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So, I have no idea.

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For reasons unknown to me, the post I put up on Monday IS CURSED, and somehow 1) messed up the rendering of my page for some readers, and 2) would not allow comments to be posted. I’ve been running tests (you may see “test” comments from me here and there ’til I get around to deleting them), and even if I strip ALL the HTML mark-up from that post and reload it, it still acts oddly. Even creating a new post and copying everything over doesn’t seem to work.

Thus, for now, that post is rescinded, until I try to simply rewrite it from scratch. Other posts seem to accept comments just fine. So…I dunno.

Keep in mind the template I’m using for this site is 16 years old, and it’s probably a miracle that it hasn’t really broken yet. Not saying this is an incompatibility with the current WordPress software causing this, but it’s possible.

Anyway, any more weird glitches turn up, please email me and let me know. Thanks.

At least Swee’pea seems concerned.

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Your pal Mike has had a rough go of it over the last day or two, so for today’s post I’ll just be putting up this great cover to Popeye #66 from 1962:


I don’t own my own copy of this beauty yet, but I’ll get one eventually!

I make my own page terrible with these two mighty human hands.

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So despite having promised “no A.I. on this site, no intelligence of any kind on this site,” here I am discussing a little A.I. stuff with you. But it’s stuff that was inflicted on me, not anything I created to, I don’t know, save time by making my page terrible.

But anyhoo, I was searching for something regarding my site on the increasingly aggravating Google, which threw up (I mean that almost literally) one of its A.I. “summaries” or “hallucinations,” whichever more closely applies, that included this statement about this webpage’s name, “Mike Sterling’s Progressive Ruin.”


Leaving aside the awkward hyphenation of the word “modern,” I am here to say “Mike Sterling’s Progressive Ruin” refers to neither of those things. Especially that last bit, which makes me sound like one of those weepy whiners who gets all aggro because Thor is a woman for a couple of years. Or because anything in comics is a woman. Or not white. Or not straight.

Okay, enough scolding, back to the site’s title. “Mike Sterling’s Progressive Ruin” is something of a self-effacing, dark-humored gag. As revealed waaaaaaay back in my first year anniversary post, when I was sure I’d probably only be doing this comics blog thing for another couple of years or so, I said

“…Well, it’s a reference to the fact that…um, well, I’m going to grow older, my body is going to weaken, my cognitive faculties will dull, and I’m eventually going to die…and as such, any record of my actions and experiences, such as through a collection of comic strips I’ve drawn, or posts on a weblog, can be seen as a document of that steady decline. Or, if you will, of my progressing ruin.”

I was only 35 years old (I think) when I wrote that. Ah, I had no idea how much my body would fail me in the future, especially my eyeballs.

That’s enough of that. I’m tempted to continue generating Google A.I. results about my site to see what else they got wrong, but I don’t want to, like, dry up Lake Michigan or whatever.

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I thought I was done with the posts about licensed comics from last week, but I’ve got a few straggling questions if you don’t mind me answering.

This first one isn’t a question, I just wanted to point out Pete’s extensive coverage in my comments about the ALF comics, which I somehow neglected. He does a good job, and you should give it a read.

Here’s something from JesusWasBatman (hold on, changing my religion) who adds this bit of trivia about a licensed book:

“In terms of similarity to the source material, there’s the story about the “Seaquest DSV” comic that was cancelled after one issue, because the lead actor Roy Scheider thought it had been excessively violent and action-oriented, and withdrew permission to use his likeness.”

Now, I remember knowing this at the time it happened, but I couldn’t tell you where this information came from. Not like “if I told you I’d have to kill you” (which wouldn’t work, you’d just roll back the giant penny from the mouth of the Batcave on the third day and come out good as new), but as in “I have no idea how I knew this.”

I figure I must have caught an interview or an announcement from Diamond or some darn thing. This SeqQuest fan page here has a quote from the comic’s writer as to what happened, and it jibes perfectly with what you said.

Sean brings up the fact that the Dell/Gold Key/Whitman melange was/were pretty much the king/kings of licensed books, which I think I only barely touched upon by mentioning the Duck comics. But they did…well, pretty much everything. And most of what they put out was…close enough, I suppose. (Folks bring up the Star Trek comics from this period, where the creative teams often had to work from stills and scripts and did the best they can with varying results.) I’m not going to be able to cover this/these companies in a small paragraph, or even Charlton too, so we’ll see about doing a post on this in the future.

And just so Daniel T doesn’t think I forgot about him:

“Mike, how do you think the DC Star Trek books would work for someone who’s not really into Star Trek? I’ve always been kind of vaguely interested in them because of the talent involved.

“(My experience of ST is I’ve seen the first four movies and First Contact. If I’ve seen an episode of TOS I was too young to remember it. I’ve seen one episode of TNG, one of Voyager and one of Discovery.)”

If that’s the Trek you’ve been exposed to, when the original DC series (the only started by Mike W. Barr and Tom Sutton) will probbably be your best bet. Keep in mind that one of the early multi-issue storylines involves the Mirror Universe, an alternate universe where evil duplicates of our crew lives, that basically functions as a follow-up to an episode of the original series.

But there are many stories in the run that don’t depend on much deeper knowledge that whatever you may have gleaned from the films, so you’ll do fine. And when you get to that point in the reading, there are comic book adaptations of films 5 and 6 you can read, too! (But honestly, just watch ’em…5 is better than its reputation would have you believe, and 6 is a fun send-off for that portion of the franchise.)

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Thanks as usual for all the great comments, and we’ll see what we can get up to on Wednesday that isn’t part five of this series of posts!

Augh.

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Sorry pals, new content is coming, but couldn’t get it ready in time for today. Should be up tomorrow.

My own commission rates are still rock bottom.

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Once again posting plans have been derailed due to Real Life stuff…I mean, last night, the blogging mind was willing, but the flesh was weak. Okay, to be fair, the mind’s pretty weak too, but hopefully I’ll be back in blogging shape later this week.

In the meantime, the buzz on the street right now is about DC Comics President/Publisher/Man About Town Jim Lee and his recently announced art commission prices:

“For the first time in over 15 years, Jim Lee will be taking commission requests to be delivered exclusively almost all shows he is appearing.

“This offer is an exclusive for show attendees only and won’t be shipped out. There is a limit to six per show so act fast to get yours.

“Penciled and inked by Jim Lee.

“11 by 17 inches, full figure one character with limited backgrounds for $20,000, if more than one character or extra backgrounds or recreation of other covers not drawn by Jim will be $25,000 to $35,000

“9 by 12 inches, waist on up figure with limited backgrounds is $9,000 to $15,000, will have backgrounds and more you pay can have other characters or scenes.

“small head shot, sample is shown, $1000. Size is 3.25 by 7 inches and side profile only.

“Blank cover comic, only bust shot with no background $8,000. And 12k if it a wraparound. Jim Lee will supply the blank cover comic but you can supply at the show if you like.

“Jim Lee will ultimately choose which commissions request he wants to fulfill. Once chosen, payment must be paid in full before the show. He may choose to live stream the creation of the commissions at his studio or at the show.”

There’s some online outrage at these rates, but, honestly…you get that money, Jim Lee. The dude is one of the Top Guys in comics, head of one of oldest and biggest comic book publishers in the country, and even though his output is usually limited to the occasional cover, still remains one of the industry’s superstars. He’ll get takers, no problem. In fact, as I’m writing this I’d be surprised if all slots weren’t already filled.

Is there anyone else in the business right now who could get this level of commission prices? I’d say probably just Todd McFarlane, someone with a similar background (rose to fame working for Marvel, split off to form Image Comics) and is held in similar regard by their fans. I suppose if Steve Ditko were still alive and were, well, an entirely different person, he could have opened up to commissions on this level.

Anyway, this is pretty wild news and has me wondering if other artists are suddenly going to reconsider their own rates. I mean, not up to Jim Lee levels (though I can picture a couple of former Huge Superstars who’d try to pull this off) but maybe thinking “…I can probably bump things up, like, 10% to 20%”). Worth keeping an eye on.

A brief reminder.

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Some comment spam has been getting past the filters lately, and I’ve been taking care of it as soon as I’m able. Please just ignore them in the meantime. Thanks!

The 1990s-est thing that’s ever 1990s-ed.

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Sorry, didn’t get around to writing a proper post last night, so here’s a very autographed copy of Deathmate Black:

…featuring the signatures of (inhales) Jim Lee, Brandon Choi, Mike Heisler, Alex Garner, J. Scott Campbell, Brett Booth, Scott Clark, Marc Silvestri, and Joe Chiodo.

See, here’s a Certificate of Auth–I mean, a “Dealers Attestation” saying so:


And yes, I’ve already sold it, sorry 1990s Image and/or Valiant Comics fans!