Fanzine cover this time is a nice painted Magnus by Bruce Timm, podcast recommendation is he daily news satire The Last Post, then a quick look at a young adult comic set in the 1970s, SUNNY ROLES THE DICE and, okay, maybe this is a TV weblog now because some discussion of THE SIMPSONS.
On the Fanzine Cover Files, lets look at something more recent than most of the previous entries, COMIC BOOK ARTIST #22 [2002] and its painted cover of Magnus Robot Fighter by Bruce Timm.
CBA was the first general interest comics magazine that TwoMorrows launched after a few years of publishing the more specialized JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, running 25 issues from 1998 to 2003 under editor Jon Cooke, who then relaunched it from Top Shelf for the second series, then returned to TwoMorrows with the renamed COMIC BOOK CREATOR, still on-going. Most issues took a particular publisher or artist or genre and present a variety of interviews and articles on that theme. Usually very interesting, with a few mis-steps.
On the podcast recommendation front, The Last Post is a spinoff podcast from the previously (and still) recommended The Bugle, coming out daily (actually daily, not that lazy five-days-a-week that most people try to pass off as daily) since the beginning of this year. And what a year it's been. It's hosted by Alice Fraser, one of the most frequent of the rotating guests of The Bugle, and features most of the Bugle regulars as guests. It's a hilarious 10-15 minutes a day of the bizarre goings-on of a parallel dimension (listen to a few and that'll make sense). Just the number of variations that Fraser has done on an ad for half a glass of water is amazing.
SUNNY ROLES THE DICE is a comic from last year by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm, the third book in their series about Sunny Lewin, a middle school girl growing up in 1977 suburban Pennsylvania. I haven't read the previous two books yet, but after this I definitely will. The Holms are best known for their BABYMOUSE series for younger readers, which seemed entertaining but not really my speed.
Let's see, slowed down a bit on the television from early pandemic days. Been watching some early MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW lately, which is a joy. I also have Disney+ for a month, mostly to watch HAMILTON (which I have and will again, and might get a separate post). There's not much else on there I'm that interested in that's not available elsewhere, other than THE MANDALORIAN, which I'll probably watch before the month is out. What I have been watching is THE SIMPSONS. Now, if I set my DVR I could probably get a dozen SIMPSONS episodes every day on there, but I haven't done that in a while, I think it's been a few years since I watched a complete episode. Now with almost all 31 seasons available, I figured I'd take a look at them, starting with what seem to be the consensus highlights of the run, which are pretty much all in the first 10 seasons. I think I've probably seen about half of those before, and they're pretty decent so far. Maybe after that I'll take a look at what seem to be the better later episodes, which will almost all be new to me.
CBA was the first general interest comics magazine that TwoMorrows launched after a few years of publishing the more specialized JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, running 25 issues from 1998 to 2003 under editor Jon Cooke, who then relaunched it from Top Shelf for the second series, then returned to TwoMorrows with the renamed COMIC BOOK CREATOR, still on-going. Most issues took a particular publisher or artist or genre and present a variety of interviews and articles on that theme. Usually very interesting, with a few mis-steps.
This issue obviously has a focus on Gold Key Comics, and that makes Magnus the natural choice for cover feature, maybe the best known original property to come out from the company. The feature was created by Russ Manning in 1963 and drew it for 21 issues, often reprinted over the years, and has been revived numerous times since, with mixed results. The artist is Bruce Timm, best known for his animation work on various DC properties, starting with BATMAN - THE ANIMATED SERIES in 1992. It's a great looking image, combining his style with Manning's designs, makes you wish there was a Magnus cartoon.
Lots of good reading and rare art inside, including a 1969 interview with Manning, a talk with Dan Spiegle (co-creator of SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON, the other best known Gold Key original, and artist of many more books from the publisher), Mark Evanier explaining the whole Dell/Western/Gold Key thing and his own experiences working there in the 1970s, Mike Royer on working with Manning and more. As far as I know there's never been a dedicated book to the history of Gold Key, so until that comes along this will have to do (still available digitally from the publisher).
In this particular book, seventh grader Sunny has to deal with her worries about fitting in to what teen society sees as cool (or "groovy", in the vernacular of the teen magazines that dictate trends of the time), as well as her introduction to the decidedly non-groovy world of role playing games. I'm about six years younger than the character, and was considerably less groovy when I got to her age in the 1980s, but living in a similar suburban world just a few hundred miles north, so there's a lot of nostalgia baked into the book, and most of the themes are pretty timeless.
Really enjoyed it, I'll definitely be reading the previous two books and any future ones soon, and maybe after that give BABYMOUSE another look and check out some of the other Holm work over the years.
If anyone has any recommendations on what else might be worth watching on Disney+, I'm open to suggestions.
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