Collected Comics Library Podcast #263
30,165Kb; 32m 04s

We come to the conclusion of Jack Kirby month! This week I focus on one of Jack’s most celebrated creations: Kamandi, The Last Boy On Earth. DC has published two Archive volumes and here at the CCL, I hope they continue on and not only conclude Kirby’s run, but complete the entire series. I also touch upon two other DC Comics series that tie-in to Kamandi: OMAC and The Atomic Knights both of which have their own collected editions (no, I didn’t forget about the now defunct Atomic Knights Showcase Presents book). Lastly, I talk a bit about Jack’s return to Marvel Comics and his Kamandi inspired Devil Dinosaur, which has its own complete Omnibus.

I have more news on my new podcast and blog: DGTL Comics, a question regarding the lack of the Invincible Volume 5 HC (Image Comics) and the Amazon MarketPlace, C2E2, and my thoughts on two different editions of Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali (DC Comics).

All this and the New Releases of the Week.

Chris

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DGTL Comics
www.dgtlcomics.com
@dgtlcomics
dgtlcomics@gmail.com

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Collected Comics Library Podcast #262
29,868Kb; 31m 45s

We continue our celebration of Jack Kirby here in the month of March, this time with his collaboration with Joe Simon on The Sandman (DC Comics). By the time Jack and Joe took over the character, Wesley Dodds had already made his extensive costume change from the suit, fedora and gas mask to a more super-hero look with yellow and purple tights. Too make things even more a sign of the times he was given a sidekick: Sandy The Golden Boy. There’s no doubt that the magic of Kirby and Simon breathed more life into the characters and helped make them last longer then they would have. But this particular podcast also focuses on the current Editorial Staff at DC Comics and how I think they have ruined any chance for continuing the Golden Age Sandman Archive line. It’s a shame, really because so many great stories look like they will never be collected.

On another front I announce my plans to startup a new podcast! This time it will focus on reprint editions of an additional sort – digital comics. There is one caveat though; this podcast will be exclusive to my Collected Comics Library iTunes App.

I also talk about Dark Horse Archive line (Samson and Buck Rogers) and the MarvelMan collected edition from (where else?) Marvel.

All this and the New Releases of the Week.

Chris

Collected Comics Library iTunes App/
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Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK), and Library Binding Company.

Collected Comics Library Podcast #261
27,508Kb; 29m 14s

I have to admit something that may get me banned and shunned from C2E2 later this year, but I’m not that big a fan of Jack Kirby. Don’t get me wrong, I respect and appreciate all the work that he has done in comics over the years and he is definitely in my Top 10 creators of all time (just not my Top 5). But I think that all changed this past week when I sat down and read The Demon Omnibus, which collects the entire 16 issue run of one of Kirby’s most memorable character – The Demon Etrigan. Born of fire and magic in the time of Camelot, he now walks the Earth as Jason Blood human and immortal. Turning into his monstrous alter ego whenever evil seeks to destroy what is good. I loved every page and can’t wait to read more. It’s just too bad that none of it is collected.

Also on the show I talk little bit more about the Amazon.com fiasco and the aforementioned C2E2.

All this and the New Releases of the Week.

Chris

Collected Comics Library iTunes App/
http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/

Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK), and Library Binding Company.

Collected Comics Library Podcast #260
23,774Kb; 25m 15s

There’s a buzz in the comic book community about the upcoming movie The Losers (April 23rd). This team of oddballs is a live action version of the Vertigo comic book series created by Andy Diggle. But did you know that it is loosely based on another group of military misfits called The Losers?

Although this particular group, consisting of Captain Storm, Gunner and Sarge and Johnny Cloud, did not form until G.I. Combat #128 (October/November 1969) they all have been characters in the DC Universe as early as 1959. Enter Jack Kirby at DC in the early 1970′s and besides creating and working on such great titles as The New Gods, The Demon, and OMAC, Kirby did a stint on The Losers in Our Fighting Forces #151-162 (1974-75). These stories have been collected in a very nice hardcover and I go over it and the complete history of The Losers on the show.

All this and the New Releases of the Week.

Chris

Links of Note:
CCL Podcast #55: DC Comics Fireside America At War TPB
Collected Editions Blog Fifth Anniversary
Forbidden Planet International Blog Fifth Anniversary

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Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK), and Library Binding Company.

Collected Comics Library Podcast #242
27,178Kb; 28m 55s

http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/

Since their inception in the pages of Fantastic Four, Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal and the rest of The Inhumans have garnered a special place in the hearts of Marvel Fan-Boys. Today we celebrate the recent release of their first Marvel Masterwork (and their second coming out next year) and we take a look at all of their Collected Editions. We also look at what isn’t collected, particularly the 1988 Inhumans Graphic Novel by Ann Nocenti.

Also on the show, the CE world is being turned upside down by the news from Neal Adams that his 1978 Superman vs. Muhammad Ali will be getting the Deluxe Edition treatment with new coloring and the Green Lantern/Green Arrow: Hard Traveling Heroes storyline may be getting an Absolute edition. On the Marvel side – David Gabriel, Marvel’s Senior VP of Sales, has hinted to Heidi MacDonald that, Later on in the year, we’re going to do an omnibus with full runs from things like Night Nurse, Hellcat, and some other things you really wouldn’t collect anywhere else. Not sure what to make of that, we’ll have to wait and see. I wonder if Tigra or Shanna the She-Devil will be a part of the book.

Chris

All this and the New Releases of the Week.

Links of Note:
Kryptographik Podcast and Blog

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Collected Comics Library Podcast #238
29,825Kb; 31m 44s

http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/

It’s a fill in show on the CCL Podcast today. I was expecting to review Darwyn Cooke’s Parker: The Hunter (IDW) and Batman: Ego And Other Tales (DC Comics), but that will have to wait a week.

Today on the show, I give my thoughts and some news and notes concerning a few upcoming collected editions. They include: Dreadstar: The Beginning HC (Dynamite), Jet Scott Volume 1 HC (Dark Horse), The Creeper By Steve Ditko HC (DC Comics), The Newsboy Legion by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby (DC Comics), Superboy: The Greatest Team-Ups Ever Told (DC Comics), Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men Vol. 8 HC (Marvel), Essential X-Factor Vol. 3 TPB (Marvel), Thor: Tales Of Asgard By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby HC (Marvel) and a few more.

All this and the New Releases of the Week.

Chris

Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK), and Library Binding Company.

http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/

This week on the show, I welcome in Steve Saffel to talk about his book, The Best of Simon and Kirby (Titan). A lot of care went into creating this lavish look back on the dream team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby from the Golden Age of Comics. Steve gets into all the details, from the beginning and the reasons why it was published, to what is included, and what is still yet to come. Steve and I also chat about his time at Marvel, TwoMorrows Publishing, Comic Cons and Mark Evanier’s Kirby: King of Comics, which can be seen as a companion, of sorts, to Steve’s book. I’ll post a full written review of the book, including all of the exact contents, in a few weeks.

For more information on this book, please check out the very nice Best of Simon and Kirby site at Titan Books.

Collected Comics Library Podcast #233
50,774Kb; 53m 53s

Chris

Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK), and Library Binding Company.

I covered a lot this week at the CCL and now it’s the weekend, so go out and pick up a new comic or two.

• IDW Publishing has acquired multi-year rights to publish print and mobile editions of comics originally released on the ComicMix Website. The first titles to be released by IDW will be GrimJack: The Manx Cat, by John Ostrander and Timothy Truman; Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes of Eden, by Mike Grell; and Hammer of the Gods, by Mark Wheatley and Mike Avon Oeming.
• I’ve blogged about the upcoming Simon and Kirby Library extensively in the past few months, but here’s the Official Press Release.
• The Cover to the Final Crisis Hardcover
• This weeks New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller List. Alan Moore’s Watchmen and Batman: The Killing Joke take #1 and #2 on the Hardcover list, while Alan Moore’s Watchmen and Light Of Thy Countenance take #1 and # on the Softcover list. Perhaps Moore should try his hand at Fruits Basket and Naruto (#1 and #2 on the Manga list).
• Sorry I missed this – 2009 Hugo Graphic Novels Nominees (link via Trade Talks by Raoul)
• Review: Raoul, Trade Talks, on Marvel Legacy: The 1960s-1990s Handbook

Sunday night, my son Patrick, was browsing the Internet when he came upon a nasty virus that infected the computer. It took me all Monday afternoon to do a wash, rinse and spin to the old Dell, but I finally got rid of it. It seems that now more then ever there are more viruses, spyware and malware going around, so be careful.

• Last week we got the hush, hush announcement about the Absolute Green Lantern: Rebirth, now Rich Johnson, CBR’s Lying In The Gutters, has word of an Astonishing X-Men Omnibus.
• Also, like last week, there is another new Collected Editions review blog. This time it’s The Comic Book Manifesto written by my friend, Luke.
• And there’s another one I came across called simply: Lee, Stan – Books. It looks like the blog recycles the Marvel Stan Lee solicitations with cover art, like what I do, in the CCL Library section. Besides linking to Amazon, there’s nothing else there.
• And even another: My thanks to Kirk Warren, The Weekly Crisis – Weekly Comic Book Reviews, for mentioning the Collected Comics Library! I’m sorry that I never heard of this blog before, it’s really good.
• Scott’s Classic Comics Corner: Out Of Print But Not Forgotten (CBR) goes over The Greatest 1950s Stories Ever Told (DC Comics), Rio by Doug Wildey, Stuntman by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and The Lonely One, reprinting 4 Konga stories, by Joe Gill and Steve Ditko.
• Old news that I found: IDW is reprinting Captain Canuck. I’m not sure what to think of this since I’ve never read it.
• This has nothing to do with Collected Editions, but I found it pretty cool: Batman Icon’s Mutation 2.0 (youtube).

Collected Comics Library Podcast #187

35,232Kb; 37m 19s

http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/

I’ve got a jammed packed show for you this week on the show. As I promised, the feature is Jack Kirby’s Silver Star (Image Comics), but I also throw in a bonus review of his O.M.A.C.: One Man Army Corps (DC Comics). I did so because the two main characters, Morgan Miller (SS) and Buddy Black (OMAC) are very similar and both were modeled after one of Jack Kirbys’ and Joe Simons’ most famous creation Captain America; OMAC even more so. As I state in the podcast, both books are not for a first time Kirby reader. The OMAC series was canceled after issue #6 and is left on a huge cliffhanger while Silver Star is just plain convoluted and difficult to comprehend. Both books however are excellent resources for the Kirby enthusiast and they include many pencil sketches supplied by John Morrow of TwoMorrows Publishing.

If you read my column from Monday on the situation with All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #10, then you’ll be primed for a follow-up segment where I call myself out as a hypocrite (of sorts). I also go over all the Collected Edition related news coming out of the Diamond Retailer Summit and I list the sales estimates for the top 10 graphic novels and collected editions for August 2008. On a side note, I’ll be recording with John Mayo in the next week or so and will post the link to the podcast (as I always do) when it is published. All this including the New Releases of the Week.

Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK), and Library Binding Company.

Chris

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Collected Comics Library Podcast #186

25,902Kb; 27m 37s

http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/

The first thing I should tell you about this weeks’ episode is that I was planning on reviewing 3 Masterworks not 2. I even went as far as to record the third part of the feature, but I decided to cut it all out during editing, which, if you listen closely, can hear the cuts. The segments I did leave in are Spider-Man Volume 10 and Golden Age Captain America Volume 2. Regarding the latter, you may want to read Rich Johnson’s Lying in the Gutters column, which I refer to, from a few weeks back.

Also on the show this week, Around Comics celebrates their 200th podcast, a PR on Parade with Fireworks from Image Comics and one older item: The Black Terror Omnibus, an “Essential” type book from Age of Adventure due out later this year.

All this including what I’m watching on TV this year and the New Releases of the Week.

Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK), and Library Binding Company.

Chris

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Collected Comics Library Podcast #166

60,170Kb; 63m 54s

http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/
The CCL continues its interviews with a conversation with Joe Keatinge, PR and Marketing Coordinator with Image Comics. Joe and I talk about a wide range of books including, American Flagg, Walking Dead, Aqua Leung, Jack Kirby’s Silver Star and Captain Victory, The Next Issue Project and the upcoming Ted McKeever Library and plenty more!.

I also go over a few news items and a condensed New Releases of the Week list.

Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK) and Library Binding Company.

Chris

Links of Note:
Scott Shaw!
Discuss this topic on the CCL forum

For the podcast topic for show #163, I’m going to cover Wanted Volume 1 from Top Cow. There has been so much hype with the upcoming movie, I figured now is a good time. I still plan on doing the New Frontier show in the upcoming weeks in which I will go over both the Absolute and the Special Edition DVD. And I just got my hands on a copy of the new One-Shot Special. I want to make sure I integrated that book, too. On with today’s links:

• John Mayo, Comic Book Resources and Comic Book Page Podcast has his new article about the Sales Estimates for January 2008. I should tell you that John and I did record last night on this very topic. It should be released sometime next week.
• J. Caleb Mozzocco, Every Day Is Like Wednesday, wants an Invasion Trade Paperback. He can have one as long as I get a trade of all the crossover issues to Crisis on Infinite Earths.
• Mark Evanier has posted an additions and corrections page for his Kirby: King of Comics book. He says it will be updated from time to time. I suggest printing it off and sticking it in you book for quick reference or get a pencil and add in the corrections yourself, it’s not like you’re going to sell it or give it away anytime soon.
• Marvel by way the Marvel Masterworks site have announced Sgt. Fury Volume 2 (Variant Volume 97); collecting Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #14-23 and Annual #1 (June 18th) and Tales of Suspense Vol. 2 (Variant Volume 98); collecting Tales of Suspense #11-20 (June 25th).
• Fantagraphics have posted some wonderful images of the Willie & Joe: The WWII Years Slipcase
• Review: Collected Editions Blog on Catwoman: The Replacements TPB. Somewhat related to this I was at my LCS and did see the latest Catwoman trade and the title is indeed Catwoman Dies, not Catwomans Dead
• Review: Wendy Skeleton, Panels of Awesome, on Green Arrow/Black Canary: For Better or For Worse TPB