Time for the irregular attempt to get some regular posting up in this place again...
Reminder that the old Update-A-Tron is somehow still out there and working, if you're interested in weblogs that update more often than mine. Looks like we're in a period where it allows updates, so feel free to let me know if there's anything you think is worth adding or anything that's no longer appropriate to be there.
Congratulations to Stephen Bissette and company for the wildly successful
crowd-funding campaign for some reprints of TYRANT. Note that they still allow for late pledges if you want to get in on the action, but act quick especially if you want any extras beyond the basic books. Best news about that is that the show of support seems to have motivated Bissette to get going on some other comics projects, including some new Tyrant stories, an anthology of his share of the 1963 characters (Hypernaut, N-Man and The Fury), a reprint of some of his other creator-owned comics and more. Hard to know what would be the book of the year if all of them come out in 2026. And all this in addition to his on-going film history and sketchbook projects and other things.
Equally big year for the other half of Creative Burnouts, Rick Veitch. Most visibly next week will see the publication of SWAMP THING #88, just shy of 37 years since it was due, with the continuation of his Swamp Thing lost-in-time saga, with special guest artist Michael Zulli. In addition to that, he's continuing his King Hell Heroica, with the penultimate issue of TRUE-MAN out a few months ago. With one more issue of that and one wrap-up volume for the whole saga it could finally all be done in 2027. All previous episodes available in various print-on-demand books, so easier than ever to catch up and be there for the finale. Also in the latest issue was the news that Veitch had come to a satisfactory agreement with Marvel regarding his co-creation of the character The Sentry (recently appearing in the film THUNDERBOLTS) and there may be news soon regarding his long-unreprinted contributions to the Ninja Turtles line.
Last year I was
very happy to see the DALGODA OMNIBUS by Dennis Fujitake and Jan Strnad bring an old favourite back into print from About Comics. This year About surprised me with a follow-up I never knew existed, a Fujitake and Strnad teaming up again for
RETIEF, a six-issue adaptation of some Keith Laumer science fiction stories from 1987/1988, now available in a new collection. I'd seen Retief comics before, but only the later 1990s comics not by Strnad and Fujitake, didn't realize they had done it first. Nice looking book, can't wait to dive into it.
Dalgoda was also part of second in the
LEGENDS OF INDIE COMCS: WORDS ONLY series of short story collections that have come out in the last few years. A lot of old favourites in here, mostly in new stories (I think a few are older archival pieces, but most are original to this book), including:
Concrete by Paul Chadwick
Mister Monster by Michael T. Gilbert
Grimjack by John Ostrander
Desert Peach and Stinz by Donna Barr
Bitchy Bitch by Roberta Gregory
Flaming Carrot by Bob Burden
Nexus and Badger by Mike Baron
Stig's Inferno by Ty Templeton
Star Slammers by Walter Simonson
Also a lot of features I've been curious about but never tried. And, oh, let's say, other stuff (for plausible deniability, not everything I'm excited about was listed above. Most stories also feature a chapter illustration and the second book has a jam story by most of the creators, which I haven't read yet but seems fun.
Should mention that there's a new edition of the J. M. Dematteis / Glenn Barr book
BROOKLYN DREAMS out recently from Dark Horse, which is in every way superior to the previous version (and as someone who now owns four versions of it, I think I'm qualified to judge). Among my favourite comics of the 1990s, on some days my favourite DeMetteis work (other days it's MOONSHADOW with Jon J. Muth, which also a recent new edition from Dark Horse. Sometimes it's THE LAST ONE with Dan Sweetman, which is overdue for a reprint. Sometimes it's DOCTOR FATE with McManus and Giffen, which also had a big book from DC last year).
It was good to see Mike Kunkel finally return to his
HEROBEAR AND THE KID series through Papercutz, with a reissue of the original THE INHERITANCE out last year, part one of the previously unfinished SAVING TIME out last month and the conclusion of that story due out in September (I've since found out he actually did publish all of SAVING TIME in a crowd-funded complete book a few years ago, which I hadn't heard of, but these mass-market editions are much easier to find). Always a delightful book, leafed through the new one and it seems good, though I'm waiting for the rest of SAVING TIME to be closer to re-read the first book and read the second. If you've never had the pleasure, it's a highly entertaining story about a 10-year-old boy who finds a magic watch and toy bear left to him by his grandfather, which results in all sorts of wacky adventures with a lot of surprises and heartwarming nonsense thrown in.
I'm liking the DC Finest line, mostly in theory, although there are a lot of books I might pick up in the future. Did pick up the first War volume, with four months of DC war comics from 1956, and have the Sgt. Rock book on order, with the first few years of that character. The first is all-new to me, and I'm enjoying it, although of course it's uneven (I'd love a book of just the Kanigher/Kubert stories...). Second will be all stuff I have in other forms, but will be nice to see fresh. It's weird to see DC jump in headfirst in a line like this. Everything from the
original announcements came out, and they've continued scheduling around three a month, with over 50 out so far and over 80 by the end of the year. At this rate by the end of 2027 in three years they'll probably have reprinted more pages than either the ARCHIVES line in 25 years or SHOWCASE PRESENTS line in 11 years, maybe more than both combined if you take out the overlap and the licensed material (SPIRIT, ELFQUEST, DOC SAVAGE, THUNDER AGENTS, MAD, etc). In addition to that they'll have almost 50 books in their $10 Compact line by the end of the year, with a wide variety of stuff (more modern than the Finest line, primarily post-1990 work with the obvious 1980s exceptions). They also seem to be doing a good job of keeping both lines in print and getting some headway into mainstream markets as well as the direct market.
Fantagraphics is wrapping up their EC Artists' Library books, which they started in 2012. SPAWN OF VENUS, wrapping up the Wallace Wood science fiction stories, was the 38th book. After that they're abandoning the feature artist format and combining Wood and Jack Davis in MY GUN IS THE JURY with their stories from PANIC (the Orlando, Elder and Kamen PANIC stories already being included as parts of their respective books). Then they're combining the various New Direction books not included into at least two other books, SHOCK TREATMENT with the medical books, MD and PSYCHOANALYSIS, and one assumes at least one more unannounced book for PIRACY and VALOR. And maybe some more beyond that with some stragglers from the pre-Trend and stuff from the Illustrated magazines and whatever (they are doing a cover gallery, but in a different larger colour format). Whatever the case, the heart of it is wrapped, and the rest should follow within a year or two. They've also gotten the rights to MAD (too late to include them in this line unfortunately...) and are doing a collection which will include not only the original (oft reprinted) Kurtzman edited colour comics but also the mostly unreprinted Kurtzman b&w magazine issues (24-28 plus leftover material used later). Unfortunately this is all in a box set that'll sell for US$300.
Okay, that's enough for now. Next time maybe more on some comics created in this century. Been reading all the Phillips/Brubaker collaborations, and I have some thoughts on those...
