Weekend Reading: Watchmen, Ploog, Gibbons, and Gary Friedrich

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Reviews, Television, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,

It's the weekend time again and since we're between the end of football season and baseball season, at least in the U.S., it must be comic book season. Let's take a look.

Author Joe Konrath is a very smart man on the subjects of book publishing, Amazon, and the future of the written word business. He makes a great case in a post called Amazon Will Destroy You.

Tom McLean at Bags And Boards looks at both sides of the Before Watchmen argument and comes up with some smart thoughts worthy of attention.

J. M. DeMatteis runs a very nice appreciation of his sometime collaborator Mike Ploog.

Cartoonist Lew Stringer uncovers an old Dave Gibbons strip you might not be familiar with.

This is an old link, but it’s a nice profile of gag cartoonist Bob Vojtko.

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Watchmen, Ploog, Gibbons, and Gary Friedrich

Weekend Reading: Green Lantern, Joss Whedon, Jack Kirby And James Bond

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

I spent Thanksgiving outside the US this year so I’m stuffed with stir-fried shrimp and chocolate ice cream, which made for an excellent breakfast of leftovers, because that's just how I roll.

If you’re out and about shopping now for the holidays, here’s the best Holiday Shopping Gift Guide you’re ever going to need for the 2010 credit card season, courtesy of Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter.

Let’s see what else is going on:

Green Lantern: If you’ve been in awe of the new Ryan Reynolds trailer for Green Lantern, there’s at least one person with an alternate view worth reading: Ricky Sprague at Project Child Murdering Robot. “The Green Lantern Corps is their ‘muscle,’ enforcing their rules of righteousness. They take creatures from various parts of the universe and have them fight 'evil.' There are lots of different GLs, made up of different species from different planets. You can see where this is starting to get lame.”

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Green Lantern, Joss Whedon, Jack Kirby And James Bond

Top Ten Things I’m Thankful For This Year

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics,

Thanksgiving is that wonderful time of year where we celebrates parades, football, days off from school and work, and something else I've entirely forgotten about. Here are some things I'm giving thanks for in 2010.

Naturally, your list may vary, and be a lot less selfish than my own.

10. My TSA date, Officer Pat Downe, had soft hands.

9. The iPad. Is it wrong to want 2 of them?

8. Library Book Sales: I scored a Pogo book, Quincy’s World by Ted Shearer and Don Martin Grinds Ahead! All for less than a buck total.

7. The debut of Oh, Brother! by Bob Weber, Jr. and Jay Stephens. Funny, funny strip.

6. Five Guys Burgers & Fries: If you’re going to eat, Five it up.

Click to continue reading Top Ten Things I’m Thankful For This Year

Weekend Reading: Batman, Tintin, Starlog and Jerry Bingham

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

A big week on the internets, so let’s get right to it.

For me, the big news is that my pal Jerry Bingham is illustrating a 5-part story in Batman Confidential, starting in issue #50 that went on sale this week. If you’re on the fence about it, here’s a multi-page preview of it that’ll make you wish Jerry drew more comics. Fans of Batman: Son of the Demon rejoice!

Batman: Over at Project Child Murdering Robot, Ricky Sprague comments on the upcoming Christopher Nolan Batman movie with some language that might be NSFW but SWR (still worth reading)! Bonus shout out to Batman: Year One: “It was among the first of the modern age comic book character reboots that now seem to occur every other year or so. Mr. Miller's hardboiled writing was at its peak, and Mr. Mazzucchelli is one of the best illustrators ever.”

Biff! Bam! Pow!: Bob Greenberger at ComicMix tackles the eternal question: Is Legends of the Superheroes any good? “You have to love kitsch, bad writing, awful acting, and comic books to enjoy (or endure) these specials.”

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Batman, Tintin, Starlog and Jerry Bingham

Weekend Reading: Steve Ditko, Larry Doyle, Wonder Woman and Doc Savage

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

Hey America, happy birthday to you this weekend. If you find yourself too full of Pabst Blue Ribbon, overcooked hamburgers, runny macaroni salad and apple pie with too much HFCS in it, and it’s too early to start shooting off those fireworks you smuggled over from North Carolina, do what I do: surf the internet.

Oh, Brother: Bob Weber, Jr. (creator of Slylock Fox) and Jay Stephens (Tutenstein, Land of Nod), have joined forces and launched a brand new comic strip. Alan Gardner at The Daily Cartoonist has the announcement and some samples, and it all looks really, really good.

Wonder Woman: When Nikki Finke calls recent changes to one of your iconic characters “dumbass stuff,” shouldn’t it be rethought?

Twin Spica: Looking for some good manga to spend your hard-earned money on? Rod Lott at Bookgasm has a recommendation for you, Twin Spica Volume O2 by Kou Yaginuma.

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Steve Ditko, Larry Doyle, Wonder Woman and Doc Savage