Well, Valentine’s Day was this week, which means my thoughts turned to romance … romance comic books, that is. It reminded me of a dichotomy I noticed several years ago between the covers to romance novels and the covers to romance comics, a difference I’ve never seen anyone mention. And so I figure I should mention it to you here now so that you can go, “Oh, Scott, you dummy, where have you been, everyone already knows that!”

It started for me back in 2006, as Irene and I were approaching our 30th anniversary. I decided that, because of Irene’s love of both romance novels and comic books, I’d buy her the original art to a romance comic book cover for an anniversary gift. What I soon discovered, as I studied all the art then for sale from dealers, was that romance comic book cover art was terribly sad, and not at all suitable to celebrate three decades of love!

Somehow, even though our house has always been filled with both romance novels and comics, I’d never noticed this.

Take a look at the covers to a couple of random romance novels. (more…)

I told you last week that as I was flipping through some of Irene’s old comics, one thought kept going through my mind at the sight of the anxiety-producing situations on the covers of Strange Adventures—

I hate it when that happens!

And as I continued looking at the covers of other DC Comics anthology titles—such as House of Mystery, Tales of the Unexpected, Mystery in Space, and My Greatest Adventure—the phrase continued to repeat in my mind …

I hate it when that happens!

(more…)

Sean Howe posted a moving Fred Hembeck strip today over at his Marvel Comics: The Untold Story Tumblr. It seems to have been originally published in 1986 on the occasion of Marvel’s 25th anniversary, but it’s still relevant 27 years later.

And yeah … I know that, and you know that … but I don’t think they know that.

Irene’s been going through her comic book collection, and last night, I found myself attracted by her stack of old Strange Adventures. As I looked at the seductive, anxiety-producing covers, all I could think was—

I hate it when that happens!

(more…)

Sean Howe, whose history of Marvel Comics in the ’70s, Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, was one of my favorite reads of the year—how could it not be? I was there—shared this poster the other day for Phil Seuling’s 1970 Comic Art Convention.

I hadn’t seen it in decades, and boy, did it bring back memories. Because as I’ve already told you, I was there, too.

It was my first convention, one at which I met many who would eventually become part of my karass.

And now you’ll have to to excuse me … I think I’ve got something in my eye …

I’ve got a foot in many different worlds. I’ve got a foot in the science fiction world, a foot in the comic book world, a foot in the foodie world, a foot in the ukulele world …

Wait! That’s far too many feet.

In any case, sometimes these worlds overlap, such as when I’m at a science fiction convention and take my friends along on foodie expeditions. Or when some other friend brings a ukulele to one of those same cons and we get to jam. But for the first time, comics and the ukulele have formed their own Venn diagram, overlapping to result in this.

That’s right—a George Formby comic strip.

Thanks to Steve Thompson of BookSteve’s Library for pointing me to Lew Stringer’s blog, Blimey!, where Stringer posted this page from the December 26th 1953 issue of Film Fun.

I’ve no idea how many of these there were, but it looks like George’s Christmas turned out nice again!

The universe must really want me to tell you about the collage artist born Burgess Franklin Collins, who became known as, simply, Jess. And who am I to deny doing want the universe wants?

First, while reading the latest issue of the Paris Review, I came across a collage the artist had done in 1956 that made use of comics—and you already know how intrigued I am by collages like that.

Then (I assume because I wasn’t acting quickly enough), up popped a Publishers Weekly review of the book Jess: O! Tricky Cad and Other Jessoterica, which told me more about the former Manhattan Project radiochemist turned artist and informed me that the book’s “publication coincides with the beginning of a traveling exhibition of his work set for 2013 and 2014.”

So I guess I’d better share the image which intrigued me so, or else mentions of Jess will inevitably start creeping into every magazine I read! (more…)

When I was a kid, I joined the Merry Marvel Marching Society the moment its existence was announced in the pages of the comics. Yes, I was that much of a Marvel fanboy, even though the term fanboy hadn’t been invented yet. But considering how I joined, it’s surprising I ever became a member.

I gathered my pennies, nickels, and dimes, shoved them into an empty Junior Mints box, taped it shut, shoved that into an envelope, taped that shut, and mailed the chunky package off to 625 Madison Avenue. After what seemed like a millennium of waiting, and wondering whether the mess I’d mailed ever made it, my membership kit arrived … including this snazzy button, which I still own, and which I often think of wearing to Comic-Con, stopped only by my fear of the heartache I’d feel if I lost it.

But there’s another momento of that membership I’ve lost over the years … and I’m hoping you can help me regain it. (more…)

Behold the true but secret headline which hides beneath all headlines …

If only a newspaper would run this for real instead of leaving it as subtext!

(panel from Hawkeye #2, November 2012, words by Matt Fraction art by David Aja)

If you’d like to know more about The Scarecrow, who I created for Marvel Comics back when dinosaurs still walked the Earth, pick up a copy of Back Issue magazine #60, which features a five-page article by Dewey Cassell focused on the character.

In addition to gathering and making sense of everything I’ve written about the Scarecrow on my blog over the years, Cassell also conducted new interviews, melding it all together to finally put in one place the story of the character’s creation, how he almost got his own book, and why that never came to pass.

So pick up a copy, if for no other reason than that it will satisfy your craving for the history of Marvel in the ’70s that you won’t get a full picture of until Sean Howe’s Marvel Comics: The Untold Story is published next month.