A Bird in Hand


I ran a history of Robin in Comicology Vol. II #1 (Spring 2000).

Large figure of the young original Robin against a cityscape with smaller figures of Dick Grayson as Nightwing, Carrie Kelley as Robin, and Tim Drake as Robin around him
Art to cover of Comicology Vol. II #1 © 2000 Bruce Timm. Characters depicted
are trademarks of DC Comics. Comicology is a trademark of Harbor Studios.


What saw publication was an abridged version — long story and lingering frustration
— but a fuller piece titled “Six Decades of Richard Grayson” went up on the magazine’s website. Has anyone reading this by chance saved the text of that?

Make Like a Tree


Groot might have been the breakout star of this past summer. I suppose to a broader extent he’s one half of it — er, them — as part of a tandem with his pal Rocket. Or perhaps the honor goes to the entire headlining quintet of Guardians of the Galaxy.

Giant tree creature terrorizing a city block, wooden tendrils everywhere -- Groot, the Monster from Planet X
Cover of Tales to Astonish #13 [digital] © 1960 and Groot TM Marvel
Comics. Pencils: Jack Kirby. Inks: Steve Ditko. Colors: Stan
Goldberg. Letters: Artie Simek. Script: Stan Lee.

Bowled Over


Winston, a small gray-and-white terrier, at a food bowl full of kibble
Screencap © 2014 Disney Enterprises.

The new animated Disney feature Big Hero 6 opens this weekend. I’m not being insensitive to the cost of movie tickets when I say the six-minute animated short that precedes it, “Feast”, is worth the price of admission all by itself.