Comics
Gods and Monsters
James Gunn shares his vision for the future of the DC Universe and the upcoming slate from DC Studios.
I wish him all the luck in the world.
Kevin Conroy, RIP
Kevin Conroy, known for his iconic performance as the Caped Crusader over a range of media starting with Batman: The Animated Series, has passed away at the age of 66.
I love this…
Batman Speaking with Bruce Wayne
Every Batman actor should have to audition with this scene. pic.twitter.com/jzqKqVo9QO
— Bob Cesca (@bobcesca_go) September 26, 2022
I don’t remember why there’s a seal in the chair…
George Pérez
My all-time favorite comic book artist has died.
George Perez, comic book artist and cornerstone of the industry, has died aged 67. George was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in 2021.
Official obituary at CBR. DC comics remembers him. Marvel pays tribute.
I met him once, and he spent an hour penciling and inking with a sharpie a Batman portrait I have framed in my office. Sometimes, they say never meet your heroes. Well, for me, Mr. Pérez was wonderful.
Neal Adams, RIP
One of the most influential comic book artists of the 20th century, Neal Adams, died at 80. Along with Mike Grell, Carmine Infantino, and Curt Swan, Adams was one of a handful of artists I could identify without looking at the credits page.
Looking at modern pencilers like Jim Lee, you can see the influence of Adams. When Neal Adams drew a character, he would emphasize certain things. His Joker is an excellent example of exaggeration for effect.
A great joy from my childhood was going through my father’s banker’s boxes and pulling out issues of Batman that featured stories vastly different than what I was seeing as reruns on television. In the 1970s, DC and Marvel used to produce oversized anthology books that, instead of being priced at 15 cents or a quarter, cost an unbelievably expensive one American dollar. I remember a Batman version with a stylized Batman penciled by Neal Adams on the cover. For years, that image was the go-to image of an exciting Batman patrolling Gotham City.
Adams was instrumental in reviving Batman as the “Dark Detective” in the wake of the campy Adam West television series. With writer Denny O’Neill in 1970, he sparked a trend in socially relevant comics with Green Lantern & Green Arrow’s road trip across America. Adams gave many budding artists their start in the business and was a champion of creator’s rights.
It’s making me sad that the artists and creatives that filled my young life are now leaving us. This is, of course, the way life goes. Leaving a legacy as Neal Adams did is the silver lining to this dark cloud. I can always revisit the art and the stories and, for a little while, remember a simpler time.
Tennessee School Board Removes Holocaust Graphic Novel Maus From Its Curriculum
Rob Bricken, writing for Gizmodo, outlines the short-sighted school board's decision to remove Maus from its middle-school curriculum.
As reports, the 10-member board voted-unanimously-to remove Maus from its eighth-grade literary curriculum because of its “objectionable language” and nudity back on January 10, despite arguments from instructional supervisors. But clearly, the content of the series was also in the board’s collective minds. According to the minutes of the meeting, board member Tony Allman said, “We don’t need to enable or somewhat promote this stuff. It shows people hanging, it shows them killing kids, why does the educational system promote this kind of stuff? It is not wise or healthy.”
Why promote Maus? Because the Holocaust was real, and it’s incredibly important that everyone learn about it and no one forgets it. What makes Maus such a special way to teach this to young teens is two-fold. First, by depicting Jews as mice and Nazis as cats, it makes the narrative just unreal enough that it can be processed by young readers while still faithfully depicting the atrocities committed during the Holocaust. Second, the story is wholly authentic- Maus is not only Art Spiegelman’s autobiography of his talks with his father Vladek about the latter’s experiences in World War II, but it’s also a biography of his father, visually depicting his life before, during, and after his time in the Auschwitz concentration camp. That nudity, by the way, comes from a lone panel of Art’s mother Anja, who committed suicide by cutting her wrists in a bathtub in 1968. It couldn’t be less salacious.
They purposely don’t get it. They don’t want to understand it. They don’t comprehend the reality or emotional weight of anti-Semitism or the Holocaust. They won’t stop pulling it from the curriculum. They will want it out of the school library and then the public library, pushing for an outright ban of the book.
We need stories like Maus. Personal, uncomfortable stories that drive home how evil becomes commonplace and how easy it is to dehumanize an entire people based on arbitrary characteristics.
Also, the nudity in question is “mouse nudity,” so come off your high horse, Mr. Allman.
UPDATE: Of course, sales soar for Maus after its banning in Tennessee.
50 Wonderful Things of 2018
Linda Holmes, of Pop Culture Happy Hour, adds to her annual end-of-year lists. I always find something I need to see, read, or hear.
RIP Excelsior!
The avuncular, controversial longtime writer and publisher of Marvel Comics died on Monday in Los Angeles. Stan Lee was the Walt Disney of my generation. His creations will live on forever.
From Wired:
His creativity and ideas cast a mystical field over the popular culture of the 20th and 21st centuries, and taught generations of nerds of every flavor and stripe about responsibility, morality, and love. And in a sense, his death can’t be any more permanent than one he might have written for a comic-book character, because the stories he began are all to be continued, forever.
Not Your Father’s Avengers
This story speculating on the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe offers us an idea that I’ve had ever since the Black Panther movie was so well received and the Captain Marvel movie is on the horizon.
That idea is The Ultimates. The team that debuted in 2015 and boasts a diverse cast of interesting characters ready to take their place among the Captain Americas, Thors, and Spider-men of the MCU.
The article gives an excellent outline of who is who in this version of the Ultimates. Additionally, as the article points out, it is important to present this as something new and not Avengers 2.0. The fact that there isn’t a white male on the team is also groundbreaking and something new and different in today’s super-hero movie landscape.
Plus with the imminent acquisition of the Fantastic Four properties, a two-hour movie where this team stops Galactus would be epic and worthy.
The only thing you’d have to do is change Blue Marvel’s name to something like Ultramarine and you’d be good to go. Although, to be honest they kept Rocket Raccoon for Guardians of the Galaxy so maybe all bets are off on that front.
This is Why You Should Hold Fast to Childish Things
John P. Weiss writes and illustrates his thoughts on leaving things undone and reacquaint ourselves with wonder. What do you call people who love good music, books, movies, stage products, company, and conversation?
Happy?