Bargain Bin Review: Critters #23

 

I recently stumbled upon a copy Critters #23 (Fantagraphics 1988) and it's an embarrassment of riches, one of the greatest funny-animal comics of all time.

Get a load of this murderer's row:

Freddy "Donald Duck" Milton!  Ty "Batman" Templeton! Mike "Captain Jack" Kazaleh! Sam "The Maxx" Keith!  Stan "Usagi Yojimbo" Sakai!  ALAN FUCKING MOORE!!!!

This comic's got everything.

Christmas Rapping

Tuba-playing Isz

Barksian Whimsy

The late great Kevin O'Neill

A true-ish rock n' roll story by The Original Writer

With accompanying record.

Gun-toting Sea Monkeys

Feline Kaiju

Wolves at the door

Whatever the hell these are.

And the main reason I started collecting Critters in the first place, the god-tier Fission Chicken by the man, the myth, the legend J.P. Morgan.  I frickin LOVE Fission Chicken. Ratty line funny animal superhero parody, it's basically everything I want in a comic.

Get this comic for like two bucks online, and then go and get yourself the rest of the run of Critters, one of the greatest anthologies ever made. Merry Christmas ya filthy animals.

Prometheus Unbound

Images from Promethean Enterprises (1969) 

Meet The New Boss, Same As The Boss Before The Old Boss

 

Chapek Out, Iger In

Step one, abolish the Genie app and go back to Fast Pass Classic

This is fine.

 

Probably definitely fine.

 

I hope Rogan is the voice of Figment.

PSA:

 

Disney Comics are now available at Wal-Mart.

Fethry Duck is my spirit animal.

 

 

Filthy capitalist $crooge McDuck makes Tom Nook look like Bernie Sanders.

Future Events Such As These Will Affect You In The Future.

 

Future #3

Anthology of Mind

by Tommi Musturi

Hey Ladies

 I'm Troy McClure, and I'll leave you with what we all came here to see -- hardcore nudity!

From Mickey Mouse #256 by Romano Scarpa

 

Gram Crackers

 

I know Instagram is terrible anymore, but sometimes you stike gold:

Like these Mickeys from Jim H Madison

or new Al Columbia:

 

Pics Or It Didn't Happen

 

I'm reading Dirty Pictures right now and the thing that leaps out at me is how young everybody was.

When I first became aware of Crumb and the gang it was the early 90's, post-Raw post-Weirdo, and all of these guys had been pretty much accepted by the mainstream and entering elder statesmen territory. I think I mentioned it on here before, but the Rick Griffin obituary in Surfer magazine was my first introduction to the world of comix, and by then Zap was firmly in Boomer-nostalgialand.  It's fun to read about all these legends as scrappy young fanzine kids, all trying to emulate their heroes John Stanley, Carl Barks, and The Usual Gang of Idiots.

I'm not looking forward to the inevitable personality clashes and infighting, but for now it's a really interesting look back, well worth a read.

Zombie Nation

 

I'm about halfway through Zombie Coffee by Regis Loisel, and so far it's terrific. I've been waiting to get my hands on this since I first saw untranslated images over on the Fethry Society boards, and so far it does not disappoint. It looks and feels like a lost Depression-Era classic. But don't take my word for it!

Mouse Maestro Review

School Library Journal Review

 

Casty rules.

PSA

 

New Comic Aht is available for preorder!

 

Good stuff over on Instagram today!

 

Mr. Boop rules.

 

"Please revise Poopface"

 

Machete Kills (Me)

 

Now that there's all this new Star Wars content out there, I've been trying to put together my own "Machete Order"  for watching the series. It's harder than I thought.  For one thing, I haven't seen all of it.  For another thing, I'm not sure whether or not "chronological" is the best way to go about organizing the Star Wars saga, or if it's better to look for thematic parallels and such and not sweat the timeline too much.

Anyway, here's what I've come up with so far; your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Essential SW:

• Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, the Despecialized Editions.
• The Phantom Menace (you know you love it)
• Attack of the Clones
• The Clone Wars cartoons (the boring cgi ones AND the kickass Tartakovsky series, don't sweat the inconsistencies)
• Revenge of the Sith
• Special Edition Return of the Jedi (for the Hayden Christiansen ghost, not the stupid song and dance at Jabba's palace)
• Mandalorian

Advanced Studies:

Work these in wherever you feel appropriate.

• Obi-Wan Kenobi
• Rebels
• Book of Boba Fett
• Solo
• Rogue One (I know people love it, but I can't decide if it's mandatory or not)
• The Disney Skywalker Trilogy

PhD:

Only for the hardcores

• Droids and Ewoks animated series
• Holiday Special
• The Wilford Brimley Ewok shit
• Donnie and Marie
• The Muppet Show
• The Muppet Babies
• Star Tours and Captain EO

I think that's everything.  I'd like to remind everybody that the Expanded Universe novels, comics, and video games are consistently more fun and enjoyable than any of the films or TV shows, and that your Boba Fett figure did NOT have a firing rocket despite how vividly you remember it.

(It's not Sonic)

 

Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers 2022 is pretty good if you like reference humor. 

For all the cameos and Easter Eggs one legit made me shout "HOLY SHIT IT'S ********" in front of my entire family, so I guess that's high praise.

 

I feel like I can trace this whole phenomenon by comparing 2009 posts ("Disney Steampunk!" "Princess Gear at Hot Topic!") to posts from say, 2015 ("The Incredibles is Randian Propaganda."  "Antivaxxers Ruin Disneyland.").

Quick, while there's still time!

 

Don't forget to head to your local comics shop to get the Fantagraphics Free Comic Book Day offering:

It's a very strong package this year-  Van Horn, Casty, Cavazzano, Al Hubbard, and it's free!

Great stuff, Fantagraphics has done it again!

 

Tom the Dancing Bug does it again.

This thing just keeps getting dumber

 

Florida Can't Actually Dissolve Disney World's Self-Governance District

Heel Vs Heel Match

 

Florida Votes To Strip Disney Of Its Special Tax Status

Taxpayers could be footing the bill, because it's not like Disney or Ron DeSantis gives a shit about you.

 

LOL

 

Disney Hip-Hop Beats To Study/Relax To

 

Fox News has basically declared war on Disney this week.

 

Walk On

Aw no

 

Trouble at the Jim Henson Company

It's the walkout. Don't you know about the walkout?

 

The Disney Do Better Walkout

Some are born with greatness, others have greatness thrust upon them... In the bathroom.

 

Whatever Happened To The Adventure Capitalist?

This is a good overview of the long, tortured history of the Disney comics licenses.

 Do the right thing, Bob.

 

"The magic is gone."

 

I don't know anything about Mr. Vertigo, except that he's my new favorite character.

Trumpolino?

 Can someone who speaks Italian hip me to what this is all about:

It's not just me, right?

Google Translate helpfully provides the following:

Description

A volume full of mysterious adventures, in which Mickey also pays homage to Martin Mystère, the detective of the impossible who turns 40 in April, with Topin Mystér and Orobomis the walking city: an electrifying homage-story proposed here for the first time since the first publication! Triumph of dynamic drawings in Mickey and the fantastic mister Magic and Mickey and the case of the "transmuter". Finally, surprise entry into the team also of the irrepressible Donald Duck in Mickey Mouse and the Ghostbusters.

Some Googling suggests it is an homage/ parody of a comic I've never heard of, Martin Mystere, which apparently was translated by Dark Horse at some point.

I'm seriously considering doing the Duolingo or some other kind of online language tutor just to figure out what the heck goes on over there.

The Reviews Are In!

 

Galactic Starcruiser An Expensive Nightmare 

This hotel combines two things I can't get enough of, claustrophobia and improv!

"Yes, and"...

You'd have to be stupid not to drop five grand on a windowless immersive experience requiring a cellphone app!  And as we all know, Star Wars fans are some of the kindest, most empathetic, non-gatekeeping, inclusive fandoms out there, so there is absolutely no way any of this could backfire.

 The Multiverse Can Go To Hell.

Jersey Fresh

 

Drunken, naked brawl breaks out at Disney World.

Storydying is easy, Storyliving is harder

Storyliving by Disney is a not-at-all-creepy residential community for Disney Adults age 55+ .

Crashtastic

 

Finally got my mitts on a copy of Crashpad by Gary Panter:

So far so groovy; I'm reading it one strip at a time, stopping whenever I get to a signature.  Panter is one of the all-time greats.

A+ Recommendation

 

Mazes and Monsters

 

This is actually a cool idea for all the Gnome Artificers out there:

Gonna steal some of this for my next DND session.

 

Cracked, Baby!

The Cracked Magazine Twitter account posts classics sometimes, like this one by Lou Silverstone and Gary Fields:

 

Now Feel Terrible:

 

Disney launches search for NFT manager

Update:  Fixed link and added this:

 

 

Cartoon Mouse Changes Clothes, Human Woman Freaks Out.

Epic Fail

 

There's some interesting Disney-adjacent stuff in this old back issue of Epic Illustrated, Marvel's answer to Heavy Metal:

The main draw is a comics adaptation of the original Gelfling, Elric of Melnibone.

Then there's the Fraggle-esque Doctor Watchstop by Ken Macklin:

Apparently Doctor Watchstop made some appearances in Disney Adventures magazine back in the day.

Finally, enjoy a preview of the hotly-anticipated Star Wars sequel, "Revenge" of the Jedi:

There are lots more Heavy Metal and Epic scans on the Internet Archive, if that's your thing (it's definitely my thing).

Crypto-Zoo

 Don't sleep on this exciting opportunity!  For the low low price of 3,000 Disney Dollars you too can gain entry into the elusive Enthusiastic Primate Legitimate Businessman's Club! (TM)

U Can't Funge This

Impress your neighbors!  Launder your cash!!  Venmo me before the bubble bursts and you're stuck with a useless tulip!!!