Today marks what would have been the 106th birthday of the most influential European comic artist—outside of perhaps Moebius—ever: Hergé, creator of Tintin. I was gong to say that he is to European comics what Will Eisner is to American comics, but it might be more accurate to say he is the Milt Caniff of BD. Either way, Tintin started as two full pages in Le Petit Vingtième, a weekly supplement for kids that was included in the Belgian newspaper, Le XXe Siècle, on January 10, 1929. The first story, The Adventures of Tintin and Snowy in the Land of the Soviets, was first collected as a book in August 1930.
The cover to the final installment of the first Tintin storyline:
It was with the fifth volume, The Blue Lotus, that Hergé cemented himself as one of the truly great comic creators.
The cover to the 17th book, Explorers of the Moon, has been homaged nearly as much as FF #1.
I have the first volume of The Art of Hergé by Philippe Goddin, which covers 1907-1937, and while the translation at times makes for awkward reading, it is quite interesting, and it’s worth checking out if only for the artwork and photographs that were included. I don't have the second and third volumes yet, but I hope to get them at some point down the road. And, of course, the Tintin books are readily available in pretty much every country in which anyone reading this is likely to live.
Another comic from my lot of 12 random comics. Remember seeing the cartoon and toyline years ago. And with Larry Hama writing and Michael Golden doing the pencils I am pretty sure I will enjoy this. Plus it puts me one issue closer to completing my Continuity Comics collection. I just hope this doesn't end on a cliffhanger since it is the final issue of the series.
Another comic from my lot of 12 random comics. Remember seeing the cartoon and toyline years ago. And with Larry Hama writing and Michael Golden doing the pencils I am pretty sure I will enjoy this. Plus it puts me one issue closer to completing my Continuity Comics collection. I just hope this doesn't end on a cliffhanger since it is the final issue of the series.
I wish I still had those issues; i lost my copies years ago during a move. I picked up the collection last year, but, to my chagrin, it came in a pocket-sized Manga edition where a lot of the beauty of Golden's artwork gets lost -- especially as they had to cut and paste panels in order to make it work.
Another comic from my lot of 12 random comics. Remember seeing the cartoon and toyline years ago. And with Larry Hama writing and Michael Golden doing the pencils I am pretty sure I will enjoy this. Plus it puts me one issue closer to completing my Continuity Comics collection. I just hope this doesn't end on a cliffhanger since it is the final issue of the series.
I wish I still had those issues; i lost my copies years ago during a move. I picked up the collection last year, but, to my chagrin, it came in a pocket-sized Manga edition where a lot of the beauty of Golden's artwork gets lost -- especially as they had to cut and paste panels in order to make it work.
Actually, if you want to get the pure, unadulterated version of Bucky O’Hare, you need to get the serialized version that appeared in the Echo of Futurepast anthology. There are huge differences between the story as it appeared in Echo and in the Bucky O’Hare “reprint” comic series, including major dialogue changes, background changes, panel resizings, panel flips, etc. Michael Golden didn’t do any of the redrawing that was involved with those changes either—and there was a lot of new drawing involved. Continuity had someone mimic his style to fill in the empty spaces that moved word balloons had previously covered, or where panels had been enlarged, or characters resized within a panel. Some of the changes helped the story, and some hurt the story. Overall, I give a slight edge to the Echo version, but you'll get a fine story with the Bucky O’Hare series too.
Another comic from my lot of 12 random comics. Remember seeing the cartoon and toyline years ago. And with Larry Hama writing and Michael Golden doing the pencils I am pretty sure I will enjoy this. Plus it puts me one issue closer to completing my Continuity Comics collection. I just hope this doesn't end on a cliffhanger since it is the final issue of the series.
I wish I still had those issues; i lost my copies years ago during a move. I picked up the collection last year, but, to my chagrin, it came in a pocket-sized Manga edition where a lot of the beauty of Golden's artwork gets lost -- especially as they had to cut and paste panels in order to make it work.
It shouldn't be that hard to get the issues cheap. Next time I hit the LCS I will see if they still have any. I know before I decided to collect Continuity the LCS had a crapload of Bucky O'hare issues in their cheap bins. $1 each.
Just found my set of this fun,and rarely mentioned,4 issue Vertigo mini.
This one didn't do much for me. The artwork wasn’t bad from what I remember, but I thought the story was pretty forgettable. I’ve always like the character for some reason, and I just feel could have done something much more interesting with him.
Happy birthday to John Bolton! I first became aware of Bolton with his back-up stories in Classic X-Men—in fact, I looked forward to those more than I did the main stories, even though I hadn’t read many of those X-Men stories when they were originally published. And for a couple of years, Classic was the only comic I bought (I was in high school and had other things to pay for: gas, guitar strings, and the occasional girl), and it was in large part because of Bolton’s work. So cheers, Mr. Bolton! Happy 62nd!
Cover art sans type for John Bolton’s Halls of Horror #1:
Today would have been Carmine Infantino’s 88th birthday. A lot was written about him when he passed away just a month and a half ago, and a lot of his covers were posted here. So, I’m not going to say very much here, and I’ll attempt to dig out some covers that haven’t been posted yet.
Carmine’s first cover—not counting a cover that just used three heads he drew—was for Sparkling Stars #3 (Aug. 1944) featuring the Hell’s Angels characters he drew inside as well. The inks are by Milt Cohen, hence the Carmine Milt signature, but you can see the influence of another Milt—Caniff—on Carmine’s early work.
His first cover for DC was for Flash Comics #90 (Dec. 1947). Carmine drew three of the features in that issue as well: “Flash,” “Ghost Patrol,” and “Johnny Thunder and the Black Canary.” Inks by Carmine’s high school buddy, Frank Giacoia.
Probably my favorite of Carmine’s Golden Age covers, Flash Comics #99 (Sept. 1948).
Carmine drew the covers and the “King Faraday” feature for Danger Trail. Here's my favorite of those covers. Inks by Joe Giella.
Carmine’s cover (with Frank Giacoia inks) to Mystery in Space #1 (Apr.-May 1951), at title for which h would go on to do a lot of work over the several years.
Carmine rarely worked on the war books, but this was a pretty interesting cover he did for Our Army at War #2 (Sept. 1952), inked by Frank Giacoia.
Another comic from my lot of 12 random comics. Remember seeing the cartoon and toyline years ago. And with Larry Hama writing and Michael Golden doing the pencils I am pretty sure I will enjoy this. Plus it puts me one issue closer to completing my Continuity Comics collection. I just hope this doesn't end on a cliffhanger since it is the final issue of the series.
I wish I still had those issues; i lost my copies years ago during a move. I picked up the collection last year, but, to my chagrin, it came in a pocket-sized Manga edition where a lot of the beauty of Golden's artwork gets lost -- especially as they had to cut and paste panels in order to make it work.
Actually, if you want to get the pure, unadulterated version of Bucky O’Hare, you need to get the serialized version that appeared in the Echo of Futurepast anthology. There are huge differences between the story as it appeared in Echo and in the Bucky O’Hare “reprint” comic series, including major dialogue changes, background changes, panel resizings, panel flips, etc. Michael Golden didn’t do any of the redrawing that was involved with those changes either—and there was a lot of new drawing involved. Continuity had someone mimic his style to fill in the empty spaces that moved word balloons had previously covered, or where panels had been enlarged, or characters resized within a panel. Some of the changes helped the story, and some hurt the story. Overall, I give a slight edge to the Echo version, but you'll get a fine story with the Bucky O’Hare series too.
Does the Bucky storyline get finished in the Echo of Futurepast anthology? Cause I read issue 5 of the Bucky O'Hare comic and it ends on a cliffhanger, and that is the last issue in the run.
Having not read any of the previous issues , I had no problem understanding the story in the comic. I never bothered with The Dreaming when it started. Mostly cause back then I was a huge Sandman fan,and figured Dreaming would be 5th rate ripoff. But now I have read 4 or 5 issues and it isn't bad. Not something I would pay much for. But when I find issues for a buck or under I grab them.
Another comic from my lot of 12 random comics. Remember seeing the cartoon and toyline years ago. And with Larry Hama writing and Michael Golden doing the pencils I am pretty sure I will enjoy this. Plus it puts me one issue closer to completing my Continuity Comics collection. I just hope this doesn't end on a cliffhanger since it is the final issue of the series.
I wish I still had those issues; i lost my copies years ago during a move. I picked up the collection last year, but, to my chagrin, it came in a pocket-sized Manga edition where a lot of the beauty of Golden's artwork gets lost -- especially as they had to cut and paste panels in order to make it work.
Actually, if you want to get the pure, unadulterated version of Bucky O’Hare, you need to get the serialized version that appeared in the Echo of Futurepast anthology. There are huge differences between the story as it appeared in Echo and in the Bucky O’Hare “reprint” comic series, including major dialogue changes, background changes, panel resizings, panel flips, etc. Michael Golden didn’t do any of the redrawing that was involved with those changes either—and there was a lot of new drawing involved. Continuity had someone mimic his style to fill in the empty spaces that moved word balloons had previously covered, or where panels had been enlarged, or characters resized within a panel. Some of the changes helped the story, and some hurt the story. Overall, I give a slight edge to the Echo version, but you'll get a fine story with the Bucky O’Hare series too.
Does the Bucky storyline get finished in the Echo of Futurepast anthology? Cause I read issue 5 of the Bucky O'Hare comic and it ends on a cliffhanger, and that is the last issue in the run.
The Bucky O’Hare series reprinted everything in Echo, and added to it. The series ends abruptly with Bruiser attacking the crew. Hama wrote a second story arc, but I don’t think it ever got drawn, and was never published.
Having not read any of the previous issues , I had no problem understanding the story in the comic. I never bothered with The Dreaming when it started. Mostly cause back then I was a huge Sandman fan,and figured Dreaming would be 5th rate ripoff. But now I have read 4 or 5 issues and it isn't bad. Not something I would pay much for. But when I find issues for a buck or under I grab them.
I read the entire run of The Dreaming and thought it was pretty good. Some storylines were better than others of course, but it was pretty consistent throughout the entire run.
Happy birthday to Barry Windsor-Smith! Here’s his first professional cover, X-Men #53 (Feb. 1969), with inks by Mike Esposito.
You have to have a Conan cover.
The full image that was cropped for the cover of Marvel Treasury Edition #4 (June 1975).
And one more: Epic Illustrated #7.
Rune #0, which reprinted all BWS’s Rune flip stories from the other Malibu Ultraverse titles. The flipside covers of those titles joined together to form a poster-sized image of the cover art used here.
BWS’s Adastra story was a slightly changed version of a Storm/X-Men story he had wanted to tell.
I’ve got about a two-foot tall stack of collections and graphic novels that I haven’t had time to read yet. Last week I finally got around to reading one of them: Orc Stain, vol. 1, by James Stokoe. It has a fantasy setting, but it’s not a Lord of the Rings, high fantasy type of world. Orcs are the main players, so as you might guess, the world is a bit deviant. And speaking of deviant, I could almost see this as an Inhumans story. Imagine that it’s pre-human times and the Deviants (Orcs) rule most of the world. Karnak (One-Eye) is a Deviant (maybe he was mutated) just trying to get by in this Deviant world. He can still find the weak point in anything and take it apart with ease—though he needs a hammer to do it rather than his hands. Kro is trying to unite the Deviants under his rule, and Karnak is the key to victory. That’s basically the story of Orc Stain.
I really like Stokoe’s artwork, and his writing isn’t bad. Orc Stain certainly isn’t for everyone, but if you don’t mind a lot of drug use (fantasy versions though they may be) and a lot of genitalia (which are used as currency in the Orcish society), you may get a kick out of it. I think it’s on hiatus at the moment, but if Stokoe gets back to it at some point, I’ll continue with it.
Happy birthday to Jack Kamen, who would have been 93 today. Kamen broke into comics in 1942, but had barely scratched the surface before being drafted into the Army. Because of the war, Kamen didn’t really get going in his career until 1946. His first published work after his return was probably this cover for Atomic Comics #4 (July-Aug. 1946).
Early on Kamen worked for Jerry Iger’s studio, where he became primarily known for his jungle comics work, particularly “Rulah,” “Jo-Jo,” and “Tiger Girl,” for Fox and Fiction House, two of Iger’s biggest clients.
Zoot #12 (Jan. 1948), pencils and inks by Kamen.
It was during this period that Matt Baker worked together, with Baker inking backgrounds to start, and before long penciling figures Kamen would then ink. This only lasted a short time before Baker left the studio to freelance and eventually join St. John, but Kamen and Baker influenced one another (along with Al Feldstein) quite a bit. In fact, a lot of the Phantom Lady work credited to Baker probably was Kamen’s work, or a mix of the two, plus other Iger Studio artists.
" /> Rulah #19 (Oct. 1948), pencils and inks by Kamen.
Dagar #21 (Dec. 1948), pencils and inks by Kamen.
Phantom Lady #23 (Apr. 1949), pencils and inks by Kamen.
In 1950, Kamen left the Iger Studio to work for EC, where he spent the rest of his comics career. And it was Kamen who proposed the Picto-Fiction line to Gaines in the aftermath of the Senate hearings and the installation of the Comics Code Authority.
Shock SuspenStories #10 (Aug.-Sept. 1953), pencils and inks by Kamen—his first cover for EC.
Psycholanalysis #1 (Mar.-Apr. 1955), pencils and inks by Kamen.
" /> Shock Illustrated #1 (Sept.-Oct. 1955), by Kamen.
Once EC folded, Kamen moved into advertising work, which he continued until his retirement. His one last bit of comics work wasn’t actually for publication, but for Stephen King’s Creepshow movie. Kamen drew all the comic work shown in the film.
Comments
Love Frank Bellamy
Look forward to seeing you in Charlotte!
Wish he'd gotten royalties on this.
They printed millions!
The cover to the final installment of the first Tintin storyline:
It was with the fifth volume, The Blue Lotus, that Hergé cemented himself as one of the truly great comic creators.
The cover to the 17th book, Explorers of the Moon, has been homaged nearly as much as FF #1.
I have the first volume of The Art of Hergé by Philippe Goddin, which covers 1907-1937, and while the translation at times makes for awkward reading, it is quite interesting, and it’s worth checking out if only for the artwork and photographs that were included. I don't have the second and third volumes yet, but I hope to get them at some point down the road. And, of course, the Tintin books are readily available in pretty much every country in which anyone reading this is likely to live.
Michael Golden
Another comic from my lot of 12 random comics. Remember seeing the cartoon and toyline years ago. And with Larry Hama writing and Michael Golden doing the pencils I am pretty sure I will enjoy this. Plus it puts me one issue closer to completing my Continuity Comics collection. I just hope this doesn't end on a cliffhanger since it is the final issue of the series.
Richard Bruning
Gavin Wilson
Just found my set of this fun,and rarely mentioned,4 issue Vertigo mini.
Then again, maybe not.
Cover art sans type for John Bolton’s Halls of Horror #1:
Is this scene from a "Sharpe's Rifles" story?
Carmine’s first cover—not counting a cover that just used three heads he drew—was for Sparkling Stars #3 (Aug. 1944) featuring the Hell’s Angels characters he drew inside as well. The inks are by Milt Cohen, hence the Carmine Milt signature, but you can see the influence of another Milt—Caniff—on Carmine’s early work.
His first cover for DC was for Flash Comics #90 (Dec. 1947). Carmine drew three of the features in that issue as well: “Flash,” “Ghost Patrol,” and “Johnny Thunder and the Black Canary.” Inks by Carmine’s high school buddy, Frank Giacoia.
Probably my favorite of Carmine’s Golden Age covers, Flash Comics #99 (Sept. 1948).
Carmine drew the covers and the “King Faraday” feature for Danger Trail. Here's my favorite of those covers. Inks by Joe Giella.
Carmine’s cover (with Frank Giacoia inks) to Mystery in Space #1 (Apr.-May 1951), at title for which h would go on to do a lot of work over the several years.
Carmine rarely worked on the war books, but this was a pretty interesting cover he did for Our Army at War #2 (Sept. 1952), inked by Frank Giacoia.
Does the Bucky storyline get finished in the Echo of Futurepast anthology? Cause I read issue 5 of the Bucky O'Hare comic and it ends on a cliffhanger, and that is the last issue in the run.
Dave Mckean
Having not read any of the previous issues , I had no problem understanding the story in the comic. I never bothered with The Dreaming when it started. Mostly cause back then I was a huge Sandman fan,and figured Dreaming would be 5th rate ripoff. But now I have read 4 or 5 issues and it isn't bad. Not something I would pay much for. But when I find issues for a buck or under I grab them.
You have to have a Conan cover.
The full image that was cropped for the cover of Marvel Treasury Edition #4 (June 1975).
And one more: Epic Illustrated #7.
Rune #0, which reprinted all BWS’s Rune flip stories from the other Malibu Ultraverse titles. The flipside covers of those titles joined together to form a poster-sized image of the cover art used here.
BWS’s Adastra story was a slightly changed version of a Storm/X-Men story he had wanted to tell.
Dave Gibbons on Rogue trooper
I really like Stokoe’s artwork, and his writing isn’t bad. Orc Stain certainly isn’t for everyone, but if you don’t mind a lot of drug use (fantasy versions though they may be) and a lot of genitalia (which are used as currency in the Orcish society), you may get a kick out of it. I think it’s on hiatus at the moment, but if Stokoe gets back to it at some point, I’ll continue with it.
Early on Kamen worked for Jerry Iger’s studio, where he became primarily known for his jungle comics work, particularly “Rulah,” “Jo-Jo,” and “Tiger Girl,” for Fox and Fiction House, two of Iger’s biggest clients.
Zoot #12 (Jan. 1948), pencils and inks by Kamen.
It was during this period that Matt Baker worked together, with Baker inking backgrounds to start, and before long penciling figures Kamen would then ink. This only lasted a short time before Baker left the studio to freelance and eventually join St. John, but Kamen and Baker influenced one another (along with Al Feldstein) quite a bit. In fact, a lot of the Phantom Lady work credited to Baker probably was Kamen’s work, or a mix of the two, plus other Iger Studio artists.
Rulah #19 (Oct. 1948), pencils and inks by Kamen.
Dagar #21 (Dec. 1948), pencils and inks by Kamen.
Phantom Lady #23 (Apr. 1949), pencils and inks by Kamen.
In 1950, Kamen left the Iger Studio to work for EC, where he spent the rest of his comics career. And it was Kamen who proposed the Picto-Fiction line to Gaines in the aftermath of the Senate hearings and the installation of the Comics Code Authority.
Shock SuspenStories #10 (Aug.-Sept. 1953), pencils and inks by Kamen—his first cover for EC.
Psycholanalysis #1 (Mar.-Apr. 1955), pencils and inks by Kamen.
Shock Illustrated #1 (Sept.-Oct. 1955), by Kamen.
Once EC folded, Kamen moved into advertising work, which he continued until his retirement. His one last bit of comics work wasn’t actually for publication, but for Stephen King’s Creepshow movie. Kamen drew all the comic work shown in the film.