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Review: ‘Graphic Classics: Oscar Wilde’

  • Uncategorized
  • March 6, 2009

graphic-classics-wilde1-3338951Graphic Classics, Vol. 16: Oscar Wilde
Edited by Tom Pomplun
Eureka Productions, February 2009, $11.95

Graphic Classics has been adapting the work of famous dead authors – from H.P. Lovecraft to Rafael Sabatini – for at least five years, mostly focusing on the more popular (rather than literarily classy) writers. And that’s a good thing, since no one wants to see [[[Graphic Classics: Henry James]]]. (“The Face in the Carpet” is not nearly as exciting as the Lovecraft-style title might indicate.)

So this is the sixteenth volume in the series, which are all in the same vein: about 144 pages of comics adaptations of said dead writer’s work, usually with a few long adaptations and some shorter ones sprinkled in for spice. The creators involved are a mix of semi-familiar names and newer folks on their way up – this kind of project, obviously, doesn’t tend to attract top talent. (And is almost certainly better without the kind of compromises “top talent” requires.) Editor Tom Pomplun usually adapts at least one of the stories himself – and why shouldn’t he? It’s his series – and the adaptations sometimes tend to the talky, perhaps in an attempt to be slightly more educational.

(The series as a whole tries to walk the line between “good for you” and “good fun,” and individual stories fall on one side or the other of that divide, but I’ve found that the books as a whole generally are fun, if wordy. I’ve previously reviewed Bram Stoker, Mark Twain, and Fantasy Classics.)

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‘The Art of Watchmen’ museum gallery opening

  • News
  • March 6, 2009

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The opening of "The Art of Watchmen" at MoCCA last night was incredibly packed, with a lot of energy and anticipation in the room– even more than knowing you’d be allowed to see the Watchmen movie before almost everybody else would– there was a sense of backstage magic about, seeing so many of the stages of what was going on, from the earliest concept sketches to the original cover art for all twelve issues to the raw cover color work, to the mock-ups for the movies and the harsh black and white pictures of Clay Enos’s Watchmen: Portraits
 book.

Clay’s here at left, including the picture of him in the book. Other attendees we got to photograph included Paul Levitz, Peter Sanderson, Steve Saffel, and Danny Fingeroth.

See more pictures after the jump. And if you can, go see the show.

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It’s midnight — ‘Watchmen’ reviews & open thread

  • News
  • March 6, 2009

"At midnight, all the agents
and their superhuman crew
go out and round up everyone
who know more than they do."

It’s finally midnight. The movie is now in the hands of the audience. So tell us what you like about it, what you didn’t like about it, link to any reviews, tell us if there were any cool trailers, is it worth seeing in IMAX, etc. Assume there be spoilers ahead.

And just to sweeten the pot, we’ll give one of these now-collector item tickets of the preview screening from the MoCCA exhibit "The Art of Watchmen" to the person who provides, in the opinion of ComicMix, the most thoughtful comment in the thread. The comment has to be in by March 15th, which should give you plenty of time for multiple viewings.

So go ahead. Show us that you know more than we do.

The latest last word on Scans_Daily

  • Uncategorized
  • March 5, 2009

Hand of God Suspends Homoerotic Scans Daily Comic Book Community:

Our research shows that kids who are allowed to read comics are 13% more likely to get infected with gay inducing spirits and have a STD by the time they reach college. Staggeringly, this percentage jumps up to a frightening 34% when teens are allowed to read bits and pieces of comics online.

And that’s where Scans Daily came into play.

Amazingly, the authors put more effort into that post than those who claim that scans_daily boosted sales overall.

(Hat tip: MGK.)

ComicMix Quick Picks – March 4, 2009, very late

  • Uncategorized
  • March 5, 2009

You know Hellblazer #63, the issue where John Constantine turns forty? Yesterday was like that for me, only with cheesecake. And today was definitely like that scene at the end.

So, now that I’m more or less recovered from that, today’s yesterday’s list of quick items:

Anything else? Consider this an open thread.

Rare Super-Porn Discovered!

  • News
  • March 4, 2009

We just got an email from our old pal, Craig Yoe!. Craig sez:

 

I’d like to tell you about my brand spanking new book and blog. 

 

I recently discovered incredible, previously unknown, fetish art by the creator of Superman, Joe Shuster. The artist and his writing partner, Jerry Siegel, had sold Superman for 130 dollars. When they sued to get the rights back they lost and got drummed out of the comic book industry and Shuster fell on hard times. It was unknown that to get by and/or because of a personal interest in the subject, Shuster then did S&M porn for under-the-counter booklets called "Nights of Horror," sold in Times Square in the early fifties. The back story I uncovered involves the Mob, showgirls, neo-Nazi Jewish juvenile delinquents, inspired by Shuster’s art, known as the Brooklyn Thrill Killers, the famed anti-comic book crusader Dr. Frederic Wertham, Senate investigations, cops on payola, the books being banned by the Supreme Court, teenage girls being horse-whipped in the park, two murders…and dare I say MORE?

 

I have a full color coffee table art book I wrote and designed coming out April 1 (no fooling!) about all this, Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-Creator Joe Shuster.The publisher is the number one leading art book publisher in the world, the prestigious Abrams. I’m blogging about the book and revealing lots of rare art and info that didn’t fit in "between the covers."

 

Craig’s too modest to note that his book also sports an introduction by Stan Lee.

 

Considering the fact that, at the time they purchased Superman, one of DC’s owners had been actively engaged in publishing what was considered by the post office censors “pornography,” this is a rather ironic story.

Sadly ironic. 

Real Dalek Discovered

  • Uncategorized
  • March 4, 2009

According to the London Daily Telegraph, a long-submerged Dalek was discovered among a ton of rubbish by a team of volunteers who were cleaning out a junk-filled pond.

Well, actually, just the head and neck pieces. The all-important eye-stalk was intact, but one of the dome lights was smashed. They’ve been looking for the rest of the Exterminator amongst the muck and the mould without success so far.

 

The exact location is being kept secret for reasons of maintaining neighborhood sanity. However, if you’re planning on a soggy vacation, back during Colin Baker’s run in the 1980s the BBC did a lot of exterior filming of Doctor Who in the Hampshire area.

 

There appears to be no truth to the rumor that a Cyberman has been spotted parking cars in Liverpool.

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