“I could be the catalyst that sparks the revolution. I could be an inmate at a long-term institution. I could dream to wild extremes, I could do or die, I could yawn and be withdrawn and watch the world go by.” From What A Waste, written by Ian Dury and Rod Melvin.
If you’ve been to the supermarket lately — perhaps you just won the state lottery — you’ve probably noticed Halloween is upon us. Big bags of tiny candy bars marked “fun” abound, many containing ersatz pumpkin poo. We should acknowledge the likelihood that without Halloween, we might not have Wonder Woman around.
Like much of what I write this might seem idiosyncratic, but even if I’m overanalyzing history a bit, this claim has merit. In the 1940s, Wonder Woman was one of the most visible comics characters in America. She had her own comic book, was cover-featured in the monthly Sensation Comics anthology title, shared covers on Comic Cavalcade with Green Lantern and The Flash, was a member of the Justice Society of America — although, of course, she spent the war years as the JSA’s secretary. She even had her own daily newspaper comic strip for a couple years.
Then World War II ended. Before long the paper shortage ended and, slowly, rationing was retired. The returning generation of family members sold their daddy’s companies to mammoth, soulless, money-grubbing conglomerates. Those outlets that had been selling comic books — candy shops, drug stores, newsstands, railroad stations — were being replaced by shopping strips and malls where the profit from ten-cent comic books wouldn’t mean shit to a tree. Continue reading “Brainiac On Banjo: Halloween’s Other Princess”
There’s a lot of Batman stuff out there now, and I find it hard to keep up. What’s your favorite? Absolute Batman continues to do gangbusters, and has been such gift to comic shop retailers. Dan Jurgens’ and Mike Perkins’ Bat-Man: First Night has a second volume that looks to be another oversized treasure. Gabriel Hardman’s Black Label series, Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia is one that I totally missed the boat on. He’s a such a strong artist (and an impressive creative) that I need to hunt these issues down. The “regular” Batman series, by Matt Fraction, continues to break all the rules at breakneck speed. And the recent issues illustrated by Ryan Sook were a treat too.
And Detective Comics has been pretty good too.
I remember clearly, way back when I was a kid, when one of my neighborhood pals, George Riley, was telling me about the Batman 200th Smash Issue! Now, the gang each had our area of expertise back then: I was the Batman guy, Joe was the Fantastic Four guy, Hans was the Iron Man guy, my brother Colin was the Western comics guy, my other brother, Chris, would become The Flash guy, and George was the War comics guy.
Action Comics #400 has a wonderfully creepy Neal Adams cover, but I’m not sure it was designed specifically to be an anniversary cover. 
Best-but-Worst-Costume Design – One of the first Red Covers I loved was Detective Comics #358 from 1966. This introduced Spellbinder and his over-the-top costume. You don’t see many Spellbinder cosplayers, and there’s a reason for that. Fun fact: this copy (I keep it framed in my office) was editor Jack Schiff’s file copy!
Giant Italian Batman – Here’s a copy of Batman #61, but not the issue you are thinking of. This is a 1969 Italian publication that reprinted several Batman adventures. While Giant Batman vs. Hawkman seems like a quite a battle, sadly it was not found in the interior pages.
Yellow on Red – Alex Segura is a fantastic writer, and he’s having fun with Mad Cave’s new Dick Tracy series. Issue #3 Red Cover really pops!
When Jim Aparo burst onto the DC Comics scene in the 1970s, he was the artist we all had been waiting for. His slick and dynamic layouts, real-world figures, and expressive acting created scenes that were like an NBC detective show brought to life through the magic of bold, black ink.
Scott Dunbier was the guy who “invented” the Artist’s Edition format – essentially reproducing the original art pages in an oversize book format. He recently made that entrepreneurial jump and is now taking his efforts to the next level with his own publishing imprint, Act 4 Publishing. Through an arrangement with Image/Skybound the first Act 4 books are just coming out. 
I don’t know how I ended up with so many coloring books.
Later in life, as a young parent, coloring books were a big part of my kids’ early day. They had zillions of coloring books. Usually, they celebrated whatever was the most popular IP for my daughters. Beauty and the Beast? Sure. 101 Dalmatians? You got it. Fox’s Anastasia? Yes, even that one. As the-dad-who-likes art, we’d have fun coloring together. Especially the characters I liked. You know, the super-heroey types of coloring books. Over the years they also ended up with quite a few Batman and superhero coloring books.
