Men of Steel

Given that much of this blog is devoted to comics, it would be incredibly remiss of me not to comment on the recent news that a Federal court has ruled that the heirs of Jerry Siegel are entitled to at least a partial share of U.S. copyright ownership in the iconic character, as reported in the New York Times.

Siegel co-created the character with Joe Shuster during the 1930s, and together they famously sold the character to what today is DC Comics for $130, before eventually becoming work-for-hire employees of the company. Their story is well told in Gerard Jones' terrific Men of Tomorrow, which I blogged about here.

I'm confident that the comics will continue to be published under the DC Comics banner. And no doubt the legal maneuverings will continue. Nevertheless, this is a moment of great significance—as well as vindication and redemption—in the history of the comics industry.

Superman is the bedrock on which DC Comics and the comics industry were built. However, the character also represents one of the industry's greatest shameful legacies, so there must be some measure of satisfaction that, for once, the "little guy" won.

For some cogent analysis on the intracies of the ruling and their complex ramifications, visit here, here, and here.

The Future is Now

My comic-book series, Rob Hanes Adventures, was created in the 1970s when I was a starry-eyed junior high school student/budding adventure strip cartoonist. One of the most important element of the series—Justice International, the agency Rob works for—was a basic part of the series at the very outset. Though I understood it was artistic license, I always was a bit concerned that the idea of a “worldwide detective agency” was a bit farfetched, particularly since my series had a strong “real-world” element to it.

As I have mentioned elsewhere, history has caught up to the series. Although noted private investigation and security firms like Kroll Associates and the Control Group were founded in the ‘70s (around the same time Justice International popped into my head), it’s not really until the 1990s that such companies have broadened their reach and become a more visible part of the landscape. The Iraq War has particularly brought the idea of security contractors (many of them simply private mercenaries) to the forefront.

What perhaps first brought such specialists to the forefront was several incidents in which contractors were killed in firefights in Iraq. More recently, a report in March/April 2008 issue of Foreign Policy magazine reports that 70% of the U.S.’s intelligence budgets for spying went to private contractors. Tellingly, the title of the article is “Spies for Hire.”

As I said, while I always viewed Justice International as a necessary piece of artistic license to make Rob a modern-day globetrotting private eye, it appears that I needn’t have been concerned about the credibility of such an agency!

Remembering Dezi

At the risk of alienating potentially half my reading public, I’m admitting that I’m a cat person.

Although I never grew up with pets, I became a convert when I initially moved in with my now-wife, who owned a cat named Dezi. Since I’d never lived with a pet in the house, I must admit I was a bit apprehensive at first and simply hoped to reach some level of mutually-tolerable acceptance. Instead, I not only got used to her, I truly came to appreciate her and consider her part of the family—and I’m pretty sure it was mutual. (I asked my wife once whether she would have had to make a choice if I didn’t getting along with Dezi—she said yes, and I suspect I would not have come out on top!)

Dezi left us two years ago this month due to natural causes—she was nearly 20 years old (7 is considered old for a feline!), so she lived a full life, as well as brought a lot of enrichment and joy to our home.

This is just a remembrance of her, and I’m glad our eldest child had an opportunity to spend some time with her before she left us. (A full tribute to Dezi, posted March 2006, can be found here.)

New pages posted from RHA #11!

I recently posted some new pages from the upcoming next issue of Rob Hanes Adventures (issue 11)— another action-packed yarn ripped from today's headlines! The release date will be announced shortly (likely at the San Diego Comic-Con).

To see the image at right and the other pages in full-size glory, click here or on the image at right. (The dialogue on some pages have been removed to avoid spoilers.)

In the story, Rob goes to China to help crack down on pirated and counterfeit goods and, as usual, gets more than he bargained for.

Look out for "Rob Hanes and the Pirates" in Rob Hanes Adventures #11, coming soon!

That Ol' Keely Magic

When I was a kid, my parents bought my brother and me a portable record player. I believe it was a Christmas gift, sometime in the late ‘60s. To make sure we had something to play on it when we opened this present, they also purchased a bunch of 45 records. For the most part, I’m sure they picked the records at random, but there were a treasure trove of classics that I imprinted on that probably explains my rather eclectic taste in music.

These included novelty songs like “Winchester Cathedral” and “Little Blue Man,” as well as singles by the Troggs, Doris Day, Andy Williams, and Petula Clark (“Downtown”).

Also included among these records was Louis Prima and Keely Smith’s “Old Black Magic.” Prima’s catalog has experienced a deserved resurgence in recent years, as has Smith, who is actively recording and performing again—her Swing, Swing, Swing CD (2000) is on my frequent playlist. Unlike some singers, her voice has remained virtually unchanged over time, as shown in her appearance in this year’s Grammy’s, where she reprised “Black Magic” with Kid Rock.

Smith has an incredibly pure, strong and sultry voice, and on-stage she projected a deadpan, could-care-less attitude though she frequently broke character—undoubtedly as a wink to the audience—in response to Prima’s antics.

So without further ado, here are two great clips of Keely (and Prima) in their prime—"Old Black Magic" and "All Night Long."

The Art of Roy Crane

I've just posted an article paying tribute to Roy Crane, one of my favorite cartoonists of all time,. Since I have a few other articles posted here about other cartoonists and the adventure strip, I thought I'd post it there for posterity.

Crane is the creator of Wash Tubbs and Buz Sawyer, and served as a bridge between the early "big foot" days of cartooning and the modern adventure strip which came into its own in the 1930s. He successfully blended a "cartoony" style with a strong black-and-white/semi-photorealistic rendering style (aided by his masterful use of Craftint paper as shown in the sample above). Though not as well remembered by some of his stylistic proteges and admirers, which include the likes of people like Alex Toth and Milton Caniff, many cartoonists recognize him as one of the greats, a true "artist's artist."

I Can Get Behind That

Let me say up front that I’m not a fan of Star Trek or Boston Legal (or, for that matter, T.J. Hooker). I make this disclosure to show I have no particular fanboy disposition for William Shatner. With this mind, one of my favorite albums of the past few years has been William Shatner’s “Has Been.” Produced by Ben Folds (whose extended "Whatever and Ever Amen" also is another favorite of mine), “Has Been” is a brilliant CD that’s by turn funny and moving. While it contains some of Shatner’s trademark “beat poetry” approach to song-writing and singing, it nevertheless blew me away and has become one of my all-time favorite CDs. In addition to Folds, Joe Jackson, Aimee Mann, Henry Rollins, Brad Paisley, and Adrian Belew lend their talents. Below is a live performance of the CD’s lead track, “Common People,” with Joe Jackson, from the Tonight Show.