Vertigo

With The Watchmen movie debut just around the corner - it's time to look at that fabulously strange branch of DC Comics known as Vertigo.

Vertigo is DC's line of comics intended for mature readers. Interestingly, although the plots and situations are occasionally sexual in nature, more often they are just deeply psychological, taboo, and/or disturbing.

The line's crown jewel was probably Sandman - created by Neil Gaiman (who also wrote the current film Coraline). I used to read a lot of Sandman, Doom Patrol, and a few other Vertigo titles. Unlike say, Fantastic Four, these are often challenging reads - because they play with your expectations of what comics should be about. (Don't expect any clearly defined heroes and villains).

Today, I discovered that Vertigo has the first issues of several of their most popular titles available online for free (in PDF format). Sandman, Books of Magic, Doom Patrol, Preacher, Transmetropolitan, Army@Love (above), and many more.

Wendy Richard, RIP

Sad news that Wendy Richard passed away earlier today in London.

She is probably best known in America as Shirley Brahms on Are You Being Served? (a Golem favorite), but she was equally famous as Pauline Fowler from EastEnders. (She also did a scene with Paul McCartney that was cut from Help!)

I couldn't find a good enough clip of Wendy on YouTube, so I made one up myself. They'll probably take it down due to copyright infringement, even though entire episodes are freely viewable on the site).

The clip is from 1973. Interestingly, the older actors in this scene - Mollie Sugden and Frank Thornton - are both still very much with us at ages 86 and 88 respectively.

Rourke vs. Jericho after all?

Now comes word that not only will Mickey Rourke be at Wrestlemania 25, but he will be involved in the planned finish of Chris Jericho's match - whatever that match turns out to be.

It seems like only last week it was doubtful Rourke would show up at all.
I wonder what didn't happen to change his mind?

Superman Dailies

When Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman back in the 1930's, they envisioned the character as the star of a proposed newspaper comic strip.

After being turned down by a few publishers, they eventually struck a deal with DC - who pasted the strips into comic book form. The result was the classic Action Comics #1, and the rest is history.

DC.com is re-printing Siegel and Shuster's original daily Superman comic strips from the 1930's. They're a bit crude by today's standards - but they're a lot of fun. Check 'em out.

Cuckoo on a Choo-Choo

Let's watch a Three Stooges movie. Not just any Three Stooges movie, this is "Cuckoo on a Choo-Choo" - a movie widely considered to be the team's absolute worst.

Why? Well, Shemp plays a raging alcoholic who is haunted by visions of a giant canary. Oh, and Larry appears to be doing some kind of cheap Marlon Brando impression throughout.

This one was so bad, it was often left out of TV syndication packages. I saw it once, as a kid, and it gave me nightmares.

Let's watch...

Andy Richter

When Conan O' Brien takes over the Tonight Show in June, his new announcer will be... Andy Richter.

Richter was Conan's sidekick for the first seven years of Late Night. He made a generally positive addition to the show, since he gave Conan someone to play against (it helped reign Conan's manic behavior).

I looked for a funny clip of Andy Richter - who is generally a funny guy - but couldn't find one that was funny enough.

James Bond

Recently, I've been reading Ian Fleming's original James Bond novels in publication order. Currently, I'm up to Goldfinger (the seventh novel, and third film).

The Bond character in the books is slightly different from his film counterpart - he's less assured, and more prone to fall in love. He also leans a little heavier on the use of Benzadrine, especially in the earliest novels.

The stories are different from the films as well; the book Moonraker has little to do with the film of the same name. The same goes for Diamonds Are Forever and Live and Let Die. (Although the other books come pretty close).

Last year, Penguin released the Fleming hardbacks with great new cover art (see Casino Royale above). You can see the entire set here.