Timing, complete!

It's behind the "Read More!" since it's long. A helluva lot longer than I thought it was going to be when I started it, that's for sure. Eighty-six pages, although some of those are splash panels, which barely count. But some other pages are oddly sized, like four or eight panels instead of the standard six-panel template. (I didn't reprint the set-up pages this time, or the Christmas one-off with Nightcrawler and Deadpool, just the Timing proper strips.)

35 pages in!



























































I had the ending in mind pretty early on, but since that stupid time distorter could do just about anything, there was a lot of room to meander around, and it was no problem at all to cram in whatever figures I felt like using. 'Cause, y'know, we're all about gritty realism here...

What didn't I get to do? I think I was working on a joke where young Captain Kirk meets old Admiral Kirk, and they both yell at each for a bit: young Kirk can't believe he got so out of shape, and old Kirk tries to get McCoy to give young Kirk a vasectomy right there on the spot. Couldn't quite get it to work, and it would've further derailed any sort of "narrative" there. There was a Sarah Connors joke that I still haven't gotten around to. If they had been out at the time, I would've used the DCUC Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, which may or may not have led to more of a fight scene for them. (I still don't have the new Booster, but they may show up in a "deleted" scene.) I probably should've had Rachel Summers make a return appearance at some point, since checking up on her brother Cable was pretty much the start of the plot. And I definitely should've set up tiny Ultron's return, rather than just shoehorning him in.

Still, I have way too much fun doing these. I mentioned before, Green Lantern strip next week, and a Dr. Strange/Dr. Doom one the week after. I'm having a lot of fun with the Strange/Doom banter, so that might go for a week or two past that.

The most tedious part of doing these strips? Filling in Deadpool's yellow word balloons and captions, since I have to use the fill button in paint, then fill in a lot of the little spots. (You may notice, they aren't terribly uniform if you get up close!) Pages where anyone else talks are like a vacation...

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Remember Ann Nocenti? Of course I...aw, damnit!

Crapity crap. The Fortress Keeper recently (recently, being like six months ago now!) had a rebuttal to an Occasional Superheroine post that reminded readers of Ann Nocenti and her classic run on Daredevil, and I was like, "Hells, yeah. Nocenti's run got pretty weird and pretty awesome there. Her second-to-last issue is one of my favorite comics ever. In fact, I probably blogged about it...huh, that should be right about...what the...?"

Oh, I mentioned it well over two years ago, sure. But then I never came back to it! An egregious mistake, but one we're going to fix, darn it! This is going to be a more scan-heavy post, so more after the bump!

First, some set up: after returning from hell, and a battle involving the Silver Surfer, Mephisto, and Karnak and Gorgon of the Inhumans; a freaked out Matt tries to convince himself that didn't really happen. (He would end up back there briefly, in the Nighthawk limited series...) Already a bit fragile, DD guest-stars in the Streets of Poison storyline in Captain America, but they don't exactly roll out the red carpet for him: first the drugged-up Captain, then monstrously tough thug Crossbones, deliver pretty substantial beatings to DD. (Crossbones actually takes a peek behind DD's mask, just because he's a jerk.)

Matt ends up losing his memory, then his costume. Meeting a young street thief, he briefly becomes a thief himself, but his strong sense of justice doesn't let that sit well. He also realizes that there's something wrong with his eyes: while he can "see," he can't see colors or read paper without touching it. Eventually, he becomes a boxer, like his father; although Matt has the gimmick of fighting blindfolded. He regains his memory in his last fight.

Meanwhile, also fresh from fighting Cap in Streets of Poison, Bullseye acquires Daredevil's costume (I believe he finds it in a garbage can, shades of Amazing Spider-Man #50 there) and either to draw DD out or just to be a dick, starts wearing it while committing an escalating series of crimes. Once he finally remembers who he is, Matt goes to kick Bullseye's ass, and this might seem odd to more recent readers: Matt is just looking to get back at Bullseye for the costume thing, not for any of the other crap Bullseye had already done to him even back then, like killing Elektra.

Matt finds Bullseye's seedy apartment, which does have a large fortune in stolen goods inside, that Bullseye doesn't care about: the crimes were incidental to ruining Daredevil's reputation, with the added bonus of general dickery. Although Bullseye isn't there, his old costume is.

Now it's on.
This is easily my favorite Bullseye/Daredevil fight, in fact, one of my favorite fight scenes ever. Even though neither of them know the other's secret identity, they still know more than enough to cut deeply with their observations. And although it's a surprisingly violent battle, it's also like a Tom and Jerry cartoon, with Tom disguised as Jerry and vice versa.

Matt throws himself into the role of Bullseye, with perhaps a bit too much zest:

If it was liberating for a blind man to dress up as Daredevil, then it must be even more so to dress up as Bullseye: no moral code, no guilt, no obligations or responsibilities...but Bullseye/Daredevil doesn't go down easily. It may be easy to be Bullseye, but Bullseye doesn't have the strength to make the most of it.

In the end, like in all good super-hero comics, it all comes down to punching. Lots of punching.

In Matt's last line, I hope he's referring to his and Bullseye's tendency towards violence, since that's about the only thing I see those two as ever having in common. It is kind of ironic that the biggest glimpses we've ever gotten to Bullseye's character have come while wearing DD's mask, but it scarcely matters now that he's usually portrayed as a single-minded psychopath.

Also in this issue: Kingpin sets out to buy his own newspaper (which, now completely dates this story...) and television station, which of course involves as much bloodletting as you'd expect. And a guilt-ridden Foggy Nelson laments "I'm not making law anymore, Matt, I'm just making sausage," as he talks to a picture of his old girlfriend Glorianna and Matt's reinstated law license. Nocenti was nice enough to set up two points that D.G. Chichester would later use in his run.

Daredevil #290, "Bullseye!" Written by Ann Nocenti, art by Kieron Dwyer, inks by Fred Fredricks. Love the art. Dwyer did a pretty good run on Captain America back in the day as well, but I don't recognize the inker. By the way, on the splash page, an obscured headline reads "Daredevil Writer Quits--I can't think of everything" right above "Editor Acquitted of Murder of Artist, Jury accepts defense plea that book shipped late due to penciller 'Deserved to Die they say'" Harsh. Wonder what a jury would say about Daredevil: the Target?

There's also the ever-popular U.S. Postal Service Statement of Ownership, too. Line C, total paid circulation: average preceding 12 months: 169,805. Single issue nearest to filing date: 165,250.
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The post in which I cave:

So, short answers? The pros to the three-and-three-quarter inch figures is that Batman, Spider-Man, Luke Skywalker, Hellboy, Indiana Jones, and Snake-Eyes, and more can all go into a bar. Figures are theoretically less expensive, and vehicles are likewise more likely. It costs far less to build an army of Stormtroopers, Cobra soldiers, or Hand ninjas. The cons? The smaller figures (sometimes) don't feel like a value compared to the larger ones, sculpt and articulation and paint can suffer, and I don't wanna have to buy new versions of every damn character I have now. (You can argue whether or not my arm is being twisted to do just that...)

You can file this under 'V' for 'vile speculation,' but best guess, there is a ton of Wolverine figures on the racks now, movie and animated and even some comic versions. I believe they're usually priced in the $8.99 range, up to $12.99 at some locations; but with the occasional sale bringing the price to a more reasonable range. That said, there's a good pile of product out there, and for the bulk of it you may, if you're interested, hold out for sales or even clearance. (I'm giving Wolverine: Origins the benefit of the doubt: it probably won't be any worse than the third X-Men movie, and will almost certainly do better at the box office than, say, Speed Racer.) On the other hand, neither comic Deadpool nor animated Nightcrawler are going to be in as great of abundance, so you may want to hedge your bets and grab them sooner rather than later.

Based on reviews I've seen, Marvel's Universe line has a couple of winners, Iron Man and the Silver Surfer; one outright loser, the Punisher with an oddly-sized head; and some medium-value figures. (Your appreciation of the character may improve or diminish your appreciation of a character's figure, though.) DC's Infinite Heroes aren't quite as good: the articulation is a bit less, and the paint can be hit and miss, and some of the sculpts aren't great. I thought the Wonder Woman could've been from the old Super Powers line, it was that dynamic, he said sarcastically...But, there are a ton of characters in the line, it's usually more reasonably priced (the five dollar range around here) and I believe a new articulation model is forthcoming with Animal Man. It may be too little, too late, though: there may already be too many figures on the pegs now, for a better new assortment to be a hit.

Still, vile speculation, a barely educated guess. And since I'm used to collecting larger figures, I don't know much about vehicle sales: manufacturing costs, shelf-space issues, price points; there are probably all those and a dozen more factors to be taken in before getting a 3 3/4" scale Batmobile or S.H.I.E.L.D. flying car on the shelves. It would seem to be a goal to shoot for with either Marvel Universe or Infinite Heroes, but I don't think either have taken a shot at it. Yet. We'll see on that matter, and if more smaller figures make it onto my shelves at home...

Panel from Sleeper, Season Two, #12, "Heroes and Villains" Written by Ed Brubaker, art by Sean Phillips. Great book. Bought the trades for the first season, then lucked into Season Two in the quarter bins. Oh, yeah, flying car this issue, that looks reminiscent of Nick Fury's, a definite homage.

And Kurt's standing on an A-Wing fighter, while Deadpool is hijacking Dash Rendar's Outrider from Shadows of the Empire. I bought the ship and Dash since I killed both many, many times playing the Nintendo 64 version of the game.


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Under the weather:

Feeling a little run down today, but that's a good excuse to finally post this Earl Norem cover from the Rampaging Hulk #9. I've been working on a longer post for this one, but still have to dig up some issues that aren't jumping out for me. I first saw this issue on a newstand when I was seven, but it would be decades before I got to read it!

And, I did manage to finish something that'll be up later. A small-scale thing, really.
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Timing, epilogue.

There's probably a deleted scene (or two) coming one of these days, and Thursday I should post a complete Timing, but that about wraps this one up. I didn't quite hit a hundred pages (and that's counting the set-up pages that had no idea where this was going) and some of them are oddly sized, but still.

My goal after finishing Timing was to take a little time away from Nightcrawler and Deadpool, but they keep turning back up. (And that chair!) Still, next week we've got a Green Lantern/JLA strip, and then a Dr. Strange/Dr. Doom piece!
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Presented without comment:

Except this: I heart you, Statcounter. Have a good weekend!

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Your Happenstance Panel for today:

Yeah, no matter how friendly of a robot you might be, you probably don't want red-stained claws. Makes you look like a frakkin' Cylon. (In other news, I would totally buy a Colonel Tigh Battlestar Galactica action figure, but only if he comes with a voice chip! And removable eye-patch...)

From Trouble Magnet #1, "Saving the Galaxy" Written by Ryder Windham, and art by Kilian Plunkett, co-creators. This is yet another one of those DC mini-series I have three out of four issues for--why this problem for me seems restricted to DC, I couldn't say. Despite a pretty good creative team (Plunkett has done design work for the recent Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, as well as Aliens: Labyrinth and the Unknown Soldier for Vertigo) this series came and went without much of a ripple, like a lot of DC limiteds. (Anyone read Forever Maelstrom, for example? I know Howard Chaykin was in on that, but that's all I could tell you...in issue #2 of Trouble Magnet there are house ads for Relative Heroes and Supermen of America, also forgotten.)

Anyway, Trouble Magnet. Reminds me of like a beta-Atomic Robo, predating that series by a few years--and I really want to pick up Atomic Robo, by the way. Witlock is an internationally famous robot: astronaut, adventurer, hero. But after a skirmish with a disgruntled scientist and his exo-suit in Vegas, Witlock's CPU (Cognitive Processing Unit, which looks like a fairly large server) is stolen from his home base, leaving him running on a buffer of short-term memory. The rest of the series is a running quest to get it back, complicated by the U.S. Army trying to capture the now-rogue robot for their own purposes. Not a mind-blowing comic, but not too shabby, and I do like Plunkett's art. Never gonna find that third issue, though...

Gah, this is like the first time I've sat down at my home computer in days. Better get next week started! See you then.
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Timing, part forty.

OK, so I said this was the last chapter, but there's an epilogue Monday.
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Tagged by Sanctum!

I went to bed early last night, rather than taking a chance of accidentally being exposed to American Idol. (Like Cap, I neither know nor care who won! That'll probably work out as well for me...) So, I didn't scan anything yet, but I was tagged by ~P~ at Sanctum Sanctorum Comix!

The Rules
1) Link to the person who tagged you.
2) Post the rules on your blog.
3) Write six random things about yourself.
4) Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5) Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6) Let the tagger know when your entry is up.


Ooh, I've probably done this one before, but I should be able to think of six more random things...

1. Well, over at the Sanctum, ~P~ mentioned that he tends to dress like a super-villain. On the other hand, I dress like a super-hero. Unfortunately, it's Wild Dog. (For those of you deprived, here's a link, or I'll put up a scan later!)

If there's a chill, instead of throwing on a sensible sweater or jacket, I usually wear a hockey jersey. Go Blackhawks! Maybe I need to get a new black one, for "away" days. I don't think one person out of dozens recognizes the logo, though.

2. As a very young child, after my "I saw a UFO phase!" (it was the seventies!) but before my dread-of-nuclear-holocaust phase, there was a stretch where I firmly wanted to grow up to be an astronaut, and a priest. I was terrified of going to hell, and becoming a priest seemed like the only out. Yeah, I kinda grew out of that one...I would still drop just about everything for a chance to get into space, though.

3. When I was in college, one Christmas a friend got me a lightsaber. I had in on the passenger seat next to me when I drove home for the holiday, and I spun out and ended up in the ditch. The first thing I did was roll down my window, grab my lightsaber, and leap out. Seriously. (It was damn fun, and I just was lodged in a snowbank, so my car was fine.)

4. I drink at least a pot of coffee a day. I'm also an opportunistic coffee drinker: if sugar is right there, I'll use it. If creamer is there, sure. Tabasco? Why not! About the only thing I won't touch is non-dairy creamer, and I'm suspicious of anyone who willingly uses it.

5. As of right now? I have no credit cards, and no credit card debt. Doubtless I owe something for something somewhere, but still. I have a debit card, and just about every time I use it, I mutter "Stupid cashless society." (Strictly speaking, it won't be a cashless society until my dealer will take a check...I'm joking. Sort of.)

6. I have honestly lost track of every stupid, stupid decision I've made in my life. Eh, it worked out ok. Aw, one more: I swear, like a lot. To the point that it is a lot of effort to not swear here, but I made a conscious decision early on to try and keep it kid-friendly. I probably slip sometimes.

Since I've done this one before, I'm not gonna tag anyone, but if you want to play, leave a comment, and I'll throw some links out! By the way, I told ~P~ and I'll tell you guys too: over the weekend, I finished a Dr. Strange/Dr. Doom strip that will show up in a couple weeks! New "Timing" tomorrow, the last chapter!
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