Weekend Reading: Bill Finger, Pixar, Toth and Calvin & Hobbes

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

Yeah, yeah, Avengers-mania is dying down and we’re back to counting the days until San Diego, right? Well, I am. In the meantime, let's read:

Want some story-writing advice from the gang at Pixar? Of course you do.

There’s no doubt that without writer Bill Finger, Batman wouldn’t be Batman. Booksteve’s Library has read and enjoyed Bill, The Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman by Marc Tyler Nobleman. “Bob Kane was rather a self-serving individual who rarely did anything himself when he could get someone else to do it for him.” One of those someones was the writer Bill Finger.

Longbox Graveyard blogger Paul O’Connor has a companion gig: a regular column at Stash My Comics called The Dollar Box. Start here.

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JOHN OSTRANDER Could Use Your Help

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

I don’t know John Ostrander at all. If I’ve met him at a convention, I’ve surely forgotten it just as he’s surely forgotten me. I’ve only read his comics.

And I’ve really liked the comic books he’s written. His Grimjack – with artist Tim Truman - was one of the Top 10 independent comics to explode out of the Direct Market back in the 1980s. And a long run on The Spectre with artist Tom Mandrake remains a favorite, topping the Michael Fleisher run for me. Star Wars: Republic and Wasteland are just a couple of his other works. John was one of those early First Comics creators who seemed to come out of nowhere and then moved over to DC, Marvel and Dark Horse afterwards.

Now, the word is that he’s struggling, fighting off glaucoma and doctors are rallying to save his eyesight. But like most people these days, he lacks both insurance and the money necessary to pay for the continuing treatments out of pocket.

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DC Comics Review: Adventure Comics #0

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,

I’ve mentioned in past blogs that I’ve been reading comics for about twenty-four years. I began as a big Marvel Zombie and my knowledge of the DC universe was only from old episodes of the “Super Friends”. It’s really only in the past few years that I’ve been reading more DC Comics.

This issue of “Adventure Comics” #0 (at the bargain price of $1) is a preliminary issue for the relaunch of this classic series. In this issue, we have two different stories: one is a reprint of the classic story that introduced the Legion of Super Heroes in the pages of the first Adventure series #247 and the second is an original story that is a part of the “Origins and Omens” series that DC has going through all of their books right now.  The story stars Lex Luthor and Brainiac.

The original “Adventure Comics” which ran from 1935-1983 was a series which focused on second tier DC characters. The book focused on a variety of different heroes over the years such as Superboy, Supergirl, The Spectre, Aquaman, and the Legion of Superheroes. According to DC publisher Dan Dido, the new series begins in June and will be the home of the Legion of Superheroes.

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