Post's Style and Arts section goes to the cartoons

Three! articles in one section on comics:

1. Reggie Hudlin and BET with glances at Boondocks and Black Panther - "Channel Changer: Three Years Ago, Reggie Hudlin Came To Save a Troubled BET. But Has He?" By Teresa Wiltz, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, May 4, 2008; M01.

2. A glance at Oliphant's sculpture of Rumsfeld on display in Woodley Park - "Capturing a Hero for Posterity," by John Pancake, Washington Post May 4, 2008

3. Quesada on Marvel - "Now here we are. We're going to be producing our own stuff.": There's Nothing Mild-Mannered About Joe Quesada's Marvel Comics," by David Betancourt, Washington Post Sunday, May 4, 2008; M02.

and not on comics, but on visual art is this fascinating piece on the true colors of ancient statuary - "Correcting a Colorblind View of the Treasures of Antiquity," By Blake Gopnik, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, May 4, 2008; Page M01.

OT: New Marvel book by buddy

Rob Weiner who I've corresponded with off and on for years has a specialized book for librarians coming out that may also appeal to the hardcore Marvel fan. Here's the details.

Marvel Graphic Novels and Related Publications
An Annotated Guide to Comics, Prose Novels, Children's Books,
Articles, Criticism and Reference Works, 1965–2005
Robert G. Weiner
Foreword by John Rhett Thomas

ISBN 978-0-7864-2500-6
appendices, bibliography, indexes
399pp. hardcover (7 x 10) 2008

$49.95
Available for immediate shipment

Description
This work provides an extensive guide for students, fans, and
collectors of Marvel Comics. Focusing on Marvel's mainstream comics,
the author provides a detailed description of each comic along with a
bibliographic citation listing the publication's title,
writers/artists, publisher, ISBN (if available), and a plot synopsis.
One appendix provides a comprehensive alphabetical index of Marvel and
Marvel–related publications to 2005, while two other appendices
provide selected lists of Marvel–related game books and unpublished
Marvel titles.

About the Author
Robert G. Weiner is a reference librarian at the Mahon Library in
Lubbock, Texas. His works have been published in the following
journals: Journal of Popular Culture, Public Library Quarterly,
Journal of American Culture and Popular Music and Society. He lives in
Lubbock.


Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Foreword by John Rhett Thomas 1
Preface 3

Section I. Background Highlights
1. Graphic Novels and Literature, Then and Now 5
2. Marvel Comics, Then and Now 11

Section II. Marvel's Superheroes
3. Major Characters, Teams, and Team-Ups
Avengers, Black Panther/Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hercules, Thunderbolts,
and Ultimates 19
Captain America, Fury, Human Torch, Namor, and Golden-Age Characters
27
Conan/Kull 34
Cosmic Heroes and Supernaturals/Blade, Captain Marvel, Dr. Strange,
Dracula, Ghost Rider, Silver Surfer, Thanos, et al. 37
Daredevil and Elektra 44
Fantastic Four/Dr. Doom and Inhumans 50
Hulk and She-Hulk 55
Iron Man and War Machine 60
Punisher, Shadowmasters, and The 'Nam 62
Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Spider-Girl, Venom, and Carnage 67
Thor 86
Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Death's Head 90
Wolverine, Deadpool, Sabretooth, and Weapon X 96
X-Men/Mutants and Related 104
4. Minor Characters and Minor Character Combos
Minor Characters 131
Minor Character Combos 143

Section III. Special Volumes and Series
5. Special Hardbacks and Marvel Masterworks
Special Hardbacks 151
Marvel Masterworks 168
6. Marvel's Essential Series
Avengers, Ant-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor 180
Daredevil 184
Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom, Human Torch, and Inhumans 185
Hulk 187
Spider-Man 187
Wolverine 189
X-Men 191
Essential Monsters 193
Other Essentials 194
7. Epic Comics Graphic Novels 197
8. Marvel and Marvel-Related Paperbacks 215

Section IV. Selected Marvel Publications
9. Marvel/DC Crossovers 227
10. Children's Books 232
11. Movies and Television 245
12. Classical, Esoteric, Historical, Music-Related, and Religious
Works 252

Section V. Selected Marvel-Related Publications
13. Prose Novels
Avengers 257
Blade 257
Captain America 258
Daredevil and Elektra 258
Fantastic Four 259
Hulk 260
Iron Man 262
Spider-Man 262
X-Men/Wolverine and Related 268
Team-Ups 276
Other Characters and Novels 279
14. Articles, Books, Guides, and Indexes
Articles and Books 282
Guides and Indexes 298
15. Children's Books 305
16. Scholarly Publications 311

Appendix 1. Marvel and Marvel-Related Publications, 2005 325
Appendix 2. Selected Marvel-Related Game Books 332
Appendix 3. Unpublished Books 335
Title Index 337
Artist and Author Index 354
Subject Index 364

April 21: Stan Lee at National Press Club POSTPONED

In spite of these flyers, Stan Lee will NOT be appearing at the National Press Club on Monday April 21st. Hopefully he'll be able to reschedule.

Former DC resident writing for Marvel

See "ROBERTO AGUIRRE-SACASA ON YA PRESENTS #3," by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean, Newsarama January 2, 2008.

Marvel might have an image problem

Every once in a while, a Washington Times comes to hand and I read the comics and editorial cartoons. Here's one by Combs of Tribune Media Services that struck me today.
Perhaps most people wouldn't notice it, but as you can see the skull on the kid's shirt is clearly the Punisher's emblem.
The average non-comics reader would probably have heard of the two failed movies, the second with John Travolta, but the Punisher's been around since the early 1970s. He's from the time when Dirty Harry was in the theaters and The Destoyer and The Executioner were in men's novels.

I have no idea if this is drawn from life and some mass murderer really wore a Punisher t-shirt, or if the artist just liked the image, or what, but it seems like Marvel might end up with some image problems if cartoons like this one continue.

Latest Marvel comic for the military

I was able to pick up a copy of this at work. I find these all mawkish, rather than inspiring. And silly. The plot to this makes no sense at all. AIM devotes millions of dollars to keeping a brother and sister in the military from communicating with each other?

Washington Post on Marvel's digital comics subscription

See "Superheroes on Demand: Marvel Goes After New Fans With Subscription Site," by Mike Musgrove, Washington Post Staff Writer, Wednesday, November 14, 2007; Page D01.

Most of this article comes out of Marvel's press release from yesterday, but author Mike Musgrove did get a comment from Joel Pollack - "Some of my fellow retailers are kind of upset, but I think you can't turn back the hands of time and it's inevitable," he said. "If it hurts the sale of Marvel Comics, it's more self-destructive of Marvel . . . than anything else. . . . I don't know if it's going to have any impact on my business or not."

This isn't going to hurt anyone because Marvel is charging $10 a month for six-month-old comics that you can't download and take with you, but only read on their website. Why would anyone pay them for this? Nobody else has been able to make this model work - not the New York Times, nobody. And most publishers don't have scanners making the material available almost immediately (which I'm not condoning, just noting. I prefer my comics as paper). And none of their comics are hard to find - certainly not the ones they listed as being available online - unless you live in Nepal maybe, and then you're going to have internet connectivity issues anyway.

Also note that Fantom Comics is opening in Union Station - I wish them the best, but I think that's a high-risk move unless they're getting a super deal in rent.