Stephane wrote in to ask:

For a while now I've been trying to figure this out, but can't quite seem to find the answer anywhere.

Who designed the current Nightwing costume? I had assumed it was Scott McDaniel, who handles art chores on the early issues of the current Nightwing run, until I realized that the costume was introduced earlier than that (Possibly in a Greg Land miniseries). I'm hard pressed to believe that Land could come up with such a striking design, one which will likely continue as the definitive version of the Nightwing persona.

Any thoughts?

To start, I have no idea if Greg Land is good at designing costumes. He might be!

However, I am about 99% sure that Nightwing's current costume, the one that debuted in the Nightwing mini-series by Denny O'Neil and Greg Land, was designed by Brian Stelfreeze, who did the covers for that mini-series.

Thanks for the question, Stephane!

If anyone else has any questions they'd like to see answered, feel free to drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com.

15 Comments

• At February 12, 2009, Blaquesaber wrote:

  You're right. Stelfreeze did design the suit for the first/original Nightwing mini series. Greg Land pencils the majority ...

• At February 13, 2009, Cory Strode wrote:

  The main reason, IMHO is that no one but Perez could make the look of the original suit "work".

• At February 13, 2009, Blaquesaber wrote:

  Cory

  I think you're right. Even Grummet changed it for Titans to the blue and gold suit with the webbing ...

• At February 13, 2009, Rob M wrote:

  For all his talents as an artist, Perez's costume design has always been terrible. He was also responsible for ...

• At February 13, 2009, McK wrote:

  For all his talents as an artist, Perez’s costume design has always been terrible.

  You neglected to mention probably his worse ...

• At February 13, 2009, Wesley wrote:

  "With the possible exception of Raven (basically just a black cloak, which is pretty hard to mess up), I don’t ...

• At February 13, 2009, Jeff Ryan wrote:

  i was watching a tape of Into the Woods the other day, and I was amazed at how much the ...

• At February 13, 2009, Jeff Holland wrote:

  Oh god, the Avengers-era Justice and Firestar costumes were just painful. The moment Janet said, "Oh, why don't you let ...

• At February 13, 2009, Michael Mayket wrote:

  And back to the wording of the original question... while Stelfreeze did design the current outfit let's try to remember ...

• At February 13, 2009, salamurai wrote:

  wait, what was wrong with Starfire's original costume?

• At February 13, 2009, John Trumbull wrote:

  I tend to like Perez's costume designs, but the man has undeniably done some stinkers. The main problem he ...

• At February 13, 2009, John Trumbull wrote:

  Oh, and another bad one: Justice's 2nd Avengers look. Hated it from first sight.

• At February 13, 2009, Daniel O' Dreams wrote:

  Don't forget the original Troia costume talk about needlessly complicated and noone but Perez and Phil Jimenez can even draw ...

• At February 13, 2009, Graeme Burk wrote:

  Sorry guys, I like the original Nightwing costume. I'm clearly in a minority here but I thought it looked pretty ...

• At February 13, 2009, John Trumbull wrote:

  I think the original Nightwing costume works well in a superhero group book like the Titans. It looks odd ...

Scott asks:

While "The Dark Knight Returns" is hailed today as a turning point in comics, along with Watchmen, what exactly was the critical response to it at the time of it's release. I've looked around a little, but what I've seen is mostly "Looking Back" type reviews.

I know that there weren't any blogs in '86, but there were still magazines and fanzines. Was it always loved? What were the criticisms 22 years ago?

Both series were great successes (commercially and critically) right off the bat.

"Instant classics," if you would.

Watchmen perhaps a bit more than Dark Knight.

If anyone else has any questions they'd like to see answered, feel free to drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com.

24 Comments

• At February 5, 2009, Grico wrote:

  A post on series that were poorly received when they came out that are now considered classics would be interesting. ...

• At February 5, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  The problem might be that comics that weren't received well at the time of publishing weren't allowed to get far ...

• At February 5, 2009, Rene wrote:

  It's interesting. I remember when both series were released, Watchmen particularly seemed to be universally loved and acclaimed. I can't ...

• At February 5, 2009, Rene wrote:

  Grico -

  I don't think they're considered quite "classics" today, but many comics that were pretty much hated back when ...

• At February 5, 2009, Gavin wrote:

  If my memory is correct, The Dark Knight was more in the public eye than Watchmen. There were quite ...

• At February 5, 2009, Cestrian wrote:

  Grico- I think both Sandman and Starman lost a lot of fans during the later part of their runs ...

• At February 5, 2009, Dork wrote:

  Critics rarely used the word "G***amn."

• At February 5, 2009, Cory Strode wrote:

  Rene:

  There were a LOT of people who were upset about Byrne's Superman reboot, and were quite vocal about it in ...

• At February 5, 2009, Ganky wrote:

  How about "Stray Toasters" by Bill Seinkiewitz? Instant Classic hot on the heels of his and Frank Miller's "Elektra: Assassin"?

  I ...

• At February 5, 2009, Ganky wrote:

  How about "Moonshadow"? How about the original "Elfquest"? The first Graphic Novel to call itself that which I saw was ...

• At February 5, 2009, Gavin wrote:

  Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! Would I wouldn't give to have WB Animation take a shot at ...

• At February 6, 2009, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  A post on series that were poorly received when they came out that are now considered classics would be interesting.

  Kirby's ...

• At February 6, 2009, DanCJ wrote:

  Yes, even works that are somehow reviled today (like Byrne’s Man of Steel depowering and bringing Superman down to earth)

  Is ...

• At February 6, 2009, Gavin wrote:

  The Byrne Superman stuff was well appreciated by my group of comic book junkies and the ringleader who owned and ...

• At February 6, 2009, Rene wrote:

  I dunno, Cory. My impression was that most of the real criticism of Man of Steel came from outside the ...

• At February 6, 2009, Geoff wrote:

  The Eternals? by Kirby. That got canceled pretty quickly (I Think).

• At February 6, 2009, Rob M wrote:

  My memory may be faulty on this, but I think I recall that Dark Knight was underordered by many comics ...

• At February 6, 2009, Squashua wrote:

  Two words that probably work as a poorly-received, now-critically-acclaimed series: Grant Morrison's Animal Man.

• At February 6, 2009, Cestrian wrote:

  Squashua: Really? I wasn't reading it at the time but the letter columns and use net posts I've read from ...

• At February 6, 2009, MarkAndrew wrote:

  But of course, Byrne’s reboot was never unanimous, but I do think it was much more loved back then. Yep, ...

• At February 6, 2009, Stephen wrote:

  "WHO, exactly, are you referencing here? I very, VERY rarely hear the Silver-Age Superman described as some kind of genius ...

• At February 6, 2009, mrclam wrote:

  @MarkAndrew--Oh, us retro Silver Age fans hang out everywhere--even here. Online, most can be found at sites specializing in older ...

• At February 6, 2009, MarkAndrew wrote:

  Mr.Clam - Oh, sure, you guys exist. I'm a huge fan of Unca Cheeks and the Fortress Keeper, ...

• At July 13, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I'm not sure what was 'poorly received' in the old days, since I never heard what other fans thought back ...

Today, we look at a pricing request and an examination of how superhero comic books dealt with World War II during World War II.

Enjoy!

Reader Rita Cruz asks:

I have a cmic book I found and would like to know if anyone can help me find out the value of it. There are so many websites I dont know which web to log onto.Its called THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN DOOMSDAY the year on there is 1992in a triangle with a # 47 under it, under the DC symbol is a square with the # 497 DEC 92 I hope someone can help me . THANK YOU!

Rita, that comic book, part of the "Death of Superman" storyline, goes for between a dollar and two dollars on the current market.

Reader Jeremy Block wanted to know about comic books during World War II that dealt with World War II.

An interesting time in comic books was directly before World War II, where Europe was at war and America was still divided with whether to get involved.

Comic books, however, were much willing to take stances on the war abroad (perhaps having something to do with the fact that most of the publishers still had familial ties to Europe, not to mention the fact that a good deal of the folks working in comics were Jewish), which led directly to the proliferation of the "patriotic hero."

The Shield, in the pages of MLJ's Pep Comics, was the first.

Lev Gleason's Daredevil #1 was one of the most straightforward...

Timely Comics' Captain America, though, was the most popular.

The famous shots of Captain America hitting Hitler, however, were put out BEFORE the United States went to war.

In true Golden Age fashion, the covers bore little connection to the interiors of the comic.

So the first year or so of Captain America Comics had Captain America fighting on the homefront against saboteurs. The first issue did introduce the Nazi supervillain, Red Skull.

Superman was doing a series of propaganda covers in the months leading up to Pearl Harbor...

and soon followed that with a direct response to the events of Pearl Harbor on the covers of Superman and Action Comics...

DC, as the most popular comic book company, steered clear of specifically dealing with the war in their comics, for the most part.

They mostly spent their efforts stressing the importance of purchasing War Bonds to finance the war and they did quite a nice job at that, with some dynamic covers...

Here's one, a little later on, with a different request for aid...

And, of course, while not asking for help with bonds, they also did standard war propaganda covers...

Eventually, though, while Batman would stay at home, DC decided to have Clark Kent become assigned to a Navy ship towards the end of the war (after they came up with a story why he could not go to war, as covered in a Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed installment a ways back).

Timely, meanwhile, quickly moved from fighting saboteurs to fighting fictional Nazis and Japanese villains...

Besides their fervent patriotism and striking cover work, these covers are also marked by some over-the-top racism towards America's enemies, in particular, the Japanese.

Fawcett Comics, probably the second-most popular comic book company during World War II, also mostly stayed out of the war (besides propaganda), but they got more involved than Superman...

They introduced the villain, Captain Nazi.

Quality Comics also featured fights against Nazis, particularly with their Military Comics and National Comics (featuring Uncle Sam) titles.

And that is really about that, Jeremy.

Hope you and your kids could use the info!

And again, if anyone else has some questions they'd like answered, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com!

43 Comments

• At September 8, 2008, Kelson wrote:

  A while ago I was reading a copy of All-Flash #15 (1944) and saw a slogan at the bottom of ...

• At September 8, 2008, kushiro wrote:

  Rita should know that the dollar or two she gets for that comic book is probably enough to buy a ...

• At September 8, 2008, captain trips wrote:

  way too many covers

• At September 8, 2008, The Mutt wrote:

  Comic Books and WWII was the subject of my senior year term paper back in 1976. I'm glad there was ...

• At September 8, 2008, Apodaca wrote:

  Ha ha! Nicely done, Brian.

• At September 8, 2008, Sijo wrote:

  Bwa ha! Of all the superhero War Comics cover, Captain Marvel Jr. belting "Terror Twins'" takes the cake! :D

  On the ...

• At September 8, 2008, Big Bear wrote:

  It's also interesting to note that, for the most part, characters who were written away from direct contact with the ...

• At September 8, 2008, MarkAndrew wrote:

  I dunno BB. Sure, the "direct contact" heroes like the Caps went under, but so did virtually *all* other ...

• At September 8, 2008, T. wrote:

  way too many covers

  Are you serious?!?!? Get outta here with that!

  is it me or do the Captain Marvel covers ...

• At September 8, 2008, Jeremy Brock wrote:

  Brian, I can't thank you enough for doing this research and compiling those covers. I'll show my student tomorrow and ...

• At September 8, 2008, Dan K wrote:

  If I recall correctly while Cap and Namor were beating up Nazis well before Pearl Habor, Action Comics 1# had ...

• At September 8, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  You remember correctly, Dan.

  There was a lot of veiled references to Europe in early Action Comics issues.

• At September 8, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  way too many covers Sorry, Captain Trips.

  I admire that you're willing to take a stand on the issue, though.

• At September 8, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  is it me or do the Captain Marvel covers seem to be of much, MUCH better quality than the other ...

• At September 8, 2008, Aaron Walther wrote:

  T, I agree, those Captain Marvel covers really are something.

• At September 8, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Brian, I can’t thank you enough for doing this research and compiling those covers. I’ll show my student tomorrow and ...

• At September 8, 2008, Dan K wrote:

  "is it me or do the Captain Marvel covers seem to be of much, MUCH better quality than the other ...

• At September 8, 2008, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Sorry, Captain Trips.

  I admire that you’re willing to take a stand on the issue, though.

  Hilarious!

  If you're ever looking for ...

• At September 8, 2008, Skemono wrote:

  Wait... in Marvel Comics Mystery no. 31, is the Human Torch battling Orcs? Or was this an early appearance ...

• At September 8, 2008, Michael wrote:

  Those are in fact supposed to be Japanese soldiers, Skemono.

• At September 8, 2008, Ajit wrote:

  One of the weirder World War II-related tales appeared in All Star Comics 1, in which Gary Concord, the Ultra-Man ...

• At September 9, 2008, wwk5d wrote:

  Interesting to compare with comics during more recent wars...

• At September 9, 2008, suedenim wrote:

  One thing I've always been curious about: Was the term "Japanazi" ever actually used outside comic books?

• At September 9, 2008, Ajit wrote:

  Was the term “Japanazi” ever actually used outside comic books?

  http://history1900s.about.com/library/photos/blywwiip58.htm

• At September 9, 2008, sterg wrote:

  Also, Hillman Comics was in on the WWII action with some very graphic covers and lots of stories about airplane ...

• At September 9, 2008, Lawrence wrote:

  @Superman No.12 cover

  Northstar isn't allowed to kiss a guy, but Superman is allowed to have two boyfriends?

• At September 9, 2008, Richard Wagner wrote:

  I am Mr. Brock's student who needed these covers. I would like to personally thank you for taking the ...

• At September 9, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  Captain America #13 looks so garishly coloured that I thought it was an early 3D cover at first glance!

  But, yeah, ...

• At September 9, 2008, Ken Raining wrote:

  This is a nice companion feature to Urban Legends. I would recommend, though, to not answer questions about comic ...

• At September 9, 2008, Rockin' Rich wrote:

  I don't mind the covers at all, Brian. Fun stuff.

  (And the query from Rita originally appeared as a comment in ...

• At September 9, 2008, wwk5d wrote:

  Lawrence, as long as he doesn't kiss them...

• At September 9, 2008, Teebore wrote:

  "Japanazis"

  Are they like the Communazis that McBain fought?

  Also, I'd like to take a moment to enjoy the cover where a ...

• At September 9, 2008, R. J. Sterling wrote:

  How silly that anyone would say, "Too many covers." Clearly the covers were the entire point. They were great. And ...

• At September 9, 2008, Michael Hoskin wrote:

  >On the other hand, the Japanese xenophobia of the time was blatantly obvious in the covers portraying them as monsters. ...

• At September 9, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  That cover of Batman with the machine gun is just disturbing, given what an ingrained part of the character the ...

• At September 9, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  Isn't there something wonderfully ironic about "Captain Nazi" being introduced in "Master Comics"??

• At September 9, 2008, The Mutt wrote:

  http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u51/The_Mutt_pics/Batmangodddamnit.jpg

• At December 28, 2008, Jareth wrote:

  Hi, I'm not sure if this is where I need to post this but the search is driving me crazy ...

• At December 28, 2008, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  Jareth, technically, it wasn't a horror book, but the only candidate I can think of off the top of my ...

• At January 18, 2009, Jareth wrote:

  Thank you Greg. I'm just not sure. I remember I got the issue at a flea market in ...

• At January 18, 2009, Jareth wrote:

  Thank you Greg. I'm just not sure. I remember I got the issue at a flea market in ...

• At January 18, 2009, Jareth wrote:

  Greg, that was it! You were so right! I found a copy on eBay. I got it ...

• At January 18, 2009, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  Glad it worked out for you, Jareth. I have very fond memories of Star*Reach and a lot of good stuff ...

Enjoy!

Reader Anthony asks:

I've been looking for info on this book(see photo).It has a different price and the month is missing from under the issue #(should be May).I was wondering if you could tell me anything about this issue. It has everything that a normal American issue would have inside (ads,etc) on the inside cover it says- SOLE DISTRIBUTORS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM-THORPE + PORTER LTD.I've never seen another like it before.Thanks for any help.

Here is the picture of the cover...

For good measure, here's the original Tales of Suspense #41....

Well, Anthony, back in the early days of the Silver Age, Marvel Comics would be distributed by a different company in the United Kingdom than the United States in just the manner you described. The dates and the prices on the covers would be changed, but otherwise, the interiors of the comics would be exactly the same, save for the bit where it says SOLE DISTRIBUTORS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM-THORPE + PORTER LTD. Thorpe & Porter, Ltd. printed a number of American comics for the UK audience, including Mad Magazine.

Marvel kept using them until they formed their own branch of Marvel in England in 1972, Marvel UK, and debuted their popular weekly reprint series, The Mighty World of Marvel.

The Thorpe & Porter, Ltd. comics were mostly likely printed at about a tenth of the print runs of the American versions of the comics, but they were printed at the same time, so they are actual original Silver Age Marvel Comics. In reality, they are a neat way to get original Marvel Silver Age comics at probably a smaller price point.

So there ya go, Anthony!!

Tom Russell asks:

Do you know what was the first "alternate" comic book cover to be published concurrently (as opposed to a later reprint)? Also, what was the first comic book issue to be _marketed_ as such-- i.e. the whole "get this rare alternate cover by Hotty McArtistman" spiel?

Here's one that readers can correct me on (and I know they will if they can, don't you worry ) if I'm wrong, as I do not know the answer DEFINITIVELY, but as far as I can tell, the answer to both questions, Tom, is John Byrne's The Man of Steel #1.

The whole "variant cover" craze was big with mass market paperbacks in the early to mid 80s, so it was only a matter of time before comic books picked up on it, as well, and I believe 1986's The Man of Steel #1 was the first one to do so, and they definitely picked up on the idea to market it AS a collectible.

But I suppose there MAY have been a comic that tried this idea out before 1986, but I dunno. I'm sure folks will let me know if they think of one!

But otherwise, there ya go, Tom!

Thanks to Anthony and Tom!

To everyone else, send in your questions!!

20 Comments

• At April 24, 2008, Graeme Burk wrote:

  There '9d' in the box is also an indication-- it's the price, which is, in pre-decimal British currency (and notation ...

• At April 24, 2008, David M wrote:

  The Man of Steel covers predate (but not by much) Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 -- the wedding issue (hey ...

• At April 24, 2008, Rhod wrote:

  The US/UK thing has sparked many an argument at my local comic conventions as to which is worth more, th ...

• At April 24, 2008, Graeme Burk wrote:

  Here’s a dumb question related to the UK versions: back during the 60s — before email/computer/fax took hold — how ...

• At April 24, 2008, Dan Bailey wrote:

  I think the first UK editions I ever owned were a Jungle Action set I bought off an eBay seller ...

• At April 24, 2008, kreetrapper wrote:

  hey remember when Peter & MJ were married?!?

  No, can't remember this.

  It's like someone erased it from my memory.

• At April 24, 2008, David Frankel wrote:

  Variant covers go back nearly as far as comics themselves, but I'm not so sure you would consider these true ...

• At April 24, 2008, Nobody76 wrote:

  The real question is when will The Last Variant Cover be printed?

• At April 24, 2008, suedenim wrote:

  Did the UK print *all* of Marvel's titles, or just a selection? Could Britons buy, for instance, Thorpe & ...

• At April 24, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  Dr. Strange?? I assume this one pre-dates the more famous one. So, whatever happened to this Iron Man villain?

• At April 24, 2008, buttler wrote:

  This Dr. Strange predates the more familiar Master of the Mystic arts by only two months (but there was an ...

• At April 24, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  There ‘9d’ in the box is also an indication– it’s the price, which is, in pre-decimal British currency (and notation ...

• At April 24, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Variant covers go back nearly as far as comics themselves, but I’m not so sure you would consider these true ...

• At April 24, 2008, Joe Gualtieri wrote:

  David, my understanding, gleaned from price guides over the years, was that ASM Annual #21 wasn't a 505/50 split, ...

• At April 25, 2008, Chris Simpson wrote:

  Being a UK resident quite a few of my comics from the 1960's have the British price marked on. Some ...

• At April 25, 2008, Stephane Savoie wrote:

  It's also noteworthy that the Man of Steel #1 "S-Shield" Cover was only available in comic shops, whereas the "Exploding ...

• At April 25, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  I’m surprised to read that you think that they were printed in the UK. I don't think that. I said ...

• At April 26, 2008, Chris Simpson wrote:

  Sorry , you're right. I didn't pick that up reading the above first time. Perils of reading the blog quickly ...

• At May 18, 2008, Marc Tanner wrote:

  I dunno. I guess it depends on your classification for alternate artwork. Whether it was totally different art or art ...

• At May 18, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  I dunno. I guess it depends on your classification for alternate artwork. Yep, that's true.

Enjoy!

Reader Said asked me if Alex Ross drew the cover to an issue of Lobo back in 1996.

Here is the cover in question.

I can tell you, Said, that that is not an Alex Ross cover.

Said remarked that he didn't think it was Christian Alamy (who drew the interiors) because it did not look the same as the interiors, however, I am pretty sure that it is, indeed, Christian Alamy who drew this particular cover, as Alamy often painted covers, which would look slightly different, naturally, from his regular penciled artwork.

So while I am not POSITIVE that it is Alamy, I am positive that it is not Alex Ross.

Reader Derrick C. asked me whether there was an 80s Marvel comic that had Jean Grey nude in it.

I figure Derrick has got to be talking about the issue of Uncanny X-Men that I discussed in a recent Urban Legends Revealed installment.

It was in a tangent about the "nudity" craze during the speculator boom of the 80s and early 90s. Here is what I said:

This was during a time when people were searching for silly stuff like, "2nd Appearance of Cable" or "Hobgoblin's first appearance WITH the tattoo." Well, one of the things people would also look for, to the point where it would actually appear in price guides, was "nudity."

By "nudity," it simply met that there would be something that would appear to maybe be a nipple, or something like that. There was an early issue of Infinity, Inc. where the JSA die, and one of the JSA (Wonder Woman, perhaps? I do not recall) is in the morgue, and you maybe/kinda/sorta see a nipple.

Another one was Uncanny X-Men #245, the Invasion parody issue...

Pretty funny, eh?

But that's what people were doing back then, while they weren't searching for the issue where Kitty Pryde joined the X-Men or when Skyman died or Danny Chase's first appearance. Okay...maybe not Danny Chase's first appearance - everyone has limits, right?

Darn me for being so extra helpful that week! If I hadn't used this back then, I could have used it as part of a future Urban Legends column in response to Derrick's question!

Instead, I'm stuck using it here. Ah well, what matters is that we all got to sorta see Jean Grey's breasts.

It's the little things in life.

That's it for this installment of Comic Book Questions Answered!! Thanks to Said and Derrick for their questions. As for you folks out there, if you have a comic book question, well, ask me! Maybe I can answer it for you!

13 Comments

• At April 9, 2008, Alonso wrote:

  I really like these weekly(?) installments. But dammit Cronin, where's the next segment of the Top Runs list?!? The anticipation's ...

• At April 9, 2008, Tomer S wrote:

  I thought it could be Simon Bisley since he was the artist on many Lobo stories in the past and ...

• At April 9, 2008, BDaly wrote:

  Yeah, doesn't look like Biz.

  Top runs! Top runs! Top runs!

• At April 9, 2008, R wrote:

  Alamy, definitely. I remember he did some other covers at the same time, in the same kinda style.

• At April 9, 2008, jazzbo wrote:

  Cronin's posted like 48 posts in the past 3 days. Give the guy a break, people!

  ...

  Ok, that was long enough. ...

• At April 9, 2008, Dan Felty wrote:

  Are Peter Bagge's Hate comics autobiographical to any degree? I've always kind of assumed the Bradleys were caracitures of ...

• At April 9, 2008, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  I feel as though there is literally nothing you don't know about U.S. comics.

  I'm both awed and a little scared ...

• At April 9, 2008, Eric P. wrote:

  Allow me to dissent in finding the other things more interesting than Top Runs. :)

• At April 9, 2008, Andrew wrote:

  Hear hear Eric!

  No offense Brian (I appreciate the work that goes into collating the info and putting the posts together).

• At April 9, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Is there really offense in "I like the other stuff you do more than this one thing you do"? ;)

  It's ...

• At April 9, 2008, Lothor wrote:

  Technically that isn't Jean Grey, is it? It's a clone or a pod person or something like that.

• At April 10, 2008, TimCallahan wrote:

  To me, that Lobo cover looks like Richard Corben!

  I don't know what Alamy's painted work looks like though.

• At April 10, 2008, yo go re wrote:

  Here's one that's always bugged me: when did superheroes stop wearing "long underwear" and start wearing "spandex?" Like, what was ...

I recently purchased a copy of Citizen V and the V-Battalion #1. At least, that's what the indicia says. The story is that of Citizen V #1, as is the cover, with one minor detail....the cover shows the TITLE as Marvel Universe, and the number as #3. Any explanation you might have for this?

Sure thing, Erik!

As most folks know, there are two types of comic sales - Direct Market and NewsStand. NewsStand comics are returnable, while Direct Market are not. For the most part, limited series are a product of the Direct Market, as it really is not worth the effort to gauge the sales of a book when the book is going to be finished by the time the sales of the first issue are calculated.

Therefore, as a way to sort of get around this, around Bill Jemas' tenure at Marvel, Marvel developed a new title for newsstands called Marvel Universe, which would be an ongoing series that would consist of other titles, like mini-series such as Citizen V mini-series, or other Marvel titles not then offered on the Direct Market.

I do not know if Marvel still produces this title.

Thanks for the question, Erik!

As always, if you have a comic book question you'd like an answer for, drop me a line!

8 Comments

• At March 27, 2008, Anthony Strand wrote:

  I'm betting they don't produce it anymore, because do any newsstands anywhere still carry Marvel comics?

• At March 27, 2008, Garrett wrote:

  Borders and Barnes & Noble still stock comics near the magazine racks. I'd be surprised if Marvel Universe is ...

• At March 27, 2008, jazzbo wrote:

  A few of the gas stations and convenience stores up by my parents cabin still have spinner racks of comics, ...

• At March 27, 2008, John Cage wrote:

  I went to a convenience store last night that's sold comics in the past and they still carried a handful ...

• At March 27, 2008, David Frankel wrote:

  Each issue of Marvel Knights also had a "Marvel Universe" variant.

  The last Marvel Universe of which we have ...

• At March 27, 2008, Birmy wrote:

  Any time I'm in a "real" bookstore that carries actual comics (as opposed to trades) I make it a point ...

• At March 27, 2008, Scott King wrote:

  They do still do this... just not in the U.S. In other countries they combine mini-series into other titles for ...

• At July 13, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  The Hasting's bookstore chain still carries comics.

Enjoy!

1. How are comic art and the stories created? What are the processes and inspiration?

The inspirations are the same as basically any other art. Creators take inspiration from the world around them. In his excellent comic book series, Fell, writer Warren Ellis often takes inspiration for stories from newspaper stories that he felt were interesting, but writers can take it from any number of sources. Seeing as how mainstream superhero comics are a serialized artform that has been going on for many decades, current writers often look back at the history of the characters to look for something that will inspire them about he character NOW.

As to the processes, this website explains it better than I could. Well, maybe not better, but they have examples! That's much cooler.

2. What makes a good comic book and how are they approved (before sale)?

Hopefully, a comic book is marked by good artwork and good stories, but often, it is a bit of a balancing act, where if the story is REALLY good, then it can make up for artwork that is not as good, and vice versa.

Comic creators usually pitch their comic to a comic book editor, who confers with other editors and decide if the creator's take on the book is the right one for them. Occasionally, the creators will be asked to pitch an idea for the comic.

3. Can anyone design a comic and would he or she be able to get it looked at?

Anyone can design a comic book, but getting them looked at is harder. Going to conventions for people to see your artwork is usually a good way to do things, but for the most part (and ESPECIALLY for writers), the best way to get noticed is to just do comic books, and hope that either you'll gain a cult following or that the right person will read your comic book and ask you to pitch an idea to them. Image Comics, though, does accept comic book proposals (only proposals for comic books, not writing samples). Check out their submission guidelines here.

4. What is your take on comic books that take on social issues? How do they effect society?

Like all stories, if they're done well, I like them a lot. When done poorly, I dislike them. That said, it is probably fair to say that comics with a social issue are trickier to pull off well, so they're probably more likely TO be done poorly.

When comics had a much larger marketplace, years ago, comics about social issues probably did have a slight effect on society. I am a bit skeptical, though, about how much any piece of popular culture can really effect a person's decisions in life. Can you imagine a kid thinking about doing drugs then saying, "Wait, Spider-Man says they're not good? Forget you, drugs!" Seems a bit unlikely, but I'm sure there was SOME effect. Nowadays? I'm sure they still do, just not to the same extent - and not to the same extent as "slight" is not much to write home about.

5. In your opinion, how big is the comic book industry and is it growing?

It is pretty big, and it is growing, but mostly in areas other than the traditional superhero comic book. The biggest area of growth is the sales of graphic novels, both in comic book stores and bookstores.

6. What is your favorite comic book and character?

Currently? Hmmm...tough one. I guess I'll say Skyscrapers of the Midwest, a book set in the 1980s, about two young brothers. It is a gripping (and often painfully real) look at growing up, but it also manages to be quite funny, too.

My favorite character? Probably Glenn Ganges, a character by writer/artist Kevin Huizenga. Ganges is the star of Huizenga's comics, and he is a fascinating character piece - he's quite the "everyman," but just an everyman who often thinks about some pretty deep stuff. Here is Huizenga's website, if you want to read some Ganges' stories. I recommend this one a lot.

Hope this helps, Jeff!

And remember, folks, this is for a school project Jeff is doing, so if you think you can help him out with some better answers, please do so!

9 Comments

• At March 1, 2008, The Mutt wrote:

  I don't think comics reach a large enough audience to effect society as a whole (and what a fine whole ...

• At March 1, 2008, RAB wrote:

  "Can anyone design a comic and would he or she be able to get it looked at?"

  There's a guy named ...

• At March 1, 2008, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  Well, I wasn't going to second-guess Brian, but since my name was actually brought up, I'll take a swing at ...

• At March 3, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Well, I wasn’t going to second-guess Brian, but since my name was actually brought up, I’ll take a swing at ...

• At March 3, 2008, Rebis wrote:

  This has, I realize, been noted before, Brian and Greg, but it's worth pointing out again: You and your colleagues ...

• At March 3, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Thanks, Rebis.

  Boy, Greg, you got Rebis' comments the same day as both Max Collins AND Terry Beatty stopped by to ...

• At March 4, 2008, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  I certainly appreciate the kind words, Rebis, but my experience has been that comics people are almost uniformly willing to ...

• At March 6, 2008, kreetrapper wrote:

  “Affect,” with an A, is the verb. When you AFFECT something, you achieve an “effect,” the noun that starts with ...

• At July 19, 2008, green star casino wrote:

  green star casino...

  coordinating!Celanese Balkans!deallocation Serbians:principal ...

Enjoy!

Garret asks:

I keep remembering ads about a new book, maybe late 80's, mid 90's, called, "Xero" or "Zero Man". I remember Milestone's wonderful, Xombie, but don't remember this book coming out. Did it? Or if it didn't, why not?

Xero, about a superpowered government agent who was a black man who wore a mask to appear as a white man while working as Xero, was a short-lived comic series from DC in 1997. Christopher Priest (who owned the character) and ChrisCross were the creative team.

Mark asks:

Hi, please does anyone know how many issues of Marvel UK Avengers Weekly there were and after the final issue what happened? Was the story continued elsewhere ? I have issues 1-148 but I believe it may have been 150.

After #148, Avengers Weekly merged into the main Marvel UK reprint title, The Mighty World of Marvel.

Thomas B. asks:

What are your thoughts on the morality of downloading comics?

If a comic was not intentionally released as a free download, then it is immoral to download that comic for free.

I'll leave it to each individual to decide if they don't mind being immoral in this instance.

Mister Midnight asks:

Someone mentioned that Peter Parker struck a pregnant M.J. during DeFalco's Cone Saga? Is this true? And if so....what issue did it occur in? I'm having a hard time coming to grips with this possibility.

Quick point - while it WAS in an issue written by DeFalco, the Clone Saga really wasn't much of a DeFalco thing.

That being said, in Spectacular Spider-Man #226, it is revealed that Peter Parker is the clone and Ben Reilly is the original.

Peter does not take it well, and begins fighting with Ben. As the two men struggle, Mary Jane comes to try to help/break it up. Peter doesn't see her coming (as his Spider-Sense doesn't warn him she's there, as she is not a danger to him), and he makes a sharp half-turn which results in hitting into Mary Jane, sending her flying into a nearby wall. Peter is stunned at what happened, and runs away, disgusted with himself.

Mister Midnight asked a second question that I cannot answer, except for what I think the answer is. The question is:

How and when did Bug from the Micronauts become the human sized character we now know in Starlord-Annihilation Conquest? Did this happen duirng the Peter David run on Captain Marvel?

I do not know for sure, but I am pretty sure the first time we see Bug normal-sized was actually IN Starlord.

If anyone else knows otherwise, let me know!

That's it for this time!

Please feel feel free to send in any more questions you have wanted an answer to!

12 Comments

• At December 2, 2007, Omar Karindu wrote:

  Actually, Zero-Man was not Xero, but something else entirely, a superhero series to be written by Len Wein that made ...

• At December 2, 2007, Mister Midnight wrote:

  Hey....thanx for checkin' into those for me...feel a lot better knowing the whole story about Peter hitting M.J and even ...

• At December 2, 2007, Andrew wrote:

  Good stuff.

  (Any chance of resuming Judging Books by their covers anytime soon? I love that thing!)

• At December 2, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  (Any chance of resuming Judging Books by their covers anytime soon? I love that thing!) I'll try to get ...

• At December 2, 2007, Joe Gualtieri wrote:

  Bug was human sized during Loeb's Cable run, IIRC. I don't think he became human-sized during that run though.

• At December 3, 2007, TF_loki wrote:

  Weren't Cable & Domino in the Microverse though? I thought they shrank so everyone was the same proportions....

• At December 3, 2007, Mark S wrote:

  Man, MWOM 1! It don't get no more Proustian.

• At January 23, 2008, usa today betting odds wrote:

  usa today betting odds

  reverse?candle?pony!cobblestone augers,convicted

• At January 29, 2008, health insurance for hiv florida wrote:

  health insurance for hiv florida

  victuals accretions subconscious involuntarily indict:

• At February 18, 2008, mark swales wrote:

  at what issue did the avengers marvel uk merge with mighty world of marvel and until what issue and then ...

• At July 18, 2008, mission impossible sportsbook wrote:

  mission impossible sportsbook...

  discoverers Burnside warts acutely ...

• At August 12, 2008, justin wrote:

  thats stupid that parker is the clone, why would they do that? wonder if they will make a movie about ...

Enjoy!

Reader Kane Anderson (nice to see Dramaturgs out there!) had a whole boatload of questions, so I guess I might as well devote this week's installments solely to him!

I have always wondered how the creator-owned comic characters work. Do the big companies "rent" them for a series? Is that how Fallen Angel, Powers or the Boys can move around? Does a creator get commissioned for something or just shop it around until someone wants to use it?

Yep, that's basically how it works. The comic companies essentially "rent" the use of the characters, but they are owned by the folks who own the copyrights.

This is usually how Vertigo works, too, in the sense that, if DC decides that they want nothing to do with Jason Aaron's The Other Side story, then eventually, Aaron can take the completed story to another comic book company.

That is what Jamie Delano did with his late 90s comic book series, 2020 Visions. Part of his deal with Vertigo allowed that, if Vertigo decided not to do anything with it, Delano could take it elsewhere, and that's what he did in 2004.

Perhaps a separate issue, but is it easy for licenses to move back and forth? The Phantom was published by DC and Marvel and Moonstone (I think...) and Buffyverse books are split between IDW and Dark Horse, right?

It's easy enough.

I mean, any time you get involved with licenses, there are lots of annoying paperwork to deal with, but yeah, technically-speaking, it is pretty easy to take a license from one comic book company to another.

More interesting are the examples from the past of the comic book companies who worked their licensed products into their Universes, most notably Marvel with their Micronauts and Rom line of comics.

They were both integrated into the Marvel Universe, but are not actually Marvel characters. So when they lost the license to those characters, Marvel then was in a weird situation where they could not then refer to past stories, except those various creations from the comics that were NOT part of the licenses!!

For instance, Marvel can write about the Spaceknights that they invented, just not about Rom the Spaceknights.

Likewise, IDW can reprint the Transformers issues that were published by Marvel, but they cannot use the ones where Spider-Man guest-starred, for example.

It's pretty amusing stuff.

What goes into an inter-company crossover? DC and Marvel have had their successes and challenges with that sort of thing but it seems the smaller imprints can crossover easier. Are there less legal issues with Dark Horse, Top Cow and Image?

Again, it's a lot of paperwork.

The smaller companies have less paperwork to deal with, so they are easier to do crossovers with.

Also, remember that Marvel is a public corporation and DC is part of a huge public corporation, so you can imagine that they'd be more difficult to coordinate things with.

It's a real testament to their staff that they make as many inter-company crossovers as they do!!

Is anyone digitizing comics for archival purposes? I imagine that bigger companies scanned a lot of their old books for posterity but that many books simply decayed and can't be found. Does anyone have a library/museum/archive of comic books?

This is a tough one. I am pretty sure that both DC and Marvel have extensive digital archives, but I am not positive about that.

Does anyone out there know for sure?

Is there historical reason for the predominance of superhero books? I get that Superman and such have been published for nearing a century (I'm so old...) but what about the comics that are less fantastical and tell stories?

Superhero comics were not really predominant for a long stretch in comic book history. They were the main comic book genre of the early 1940s, but after that, comics went through many different stretches with different top sellers, from war comics to romance comics to westerns to horror to science fiction, for a long time, superhero comics were just one part of a few different genres.

Since the 1960s, though, superhero comics have become the predominant genre at DC and Marvel, where it used to be one of many, it is basically the sole genre.

I honestly cannot think of a historical reason for why that is - I am sure our readers out there do, though, so come on folks, send us in your thoughts on the subject!

That's it for Kale's questions! Thanks, Kale!

That's it for this week!

Please feel feel free to send in any more questions you have wanted an answer to!

25 Comments

• At August 1, 2007, stealthwise wrote:

  Why were superheroes dominant? Easy, the comic code.

  Seriously, romance and horror comics were neutered by the stringent limitations of ...

• At August 1, 2007, Patient Boy wrote:

  It pains me a little inside when I realise New Avengers/Transformers and Spider-Man/Red Sonja are inter-company crossovers.

  It seems the ...

• At August 1, 2007, carpboy wrote:

  I'm not so sure about Marvel & DC having extensive digital archives. They're probably working towards that now, with the ...

• At August 1, 2007, DanCJ wrote:

  Part of his deal with Vertigo allowed that, if Vertigo decided not to do anything with it, Delano could take ...

• At August 1, 2007, Joe S. Walker wrote:

  "Also, remember that Marvel is a public corporation and DC is part of a huge public corporation, so you can ...

• At August 1, 2007, Bret wrote:

  If I ran Marvel, project #1 would be to buy all rights to ROM the spaceknight.

  Can't cost more than a ...

• At August 1, 2007, Kevin J. Maroney wrote:

  I have long had a theory that superheroes became the dominant force in US comic books because, after the advent ...

• At August 1, 2007, Scavenger wrote:

  DanC : Every contract is different. For example, DC has/had the reprint rights to the Fallen Angels they published, ...

• At August 1, 2007, Kane wrote:

  Thanks for the answers to the questions, Brian! You rock.

• At August 1, 2007, Crush wrote:

  People on the Intertron are slowly scanning and digitizing hundreds if not thousands of comics every week. You can usually ...

• At August 1, 2007, Tyson wrote:

  Scott McCloud wrote some interesting things about why superhero genre dominates the medium in one of his books (I think ...

• At August 1, 2007, winterteeth wrote:

  I don't know if this is exactly what was asked but Marvel has put out tons of comics on DVDs ...

• At August 1, 2007, yo go re wrote:

  And if you bring England into it, it gets real weird, as you have Death’s Head, who was a Transformers ...

• At August 1, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Bug probably mentioned them. He was an original Marvel character introduced in the Micronauts book.

• At August 1, 2007, Anonymous wrote:

  There is an online group of people who scan comics both new and ancient for the purposes of archive/preservation, they're ...

• At August 2, 2007, DanCJ wrote:

  Touchmark, the abortive Disney “adult readers” imprint from 1991-92 which ended up becoming Vertigo

  This is news to me. Does ...

• At August 2, 2007, Tim Callahan wrote:

  Superheroes (and superhero comic books) gain popularity in inverse proportion to professional wrestling. Look it up. If you ...

• At August 3, 2007, DanCJ wrote:

  I think you should take that theory to Steven Grant - He loves bringing in wrestling comparisons when talking about ...

• At August 3, 2007, yo go re wrote:

  I finally looked up the Micronauts reference, if anyone cares: it was in MODOK's 11, at the end of the ...

• At August 3, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Yeah, it WOULD work well, wouldn't it. ;)

  Thanks!

• At August 5, 2007, yo go re wrote:

  for a similar "we had her first" character who didn't work out quite as well as DH, check out Circuit ...

• At August 7, 2007, Thenodrin wrote:

  I always thought that the reason that there were more superhero comic books than any other genre was simply because ...

• At November 29, 2007, mark swales wrote:

  please can anyone tell me how many issues of avengers weekly marvel uk were there? i have fro 01-148 and ...

• At March 29, 2008, buying contact lens online wrote:

  Though it is not happening just yet, it will hopefully happen soon. A company by the name of Qtrax was ...

• At July 13, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I agree with what Bret said. I've thought for years now that Marvel should just buy ROM. I've ...

Enjoy!

Comics Should Be Good Comic Con correspondent, Kelson, wrote in with the following question:

A few weeks ago, an online discussion of the Flash story arc "Wonderland" (the start of Geoff Johns' run on the book, finally getting a TPB) turned to the question: whatever happened to the artist Angel Unzueta? I did some digging, and the most recent thing I could find was "Flash: Our Worlds At War" back in 2001. He did a handful of other books (mostly Flash, Impulse, and Young Justice) in the late 1990s, but seems to disappear after 2001.

This question has a funny answer - the Spanish artist Angel Unzueta drew half of Green Lantern Corps #14, which came out...THIS WEEK!

Pretty funny, huh?

Reader Scott wrote in with the following:

Why did the concept of 'Hypertime' in the DC Universe never take off? Was it too complicated? Did DC not plan it out well enough? Was it not well-received by fans? By other creators?

I thought it was a neat concept worth exploring, but apart from a few issues of Superboy it never happened.

I'll break from the usual format a bit here, as I'm pretty sure I know the answer without looking it up or checking with anyone.

While perhaps the project that was the launchpad for Hypertime, "The Kingdom," did not do as well as one would expect as the sequel to Kingdom Come, I think that the "problem" with Hypertime was simply a manpower one.

The inventor of Hypertime was writer Mark Waid, who was aided in the creation by writer Grant Morrison. Both men were big figures at DC when Hypertime was developed. However, soon afterwards, both writers left DC to work for different companies (Marvel for Morrison and Crossgen for Waid). Therefore, without the popular writers around who created the idea, the idea lost force, and by the time DC once again addressed their continuity, it was with a new group of writers, primarily Geoff Johns. And by this point in time, they had a new idea for explaining continuity other than Hypertime, and in fact, in 2005, Dan DiDio specifically said that Hypertime was basically dead as a concept at DC Comics.

If anyone has any information that they can fill in to address this one better, let me know!

That's it for this week!

Please feel feel free to send in any more questions you have wanted an answer to!

14 Comments

• At July 26, 2007, Jeff Holland wrote:

  I just reread The Kingdom last weekend, and the fact that nobody at DC could figure out what to do ...

• At July 26, 2007, Mark_Lucas_TBP wrote:

  I think "Speed Force" is exactly the kind of name a realistic person, like Wally West or Max Mercury would ...

• At July 26, 2007, Jeff Holland wrote:

  That is an awfully good point. And I do love that the characters are all aware of how underwhelming "speed ...

• At July 26, 2007, Bret wrote:

  Wow!

  It does all that for just $19.95?

• At July 26, 2007, Jeff Holland wrote:

  That's not all. Order five bottles of Hypertime now, and you'll also get a this streak-free buffering pad that opens ...

• At July 26, 2007, yo go re wrote:

  Is the origin we got for Grant Morrison's Prometheus (in the New Year's Evil one-shot) the origin we were intended ...

• At July 26, 2007, Eric Grant wrote:

  I'll bite. Can anyone explain Hypertime? I've heard it mentioned but never know what it referred to.

• At July 26, 2007, Jeff Holland wrote:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertime is a pretty good explanation.

• At July 26, 2007, Eric Grant wrote:

  Oh I see, it's another name for the concept "fiction".

  I first bumped into it in Batman/Planetary.

• At July 26, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Yeah, Eric, that's basically it - it is Waid and Morrison saying, "Why can't we just attribute the basic concepts ...

• At July 26, 2007, Vert wrote:

  Brian-

  Thanks for answering my Hypertime question! (I'm Scott)

  I accept your answer, (it makes sense) but I think ...

• At July 27, 2007, Joe Gualtieri wrote:

  The River analogy is not how Hypertime was supposed to work.

  From a (presumably drunken Grant Morrison to a drunken Warren ...

• At July 27, 2007, Kelson wrote:

  Thanks for answering my question! And just think, if I'd waited a few weeks...

  Glad to know he's still in ...

• At November 2, 2007, joel greenberg wrote:

  I started working at a baseball card comic book store a few weeks ago. Eventually, I got around to cracking ...

Enjoy!

Reader Nick, presumably inspired by yesterday's Snark Free Corner, asked the following:

I have been looking for, but I have been unable to find, a death count of people who actually died during the "Enemy of the State" storyline in Wolverine. Can you help me out?

Certainly, Nick!

Okay, I believe this is all the people who were killed during that story arc (SPOILERS, of course!):

Wolverine
Elektra (she MAY have been faking - I forget)
Northstar
The Hornet
SHOC
Poison
Vibro
The Spot
Slyde
Leapfrog
Fake Baron Von Strucker
Elsbeth Von Strucker
Gorgon
Many thousands of members of The Hand, Hydra and the Dawn of the White Light

Reader Paul wrote in to ask:

I am trying to find a place were I can sell a "cell" from the Spider-Man cartoon of Spider-Man and Venom.

I got it about ten or fifteen years ago with a Spider-Man comic book, they mailed it with it as a collectors thing.

Were would I go for this?

As with almost all questions like this, the answer is almost always eBay, as you will most likely get more for the item there then if you were to sell it to a local collectibles store or at a convention.

However, the more important thing in most of these situations (including this one) is not really WHERE to sell it, but rather, "Is it worth selling at all?"

The problem here, Paul, is that the cell you refer to is quite common. Tropic Comics, for instance, is currently selling them on their website for $3.99.

So it probably would not be worth the time trying to sell your cell.

That's it for this week!

Please feel feel free to send in any more questions you have wanted an answer to!

13 Comments

• At July 11, 2007, tom fitzpatrick wrote:

  What's the status of Desolation Jones and Newuniversal?

  Have these titles been cancelled or on hiatus?

• At July 11, 2007, Alonso wrote:

  This is a small thought that's been in the back of my mind for a couple years now. Whenever I ...

• At July 11, 2007, DanCJ wrote:

  Desolation Jones is on hiatus

• At July 11, 2007, Bret wrote:

  Good thing the spot's not-deaditude is rising.

  He needs to get better in time for M.O.D.O.K.'s 11.

  And if the hand prevented ...

• At July 11, 2007, Mr.Chris wrote:

  The Spot was also killed off in an issue of Spider-Man's Tangled Web. I don't remember the issue number, ...

• At July 11, 2007, Bill Reed wrote:

  They killed Slyde? Bah.

  The Spot gets killed off all the time, though, so no worries.

• At July 11, 2007, Denn wrote:

  Is it always the same Spot that gets killed or are they new Spots everytime?

• At July 11, 2007, Cory!! Strode wrote:

  Thriller was said to have had the best pitch that Dick Giordano ever saw, but within 8 issues, both of ...

• At July 13, 2007, Scott wrote:

  When did writers and artists start getting their names on the covers of comics? It seems like an Image ...

• At July 14, 2007, Bryan wrote:

  DC Comics that I read in the mid-1980s had the writer and artist names on the cover, so it pre-dates ...

• At July 14, 2007, SanctumSanctorumComix wrote:

  I have a question.

  And it is, hopefully, an easy one that has an easy answer.

  Have the DITKO "MR. A" comics ...

• At July 16, 2007, Mark_Lucas_TBP wrote:

  2 questions:

  1. In the "Knight's End" story line where Bruce Wayne too back the mantle of Batman from Azreal, there ...

• At July 30, 2007, J-Man wrote:

  Scott: Creators getting publicly acknowledged for their work goes back a ways. I think creators' names first began appearing ...

Enjoy!

A reader wrote in to ask about John Verpoorten, and how exactly he died so young.

In case you do not know who John Verpoorten is, he was an inker for Marvel in the late 60s who ended up becoming the production manager of Marvel from 1970 until 1977, when he died at the young age of 37.

Verpoorten was a rather large man, which certainly helped contribute to his death, but it seems that perhaps his job played a part.

Paul Gulacy was interviewed by Jon B. Cooke in Comic Book Artist #7, and here is what Gulacy had to say about Verpoorten:

Oh, he was a wonderful man. It was really tragic what happened to him. I believe he had a heart attack while he was at his drawing table at home. He had a perforated ulcer is what happened there, and he bled to death internally. He was a huge guy. He was very compliant and helpful, courteous, always polite. He had a sense of humor, and was prompt; John had all the qualities of a guy you wanted to work for, all within an atmosphere of chaos. He had a very high-stress position, you know, and at the end, it took its toll on him. He and John Romita made me feel most comfortable when I first started out.

Reader stealthwise posted on the Comic Book Questions Answered suggestions thread on the Comics Should Be Good forum about M.D. Bright, and what he's up to.

Bright has been working on his own Christian comic strip, Level Path, for quite awhile now, but he still does occasional mainstream comic book work. He just did some work for IDW on their Transformers line.

That's it for this week!

Please feel feel free to send in any more questions you have wanted an answer to!

4 Comments

• At July 3, 2007, Cousin Dick wrote:

  Poor Mr. Verpooten! Remember all of the reprint issues durin' the 70s? Whenever a creator fell victim to ...

• At July 3, 2007, SanctumSanctorumComix wrote:

  ;-(

  ~P~

  P-TOR

• At July 3, 2007, stealthwise wrote:

  Thanks for the info on MD, he seemed to just disappear into that vortex known as THE NINETIES.

• At April 7, 2008, mark young wrote:

  I have a large stack of classic iillustrated even the 1# three muskteers that are all that are ...

Enjoy!

A reader wrote in with the following question:

My kid would like to start collecting comics and I know very little about them. He wants to try and start from the beginning of a couple different characters such as his favorite, Gambit. Is there some kind of reference magazine or web site that will list in chronological order all the different comics of a certain character or group?

This gives me the opportunity to plug a really amazing comic book resource, the Marvel Chronology Project!!

The Marvel Chronology Project does exactly what this reader wants, by producing detailed lists of the chronological appearances of characters.

To wit, for Gambit, here are his appearances up until 1991's X-Men #1 (please note that FB means flashback, so if you just wanted to see his appearances in the order they were released, just ignore the flashback ones):

GAM3 25-FB
GAM3 1-FB
G&B 2-FB
GAM3 25-FB
GAM3 1-FB
GAM3 19-FB
GAM3 6-FB
GAM3 6-FB
GAM3 23-FB
GAM 3-FB
X 33-FB
X 8-FB
GAM3 1-FB
X 8-FB
GAM3 1-FB
X 8-FB
W/G 3-FB
UX 350-FB
UX 210-BTS
UX 350-FB
GAM3 7-FB
UX 350-FB
GAM3 20-FB
{UX 266}
UX 267
GAM3 2-FB
UX 267
UX@ 14
UX 270
NM 95
XF 60
NM 96
XF 61
UX 272
NM 97
XF 62
UX 273
UX 274
UX 275
UX 276
UX 277
UX 278
UX 279
XF 69
UX 280
XF 70
X 1

There's a reference list that explains what each abbreviation stands for, but most of them are pretty darn simple (Gam 3 would be the third Gambit series, etc.).

The Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe gives a similar look at the DC Universe with their Unofficial DC Chronology Project, but while it is an excellent resource, it is only for stories since 1985.

The reader added the following question:

And is there also a way to find all of the comics (again in order) based on a certain story, such as the Death of Superman which involved several different titled comics. Thanks for any help you can give.

This one I am having a bit of a harder time with, as far as finding one giant resource I could point to. This site, for instance, is pretty good, but it doesn't even have the Death of Superman on it! And it doesn't list the parts in order all the time.

So if someone can find me a great inter-comic crossover resource site, that'd be appreciated (and if there isn't one already, maybe YOU could create it!).

That's it for this week!

Please feel feel free to send in any more questions you have wanted an answer to!

16 Comments

• At June 26, 2007, Michael wrote:

  The easiest way to get all the comics in the Death of Superman story would be to just buy the ...

• At June 26, 2007, Michael wrote:

  Never mind about the Amazon links. I'm too lazy.

• At June 26, 2007, Scott King wrote:

  What's the best way for an indy publisher to market and get press coverage for their books?

• At June 26, 2007, Scott King wrote:

  Oh we are supposed to email the questions... let me do that. my bad

• At June 26, 2007, stealthwise wrote:

  Scott,

  find some good, reputable, and popular comic sites, and send free copies of your book to each and every one ...

• At June 26, 2007, Da Fug wrote:

  A sort of followup question to this current one:

  Is there any way to find out whether a certain comic ...

• At June 27, 2007, arhey wrote:

  Da fug,

  http://tplist.millarworld.net/index.html is a great resource for trade paperbacks

  arhey

• At June 27, 2007, entzauberung wrote:

  http://www.maelmill-insi.de/UHBMCC/index.htm is a great resource for Marvel stuff.

• At June 27, 2007, Matt D wrote:

  You know what's real good and criminally underrated?

  The Nicieza Gambit series.

• At June 27, 2007, Bully wrote:

  Great resource, thanks! But can't you please, please tell us what comic features Gambit's final appearance?

  But I kid the Gambit.

• At June 27, 2007, joshschr wrote:

  Are shameless plugs allowed? At MyComicPile, the owner is putting together a list of "Comic Events" that are the ...

• At June 27, 2007, Da Fug wrote:

  Thanks arhey and entzauberung!

• At June 27, 2007, Tom from West Chester wrote:

  You know what’s real good and criminally underrated?

  The Nicieza Gambit series.

  I feel that way about everything Nicieza related.

• At June 27, 2007, Apodaca wrote:

  I'll never understand the Nicieza love, let alone that for his Gambit series.

  But hey, I don't understand people who watch ...

• At June 27, 2007, David Frankel wrote:

  I have tried to list most of the storylines in the Story Title field at CBDB, but I fall down ...

• At June 28, 2007, Derek B. Haas wrote:

  Here's an excellent crossover website:

  http://web.archive.org/web/20060212065208/http://members.tripod.com/~MitchellBrown/xover/index.html

  Wayback link used because the site proper seems to be down.

Enjoy!

Some time ago, a reader (I have lost the name, to be frank) asked me a question about how fast Jack Kirby drew. We have heard so many stories about how fast Kirby was, but how many pages did he actually draw a day? The one I heard the most often was about three pages a day, which is a remarkably high amount of pages.

To find out for sure, I went to everyone's favorite Jack Kirby expert, Mark Evanier, and here's what he had to say:

Jack often did more than three a day. During the 1963-1967 period, he often did five or six a day. His 1970 deal with DC required fifteen a week and he sometimes did twenty.

I'll have an article in an upcoming JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR that will deal with this in more detail.

Isn't that amazing?

Thanks, Mark! Be sure, folks, to check out the Jack Kirby Collector from TwoMorrows!

Okay, in a new twist that I will try out in the future occasionally, too, I will print here a question that I think someone out there might know the answer to.

Here is the question, courtesy of Tomer Soiker:

This page was published in an Israeli
website I frequent. It was a review about 1982 anti-war propaganda, in which
the dialogue of a comic strip was changed so it could fit the cause. The author of the review tried to find the original source for this page, but failed.

So I took on myself the mission to do so:

Any help will be useful.

(Click on the image to enlarge)

Here is the translation of the page:

<(Read from right to left)
Headline: "The Adventures of B., The Pondering Pilot"

Panel 1 - "In this war [1982's Lebanon War, i.e.] the IDF proves once again
that Israel is safe and strong. In this war we are losing brothers, sons,
friends."

"Scream" balloon says: "A continuing story"

Panel 2 - "In this war thousands are being extracted from their homes and
whole cities are ruined. In this war being killed thousands of... Citizens!"

Panel 3 - "Such war never been before in the history of Israel. For what are
they being killed? For what they kill? Have [we] accepted as a nation to go
to this war? Was are [our] existence at a critical juncture? Will this war
break the circle of violence, suffering and hatred?"

Panel 4 - "We say to the Government of Israel:"

Panel 5 - "STOP!"

SFX: "BOOM!"

Caption box: "After the bombing B. hurries to the Peace Now ["Shalom
Achshav", the organization producing this strip] demonstration"

Panel 6 - "Now is the time to call the Palestinians to make a peace
negotiation. Now is the time to establish peace based on a mutual
recognition!">

Can anyone help us out with this?

Thanks!

And remember, folks, please feel feel free to send in any more questions you have wanted an answer to! Last week, I received a bunch of interesting questions, and I'd love to receive even more!

5 Comments

• At June 20, 2007, Anonymous wrote:

  The anti war strip is taken from 'Crash Christian', by Michael O'Donoghue and Frank Springer, a short lived strip that ...

• At June 20, 2007, Rebis wrote:

  There's also a thread in the CSBG forum for leaving potential questions. I like this option because it gives ...

• At June 20, 2007, Tomer wrote:

  Thanks, Brian. I was afraid you haven't got my mail... The question posted here is a copy-pasted post (2 posts, ...

• At June 20, 2007, Anonymous wrote:

  Tomer, that particular issue of National Lampoon is in front of me as I type this, so yes, I am ...

• At June 21, 2007, Tomer wrote:

  Thanks a lot, "Anonymous"! I don't have the CBA issue you mentioned, but I'll take that as a definite answer. ...

Enjoy!

Hisham asks:

Was the Silver Age Wonder Woman active in World War II?

This is based on two observations:

1) The original Cheetah, Priscilla Rich, died at an advanced age and was replaced by her niece before everything was rebooted by Crisis. Was there a big age disparity between Wonder Woman and her former foe or was she older than she appeared?

2) Originally, Donna Troy was found as a baby by Wonder Woman and brought to Paradise Island to be raised by the Amazons. This suggests that Wonder Woman had been active for at least a couple of decades at the time of the Teen Titan adventures.

To answer Hisham, I figured I'd need a Wonder Woman expert, and who better to go to than Carol A. Strickland, Wonder Woman history buff extraordinaire!!

Here is Carol's reply:

1. Usually, any female character who was replaced with a younger relative must have been entirely too old (ie, over 30) for the writers to wrap their heads around. However, I know that she retired of her own volition, but she was having medical problems that made her an invalid (she died the same issue we found this out). These problems may or may not have had to do with age (I would have to look it up, but I'd bet it was glossed over). While she looked old in this story, it could have been a result of her disease.

As to whether she was older than WW, that's difficult to say. We don't know how old the SA/BA WW was. She could have been a thousand years old or in her fifties. Add to that the concept of comics time being different from real time, and take a few aspirin.

2. Absolutely, this origin had Wondie being Wondie in public longer than Superman or Batman had been in their adult careers. Many fans seemed to have a problem with this for some reason. Many fans didn't. It doesn't bother me a bit. In fact, I liked it very much as it gave Wondie an edge (and I was hoping it would lead to a "Superboy meets WW" story).

The first Teen Titans story, where Donna first appeared in the mainstream DCU, was published in 1964. If Donna was 15 then, that means that SA/BA Wonder Woman could have started her career latest in, oh, 1950 or 1951, which means she would have skipped WWII, leaving that to her Earth-2 counterpart. Of course that starting date would move with her through time as comics were published. After all, Donna was only 20-ish in 1984, which would have WW starting her career at latest point circa 1965-66.

Hope this adds fuel to the conversation.

That it did, Carol!

So, any more Wonder Woman experts out there who would like to shed some light on Hisham's question?

Thanks to Hisham for the question and Carol for her help. And feel free to send in any more questions you have wanted an answer to!

18 Comments

• At June 12, 2007, Jeff Moreci wrote:

  What happened to the thought balloon? Is it just me or are they extinct in new comics?

• At June 12, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Bendis just brought them back in the pages of Mighty Avengers, Jeff!

  Another question answered already! :)

• At June 12, 2007, Ken Raining wrote:

  Yeah, but Mark Waid did as well in Brave & the Bold (and much more skillfully, if you ask me).

• At June 12, 2007, Flush it all away wrote:

  Great idea for a series! Looking forward to reading it.

• At June 12, 2007, Greg Geren wrote:

  From my reading, it seems that Robert Kanigher (Writer/Editor of WONDER WOMAN for much of the 50s and 60s) would ...

• At June 12, 2007, Matt Vergin wrote:

  What was the original story for The Twelve storyline in the X-Men comics?

• At June 12, 2007, John Trumbull wrote:

  I first read Donna Troy's origin 20+ years ago, in the classic "Who Is Donna Troy?" issue of The New ...

• At June 13, 2007, Omar Karindu wrote:

  What was the deal with Roy Thomas's subplot in All-Star Squadron and Infinity, Inc. retconning the Vigilante's enemy the Dummy ...

• At June 13, 2007, Tomer wrote:

  Brian, sent you a question in the mail. Hope you can find an answer, because it's a hard one.

  Tomer.

• At June 13, 2007, Mullon wrote:

  I still want to know how Wonder Woman could be a vegetarian and still get part of her powers from ...

• At June 14, 2007, DanCJ wrote:

  Whatever happened to Glynn Dillon?

• At June 14, 2007, Cei-U! wrote:

  According to the first Silver Age version of Wonder Woman's origin, in WW #105 (April 1959), Diana is hundreds of ...

• At June 15, 2007, Enda80 wrote:

  When the Earth-1 Angle Man accidentally teleported to Earth-2 in the 1940's, he was surprised to see a Wonder Woman ...

• At June 19, 2007, Janet wrote:

  My sister-in-law has a bunch of old DC comics called the Question? She would like to know how she ...

• At June 19, 2007, Rebis wrote:

  Tell your sister to put 'em on ebay. Soon. Because DC is going to start collecting the Question in graphic-novel ...

• At July 21, 2008, Supergirl wrote:

  Did batman ever transform into a bat in the comicbooks? I say he didnt but my friend will not stop ...

• At July 13, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  The only Wonder Woman comic book I ever owned was back when I was a kid in the '70s. ...

• At September 27, 2009, Jim Grimes wrote:

  I am looking for a comic book that had a single page story about the life and death of General ...