Weekend Reading: Star Wars, James Bond, Nick Fury & Walking Dead

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

Big weekend: there's a new James Bond out in theaters and no matter if it's good or bad, the arguments over how it stacks up against all the other Bonds has already begun.

So in honor of the new Bond movie, Skyfall, Life shows off pix of the very first Bond girl you don’t remember: Linda Christian, from 1954’s Casino Royale with Barry Nelson.

One of the artists who worked on Wreck-It Ralph, Joe Pitt, has put some of his fantastic conceptual art up on his Tumblr.

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Star Wars, James Bond, Nick Fury & Walking Dead

Weekend Reading: Avengers, Overload, Don Bluth and John Cleese

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

So how many times are we all seeing The Avengers this weekend? And in how many ways is it the movie of the summer?

In honor of the new Avengers movie, Longbox Graveyard looks at the Kree/Skrull War, from Avengers #89-97. “Nearing the end of his iconic six-year stint on Avengers, Roy Thomas — along with artists Neal Adams and Sal & John Buscema — delivered what was up to then arguably the longest and most complex continuing story in superhero comics, as Earth became a battleground between the warring Skrull and Kree star empires.”

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Avengers, Overload, Don Bluth and John Cleese

Weekend Reading: Smallville, Big Nate and Star Wars

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

I know that we’re all thinking the same thing: how great it is that Michael Rosenbaum is coming back to Smallville for the big series finale. I’m stocking extra Doritos for my goodbye party.

Now that you’re sitting down, why not read a few things:

England: I missed this end of the year interview with head of brand marketing for DC Thomson John Paul Murphy. DC Thomson publishes, among other things, the British comics the Beano, the Dandy and Commando.

Art: After looking at these paintings from Britain’s War Picture Library, I can only conclude two things: (1) Giorgio De Gaspari is a terrific painter and (2) I want to see more!

Nate: Comic Strip Of The Day takes a look at Big Nate. “It is self-deprecating, self-reflective humor delivered on an adolescent level. And it works.”

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Smallville, Big Nate and Star Wars

Weekend Reading: Sherlock, Gardner Fox, Atlas Comics and Watchmen

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

It’s all over the internets that the acclaimed business site iCV2 has invoked the “suck” word to describe direct market comic book orders for Q3 2010.

Offering your captive audience books they don’t want and prices they can’t afford no longer seems to be a viable strategy. What lessons will anyone take away from this? Cue another Metamorpho relaunch in 3...2...1...

Let’s see what else is out on the internets...

Gardner Fox: The prolific writer is said to have written more that 4000 comic book stories. He co-created The Sandman, created the concept of Earth-2, wrote Batman, Hawkman, The Flash, Justice Society of America and many, many more. He also had a career as a writer of many so-called “sleaze” paperbacks. Paul Bishop has a nice look at a bunch of them. So many of them in fact, that you might think of the author more as “Gardner Foxy.”

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Sherlock, Gardner Fox, Atlas Comics and Watchmen