Comic book weirdness

[yendi]

First, Peter David, from his blog: I've been informed by my editor on SUPERGIRL, Lysa Hawkins (who is also my editor on "The Fallen Angel") that "Many Happy Returns"...SUPERGIRL #75-80...has performed so well that it's going to be collected as a trade paperback when the run ends. So the first eight issues and the last six are collected. Interesting bookends.

So the sales on the book's final storyline were bad enough for them to end it, and good enough to release a trade. OK.

And then, from Zentertainment:

BROTHER VOODOO Series in the Works at SCI FI
-
The SCI FI Channel has announced it is developing a
live-action two-hour movie and backdoor pilot based
on the MARVEL Comics character BROTHER VOODOO.
The show will revolve around the adventures of
Jericho Drumm, a doctor and voodoo priest drawn
back into a world of black magic after the death
of his brother.
http://www.scifi.com



For those who are saying, "who?" Brother Voodoo may be the lamest character in Marvel history. He's leagues beyond The Living Monolith, or Fin Fang Foom, or Stilt-Man. His only real purpose was becoming a running gag in Fred Hembeck's nifty little Marvel talk show strips (collected in Fred Hembeck Sells the Marvel Universe) And they picked him for a tv series.

It had better be a fucking comedy.

Off to Elayna's school meeting now.

Comments

[metaphorge.livejournal.com]

The Living Monolith is vastly underappreciated. He's such a lovely vacation spot... especially his left nostril!

[yendi]

Nah -- it's gotten all gentrified now. Damned Living MonoYuppies.

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

Ah yes. I remember well. Brother Voodoo, Sister Voodoo, and Voodoo Chile.

Brother Voodoo had a brief reoccurence several years ago when Marvel released a Halloween-themed mini-series. But it was a another universe.

[yendi]

Do you remember the name of the mini-series? I'm always interested in horror-oriented titles.

Re:

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

umm...Not offhand. I'll have to look for it after I get my comics back from the wolf. I remember it had "ultimatesque" versions of Brother Voodoo, Werewolf By Night, and Ghost Rider. Let me see if I can Google it...aha!

It's called The Supernaturals. It was a joint project with Marvel and the now defunct Chaos! Comics back in '99. Apparently the Chaos! guys re-created some classic Marvel horror characters and put them a 4 issue mini-series. Here's some copy I found:

Marvel Comics has a new four-issue weekly miniseries just in time for Halloween, called The Supernaturals. The storyline is that Jack O'Lantern wants to make every day Halloween, and along with Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster, Simon Garth the Zombie, and the Living Mummy, battles Brother Voodoo, Ghost Rider, Satanna, Werewolf by Night, Gargoyle, and Black Cat. Pretty much all of the monsters of Marvel make an appearance in the series at one point or another.

Mr. Drummer, I presume...

[scarcrest.livejournal.com]

I tend to agree with Neil Gaiman on the concept of lame characters: There aren't any. There's only lame execution. Some characters are fit for only a limited time and space, and only have so many legitimate uses, yes; but that doesn't make them lame, per se. Prez, for instance, or Brother Power; he was able to find a good use for them, and for Cain and Abel.

A buddy of mine from the fanfic days once talked with me about writing up a pitch for Brother Voodoo as a comic book. If we'd done what we talked about, no one at Marvel would have bothered responding at that time. But it would have fit in quite well with the MAX line -- as it was similar in tone to Ellis' run on "Hellstorm, Prince of Lies" but with a bit more humor.

Re: Mr. Drummer, I presume...

[yendi]

So your plot wouldn't have the character killed off at the end? :-)

Thing is, Prez and Brother Power never struck me as being as lame. Hell, Prez was halfway interesting. BP was good enough for occasional usage, although I think even Neil would have been hard-pressed to make him interesting without also just scrapping much of his history and background.

And Cain and Abel were never lame, dammit!

Re: Mr. Drummer, I presume...

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

I only know Prez from that one issue of Sandman. Where did he come from?

[murnkay.livejournal.com]

Priest used Brother Voodoo as a real and good character in Black Panther for a bit. Go fig.

[yendi]

Hunh. THat's a run I'd love to track down sometime. I'd never been a huge fan of "Priest" (sorry, can't say his name with a straight face any more than I can say "Robin Hobb"), but I've heard nothing but good things about the series, and Black Panther was always a favorite of mine in Avengers.

[photognome.livejournal.com]

For years in this industry, whenever an African American character, hero or villain, is introduced USUALLY by my white artist names. They got SLAPPED with racist names that singled them out as Negros! Now--my book, "White-Hating Coon", don't have any of that bull-shit. The hero's name is Maleequa and he's descended from the black tribe that established the first society on the planet while all you European motherfuckers were all hiding out in caves n'shit, terrified of the sun. He's a strong role-model that a young black reader can look up to. 'Cause I'm here to tell ya: the chickens are coming home to roost, y'all. The black man is no longer going to be playing the minstrel in the medium of comics and sci-fi fantasy. We're keeping it real! And we're going to get respect by any means necessary.

[yendi]

Heh. That's my favorite scene in the movie. :-)

[broken-sera.livejournal.com]

haloo.

can i add you?

[yendi]

Of course you can! Welcome!

[crowyhead.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe they'll ignore the majority of the previous incarnations and actually do something not-lame with him. After all, if TV has lame-ified so many *cool* superheroes, maybe it'll work the opposite way on Brother Voodoo.

[yendi]

Good point. Then again, Night-Man sucked in his comic book form, and the series did, too.