Don’t call it a comeback. That guy’s been here for years. DC’s Just Imagine Stan Lee, anyone? SHUDDER.

Marvel published a hardcover of their superlative Strange Tales anthology comics from Summer 2009. Featuring original work from the likes of  Peter Bagge, Paul Pope, Junko Mizuno, Stan Sakai, Dash Shaw, Matt Kindt and more, the book design is as sexy as the creator lineup is unbelievably talented.

Now, would probably be a really great time to say GIANT SPOILERS from this week, and last week’s comics.  So you’ve been warned.

And. Here. We .Go.

Dave at home. Found in his natural position.

DAVE: So, BLACKEST NIGHT #1: Really? Really, with the ripping out of the hearts of Guardians and Hawkpeople left and right? Jesus. Geoff Johns, you’re a good, pleasant guy, a kind-hearted individual, where does this come from? You gotta see someone. You have some repressed anger going on here.

Jeff at home.

JEFF: Reminds me of George Lucas’ similar fixation with using lightsabers to chop off limbs. The Star Wars universe is filled with amputees! The first comic book I ever read was an issue of Green Lantern when I was four years old. I think Hal used his ring to make a big-ass green fist to punch the baddie. I’d say this is a bit of a departure from the tone of that issue.

Yeah maybe a little bit of a departure. That’s funny. What is also funny, but probably not really, my first comic as a kid was a Green Lantern comic too.  It was an annual, I think it, and I still remember the cover: it had Hal Jordan bursting through this giant robot.  No idea what it was about, but I think I still have it somewhere in my parent’s garage upstate.

I don’t know if you had a chance to check it out, but I just got done with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep #1 and found it okay. Art not too flashy- refreshingly so- and a lot of bang for the buck. Given the source material (it’s a direct adaptation of PKD’s novel) it’s pretty hard to go wrong. Just one quam:

It’s #1. OF 24!!!!!! Am I going to be around in two years or so when it concludes? Maybe. Is Boom, the book’s publisher? Can they sustain interest in this for two years? I wish them all the best, but…. To  paraphrase the closing line of Blade Runner’s theatrical cut (which I prefer): I don’t know how long this book and I have together. Who does?

Whaddya think of that Spider-Man variant with Nixon on the cover?

I did look at it [Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep], and you’re right, it is hard for them to get it wrong by transplanting Dick’s words into the comic.  However, I imagine most of the people that book would appeal to are huge into the movie, and have probably read the book a while back.  So, in the end, I’m not really sure why this is a must buy.

I don’t think anything of the Nixon variant, though I will say how about the giant reveal in Amazing Spider-Man annual with Ben Reilly being alive? Sorry, spoilers, but its been a week so if you have a problem, feel free to pick a fight in the comments.

OMG. I didn’t see that. Was he wearing that Flashdance meets Carnage Scarlet Spider costume? Cuz that thing’s rad…

No, he was calling himself Velociraptor, which is probably just as Flashdance as his previous version. He had jaws, and bone knives coming out of his forearms, very much like that formerly stupid mutant. What was her name? Oh yeah, Marrow. God, remember when the X-Men comics had a fixation on gross mutants…Marrow and Maggot? Those were the times.

I feel like I have to bring it up: but Wednesday Comics? I loved Ben Caldwell’s Wonder Woman strip, but I hear the predominant favorite is Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook’s Kamandi, but that doesn’t surprise me.

Ryan Sook could draw a comic about styrofoam and it’d be gorgeous.

Kerschl and Fletcher’s Flash page is my fave. Haven’t felt anything but “meh” about the character since the height of Mark Waid’s nineties run, but this is dead on the characters I loved growing up.

I liked Johns’ run on The Flash, but that was forever ago, and the book just hasn’t been that good (barring the short stint Tom Peyer had on it).

I just finished The Nobody and you mentioned something about how you liked the smell of it.  I liked how it was this almost Cormac McCarthian statement on loneliness.  I also really loved Jeff Lemire and how he captures a small town, I haven’t seen that done well in comics ever, but Lemire really captured what its like to be in a small town, or be from a small town.

Yeah. It’s pretty terrific, and as deftly executed as his previous Essex County books, which Top Shelf is reprinting in one volume later this summer.

Back to the smell of the book… from a book sniffer’s perspective let me say that it’s important your book stand out from the crowd. The Nobody’s piquant, inky aroma is distinct to say the least. And bloody hell is it pronounced!

[LAUGHS]. Yeah, this is my first introduction to Lemire so I will definitely be picking up Essex County when it comes out, and his new Vertigo series “Sweet Tooth”.

Last bit: ScarJo shows up in EW as the Black Widow.  What are your thoughts on this? She looks more like Anna Mercury than she does the Black Widow but I still say I would rather see Emily Blunt.

Ah, Scarjo & Ryan Reynolds, comic book movies’ power couple. Ya know, I just IMDB’d Emily Blunt and I’ve not seen anything she’s ever been in. Daaavid, have you been watching “The Devil Wears Prada” behind my back? I gotta agree with you. She’s much more exotic and her cool eyes and demeanor more suitable.

At this point in the conversation, I jump through the screen like Ray Palmer does through a telephone and begin strangling Jeff for “The Devil Wears Prada” crack. This concludes the first issue of THURSDAY WALK OF SHAME. Maybe there will be another one next week, if Jeff survives. (Dave exits, while sharpening knives).

Well,  I guess last night.

• People are lining up for “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” by the thousands. Its already shattered the overnight Box Office Record previously held by “The Dark Knight”. And really? Really? There are more Harry Potter fans than there are of Batman? Pssshhhh.  (I’m seeing it tonight). [LA Times].
• Internet Jesus Warren Ellis will be appearing at the San Diego Comic Con to promote his latest animated work, Marvel Anime.  He wants to make sure that you realize that he will only be in town for 36 hours and then getting the eff out of there.  He usually likes to make some kind of line that if you want to find him at San Diego he’ll burn you with his Stabby Stabby Vision, or if you see a man running down the street in flames, that’s him. [Warren Ellis].
• There’s going to be a “Twilight” Manga! Strangely, I think this is the best venue for the series, screw the idea of it being a “novel.” I haven’t read them, don’t plan to, especially because Meyer’s literary explanation for the reason that the Vamps can go to school with normal humans is because the town is so foggy that it blocks out the sun. [The Flickcast].
• Natalie Portman in “Thor.” I realize we got to this quite late, but I think its mostly because of my depression in the hopes that she would play the female version of Loki. I don’t know, I just think that would rock. Regardless, I’m glad she’s going to be in the movie in what should be a extremely strange movie for Marvel, but nonetheless ridiculously fun. [MTV's Splash Page].
• I’m fired up as hell that Rick Remender‘s “Fear Agent” movie is a go.  To be honest with you, I will literally buy anything with that guy’s name on it. Easily one of the most original minds writing in comics today, Rick is a only just recently a father, so any support given him helps his kid go to school.  And trust me, you will not be ripped off. “Gigantic” “The End League” all of it is just brilliant stuff. This is just a big win in the department of quality that this is moving forward. [Hollywood Reporter].
• Wow, that’s a lot of movie talk. How about Joe Kelly, and Eric Canete (current artist on “The End League”) doing a Deadpool vs Spider-Man special? I know, I know, it seems like Deadpool is getting more guest appearances in comics than Wolverine. However, I quite honestly can’t think of a more perfect team-up creatively to deliver this book. Oh yeah, there is also that awesome Skottie Young cover. [CBR].