Friday, November 30, 2012

DC's Who's Who: Quality Pages

From the cover of Who's Who #2;
art by George Pérez.
I never once looked to these profiles when writing my book for any kind of background information, probably because I always prefer to go to the source (original stories) for those things. But it occurred to me I might find something interesting, so I dug out all of my old Who's Whos and scanned the entries for Quality's characters.

There's some gems here in the art. Most notably, Brian Bolland draws Lady Blackhawk, and Murphy Anderson draws the lion's share of the rest. A couple are pretty bad, but it's clear that the artists had to do a minimum of research in order to render the supporting cast and historical details. William Messner-Loebs (very crudely) drew the Human Bomb—who knew he was once an artist? Jerry Ordway, as always, turned in a gorgeous Black Condor.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Phantom Lady #3 Review!

Phantom Lady #3 (Dec. 2012).
Cover by Stephane Roux.
Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti pick up the pace with a knock-down battle with the mercenary, Funerella. This villainess is a rather good choice for an arch foe. She first appeared in the pre-DCnU era, in Freedom Fighters #4 (Feb. 2011), written also by Palmiotti and Gray.

She's an amped up zombie with absolute control over her undead form, and over those she infects. Funerella's power extends to the ability to deteriorate inanimate matter, too.

It seems Phantom Lady's black light isn't as effective against her, either. In fact it's coldness seems to have an affinity for her. When Doll Man shoots her in the head, it does not kill her—she's already dead.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Plastic Man on DC Nation


Nothing tops the Freedom Fighters' appearance (plus Plastic man!) on Batman: The Brave and the Bold (November 12, 2010; watch a bit here).

But Plactic Man appears fairly regularly in DC's Cartoon Network shows. This includes Young Justice, where he is a member of the Justice League.

And there are the following shorts starring Plastic Man:

But did you know you can also play the Plastic Man games, Danger in the Secret Passage (easy) and Plastic Attack (hard for a game idiot like me)?! They're inspired by his appearances on Batman. Plas first appeared in the series' second episode and eight times total. It ran from 2008-11.

DCnU Roundup: New Solicitations

Catching up to the DCnU Blackhawks!

Before we get to the new stuff, some housekeeping... The DCnU Blackhawks series is a while gone, but I still had a couple of adventures to log. These are included now in the profile at Cosmic Teams! It includes the last issue of their series (#8), and their origin from DC Universe Presents #0.

Phantom Lady #4

I guess DC forgot to add this issue to its solicitations. OMG.
In this concluding issue, Phantom Lady goes to head-to-head with the most unusual adversary of all: Funerella!
Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, with art by Cat Staggs and a cover by Stephane Rouz. 

Human Bomb #2

• John discovers the secrets of his metahuman gene. • Who are the Men in Black?
Written by JUSTIN GRAY and JIMMY PALMIOTTI
Art and cover by JERRY ORDWAY
On sale January  9, 2013

Human Bomb #3 


The Human Bomb and Joan lead a military invasion into a hidden C.R.O.W.N. installation.
• They discover an alien invasion is in the works!
• Plus: The Human Bomb discovers his new abilities!
Written by JUSTIN GRAY and JIMMY PALMIOTTI
Art and cover by JERRY ORDWAY
On Sale  February 6, 2013