Minimal number of additions to the vast Four Realities Archives, aka the stacks of printed paper which will one day bury me, since the last post three months ago. I'm really hoping to minimize the effects of that burying, so there are also a few digital acquisitions below.
CAME THE DAWN AND OTHER STORIES ILLUSTRATED BY WALLACE WOOD [2012]
The second of the new series of creator themed EC collections, this features Wood's 26 crime and horror stories published from 1950 to 1954. Some great stuff, like "Confession", I've read about half this stuff before, and I'm looking forward to the rest. Really looking forward to the Al Williamson volume, which is running a few months late.
CELLULOID [2011]
Dave McKean's wordless "erotic graphic novel" from a few years ago, I never picked it up before because I wasn't sure I'd like it. I loved CAGES, but what I loved most in it was the dialogue. My plan was to wait for a softcover or for the library to get a copy, neither of which has happened, so I finally broke down and picked up the hardcover. Seems pretty enigmatic from a quick leaf through, have to see how it actually reads.
THE COMICS JOURNAL #302 [2013]
The latest issue of the long-running magazine, now apparently coming out once every year or two with a very thick package. I usually just leaf through my brother's copy of TCJ, but I got a copy of this one since I'm quoted a bit in an article about the Mouly/Spiegelman edited TOON TREASURY, specifically about one of my five favourite topics, Sheldon Mayer comics. Interesting selection of features, with interviews with Maruice Sendak and Jacques Tardi, comics by Joe Sacco and Lewis Trondheim and articles on a variety of comics. I really don't like the distracting formatting used for the text on some of the articles (an article on Robert Crumb is made to look like a set of old typewritten and photocopied sheets, an article about the 1950s public backlash against horror and crime comics is made to look like old newspaper articles taped in a scrapbook), which only makes them harder to read without adding any real content. It'll take a while to get through everything interesting in here, but then it'll probably be a longer while before the next issue.
THE COMICS V23 #9 [2012]
THE COMICS V23 #10 [2012]
The two most recent issues of Robin Snyder's long-running newsletter, the most recent issues feature Ron Goulart's on-going biography of Artie Saaf, whose work I'm not too familiar with. I mostly know him from some of his 1970s work for DC, but he had an extensive career Golden Age career for publishers like Standard. I don't know if much of that stuff has been reprinted in modern times. #9 also included the first installment of Steve Ditko's THE FOUR-PAGE SERIES, with five essays on a variety of topics, which continues in...
THE FOUR-PAGE SERIES #2 [2013]
Five more essays by Steve Ditko, co-published by him and Robin Snyder. “Honoring Or Dishonoring” has some interesting bits about some
DITKOMANIA #90 [2013]
The latest issue of the magazine devoted to... um, what's it devoted to, again? The answer's on the tip of my tongue. If only the title made it obvious... Anyway, this issue is mostly taken up by an in-depth article by Ron Frantz on his publishing experiences, including several books by Ditko, some published and some planned but unrealized. Fascinating stuff, including some previously unseen images of Ditko character designs for a project with Jerry Siegel.
THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #59 [2012]
THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #60 [2013]
Got caught up on the two latest issues of the magazine devoted to... oh, I did that joke already. Anyway, content is back to normal after the break in format with #58, and back in the regular sized magazine format after a few years as a tabloid. A few good Kirby tribute panel discussions in these issues, lots of great artwork, #59 has an unpublished 1970s SOUL LOVE story and a lot of Kirby collages in full colour, #60 has a 1950s JIM BOWIE story
ON THE ROPES [2013]
James Vance and Dan Burr's brand new follow-up to KINGS IN DISGUISE, coming about 25 years after that series was published, but moving the story of Fred Bloch up just five years to 1937. Just read this yesterday, after re-reading KINGS IN DISGUISE last week, and it's definitely a worthwhile follow-up to the original, and might even be better than the first book. I'll try to write a longer post about it soon.
And new digital, from Bob Burden Comics I picked up digital copies of the first two FLAMING CARROT books. I already had the first one in print, but never had any luck finding the second one at a reasonable price, so $15 for the pair was a pretty good deal. Especially since the second book contains most of the Carrot stories I was missing. And I can't deny that I'm tempted by hardcover editions of both books Burden has available right now.
Other than that the new digital stuff I've gotten has been the usual free stuff. Marvel had a somewhat botched free digital comics offer, I managed to get a few things from that I haven't had a chance to read yet, most notably FF ANNUAL #1 by Kirby and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1 by Ditko.
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