Weekend Reading: Spacehawk, The Dandy, Kirby and Howard Cruse

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

I'm stuffed with the turkey of Thanksgiving, but there's always time to unstuff some of the internets. Let's take a look at things to read between naps.

This has gotten a lot of play, but it’s too funny to not link to: Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter has compiled his list of the 10 Least Powerful People In Comics. Number five made me laugh out loud.

And Spurgeon does it again: I think Howard Cruse is one of the great cartoonists to have emerged from the Underground Comix movement. Spurgeon’s interview with him is an excellent read.

The Dandy, the long-running British comic book for kids, is getting cancelled in December and the line-up for the last issue is spectacular - 75 stories in a 100 page issue. I want one. Oh yes I do! Lew Stringer shares some details.

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Spacehawk, The Dandy, Kirby and Howard Cruse

Weekend Reading: Alex Toth, Nick Fury and Doug Wildey

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Marvel Comics,

Greetings and welcome to the weekend. Let's read!

Toth: Animator Michael Sporn showcases a lot of great Alex Toth art from Dell Comics. Bonus: includes side-by-side comparisons of Toth’s b&w pages with the much lower-quality printed copies. Nice.

Bunn: Chris Arrant at Collecting Comic Books has a nifty interview with Cullen Bunn, writer of the upcoming Fear Itself: The Deep.

Cap: Novelist James Reasoner reviews The Trial of Captain America: “Under Brubaker’s guidance, Captain America continues to be one of the best comics out there today.”

Cartoons: Cartoonist Dan Rosandich gets himself a shout out from the Los Angeles Times Pressmens 20 Year Club.

Plop!: Diversions of the Groovy Kind has an old classic from Steve Skeates and Sergio Aragones.

Comics: We all knew that Nick Fury was a Sergeant and an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Did you know he was a fan of the comics? Mike Sterling reveals all.

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Alex Toth, Nick Fury and Doug Wildey

British Comics: Helping Japan & New Zealand

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Independent,

British cartoonist Lew Stringer (cartoonist for The Dandy) brings news of a new charity comic book "to help victims of the terrible recent, and ongoing, disasters in New Zealand and Japan."

Contributors already include Si Spencer & Glyn Dillon, Darick Robertson, Nick Abadzis, Peter Hogan & Adrian Bamforth, PJ Holden, Martin Eden, William Simpson, Cornelius Stone, Donna Barr and Lew Stringer.

Click the link for more details.

[Artwork: Postman Prat by Lew Stringer, © DC Thomson]

Weekend Reading: Star Blazers, Shazam! And Monty Python

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

Movies, TV, and video games! This week had it all. And even some stuff about comic books. Let’s take a look:

Star Blazers: There’s a new live-action Star Blazers movie coming, and Forces of Geek has 7-minutes of it. You know you want to see it, twice.

Mike Grell: Here’s a short interview with the writer/artist on Warlord and Jon Sable Freelance. “Grell plans more with his popular Jon Sable character and has hopes that Starslayer may make its way to the movies.”

New Comics Friday: Gary Tyrrell at Fleen catches up on some webcomics he was previously unaware of.

Raven: Comic Book Resources is reporting that the CW is interested in a TV series on the mysterious Teen Titans character. This is a way better idea than Aquaman or Green Arrow. I also like it because that means my pal Marv Wolfman gets some checks (as does George Perez) for creating her.

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Star Blazers, Shazam! And Monty Python

Weekend Reading: Bill Finger, Mighty Samson, The Shadow & Valerian

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

Thank you internets, you’ve been great this week. So let’s share that bounty with others:

Mighty Samson: Writer J.C. Vaughn has a preview of Mighty Samson #1 at his blog. Shooter’s involved, Patrick Olliffe is the artist. Dark Horse is the publisher. I’m in!

Here’s a little more about the series at Comic Attack.

Shadow: Novelist James Reasoner has a Forgotten Book that’s a must have for fans of Maxwell Grant’s The Shadow: Gangland's Doom: The Shadow of the Pulps, by Frank Eisgruber Jr.

British Comics: Matthew Murray at Comics Beat goes all out for the new Dandy and breaks down its contents.

Peanuts: Zach Weiner finally lets Charlie Brown kick that football.

Peppers: Mark Evanier lives the sitcom life.

3-D: Ricky Sprague at Project Child Murdering Robot tells how Marvel Comics (in 3-D!) turned him into an atheist. Bonus: 3-D artwork on the internets!

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Bill Finger, Mighty Samson, The Shadow & Valerian

British Comics: The Rebranded Dandy

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Reviews,

In the world of British comics, there's big news happening near the Thames in the past week.

In an effort to turn around its declining sales, publisher DC Thomson has rebranded and relaunched its 73-year-old comics magazine, The Dandy.  

Starting with issue 3508 (!) which was on sale last week, The Dandy has been changed, revised, updated, modernized, you pick the word. New strips, new artists, a new look, a new price (dropping it by £1 to just £1.50, which is not at all bad news for the wallet, especially given the exchange rate), and cover-featuring a current British comedian as the star of his own strip.

I think this is a step in the right direction and I applaud publisher DC Thomson for making it. From 2006-2008, the newsstand comic had seen a 16% drop in sales, down to 23,000 copies an issue on average. Yet by June 2010, sales had dropped to 14,000. Something had to be done.

I have yet to see a copy - it’s not the kind of thing I’m likely to find over here, but I’m anxious to get back to London and grab a copy next time I’m there. In the meantime, I’m having a couple of issues sent to me by a friend.

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