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Comic Book Legends Revealed #351
Welcome to the three hundredth and fifty-first in a series of examinations of comic book legends and whether they are true or false. Today, learn whether Robin was originally going to be a one-issue wonder! Discover the super-villain that came out of a bad review! And discover the supervillain invented by Harlan Ellison…for a T-Shirt?
Click here for an archive of the previous three hundred and forty-nine.
Let’s begin!
Line it is Drawn Try-Out Month – Time to Vote!
- by Brian Cronin
- in General
- 8 Comments
You’ve seen five weeks’ worth of their drawings, now vote for which artist you’d like to see join The Line it is Drawn!
Here are their first two weeks’ worth of drawings.
Here are their week three drawings.
Here are their week four drawings.
And here are their week five drawings.
Now vote!
Your votes will be mixed in with votes from some judges of my choosing and I’ll combine them all to determine who joins The Line it is Drawn (the final decision rests with me, though)!
The Line it is Drawn, Try-Out Week 5
From now until the end of January, the following ten artists are going to be drawing weekly pieces while trying out to become a new member of The Line it is Drawn artist roster.
Click here to see what they did during the two free-for-all weeks. Click here to see their first week’s worth of pieces, based on The Line it is Drawn theme week of “Cover Homages”. Click here to see their second week’s worth of pieces, based on The Line it is Drawn theme week of “Comic book characters fighting villains that they’ve never faced before”! And read on to see their final week’s worth of pieces, based on The Line it is Drawn theme week of Comic Book Characters in Different Genres.
House to Astonish Episode 77
- by Al Kennedy
- in House to Astonish
Slightly earlier than usual (because it’s my wedding anniversary this weekend so I’m going to be away), we’ve got a new episode of House to Astonish, with just shy of an hour and a half of chat for you on DC and Oni’s new logos, the public bust-ups on Infinite, Static Shock and Ashes and at Archie and a look at April’s solicitations. We’ve also got reviews of Infestation 2, Secret Avengers and Prophet and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe gets its buttons mashed. All this plus Arms-Stick-On Boy, a kid whose head is on fire and a look behind the scenes at an early meeting of the Image founders.
The podcast is here, or here on Mixcloud.
Or click on the player here:
Let us know what you think, in the comments below, on Twitter (I’m @housetoastonish and Paul is @ifdestroyed), by email (at housetoastonish@gmail.com) or on our Facebook fan page.
I Love Ya But You’re Strange – That Time Thor Nuked China
Every week, I will spotlight strange but ultimately endearing comic stories (basically, we’re talking lots and lots of Silver Age comic books). Here is the archive of all the installments of this feature.
Today we take a look at Journey Into Mystery #93, scripted by Robert Bernstein, plotted by Stan Lee, drawn by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers. In this story, Thor nukes China!
Frantic as a cardiograph scratching out the lines, Day 26: Sandman Midnight Theatre
Every day this month, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. Today’s page is from Sandman Midnight Theatre, which was published by DC/Vertigo and is cover dated September 1995. Enjoy!
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The Line It Is Drawn #74 – Comic Book Characters and NickToons Characters
Go follow Comics Should Be Good on Twitter (if you have Twitter, that is – if you don’t, you can go sign up). Here is our Twitter page… http://twitter.com/csbg. And here are the Comics Should Be Good writers who are on Twitter (the links go to the person’s Twitter account) – myself, Greg Hatcher, Chad Nevett, Kelly Thompson, Sonia Harris Danielle Leigh, Melinda Beasi, Michelle Smith, Bill Reed and Scott!
I update the blog’s Twitter account updates whenever a new post is put up on the blog, so it’s an easy way to keep up with the blog. In addition, I post new content on the blog’s Twitter account.
Now on to the bit!
So every week, I ask a question here. You reply to it on our Twitter page (just write @csbg with your reply) and our SIX blog sketch artists will each pick one of your suggestions and I will post them here every week. So every week you will have a new question and you will see the top six choices from the previous week. Here is an archive of all the previous editions of The Line It Is Drawn!
To qualify, you have to be following us when you reply – so go follow us and then give your answer to the following question/challenge (All suggestions due by 9:00 AM Pacific, Friday, January 27th).
The topic is…
Celebrate Anniversary Issues That Will Likely Never Be! Choose a canceled series and our artists will come up with an Anniversary Issue cover for that book. Static Shock #500! Angel and the Ape #200! Only canceled comics that have never HAD an issue that ended in 00 qualify (so no Defenders, Sgt. Rock, etc.)!
Read on for the six sketches that came about courtesy of the last question/challenge!
Team-up or mash-up comic book characters with characters from NickToons (here is a list of NickToons to help you out).
Enjoy!
Frantic as a cardiograph scratching out the lines, Day 25: The Tick #5
Every day this month, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. Today’s page is from The Tick #5, which was published by New England Comics and is cover dated August 1989. Enjoy!
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Committed: Targeted Marketing for the Geek-Curious
Outside of comic books themselves, there is very little advertising for comic books, online or on television. Targeting non-comic book readers could be effective, but are the corporations who own comic book publishers really trying to sell comic books?
Cover Theme Game for 1/25
Every Wednesday you’ll get a brand-new comic cover theme game! The game works like this: I’ll show you three covers. They all have something in common, whether it be a character, a trait all three characters share, a connection between all three characters (like they all share the last name of a U.S. President), a locale, a creator, SOMEthing. And it isn’t something obvious like “They all have prices!” “They all have logos!” “They all feature a man!” “They are all Avengers (who ISN’T?)!” “They’re all dead (who HASN’T been killed off?)!” etc.
In addition, please note that you must have some familiarity with comic book history to correctly guess these comics. You cannot guess the connective theme just by looking at the covers solely, you must have some knowledge beyond just the covers.
If you come up with an answer that works outside of what I intended, I’ll give you credit (well, provided I think it fits, of course).
One more thing – if there are floating heads on the cover, ignore them! They don’t mean anything!
If you think you know the answer, e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com. Don’t answer in the comments. This way, people who check in at different times of the day can still get credit for answering it correctly!
Here is an archive of all the past cover theme games, plus their answers. Before each new installment, I’ll post the answers to the previous week’s game.
Good luck and enjoy! Continue Reading »
Pointless PSAs: The Lesson Is…Life Is Just Unfair
- by Brian Cronin
- in General
- 27 Comments
On occasion, I’ll point some public service announcements that amuse me.
Today, we look at one of the most depressing PSAs ever!
“Enjoy!”
Comic Book Easter Eggs – Zoidberg in Action and Joker in Spider-Man’s Web!
Every Tuesday, I will be sharing with you three comic book “easter eggs.” An easter egg is a joke/visual gag/in-joke that a comic book creator (typically the artist) has hidden in the pages of the comic for readers to find (just like an easter egg). They range from the not-so-obscure to the really obscure. So come check ‘em all out and enjoy! Also, click here for an archive of all the easter eggs featured so far! If you want to suggest an easter egg for a future column, e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com (do not post your suggestion in the comments section!).
Frantic as a cardiograph scratching out the lines, Day 24: Fantastic Comics #16
Every day this month, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. Today’s page is from Fantastic Comics #16, which was published by Fox Feature Syndicate and is cover dated (from what I can discover) March 1941. It was reprinted in I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets! by Fantagraphics in 2007. Enjoy!
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Name That Golden Age Captain America Artist!
Every week, I will be sharing four panels featuring a comic book character. They will each be drawn by four separate pencilers. I will be featuring only pieces of art where the penciler did full pencils (as otherwise it would be way too difficult). Your challenge is to, simply put, name that artist!
E-mail me your guesses to bcronin@comicbookresources.com. Do NOT make guesses in the comments section! When I post the new challenge, I’ll post the correct answers for the previous on the archive page along with whoever guessed them correctly. You don’t have to name the issues the panels came from, but if you’d like to, knock yourself out.
Read on for the four panels featuring Captain America from his original Golden Age series, Captain America Comics…
Frantic as a cardiograph scratching out the lines, Day 23: Spider-Man/Human Torch #2
Every day this month, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. Today’s page is a story from Spider-Man/Human Torch #2, which was published by Marvel and is cover dated April 2005. Enjoy!
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