Random Realities 2026.04.26

 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...

Stephen Bissette's TYRANT on the way back

Lighthouse publisher Chris Stevens is so preoccupied with whether or not he could he didn't stop to think if he should...

The previously teased crowd funding campaign to bring out some reprints of Stephen R. Bissette's 1990s classic dinosaur comic TYRANT is in full effect, and an unquestionable success with over four times the initial goal and over 1400 backers in the first week.  

Two editions of the book.  The 100+ page Original Art Edition,  a 12"x19" book reprinting all the artwork for the series and some other material at the full size Bissette drew it, duplicating the look and feel of the original art as much as possible. The 200+ page Complete Edition reprints the same material slightly smaller (9"x12", still much larger than the original comics) plus a lot of extra material, including all backmatter from the original comics and more.  Your choice, either book or both, with various optional features

Runs until April 16, 2026, so still a lot of time to hit more milestones, including several stretch goals which will bring the backers new prints from Bissette's 1989 Carnosaurs portfolio and more.

If you back right now, even a token placeholder amount while you decide what configuration of items offered you want (including a black light posters, metal bookmarks, slipcases, signed book plates, digital edition and more), you can join Bissette and book designer Jim Rugg in a video conference call with other backers this Thursday, March 26 at 6pm EST.

The Tyrant/Lighthouse crew, Bissette, Rugg and Stevens, have been on a media blitz for the book.  I put together a playlist of all the interviews they've done on various YouTube shows over the last few months, plus some key earlier videos like the Cartoonist Kayfabe review which led to the book.

Sam Kieth, R.I.P.

Sorry to hear about the passing of Sam Kieth last week at the far too young age 63, reportedly after some very long and difficult health problems.  

In lieu of flowers, his family asks for donations to be made in his name to either Hero Initiative, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, or the Lewy Body Dementia Association.

He had a long running blog that he posted to fairly steadily from 2010 to 2023, with thousands of image filled posts packed with some stuff you've probably never seen.

Here's a small selection of some pages and a few covers which caught my eye while pulling out some samples of work from his long career.

Some notes on them...

The Maxx was his signature character, really distinctively designed, playing into all the excesses his work was known for and stretching them even further, to the breaking point. This is from his (kind of) first appearance in DARKER IMAGE #1, scripted by William Messner-Loebs.



More of the Maxx, also with Messner-Loebs, a few issues in to his on-going series, when things started to get really strange and there was even more going on than you might have expected.



Kieth is also known as the co-creator of The Sandman (with Mike Dringenberg and Neil Gaiman, who also worked on the page above).  He only worked on the first five issues, but brought a lot to the book and key to its success.  In this page he also gets to draw a nice version of Jack Kirby's character Etrigan.


A 1991 page from a Wolverine story, written by Peter David.  I just have a few chapters of this, it's really wild.  Would love a nice book of those.



A Hulk page written by Peter David, this time inked with Kelley Jones, a really intense standalone issue of the series which presents a  different version of the character, really like nothing else being published by Marvel at the time.



A nice double page pin-up of Hadji Quest and his brother Jonny, from when Kieth's frequent collaborator William Messner-Loebs was writing the book featuring the boys. Lot of nice little details in this when you start looking around.

Speaking of Messner-Loebs, he lettered this backup by John Holland and Kieth which appeared in the back of his comic JOURNEY. A nice early work by Kieth, showing signs of where he'd go but much more restrained than he would be soon.


A relatively tame page from a truly bonkers Lobo story that Kieth did with Scott Ian.

This is a really fun cover, a tribute to classic 1948 Carl Barks cover. A lot of weird early work appeared in Kim Thompson's CRITTERS, some collected in the two I BEFORE E issues of early Kieth rarities which I've never been able to find (but the existence of which helps me remember the spelling of his name).



The most recent page here, from the 2017 ELEANOR & THE EGRET with writer John Layman. 

EPICURUS THE SAGE, another work with William Messner-Loebs, has always been my favourite work of Kieth.  I wrote about it over here, I'll just add that, four years later, I like it even more.




A really nice fanzine cover, Kieth always had a way of interpreting existing characters in some distinctive ways which stayed true to their roots while looking like nothing you saw before.



From 1990, a nice interpretation of the Giger designed movie xenomorphs, written by Mark Verheiden.



And finally from a 1986 issue of ANYTHING GOES, the earliest example of Kieth's writing I have, which does indeed make me feel a bit stupid, but that's not a bad thing.

Tatjana Wood, R.I.P.

Sorry to hear about the passing of comic book colourist Tatjana Wood, three days ago just before what would have been her 100th birthday today.  A mainstay at DC from the early 1970s to the early 2000s, a lot of her earliest work isn't documented since colouring credits weren't standard at DC until the 1980s.  Just to highlight a few key runs that are especially dear to my heart:

She coloured almost all of the original run of THE QUESTION by Denys Cowan and Dennis O'Neil, a run I've written about before.  She was a key part of what made that one of my favourite comics of all time, really bringing a distinct look to the physical action in the urban landscape.

She's probably most associated with SWAMP THING, having coloured something close to 200 stories of the character through many creative collaborations. Always excellent work, often called upon to deliver some really experimental work, especially through the Bissette/Totleben/Veitch years, which are full of effects I'm pretty sure had never been done in mainstream American comics before.

She was the colourist for most of the last few years of SGT. ROCK stories with writer/creator Robert Kanigher, editor Joe Kubert and a host of artists (on this page, Dan Spiegle).  Might be almost as much of those (and other war stories) as Swamp Thing, a lot were uncredited. 

One of her last regular assignments before retiring was most of Walter Simonson's run on ORION from 2000 to 2002.  A classic run, with some bold clear colouring matching the epic and bombastic nature of the storytelling being brought to the Kirby creations.

Some other noteworthy points from her body of work are WONDER WOMAN (with George Perez) CAMELOT 3000 (with Brian Bolland) and ANIMAL MAN (with Chas Troug, Steve Dillon, Steve Pugh and others). She was also the main colourist for DC's covers for quite a while in the 1970s and 1980s.

You can also find a nice sampling of Wood's colour guides on-line, which can be fascinating:

A couple of cautions, these colour guides were definitely made with tools and dyes not meant to hold their look for four decades. Also, the guides are just one part of some larger conversations, one between Wood and the colour separator, meant to convey what the mechanical procedure would be to get the effect she wants, and another between Wood and the printer, using her experience to know how what she puts on the page will translate to how the inks they use will look on the paper they use.  It's all the more impressive that colourists like her knew how to get the look they needed being so far removed from the final result.

Sal Buscema, R.I.P.

 Just heard of the passing of Sal Buscema at age 89.  A talented and prolific artist with a long career in comics, mostly at Marvel, with long runs on Spider-Man, Hulk, ROM, Captain America, Thor and Defenders, plus work on almost everything else at some point.

A couple of covers he drew:

Good mid-career interview with him in that issue of CI to go with the career spanning one in the TwoMorrows book (still available digitally).  That THOR cover is the only one he did on his run with Walter Simonson on the book in the 1980s, drawing most of the second half of Simonson's run, including the BALDER THE BRAVE mini-series.

And some interior pages

A page from the aforementioned BALDER mini-series with Simonson, maybe my favourite work of his.

A Christmas story featuring Jack Kirby's Orion and Highfather, also written by Simonson, from a brief late 1990s stint at DC where he mostly worked as an inker, but did a few pencils and even fewer full art jobs like this one.  I especially like the sequence at the bottom of this page.

Another Christmas story, this time from Marvel in the early 1990s, featuring the X-Men, written by Karl Bollers.

A 1970s page from THE INCREDIBLE HULK, maybe the character Buscema is most associated with, written by Bill Mantlo, one of his most frequent collaborators.

Another Mantlo collaboration, this one from ROM #1 in 1979, a character ostensibly based on a toy, but one where the comic book creators pretty much had to create all the back-story for.  

And another Simonson collaboration, from their final issue of THOR in 1987, an action packed conclusion to a classic run.