Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Did you know that Barry Windsor Smith wrote, pencilled and inked a Thing graphic novel. He did. Sadly for some reason it was never published. At one point the pages could be found on-line. Maybe it’s time Marvel reconsidered publishing it. Heck, they’re doing something similar with John Byrne’s X-Men.
Jesse Schedeen at IGN came up with his list of The 25 Most Iconic Comic Book Covers of All Time. The criteria were covers “that have endured over the years and influenced new generations of storytellers.” Schedeen picked some good ones. Using just his list here are my top three…
Goran Parlov is an artist most fans of this site will dig. If you’re not already a fan, click on the link and you will be.
I’ve been a fan of Chris Conidis’ art for some time now. When I saw the opportunity to get his take on Jack Carter, I pulled the trigger. To see a bigger version of it, click here and to see more of Chris’ art, check out his instagram page.
Back in 1961, John Rockwell was cast to star as Superboy in a follow-up to the extremely popular Superman tv series which was enjoying renewed popularity in reruns. Superboy never made it past the pilot stage (which you can see if you click over to the link I’ll provide in a second) because of a dispute between two cereal companies over who would get sponsorship rights!
Although the unproduced series became Rockwell’s biggest claim to fame, he was still considered a star and led a very interesting life. Consider that Rockwell….
…once save saved Hugh Heffner’s life
… for years lived on and off in the Playboy mansion
… became a competitive backgammon player for big bucks (and he still competes!)
… married a Mexican heiress and although they haven’t seen each other in over 40 years, are still married due to a strange divorce stipulation
…competed with Frank Sinatra for the attention of a woman they were both after (and won)
Jennifer Vineyard’s The Wild Real-World Playboy Adventures of a One-Time Superboy for SyfyWire is worth a read.
Ace Atkins is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated novelist who has written 23 novels. Perhaps best known for being selected to carry on Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series, Atkins has series characters of his own (Nick Travers and Quinn Colson). If you dig his Spenser yarns, then you ought to give Travers and Colson a go.
Crossroad Blues is Atkins first Nick Travers novel.
The disappearance of a college professor investigating rumors of previously unknown recordings by renowned blues musician Robert Johnson, murdered more than fifty years earlier, leads football player-turned-blues historian Nick Travers along a dangerous trail as he seeks to unravel the dark truths behind an old mystery.
Crossroad Blues has been adapted into a graphic novel by Atkins along with artist Marco Finnegan.
Talk about rare! Check out the pencils for a Barry Windsor Smith unused Tomb of Dracula cover! You can see a graveyard-sized version at Cool Comic Art.
Crime must have been at an all-time low in Gotham when Batman headed over to England to provide children with tips on how to safely cross the street in this extremely rare video from 1966!
If you’re not familiar with Thrillkill by Jim Stenstrum and Neal Adams, you’re in for a real treat. Originally published in Creepy #75, by Warren in November 1975,
Thrillkill is one of Neal Adams’ most beautifully illustrated stories and Stenstrum was ahead of the times looking at mass murders. (You have to remember that they were almost unheard of in 1975. These days, they happen regularly.)
Click over to The Bristol Board to see the full Thrillkill story in a format that’s easy to read.
Matt Childers is back with his riff on Sly as Jack Carter. This is my second sketch from Matt. You can see my first here.
If you’re a sketch collector, Matt gets my highest recommendation.
Kimberly Pierce created an excellent piece for Syfy.com on how George Reeves’ Superman Helped Create TV and Superhero Fandom. George Reeves as Superman was my gateway into the world of Superheroes.
Well done, Ms. Pierece.
Matt Childers is “comic book artist, illustrator, designer, sometimes writer and most of all a storyteller.” I first became aware of Matt through a story that he drew called Dick Ruby and the Case of the Little Green Men (written by Brett Harris). That led me to other of Matt’s comics and commissions. I was hopeful that Matt would be up for a Stallone sketch. As you can see, he was.
I liked it so much, I immediately requested a Childers’ Jack Carter. You’ll see that here next weekend.
If you’re a sketch collector, Matt gets my highest recommendation.
Spaceship Rocket recently posted six of Frank Miller’s Sin City covers. Of the six, the one above is my favorite. Following closely behind is the cover to Dark Horse 51. You can see all six by clicking over.
Man, I miss Miller’s Sin City yarns. If you know of any great crime comics that I may have missed, please respond in the comments.
Jarrod Alberich aka The Yard Sale Artist explains how he got started in independent comics. It’s an interesting listen.
Abraham Riesman recently spoke with Frank Miller to discover why Why Frank Miller Is Revisiting the World of 300 With His New Xerxes. Here are a few tidbits…
Did you go back and reread 300 in preparation for Xerxes? I know a lot of creators don’t like looking at their old work.
Oh, I have to refer to it. I’m very, very proud of 300. I look at it and I don’t think, Well, what would I do differently? I simply accept it as what it is. It was very much a product of the time I did it, but it was the best story I ever had my hands on, and I did my very best by it.But the Athenians can hold their own in the battlefield. Honestly, in junior high, I mostly just learned about them as paragons of democracy and culture.
They were brilliant in battle and they were a culture that succeeded on every level. The Spartans, essentially, became so culturally paranoid that they kind of ceased to exist because they didn’t read. They built for war while the Athenians built for progress. What we have from the Greeks is basically Athenian: the art, the learning, the culture, the sense of democracy.
Any interview with Frank Miller is worth a read especially when it contains (more) preview art.
