Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Review: SILVER SURFER #1

SILVER SURFER No. 1 (2016)
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER: Dan Slott
ART: Michael Allred
COLORS: Laura Allred
LETTERS: VC's Joe Sabino
COVER: Michael Allred and Laura Allred
VARIANT COVERS: Marco Rudy; Cliff Chiang
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (March 2016)

Rated T+

“Homecoming”

The Silver Surfer is a Marvel Comics superhero and space fantasy character.  He was created by Jack Kirby and first appeared in Fantastic Four #48 (cover dated:  March 1966).  The Silver Surfer is a humanoid with metallic skin (white or gray or white/gray swirl), and he travels space with the aid of his surfboard-like craft (or maybe, it's an actual surfboard).

The Silver Surfer was a young astronomer named Norrin Radd.  He saved his home world, Zenn-La, from Galactus, a being that devoured planets, by agreeing to serve as his herald.  Galactus imbued Radd with a tiny portion of his “Power Cosmic,” and he became the Silver Surfer.  Traveling faster than the speed of light, the Silver Surfer roamed the cosmos, searching for planets for Galactus to consume.  When Galactus prepared to devour Earth, the Surfer rebelled and saved the planet.  Galactus punished the Surfer and expelled him from his service.

With the arrival of the “All-New, All-Different Marvel,” Silver Surfer gets a new comic book series.  Silver Surfer 2016 is really just a continuation of the Silver Surfer title that debuted in 2014, as both have the same creative driving force.  That is writer Dan Slott and artist Michael Allred.  This creative team is assisted by Laura Allred on colors and Joe Sabino on letters.

Silver Surfer #1 (“Homecoming”) opens with an alien menace, The Hordax, transmitting a threat to the entire Earth.  They are coming to plunder our planet of its “greatest resource.”  Even President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are witness to this ominous declaration.

Meanwhile, Dawn Greenwood, who travels the space-ways with the Silver Surfer, is returning to Earth to visit her father and identical twin sister, Eve.  Silver Surfer gets to experience a Greenwood family mash-up celebration that combines a belated birthday party with three holidays.  When things turn weird, however, the Surfer finds himself battling aliens he thought he had already defeated.

When the 2016 Will Eisner Awards (for excellence in comics) were announced recently, I noticed that the previous Silver Surfer series had received several nominations.  So I decided to try an issue of the new series and luckily a local comic book shop still had copies of the first issue.

A long time ago, a writer in the venerable and late magazine of comics criticism and examination, The Comics Journal, wrote that the Silver Surfer was one of the few truly original comic book superheroes.  I agree.  How the hell did that character pop into Jack Kirby's mind?  If I remember correctly, in plotting the story that would introduce Galactus, Marvel Comics' legendary editor-writer-head honcho, Stan Lee, supposedly only told Kirby that Galactus had a herald, without specifying what the character should be.  When he received Kirby's art boards for the story, Lee was allegedly shocked to discover the Silver Surfer soaring across the pages that Kirby had drawn.  Such a unique character should be featured in unique stories.

I like Dan Slott's work as the writer of The Amazing Spider-Man, which I have only been reading for the last three years or so.  My admiration of Mike Allred is mixed.  I have liked some of his comics, especially X-Statix, but I have been ambivalent about the rest.  I like the off-beat vibe Slott and Allred give Silver Surfer.  That vibe is best exemplified by this duo's notion of what Earth's “greatest resource” is.

I am not sure that I would read Silver Surfer on a regular basis.  I need to read more to decide what I truly think of the series, and I plan to try a few more issues.  I like the pop comics and pop art comics sensibilities of the Slott-Allred Silver Surfer.  It may not be an original vision, but it certainly stands out in the current roster of Marvel titles.

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for November 21 2012

IMAGE COMICS

OCT100465 ART OF TODD MCFARLANE DEVILS IN THE DETAILS HC $64.99

OCT100466 ART OF TODD MCFARLANE DEVILS IN THE DETAILS HC S/N ED $99.99

SEP120390 CLONE #1 [DIG] $2.99

SEP120392 COMEBACK #1 (MR) $3.50

AUG120506 DARKNESS #108 (MR) [DIG] $2.99

SEP120500 GLORY #30 [DIG] $3.99

SEP120508 IT GIRL & THE ATOMICS #4 [DIG] $2.99

SEP120511 MIND THE GAP #6 CVR A ESQUEJO [DIG] $2.99

SEP120512 MIND THE GAP #6 CVR B OBACK $2.99

SEP120411 RETROVIRUS HC (MR) [DIG] $12.99

SEP120519 REVIVAL #5 [DIG] $2.99

MAY120504 SAVAGE DRAGON #183 [DIG] $3.50

SEP120416 SPAWN #225 OBAMA $2.99

SEP120417 SPAWN #225 ROMNEY $2.99

SEP120420 SPAWN ORIGINS DLX ED HC S/N VOL 03 $150.00

SEP120419 SPAWN ORIGINS DLX ED HC VOL 03 $100.00

SEP120449 WALKING DEAD TP VOL 17 SOMETHING TO FEAR (MR) [DIG] $14.99

SEP120442 WITCHBLADE REBIRTH TP VOL 02 [DIG] $16.99

IMAGE COMICS/MCFARLANE TOYS

AUG120544 DARK KNIGHT RISES ROGUES HINES WARD AF PI

AUG120545 HALO 4 SERIES 1 5-PK AF SET PI

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for October 17 2012

IDW PUBLISHING

AUG120408 30 DAYS OF NIGHT MOVIE SCRIPTBOOK TP (SALE ED) $4.99

AUG120407 30 DAYS OF NIGHT TP 30 DAYS TIL DEATH (SALE ED) $4.99

AUG120409 30 DAYS OF NIGHT TP VOL 04 BLOODSUCKERS TALES (SALE ED) $5.99

AUG120410 30 DAYS OF NIGHT TP VOL 05 THREE TALES (SALE ED) (MR) $4.99

AUG120411 30 DAYS OF NIGHT TP VOL 07 EBEN & STELLA (SALE ED) $4.99

AUG120412 30 DAYS OF NIGHT TP VOL 08 RED SNOW (SALE ED) $4.99

AUG120413 30 DAYS OF NIGHT TP VOL 09 BEYOND BARROW (SALE ED) $4.99

AUG120414 AMERICAN FREAKSHOW GN (SALE ED) $4.99

JUL120378 BARACK OBAMA COMIC BOOK BIOGRAPHY HC (SALE ED) $4.99

AUG120330 CAPE 1969 #4 [DIG/D+] $3.99

AUG120336 CLASSIC POPEYE ONGOING #3 [DIG/D+] $3.99

AUG120415 CLASSICS MUTILATED MMPB (SALE ED) $3.99

AUG120416 DARE NOVEL (SALE ED) $3.99

AUG120417 DOC MACABRE HC (SALE ED) $4.99

JUN120351 DUNGEONS & DRAGONS FORGOTTEN REALMS #4 [DIG/D+] $3.99

AUG120418 EVERYBODYS DEAD TP (SALE ED) $4.99

JUL120357 FISHTOWN HC (SALE ED) $9.99

AUG120419 FRANKENSTEIN MOBSTER TP (SALE ED) VOL 01 $4.99

AUG120420 FREAKS OF THE HEARTLAND SCRIPTBOOK SC (SALE ED) $4.99

AUG120351 GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO #183 [DIG/D+] $3.99

AUG120387 GODZILLA HALF CENTURY WAR #3 [DIG/D+] $3.99

AUG120421 GRAVESLINGER TP (SALE ED) VOL 01 $4.99

JUL120358 GRIMMS FAIRY TALES HC VOL 01 (SALE ED) $8.99

AUG120422 GROOM LAKE TP (SALE ED) $4.99

AUG120423 GRUMPY OLD MONSTERS GN (SALE ED) $4.99

AUG120424 NIGHT MARY TP (SALE ED) $4.99

AUG120347 SNAKE EYES & STORM SHADOW #18 [DIG/D+] $3.99

JUL120328 TRANSFORMERS IDW COLLECTION HC VOL 07 $49.99

AUG120361 TRANSFORMERS MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE TP VOL 02 $19.99

AUG120400 WOMANTHOLOGY SPACE #2 [DIG/D+] $3.99

AUG120425 YOURS TRULY JACK THE RIPPER TP VOL 01 (SALE ED) $4.99

AUG120394 ZAUCER OF ZILK #1 [DIG/D+] $3.99

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Comics, Magazines and Books from Diamond Distributors for October 10 2012

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

JUL121198 2000 AD #1800 $5.25

JUL121199 2000 AD #1801 $5.25

JUL121186 ACG COLL WORKS ADV INTO UNKNOWN HC VOL 02 $47.99

JUL121187 ACG COLL WORKS OUT OF THE NIGHT HC $47.99

AUG120935 ADVENTURE TIME MARCELINE SCREAM QUEENS #4 MAIN CVRS [DIG] $3.99

MAY128154 ALIEN ILLUSTRATED STORY FACSIMILE ED TP $14.95

AUG120757 ANIMAL CRACKERS A GENE LUEN YANG COLLECTION TP $14.95

JUN121307 ANTI #2 $3.99

AUG121338 ARCHER & ARMSTRONG (NEW) #3 CHAR DESIGN CVR $3.99

AUG121337 ARCHER & ARMSTRONG (NEW) #3 LOZZI CVR $3.99

JUL121126 ARISA GN VOL 09 $10.99

JUL121268 BAKUMAN TP VOL 15 $9.99

JUN121131 BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA HC (MR) $22.99

JUL121226 BEETLE BAILEY HC DAILIES & SUNDAYS 1966 $19.95

AUG121178 BEST AMERICAN COMICS HC 2012 (MR) $25.00

JUL121120 BIGFOOT BOY GN VOL 01 INTO THE WOODS $9.95

JUL121266 BLEACH TP VOL 48 $9.99

JUL121267 BLEACH TP VOL 49 $9.99

AUG120753 BLOOD FOR STONE GN $9.99

AUG121340 BLOODSHOT (ONGOING) #4 CHAR DESIGN CVR $3.99

AUG121339 BLOODSHOT (ONGOING) #4 LOZZI CVR $3.99

AUG121211 BRISTOL BOARD JUNGLE GN (MR) $11.95

MAY121193 CAGE OF EDEN GN VOL 07 $10.99

JUL121276 CASE CLOSED GN VOL 44 $9.99

JUL121170 CHRIS WARE BUILDING STORIES HC $50.00

JUL121193 CITY OF EMBER HC $18.99

JUL121192 CITY OF EMBER SC $9.99

JUL120840 COMBAT JACKS #1 (MR) $3.99

AUG120848 CROSSED BADLANDS #15 (MR) $3.99

AUG120851 CROSSED BADLANDS #15 RED CROSSED CVR (MR) $6.60

AUG120849 CROSSED BADLANDS #15 TORTURE CVR (MR) $3.99

AUG120850 CROSSED BADLANDS #15 WRAP CVR (MR) $3.99

AUG120847 CROSSED HC SGN ED VOL 04 BADLANDS (MR) $49.99

AUG120846 CROSSED HC VOL 04 BADLANDS (MR) $32.99

AUG120845 CROSSED TP VOL 04 BADLANDS (MR) $24.99

AUG120969 CROSSSTAR #3 $3.99

AUG121019 DAMSELS #2 $3.99

AUG120866 DAN THE UNHARMABLE #6 (MR) $3.99

AUG120867 DAN THE UNHARMABLE #6 WRAP CVR (MR) $3.99

JUL120721 DARK REVELATION #2 $3.99

MAR121005 DARK SHADOWS #8 $3.99

AUG121013 DARK SHADOWS VAMPIRELLA #3 $3.99

JUL121279 DAWN OF THE ARCANA TP VOL 06 $9.99

JUL121280 DEVIL & HER LOVE SONG GN VOL 05 $9.99

MAR121033 DF DEJAH THORIS #15 RISQUE RED CVR $14.99

AUG120876 DICKS COLOR ED #9 (MR) $3.99

AUG120877 DICKS COLOR ED #9 OFFENSIVE CVR (MR) $3.99

JUN121179 DIVINE WIND GN $8.99

JUL121295 DROPS OF GOD GN VOL 05 $14.95

MAY121285 EPIC CHRONICLES HAGAR THE HORRIBLE HC 1977-78 $19.95

AUG120971 EVIL ERNIE #1 $3.99

AUG120819 EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT ASSASSINS #4 CVR A OUM $3.99

AUG120820 EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT ASSASSINS #4 CVR B CAFARO $3.99

MAY120881 EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT HIT LIST AGENDA TP $19.99

MAY120880 EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT IRIS TP VOL 02 $14.99

JUN121183 FAIRY TAIL GN KODANSHA ED VOL 09 $10.99

JUL121130 FAIRY TAIL GN VOL 21 $10.99

AUG120908 FANBOYS VS ZOMBIES #7 MAIN CVRS [DIG] $3.99

AUG121217 GERONIMO STILTON HC VOL 11 WELL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS $9.99

JUL121132 GHOST IN THE SHELL GN VOL 1.5 (MR) $17.99

JUL121091 GI JOE VS COBRA SPECIAL #5 OPERATION BEAR TRAP $4.95

JUL120723 GOLD DIGGER HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2012 $3.99

MAY121275 GRAPHIC CANON TP VOL 02 $34.95

JUL121322 GRIMM UNIVERSE #1 NEPTUNE ANGEL A CVR CAFARO (MR) $3.99

JUL121323 GRIMM UNIVERSE #1 NEPTUNE ANGEL B CVR QUALANO (MR) $3.99

JUL121296 GTO 14 DAYS IN SHONAN GN VOL 05 $10.95

JUL121018 HOBBIT TP NEW PTG $20.00

JUN121197 HONEY WEST #7 $3.99

JUL120706 HORROR I/T WEST GN (MR) $9.99

AUG121325 HOT DONUT SALAD GN (MR) $17.95

JUL121214 JACK THE RIPPER HELL BLADE GN VOL 02 (MR) $11.99

JUN121081 JIM BUTCHER DRESDEN FILES FOOL MOON #8 (RES) $3.99

JUL121273 JIU JIU GN VOL 02 $9.99

JUL121116 KANE CHRONICLES GN BOOK 01 RED PYRAMID $12.99

JUL121117 KANE CHRONICLES HC BOOK 01 RED PYRAMID $21.99

JUL121277 KEKKAISHI GN VOL 34 $9.99

JUL120765 KEVIN KELLER #5 REG CVR [DIG/D+] $2.99

AUG120955 LADY DEATH (ONGOING) #22 (MR) $3.99

AUG120957 LADY DEATH (ONGOING) #22 SULTRY CVR (MR) $3.99

AUG120956 LADY DEATH (ONGOING) #22 WRAP CVR (MR) $3.99

JUL120692 LEXIAN CHRONICLES OMNIBUS GN (MR) $39.99

JUL120714 LIO TP VOL 01 THERES A MONSTER IN MY SOCKS $9.99

JUL121293 LITTLE MISS DAREDEVIL INCREDIBLE RACE GN $6.99

JUL120693 LONG GONE GN (MR) $15.99

JUL121271 LOVELESS 2-IN-1 ED TP VOL 01 $14.99

JUL121092 LYDIA VS ZOMBIES #1 $2.95

JUL120769 MEGA MAN #18 REG CVR [DIG/D+] $2.99

JUL120703 MEN OF MYSTERY #87 $29.95

AUG121219 MONSTER CHRISTMAS HC $9.99

AUG121218 MONSTER TURKEY HC $9.99

AUG121083 MOOMIN COMPLETE LARS JANSSON COMIC STRIP HC VOL 07 $19.95

AUG121082 MOOMIN TURNS JUNGLE TP $9.95

AUG121081 MOOMIN WINTER FOLLIES TP $9.95

JUL120779 NEW CRUSADERS RISE OF THE HEROES #2 BATES REG CVR [DIG/D+] $2.99

JUL121025 NEW YORK DRAWINGS ADRIAN TOMINE HC $29.95

JUL121269 NURA RISE O/T YOKAI CLAN GN VOL 11 $9.99

JUL120705 ORDER OF DAGONET #1 $4.99

JUL121298 PARADISE KISS TP VERTICAL INC ED VOL 01 $19.95

AUG121080 PIPPI LONGSTOCKING HC VOL 01 PIPPI MOVES IN $14.95

JUL120894 PLANET OF THE APES TP VOL 03 $14.99

JUL121291 POKEMON ADVENTURES PLATINUM GN VOL 06 $7.99

JUL121290 REDAKAI GN VOL 01 $7.99

JUL120903 ROGER LANGRIDGES SNARKED TP VOL 02 $14.99

JAN121108 ROY CRANE BUZ SAWYER HC VOL 02 SULTRYS TIGER $35.00

JUL121281 SKIP BEAT TP VOL 29 $9.99

JUL121274 SLAM DUNK GN VOL 24 $9.99

JUL120772 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG COMPLETE COMIC ENCYCLOPEDIA TP $16.99

JUL121113 SPARROW AND CROWE #2 $3.99

AUG120899 SPONGEBOB COMICS #13 $2.99

JUL120733 STEAMPUNK HALLOWEEN 2012 #1 $3.50

JUL121282 STEPPING ON ROSES GN VOL 08 $9.99

JUL121283 STORY OF SAIUNKOKU GN VOL 08 $9.99

JUL121224 STUFF OF LEGEND TOY COLLECTOR #1 $3.99

AUG121233 STUMPTOWN V2 #2 $3.99

JUL121121 THAT ONE SPOOKY NIGHT GN $8.95

JUL121275 TORIKO GN VOL 12 $9.99

JUL121093 TRANSFORMERS TIMELINES #7 INVASION $4.95

JUL121168 TRANSPOSES GN (MR) $19.99

JUL121232 TRIP TO THE BOTTOM O/T WORLD HC $12.95

AUG121290 UNDERSTANDING MONSTER GN $21.95

MAGAZINES
AUG121470 COMIC SHOP NEWS #1321 PI

JUN121413 COMICS BUYERS GUIDE #1695 NOV 2012 $5.99

JUL121394 DIABOLIQUE #12 $9.98

JUL121341 ILLUSTRATORS MAGAZINE #1 $24.99

MAY121472 NEWTYPE AUG 2012 $16.00

AUG121504 SCARY MONSTERS MAGAZINE #84 $8.95

JUN121471 SFX #226 $10.99

AUG121306 STAR WARS CLONE WARS MAGAZINE #13 $4.99

AUG121307 STAR WARS CLONE WARS MAGAZINE #14 $4.99

BOOKS
JUN121460 ART & MAKING OF HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA HC $34.95

JUL121334 ART OF DENIS MCLOUGHLIN LTD ED HC $79.99

AUG121519 ART OF RISE OF THE GUARDIANS HC $40.00

JUL121335 AWFUL HOMESICK ART OF ALEX PARDEE HC $19.95

AUG121203 BLAB WORLD HC VOL 02 $24.95

JUL121413 BOND ON BOND REFLECTIONS ON 50 YEARS OF JAMES BOND MOVIE $29.95

JUL121414 BOND ON SET FILMING SKYFALL HC $40.00

AUG121510 BRAIN EATERS BIBLE HC $16.99

AUG121508 DIGITAL PAINTING TECHNIQUES SC VOL 04 $49.99

JUL121372 DISNEY SKETCHBOOK HC $50.00

JUL121338 HANNES BOK LIFE IN ILLUSTRATION SC $150.00

JUL121340 HEROES & HEROINES JAPANESE VG & ANIMATION ILLUST $29.95

JUL121421 INSIDE HBOS GAME OF THRONES HC $40.00

AUG121515 MANGA MOODS TOO HC $9.99

JUL121368 MARVEL COMICS THE UNTOLD STORY HC $26.99

JUL120895 MATTIAS UNFILTERED TP ART SKETCHBOOK ADOLFSSON $16.99

APR121097 NAKED CARTOONISTS SC (MR) $22.99

JUL121405 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ANGRY BIRDS GN $13.95

AUG121534 PLAYBOYS GREATEST COVERS HC (MR) $35.00

JUN121129 RAVEN SC $19.99

AUG121502 REEL TERROR 100 YEAR HISTORY OF CLASSIC HORROR FILMS SC $18.99

JUN128172 ROOKIE YEARBOOK ONE SC $29.95

JUL121369 SPIDER MAN CHRONICLE CELEBRATING 50 YEARS WEB SLINGING HC $50.00

JUN121202 SPIDER SHADOW OF EVIL SC (RES) $6.99

JUL121434 STAR WARS ART ILLUSTRATION LTD ED HC $400.00

JUL121435 STAR WARS ESSENTIAL READERS COMPANION TP $29.95

AUG121512 SURVIVING THE ZOMBIE OUTBREAK SC $14.95

JUL121399 TALES FROM LOVECRAFT MIDDLE SCHOOL #1 PROFESSOR GARGOYLE $13.99

JUL121388 TOLKIENS WORLD GT PEOPLES & PLACES OF MIDDLE EARTH HC $24.99

Friday, September 14, 2012

Review: Steven Heller's COMICS SKETCHBOOKS

COMICS SKETCHBOOKS: The Private Worlds of Today’s Most Creative Talents
THAMES & HUDSON, INC. – @thamesandhudson

AUTHOR: Steven Heller
DESIGNER: Ashley Olsson
ISBN: 978-0-500-28994-5; paperback
352pp, Color and Black and White; $44.95 U.S., $47.50 CAN

Steven Heller is co-chair of the MFA/Designer as Author + Entrepreneur program at New York’s School of Visual Arts. He is the author, editor, and co-editor of over one hundred books on design and popular culture. His works include Handwritten: Expressive Lettering in the Digital Age (with Mirko Ilic) and New Modernist Type (with Gail Anderson).

His latest book is Comics Sketchbooks: The Private Worlds of Today’s Most Creative Talents. A massive book (365 pages, 8.65 x 11.5), Comics Sketchbooks contains sketches, doodles, drawings, roughs, thumbnails, and even comics from some of the world’s most cutting edge and innovative artists and also some emerging talents. Over 80 artists open up their private sketchbooks and notebooks, from which Heller culled the hundreds drawings and samples that fill this fat (and phat) book. Even some artists who do not keep sketchbooks provided roughs and studies for this book.

Readers get a chance to see the thinking and planning and the experimentation, practice, and play behind the work and style of such artists as Charles Burns, Lilli Carré, Drew Friedman, David Mazzucchelli, Gary Panter, and Carol Tyler, to name a few. Readers can see into the sketchbooks of such legends as R. Crumb, Bill Griffith, Victor Moscoso, Bill Plympton, and Arnold Roth. Not every artist in this collection is specifically a comics artists, but according to Heller (in his introduction), all of them make comics as either their primary occupation or as part of their larger body of work.

Admirers, fans, and students of alternative comics and cartoonists will like Comics Sketchbooks. Still, some, like myself, may find this book missing things they wanted, which is a bit ungrateful. Why do I want more?

Obviously, Heller could not get every drawing that he wanted included in this book, for various reasons. One of the reasons is that some artists are self-conscious about opening their sketchbooks. Another reason is that some artists only actively sketch to prepare for upcoming projects, and may, in fact, discard such preliminary drawings and preparatory material once projects are completed.

So, the two pages of David Mazzucchelli just don’t seem like enough, although the sample of his typographical skills almost makes up for that. There are four pages of R. Crumb, but since Crumb has been publishing his sketchbooks and sketchbook material for four decades, the illustrations here won’t seem like anything new.

My minor quibbles aside, there is some spectacular material in Comics Sketchbooks from some major talents, known and little known. The six pages of sketches by Carol Tyler are a doorway into the wonderland that is the talent of this unheralded artist. The offerings from political cartoonist, Ann Telnaes, include several superb sketches of President Barack Obama caricatures. There is no way to prepare for the six pages of Joseph Lambert, which are crammed with drawings. I couldn’t help but return to his section several times.

It would be impractical for me to try to describe all the drawings in this book, all of it good, some of it even stunning, and even a few pieces that are (dare I say it) great. I will tempt some of you by saying that there are a few sketches in here that were proposals for covers for the magazine, The New Yorker, including one by the always fabulous Drew Friedman. This is a good book. Comics Sketchbooks: The Private Worlds of Today’s Most Creative Talents should be on comics fans’ wish lists. Steven Heller deserves some awards recognition, and certainly, at least, an Eisner nomination next year.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

www.thamesandhudsonusa.com

The artist and cartoonists included in Comics Sketchbooks: The Private Worlds of Today’s Most Creative Talents:

Sotos Anagnos, Chris Battle, Lou Beach, Kaye Blegvad, Peter Blegvad, Russ Braun, Steve Brodner, Charles Burns, Chris Capuozzo, Lilli Carré, Seymour Chwast, Colonel Moutarde, R. Crumb, John Cuneo, Vanessa Davis, Kim Deitch, Julie Delporte, Eric Drooker, Drew Friedman, Manuel Gomez Burns, Bill Griffith, Robert Grossman, Benoit Guillaume, Cyril Guru, David Heatley, Rian Hughes, Kevin Huizenga, Nathan Jurevicius, Ben Katchor, Denis Kitchen, Jakob Klemencic, Thomas Knowler, Matej Kocjan, Nora Krug, Olivier Kugler, Peter Kuper, Joseph Lambert, Brendan Leach, Etienne Lecroart, Matthias Lehmann, Martin Lemelman, David Libens, Sebastien Lumineau, Patrick McHale, Matt Madden, Javier Mariscal, David Mazzucchelli, Rutu Modan, Saxton Moore, Victor Moscoso, Joanna Neborsky, Josh Neufeld, Mark Newgarden, Vladan Nikolic, Gary Panter, Bill Plympton, Max De Radigues, Laren Redniss, Arnold Roth, Marcel Ruijters, Johnny Ryan, David Sandlin, Seth, Peter De Seve, Robert Sikoryak, Posy Simmonds, Mark Alan Stamaty, Jim Steranko, James Sturm, Joost Swarte, Takeshi Tadatsu, Ann Telnaes, Simon Tofield, Jeremy Traum, Carol Tyler, Andres Vera Martinez, Lauren Weinstein, Tracy White, Signe Wilkinson, Run Wrake, Derek Yaniger, and Danijel Zezelj



Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Carl Gibson's Open Letter to Democrats

Get Left or Be Left
By Carl Gibson, Reader Supported News

09 June 12

Reader Supported News Perspective

An open letter to Democratic Party leaders.

Dear Democratic Party leaders,

Your lackluster 2012 recall performance in Wisconsin reminded me of another lackluster performance I saw in Mississippi in 2010.

At a local bar's karaoke night in downtown Jackson, a dopey-looking middle-aged man in a jet-black toupee sang "Gimme All Your Lovin" by ZZ Top, drunkenly and off-key, to a group of young women at a nearby table. He was really getting into it until he stumbled off of the stage, knocked over their drinks, and spilled beer all over himself. The music stopped, and the women started laughing at him instead of with him. He sat by himself in the back of the room for the rest of the night. That was the second most painful thing I've ever watched.

The most painful thing I ever watched was when Tom Barrett got his ass handed to him by a proto-fascist governor who ran on punishing working families to reward his wealthy campaign donors with the salaries of public servants. This happened despite massive populist protests in Madison, an army of volunteers getting 1,000,000 recall signatures in the dead of winter and tirelessly knocking on over 1,000,000 doors leading up to the election, and his opponent's brand being associated with corruption. Despite what should have been a slam-dunk at a time when the far right is losing the battle of public opinion, Barrett's recall attempt fell flat on its face.

The Dems lost to Walker but took back the Senate, so I don't blame the unions or the volunteers. I don't even fully blame Wisconsin's shameless corporate-owned media, Super PACs, Citizens United, or Scott Walker's campaign war chest. Rather, Democratic Party leaders simply ignored and dismissed the powerful economic populist narrative that united the world around the Wisconsin State Capitol and Wall Street Occupations of 2011, and proved how out of touch they are with the 99 percent.

President Obama and DNC leadership treated the Wisconsin recall like a statewide race that didn't have national significance and put it on the backburner while the president campaigned for himself in neighboring states. But the RNC and their fascist wing, the Tea Party, outsmarted you in Wisconsin, so their multi-state class war will continue unabated, and perhaps even exacerbated. You'll continue to get pounded until you nominate and fundraise for candidates that are as far to the left as Scott Walker is to the right. I'm talking the kind of candidates who make stump speeches in the same vein of anti-robber-baron populism as FDR in 1934, or Martin Luther King in 1968.

Even British media smelled the stink of your failure in Wisconsin, calling out Clinton and Barrett for their milquetoast, plain-vanilla pitch to crucial voters at a crucial campaign stop. When your opponents actively seek to crush working families and the institutions that protect them, you don't energize those workers by telling them you'll work hand-in-hand with their oppressors. Wisconsin voters didn't force a recall to seek consensus with Republicans. They forced a recall to make a statement against a corrupt Republican regime that cares more about punishing its political enemies than serving the public interest.

Even though Blue Dog Democrat Tom Barrett lost handily to Scott Walker in 2010, establishment leaders still tapped him as the nominee for the recall election. Answer this: Why would the same guy, saying the same things, somehow have a different result against the same opponent he already lost to not even two years beforehand? Would it have killed you to nominate a woman, a person of color, someone younger than sixty, or at the very least, someone who doesn't wear the same color tie as his opponent? Why did you have to pick a boring white male career politician to challenge another boring white male career politician in a historic recall attempt?

Scott Walker made a mockery of the Badger State by ruling as the manager of the Midwest subsidiary for Koch Industries instead of serving as the Governor of Wisconsin. He proudly replaced union workers with prison labor, and oversaw the loss of over 30,000 jobs while middle class wages decreased and corporate profits have never been higher. Democrats chose instead to play defense to Walker's lies.

Even though corporate tax collections in Wisconsin are lower than the national average, Democratic Party leaders never forced the conversation about all the millions of dollars wasted on corporate tax breaks and subsidies that only exacerbated the jobs crisis in Wisconsin, growing wealth inequality, or the troublesome Orwellian police state Wisconsin Republicans gleefully brought about by arresting silent protesters in the Assembly gallery. In a state as polarized as Wisconsin, that type of rhetoric is exactly what was needed to motivate and energize the base. President Obama polled better than Barrett in Wisconsin: if he made good on his promise to put on his walking shoes and march like he said he would when collective bargaining was under attack, or if he used his presidential bully pulpit to oppose Walker's class war, if he did anything more than tweet for Barrett on election day, it may have made the difference.

People like those who run the DNC are the same reason my generation hates Democrats just as much as we hate Republicans, and why we're so turned off by the electoral process. You want votes from young, energetic 21st-century citizens? Stop running old and tired 20th-century candidates and 20th-century messaging. Leave the leadership up to the young leaders who haven't forgotten how to organize for meaningful change.

In the meantime, labor leaders should defy the outdated Taft-Hartley law and call for a nationwide general strike in the wake of the Democrats' recall flop. If the 1 percent is determined to wage class war, let's fight back. It's time to lead the Democrats where we want to go, instead of waiting for them to lead us.

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Carl Gibson, 25, is co-founder of US Uncut, a nationwide creative direct-action movement that mobilized tens of thousands of activists against corporate tax avoidance and budget cuts in the months leading up to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Carl and other US Uncut activists are featured in the documentary "We're Not Broke," which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. He currently lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut. You can contact Carl at carl@rsnorg.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and listen to his online radio talk show, Swag The Dog, at blogtalkradio.com/swag-the-dog.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

43rd NAACP Image Awards Nominations: Literature Categories

The NAACP Image Award an award bestowed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The award honors outstanding achievements by people of color in film, television, music, and literature. The awards are voted on by members of the NAACP.

The 43rd NAACP Image Awards winners will be announced in a ceremony, February 17, 2012 and broadcast live on NBC.

LITERATURE CATEGORIES

Outstanding Literary Work - Fiction
• "A Silken Thread" - Brenda Jackson (Harlequin Kimani Press)
• "Boundaries" - Elizabeth Nunez (Akashic Books)
• "Say Amen, Again" - Reshonda Tate Billingsley (Gallery Books)
• "Silver Sparrow" - Tayari Jones (Algonquin Books)
• "The Plot Against Hip Hop: A Novel" - Nelson George (Akashic Books)

Outstanding Literary Work - Non-Fiction
• "Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America" - Melissa Harris-Perry (Yale University Press)
• "Super Rich" - Russell Simmons (Gotham Books)
• "The Cosmopolitan Canopy" - Elijah Anderson (W. W. Norton & Company)
• "The Wealth Cure: Putting Money in Its Place" - Hill Harper (Gotham Books)
• "Who's Afraid of Post- Blackness?: What It Means to Be Black Now" - Toure (Free Press)

Outstanding Literary Work - Debut Author
• "2Grieve 2Gether: A Journal from the Heart Helping Survivors & Supporters Navigate the Healing Process" - Denise Hall Brown (2Lift 1Up Publishing)
• "A Defining Moment" - Patricia Duncan (IJABA Publishing Inc.)
• "The Loom" - Shella Gillus (Guideposts Books)
• "The Strawberry Letter" - Lyah Le Flore (Ballantine/Random House)
• "We the Animals" - Justin Torres (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Outstanding Literary Work - Biography/Auto-Biography
• "A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother" - Janny Scott (Riverhead Books)
• "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention" - Manning Marable (Penguin Group (USA)-Viking)
• "My Song" - Harry Belafonte (Knopf)
• "No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington" - Condoleezza Rice (Crown Publishers)
• "The John Carlos Story" - John Carlos, Dave Zirin (Haymarket Books)

Outstanding Literary Work - Instructional
• "A Year to Wellness and Other Weight Loss Secrets" - Bertice Berry (Freeman House Publishing)
• "Living My Dream: An Artistic Approach to Marketing" - Synthia Saint James (Create Space)
• "Our Difficult Sunlight: A Guide to Poetry, Literacy, & Social Justice in Classroom & Community" - Quraysh Ali Lansana (Teachers & Writers Collaborative)
• "The T.D. Jakes Relationship Bible: Life Lessons on Relationships from the Inspired Word of God " - T.D. Jakes (Atria Books)
• "Too Important to Fail: Saving America's Boys" - Tavis Smiley (Author), Juan Roberts, (Illustrator) (SmileyBooks)

Outstanding Literary Work - Poetry
• "Afro Clouds & Nappy Rain: The Curtis Brown Poems" - James Golden (iUniverse)
• "Head Off & Split" - Nikky Finney (TriQuarterly Books / Northwestern University Press)
• "Honoring Genius: The Narrative of Craft, Art, Kindness and Justice" - Haki Madhubuti (Third World Press)
• "Intimate Thoughts" - Darrin Henson (Author), Anna Saunders (Illustrator) (Godzchild Publishing)
• "Last Seen" - Jacqueline Jones Lamon (University of Wisconsin Press)

Outstanding Literary Work - Children
• "Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band" - Kwame Alexander (Author), Tim Bowers (Illustrator) (Sleeping Bear Press)
• "Before There Was Mozart" - Lesa Cline-Ransome (Author), James Ransome (Illustrator) (Schwartz & Wade Books / Random House Children's Books)
• "Heart and Soul" - Kadir Nelson (Author/Illustrator) (Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books)
• "White Water" - Michael S. Bandy (Author), Shadra Strickland (Illustrator) (Candlewick Press)
• "You Can Be A Friend" - Tony Dungy (Author), Ron Mazellan (Illustrator) (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing - Little Simon)

Outstanding Literary Work - Youth/Teens
• "Camo Girl" - Kekla Magoon (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing - Aladdin)
• "Eliza's Freedom Road: An Underground Railroad Diary" - Jerdine Nolan (Author), Sadra Strickland (Illustrator) (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing - Paula Wiseman Books)
• "Jesse Owens: "I Always Loved Running"" - Jeff Burlingame (Enslow Publishers, Inc.)
• "Kick" - Walter Dean (HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books)
• "Planet Middle School" - Nikki Grimes (Bloomsbury Children's Books)

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Comics and Magazines from Diamond Distrubutors for October 19 2011

COMICS

JUL111289 AFTERSCHOOL CHARISMA TP VOL 04 $12.99

JUL110882 ALAN MOORE NEONOMICON HC (MR) $27.99

JUL110881 ALAN MOORE NEONOMICON TP (MR) $19.99

AUG110794 AMNESIA TP (O/A) $14.95

AUG110816 ARCHIE OBAMA & PALIN IN RIVERDALE TP $12.95

AUG110947 AROUND THE WORLD HC $24.99

JUL111216 ATOMIC ROBO GHOST OF STATION X #2 (OF 6) $3.50

AUG110819 BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #195 $3.99

JUL111248 BLACK RIVER ONE SHOT (MR) $2.99

AUG111183 BONNIE LASS #2 (OF 4) $2.95

JUN111163 BOOK SMART GN $8.99

AUG110998 BOYS BUTCHER BAKER CANDLESTICKMAKER #4 (MR) $3.99

JUL111129 BRIMSTONE A/T BORDERHOUNDS CONTEST ONE SHOT $5.00

JUN111187 BUBBLES & GONDOLA HC $16.99

JUN110933 CALLING CTHULHU CHRONICLES TP (O/A) $14.99

AUG110805 CRITICAL MILLENNIUM HC VOL 01 DARK FRONTIER (RES) (MR) $24.95

AUG110851 CROSSED WISH YOU WERE HERE ASHCAN SET (MR) $5.99

AUG110894 CTHULHU TALES OMNIBUS MADNESS TP $19.99

AUG111184 DAMAGED #3 (OF 6) (MR) $3.50

AUG110925 DARKWING DUCK #17 $3.99

JUN110967 DARKWING DUCK TP VOL 02 CRISIS ON INFINITE DARKWINGS (O/A) ( $14.99

JUL111244 DEAR CREATURE GN $15.99

JUL111075 DF BIONIC MAN #2 ROSS VIRGIN EXC CVR $14.99

JUL111069 DF GAME OF THRONES #1 ROSS B&W EXC CVR $14.99

JUL111186 DISNEY FAIRIES BOX SET VOL 1-4 $29.99

JUL110808 DIVINE INTERVENTION GN $14.95

AUG111193 DPD DOKTORMENTOR JAIL BABE SURGEON COLL SET (MR) $29.95

AUG110928 DUCKTALES RIGHTFUL OWNERS TP $14.99

AUG110902 FARSCAPE #24 $3.99

JUN110831 FEEDING GROUND EN ESPANOL HC (MR) $24.95

JUL110888 FREAKANGELS HC VOL 06 (MR) $27.99

JUL110889 FREAKANGELS HC VOL 06 ELLIS & DUFFIELD SGN ED (MR) $39.99

JUL110887 FREAKANGELS TP VOL 06 (MR) $19.99

JUL111206 GANDHI MANGA BIOGRAPHY GN $15.00

AUG111144 GARFIELD & CO HC VOL 04 CAROLING CAPERS $7.99

AUG111102 GON GN KODANSHA ED VOL 02 $10.99

AUG111080 GOOD NEIGHBORS GN VOL 03 KIND $12.99

AUG110742 INDIE COMICS MAGAZINE #3 (MR) $6.49

AUG110980 KEVIN SMITH BIONIC MAN #3 $3.99

AUG110892 KEY OF Z #1 (OF 4) (MR) $3.99

JUL111291 KINGYO USED BOOKS TP VOL 04 $12.99

JUN110806 KUNG FU PANDA #3 (OF 4) $3.95

AUG110821 LIFE WITH ARCHIE #14 $3.99

AUG110797 LIL HELLIONS GN $14.95

JUN111161 MEOW HC VOL 01 $21.00

JUL111130 METABARONS ULTIMATE COLL SLIP CASE (MR) $129.95

JUL110794 MUTTS OUR LITTLE KAT KING MUTTS TREASURY SC $18.99

AUG110755 NOVO GN VOL 04 WASTE $9.99

AUG111068 NURSERY RHYME COMICS 50 TIMELESS RHYMES HC $18.99

JUL110810 OLD SCHOOL GN (MR) $14.95

AUG111069 ORCS GN VOL 01 FORGED FOR WAR $17.99

JUL110989 PHINEAS & FERB EARLY COMIC READER #6 BEAK STRIKES $4.99

JAN110931 POCKET GOD DIGEST GN VOL 01 $9.95

JUN111046 QUEEN SONJA #22 $3.99

NOV100747 SCOURGE #5 COVER A BATTLE $2.99

NOV100748 SCOURGE #5 COVER B GARZA $2.99

AUG110883 SERGIO ARAGONES FUNNIES #4 $3.50

JUN111162 SHE ONLY LIKED ME FOR MY BRAINS ONE SHOT GN $16.00

AUG110979 SHERLOCK HOLMES YEAR ONE TP $19.99

AUG110885 SIMPSONS COMICS #183 $2.99

AUG110932 SPACE WARPED #4 (OF 6) $3.99

AUG111157 SPONTANEOUS #5 (OF 5) $3.99

JUN110805 STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE BERRY FUN #2 (OF 4) $3.99

JUL110969 TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #70 DLX ED (MR) $19.99

JUL111293 TENJO TENGE GN VOL 03 (MR) $17.99

MAR111330 TEZUKAS BLACK JACK TP VOL 16 $16.95

AUG111197 THE PACK #1 (OF 3) (MR) $4.50

AUG110767 TIME LINCOLN TP SGN ED $29.95

JUL111296 TWILIGHT MANGA GN VOL 02 (OF 2) $19.99

AUG111276 ULTIMATE 7 #2 (OF 12) (MR) $3.99

JUN111140 VAMPIRE KISSES GRAVEYARD GAMES GN VOL 01 $9.99

JUN111009 WARLORD OF MARS #11 $3.99

AUG110967 WARLORD OF MARS DEJAH THORIS TP VOL 01 COLOSSUS OF MARS (MR) $16.99

AUG110999 ZORRO RIDES AGAIN #4 (OF 12) $3.99

MAGAZINES
AUG111358 DIABOLIQUE #6 $9.98
AUG111359 FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #258 $9.99
JUL111386 FREAKY MONSTERS MAGAZINE #5 $9.95
AUG111429 GIRASOL PULP DOUBLES THE SPIDER VOL 21 $14.95
JUL111404 HOBBY JAPAN OCT 2011 #94 $16.60
AUG111424 LOCUS #609 $6.95
MAY111366 NEWTYPE AUG 2011 $16.00
JUL111391 RUE MORGUE MAGAZINE #116 $9.95
JUL111415 SUPERNATURAL MAGAZINE #28 NEWSSTAND ED $6.99
JUL111416 SUPERNATURAL MAGAZINE #28 PX ED $6.99
JUL112154 WHITE DWARF #381 PI

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Philip Schweier on Biracial Ultimate Spider-Man and Black Perry White

Philip Schweier is a long-time writer for the Comic Book Bin, penning the column "Phil's Bubble" on a regular basis. Schweier also writes about comic book history and pop culture.  His latest installment of Phil's Bubble is "Losing the Race" in which he discusses changing the skin color of  comic book characters.  He writes:

In some instances, race is germaine to a character’s personality; Luke Cage, for instance. But for the most part, race, in a fictional context, should not be an issue. These are make-believe characters who do not exist in the real world.

Schweier uses the recent announcement that Laurence Fishburne will play Perry White in the Superman film franchise reboot, The Man of Steel (2013) and Marvel's new Black and Latino Spider-Man in the publisher's Ultimate Spider-Man comic book series.

______________________________

I've noticed that the change in a character's gender, ethnicity, or skin color is most controversial with comic book fans when the change is from White character to Black.  I think this has less to do with the conservatism of comic book fans, who are often notoriously against change, and more to do with the straight-up racism of some of them.

I think that is reflective of the industry in general.  DC Comics is relaunching and launching 52 different comic book titles from the end of August through September.  None of those series has an African-American writer, including the three series that will star Black characters.

Marvel is the same.  President Barack Obama has made several appearances in various Marvel comic books, but there are currently no African-American writers working on an ongoing series for Marvel.  Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King are often brought up when discussing the X-Men, yet in 50 years of publication, the African character, Storm, is the only regular character of color in the X-Men.  There have been a smattering of others here and there, but it's been pitiful.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

John Cory Says "A Sad Day for America" on Birther Victory

A Sad Day for America
By John Cory, Reader Supported News
28 April 11

Reader Supported News Perspective

It is a sorry and sad day for America.

Yesterday, Obama released his long-form birth certificate to cheers and applause and "about time" comments across the great media landscape and inter-tubes.

The Villagers are busy pontificating and examining and thumping their own chests in victory. Everyone is smiling and clapping and proud.

Not me.

What does it say about our "media" that they have spent so much time and so much effort promoting crazy over reality? That our "media" relishes circus clowns jumping out of their clown-cars and spraying clown-seltzer everywhere and then giddily covers the wet and stained audience reaction while ignoring the burning of fact?

And what is the result of today's release by President Obama?

Donald Trump nearly lost his hair-pet as he jumped up and down, shouting: "I'm Superman! I'm Superman! I did what no one else has been able to do. I AM the great black Kryptonite!" NBC must be Soooooooo Verrrrrry Proud!

This should never have been an issue worthy of discussion, let alone news coverage.

The mainstream media has a long history of making the incredible seem credible. If enough crazy people shout loud enough to be overheard at the Villager's cocktail parties - and especially if there is money, ratings and celebrity status to be gained - then the media will make it "news."

Remember the Clinton run for office? The great NY Times witch-hunt for Whitewater? Vince Foster? Jerry Falwell videos of murder and drug-dealing lies? The birth of Fox News, where no slander was too offensive to air?

How about Chris Matthews' constant attacks on Al Gore for being a "serial exaggerator" and a boring wonk? The NY Times and Washington Post constantly questioning Gore's manliness? Remember? Maureen Dowd and Tim Russert, pointing out he wasn't like the macho W. who had nicknames for the press on the airplane and a beer for all.

In 2004 there were outrageous and despicable attacks on John Kerry and Max Cleland's Vietnam service, challenges to combat medals and wounds and smears against the very nature of their service to their country.

Where was the media?

Parroting and promoting the vile and vicious likes of Ann Coulter and John Corsi, and others. No lie too evil or malicious not to be printed or smeared across the airwaves. ABC's Nightline undertook an "investigation" of Kerry's war record by traveling to Vietnam to find someone - anyone - who could verify or confirm his "story," because the government records of the US Navy had become "suspect."

Why, the media had such a grand time questioning those troublesome war medals that at the GOP Convention, real American patriots sported band-aids with little Purple Hearts as they cheered their Vietnam-era AWOL candidate. Wasn't that funny?

President Obama finally put all this birth nonsense to rest. Right?

Do you think there will be questions about the font used on that document? Or the mysterious curls meant to infer an aging document? Or maybe, if we listen carefully, we'll hear the whispers about how it took this long because they had to forge that document, to make it look real when really - it is not. And what about the registration date? Four days after birth?

And what is the effect?

The next presidential candidate who is Black or Latino will have to provide all of his citizenship papers up front and have them certified by holier-than-thou real Americans.

If it is a woman, she will need to show medical records proving she is a natural female with a medical certificate of virginity at marriage. Or, if she is not married, god-forbid, she will require an Evangelical certification of non-Lesbian orientation.

If the candidate is Asian, well, let's just say they are too smart with computers to get caught forging birth certificates so we'll have to figure out a different test for them.

Obama gave in to insanity so the country could move on to important matters, but the truth is, there will be no movement. As Stuart Chase said: "For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible."

There is a stain now, a stain that will permeate future candidates who might be one of them. An outsider. A different one. In trying to satisfy the poisonous present, Mr. Obama ignored his duty to the future.

No, this is a sad day.

Yesterday morning, the media flexed its great star power and forced a president to jump through a flaming hoop to prove he was American. Viewership through venom is so much more profitable than truth or fact.

By the afternoon, they will weigh in on who the winners and losers are.

Last night, some families packed up their belongings because their home had been foreclosed on, or faced medical bankruptcy because their insurance carrier had denied treatment payments, or struggled with whether to pay their utility bill or buy a tank of gas to go looking for a job in the morning.

We know who lost.

And we didn't have to watch TV to know it.

Maybe it is time to turn off, tune out, and drop the news media altogether.

Original link.

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Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

John Cory on the L Word - Liberal

Love Me, I'm a Liberal
By John Cory, Reader Supported News
11 April 11
Reader Supported News
Perspective

"If God did not want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep." - Calvero from The Magnificent Seven

So, Mr. Obama saved us from a government shutdown. That's good, right?

I don't think so, but then, I'm not part of the hoi polloi that runs this joint.

Listen to the spin coming from the Democrats and Mr. Obama using their upside down language of "... reducing spending while still investing in the future is just common sense ..."

We are not investing in America by these spending cuts, but rather breaking the great Republic into more pieces for sale to the lowest corporate bidder. This is the privatization of America and the turning of citizens into sharecroppers.

Gore Vidal said it best:

"America has only one political party - the property party. It's the party of big corporations, the party of money. And it has two right wings, one is Democrat and the other is Republican."

Let's be honest here - Obama and Democrats may have dodged a shutdown but they joined the shakedown. And it is going to keep coming: the debt ceiling vote, 2012 budget vote, the GOP Medicare fraud of Paul Ryan and the selling off of our educational system to privateers who will and are turning colleges and public schools into corporate vocational-training centers. Training tomorrow's corporate citizens in conformity and consumerism. Digby posted this scene from Network a while back and it is worth watching again. Satire turned into reality.

Glenn Beck warned that we had elected Malcolm X, but it turns out we elected Malcolm-In-The-Middle. Wherever the "middle" is. And while Mr. Obama and the Democrats pat themselves on the back for "historic cuts" and keeping the corporation government open for business and tell us how compromise is necessary and how both sides came out a winner - I'd like to take this moment to say: Bullshit! This ain't T-Ball where everyone gets a trophy just for playing, Mr. President!

And the Democratic Party is flooding my inbox with pleas for money and support to fight the craven GOP and re-elect Mr. Obama for the sake of the country. Oh Please!

In the intro to his song, Love Me, I'm a Liberal, Phil Ochs said: "In every American community you have varying shades of political opinion. One of the shadiest of these is the liberals ... Ten degrees to the left of center in good times. Ten degrees to the right of center if it affects them personally."

The last verse of Love Me, I'm a Liberal is particularly apropos:

"Once I was young and impulsive,
I wore every conceivable pin,
Even went to the socialist meetings,
Learned all the old union hymns.
But now I've grown older and wiser
And that's why I'm turning you in,
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal."

I miss Phil Ochs, and voices like his. We don't need more liberals in this country - we need more radicals.

The millionaires in Congress do not represent We, The People and the government is nothing more than a subsidiary of the corporate state. That is a fact we need to recognize and acknowledge and fight.

We voted for Obama to stop the wars, close Guantanamo, re-instate civil liberties, hold the wealthy accountable for their destructive greed, and to protect the everyday workers and the poor. The Democrats shouted how bad it would be if the Republicans and their Tea Party gained more power. Remember? How's that working out for you, America?

The Wall Street Wizards of Oz are making more money than ever while Democrats join Republicans in preaching sermons of restraint and sacrifice to those who are losing everything. Banks (Wachovia/Wells Fargo) profit from laundering Mexican drug money, foreclosing on homes, and charging fees to access your own money and still, they promote the gospel of greed and gluttony. The corporate personhood is indeed special because when they commit crimes, they simply use their ill-gotten gains to lobby for deregulation so that their crimes become un-crimes, more like "free market" faux pas. Pay the fine without admitting guilt and let's move on. I wonder if that would work for me if I robbed a bank?

And don't look to our modern media for elucidation or honesty. Those are commodities with no built-in profit margin. Sensationalism, snark and circus acts bring viewership to the business of covering politics. That's where the money is. There is only time for ads, egos and entertainment, not ethics or education.

In his 1958 speech on media and news in Chicago, Edward R. Murrow warned of the future:

"I began by saying that our history will be what we make it. If we go on as we are, then history will take its revenge, and retribution will not limp in catching up with us ... This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box ..."

We stand on the edge of a cliff and Mr. Obama and the Democrats keep telling us to step right up, and we say, but it's a cliff, and they say, but it's the only way forward. They call it: Winning the future. I call it: Bullshit. Suicidal bullshit.

I'm a radical - a poor radical - but if I had fifty bucks you can bet the Democrats wouldn't get a nickel. I'd donate ten bucks to Planned Parenthood so someone's sister or daughter could have health services, ten bucks to the neighborhood free health clinic so the poor and unemployed could get treatment for their family's illnesses, ten bucks for independent media like Link TV and NPR, ten bucks to self-help veteran organizations because the corporate government that profits so handsomely from war fails to care for soldiers and veterans, and finally, ten bucks for whatever organization distributes the works of Howard Zinn, Emma Goldman, Dr. King, and Molly Ivins and Naomi Klein and Thom Hartmann and Jim Hightower and Andrew Bacevich and Bill Moyers and scores of others.

Sound radical? It is. But that is exactly what the neo-conservative right wing has been doing for over twenty years. Where have the liberal Democrats been?

I read that Mr. Obama and the Democrats will raise $1 Billion Dollars for the 2012 re-election campaign. Wow. Just wow. In a struggling economy I wonder where they will find all that money?

Oh well, sing along with me everyone: "Love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal!"

-PEACE­-

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Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

Original article is here.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Bomb Queen's Girl Fight



BOMBS AWAY
 
Bomb Queen gets catty with the ladies in early 2011 release
 
She's currently fighting President Obama in the pages of BOMB QUEEN, Vol. VI, but in 2011, Bomb Queen will take girl fights to a whole new level when she takes on HACK/SLASH's Cassie Hack and the Queen of England!

In March, Robinson's BOMB QUEEN ALL-GIRL SPECIAL #1 will see Bomb Queen waging war against the wider world when she travels to London to kill the Queen of England. But Bomb Queen better not underestimate Her Majesty, who has a few tricks of her own that may spell doom for Bomb Queen. There can be only one Queen!

"Barack Obama is a wuss compared to Cassie Hack and Queen Elizabeth," says Robinson. "Bomb Queen has a real fight on her hands this time around!"

BOMB QUEEN ALL-GIRL SPECIAL #1 (JAN110559), a 32-page full-color comic book from Shadowline and Image Comics, will be in stores March 9, 2011, for $3.50.


Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, Skybound and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit http://www.imagecomics.com/.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

President Obama in "Guardians of the Globe" Back-up Feature

IF BARACK OBAMA WERE A GUARDIAN OF THE GLOBE...

Chris Giarrusso tells the story of the "real" GUARDIANS in backups to the miniseries

In August, we'll know more about the new GUARDIANS OF THE GLOBE: Brit, Outrun, Kaboomerang, Yeti and Bulletproof. But what about the GUARDIANS OF THE GLOBE that never were: Invincible, Spawn, Rick Grimes, Barack Obama and Gary Popper? Chris Giarrusso, creator of G-MAN, will tell their tale in a series of one-page backup stories that will run with each issue of GUARDIANS OF THE GLOBE.

"The response to the Guardians of the Globe teasers was astounding," says GUARDIANS co-writer Robert Kirkman. "So many people wanted to see a Guardians team made up of Invincible, Spawn, Rick Grimes, Barack Obama, and Gary Popper. Ask, and you will receive!"

Giarrusso states, "I'll be featuring President Barack Obama in a comic. As far as I know, this is something that has never been done before. A move like this is bound to stir up a lot of heated controversy, but I have the opportunity to do something historically groundbreaking in these strips."

As the Viltrumite War rages on within the pages of INVINCIBLE, the ranks of the Guardians of the Globe are suddenly depleted. The world is in danger and the team is in search of new blood. It's the biggest recruitment drive since Omni-Man slaughtered the original members. But will it be in time to stop The Order? This series is a can't-miss action extravaganza, with one-page backups featuring the Guardians of the Globe that never were: Invincible, Spawn, Rick Grimes, Barack Obama, and Gary Popper!



GUARDIANS OF THE GLOBE #1 (of 6) -- a 32-page full-color comic written by Robert Kirkman and Benito Cereno, illustrated by Ransom Getty, and featuring a backup story by Chris Giarrusso -- will be on sale for $3.50 on August 25, 2010. Giarusso's G-MAN, VOL. 1: LEARNING TO FLY, a 96-page full-color trade paperback for $9.99, and G-MAN, VOL. 2: CAPE CRISIS, a 128-page full-color trade paperback, will both be in stores September 29, 2010.


Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of four major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Image Comics Teases "The Guardians of the Globe"


Publisher with no monthly comic book series from African-American creators continues to exploit Black President of the United States.

 

Friday, February 26, 2010

Mean Old Negro President Disses Sanctified Tony Perkins

On Tuesday, March 2nd, there will be a National Prayer Luncheon at Andrews Air Force Base.  Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, was slated to attend, but now he's saying that he was uninvited.  Perkins claims he was uninvited because he opposes President Obama's support for ending the "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy on gay and lesbian service people surving in the military.

Perkins released a statement full of his usual blowhard rantings:

"I am very concerned," Perkins said in a statement, "that this merely foreshadows the serious threat to religious liberty that would result from repeal of the current military eligibility law. Such legislation would not merely open the military to homosexuals. It would result in a zero-tolerance policy toward those who disapprove of homosexual conduct."


"Military chaplains would bear the heaviest burden. Would their sermons be censored to prevent them from preaching on biblical passages which describe homosexual conduct as a sin? Would they remain free to counsel soldiers troubled by same-sex attractions about the spiritual and psychological resources available to overcome those attractions? Any chaplain who holds to the millennia-old tradition of Judeo-Christian sexual morality could be denied promotion, or even be forced out of the military altogether."

Politics Daily has the full story.  I'm sure Obama will get the blame for this uninvite.  I'm guessing the organizers believed that they couldn't trust Perkins not to use the luncheon to spew his Chistian bigotry... I mean Christian views.  Perkins even said that ending "Don't ask, Don't tell would "force soldiers to cohabit with people who view them as sexual objects [and] would inevitably lead to increased sexual tension, sexual harassment, and even sexual assault."

Negro, please! Church people start more hell...

Friday, October 16, 2009

Ain't Nuthin' But a Man

So when President Barack Obama was in New Orleans, he spoke to a receptive audience. 4th-grader Tyren Scott asked him, "Why do people hate you? And why, aren't they supposed to love you, if God is love?"

Now, the answer is that many of the people who "hate" President Obama are just racist, embittered trash or slimy GOP retards. However, the President told him:

"...I'm a pretty tough guy. Are you a tough guy? You look pretty tough. So you've just got to keep going on going, even when folks are criticizing you, when you know you're doing it for other people."

Read here for more.

Friday, October 9, 2009

The Illumi-Nation: Common Nobel Peace Prize Misconceptions

The Associated Press via Yahoo! News provides the following list of misconceptions about the Nobel Peace Prize:

An award that generates as much interest as the Nobel Peace Prize is bound to be surrounded by myths. Geir Lundestad, secretary of the secretive committee that awards the prize, outlines for The Associated Press some of the most common misunderstandings:

• Myth: The awards committee announces a shortlist of candidates.
The committee does not release the names of any candidates and keeps records sealed for 50 years.

• Myth: A campaign for a particular candidate can sway the awards committee.
A campaign could have the exact opposite effect on the fiercely independent committee, which does not want to appear influenced by public pressure.

• Myth: Candidates can be nominated until the last minute.
The nomination deadline is eight months before the announcement, with a strictly enforced deadline of Feb. 1.

• Myth: Anyone can nominate a person or group for the Peace Prize.
No, although Nobel statutes on who can nominate were slightly broadened in 2003. They now include former laureates; current and former members of the committee and their staff; members of national governments and legislatures; university professors of law, theology, social sciences, history and philosophy; leaders of peace research and foreign affairs institutes; and members of international courts of law.

• Myth: The prize can be revoked if a laureate does not live up to the standards of the peace prize.
There are no provisions for revoking the prize.

• Myth: The prize can be awarded posthumously.
The prize was award posthumously only once — in 1961, to former U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammerskjold, after he was killed in a plane crash in Africa. The rules were amended in 1974 to prohibit posthumous prizes.

• Myth: The prize is awarded to recognize efforts for peace, human rights and democracy only after they have proven successful.
More often, the prize is awarded to encourage those who receive it to see the effort through, sometimes at critical moments.

RNC Chair Michael Steele Determined to Prove that He is a Good House Nigga

The real question Americans are asking is, “What has President Obama actually accomplished?” It is unfortunate that the president’s star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights. One thing is certain — President Obama won’t be receiving any awards from Americans for job creation, fiscal responsibility, or backing up rhetoric with concrete action.

Colored Republican National Committe Chairman Michael Steele issued the above statement about President Barack Obama receiving the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

President Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

The complete text for the citation awarding President Obama the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, as provided by the Associated Press:

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts.

The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.
For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Congressman Joe Wilson's Neo-Confederate Past

In "Joe Wilson's Dixie Partisans," writer Joe Conason at Truthout offers a deeper perspective on U.S. House of Representatives member Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), now infamous for shouting "You lie" to President Barack Obama during his recent speech before a joint session of Congress. Conason's article lends credence to those who have claimed that Wilson is bigot.

Highlights:

Nothing surprising there, however, to anyone familiar with the Wilson entourage and outlook. The consultant behind the excitable right-wing congressman is Richard Quinn, long a central figure in both South Carolina Republican politics and the "neo-Confederate" movement, notably as editor and publisher of a periodical called The Southern Partisan.

Long before Quinn started selling those Joe Wilson tees, his magazine used to market T-shirts denigrating Abraham Lincoln, which displayed a portrait of him above the slogan "Sic Semper Tyrannis" - the phrase shouted by John Wilkes Booth after shooting the Civil War president. No doubt Quinn considered that to be an expression of "patriotism," too, although not to the United States of America.