Weekend Reading: Joe Casey, Thor, Dr. Spektor and Drew Friedman

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Movies, DC Comics, Dynamic Forces, IDW Publishing, Independent, Marvel Comics,

The War on Christmas is nearly done for another year, and there’s just enough time left for the War on New Year’s. Let's see what you should be reading this week:

Joe: This is simply a great, honest and open interview with Joe Casey, comic book writer/creator and co-creator of Ben 10. Perfect holiday reading from interviewer Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter.

Thor: So there’s some controversy from an all-white group that’s upset that Marvel has cast an actor of color to play a Norse God in Thor. Ricky Sprague at Project Child Murdering Robot has a thought or two.

Polly: Animator Michael Sporn is happy that Dean Mullaney’s new book has arrived (as am I). Polly and Her Pals: the Complete Sunday Comics 1925-1927 comes from Dean’s The Library of American Comics via IDW.

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Comic Con International 2010: Rob Hanes Adventures

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Reviews, Independent,

I know I’m not supposed to find comics at San Diego – it’s all movies and TV and video games and Twilight fans and cosplayers and it’s all pre-packaged for easy enjoyment. And it’s pushed comics out of the hall. Except that it really hasn’t, and I can find comic books easier than I can get a seat to see Harrison Ford.

Some of you might remember that one of the comics I was looking forward to getting this year was Randy Reynaldo’s first color issue of Rob Hanes. And that’s exactly what I did on my first day. With Dave Olbrich on hand to help me we wound our way back to the relatively large small press area where I found Randy’s booth. A few bucks later, a few minutes chatting with Randy (whom I’ve known for years) and a copy was all mine.

Randy’s one of the earliest of the self-publishers that popped up in the 1990s and his WCG Comics is still at it, publishing Rob Hanes Adventures, a comic that Randy writes and draws. It’s a thing of beauty: a full on modern day adventure comic.

Rob Hanes Adventures Special Edition #1 is the new thing Randy created for the conventions: the first ever full-color Rob Hanes comic. It’s technically a reprint from Adventure Strip Digest #2 – “The EC Express” - that’s been colored and re-lettered by Barry Gregory.

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William Overgard: Steve Roper, Mike Nomad, Rudy and Milton Caniff

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

William Overgard was a writer, novelist, and comic book artist who had a long-running gig on the Steve Roper (later Steve Roper and Mike Nomad) comic strip. His bold line and storytelling owed a lot to his idol, Milton Caniff.

Continuing my little series on cartoonists, here’s what Overgard had to say about his work back in 1964. This is pulled from an oversized saddle-stitched magazine from Allied Publications with the creatively-challenged title These Top Cartoonists Tell How They Create America’s Favorite Comics. It featured an introduction by Beetle Bailey’s Mort Walker and was compiled by Allen Willette. My previous entry on Dennis The Menace’s Fred Toole can be found here.

Here’s Overgard:

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Q&A: Dean Mullaney on Noel Sickles, Milton Caniff and Eclipse Comics

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Interviews, IDW Publishing,

Dean Mullaney is one of the true pioneers of comic book publishing and, I confess, an old friend. He launched Eclipse Comics, one of the first comic book companies that specialized in not only giving creators a refuge from the corporate underwear heroes at DC and Marvel, but also in giving them ownership of their creations. Eclipse folded back in the early ‘90s and Dean disappeared into non-comics pursuits (as everyone in comics knows, once you leave the industry for something else, you disappear).

Now Dean’s back at the helm of the Library of American Comics, a series of classy comic strip reprint hardcovers he’s designing and editing for IDW. In his first year back, he won the Eisner Award for “Best Archival Collection” for his collection of Milton Caniff’s Terry And the Pirates. I caught up with him at the end of last year and asked him to spill about my favorite book of his, “Scorchy Smith And The Art of Noel Sickles.” Naturally, I strayed off-topic, too.

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