I'd say that FC makes it pretty easy overall -- the New Gods now exist as energy entities and take over various bodies. Looks like Turpin's just become Darkseid...ooops. It doesn't do anything for the mess of Countdown or the tedium of DOTNG, but it might be better than Superboy's temporal Cock-Punch from Infinite Crisis...or even Alexander Luthor's Cosmic Goatse.
Steven E. McDonald | Email | Homepage | 06.29.08 - 1:55 am | #

An enterprising young chap by the name of Moxxi has recorded cover versions of the incidental tunes from Spider-Man '67. I believe his original intent was to use them as background music for the X-Box 360 edition of Spider-Man 3.

Here you go

//Oo/
Matthew Craig | Homepage | 06.29.08 - 4:40 am | #

I was watching the JL marathon with my son and we both thought that the New Gods were handled way better here than they have been in the comics. Much closer to the Kirby originals. Seems like it was done by people with respect for the material, which hasn't been the case in the comics. Also nice to see the quick shot of the Forever People at the end of the ep.
Dan | Email | 06.29.08 - 6:36 am | #

Hey, Grant Morrison agrees with you!:

"As it is, the best I can do is suggest that the somewhat contradictory depictions of Orion and Darkseid’s last-last-last battle that we witnessed in Countdown and DOTNG recently were apocryphal attempts to describe an indescribable cosmic event."

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/ ...rrisonFC01.html

So yeah, nice work, Mike!
Reno Dakota | 06.29.08 - 7:44 am | #

Mikester,

I clicked your "flashback" to the predictions post, and saw that you had given (little ol') me a shout-out, in agreement with MY prediction (ie: Marvel's digital comics).

Well, I read my prediction again, and find that I am SPOT ON.

I saw that Marvel IS INDEED offering a new DVD collection of their past catalogue, but it is in NO WAY NEAR as good a deal as the ones that were the "40-years of..." DVD collections.

The NEW offering is called:
DVD DIGITAL COMIC BOOK ARCHIVES.

They have the first 50 issues of a title in each of them for a price tag of $29.99 each.

Thus far, the solicits show product for IRON-MAN & HULK (gee... I wonder why).

So, those old "40-years of..." sets were around $49.99 and had, well... 40 YEARS!!!! of stuff.
For many properties, that was the WHOLE ENCHILADA!

Now, Marvel is eeking out 50-issue DVD's for 30bucks.

GAH!

Good thing that I bought all those old sets.

~P~
PTOR
SanctumSanctorumComix | Email | 06.29.08 - 7:49 am | #

The Partridge Family books by Vic Crume! VIC CRUME!

Vic's name shows up on a number of other-media adaptations and tie-ins, but unlike other tie-in authors, I've never seen him on original material. This has left me wondering if Vic may be pseudonym for someone else. Maybe Barack Obama? He writes books!
Nat Gertler | Email | Homepage | 06.29.08 - 8:40 am | #

I wonder if Vic Crume might be Michael Avallone...he wrote all sorts of TV tie-in paperbacks, under several pseudonyms.

Those Partridge Family books are interesting, because IIRC they always have suspense/mystery plots wholly unrepresentative of the show itself. There's even a haunted house in one of them, I think.
Matthew A. | 06.29.08 - 8:55 am | #

It's good to see that the rather perplexing "Mister Miracle" series from "Seven Soldiers" actually was leading up to something.

And I'd take Grant Morrison's explanation over "Superboy-Prime punched THE UNIVERSE ITSELF!" any day.
Chad | Email | Homepage | 06.29.08 - 12:05 pm | #

We had our first eBay ghoul in today, buying up a huge pile of Fathom and Soulfire.
Verbatim | Email | 06.29.08 - 1:42 pm | #

"And I'd take Grant Morrison's explanation over "Superboy-Prime punched THE UNIVERSE ITSELF!" any day."

To be scrupulously fair, Superman 10^6 punched his way through Time Itself.

...cripes, between that and Rock of Ages (another Morrison script), they could have brought Jason Todd back a bajillion different ways...

//Oo/\
Matthew Craig | Homepage | 06.29.08 - 2:01 pm | #

Turpin fought Darkseid for so long he became the monster?
Sleestak | Email | Homepage | 06.29.08 - 3:55 pm | #

Matthew A - I think we have that haunted house one, too. In that huge sci-fi book collection we purchased a while back, we came across a small pile of TV books, which you may be seeing on and off over the next few days.

Chad - I honestly don't have a problem with the Superboy punching the universe thing...I read that as "his struggles to break into our universe caused changes in reality" -- a real "whoa, cosmic" kind of thing!

Verbatim - I've been checking the eBay listings for any excessive tastelessness. Aside from there being a lot of new Michael Turner listings, it's fairly sedate.

I haven't had any ghoul-esque inquiries at our store, thank goodness.
Mikester | Homepage | 06.29.08 - 11:27 pm | #

Vic Crume sounds like a Steve Ditko character.

Connecting that to the New Gods is left as an exercise for the reader.
Bruce Baugh | Email | 06.30.08 - 1:49 am | #

Re: Superboy "Punching through Time":
I read that as "his struggles to break into our universe caused changes in reality" -- a real "whoa, cosmic" kind of thing!

Yeah, I think this plot point gets unfairly maligned because it sounds so stupid with the right phrasing. I never saw the realm Superboy and the others inhabited as a real, physical *place*, but a realm that could be escaped through force of will... and how else is (a) Superman going to interpret that except as something that needs to be punched?

Similarly, I don't have any problem with the New Gods in Final Crisis. There's a war in heaven and Evil wins? The idea that such a thing could wreak havoc on "reality" in various ways (and we've even got the frickin' Red Skies!) isn't too difficult for me to believe.
suedenim | Email | Homepage | 06.30.08 - 6:23 am | #

Sorry, I'm gonna have to stay in the the "FC is hard to understand" camp. Not that I'm a Grant fan by any stretch of the imagination, I've learned to deal with his wacky sci-fi getting in my superhero comics enough to usually follow along. However...

Who are these people in Japan and why am I supposed to care at all about them?

I did get that these people (Rev. Good = Granny Goodness) are the New Gods, but is Turpin!Darkseid the same as that Mr. Dark Side or whatever who's popping up in other books? Is this publishing date snafuness, like Marvel and the huge spoil of Giant-Size Astonishing?

And while Morrison's explanation seems to have the benefit of being less mockable than punching the timestream, and while I certainly didn't care about or didn't like Countdown, Infinite Crisis, DotNG and so forth, it just strikes me as particularly gutless of DC as a company to release a series like FC that ignores or nullifies (oh, I'm sorry, "retcons") things it published *a couple of months ago*.
Dark_Wesley | 06.30.08 - 3:34 pm | #

Ok, am not an expert on all things FC, but can offer some answers to those questions.

Except for the older hero on the news and Sunny Sumo, all those guys in Japan are new heroes. At this point, you shouldn't care. The young Japanese heroes are intentionally unlikable. Based on the context, I'd say that they'll be part of the team that Shilo Norman (Mr. Miracle) puts together.

One slight correction: Rev. Good is actually Glorious Godfried. He's something like Darkseid's PR/propaganda man. As to Turpin/Darkseid, I don't think it's a snafu this time. Mr. Dark Side appeared in 7 Soldiers of Victory; what Morrison seems to be getting at here is that the New Gods are very hard on human bodies. They wear out fast. So, Turpin is in line as the next incarnation of Darkseid. It also appears that the New Gods can possess multiple people (the supposition is that the Alpha Green Lanterns have been possessed by Granny Goodness).

On the retcon, well, that seems to be indicative of a conflict between Morrison and DC. He asked them not to use the characters, then they drove them into the ground.

All that being said, I do understand that some people aren't into FC. Think it's great myself, but based on the online reaction I think it's safe to say it's not for everyone. And it does help if you're a Morrison fan, because there's a lot here that directly follows up on 7 Soldiers.
Dan | Email | 06.30.08 - 7:13 pm | #

I don't know if you've mentioned this before, but 'FMU's Beware of the Blog also carried a Batman soundtrack performed by Sun Ra!

Most of the songs were reworked oldies, but there are a couple of real gems in there, too.
bill | Email | Homepage | 07.07.08 - 10:22 am | #