Congrats to ADDTF for one solid year of reading comics naked.

Also, welcome back ADD and In Sequence.

Did I miss anyone?

 
Who's Bad?

This is my second attempt at writing this blog entry. Serves me right for not saving what I was writing.

It's been awhile since I've posted, but I have been keeping notes of things I wanted to mention. Since that time, numerous other blogs have beat me to the punch. For example, Journalista linked to Big Sunny D's excellent little examination of various autobiographical comics (scroll down to April 29th, sucka). Despite not being an out and out comics blog, BSD is still the place to go for some interesting insights into this crazy four-colour medium.



My pal Kev sent me this nifty essay on the wonders of Jack Chick, but Dirk Deppey beat me to it. Flat Earth, where our headline news is Journalista's scraps.

He's not the only one. Neilalien posted a link to Galactus' blog. While you're at it, check out the very personal diary entries of the Incredible Hulk's Diary, as originally spotted by Journalista. Bastard.

Neilalien also obtained a copy of The Journal of M.O.D.O.K. Studies. Is this the second issue? Am I so out of touch that I let an issue of the world's only absolutely essential comic magazine pass me by? Was I the one who sent a loonie to JoMS Central?

Egon has been changing colours. I swear it was green last night. Must be a Mother's Day thing.



Thanks to a link at Egon, I found the site that caused my computer to go kaput last night. It's the recently relocated domain of comic historian R.C. Harvey. He's one of my favourite contributors to The Comics Journal, and played a large part in introducing me to the wonders of the political cartoon, so I'll forgive him. The Hindsights section has really great, lengthy essays on a number of topics. The Mauldin one is lovely, as are his writings on Walt Kelly, Roy crane and Carl Barks, among others. Don't forget to take a week off work and check out his Rants N' Raves.

In Sequence was out of the loop for awhile, but Teresa has come back swinging. It's nice to see her back. Funny thing about the connections one makes. I have a special place in my heart for In Sequence, largely due to a post there that described a feeling of community among comic webloggers. I'm not sure if there's any truth to it, but I feel the same way. Nice to know I'm not alone.

My classmate Mikang wrote me with a reminder of her website's address. It's not even close to finished yet, but I would be faltering in my duty if I didn't embarass a friend by promoting their site before they were ready. Besides, how can I slight someone who lists her links as Dreamworks, Pixar, Disney, Flat Earth. One of these things is not like the others...

Sinbad!

Every once in awhile I take a peek at the websites of various comic creators, and occasionally they have something new to offer. If you like pillowy girls almost as much as I do, Dave Cooper has a number of his paintings available for perusal on his site. I saw these at a gallery showing last Fall, and they're sweet.



Once again, The Alex Toth fansite is filled to the brim with goodies. There's so much new stuff that I'm having a hard time keeping up. There are huge amounts of annotations available, full stories with commentary by the man himself. And don't forget the stories in the Page a Day section.

Shane Glines' forums have erupted in a ridiculous debate pitting Toth vs. Kirby. Ridiculous because the person who started the discussion insists that everyone play by his exacting "rules" and those that don't, like Mark Evanier who has actual personal insight in both creators' lives, are insulted and ignored. Ah, the wonders of the internet. Guest-starring Glines, Wray, Cooke, Stewart, The Hulk and the Thing.

The collective critical insight of the readers of the esteemed Comics Journal are wrestling with the question of Hulk vs. X-Men. Obviously Jennifer Connelly trumps any and all Oscar-winning mutants you can squeeze into a wardrobe full of leather pants. Case closed.



World's greatest comic writer Bob Haney teams up with Jay Stephens, Canada's ginchiest cartoonist, for an Elseworlds look at the super teens with the mostest. Dig. The Maxx is being collected. Shame that the best part was the letters page. DC is releasing a collection of the first issues of Kirby's run on Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen. It will be in trade paperback form, in colour, unlike those ridiculous black and white Essentials and other Kirby Fourth World colouring books.

Ages ago, Sequential (the blog formally known as The Montreal Comix Jam) linked to a series of comix jam sites that now share a hub domain, including Montreal, Toronto, London, New York and San Francisco as well as a comix jam blog.



J. Torres (Copybook Tales, Sidekicks, Alison Dare) has a new column up called Open Your Mouth where he plans on dissecting the creative process behind the comics. I still need to pick up Days Like This.

Remember that Canadian Comics post from a few weeks back? I emailed the National Archives to find out about the ownership of some of the Golden Age Canadian Superheroes. It turns out that the copyright info given is correct. Many of the heroes are jointly owned by Nelvana, a Canadian animation company, and the government of Canada. The government acquired intellectual property which once belonged to citizens. Does that creep anyone else out?

If you value your sanity, don't check out this attempt to create a condensed history of the X-Men. Likewise, this request for Starjammer info turned into a series of bad Pogo Possum jokes. Don't say I didn't warn you.



Oh no. I just contributed to the X-Men thread I warned you not to go to by posting this wonderful interpretation of The Champions vs. The Defenders by Greg Hyland of Lethagic Lad and Viking Spawn fame.

I honestly think if you're going to go out, you should go out Champions style.

posted by Steven at 12:11 PM