Monday, July 23, 2012

Reading Room: SPEED CARTER: SPACEMAN "Core People"

"Watch the Skies!" they cried in the 1950s!
They should have said "Look out below!" as this subterranean saga from Speed Carter: SpaceMan #2 (1953) proves!
OK, science pretty much gets tossed out the porthole on this one, but, hey, it's fun!
Written (as are all the Speed Carter stories) by Hank Chapman and illustrated with his usual flair by Joe Maneely.

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Sunday, July 22, 2012

RetroBlogs™ Marathons: Week 3!

Crime and Punishment™ will chill your blood on those hot summer nights...
...with the classic Sherlock Holmes novel (from Classics Illustrated, no less), The Hound of the Baskervilles, beginning tomorrow...


And have a look back at our previous one-week marathons:
True Love Comics Tales™ presented a full-length Gothic romance...
...with evocative art by the late Tony DeZuniga.
Then...
War: Past, Present and Future™ returned to the future...
...with tales of Atomic War and World War III!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Future Publishing's COMIC HEROES app: When FREE isn't Free!

I own an iPhone and I like apps.
So when I came across...
...in the App Store, I thought "Kool"!
When I read the description...
Comic Heroes is your exclusive guide to all things comics related - from the books themselves through to the films and games they inspire. Released six times per year, every issue brings you interviews with creators from around the world, definitive reviews of the latest comics, news and reports from the biggest conventions and loads more.
****Note: This digital edition does not include the covermount items or supplements you would find with printed copies****

 ...and saw the screenshot of the cover...
...I thought "Nifty"!
When I saw the price...
FREE!
...I thought "WOW"!
So, I "bought" it, which because it was "free", didn't cost anything...at that point!
Then, after I scrolled down to the bottom of the screen (which isn't visible without considerable scrolling), I saw...
The terms of subscription are 1 year and your subscription will start with the latest available issue.
Individual issues are priced at:
Single issue £4.99 / $6.99 / €5.49
With subscription prices at:
1 year £21.99 / $30.99 / €24.99
• Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase
• Your subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period
• You will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period, for the same duration and at the current subscription rate for that product
• You can manage your subscriptions and turn off auto-renewal by going to your Account Settings after purchase
• No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period.  This does not affect your statutory rights
• Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription
• We will be collecting information about your use of the app both when you are online and offline. To find out more please see our privacy policy.
By purchasing a subscription or downloading an app you agree that you have read and accept Future Publishing Ltd's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
(Remember, NONE of this was visible without considerable scrolling!)
This is NOT "Free" by any definition!
DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS APP UNLESS YOU WANT TO PAY!
$30.00 for a digital-only subscription to a magazine you could pay less for in it's print incarnation!
They claim on their "Responsibility" page...
Future is absolutely committed to ensuring that it conducts its business in a way that is environmentally, ethically and socially responsible.
Corporate responsibility is inextricably linked to the reputation and commercial performance of our business.
Yet they deceptively advertise something for "FREE" that's NOT free!
I don't want to be billed for something I can't afford to "buy", though it's listed for "free".
So how do I remove it from my iPhone?

Friday, July 20, 2012

Midnight Movie Massacre at 'Dark Knight Rises'

I'm a bit freaked about the massacre in the Aurora, Colorado movie theatre during the midnight screening of Dark Knight Rises, so the regularly-scheduled post will not appear today.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Reading Room: SPACE ACE "Space Patrol"

Magazine Enterprises' Space Ace was a curious strip...
...starting out relatively-sophisticated, as we'll show you here in this tale from ManHunt #1 (1947)...
 ...and progressively becoming more juvenile as it's first incarnation progressed, as seen in the final tale of that version.
When the series was rebooted, it was extremely, shall we say, "kid-friendly" as shown HERE and HERE, but ended with more adult-oriented scripts and art as seen HERE and HERE!
The Grand Comics DataBase attributes the art to Fred Guardineer (who also did the final story), but it doesn't look like Guardineer's other work, so I'm skeptical as to the accuracy of the assessment.

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