Weekend Reading: Comic Con International, Tom Peyer, Ultraverse and Paul Cornell
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Editorials, Interviews, Movies, Reviews, Television, Independent,
Comic Con International in San Diego is closer than you think. Years ago, I started compiling my own list of convention secrets starting with a great place to go to the bathroom that’s tucked away in a corner, just minutes from the convention floor, and no one seems to know about it. Then I read the list compiled by Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter and I am ashamed of my own ineptitude. If you’re going to the con this summer, you need to read Tom’s list of 135 tips.
After you’ve finished reading Tom’s tips, here are a few other links to brighten your weekend…
Want To Be A Writer?: Of course you do. Who doesn’t? Step into any cocktail party or backyard barbecue and it’s full of people bursting with ideas, if only they can find someone who could take a few minutes to write it all down for them. The real trick is finding places that might be interested in publishing something once it’s all written down. If you feel like writing some stuff down, John Scalzi (the Hugo Award-winning sf author) and Wil Wheaton (yes, that Wil Wheaton) have joined forces to create a writing contest that’s win-win-win for all. Maybe even you.
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Weekend Reading: Vertical, Fantastic Four, Cowboys & Aliens and Lost
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics, Independent, Marvel Comics, Viz Media,
Happy holiday weekend for those of us in the US who love a long weekend, some grilled meat and a cold Pabst Blue Ribbon. And since there’s no football game, you can spend that extra time surfing the internet. Here are some links to fill the game-less void:
Vertical: Given the significant changes at manga publishers Viz (massive layoffs) and CMX (DC shuttered the division), it’s interesting to read about someone with a little different take on events. Rod Lott at Bookgasm has a chat with Ed Chavez at Vertical (publishers of Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack, among other things). “While I will always say there is plenty of grade-A material to license from Japan available, access to those properties has become quite limited over the last three to four years. I find it curious that this lack of competition has occurred during the recent decline of the U.S. manga market.”
Steve Perry: The death of the Thundercats and Timespirits writer is just about the saddest way for a comic book creator to go. Johnny Bacardi exchanged correspondence with him recently, but I don’t want to spoil his story, except to say that it’s one you’ll want to read.
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Vertical, Fantastic Four, Cowboys & Aliens and Lost
Gus Arriola and Gordo
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
I never got to read Gordo when it was syndicated - it never ran in any papers in my area when I was a kid. It was always a strip that I read about, instead of actually reading. That changed as I got older and got to read longer runs of of it. It deserves all the praise it gets for its gentle humor and its brilliant design. You can read comics on the iPhone all day long, but it’s one panel at a time. To appreciate the craftsmanship of a Gordo strip, you need to take in the whole thing. The guy was just great, and he deserved a much wider audience and he deserves to be read and experienced still today. With comics in this Golden Age period of archival reprint heaven - c’mon, even Gasoline Alley is getting collected - Gordo should be right there with everyone else. (I’m looking at you, Dean Mullaney)!
Continuing my series on cartooning and cartoonists, Gus wrote about himself and his work back in 1964. This is pulled from an oversized saddle-stitched magazine from Allied Publications with the creatively-challenged title These Top Cartoonists Tell How They Create America’s Favorite Comics. It featured an introduction by Beetle Bailey’s Mort Walker and was compiled by Allen Willette.
Here’s Gus on Gus and Gordo:
Click to continue reading Gus Arriola and Gordo
Robert G. Baldwin: Rupe and Freddy
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
Freddy is another one of those “forgotten” comic strips that ran for quite a long time, 1956-1980 and then disappeared. If you don’t know to look for it, you might never find it.
Continuing my series on cartooning and cartoonists, Rupe wrote about himself and his work back in 1964. This is pulled from an oversized saddle-stitched magazine from Allied Publications with the creatively-challenged title These Top Cartoonists Tell How They Create America’s Favorite Comics. It featured an introduction by Beetle Bailey’s Mort Walker and was compiled by Allen Willette.
Here’s Rupe on Rupe and Freddy: “Although I sign my work ‘Rupe,’ my real name is Robert G. Baldwin, and I was born in Washington, DC. I’m fifty years old, and I have five children, ages 11 to 22. Four boys and one girl. Frequently the family gathers around my finished work for discussion and, I hope, for a good laugh.
Click to continue reading Robert G. Baldwin: Rupe and Freddy
Bud Sagendorf: Popeye and Segar
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
Forrest “Bud” Sagendorf was E.C. Segar’s young assistant on Popeye in the 1930s. When Segar died in 1938, King Features Syndicate considered Sagendorf too young to take over the comic strip. Instead, they put him to work in the bullpen where he worked on the Popeye comic books until 1958, when King decided to hand the strip over to him.
Continuing my little cartoonist series, here’s what Sagendorf had to say about his work back in 1964. This is pulled from an oversized saddle-stitched magazine from Allied Publications with the creatively-challenged title These Top Cartoonists Tell How They Create America’s Favorite Comics. It featured an introduction by Beetle Bailey’s Mort Walker and was compiled by Allen Willette. Newspaper comic strip writers and artists wrote about themselves and their work (or if they didn’t then their syndicate wrote it for them).
Here’s a previous entry in William Overgard.
And here’s the one on Fred Toole, the guy who wrote some absolutely tremendous Dennis the Menace comic books.
Here’s Sagendorf writing about himself:
Click to continue reading Bud Sagendorf: Popeye and Segar
William Overgard: Steve Roper, Mike Nomad, Rudy and Milton Caniff
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
William Overgard was a writer, novelist, and comic book artist who had a long-running gig on the Steve Roper (later Steve Roper and Mike Nomad) comic strip. His bold line and storytelling owed a lot to his idol, Milton Caniff.
Continuing my little series on cartoonists, here’s what Overgard had to say about his work back in 1964. This is pulled from an oversized saddle-stitched magazine from Allied Publications with the creatively-challenged title These Top Cartoonists Tell How They Create America’s Favorite Comics. It featured an introduction by Beetle Bailey’s Mort Walker and was compiled by Allen Willette. My previous entry on Dennis The Menace’s Fred Toole can be found here.
Here’s Overgard:
Click to continue reading William Overgard: Steve Roper, Mike Nomad, Rudy and Milton Caniff
Weekend Reading: Glenn Dakin, Amazon, Rowland Wilson, The Beat and Overstreet
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
What a crazy week with all this talk of Watchmen prequels, re-shoots on Jonah Hex, and DC’s big impending announcements of film projects and possibly a new Publisher. Marvel will have to sell itself again just to keep up! Let’s see what’s out and about.
Amazon Vs. Books: If you’ve been following the slap-fight between Amazon and Macmillan, you already know that they’re fighting over ebook pricing and Amazon pulled Macmillan’s books from their site. Amazon lost the PR battle and has agreed to put the links back. John Scalzi has what I think is the correct take on the matter. His books are published by Tor, which is a division of Macmillan, and the fight cost him, and many other authors, their sales. Read what John says.
The Beat: Heidi MacDonald is an old pal from the pre-blog era and runs one of the must-click sites on the web, The Beat. She’s recently moved to a new location and if you haven’t updated yet, do so now. And try to get in on all the Watchmen sequel and prequel stuff!
Weekend Reading: Plastic Man, iPads, Clowns, Jack Kirby & Top Cat
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
Is everyone ready to read Bluewater’s J.D. Salinger comic book on the iPad? Now that’s a game-changer I can believe in! Let’s see what I’ve got on my desktop this week:
Apple’s iPad: Apparently Apple changed the game with some kind of game changer that’s supposed to be the Jesus of print that’ll save newspapers from their own stupidity and ineptitude and also change the way we read comics and make a BLT just the way I like it and find me a room at Comic Con International. Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter coalesces his thoughts on the matter. Me? I’m waiting for the iPad with wings.
Plastic Man: There are other places that are dropping it, but my favorite is over at John Kricfalusi’s blog. He’s imbedded the 10-minute Plastic Man pilot that was created by Tom Kenny (the voice of Spongebob) and Stephen DeStefano (simply one of the great modern cartoonists, and co-creator/artist of the much-beloved ‘Mazing Man). Says John: “It’s a real cartoon and you can tell the creators like the audience. It sure stands out from most of what’s out there.” Go check it out.
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Plastic Man, iPads, Clowns, Jack Kirby & Top Cat
Peter Arno: Avoiding Easy Stagnation
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
Peter Arno was one of the great cartoonists of his generation, probably one of the greatest of all time. A mainstay of The New Yorker, his work helped define the magazine, and he was wealthy enough to party on with the types of people he lampooned in his cartoons. He was only 64 years old when he died in 1968.
In the introduction to his book, Peter Arno’s Ladies & Gentlemen (Simon and Schuster, 1951), Arno answered a few questions that had been constantly hurled at him over the years. One of my favorite responses was to the age-old question all creative people must suffer.
Here’s Arno:
“Question Number Two seems to be: ‘Where do you get all your ideas? Do they just come to you?’
“The last thing they do, madam, is ‘just come.’ My ideas are produced with blood, sweat, brain-racking toil, the help of The New Yorker art staff, and the collaboration of keen-eyed undercover operatives. For the first few years I did think up most of my own situations. I had to. I was developing a style and a new kind of format, and there was no way anyone else could do it for me. But as time went on, and a distinct pattern for my work was set, it became easier for others to make contributions. By “others,” I mean the scant handful of gifted idea-men (there are hordes of the other kind) who have grown up in the field during the past few years.
Click to continue reading Peter Arno: Avoiding Easy Stagnation
Weekend Reading: Mo Willems, Bruce Timm, TMNT and Wally Wood
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
Another big week for people with money to throw around as Nickelodeon just bought the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for $60 million. This is yet another reason why it’s great to hold onto your copyrights. If you’re just working on Batman And The Outsiders #128, you already know it’s a basically a boilerplate work-for-hire contract, but if you’ve created Dingo, Rescue Dog Of The Outback get that thing copyrighted in your name and hold onto it. Because it’s always better for you to have the control - and any related money - than it is to just give it away to a corporation. In the meantime, if you’re tired of reading about contract negotiations, take a look around the internet and discover what folks like Mo Willems, Alan Kupperburg, Bill Crider and Bruce Timm are up to. Here’s how you can fill up your weekend:
Alan Kupperburg: Steven Thompson over at Hooray for Wally Wood, has a nice interview with Alan talking about his days working for Wood. Great stuff. Here’s a taste: “So then he (Wood) asked me if I could pencil Cannon for him. I took the pages home and opened up my T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and copied out the appropriate panels and adapted them to the situation. And Woody flipped out. He said, ‘You’re hired.’ Within three weeks I was also writing Sally and Cannon.”
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Mo Willems, Bruce Timm, TMNT and Wally Wood
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