After a two-year absence, the always entertaining Dial B for Blog is back—and if you’re interested in comics at all, I suggest you visit the site often.

Robby Reed combines his encyclopedic knowledge with top-notch Photoshop skills to create fascinating and beautifully designed posts on topics such as the secret origin of Batman, the legacy of Jack Kirby, and an in-depth 10-part series on logo master Ira Schnapp.

Check out the archives, because there’s plenty more where those came from.

Sockamagee!

I was saddened to learn via a Facebook post from Tom Heintjes that cartoonist Bill Kresse had died. I met Bill when I was a sophomore attending Brooklyn’s South Shore High School. I was probably around 16 years old, and part of a group of students interested in journalism who toured the New York Daily News.

Here’s what Bill looked like around that time, from when I met up with him the following year at a 75th anniversary celebration of the comic strip held in Central Park.

I no longer remember whether Bill ran the tour or was just one of the many people we met along the way, but for some reason, something clicked with him, me and fellow student Eric Shalit. That tour was the beginning of a relationship that led to Eric and me visiting Bill and his wife Lorraine at their home, my attendance at many National Cartoonist Society events, plus Bill providing art and advice when Eric and I put together an underground magazine at our school.

Bill, who was born on June 17, 1933, inked animation cels at Terrytoons immediately after high school, was a prolific “good girl” artist of the ’50s, and drew for the Archie’s Madhouse comic. I didn’t know any of that at the time, though. I only knew him as the artist and co-creator of Super Duper, a fun comic strip about a bumbling building superintendent which ran in the Daily News for five years. (more…)

I’ve eaten at both of Grant Achatz’s Chicago restaurants, Alinea and Next, so when the Chef tweeted about a crying baby that was making other diners mad, I definitely had an opinion.

And as I just learned from my daily perusal of the foodie site Eater, that opinion appeared, albeit edited, on this morning’s edition of Good Morning America. (My truncated tweet and my Twitter icon appear at the 1:26 mark.)

What appeared on the screen wasn’t my actual tweet, but rather (as you’ll see below) the final few words of my third tweet on the subject. (more…)

Remember how I told you I’d only worn a costume to a convention once?

I’m going to have to amend that statement. Samuel Maronie, old pal and proprietor of the pop-culture blog Sam Maronie’s Entertainment Funhouse, mentioned over on Facebook that he had a photo of me in costume threatening legendary Marvel Comics inker Joe Sinnott with a broadsword—a moment in time of which I have no memory!

The strangest thing about not remembering this encounter? When he sent me a copy of the pic, I saw that I’d signed the thing in 1993! Which makes two things I no longer remember.

In any case, feast your eyes on this …

I was 19 years old. (more…)

Ever since Family Meal unveiled its Smith Island Roll on Twitter and Facebook New Year’s Eve eve, I’ve been wanting to drop in and try it. I even considered stopping by as we headed to Range, another Bryan Voltaggio restaurant, to celebrate New Year’s Eve, but that seemed a bit much, even for me.

Last night, though, on the way back from a dinner with Jay Lake, Jay’s Dad, Lisa Costello, and Peggy Rae and John Sapienza at which the company was superb but the food was merely adequate, I thought—now’s my chance.

Why the sense of urgency around a Smith Island Roll, Voltaggio’s tweaking of the official dessert of the state of Maryland, the Smith Island Cake?

During our second visit to Family Meal in August of 2012, just a month or so after the restaurant opened, I ordered a slice of Smith Island Cake, and it was a wonder. But then … it was gone, no longer on the menu during any of our subsequent visits to Family Meal. (more…)

We’ve all heard stories of comic book burnings from the ’40s and ’50s. We know these stories were more than merely apocryphal—but how many burnings actually took place?

Nicholas Yanes is trying to answer that question.

As part of his dissertation on the history of Mad Magazine and EC Comics, he’s been reviewing primary sources in search of accounts of those public protests, and has been able to find 16 documented cases.

But there were more, weren’t there? Or … do we just think there were more?

He’s put out a call in hopes that the Internet group mind can locate any others that exist. So if you have any info, reach out to him on Twitter or Facebook.

Because my seven-issue run on Captain Marvel will soon be reprinted as part of a Marvel Masterworks edition, I pulled out the original art I’d received for having written those issues. I don’t recall the full details of what share of the finished art the penciller and inker received, but I ended up with two pages per book. And sometimes the backs of those pages are as interesting as the fronts.

On the flip side of page 10 from issue #49—the first issue I wrote—is a rough pencil sketch of the villain The Cheetah.

I assume the sketch is by Al Milgrom, the penciller for that issue. Here’s what the character looks like inked and in color, as seen from his introduction on the cover of Captain Marvel #48, which is the previous issue. (more…)

As I told you earlier, I probably won’t get a chance to experience the new incarnation of Next due to a major life change … which means I’m counting on you to go and then let me know all about it.

Next released its latest video today, this one promoting “Chicago Steakhouse,” hoping to persuade us to check out its latest blink-or-you’ll miss-it menu. As you’ll see below, this time around it’s more about the mood than the food.

Next: Chicago Steak from next restaurant on Vimeo.

Sure wish I could be at that card table, though I don’t know that my bluffs would work on those guys.

Now where’d I put my double-breasted suit and that fedora?

I wanted to wish Flash Gordon a happy birthday today—after all, his first strip appeared in newspapers on January 7, 1934—but then I took a look at that first strip, which I don’t recall having seen before …

… and I winced. You might wince, too.

Yep. It all began with “howling blacks.” (more…)

You already know how I feel about artists who ransack the imaginations of others for profit, whether it’s Roy Lichtenstein’s clumsy appropriations, Mel Ramos’ $600,000 Green Lantern painting, or Sharon Moody’s anonymization of Jack Kirby. (Remember, though, that I’ve also told you I see nothing wrong with mashups, smashups, allusions, tributes, or homages.)

So it should come as no surprise that I’m horrified by the £3,554,500 ($5,684,356) Glenn Brown’s painting “Ornamental Despair (Painting for Ian Curtis)” sold for at auction.

Why? Well, doesn’t it seem a bit … familiar?

It should.

Because, save for a few minor tweaks, it’s nearly identical to the cover Chris Foss painted for a 1984 edition of Isaac Asimov’s The Stars Like Dust. (more…)