Boom Tube Comics

 

Boom Tube Comics.

That is the name of a comic store in Connecticut.

Is it a good name or bad name for a comic book store?

I am of a mixed mind on this question. You would be hard-pressed to find a bigger fan of Jack Kirby's Fourth World than me (for example, Forever People #1 is my favorite single comic book of all time), but how does that Boom Tube Comics name ring for a passerby who doesn't get the reference?

To their credit, the front page of the BTC website has an explanatory paragraph explaining that a Boom Tube is a teleportation device.

Also to their credit, the BTC site credits Jim Shooter with saying 

"Boom Tube Comics...If you don’t know what it is, it's catchy.  If you do know what it is, then you’re in"

Okay, I've decided. I like the name Boom Tube Comics very much!

I also like that Jerry Ordway will be appearing there this weekend. 

Mr. Ordway is one of my favorite of all the latter-day comics artists. I have been enjoying his artwork for over forty years now!

For a couple of decades I've been toying with the idea of contacting the gentleman to see about commissioning him to ink a specific page I penciled back in the 80s, but I just haven't followed through for some reason. (I did correspond with Mr. Joe Rubinstein a long while back regarding the same commissioning, but I didn't pull that trigger since Mr. O was always my first choice.) Maybe one day!

Meanwhile, here is the information about this weekend's appearance... 

 

 

 

Robot Monster Comics in 3-D

 

I have always liked 3-D comics!

They first were published in the early 1950s and I was pleased when they enjoyed a resurgence in the 1980s.

Lately though, it's been crickets on the 3-D comic front.

Until recently!

2025 saw the release of an all-new 64-page hardcover book entitled Robot Monster Comics in 3-D! 

 

Most of the 3-D effects in the book are very well done and the contributing artists include Hilary Barta and Gary Fields and Mitch O'Connell!

 

 

This book was funded by a Kickstarter campaign and copies are difficult to find, but the hayfamzone lives to serve:

Here is a seller on ebay that has a brand-new copy for you! While his supply lasts!

 

Jack Kirby's Golden Age Sandman by David Williams

 

Artist David Williams has been laying low for a couple of decades, but I very much liked the comics he was drawing back in the 1990s. Just look at his great 1991 cover to The Jaguar #1 from Impact Comics (which, you'll recall, was the DC Comics imprint that published updated versions of the old MLJ superheroes).

And here is a nice drawing by Mr. Williams of the mid-Golden Age Sandman (who himself was an updated Joe Simon and Jack Kirby version of the gas-mask-wearing Sandman from the dawn of the Golden Age).

This is such nice artwork!

 

 

ALMOST The Original Spider-Man Logo

 

Spider-Man's first appearance! It was in 1962's Amazing Fantasy #15 and of course the story was written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko. Above is a look at the original artwork to that story's splash page.

Now let's zoom in on the logo at the top of that page. 

 

 

And let's peel back a portion of that photostatted logo.

 

 Whoa! 

That's what the Spider-Man logo was going to look like until everyone came to their (Spider-) senses! The gumption to try out an offbeat look should be saluted, but I would say that that first stab at a webby logo was a little on the hideous side.

 We dodged a bullet! 

 

 

 

Jack Kirby's Sandman Goes Lucha

 

I was a big fan of The Sandman #1 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby when it was released back in 1974!

 

These days I own the camera-ready photostat of the cover that was used in the printing process down in Sparta, Illinois, how about that! True!

 

And did you know that thirty years ago this iconic Kirby cover was the inspiration for a Sonambulo cover drawn by Javier Hernandez?  Also true!

 

 

 

Kirby! The Return of JackTober

 

October is here!

#JackTober, the month-long celebration of Jack "King" Kirby is back!

Artist Tom Scioli invites everyone to do their own Jack Kirby-related artwork all month long.

I'm planning on doing some drawing.

How about you? 

 

 

Who were Barry Jameson and Boris Zabok?

 

Barry Jameson? Boris Zabok? Who what?

Both names appear with comic book creator credits in 1970s comics.

DC's 1976 Karate Kid #2 lists Barry Jameson as the writer, but there is no such person!

Barry Jameson was a co-pseudonym of Paul Levitz and David Michelinie.

 

 

And the Robin story in 1979's Detective Comics #483 credits Boris Zabok as the colorist, but it was some kind of joke! 'Boris Zabok' is an anagram of Bob Rozakis and it is one of that gentleman's pseudonyms.

 

I wish there were more pseudonyms in modern-day comics so I wouldn't have to go digging 50 years in the past to find them for you!