Friday Night Fights: Olive Oyl vs. Popeye

From Popeye #135 (1976). Writer & artist uncredited. (click pic for larger)

A Love Tap? Never laugh at a lady!

Amazon Top 50

Here are the Top 50 Graphic Novels on Amazon this afternoon. All the previous caveats apply.


1 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
2 (-). Watchmen
3 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
4 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
5 (-). Watchmen (hardcover)
6 (+5). Batman RIP *
7 (-1). Scott Pilgrim Volume 5: Scott Pilgrim vs The Universe *
8 (+1). Batman: The Killing Joke
9 (-2). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
10 (-). The Walking Dead, Vol. 9: Here We Remain
11 (+2). V for Vendetta
12 (-). The Joker
13 (+5). Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days
14 (+35). Watchmen (Absolute Edition)
15 (+22). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
16 (+12). Wolves at the Gate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 3)
17 (+16). All Star Superman, Vol. 2 *
18 (+12). Batman: Year One
19 (+5). Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
20 (+3). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
21 (-2). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
22 (-8). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
23 (+18). Serenity, Vol. 1: Those Left Behind
24 (+7). The Hidden Temple (Star Wars: Legacy, Vol. 5) *
25 (-). Naruto, Volume 35
26 (-2). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
27 (-10). The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA
28 (-13). Crown Of Horns (Bone)
29 (-9). Secret Invasion
30 (-2). Naruto, Volume 34
31 (-9). Naruto, Volume 36
32 (-3). The Complete Persepolis
33 (-1). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
34 (N). Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol. 21: War of the Symbiotes *
35 (-27). Barack Obama Amazing Spider-Man #583 Flag Cover Variant Third Printing
36 (-20). The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle
37 (N). The Dangerous Alphabet
38 (N). Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Volume 6
39 (N). The Complete Far Side 1980-1994
40 (-5). The Arrival
41 (+7). Dilbert 2.0: 20 Years of Dilbert
42 (N). The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House
43 (-9). No Future For You (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 2)
44 (N). Watching the Watchmen: The Definitive Companion to the Ultimate Graphic Novel
45 (-5). The Marvel Encyclopedia
46 (N). Mercy Thompson Homecoming *
47 (N). The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country
48 (-3). The Long Way Home (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Vol. 1)
49 (N). The Legend of Zelda , Volume 3: Majora's Mask
50 (N). Dark Tower: The Long Road Home (Exclusive Amazon.com Cover)

Items with asterisks (*) are pre-order items.


Commentary:

* While pre-orders on the fifth Scott Pilgrim volume remain strong, interest in the previous volumes has waned after the surge last week.

* Sales on Watchmen are probably keeping all of the rest of DC Comics afloat. Not only do the paperback & hardcover remain in the top five, but the expensive absolute edition surged up from 49 to 14.

* DC also have strong pre-order sales with their two high-profile Grant Morrison projects: Batman RIP & All-Star Superman.

* Interest in the Obama Spider-Man third-party market is officially over. Only the 3rd printing still shows up in the top fifty; it plummets from 8 down to 35 and goes for as little as $3.79

* The highest debut belongs to a pre-order for the latest Ultimate Spider-Man volume. In fact, with the exception of the aforementioned Obama-Spidey comic back issue, Brian Michael Bendis is responsible for all of Marvel's charting graphic novels. (The Marvel Encyclopedia is actually a Dorling Kindersly publication.)

* For no discernable reason there's a mini surge of interest in strip collections, with The Complete Calvin & Hobbes jumping way up (I think there was a modest price drop), and a Dick Tracy volume and the old Complete Far Side both debuting on the chart.

Heroes and Villains

Bizarro is brought to you today by Tiny Pediatricians.

This idea came while watching a football game and inking cartoons one afternoon. The female sideline reporter (almost all sideline reporters are female these days, someone must have passed a law) was interviewing a player and he was much taller than she, of course. But it suddenly occurred to me that she was holding the microphone up over her head to reach his face. Try it yourself right now. Imagine interviewing someone so much bigger than you that you have to hold the mic up over your head, as though pointing it at a light fixture on the ceiling.

And keep in mind these are not skinny, tall guys. These guys are HUGE. Their hands are bigger than your head. When you see someone that big in person, it almost seems as though they are a different species.

If only American football had been popular in Frankenstein's time, the monster could have worn a uniform and he would have been adored, instead of chased down by a mob and killed.

I think we've all learned an important lesson today.