Wednesday, May 21, 2008
May 21 2008 Pandas are OK
In addition to the terrible loss of life and property in China's earthquake, there has been concern about the 2 large panda reserves in Chengdu. Because of my close encounter with the National Treasures last month, my friends in China have been sending me some of the pictures that have been circulating that show the post-quake pandas.
May 21 2008 Cerebus 179 p 8
This is the first (known) sale of a Cerebus page in quite a while!
eBay item no. 120261863815
Seller: wmprod1959
Buyer: luciusabraham
Price: $1002.00
eBay item no. 120261863815
Seller: wmprod1959
Buyer: luciusabraham
Price: $1002.00
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
May 14 2008
Picked up this little beauty a month or so ago.
Margaret is doing a little detective work on its origins, since no one seems to recall every seeing it made available. Edition 1 of 50? One wonders if the other 49 ever saw the light of day.
And none of the information on this package is picked up by Google.
Margaret is doing a little detective work on its origins, since no one seems to recall every seeing it made available. Edition 1 of 50? One wonders if the other 49 ever saw the light of day.
And none of the information on this package is picked up by Google.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
May 11 2008 Soapbox (Part 3)
And, naturally, my essay:
I do not remember some events from 1969: the publication of the last edition of the Saturday Evening Post, for instance, or the Stonewall Riots, or the opening of the Beijing subway. But there are plenty of days I do remember: Nixon taking office; the My Lai massacre; the first flight of the Concorde; the lunar landing; the murder of Sharon Tate.
Also in 1969, on summery Saturdays in rural New Hampshire, 12-year-old boys rode Schwinn bicycles into town to catch 50-cent double features. Afterwards, with my dollar-a-week allowance, I would stop by the newsstand, two doors down from the theater, and kneel down in front of the wooden magazine display where I had been buying comics for 4 years. Fifty cents would buy 4 comics with a couple of pennies returned. Until that day…
I remember that day: the worst day of 1969. The day when I bought 3 comics and went back to the dweeb behind the counter to tell him that he gave me the wrong change. Only he had not – comics were now 15 cents. I stared for minutes, looking and looking again, at the cover to Iron Man #16. I was sure it was some kind of mistake.
Today, we would have heard about this far in advance. In the information ago, our questions are answered before we even ask them. But in 1969, there were no spoilers. There was no direct communication between a mythical place called 655 Madison Avenue and a kid on a bike in New Hampshire, except for Stan’s Soapbox.
I remember reading (and re-reading) Stan’s explanation, as though written directly to me, about the price increase. And, perhaps for the first time, I thought about comics as something that actual people produced: “writers, artists, printers, etc.” People who needed to get paid for their work. I think that seemed an adult way to approach it; quite reasonable.
“But now, let’s look at the bright side,” Stan went on. “Today you can buy your majestic Marvel mags even faster … ‘cause you don’t have to fumble around with pennies!”
Adult life wears conflicting faces when it greets 12-year-old boys. Even without the word disingenuous in my vocabulary, this business about fumbling with pennies struck me as condescending. I recall that. In retrospect, though, maybe this was Stan’s biggest writing challenge, and the one that still faces comics today: audience.
In 1969, Stan was confronted with a new phenomenon: an audience that did not disappear at puberty. He had the kids, he had the tweens and teens, and he had a growing popularity on college and university campuses. Over the past 40 years, as prices have increased and comics have become more complex, the challenge remains: to recruit and speak to an audience of the youngest children while keeping the older crowd tuned in and not turned off.
.....................
And when you think about it, Dave Sim faced this same dilemma of audience throughout his run on Cerebus.
.....................
Given that I am not on the list of people who received Glamourpuss swag in advance of its publication, I just last night read the first issue for the first time.
Perhaps I will give a review.
Or, perhaps not.
But I will say this after two readings: being near an aardvark has magnified for Dave the (problematic) issue of audience with this new publication.
Or, as Phil Ochs (thanks, Gordon) wrote in his 1967 song "Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends" -
"And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends."
From the album "Pleasures of The Harbor," you young'uns might want to check out that song.
I do not remember some events from 1969: the publication of the last edition of the Saturday Evening Post, for instance, or the Stonewall Riots, or the opening of the Beijing subway. But there are plenty of days I do remember: Nixon taking office; the My Lai massacre; the first flight of the Concorde; the lunar landing; the murder of Sharon Tate.
Also in 1969, on summery Saturdays in rural New Hampshire, 12-year-old boys rode Schwinn bicycles into town to catch 50-cent double features. Afterwards, with my dollar-a-week allowance, I would stop by the newsstand, two doors down from the theater, and kneel down in front of the wooden magazine display where I had been buying comics for 4 years. Fifty cents would buy 4 comics with a couple of pennies returned. Until that day…
I remember that day: the worst day of 1969. The day when I bought 3 comics and went back to the dweeb behind the counter to tell him that he gave me the wrong change. Only he had not – comics were now 15 cents. I stared for minutes, looking and looking again, at the cover to Iron Man #16. I was sure it was some kind of mistake.
Today, we would have heard about this far in advance. In the information ago, our questions are answered before we even ask them. But in 1969, there were no spoilers. There was no direct communication between a mythical place called 655 Madison Avenue and a kid on a bike in New Hampshire, except for Stan’s Soapbox.
I remember reading (and re-reading) Stan’s explanation, as though written directly to me, about the price increase. And, perhaps for the first time, I thought about comics as something that actual people produced: “writers, artists, printers, etc.” People who needed to get paid for their work. I think that seemed an adult way to approach it; quite reasonable.
“But now, let’s look at the bright side,” Stan went on. “Today you can buy your majestic Marvel mags even faster … ‘cause you don’t have to fumble around with pennies!”
Adult life wears conflicting faces when it greets 12-year-old boys. Even without the word disingenuous in my vocabulary, this business about fumbling with pennies struck me as condescending. I recall that. In retrospect, though, maybe this was Stan’s biggest writing challenge, and the one that still faces comics today: audience.
In 1969, Stan was confronted with a new phenomenon: an audience that did not disappear at puberty. He had the kids, he had the tweens and teens, and he had a growing popularity on college and university campuses. Over the past 40 years, as prices have increased and comics have become more complex, the challenge remains: to recruit and speak to an audience of the youngest children while keeping the older crowd tuned in and not turned off.
.....................
And when you think about it, Dave Sim faced this same dilemma of audience throughout his run on Cerebus.
.....................
Given that I am not on the list of people who received Glamourpuss swag in advance of its publication, I just last night read the first issue for the first time.
Perhaps I will give a review.
Or, perhaps not.
But I will say this after two readings: being near an aardvark has magnified for Dave the (problematic) issue of audience with this new publication.
Or, as Phil Ochs (thanks, Gordon) wrote in his 1967 song "Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends" -
"And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends."
From the album "Pleasures of The Harbor," you young'uns might want to check out that song.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
May 10 2008 Soapbox (Part 2)
July 1969
As you’ve already noticed, the price of our magniloquent mags has just risen from 12¢ to 15¢… but far be it from us to make so monumental a move without cluing you in to the whys and wherefores. At a time when the prices of just about everything keep rising daily, our mighty Marvels have been holding the line at 12¢ for the past seven years! However, in our never-ending efforts to bring you nothing but the very best, we have regularly increased the payments that we make to artists, writers, printers, etc. It’s finally reached the point where we MUST raise our selling price to 15¢ or sacrifice the quality of our comics – and THAT we would never do. That’s it, Believer… the whole ball of wax. But now, let’s look at the bright side – today you can buy your majestic Marvel mags even faster … ‘cause you don’t have to fumble around with pennies! Just another glowing example of how we strive eternally to make your life easier.
Excelsior!
Smiley
Friday, May 09, 2008
May 9 2008 Soapbox (Part 1)
Think of it as the Stan Lee version of Collected Letters.
Got this swell letter in my in-box the other day:
In November, 2008, Hero will be publishing "Stan's Soapbox" (or a similar title), collecting all Stan's old "Soapbox" columns and presenting them in a historical context. As part of this book, we'll be including a variety of notables in an "op-ed" kinda style under the working title "My Favorite Soapbox." Pretty much everyone has a favorite memory of a Soapbox they read from when they were a kid or whatever. So I'm extending you an invite to do one of these if ya want.
I said yes, of course.
Now, you need to be old enough to know what a "Stan's Soapbox" is, mind you.
The fellow making the invitation has supplied the full set of Stan's editorials to look at, but I really did not need them. I do have one "Soapbox" column that I recall distinctly, as it turns out, and I know exactly when it was published.
Got this swell letter in my in-box the other day:
In November, 2008, Hero will be publishing "Stan's Soapbox" (or a similar title), collecting all Stan's old "Soapbox" columns and presenting them in a historical context. As part of this book, we'll be including a variety of notables in an "op-ed" kinda style under the working title "My Favorite Soapbox." Pretty much everyone has a favorite memory of a Soapbox they read from when they were a kid or whatever. So I'm extending you an invite to do one of these if ya want.
I said yes, of course.
Now, you need to be old enough to know what a "Stan's Soapbox" is, mind you.
The fellow making the invitation has supplied the full set of Stan's editorials to look at, but I really did not need them. I do have one "Soapbox" column that I recall distinctly, as it turns out, and I know exactly when it was published.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
May 7 2008 Swoon - Plate 1 of 4
A note from Dave in the mail, today.
"Plate One in a four-plate "Images of Swoon" Portfolio. 11x17 --- I have an opening bid of $2500 Cnanadian from a guy in Montreal and there *is* a reserve bid. Let me know before the end of May if you want to make an offer and feel free to post to the Aartvark website."
(see below)
Everyone recall that great scene in "Life of Brian"?
BRIAN (from the balcony): Look. You've got it all wrong. You don't need to follow me. You don't need to follow anybody! You've got to think for yourselves. You're all individuals!
FOLLOWERS:Yes, we're all individuals!
BRIAN:You're all different!
FOLLOWERS: Yes, we are all different!
"Plate One in a four-plate "Images of Swoon" Portfolio. 11x17 --- I have an opening bid of $2500 Cnanadian from a guy in Montreal and there *is* a reserve bid. Let me know before the end of May if you want to make an offer and feel free to post to the Aartvark website."
(see below)
Everyone recall that great scene in "Life of Brian"?
BRIAN (from the balcony): Look. You've got it all wrong. You don't need to follow me. You don't need to follow anybody! You've got to think for yourselves. You're all individuals!
FOLLOWERS:Yes, we're all individuals!
BRIAN:You're all different!
FOLLOWERS: Yes, we are all different!
Saturday, May 03, 2008
May 3 2008
Yaaaaaawwwwwwwnnnnnnnn...
Oh, hello there.
Welcome back.
The amount of interesting stuff going on with the Cerebus original art market for the last month was, um, underwhelming.
Just for that, you get to sit though some of my pictures from my trip.
So there.
Oh, hello there.
Welcome back.
The amount of interesting stuff going on with the Cerebus original art market for the last month was, um, underwhelming.
Just for that, you get to sit though some of my pictures from my trip.
So there.
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