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Jack Kirby. Steve Ditko. Stan Lee. Kyle Baker. Now there’s a line-up of creators you’re probably not going to see together again. More than 15 years ago, Marvel’s Madcap Mort Todd had the enviable task of putting together a 4-issue mini-series called Monster Menace, reprinting some classic Marvel/Atlas stories by Lee, Kirby and Ditko. This was back in comics’ Steroid Age where the idea was to put out as many comics as possible to claim rack superiority and marketshare dominance. Whatever. The first issue is dated December 1993. The wild and wonderful Kyle Baker did the tribute cover featuring fan favorite Fin Fang Foom.
Classics inside include: “I Spent Midnight With the Monster On Bald Mountain” by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko; “What Lurks On Channel X?” by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers; “The Terror of Tim Boo Ba” by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko; and “I Fought The Molten Man-Thing!” by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. There’s even some sort of recent (at the time) goofy 1-page “We’re #1” pin-up by Ditko that feels out of place, but sure is fun to look at.
All in all, a great example of the classic Twilight Zone-ish monster stories that Lee, Ditko, Kirby and the rest of the Marvel/Atlas bullpen used to produce by the dozens back in the company’s pre-Spider-Man era. Overstreet lists the 4-issue series at $5.00 a copy in mint condition, but I’ll bet if you look hard enough, you can grab ‘em cheaper.
If you want to read some great Kirby monster stories while searching out your own copy of MM, check out Monster Blog. They have a lot of great Kirby stories you can read for free.
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So have I told you before that “LOST” is freakin’ awesome?! I know I did, but I just want to say it again “LOST” is freakin’ AWESOME!!!!!
Wednesday night’s episode was entitled “This place is death”. When we last left the show, everyone was jumping around through time and we were shown that our old friend Jin had survived the explosion of the boat. To his surprise as he makes it back to the island and that he has been rescued by some French people and a young pregnant woman who is with them is named Danielle Rousseau.
Tonight’s episode picks up right where we left off. Spoilers…................
Click to continue reading LOST Review 2/11/09
I am a graduate of Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx. We have a large list of alumni who have gone on to bigger and better things. Some of these people include Regis Philbin, Martin Scorsese, and comic book legend George Perez. My brother Danny is an art teacher there and he informed me a few months back that the school was able to secure George Perez to come in and do a talk with the art students of the school. My brother told me to come in and meet him.
Prior to meeting Mr. Perez at my old high school, I first met him at the NY Comic Con. In my blog about the Con, I mentioned that I was going to get a bunch of books signed and graded by CGC and I got my copy of “Crisis on Infinite Earths” #7 signed by Mr. Perez.
On Monday, Mr. Perez arrived at the school where he was greeted outside of my brother’s classroom with a display of reproductions of numerous comic book covers of his work through the years - some of the covers that were reproduced were used from my collection.
Click to continue reading Pizza time with George Perez
ProFlowers $70 gift certificate winners
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Features,
Our ProFlowers gift certificates giveaway has come to a close, and we wanted to quickly announce the winners. If you recall, all you had to do to enter was leave your best or worst Valentine’s Day memory on our forum, and we chose five winners randomly:
mynenni talked about her blind date disaster:
My worst was a blind date that a friend set me up on. It was horrible; well not to start with. He came to door with a big bouqet of flowers. We then spent the day at Magic Mountian where we quickly ran out of things to talk about and I learned he was a major wimp when it came to rides (really? then why did you bring me here?)
Afterward, we stopped at a classy resteraunt for dinner. I took my napkin and layed it across my lap…he took his napkin and layed it across the table. It was torture sitting across from him trying to come up with conversation as he ate with his mouth open. I have to figure that by this point he was trying to just be over the top horrible (I think we both knew it was not going past the first date); then at the end of the meal he put his face on the table (okay it was on the napkin he layed out earlier) and moved his head across to wipe his mouth. NO HANDS!!!
At least he didn’t make me pay…
All she wanted was to go see the UW vs WSU basketball game on Feb 14th. I picked her up from work, went to a bar to meet up with some friends for drinks and shots. Then she snuck in 6 airplane bottles of booze… and we drank at the game. I don’t even remember who won, but we had a hell of a time!
auntiethesis recalled a dinner date:
My best memory is last year’s Valentine’s Day. My husband took me to a great restaurant and I totally blew my diet eating steak and mashed potatoes. It was the first time I’d ever had Creme Brulee, too. While we were eating, he surprised me with a tennis bracelet that I’d wanted forever. It was a far cry from his usual Applebee’s dinner and a box of Stover chocolates.
Long-time reader gohan_bcc1 brought it back to high school:
My one and only valentine memory was getting to school in grade 12 and finding a really awesome gift in my locker. In my locker was a car model of my dream car (Audi R8) with a customized license plate to match my current license plate. It identical to my license including the plate # and the province and design. It was also an inside joke that the one we saw in the parking lot two months back was mine. It was really cool to see. Not only that but there was a note for me to go to the library and look on page 82 of the book of the last movie we saw. Which was actually Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix. Inside this book was a note saying this entitles me to receive a package being held at the office. I go to the office and get this package. Inside was a bunch of hockey cards each with a letter written on it. All of these cards were of my favourite team the Calgary Flames of course. There was a hint written on the inside of the package that said to spell out a date. So after hours of figuring this out it spelt out Tuesday March 6th 8:00pm. After seeing the date i realized it was the date of a hockey game for the Calgary Flames. I then got a text saying to go back to my locker. And sitting in my locker were two tickets to the game on that date at that time. Best gift ever!
sandyu‘s was short and sweet:
The best when my husband got out of the military, he was injured but he was alive and home.
Congratulations to all our winners, your $70 codes have been sent to you via Private Message. To the rest of you, we’ve got more giveaways coming, and if you need flowers, here is a 20% off (with free vase!) ProFlowers coupon. Oh, and don’t forget to hit us with your best, or worst, Valentine’s Day memory.
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| Best and Worst Valentine's Day Memories
SNEAK PEAK: Jack Kirby’s THE LOSERS with Neil Gaiman
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
“It seems to me that the Losers is a ‘people’ thing. A small squad of ‘everymen’ caught up in the crushing tide of events, pushing their ‘know-how’ to the limit in a wild effort to survive.”
Jack Kirby (1975)
After his run on the Fourth World titles (New Gods, The Forever People, Mister Miracle, Jimmy Olsen), Jack Kirby did a number of oddball projects for DC, many tucked away in forgotten corners of the DC Universe. One of them was to take on and reinvent the classic DC war title Our Fighting Forces, which featured the World War II heroes known as the Losers. It was a team-up of some of DC’s secondary WWII characters who at one time either had their own book or their own back-up feature: Captain Storm, Navajo Ace Johnny Cloud, Gunner and Sarge.
The Losers was created by Robert Kanigher and Russ Heath in 1969. Kirby took over in 1974 with Our Fighting Forces #151 and stayed on the book until issue #162. His loopy action tales were a drastic change from the previous stories by Kanigher and legend has it that fans of the old were less than pleased. However, taken on their own without the backstory and pre-Kirby logistics, these are really dynamic adventure stories that are based on Kirby’s own experiences during WWII.
Now DC Comics has added Jack Kirby’s The Losers to their fine shelf of hardcovers. The Losers collects the entire run, written and penciled by Kirby, and inked by D. Bruce Berry and Mike Royer. The collection includes a cover by Kirby and Royer. The 240-page book features a foreword by Neil Gaiman (Sandman; Coraline). On sale date is March 17, 2009. As Kirby himself blurbed at one time: “Don’t ask, just buy it!”
Mike Kidson has a great piece online on Kirby’s Losers – he dissects a complete issue with the skill of a comic book surgeon. Longtime Kirby authority Mark Evanier answers a million Kirby-related questions here along with a small bit of information about The Losers.
(Artwork © DC Comics, Inc.)
Cartoonist Norm Feuti must draw with both hands at the same time. He has not one, but two comic strips going simultaneously. One strip, Retail, is syndicated by the granddaddy of all newspaper syndicates, King Features. The other is his own web comic Gill which debuted toward the end of last year. Retail is set in the world of, well, retail – about four employees of the fictitious Grumbel’s department store. It currently appears in about 70 newspapers worldwide. If your local paper isn’t one of them, you can read Retail everyday right here.
Gill is Norm’s second strip. Despite the syndicated success of Retail, Gill didn’t get traction with the syndicates. Norm made the leap to the internets and launched it as his first web comic. Gill is the story of a chubby kid, trapped in a lower income lifestyle, whose parents are divorced. Hijinks, naturally, ensue.
That might be more than enough to keep any cartoonist busy, but in 2007, Hyperion published Norm’s humorous Retail Employee Handbook called Pretending You Care. See what I mean about the drawing with both hands thing?
TOM: You have two regular strips going at the same time. How do you work your busy schedule around being a stay-at-home Dad?
Click to continue reading Q&A: NORM FEUTI on Gill and Retail
This weekend was the 4th annual New York Comic Con (NYCC).
I have been going to the NY Comic Con ever since it began four years ago. Before the NY Comic Con, I had been to several small conventions in the area over the years. When the NY Comic Con was started, I wasn’t planning on going because I figured the admission would be a bit expensive and I had a one year old boy at home. However, I discovered that since I’m a librarian, I could sign up as a “professional” and get in for free! Unfortunately, this year professionals didn’t get in for free and we had to pay a small admission price. However, we had our own separate entrance onto the convention floor and I got in just as things opened up.
Since I started going to the NYCC, my main concern besides seeing if I can get some cheap comics was getting my books graded by CGC. Over the past few years, I’ve gotten the following books from my collection graded “Incredible Hulk” #181, “Ultimate Spider-man” #1, and “Uncanny X-Men # 139. Getting your books graded by CGC can be expensive. It’s about $16 a book plus insurance and shipping. I decided this year would be different. I decided to get a few books graded, but this time, I decided to get them signed and graded.
Click to continue reading My Time at the NY Comic Con
The Future Of Comics: Infinite Canvas
Posted by Kris Madden Categories: Editorials, Reviews, Site Announcements, Site Features, Independent,
February 2005: Scott McCloud gave a speech at TED regarding what he saw as a possible future for the medium of comics, and called it “infinite canvas”. He pointed out that if comic book artists viewed the computer as a window into space then panels could be arranged in more dynamic ways. And not only dynamic, but artists would have an endless number of variations for their panel compositions.The narrative’s movement would not be constrained to the dimensions of paper, but instead would be free to move in anyway needed to best tell the story. McCloud gives two examples of this in his speech of this movement and ends with a plea for the expansion of comic books in this format.
February 2009: Microsoft Labs developer Ian Gilman took the idea and ran with it. He created a sequential-art viewing platform, which provides users with the ability to create exactly what Scott McCloud spoke about in his 2005 TED talk. The platform, naturally titled “Infinite Canvas”, is in beta testing right now. You can read about its development on his blog.
You can also play around with it and read other comics users have submitted, including artists like “Neil Gaiman and, of course, Scott McCloud.
WEEKEND READING: Harvey Kurtzman, Stan Goldberg, Scott Pilgrim and DC!
Posted by Tom Mason Categories:
Lots of great stuff to read on the internets this weekend.
SCOTT PILGRIM: Need a fix of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim? Total Film can hook you up. Writer Sam Ashurst has an interview with Shaun of the Dead’s Edgar Wright where he talks about his forthcoming adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Here’s a sample from Wright’s pie-hole: “On one hand it’s very faithful to the books, on the other it has become something that has the structure of a romantic comedy action film.”
(h/t Forbidden Planet International Blog)
DC COMICS: Back in the day (that would, in this case, be 1989), comic book industry veteran KC Carlson worked for DC Comics. He left Madison, WI and moved to the big city where he eventually became Richard Bruning’s assistant and learned to nearly-master New York’s 1940s umbrella-and-revolving-door technology. Recently he blogged about his experience interviewing for the job, living in New York and trying to trick Mike Gold. There’s a lot of fun stuff you don’t think about until you’ve worked in the cramped Manhattan offices of a major comic book publisher. Like where to store the original oversized paintings by Dave McKean in a pre-digital era. Fascinating stuff, especially if you remember some of your DC players from the late 1980s and early 1990s.
HARVEY KURTZMAN: An undisputed genius. His work on EC Comics revolutionized storytelling and he set a high mark for how to tell war stories in comic books. He’s the founding editor of MAD when it started as a comic book parodying other comic books, back in 1952. With his long-time friend Will Elder he created Little Annie Fanny for Playboy. Kurtzman was The Onion, The Daily Show and David Letterman of the generation that came of age in the 1950s and 1960s. He popped a culture that needed popping. Post-MAD, one of the things Kurtzman did was gather a group of fellow creators - Elder, Jack Davis, and Al Jaffee, and Arnold Roth - and launch their own humor magazine: Humbug. Fantagraphics is releasing the entire 11-issue run of the magazine in a deluxe format edition. To tease you, they’ve put the entire first issue of Humbug online. If you’re familiar with Kurtzman, you’re already going to click the link. If you’re not familiar with him, see what everyone’s talking about and click the link.
STAN GOLDBERG: Did you ever wonder who colored all those great Marvel comics of the 1960s? That was Stan Goldberg. Stan spent much of his time drawing in the classic Archie house style chronicling the adventures of the gang from Riverdale, but he was also the uncredited colorist on those early Marvel classics. He’s the guy who set the color pattern for Spider-Man’s costume, made the Hulk green and the Fantastic Four’s unitards blue. Mark Evanier has all this and much, much more about the Stan at Marvel who wasn’t named “Lee.”
That’s all for this Friday. I’ll be back soon with more great stuff from all over.
(Artwork © Bryan Lee O’Malley)
I’ve mentioned in past blogs that I’ve been reading comics for about twenty-four years. I began as a big Marvel Zombie and my knowledge of the DC universe was only from old episodes of the “Super Friends”. It’s really only in the past few years that I’ve been reading more DC Comics.
This issue of “Adventure Comics” #0 (at the bargain price of $1) is a preliminary issue for the relaunch of this classic series. In this issue, we have two different stories: one is a reprint of the classic story that introduced the Legion of Super Heroes in the pages of the first Adventure series #247 and the second is an original story that is a part of the “Origins and Omens” series that DC has going through all of their books right now. The story stars Lex Luthor and Brainiac.
The original “Adventure Comics” which ran from 1935-1983 was a series which focused on second tier DC characters. The book focused on a variety of different heroes over the years such as Superboy, Supergirl, The Spectre, Aquaman, and the Legion of Superheroes. According to DC publisher Dan Dido, the new series begins in June and will be the home of the Legion of Superheroes.
Click to continue reading DC Comics Review: Adventure Comics #0
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