Jan Duursema And Star Wars... 

Star Wars: Legacy That Is!

From Dark Horse Comics !

Recently I became 'Facebook Friends' with Jan Duursema.

I first became aware of Jan Duursema when she was awarded the Russ Manning Award in 1983 for Most Promising Newcomer to Comics.

Jan has worked on several projects since that year, but she is currently most associated with her Star Wars work for Dark Horse Comics.

Right now she is involved in creating issue #31 of Star Wars: Legacy, which is issue four of the Vector arc.

For those that are not aware of Jan's work, she has worked for Marvel Comics on Spider-Man, Wolverine, and X-Men. She has also worked on Batman for DC Comics.

Jan is married to artist Tom Mandrake and they have two children.

Jan also has her own web site JanDuursema.com that has an art gallery, photo gallery, and a message board.

Depending on her schedule Jan can be found at a comic con or two... however she will not be at the upcoming Mid-Ohio Con 2008.

BTW, we also have an ongoing Comic Con  and Pop Culture convention online here at Make It So Marketing, what with our daily blog posts and listings of items for sale!

Thanks for reading this blog post today and please join us again for more!

- Michael

Are YOU Ready For More:

Tales Of Supernatural Law?! 

Just In Time For Halloween 2008...

It's "The Soddyssey And Other Tales Of Supernatural Law" !

I missed seeing Batton Lash at the San Diego Comic Con International in July. There is just so much to see on the exhibit floor, (all 525,701 square feet of it!), and so many panels, autograph sessions, previews of upcoming TV Shows and Films, plus parties to attend!

For those of you that also missed seeing his booth, you have a special treat, just in time for Halloween!

Batton Lash, among other projects, wrote and drew "Wolff and Byrd, Counselors Of The Macabre" which ran for 23 issues under that name. The title was renamed "Supernatural Law" starting with issue #24.  Those of you who buy from us know that we can't keep these in stock!

Well.... good news for you fans of this series!  The issues #9 -16 which have been OOP, have been collected and will be ready for a Halloween Treat for you!

For those of you who haven't read this series in the past, there is also a Treat for YOU!

Seriously, you can see one issue collected in this Volume by clicking here! Just look for the literal 'page-turner' when you click on the "News & Updates" folder on the home page at the top right! The story is called "Triskaidekaphobia".

Now personally, I am "old school", which is that I still like to have my comic, trade paperback, or graphic novel in print format to hold and read... BUT for our blog readers to be able to read one entire issue as a 'try out' of the eight issues collected in this volume before buying is all right by me!

So if you haven't read this series before, or if you are missing an issue of this series, here is your chance to 'Treat' yourself to a good series and one that is OOP to boot!

Oh.... and yes, he is the SAME Batton Lash that wrote the Radioactive Man issues for Bongo Comics that  you (and I )have enjoyed a while back!

BTW, we also have an ongoing Comic Con  and Pop Culture convention here at Make It So Marketing, what with our daily blog posts and listings of items for sale!

Thanks for reading this blog post today and please join us again for more!

- Michael

Larry Lieber

 On The Gold & Silver Age Of Comics Panel 

 As Seen At The 2008 SDCC Comic Con International!

One of the best things about attending the San Diego Comic Con International each year is that I get to see and hear Comics Pros that usually are only seen at a few East Coast Conventions!

This special Golden & Silver Age Comics program was held on the first day of the 2008 San Diego Comic Con International.

It was held in Room 8, which is one of the smaller sized meeting rooms at the San Diego Convention Center. Attendance was heavy...

This blog post is centering on answers and stories that Larry Lieber told the audience after Mark Evanier questioned him...

What was the 1st professional work you were proud of? - The first one would be the Rawhide Kid, because "It was all mine. I was given a free hand". Larry went on to say that it was probably because the Marvel Superheroes were taking up all of the time of people like Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, etc.

Larry in another Q&A was asked to tell a story about his brother Stan Lee, (who changed his name from Stanley Lieber to Stan Lee).

Larry was given an assignment to write the Amazing Spider-Man Annual by Stan. He hadn't drawn Spidey before, knew that he couldn't draw like Steve Ditko with his different style, and that John Romita, the then current Spidey artist, drew very attractive women, due to his previous DC Romance works.

So Larry tried to imitate Romita's style. It was a laborious effort. He finally finished the job and realized his women in the story weren't as beautiful as Romita's. According to Stan's comments, his women actually looked closer to Ditko's in looks!

I appreciated seeing Larry Lieber again at a panel at this Comic Con. For those that don't know, Larry also scripted some of the earliest 'Mighty Thor' 'Ant-Man' and 'Iron Man' stories for Marvel, as well as even earlier sci-fi stories before the superheroes debut.

Larry was also Editor at the Atlas-Seaboard Comics Group from 1974-75. Which is a blog post for another time!

Larry Lieber was born October 26th, 1931 in NYC.  So this is also an early 'Happy Birthday' to Larry!  It was great to see and hear him once again at this Comic Con!

BTW, we also have an ongoing Comic Con  and Pop Culture convention here at Make It So Marketing, what with our daily blog posts and listings of items for sale!

Thanks for reading this blog post today and please join us again for more!

- Michael

It Is The Comics Blogosphere! 

 As Discussed At The 2008 SDCC Comic Con International!

This special program was held on the first day of the 2008 San Diego Comic Con International.

It was held in Room 32AB, which is one of the smaller medium sized meeting rooms at the San Diego Convention Center. Attendance was light...

However the hour from 6:00-7:00 PM went very fast for this panel, which was called "The Comics Blogosphere".

The panel was a presentation to have each of the panelists explain their part in the blog explosion, which has opened up a new frontier for comics criticism.

The panelists from left to right in the photos were:

The moderator Douglas Wolk (blogs: Reading Comics).

Tim Robins (blogs: Mindless Ones).

Laura Hudson (blogs: Myriad Issues).

Jeff Lester (blogs: The Savage Critic(s)).

David Brothers (blogs: 4thletter!). 

Douglas's main point during the program was that "Letter columns don't exist any more either!" (Regarding comic books dropping their letter pages in lieu of another ad or story page.)

Tony stated that 'fanzines are dead'.  Worst thing on internet for him is that "there is a lot of flaming going on".  He enjoys blogging, because his writing style is more essay-like. His big point was that he has been involved in Dr Who fandom for 20 years but never was asked to be on a panel until his blog on comics appeared!

Laura grew up online, got interested in comics, and blogging was a natural outgrowth for her as she is pretty opionated she said!

Jeff Lester was the webmaster for Brian Hibbs' online comic store. Brian was doing the blogging at first, but Jeff started posting a few blogs, and then ended up getting opionated, and wanted to get credit for his opinions!

David Brothers started off in fan fiction. The blogging format was a natural evolution for him.

When Laura mentioned she checked her stats on a regular basis that piqued my interest.

So I asked the panel at the Q & A session what their traffic was like. None of the 5 panelists really wanted to discuss their number of visitors, page views, etc.  It would appear from their answers that blogging still has a ways to go to hit  larger numbers of viewership! However these five panelists are just a few of the hundreds of comics fans that are blogging!

Thanks for reading this blog post today and please join us again for more!

- Michael

The Harvey Awards Will Be Presented...

At The 2008 Baltimore Comic Con

 On September 27th!