Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Reading Room MYSTERY IN SPACE "Singling"

A well-done graphic story can be understood without captions or word balloons...
...as this never-reprinted tale from DC's Mystery in Space #111 (1980) demonstrates!
Scripter Gerald J Brown penned only a few stories before disappearing from comics.
He was also a writer/editor of the prozine Night Voyages. which ran for 10 issues between 1977 and 1984.
This issue of Mystery in Space was the first issue of a revival of the legendary anthology which was cancelled in 1966.
Sadly, the book only lasted for seven issues before being cancelled again...
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Monday, November 19, 2018

Monday Madness ALICE "Topsy Turvy"

Alice shared her book with one other feature, Tweedledum and Tweedledee...
...featuring characters made famous by Lewis Carroll, but actually the subjects of a poem by John Byrom (not "Byron") a century earlier!
Besides this one-pager with Alice, written and drawn by Dave Berg, they appear in their own strip in this issue (#10) of Ziff-Davis' Alice! and guest-star with her in the next one!
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Sunday, November 18, 2018

Stan Lee's SECRETS BEHIND THE COMICS "A Great Surprise for You from Stan Lee!"

The book ends with the ultimate opportunity to learn from Stan the Man himself...
...an opportunity which no True Believer could possibly pass up, right?
Mind you, it's $1 if he's reviewing just a single page, a book-length (about 64 page) story, or a mini-series!
Wotta deal!
(Plus it was, in fact, his home address!)
I wonder how many would-be writers and artists took advantage of the offer?
At any rate, it's a classic example of Stan Lee's hyperbolic selling style that he'd utilize to great advantage in the Silver Age and beyond as he became the "Face of Marvel" to the world at large!
The back cover ends the tale in equally-enthusiastic fashion...
Excelsior!
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Saturday, November 17, 2018

Stan Lee's SECRETS BEHIND THE COMICS "Secret No 14 What Happens INSIDE of a Comic Publishing House?"

In 1947, Timely Comics was based at the Empire State Building!
You'll note not much is actually shown about the office...
Even at this point, most of the creatives were freelancers who either had studios in the city or suburbs and would use the rooms when they were dropping off material...usually to do corrections/alterations.
There were a couple of inkers/letterers on-staff along with the assistant editors to do print production-prep and assist with corrections if deadlines were really tight or the volume of corrections was massive!
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Friday, November 16, 2018

Stan Lee's SECRETS BEHIND THE COMICS "Secret No. 12 How a Comic Strip is Created!"

Here's a classic example of Stan Lee's hyperbolic retelling of history...
...noting the fact it's, at least partially, fiction!
Note that Lee, despite naming numerous other Timely writers and artists in Secrets Behind the Comics, makes no mention of Joe Simon or Jack Kirby!
Note that both Joe Simon and Jack Kirby themselves offer origin stories that are sometimes-contradictory to themselves and each other, so the truth is probably somewhere in-between...and we'll never know the complete story...
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