2006 Disneyland: The First 50 Years exhibit

A small exhibit was at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art in 2006, in conjunction with the donation of some artifacts from the theme park. I'm ambivalent about these exhibits (or postage stamps) that help advertise an ongoing concern, but there's no denying that Disney(land) is part of American popular culture.

Big Monkey Comics breaks street date for comics this week

I got a tip that Big Monkey Comics had a note on their website today that read:

NEW COMICS ARE IN!
In our last post, we told you we weren't expecting our books until Friday 01/02/09. BUT IN FACT, we did get them today, through the blessings of the postal gods. So new comics will be available for you ON WEDNESDAY 12/31/08!.

This is a big no-no in the comics retailing world since it would let retailers steal customers based on how soon they were able to get their comics from Diamond (which is a monopoly so there's no one else to get new comics from), and I'm sure they got called on the carpet for it as the notice later disappeared.

Am I the only one who actually misses comics arriving on Friday? I much preferred that - you could pick them up after work or school and read them as late as you liked.

Curtis - Kwanzaa or not?

In "Please bring back 'Curtis'" by Brian Steinberg, Comics Examiner December 31, 2008, Steinberg argues that the annual Kwanzaa stories by Ray Billingsley detract from the strip overall. I beg to differ. While I don't celebrate Kwanzaa, I look forward to the strips in the Post, especially in the variety in the art style. In fact, when this year's strips started, I thought to myself that Billingsley should collect the whole run in a book. I think he should have enough by now and print-on-demand is making specialty collections easy and economically feasible.

Book review: Who Can Save Us Now?: Brand-New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories

This book came over the transom a few months ago, and I'm just catching up to reviewing it. This review should also appear in print in the International Journal of Comic Art's 11:1 issue in the late Spring.




Owen King and John McNally, editors. Who Can Save Us Now?: Brand-New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories. Free Press, 2008. 432 pages. $16.00. ISBN-10: 1416566449; ISBN-13: 978-1416566441.

Superhero novels have been published off and on since George Lowther’s 1942 novel The Adventures of Superman. Most times these books are based directly on existing comic book superheroes, frequently due to a media tie-in, as in the novel and the radio show in which Lowther wrote for both. The 1960s saw Batman novels due to the television show, and Marvel Comics had a series of novels based on their superheroes in the 1970s. In recent years, many of these types of books, frequently labeled ‘media tie-in’ have been produced, but this book hearkens back to a different trend. In the 1970s, some superhero novels such as Robert Mayers’ 1977 Superfolks attempted to be ‘serious fiction.’ This trend continued with infrequent novels such as 1994’s What They Did to Princess Paragon by Robert Rodi until the recent success of Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem inspired new attempts.

Of the twenty-two stories in the book, six have previously appeared, and of that six, three of them were in the Virginia Quarterly Review. Although the author notes at the end list each one’s favorite superhero, judging from their answers, it appears that few of them are serious superhero comic book readers and none are comic book writers. This lack of familiarity with the genre can lead to some awkward or uninteresting writing at times.

The book starts off strongly with Stephanie Harrell’s “Girl Reporter,” a strong take on an alternative Superman – Lois Lane type of relationship, told from the reporter’s point of view. “The Quick Stop 5®” by Sam Weller is a good example of a story that would not work well in a comic book, but partly because Weller mocks the genre. The characters gain their powers in a typical freak accident, but the powers are not necessarily ones that would be desired. Prophylactic Girl, with rubber powers, also has a condom tip on her head while Dip is a walking wad of chewing tobacco in the mold of Swamp Thing or Man-Thing. The story is a satire, and is amusing though. John McNally’s “Remains of the Night” is another satire in which the narrator appears to work for a hero named the Silverfish – one can only go in one direction with a premise like that although McNally’s writing is competent. “The Pentecostal Home for Flying Children” by Will Clarke takes the premise of the X-Men, mutant children in a special school, and turns it on its side. Clarke wrote, “Unfortunately, the Redbird didn’t possess the necessary might to be a major-league superhero. In the world of superpowers, flight was pretty much table stakes. … So the Redbird was relegated to working in the superhero farm leagues. … However as the years passed, it became apparent that the Redbird had moved to Shreveport for less-than-savory reasons. Turns out the Redbird came to our town not just for the easy work, but for our chronically bored housewives, our prodigal daughters, and our all-too-easily seduced Baptist Ladies Prayer Circle.” (p. 110) The children of his liaisons end up becoming a problem for the whole town.

Another story that alters a typical superhero tale is “Mr. Big Deal” by Sean Doolittle, in which a police officer’s superpower is that he can disable other peoples powers permanently. His father, a superhero called The Hard Bargain, never felt comfortable around him because his son could take away his powers at any time, but now the father lies in a coma in a hospital bed because “For Four decades, in the service of the common good, he absorbed gunshots, stabbings, conflagrations, falls from great heights, and the kind of damage that would spread a natural over a country mile like so much fertilizer. And then, finally, little by little, my father’s jungle of internal scar tissue began to strangle his won organs, shutting him down one function at a time.” (p. 298) The story ends with a twist that O. Henry might have tried.

Some of the stories, especially the shortest ones do not work quite as well, but the collection as a whole is worth reading especially if you have an interest in the superhero genre. I am not sure if this type of fiction is sustainable in the long run, but one might as well enjoy it while it appears. The book is capably illustrated throughout by Chris Burnham who has worked for Image Comics. The cover photograph and design is well done too.

2006 Smithsonian lunchbox exhibit

In 2006 the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History had an exhibit of lunchboxes, many of which featured comic and cartoon characters, outside of its cafeteria. I've loaded the pictures on my Flickr site, but here's a few to whet your appetite.


Tom Corbett, Space Cadet - a tv show, but soon a Dell comic book too.


How many Peanuts lunchboxes have there been?


It looks like late-period Caniff, but Steve Canyon is still cool.


Walter Lantz's Woody Woodpecker is essentially forgotten now, but was big in its day.

More pics at the flickr link above...

OT: Spurgeon's Batton Lash interview

I always enjoy the new Supernatural Law comic and Batton is one of the nicest guys you'd want to meet at a con. I usually try to buy anything new he's got at SPX, and this year got a guidebook to Supernatural Law while my daughter got some of the Archie comics he's writing. Here's a new interview with him by Tom Spurgeon:
CR Holiday Interview #9: Batton Lash, Comics Reporter (December 31 2008).

Super-balloons

Hulk, Spider-Man and Superman balloons at the Arlington County Fair, August 2006. I think there's a Jimmy Neutron poking up too. I ran across this photo so I thought I'd put it up. Look for Smithsonian shots of lunch boxes and Disneyland stuff soon.

OT: David Lozell Martin's new book

My friend David Martin has a new book out, and it's reviewed by the New York Times.

LOSING EVERYTHING
By David Lozell Martin
201 pages. Simon & Schuster. $24.

David's a better writer than the Times reviewer credits him as, but I can't imagine this book was easy to write. I've only read his fiction, and I'm both looking forward to, and dreading this autobiography. I'd recommend David's books, especially Crazy Love and Pelikan, and be sure to search by his middle name as you'll get relevant results.

Comic Riffs on the decimation of editorial cartoonists in 2008

One would think that a presidential election year wouldn't be one in which you'd let your political cartoonist go, but apparently I know nothing about the deep thinking that goes into running a newspaper. Michael Cavna's got a list and comments about the year's shrinkage.

Spiegelman's Breakdowns on sale at Politics and Prose

Minor bit from today's newletter - BREAKDOWNS: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*! by Art Spiegelman, $27.50 now $18.43 - but they might still have signed copies from when he was there.

Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 364-1919 or (800) 722-0790
Fax: (202) 966-7532

www.moderntimescoffeehouse.com
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e-mail: books@politics-prose.com

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Harvey Pekar: Conversations reviewed a second time

Nice review here:
Harvey Pekar: Mensch
A Review of Harvey Pekar: Conversations by Michael G. Rhode
by Paul Buhle, November 20, 2008

Paul Buhle writes non-fiction comics too.

January '09 BASH Magazine On Stands Now!

I didn't see it at the Vienna Metro Station when I got on the train this morning, but it was staring me in the face when I got off at Gallery Place/Chinatown today!

The latest issue of BASH! Magazine comes complete with a full-color cover (plus some color on the interior as well), with a great looking caricature of Obama by Greg Halbert -- just in time for the inauguration! I expect this'll grab quite a few visitors' eyes when they're in for the event and looking for affordable pieces of collectible history...

Kal's Credit Crunch board game, in action

I broke out the Credit Crunch game from the Economist today and got destroyed by my 10-year old daughter. My ex-high school teacher of economics father-in-law didn't do much better than me though.



Kal asked for comments. The using coins to figure out moves is a bit clunky, but I don't have any better ideas. Also when one reaches the end, are you supposed to continue through Start and go around again? If so, do you collect $500 mil again? (We did). We also sold our Financial Risk Cards, or at least bribed each other to influence the results. We only made it around the track once - two of us were bankrupt while Claire made it past the Start line with a few hundred million left. Overall the game was fun. I'd play it again. It's like Life and Monopoly mashed together.

Claire modeling Richard's Poor Almanack t-shirt

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Originally uploaded by mgrhode1

A entomologist contacted Richard Thompson about making a t-shirt from his Richard's Poor Almanack panel featuring the camel cricket. Richard, being a thoroughly nice guy, said yes and got some of the shirts in return. Modeled by Claire because they're all small.

Good luck in finding one of these collectibles!

Thompson illustrates Barry in Post Magazine

Dave Barry's annual Year in Review in the Washington Post magazine is illustrated by Our Man Thompson and the pics are on the Post website.

Richard's got a post up on it too.

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE FRIDAY (Not Wednesday) 01-02-09

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE FRIDAY (Not Wednesday) 01-02-09
By John Judy

(Why kiss a loved one at midnight when you could be reading comics?!)

30 DAYS OF NIGHT: TIL DEATH #2 written and drawn by David Lapham. The creator of STRAY BULLETS is delivering his strongest work (and best 30 DAYS series) in a long time. Definitely worth a look if you think the world post-Barrow has been a bit of a let-down.

AVENGERS INITIATIVE #20 by Dan Slott, Christos Gage and Steve Kurth. Lots of post- Secret Invasion doings as the real Hank Pym returns and Mutant Zero stands revealed.

BATMAN: CACOPHONY #2 of 3 by Kevin Smith and Walt J. Flanagan. The Good News: Kevin Smith managed to hit a deadline on a monthly book. The Bad News: Did you see issue one?

CAPTAIN AMERICA #45 by Ed Brubaker and Luke Ross. Bucky America has to beat the French fiend Batroc the Leaper and find whoever’s left of the Invaders. I recommend shouting in German and checking Facebook.

FANTASTIC FOUR #562 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. The funeral of the Invisible Woman. They say it’s empty casket but how can you tell?

FINAL CRISIS: SECRET FILES #1 by Various Creators. Perhaps this will reveal the secret of why FINAL CRISIS is taking so long to wrap up already.

GOON #31 written and drawn by Eric Powell. “That’s the man who killed Kizzie! And it’s long past time that I dealt with him!” Highly recommended.

GREEN LANTERN #36 by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke. Hal and the gang rush to duke it out with the wrathful Red Lanterns while the Controllers seek out the greed-powered Orange Lanterns. So “Orange = Greed.” A subtle swipe at a certain California county? Why not?

INCOGNITO #1 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. This new series is why CRIMINAL is going on hiatus so it must, must, must be awesome! Thankfully it looks like it is. The premise: What if you were a super-villain in Federal Witness Protection and you just couldn’t stand it anymore? Highly Recommended.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #28 by Dwayne McDuffie and Ed Benes. The JLA versus the Shadow Cabinet. Watch for flying splinters.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #22 by Geoff Johns, Alex Ross and Dale Eaglesham. Gog’s big, fat other shoe has dropped and now it’s time to throw it at him. Big Fight!

KICK-ASS #5 by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Remember this series? Issue four came out in August. Look for the trade collection of the first six issues in December of 2008. Oh, wait….

MARVELS: EYE OF THE CAMERA #2 of 6 by Kurt Busiek and Jay Anacieto. Photojournalist Phil Sheldon is still tracking the super goings-on in the Marvel Universe but he’s got troubles of his own. Cancer. An engaging follow-up to the classic MARVELS series.

NORTHLANDERS #13 by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly. The Irish guerilla and the Viking enforcer finally come face to face and it ain’t gonna be resolved with a drinking contest. Great stuff. Recommended.

PUNISHER WAR ZONE #4 of 6 by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. Wow, so it looks like this comic has already outlasted its namesake’s run in theatres. Deservedly so. Anyway, it looks like Frank’s gonna have to take out an army of Ma Gnucci zombie-clones. Seriously. Recommended, but not for kids or people with a low tolerance for the Ennis-style dark, silly humor.

SCALPED #24 by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera. My favorite comic continues to come out despite the best efforts of the buying public to keep it down on The Rez. Too intense for kids and those with a low tolerance for Total Awesomeness. Highly recommended.

THE STAND: CAPTAIN TRIPS #4 of 5 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Mike Perkins. It’s the end of the world as we know it and it looks fine! The best adaptation yet of Stephen King’s epic novel. Recommended!

SUPERMAN #683 by James Robinson, Geoff Johns and Renato Guedes. Imagine if you tried passing discriminatory laws like California’s Prop 8 against 100,000 people, each with the all powers of Superman. An intriguing issue.

ULTIMATE HULK ANNUAL #1 by Jeph Loeb and Marko Djurdjevic. This is quite an accomplishment since Ultimate Hulk never actually had his own series. Anyway, for some reason the mass-murdering Hulk of the Ultimates Universe is teaming up with the mass-murdering Power Princess from the Squadron Supreme Universe. Makes you wonder what these crazy kids will get up to, doesn’t it?

WOLVERINE #70 by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. The twisted alternate future road-trip continues with blind Hawkeye doing the violence and Old Man Logan not. Impressive they’ve maintained such a status quo all the way through part five of eight of this entertaining story.

WOLVERINE: MANIFEST DESTINY #3 of 4 by Jason Aaron and Stephen Segovia. Wolverine must unite all the kung-fu schools in Chinatown to defeat the Black Dragon Tong. And that, my friends, is a movie! If you enjoy these Jason Aaron Wolverine stories as much as I, do yourself a favor and pick up his other title, SCALPED. You’ll have the rest of your life to thank me.

X-MEN: MAGNETO TESTAMENT #4 of 5 by Greg Pak and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Young Magneto finds himself in Auschwitz. It bears repeating that this is a genuinely powerful series, focusing less on super-heroics and super-villainy than on the horrors of a Jewish boy’s coming of age during the holocaust. Both Pak and Di Giandomenico deserve credit for taking what could have been a hideous trivialization of the 20th century’s darkest moment and making it into something both restrained and moving. Highly recommended.

www.johnjudy.net

Zadzooks Christmas column

ZADZOOKS: Offbeat holiday offerings
Joseph Szadkowski
Washington Times Thursday, December 25, 2008.

I really like Paul Dini's Jingle Belle.

Crane and Bell with Comic Riffs anecdotes

"Fave Fan Anecdotes: 'Pickles' & 'Candorville'," By Michael Cavna, December 26, 2008.

New York Times on future of comic strips

This is a pretty good article - "Prototype: The Comics Are Feeling the Pain of Print," By LESLIE BERLIN, New York Times December 28, 2008.

New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff is quoted in this article about financial humor - "I’m Penniless, but the Laugh’s on Them," By LIZ ALDERMAN, New York Times December 28, 2008.

Baltimore's Greg LaRocque interview on Newsarama

Baltimore's Greg LaRocque has an interview on Newsarama. LaRocque was one of my favorite DC artists in the late 80s, and I got to meet him and buy some art at one of the Baltimore Comic-Cons. Here's links to his website and Myspace pages.