Disney Legends James Cameron, Harrison Ford, John Williams and… STEVE DITKO??
Category: Comic Books
Look! Up on the Screen!
Here we go again, waiting for the once-and-for-all best restoration of the Fleischer Superman cartoons.
https://gizmodo.com/superman-fleischer-cartoons-restoration-1851342887
One of the complaints with the Blu-ray set released last year was about inconsistent color, compared to the source material. On the left is supposed to be the correct color of Lois’ suit.
This screen grab from the new restoration shows the original suit color has been retained.
But hold on. Enlarge the right frame, that is supposed to be “wrong” according to some hardcore fans.
Now compare it to this screen grab from the restoration. It looks terrible, even taking the low-res quality into account.
Being a Patreon-funded project, I have to assume the source materials aren’t the raw high-resolution film scans that were used for the Blu-ray set. The Warner Archive team needs to be given the opportunity to work with those original scans.
Dead Heads
These talking heads are all deceased now, but fortunately they were interviewed before it was too late for them to share their EC memories.
Wait, don’t go away yet! What about the other comic book companies that were publishing horror comics along with EC? This video features my dearly departed pal Joe Sinnott.
The earliest known surviving original art that Joe drew for Stan Lee is from a horror story. It’s page 1 of “The Terrible Trunk”, published in the Atlas pre-code comic book Adventures Into Weird Worlds #5, April 1952.
https://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2007/12/number-233-terrible-trunk-from-atlas.html
Thanks to comic art dealer Mike “Romitaman” Burkey, the page now belongs to Joe’s son Mark.
On the Mend
All’s well post-op for my friend. Dr. Doom will be pleased with the results.
And now I call upon the restorative healing power of BING CROSBY and AURORATONE! It was created with the intention of quieting shell-shocked vets returning from combat in WWII.
The Illustrated Writer Man
Long ago, boys of a certain age — that would be 12 — would discover Ray Bradbury’s short stories. When Bradbury was a young writer, EC Comics adapted a couple of his stories without credit… or payment. What happened next is explained in this video.
This is the famous, curiously friendly, letter that Bradbury sent to the EC offices.
Update: April 1, 2024. Ed Piskor, one of the voices in that video, has committed suicide. Not an April Fool joke.
Gaiman’s Giveaway
I have been Patreon-izing artist Colleen Doran for years. She is one of the entries in my Links list. Click the link and you will see Colleen’s most recent project with Neil Gaiman, illustrating his novel Chivalry, making it a graphic one.
Gaiman is auctioning off some of his worldly, fannish possessions. Some of the proceeds will go to The Hero Initiative, a comics-related charity.