Category: Comic Books

He Does What, Exactly?

He does whatever a spider can, of course!

In 1968, Mighty Marvel was undeniably on the move.

Marvel was freed from competitor DC’s restrictive distribution deal and they expanded immediately. The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man were already back-to-back Saturday morning TV cartoons.

Perhaps the most interesting Marvel project in 1968 was The Spectacular Spider-Man, a magazine format comic that ran for only two issues. Like the first two Beatles movies, the first issue was in black & white, and the second was in color. I bought both of them as a 12-year-old in Norwalk, CT.

The Spectacular Spider-Man #1, 1968

Marvel is reprinting both issues together, in a smaller format than the originals. The second issue was, itself, smaller than the first.

For the merely curious, who use Kindle on a tablet with a reasonably large screen, the e-book download costs only five bucks.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1302965050

Screen grab from the digital edition

The Underground Ex-Press

R. Crumb’s new comic book is out from Fantagraphics. It’s as wordy as it is artsy, and I have a copy for you, mih. To be hand delivered, Wednesday, December 10, at noon.

Click the pic to see the original line art.

Here’s a fun fact. R. Crumb has been buddies with George DiCaprio, since before his son Leonardo was born.

https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2025/11/24/art-robert-crumb-george-dicaprio-david-zwirner/

Putting the ZOO into ZOOM

Last night I had a ton o’ online fun, participating in a ZOOM call with the National Cartoonists Society. Mark Evanier’s pal Sergio Aragones, one of MAD Magazine’s usual gang of idiots, was on the call.

The meeting was scheduled for 90 minutes, and we went into overtime when Colleen Doran showed up. Colleen, who is one of my very favorite people, hosts her own ZOOM calls that I enjoy attending.

The Kirby Way

A New York City street renamed in honor of Jack Kirby?

Joe Sinnott said Stan Lee struggled with the introduction of Black Panther in Fantastic Four #52. Was it because of the potential controversy resulting from having a black leading character in Marvel Comics? Nope, it was simply that Stan kept changing his mind about the character’s costume. Full face mask like Spider-Man, or a half-mask like Captain America? Short cape or no cape?

There is little to go on, regarding the influence that Jack’s stint at the Fleischer animation studio in New York had on his later work. But I can infer something from the fact that, besides Kirby, Carl Barks, Walt Kelly and Hank Ketcham all had animation studio experience.

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/in-his-own-words-jack-kirby-at-fleischers/

I’ve Got Nuthin’ on my Mind

On Sunday, Denro and I were at the Albany Comic Con. It’s a small, one-day show that’s devoted to comic books, which is a rarity these days. I bought this groovy FLAME ON! logo from comic book letterer Janice Chiang. It would make a good tattoo, not that I’d ever have any interest in getting one.

That’s all I have at the moment. I’ll think of something else to Prattle about later.

Oh, wait. There is one more thing. Something from a few days ago that returns every time I reset it on the CR-V. I suppose I should get an estimate on a new catalytic converter.