Latest Andru Edwards Videos
Weekend Reading: Avengers, Joe Simon, And Don Martin
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Movies, Reviews, Marvel Comics,
Another sad week as noted comic book artist Ernie Chan passes away. As always, Mark Evanier has the best obituary, if ever an obit can be categorized that way.
Amanda Marcotte takes a look at The Avengers movie, specifically the male reviewers and their reactions to The Black Widow.
Another good catch by Daniel Best at 20th Century Danny Boy: a tale of stolen artwork involving Joe Simon and the FBI.
Comedy writer Paul Laikin (he wrote for MAD Magazine and was editor of Marvel’s Crazy) has passed away.
And speaking of MAD Magazine, I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like Don Martin’s work. Here’s a nice piece in honor of his birthday.
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Avengers, Joe Simon, And Don Martin
Advertisement
Weekend Reading: Kirby, Ditko, Cowboys & Aliens And Marvel Comics
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Interviews, Movies, DC Comics, Image Comics, Marvel Comics,
I’m sure you’ve heard by now that the Kirby family lost its claim in court to the copyright to characters Jack Kirby created. As usual, Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter has the best analysis.
Now let’s see what else is out there.
Cowboys: Deadline continues to do the number-crunching on this week’s comic book-inspired film, Cowboys & Aliens. The early results show an under-performer.
Blood: And over at Bleeding Cool, Rich Johnston looks at the long journey getting Cowboys & Aliens from concept to screen.
Ditko: Tom McLean at Bags & Boards doesn’t post as often as he should, but when he does, it’s worth reading. His latest is a review of Blake Bell’s Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko from Fantagraphics. This is a beautiful snip: “Could Ditko be a first-generation fanboy, an 83-year-old whose life was spent obsessing first over comics and later over a juvenile political philosophy that only makes sense within a self-imposed bubble?”
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Kirby, Ditko, Cowboys & Aliens And Marvel Comics
Cheapjack Shakespeare: The Graphic Novel Play
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Independent,
With all this talk of comic books being turned into movies (I’m looking at you Scott Pilgrim and Green Lantern and countless others), how about one that’s being turned into…a play? And no I’m not talking about the expensive Spider-Man musical.
I’m talking about Cheapjack Shakespeare, a comedy about a summer Shakespeare company that’s falling apart as they’re “beset by infidelity, egos, ambition and a particularly ill-timed lightning strike.” Shaun McLaughlin, a reknowned comic book writer (Aquaman) and TV producer (Batman Beyond, Static Shock and various incarnations of Justice League), created the online graphic novel that debuted earlier this year. “It’s like Glee with booze and Shakespeare,” McLaughlin says.
Cheapjack Shakespeare: The Non-Musical has finalized its casting, begun rehearsals and set its premiere date for September 9th at the Alt Theatre in Buffalo, NY. Additional performances will be on September 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25.
Click to continue reading Cheapjack Shakespeare: The Graphic Novel Play
Aquaman Saves The Gulf?!
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics,
Aquaman! Welcome, your highness. Thanks for coming. Ted Belvedere, Department of Surf And Turf. Namor, that saltwater prick, didn’t even return my call. You want a shrimp cocktail before we start? I don’t think it’s anyone you know.
Can I call you Mr. Curry? Great. As you know there’s oil all over the Gulf of Mexico, thanks to BP’s “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?” emergency planning. Those gas-huffing boobs make Tea Party candidates look like Rhodes scholars. BP’s latest plan is to shove all the dead ducks into the pipe as a two-fer hail Mary: plug the hole and hide the damage. But the “Lucky Duck” won’t work any better than the Big Hat, the Wishful Thought or the Cork of Destiny.
We need a hero. A professional. We need the fashion-forward green-and-orange of the King Of What’ll Be Left Of The Seven Seas. That’s where you come in, Arthur.
Click to continue reading Aquaman Saves The Gulf?!
Read More 
| The Boston Globe
Shaun McLaughlin and Cheapjack Shakespeare
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
My buddy Shaun McLaughlin was a producer at Warner Bros. and responsible for some of their best Bruce Timm-related toons like Batman Beyond, Static, and various incarnations of Justice League. It adds up to over 400 episodes of prime animated entertainment, so he knows how to make something with mass market appeal.
He’s moved on to freelancing, pushing several projects through the development wormhole, including both an animated feature (with Omens Studios) and a live-action one. But when you’re in development, you get a lot of down time while you wait for people to make decisions, give notes, and update their social networks.
You could watch a lot of TV or surf the web or blog about your cat, but Shaun’s put his thumb-twiddling time to good use and come up with a nifty little project with his biz partner Gabriel Benson: Cheapjack Shakespeare.
Click to continue reading Shaun McLaughlin and Cheapjack Shakespeare
R.I.P. Dick Giordano
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics,
I didn’t know Dick Giordano. By the time DC Comics was negotiating to buy Malibu Comics, Dick had retired. My one encounter with him was so hysterically overwrought and requires so much useless backstory about marginal players that I can only tell it at convention bars over microbrews. But I do know – or think I know – a lot of things about him. He was responsible for a superhero renaissance at Charlton Comics back in the 1960s when he oversaw Ditko’s creation of The Question and his revival of The Blue Beetle and Captain Atom as well as a number of other superhero projects.
When he moved to DC, a number of his Charlton freelancers ended up there as well, including Denny O’Neil, Jim Aparo and Steve Skeates (and under Giordano’s stewardship, Aparo and Skeates had a remarkable run on Aquaman). He co-founded Continuity Studios with Neal Adams, providing an alternative business model (and freelance work) for artists working in corporate comic books. He could edit, write, pencil and ink – he drew some of the most beautiful long-legged women in comics.
Click to continue reading R.I.P. Dick Giordano
Read More | The Comics Reporter
NICK CARDY: Bat Lash, Aquaman, The Teen Titans
One of my favorite artists of all time is Nick Cardy. His name on the credits always meant a visually interesting comic book, and he drew one of my favorite comics of all time: the original Bat Lash, written by Sergio Aragones and Denny O’Neil.
DC Comics is doing me a huge favor this July by collecting the Bat Lash comics in a new trade-paperback, Showcase Presents: Bat Lash.
It’s a great example of Nick’s abilities and I’ve already pre-ordered my copy. The volume will include Bat Lash’s first appearance, Showcase #76, all 7 issues of his original series, plus the Bat Lash stories from DC Special Series #16, Jonah Hex #49, 51 and 52. It’s not an all-Cardy all-the-time collection - other artists represented in the book include Mike Sekowsky and Dan Spiegle - but it’s enough Nick for a solid fix. And Showcase #76 + Bat Lash #1-7 are enough to make it fanboy heaven. Cardy had a dynamic storytelling sense and was equally adept at drawing super-heroes (Aquaman), regular people, cowboys (Bat Lash) and Jungle Lords raised by Apes (Tarzan). He was part of the generation of comic book artists who also knew how to draw people with hats, and could draw a horse or a car with the same skill he could draw Aquaman riding a seahorse into an underwater battle with some guy made out of coral.
One of his great skills was as a cover artist and he was one of DC’s mainstays in the 1960s and 1970s. His bold, dynamic, and imaginative covers seemed to always scream: “Buy this issue! Now!”
Click to continue reading NICK CARDY: Bat Lash, Aquaman, The Teen Titans
DC Comics Review: Adventure Comics #0
Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,
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
Smallville - January can’t come fast enough!
Posted by Joel Rosenberg Categories: Television, DC Comics,
The other night we had Chloe’s wedding and it was the disaster that it was projected to be. Doomsday crashed the party and carried off the bride (yes, bride, they did get married before all the hullabaloo). Lana came back after learning Green Arrow’s secret and is working with some suspicious character. Lex came back plugged to some weird machine. Jimmy is half-dead. Lois thinks that Clark might be the One. Clark is plain pissed. A typical “Smallville” cliffhanger because they never put one person in peril when they can end a half or full season with just about everyone up the creek. But what do we have to look forward to on January 15, 2009 when the show returns?
Well, how is Clark to deal with Doomsday? Even with Impulse, Cyborg, Aquaman, Black Canary, Martian Manhunter, and Green Arrow, it seems Supes is going to need more help. Even though a lot of shows, including “Smallville,” are cutting back to reflect the current economy, we still have room for a slew of guest stars. Well, comic book guest stars as opposed to big name actors.
On January 15, we are going to see the arrival of The Legion of Super Heroes. Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl are going to arrive from the 31st century with stock market tips and to help our hero out. No more worrying about corn prices for a certain Kansas farmboy. DC is digging a little deep from the bench, in my humble opinion, because time travel shows, even when fun, makes my hair hurt. Let’s face it. Go back in time, fail in your mission, then try it again 10 minutes earlier until you succeed. Surely those Terminators sending guys back in time must realize their guys have failed when John Connor and the resistance is still there. Didn’t kill him, try again for Sarah. Fail with her, try the grandmother, etc.
If I have the scenario right, this Doomsday is made from Kryptonese genetic material so he should be superior to Supes. Assuming green kryptonite doesn’t kill him, I wonder if magnetism, lightning bolts, and telepathy will do any good. Well, we will find out in January.
“Inside” Smallville
Posted by Joel Rosenberg Categories: Editorials, Television, DC Comics,
One of the subjects my comic shop customers love to discuss, besides “Heroes,” is “Smallville”. To survive nine seasons on TV is remarkable in itself, but one of the things I most enjoy is picking up the insider references that they toss in. My comic shop partner, Jason, hates every one of them. Here are a few of them.
Just this season, Clark had to change into a suit at the Daily Planet. The only available place was a telephone booth. Clark said that he wouldn’t change his clothes in a phone booth and Lois had to push him in. Clark’s dog, back at the farm, is named Krypto. When he first met Bart Allen AKA the Flash, Bart was fleeing from Clark when Clark ripped open his backpack. Out flew a bunch of phoney driver’s licenses in the names Jay Garrick, Wally West, and Barry Allen. Bart later suggests they form a club or a league. When Clark meets Arthur Curry AKA Aquaman, Arthur suggests to Clark that they fight crime on the land and sea. Clark responds that he isn’t ready for the Junior Lifeguards of America.
In the very first season Lois is reading a book and explains to Clark that Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus and asks him ” What planet are you from?” John Jones AKA the Martian Manhunter, drops Oreo cookies in his first appearance. Clark now works at a great metropolitan newspaper. Anyone remember others?
Personally, I love watching “Smallville” with my son and every time one of these inside references show up, I have to explain them to him. Father and son bonding - who knew Smallville could help.