Negative Mondays 23

OK, so this one's gonna be short and sweet.

I was sick. I'm getting better. More later.

What? Not good enough? OK.

November 9 was the start of the busiest week I've worked at my current job. Throughout the week, I was wearing thin, and by Friday I was done. I cashed out and hit the hay by 8:00 Friday night. Went to the doctor the next day and was diagnoased with the flu.

Turns out it was H1N1, as the "seasonal" flu has yet to hit Michigan.

From there, I spent Saturday, Sunday, and Monday in bed. Woke up long enough Tuesday to know something wasn't right and my lovely wife decided to take me to the hospital. Three IV bags, one antibiotic bag, and a painkiller that could have stopped an elephant's toothache, I went home, with a new diagnosis - pneumonia.

So I've been a little under the weather, which has been unseasonably mild for Michigan - and should be back in action soon.

In the meantime, I'd like to mention that the Blackest Night issue of DP sold out and a second printing should be hitting shops this week.

Also worthy of a mention, Mattycollector.com has the Justice League Unlimited style DP figures for sale. Haven't ordered mine yet, but soon. I'll track the process here for everyone's edification.

Also to keep you coming back, I've got the second part of my chat with Matthew Clark coming up.

Glad to see you all got along nicely while I was gone. Some advice was asked, given, and appreciated. Good times.

This may not be the most frequently updated blog out there, but the folks here are nice and friendly-like. Makes me happy.

Negative Monday 22

From The Fwoosh, here's some images of the Negative Man figure from the yet-to-be-formally-announced DC Universe Classics line. The Fwoosh, in my opinion, tends to be a little out front of the announcements as the happen. Action Figure Insider is my preferred site of choice for news on all things plastic, but this is some great news for Doom Patrol fans.

This set will include:
Wondergirl - the Donna Troy version
Superboy - the Conner Kent version as he originally appeared
Cheetah - two versions, the classic Super Friends version and the more modern - but not current appearance - George Pérez version
Cyclotron
Blue Devil - the original look for Mr. Cassidy
Blue Beetle - Jaime Reyes
and our very own Negative Man.

From what I gather, Larry is going to be the variant, with his "negative face" showing.

The collect-and-connect figure here will be Trigon. After all, they have to string us a long a little farther before they give us Rita, right?

I'm a little puzzled by Mattel's choice to go retro with the appearance of Larry Trainor, as I think Matthew Clark's design is top notch and would make a more dramatic action figure. Who am I to complain? At least we'll be getting a Negative Man action figure!

Sharing the Doom Patrol Love

Hey all!

This one's going to be quick. I just wanted to share a link to another lovely Doom Patrol blog out here on the interwebs.

If you've read any f the comments that are wonderfully added onto the blog posts here, you've undoubtedly seen - and most likely been enlightened by - posts from a kind soul who goes by "pblfsda". Rather than try and pronounce that one, I've jumped to the conclusion that "we're all friends here" and referred to this kind soul as "PB". At any rate, PB has a blog of his (her? sorry PB, we've never clarified) own that discusses the Doom Patrol in significantly more detail than some of my blurbs. PB has broken the history of the DP into eras and discusses each ont he site. I've found this to be greatly informative and defintely worth more of my time.

No doubt about it, PB has a passion for this band of freaks.

Here's a link to that site and I'll also tuck a link over there ------>

Negative Monday 21

Twenty-one! I win!

Twenty-one is one of those trigger words for me. Every time I hear it, I think about the Bugs Bunny cartoon where he's playing Blaque Jaque Shellaque. Of course, this post has nothing to do with Blaque Jaque, but the next post does have something to do with Blackest Night. (horrible, horrible transition, I know, but what do you want for free?)

Anyway, I've slipped once more. To make that to you, today I'm going to share the pencils for the cover from last week's January solicits. I'm still not sure HOW I got this beautiful image (and even if I was sure, I'm sworn to secrecy), but I think it is safe to share the pencils now that the actual cover has been shared.

Just to be 100% certain I don't blow anything, here's the cover and solicit from October 19:

DOOM PATROL #6
Written by Keith Giffen; co-feature written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis
Art by Matthew Clark; co-feature art by Kevin Maguire
Cover by Matthew Clark
This month, we spotlight Negative Man, who’s going to knit the history of The Doom Patrol into one cohesive whole. Cohesive to him, anyway.
Plus, The Metal Men find another gag that those three old geezers doing the feature can run into the ground.
On sale January 6 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US

Full January 2010 solicits for DC Comics can be found at Comic Book Resources, among other places, but CBR is near and dear to my heart.

And now for those pencils I promised:

It amazes me how comfortably Matthew Clark renders all of these characters, and quite frankly, it disappoints me a little bit that we can't have Rebis and Val on the team alongside Larry.

Next up, I'll be linking the DP pages from The Source. Sure, you could just click on over there, but my witty banter will still be right here.