Joe Shuster Superman Original Art Auction!

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Collecting, Editorials, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,

If you’ve ever dreamed about owning an original piece of Superman artwork by co-creator and artist Joe Shuster, now’s your chance.

Longtime original art dealer Larry Shell is offering a rare piece of American comics history this week in a fast-paced auction.

It’s a full color Joe Shuster recreation to the cover of Action Comics #16 (the original issue went on sale in 1938). According to Shell, this recreation was drawn in 1983 and “is one of only a very few cover recreations that Shuster did and is 100% his work.” It was originally owned by Wendy and Richard Pini (Elfquest).

The original measures a large 15” x 20” in size and is rendered in lead and colored pencils, which gives the image the soft quality of pastels.

You can see a photo of Joe Shuster with the original piece here.

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Weekend Reading: Bill Watterson, Nicolas Cage and Wallace & Gromit

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Editorials, Movies, Reviews,

Greetings, children of the internet. If you're down in Anaheim for the Southern California version of WonderCon, I  hope you had a great time! Here's some stuff you might've missed.

Sad news out of England about comics artist Brett Ewins. Fortunately, blogger Daniel Best has posted information about how you can help.

There’s some concern that Wallace (of Wallace and Gromit) is being hurt by comparisons to an English Labour Party leader.

The weirdly funny tale of Nicolas Cage’s stolen copy of Action Comics #1 could become a movie. At least it’s the “possible movie” everyone’s talking about in the current 15 minutes.

Becky Jewell interviews J. Torres about his work on Archie’s reboot of Li’l Jinx.

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Bill Watterson, Nicolas Cage and Wallace & Gromit

Weekend Reading: Superman, Archie, Talbot, Niles & Scrooge

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Movies, DC Comics,

Is this a superhero-free weekend at the movies? X-Men First Class was last week, next week is Green Lantern. Are we mask-free for a few days?

No, because the powers in Hollywood have decided there can be no nerd gap in the relatively short summer season and have given us Super 8.

Go see it right now, and then come back and click some links:

Superman: If you’re at all interested in the new DC reboot coming up, legal eagle Jeff Trexler at Comics Beat has a fascinating post about the wrangling that’s gone on between the Superman creators and DC’s corporate parent over the years and how it’s affected publishing decisions.

Superman II: And Daniel Best at 20th Century Danny Boy unearths a great selection of early correspondence between various DC Comics people and Jerry Siegel. It’s great reading.

Superman III: Comedy writer Ken Levine (M*A*S*H; Almost Perfect; Volunteers) weighs in on the new Superman.

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Superman, Archie, Talbot, Niles & Scrooge

George Perez On Superman: The Man Of Tomorrow

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics,

I think George Perez has had an amazing run in comics, and I think his run on Teen Titans with Marv Wolfman will long be considered a career highlight.

I find it interesting that he's back doing one of DC Comics' headline titles.

He recently posted this on Facebook, and since that's read by countless millions and retweeted and linked to my millions of others, I'm stealing it for here.

Here's what George wrote about his new gig as part of the DC Comics reboot of Superman:

"Since I'm not going to be doing any interviews regarding the Superman reboot (not wishing to inadvertently spill any plot beans) I just want to give you all the skinny on what exactly I'm doing on the book. As was recently revealed is that I will be writing the new series Superman: The Man Of Tomorrow.

"What wasn't explained is that I'm also doing the thumbnail layouts for the book, something I did for artist Kerry Gammill years ago when I worked on Action Comics. This way, I'd be providing my storytelling style, body language and suggestions for facial expression, but the final look of the book and characters will be handled by Jesus Merino, and from what I've seen of his work so far, we're going to work quite well together.

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Weekend Reading: Gottfredson, Satan, Starlin and Comic Book Guy

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Collecting, Editorials, Reviews, DC Comics, Independent,

I hope you enjoyed your free comics on Free Comic Book Day!

I don't know how successful the event is at growing the industry, but I do like getting a lot of free comics to sample - it's like opening up a birthday present and finding Christmas inside.

Let's see what else is free:

Comics: Lance Mannion visits the local comic book shop, on the streets of New York City.

Cowboys: At Western Fictioneers, Troy Smith lays out his favorite Western comic books of all time. Bonus: Son of Tomahawk!

Mickey: Mark Evanier got himself an advance copy of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: "Race to Death Valley" (Vol. 1) by Floyd Gottfredson, published by Fantagraphics Books. And there was much rejoicing.

West: I love this poster by Thomas Perkins.

Bongo: Over at Bongo's blog, Comic Book Guy runs down a list of comic book places where he'd like to live.

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Gottfredson, Satan, Starlin and Comic Book Guy

Superman gone after “New Krypton”

Posted by David Torres Categories: Editorials, DC Comics,

According to the advanced March solicitations for “Action Comics” and “Superman,” Superman will be MIA and other heroes will be patrolling the skies of Metropolis in his place.

The current storyline running through the Superman books is called “New Krypton”. It has the city of Kandor returning to Superman continuity and this time around the people are no longer living in a bottled city, but are now living on Earth. There is tension developing between the people of Earth and the Kryptonians and this will all lead to a “dramatic finale” which will lead into the new “World Without Superman” storyline. So come 2009, DC fans can look forward to not having both the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight staring in their own monthly books.

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The coming of James Robinson’s Justice League

Posted by David Torres Categories: Editorials, DC Comics,

It’s been a busy week for me. Between the birth of my second son this past Monday, as well as Thanksgiving, I haven’t had much time to read or write about comics. Today after coming home from the pediatrician, I went and got the mail and in my mailbox was this month’s “Wizard” magazine. On the cover was a picture of the new “Justice League” comic, which will be written by James Robinson. I completely forgot about this book as the announcement for it came early this year.

James Robinson is responsible for writing one of my all-time favorite comic books: “Starman”. “Starman” only lasted 80 issues, but it was not canceled because it stunk. Robinson created a story that had a beginning, middle, and end that DC allowed him to tell - similar to Neil Gaiman’s run on “Sandman,” Robinson had carte blanche when it came to that book and it’s protagonist, Jack Knight.

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Clark Kent Without Glasses?

Posted by David Torres Categories: Editorials, DC Comics,

In one of the latest issues of “Action Comics,” Clark Kent is asked whether he would consider laser surgery so he can get rid of his glasses. This got me thinking. In order for Clark Kent to hide his secret identity as Superman, he wears a pair of glasses. Over the past decade more and more people have been getting laser eye surgery to eliminate the need for eyeglasses. If things continue to go on like this and technology continues to improve, will no one in the world have to wear glasses? If so, what does it mean for Clark Kent? Does DC Comics have to find another way for Clark Kent to hide his identity? The removing of the glasses and the ripping open of the dress shirt to reveal the “S” on his costume is an iconic image for Superman. Will this hurt the character if he no longer wears glasses? Sounds silly? Maybe. Something to think about kids… feel free to leave your comments!