DICK GIORDANO: RIP

It was announced on Bob Layton's Facebook page that former DC artist and Editor-in-Chief, Dick Giordano has passed away.

Growing up with comics of the 60's and 70's I remember his work as an artist on BATMAN and others and as one of the architects of the Direct Market system that helped drag comics out of the spandex ghetto. 

Giordano of course, got his start at the now defunct Charlton comics where as editor he ushered in the Charlton Action Heroes line of comics - JUDOMASTER, SARGE STEEL, CAPTAIN ATOM, THE QUESTION, THE BLUE BEETLE,  PETER CANNON-THUNDERBOLT, PEACEMAKER and others. ***


He work will be missed by those of us who grew older with such things. I look at the image above and wonder how a Darwyn Cooke SARGE STEEL graphic novel might fare in today's market. In my mind Steel was Giordano's signature character.  I would love for someone to pay tribute to the foundations Giordano laid with the character.


*** Note: those heroes were the character templates upon which Alan Moore created his legendary WATCHMEN series.

Edit to add: Newsarama has a more comprehensive bio of Giordano here. 

You Twarts!

Comic Twart is a comics sketch blog started by a group of artists including:

• Ron Salas
• Mitch Breitweiser
• Chris Samnee
• Declan Shalvey
• Dan McDaid
• Nathan Fairbairn
• Urban Barbarian
• tomfowler
• Evan "Doc" Shaner
• Mitch Gerads
• Francesco Francavilla
• Steve Bryant
• Ramón Pérez
• Mr. Hawthorne
• ANDY KUHN

They tackle a different character every week and post the results on their blog for all to see. Check out their Zorro(s):

 

Open Fist, Pulp Heart...Groovy Martial Arts Mags of the 1970's

One of the blogs I've recently added to the blogroll is DIVERSIONS OF A GROOVY KIND, a comics blog that celebrates comics magazines of the 1970's. This week "The Groovy Agent" is showcasing the big B&W Martial Arts magazines of the period.

Many of you won't recall these, but on 1970's newsstands there were a plethora of B&W large size comics and article magazines designed to capitalize on the 'adult' path Warren magazines explored. We had DOC SAVAGE, CONAN, INCREDIBLE HULK, BIZARRE ADVENTURES; I, ZOMBIE ; TOMB OF DRACULA and others that fit outside the norms of comic publishing. In many cases I would say they were 'pulp comics.' 

In any case, I thought you'd want to take a look at these and maybe kick Marvel and the other companies into stepping up their ESSENTIALS series so you can get and enjoy these lurid, colorful (yet B&W) tales.