23 +0000

[...] Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #128 [...]

By: Lawrence Fechtenberger

Lawrence Fechtenberger — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 13:10:54 +0000

A stray bit of trivia:

The martial arts star Cynthia Rothrock once made a movie entitled BLONDE JUSTICE. Then, the producers discovered that there was already a pornographic movie of the same name, and they changed their title to SWORN TO JUSTICE.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 20:14:11 +0000

"I thought that the larger price point was due to the fact that there were more pages in the Essential Godzilla than an average essential volume. "

At 440 pages, it's over 100 pages SHORTER than the typical Essential.

By: Paul1963

Paul1963 — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:41:45 +0000

[quote]Shortly after Peter Davidâ€™s Blonde Justice â€˜proposalâ€™ became known to the public, the Superman editorial team produced a story arc that teamed Traci Thirteen, Natasha Irons, and a short-lived variant Supergirl named Cir-El into what seemed to be their response, a â€˜Brunette Justiceâ€™. I donâ€™t know if that was meant as a test or if there were plans to develop that team any further, but it sure looked to me as though they were already trying desperate tactics to make a Supergirl as successful as those final few issues of PADâ€™s run.[/quote] Oh, man, that "Supergirls" arc--yeesh. I recently came across the issue with the Traci Thirteen/Girl 13 cover and cringed anew at the tagline: "Abrakadizzle...That's street magic, yo." And then there's the fact that whoever created Cir-El apparently didn't know how Kryptonian nomenclature works, but if I go into all the things that were wrong with the Super-titles in the late '90s and early '00s we'll be here all day.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 01:01:50 +0000

I think those "cartoony" covers are by Rob Haynes, but not positive. Looks like samples of his amazing work- a truly under-appreciated artist. I'd be curious to see what reasons DC gives for burying his 'Kid Amazo' story that was so incredible?

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:24:21 +0000

Actually, BACK ISSUE! covered Marvel's GODZILLA in some detail. Marvel had an initial license with Toho for 12 issues, after which they would have to go through the licensing process again. They paid a tidy sum to use Godzilla, but every time they asked about using Rodan or Mothra or any of Toho's other creatures for a single issue story, Toho informed Marvel that they would have to pay another licensing fee for that chracter that would be the equivalent of what Marvel was already paying for using Godzilla for 12 issues! So, they came up with their own monsters for Godzilla to duke it out with.
Since it had been selling reasonably well, they went back to Toho to re-license Godzilla for a further dozen issues, only to find that Toho jacked up the fee. Although the series continued to sell at the same numbers, Marvel was now making less profit. So, as they headed towards #24, they planned on wrapping up the storylines, just in case. Sure enough, when Marvel went back to Toho, the movie studio wanted to charge an even higher licensing fee. Since this would have guaranteed that Marvel would be producing the comic at a loss, Marvel decided to drop it.
Interestingly, Walt Simonson had worked on a Rodan story for a proposed Japanese monster comic that Atlas/Seaboard was thinking of publishing at around the same time. COMIC BOOK ARTIST spent an entire issue on Atlas/Seaboard, and you can catch a glimpse of that project there.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 05:09:22 +0000

There were too many supergirls running around during that timeframe..both the ones in the PD book and the previously mentioned ones in Superman *head hurts*

Didnt Marvel have a Shogun Warriors series around the time of the Godzilla book as well?

By: Marionette

Marionette — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 05:05:19 +0000

The last of the original run of Godzilla films was Mekagojira no gyakushu AKA Terror of Mechagodzilla in 1975. The second series started with Gojira 1984, now known as The Return of Godzilla. There's an interesting timeline with Supergirl. By the time the last issue of Peter David's Supergirl series was published, her replacement was already in place. Cir-El debuted in Superman the 10 Cent Adventure the same month Supergirl #80 was published. And then Cir-El bombed and was written out of continuity so fast that before any of the characters had noticed she was gone, she'd been replaced by a new version of Kara. Here's a question for you I'd love to get a straight answer to, but I'm not holding my breath. Given the timings, the oddly atypical costume, and how horribly Cir-El was written, there's a good old conspiracy theory that she was created purely as a stalking horse to deflect the ire of Supergirl fans upset by the cancellation of the Peter David series, and to make it appear that DC then bowed to fan pressure to replace the unpopular "new Supergirl" with a more traditional "Supergirl classic". Could there be any truth in this?

By: comixkid2099

comixkid2099 — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 04:29:51 +0000

"I think that Peter David should be able to re-do Loebâ€™s Supergirl and re-introduce Matrix so as to create Blonde Justice.

He should also write a solo title for Marvelâ€™s Avenger named Justice.

Then, DC could put out Young Justice trade paperbacks, and Marvel could put out the New Universe title Justice into a collected format.

Finally, an Amalgam project could bring all of these characters together (Robin, Impulse, Superboy, Secret, Power Girl, Supergirl, Matrix, John Tensen, Justice, and why not Firestar).

It would, of course come out the same week as John Byrneâ€™s Amalgam project making use of Doom Patrol, Fantastic Four, and She Hulk characters all trying to protect the identity of the Blonde Avenger. Aparantly, the reader that She-Hulk talks to is trying to convince the Blonde Avenger to join the Justice League since the Avengers never invted her to join. This would, naturally, involve her changing her name to Blonde Justice.

This would start a feud between David and Byrne, culminating in a Hell in the Cell match at SDCC 08 where they fight for the right to the use of the name Blonde Justice.

Maybe I should go lie down.

Theno"

I think the golden age super heroine that was later used in She Hulk was the Blonde Phantom, not the Blonde Avenger. but, a very funny idea. i would like to see it, as well as casper meets Ghost Rider.

By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 21:46:16 +0000

As noted previously, I reserve a special warmâ€™n'fuzzy spot in my heart for comics creators whoâ€™re willing to acknowledge just how goofy most superhero comics concepts actually are - thus are free to have lots and lots of fun with them.

There's a difference between goofy and bad. For example, "Chuck"? Goofy. "VIP"? Bad. "Blonde Justice" is a BAD name.

By: The Snappy Sneezer

The Snappy Sneezer — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 20:00:51 +0000

The Marvel Universe could use a Casper right now.

By: Neil Robertson

Neil Robertson — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 07:30:56 +0000

Shortly after Peter David's Blonde Justice 'proposal' became known to the public, the Superman editorial team produced a story arc that teamed Traci Thirteen, Natasha Irons, and a short-lived variant Supergirl named Cir-El into what seemed to be their response, a 'Brunette Justice'. I don't know if that was meant as a test or if there were plans to develop that team any further, but it sure looked to me as though they were already trying desperate tactics to make a Supergirl as successful as those final few issues of PAD's run.

By: km

km — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 01:40:51 +0000

â€œBlonde Justiceâ€?

Câ€™mon. Thatâ€™s just terrible.

Yes, exactly.

As noted previously, I reserve a special warm'n'fuzzy spot in my heart for comics creators who're willing to acknowledge just how goofy most superhero comics concepts actually are - thus are free to have lots and lots of fun with them. Especially since it's apparently an extremely short list, nowadays.

By: Kelson

Kelson — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 23:36:26 +0000

Glad I could help!

By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 23:31:44 +0000

"Blonde Justice"?

C'mon. That's just terrible.

By: Brian from Canada

Brian from Canada — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 23:11:03 +0000

km saidâ€¦
I just want to go on the record as stating that I would totally have gone into a comics store and created a pull list just for this one title. Damn.

I totally agree. I was working in a comic store when Supergirl #75 came out. It was a huge success, mostly due to David's version of Kara as the naive teenager being very refreshing for DC and comics in general â€” even WITH Young Justice on the shelves.

Most of the people I got reading the book were extremely disappointed at the speed it all had to end.

By: Elegance Liberty

Elegance Liberty — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 22:58:51 +0000

Wow... who did the art for those two Supergirl covers that look really 'cartoon'-y? They rock! I wanna see if this artist has any more stuff elsewhere.

By: turkis spock

turkis spock — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 22:26:59 +0000

As for Toho disapproving of Marvel's depiction of Godzilla, I can think of at least one indication that they have no problem with it. On all of the official Toho-approved dvd releases of the Godzilla movies, there are icons on the back showing which monsters appear in a given film, and the one for Godzilla actually uses the same drawing that appeared in the corner box on his Marvel series.

Marvel's Godzilla series, by the way, may be the reason paper was invented.