Teen Titans Year One: Haven't I seen this before?

I'm enjoying the Teen Titans: Year One miniseries, although I find some elements a little distracting. Yes, Aqualad's back story had him afraid of fish, but it wasn't this over the top, plus he never looked like a zombie. And Kid Flash's constant connection to the Internet (jarring, I guess, because I think of him as a character from the 60s) and general impatience make him resemble Impulse more than the young Wally West.

Regardless, it's a fun story so far. I liked the fact that the latest issue (#2) had an actual note from the editor referencing a comic book from way back in the day. And it's just fun reading about these characters again, even if it isn't in exactly the way I remember them.

But the pieces I've read about the comic itself make it come off like a new story about the team's history, not a retread of an old comic.


Am I the only one connecting this storyline to the old Teen Titans #53 that came out back in 1978? It's been a long time since I read the issue--probably at least 20 or 25 years (damn, I'm feeling old again). And I know I've got it in a long box in the garage somewhere, but darned if I could lay hands on it without a major effort. But isn't this the same story so far? With the JLA mentors turned evil and the kids forced to stop them? I even remember them talking about contacting Superman and then being afraid that he'd turned evil, too (as reflected in a conversation in issue #2 of the current series).

I'm trying to remember how the whole thing turned out. Is this six-issue miniseries going to parallel the done-in-one story from 1978 via decompression? Or is there more going on. Have others pointed out the connection between the two stories and I've just missed it?

I don't mind at all if it's an homage to the old story--I'm just curious, that's all.

If anyone knows, drop me a line.

EDIT: Follow-up: I found a little more background on the old comic here.

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Sawyer said it...

From now on, I'll answer to "Haus" in addition to "Rob" and "handsome."

To get your own Lost nickname from Sawyer, check this page.

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Thriller turns 25

They're releasing a 25th anniversary edition of Michael Jackson's Thriller this week.

Damn, I feel old.

I wasn't much into music when I was younger. Thriller was the first tape I ever bought for myself.

A quarter of a century ago.

Sheesh.

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Images from my hard drive

This kind of post seems fun on other blogs, so I thought I'd try it myself. Here are some images I've saved over the years, but haven't ended up blogging about yet.

I liked some parts of 52 better than others, but you can't get much cooler than Dr. Magnus firing tiny Metal Men bullets.




I've got more after the jump.






Here's a demented Mickey Mouse image. I've go no idea where I found this. It's a little unsettling, to be honest with you.










Chill's Isle of the Dead module was one of my favorites of all time. The carnival atmosphere was a blast (and probably one of the many reasons why a carnival plays a role in Devil's Cape) and the adventure just had a lot of fun elements. I ran this one in high school and I remember my players screaming "fear check!" every time they met something creepy.








This Rorschach image is pretty cool.








Here's an image of Doctor Arcane from the Champions adventure The Coriolis Effect. Pencils and inks by Glenn Johnson, colors by me (with Pentels in the module itself) at a much younger age.
















Halftrack from the great Storn Cook. Halftrack was an NPC in the Global Guardians universe.










I support Heroes.








Superman told Obama if he held the pose long enough, he'd get the Kryptonian endorsement.

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New interview with HeroPress

The Acrobatic Flea, AKA Tim from the UK, recently interviewed me for his very cool blog, HeroPress. I talk about Devil's Cape, my favorite role-playing moment, the best comic books going today, superhero movies, and more. Please go check out the interview, then stick around Tim's blog for lots of other good content.

Thanks, Tim!

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Couple quick updates

Devil's Cape got a shout-out at the cool "Comics Should Be Good!" blog over at the Comic Book Resources site. Thanks, Brian Cronin, for mentioning me. If you came here from that site, thanks for visiting!

I also added a new Devil's Cape banner to the top of this site. Like it? Hate it? Think it should be slower or faster? Let me know.

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Devil's Cape in Previews!

The February 2008 issue of Previews (I've got the front and back covers posted to the left) has an ad for Devil's Cape in the books section, page 404. Please let your friendly neighborhood comic book store know about the book and encourage the owners to order a few copies.

Wizards of the Coast is mostly marketing Devil's Cape and the other Discoveries titles in traditional bookstores, but I'd love to see it popping up in comic book and game stores. Its superhero themes certainly mesh well with that type of store and, of course, I'd love just to get the book out in front of people's eyes to raise awareness of it.

It was exciting seeing it in the store today and showing it to the people there (of course, they already know about the book, since they're hosting CAPE).

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Come see me (and Devil's Cape) at CAPE!

On May 3, I'll be autographing copies of Devil's Cape at CAPE (the comics and pop culture expo), a Free Comic Book Day event, at my favorite comic book store, Zeus Comics, in Dallas. The guest list is full of some pretty awesome people I'm looking forward to meeting, including Mark Waid, Gail Simone, Robert Kirkman, and James O'Barr.

If you're in the neighborhood, please stop by.

You can read more about CAPE here.

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Strangeness in the Proportion: concept album meme

I picked this one up from Jeff's Gameblog. The idea is to come up with a concept album cover based on certain pretty strict parameters. Mine is above. I kind of dug how it turned out, but I was lucky enough to draw a decent quote ("strangeness in the proportion" comes from Sir Francis Bacon, by the way: "There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion").

The meme rules are after the jump.

01. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.
02. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.
03. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
04. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result as a comment in this post. Also, pass it along in your own journal because it's more amusing that way.

So would you buy the album? What tracks would be on it?

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Which one's real?

This poor guy, a Bollywood actor named Salman Khan, has had a fatwa issued against him for allowing Madame Tussauds to create a wax figure of him. Sigh. I'll just say that I don't think the dude deserves a fatwa and leave it at that.

But here's my question: Can you tell which is the man and which is the wax figure? That Madame Tussaud is pretty talented.

Side note: Anyone know why Tussauds doesn't have an apostrophe?

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Chuck on tonight

For my fellow Chuck fans out there, FYI: Chuck is on tonight, twice, in two new episodes "sandwiching" Celebrity Apprentice.

This seems like really stupid programming to me, along the lines of what I complained about for the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles premiere. I mean, you've got a show that's somewhat established and has a following, its viewers are used to watching it on Monday nights. Why drop in two new episodes on a completely different night? I feel like there's some executive anxious to cancel the show, expecting it to tank in this slot and then planning to use the bad ratings as a "see, I told you so" excuse. But what do I know?

Anyway, if you like the show, please watch or record it. Don't give them an excuse to cancel this one.

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I miss Moranis

Ever wonder whatever happened to Rick Moranis?

Not as much as this guy (um, lyrics and a couple visuals not safe for work):



Funny stuff.

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Bring me the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater on DVD!

Okay, here's something I'd definitely drop down $49.99 for. Now I just need someone to make it.

The Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater at Disney Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney MGM Studios) is one of my all-time favorites, a "can't miss" anytime I make it to the parks. It's a large building with "cars" inside (the picture at left shows it nicely) and you sit in your table-equipped cars and order your meal while watching a drive-in movie reel populated with 50s-era shorts, cartoons, ads, and movie trailers. The food is good (my mother recently said that the hamburger was the best she'd ever had)--a combination of things like burgers and shakes with pasta and salad offerings. But the real seller here is the atmosphere--the darkened area, the drive-in screen, the campy footage.

The restaurant shows the same movie reel over and over again. It lasts somewhere in the 40 to 50 minute range, so you generally don't notice any repetition unless you tarry too long (and with a huge waiting list filled with other park guests waiting to get in, you shouldn't do that).



I love the reel. It's fun and silly and retro and engrossing--the kind of thing that equally captivates a wide range of people (like my mother, Dina and me, and Alex and Zack--three generations of riveted watchers--that's us in the picture, in case you didn't guess. Yes, I'm wearing a Flash T-shirt. Yes, it's Barry Allen. No, I'm not the hippest cat on the block. Or maybe I am...). And every time I see it, I get a strong urge to watch some old sci-fi movies. Particularly, of course, the ones featured in the restaurant.

Some enterprising soul recorded the list of features and trailer here. I won't list them all in this space since some of them are his shorthand references to the various shorts (like the self-driving electric car or the frying saucer) and some of the references he made I don't understand enough to translate (what's "Garco and WED"?). But I will list the movies below.

Anyway, here's my proposal: Disney should create a DVD package that includes the entire reel, plus copies of all the classic movies on the trailers. They could sell it through regular venues, although of course it would be a perfect souvenir of the restaurant itself. I would totally, totally buy this. A lot of the movies are available individually on DVD or in various compilations, but what I'd like is a nice, slick, remastered DVD set containing all of them. What fun!

Here's the list of movies:

• The Horror of Party Beach
• The Giant Gila Monster
• Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster
• Plan 9 from Outer Space
• Invasion of the Saucer Men
• Robot Monster
• Missile to the Moon
• Devil Girl from Mars
• It Conquered the World
• Attack of the 50-Foot Woman
• The Amazing Colossal Man

Oh, and a nice, juicy cheeseburger and a chocolate shake to go with them would be nice, too.

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Interview live on Bibliophile Stalker

Charles Tan of the Bibliophile Stalker site interviewed me recently about Devil's Cape. He's posted the interview on his site. I enjoyed the interview. Thanks, Charles. You can read the interview via the link below. When you're done, check out some of the other coverage on his site, including interviews with A. Lee Martinez and my fellow Wizards of the Coast Discoveries author, J.M. McDermott.

Read the interview here.

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Devil's Cape quote from Greg Rucka

The process of quote solicitation for Devil's Cape was translucent for me--in other words, I know enough about how it worked for light to filter through, but wasn't privy to enough details to give a completely clear picture.

Here's what I know: Wizards of the Coast asked me for a list of people/institutions who I thought might be interested in reading advanced reader copies (ARCs) of the book and providing comment, both for review purposes and for promotion. I thought hard about it and provided a list, and I'm not quite sure what happened next. Certainly Wizards sent the book to people I didn't list (and that's a very good thing). Some of the people I listed didn't get books and some did--I'm not sure exactly how that worked.

Anyway, one of the people I thought might be a good contestant to review the book and comment on it was Greg Rucka, the comic book and crime writer behind Whiteout, the Atticus Kodiak novels, Checkmate, and lots of other good stuff.

Mr. Rucka was kind and generous enough to review the book and provide a quote for use in promotion. It will appear in its entirety in the first few pages and a section of it will be featured on the back cover. Here's what said:

There is NO WAY that this is Rob Rogers’s first novel. This is a novel replete with the rewards of a lifetime of training, effort, and passion. Devil’s Cape is a mesmerizing, seductive, and darkly moving piece of fiction that seamlessly, even gracefully, marries tactile reality with myth and magic to bring its own pulsating world to life. Beyond expectations, full of surprises, singing with resonance and emotion, Rogers has written a novel that first stabs the superhero genre in the back, then flips the body over and shocks it back to exhilarating life. What arises from this crime scene is a post-modern delight. Take the tour of Devil’s Cape—I guarantee you’re going to like it here!

I'm obviously pleased with the quote and it's particularly exciting to me that it comes from an author I've enjoyed and admired for years. Thanks, Greg Rucka. Everyone reading this--please go check out a few of his books. I know you'll enjoy them.

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