The Comics Rack

July Newstand

feeds@yuku.com (jasx) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:29:20 GMT

JULY Newstand: Very happy to see the return of Ambush Bug by Giffen and Fleming. One of the few mainstream funny books that was actually funny. I dug out a couple back issues, including ABug's turn in SECRET ORIGINS, to check, and it's true: actually funny.
And the WHOLE Humbug! Pappy's Golden Age has a few Humbug pages up.
The Mammoth Book of BEST...

PROJECT SUPERPOWERS SERIES

feeds@yuku.com (rhomak) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:10:56 GMT

The folks at Dynamite Comics (hmmmm, another DC) have a mini series out called PROJECT SUPERPOWERS. It is helmed by artist/extraordinaire, Alex Ross and Jim Krueger. The series star characters of the Golden Age: Green Lama, Masquerade, The
Black Terror, the original DareDevil (now known as Death Defying Devil), Target and the Targeteers, and many more.
The plot revolves the retrieval of Pandora's Box, once in the pocession of Hitler durring WW2, and the redemption of...

June News Stand

feeds@yuku.com (jas) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:41:52 GMT

This is my first post here. I enjoy reading the NEWS STAND, and thought I'd comment on the latest.

DC has a Sneak Peek CHUCK download here.

Haven't seen the trailer, but there's no way I'll be lured to the megaplex for...

Who's the best artist to work in newspaper comics?

feeds@yuku.com (Clark Savage Jr TGA) — Thu, 29 May 2008 11:23:47 GMT

As suggested in the title, who was (is) the best artist to work in newspaper comics (not comic books...that's for a later thread)?

The rules:
The artist must have worked on a newspaper comic strip from the beginning of the genre to the present day.
The strips can be either humorous or dramatic.
If you are inclined, editorial cartoons can be included.
You must give a short reasoning behind your choice.

I'll...

Inspiration for 'Mommy' in 'Family Circus' has died...

feeds@yuku.com (rhomak) — Sun, 25 May 2008 21:08:50 GMT

Thelma "Thel" Keane, "Family Circus" cartoonist Bil Keane's wife and the model for the Mommy character in the long-running one-panel newspaper comic, died Friday of Alzheimer's disease. She was 82.

Keane's first name appeared occasionally in the comic. She had been living at an assisted-living facility near her Paradise Valley, Arizona family home for the past three years.

Anne Costello voiced "Mommy"...

Will Elder and Gene Colan

feeds@yuku.com (Clark Savage Jr TGA) — Sun, 18 May 2008 07:04:46 GMT

It seems to have reached most of the major news sources, but, just in case, Will Elder passed away on Thursday, the 15th, at the age of 86. He had had Parkinson's for some time.

Less well reported was a report I ran across that says Gene Colan is battling liver failure and isn't in real good shape.

Ted Keys R.I.P.

feeds@yuku.com (rhomak) — Mon, 05 May 2008 22:16:59 GMT

Cartoonist Ted Key, creator of time-traveling dog scientist Peabody and his boy Sherman, died Saturday at his home in Tredyffrin, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia. He was 95.

He had been in failing health since he was diagnosed with bladder cancer in late 2006 and had a stroke last September.

Peabody and Sherman have been pop culture favorites since they first appeared in the "Peabody's Improbable History" segment of...

Siegel Family Wins Copyright Case

feeds@yuku.com (Clark Savage Jr TGA) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 09:55:26 GMT

In a long and involved legal battle that I have followed for some time, a Federal judge has determined that the heirs of Jerry Siegel have a right to a share of the copyrights to Superman. DC will have to cough up royalties from 1999 to the present day and beyond.

This landmark decision will probably take awhile to sort out, but finally rights one of the great injustices of the comic book industry.

More details in the next News Stand.

Jim Mooney Passes Away

feeds@yuku.com (Clark Savage Jr TGA) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 09:44:56 GMT

Comic Artist Jim Mooney died on March 30 from a number of health problems. He was 89 years old.
Mooney has long been considered THE Supergirl artist, but he drew one heck of a lot of other material, including work for Fox, Fiction House, Timely, many DC characters and Spider-Man (among others) for Marvel.

A lengthier obituary will appear in The News Stand at the end of the month.

Post Apocalyptic comics and one cartoon...

feeds@yuku.com (rhomak) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:20:04 GMT

Post Apocalyptic cartoons and comics were pretty popular in the middle to latter part of the last century. Apparently writers and artists had a very dim view about the future of this big blue marble. Here are a few of the doomed Earth comics and cartoons that appeared to fill our hearts with dispair for the future, and our minds with adventure.

Thundarr, the Barbarian

Watchmen to come to the big screen...

feeds@yuku.com (rhomak) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:04:57 GMT

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' miniseries, Watchmen, is coming to a theater near you next year. Here is some info from their fansite:

http://rss.warnerbros.com/watchmen/

rhomak

ps: I wonder why Mr. Moore didn't hire Charles Schultz to draw the series. I think this would have been a winner of a combination.

Dave Stevens R.I.P.

feeds@yuku.com (rhomak) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 07:36:10 GMT

Dave Stevens, creator of The Rocketeer, has passed away after a long bought with cancer. Here is a lind to Mark Evanier's site with an in depth obituary.
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2008_03_11.html#014911

rhomak

Dick Tracy Museum to close its doors...

feeds@yuku.com (rhomak) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 07:30:50 GMT

I received this email from a friend in New Jersey, and thought I'd share it with all the Leaguers.

Serial Star and comic book cop Dick Tracy has a museum in artist Chester Gould's
hometown of Woodstock , IL.

But it looks like it is going to close in June.

Maybe we all could send them some sort of supportive email and convince them to stay
open longer...

Turok: Son of Stone

feeds@yuku.com (rhomak) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 08:35:39 GMT

Turok first appeared in Four Color Comics #596 (December, 1954). In it, Turok and his young friend, Andar, pre-Columbian Indians, were out on a hunting expedition. They stumbled into a large valley surrounded by unscalable cliffs, where dinosaurs (which they called "honkers") still lived, and couldn't find their way back out. They were to spend more than a quarter of a century trying to escape that valley.

The comic was illustrated by Rex Maxon, best known...

Howard the Duck creator, Steve Gerber R.I.P.

feeds@yuku.com (rhomak) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:21:35 GMT

Steve Gerber, creator of the iconic comic book Howard the Duck and writer for several cartoon series, died Sunday night at MountainView Hospital in Las Vegas following a long struggle with pulmonary fibrosis. He was 60.

"For the last year or so, he was in and out of hospitals...

The Rumor Mill

feeds@yuku.com (Clark Savage Jr TGA) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:01:24 GMT

Marvel has a couple more Omnibus editions rumored to be in the works.
The first would be an Elektra Omnbus, which would collect the Miller/Sienkewicz mini-series from years ago, along with the "What if Elektra had Lived?" story from What If, the Elektra solo story from Bizarre Adventures and other odds and ends. Far as I can tell, this would completely exhaust Marvel's inventory of Miller...

No More Disney US?

feeds@yuku.com (Clark Savage Jr TGA) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 08:13:54 GMT

There has been a lot of speculation floating around about Gemstone, the company owned by Steve Geppi (owner of Diamond Distribution) and the publisher of Disney comics in the US.
Seems that Gemstone missed a number of release dates for their titles and no Gemstone material has been seen since early November. The company blames their woes on "problems with the printer", which, in publishingese usually means that someone hasn't been paid.
Sources say that Gemstone was...

Looking for Comic Strips

feeds@yuku.com (Jerry Blake Federal Operator 99) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 14:38:35 GMT

After getting Bill Blackbeard's Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics last spring and the companion volume, 100 Years of Comic Strips, this Christmas, I've suddenly discovered that I'm an insatiable comic strip buff. The trouble seems to be in finding complete collections of the many strips excerpted in these books. Of course, Terry and the Pirates, Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie, Krazy Kat, and Popeye are all becoming available in hardback now, but what about some of the...

The Spirit Dailies

feeds@yuku.com (Clark Savage Jr TGA) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:08:38 GMT

Rumor has it that DC will release a Volume 25 in the Spirit Archives series that will feature a complete reprinting of the Spirit dailies. If all happens as planned, the book should be released in August, 2008.

Scorchy Smith

feeds@yuku.com (Clark Savage Jr TGA) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:07:42 GMT

Rumor has it that IDW will be doing a complete Noel Sickles Scorchy Smith starting sometime in the spring.