Michael D Hamersky On Comics Mentions...   Comic Book People 2 The Second Book By Jackie Estrada!

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #4052 -   I've been attending what is now known as Comic-Con International: San Diego for many years.

In fact, I set up as a comic book dealer back in 1972 when the convention was known as San Diego's West Coast Comic Convention.

So I've seen it grown from a mini-con to a Mega-Con over the decades.

So has Jackie Estrada, who has attended since the beginning of the convention! 

Jackie has taken many photos over the years for her personal collection and recently published a book with many of those photos she had taken over the years included.  That was Comic Book People 1, which covered the 1970s & 1980s.  That book was published September 10th of 2014.

Now she has published Comic Book People 2, which covers photos she had taken during the 1990s at San Diego Comic Con / Comic-Con International, as well as at  the Chicago Comic-Con and WonderCon to the Small Press Expo and APE in the San Francisco area.  Actually yesterday was the 'Official Release Date' of the latest book, but I was out of town and missed blogging about it. 

So I'm letting you know today of this new book here in my blog and also at my Facebook Fan Page where I will be posting a link as well.

But before I do, I want to provide a more detailed description of the book for you as well as a few links.  Here's the details:

Jackie Estrada’s Comic Book People 2 Provides Unique Peek at the Comics Industry in the 1990s

The 1990s were a transitional era in comics: Image emerged, lots of other new publishers got into the mix, the direct market flourished, and the self-publishing and indie comics movements really took off. The number of comic conventions also increased all around the U.S. And Jackie Estrada was there, capturing the scene in candid images, hundreds of which will appear in Comic Book People 2: Photographs from the 1990s.

The high-quality hardcover coffeetable book is officially being published on September 10. It features some 600 candid photos taken at comic conventions in the 1990s, along with commentary and anecdotes about each image. The book is 176 pages, mostly with black-and-white images but including a 16-page color section. The Kickstarter-funded project is a follow-up to last year’s well-received Comic Book People: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s.

“The 1990s were a great time for new faces that are now familiar fixtures, such as Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Jeff Smith, Terry Moore, Garth Ennis, Colleen Doran, David Lapham, and Paul Pope,” says Estrada. “But even as these new creators came on the scene, a number of Golden and Silver Age greats were still with us, and I was fortunate to be able to photograph many of them.” Among the venerated artists in the book are Frank Frazetta, Carmine Infantino, Gene Colan, Al Williamson, Sheldon Moldoff, Nick Cardy, and of course Will Eisner and Jack Kirby.

It was during the 1990s that Estrada and her husband Batton Lash formed Exhibit A Press to produce his comics series Wolff& Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre (aka Supernatural Law). Many of the photos in Comic Book People 2 were taken at shows where they exhibited, from the Chicago ComiCon and WonderCon to the Small Press Expo and APE, as well as the San Diego Comic-Con. The book covers the full spectrum of creators, from mainstream superhero writers and artists to small press cartoonists, as well as people behind the scenes in the industry, such as publishers, editors, retailers, and distributors. Among the events of the 1990s featured are the foundings of Milestone and Friends of Lulu and activities of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Jackie has been both a comics fan and a photographer since the 1960s, and she has been to every San Diego Comic-Con. Her involvement in comics has included editing publications for Comic-Con, being the administrator of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards since 1990, serving as president of Friends of Lulu, and being the co-publisher of Exhibit A Press, which has produced Comic Book People 2. Her photos of comics creators have appeared in numerous books and publications, from Paul Levitz’s 75 Years of DC Comics and Julius Schwartz’s autobiography Man of Two Worlds to Alter Ego and Comics Buyer’s Guide. Most prominently, dozens of her photos were used in Dark Horse’s Comics: Between the Panels and in Comic-Con: 40 Years of Artists, Writers,Fans, and Friends. Most recently, her photos could be seen in the PBS special on the history of superheroes.

Here's the links I promised:

Where you can buy the book directly from Jackie Estrada, at Exhibit A Press. 

Wikipedia entry for Jackie Estrada

Sample page from the book:  As shown to the left. 

Oh, and here's just a small sampling of who is pictured in the book:

Golden/Silver Age:

Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Will Eisner, Bob Kane, Dick Sprang, Julie Schwartz, Marty Nodell, Sheldon Moldoff, Irwin Hasen, Vin Sullivan, Harry Lampert, Ramona Fradon, Bob Haney, Carmine Infantino, Murphy Anderson, Russ Heath, Joe Kubert, Nick Cardy, Bob Oksner, Gene Colan, John Buscema, Dick Ayers, John Romita, Al Williamson, Frank Frazetta and more!

Writers:

Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Alan Grant, Louise Simonson, Chris Claremont, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Kurt Busiek, Elaine Lee

Writer/Artists:

Frank Miller, Mike Mignola, John Byrne, Eddie Campbell, Mike Allred, Stan Sakai, Matt Wagner, Walt Simonson, Howard Chaykin, Dave Stevens

Artists:

Bill Sienkiewicz, Bernie Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, Dave Gibbons, Jill Thompson, P. Craig Russell, Jon J Muth, Art Adams, George Perez, Mike Ploog

Indy/Alt Creators:

Hernandez Bros, Dan Clowes, Peter Bagge, Art Spiegelman, Ellen Forney, Chris Ware, Jessica Abel, Grass Green, Joe Matt and more!

Plus: s/f fantasy authors, TV/Film/animation people, and behind-the-scenes Comic-Con people

 My thanks to Jackie Estrada for bringing her latest book to my attention. And congrats on this second volume!

~ Michael D Hamersky

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 4,000 total posts in number!   I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link!   Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

Note:  My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...!  If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com!     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that!  The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.  Note:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to my blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to me for possible review, just contact me. 

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!

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In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Mentions...   Private Snafu! Of World War II Fame!

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #4051 -   I've been watching the film series 'Why We Fight' on the Turner Classic Movies Channel.  In between the films have been a series of cartoons produced during WWII titled: Private Snafu.

I did a little checking on the background of this feature cartoon series and came up with these facts:

You see.. Private Snafu was actually the brainstorm of Hollywood director Frank Capra.  If that name is familar to you, it is probably because you have seen the films It’s A Wonderful Life or Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.

Capra was running the Armed Forces’ First Motion Picture Unit after the USA entered the war.  He came up with an idea to use an animated cartoon character as a vehichle for teaching lessons to the army troops.

Since many of the GI’s were very young, and possibly naïve in the ways of war and the world, he thought a cartoon would be the best way to get the lessons out to the guys.

Actually, cartoon shorts were still very popular in movie theaters back then.  So the cartoons could be attached to the Army Navy Screen Magazine newsreels that were sent overseas.

Would you believe that it was Ted “Dr. Seuss” Geisel that led the animation section in the Army Unit?  The idea was put out to bid, and several studios including Disney bid on the project.

However the initial project was won by the Leon Schlesinger studio. That studio was the producer of the Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies series that were distributed by Warner Brothers.

Schlesinger’s studio included the following who worked on the Private Snafu project: directors Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, Frank Tashlin, and Bob Clampett; music director Carl Stalling; and voice artist Mel Blanc.

The cartoons were not censored and included some racy bits in them.  The points the cartoons carried were made to the GIs during the cartoon series.

You don't have to wait to see the cartoons when they run on TCM again.  You can see them at this link on YouTube, as they are out of copyright.

For more on Private Snafu, please see this Wikipedia entry.

My thanks to TCM for running these cartoons inbetween the 'Why We Fight' films!   

~ Michael D Hamersky

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 4,000 total posts in number!   I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link!   Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

Note:  My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...!  If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com!     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that!  The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.  Note:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to my blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to me for possible review, just contact me. 

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Mentions That...   Fifty Years Ago In The Town Of San Diego... Came The Beatles!

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #4050 -   Yes... 50 Years Ago this weekend came The Beatles to San Diego!

They came for one night only during their tour of America back in 1965!

The place the concert was at was the San Diego High School's Balboa Stadium!

I was still up in Kodiak, Alaska where my Navy Dad was stationed, so I missed out on this event.  But then again I was only 13 at the time, so the odds of me attending would have been plenty slim.

The Beatles were pretty big in Kodiak, as I remember singing the Beatles songs on the school bus from the Navy Base to the Catholic School in the town of Kodiak.  (St. Mary's.)

The concert was NOT a sellout on this tour, as it was a surprise event, squeezed in before their scheduled event in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl on August 29th & 30th.

The schedule was called the 'North American Summer Tour'.  There were a few sellouts on the tour, but at San Diego only 17,013 of the 27,014 available tickets were bought.

The Beatles earned $50,135.17 for this performance, just a little over the $50,000 they were guaranteed in advance.

The stadium therefore wasn't full, but for San Diego that was a huge crowd back in those days. 

There wasn't another concert at San Diego in the future, as The Beatles stopped touring in 1966.  They ceased to be a band as of 1970 as well...

In addition to The Beatles, the opening acts were Cannibal and The Headhunters, Brenda Holloway, Sounds Incorporated, and King Curtis.  Ever hear of them?!

BTW, most of the Balboa Stadium was torn down in 1979, so you can't even go back to where the Beatles performed!

Oh,and you want to know what the backstage food and accouterments were?  How about:  two cases of soda, two tubs of Kentucky Fried Chicken, three portable TV sets, four cots and sets of clean sheets, five 1 gallon bottle of water and 24 assorted sandwiches!  Total cost $33.06!

Oh, and what does this have to do with comic books? 

Well, the Beatles were featured in several comic books over the years, as seen at this link.

One of my favorites were when The Thing & The Human Torch met the Beatles as seen on the Strange Tales cover for #130 published March of 1965! 

And to think... It was 50 Years Ago This Very Weekend that the Beatles played in the Town of San Diego!

For those of you near San Diego... On September 1st at 12:50 pm there will be: 'The 50th Anniversary' of the Beatles 1965 Balboa Stadium Concert at the Saville Theatre, San Diego City College, at 1450 C Street, Downtown San Diego.  Admission is Free for the students and the public!  

~ Michael D Hamersky

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 4,000 total posts in number!   I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link!   Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

Note:  My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...!  If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com!     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that!  The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.  Note:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to my blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to me for possible review, just contact me. 

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Is Pleased To See...   Tales Of The Gold Monkey As A Comic Book Feature Series!

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #4049 -   As long time readers of this blog already know... I'm a big fan of Quantum Leap, the TV Show, that ran from 1989 to 1993 for five seasons.  (Here's a link to my previous blogs on Quantum Leap.) 

The creator of that show was Donald Bellisario, who was also involved in other mighty fine TV series, including:  Magnum P.I., Airwolf, JAG, and NCIS.  

In between Magnum & Airwolf was a TV show that lasted just one season titled: Tales of the Gold Monkey.  

I watched that season on TV and was sad to see it not be picked up for another year.  I did not know that there was a comic book feature of the show that ran in a United Kingdom comic book titled:  TV Comic.

Tales of the Gold Monkey started in Issue #1,656 (16 September 1983) as "Tales of the Gold Monkey" and was drawn by Geoff Campion.  The feature finishes in the last issue of TV Comic #1,697, which was published on 29 June 1984.  Here is the link to the uploaded pages of the feature.

Geoff Campion was the well known British illustrator who set the 'House Style' in the 1950s & 1960s for AP / Fleetway adventure strips.  His work on 'Tales of the Gold Monkey' can be seen at the following link which is provided by Patricia Annino.

I am pleased to have found this out while checking out several Wikipedia entries while watching a Quantum Leap rerun.  Thus I am sharing this new found knowledge with you today.

Fans of Donald Bellisario, Tales of the Gold Monkey, Geoff Campion and / or comic book history should be pleased with this news if they were not already aware of it...  

~ Michael

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 4,000 total posts in number!   I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link!   Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

Note:  My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...!  If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com!     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that!  The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.  Note:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to my blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to me for possible review, just contact me. 

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Is Sad To Mention The Passing Of...   Yvonne Craig (aka Batgirl on the 1966 Batman TV Show Series!)

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #4048 -   I just read of the passing of Yvonne Craig, who died August 17th of 2015.

I had the fortune of meeting Yvonne a few times at conventions, including the San Diego Comic Con in 1996 with Julie Newmar, (blog #3173), and at the Wizard World Anaheim 2010, (blog #3112).

At the Wizard World Anaheim convention I mentioned the then upcoming book that I had written a chapter for, 'Gotham City 14 Miles', which she expressed interest in.  She then told me of her then recent book, 'From Ballet to the Batcave and Beyond'.  (Photo of her and her book at top right.)

Before Yvonne was 'Batgirl', I had seen her in several Elvis Presley films, and always enjoyed her roles in the films.

She also was 'Marta', the green skinned Orion girl in the Original Star Trek episode 'Whom Gods Destroy'.

Yvonne was definitely a fine actress during her screen career. For more info, please see her Wikipedia entry.

I feel sad about her passing at the age of 78.  I am glad I got to meet her during the years.

My condolences to her family and friends... 

~ Michael

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 4,000 total posts in number!   I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link!   Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

Note:  My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...!  If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com!     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that!  The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.  Note:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to my blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to me for possible review, just contact me. 

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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