""There was this really bad live action 70s show where Superman gets depressed because he's different, and he meets up with 2 hippies who tell him its OK to be different. Anyway, he uses karate in that."

"What show is that last person talking about? Just wondering, because it sounds fantastic."

I don't know about the karate, but it sounds like the adaptation of "It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman" that was on ABC Late night.
Tony Collett | Email | Homepage | 02.27.06 - 10:14 am | #

This week's Previews Plus offers a 3rd printing for MARVEL ZOMBIES #1 and a 2nd printing of MARVEL ZOMBIES #3. (You can order them via Diamond's retail site.) So they seem to be on top of it!
Don Alsafi | Email | Homepage | 02.27.06 - 10:30 am | #

"What show is that last person talking about? "

I suspect that the Superman wasn't the person who met up with the hippies...
Scipio | Email | Homepage | 02.27.06 - 10:40 am | #

Shazam perhaps?

"Buried Alien" turned up again later in Quasar's run, Gruenwald never one to let a good thing go.

Quasar, as well as Captain America, largely fell apart because poor Gruenwald got the crappiest artists. The stories were still reasonable.

I even liked "Cap Wolf".
Martin Wisse | Email | Homepage | 02.27.06 - 1:03 pm | #

Rereading Quasar a few months back, it seemed to me that the book lost its way after the Big Showdown in issue #25.

#1-25 of Q-Ball was one of my favorite Marvel runs ever; the later issues were...meh. It became Gruenwald's "AAA Guide to Forgotten Cosmic Characters." Not bad, just...meh.

He's a fun character in search of a good writer, I sez. The most cosmically powerful human in the MU is a regular guy from Wisconsin named "Wendell?" Cool.
Harvey Jerkwater | Email | Homepage | 02.27.06 - 1:55 pm | #

Pre-Crisis Superman knew Klurkor, Kryptonian karate.

... he said to his ultimate nerdish shame.
Dan Kelly | Email | Homepage | 02.27.06 - 1:58 pm | #

Well, Post Y2K Superman know Torquasm-Rao and Torquasmo-Vo, but they are more like a blend of kung fu and Tai Chi Chuan than karate.
Julio Dvulture | 02.27.06 - 2:05 pm | #

the art in that mouse book is beautiful.
Evilbeard | 02.27.06 - 5:07 pm | #

That watcher figure is great, because unlike all other figures, this one represents the actual level of physical activity of its character.
Chance | Email | Homepage | 02.27.06 - 6:26 pm | #

Quasar was the best Marvel book of the last twenty years. It may have fallen apart towards the end - the Infinity War X-over was really the demarcation point for suck - but when it was good it was better than just about anything else you can mention.

Didn't think I was going to let a Quasar mention pass without putting my 2 cents in, did you?
Tim O'Neil | Email | Homepage | 02.27.06 - 7:19 pm | #

And, despite what I said about our customers' skepticism regarding the Spider-Man costume change...we sold through all copies.

Just further proof of my theory that people only like the bad Marvel comics.
Dorian | Email | Homepage | 02.27.06 - 8:56 pm | #

I had always heard about the Quasar story with Barry Allen, but only read it recently. It was a pretty loving tribute. The other thing that struck me was how much of an homage to the DC Silver Age the whole first half of the Quasar run was.

Check by blog for an article about it. It was a really smart, charming series for a while, and it's a pity it didn't last.
Ken S | Email | Homepage | 02.27.06 - 9:50 pm | #

Tim - Oops, forgot you were the Master of All Thing Quasarian. Anyway, where's our Essential Quasar?

Dorian - I'm usually pretty neutral to the Spider-books -- don't care for 'em, don't hate 'em either -- but this new ASM was especially unbearable. Feh.

Ken S. - I've often described Quasar as "the Marvel book that feels like a DC," so we're on the same wavelength there.
Mikester | Homepage | 02.27.06 - 10:18 pm | #

Wait wait wait. Superman knows kung-fu? For the last time... Keanu Reeves is NOT the new Superman.

:P
GirlSpeiktakular | Email | Homepage | 02.27.06 - 11:59 pm | #

That watcher figure is great

Oh, that's the Watcher? I thought it was Brian Peppers.

The figure's cool, but I really want a collected 'Tales of the Watcher'. Larry Lieber, heh.
Daniel85 | Email | 02.28.06 - 5:04 am | #

Quasar was an awesome book. I agree that the first 25 issues were the pinnacle, but the next 15-20 or so were also good stuff. The first 25 seemed like Gruenwald had a "master plan" for Quasar - a huge storyline where everything fit together leading to his big showdown with Maelstrom. After that, Gruenwald seemed to move it more to a more standard "ongoing monthly" format - which was still quite good for a long time, but suffered in comparison to the earlier issues. After about issue 50 or so its pretty clear that Gruenwald didn't really know what he wanted to do with Quasar anymore, but didn't want to end the book either. It didn't help that he went through revolving artists all drawing in the early-90's "amateur-style" that became so popular after Image snapped up most of the experienced artists.

Gruenwald's Captain America followed a similar pattern - with some strong stories where he knew exactly what he wanted to do, interspersed with mediocre (and at times truly terrible) stories where he was treading water trying to keep going until his inspiration hit. If he'd just known when to turn the reigns over to someone else (or if the comics industry culture had been then what it is now with its revolving creative staffs), Gruenwald's genius would have been clearly recognizable instead of buried among more mediocre writing.

His runs on Quasar and Captain America, and his Squadron Supreme mini-series and graphic novel, are some of my favorite comics still today. They rank up there with my Doom Patrol, Suicide Squad, Animal Man, and JLI as late 80's / early 90's comics I wouldn't give up for anything - and strangely they're the only Marvel comics from that time period that I really seem to have fond memories of.
Jer | Email | 02.28.06 - 6:29 am | #