Mr. Muscles delivers a lesson for us all
This is what Jerry Siegel did when he wasn't getting paid for co-creating Superman.
Continue ReadingHappy Birthday Image Comics
Wow, February 1 is a banner day in comics history. It is also the day that Image Comics was created—20 years ago. Via Facebook co-founder Jim Valentino shared a photo of the founders and one pal on that fateful day, from left to right Erik Larsen, Hank Kanalz, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino. They'e all still in the game, all better off than they were 20 years ago. Collectively, they've changed the industry a time or two. It was also a day when people wore denim shirts. Ah, what a time...
Continue ReadingLucey and Dirks selected for 2012 Eisner Hall of Fame
This year's Eisner nominating panel has made their choices for automatic inclusion in the Hall of Fame: Rudolph Dirks, who pioneered the newspaper comic strip with The Katzenjammer Kids, and Harry Lucey, a long time Archie artist credited with co-creating the characters. In addition, the judges selected 14 more nominees for the general ballot, from which four will be selected for inclusion into the Hall of Fame: Bill Blackbeard, Howard Chaykin, Richard Corben, Carlos Ezquerra, Lee Falk, Bob Fujitani, Jesse Marsh, Tarpé Mills, Mort Meskin, Dennis O'Neil, Dan O'Neill, Katsuhiro Otomo, Trina Robbins, and Gilbert Shelton.
Continue ReadingBACK ISSUE #54 presents “The Liberated Ladies of Comics”
Even if you feel Big Barda does not speak for you, it's hard to dislike that sweet Bruce Timm cover.
Continue ReadingRIP: Richard Alf
Richard Alf, one of the co-founders of the San Diego Comic-Con and a busy comics dealer of the early 70s, has died of pancreatic cancer at age 59, it is being reported. While only a teenager, Alf provided financing and transportation for early con founders, as well as inspiring Shel Dorf with their shared love of comics.
Continue ReadingWho Killed the Newsstand Comics Market?
Today, we keep seeing attempts to bring back limited versions of the newsstand comics rack. 2011's Barnes & Noble program being the most prominent to get a little press. Interestingly, in recent weeks, both Jim Shooter and Chris Clarement have made comments about the demise of the newsstand system. Coming from these two, the opinions are a bit more interesting as both were on the top of industry when things shifted over from the newsstand to Direct Market in the early-to-mid-80s.
Continue ReadingA New Year’s Gift From The Beat!
Listen to Heidi MacDonald, The Beat herself, discuss 2011 in comics on a special year-end edition of More To Come, the PW Comics World podcast! As you may or may not know, Heidi has been one of the hosts of our bi-weekly comics news podcast for the past several months. In this episode, Heidi MacDonald and her co-hosts PW Comics World editor Calvin Reid and I discuss the biggest trends and events of the past year, including...
Continue ReadingHow Alan Moore killed a 1963 reprint for all time
Ruminating on the year past, cartoonist/educator Steve Bissette considers the story of how creator owned comics can be sunk by just one stuck cog -- in this case a rather large cog named Alan Moore. Just to bring everyone up to speed, 1963 was a very early Image project re-imagining the origins of Marvel, written by Moore and illustrated by Steve Bissette, John Totleben, and Rick Veitch, with additional art by Dave Gibbons, Don Simpson, and Jim Valentino and published in 1993. The final issue was to have been illustrated by Jim Lee, but Lee took time off in the middle, Moore decided not to finished it and...blah blah blah. Time passes. And, Bissette and Moore have a bit of a falling out, as chronicled in a series of interviews, here and there. However, last year, a 1963 follow-up — Tales of the Uncanny - N-Man & Friends: A Naut Comics History Vol. 1 — was to be produced by Bissette and published by Image. Well, things didn't work out, as Bissette posts. In addition, there was to be a reprint of 1963. After months of negotiations, Moore "pulled the plug" — meaning 1963 will never be reprinted ever again.
Continue Reading30 comics that never were or may never be
Over the holiday Chris Arrant had a fantastic two part survey of what-ever-happened-to comics, including no-shows like such as All-Star Batgirl and All-Star Wonder Woman, and done-but-long-shelved books like Batman Europa and Daniel Way and Darick Robertson's Deathlok: Detour, it-sounded-ike-a-good-idea-when-we-were-talking-about-it-in-the-bar projects like Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips' vampire pirates book Black Sails (above) and something best not thought about too much called "Frank Miller's Jesus."
Continue ReadingBookmark: The Marvel Age of Comics
Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort has opened up some kind of secret vault where artifacts from Marvel's history have been stored; and just like anyone else would do, he's putting them on Tumblr. For instance, here's the origial last page of AVENGERS #1 with Tom's annotation:
Continue ReadingPhotos: When cartoonists dressed like Don Draper
As part of a tribute to the late, great* Jerry Robinson, Mike Lynch has scanned in some of his old National Cartoonist Society programs -- comic strips in the Madmen era! BTW, he's pretty hard to even recognize Robinson in these photos, but that's him on the left with the glasses.
Continue ReadingThe X-Men vs. The Avengers: A Review (Yes, I’ve Read the Whole Thing)
You may have witnessed some out of control hyperbole about Marvel's recently announced Avengers Vs. X-Men. My personal favorite, courtesy of Newsarama's recap: Pre-taped words from all five writers. "There's never been an Avengers vs. X-Men super-blowout, so it's like, we have to do it," Bendis says. Never been one? Seems like I own copies of something answering that description...
Continue ReadingVan Lente and Dunlavey summarize the history of superheroes in three panels
How better to celebrate Fred Van Lente Day than with this gem by Ryan Dunlavey, his collaborator on Comic Book Comics, their history of comics comic. For more Van Lente goodness, check out the first link for a preview of his book with Sarah Oleksyk.
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Stolen ACTION #1 that once belonged to Nicolas Cage expected to become most expensive comic of all time
It's the Hope Diamond of the comic book set. The one-of-a-kind 9.0 graded copy of ACTION #1 that once belonged to actor Nicolas Cage is going on the auction block -- and it is expected to set a record for a comic price. The comics loving actor purchased the copy -- the finest of ACTION #1 known to exist -- in 1997 for $150,000. It was then stolen from his house in 2000 and vanished from history until it was found in a California storage unit last year. According to ComicConnect's Vincent Zurzolo -- the go-to man for all comics collectible lore -- the stolen comic was actually tracked down and traced to a man who had purchased it from the owner of the contents of the unit. Will someone please make a movie about this investigation?
Continue ReadingThe Legal View: The Missing Siegel Check
The most revealing development in the Siegel case since I last wrote for The Beat involves a check. Not the check issued to Siegel and Shuster in exchange for the Superman copyright, but one that DC has apparently* not written--payment to the Siegel family for Grant Morrison’s relaunch of Action #1.
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