Charles M. Schulz lived to see ‘Peanuts’ reach its 50th anniversary year, but not the actual anniversary date of October 2. Bil Keane’s ‘The Family Circus’ comic strip first appeared on February 29, 1960. Unlike Schulz, Keane has had help for many years producing his strip, but it’s still an anniversary worthy of recognition.
Denro is heading to New York for a comic book show at the Hotel Pennsylvania. Seventy years ago, the Cafe Rouge at the hotel was a hotspot for hipsters to hear the biggest of the big bands, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra…
As I’ve noted before, Prue Bury’s home in France is for sale, and so is a former home of Charles M. Schulz.
Hmm… TV needs updating. A 65″ plasma or ceiling-mounted LCoS projector would do nicely.
Is this the Peppermint Patio?
Well, it seems that Abbey Road Studios aren’t up for sale, after all.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2010/FEB/TheWorldAbbeyRoad.mp3]Even if it were, Andrew Lloyd Webber promised over $50 million to buy the place.
Meanwhile, Paul McCartney will be playing Phoenix and Los Angeles next month.
Here’s a bit of Paul at the brand-new Citi Field in New York last summer, before we saw him at ancient Fenway Park in Boston.
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I’m busy with stuff. Answering some mail that can’t be answered quickly, figuring out how to pay for Eric’s college next year, and continuing to work my knee that in return continues to not work as it should.
When I get back to blogging I’ll have Zsa Zsa Gabor, Ralph Meeker, Morty Gunty, Bing Crosby. Les Paul and, of course, the Beatles.
I missed the Valentine’s Day deadline for this post, but here it is anyway.
I became a comic book fan when Batman appeared on TV in January, ’66. After reading only DC titles for a few months, I started reading Marvel Comics. My first two favorite Marvel artists were John Romita Sr. and Gene Colan. Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko’s drawings were, well, scary, when I was ten. It was Joe Sinnott’s clean and friendly style of inking that made Kirby approachable for me.
As Kirby progressed creatively and artistically, paradoxically he seemed to lose his ability to draw attractive people. Women in particular. Were they noble? Yes. But pretty? Not so much. Ditko’s characters looked so outright strange that he almost seemed to be conveying an innate misanthropy.
I don’t know if Stan Lee was inspired by Roy Lichtenstein’s swiping of romance comic book panels, but he brought in Romita and Colan, who had been drawing love comics for DC. I think Romita and Colan deserve a lot of credit for the way they broadened the appeal of Marvel Comics, starting in the mid-60’s. They learned how to draw the dynamic action scenes that Stan wanted, while making it possible for him to better develop the soap opera elements of the stories. Never underestimate the power of a pretty face! Later, when John Buscema came back on board, I think the writing was on the wall for Kirby. After Stan assigned Buscema to illustrate the premiere issue of ‘The Silver Surfer’ in 1968, Jack’s departure from Marvel was inevitable.
Courtesy of D.F. Rogers, here is an excellent example of John Romita’s work at DC. It’s from ‘Young Romance’ No. 134, Feb-March, 1965. Go to the Gallery and read, “A Ticket to ROMANCE!” And be sure to read the love letters page.
