100th blog post anniversary!

This is a big post for me because not only is this my 100th post of The Great Comic Book Heroes but it also falls exactly on my birthday! So I would like to take this time to reflect on this blog, how it's been, where it's been and where it's going?

 100th post anniversary!

Dick Tracy, timeless comic noir

I recently picked up, The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy 1931 - 1951, a collection of Dick Tracy strips from 1970. Even though these were created for the most part in the 40's I'm finding it really fascinating for the fact that it feels so modern.

Though this was a mainstream newspaper strip from the 1940's, these comics feel as raw and inventive as any modern alt comix today.

Alex Toth's Black Fox

The Black Fox is back!
And by Alex Toth, comic artist extraordinaire!

Alex Toth has been around almost since the beginning of comics. He started out drawing things like Green Lantern in the 40's, though he didn't acquire his distinctive and highly praised style until the 50's when he had to leave DC Comics and draw romance and horror comics.

Gumby Summer Fun Special by Art Adams and Bob Burden

In the mid 80's, Gumby the little green boy of clay, was hot and Comico the comic company decided that they wanted to put out his comic. What resulted was a little Copper Age gem.

RAW Comix vol. 2 #2, Required reading for the post literate

 A cornucopia of graphic eye candy!

cover by Joost Swarte, a Dutch artist who often deconstructs the comics format as in this illustration where the depicted pictures interact with each other. 

I read these when they first came out. I loved volume 1 with it’s large size format that emphasized the graphic qualities of the comics inside. In contrast volume 2 is a digest size (6’ x 8 ¾’) which is better suited for narrative driven stories and the diverse art styles that illustrate the stories in here really shows off the wide range of ways that great stories can be told.

The Many Faces of R. Crumb (NSFW)

One of my favorite early Crumb works is 1972's XYZ Comics. In it Crumb is in full flower, allowing his mind (and pen) to go wherever it chooses. Sure many of the comics are absurd, though with the absurdness are occasional insightful strips touching on the profound.

Deadman in "Good Girls go to Heaven. Bad Girls Go Everywhere"

In 2005 DC comics had the brilliant idea to make a book using some of the best alternative comics creators. The book was called Bizarro World. One of the highlights of the book for me was Deadman by Paul De Filippo and artist Derek Kirk Kim.

The Joker's first appearance in Batman #1, 1940

The Joker has been Batman’s number one nemisis ever since his debut in Batman #1 spring of 1940, the dawn of the Golden Age of comics. 

One thing about the Joker that made him so eternal is that he came out fully developed. From the beginning he was a seditious killer with a theatrical flair. If anything they tamed his character down over the years.