John H's axiom number 73:
Anything or anyone that says "You don't get it, do you?!" in an unironic manner sucks.

Axiom #74:
Using big outline letters in a supposedly bad-ass speech undermines said bad-assness.
John H. | Email | 01.28.08 - 2:27 am | #

Ah, Greg Capulo. such a good artist before he got all Liefeldised.

I treasure the Quasars he did.
Martin Wisse | Email | Homepage | 01.28.08 - 2:36 am | #

And $70 signed Dark Tower hardcovers? Peanuts, compared to $200 signed and numbered Cages collections, complete with limited edition cd.
Martin Wisse | Email | Homepage | 01.28.08 - 2:37 am | #

The real lesson here is that Rictor needs a haircut the fuckin' hippie!
LurkerWithout | Email | Homepage | 01.28.08 - 3:07 am | #

A lesson no one seemed to learn in the 90's: Autographs don't mean shit unless you hand the creator the object to be signed, he or she signs it, and gives it back to you.

Without that personal element, it's just a defaced book, and could have been signed by anybody.
Johnny Bacardi | Email | Homepage | 01.28.08 - 5:30 am | #

Hey now! I just bought a collection that has a signed Vampirella book. Signed by Vampriella herself!

Look out eBay! I'm fixin' to retire.
Colin | Email | Homepage | 01.28.08 - 6:22 am | #

In Chuck Amuck, Chuck Jones wrote that one of his coworkers back in the forties kept an autographed picture of Jesus Christ in his office: "To my pal, Cal, J.C."

Now that's a collector's item autograph.

That'd be worth, like, four Greg Capullos.
Harvey Jerkwater | Email | 01.28.08 - 7:35 am | #

Sometimes you just need a picture of Cable leaping at you, guns blazing.

That is the least true thing ever to appear on this blog.
John | Email | Homepage | 01.28.08 - 8:29 am | #

I feel like Monday morning has leapt at me like Cable.

Sheesh. Terrifying.
joncormier | Email | Homepage | 01.28.08 - 8:39 am | #

Y'know, back in the day I really, really liked Greg Capullo's art on X-Force, and looking back at it, I think it still largely holds up, even if the book itself is dumb as a sack of bricks. Even as ridiculous as the picture of Cable yelling and shooting is, the drawing isn't bad. A friend and I were talking about Capullo a few weeks ago and one thing that made a lot of sense that hadn't occurred to either of us 'til my friend said it was that there's an awful lot of Mike Zeck in Capullo's X-Force work. I lost track of Capullo when he ran off to draw Spawn and then, years and years later, I saw that horrible Jay Leno/Spider-Man comic that was serialized in other Marvel books around, what, 2001 or so? That sounds right. Didn't look even remotely like the same guy's work; it was all stretchy and hideous, I assume the result of aping Todd McFarlane for years. I wonder, how many artists can you say got much WORSE after they left freakin' X-FORCE behind ...
Jonathan L. Switzer | Email | Homepage | 01.28.08 - 8:52 am | #

Uh...Rob Liefeld?
Christopher Z. | Email | 01.28.08 - 9:42 am | #

Rictor? Damn near killed 'er!
Kurt Onstad | Email | Homepage | 01.28.08 - 11:07 am | #

As if my Monday wasn't bad enough, you gotta remind me of Sunspot lookin' all AC Slater-ed out with that bitchin' red bandanna.

HEY MAMMA!
Agent_Torpor | 01.28.08 - 11:37 am | #

He's also too cool to submit to a full-on face shot, preferring the subtle gravitas of a profile view. Bad-ass.
Agent_Torpor | 01.28.08 - 11:38 am | #

SET_BAN: "Kurt Onstad"
Mikester | Homepage | 01.28.08 - 11:40 am | #

A signed Joe Q book? Keep it for a year or so, then flog it when he goes down in a blaze of "Creative differences"/"It's time I moved on", totally unrelated to the Spidey-reboot debacle.
Andy Duncan | Email | 01.28.08 - 11:46 am | #

Item:
Rictor's hair getting in his line of sight is going to get him killed.

Item:
I just read that Congressmen have signature-reproducing machines that sign piles of documents for them. I suppose that comics publishers also use them (the machines, not the Congressmen).

Item:
Is there A SINGLE Native American comic-book superhero that doesn't make a mockery of Native Americans?
A.R.Yngve | Homepage | 01.28.08 - 1:33 pm | #

Hey, Rictor has the same hairstyle I do! I don't know how I feel about this.

Hey Mike, it's been a while since you blogged about Superman... any thoughts on Busiek's run?
Dario Delfino | 01.28.08 - 3:13 pm | #

(1) "Shatterstar" is a stupid name

(2) That cable sure can talk fast and/or leap a long long way and/or leap slowly
Chance | Email | 01.28.08 - 8:39 pm | #

I do a great Rob Liefield autograph if you need/want one. I also do Barry Bonds and Rand Moss.
Scott | Email | 01.30.08 - 8:33 am | #

I've never known a comic signer to use a signature machine. The folks packaging the signed comic (generally not the publisher when these things were big) would have been up for fraud if they did so, and it also would've been fairly obvious to anyone who had more than two copies of the book.
But that "poor guy" who was signing all those books? Probably got at least enough to buy a car off of that, possibly a nice one. Heck -I- signed books for... it was either a half buck or a buck apiece, I don't recall. But it was certainly for a book that sold for less than that.
(Of course, there may well have been cases where it was actually some assistant signing these things as deadlines loomed.)
Nat Gertler | Email | Homepage | 01.30.08 - 9:54 am | #

Yngve --Highwater from Animal Man is, sad to say, the best I can think of. Delano's Ghostdancing may have had some unawful bits here and there, but I can't imagine, say, Sherman Alexie enjoying it.
Josh | Email | 01.30.08 - 10:52 pm | #

"Collectibles aren't."
Both true and concise.

I still like Capullo's art on X-Force, although his stuff on Quasar is still my favorite. I did not care for the evolution that his style underwent when he took over art duties on Spawn.

Regarding Native American superheroes, Ellis' take on American Eagle in Thunderbolts was pretty good.
Fnord Serious | Email | 02.01.08 - 4:24 pm | #

I thought Mirage in the New Mutants' early days was reasonable, given the target audience, but maybe on rereading I'd wince.

Poor Sam.
Sarah | Email | 02.04.08 - 1:24 pm | #