Weekend Reading: Ray Bradbury, Alex Toth and Before Watchmen

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

The countdown to San Diego has begun. You can tell because Mark Evanier is starting to post his great stories about San Diego cons of the past.

I’ve really been enjoying his tales of the con that involve Ray Bradbury and Julie Schwartz (and MAD Magazine’s Al Feldstein). One of the things that’s being revealed is that Julie, a longtime DC Comics editor and later company ambassador, doesn’t come across as a likeable guy.

This will not come as a surprise to anyone who’s read about Evan Dorkin’s repeatedly unpleasant encounters with Schwartz.

Or to people who are familiar with Colleen Doran.

Speaking of Ray Bradbury, Frederik Pohl remembers his friend of 75 years.

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Ray Bradbury, Alex Toth and Before Watchmen

Weekend Reading: Borders, Barnes & Noble, Batman & Thor

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

Borders Books is finding no takers in its quest for a buyer, so unless a miracle happens, they’re probably toast.

So it’s a good thing they paid all those retention bonuses to people who can’t make anything happen for them.

Their main brick-and-mortar competition, Barnes & Noble, is currently looking like the smartest girl in class. They’ve gotten a $1 billion (with a “b”) offer from Liberty Media.

They probably aren’t interested in the books or the stores, but since Liberty has a lot of old school media holdings, the one thing they lack for modern-day exploitation is Nook technology.

Let’s go elsewhere for good reading:

Batman: Want to know a cool digital-only comic you could be reading for just 99¢? DC’s got one: Batman: Arkham City #1 by Paul Dini & Derek Fridolfs and artist Dustin Nguyen.

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Borders, Barnes & Noble, Batman & Thor

Comic Books Jobs: Checking Out Craigslist

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Editorials, Movies,

If you have the gift of retail, draw fast, love to intern or want to sell some of your stuff, Craigslist has quite the deals for you.

In Boston, The Million Year Picnic comic book store in Harvard Square has “immediate openings for part-time employment.”

If you have “retail, customer service or sales experience” that’d be a huge plus.

A knowledge of comic books and graphic novels is helpful “but not required. You do have to be able to show up for work every Wednesday morning because that’s new comic day.

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Comic Con International 2010: I Was There

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

So it’s over and it’s been over for a while and everyone and his overweight uncle with the tattered, too-small X-Men t-shirt has written about it to death.

And now it’s my turn.

Loved it. Had a great time. Saw a lot of old friends. Made a few new ones. Found a place that makes great nachos.

Yes, the emphasis on back issues has diminished and there’s a decreased emphasis on the newer stuff and Bud Plant’s booth is smaller, but none of that diminished my overall positive experience.

I picked up a couple of hard numbers while shopping. I finally snagged a softcover copy of the first The Walking Dead collection at the Image booth and it turned out to be the last one in stock for the con. I asked the guy at the booth about it and he said that they’d sold over 300 hardcovers of the first collection and sold out of all 700 copies of the softcover version since Preview Night. This was by Friday afternoon, with 2 1/2 more days to go. That’s what happens when good comic meets impending TV show.

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SNEAK PEAK: RAY BRADBURY, TIM HAMILTON & FAHRENHEIT 451

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

Tim Hamilton’s career in comics stretches back to the late 1980s when he worked on The Trouble With Girls with writer/creators Gerard Jones and Will Jacobs. He has since worked for Nickelodeon Magazine, MAD Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Dark Horse, and BOOM Studios. His adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island was published as a graphic novel by Puffin Graphics in 2005. His follow-up project is another beautifully rendered graphic novel, an adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s iconic and always-contemporary book-burning classic, Fahrenheit 451. The 176-page full color book is scheduled for publication from Hill and Wang (an imprint of Macmillan) in July 2009. Here’s the official cover. Feel free to click over to his website, and see what else he’s posting over there.