Art of Homage # 53: Incredible Hulk King-Size Annual # 2

"That's one HUGE cast you're sporting, there, buddy!"

A smattering of favorite issues and story lines

that had outrageously over sized casts...yet

still managed to handle the story well!

Wonder Woman (3rd series?) # 173-175,

"The Witch and the Warrior"

Phil Jimenez magic with Andy Lanning

and (pictured) Adam Hughes cover.

The JLA/Titans mini-series, "The Technis Imperative"

by Devin Grayson and Phil Jimenez

Young Justice #s 50 and 51,

by Peter David, Todd Nauck.

Avengers # 181

(and the ensuing buildup issues,

# 167, 168, 170-177, "The Korvac Saga" by

David Micheline, Jim Shooter, Bill Mantlo,

George Perez, Sal Buscema, and more!)

"JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice"

original graphic novel by

David S. Goyer, Geoff Johns, Carlos Pacheco

A beautiful rendering of the classic team-up

with characterization and interaction

depicting the teams' personalities and histories.

Guy Gardner, Warrior # 29,

with the grand opening of Warriors bar, featuring

cameos by nearly every DCU member at the time!

Featuring both the gatefold specialty cover

(opening to a Jimenez crowd scene) or

the regular edition featuring the homage cover.

"Project: Super Powers" from Dynamite Comics and Alex Ross

doing a splendid revitalization of a host of Golden Age

characters, including Daredevil and Black Terror.

The beloved "Defenders for a Day" storyline from

the 1970s, from "Defenders" #s 63-65, featuring

a slew of B and C characters of the day!

JSA: OUR WORLDS AT WAR Special # 1, featuring

nearly every legacy character of the time!

Great for Golden Age fans!

Hanna Barbera's "Laff-a-Lympics" featuring

the entire cartoon universe of Hanna-Barbera.

Published by Marvel Comics, Charlton, and more.

"Crisis on Infinite Earths," the standard-bearer and first

kitchen-sink-cast comic of this magnitude. Hated

the end result, but the cameos and art was stupendous.

James Robinson and Paul Smith's splendid

"The Golden Age" mini-series with a great

smaller human interest story, but with a

bunch of Easter eggs and a final scene that

delivers for 'big fight scene' fans.

Waid and Kitson's Silver-Age revamp with the

early days of the retconned Justice League,

featuring all the heroes of the age.

(Albeit conveniently deus-ex-machina'ed

into second banana status for the purpose

of this story.)

The original super-team-up at DC Comics

with a really cool story combining all the characters

previously featured in SHOWCASE!

Story by  Paul Kupperberg and Paul Levitz,

 and art by Joe Staton!

***

Independent Lens: Wonder Women

I guess this special (documentary) was supposed to highlight the impact

of the positive female role model of "Wonder Woman" on real life women

through the ages.

I don't know, since my local PBS affiliate preempted it for a spotlight on

tarpon fishing. Yay.

Anyway, check it out at the link below, which should show you the complete

episode in full! (Link valid through June 14th, 2013!)

Wonder Women: The Untold Story of American Superheroines

Flashback: Seeing Double

There's just something totally cool

(and a bit surreal) about seeing

a character oppose 'themselves.'

Hoax, dream, imaginary story...

...android, clone, illusion...

...identity theft, alternate earth,

look-a-like....

...split in two by some far-fetched comic-booky

science device...

It doesn't really matter!

It's just fun and a visually striking artistic

effect, at least for me!
(One of my many 'fetishes' in collecting,

back in the day!)

I think one of the things I most enjoy,

just as my love for split-personality and dual-identity

characters, is the sense of inner conflict

being externalized.

There's some very heady and heavy

Freudian/Jung stuff going on in

regards to doing battle with

yourself...

Whether it's on an inner landscape,

or in broad daylight with long

underwear on!

*****

Jose' Luis Garcia-Lopez: DC Style Guide

My Man, JLGL, giving it his all doing

character art standards for DC Comics.

It's a shame they fell by the wayside.

DC Women