Something Random: A Coloring Contest!

So, here's a story (of sorts): I check my email today and lo and behold, there's a message that makes reference to my brief little writeup of Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed to Thrizzle. "Who out there is actually reading The Danger Digest?" I wondered aloud. Turns out, it's none other than writer, gentleman, provocateur and man-about-town Patrick Wensink, who kindly asked me to run the following announcement:

Patrick Wensink recently decided there’s only one way to celebrate the release of his book, Sex Dungeon for Sale!--and that's by holding a coloring contest.

Accordingly, he had a series of illustrations created based on some of the book’s stories, including a Kindergartener who thinks he’s French, a puddle of ketchup shaped like Elvis, and something called “Chicken Soup for the Kidnapper’s Soul.”

Adding to the excitement, Wensink is offering the winner an autographed stack of his favorite books from 2009, which are:

Tales Designed to Thrizzle by Michael Kupperman

Fool by Christopher Moore

AM/PM by Amelia Gray

Help! A Bear is Eating Me! by Mykle Hansen

The contest ends December 14. For all the details visit www.patrickwensink.com/randomness

There you have it, dear readers. Stop whatever work you're doing and bust out your crayons. And Patrick, thanks for reading!

Post-Holiday Distraction...

...courtesy of Alfred, Bruce Wayne's butler.


Alfred's ribald shenanigans from the Batman and Robin newspaper strip, originally published Wednesday, September 27, 1944. Written by Alvin Schwartz (under the pen name Vernon Woodrum), penciled by Jack Burnley, inked and embellished by Charles Paris and lettered by Ira Schnapp. Scanned from the book Batman: The Dailies 1943-1946, published by Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., by arrangement with DC Comics.

60 WEEKS WITH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Week 13

Justice League International #13
May ‘88
“Collision Course”
Giffen: plot & pencils
DeMatteis: script
Gordon: inks
Lappan: letters
D’Angelo: colors
…fer: editor


Keith Giffen steps in for penciling duties in an issue that was clearly aimed at boosting sales of Suicide Squad; the whole shebang ends in a cliffhanger that wraps up in issue 10 of the other title. By now it’s probably needless to say I won’t be reading that, so we’ll just have to catch as catch can.


Nevertheless, and excepting the straight-up lousy cover, Giffen’s art suits the book well. And since he’s been providing page breakdowns since the beginning, there’s a uniformity to the layouts that helps connect this issue to the previous 12.


Apropos of nothing--or at least not much--the letter column ends with editor Mark Waid saying that “the Canary indeed departed from the League,” even though she’s in this issue. Since I’m not totally steeped in the DCU circa 1988, I can’t be positive of this, but I think that just might’ve been a spoiler.



The complete 60 Weeks with the Justice League on The Danger Digest:
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24, #25/1, #26/2, #27/3, #28/4, #29/5, #30/6, #31/7, #32/8, #33/9, #34/10, #35/11, #36/12, #37/13, #38/14, #39/15, #40/16, #41/17, #42/18, #43/19, #44/20, #45/21, #46/22, #47/23, #48/24, #49/25, #50/26, #51/27, #52/28, #53/29, #54/30, #55/31, #56/32, #57/33, #58/34, #59/35, #60/36


All images this post copyright DC Comics. Original text copyright Jon D. Witmer/The Danger Digest.

60 WEEKS WITH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Week 12

Justice League International #12
April ‘88
“Who is Maxwell Lord?”
Keith Giffen: plot and breakdowns
J.M. DeMatteis: script
Kevin Maguire: pencils
Al Gordon: inks
Bob Lappan: letters
Gene D’Angelo: colors
Andy Helfer: nervous breakdowns


Despite the cover’s rather heavy-handed suggestion, Maxwell Lord is indeed a man. To be exact, a wealthy businessman, who just so happens to have partnered with a machine that became self-aware. Naturally, zaniness ensued.

A flashback wades through the duo’s machinations over the past year’s worth of books, and ultimately Max destroys the machine and earns the League’s … forgiveness? Respect? Decoder ring? Something like that. Anyway, the issue is most important for revealing that Green Flame (a.k.a. Fire) and Ice Maiden (a.k.a. Ice)--who will soon become major players in this series--want into the League. Enjoy these two pages in all their glory:

Who the hell is that angry, cigar-dropping man in the last panel? I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. These two pages are fantastic.

Finally, this issue’s nostalgia alert is brought to you by your public TV station:


The complete 60 Weeks with the Justice League on The Danger Digest:
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24, #25/1, #26/2, #27/3, #28/4, #29/5, #30/6, #31/7, #32/8, #33/9, #34/10, #35/11, #36/12, #37/13, #38/14, #39/15, #40/16, #41/17, #42/18, #43/19, #44/20, #45/21, #46/22, #47/23, #48/24, #49/25, #50/26, #51/27, #52/28, #53/29, #54/30, #55/31, #56/32, #57/33, #58/34, #59/35, #60/36


JLI pages copyright DC Comics. 3-2-1 Contact ad copyright … ? Original text copyright Jon D. Witmer/The Danger Digest.

60 WEEKS WITH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Week 11

Justice League International #11
March ‘88
“Constructions!”
Keith Giffen: plot and layouts
J.M. DeMatteis: script
Kevin Maguire: pencils
Al Gordon: inks
John Workman: letters
Gene D’Angelo: colors
Andrew Helfer: editor


This issue’s a real return to form after the whole Millennium debacle. The cover alone is worth the price of admission, and the show inside lives up to every inked line. Despite having been gunned down by his secretary, Maxwell Lord appears alive and well, at least until he’s attacked by his own skyscraper. The League saves him, though, and then follows his paranoid ramblings to a fight with the giant robot known as the Construct. And as if those hijinks weren’t madcap enough, the whole show ends with a reveal of Metron sitting back in his magical La-Z-Boy and just daring the League to make him stand up.


In other good news, the backup story from the past few issues—the one that never made any sense so far as I could figure—seems to have been scrapped, and in rather anticlimactic fashion, the letter’s page has at long last been christened Justice Log.



The complete 60 Weeks with the Justice League on The Danger Digest:
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24, #25/1, #26/2, #27/3, #28/4, #29/5, #30/6, #31/7, #32/8, #33/9, #34/10, #35/11, #36/12, #37/13, #38/14, #39/15, #40/16, #41/17, #42/18, #43/19, #44/20, #45/21, #46/22, #47/23, #48/24, #49/25, #50/26, #51/27, #52/28, #53/29, #54/30, #55/31, #56/32, #57/33, #58/34, #59/35, #60/36


All images this post copyright DC Comics. Original text copyright Jon D. Witmer/The Danger Digest.

60 WEEKS WITH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Week 10

Justice League International #10
Feb. ‘88
“Soul of the Machine”
Keith Giffen: plot & breakdowns
J.M. DeMatteis: script
Kevin Maguire: pencils
Al Gordon: inks
Bob Lappan: letters
Gene D’Angelo: colors
Andy Helfer: editor

Backup story:
“…Back at the Ranch…”
Giffen: Plot & Art
DeMatteis: Script
Gordon: Inks
Mas: Letters
D’Angelo: Colors
Helfer: Editor


Ahem. Yes. Well. Not too much to say this week, folks. Except this issue represents exactly what I so strongly dislike about these “universe-spanning events” that infuse each page with all sorts of characters who aren't usually in the title and serve basically as advertisements for other books currently on sale by the same publisher.


By far the most notable event in this book is the first appearance of G’nort, who at this point looks basically like a dude in a lousy dog suit:


Maguire’s art feels a bit stiff here--he’s presented with an awful lot of panels showing a gross number of heroes in wide shots, and as previously mentioned, I happen to believe he does his best work in close-up. The dialogue, too, frequently comes off as stilted, like some company suit re-worked the script just to make it fit into “Millennium,” nevermind that the title on the cover is still Justice League International.


Also, I haven’t got a damn clue what happens in the backup story. Maybe everything would make sense were I reading every tie-in issue of this “Millennium” thingy, but if this issue is any indication, it was a silly story bloated by its own sense of importance, and I’m not losing any sleep over missing it. Ah well. At least issue 11 should have things back to normal…



The complete 60 Weeks with the Justice League on The Danger Digest:
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24, #25/1, #26/2, #27/3, #28/4, #29/5, #30/6, #31/7, #32/8, #33/9, #34/10, #35/11, #36/12, #37/13, #38/14, #39/15, #40/16, #41/17, #42/18, #43/19, #44/20, #45/21, #46/22, #47/23, #48/24, #49/25, #50/26, #51/27, #52/28, #53/29, #54/30, #55/31, #56/32, #57/33, #58/34, #59/35, #60/36


Images from Justice League International #10 copyright DC Comics. Original text copyright Jon D. Witmer/The Danger Digest.