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50 Years ago today the Marvel Age began

08/08/2011 by Leave a Comment
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Based on what we know of publishing data, August 8th, 1961 was the day FANTASTIC FOUR #1 arrived on newsstands. Tom Brevoort sent out a birthday tweet. Although there’s talk of boycotts and justified anger over Marvel’s shoddy treatment of some of its greatest talent over the years, we should still mark this day. Pairing the protean storytelling of Ditko and Kirby with the breezy populism of Stan Lee created some of the greatest adventure comics that have ever been, and we suspect they’ll be read for another 50 years.

Filed Under: History, Jack Kirby, Marvel, Stan Lee Tagged With: , , ,

Nice art: Chuck Forsman’s Jaws + Peanuts

08/08/2011 by Leave a Comment
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Fresh off his Raiders of the Lost Ark/Popeye mashup, Chuck Forsman is mixing Jaws with Peanuts..

Prints are available — collect the whole set!

Filed Under: Art, Comic Strips

Jason Conquers America due in October

08/08/2011 by Leave a Comment
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Over on his blog, Norwegian superstar Jason has revealed the front and back covers for October’s JASON CONQUERS AMERICA,
a 32-page tribute to all things Jason:

Filed Under: Art, Fantagraphics

Many more endings for Laika

08/08/2011 by Leave a Comment
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This is so cool. Nick Abadzis writes to remind us that his strips for the 25th Anniversary of Big Planet Comics has ended: a series of gorgeous alternate endings to his GN LAIKA, about the dog who went into space … and never came back.

Four strips are up here, with tributes to “Stan and Jack (Stan referring to both the Man and Kubrick), and several iterations of how the story could’ve turned out.” The final episode definitely calls out for a sequel/spin-off.

Filed Under: Cryptozoology, Webcomics Tagged With:

Marvel teases 4 in November — Will it be #600 or the Human Torch?

08/08/2011 by Leave a Comment
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Marvel just sent out another one of its mystery teaser campaigns, with the above graphic and the tag “Coming in November 2011.”

Of late the FF has of course been renamed and renumbered Fantastic Force, in the wake of Johnny Storm’s death. However, there had been some speculation that Marvel wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to publish FANTASTIC FOUR #600 in what would have been the original numbering. Since two issues are shipping in October, the timing is right.

Or it could be the return of Johnny, aka the Human Torch.

Filed Under: Marvel Tagged With:

Webcomic alert: Raised on Ritalin by Tyler Page

08/08/2011 by Leave a Comment
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Tyler Page (Nothing Better, Stylish Vittles) has a new webcomic called Raised on Ritalin – A Medicated Memoir and just a few panels will give you an idea of what it’s about.

Filed Under: Webcomics

Joe Quesada on modern comics marketing

08/08/2011 by Leave a Comment
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A new Cup O’ Joe with Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada reveals many things, including more about the origin of MIles Morales, and the fact that Quesada has been commissioned by the actual President of the United States for a piece of art. But it also contains an explanation of what has vexed many of late: Marvel’s spoilerific PR in major media. For instance the story of the new dark-skinned Spider-Man broke on Tuesday inUSA Today, spoiling the story with its ubiquity before the issue in question came out. However, says Quesada, there really isn’t any other way to do it:

Filed Under: Marvel, Retailing & Marketing Tagged With:

Womanthology raises over $100,000 — UPDATED

08/08/2011 by Leave a Comment
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WOMANTHOLOGY, the huge collection of comics by women succeeded in meeting its Kickstarter goals. In fact, it exceeded them by some bit, raising $109,301 in 30 days. The original goal was $25,000.

Womanthology had some fantastic premiums to get people to pledge — including contributions from Kevin Smith, Neil Gaiman, Jim Lee, and tons more. But thats still a crazy amount of money. Over 2000 people pledged, 433 of them between $65 and $100.

Filed Under: Indie Comics

Kibbles ‘n’ Bits, 8/8/11

08/08/2011 by Leave a Comment
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§ Gen Con, the big gaming convention was this weekend, and MTV Geek has all kinds of coverage including this new metal 10-sided dice, IRONDIE. Roll your saving throw now!

Filed Under: Kibbles 'n' Bits