Sunday Spotlight: Our Weekly Round-Up Of All The Stuff And Nonsense From The World Of Comics

Welcome to Sunday Spotlight, a round-up of things I noticed in the wonderful world of comics this week…

 

Another week, another set of things I noticed in comics this week and didn’t get round to telling you about until now. So that will be links, news, art, announcements, new stuff, interesting oddments… pretty much anything as long as it’s got something to do with comics.

So, welcome once more to The Sunday Spotlight…

 

Jeff Smith suffers cardiac arrest

Jeff Smith, creator of Bone and the man who, maybe, single-handedly launched a children’s graphic novel revolution in the USA, suffered a cardiac arrest last week, forcing him to cancel an upcoming book tour for Tuki. Smith is just 63.

Kathleen Glosan, from Cartoon Books, released this statement:

‘To our friends and fans: Jeff Smith is recuperating from a cardiac arrest, which he suffered on Sunday. There will be a long road to recovery, so regrettably we must cancel the remainder of his book tour this year. Our apologies to his fans who were coming to see him at: Rob Con (VA), CXC (OH), Bedrock Comic Con (TX) and NYCC (NY). We hope this is just a bump in the road and that Jeff will see you all next year. Thank you for your support and understanding at this time.’

Obviously, this is horrible news. None of your thoughts and prayers nonsense obviously, but we do wish Smith all the best for his recovery and send our best wishes to family and friends.

 

Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Colleen Doran set Kickstarter records with Good Omens Graphic Novel Kickstarter

Obviously, a Good Omens graphic novel was a no brainer. You knew it would sell. Of course it would sell. By the bucketload, just like Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s novel did. And then we have the success of the Good Omens TV show as well, drawing even more fans into things.

So a graphic novel adapted by Colleen Doran, a marvellous artist and previous collaborator with Gaiman, that would be a bit successful, yes? Well, yes… very successful.

It launched on Kickstarter on 1st August and has since broken all kinds of records, becoming the #1 Comics Campaign in Kickstarter History. I’m writing this bit mid-week when it was already past £1.6 million ($2.1 million) and the campaign runs until Thursdya August 31st.

So, if you’re the publisher or publishers that Neil Gaiman is mentioning, who wouldn’t give Doran the advance to make the thing… oh dear, oh dear.

 

Rick Veitch and Steve Bissette’s 1941 cover artwork, stolen in 1979, reappears at Comic Art Fans

Somehow, back in 1979, Steven Spielberg entrusted the comics adaptation of 1941 to young underground cartoonists Rick Veitch and Steve Bissette. Published through Heavy Metal, the original artwork for the cover was reported stolen from the publisher’s offices in 1979. This art…

And that was it, as far as anyone knew. Until now, when Veitch posted this up on Facebook recently…

“Stolen from the offices of Heavy Metal in 1979, the cover art for the 1941 Graphic Adaption by Steve Bissette and myself, has reappeared!”

Turns out that an artwork collector had put it up on Comic Art Fans in 2021, although Veitch was quick to confirm that the collector was in no way responsible for the theft and had no knowledge of the stolen status of the art. He bought it from Ebay in 2020 and all involved are going through Ebay to track down who he bought it off and how it came to be for sale. Hopefully, this one will get a good result.

Oh, and as Veitch points out, there’s still copies available from his website…

 

Stewart K. Moore at Gosh Comics in September…

Stewart K. Moore’s a staggeringly good artist. His MK Ultra is a fabulous look into the darkness of conspiracies and US covert naughtiness that gets a complete collection in October 2023 from Clover Press. Also from Clover Press and available now, we have his The Tragedie of Macbeth, his adaptation of Shakespeare’s play. It looks, quite simply, stunning.

He’s appearing at Gosh Comics on Saturday September 30th for a signing session… well worth popping along…

 

What could have been… Superman but at EC Comics?

Oh, what might have been eh? Hadn’t heard this one before now, and it’s seen via Paul Gravett, this is the 1936 letter from Max Gaines to Jerry Siegel turning down Superman…

On a level of the rejection of the Beatles by Decca, this is Max Gaines’ turning down Jerry Siegel in 1936, saying that he hasn’t ‘been able to do anything as yet with Superman, nor with any of the other material’ that Siegel and Superman artist Joe Shuster had sent to him.

Thankfully, Gaines’ assistant, Sheldon Mayer, remembered the Superman strip when National Comics (later DC) were looking for strips for Action Comics #1 and Gaines passed the recommendation along.

But just imagine… this was 1936, Gaines had just pretty much invented the US comics industry by repackaging comic strips as small magazines. He was publisher of All-American Publications and then went on to found Educational Comics, later EC Comics when his son, Bill Gaines, took over and took EC in a bold new direction of horror and sci-fi.

So Superman could have been part of EC Comics eventually. That means that somewhere out there in the multiverse, in some alternate world, there’s Superman comics by the likes of Al Feldstein, Harvey Kurtzman, Johnny Craig, Jack Davis, Will Elder, Frank Frazetta, Bernard Krigstein, Al Williamson, Basil Wolverton, and Wally Wood. Oh wow.

Although of course, Kurtzman and Wood did do Superman… sort of…

 

RIP Dan Green (1952-2023)

News came in this week that we lost another great of comics. Dan Green was an accomplished artist who became better known for his inking, particularly at Marvel where he could make anyone’s layouts so much better.

But as an artist I can still remember his beautiful artwork on the Doctor Strange graphic novel, Doctor Strange: Into Shamballa from 1984.

JM DeMatteis, writer of Into Shamballa and Green’s friend, had this to say…

Dan Green wasn’t just one of our best inkers, he was also a wonderful illustrator—as evidenced by his extraordinary work on INTO SHAMBALLA. He was also an old friend. A great loss, a great sadness, for all who knew him.