RC Harvey opens his columns to all, in a limited time offer

I enjoy the biweekly column and you should check them out now and then subscribe and send Bob some money for the next quarter.

Open Access for Seasonal Beach Reading!!!

As a special summer swimsuit offer, Rants & Raves and Harv's Hindsight, normally accessible only to those who have paid the ridiculously low subscription fee of $3.95/quarter, will be open to all comers from June 14, Flag Day, through July 31, 2008, without charge. During that time, non-paying visitors will be able to read in their entirety the regular postings of Rants & Raves, a nearly bi-weekly round-up of cartooning news and reviews of comic books, graphic novels, and comic strips. Visitors will also have unfettered access to the archives of Rancid Raves (going back to May 1999) plus Harv's Hindsight, a on-going collection of cartoonist biographies and deep-thinking critical analyses of Great Works of the Cartooning Arts. Recent R&R articles include an examination of how trivial news coverage breeds trivial editorial cartoons, how David Hajdu's Ten-cent Plague short-changes comics history, and how the Tenth of February protest against racial tokenism in the funnies failed—and succeeded—plus reviews of Wordless Books: The Original Graphic Novels, Mark Evanier's Jack Kirby, and a biography of Jackie Ormes, the first African-American woman cartoonist. And in Harv's Hindsights lately, we've examined the history of Howard the Duck and offered appreciations of Gus Arriola's Gordo, Marty Links' Emmy Lou (Bobby Sox), and T.K. Ryan's Tumbleweeds. All amply illustrated. Oh—no swimsuits; sorry, that allusion is merely our cheap shot attempt at conjuring a fool-proof come-on. We apologize: it won't happen again. To gain access to all these intellectual riches, use Hogan as your ID; Alley as your password. The device is case sensitive, so be sure to capitalize Hogan and Alley. The ID and Password come to us courtesy Hogan's Alley magazine, an annual visitation to comic strips and cartooning that's worth your attention at msnbc.cagle.com/hogan . Try it, you'll like it.

In the current (today) posting of R&R, the last dance this time goes to a review of Frederik Peeters' graphic novel Blue Pills, but before we get there, we take a look at some of the book projects on the immediate horizon, consider the achievement represented by the completed runs of Lobster Johnson and Loveless, ponder again—this time with examples—what motion should contribute to the political commentary in an editorial cartoon, and report on the reputed financial status of the funnybook industry, particularly with regard to graphic novels and manga. And more, much more. Beam up by clicking below.

http://www.rcharvey.com/rantsraves.html