Friday Fights #20: Doctor Octopus vs. the Octopus

 

With all the talk about Doctor Octopus the last few weeks (seriously, when was the last time he was this relevant?), this week he gets his chance to be part of our Friday Fights by  taking on probably the only other octopus themed villain in the comic book world:  the Octopus.

We know pretty  much everything there is about the Doctor; he’s a genius who relies on his eight mechanical appendages to cause mayhem and wreak havoc on everyone who opposes him and his schemes.

The Octopus is a lot more mysterious a villain. In Will Eisner’s old The Spirit , he would terrorize people from the shadows, always hidden from everyone’s view, whether you were a character in the story or you as the person reading. He’s a master of causing mayhem out of everyone’s sight.

So who would win this battle?

Doctor Octopus has a history of messing everything up whereas Octopus is pretty bad ass. Plus his role was played by Samuel L. Jackson in the Spirit movie a few years. WINNER: Octopus. He would lure the Doctor into the shadows for a quick knock out.

12 Gifts of Christmas: Will Eisner’s PS Magazine The Best of The Preventive Maintenance Monthly

Are you ready for Christmas and the rest of the gift giving holidays? Don’t worry; I’ve put together 12 things that would make awesome–make that ridiculously awesome–gifts for the comic book fans in your life. These are all new for 2011 items that everyone will love.

Will Eisner’s legacy includes tons of sequential arts reference material, but did you know that he spent most of his career in the 1950s through 1970s working for PS (Preventative Maintenance) Magazine doing comic strips explaining how to fix things. This era of his career started during World War II where he made instructional comics for American military forces.

This book has over 200 pages of his best work from this period. It’s great for the comics historian or gear head you know.

30 Things I Like About Comics–#27 Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art

Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art / photo courtesy flickr.com/wolrkinpana

If you live near New York City and you are a comic fan, make sure you visit the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art, located at 594 Broadway, Suite 401. More commonly known by its acronym MoCCA, this gallery space features rotatin exhibits of comic and cartoon art.

The first time I went there was during the summer of 2009. Knowing how much I loved Batman: Year One and Daredevil: Born Again, my girlfriend put together a lovely day in Manhattan to check out MoCCA’s David Mazzucchelli exhibit.

It consisted of the original art from those two mentioned books, plus pages from the then-recently released graphic novel Asterios Polyp. To say I was in my fanboy glory would be an understatement.

Curently, MoCCA is featuring an exhibit of Will Eisner art, showing everything from his career, from the Spirit to A Contract With God. It also features art from his contemporaries and the modern era that show his impact on visual storytelling. I saw it a few weeks ago, and its highly reccommended. The exhibit runs through August 11.

Aside from the gallery, MoCCA regularly hosts workshops and discussions about comic art as well as its annual festival. Admission to these events are always reasonably priced, and are even cheaper if you become a member.

For more information about MoCCA, go here.