Prince Valiant Meets Tom Yeates

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Reviews,

Tom Yeates has been selected to take over the art chores on the classic Prince Valiant comic strip. He posted the brief announcement at his blog, that included this quote: "Gary Gianni and Mark Schultz have been doing fantastic work on the strip, and Yeates hopes to maintain that high quality in the tradition of Hal Foster."

Writer-artist Hal Foster created Prince Valiant in 1937.

I worked briefly with Tom on a Tarzan mini-series back in the 1990s and got to see his original art up close. It’s beautiful stuff and he’s an excellent choice to replace Gianni on the strip.

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Weekend Reading: Dr. Who, Dinosaurs, Rob Hanes and Thor

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Interviews, Movies, Reviews, Television, Image Comics, Independent,

I was saddened by the recent death of Elisabeth Sladen who played Sarah Jane in Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Of all the reminiscences online, the one I thought the most touching was by her co-star, Tom Baker.

Dinosaurs: Topless Robot looks at the “10 Most Badass Dinosaurs In Comics.” Something I created made the list, so naturally, I’m linking to it! Thanks to author Jesse Thompson for the shout out.

Royalty: Evan Lewis at Davy Crockett’s Almanack likes Prince Valiant Vol. 2: 1939-1940 from Fantgraphics. “Amazing as the artwork in Volume 1 was, it just keeps getting better.”

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Dr. Who, Dinosaurs, Rob Hanes and Thor

Comic Book Gift Suggestions For Prince William

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, IDW Publishing,

Prince William has finally picked a bride, Kate Middleton, the only girl in London without a tattoo of an old boyfriend’s name or an upskirt photo on the internet. It’s a terrific moment for the Royal Family and for journalists who can postpone writing about the economy for a few more months.

But now you have some hard choices to make. You’re a comic book fan and a fan of the Royals. So what can you give them as the perfect wedding gift? Yes, you could get them something spectacular from Harrods, but won’t the rest of England be doing that? And do they really need a new toaster or some monogrammed tea cozies?

You can’t go wrong with comics. It’s the universal language, especially if your universe’s language is in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK. So don’t panic. Here are some friendly comic book choices. Pick the right gift and you might even get a knighthood. Apparently they give them out like tiny Cadburys at Halloween.

King Aroo (Library of American Comics/IDW): The comical and fantastical adventures of a different kind of king, by the acclaimed cartoonist Jack Kent. Dean Mullaney and his crew have put together an awesome book that both Royals can enjoy while their bodyguard reads it to them.

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Hal Foster and Prince Valiant

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

I get tired of hearing about Mozart. Yeah, he’s a genius and he started composing music when he was 5-years-old. I get it, fine, blah, blah, blah. You know who else is brilliant? Harold “Hal” Foster, the critically-acclaimed creator-writer-artist on Prince Valiant. He created his most famous and enduring work when he was 45-years-old. Malcolm Gladwell, take note.

Continuing my series on cartooning and cartoonists, Hal Foster wrote about himself and 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.

Here’s Foster on Foster:

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WEEKEND READING: BATMAN, GREEN HORNET, WATCHMEN, WALLY WOOD

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Reviews,

The many tubes of the internets are always clogged with great stuff. Here’s a few pleasant time-killers to take the edge off a long work-week (for those of us still hanging onto a job) and ease us into the holiday weekend.

WATCHMEN: Still can’t get enough Watchmen linkage from all over the internets? Here’s one more: Doug Atkinson – whose last name means “too much time on my hands” in Esperanto – has gone through and footnoted/annotated all 12 chapters of the graphic novel (or issues, for you original serialized readers) in a highly detailed and analytical fashion. Debate on, you funnybook fanatics.

MORNING WOOD: Over at his blog, My Delineated Life, Tom Buchanan has a great post about Wally Wood’s tryout for Prince Valiant. King Features was looking for a replacement when Hal Foster retired and Woody was one of the applicants (as was Gray Morrow and the winner John Cullen Murphy). Tom’s got the facts and the samples. A must for fans – Wood would have been a great choice to carry on.
(h/t Booksteve’s Library)

WHAT’S UP, CHUCK?: Cartoonist Mike Lynch has a short but fascinating post about the time he met Chuck Jones, the great animation director.

GREEN HORNET I: Writer/Editor/All Around Good Guy Bob Greenberger has a knack for finding the most interesting projects to work on. I missed this post, but Bob Greenberger has announced, some time ago in fact, that he’s writing some new non-comics adventures of the Lone Ranger’s relative (no really, they are related) for Moonstone Books. You can find all about it at Bob’s blog and a little bit more at the Moonstone website.

GREEN HORNET II: Meanwhile, blogmeister Dave Olbrich, an old friend from the Ultraverse, has finally weighed in on the whole “Seth Rogen as Green Hornet” debate. I reserve all judgment – Mr. Olbrich went on record like this once before when he brayed that Michael Keaton was a bad choice for Batman. Casting decisions are always a fun debate – I cringed when supposedly-clean Robert Downey, Jr. was announced as Tony Stark but wasn’t he ten shades of awesome? So it’ll be interesting to see where a Green Hornet movie goes. Besides, true GH fans know that the real star of anything GH is Kato.

GREEN HORNET III: So he’s back in book form, and he’s coming back in comic book form, now what’s left? Oh, yeah, he’s coming back to comic books, too. The Scoop has the, well, scoop.

MARVEL COMICS: Why is Marvel Comics making it so hard for this guy to read and enjoy Marvel Comics?

That’s it for this weekend. If you’re celebrating, enjoy your holiday, and try to bite the heads off as many chocolate bunnies as you can, and then see how many Marshmallow Peeps you can stuff into an EC Comics hardcover slipcase. (My guess is 176.)