Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Venus Ad-1949


Interesting to note that whilst DC house ads from the forties to the seventies are memorable enough that many call for collections, Timely (Marvel) started these no-frills type of promos in the late forties and wouldn't get interesting again until the Silver Age.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Hanna-Barbera Trade Article-Early 1960s


Sunday, September 28, 2014

Karen Gillan and Selfie


One of my favorite folks on TV in the past few years has been Karen Gillan whose Amy Pond turned out to be one of the Doctor's most important companions on DOCTOR WHO.






Karen shaved her head to appear as blue-skinned Nebula in this summer's billion dollar hit, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.





And then, for some unearthly reason, she agreed to star in SELFIE, a new ABC sitcom which not only eliminates her lovely Scottish accent but makes her play a supremely annoying, ultra-modern, almost teenage style lead. The advance reviews have not been good for the show with its overt sex jokes and vomit sight gags but they HAVE been good for her. The official premiere is this week but the pilot has been on Hulu for a while now. I didn't like it at all. What's YOUR take?





Friday, September 26, 2014

Thursday, September 25, 2014

WKRC in Cincinnati Reports on David!


We spent about 90 minutes up at Bookdave's school on Wednesday doing interviews for what understandably turned out to be about a 3 minute report on tonight's news. At my suggestion, they even dug up footage the same station shot of him back in 2000 showing how well he could read at age 3. Here's the link while it lasts.




Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Booksteve Reviews: Comic Book People

The worst thing about Jackie Estrada’s new annotated photo album book, COMIC BOOK PEOPLE, is that so many of those whose photos appear therein are no longer with us. Conversely, though, the best thing about the volume is that Jackie documented these people through the years, along worth many who thankfully ARE still out there and creating comics, and is now sharing her work with us all.

The multi-talented Jackie Estrada is known for her work behind the scenes at the San Diego Comic Con for many a year as well as her work with her stylish husband, Batton Lash, on his SUPERNATURAL LAW, but I first knew her name as a photographer. A number of the pictures contained in COMIC BOOK PEOPLE first appeared in Alan Light’s BUYER’S GUIDE FOR COMIC FANDOM (TBG), the little tabloid adzine that got out of hand and united so much of fandom as we knew it in the 1970s. Jackie’s San Diego Con photos appeared in conjunction with coverage of the annual event as well as in Shel Dorf’s interviews and other features through the years, almost always credited to her by name.

She’s an excellent portrait photographer, too. In many cases the first and only photos I saw of certain creators back then were taken by her. Those photos and so many, many others from SDCC (along with a few from elsewhere) are now collected here, organized neatly by genre and/or subject. Writers, Artists, Writer/Artists. Indies, Underground, Big Name Fans, etc. Plus it’s all indexed so you can easily find your favorites!

I only ever made it out to San Diego once more than 25 years back. It was amazing. You literally would just bump into folks whose work you had revered in some cases all your life. Gil Kane, Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, Frank Miller, Bill Mumy, Jean Giraud, Julie Schwartz, Dick Giordano, Bill Willingham—all folks I remember from my sole visit and all folks present here in the book, some from that same year. One of my favorite people that year was actually Cat Yronwode’s young daughter, Althaea, with whom I joined in a conversation while her mother was speaking with someone else. I was impressed by her intelligence and maturity. Never heard of her again but she’s here, too. So is a very young Valerie Thompson, no relation but a longtime Facebook friend.

The list of names is nearly endless. Easier to list people who apparently never made the trip out to the Coast or who were camera-shy. Mike Kaluta and Bernie Wrightson are present, for instance, but no sign of their Studio mates, Jeff Jones and Barry Windsor-Smith. Odd, also, that Captain Sticky (look him up) appears in no less than three separate photos and yet Vaughn Bode is not to be found.

Still, there’s no reason to cry over who’s NOT in the book when one should be celebrating the captured moments of those who ARE in the book. Jackie’s succinct and informative annotations for each photo make this a valuable history book as well as a photo album.

Comic book fans today don’t tend to care as much about what came before as we did in the Silver Age. But if you’re one who does, Jackie Estrada’s COMIC BOOK PEOPLE: PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE 1970s AND 1980s will be required reading on the subject for a long time to come.

The book has the size and feel of a high school yearbook. If you’re a convention-goer today, might be a good idea to take this book with you regularly and get it signed by as many of the still extant creators in it as you can!

Thanks to Jackie for supplying me with a copy and for the waves of nostalgia that hit me as they rolled off of almost every page.


Booksteve Recommends!

Monday, September 22, 2014

Welcome to Banned Books Week


Being BOOKsteve, it goes without saying that Banned Books Week has always been close to my heart. Back in the 1980s, I actually got in trouble with my Mall for attempting to promote Banned Books Week at Waldenbooks. 

Anyway, this year's theme is Comics! Seen above is the cover to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund's handbook explaining which comics are challenged or banned these days and why. You can download a free copy at the second link below. The other two links offer more info and resources. Be sure to read a banned book this week, preferably a banned COMIC book!


http://cbldf.org/resources/banned-books-week/

http://cbldf.org/librarian-tools/cbldf-banned-books-week-handbook/

http://www.buzzfeed.com/powellsbooks/33-must-read-books-to-celebrate-banned-books-week-ohuo



UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE

It's Banned Books Week! In honor of this important observance, Yoe Books will give one dollar to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund for every share of this meme (below) on Facebook or Twitter, up to $250.00. Take the challenge! Share! Read and defend banned books!


Saturday, September 20, 2014

Yellow Submarine Ad-1968


2014 Cincinnati Comic Expo


It's going on right now. If you're in Cincy for Oktoberfest this weekend or if you're in Dayton, Columbus, Covington, Louisville, Lexington, Newport, and you're reading this, stop on by!

Friday, September 19, 2014

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Remembering Jim Aparo

Comics writer Paul Kupperberg (the guy who recently killed Archie), shares both his first encounter with classic Batman artist Jim Aparo and MY encounter with him, all over at the spanking new CHARLTON NEO blog!

http://charltonneo.blogspot.com/2014/09/a-charlton-classic-jim-aparo.html?spref=fb

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Monday, September 15, 2014

Cincy Comic Expo Online Program Book Now


This weekend marks the 5th Annual Cincinnati Comic Expo. It's now a 3 day affair filled with comics legends and pop culture greats and timed to coincide with Cincinnati's Oktoberfest. So if you're anywhere in the area and you aren't going. why not? 

Realizing that there's too much happening to actually read a con program book during the con, the clever gents behind this event have today posted the entire contents of their program book online, complete with maps and panel schedules. Why, I'M even thanked in the book!


Current plans call for me to leave my deep, dark cave at least a couple of times this weekend to attend, even though I have no money to spend. Hope to see you there!


Sunday, September 14, 2014

Friday, September 12, 2014

Cartoonists For Betty Grable-1942



Those are some lovely mainstream posters for one of Betty Grable's blockbuster wartime musicals but even better were the trade ads which used the tagline, "All This and Grable, Too!" The reason for their interest is that they were done by famous cartoonists of the day!


Below: Dr. Seuss


Below: Jay Irving 


Below: Can't quite ID this one.


Below: Otto Soglow



Below: Peter Arno






Thursday, September 11, 2014

R.I.P. Richard Kiel


I didn't get to meet Richard Kiel last year at the Cincinnati Comic Expo but I did see him interviewed live on local TV very early one morning and he seemed to be having so much fun!



 For years he was confused with his fellow ultra-tall actor Ted Cassidy as the two of them traded off novelty parts on various television shows. The young Kiel was particularly memorable as the alien on TWILIGHT ZONE who only wanted "to serve man."








Then Richard played Jaws in a James Bond film, a villain invented solely for the movies and one who caught everyone's imagination to the point where he not only became the only Bond villain besides Blofeld to return. Not only did he return but he was actually able to redeem himself by aiding 007!


After that, he was pretty close to a household word for a while and appeared in a number of major productions.


He even got on to a game show panel where we were able to see him as the humorous gentle giant he was.






Rest in Pece, sir.