COVER HOMAGE: KEVIN MAGUIRE - CON'T

Scott Cederlund of Wednesday's Haul points out that Maguire was playing with his classic cover camera angle with the Who's Who Update '87 (cover date Oct'87) entry on the Justice League. The shot includes members from several eras: original, satellite, Detroit and, at that time, current. Can you tell who's missing in this post-Crisis revised history?

RANDOM THOUGHTS

- Thanksgiving is coming up. And at my parents' home, it's a mix of traditional (turkey, stuffing), Puerto Rican (rice) and Pennsylvania Dutch (oyster filling, copes corn). Last year, I gained about 15 pounds during the time between Thanksgiving and New Year's, which prompted me to go on the Master Cleanse Lemon Diet to lose it all. Let's not make a repeat of that shall we?

- In December and January I'll be choreographing a mostly tap dance revue show at the Kimmel Center.

- I saw an adolescent cat roaming around the underground Subway tracks while waiting for my ride. He was poking around looking for the vermin that run around between trains. It was the first time I saw a cat on the subway lines. I fully expected him to get zapped by that mythical "third rail". Kitty was cute though.

- In 4 years I'll be 40 (but hopefully still act like I'm 20)

- Saw closing night of the play "Scapin" put on by the high school drama club that I've worked with on and off for the last eight years. They are a great group of students led by a talented and committed adult staff. One of the students was an intern in North Philly for the Obama campaign and her energy and spirit talking about the experience was wonderful and infectious.

- I need to get back on the dating train.

- My youngest sister's dance concert at West Chester was this past weekend and she did wonderful. I'm probably most proud of her when I hear others talk about her and tell me how fun she is to work with and how her spirit keeps everyone jumping. She's my kind of performer.

- Although my birthday was uneventful, not to mention I was a bit sick, I love all the messages I've received on Myspace and Facebook. It was a good day. And my roommate made me cake. Yum.

- I'm gonna miss my Uncle this holiday season.

- I keep seeing and thinking about people I haven't seen in years. It's like the ripple effect of my life is going back to the center again.

- I get happy when I buy candy.

COVER HOMAGE: KEVIN MAGUIRE - CON'T

Derek Coward, of the Comic Book Noise podcast, has informed me of yet another Justice League #1 cover homage - this time from Trinity Angels #3 (Sep'97) published by Acclaim. Who was the cover artist? Hell, who was the cover artist, artist and writer? You guessed it - Kevin Maguire himself. This one would fall between the Titans Sell-Out Special of '92 and Fanboy 3 of '99. Have a look:

MARVEL'S GOT SOME GIANT BALLS DON'T THEY?

According to the newest Marvel solicits for books shipping in February 2009, Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk issues #1 and 2 will be given an all-new printing in anticipation of the continuation and (I assume) completion of that series.

In other words, they want buyers to double dip and repurchase two issues of a series that should have wrapped up in 2006.

Marvel - you got some balls.

It falls under collusion, but retailers should send Marvel a wake up call and place not one single order for the new printings of issues 1 and 2. Nada! You want to stop being treated like low-man on the totem pole in this ongoing game of late-shipping books, classified solicitations and delays? Stand up and make yourselves be heard and so 'Thanks, but no thanks' to that Bridge to Nowhere. Obviously, no one was worried about making money on the series back when it fell of the boat, especially since Lindelof is swimming in Lost money, and surely Marvel is treating Yu to a nice chunk of their Secret Invasion profits. So why give Marvel anymore money for a series that is working its way to being almost three years late? They didn't want it back in 2006, why give it to them now?

And if someone actually did buy the original issues back in 2006, you should bring in those original issues to a local comic shop that is selling the new printings and ask if you can swap yours for the new ones.

In fact, Marvel should put out a press release stating exactly that: 'True Believers! Anyone who already has the older issues should be able to swap it out for the new ones. Excelsior!' Because you know Marvel is going to give it a new cover or new design dress just to make it more appealing.

I don't know what could be anymore smug than this move. The only other thing I can think of is delaying an issue of a major series while also delaying over fifteen other titles connected to that event and only telling retailers a day before said issue was supposed to ship. Surely Marvel is much more civil than that and would never want to start a war with their retailers.

Oh wait...

COVER HOMAGE: KEVIN MAGUIRE - CON'T

My buddy Matt clued me in to yet another homage to Kevin Maguire's classic Justice League #1 cover. This is from the current Angel: After the Fall series from IDW and was done by Frank Urru and Paolo Maddaleni. Angel is in the prime Guy Gardner position front and center. Lorn, the green-skinned other-dimensional being, is in the green-skinned Martian Manhunter position. Obviously. Fun stuff.

FROM THE MOUTH OF...

...Mike Carey on the next big X-Men event potentially arriving in 2010:

"If you see Messiah Complex as being like the story that was made inevitable by House of M - if you see House of M and Messiah Complex to some extent as bookends - this is the story that Messiah Complex makes inevitable. It's a direct sequel to Messiah Complex. With some, I think, amazing character stuff, character development. A very very powerful payoff. And I think it's going to be as good as Messiah Complex if not slightly better."

- Uncanny X-Cast Episode 51 (timestamp: 1:32:28)