Stan Lee 1922-2018

John Romita's cover to Origins of Marvel Comics
© 1974 and characters TM/® Marvel Comics.

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Art Men and Reubens

The National Cartoonists Society held its 72nd annual Reuben Awards dinner
on Saturday, May 26th, in Philadelphia.



Glen Keane was crowned Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year — a prize known
simply as The Reuben — for his 2017 short film “Dear Basketball”. Past winners include Walt Kelly, Mort Drucker, Bill Watterson, Milton Caniff, and Will Eisner. It appears to be the first time the top award has been given for work in animation.

Len Wein 1948-2017

There’s no way for me to do this subject justice but, despite the lateness, it doesn’t
feel right to let it pass without mention here.


Panel from “Once Upon a Time...” in Detective Comics #500 © 1981 DC Comics. [enlarge]

Len Wein, who died at 69 on Sept. 10th, provided me and an untold number of
other readers with countless moments of wonder. On top of that, Len was very much
a mensch. I saw him indulge fans at conventions with anecdotes many creators would surely have long since tired of telling, and he graciously spoke to me at length for a Comicology article celebrating the 25th anniversary of the “new” X-Men at a time — shortly before the release of the 2000 film — when dozens of journalists were likely ringing him up.

Drawing a Blank

I realized the other day when this came to mind that I’d never shared it here.

Goof Friday

Suit Up

A photo of The Flash as he’ll appear in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Justice League has been released. Right away I, well, flashed on the classic cover you can see next to it below.



I quite like how the CW TV incarnation turned out, especially with a white background having replaced the red on his chest insignia, despite the first promo shots featuring him in an extremely awkward position. We have a much clearer head-on look here than we did there, however. My big question, as Snyder and his associates were probably not meaning to homage this delightfully ridiculous old tale, is why and how Barry forged that grungy armor out of candied apples.


Cover of The Flash #133 © 1962 DC Comics. Pencils: Carmine Infantino. Inks:
Murphy Anderson. Letters: Ira Schnapp. Colors, Script: Unknown. [enlarge]

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