Monday, October 20, 2014

Batman Stamps


Yesterday I went to the post office and asked about a fruit and vegetable stamp design that I saw posted on the wall. The lady said she didn't have that one but she had just received the Batman stamps. Whoa! That's right in my bailiwick, ma'am!

The sheet of stamps features four different drawings. The top Batman is a recent Jim Lee figure, while the second row is a Neal Adams beauty from the 1970s that I've always liked. The third drawing by Dick Sprang (whom my son and I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of decades ago, as you can read in "Related Postscript Number Three" over here) is, to me, misidentified as "Silver Age Batman;" I would classify that figure instead as "Late Golden Age Batman" and reserve the Silver Age designation for a Carmine Infantino interpretation that is sadly not represented in this set. Rounding out the stamp collection is Bob Kane's "Early Golden Age Batman."

I very much like the inclusion of the Bat Signal stickers and it leads me to wonder whether this release marks the first time that a sheet of stamps includes non-postage stickers in this way. Anyway, hooray for Batman stamps!

(Be sure to go over here for an IMPORTANT UPDATE to this article!)


Saturday, October 11, 2014

Frank Miller in Wired


Would you have known the photo above was of Frank Miller if you weren't told it was him? I think I would not have.

I purchased the September 2014 issue of Wired because I wanted to read the cover story about Edward Snowden; it was an unexpected bonus to find an interview with Mr. Miller a few pages later. You can read the piece for yourself over here (and you'll notice the byline of Sean Howe, author of Marvel Comics: The Untold Story).


Tuesday, October 07, 2014

Jack Kirby and Ben Oda in a Police Line-Up


Does everybody except me already know this? Thanks to Alex Jay (designer of the logo to American Flagg!) on his blog for pointing out that the Marvin Stein 1953 cover to Justice Traps the Guilty #56 stars Jack Kirby on the far right and Ben Oda on the far left. Joe Simon and Mort Meskin are in there also, and I don't want to cross paths with any of these chaps in a dark alley!

Ben Oda, Joe Simon, Joe Genalo, Mort Meskin and Jack Kirby