Culture

A group blog devoted to memories of the much missed publisher. Above, Jason T. Miles and Williams talk comics late into an SPX night while Tom Neely tries to sleep.

Those Taiwanese animators are at it again with a Christmas scandal...and wishes.

When Joe Simon passed away at the age of 98 last week, he left behind an impressive body of work. Although everyone knows he was the partner of Jack "King" Kirby, Simon and Kirby were partners in the truest sense -- collaborating freely on art and writing, with Simon mostly the editor and Kirby the art director. However, Simon was a prolific artist on his own. While he didn't have Kirby's command of sheer power and imagination, he did have a way with wiry, dynamic heroes. Heritage Auctions recently ran a cover tribute to Simon in their newsletter -- have a look:

Matthias Wivel is one of a trio of reviewers -- Domingos Isabelinho and Ng Suat Tong are the other two -- known for applying the most stringent possible personal standards to comics in their criticism. Thus, seeing Wivel come to the defense of HABIBI at The Hooded Utilitarian is a bit of a surprise -- but he makes a plausible point. Running down a host of critical beatdowns administered on that site over stereotypes and gender issues, he says that "parts of the comics intelligentsia seem to be developing an unhealthy obsession with ideological readings of comics."

We'll take this occasion of reprinting this year's Center for Cartoon Studies holiday card by Alexis Frederick-Frost to note that thanks to a 12 hour cable outage on my block I've had to repair to the local Not Starbucks for internet. Dear god, this place is a madhouse of men in business suits yapping about plans along with three plucky students from nearby Baruch who looked to have pitched a tent amid empty yogurt containers and one Unabomber type in the back corner typing on a seedy black netbook.

If you are like us, you are still grieving at the loss of Herman Cain from next year's presidential race. From his powerful hats, to his inspiring slogans -- "You need a job, right?" -- to his wondrous waffling that made every scandal a delight, Cain never failed to bring a smile to our lips, even in these grim times. And he justified that faith in his ability to make us laugh at our problems right up until the very end, topping it off with a quote with the Pokémon movie. But Herman is gone. Luckily, a new candidate for the Republican nomination has arisen who may just take his place, Marvin E. Quasniki, a humble turquoise farmer from Tonopah, Nevada who is running on a very catchy campaign motto that will soon be heard all over Fox News: "No more bullshit."

Is there a new Lichtenstein roaming the forests? Scott Edelman has brought to our attention thr work of Sharon Moody who paints trompe l'oeil paintings of comics by Jack Kirby, Sal Buscema and others -- but Edelman is bothered by the fact that the source artists are not credited anywhere:

This is no comics content, but many folks have some of their fondest Christmas Eve and Christmas Day memories of staring at a film loop of a burning Yule Log on TV while seasonal tunes gently play in the background. Yes, the video Yule Log has burned its way into the hearts of America. Happily, you can watch and listen to the Yule Log any time just by going to this link, which is new for 2011. Its also available in SD, HD and 3D via free Video On Demand (VOD), and also on many cable systems—check your systems free on demand listings to find it. 

The past decade may have been the graphic novel decade but some comics observers dreamed of the crowning moment of comics PR as Oprah Winfrey holding up a copy of Gilbert Hernandez's LUBA as a selection of her book club—a Winfrey book club pick rountinely meant mllions of copies sold, so you can see why it would have been the crowning moment of mainstream acceptance for comics. Sadly, that moment never came, as Oprah canceled her syndicated show to focus on her own network. But while comics might not get that instantaneous boost, at least Oprah.com has picked a few GNs s part of an article entitled

11 Books You Never Thought You'd Read (but Will Fall in Love with Instantly):

South African cartoonist Zapiro is famous for his sharply observant cartooning and also for standing up to constant and onerous political pressures because of his observations. Most famously he was sued by the Prime Minister of South Africa for defamation—but as this profile at PEN.org shows, he's always been at the center of controversy reserved for those who tell the truth.

How Sony, Ikea and DC Comics approach marketing to women. Hint: only one of these companies actually tried.

Grace Bello has taken the bold step of going to cartoonists and asking them for sex advice -- and posting the results on Nerve. The results may shock you. Not really, but we had to say that, just because "cartoonists" and "sex" were long considered a bad match --unless you were one of those swinging '60s Don Draper cartoonists in the NCS, of course. Anyway, back to the present day. Rick Altergott on the pecking order: