Archives: 2011 March

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Those Church ‘n’ Birdie cats, they pulled a fast one…America’s most beloved comic strip about a comic shop, The Rack, has returned! The cast is reintroduced here, and behold, the first “new look” strip! Characters live, characters die, nothing will ever be the same again!

And now, as part of an ongoing examination of the work of filmmaker Jim Wynorski, here’s an in-depth look at the cinematic classic The Return of Swamp Thing.

Yet another online acquaintance has met me in the flesh, and lived to tell the tale…this time, it’s Bob at Tearoom of Despair, who came all the way from New Zealand for his tour of American comic shops. (You may remember Bob as the fellow who kindly sent a copy of this Swamp Thing comic to me.) He had some nice things to say about, not just me, but some other notable funnybook-sellin’ folks, so go read, already. Also, Bob and his wife were quite nice people, and I was glad to meet them.
Also, Nik is making me just slightly worried in the comments, there.

Boom Studios finally explains its Peanuts teaser by announcing the Peanuts graphic novel Happiness Is A Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown. Honestly, I was expecting a monthly comic of (mostly) newly-produced material, like the old Dell / Gold Key ones from the ’60s. “Peanuts graphic novel” is not a phrase I was anticipating. Looks interesting, judging by the sample pages…Charles Schulz is credited as the writer, and it looks like storylines from the original strips repurposed by new artists into a traditional comic book-style format. Of course, this has me wondering if we’ll see new Peanuts stories in the comic (or graphic novel) format. If so, it’ll be strange having a continuation of the characters’ stories in print (as opposed to new animated specials), as the comic strip point of origin is restricted to eternal reruns.
Renowned Peanuts expert pal Nat has a few words to say about this, as one might imagine…particularly regarding the publication timeline.

Gerry over at CO2 Comics talks about his early cartooning encouragement from his algebra teacher and an honest-to-goodness famous cartoonist!

If someone were to ask me just why pal Dorian’s Flop posts were funny, I’d have no idea what to say beyond “they just are, man.”