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Gus Arriola and Gordo
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
I never got to read Gordo when it was syndicated - it never ran in any papers in my area when I was a kid. It was always a strip that I read about, instead of actually reading. That changed as I got older and got to read longer runs of of it. It deserves all the praise it gets for its gentle humor and its brilliant design. You can read comics on the iPhone all day long, but it’s one panel at a time. To appreciate the craftsmanship of a Gordo strip, you need to take in the whole thing. The guy was just great, and he deserved a much wider audience and he deserves to be read and experienced still today. With comics in this Golden Age period of archival reprint heaven - c’mon, even Gasoline Alley is getting collected - Gordo should be right there with everyone else. (I’m looking at you, Dean Mullaney)!
Continuing my series on cartooning and cartoonists, Gus 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 Gus on Gus and Gordo:
Click to continue reading Gus Arriola and Gordo
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Jack is Back: Jack Kirby Vs. Disney/Marvel
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Marvel Comics,
Of course, you knew it was coming. I didn’t, because sometimes I can’t see either the forest or the trees, but someone knew it was coming once it was announced that Disney was buying Marvel. Jack Kirby’s children have banded together, not unlike the countless groups their father created, to file motions of copyright termination to 45 of Kirby’s Marvel creations and co-creations.
Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily and Rich Johnston at Bleeding Cool, weigh in with the details and analysis. Over at The Beat, Heidi McDonald also notes the news and has a very lively comments section (pay particular attention to the calm and rational ones by Nat Gertler and Kurt Busiek). Elsewhere, countless bloggers and message board attendees are posting about the shock and awe they feel. Their wild theories of how this is the end of everything—the equivalent of a comic book rapture—has them typing faster than they can down a box of Milk Duds.
Before everyone gets all Defcon Fanboy about it, I recommend reading up on the history—the continuity, if you will—of relations between Marvel and Jack Kirby.
Click to continue reading Jack is Back: Jack Kirby Vs. Disney/Marvel
WATCHMEN WEEK: Where Were You in 1986? Part 2
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Interviews,
Hey, Welcome back! If you’re just joining us we’re in the middle of Watchmen Week, celebrating a case of Watchmen Fever now that the movie is finally coming out. I took a little survey among my longtime friends and acquaintances in the comics industry about where we all were in June 1986 when Watchmen #1 by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons went on sale. If you missed part 1, it’s still available right here along with a much better introduction that I encourage you to click over there, read it and come back here.
If you remember where you were and what you were doing back when Watchmen #1 debuted, feel free to leave your story in the comments. And now, here’s Part 2 of Where Were You in 1986:
FRANK MANGIARACINA: I remember 1986 as an exciting–maybe even turning point–year in comics. The guys at my warehouse and stores, and me, were all already excited about the Dark Knight, which had come out earlier that year. Besides the book itself, we were also gratified by the reception it was receiving: the Chicago Sun Times had put the cover of Dark Knight #2 on the front page! Though we loved Frank Miller, I think most of us were even bigger Alan Moore fans, and I remember the early looks at Watchmen were exciting – we’d never seen anything that looked like this before. As #1, and subsequent issues, came out we all read them the day they came out, and would talk about ‘em on smoke and lunch breaks. You have to remember that in the ‘80s comics weren’t respectable.
Click to continue reading WATCHMEN WEEK: Where Were You in 1986? Part 2