Weekend Reading: Superman, Archie, Talbot, Niles & Scrooge

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

Is this a superhero-free weekend at the movies? X-Men First Class was last week, next week is Green Lantern. Are we mask-free for a few days?

No, because the powers in Hollywood have decided there can be no nerd gap in the relatively short summer season and have given us Super 8.

Go see it right now, and then come back and click some links:

Superman: If you’re at all interested in the new DC reboot coming up, legal eagle Jeff Trexler at Comics Beat has a fascinating post about the wrangling that’s gone on between the Superman creators and DC’s corporate parent over the years and how it’s affected publishing decisions.

Superman II: And Daniel Best at 20th Century Danny Boy unearths a great selection of early correspondence between various DC Comics people and Jerry Siegel. It’s great reading.

Superman III: Comedy writer Ken Levine (M*A*S*H; Almost Perfect; Volunteers) weighs in on the new Superman.

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British Comics: Hagar The Horrible?

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Reviews,

When I lived on the East Coast, I knew a lot of old school cartoonists like Jerry Marcus and Orlando Busino. I’d met Mort Walker and his son Brian and Ron Goulart and comics historian Rick Marschall. The cartoonist and their friend Dik Browne, creator of Hagar The Horrible, had long left Connecticut for the warmer pleasures of Florida so I never got to meet him.

But they spoke of him with such awe - of his abilities as a cartoonist and how his irreverent sense of humor was perfect for his chosen profession - that I was really sorry I hadn’t moved to the area much earlier.

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British Comics: Dan Dare: Safari In Space

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Independent,

My only exposure to Dan Dare previously was a terrific little series by Rian Hughes and Grant Morrison, that was one of those politically infused reimaginings that turned the original character inside out.

But I’ve never read the classic stuff that British comic fans drool over though I’ve heard a great deal about it. And now along comes Titan Books which has been releasing a ton of hardcover collections of classic Dare by Frank Hampson and his team that includes Don Harley, Eric Eden, Allan Stranks, Frank Bellamy and others.

Dare, the “Pilot of the Future” originally appeared in the weekly UK comic, Eagle, starting in 1950. Dare is a pilot for the Interplanet Space Fleet, a position that allows him to fly all over the galaxy and get stuck in a ton of interplanetary trouble. Much like a British version of Star Trek or Forbidden Planet, except Dare got there before they did.

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