Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
In writing this column I was forced to abandon my original idea of a spoiler-free review. The movie came about 6 days ago and you can find all sorts of spoiler-free reviews online, and all of the really interesting stuff I want to discuss requires this to be a pretty spoilerific article. So here is the warning: don't read any further if you have not seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
I recently came across a copy of a newsprint comic put out in April of 1941 called Canadian Rocket. I’m sure that some of you have already seen it. This has no glossy or cardboard type cover and is simply a newsprint publication that is a little larger than a regular comic book. Perhaps this was also the format of Robin Hood Comics No. 1 by Anglo American Publications which appeared on the stands a month earlier along with Better Comics No. 1 from Maple Leaf Publications. The indicia attribute it to Victory Publishing Co. in Toronto.
It’s time for another update from BIFF SOCKO, TWO-FISTED NEWSHOUND. Biff Socko covers Comic Book News like zits on the A-V Club. Faster than Perry White! Stronger than J. Jonah Jameson! Hotter than Cat Grant. He is…BIFF SOCKO!
This week Comic Culture hosts Chris Owen and Walter Durajlija talk up the world of comics for your listening pleasure. As always they are joined by producer Shekky Feldstein! The Shekkster spins some cool tunes too. So why don’t you kick…
My real love for adventure stories started for me when I was 10 years old, and my Grade 5 teacher, Mrs. Nethercott was responsible. She read a chapter or at least several pages a day, in the afternoon, and from…
This week I am turning the Undervalued Spotlight reigns over to guest writer Nelson da Rocha. Nelson is arguing that Amazing Spider-Man #96 deserves better than it is currently getting and I agree. Nelson gets to the heart of something I’ve briefly…
This past weekend Captain America: The Winter Soldier premiered in theatres. I have been anxiously waiting for this movie, not only because it is the next installment into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but because Captain America is one of my…
A new Kickstarter-supported anthology features 26 unexpected tales of horror.
A gathering of wonderful art spotted by yours truly these last few days.
Celebrating Hellboy’s twentieth anniversary, Hellboy: The First 20 Years brings a wide selection of images in a handsome oversized hardcover. Mignola has expanded Hellboy into the most exciting group of books since the early Marvel universe, and his style has influenced art…
I’ve decided to take a break this week from my recent interview series so I could say a very big happy 75th anniversary to Batman….wait, is it anniversary or birthday? Either way, he doesn’t look a day over 30, must be all the exercise and money. Being a billionaire does have it’s privileges.
This week Comic Culture hosts Chris Owen and Walter Durajlija talk about comics, stuff having to do with comics and stuff with nothing to do with comics at all. As always they are joined by producer Shekky Feldstein! We’ve also…
As a lot of you may know, I am working on putting together a coffee table-sized book that would feature the main artists of these WECA comics, that is, the Canadian Whites. I've got about 10 sections finished and I have submitted a package with the first three sections to Dundurn Publishing in Toronto. I really don’t hold much hope for seeing my cache of fairly arcane information being picked up by a publisher over the next few months, but I will try a couple more (such as Drawn and Quarterly and Fantagraphics). Most likely, my project will only be able to see fruition as a self-published e-book or a book for which a good deal of publishing funding could be raised through an online funding scheme such as Kickstarter.
I remember when DC’s the New 52 were first announced there was a lot of skepticism on this site. That soon changed once people realized how significant the event was, as well, DC appeared to be very committed to this new direction. Our Undervalued Spotlight host, Walter himself was speculating if these new books would become the new “keys” of this current generation. Well, it's been over two years so I thought I'd check to see how the initial wave of these books are doing in the back issue market.
That was the "Marvel Method". Where DC worked from full scripts and with a very rigid house style, Marvel was having their artists basically run wild with nothing more than a vague plot. The artist's job was to pace the story and often Stan Lee, and later on Roy Thomas, would be introduced to strange and wonderful ideas they never thought of but were responsible for dialoguing. Most of the time it worked marvellously( no pun intended!).
Love Diary #36, Charlton Comics, January 1965 This is a bit of a coup for the Undervalued Spotlight. I believe I’ve found a yet undiscovered prototype. I’m not sure you could even call it a prototype, to me it looks…
Joss Whedon had just announced that Ultron would appear as the main villain in the Avengers movie sequel. Like some frantic stock trader with insider information, I swung into action. I desperately phoned a few comic dealers in an effort to snag some copies of Avengers # 55 (the first full appearance of Ultron) for cheap. It took about a day to hear a back from them about the comics, and when they did call me back, the ink had already dried on the new price tags that they had slapped on the polybags. I think one dealer wanted $300 for a very fine copy of #55 so I passed on it.
Here on Comic Book Daily, we've talked about stuff. We've talked about selling your stuff. We've talked about storing your stuff. We've talked about displaying your stuff. But there's one thing we haven't talked about (at length anyways...), buying your stuff again.
A gathering of wonderful art spotted by yours truly these last few days.
Adapting history always carries with it an element of risk, and that risk is even greater when dealing with a beloved story such as 47 Ronin. The tale of loyal samurai who avenge their master's death has been adapted countless times in books, movies, plays, and even opera. So while there is quite a bit of source material to draw from, anyone who is interested in reading the story potentially knows it well. To make an adaptation such as this work there needs to be a great deal of care and respect for the story, and I'm happy to say that every page of 47 Ronin is filled with both.
This is a battle where I was definitely going to lose something (mmm…). My love of comic reading and Spider-Man vs. the raging hormones of a 15 year old me about to enter high school with all those girls. There was not enough time for both and the girls were winning. Reading comics was starting to feel a bit juvenile and my interest in them was beginning to wane. It didn’t help that my favourite title Spider-Man had been going through weak or flat spot (for me any way) in its run (issues #83-99) for a while with a couple of exceptions. Even the 2nd return of the Green Goblin, the drug issues (#96-98) hadn’t lifted me out of the doldrums as those books felt like drug story sermons to me back then. I was however holding out for a special issue #100, and that is where our Arcs and Runs tale begins today.