Horror comics made quite an impact in the fifties, leading to congressional investigations and eventual a comics code. But readers of that era just remember how great these comics were. And one of the things that made the comics great was the covers. Here we look a bunch of rare ones, offering a comment or two on each.
Back in June, we previewed an exciting comic book series called “The Vault”. And it seems we weren’t the only one excited about this undersea adventure. Super producer Graham King has snatched up the film rights. And the film will be produced by his company (GK Films) in conjunction with Infinitum Nihil (Johnny Depp’s production company). Sam Sarkar, the author of “The Vault”, is an executive at Infinitum Nihil. The first issue of the comic hit shelves last week, and has already sold out! If you haven’t yet picked up this comic, we urge you to tell your comic store. The company needs this pressure to get a second print going.
Another exciting new series from Image comics! We really dig the cover. Has a strong Peter Benchley vibe. Here’s what the publisher has to say about the story:
“The Vault” is kind of a contemporary Pandora’s Box story. It’s about a team of treasure hunters lead by two serious archaeologists that are searching for a rumored lost treasure. (And there are still lots of them left out there by the way.) They’re equipped with all the latest in high tech equipment, from imaging gear to robotics to deep sea, mechanical dive suits, they have it all. Not to mention, the means to fend off pirates or rival treasure hunters if the need arises. The search however, leads them to uncover something that they didn’t expect at all and leaves them with a dilemna. Do they put it back and leave it alone? Or do they keep it and open it up?
The series is written by Sam Sarkar and drawn by Garie Gastonny. It hits store shelves this August! More preview images after the jump.
A classic image (above) from Frank Miller’s seminal comic The Dark Knight Returns sold today at Heritage Auctions for $448,125. This is the largest price ever paid for a page of comic book art at a public auction. However, since much comic art is sold in confidential private sales, it may not be the largest price ever paid.
The previous record was for the sale of Frank Frazetta’s cover for Weird Fantasy #29 which sold for $380,000.
Today Google is celebrating the birthday of Will Eisner with the doodle (above) on their homepage. Will Eisner is a comic book pioneer. He invented many of the forms conventions, and created one of it’s most iconic characters … the Spirit. That’s the dude with mask (above). This is another example of Google choosing to celebrate some geekier figures and ideas through their special doodles.
Wizard magazine is shutting down and the company (now public) will devote all its efforts to producing comic conventions. This isn’t surprising. Sales of the magazine had dropped significantly in the last decade. (As they have for almost all print magazines in the U.S..) While the convention business grew and grew. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a sad day.
Wizard magazine was often maligned for its slick, cheerleader attitude to the comic book industry. But, if you were a comic book fan in the last 20 years, you read it. And, we bet, you really liked it. (Even if you never said it out loud.) Whereas the last decade has been marked by podcasts and websites, the nineties was the day of Wizard. And their glossy pages, and rah-rah coverage, were the background music of the era.
It now seems the once maligned cheer-leading has been taken up by most of online news sites. Newarama’s low brow coverage clearly owes more to Wizard than it does to Comics Journal. But those sites don’t offer the excitement of paging through a new copy of Wizard, on the bus or Subway, and dreaming of computer colored worlds as you speed toward the doldrums of your black and white life. Nope, they don’t come close to that. Not by a long shot.
R.I.P. Wizard Magazine. You will be missed.
This week Stan Lee released a new book Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics. A callback to the classic volume How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way (published in 1984 ), this books takes readers through the basics of drawing for comic books with the trademark humor and asides that have made Lee famous. All this makes it a solid and entertaining introduction to the subject.
Since the release of Christopher Nolan‘s Inception, rumors have been going around about its eerie similarity to an old “Uncle Scrooge” comic. Well, finally, someone has been kind enough to post that comic online. You can read it here. It is surprisingly like Inception. And, quite frankly, we prefer the “Uncle Scrooge” version of the tale.
Marvel is publishing a new comic book adaptation of the original Tron movie, written by award-wining writer Peter David with art by Mirco Pierfederici. See the first four pages after the jump …
Here’s the trailer for the upcoming animated version of Grant Morrison‘s award-winning comic “All Star Superman“.
