Weekend Reading: Spider-Man, Steve Gerber, John Scalzi and Dr. Goyle

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

If you’re at C2E2 this weekend, I hope you’re having a great time. And if you’re not at C2E2, what’s your problem, buddy?

This is the weekend that I close out a lot of tabs and polish off some links that have been in my inbox for a couple of weeks. But if you haven't caught these stories yet, that makes them new, right?

Daniel Best has been on fire lately with his posts on Gary Friedrich and the Archie Comics lawsuits. He’s got another good one up now - a look at the behind-the-scenes backstabbery and finger-pointing surrounding the Spider-Man musical.

I like this political cartoon by Monte Wolverton.

Creator/writer/artist Howard Tayler (Schlock Mercenary) talks about writing, especially sub-plots, and he illustrates his points with comic strips.

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Spider-Man, Steve Gerber, John Scalzi and Dr. Goyle

Wikileaks: Comic Book Secrets

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Image Comics, Independent, Marvel Comics,

If you took the time to read through the nearly 250,000 documents released this week via Wikileaks, you’d find a comic book connection in several of them. We at Comix 411 have nothing but free time and did the heavy lifting for you. Here are the comic book-related highlights from the document dump:

When visiting with US President Barack Obama, the CIA codename for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is “Bucky.”

Interrogators at Guantanamo routinely asked prisoners to choose: Betty or Veronica?

Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong Il sometimes dresses up as Wildcat before he tours a factory. In other news, North Korea still has factories.

Click to continue reading Wikileaks: Comic Book Secrets

Moebius Comes To America

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

Let’s visit the photo archives again, shall we?

Years ago, I had the occasion to journey to a comic book store in the Bay Area - somewhere around one of the cities near San Francisco. I had been attending a convention near the San Francisco Airport. After the show was over, I had some time to kill and some friends drove me out to a comic book store where Jean Giraud (aka Moebius!) was putting in an appearance. How could I resist that?

I don’t remember why Moebius was in town. He wasn’t at the convention, which was a Star*Reach event for retailers and publishers only. I just know that he was there - the creator of Lt. Blueberry, The Airtight Garage and dozens of other great things. And, fortunately, I had my camera with me, my then-trusty 35mm decidedly non-digital Pentax. I stood in line, I shook his hand, and he signed a giant poster for me (as he did for everyone else in line.) Here are a couple of shots from that day. My memory is that this is Comics & Comix in Palo Alto, but if anyone can confirm or correct that, the world would be a better place for all of us.

And yes, I realize the photos are better than the story, but look over there: It’s Moebius!

[Artwork: Photo of Jean Giraud/Moebius. Photo © Tom K. Mason]