Category: Comics

Jim Ivey’s 96th Birthday is Coming! Want to Help Celebrate It?

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That’s my buddy, Jim Ivey.  If you’ve been a reader here for any length of time you’ve probably read about Jim.  For the last couple of decades, I’ve gotten a group of Jim Ivey’s friends together twice a year to celebrate Jim (at his birthday and Christmas).  We’d meet at a breakfast location for a marathon session of stories, remembrances and gifts for Jim.  We were unable to meet last year due to the Covid pandemic.

Jim’s 96th birthday is on April 15th.  If you would like to send a birthday card, that would be awesome. I’ll send out all cards received.  Please try to get the cards to me by April 6th, so Jim gets them by his birthday.  You can also contact me on Facebook or Twitter.  I would love for Jim to be surprised with many cards from his friends.

I first met Mr. Ivey back in 1977.  He was the owner of The Cartoon Museum in Orlando, Florida.

The Cartoon Museum was stuffed wall-to-wall with original art from around the world.  The art spanned the gamut from comic book to comic strip to political cartoons to magazine illustrations.  Jim had over 100,000 comic books and magazines for sale.  You could find comic book scripts and autographs, and well, you get the idea.  Plus you never knew who would be passing through.  It could be a famous comic book or magazine illustrator, a political or newspaper cartoonist and even a couple of times famous faces from movies or tv.

Jim was also one of the founding members of Orlando Con.  Orlando Con was held yearly and attracted cartoonists from around the country plus a movie/tv star or two.  Guests included Joe Kubert, Wil Eisner, C.C. Beck, Hal Foster, Roy Crane, Jack Davis, Harvey Kurtzman, Robert Cummings, Jock Mahoney and many, many others.

Jim was also a political cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle and the Orlando Sentinel. He was the creator of the Thoughts of Man cartoon that ran in newspapers throughout the country.  Jim was the publisher of cARTtoon, a quarterly magazine.  And that’s just an overview of some of the many  accomplishments of Jim Ivey.

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (A Reckless Book) by Brubaker and Phillips is Coming!

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In his newsletter that came out yesterday, Ed Brubaker shared the cover of the third book in his and Sean Phillips’ Reckless series.  Titled Destroy All Monsters, it features their character Ethan Reckless.  Brubaker also announced:

Our original plan was to do the first three books in the series, then take a break and do something else and then come back for more Reckless adventures, but then I had ideas for two more… so we’ll be doing five of these in a row unless something goes wrong.

If you’re not up to speed on the Reckless series check out Ed Brubaker gets Reckless with Sean Phillips at The Beat.

“Batman: Dying is Easy” – The Amazing Short is Here! It is a Must-See!

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Batman: Dying is Easy is a fan-made film that’s better than most “professional” films.  The writing, direction, editing, acting, and set design are all top notch.  I love the movie character cameos – Commissioner Gordon, Hugo Strange, Bullock, The Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivey, Harley Quinn,  I also like the star cameos – Kevin Porter, Michael Madsen, Doug Jones, Chris Daughtry and Casper Von Dien.

Directed by Aaron Schoenke and Sean Schoenke from a script by Aaron Schoenke.  Aaron and Sean are brothers and the creative team behind other amazing fan films which include Batman vs Darth Vader, Predator vs Wolverine, Spider-man vs Darth Maul, and more.  Someone needs to give these guys a feature film!

Directed by Aaron Schoenke and Sean Schoenke
Starring:
Kevin Porter as Batman
Aaron Schoenke as Joker
Michael Madsen as Bullock

“Batman and Joker have always had such an interested psychological relationship, it’s those dark concepts that make the characters so interesting.”

“Mike Mignola: Drawing Monsters” – The Teaser Trailer is Here!

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Even if you don’t recognize the name, Mike Mignola, you know his creation, Hellboy.  Perhaps the most popular comic character created in the last 40 years, Hellboy has been adapted into several movies, games, comic series and more.  A documentary about Hellboy’s creator, Mike Mignola, is in the works.  The first teaser trailer is here!

Muhammad Ali: Kinshasa 1974 – “The Rumble in the Jungle”

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Muhammad Ali: Kinshasa 1974 is a new graphic novel that combines the famous Abbas photographs with a story by writer JD Morvan and artist Rafael Ortiz that gives context to the pictures.  Abbas was in Kinshasa, Zaire to photograph the political unrest at the same time the famed Rumble in the Jungle fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman took place.  As things worked out Abbas was able to chronicle events leading up to an including the fight.

Muhammad Ali: Kinshasa 1974 is an interesting idea and looks like a well done book.  If you’d like to see more than the cover above and preview page below, click over to an interview with JD Morvan which provides more insight and preview pages.  If you’d like to order Muhammad Ali: Kinshasa 1974, it is available now.  (I will get a small percentage of each sale made using the link.)

Meet Robin Recht and His Conan!

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The Conan drawing above was created by Robin Recht.  Recht’s art is new to me and after seeing the drawing above I searched for more information on and art by Recht.

Robin Recht is a French artist.  He studied in Paris, and has created artwork for comics and role-playing games.  From what I’ve gathered most of his comic work is published overseas.  I would definitely love to see English translations of his comic work.  

Sources: I Can’t Stop Thinking About Comics and 2dGalleries: Robin Recht.

Keanu Reeves’ BRZRKR Trailer is Here!

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Here’s something you don’t see very often,  No, not the cover to BRZRKR #1 above (although that’s pretty rare, too).  I’m talking about a trailer for a comic book.

Yep, a trailer for a comic book.  And it is narrated by Keanu Reeves!

BOOM! Studios is proud to announce BRZRKR, a twelve-issue limited series from the iconic Keanu Reeves in his Must Read comic book writing debut, alongside New York Times bestselling co-writer Matt Kindt (Folklords, Bang!) and acclaimed artist Ron Garney (Wolverine, Captain America), colorist Bill Crabtree (BRPD), and letterer Clem Robins (Hellboy) in a brutally violent new series about one immortal warrior’s fight through the ages. BRZRKR #1 is available in comic shops March 3rd. The man known only as B. is half-mortal and half-god, cursed and compelled to violence…even at the sacrifice of his sanity. But after wandering the world for centuries, B. may have finally found a refuge – working for the U.S. government to fight the battles too violent and too dangerous for anyone else. In exchange, B. will be granted the one thing he desires—the truth about his endless blood-soaked existence…and how to end it.

Read a sneak peek: https://bit.ly/3cDtQam

​ To find a comic shop near you, visit www.comicshoplocator.com

“Conan: The Animated!”

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Before you click on the Conan animation below, be aware that it contains realistic cartoon violence.  I realize that’s an oxymoron, but it applies.  The animation is NOT a type you would see on Saturday morning.  It is more along the lines of what you might see in an “R” rated Conan feature film.  The action is extremely well directed and I would love to see a full-length Conan film done like this.

Hats off to Mostapha Dhaouadi and everyone involved.

Sybil Danning / Paul Gulacy / Bill Black and Me

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The Black Diamond comics shown above each feature a cover drawn by Paul Gulacy.  A fan of the series and actress Sybil Danning recently posted the covers on Twitter with this response…

I responded to his Tweet with, “Funny story – I was Bill Black’s connection for both Paul Gulacy & Sybil Danning!”

I thought I had told that story here before but a search of the site indicates I didn’t… until now.  Let me take you back to 1980…

It’s about 10 at night and I’m watching tv.  The phone rings and I answer.  The voice on the other end asks to speak to “Mr. ZAB-blow.”  Dead giveaway that he doesn’t know me since he mispronounces my name. (For the record it sounds like ZAY-BLOW.)  I think he’s a nervy sales guy and am ready to hang up when he says, he got my name from a Bill Black publication that listed me as an editor.  The guy wants to get in touch with Bill Black.

Little does this guy know, my editing amounted to either putting Bill in touch with artists or copies of convention sketches.  My biggest contribution in this area was that I introduced Bill to Paul Gulacy.  Paul was my favorite artist, we talked fairly regularly and I had commissioned a few pieces from Paul.  Bill wanted to get Paul to do some art for him.

Ah, but back to the Sybil Danning phone call.

The guy says that he couldn’t find any phone number for Bill, but he was able to locate mine.  I tell the guy, that I can’t give out Bill’s number but would be glad to take a message for him.  The guy proceeds to tell me he is Sybil Danning’s manager.  He asks if I know who she is.  I do.  He says that they want to do a comic with Sybil as the main character.  They want Bill to publish it.  I take his number and tell the guy I’ll pass Bill the info.  We hang up and I go back to watching whatever I was watching.

I’m pretty sure it was the next day that I reached out to Bill to let him know that I had received a call from a guy saying he was Sybil Danning’s manager and they wanted to do a comic with him.  If you know Bill, you know how enthusiastic he gets.  Bill begins rapid fire asking questions, “When did he call – do I have his number – why didn’t I call him last night to tell him – etc.”  I explain to Bill it was late, I don’t know if the guy is on the level, etc.

Needless to say, Bill was able to contact Danning’s manager and the rest is history.

The Jaffee Project!

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Here’s a cool opportunity to make someone who probably brought you at least a smile or two over the years very happy.  Al Jaffee, award-winning cartoonist, inventor of Mad Magazine’s beloved fold-in page as well as Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions, turns 100 on March 13th.  Sam Vivano, former MAD Art Director and friend of Al’s is putting together a surprise to help Al celebrate…

…(T)he legendary Al Jaffee will celebrate his 100th birthday on March 13. You are invited to send him greetings at the post office box shown in the graphic (above).

Please be sure to put your full name and address on the envelope. This will help me keep track of everything that comes in.

The box is active for the next six months, so don’t worry if you think your greeting won’t arrive by the 13th. I’m sure Al will be happy to continue celebrating his birthday even after it’s passed!

Although the project will run even after Al’s birthday, it would be cool to have Al’s party flooded with messages from fans around the world on his birthday.  Please consider sending in a card.

Sources:

YUMI: SPY FATALE, BADDIE ROYALE by Doug Wagner & Hoyt Silva is Coming!

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Yumi is a 136 page graphic novel created by Doug Wagner and Hoyt Silva.  I’ll let them take it away…

Richard (MI-6’s greatest spy) has gone missing, and now Yumi will do anything to find him…burn down MI-6, send Paris into chaos, attack the city of Dubai, and even kill all his ex’s. Thinking about it, Yumi just might be the world’s greatest anti-spy.

It all started by chance, as Yumi met Richard at a coffee shop in Japan. It was love at first sight, and a storybook romance ensued. Yumi was head over heels in love. As the weeks went by, that love only grew stronger.

Until Richard disappeared without a trace.

Now, Yumi must find him at any cost, and that starts by taking matters into her own hands.

Did we mention that Yumi might be the most gifted hacker on the planet? And that she’s been trained by one of the world’s foremost experts in combat (that would be Ms. V.)? See, Yumi’s dad is the founder and owner of the Tanuki Corporation, one of Japan’s most prominent tech businesses, and he spared no expense training his daughter to be able to defend herself. The hacker part? Well, her dad was considered a tech-genius during his prime, so the apple didn’t fall far from the tree; and in reality, Yumi is way more gifted than even he knows.

Needless to say, things are about to get crazy.

If this sounds like something you’d like, then I encourage you to click over to their Yumi Kickstarter,  You’ll find all kinds of options from digital copies, softcovers, hardcovers, variant covers, and more.  I’ve jumped on board.  It’s going to be a fun ride.

Steranko’s Nick Fury (in Living Color) and Two Suggestions!

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Check out this way cool Steranko Nick Fury art!  Someone should put together a sketchbook of Steranko’s Nick Fury drawings.  Not his Marvel Nick Fury stories, since that’s been done, but a nice sketchbook of Steranko’s Nick Fury art.  Trust me on this one.

Also, I’m still campaigning for a Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD series set in the 1960s.  One of you Hollywood types should get on this!

If you’d like to see a bigger version of the art above (and who wouldn’t?), click over to I Can’t Stop Thinking About Comics.