Category: Comic Books

I continue to appreciate the previously-mentioned reprints of classic Spider-Man comic books that are found in some Sunday papers. I hope that Smart Source will continue to distribute them.

Above are a couple of panels I scanned from this week’s installment. They’re good, but far from the best, examples of artist Steve Ditko’s uniquely compelling approach to drawing the human figure in motion.

It’s the crossover story YOU, the fan, demanded! Or maybe not. It’s Marvel Comics meets the CBS soap opera The Guiding Light!

A tip of the Spidey mask to Dennis F. Rogers for tipping me off to this monumental — or perhaps just mental — publishing/broadcasting event!

Last week I highlighted an article from The New York Times about a unique double-museum exhibit on cartooning and comics in New York and New Jersey.  And now Newsweek has an article about the same exhibit.  It mentions the now-defunct Museum of Cartoon Art in Port Chester, NY.  I visited the museum in September, 1978 for Marvel Comics Day.  Veteran pros John Romita, Marie Severin and John Buscema were very nice to meet.  Younger professionals, who were nevetheless older than myself, were not so nice.

This week’s Spider-Man comic, inserted in the Sunday paper, starts reprinting issue #5, from 1963. Spidey is hopelessly mis-matched, battling Doctor Doom, one of the principal character inspirations for Darth Vader.

I was impressed that the colorist for this little freebie comic made the TV a black & white set, as it was originally, 43 years ago; emphasizing that the comics were in color, but TV (for the most part) wasn’t. Nice touch.

Lately, the fun in the Sunday comics hasn’t been in the strips, which are mostly mediocre, but with a comic-book that’s being inserted with the flyers.  It features reprints of the earliest Spider-Man stories by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

Each comic is 16 pages total, the printing quality is excellent and, hey, they’re free!  This nifty promotion is from SmartSource, the coupon distributor.  To see a list of all the participating newspapers, click here.