Category Archives: Round-Ups

Quick Thoughts: Reprints, Tropes and Cons

Some links and observations for the day.

Links

Comics Should Be Good looks at DC Super-Stars reprints from the 1970s — including a Flash book which re-drew a Golden Age story. Hmm, I have a new blog post idea: comparing the original and redrawn versions of “Deal Me From the Bottom” and “City of Shifting Sand” from All-Flash #22 (yes, they did this twice!)

If you dare, read TV Tropes on Super Speed. (Beware, this is TV Tropes, so you run the risk of a tab explosion if you read it!)

San Diego Thoughts

Twitter has been full of people talking about flying to San Diego today, or starting long drives. Living 2-3 hours away, it’s easy for me to forget that a lot of people need a full day of travel before and after the con. I mean, I’m planning to drive down after lunch. I could do the entire con taking only 2½ days off work, but for many people, it’s a full week.

I find it highly amusing that @WizardWorld has been heavily pushing Chicago Comic-Con on Twitter today…the day before Comic-Con International. Certainly it makes perfect sense to capitalize on people thinking about cons who might not be going to this one, but might go to yours. And heck, I started getting excited about the build-up to CCI during the week before Wizard World Philadelphia and HeroesCon. It just seems funny for some reason.

Expanded from some of my Twitter posts today.

Quick Thoughts: Weekly Twitter for 2009-07-19

  • Crazy: even though I’m disappointed w/ Flash:Rebirth at this point, I’m tempted to preorder the hardcover if $13.59 holds.
  • Last issue of Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds is on Diamond’s schedule for next week.
  • So very true: XKCD: Tab Explosion
  • Geocities users: check out OTW’s Geocities Rescue Project.
  • No escape. Latest alumni newsletter features “A Brief History of the Bowtie
  • Help John Ostrander keep his eyesight: comix4sight.com
  • RT @karlkerschl: Drawing more gorillas! I will miss all of these gorillas when Wednesday Comics is finished.
  • *sigh* DC has pushed Flash: Rebirth #4 back another week to August 12.
  • Not going to a midnight showing of Harry Potter. Not even opening night. I’ll probably catch it this weekend, though.
  • Believe it or not, Fallen Angel: Reborn is the book I’m most looking forward to getting today.
  • Bought this week: Wednesday Comics, Fallen Angel: Reborn, Farscape: D’argo’s Lament, The Unknown. Sorry, sitting #BlackestNight out for now.
  • Didn’t pick up #BlackestNight #1, but did accept the freebie Black Lantern ring. Figure I’ll come up with something to do with it.
  • Pearls B4 Swine author: digital vs print comics “an artificial distinction.” Only 2 kinds of strips: funny & not-funny.
  • Fantastic photos of lightning striking water (via @BadAstronomer)
  • Saw headline: “They killed Hawkman!” First thought was in Rocket J. Squirrel voice: “Again?”

Comic-Con International Build-Up

Be sure to also check out a month’s worth of Comic-Con Tips, which I’ve been posting daily on Twitter.

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Speed Reading: Interviews and Flashbacks

Some Friday morning linkblogging…

Creator Interviews

Remember that interview with Carmine Infantino last week? The legendary artist was unhappy about how he was portrayed in the article, and has fired back a complaint at the interviewer. The Beat has the whole story.

CBR goes in-depth with Ethan Van Sciver, talking with the artist about everything from Cyberfrog and Impulse to Green Lantern: Rebirth, Blackest Night, and Flash: Rebirth.

The Half Hour Wasted podcast devotes its latest episode to Ethan Van Sciver. Despite the name, it’s actually over two hours long, and the artist talks about topics as varied as his recent trip to South Africa, balancing previews against spoilers (apparently none of the solicited covers for Flash: Rebirth issues 4-6 are the “real” cover — I’m guessing that the cover for #5 is mostly the same image, only with Professor Zoom instead of the Black Flash), redesigning Sinestro, and much, much more.

CBR presents the second monthly Geoff Johns Prime question-and-answer column.

Marc Guggenheim will attempt to re-imagine the campy Battlestar Galactica spin-off Galactica 1980 as a comic book.

Flashing Back

Comics in Crisis has Attack of the Cartoon Heroes part 2, including a Justice League clip.

Castle Vardulon presents: the amazing single-sentence continuity error from Flash v.1 #133.

Comics Should Be Good looks at DC’s June 1965 covers, including Flash v.1 #153, featuring Professor Zoom and the Mightiest Punch of All Time!

Silver Age Comics looks back on Neal Adams’ Brave and the Bold run, including his take on guest stars like the Flash.

More

A nifty series of superhero illustrations, with several nice Flash pieces in part 2.

Blog@Newsarama has an interesting idea: What if the JLA membership were chosen by DC’s sales rankings?

Quick Thoughts: Wednesday Comics #2

6:18:35 PM: Batman’s story is getting more intriguing

6:19:21 PM: Kamandi makes me want to re-read Tellos.

6:20:35 PM: I love the giant splash page on Metamorpho! (And the joke about a subscription to Element Dog!)

6:23:15 PM: That’s an awful lot of typos in Teen Titans for a one page story.

6:25:43 PM: It must suck to have only one soldier to defend your capital city.

6:29:04 PM: When I think “Wonder Woman,” I always think of a talking, glowing fish for a sidekick. (Okay, maybe not.)

6:33:27 PM: Whoa, awkward moment for Barry, Iris and Barry!

6:34:26 PM: The different coloring techniques stand out more this week, too.

6:35:49 PM: I can see a paradox brewin’, though.

6:36:57 PM: Hah! “Stately Blood Manor.”

6:41:47 PM: The Demon and the Cat. Yes, Demon and the Cat. One is a burglar, the other’s a prat.

6:45:55 PM: Hey, kids! Learn Hawkman’s secret sign language! You too can join the Junior JSA!

Speed Reading: Infantino, Fan Films, Johns at Meltdown & Isotope, and EVS

Some linkblogging for the weekend:

Two Artists and a Writer

NYC Graphic Novelists has an interview with Carmine Infantino. He talks about growing up in the depression, breaking into the fledgling comic industry, building the Silver Age, and his tenure as editor at DC. Update: There’s been some fallout from this interview, with Infantino feeling he was misrepresented.

Geoff Johns will appear at a Blackest Night launch party at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles on Tuesday, July 14. Update: The Tuesday event at Meltdown has been canceled. He will also be signing at Isotope Comics in San Francisco on Saturday, July 18.

The Green Lantern Spotlight Podcast has an interview with Ethan Van Sciver. It’s long at 99 minutes, but it’s worth a listen. He talks about everything from deadlines and inking to why he’s drawing Iris Allen younger to designs for Black Lanterns.

Review

The Captain’s JLA Blog reviews “Speed Demons”, the Superman: The Animated Series episode that guest-starred the Flash and introduced the scarlet speedster to the DC Animated Universe.

The Flash-Back Podcast reviews The Return of Barry Allen.

Fan Creations

Flash endorses Green Lantern for Mayor! (via Robot6)

The Heretics Blog has a collection of fan films, including the Flash getting a speeding ticket.

Speed Reading: Gearing Up for Wednesday Comics

Some linkblogging for a Monday, first with a couple of general links:

Comics in Crisis is running a series on Cartoon Heroes. The first installment includes video clips from the Filmation cartoons from the 1960s (which I reviewed when it came out on DVD) and Super-Friends.

Toys R Us will have (among other items) an exclusive Flash action figure at Comic-Con International.

Wednesday Comics

The Weekly Crisis wants to know: Will you be buying Wednesday Comics?

Karl Kerschl is running a contest: He’s hidden an image of The Abominable Charles Christopher in a panel of the Flash story in Wednesday Comics (he’s not saying which week). When you spot it, email him a photo of yourself pointing to the yeti, and you’ll be entered in a drawing for an original sketch.

When Worlds Collide’s Timothy Callahan is wildly enthusiastic about the series, and compares it to Solo. He also notes that the reasons he liked Solo and is looking forward to Wednesday Comics — get a bunch of top-tier artists and writers and let them loose on DC’s characters — is exactly why Solo sold so poorly.

Speaking of Solo, I didn’t buy every issue, but I did pick up three or four. I bought the ones by artists I wanted to read. Darwyn Cooke, Sergio Aragonés, I forget who else.