The Question multi artist jam!

I found this at Comic Art Fans.  I'm trying to figure out if the owner went around to different artists and have them do a sketch, or if this was all Photoshopped in later.  (I'm pretty sure it's the former.)  If so, what a great idea!  Any of you going to any Cons should try this out.

Click to enlarge.  Your mind might be blown.  You've been warned!

The artists represented are: Norm Breyfogle, Dan Fraga, Doug Mahnke, Tom Lyle, Roderick Thorton, and Georges Jeanty.

1989 Mayfair RPG Game Card: The Question

Welcome to Comics Make Me Happy!'s small and meek contribution to the Mayfairstivus, the blogosphere/RPG card enthusiast/comic book fan's answer to Festivus.  I shall now perform Feats of Strength, and then Air My Grievances.  Wait, I do that last one enough as it is.

I am in no way qualified to comment on this RPG game, as I've only played an RPG game once in my entire life.  I have pretty fond memories of sitting down during my best friend's weekend-long high school graudation celebration and playing a Star Wars Episode I Phantom Menace RPG card game with her boyfriend, and any attempts to play RPG games since have ended with myself or one other person swearing at a game manual and yelling at each other.  Really, it doesn't work for me unless there's an experienced player around who can explain the rules.  But I did like making the little spaceships that went along with a recent Star Wars trading card/miniatures game.

Anywho.

Let's file this RPG game under the category of "Awesome Things I Missed Out On When They Came Out," along with The Goonies and The Breakfast Club.

The front of the card shows the original Question, Vic Sage, looking pretty spiffy and all 80's, fresh from his Denny O'Neil run.  Too bad you're dead, Vic, or you'd be happy to know shoulder pads are making a comeback.  I'm not really sure if those awesome elevated shoes would be a success today or not, though.

The back of the card shows his stats.  Having non-powered humans characters in a game with somebody like Darkseid always makes me smirk.  It's pretty indulgent to think even Batman could take on, oh, I don't know, Sinestro.  I don't know what Batman's stats are, but here are Vic's:

These stats are chock-full of suprises.  Like Nike (TM), Hub City (TM) has become a valuable intellectual property, along with Charles Victor Szasz (TM), and I had to pay DC fifty cents just to write this sentence.  Vic ranks a 9 in willpower, and I'm assuming that's a scale of 10, so that means Vic would make an awesome Green Lantern.  Green Lantern Question: oh yeah.  Someone please draw me that fan art for me, will you?

I also never knew having a Secret Identity could be a drawback.  I kind of thought that would be an advantage, but what the heck do I know?  Vic is lacking some initiative, which I'm sure the nuns at the orphanage told him on a daily basis, and apparently all those martial art sparring sessions with Lady Shiva didn't do a bit of good, becuase that Strength stat is still suck at 4.  Too bad whoever came up with these stats didn't count all the Zen teaching and Eastern philosophy towards the Spirit, Mind, and Aura stats, otherwise Vic would be off the charts.

He's also got a Wealth rating of 5.  I'd like to know how wealth plays a part in this game.  Can you buy off Doomsday if you have enough in your bank account?

Check out other blogs participating in the Mayfair RPG Festivus Crossover:

The Anti-Didio League of America
The Aquaman Shrine
Booster Gold: BOO$TERRIFIC
The Continuity Blog
DC Bloodlines
Diana Prince as The New Wonder Woman
Doom Patrol: My Greatest Adventure #80
Firestorm Fan
Flash: Speed Force
Girls Gone Geek
Green Lantern Corps: The Indigo Tribe
Hawkman: Being Carter Hall 
Justice League Detroit
Martian Manhunter vs. The Idol-Head of Diabolu
Once Upon A Geek
Power of the Atom
Subject: Suicide Squad [Task Force X]
Supergirl Comic Box Commentary 

Happy Shark Week!

For ten (or maybe eleven, I'm too lazy to look it up) years in a row, the Discovery Channel has devoted a week of its programming to sharks.  Why?  Becuase sharks are just awesome creatures.

So that got me thinking.  Are there any awesome panels in comics featuring sharks?

Well, here's one:

I challenge you to find a panel more awesome than a robot shark vs. The Question.

Happy Shark Week!

I Readed A Book! (Review of Huntress: Cry for Blood)

Huntress: Cry for Blood

Story by Greg Rucka

Pencils by Rick Burchett

Inks by Rick Burchett and Terry Beatty (issues #5 and #6)

Short Synopsis:  After being framed for murder, Huntress must prove her innocence.  After meeting The Question, we learn her story as the only surviving family member of a mafia hit.

The Bottom Line:  A character-driven drama with noirish elements and a well-plotted story line, written on one of Rucka's good days and with great art, to boot.  Read it!

Why It's Good:  The comics medium, by its very nature, doesn't lend itself well to stories about moral choices and character change.  After all, if a character keeps changing over his or her decades-long history, are we going to recognize them anymore?  This works, though, for certain characters, and for flashback stories for popular, well-established characters.

The Huntress herself is a character in constant internal conflict, always straddling the line between Justice and Vengeance.  When it comes to her family history, that line, in her mind, gets a little blurred.  Fortunately, Huntress never lets this conflict devolve into an angsty angry-at-her-life attitude.  Instead, she's out for blood.

Our story starts with the murder of two mafiosos who have each been killed with an arrow from Huntress's crossbow.  The media, the police, and even Batman and Family suspect she's guilty.  Just when it seems like she's got no one to turn to, she nearly runs over The Question one night, and after some sparring, he absconds with her to his Super Secret Zen Hideout, where he and Richard Dragon give her a new outlook on life.

Helena, about to tell Vic her story

The story's a weighty one, heavy on backstory, and with clear-cut stakes for both Huntress and The Question.  For Helena, she must not only clear her name, but choose who she ultimately is: an agent of revenge struggling away from a broken past, or someone "better" than that who upholds the law.  The Question hopes Helena will put his wisdom into action after investing his time in taking her under his wing, plus there's the possiblity of a romantic relationship.  I'm not going to give away the ending, but it's a good one.

Granted I haven't read too many Huntress comics (but I've read quite a bit of The Question), but I feel Rucka is on his game when it comes to characterization.  I secretly suspect Rucka is Italian, because he writes them so well.  (They are also drawn very believably by Burchett.)  Rucka handles The Question quite well, too, and I really like seeing Vic as the good-hearted Sensei To The Superheroes and in a lighter mood than his Denny O'Neill days.  I wish Vic would come along more often and set people straight.  (Oh, wait, he can't.  He's dead.)  Rucka balances the Zen insight with the sarcasm quite well, too.  (The latter being, of course, Vic Sage's one superpower.)

The Art:  I really enjoyed the art.  It's quite different from today's comic art: very "2D" with little shading, and the characters' expressions are very slightly caricatures while at the same time preserving realism.  His figures are realistic: no over-roided guys or DDD-busted girls here.  There's a great efficiency of line and cleanliness to the style and inking that you don't see today unless you crack open a Johnny DC title.  It's a nice, refreshing break from the complicated, fantasized, hyper-reality of comics art today.

Not only that, but Burchett draws Vic Sage really well.  Vic is a real character, and that should show on his face, and Burchett thankfully doesn't hold back on the smug little expressions that only Vic Sage is capable of.  Compare and Contrast time!

Vic channeling the Great James Cagney?

A more recent appearance of Vic.  (Oh wait.  "Charlie."):

Mr. Generic

Not to mention, there's all sorts of great little visual details, like Vic punching a soda machine.  If anyone gets to punch a vending machine in the DC Universe, it's Vic Sage.

Oh, yeah, and Batman shows up.  And Vic gives him some lip.  That's always amusing.

Batman: Mr. Grumpy Gills

The only downside to the story is that it's rather complicated to keep all the mafiosos and who-did-what and who's-related-to-whom straight.  But I wouldn't let that detract from a very enjoyable story.

It's a shame it's not in print anymore--hopefully it'll be reprinted soon.  But I urge you to look for it and read it, if you haven't already.