A Contest Of Champions!

Flo Steinberg, the Invisible Girl, in Lee & Kirby's What If The Original Marvel Bullpen Had Become The Fantastic Four, from What If #11.

My sincerest thanks to the folks who entered last week's entirely indefensible competition. The whole process was a welcome relief in the middle of a hectic, and often entirely silly, week, and I tip my hat to everyone who popped over, who left a comment, or who even took a moment to stake a claim to the ultimate unimpressive prize. There's nothing like a "name-the-toy" competition offering a completely worthless reward to restore and maintain a sense of perspective.

The winner - taa daa! - was Brigonos, whose efforts have secured the dubious honour of nominating whichever of this week's books he'd most like to see reviewed here on TooBusyThinking. Alternatively, Mr B is welcome to the other optional first prize, which is to not bother at all, because, let's face it, there's always a great many other things to be getting on with. For those who may not know, Brigonos is, in his secret identity, the artist Bryan Coyle, whose graphic novel "Babble", created with writer Lee Robson, has been acquired by publisher Com.X.

And no, neither of them asked me to mention that. They may even ask me to remove the reference, if it comes across as a shameless plug.
  

(Top line) B'Dg, Spider-Man, Tom Baker Doctor head, Dalek, Captain Britain, Zilius Zog, Deadpool, Batman, Bronze Tiger, Catman, Harry Potter, Nemesis, Bwana Beast, Dr Fate (Bottom line) Green Arrow’s boxing glove arrow, Dash, Basil Brush, a  Rory Pond head, the 11th Doctor, Amy Pond, River Song, Rory Pond, Black Panther, The Demon, Gentleman Ghost, Firestorm, Black Widow, Iron Giant, Judge Dredd, Wonder Woman, Weeping Angel, Wildcat, Red Skull, Bouncing Boy, Captain America, Thunderbird 3.

Close behind Mr B came a cluster of splendid chaps, namely Martin, Julien, Adrian, Joe, Figserrello and Harvey. I've asked these field-leaders if they wouldn't mind nominating a comic or two that I might discuss in a new bite-size review column. (In a piece in yesterday's Observer, Gary Marcus discussed how important it is, when working off a long apprenticeship, to focus on weaknesses, and brevity's one of just a host of mine.) Then arrived a tiny splatter of entrants who oddly didn't seem to be trying very hard at all, offering instead some strange messages that seemed to be deeply concerned with the superhero's right to torture, the evils of feminism, and the perils of over-thinking. I decided that I ought to regard these as "Art", and as such, I regret that the rules of the competition prevent me from rewarding them. Still, who isn't warmed by the sight of men - and they're nearly always apparently men - expressing their nasty little inner child?

nb: So far, Brigonos had opted for the UK Thundercats comic, Adrian has chosen Kiss #1, Martin's gone for Spider-Men #1, Figserrello for Invincible #92, and Joe for Conan The Barbarian #5. Thank you, kind commentors.   

          

From The Strange Case Of The Diabolical Puppet by Finger, Kane, Robinson & Roussos, in Batman #3, Fall 1940

           

And behind those insignificant and passing rainclouds came the seven billion or so of the world's population who - incredibly -  don't seem to have felt motivated to take a punt on this competition at all. Unbelievable, I know.

I hope the day's been kind to everyone who finds themselves looking at this sentence, and indeed any of those around it. Thank you for popping over. I hope I might see you over this way again.       

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