I really liked this headline: Bill Castanier’s list of the best Michigan-related books of the past decade for the Lansing City Pulse includes one graphic novel, David Small’s Stitches.
Baby 1925 frightens me: Well, actually all of these Leyendecker New Year’s babies kinda frighten me, but I think 1925 is the scariest.
The sensational character find of 2009!: Two Kochalkas collaborate, create a new Batman character.
Is Bully insane?: After completing a full 365 days of Ben “The Thing” Grimm, comics blogger Bully had decided to devote 365 posts to another big Marvel lug in 2010. Yes, Bully must be insane…insane like a fox!
The mystery of the “Hulk mystery”: George Gene Gustines’ NYT blog write-up on their “graphic books” bestsellers list features a headline that mentions “Hulk Mystery Explained.” Which Hulk mystery is that, exactly? In the body of the post, Gustines mentions that the second printing of the Fall of the Hulks special that came out on Wednesday “helps solve the mystery of why there is a green Hulk and a red Hulk running around the Marvel Universe.” I guess “helps” is enough of a qualifier to cover the fact that there’s no big reveal about the identity of the Red Hulk in the book itself, but the headline sure makes it sound like it does, huh? Anyway, the post is worth a read to see how Gustines tries explaining Blackest Night to an audience of laypeople.
“Patricia Highsmith was a horrible person and Joan Schenkar’s new biography of her is an awful book, though at least one of these things could have been averted”: Damn, that’s a hell of a grabby lead, isn’t it? It’s from writer Jay Atkinson’s review of The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar. What’s Highsmith, the author of The Talented Mr. Ripley, got to do with us? Writes Atkinson, “Fresh out of Barnard, Highsmith worked in the burgeoning comic-book industry, coming up with ideas for ‘The Avenger’ and ‘Jap Buster Johnson,’ which were also being scripted by Stan Lee and Mickey Spillane, respectively.” Hmm. I’ve never heard of Jap Buster Johnson, but something tells me that’s one Golden Age character who won’t be making a comeback any time soon…
“The Prince of Stories”: I wonder if headlines like this make Neil Gamian feel weird.
