Happiness is a Good Right Cross

I'm not sure I'd buy a book made up of images of Lucy hitting Linus, but I know I'd like to see one.

All images from Charles Schulz's Peanuts, of course, between April 1961 and March 1962.

Alternate titles for the post, "Lucy's Greatest Hits" and "How to Deliver a Punchline".

Random readings

I should post here every now and then, shouldn't I...

The Update-A-Tron seems to be working well, with about 130 weblogs on the main list, and starting to get some decent traffic. Thanks to those who have linked to it. If you have a site (your own or one you read) that you'd like added, let me know. I'll try to add them as soon as possible, and otherwise the site pretty much runs itself, so it should be there as a resource until such time as Blogger breaks it in an attempt to "improve" the feature.

Been reading a varied bunch of stuff recently, including a lot of stuff from the ever trusty library, letting me try a lot of stuff I was mildly interested in but figured I'd only read once, and I've got enough clutter.

For instance, I can get a complete run of LONE WOLF AND CUB from there. I had gotten the first three Dark Horse books way back when, liked them well enough, but didn't really see myself getting 28 of those little things. But a chapter of it is an entertaining enough read, so I've been going through them at a steady pace, up to volume 6 so far. There's usually a clever enough hook to distinguish each chapter, but it can get a bit repetitive, so I'll probably take a break of a few months after each third.

A few other Japanese comics I'd heard good things about. PLANETES started off well, I really liked the first two books. Unfortunately it really didn't keep it up, and having just finished the second last book, it's not much more than a mild desire for closure that's going to make me read the finale. A shame, that set-up was great, and the art is really good.

I'd also heard good things about DEATH NOTE, and based on the first book, I agree (though most comments I've heard suggest it doesn't hold up this quality for the full dozen volumes). That first book is just pure gold, inventive and funny and bold. I was surprised how much I liked it (especially with it being, with PLANETES, one of the first backwards Japanese comics I read. Most times I tried it previously I'd screw up a reading order at least once every two pages, PLANETES I did a little better, DEATH NOTE I don't recall ever getting it wrong). And while I'm trying to read these things slowly, a chapter a day at most, I read the whole first book in one sitting. Unfortunately, it's a bit more popular than most of these things at the library, so it'll be a few weeks before I get more, but it's cheap enough and entertaining enough that I might just buy it before then.

I also just finally got around to getting the last few volumes of Tezuka's PHOENIX (including the book reprinting some 1950s pre-cursor work with similar themes). It's been so long that I decided to go back to the beginning, and the whole thing probably deserves a longer post when I'm done. It might even get one.

That's Japan accounted for. From Europe, I'm re-reading the ASTERIX and TINTIN stuff, in order for the first time. Both series were a major part of my childhood, and at the time I read them in pretty much random order (and in fact I think they were published in semi-random order). TINTIN, I have to say, starts off pretty weak (and I'm not even counting the early LAND OF THE SOVIETS and CONGO books, which I plan to read for the first time along with the unfinished ALPH-ART when I'm finished with the proper series). Some great art, and a few great scenes in the early books, but I'd have to say that THE BROKEN EAR is the first one I really liked, and I'm getting really impatient for Haddock and Calculus to show up. ASTERIX starts off much better, thankfully, and is pretty much near peak form by the second book, although knowing what's to come does leave a bit of a hole where you wish the later supporting cast would do something. Pretty much just Asterix, Obelix and Getafix in the first three books.

Also from Europe and other foreign shores, the Humanoids line that was published through DC a few years ago is surprisingly well represented at my library (much more so than I ever saw it represented in stores). I'd been curious about them. First stuff I tried was the two-volume SON OF THE GUN by Alexandro Jodorowsky and Georges Bess. That was pretty disgusting, and slightly insane, both in good ways. Jodorowsky and François Boucq on THE BOUNCER: RAISING CAIN, was less effective. Trying some Enki Bilal next, I was completely and utterly confused by THE BEAST TRILOGY, and I doubt having the third chapter would help. And the less said about Yves Chaland's FREDDY LOMBARD, the better. So not a great track record with me (though some gorgeous books), but maybe I'll try a few more in a few months.

I've also been reading those odd little books by Jason that Fantagraphics has been putting out. I'm not sure what I think of them, really. Always quick reads, sometimes a few clever bits of storytelling or unexpected laughs. Of the seven books I've read I'd say MEOW, BABY!, a collection of short little gag stories involving mummies, werewolves, vampires, zombies, aliens and Elvis, is the more entertaining.

Let's see, what else... Lots of Vertigo collections available. Been reading Y THE LAST MAN, already through six books. Maybe the last one will be out around the time I'm up to there. It's pleasant enough reading, although extremely fast to get through an issue, with not a lot of depth in either the writing or the art to slow you down. But fun while it's in front of you. Also reading LUCIFER, which can be a bit hard to follow, and a bit uneven. Right now it's about 50/50 if I'll decide I need to buy a set of the books for my own collection or stop before the end.

Well, that's enough for now. It's just a fraction of what I've been reading. Hopefully if I get back to regular posting I'll put down some thoughts on the other stuff, for my own future reference if nothing else.

Update-A-Tron

Hey, anyone else miss the old Comic Weblog Update-A-Tron site? I noticed the new Blogger "My Blog List" has just about everything I liked about the old Update-A-Tron (sites listed by most recently updated, each site only listed once regardless of how often updated, links direct to the main page). So I started a new site to make use of it. I'll be tweaking it and adding new sites for the next little while to decide if it's actually functional. Let me know what you think.

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Adding, I'm not sure it's working quite how I want. I'll have to play around with it some more.

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Adding, I think I got the right set of options picked from what's available now. There seems to be some minor issue with the page staying in the cache. Thanks to Neilalien for the link and confirming that others did like the set of options from the old site that I'm trying to emulate. Anyway, feel free to comment on the site here, or suggest blogs to add here or over on the site.

One question, is the "recommended" list useful? I plan to use it to mark three or four posts a day that tickle me. And do people like having the professional/group blogs, those that average 5+ posts per day, segregated over on a sidebar? If I don't they tend to dominate the "above-the-fold" area more than I'd like.

Jim Mooney, R.I.P.

Mark Evanier has posted that comic book artist Jim Mooney passed away yesterday.

Here's an interview from COMIC BOOK ARTIST #7 from a few years ago, focusing on his Marvel years but touching on the other stuff as well, with some nice artwork.

The first place I'd have seen Mooney's art is probably when he was one of the main artists on various Spider-Man titles in the early 1980s, usually as the inker or finisher over a variety of artists, bringing a consistency to the line. Later on I became familiar with his earlier stuff through some back issues and reprints, including his long run as the artist on Supergirl's solo feature in the 1960s and other work on features like Tommy Tomorrow and Robin and Dial H For Hero. By the time 1990 rolled around, I normally wouldn't have been interested in a comic based on the Superboy TV show of the era, but the fact that it was drawn by Mooney and Ty Templeton was enough. Later on in his retirement years I enjoyed his run inking Claypool's SOULSEARCHERS AND COMPANY over various artists, especially his work with Dave Cockrum.

More recently I've been picking up some of the recent reprints of his work, like the SHOWCASE PRESENTS SUPERGIRL volume and some Marvel books of the 1970s like OMEGA THE UNKNOWN and enjoying them immensely. I'm glad he lived long enough to see a fair amount of his work reprinted and enjoy some conventions and meeting his fans.

A selection of Jim Mooney illustrated pages spanning over a half-century:

       

Wildfire, some early Mooney work for Quality Comics from SMASH COMICS #28, 1941 (scan from here)

BATMAN #56, 1950 (inks by Ray Burnley, original art scan from here)

Tommy Tomorrow from WORLD'S FINEST #113, 1960

Supergirl from ACTION #263, 1960

Dial H For Hero from HOUSE OF MYSTERY #166, 1967

OMEGA THE UNKNOWN #1, 1976

SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #51, 1981 (over Marie Severin)

SUPERBOY THE COMIC BOOK #1, 1990 (Ty Templeton inks)

UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN '97 ANNUAL, 1997

SOULSEARCHERS AND COMPANY #28, 1997 (over Dave Cockrum)

Arthur C. Clarke, R.I.P.

From the beginning of one of my favourite science fiction novels:

Sooner or later, it was bound to happen. On June 30, 1908, Moscow escaped destruction by three hours and four thousand kilometers - a margin invisibly small by the standards of the universe. On February 12, 1947, another Russian city had a still narrower escape, when the second great meteorite of the twentieth century detonated less than four hundred kilometers from Vladivostok, with an explosion rivaling that of the newly invented uranium bomb.

In those days there was nothing that men could do to protect themselves against the last random shots in the cosmic bombardment that had once scarred the face of the Moon. The meteorites of 1908 and 1947 had struck uninhabited wilderness; but by the end of the twenty-first century there was no region left on Earth that could be safely used for celestial target practice. The human race had spread from pole to pole. And so, inevitably...

At 0946 GMT on the morning of September 11 in the exceptionally beautiful summer of the year 2077, most of the inhabitants of Europe saw a dazzling fireball appear in the eastern sky. Within seconds it was brighter than the Sun, and as it moved across the heavens—at first in utter silence—it left behind it a churning column of dust and smoke.

Somewhere above Austria it began to disintegrate, producing a series of concussions so violent that more than a million people had their hearing permanently damaged. They were the lucky ones.

Moving at fifty kilometers a second, a thousand tons of rock and metal impacted on the plains of northern Italy, destroying in a few flaming moments the labor of centuries. The cities of Padua and Verona were wiped from the face of the Earth; and the last glories of Venice sank forever beneath the sea as the waters of the Adriatic came thundering landward after the hammer blow from space.

Six hundred thousand people died, and the total damage was more than a trillion dollars. But the loss to art, to history, to science—to the whole human race, for the rest of time—was beyond all computation. It was as if a great war had been fought and lost in a single morning; and few could draw much pleasure from the fact that, as the dust of destruction slowly settled, for months the whole world witnessed the most splendid dawns and sunsets since Krakatoa.

After the initial shock, mankind reacted with a determination and a unity that no earlier age could have shown. Such a disaster, it was realized, might not occur again for a thousand years—but it might occur tomorrow. And the next time, the consequences could be even worse.

Very well; there would be no next time.

A hundred years earlier, a much poorer world, with far feebler resources, had squandered its wealth attempting to destroy weapons launched, suicidally, by mankind against itself. The effort had never been successful, but the skills acquired then had not been forgotten. Now they could be used for a far nobler purpose, and on an infinitely vaster stage. No meteorite large enough to cause catastrophe would ever again be allowed to breach the defenses of Earth.

So began Project SPACEGUARD. Fifty years later—and in a way that none of its designers could ever have anticipated—it justified its existence.

Fat little nothing

Nuff said

Various images from the mind of Gerber

I haven't been able to write anything about Steve Gerber's work, so here are a few images born of his imagination and with his words.