Flat Earth!

2008-03-03T08:30:00.000-05:00

Happy 6th Annual International Read A Comic Book Naked Day! Don't have any reading material handy? No problem. There's plenty online to choose from.

This yearly schedule is grinding me down. It's time to pass the torch.

2007-03-03T16:50:00.000-05:00

Happy Fifth Annual International Read A Comic Book Naked Day!

I wonder how many other blogs out there only post once a year. By dipping my toes in the pool once a year, can I still be considered an active blogger?

Happy Fifth Annual International Read A Comic Book Naked Day! Once again, literally many will curl up with a comic book pressed against their sticky thighs and bask in the loving embrace of some four-colour piece of trash. Odds are if you're reading this you have plenty of reading material already, but if you don't, here are a few classics you may have missed the first time around, available free for your roly-poly pleasure.

Hungry Like The Wolf. Using only stick figures, Stacie of Final Girl ushers in the next werewolf craze.

Jenifer. David Z. of Tomb It May Concern presents a fine tale of the macabre by Jones and Wrightson.

The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist. You can still catch this NSFW adventure in monochrome, courtesy of Curt of The Groovy Age of Horror.

For even more goodies, check out The Horror Blog.

2006-03-03T01:27:00.000-05:00

Fourth Annual International Read A Comic Book Naked Day!

It's that time of the year again, where I dust off the good ship Flat Earth and entice you with the twin pleasures of nudity and comics. Below you will find every Free Comic Thursday entry from days gone by, compiled into one monster list for easy access. In addition, this year is so jam-packed with naked comic reading goodness that it's spilled over to my new digs at The House of Irony, where I've posted the remainder of the Free Comic Thursday links I never had the opportunity to post here.

So get your bits and pieces out of the cold and into some comics where they belong!

Centaurs. Excerpts and full stories from the greatest sub-genre specific comic site in existence.

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. Benign post-apocalyptic manga gem.

The Monster of Dread End. Genuinely creepy comic by Little Lulu maestro John Stanley.

Gumballhead the Cat. Melt it down and shoot it up.

Donald Duck. Rarities as published in premiums and elsewhere.

Shel Silverstein. Early gag work by the noted Playboy artist and author of books for children.

Krigstein. Unfortunately murky representations of one of comics' greatest craftsmen.

Rare Bill Watterson. Dribs and drabs from throughout the career of the Calvin and Hobbes artist.

Kirby Monster Comics. The other King of monsters.

Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index. All the venom that's fit to print.

Mickey Mouse newspaper strip. By Floyd Gottfredson, one of comics' many unknown soldiers.

Congorilla. There aren't nearly enough comics about four-armed purple alien gorillas these days.

Nick Cross and more Nick Cross. Spumco animator extraordinaire dabbles in the sequential arts.

Torchy. Ditzy humour by the legendary Gill Fox.

White Boy and co. Kevin Huizenga serves up an odd assortment of comic goodness.

Fred Hembeck and The Hembeck Files. I'm compiling this list in appreciation of Mr. Hembeck's past encouragement. Blame him.

Male Call. Milton Caniff's little-seen and racy military gag strip.

Letitia Lerner, Superman's Babysitter. Kyle Baker's Eisner award winning controversy.

Family Circus. Greatest comic ever.

Salgood Sam. Montreal's finest.

Lady Luck and more Lady Luck. Golden Age adventure from Nick Cardy and Klaus Nordling, respectively.

Sody Pop. Short and bouncy Spumco strip.

They Called Me-- Man-Hater!. A little slice of romance comic heaven by Nick Cardy and World's Greatest Super-hero writer, Bob Haney.

Undecided Heart. An Alex Toth tearjerker.

Alex Toth fansite. Selected stories from the comics maestro, many with annotations by the artist.

Cancelled Comic Cavalcade. Bits and pieces.

Cannonball Vs Nimrod: Cold Robot, Cold Hearts! Mike Robot's classic X-Men saga.

These Changing Times. Archie meets feminism, with lovely art by Harry Lucey.

Golden Age Romance Comics Archive. An indispensible selection of cover-to-cover tearjerkers.

I Had To Be Tamed. The title of this Charlton romance says it all.

My Bloody Valentine. Open source comic character Jenny Everywhere juggles inifinite suitors.

Over 75 classic stories featuring Superman and co. Including the first appearances of Krypto, Supergirl and the Super-Sons.

Kiraz. NOT WORK SAFE offerings by the reknowned Playboy artist.

Tijuana Bibles. NOT WORK SAFE pornographic fan-fiction from the first half of the 20th century.

Loxie and Zoot. NOT WORK SAFE sweet naturalist fun and adventure.

2005-03-03T00:01:00.000-05:00

Third Annual International Read A Comic Book Naked Day!

Here's a few Silver Age treasures to keep you and your dangly bits inside where it's warm.

Kirby Monster Comics. Over 200 Pages of comics That Walk Like A Man!

Congorilla. Glorious team-up with a purple alien gorilla with four arms.

Jimmy Olsen. If you click only one link...

Have a happy International Read A Comic Book Naked Day!

2004-06-18T00:19:00.000-04:00

I'm not leaving this place, unless I'm leaving with you

While the "comic blogosphere" already seems to devote itself to a wide variety of topics within the medium, there are still a number of nooks and crannies that it would be great to see pursued. Thrillmer, a new blog devoted primarily to adventure comic strips, is one such animal and I not only expect to be an avid reader of this blog into the future, but hope that the "blogosphere" continues to expand as the years progress. Hey, he had me at Little Orphan Annie.

The enigma that is potrzebie demystified? Scroll down, Melvin.

Shawn Hoke's The Wall takes a look at Turok fan and punk rock cartoonist Gary Panter and his upcoming opus, Jimbo in Purgatory. The Wall is not simply the only comic column to link to Flat Earth, but also the only one worthy enough to do so. May the blood on your hands be the blood of a king, Shawn.

My erstwhile creation, Jenny Everywhere, gets the ABSOLUTELY NOT WORK SAFE Tijauna Bible treatment in Jenny Everywhere Gets Around. Somehow I feel as if I've made it to the big leagues, yet I also feel somewhat dirty at the same time.

2004-06-18T00:08:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Tijuana Bibles

Oh, Boy. ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY NOT WORK SAFE. In fact, like it says on the front page of this site devoted to the study of the Tijuana Bible, "If you are offended by depictions of sodomy, bestiality, "alternative sexual practices," racial and ethnic stereotypes, or just about anything else, you should leave now." And you better believe it.

If you're one of the other 1% of the populace that isn't overly offended by the above, there are 61 of these comic curiosities waiting to be read, with 21 entries dedicated to your favourite comic and cartoon characters bumping uglies, including Captain Easy, Terry and the Pirates, Maggie and Jiggs, The Bungle Family, and many others. In addition you'll find numerous essays detailing this near-forgotten pornographic phenomenon. The one featuring Thimble Theater's J. Wellington Wimpy is by far my favourite, and may very well be one of the greatest comics I have ever read.

2004-06-17T22:02:00.000-04:00

I'm off to save the world once again, but I don't know how I'll pull it off this time.

You can't take it away from me now! Bwahahahahahahahaha!

After the convocation I went up to grab a robe and take some pictures (including one taken among a group of trees where I tried to emulate Sasquatch, but as if Sasquatch had a diploma). I bodychecked one of my co-workers and fellow grads, O., who was also jockeying for a robe. He turned to me and said, in front of my girlfriend and mother, "Hey, Steve. So, you decided to put your clothes back on." Uh oh! Hilarity ensues!

Animation legend and trickster Floyd Norman gives us the scoop on Milt Kahl, one of my two favourites of Disney's Nine Old Men. I've just started rereading John Canemaker's book on the Nine concurrently with Illusion of Life and was hoping to explain what each book has done for me, but alas, time runs short here at Flat Earth. Just finished Jack Kinney's book Walt Disney and Assorted Other Characters, in addition to flipping through multiple Disney Treasures (thanks to J.'s parents for giving me On The Front Lines for my grad, though I would have appreciated a Precious Moments figure just as much). Interesting stuff, all.

Bigshot Stephen Worth lends a little historical insight into the kind of beautiful animation desk only the animation geeks among us could ejaculate over.

Speaking of which, Stephen Worth that is, not ejaculation, I've always enjoyed reading his posts on various animation message boards and now we all can enjoy the blog he's set up for ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Archive Project. If you have any interest in the history of animation, please check it out. Via Cartoon Brew, who, with this post, show that they are truly the Flat Earth of animation blogs. Hey, they even mention the next show I'll be working on.

Lil' Welland (that's Ottawa to you) animation correspondent Janet Hetherington clocks in with a look at Steve Rude's attempts at making Nexus the next Johnny Quest, including model sheets and storyboards for your perusal. Like the man says, this party is awesome!

This just in! Ottawa's animation fest just got better, with an amateur animation jamboree known as the Pixilation Project. Sleep is for the weak.

"Come take part in one of the most exciting OIAF events open to young and old. Throughout the festival, Gary Schwartz will be hosting a do-it-yourself project where festival attendees will be given the opportunity to animate to a pre-recorded soundtrack, following the audio frame by frame utilizing exposure sheets. This is your invitation to total insanity. The results will be captured on the LunchBox Sync Multireel from Animation Toolworks and the highlights will be screened at the closing ceremonies Sept. 26, 7:00pm."

Flat Earth Punk of the Month Billy the K. was kind enough to send me a link which proves that Donald Duck actually appeared a few years prior to his supposed debut in The Wise Little Hen ("Won't you help me plant mah co-o-o-orn?"). For some reason trying to get into Fumetti (one of the sharp comic bloggers' best kept secrets) has crashed my computer recently, so proceed with caution. Here's the text that Billy sent me. Thanks, man!

"The first "Donald Duck" on the Mickey Mouse Annual # 3, 1931, three years before he was officially born. Just click the image to take a look at it."

Boy, if you came here looking for yet another look at Marvel's solicitations, you sure came to the wrong place. 'Tis truly the day of animating Steves and Stephens!

2004-06-17T10:05:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - More Donald Duck

A year's worth of Sunday strips by Al Taliaferro.

"Won't you help me plant mah co-o-o-orn?"

2004-06-16T00:12:00.000-04:00

Bow-wow-wow-yippee-yo-yippeeyay

Oh yeah! When I finally get my demo reel together, I am so applying for a job on Krypto!

2004-06-16T00:04:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Krypto

Superman.ws has over 75 Superman and Superman-related tales online for a rainy afternoon, including a fair number of goofy ones along with the classics. Among them are two Krypto-centric tales, including Krypto's first appearance with Superboy, The Super-Dog from Krypton, and love is in the air for the Dog of Steel in Who Was That Dog I Saw You With Last Night?

2004-06-15T00:50:00.000-04:00

A Second Editorial, Or [sic] Sorts

"If you missed the breathtaking editorial in the first xerox-packed issue of CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE, go back and read it. We've got your names and addresses and we'll be sending you a test.

The contents: Kamandi #60, Kamandi #61, Prez #5, Shade the Changing Man #9, Showcase #105, Showcase #106, Steel #6, Secret Society of Super-Villains #16, Secret Society of Super-Villains #17, Vixen #1 and covers for Army at War #2, Battle Classics #3, Demand Classics #1, Demand Classics #2, Dynamic Classics #3, Mister Miracle #26, Ragman #6, Weird Mystery Tales #25, Weird Mystery Tales #26, Western Classics #1, Western Classics #2

The editor would like to thank Neil of the Magic Finger deep down at Warner Duplicating who kept the spirit of Plop! alive when Paul Kupperberg came down with about a ream of original art and asked for 35 collated copies. Neil's hat actually flew off his head, and when he fell stiff-backed straight backwards, an audible "Plop!" sound was to be heard.

And for those of you who missed our last exciting indicia:

CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE, Vol. 1, No. 2, Fall 1978, published twice in a lifetime by DC Comics, Inc., 75 Rockerfeller Plaza, New York, N.Y., 10019. Copyright © 1978 DC Comics Inc. All Rights Reserved. The stories, characters, and incidents mentioned in this publication are entirely fictional. No actual persons, living or dead, are intended or should be inferred. Printed in the U.S.A.

Jenette Kahn, Publisher; Joe Orlando, Managing Editor; Mike Gold, Editor/Packager; Paul Kupperberg, assistant Editor/Packager; Jack Adler, Vice-President/Production; Vince Colletta, Art Director; Paul Levitz, Editorial Co-Ordinator.

Sol Harrison, President; Arthur Gutowitz, Treasurer.

SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTMENT: Annual subscription rate: $7.65 (couldn't sell any at last issue's rate). Upon cancellation of this publication, all subscriptions will convert to Freedom Fighters, which will convert to Secret Society of Super-Villains, which will convert to Justice League of America, which, if cancelled, will most likely convert to a revived issue of Cancelled Comics Cavalcade. Only West German Marks accepted as payment for subscriptions to this publication."

2004-06-15T00:35:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - This and That From Cancelled Comic Cavalcade #2

More forgotten heroes.

Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth # 60
Cover
Page 1
Page 3
Page 6
Page 25
Page 26

Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth # 61
Page 9

Prez # 5
Cover
Page 1
Page 4
Page 5
Page 7
Page 8
Page 11
Page 13
Page 15
Page 16
Page 19

Shade, the Changing Man # 9
Cover
page 5
Page 8
Page 9

Showcase # 105 (Deadman)
Page 15
Page 20

Showcase # 106 (Creeper)
Page 21
Page 24

Steel, the Indestructible Man # 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 10
Page 12
Page 15

Secret Society of Super-Villains # 16
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9

Secret Society of Super-Villains # 17
No images available

Vixen # 1
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 17
Page 18
Page 23
Page 24

Covers

Demand Classics

2004-06-14T22:08:00.000-04:00

An Editorial Of Sorts

Progressive Ruin (aka Flat Earth-2) has been posting on the Cancelled Comic Cavalcade, the editorial for which can be found below.

"Comics Historians will note DC COMICS went through a great deal of changes during the month of June, 1978, the immediate result of which was a considerable number of cancelled titles. We had a whole mess of material ready to go to the engravers (or ready for last minute corrections); it was felt it would be a shame if this material would never see print.

What you are now holding is the first issue of CANCELLED COMICS CAVALCADE, a two-shot which both preserves the material in question and guarantees DC's copyright to same. We have printed 35 copies, 34 of which will go to the creators and copyright people, set #35 will go to Bob Overstreet to show the world it actually happened.

Much of the material in these two issues will be printed -- probably in some altered form -- in various DC books in the future. Black Lightning will be going into Detective Comics, Doorway to Nightmare into The Unexpected, Deadman into Adventure, and so on.

As for a table of contents, you'll note each story is separated by a piece of coloured paper. The order of contents for this volume is as follows.

BLACKLIGHTNING #12, followed by the cover for #13; CLAW #13 and #14; THE DESERTED #1; DOORWAY TO NIGHTMARE #6; FIRESTORM #6; THE GREEN TEAM #2 and #3.

Next issue will feature Kamandi, Omac, Deadman, The Creeper, Shade and others. You won't have too long to wait -- we're distributing the two issues together.

I would like to thank all those folks who helped put together CANCELLED COMICS CAVALCADE: Al Milgrom, cover artist on this issue; Alex Savuik, cover artist on issue two; Todd Klein, who did the logo and cover paste-ups; Paul Kupperberg, who took the pages down to Warner Duplicating and collated the stories when it came back; Neil of the Magic Finger, who xeroxed it; Paul Levitz and Cary Burkett, who helped find the missing pages, and to Sol Harrison, who gave the o.k.

Just to make it official -- CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE, Vol. 1, No. 1. Summer 19/8, published twice in a lifetime by DC Comics Inc., 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10019. Copyright 1978 DC Comics Inc. All Rights Reserved. The stories, characters and incidents mentioned in this publication are entirely fictional. No actual persons, living or dead, are intended or should be inferred. Printed in U.S.A.

Jenette Kahn, Publisher; Joe Orlando, Managing Editor; Mike Gold, Editor/Packager; Jack Adler, Vice-President/Production; Vince Colletta, Art Director; Paul Levitz, Editorial Co-Ordinator.

Sol Harrison, President; Arthur Gutowitz, Treasurer.

SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTMENT : Annual subscription rate : $10,000.00. Outside U.S.A. $9,500.00 ('bout time they got a break)."

2004-06-14T21:35:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Bits and Pieces of Cancelled Comic Cavalcade #1

You will undoubtedly consider this to be the greatest or the lamest of the Free Comic Thursday selections, depending. The entire first issue of this collection was online until the powers-that-be sent a cease and desist order to the site owner. Happily, fragments of the comic are still floating around on the internet, and you now have the chance to read this potpurri of cancelled comic goodness.

Black Lightning # 12
Page 4
Page 6
Page 9
Page 10
Page 13
Page 16

Claw the Unconquered # 13
Page 26 (letter column)

Claw the Unconquered # 14
Page 20
Page 21

Deserter # 1
Page 16
Page 19
Page 20

Doorway to Nightmare # 6
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 21
Page 24
Page 26 (letter column)

Firestorm # 6
Page 5
Page 8
Page 10
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15

Green Team # 2
No images available

Green Team # 3
Page 8
Page 9

2004-06-13T10:25:00.000-04:00

Donald Duck - An Inspiration To All Those Who Dislike Wearing Pants

One of the most interesting events in Donald Duck's career was when reports emerged from Europe that he had been banned from Finland for carrying on with an unmarried female duck and, even worse, for not wearing any pants. As it turns out, this rumour is untrue, and Finland is in reality a nation which appreciates the adventures of the pantsless. Regardless, for those of us who prefer to let it all hang out (and there are more of us then you think), Donald Duck is a trailblazer and on this, his 70th birthday, we salute him.

2004-06-13T09:23:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Donald Duck

The Disney Treasures editions are things of pure joy. I still have a hard time believing that the Mouse House approved of their release, not because of the content, but because the production runs on them are so miniscule that they would seem to be below the current administration's concern. Regardless, I recently picked up the Chronological Donald Duck set, and intend to collect the rest of series 3.

If you prefer your duck in print form, well, you're in luck. The Donald Duck comic book rarities page has a fair number of stories that weren't found in your usual outlets, namely little seen Cherrios, Wheaties and Firestone premiums. Though the preeminent artist on the Donald Duck stories, Carl "the Duck Man" Barks is represented here, this is a great chance to read stories by some of the other artists that never achieved his level of fame but are still worthy of attention. Unfortunately, some but not all of the stories can only be viewed in their thumbnail form, including a very interesting looking Brer Rabbit story.

Hey, Disney, where's that Song of the South Treasure collection, anyway?

2004-06-12T02:12:00.000-04:00

Hef - A comic biography, part 3.

"...an irreverent satire... with a collection of drawings that look like the kind Esquire might judge too racy for their readers." - An excerpt from the Chicago Tribune review of This Toddlin' Town.

Hef devoted all his spare time to promoting the book and engaging bookstore owners on a personal level, which resulted in one particular shop creating a window display of his work. He mailed review copies to newspapers, radio stations and television stations, and was eventually interviewed on a local television program for his trouble. Through these venues and mail order, This Toddlin' Town slowly started to sell through. All this extra-curricular work impacted upon Hef's other job. After getting fired, he latched onto a position with Esquire, his favourite magazine from his teens.

Hef was not terribly displeased when Esquire eventually decided to move its offices in Chicago to their new digs in New York City in 1951. The mundane reality of the Esquire offices could not possibly match the vivid fantasies Hef had built up in his mind since his teens. That, and the rambunctious and sexy nature of the magazine which had first appealed to him was diminishing as Esquire attempted to play down those aspects in a bid for respectability.

"When he had nothing else to do, he would draw pornographic cartoons of Blondie and Dagwood." Hef's former co-worker, Vince Tajiri, on Hef's hobbies.

By that time, That Toddlin' Town had almost completely sold out, and Hef was still making progress through his Comic Autobiography which had now surpassed the fiftieth volume. Hef and his wife finally moved out of her parents' home into their own apartment, which they decorated with full-colour original comic strips by Hef, including the use of such strips as wallpaper for the nursery of their first child. The apartment was featured in the Chicago Daily News with the title "How a Cartoonist Lives". Hef latched onto the flying saucer craze with a new series of strips starring little green men, but he met the same flurry of rejections as all his previous attempts.

One of the things I tried to do was, like The New Yorker, develop a stable of artists closely associated with my magazine." - Hef in conversation with Art Spiegelman.

It was then that Hef's lifelong obsession with magazine publishing would come to a head, with the creation of Playboy. Though he eventually abandoned the field himself, it's obvious by the direction of the magazine, one of the few to still prominently display and encourage the near-forgotten art of the gag cartoon, that Hef has a great deal of affection for comics and the art of cartooning. Though he hasn't been hands-on in the editing of the magazine for decades, up through the 80's at least, Hefner has selected the monthly cover picture, the Playmate... and the cartoons. Before he abandoned one faltering career for a more successful one, Hef overlapped his two loves on a personal level for the first few issues of Playboy by contributing his own gag panels, until, according to him, "I could afford better". The first issue of Playboy contained the panel by Hef found at the top of this post entitled "Man, is she stacked."

2004-06-12T00:34:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Shel Silverstein

Another Playboy Alumnus, children's author Shel Silverstein, with a very tiny sampling of his completely work safe gag work.

2004-06-11T00:07:00.000-04:00

Hef - A comic biography, part 2

"A very original fellow, he has his own style of jiving, and slang expressions. His interests go to cartooning, acting, writing songs, horror stories and comic strips with Mope, crooning and collecting jive records." - From volume seven of the Comic Autobiography, Goo Heffer Graduates.

After high school, Hef enlisted in the Army, gaining a postition as a clerk. To alleviate the boredom of his job, he spent his free time contributing cartoons to the base newspapers. Upon his discharge from the Army in 1946, Hef, like many other soldiers before him, enrolled in University on the G.I. Bill. He once again got caught up in print publishing, this time as managing editor with the campus magazine, The Shaft. He also found the time to write and draw articles and cartoons for the school's nespaper, The Daily Illini, and continued his work on his Comic Autobiography.

After University, Hef tried to find a job with various newspapers, magazines and advertising agencies within the Chicago area. He attempted to sell two comic strips, "Gene Fantus, Psycho-Investigator" and "Freddie Frat" to the newspaper syndicates, but there were no takers. Hef worked briefly at a carton company, eventually quitting and spending all his time drawing cartoons, much to the chagrin of his new bride, Millie, who became the sole source of income for the newlyweds. Once again, he did not have much success in the cartooning racket.

After an incredibly short return to academia, Hef landed a job as a copywriter, which allowed him the time to pursue his dreams of becoming a professional cartoonist. This time, Hef compiled an entire book of gag cartoons with the city of Chicago as its theme and target. With the editorial input of his wife and brother, Hefner whittled his hundreds upon hundreds of roughs down to a manageable volume entitled This Toddlin' Town, A Rowdy Burlesque of Chicago Manners and Morals. Once again, all he received from the publishers he approached were rejection slips. Undaunted, Hef scraped together $1000 from his own savings and from friends and family for an initial print run of 5000 copies. Though this was not his first self-publishing venture, it was certainly the most ambitious and professional to date, and was one of his most formative steps towards building the Playboy empire.

2004-06-11T00:02:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Kiraz

Not work safe!

The Drawing Board comes through once again with a large selection of work by former Playboy artist Kiraz, each more beautiful then the last. Shame that so many of the images no longer work. As mentioned on the thread, even more of his work can be found here.

2004-06-10T00:44:00.000-04:00

Hef - A comic biography, part 1

"I know what the life of a cartoonist is like, and I know what my life is like." - Hugh Hefner, when asked if he had any regrets about not pursuing a career in cartooning.

Hugh Hefner's personal involvement in the art of cartooning isn't well-known to the general public, though it's obvious from the content of his magazine that he has a deep and abiding love for the form. To celebrate the publication of Playboy: 50 Years: The Cartoons, I present this concise biography of Hef's humble cartoonist beginnings.

"He has me at my wits end. For the past week I've had to speak to him two or three times, every time he has a study period. He doesn't do his arithmetic, geography or spelling unless I stand right at his elbow. He constantly draws. I've tried persuasion, scoldings, and appeal to his love for mother - all to no avail." - From a letter written by Hugh Hefner's fourth-grade teacher to his mother.

The cartooning bug latched onto young Hugh Hefner from an early age and never really let go, even if he doesn't actively pursue the art himself any more. Hefner's early childhood doodling exploded into a full-on pursuit in his early teens. By the age of 14, he had completed seventy different hand-coloured comic strips. Each of these was placed in meticulous scrapbooks which he kept to record all his publishing and cartooning pursuits. One example of his early work was "Cranet", the interstellar exploits of a red-headed adventurer, leaving the terrestial bounds of his home planet to free the Martian people from their oppressors and become Emperor of Mars himself. Meanwhile, Hef kept track of those cartoons and pin-ups that would appear in Esquire magazine and their competitors, pasting the Petty and Vargas girls upon the walls of his bedroom. The normally puritanical Mrs. Hefner showed some leniency in allowing these posters to be displayed as she felt they encouraged Hef's artistic ambitions.

"I began using cooler expressions and actually started writing a cartoon autobiography of my life. I was living in a microcosm of what came later with Playboy. When I started doing that comic strip, I was creating a world of my own in which I was center stage." - Hef.

At 16, Hef began his most ambitious work to date, a "Comic Biography", a kind of illustrated diary that took several volumes to cover the period from the birth to high school graduation of his thinly veiled alter ego "Goo Heffer". In addition to this challenging project, Hef also contributed cartoons to the his high school newspaper, the Steinmetz Star, and was made the official cartoonist for the school yearbook. Among his acquired titles upon graduation were Class Humourist and One of the Most Artistic. He was also named One of the Most Likely To Succeed, though not as it turned out it wasn't necessarily for what he initially chose to pursue.

2004-06-10T00:06:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - American Natives

Early work-safe sketches from one of Playboy's most famed cartoonists, Erich Sokol.

If you're looking for art that's a little more work-unsafe, you could do worse then here.

Perverts.

2004-06-09T22:49:00.000-04:00

I'm Agile!

2004-06-09T02:11:00.000-04:00

Free Comics Thursday - Gumballhead the Cat

The Comics Journal #238 is fast becoming my favourite issue of that magazine. While so many in the "comics blogosphere" has been muttering something about the need for "mid-brow comics magazines" that would no doubt focus almost exclusively on the sub-sub-sub-sub genre of super-heroes, here was a mag that tackled such culturally important artifacts as John Stanley's teen comics, the Moomintrolls, Cola Madnes, CARToons and Silver (y'know, the adventures of the Lone Ranger's horse before he was the Lone Ranger's horse) with genuine interest in their merits. One such article concerned the DIY adventures of stoic anti-hero Gumballhead the Cat as told by Skin Graft Comix. I was sold. Hell, the punk rawk kid in me wanted to be Gumballhead. If the tiny reprint of the four-pager found in the article above doesn't do it for you, there's a better scan available at Skin Graft's comix page, along with a small pile of previews and and full stories of other raw comix trash.

2004-06-08T23:45:00.000-04:00

First I'm getting rid of my Peanuts collection, now this.

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes.

2004-06-08T23:14:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday -Bill Watterson rarities

Isn't it great when good news leads to other great things? Calvin and Hobbes : Magic on Paper, which I wouldn't have found if I hadn't had my interest in C + H reignited, digs deep and comes up with a great page of rare Bill Watterson art. Included are cartoons commenting on the state of the medium as originally presented in Watterson's interview with the Comics Journal, which is also reprinted. In fact, when you're done with all the pretty pictures, you may want to indulge in the The Derkins Library for Calvin and Hobbes Research, a near comprehensive collection of writing by and about Bill Watterson and his creation, including Watterson's tribute to Peanuts, The Cheapening of the Comics, and appreciations of Krazy Kat and Little Nemo in Slumberland, to name a few highlights.

2004-06-07T21:23:00.000-04:00

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

Online version of Journalista officially closed down.

Exclusive 4-page Street Angel story set for Slave Labor's Free Comic Day primer.

Webcomic blog seeks dedicated blogger or team of bloggers to pitch in.

Blogger's cartoon mentioned amidst debate over meaning of the term "outsourced".

Over at Jim Hill Media, Wade Sampson pays tribute to animator and comic artist Jack Bradbury.

After 15 years, DC Animated writer and producer Paul Dini parts company with Warner Bros. I'm looking forward to whatever he cooks up in the years to come.

2004-06-07T16:17:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Invader Zim

Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and Squee artist Jhonen Vasquez' comic and animation concerns collide in this special 4-page short story drawn for Nicktoons magazine. Fans of the cartoon version of Invader Zim must have been particularly dumbfounded when confronted by pure Zim straight from the source. Screw continuity.

2004-06-06T02:02:00.000-04:00

"I wake up angry every morning and start reading. Then I'm furious."

I did a very short stint as a political cartoonist several years back. The staff at the local paper had gone on strike and I popped in to ask them if I could help out. I had just recently began studying political cartoons, and was fascinated with the form. Political cartoons are one of the most transient yet widely-read forms of comics in North America, with a proud history of bluntly exposing lies and hypocrisies on all fronts. Unfortunately, as I read more, I realized that the fire had died down somewhat in recent years. That humour, once only one of many weapons in the politcal cartoonist's arsenal, had become so overwhelming as to dilute almost all the impact which a good politcal cartoon could create. Working for a strike paper, outside of corporate control, allowed me to try my hand at this kind of hard-hitting editorializing (with mixed results). It wasn't until years later that I found out that spirit hadn't actually disappeared.

Paul Conrad is my favourite political cartoonist. I've only managed to track down one of his books, Drawn and Quartered, and I was reminded of it again today upon hearing of Ronald Reagan's passing. For many people Herblock defined Nixon, but Conrad retroactively did the same for my image of Reagan. Conrad uses few words in his cartoons, and rarely needs them at all. Word balloons and labels have little room in his simple and effective compositions. Conrad's images are the definition of stark, and even when he means to be funny there's a hard, scary edge to his work. Inky pools of black draw your eyes to horrors you'd rather ignore. An African mother holds her dead child to the sky, screaming in despair, two cans of powdered milk in place of breasts. The leaves on an olive branch are replaced by missles. A Christmas tree made up of weapons of mass destruction is topped by an atom. Conrad doesn't draw to wound, he draws to kill.

Conrad has an official site with a small gallery of poorly scanned images. Interviews and samples of work by this master of a dying breed can be found here and here. His latest strips are also showcased at Comics Page.

2004-06-06T01:13:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Professional Cartoonists Index

One of the things I like most about editorial cartoons is that even though they're made for the present, they're equally effective as a learning tool, rooting through panels from the past and seeing what outraged society at any given time. Your one-stop shopping for revisiting recent events through editorial cartoons is Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index, which also contains an even wider range of Conrad's art. There you can view hundreds of editorial cartoons based upon date, subject, artist and location. Especially amusing is how Cagle will often group together cartoons that deal with the same subject in the same cliche way.

2004-06-05T23:16:00.000-04:00

Mouse Ears

I still roam around the comic book message boards now and again, and one of those topics that always pop up is why, if certain superheroes are incredibly well-known to the general populace, their comics aren't popular. And, what can be changed about the character to make the people who recognize the symbol also embrace the superhero in its native form. For example, Green Lantern atire is fairly popular urban wear, and I'm willing to bet very few people wearing the shirts and sweaters have read any of the comics. And its not just due to the Justice League cartoon, either. They were selling well before even that came around. This doesn't even touch on Superman, Batman or Spider-man clothing, tattoos, etc.

I was thinking about all this because of Mickey Mouse. He's still one of the most popular entertainers and recognizable icons of the last century, but what has Disney actually done with him? Other then The Sorceror's Apprenctice and Mickey's Christmas Carol, I doubt most people can remember a single cartoon he's starred in, if they've even ever seen one. The only star vehicles that Disney has provided for The Mouse have been a good short previewed before a bad movie, some silly 3-D thing for their theme parks and a cheap and tacky television cartoon. But it's not Mickey's baffling popularity that interests me. By this point he's popular for being popular, and despite not being centre stage in Disney productions, those three circles that make up his head and ears are still pervasive in everything the studio does.

What I find most interesting is that Disney seems fairly comfortable with the knowledge that their most famous commodity doesn't need to earn his keep. And, most importantly, his fans don't seem to mind either. In fact, I'm willing to bet that any attempts to reintroduce The Mouse within his original medium will be met with either complete indifference or frustration that the real thing isn't nearly as great as the symbol led you to believe.

2004-06-05T00:34:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Mickey Mouse

Which isn't to say that Mickey didn't kick ass once, long ago.

I first heard about Floyd Gottfredson, artist of the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip, through the The Comic Book-Book, back in the day when information of near-forgotten comic artists was hard to come by. That book changed my entire comic reading experience. Up until then I was entirely focussed on the present stories being churned out by Marvel and DC, and had no idea of the depth of history or the fabulous work that had come years before my time. My love for old comics isn't misplaced nostalgia, though it may seem that way sometimes. No, it's an acknowledgement that even if many of the comics of years past were as bad or worse as the ones produced today, well, considering the sheer volume of work that has accumulated over decades, there's more quality comics in existence then I will ever have time to read. How could anyone ever get bored or jaded with the medium when there's whole new, unexplored worlds out there? If anything, this blog owes its very existence to The Comic Book-Book, for exposing me to creators like Gottfredson, Barks, Cole, and many others. The slippery slope of my passion for comics begins there.

Gottfredson is yet another artists' artist, someone who is known by only a few but who has a tendency to make an impression on those who read his work. Mickey, like Little Orphan Annie, is a character whose early exploits are dismissed by people who have a preconceived notion of what the character is capable of, little realizing that their worlds are anything but sunshine and merriment, but are rather filled with intrigue, suspense, bloodshed, fisticuffs, murder and other shadowy pursuits. They also each have a particular affinity for defeating Nazi submarines.

2004-06-04T22:53:00.000-04:00

Cannonball Rules!

No, really...

2004-06-04T22:28:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Day - Cannonball Vs Nimrod: Cold Robot; Cold Hearts!

Mike Robot's classic X-Men saga, Cannonball Vs Nimrod: Cold Robot; Cold Hearts!

What?

2004-06-03T00:56:00.000-04:00

Gary Panter, "King of Punk Art", is one of the most influential cartoonists of the past quarter-century. He has earned critical acclaim as a set and character designer for televison and animation, magazine illustrator, album cover artist, interior designer, world-reknowned cartoonist and fan of Turok, Son of Stone.

At around what age did you first encounter Turok? Did you ever try to draw your own Turok comics as a kid?

I guess I encountered Turok when it first came out. I began to see it in barber shops. One of my first oil paintings in the 5th grade was a copy of the cover of KONA with the charging T-Rex.

Turok seems to really stick out on your list of comics you enjoyed as a kid. Your other selections (Dick Tracy, Popeye and Little Lulu) are all considered to be examples of great comic art, unlike Turok. What appealed to you about Turok comics, made them seem "magical", then and today? It was the dinosaurs, wasn't it?

I'm part Choctaw and I was crazy about dinosaurs so I could identify with it easily and want to be in a comic story like that. I thought it was drawn well. I was facinated by the way the dinosaurs opened their mouths really wide in pain when they got shot in the mouth with a poison-tipped arrow.

Considering that you knew a fair amount about dinosaurs at that age, how did Turok and its portrayal of "honkers" rate in that sense? Did factual inaccuarcies bother you, like the cavemen living in the same environment as dinosaurs? Or did the sheer excitement and power of a comic packed with dinosaur goodness overwhelm any misgivings?

I did feel a little superior in the knowledge that dinosaurs and men weren't really contemporary, but also I suspected and still suspect that there are still a few prehistoric throwbacks lurking about in the dark places of Earth.

You mentioned that a friend of yours knew about your love of Turok and sent you the link to a Turok site. I've found that Turok is one of those things that creates a sense of secret fellowship and understanding, especially among people who remember and enjoy these comics. Has this happened to you?

Turok certainly does, but many things do, too. I was equally crazy about Magnus Robot Fighter. For me , the ultimate thing like that is THE SUSAN SHOW or SUSAN'S SHOW because I've only know four people who ever saw it.

Your work often deals with strange beings struggling in a brutal, unforgiving land, much like Turok. Most comics seem to concern themselves primarily with conflict between characters, unlike Turok, which gave equal time to dealing with man interacting and fighting against nature and his environment. Is this yet another influence being filtered through your sensibilities, or am I talking out of my ass?

I think that it's true that I am interested in creating a cultural sign system behind the characters that has an authoritarian or unfortunate tendency. The environment and historical moments are characters. What the character's say is another story but impacted by that environment. That's me really talking out of my ass.

How did you feel about the repetitive nature of Turok's adventures?

I only owned a few Turoks, but I noticed the repetition. It didn't bother me much. A lot of time I didn't read the whole comic at once. It was a stepping off point for very elaborate fantasies about amusement parks that one inhabited for a time. I drew many amusement parks and would build many little cardboard, plastic and clay parks based a lot like the situation of Turok and Andar.

Finally, I just wanted to say that when I read that you enjoyed Turok, one of the first thoughts that entered my head was that you would be the perfect canidate to revamp the character. Not that I would ever want you to ditch your more personal work, but that I can't think of anyone who would be more suited to the task. It would rock like fists of steel.

Jimbo does border on that. What a thought! Thanks.

I'd like to thank Gary Panter for taking the time out of his busy schedule to talk about Turok. Please check his website, where you will find samples of his work, a free weekly strip, and his blog. And don't forget that Panter is still taking comissions.

Panter's latest, Jimbo in Purgatory, will be available from Fantagraphics next month.

2004-06-03T00:05:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - DalTokyo

"Jimbo's kind of a nice guy in a near-future world that's much more out of control than he is. The world he's in I call DalTokyo, which I think is about more confluent culture and the more hybrid forms that might come out. What if Dallas and Tokyo were mixed together, or the Mayans and the Egyptians?" - Gary Panter

2004-06-02T00:24:00.000-04:00

...We Salute You

Even more fascinating then the repetitious nature of Turok, Son of Stone was in its complete absence of any present-day concerns. In almost all speculative fiction that I can think of there is usually a character who relates to the time in which the work is written. Turok, Son of Stone is a stranger in a strange land story on two levels. Turok and Andar are themselves from an era different from our own. By omitting any connection to post-industrial civilization, Turok, Son of Stone forces the reader to engage Turok and Andar on their own level, and appreciate their innovation and intelligence in a way that may be diluted by making them from our time, or worse, placing them within a present day context.

Turok debuted in 1954 within Four Colour #596 with art chores handled by Rex Mason. The writer for this original story is unknown, though it is believed that the editor of the title, Matt Murphy, is likely Turok's creator. There is no mystery surrounding the identity of Turok's definitive author, though. Writer Paul Newman contributed the scripts for Turok from issue #8 on, for an astounding bi-monthly 26-year run from 1956 to 1982, easily the longest lifespan of any Dell/Gold Key adventure title. For this and his thousands of other scripting jobs, Newman was named "Most Prolific Comic Book Writer" by the Guinness Book of World Records. The artist most closely associated with the title was Alberto Giolitti who drew or oversaw nearly as many Turok, Son of Stone issues as Newman wrote, starting with issue #24. Supposedly, Gioletti used his son as a model for the Son of Stone, a resemblance shared with the artist himself. These men, along with a small smattering of other contributors, created hundreds of action-packed tales with a compellingly pure drive rarely seen in comics.

The two other adventure titles Dell/Gold Key produced which are closely associated with the time of Turok's publication, Magnus, Robot Fighter and Solar, Man of the Atom, had much shorter runs and are therefore harder to track down at an affordable price. Not so Turok, which, though I've seen it for as high as $20, can usually be found for $3 or lower. The next time you're in the shop scooping up that week's armload of new releases, put one back and take a chance an old-school adventure story. You won't be disappointed.

Come back tomorrow for quite possibly the coolest thing I have ever posted on this blog, though considering what I usually write, that may not be much enticement. Regardless, it's Turok related, so you can't afford to miss out.

2004-06-02T00:12:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Congorilla

Most mainstream comic book fans are so enamoured with the idea of distancing themselves with from some of the more ludicrous elements of past titles that they end up embracing rather dubious elements from other mediums. If you think that anything short of a select few titles currently available from Marvel or DC can hold up next to a comic about a giant golden gorilla with the mind of a man teaming up with a purple alien gorilla with four arms (scroll down, Champ) because of the excessive use of widescreen art or decompression, well, I despair for the four-colour future. Has there ever been another medium that has so thoroughly embraced the potential of our simian friends? I think not.

2004-06-01T00:27:00.000-04:00

For those about Turok...

"Each week I was sullen until I got a comic with a dinosaur on the cover. Usually it was Turok, Son of Stone." - Brian Bolland.

Turok, Son of Stone is the greatest genre comic book ever created. I don't know what genre it is exactly, but there you have it.

The title starred two Pre-Columbian Americans from the Kiowa tribe of the Dakotas, Turok and his young charge, Andar. In their first adventure, the duo stumbled into a mysterious land which they named The Lost Valley. It was a place forgotten by time, where menacing tribes of our prehistoric ancestors and ravenous dinosaurs roamed overgrown jungles and swamps untouched by the outside world. Accidentally trapped within the valley, Turok and Andar used their superior cunning and tools to outwit and escape the dangers they faced. They were helped in this pursuit by their discovery of a plant which, when spread upon their arrowheads, could fell the gigantic "honkers", or dinosaurs, so named because of the call they made when attacking.

The comics of those days were almost all self-contained anyway, but Turok, Son of Stone took the concept further. Like various other pieces of narrative fiction, Krazy Kat or Doc Savage for example, Turok, Son of Stone used a mostly repetitive plotline in nearly every installment. Turok and Andar would strive to find some way out of the Lost Valley, encounter hostile inhabitants, and overcome these obstacles to try again another day. The book had only two narrative pursuits, escape and survival. There was no romance and little characterization. The interest lay in the variations it spun on this basic survivalist scenerio. Turok and Andar's attempts to escape might be taken in small steps, such as climbing atop the highest point within Lost Valley to briefly see the plains they left behind, or following a species of fish native to the Dakotas back to its point of entry into the valley. And they might run out of poison and have to search for more, or face a "honker" that was immune to its effects, to give a few more examples.

According to its detractors, this repetition of plot is one of the faults of the series, but Turok, Son of Stone's numerous supporters know that these people are on crack, as this was one of the title's main virtues. There was never any doubt as to the who, what, where, and whys. Even if you weren't acquainted with the series already, prolific writer Paul S. Newman made even that basic information abundantly clear issue to issue. What was most interesting was the how. Everything else was streamlined to make room for pure, undiluted adventure.

As usual, Toonopedia has even more on this excellent series. Though the official Turok site is geared mostly towards the hideous video games, they do have a small page set up to explain Turok's history. You can also view a gallery containing nearly all of the Turok covers, which, like most of Dell/Gold Key's non-licensed adventure titles, consist of stunning paintings. These covers are fondly remembered by many, including storyboard artist Pete Von Sholly, who has created his own covers for Turok comics never published.

2004-06-01T00:07:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Nick Cross

Nick Cross is an Ottawa-based animator that has provided a few back-up stories for fellow animators and self-published comic artists in the area. In The Incomparible Life of Hot-Dog Wienerscoff, the title character finds salvation from his thieving ways through an unlikely saviour and a butcher knife. Or thrill to the artistic exploits of Hyman, the surly panda. There's plenty else on the site, including short pieces of animation. The short film U-Girl comes highly recommended.

2004-05-31T05:26:00.000-04:00

This Party is Awesome!

Some comic blogger I turn out to be. There's a new Smithsonian book of comics coming out and I didn't hear about it until now.

"I have this in the form of photocopied proof. It's an almost schizophrenic collection, running the gamut from Julius Schwartz' DC stories of the 1950s to the post-RAW indy-comix scene." - Dirk Deppey, via R. Fiore.

The two previous Smithsonian books, one devoted to comic strips, the other to comic books, are probably the best primer on pre-60s comics you'll likely come across. Highly recommended. I found mine in a used bookstore and on eBay, respectively, each for well under ten bucks, Canadian, and worth at least ten times that amount.

Could this beat out Gasoline Alley, Complete Peanuts and McSweeney's #13 as my must-have of 2004? Hmmm. Perhaps.

2004-05-30T01:01:00.000-04:00

One Man Army Corps

I really like this old article from the New Yorker on Simpsons writer George Meyer, considered by many to be one of the most important contributors to the popularity of that show. It's certainly more entertaining then the show has been in recent years. The article mentions a 'zine by Meyer entitled Army Man, a page of which you can view here.

2004-05-29T01:02:00.000-04:00

Kamandi (The Last Boy On Earth)

Everyone has their favourite Kirby comic. Fantastic Four. New Gods. Boys' Ranch. Even OMAC. But the true dark horse of this particular race has got to be Kamandi. To paraphrase Manowar, if you don't like Kamandi, you're no friend of mine.

One person who understands is Jarret Keene, whose mournful crooning tries to find answers in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by beasts and comes up wanting. Weep not for Kamandi, weep for all humankind.

2004-05-28T01:59:00.000-04:00

Biff! Bang! Pow!

I'm addicted to the Comic Book Idol, and though I had to cancel plans to participate (and blog about it) this year, I'll still be following it. 2005 will be my year!

The Oddball Comics Forum names comic references in non-comic movies.

The Comics Journal message board attempts to list all the Simpsons references pertaining to comics, and still falls short.

Rich Johnston has some awesome Chynna Clugston-Major DVD art up.

Wired article on Pixar and one of my favourite modern animation directors, Brad Bird of Family Dog and Iron Giant fame. Courtesy of Animation Nation.

CartoonRetro has a great old cartooning tutorial by Frank King, the creator of Gasoline Alley.

2004-05-27T03:24:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Loxie and Zoot

ABSOLUTELY NOT WORK SAFE!

...unless, of course, your workplace is anything like mine. I wish I could forget most of the things I've seen and heard here.

When I started the Jenny Everywhere project, one of the things I wanted to make perfectly clear was that anyone looking to include Jenny in their work was not obligated to contact me for permission or to even let me know that they were going to use the character. This hasn't stopped me from snooping around and finding random, surprise appearances by Jenny in other peoples' webcomics, short stories, mutlti-media rave extravaganzas and porn sites (don't ask). One such pleasant surprise was Loxie and Zoot.

Loxie and Zoot are a young couple who run the Koala Bay Bares Naturist Resort. Nearly every character in the series is presented completely naked. One of the only regular cast members that warrents an exception to this rule is antagonist Tex Tyler, a "concerned citizen" who wants to shut down the resort for political gain. Loxie and Zoot is really quite light-hearted and sweet, and if one of artist Stephen Crowley's intents was to present this alternative lifestyle in a breezy, easy way for the benefit of clothed types, well, he succeeded.

I don't want to pick on the webcomic types by pointing out that the majority of strips you can find out there are amateurish hackwork. After all, the same could be said for just about anything, and I've contributed my own fair share of webcomic suckage myself. But it does get a little frustrating having to wade through so many webcomics to find something worth recommending. Loxie and Zoot is one of the best drawn webcomics I've seen yet, regularly updated three times a week, to boot. Lots of varying viewpoints, thoughtful backgrounds and well-defined anatomy (ahem), all presented within a pleasing style. What really impressed me was the sheer amount of differing ages, body types and ethnicities on display, a rarity in most any medium, but comics especially.

One of the purposes I had in creating Jenny, and one of my greatest frustrations, was in trying to diversify the image of a supehero character a bit by having a person of average size (with a little to a lot of heft) as a hero. What I discovered was that for many "average size" has come to mean the paper-thin physiques we're exposed to constantly through the media, or in this case specifically, comics. Even when the artists in question are made aware of this, the majority still have trouble drawing anything that could be proportionately related to the vast majority of people found in the real world. So, it's to Crowley's credit that Loxie and Zoot is one of those rare comics where a diverse sampling of human beings can be found.

The beginning of Jenny's appearance in Loxie and Zoot begins here, and I have to say, his depiction of her is one of my favourites yet.

2004-05-26T00:37:00.000-04:00

Writer Bob Haney hospitalized

According to Mark Evanier, Bob Haney, greatest superhero comic writer of all time, experienced a major stroke a few months back and is currently being cared for in a nursing facility.

If you're not familiar with Haney's work, I've written a few posts about the man, including links to full issues of his comics.

As I've also mentioned previously, DC Comics has kept not one, but two of Haney's most recent stories from print. It's funny that not only were these comics quite possibly the only items that would have made me give money to one of the big two in years, but the fact that they have yet to see widespread publication is just one more reason for me to stick to my convictions and not financially support DC Comics. It would be nice if DC would rectify this oversight and release one or more of these stories, or, even better, a "lost 80-pager" or trade of Haney's best work, including the unpublished tales. While I hope that we see more work from Haney in the future, it's shameful that an author who helped bring about so much lunacy in superhero comics was strung along like this and denied the royalties that could have made his situation easier.

Regardless, get well soon, Mr. Haney. You're the best.

2004-05-25T03:20:00.000-04:00

The Incredible Hulk was here

I imagine most people have at least a few hobbies or have a lifestyle that connect them in some way to complete strangers. It may be reflected in a style of dress, like wearing a favourite band t-shirt, enjoying a particular type of book, comic, magazine, music or sport, knitting a scarf, taking drugs or any of a million different things. Some sort of signifier that this person belongs to the same tribe. For me, I've had conversations with strangers based on shoes, choice of buttons, Astro Boy tattoos and much more. While most I'll never bump into again, I do see some of these people on an irregular basis, either because we frequent the same locales, or just by chance. Sometimes I'll even talk with completely different strangers who I'm connected to via strangers previously met, or encounter some remnant of their presence through their art or some form of destruction (or both), usually visited on public spaces. But other then these brief encounters, the majority of our time is spent living our own lives, completely seperate and oblivious from those random acquaintances. If they or I were to disappear, it would matter to the other as nothing more then a footnote in their lives, if they even ever knew or thought about it.

The above is precisely what I like about early Marvel comics continuity. I believe that at least one of the reasons early Marvel succeeded was because it did feel like the characters shared a city, if not a neighbourhood. People with lifestyles as unique as superheroes wouldn't necessarily know each other right off the bat, and may never even meet, or just catch fleeting glimpses as they barely missed one another during an incident that would attract their type. Maybe a novice would shyly watch a living legend from afar, unable to gather the courage to speak to them, or be familiar with the hero through his or her handiwork only. They may have heard of each other through mutual acquaintances or through the grapevine, but it's a big ol' world, and it would be easy to miss one another completely. Like a very loosely based clique, this small handful of colourfully costumed superheroes would definitely feel a kinship and mutual attraction to one another based upon their shared experiences. But even when they did meet, those exchanges wouldn't necessarily jibe with their regular routine. Not just neighbourhoods, but worlds would temporarily collide, only to return back to as regular a timetable as life allows.

Though he's talking about fringe titles in this excerpt from his recent essay on continuity, Paul O'Brien could be describing the entirety of the first few years of Marvel's output.

"And everyone tends to fall into the trap of using "continuity" to mean "continuous interaction between different titles". Strictly speaking, it ought to just mean mutual consistency and the absence of contradictions. You can achieve that without any real interaction between titles. Even at their most continuity-minded, Marvel and DC have always featured a handful of titles off on the fringes of continuity that have drifted gently about their business, completely unaffected by anything else around them - simply because they were so far removed from anything else that the question of mutual consistency never really arose."

Eventually Marvel drained most of the mystery from the concept, allowing large groups of characters to congregate with ease. It seemed as if there were nearly as many superheroes as regular people. One of the only times I can think of that recalled the feel of early Marvel was the introduction of, wait for it, Cable. A character never seen by the comic reading public before, but familiar to many of the other heroes in the Marvel universe. It really threw quite a few fanboys for a loop. To their thinking, a character as supposedly well-known and important as Cable could not have remained hidden for so long without them knowing about it. To them, the world and its history had long ago become this tiny thing, neatly cataologued and stable. Everything made sense. But it shouldn't.

I don't know exactly what Paul O'Brien meant by the word "believable" in his essay on continuity, the one part David Fiore objects to. In a way, I agree with David. One artist with complete control over his creation will most likely present something more cohesive and consistent, but potentially less fun, then a universe shared by many. But just when is the real world ever cohesive and consistent? The left hand rarely knows what the right hand is doing, and a variety of interpretations and slightly off-kilter continuity is the element of inadvertent, lo-fi surprise that can make shared universe superhero comics not only fun, but also somewhat chaotically believable.

2004-05-24T18:53:00.000-04:00

Creeoy!

Completely creeptacular fashion spread, fusing real peoples' bodies with grotesque cutesy-pie Dave Cooper heads. Click for the pictures, stay for the idiotic responses found below. Via a fairly large thread at the Comics Journal message board, where a topic so simple can meander into something so needlessly complex.

2004-05-23T02:49:00.000-04:00

Just don't call them cartoons

I volunteered for the Ottawa International Animation Festival the past two years and will most likely do so again this year, if they'll even let me considering the incident with the yo-yo. Anyway, I was sent a newsletter detailing upcoming events for this year's festival. I realize it's not for many months yet, but 2004 is going to be so great I can hardly contain myself.

There will be a Miyazaki retrospective, including Porco Rosso, the film of his I most want to see. Roger Ramjet creator Fred Crippen will also be given a retrospective as hosted by Cartoon Brew's Amid Amidi. I hope he brings more copies of Animation Blast like he did for the Gerald McBoing Boing screening. The one issue I have is falling apart from my reading it so many times. I was the only person in my class who remembered Roger Ramjet, which made me feel unbelievably old. Adding to this elderly sensation is the incredible excitement I'm experiencing for the Fleischer Studio Popeye program. And this is on top of all the usual workshops, competitions, and French, Canadian, Birdman and Russian exhibitions.

If anyone needs a place to crash, let me know.

2004-05-22T13:39:00.000-04:00

Lindo Pulgoso

I rarely get mail through the blog, and for reasons which should become obvious, I never get requests for assistance. However, today I received an email which asked "I was surfing the web trying to find the name of this character, a dog that came out with Granny before Tweety."

Dear reader, I'm flattered that you came to me for help. However, I'm not the expert you may think I am. In fact, when it concerns the worlds of comics and animation, I'm really a complete moron. Especially in comparison to all the other kids in the "comics blogosphere". Flat Earth is a learning experience for me, and I almost never know the subject I present until I complete a fair amount of research.

That said, I believe you're asking about Roscoe the dog, who made what I assume his is first and only appearance in Granny's premiere, the 1943 Merrie Melody entitled Hiss and Make Up. The short shows Granny giving Roscoe the dog and Wellington the cat an ultimatum, that if they don't behave they will be thrown out into the cold. The duo take turns causing a ruckus, framing the other with the crime each time in the hopes that they will get their adversary booted.

If that doesn't ring a bell, let me know. All the information found above is from Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald's indispensible Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, which covers every Warner Bros. short cartoon throughout that studio's history, and then some. If you ever have another animation question, I suggest you contact Mr. Beck, who has a page for Frequently Asked Questions. Or, check out some of the classic cartoon message boards, like the animation history forum at the Animation Show or the Termite Terrace Trading Post. There you'll find more knowledgable people then myself discussing Woody Woodpecker release schedules, the music found in Fleischer cartoons, and Granny's dog, presumably.

2004-05-21T17:35:00.000-04:00

Oh, The Places I'll Go...

If you came here for the comics and couldn't care less about my personal life, I would suggest passing over the remainder of this post.

I very nearly didn't have a reason to post the picture shown above. A little over a month ago I discovered that I would not be graduating this year. I had a screenwriting class in my second term of first year, and though I received 95%+ for nearly every assignment, I chose not to do the final in order to devote more time to my regular animation classes since I was faltering slightly in those areas, and if you fail even one of the core classes you fail them all. My screenwriting teacher was very understanding and said that I could hand in my final at a later date for the credit. Time passed, I finished the script and contacted him about it. That's where my old friend Bureaucracy popped back in for one last kick at the can.

It seems as if the incomplete that I had received for the class was good for only a limited time, and I had never been notified that I had to re-register for the class after that due date. You'd think they'd want my money. Because of this, I would have to retake the class in its entirety or find an equivalent, online or otherwise, which meant I would not be graduating this year as planned. Which isn't to say I didn't try to skirt around the issue. I had in fact accumulated enough marks in the class to pass it, and had only completed the final script to get a sense of closure. However, the argument was made that it was a core learning requirement, and could not be bypassed. I offered to knock a new one off for them in a few hours, but the school officials wouldn't bite. Although I had a few options available to get the credit during the summer, I'm currently working 70-hour weeks in the very industry for which I had been denied graduation, so it seemed like an easy decision to make. I decided to wait until the timing was better.

A few days ago I spoke to one of the officials at the school in a final effort to wrap this up quickly, though by that time I was resigned to my fate with the knowledge that I would complete it sometime in the future. During the conversation she informed me that the course was changing to three years starting in the fall, and afterwards they would no longer be able to allow someone with only two years in the school to graduate. Bottom line, if I didn't get this sorted out by the Fall I would have to take not only that single class, but also another entire year of school to graduate. It was clear that I would never graduate from the course. Ever.

What could have been an escalation of this nightmare was actually probably the very thing that saved me. Knowing that that I had sweated my balls off getting to this point, and that I was simply a victim of the school's unyielding rules and my own ignorance of said rules, the teachers and administrators passed me. When I was told, it was so completely matter-of-fact that the person on the phone immediately launched into giving me directions to the convocation. I asked her to hold on for a second, choked back my tears, took the directions, and I've been on and off since. I can't believe it's over. I can't believe I did it.

To everyone else it's no big deal, and I can understand that. I think it's easy for someone fresh out of high school to take education for granted. But I've had a decade of life without school under my belt before taking this on, and it was a difficult decision and transition to make. The hardest part of all was believing that I could push myself as much as I had to to keep my head above water, something I'm still in disbelief over. These two years have been the most challenging and difficult time of my entire life. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those people who helped me along.

Thanks to my baby brother, the Green Mandarin, for being the best roommate I've ever had and for keeping me laughing through the many all-nighters.

Thanks to my two fatties, Tsuki and Mo, for jumping up on my desk while I was drawing and laying in the middle of the page when I needed a break.

Thanks to Fergs, for being the dog of little brain and enormous heart. I still miss you and your lopsided run, darling.

Thanks to my pallies, the Rose City Dance Squad, who can rock out with their cocks out like nobody's business. You mess with the Rose, you get the Thorns.

Thanks to my Aunt Kathy, the coolest person in the world. I think of you every day. You're Wonder Woman, I'm Spider-Man.

Thank you to my animation teachers, Keith and Neil, who thought I was sucking up for a job when I told them how much I appreciated their instruction.

Thanks also to the few bad teachers and administrators I encountered, whose example will make dealing with the sharks and sleazballs of the animation industry in the coming years a relative breeze in comparison.

Thanks to the many people involved in shaking the bureaucratic machine up enough to get me through to graduation under the wire. I really appreciate the care and effort you showed considering what you had to work with.

And thanks to everyone reading this now, quite possibly the only people on the list aside from the cats who will read these words. I started this blog not long after school began, and the things I've learned while researching have helped me in my academic studies. In addition, being so far away from those people who I could talk to about such things, I felt I needed something to alleviate the loneliness and keep the other sections of my mind working while drawing. It wasn't easy juggling both at times, but I did it out of love for the medium and a sense of fun, and I hope that showed. Thanks for participating. I truly appreciate it.

I'd like to wrap this up by thanking two incredibly important people, without whom I would have broken down long ago.

Mom, you know you're an inspiration to me. Don't think for a second that I didn't notice and appreciate the effort you spent in raising a small gang of boys, working, and going through school all at the same time. My taking this chance was just a way of following in the footsteps of someone always striving to improve her own life and the life of others, no matter what it takes. From the bizarre Irish choloclate bars in your care packages to unsheathing the claws when dealing with the school, you've had my back the whole way through, Rose City-style. You've always been proud and supportive of me, no matter how listless my life has been, but that's never been enough for me. I couldn't give half a damn about a stupid piece of paper saying that I've graduated if it didn't mean showing it to you. I love you immensely. Thank you so much.

J., if the goal of graduating was to make my Mom proud, the learning experience involved was to make me a better man for our future together. I will never, ever be good enough for you, but that won't keep me from trying. And I cannot possibly possess the megalomania necessary to match the unbounded enthusiasm you have for my potential. I am often awed by the amount of talent and passion that has been shown by those who have made their way through the artform over the years. The only time I have ever felt as if I was worthy to even stand in their shadow has been when I hear your sweet voice encouraging me. At every turn, when I had absolutely no faith in myself, you were there with plenty to spare. No, I love you more. Thank you, sweetie.

Regular blogging will return tomorrow. Now let's get naked! Kegger!

2004-05-20T19:50:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Torchy

Today's comic is a short but sweet 4-pager by the recently deceased Gill Fox. During his lengthy career, the versatile Fox practiced cartooning in various forms, including but not limited to army, sports, superhero, humour, and even political topics, for which he was nominated for a Pulitzer. Mark Evanier has a tribute on his blog, including a link to an interview from Alter Ego with Gill Fox, as well as a link to another obituary.

2004-05-19T04:18:00.000-04:00

Brewskies

I feel stupid having to repeat myself over and over, but Cartoon Brew is super rad.

Remember that Chuck Jones mural that was set for demolition? It's been saved.

Guest columnist Mark Mayerson provides an interesting look behind the scenes of television animation. It certainly helped me understand my own work a whole lot better.

Plus arrests, sushi, less-than-flattering obituaries and everything else you need to delve into the world of animation, sans the hookers and cocaine.

2004-05-18T15:39:00.000-04:00

Glass Houses, Part II

Flat Earth Patron Saint of Forwards, Kev, sent me this link to an 80-page transcript in .pdf form of a discussion between Ira Glass and Chris Ware. An excerpt can be found here if you'd like to sample before you buy.

2004-05-17T16:50:00.000-04:00

Awwwwww

This isn't new or anything, but Ivan Brunetti's renditions of classic comic and cartoon characters is too cute to live. Sure to brighten the darkest day.

2004-05-16T18:51:00.000-04:00

Flat Earth Hunk O' The Month

The third and final comic blogger to be honoured with this prestigious award, directly after hunks-past-their-prime Billy K. and Sean Collins, is Montreal's own David Fiore. Congratulations, David! Your delightfully fulsome muttonchops put you over the edge.

Sorry boys, he appears to be taken.

2004-05-15T03:01:00.000-04:00

You wouldn't like me when I'm angry

2004-05-14T03:32:00.000-04:00

The only thing Heidi MacDonald said that upset me was when she dissed Night Nurse. Unless, of course, she likes Night Nurse and was saying we should all aspire to its greatness. In which case all is forgiven.

I wasn't too keen on including a comments option to the blog, but I received enough requests from people who haven't posted a comment yet to give it a test run. I don't really discuss the industry, current events or get involved in cross-blog discussions all that often, so I have no idea what anyone would comment on. I'd disable the function, but Flat Earth is creeping ever closer to its termination date, so instead I'll participate in the little game found below to give the comments section one last hurrah.

*3 Questions

I want everyone and anyone who reads this to ask me 3 questions, no more no less. Ask me anything you want and I will truthfully answer it. Then, I want you to go to your blog, copy and paste this allowing your friends (including myself) to ask you anything.*

I'm off to Montreal for the weekend, so hopefully the Flat Earth Post-O-Matic will be in full effect. I'll get to any questions at the start of the work week. This I swear!

2004-05-13T21:37:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Centaurs

I share in the outrage felt by my brothers and sisters within the "comics blogosphere" concerning recent comments made by Heidi MacDonald on the state of said "blogosphere". This loose collective of scholars and rabble-rousers is a very serious force dedicated to the promotion and advancement of this near-forgotten art, one which is rarely seen outside the immensely powerful, world-girdling militias found at the Millarworlds or Bendis boards of our community. As can be seen in my sidebar, we are "dope", but never dopey.

Today's selection of comics can be found at the world's premier source for knowledge on those most majestic of God's creatures, the CentaurSite. Yes, finally someone has taken the effort to provide what the populace of this dreary world demand. Magic!

Contained therein, among the other mediums covered, you will find a tantalizing selection of comic material devoted to the half-man, half-horse, all-hunky mythological beasts. If, like me, the crotch of your pants get snug at the thought of mounting one of these beautiful creatures, then avail yourself of full-length stories ripped straight from the pages of Weird War Tales, Captain Marvel, and a special treat, a Scary Tale by Steve Ditko.

Centaurific!

2004-05-12T22:05:00.000-04:00

Because you asked so nicely

Aside from the Kyle Baker toilet, James Sime has also made this announcement in this week's Comic Pimp column.

"I think that, at the Isotope, the sales of Micah's books have been primarily based on the merit of the books themselves (because make no mistake, these are good books), rather than Micah's alleged background. I also think that it is my duty as a retailer to protect my customers from feeling like they have been ripped off.

"So here's what I'm going to do…If you are a person who has bought Micah Wright books from the Isotope and if for any reason you feel you were sold these books under false pretenses, you can bring those comics back to the Isotope and trade them in."

Like the kids say, holy shit! This is awesome.

Just what do you call a pimp for a pimp, anyway?

2004-05-11T13:10:00.000-04:00

Toilet Humour

Kyle Baker toliet seat. What more do you need to know? Courtesy of the Comic Pimp's Wonder-Kon-Tiki adventure.

2004-05-10T01:23:00.000-04:00

I never realized just how hot Karnilla was until now

Flat Earth is going to be a little lighter then usual over the next couple of days while I get my home computer fixed up. In the meatime, here's a compelling comparison between the haristyles of today's youth and those of "classic" Marvel characters, part 1 and part 2. Link courtesy of the fine folks at Barbelith.

2004-05-09T01:38:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day!

I have a number of my Mom's landscapes on the walls of my living room. Sometimes when I'm feeling run down I sit back with a couple kitties draped across my lap and let my eyes wander over her paintings until I hit a spot where I feel drawn in. The paintings are all rural scenes, and even though the eras they're set in are long past, they're still recognizably situated in Southern Ontario. It helps me stay true to my roots and grounds me when my own work starts to stray from that which I know best.

My Mom left me her paints when she left for Ireland. I've never been as big a fan of colour as I should be, so it's been difficult adding a whole new layer of complexity to a piece of work. When I feel comfortable enough I'll be using them for backgrounds for a short piece of animation I'm working on. There was never any real doubt that I would crack the tubes open and dabble. It's been that way since I was an infant, my Mom never pushing anything on me, but rather leaving the materials just close enough for me to reach when I felt curiosity take over, and encouraging me when I showed an interest.

So, thanks Mom. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be the delirously happy starving artist I am today.

To all the ones who didn't throw their kids' comics out, and even to all the ones who did, have a happy Mother's Day.

2004-05-08T16:13:00.000-04:00

The Secret of the Old Centerfold

I treated myself to a little quarter bin diving this weekend, and among the many treasures I brought back home was one particular comic I've been seeking out for years.

Back in the early 80s, Frank Miller did a series of centerfolds for the comic Ms. Tree. Each pin-up was devoted to a classic fictional detective. The four drawings he contributed were of Mike Hammer, Philip Marlowe, The Continental Op, and... Nancy Drew.

Can you imagine if, instead of basing his crime comic on Spillane's work, Miller had chosen Nancy Drew as his muse? I'd pick that up in a heartbeat.

2004-05-07T08:31:00.000-04:00

Free Cartoon Friday - Merrie Melodies

I just got back from spending my first all-nighter at the studio, at least half of which was taken up by dirty jokes, gossip and discussions on the language of comics. The other half of the night was spent working, and as I became progressively more slumber stoned I reflected on just how happy I was making little drawings come to life. Years from now people who watched my animation at a formative age will approach me with perfectly valid accusations of how I contributed to scarring them for life. Oh, bliss. I hope I never become jaded in this business.

Anyway, I need some sleep. While I'm snoozing peacefully, help yourself to some public domain Warner Bros. cartoons starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, as directed by Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng.

Woo hoo!

2004-05-06T03:36:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

I work the late shift, and practically every night one of the compositors presents the best in fansubbed anime. It's been quite the education. During lunch the other night we tried to intersect our interests in a little discussion on manga. He suggested a certain manga which I could sample online, and knowing that he has similar tastes to my own in regards to Japanese exports, I checked it out.

I'm not quite sure how to explain Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. The story seems to be set sometime in a post-apocalyptic future though according to my co-worker there has never been a definitive explanation for why the world has become the way it has. Not that it would matter anyway. Each chapter is a self-contained vignette devoted to Alpha, a perfectly humanoid robot, and her small circle of friends and neighbours. The setting is almost a benign post-apocalypse, the kind of scenerio which someone could almost hope for, where the world becomes much more still and close-knit, yet just off-kilter enough to provide small moments of the sublime.

This serial has been published monthly for over a decade now, with over 1600 pages translated and available on the site so far, so get cracking if you want to catch up. The complete table of contents can be found here.

2004-05-05T04:05:00.000-04:00

Phyllis Wallet ? - 2004

Phyllis Rumpus Blossom Wallet has passed away. Born on one side or another of the turn-of-the-century, Mrs. Wallet, then known as the widowed Mrs. Blossom, moved to Gasoline Alley in 1922. After a four year courtship, Phyllis Blossom and perpetual bachelor Walt Wallet were married. For over 80 years Phyllis maintained that she knew the origins of Skeevix, a child Walt had found on his doorstep and whom he loved as his own. It appears Phyllis has taken her secret with her to the afterlife.

More on her passing can be found here. Also, you can read about the days leading up to her demise as well as a recounting of her and Walt's early struggle to retain custody of Skeevix.

She is survived by her husband of nearly 78 years, Walt, her adopted "nephew", Skeezix, a son, Corky, a daughter, Judy, and numerous grand-children and great-grandchildren.

2004-05-04T13:37:00.000-04:00

Beep Beep

Cartoon Brew has relayed the news that a pair of murals drawn by Chuck Jones on a conference room wall will soon be torn down and lost if someone doesn't pony up the cash to have them removed.

Photos and contact information available at the link.

2004-05-03T04:14:00.000-04:00

Market Day

The new breed is nothing if not lazy." - Robert Mankoff

An interesting article on the next generation of New Yorker cartoonists at The New York Times (to read the article without registering, username - flatearth, password - flatearth), including a behind-the-scenes peek at the weekly cartoon selection process and comparisons between the old guard and new.Courtesy of The Comics Journal Message Board.

One of the aspects touched on in the article is the dying tradition of cartoonists making the rounds every week to all the magazines that accepted gag cartoons. This is something you'll bump into time and again in the memoirs of those cartoonists who had to pound the pavement back in the day. For example, Hank Ketcham of Dennis the Menace fame.

"The high point of the week began each Wednesday morning when I boarded the 8:11 train to Manhattan. It was a ritual performed throughout the greater New York City area by perhaps 40 or more cartoonists, hopeful of getting some 'holds' and making some sales, while dropping off batches of their roughs to various cartoon editors who would respond by mail the following week. It was a social delight for most of us who lived in different communities and met only on 'market day'."

2004-05-02T02:47:00.000-04:00

Hi and Lois - Totally Exposed, Uncensored and Beyond!

Two Hi and Lois strips that never made it into the papers, and one that did. According to Mort Walker, in the original version of the third Lois was meant to be naked.

2004-05-01T02:37:00.000-04:00

Not Quite Work Safe, Palooka!

I'm slipping. While working on the Freddie Moore post a few days back I noticed a small announcement on the Cartoon Retro message board that there were new additions to the tour Shane Glines has set up for the site. Katie Rice and Luke Cormican are to present the too-cute-to-live Forestland, and Fred Osmond will be bringing us the swinging stylization of Rufus and Horny. Looks like amazing stuff.

If you haven't checked out the Cartoon Retro tour yet, start at the beginning and slide your way through samplings of the great cartoon illustrators from the turbulent years between the Market Crash to the Big One. Topics will also include Louise Brooks and her influence on the commercial arts, Shane Glines' own independent cartoons, and vintage pin-ups, jazz, and cartoons, plus much more. And Hot Socks! The feature I'm most looking forward to, Lily and Flinch, sure looks darb, fella.

2004-04-30T04:22:00.000-04:00

Giving 'Til It Hurts

I popped on over to Pixar storyboard artist Ronnie del Carmen's kickass blog yesterday and discovered that comic message board mainstay and uber-Hellboy fanboy Rick Cortes was hospitalized and is having trouble making payment on some major medical bills. Members of both The Drawing Board and The Hellboy Forum are doing all they can to help Rick through this crisis. Many of the members of these boards are professionals in comics and animation, and numerous pieces of art have been donated to an ebay auction for this cause, including original work by Mike Mignola, Drew Struzan, Cameron Stewart and many others.

The organizers have requested that even if you're unable to contribute financially or artisically, it would also be incredibly helpful to spread the word. And keep checking back. There should be many more pieces to come in the following weeks.

2004-04-28T16:38:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - White Boy

Over at the good ship U.S.S. Catastrophe, Kevin Huizenga serves up an odd assortment of comics, including Crockett Johnson's Barkis, Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo's Homer, the Happy Ghost, Strange Adventure's Artist From Other Worlds with art by Alex Toth, and many others. One of the most interesting selections on the page is Garret Price's White Boy/Skull Valley.

The first and only place I have ever seen White Boy was in The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, a monster book that is a must-have for anyone with an interest in comics history. There were only two White Boy strips showcased, both of which I've scanned and made available at the top of the post (click either for a larger version). Such a small sampling of the strip only made me want to find more. So far as I know, the only other reprints of any of these strips were in Nemo magazine.

White Boy began publication as a half-page Sunday strip in late-1933 and only lasted three years time. The story starts off in the late 1800's with the adventures of a young boy who is captured by a tribe of Native Americans, eventually living peacefully with them and learning their ways. About halfway through its run, the strip suddenly switched both its locale and time period to a dude ranch in the 1930s, dropping almost all the characters and situations that had been developed thus far and changing its name to Skull Valley.

The strip's greatest asset was in its depiction of the American landscape with a style usually seen in magazine illustration as opposed to the funny pages. As a matter of fact, White Boy cartoonist Garrett Price was better known as an artist for the New Yorker and various other books and periodicals. Though it appears as if he worked steadily throughout the years, even less is known about Garrett Price then about his strip. What little is known is that he was born in Kansas in 1896, graduated from both the University of Wyoming and the Art Institute of Chicago, and continued his studies in France.

It's nice that for most of the strips Kevin has provided the option of seeing them at a larger size, however be warned, the strips appear to be out of order. As I mentioned above, I'm fairly certain White Boy eventually became Skull Valley, and didn't actually alternate between the two titles as is presented above, though I could be wrong. Regardless, being so rare a find there aren't that many runs in Kevin's fine collection, so it shouldn't matter much what order you read them in.

2004-04-28T03:50:00.000-04:00

Glass Houses

The latest edition of Indy Magazine centres on City of Glass, the acclaimed graphic novel adapted by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli from a novel written by Paul Auster, which is due to be republished this summer. This issue goes all out, with an analysis of the work in question, interviews and essays by most of the participants (including the normally interview-shy David Mazzucchelli), and much more. I really can't over-emphasize what a great package this is.

As a side note, I first heard about this update earlier yesterday via Ringwood Ragefuck, followed by an email from Indy Magazine itself. Normally I would have been informed even sooner through the magic of alt-comix booster Egon, but it seems that former Flat Earth Hunk-Of-The-Month Billy K. has a hate-on for Indy Magazine and neglected to mention the news. Word of advice, pal, before this feud gets out of control. Don't hate the playa, hate the game.

Update - Judging by a recent post on Egon, Billy K. and Indy Magazine's William Kartalopoulos seem to have patched up their differences. Crisis over.

2004-04-27T03:31:00.000-04:00

The Elusive Appeal of Freddie Moore

Ages ago I posted a short link to a thread on the Cartoon Retro message board devoted to Disney animator Freddie Moore. Since then I've checked back periodically for the board's continuous updates on this fascinating artist, all the while meaning to repost the subject here. Cartoon Brew, the one animation site you can't do without, gave me the necessary kick in the ass to revisit Moore with this post announcing their first guest columnist, Mark Mayerson. Mayerson had written an article entitled Animators and their Scenes which includes a small profile on the talented Mr. Moore. Coincidentally, part of this article was also posted on Cartoon Retro. Small world.

Now, while the main appeal of the Cartoon Retro thread devoted to Moore may be in the sumptuous, rare, gigantic, and non-work safe drawings the members of that fine board have cobbled together, an entirely different reason to pay a visit is in discovering further information on Moore's troubling life and tragic death. These revelations counter the accepted scenerio and much of what has been written in the Illusion of Life, a book that is considered by many to be the animator's bible and the definitive history of Disney animation. Bigshot Steve Worth explains.

"Moore did NOT injure himself by "hitting his head on a car while drunk". He was getting out of his parked car (I think it was on San Fernando Road) and a drunk driver sideswiped him. (Moore was sober at the time.) He was taken to the hospital, but he had no insurance or money to pay for the treatment. The doctors told him that they wanted to do more tests, but that would cost money. They would give him the day to try to line up cash, but if he couldn't find any, they would have to discharge him the next morning. Moore and Jeckyl got on the phone and called all of Fred's old friends at Disney to ask to borrow money to help pay for his treatment, but everyone turned their back on him. Jeckyl said that one after another of Freddie's friends told him "Freddie just wants the money to get drunk again..." The hospital finally discharged Moore when it became clear he had no way to pay his bills. He was sent home in a taxi, and died on his front doorstep with his house key in his hand from internal bleeding."

And that's just the beginning of Mr. Worth's heartbreaking anecdote, which, if true, is a sobering lesson on how the victors can rewrite history to further their own means. The thread also contains Freddie Moore's 14 rules of good animation, conversation on the art of appeal in drawing, caricatures of Ward Kimball, Freddie Moore and former Disney employee/Pogo cartoonist Walt Kelly, as drawn by Kelly himself, and plenty more. Almost too much, in fact. If you have any interest in the history of animation or in the workings of one of the most naturally talented draftsmen of the first half of the 20th Century, check it out.

2004-04-26T04:18:00.000-04:00

Sidekicks

"Spelling Beatrice has the typical sidekick outfit. Bright yellow colors that scream 'kidnap me!'"

I was eating lunch at work and rereading the first book in the Sidekicks series when I began to think about the sad state of children's comic books. Then I realized that, like the authors of Sidekicks, I work in the animation industry, specifically children's entertainment. Hundreds of people in this city alone make their living creating television programs for a segment of society that the comic book industry has written off entirely. I read all these debates about what children may or may not want in their comics, and what if anything can be done about it, and here I am involved in a multi-billion dollar industry that does the job without even batting an eye.

Though Sidekicks authors Dan Danko and Tom Mason have moved on from working at Malibu and Marvel comics to writing animated and non-animated television programs and finally to book publishing, it's obvious that their love for comics, and specifically superheroes, hasn't diminished. Hey, they even dedicate the first volume to Jack Kirby. Unfortunately, it seems as if the best venue for them to tell a superhero story for children is through a book, as opposed to the medium from which superheroes originally came from, which is as poor a reflection on the comic book industry as I've ever seen.

Sidekicks revolves around the adventures of thirteen year old Guy Martin, aka Speedy, the fastest person in the world, a title which was held until recently by Fastest Man Alive Man. Guy is practically the only sane person in a world seemingly gone mad. In fact, he's practically the only character with any real superpowers. Despite this, he's ignored, treated like a serf by his mentor, and doesn't get any credit whatsoever for, y'know, saving the world and stuff. The major superheroes, The Big League of Justice, are never around when they're needed, and his fellow sidekicks are what you'd get if the Legion of Substitute Heroes replaced the Teen Titans. Only worse. Much, much worse. Every superhero convention is up for grabs, from gripes about spandex to brainstorming the team battle cry to obviously moronic plans for world domination. Even the chapter titles and the cute spot illustrations by Barry Gott contribute to the mayhem, creating a complete little package of superhero send-up and homage.

All the obstacles Guy is saddled with throughout the story not only create most of the humor, but also make his maturation as a hero that much more challenging and satisfying for the reader. He even does the fine superhero tradition of the "noble loser" proud, with the object of his affection not caring for either of his identities. Guy is the narrator of the stories and the only fleshed out character of the bunch, which, while adding to reader identification, also leaves too many of the other characters relying on the same schtick over and over. With a few of the characters this isn't a problem, as even their one-note performances are interesting enough to create hilarious variations on a theme ala Krazy Kat, or when pitted against other one-note characters for interesting combinations of personality tics. Still, it would be nice to see even one other person expanded upon in later volumes, even if it did dilute the madness just a little.

Considering that I like to centre this blog around comics, without an emphasis on superheroes, I had my doubts about reviewing a non-comic superhero story. That, and this is obviously not a book that is targeted to me, so I wasn't sure if I should review it straight or try to think like a kid. Considering the culture shock I felt at a recent all-ages punk/ska show, the latter would probably not be a good idea. I can say that for every time I groaned at a character that overstayed his or her welcome or a joke that was too obvious or just plain beaten to death, I laughed at least three times as much for what did work. If I chuckled out loud at most of it, my little nieces and nephews, already outgrowing Captain Underpants, would probably bust a gut reading these over-the-top grossout adventures. Let them get their own copies. And surprisingly the heroic climax, which consisted of equal parts courage and absurdity, struck a chord in me that no superhero comic published in the last five years has been able to do, so I'm glad I got over my initial doubts.

All in all, a better way to get kids into superheroes, or remind adults of why they liked them in the first place, then just about anything the Direct Market currently provides.

Sidekicks can be found at Amazon U.S. and Amazon Canada, and practically anywhere online or in the real world that fine books are sold.

2004-04-25T02:55:00.000-04:00

Clash of the Titans!

"Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, and why we died. All that matters is that today, two stood against many. Valor pleases you, so grant me this one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, the HELL with you!" - Conan the Barbarian.

Strip Fight is a weekly battle among cartoonists, in which a common theme is chosen and each participant must create a one page comic within a week devoted to that theme. Then, for a week afterwards, the comics are put to a vote.

The latest theme is Jenny Everywhere, a public domain character I helped create. If you have the time and the inclination, do me a favour, check out the stories and cast your vote. The following are my three favourites.

Dalton Sharp fufills my dream of seeing a kung-fu Jenny with a lobster claw in place of her left hand. That and he's one of the few to give her some heft.

Ex presents my other favourite type of Jenny story. Something quiet and mundane shown with beauty and grace.

Tony Walsh is by far the most experienced of all Jenny artists. This particular strip is a prequel to his still ongoing Drag Racing Monkeys epic, which is completely fucking rad.

The worst part is narrowing it down from three. Sigh.

2004-04-24T16:48:00.000-04:00

For those about to Rock, we salute you!

A few of you may remember my failed attempt at creating a 24-Hour comic. I blame those Two-Bite Brownies for my downfall. Anyway, due to other more pressing matters I am unable to take part in this year's festivities, for which I was going to once again blog my progress. However, Brad Hawkins is blogging his stab at the project. Good luck to all!

Master, Master, where’s the dreams that I’ve been after?

A very belated congratulations to David Fiore for becoming a Master of Literature. Rock!

I! Am! Iron Man!

Further proof that Mike Sterling and I were separated at birth. I, too, am a little intimidated by the opportunity to review AiT/PLanetlar comics, especially following up so many other class acts who have already submitted their reviews. Time to suck it up.

Only the Good die young. All the Evil seem to live forever!

Speaking of which, also slightly similar to Mike, I've been blogging everyday for nearly four months now, so no worries on tiring me out, Mr. Young. I'm from Welland, man. Heart of Coal, Cock of Steel.

It's a nice day for a white wedding.

From the Beguiling mailing list.

"Just as a reminder, our Grant Morrison event for this May is in fact cancelled. Grant and his fiancé's schedules were just too hectic to make a May event work, and so we';ve tentatively rescheduled for later this summer. We wish Grant and Kristan the best on a long and happy marriage."

It's about time Kristan made an honest man out of that Morrison character. Congratulations to the both of you!

2004-04-23T14:25:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday on Friday - The Hembeck Files

Apologies to Jim Salicrup.

One of the complaints leveled at the current comic book market is that, with decompressed storylines designed to be compiled into trades at a later date, the single issue comics no longer have as much value for their price. I'd hypothesize that one of the factors that contribute to this sense of diminishing returns is that, in comparison to comics from even a decade or two ago, there's less ancillary material. Letters pages have disappeared from most comics, as have bulletin pages. When this material does occassionaly reappear, it's on an irregular basis and is usually less dense and time-diverting. Now, I'd be the last person to say that buying a comic that reads quickly is a rip-off. Some of my favourite comics have barely any words and simplified artwork but can take repeat readings easily. However, back in the day, when you finished a comic in the back seat of the car on the way to the cottage and were stuck for reading material, you could count on letters praising or damning stories you hadn't read yet, alliterative announcements arguably arousing amateur artists' ardour, and if you were lucky, a whole seperate comic.

As a child of the late 70s and early 80's, I enjoyed many trips to the barbershop reading the last gasp of diverse genre titles from DC Comics, with titles like Weird War Tales, Sgt. Rock and Jonah Hex, to name a few favourites. And a staple of those comics, along with The Answer Man, was The Hembeck Files.

Once again, you can get quite an education from both the strips and the commentary by proprieter Neil Polowin. Each entry has a small essay attached that gives a little bit of background on the characters being satirized, especially helpful with targets like Mon-El, Eclipso, Gravedigger, Vigilante and other heroes who never quite became household names. There are nearly 80 entries on the site, more than enough to satisfy any nostalgic craving I... er, you might might have. Until DC decides to make an Archive edition of this material this is the place to go.

2004-04-22T03:47:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Fred Hembeck

I know of at least one visitor who isn't going to be pleased with this week's selection, considering he's already read most of this material. Fred Hembeck linked to me over on his blog, pointing out the Free Comic Thursday feature specifically. Not only is it a thrill to find out one of the cartoonists whose work you grew up appreciating takes time out to read your ramblings, but it's especially nice that someone has expressed an interest in this weekly sampling of comic history. I had absolutely no idea whether anyone even tried out any of the comics I've linked to or not. Thanks, Fred.

If you grew up on Marvel Age and the Daily Planet back pages like me, you're probably very familiar with Hembeck's distinctive style and strange obsession with Brother Voodoo. And if you aren't, here's your chance to catch up on what the rest of us turned to when coming down from a particulary harrowing Sgt. Rock. Packed to the rafters with "comic" goodness worthy of the title, his site promises even more to come in just about every section. With introductory essays and annotations accompanying most of his strips, this is easily one of the best organized and comprehensive comic artist sites you'll find. It would be foolish of me to list off even the smallest amount of classic material found within.

The Best of Dateline @!!?* is fab if you're into obscure comic history like yours truly. With nearly 50 strips, Hembeck walks you through a freakshow of near-forgotten oddities that you wish could've survived, and a handful of those you hope will fade away but know in your heart they never will. A few standouts include Marvel's very first, incredibly awesome crossover, freakin' Prez, not one, but two many faces of Jimmy Olsen pages, and a visit with EC's shrink. Nova, the Human--Dancing Machine is worth the price of admittance alone.

Wait, that's not all! Trip back to the Silver Age with Hembeck's semi-autobiographical Little Freddy, browse through the best of his writing on comics, and take a gander at various Hembeckizations of classic comic covers, with commentary. And that's just the educational stuff. Whoever thought learning could be so much fun?

Never mind the long, hard process of destroying a universe, the adventures of a young Petey Parker, one ginormous children's graphic novel and an appearance by Seaguy! Heck, he hasn't even been published yet and already Hembeck is making fun of him!

You could spend days getting lost in there. Be careful.

2004-04-20T19:01:00.000-04:00

Notes from the "Outer Blogosphere"

Things have been a little hectic around here recently. Between working the midnight shift, getting over a cold, and attending the few classes I'm still required to take, I have to borrow whatever time I can to squeeze out a post every day, let alone take care of life's little details, like eating. Not that I'm complaining. I wouldn't have it any other way. It's just that one of the things that's fallen by the wayside is reading other peoples' blogs. The last two weeks I've been lucky to sneak even the smallest peek at the writing of my peers. The silver lining to all this is that when I do get the time, there's a whole wealth of great stuff waiting for me.

One notable example of this is Rodrigo Baeza's blog. Baeza always seems to find intriguing items from outside the usual realm that the "comics blogosphere" delves into. Most of what he posts is either completely outside my own interests, or is off my radar entirely, but almost without fail turns out to be pure gold. I always learn a few new things about the medium every time I visit his site. Currently, he has posts devoted to web exclusives at Hogan's Alley, Magnus Robot Fighter, more Ricky Carralero chicanery, and an interview with Alberto Breccia. Highly recommended if you'd like to broaden your horizons.

Salgood Sam is once again logging in vast amounts of time on his dual blogging. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in his work on Sequential, which is written as a straight-up, objective Canadian comics news site, that I forget his work journal, which not only covers past and present comic works of his, but also whatever thoughts he has on the business and the medium. It's certainly a fresh perspective, coming from someone who chooses to work in both the mainstream and the small press, and is immersed in a comic scene which is culturally more diverse than what most of us are exposed to. His take on where the mainstream has failed, his work on Saint Sinner and other old material dragged out of storage are currently up and running.

The Great Canadian "Comics Blogosphere" Takeover continues unabated. Yet another Canuck artist, Alan Hunt, has one of the great hidden treasures of the "comics blogosphere". Though he uses it as an all-purpose journal, as a cartoonist he seems to have a hard time keeping away from the topic of comics. Even the entries on his day-to-day life come with lovely little spot illustrations. Notable entries include a strange examination of a bizarre fan letter he received nearly ten years ago for his non-shit-'zine, the New Yorker and Fermi's Question and Jack Kirby's work for Ruby-Spears. My pal K. gave me a set of those Kirby Kards and Hidden Harry stole my heart.

2004-04-20T13:09:00.000-04:00

Harry Mayerovitch 1910 - 2004

"Here I am doing strips without words. I'm not giving anything away - except that the pictures give me away completely!" - Harry Mayerovitch

It's a testament to the incredibly strong respect for cartooning in Quebec that Harry Mayerovitch, acclaimed architect, author, painter, orator, professor, illustrator and urban planner, continued drawing and publishing comics right to the end.

Born in 1910 in Montreal, Mayerovitch's family spent his early years in Ontario before he moved back to pursue pre-law at McGill. After poking his head into the architecture department and becoming fascinated with drawing, abandoned his current career path and threw himself into art. Both the Depression and a trip to Mexico in the late 1930s fueled Mayerovitch's exploration into the social responsibility of the artist. During World War II, prompted by these newfound emotions, Materovitch contributed numerous propaganda posters for the NFB, a few of which can be seen by scrolling down this page. One of Montreal's most famed architects and fine artists, Mayerovitch still found time to devote his pen to the satirical side with numerous wordless cartoons that reveal the hidden, yet still humourous, side of humanity.

EGON (you may have to scroll down) has links to both the Gazette's obituary and a profile on the artist recently featured on the cover of the Mirror, perhaps the last interview in which Mayerovitch participated. Mayerovitch's book Way To Go, published by Drawn and Quarterly, was released just two weeks ago at the Bleu Metropolis literary festival. Way To Go is a collection of cartoons about death and dying spanning Mayerovitch's career from its beginning right up to the present.

Montreal mourns an icon. May he rest in peace.

2004-04-19T14:34:00.000-04:00

Chiba, vol. 2

This time, she will Kill Bill (Spoilers).

2004-04-18T12:25:00.000-04:00

Pete Alvarado 1920-2004

Mark Evanier has posted the news that the incredibly prolific animator and comic artist Pete Alvardo has passed away. Evanier has written a lengthy appreciation which covers what he claims is only a tiny portion of Alvardo's mostly uncredited work.

2004-04-17T20:17:00.000-04:00

The final flight of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

"For me, this is the loveliest and the saddest landscape in the world. It's the same landscape as the one on the preceeding page, but I've drawn it one more time to be sure you see it clearly. It's here that the little prince appeared on Earth, then disappeared." - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, from the Little Prince.

The grapevine is a weird and wonderful thing. I went to the bar last night, and one of the DJs took me aside and told me that the plane of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, writer and artist of The Little Prince, had finally been found 60 years after its disappearance.

The Little Prince is one of the most popular books ever printed, apparently surpassed only by The Bible and Das Capital in worldwide sales. A daredevil pilot first and foremost, Saint-Exupéry took on a reconnaissance mission for the Allied forces on the morning of July 31st, 1944. He never returned. His bravery and creative endeavours have been lionized in France and many other nations, with his mysterious disappearance only fueling his legendary stature. Some claim that his plane was better off left unfound, that no light should be shed on this enigma for fear of destroying its mystique. Others counter that while the plane was found, Saint-Exupéry's body was not, and the mystery continues unabated.

This article at the Christian Science Monitor is at least as good as any other, though Google will provide you with many takes on the story, if you choose.

"He dropped out of the glorious sky. We can say nothing more." - Patrick Grandjean, a French Ministry of Culture marine archaeologist.

2004-04-16T11:33:00.000-04:00

Chiba!

"You know, Steve, you're the only other person I can think of who could have made a movie like that..." - My pal, R.

Back when the first Kill Bill came out, the outrageous action and cool costumes inspired quite a mighty thread dedicated to the movie over on Shane's board. Unfortunately, though there are still quite a few sweet pieces left in the thread, some of the best have disappeared.

One contributor whose work is gone is comic supahstar Cameron Stewart, though someone had the foresight to save them and place the work alongside pieces by fellow inkslingers Kagan McLeod and Sam Hiti.

My favourite Kill Bill picture, the one featured at the top of this post, is courtesy of the wonderous stylings of the mysterious Bengal, easily one of the most-loved artists on Shane's, which is quite an achievement in itself. The only way Kill Bill could have been better is if it looked like that.

2004-04-15T14:00:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday - Male Call

"There was enough death and blood and muck going on. This was no place for that." - Milton Caniff.

Best known for his groundbreaking stint on Terry and the Pirates, and his preceding and successive strips Dickie Dare and Steve Canyon, respectively, Milton Caniff also created an immensely popular comic that was rarely seen by "civilians". Male Call was one of many comics created specifically for military consumption during the war. It combined Caniff's signature compostion, brush line and snappy patter with elements that wouldn't normally be tolerated back home, like excessive pin-up style cheesecake and sexually suggestive dialogue. Hell, it wasn't even accepted overseas at times.

The strip was a real challenge for Caniff. Because military personnel were constantly moving about, he couldn't rely on the kind of serialization for which he was famous because the soldiers might not have steady access to the strip week to week. And while he was well-known for the meticulous detail of military vehicles and insignias he showcased in Terry, there was even more pressure on Male Call from the men in the service who had embraced the strip and expected perfection from it. When Caniff screwed up, boy howdy, did he ever hear about it. To top it all off, Caniff did each and every Male Call strip for free, willingly and obligingly, even when a single strip took as long as a week's worth of Terrys, or when one of his strips was rejected with no more reason than a simple "no" circled in red pencil on his work. In fact, all royalties for the reprint editions of Male Call, even those collected after the war was over, were donated to the Air Force Aid Society.

In 1946, realizing her duty was over, Male Call's star, Miss Lace, exited the scene never to reappear on newsprint again, though she promised to return if she was ever needed. Whenever called upon by veterans' organizations for a Miss Lace pin-up, Caniff always consented, never forgetting his own duty to bring a bit of cheer to those who had fought in World War II.

So, what are you waiting for? 112 strips by the greatest storyteller in the history of comics from his artistic peak! Hop to it, So'jer!

2004-04-14T13:51:00.000-04:00

Alley Oop

How can I have a distinctive locution if I don't even know what the word means?

One of the founding members of the Great Canadian Shield of Comic Blogging, Salgood Sam has written a post detailing his experiences on retouching classic Gasoline Alley strips for Drawn & Quarterly's upcoming collections, and how getting in that close has caused him to re-evaluate Frank King's work.

Once again, here's a 141-batch of King's Gasoline Alley strips, ableit unrestored ones, if you're interested.

2004-04-13T03:34:00.000-04:00

Joyeux Noel

While even the lowest selling comics from the top comic book publishing companies seem to be reprinted and repackaged almost immediately these days, comic strips haven't fared quite so well. Sure, we have Schulz's earliest material becoming available, Krazy Kat and Gasoline Alley getting the treatment they deserve, and a handful of others, but most classic strips are either out-of-print or have never even been seen outside of their initial runs in the newspapers. This is in direct contrast to the heyday of the comic strip reprints almost two decades ago, when it seemed as if just about every small press comic publisher had a series or three on the run.

Hit especially hard by this drought are the adventure strips. Back in the day, you could count on reprints of Buz Sawyer, Johnny Hazard, Rip Kirby, King of the Mounted, and Terry and the Pirates among many others. If you're anything like me you wouldn't let a little thing like out-of-print books and periodicals from decades ago stop you from digging these titles up, but hopefully you're probably nothing like me, and if that's the case you'd have a difficult time finding good ol' fashioned two-fisted newsprint adventure. That's not to say you can't still find the odd smattering of comic publishers putting up the good fight, among them Checker with Steve Canyon and Dick Tracy or Comics Revue, apparently still going strong despite not having an up-to-date site.

Enter Big Fun.

Dedicated to reprinting classic American adventure strips like the ones I mentioned above, if the first issue is any indicator Big Fun looks as if it's determined to take a page out of Dragon Lady Press' Classic Adventure Strips and straddle the line between dedicating each volume to a sole feature and breaking stories up into bite-sized anthology pieces. Personally, that's exactly the kind of presentation I prefer. The first issue is a real humdinger, with a complete Captain Easy story by Leslie Turner, Roy Crane's replacement and an artist whose strips I've never seen before. If you want to see the masterful work done by Turner's predecessor, Big Fun has started to post Crane's version of the characters online, along with a short autobiography by the cartoonist himself. They also promise to showcase advertisements and other interesting rarities by classic cartoonists to round out their selection.

However, the real show-stopper to their publication would have to be in reprinting Noel Sickles' Scorchy Smith. Sickles was a friend and contemporary of Milton Caniff, reknowned artist of Terry and the Pirates, considered one of the greatest artist of the adventure strips. Caniff has acknowledged that it was Sickles who created his technique of heavily applying heavy pools of ink in just the right spots to fake realism on a daily deadline, a style that was adopted by numerous artists not long after its creation. Sharing a studio together, their styles became so intertwined that both artists were known to ghost each others strips during crunch time. Sickle's gained from Caniff's masterful storytelling, an attribute in which Sickle's wasn't as strong in, and Caniff acquired a way of working that he refined over the remainder of his career. Sickles lasted in comics only a short time, moving onto a highly successful career as an illustrator. Though his name is not as well-known as Caniff's, Sickles' is still considerably respected in artists' circles, unknown by the general populace but embraced and emulated by those lucky to come across his work. I'd have to say I'm one of them, as Sickles is one of the top three influences on my own artwork.

2004-04-12T12:23:00.000-04:00

Lil' Folks

"You should keep drawing those kids, Sparky. They're kind of good." - Frank Wing, a colleague of Schulz's at Art Instruction Inc., a correspondence school with which Schulz had once been a student. During that time Wing had given him a C+ for the lesson "Drawing of Children".

It's been a little over a month since I received Charles Schulz's Lil' Folks for my birthday from J. It is by far one of the nicest, sweetest, most thoughtful gifts I have ever received. See, Charles Schulz is my favourite cartoonist. I own nearly 100 books by or about Schulz, including biographies, religious and psychological examinations of his work and collections of his Christian teen gag cartoons (which I should really talk about here sometime. They're great stuff). This sickness even prompted my brother to rename me Old Man Wintle.

I have little doubt that Lil' Folks is the second most important comic release of the year, beat out only by the first volume of the Complete Peanuts series. I really wasn't expecting much more from the book than a simple reprinting of all 135 of the Li'l Folks cartoons themselves, with maybe the obligatory biographical introduction, but editor Derrick Bangs, with the help of the Charles M. Schulz museum, really went all out. Within the first few pages of the introduction the reader is treated to both of Schulz's Just Keep Laughing gag pages for Topix, a Catholic comic magazine, followed by his two contributions to the Minneapolis Tribune (straight from Schulz's scrapbook, complete with scotch tape around the edges), a sample of the final version of Li'l Folks as seen upon a full page of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and finally a small selection of his 17 Saturday Evening Post gags, which, if anything, whets the appetite for even more Schulz obscurities. All this is presented in the first 14 pages of the book, along with a short history of Schulz's hirings, firings and rejections during those lean years before he became the most commerically successful visual artist in history. It's fascinating stuff, and I can honestly say that I would have picked up those 14 pages all on their own.

Although I prefer the more expressionist pen line Schulz took on in later years, I also have a fondness for the slick craft with which he took to using a brush early in his career. It's intriguing to watch the rapid development Schulz undertook on his first regular stint. In addition to the line quality, Schulz moves very quickly from his earlier representational style to the minimalism that he would carry through into Peanuts. I'd be very interested to know what comics, advertising or other artwork inspired him to take a more stylized, modern look. Most of the elements that would later make up Peanuts come into place in rough form in Li'l Folks first. The anthromophism of the family beagle, sophisticated language coming from the mouths of babes, cruelty in life and love, and those big round heads. You'll also find prototypes for later Peanuts characters like Pig Pen, Schroeder, and Patty to name a few. Charlie Brown actually appears four times, and with each instance he looks entirely different from the last. Taken straight off the newsprint they were originally published on, the artwork suffers slightly from the vagaries of the press. If you're like me, this only adds to the fun, as you can take the time out to count all the missing eyeballs, which were little more than black dots carelessly wiped out in the printing process (three on one page!). It's obvious from the earliest work in this volume, especially in comparison to the last half, that he may not have been ready for the big time when starting out on Li'l Folks. It's entirely possible that if Schulz hadn't paid his dues in the pages of the Pioneer Press he may not have moved onto greater things as soon as he eventually did.

Every Li'l Folks page is presented on the right side, while on the left Bangs includes comments on character development, references to current events, and common themes and repetition within the Li'l Folks pages. These are all cross-referenced according to the date of publication, so on a page with the kids' unseen hockey playing grandma, you can find her subsequent gags where she tackles baseball and football. As if this weren't enough, there's an index at the back for your convenience, with entries like ping-pong, the Bastille, and Albert Payson Terhune to name a few. The most surprising aspect of the Li'l Folks cartoons is how so many of them were recycled in later Peanuts strips. I'm not just talking about reusing a premise. Schulz actually took gags from Li'l Folks and reused dialogue and situations wholesale. Quite possibly the most shocking example of this is in the use of Peanuts very first gag, printed in a Li'l Folks page well over a year before Schulz started that strip. Perhaps the best use of the annotation pages is in not only mentioning those instances in which Schulz reused a particular gag, but in actually reprinting the Peanuts strip for comparison. At least half the annotation pages showcase a Peanuts strip or two, enough of which to nearly make a full reprint volume upon itself. Most of these strips are from the first year of Peanuts publication, and although the Complete Peanuts is now available, many of them had never been reprinted before and were therefore actually presented in Li'l Folks for the first time anywhere. It's almost a teaser for the Complete Peanuts volume.

Perhaps most importantly, Li'l Folks is pretty damn funny, especially for someone's formative work.

So far, Lil' Folks is only available through the Charles M. Schulz Museum or through Fantagraphics who is also processing orders in co-operation with the museum.

2004-04-11T00:52:00.000-04:00

Priorities

You know what's somewhat disturbing? That a site which I update on a daily basis, without exception, doesn't generate 1/5th the visits that a site which I rarely get a chance to update seems to get. While I'm at it, maybe I should give up on waiting for the New York Times to do a piece on Flat Earth.

2004-04-10T03:22:00.000-04:00

Word!

I wasn't going to post this considering that I wasn't really into Morrison's New X-Men, but after Catchdubs posted a pic of Magneto graffiti, they followed-up with this response.

"I'm down with muties, although I haven't been up on shit since the Chris Claremont/Jim Lee era. And on the real: Tom Orzechowski was a bad-ass letterer, right?"

Links courtesy of Fluxblog.

2004-04-09T01:31:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Friday - Super-Sons

"As we said, it is not imaginary, not fantasy, but the way it happened. How so, you say? Despite all the issues published on the amazing careers of these two greatest of all super-heroes, not every facet of their lives could possibly be covered. Both have lived a hundred lives in one, are bigger than ordinary reality, inimitable, and immortal. Thus, this issue gives you just one other, previously undisclosed portion of their unique stories." - Bob Haney.

The greatest victim from the pulping of the 80-page Elseworlds Giant was the mishandling of Bob Haney's return to one of his most famed creations, the Super-Sons, in the story Superman Jr. Is No More.

From 1973 to 1976, Bob Haney took the prevailing trend of socially relevant comics, added his own unique peculiarities, and let fly. Supes Jr. and Bats Jr. were the semi-powered progeny of their namesakes and those heroes' wives, whose identities were never fully revealed. Widening the generation gap by bickering with their square fathers, the junior superheroes took off on their "hot hog" to find America and get it on with groovy chicks along the way, capes and cowl included. This wasn't your dad's Superman and Batman. These costumed crusaders had thick sideburns, crazy threads and attitude to burn. One of the oddest things about the series was that, at least according to Haney, the events took place within present-day DC continuity. Other than the Super-Sons themselves, there was nothing that would be entirely out-of-place within the generally accepted DC universe. The second-to-last Super-Sons tale was the only one written by someone other than Haney. In it, we discover that Supes Jr. and Bats Jr. were actually computer simulations created by their "fathers" to see what it would be like if they did have kids someday. This was, of course, the only true imaginary story involving the Super-Sons.

The Super-Sons starred in one of my formative comic reading experiences, The Angel With A Dirty Name, a story which featured a grotesquely enlarged Superman Jr. on the cover that both repulsed and entranced me. Between this and the Composite Superman, I was hooked on oddball DC comics. The site that hosts the two stories linked to above has also posted the first two Super-Sons stories, Saga of the Super-Sons and Little Town with a Big Secret. That's right, four full Bob Haney stories for your enjoyment. There's also a suprisingly extensive overview of the Super-Sons, a timeline or two, and even Mark Gruenwald's suggestion that the Sons of Steel exist on a parallel world called Earth-E , making it your one-stop shop for Super-Sons goodness.

Solid.

2004-04-08T16:05:00.000-04:00

Free Comic Thursday

Let's keep that Bob Haney ball rolling a little while longer.

Recent years have not been kind to Haney in regards to his work. As I've mentioned a few times before, DC Comics commissioned him to write a brand-new one-shot Teen Titans story set in the swinging sixties to be pencilled by Jay Stephens, inked by Mike Allred, with the cover by Haney's sixties collaborator Nick Cardy. The project was shelved due to fears that too many different versions of the Titans on the shelves would only confuse customers. Samples of Stephen's Titans artwork can be viewed at his site.

This wasn't the first time DC had pulled the rug out from under Haney. Some of you may be aware of the 80-page Elseworlds fiasco. The Elseworlds special was to be a completely ridiculous collection of Silver Age-style goofiness. Stories and splash pages included Batman and Eve, The Revenge of Young Darkseid and quite possibly Chuck Dixon's greatest work, The Vigilantes in Apartment 3-B. You can view even more samples by scrolling down to the bottom of this page. The piece that caused all the commotion was Letitia Lerner, Superman's Babysitter. Nervous that a story involving a baby playing in a microwave may lead to complaints, DC Comics pulped their entire run just under the wire before it left the warehouse. This would have worked, if only the British Isles didn't get their comic orders sent ahead of schedule to compensate for the shipping time. Only 1500 copies of the comic survived. Voters for the 2000 Eisners decided to stick it to The Man by voting Baker's banned contribution Short Story of the Year, despite the fact that most of the people voting had probably never even seen it. Shamefaced, DC Comics decided to reprint Baker's award-winning story in the pages of the Bizarro Comics anthology. The irony of the situation is that the story responsible for having the comic destroyed was the only one made widely available in print. The rest of the stories in the 80-page Elseworlds have never been reprinted.

So, what does all this have to do with Bob Haney? Find out tomorrow in a very special Free Comic Friday!

2004-04-07T15:42:00.000-04:00

Reality is the Best High

There's a lot of interesting and exciting comic news floating around out there today. With that in mind, here's the rest on a comic that's over 30 years old and that no one but lunatics would find interesting. I kept SPOILERS to a minimum yesterday, but today you won't be so lucky. If you plan on reading "Commune of Defiance" in the future, please read no further!

Do you have any idea how hard it is to choose panels from this comic to scan? Every one is pure gold.

When we last left The Young Aquarians, they were being visited by The Narc Titans, who used reverse psychology to placate the kids' concerns. The two teams neck and rest in the Young Aquarians' co-ed squat HQ, and are awakened by the seemingly unexpected rumble of bulldozers, a menace against which Ben Ahmed's switchblade would prove useless. The Teen Titans spring into action, laying down before the oncoming construction crew, turning themselves into human speedbumps. The Young Aquarians dig, having never before thought of such tactics, and so the concept of civil disobedience is born. Even Angel, the old lady of Barclayville's criminal mastermind, gets into the act. She may be rancid butter, but she's on your side of the bread, man. And Old Man Lefferts, forced out of his apartment after forty years, witnesses the scene and has a change of heart about those shaggy kids.

See, this is what superhero comics need more of. Heroes laying in the path of a moving bulldozer, risking their lives for more than to just save people and property, but also to retain and improve on our standard of life and ideals. Before the bulldozers change Robin's name to Ribbon, The Sunlight Detective swoops out of the noonday glare and lands atop the lead bulldozer. He urges them onto their murderous path, promising a rap in the clink for homicide and added notoriety courtesy of the Gotham News copter hovering in the sky. After the dozers stop, the Mayor comes down hard on Bats, who counters by threatening to have him impeached. Outgunned, the mayor gives the kids thirty days to clean up Barclayville or the city will have no choice but to murder as many children and the elderly as necessary.

The joint Titan-Aquarian task force get busy, with Speedy presumably bagging heroin as well as sacks of rats. Meanwhile, Batman pays a visit to the subplot and tries to convince Angel that crime boss Sonny, who's getting out of jail in a few days, is setting her up for a fall. Sure enough, Sonny hits the clean streets of Barclayville a day early for good behaviour, and within three panels he's whaling on Angel for letting his turf get out from under his control.

Everyone's having fun the next day at the Barclayville block party until Sonny and his gang show up for a throwdown. No guns. No knives. No costumed freaks. Locals only. Batman, seemingly ruining the fun by stopping the fight, reveals that Sonny has been clutching a roll of pennies in his fist the entire time. So fucking what? Batman wouldn't last a day in the Rose City. Sonny whips out a pistol and waves it around like a chump until Angel, sickened by his lack of community spirit, blows him away.

The only loose end left to wrap up is the decision as to whether Barclayville will win the city's seal of approval. As if in answer to their worries, the Young Aquarians watch as another bulldozer comes crawling down the street, this time manned by Batman and the Teen Titans. Will the kids need to get their clothes dirty again? Psyche! Batman's just delivering a marker declaring Barclayville an historic site using his Batdozer. And so ends the first of only two tales starring the Young Aquarians. We finish the story with these words from Bob Haney, the greatest writer of superhero comics we will ever know.

The future belongs to those who fight for it--today! Future issues of Brave & Bold belong to those who keep the faith! 'Til then, faithful ones! The Start!

If you'd like to read more on this issue of Brave and the Bold, check out Unca Cheek's critique, with added Speedy/heroin jokes.

2004-04-06T12:13:00.000-04:00

"Cool it, Bat Guy!"

"I know you're not him, Rob, but your name is so close to that of the great Bob Haney I can't help but be charmed. Haney wrote my all-time favorite Batman line and it's from the first panel of an old BRAVE AND THE BOLD team-up with the Teen Titans ("Rebel in the Streets," I think). He's got Batman walking down a Gotham City street in broad daylight, spring sunshine. The Dark Knight's taking it easy, checking out the pretty girls in miniskirts and the caption ends with the monumentally unforgettable line "yes, Batman digs this day!"

That's my kind of hero."

-Grant Morrison, in a reply to a letter printed in The Invisibles Vol. 2 Issue 5.

When I read the above, I knew that I had to own this comic. In fact, it looks like I may not be the only one. Legomancer is searching for the same issue and is seeking out any information on it. Fear not, Legomancer! I have what you crave. What better opportunity for me to take a look at of one of my favourite superhero comics of all time, Brave and the Bold #102, "The Commune of Defiance"?

As our story opens, Batman does truly dig this day, but for how long? Witness to a mugging, The Caped Crusader gives chase, ending up in Barclayville, the city's oldest section, which Batman apparently hasn't visited in years. His apprehension of the mugger is put to a stop by The Young Aquarians, a gang of socially responsible street toughs trying to make a difference in a community left to wither away and die. Barclayville is theirs, and they claim the mugger as their prisoner.

Young Aquarians Roll Call! Lawyer! Mother Earth! Ben Ahmed! Uh... Jamie! Needles!

The Man, Batman, convinces the kids that the law won't let them down, but later slinks guiltily back into Barclayville to fess up to the inadequecies of the System as the mugger got off scott free. While there he witnesses the extent of the mess the Young Aquarians are trying clean up, as well as the brutal methods of the Gotham City Police in this district. These groovy vigilantes are getting it from both ends. As if Batman's timing wasn't even more fortuitous, word on the street is that in a couple of days the slums of Barclayville will be demolished to make way for fat cats and their fancy highrises. Fuck gentrification!

Right on, Ben Ahmed! Right on!

When appeals to insensitive government officials fail, Batman turns to his own team of "generation gappers" to give the Young Aquarians a helping hand. Enter, The Teen Titans!

The art chores were tag teamed by Jim Aparo, who became ill during production of the issue, and Neal Adams, who did his best Aparo impression for the remainder of the story. I've also seen another Batman/Teen Titans issue of The Brave and The Bold by Bob Haney floating around, one that has The Titans leading all the adults in town, including Bats, into a concentration camp. Considering that the image on the cover of "The Commune of Defiance" actually happens in the story, I'm hoping the same holds true for that later issue.

I can do Grant Morrison one better. He may think that Bob Haney merely wrote the best Batman line of all time, but I believe, with this and his other work, that Haney is the truly the world's greatest superhero writer.

2004-04-05T18:19:00.000-04:00

Who Wears The Watchmen?

It's hockey pool night here at work, so everyone is too drunk to notice me blogging. Just a quick note to point out that Progressive Ruin has posted a promotional poster for Watchmen merchandise as drawn by Kyle Baker. This has been your coolest comic-related thing of the week, brought to you by a blog that's eeriely similar to mine, only better.

Go Habs!

2004-04-04T16:31:00.000-04:00

On Line and Up Front

As I mentioned a little over a year ago, I once would have had no problem naming the two greatest living cartoonists. That all changed when both Al Hirschfeld and Bill Mauldin passed away. Both of these artists, in addition to Jules Feiffer and Chris Ware, will be represented in the latest Comics Journal Special Edition, the contents of which are detailed on their main web page. If you have no idea who Hirschfeld or Mauldin are or why they're worth looking into, you can read Gary Groth's editorial for the aforementioned issue to get an idea of their importance. I haven't had the money or inclination to pick up previous installments of TCJ special editions, but this is definitely one I'm going to be rolling pennies for, and may finally be the kick in the ass I need to finally write more about both Hirschfeld and Mauldin.

2004-04-03T07:31:00.000-05:00

Up and Atom

These days I don't have as much free time to check out the the standard comic news site as I used to. Thanks to the sharp eye of Franklin's Findings I now know that DC Comics is planning on releasing an Archive edition of the old Charlton heroes. I'm really pleasantly surprised that DC is publishing reprints of their more obscure, less popular material, like The Doom Patrol, Challengers of the Unknown, Enemy Ace and Supergirl, to name a few. Now that I have a job, maybe I can even begin to buy a few.

2004-04-02T20:31:00.000-05:00

April Fool's - The Aftermath

As David Fiore hints at, my April Fool's post was originally written to emulate his style and was supposed to appear on Motime yesterday. Due to unforseen circumstances, all entirely my fault, this was not to be. The funniest part about my post is that the only sentiment for which I was sincere was in my appreciation of Family Circus. When David says he enjoys Family Circus, it's funny. When I say it, it's the Truth. In a similiar vein is The Hurting's overview of Secret Wars II. How can anyone make fun of gold, especially when there's a skyscraper made of it?

In case you missed it, Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog has the complete rundown on the "comic blogosphere's" assorted pranks. I'd like to point out a few favourites. Gambitfan1987's Progressive Ruin went all out, but as usual, the best part was a small detail. The Ultimate Comic Blogroll reversed everyone's blog title, which prompted Gambitfan1987 to reverse his title to make it stick out in its normality. Killer. I was so inspired by the simplicity of Gambitfan1987's prank that I temporarily changed my own blog title to Mxyzptlk so that when it appeared backwards I would go back to the Fifth Dimension, or something equally geeky and off-putting.

The one that put me over the edge and nearly made me choke was Pop Culture Gadabout's take-off on a post at Franklin's Findings.

Kraka-Thooooom!