All In Color For A Dime

Mon Apr 30, 2018 6:09 am

Ole Bruce smoking his pipe ! Steve Rogers did too .... in the old .CA comics . I think I saw one time Reed Richards smoking a pipe but I could be wrong

mrpipster · Mon Apr 30, 2018 5:04 pm

Wildcat wrote: ↑Sun Apr 29, 2018 4:17 pm
mrpipster wrote: ↑Sun Apr 29, 2018 3:03 pm Cool.
Yep I am a comic guy myself. Most of my single issue collection consists of two titles. Conan and Jonah Hex.
I am really getting back into Star Wars lately though. I am trying to read the new canon books in order by way of tpb's starting with the stories immediately following the Battle of Yavin.
What do you enjoy reading?
I'll try this again, my first attempt failed somehow.

Jonah Hex is a favorite of mine, especially Michael Fleisher's Hex stories. His Spectre is a favorite too.

As for Star Wars, I did read Marvel's adaption back in the day (70s/80s) but not regularly. I lean more towards Star Trek. But they were good solid stories with good art. Gil Kane if I recall correctly. Are they canon??

The Conan novels are great reads. I liked the Marvel adaptions very much. BWS's art was and is always something special, but Buscema nailed it. Heck, what doesn't he get right?!! I remember really enjoying the King Conan series by Marvel. More Buscema goodness!

Canon?Oh boy. I THINK the old Marvel and Dark Horse stuff is out. Only the new Marvel stuff is canon now.

Whalehead King · Mon Apr 30, 2018 5:21 pm

I picked up two of issues of the old 80's mag, Comics Interview. I read them during odd moments. I've finished the one I have that featured interviews with the writer Mike Baron (Nexus and Badger) and Bill Griffith (Zippy the Pinhead). Right now I'm working my way through the one that features Walt Simonson when he was just starting his Thor run. These are very interesting time capsules featuring not just the writers and artists that were hot at the time but old timers like Joe Kubert, and letterers and colorists (I just finished a piece about Adrienne Roy and a big deal was made about her tattoos, something unremarkable today).

Mon Apr 30, 2018 5:26 pm

Readheads , ya know ...

Wildcat · Mon Apr 30, 2018 5:31 pm

I remember Comics Interview. I've got a few kicking around here. Comics Journal was another good mag. But near the end, they started to believe their own hype and it jumped the shark. I guess they forgot it was a publication about funny talking animals and people who wear colorful long johns.

I had the opportunity to meet Simonson at the original Museum of Cartoon Art in Westchester County NY, before it moved. Nice guy. Talented guy. It was during his Thor / Beta Ray Bill work.

Whalehead King · Mon Apr 30, 2018 5:38 pm

Wildcat wrote: ↑Mon Apr 30, 2018 5:31 pm I remember Comics Interview. I've got a few kicking around here. Comics Journal was another good mag. But near the end, they started to believe their own hype and it jumped the shark. I guess they forgot it was a publication about funny talking animals and people who wear colorful long johns.

I had the opportunity to meet Simonson at the original Museum of Cartoon Art in Westchester County NY, before it moved. Nice guy. Talented guy. It was during his Thor / Beta Ray Bill work.

We may have met Simonson on the same day. The museum was in either Rye or Portchester, I forget which. I think it was Rye. Portchester was always a little more down-its-luck kind of town in the 80s (though it had a great New Wave bar called The Beat). Rye always has Playland.

I remember Simonson had a lot of hair growing out of his ears. He was drawing and talking the whole time, but I was fascinated by his hairy ears.

It's too bad that museum went defunct. It was fascinating and the first time I saw original comic book art.

Whalehead King · Mon Apr 30, 2018 5:40 pm

BTW, if you want to read a book about Fairfield County, Conn., the part of Connecticut where I grew up and next to Westchester County, NY, I recommend Cartoon County, by Cullen Murphy. https://smile.amazon.com/Cartoon-County ... oon+county. A lot of newspaper cartoonists lived around where I grew up. It's an interesting book. His father wrote and illustrated Prince Valiant for years.

mrpipster · Mon Apr 30, 2018 5:57 pm

Whalehead King wrote: ↑Mon Apr 30, 2018 5:21 pm I picked up two of issues of the old 80's mag, Comics Interview. I read them during odd moments. I've finished the one I have that featured interviews with the writer Mike Baron (Nexus and Badger) and Bill Griffith (Zippy the Pinhead). Right now I'm working my way through the one that features Walt Simonson when he was just starting his Thor run. These are very interesting time capsules featuring not just the writers and artists that were hot at the time but old timers like Joe Kubert, and letterers and colorists (I just finished a piece about Adrienne Roy and a big deal was made about her tattoos, something unremarkable today).

Yes Thor!
I have to keep focused when buying single issues. I almost done with Conan and Jonah Hex. Next up for me is Thor.

Wildcat · Mon Apr 30, 2018 8:21 pm

Pipster, how far back do you plan on going? Are talking original series?

Wildcat · Mon Apr 30, 2018 8:59 pm

Whalehead, you are correct sir. It was Port Chester/Rye NY. Didn't Mort Walker move everything to Florida after the Rye museum closed?

The day I met Simonson, was the day they were having a celebration of the King Features characters and Marvel's release of Defenders of The Earth, which was based on King Features characters they had aquired. It was 1985 if I'm not mistaken. I went because Milt Caniff was a guest lecturer and I am a big Terry and The Pirates fan. Caniff's story telling and art is just so lush. Lights and darks and brushwork. Don't get me started!!!

My head is filling with images of Noel Sickles and Frank Robbins and Alex Toth art now too! Wow! But I digress...

So anyway, we get lost and arrive late to the museum. I only catch the last half of Caniff's presentation. I'm school girl giddy! My head is in a cloud. I'm looking at all these original Terry strips displayed in these huge movable displays. Like the way they display posters at a department store, only really big and tall. An elderly gentleman taps me on the shoulder and asks me if I can read the date on this Terry strip very far up. I can and I do and I tell him. He thanks me and walks away. My girlfriend, now wife, says, "That was that man you came to see, Milt Whatshisname. Why didn't you talk to him? Ask him for an autograph?" I came out of my school girl fog too late. He was gone. So close. So far...

But, I met Walt and talked and met Terry Austin and talked with him about his pencils and how I saw Ditko influences. Then I met Alex Saviuk and we talked Hawkman. A great day, but I missed the Great One. I still kick myself.