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Weekend Reading: Jack Kirby, Arnold Drake, James Bond and Star Wars

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Interviews, Video Games, DC Comics, Independent, Marvel Comics,

Ben GrimmLast weekend in January, last weekend before the Super Bowl, which means there’s really nothing on TV this weekend. Fortunately, the internets provide:

Neal Adams is gunning for Marvel on behalf of Jack Kirby.

The Comic Book Insider is the new podcast from comic book writer and former DC Comics editor Brian Augustyn.

James Bond vs. Batman: Now there’s a team-up I’d really like to see. The HMSS blog looks at how both heroes have had to adapt to changing times.

One of my favorite movie blogs, Flick Attack, looks at an old film written by veteran DC writer Arnold Drake (Deadman; The Doom Patrol): The Flesh Eaters.

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Jack Kirby, Arnold Drake, James Bond and Star Wars


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Comicraft’s Annual Font Sale

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

ComicraftDo you like fonts? Do you blog, letter, create crazy posters and signs? Are you tired of Comic Sans?

Richard Starkings is one of the industry premier letterers.

His company, Comicraft, is having its annual New Year’s sale and you can’t find a better art-related sale anywhere. Forget Black Friday, Boxing Day, Cyber Monday and all those others. Font Day is the creator’s choice.

Each of Comicraft fonts are on sale for a mere $20.12. Even the ones that cost $395, and even the ones that cost $19.00.

The sale begins at midnight, December 31 and ends at midnight January 1. If you miss it, you have to wait another year for the next one.

[Artwork: Comic Book Lettering The Comicraft Way, taken from My Comic Shop]


Comic Book Jobs: DC Comics - Letterer

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics,

LetteringThe DC Comics jobs are lining up like planes over La Guardia now.

Up at the Time Warner career page is a post noting that DC is looking for a staff Letterer for their Lettering Department.

Lettering is one of those great unsung jobs in comics - most people don’t notice it unless it’s terrible or weird. But those that do notice good lettering have their favorite letterers and can tell who's who by their unique styles. Comic book creators have been known to request specific letterers for certain projects, and who can blame them? You'd do it too.

Some years ago my boss was against repackaging some early work from a property that we’d acquired at Malibu Comics. Something about it was “off” he said, but couldn’t put his finger on it. We thought the art was great but we just wanted it relettered.

When the boss saw the finished pages, he now thought it was wonderful - did we magically have it redrawn somehow? Nope. Just relettered. It made that much of a difference.

Click to continue reading Comic Book Jobs: DC Comics - Letterer


WEEKEND READING: Todd Klein, Carl Potts, Dave Olbrich, Gerard Jones and Tom Richmond

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Reviews,

Well, of course, we all know that Warren Ellis, Mark Evanier, and Neil Gaiman have blogs (and all three are highly recommended), but there are some other blogs by comic book professionals past and present that are worth a look as well. Here are some of my favorites – check ‘em out this weekend and see what you think:

CARL POTTS is a former Editor-In-Chief at Marvel Comics during the go-go 1990s. He’s also the co-creator of Alien Legion. At his blog, General Eclectic, he writes regularly about his days at Marvel (with a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff about the business), creates well-illustrated essays on visual storytelling, and more. Favorite recent post: Marvel Tales: Making Comic Book Editors. 

DAVE OLBRICH is a good buddy from my Ultraverse years. At his blog Funnybook Fanatic he posts regularly about the comics of his youth, his Ultraverse years and his adventures in comic book land with guys like Marv Wolfman, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. Favorite story so far: freezing at a luau in Hawaii with Stan.

GERARD JONES was a writer for DC Comics, Epic, Malibu Comics and the Ultraverse and Dark Horse during the aforementioned go-go ‘90s. At one time a writer for National Lampoon, he was also the co-creator of The Trouble With Girls with writing partner Will Jacobs. He has since become a writer of more serious fare, including Men of Tomorrow. He’s also occasionally posting his novel-in-progress, My Pal Splendid Man, that he’s writing with Jacobs. It’s about a would-be writer who befriends a superhero. Gerard doesn’t post that often, but he’s still worth a visit if only to read chapters from his upcoming books.

TOM RICHMOND got his start at NOW Comics working on their Married…With Children licensed comics. He has since become a mainstay at MAD Magazine, among other places. At his officially unofficial MAD Blog, he posts regularly about MAD, his illustration assignments, the business of cartooning and caricatures and highlights a lot of his wonderful artwork, taking the reader through his process from concept to sketch to pencils/inks/color. Tom also blogs about his non-publishing-related second career, as a caricaturist. Favorite Post: Reviewing The Cintiq 12wx (Seriously, it’s a great review.)

TODD KLEIN is one of the most in-demand letterers in the comic book business. He currently letters Fables for DC, Nexus for Mike Baron and Steve Rude and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen for Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill. Most recently, he did the cover lettering for Amazing Spider-Man #583, the Obama issue. On his blog Klein Letters he posts regularly about the business, does logo studies of long running comics like Fantastic Four, House of Mystery and Justice League, reviews comics and books, and highlights classic lettering samples from DC’s files. Occasionally he throws in some nifty bird photos and vegetarian recipes. Best post: Celebrating Gaspar Saladino, the legendary DC letterer. It’s a 3-part post and worth every second you spend reading them.


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