Culture

My last post explored how continuities between the cover image of Action Comics #1 and subsequent material could give DC a substantial part of the copyright in the original Superman.  One question left unaddressed, however, was the issue of Clark Kent, not to mention other key elements of Superman’s character and mythos appearing in that historic first issue. In this post, let’s take a quick look at that question and the role it could play in bringing this case to an end.

Mark Evanier reports the death of Del Connell, the sadly obscure creator of a kajillion comic book stories, including Super Goof and Space Family Robinson. Connell recently won the Finger Award at San Diego but was too ill to attend the ceremony:

Only a year ago, Tom Bouden's gay-themed adpatation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest was fighting rejection on Apple's mobile platforms, leading to cries of a double standard where sex and violence were concerned. But now LGBT publisher Northwest Press is claiming victory by having Teleny and Camille, Glamazonia: The Uncanny Super-Tranny, and Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven's Comics all approved by Apple. All are now available via the iBooks app.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you've seen Tom Spurgeon's essay on facing a life threatening illness, an illness which led to his unexpected blogging absence earlier this summer, and which still affects him, although he's recovering. Since looking death in the face usually prompts some inventory of life, Spurgeon does just that in an astonishing essay that covers his life and his life in comics, if there is a difference. That a man fighting for his life should spend that time thinking about the Green Lantern movie is both ridiculous and awesome -- Tom's thoughts on why we chose the comics life and why we stay there speak for me about 80% of the time. It's not that we have on choice, but rather why would we WANT to leave a field that is full of such honest, unpretentious work and creative, life-loving people?

Now this is a great way to spend your money! Cartoonist Jason Young has spent the last three years slowly commissioning an array of great indie artists to redraw FANTASTIC FOUR #9, the issue co-starring the Sub-Mariner. It's a Coober Skeeber/Strange Tales mash-up that proves the talents of all involved. Young writes:

Last week legendary cartoonist R. Crumb disappointed Australian fans who were looking forward to a rare public appearance, when he withdrew, The cause was incendiary comments in a Sunday Telegraph piece called Smutty show a comic outrage which branded him a pervert. In a letter to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, Crumb explains himself a length, and to those who have branded him a woman-hating creep, it's mostly to make his wife happy -- she feared for his safety:

A special birthday shout-out to Jimmy Palmiotti, the best friend and advisor of almost everyone in comics--The Beat included--and creator or co-creator of comics from The Pro, Monolith, 21 Down, Painkiller Jane, Back to Brooklyn, and of course a long, acclaimed run on Jonah Hex.

Great moments in comics history, via Jim Shooter, Al Milgrom, Steve Leialoha and Christie Scheele from Secret Wars II issue #2. As referenced on Twitter by Brian Reed and shamelessly ganked by us. Surprising that Peter Parker did not supply the Beyonder with a magazine to occupy his thoughts. Yet another reason why SECRET WARS were the best wars. Secret POOPIN' Wars!

Every little thing about how Frank Darabont worked AMC's last raw nerve as showrunner of The Walking Dead and some more TV and film news for your Friday surfing pleasure.

Back when the deeds of Kyrax2 were making the rounds, we'd tagged a post we never got around to spotlighting by author Diane Duane, who lists her bio as "30+ years in print, 50+ novels, assorted TV and movie work, the NYT Bestseller List a few times, blah blah blah. Also: the Young Wizards series, 1983-2010 and beyond"--the kind of long-lasting, multi-media resume that superior writers build up. In a post on her blog about DC's women troubles, Duane talked about being a comics reader and creator over the years:

Over on Google+, Meredith Gran, creator of OCTOPUS PIE, somewhat reluctantly weighs in on the women in comics thing:

So that said, here it is. My sincere thoughts on how to promote the presence of women in comics:

Pay them. No, seriously. Pay them with money.

While we were linking to the previous Michael Dooley articles, we found another one from Comic-Con, an interview with Kim Munson, whose Comix Classics: Underground Comics app for iPhone, iPad, and Android hard a hard time getting approved. The app is a survey of classic underground comics art with images from S. Clay Wilson, Reed Waller, Denis Kitchen and more. The pictures are quite dirty -- we struggled to find one to post with this piece before settling on Jimmy Durante by Drew Friedman -- but nothing that isn't legal and available in other places. However, Apple, the electronic middleman, has other ideas: