What really makes this image come alive is that nothing sits on a plane parallel to another plane; everything is askew. The house leans one way, the boy another, the gravestones another. The two gates aren't even on the same plane. It all adds to the sense of unease and impending horror. Great design.
And, yeah, now that you mention it, I do see that House Of Mystery cover as having a strong Hannigan design influence.
Hannigan gets overlooked for the most part, I think in large part due to his being behind the scenes for so much of his career. Here are a few covers he designed that were then drawn by someone else:
John Byrne from Hannigan’s design.
(Early) Travis Charest from Hannigan’s design.
Joe Staton from Hannigan’s design.
Frank Miller and Klaus Janson from Hannigan’s design.
Was told by the comic shop owner that this was a "sequel" to Stray Toasters so I bought ever issue.
I don't know whether I hope he was having a joke at your expense, or whether I hope he really believed that. I haven't read Stray Toasters, but I've read some of McKeever’s other work. Like Sienkiewicz, he has strong fine art sensibilities. Unlike Sienkiewicz, he’s a pretty good writer.
This LCS owner is well known in the area for being a total dickhead. He is The Simpsons Comic Book Guy come to life. I know his shops are closed now. Last I heard he got caught for tax fraud.
That’s a shame, though I can’t say I'm surprised. All too many comic shop owners get into the business without treating it like a real business. And it would have been a funny joke too if he had let his customers in on it.
Funny thing is his last name is Sincere. And I know that he had 2 shops at one time. He would make fun of kids if they bought stuff he thought was bad. It was just a horribly managed store.
One of the local shop owners where I am has the last name of Pleasant. Thankfully, he lives up to the name.
Years ago there was another poster on these forums that also went to Sincere Comics in Mobile Alabama. He was the person that informed me the stores were closed. I did like that for years he had 10 cent bins. That is where I got lots of 80s indy titles cheap.
Today’s comic from The Stack is Jack-in-the-Box Comics #16 from Nov.–Dec. 1947. My copy is missing the cover and eight pages from the ends unfortunately. Jack-in-the-Box Comics was Charlton’s third title. The first issue was published with a cover date of February 1946 under their Charles Publishing Company imprint as a one-and-done. Later that year Yellowjacket Comics—Charlton’s first comic book publication—was renamed Jack-in-the-Box Comics, so issue #16 was actually the seventh comic under the Jack-in-the-Box masthead. It was also the last, as with issue #17 the title became Cowboy Western Comics.
This is an odd book. The two lead stories are humor features: “Breezy Budd” and “The Shnook,” who strikes me as being very similar to Johnny Thunder, only without the magic lightning bolt. The “Breezy” story ends with Breezy being wheeled off to the operating room to have his appendix removed—nothing’s wrong with him; it’s a case of mistaken identity. The “Shnook” story ends with the Shnook not only fired from his job but thrown in jail. Somewhat dark endings for two otherwise silly stories.
The rest of the book consists of “true fact” short pieces and a 12-page adaptation of Silas Marner, which features the best artwork—good, but not great—in the book. There’s a three-page filler called, “How Blast Works,” which details the scientific findings from studying the WWII bombings of London. It's somewhat interesting, but not very cohesively written.
I guess the book was aimed at teens, but I'm not surprised it didn’t last very long.
As mentioned in another tread,this is a comic that was shot by a gun. I remember this being hyped up big time in the various comic fanzines. But then it seems like it was quickly forgotten.
As mentioned in another tread,this is a comic that was shot by a gun. I remember this being hyped up big time in the various comic fanzines. But then it seems like it was quickly forgotten.
While the shop I was working in at the time carried The Protectors (see other thread), I don’t remember us even carrying Jab, even though we carried a lot of indie books. It’s possible we had a subscriber or two because of the Too Much Coffee Man story, but I’m pretty sure we didn’t have any copies for the rack. I do remember reading the blurb in the Advance catalog and wondering if they were going to trim away the blasted edges or not. Without trimming, the books would have been difficult to rack and probably would have gotten torn up even more.
To me this is the best non-creator owned work from Morrison. And it seems to be unrated. I rarely hear anyone talking about it.
It was one of the few Morrison books that completely lost me. I followed it for about a year before I gave up on it, finding it too incomprehensible to follow. It was just too avant-garde, post-modern, what-have-you for my tastes. Besides, I really wanted a more traditional Doom Patrol to read.
To me this is the best non-creator owned work from Morrison. And it seems to be unrated. I rarely hear anyone talking about it.
I love this series. I don’t know if I’d rate it as Morrison’s best non-creator owned work, but it’s certainly in the mix. The first piece of original art I bought was a page from issue #28, part of the Brotherhood of Dada storyline. But I came a little late to the party. The first issue I read, and the one that got me hooked, was Doom Patrol #34, the hilarious Brain/Monsieur Mallah story. After reading that, I went back and bought all the back issues.
It definitely falls under the shadow of Animal Man in discussions I’ve seen. Probably because Animal Man was more accessible than Doom Patrol. You had to have a bit of an appreciation for the surreal to really get into Doom Patrol, and that limited its audience to some degree.
It certainly limited my interest. I tried it for awhile, found one or two stories that I liked, but on the whole I really didn't care for it. It wasn't the Doom Patrol that I wanted to read.
To me this is the best non-creator owned work from Morrison. And it seems to be unrated. I rarely hear anyone talking about it.
It was one of the few Morrison books that completely lost me. I followed it for about a year before I gave up on it, finding it too incomprehensible to follow. It was just too avant-garde, post-modern, what-have-you for my tastes. Besides, I really wanted a more traditional Doom Patrol to read.
Understandable, I had been reading that Doom Patrol series since it started. I was 14 or so when Morrison took over the title. And at first I didn't enjoy it. But since I had a subscription I kept reading. After about 5 issues of Morrison's take on the DP I was loving it. But I have always enjoyed oddball stuff.
To me this is the best non-creator owned work from Morrison. And it seems to be unrated. I rarely hear anyone talking about it.
I love this series. I don’t know if I’d rate it as Morrison’s best non-creator owned work, but it’s certainly in the mix. The first piece of original art I bought was a page from issue #28, part of the Brotherhood of Dada storyline. But I came a little late to the party. The first issue I read, and the one that got me hooked, was Doom Patrol #34, the hilarious Brain/Monsieur Mallah story. After reading that, I went back and bought all the back issues.
It definitely falls under the shadow of Animal Man in discussions I’ve seen. Probably because Animal Man was more accessible than Doom Patrol. You had to have a bit of an appreciation for the surreal to really get into Doom Patrol, and that limited its audience to some degree.
I love Morrison's run on Animal Man,but find that it is slightly over rated. I think that Jamie Delano's run on AM is much better.
The final issue of Morrison's long run on DP. And it has a great ending. I would love to see him come back to DP if only for a short storyline. But sadly I don't think that is gonna happen.
I love Morrison's run on Animal Man,but find that it is slightly over rated. I think that Jamie Delano's run on AM is much better.
Yeah, I'm at the opposite end of that. Morrison's take on Animal Man was the only one I really enjoyed. I followed it for awhile after he left, but it was never as interesting again, nor did it have that special spark that Morrison seemed to give it. And once they started to strip him of his costume and superhero status in order to make him more Vertigo-friendly, I lost all interest. It wasn't the book I wanted to read anymore.
The final issue of Morrison's long run on DP. And it has a great ending. I would love to see him come back to DP if only for a short storyline. But sadly I don't think that is gonna happen.
Crazy Jane is such a great character. I have (actually, my wife has) a nice sketch of her by Rich, who has been a friend of ours for several years. He lives in the next town over from us. Rich just started a new digital-only series as part of the Artist Alley Comics collective, called Annie Ammo. (The first story is free to download, by the way.) It’s a character he’s had kicking around for a while. Here’s the cover of an Annie Ammo mini-comic he did a while back.
As for Delano’s run on Animal Man, it was very up and down for me. Some storylines I liked quite a bit, some I though were very mediocre. Between the two, I’ll take Morrison’s run, but I’ll take Morrison’s DP over his Animal Man.
Morrison's DP might be my favourite run of all time, though there were one or two issues that I didn't connect with (I think Rebis' conversion, with all its alchemy references, is mainly what I'm thinking about). I'm always surprised that it never seems to get a mention. I have the Invisibles, but only read the first issue. I think I stopped because I was either focused on work of school and didn't want to skim it.
I don't own any original art, but if I could I'd pick up a few pages from issue 51. I've had an idea for a commission for Case in my head for a long time, but haven't had the cash to even think about looking into it. Sadface!
I never looked into Animal Man, though I probably should some time. I bought a bunch of them back then (and probably still own them), but figured I'd get them all before starting to read and never did. (Actually, I think I started reading after the Morrison issues now that I think on it.) The covers were always great, but the monkey with its eyes sewn shut was one that I've never forgotten.
Morrison's DP might be my favourite run of all time, though there were one or two issues that I didn't connect with (I think Rebis' conversion, with all its alchemy references, is mainly what I'm thinking about). I'm always surprised that it never seems to get a mention. I have the Invisibles, but only read the first issue. I think I stopped because I was either focused on work of school and didn't want to skim it.
I don't own any original art, but if I could I'd pick up a few pages from issue 51. I've had an idea for a commission for Case in my head for a long time, but haven't had the cash to even think about looking into it. Sadface!
I never looked into Animal Man, though I probably should some time. I bought a bunch of them back then (and probably still own them), but figured I'd get them all before starting to read and never did. (Actually, I think I started reading after the Morrison issues now that I think on it.) The covers were always great, but the monkey with its eyes sewn shut was one that I've never forgotten.
Both Doom Patrol and Animal Man are series I read from when they started till the endings. Been meaning to get my Animal Man run bound for quite some time.
Saw this issue earlier tonight in my huge unread stack. The cover caught my eye. With Hellblazer ending soon :'( I have been considering collecting the entire run.
I started reading Hellblazer around issue #32 or 33—something like that. It took a while to get a few of the earlier issues, but I'm sure it’d be easier these days.
I’m not a big fan of Garth Ennis’ work in general, but his “Dangerous Habits” storyline is one of my favorites in the entire series. As for Fabry, while I prefer Dave McKean’s covers to his in terms of look and design, I do think Fabry’s more visceral approach was better suited to the book, and when I think of Hellblazer, I think of Fabry’s covers. I particularly like this one:
And while we’re on a Vertigo kick, and speaking of cover artist best suited to a series, I can’t think of any better match than Brendan McCarthy on Shade the Changing Man.
I’m not a fan of Preacher. I tried the first eight or nine issues, and it just wasn’t for me. But I will agree that Fabry was perfect as the cover artist for that series.
Comments
John Byrne from Hannigan’s design.
(Early) Travis Charest from Hannigan’s design.
Joe Staton from Hannigan’s design.
Frank Miller and Klaus Janson from Hannigan’s design.
Years ago there was another poster on these forums that also went to Sincere Comics in Mobile Alabama. He was the person that informed me the stores were closed. I did like that for years he had 10 cent bins. That is where I got lots of 80s indy titles cheap.
Howard Chaykin
Just re-read his 4 issue Shadow mini series last night and been in a Chaykin mood.
This is an odd book. The two lead stories are humor features: “Breezy Budd” and “The Shnook,” who strikes me as being very similar to Johnny Thunder, only without the magic lightning bolt. The “Breezy” story ends with Breezy being wheeled off to the operating room to have his appendix removed—nothing’s wrong with him; it’s a case of mistaken identity. The “Shnook” story ends with the Shnook not only fired from his job but thrown in jail. Somewhat dark endings for two otherwise silly stories.
The rest of the book consists of “true fact” short pieces and a 12-page adaptation of Silas Marner, which features the best artwork—good, but not great—in the book. There’s a three-page filler called, “How Blast Works,” which details the scientific findings from studying the WWII bombings of London. It's somewhat interesting, but not very cohesively written.
I guess the book was aimed at teens, but I'm not surprised it didn’t last very long.
Tom King
Martin Thomas
Shannon Wheeler
As mentioned in another tread,this is a comic that was shot by a gun. I remember this being hyped up big time in the various comic fanzines. But then it seems like it was quickly forgotten.
Simon Bisley
To me this is the best non-creator owned work from Morrison. And it seems to be unrated. I rarely hear anyone talking about it.
It definitely falls under the shadow of Animal Man in discussions I’ve seen. Probably because Animal Man was more accessible than Doom Patrol. You had to have a bit of an appreciation for the surreal to really get into Doom Patrol, and that limited its audience to some degree.
Understandable, I had been reading that Doom Patrol series since it started. I was 14 or so when Morrison took over the title. And at first I didn't enjoy it. But since I had a subscription I kept reading. After about 5 issues of Morrison's take on the DP I was loving it. But I have always enjoyed oddball stuff.
I love Morrison's run on Animal Man,but find that it is slightly over rated. I think that Jamie Delano's run on AM is much better.
Richard Case
The final issue of Morrison's long run on DP. And it has a great ending. I would love to see him come back to DP if only for a short storyline. But sadly I don't think that is gonna happen.
As for Delano’s run on Animal Man, it was very up and down for me. Some storylines I liked quite a bit, some I though were very mediocre. Between the two, I’ll take Morrison’s run, but I’ll take Morrison’s DP over his Animal Man.
I don't own any original art, but if I could I'd pick up a few pages from issue 51. I've had an idea for a commission for Case in my head for a long time, but haven't had the cash to even think about looking into it. Sadface!
I never looked into Animal Man, though I probably should some time. I bought a bunch of them back then (and probably still own them), but figured I'd get them all before starting to read and never did. (Actually, I think I started reading after the Morrison issues now that I think on it.) The covers were always great, but the monkey with its eyes sewn shut was one that I've never forgotten.
Glenn Fabry
Saw this issue earlier tonight in my huge unread stack. The cover caught my eye. With Hellblazer ending soon :'( I have been considering collecting the entire run.
I’m not a big fan of Garth Ennis’ work in general, but his “Dangerous Habits” storyline is one of my favorites in the entire series. As for Fabry, while I prefer Dave McKean’s covers to his in terms of look and design, I do think Fabry’s more visceral approach was better suited to the book, and when I think of Hellblazer, I think of Fabry’s covers. I particularly like this one: