Tagged: Action Comics

$2 million comic collection up for auction today

  • News
  • February 22, 2012

Because we can never have too many copies of Action Comics #1… the real one, no offense to Grant Morrison.

Michael Rorrer said his great aunt once mentioned having comic books she would one day give him and his brother, but it was a passing remark made when they were boys and still into superheroes.

Ruby Wright gave no indication at the time — and she died last February, leaving it unclear — that her late husband’s comic collection contained some of the most prized issues ever published. The 345 comics were slated to sell at auction in New York on Wednesday, and were expected to fetch more than $2 million.

Rorrer, 31, of Oxnard, Calif., discovered his great uncle Billy Wright’s comics neatly stacked in a basement closet while helping clear out his great aunt’s Martinsville, Va., home a few months after her death. He said he thought they were cool but didn’t realize until months later how valuable they were.

Rorrer, who works as an operator at a plant where oil is separated from water, said he was telling a co-worker about Captain America No. 2, a 1941 issue in which the hero bursts in on Adolf Hitler, when the co-worker mused that it would be something if he had Action Comics No. 1, in which Superman makes his first appearance.

“I went home and was looking through some of them and there it was,” said Rorrer, who then began researching the collection’s value in earnest.

He found out that his great uncle had managed as a boy to buy a staggering array of what became the most valuable comic books ever published.

“This is just one of those collections that all the guys in the business think don’t exist anymore,” said Lon Allen, the managing director of comics for Heritage Auctions, the Dallas-based auction house overseeing the sale.

The collection includes 44 of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide’s list of top 100 issues from comics’ golden age.

via Inherited comic collection expected to fetch $2M – Yahoo! News.

ComicMix Cinema: “Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods”

  • News
  • August 14, 2011

What better way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon than watching one of those guys from the land where it rains all the time?

This 80-minute feature produced by Respect Films and Sequart contains interviews with Morrison, along with various folks he’s worked with and inspired throughout a thirty year career writing everything from All-Star Superman to Zenith, and just might give insight for what he’s going to do when he reboots Action Comics next month. (Not included is the story of how I saved Grant’s first Doom Patrol story from being completely incomprehensible.)

Enjoy.

Superman The Complete Anthology

It’s interesting to watch how time and again, writers, artists, moviemakers, and studio executives struggle to find ways to adapt the very first comic book super-hero. Superman was something readers (and rival publishers) had never seen before, and he served as the template for the heroic fantasy that followed these last seven decades. When you have powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, you need visionaries to bring the character from the printed page to other media. Robert Maxwell figured out how to do that with the popular radio serial. In fact, Maxwell came up with various characters and concepts that seeped into the comics, a symbiosis that made both stronger.

I was given to considering Superman in his many forms when the eight-disc Superman The Complete Anthology Blu-ray set arrived for review. Warner Home Video has taken all the previous versions and spruced them up a bit, added some new features, and placed them in a handsome box. Despite the uneven content, this is a must-have for fans.

When the Fleischer brothers got a chance to animate the Man of Steel, they set the standard that all other animators have emulated or strived to match. It certainly raised the bar when Superman came to the movie serials, with Kirk Allyn looking the part but the low budget and low-tech kept his feats to the above-average, not super-human. Things got somewhat better with the George Reeve television series of the 1950s, imprinting the archetype on two generations of television watchers and comics readers. Again, Maxwell receives credit for his serious translation to the half hour demands of syndicated television before he left and it got dumbed down in subsequent seasons. (more…)

Must There Be An “American Way”?

  • News
  • April 29, 2011

superman-citizenship-1303916053-300x213-9024541By now, you’ve probably heard about the controversy– ZOMG SUPERMAN RENOUNCES AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP!!! A lot of people are taking this panel at right from Action Comics #900 out of context.

For me, I always thought that “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” was a bit redundant. At least, I hoped that it was, because that implied that the American Way didn’t actually include truth and justice. As it turns out, the phrase wasn’t even original to the character. Remember the introduction to the Fleischer Superman cartoons of the 40s?

Heard it? Never-ending Battle for Truth and Justice… but no American Way. Same with The Adventures Of Superman radio show, which started with:

Look! Up in the sky!
It’s a bird!
It’s a plane!
It’s Superman!

“Yes, it’s Superman–strange visitor from the planet Krypton who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman, who can leap tall buildings in a single bound, race a speeding bullet to its target, bend steel in his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great Metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth and justice.”

And this was during World War II, not exactly a time short on American patriotism.

It wasn’t until 1952 that the TV series gave us:

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! (“Look! Up in the sky!” “It’s a bird!” “It’s a plane!” “It’s Superman!”)… Yes, it’s Superman … strange visitor from another planet, who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men! Superman … who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way! And now, another exciting episode, in The Adventures of Superman!

Why was “the American Way” phrase added? Probably for the same reason that the words “under God” started showing up in the Pledge of Allegiance around the same time– it was supposed to help fight communism.

Considering this issue shipped the same day Barack Obama had to take extraordinary steps to prove that he was born in this country to the same sort of people who are now braying that Superman has betrayed them, I cannot help but be a bit confused. The fictional character is a real American citizen, and the President of the United States isn’t?

Of course, Superman really wasn’t born in the United States. (He really wasn’t born at all, but play along with me here.) If you asked Superman to produce a birth certificate, he couldn’t– hell, the Kents lied to get Clark one.

Now, whether DC made a good storytelling choice here– that’s for the next article.

Review: ‘DC Comics Year by Year’

DC Comics Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle

By Alan Cowsill, Alex Irvine, Matthew K. Manning, Michael McAvennie, Daniel Wallace
352 pages, DK Publishing, $50

This is a tough book to review given growing up reading the majority of titles covered here in addition to working on staff for twenty years plus continuing to contribute to the company today. It’s also a book I wish I had written. That said, this is a mighty undertaking that is strong and eminently readable. This is a worthwhile 75th anniversary collector’s item and a great way to encapsulate DC Comics’ rich history. By all means, this belongs on your bookshelf.

It is almost impossible to properly encapsulate the 75 years of DC Comics alone but this book also attempts to weave in the histories of the companies or properties now owned by DC, including Fawcett’s super-heroes, Charlton’s Action Heroes, and the Quality Comics library. Unfortunately, these all get lip-service rather than a proper meshing of titles therefore significant publications are absent.

DC Comics began as one title, New Comics, released in 1935 by Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. It added titles slowly and when there was a disagreement over the size of the company, Jack Liebowitz, who bought out Wheeler-Nicholson with Harry Donenfeld, decided to expand in partnership with Max Gaines, forming All-American Comics. It would be years before Gaines sold out and the two companies became National Comics.

When Quality went out of business in the 1950s, DC took over their titles, continuing several of them, notably [[[G.I. Combat]]] and [[[Blackhawk]]], without missing a beat. In the 1970s, DC acquired rights to their heroes, from Captain Marvel to Spy Smasher, fully coming to own them within a decade. And as a gift to their executive editor, Dick Giordano, DC also acquired the Charlton heroes that Giordano once edited, headed by Captain Atom. When Bill Gaines died, DC became the parent to Mad, but the EC line of titles from [[[Picture Stories from the Bible to Weird Science]]] are missing. The purchase by DC of WildStorm changed the company. You’ll see some of this throughout the year-by-year presentation.

We get anywhere from one to two spreads per year when many years were bursting and deserved twice the space. Unfortunately, as happens with these DK projects, entire spreads are devoted to cover or panel blow-ups that unnecessarily take up space. As a result, you may scratch your head at the emphasis given to some titles and the absence of others.

(more…)

Exclusive: Hallmark Ornaments to debut at SDCC 2010

Hallmark will return to Comic-Con this summer with a line up of exclusive DC Comics, Star Wars, and Simpsons products for the event to introduce enthusiastic collectors (that’s you,
fanboys…) to the world of “Keepsake Ornaments”. Just in case your calendar isn’t marked yet, Comic-Con
International falls on July 21-25 this year, at the San Diego Convention Center in California. Here’s the run-down:

75 Years of DC Comics features the publisher’s three most iconic heroes bursting into action from the very comic books in which they made their first cover appearances—Wonder Woman in Sensation Comics No. 1 (January 1942), Superman in Action Comics No. 1 (June 1938) and Batman in Detective Comics No. 27 (May 1939). Limited run of 750. (more…)

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Irredeemable #10: Boy, Mark Waid must’ve hated ‘Action Comics’ #442

  • News
  • January 28, 2010

action-comics-442-8931713Warning: We’re discussing Irredeemable #10, out in stores this week, and we’re probably going to spoil a minor plot point. You might want to read it first before you go any further.

Based on part of Irredeemable #10, I can tell that Mark Waid read Action Comics #442 at a very impressionable age– specifically “The Midnight Murder Show” written by Cary Bates, with art by Curt Swan and Kurt Schaffenberger.

And he was struck by the sheer implausibilty of it all. And re-reading it, I can’t blame him.

Let me recap the plot a bit: Late night talk show host Johnny Nevada, host of GBS’s “The Midnight Show” has been kidnapped by the psychotic and trigger-happy “Touch” McCoy and his henchman, Louie, because all criminal henchmen in Superman stories are named Louie. 

Nevada is being held for ransom of ten million dollars. (In 1974, that was enough to stun a TV network– in 2004, ABC spent more than that on the pilot of Lost, and today, there are pilots rumored to cost fifty million dollars. My, how times change.)

To catch the kidnapper, Superman hatches a plan to goad the kidnapper into shooting, which he will be able to hear with his super-hearing. So Superman goes on The Midnight Show and goads Touch into shooting his .45
at Carso– er, Nevada, which Superman will hear fire from across the
city, and can get there before the bullet travels the distance to hit
Nevada.

All well and good, except that Superman has forgotten that a .45 caliber bullet travels at 800 feet per second. In a 20 foot room, it will take 1/40th of a second. 

In
that time, the sound of the gunshot will only travel 28 feet. It’s not
going to matter if he’s faster than a speeding bullet if he can’t hear
it before it hits the target.

We won’t even get
into the argument of how Superman knew how far away the shot was or the
exact direction to fly off in– suffice it to say that it’s a
completely implausible story.

I mean, really– TV networks caring about the hosts of their late-night talk shows?

(more…)

superman-dccomics-art-2286364

#SDCC: DC: Superman: Two Worlds panel

  • News
  • July 23, 2009

superman-dccomics-art-2286364It’s going to be an exciting year for the Man of Steel: Superman group editor Matt Idelson, writers Geoff Johns (Adventure Comics, Superman: Secret Origins), Greg Rucka (Action Comics), James Robinson (Superman), Sterling Gates (Supergirl), and Renato Guedes (Superman) discussed what the future holds for the current New Krypton status quo and answered fan questions. CBR has the liveblog, but here are some highlights:

  • “Hunt for Reactron” will be a Supergirl/Action
    crossover in October, with both series co-written by Gates and Rucka
    for the arc. “It’s a big story with a lot of big, crazy action. And a
    lot of fighting,” Gates said.
  • Geoff Johns briefly ran down what would appear
    in Adventure Comics, drawing laughter when he mentioned “the good
    Teen Titans.” He also said, “If you don’t like Krypto, don’t read our
    book.”
  • The final three issues of the 12-issue World of
    New Krypton     will be an arc tying together developments on Earth with
    those on New Krypton.
  • “Coming out of ‘Codename Patriot,’ we’re going to finish the finish
    the book up to #700, with ‘Mon-el, Man of Valor,’ which will see him
    return darker, with a new purpose, and a new costume.”
  • The Superman Annual will be about the history of Daxam with art by Javi Pina.
  • Sterling Gates mentioned September’s Supergirl Annual, which is
    the origin of Superwoman. “Secret Files” comes out in conjunction with
    “Codename Patriot,” with art by Jamal Igle, Francis Manapul, and more.

  • “You’ll see every Legion in Adventure Comics eventually,” Johns said.

There’s a lot more at the liveblog, so go forth.

ComicMix Radio: Printing Errors Fuel Speculators Dreams

As we told you on Tuesday’s broadcast, DC has been plagued with a few printing errors one of which was Action Comics #869 that was recalled last week and redistributed this week. Why? The answer is a little simple, literally, plus:

  • Heroes‘ website expands including new web episodes
  • Marvel’s original online comics are here
  • Meet the cast of ABC Family’s Samurai Girl

And if you think we are kidding about Action #869, there are several on eBay right now for as much as $39.99.
Stop laughing and  Press the Button!

 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-7965278 or RSS!

 

Examining What Went Wrong With ‘All-Star Batman’ #10

  • News
  • September 10, 2008

All-Star Batman & Robin #10 has caused some controversy since DC Comics announced it was recalling issues scheduled to be on sale today.  They described the problem through the Diamond Comics announcement that it was a printing error.

Apparently, Frank Miller’s expletive-filled dialogue was intended to be blacked out but the process employed failed to effectively do this.

The actual dialogue and scans of the offending pages can be found over at Comic Book Resources. According to Heidi MacDonald at The Beat, Miller insisted his dialogue be lettered in and blacked out.  The production approach clearly failed to achieve the desired effect but editorial judgment has also to be questioned.

According to former DCer Brian Pearce over at the DC Archives board, “What puzzles me is the suggestion that the dialog in the word balloons might have printed in a four-color black (essentially, solid black backed up with a small percentage of the other process colors), while the bar that was supposed to obscure it was just a flat black, and not adequately opaque. ‘Backing up the black’ as it’s called, is often used to give large flat black areas a more ‘rich’ (and less washed out) appearance, or to ward off problems with trapping (when registration is slightly off) — but what strikes me as odd is that there’s really no need to do that with a fine detail like lettering. It’s not really necessary, and against a white background, that would betray even the slightest misregistration. (And even as comics printing and coloring have become more elaborate through the years, lettering inside baloons and caption boxes was genenerally left as only black because it was easiest to strip out that detail from just that one plate for foreign licensees and reprints.)

“And before the usual suspects start speculating on who might lose a job over this, this is an error that would be difficult, if not impossible to spot without a very specific type of proof, or a press proof. (It was probably caught on one of the unbound ‘last chance copies,’ when the books have been printed and bound, but there’s still time to do something.)”

Copies are already being hawked at eBay and its likely that similar to similar recalled comics, such as the Elseworlds 80-Page Giant, it will remain a rare collectible.

Unnoticed in all this was that Action Comics #869 and DC: Decisions #1 were also recalled for other printing problems.  The reasons behind these two remain unclear.
 

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