I can remember the first Jim Steranko comic book that I ever read. It was Nick Fury
#1. I was 9 years old. I'd been reading comics for years... Batman, Superman,
Spider-Man... but Nick Fury [as written and drawn by Jim Steranko] was like a
movie come to life [even though it was on the printed page].

As I become older, I always kept my eye out for comics by Steranko. They were few
and far between [and sometimes only covers], but boy, were they worth it. The man
is a legend despite the fact that his primary work in comics was less than ten years
and consisted of approximately 30 stories.

Years later I attended my first comic book convention. My goal was to buy Steranko's
run on Nick Fury in mint condition. Not only was I able to score the set [and at a good price], but I ended up becoming friends with the dealer, Mike Kott. I was surprised to
learn that Steranko had branched out into publishing. At the same show I picked up
my first issue of his publication, Mediascene [which featured an interview with Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy].

Steranko had moved away from comics, instead he spent his time concentrating on painting [he did a series of covers for The Shadow paperbacks reprints] and
publishing [Mediascene which later became Prevue]. When Steranko offered some
of his Shadow "pencil paintings" for sale in the early 80's, I splurged and bought one.
I was newly married, in college and the $225 bucks it cost seemed like a fortune. Steranko was nice enough to send along an autographed copy of his book Unseen Shadows.

If you're a Steranko fan, then you know what an interesting life he's led. In addition to being a comic book artist, a publisher, a painter, a professional magician / escape artist [in his youth he traveled with carnivals and circuses], a musician and more. If
you're just discovering Steranko, then you're in for a treat!

Steranko is still a huge draw at conventions around the country. Last year he was a special guest at FX 2005. [In fact it was his cover for the program book that
inspired this post.] I was unable to attend the FX show, but even if I had, there would
have been no chance of a Steranko piece for my Stallone Gallery. Steranko doesn't sketch at shows and seldom does commissions... and those that he does do cost thousands!

Every so often I love to pull out my Chandler graphic novel, or the three issues of
Captain America that he did... but my favorite is still his run on Nick Fury. Over 35
years later, I still get the same rush as that 9 year old seeing it for the first time.

Way back on November 16, 2003, I posted an item about the first issue of a comic
that I'd read and fell in love with. That comic, The Walking Dead, was one of the
freshest comics that I'd read in years. It instantly made my "pull list."

A few days later, I posted that the first issue was quickly selling out along with a link
to an interview with Robert Kirkman. In February of 2004, The Walking Dead was already my favorite monthly comic!

In April of 2004, I reported that Tony Moore, the regular artist on The Walking Dead
had decided to leave and that Charlie Adlard would be taking over with issue 6. The quality of The Walking Dead didn't miss a beat.

With the recent success of comic books turned into movies, Jeb Whitlock of
JoBlo.com suggests that The Walking Dead get the chance.

All I can say is, "Welcome to the party, Jeb!"

I used to buy stuff fairly regularly off of e-Bay. Usually the items that I won were either hardback novels or items for my Stallone collection. In the last year or so, it's been
pretty rare for me to find ANY THING that I really want.

That changed last week when I saw a belt buckle that Sylvester Stallone had commissioned for folks who worked on his movie "Paradise Alley." It was pretty
cool in that it featured the title of the movie, the lead characters and the year the
movie took place on the front. The back had the quote, "Never perfect people,
only perfect moments" and was signed "Sly." Yeah, the buckle would make a
nice addition to the collection.

No one had bid on the buckle. I decided to watch the auction. Days went by with
no bids. Winning the buckle for the opening bid of less than ten bucks was
becoming a REAL possibility. The auction was set to close yesterday and I
wasn't going to be able to be home. Only one thing to do... call in Beatty.
Big J and I agreed that a bid of $20 would probably win it.

Big John was set to place a bid for me right as the auction was closing. At
4:59:45 another bidder dropped in with a bid of $23.98. Beatty knew that I
wanted the buckle and so at 4:59:57 he popped in a bid of $25.67.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

We had the high bid...for 20 seconds, then with just 7 seconds left in the
auction the first bidder came back with a bid of $26.67 to win.

Oh well... I still may be able to find some hardbacks...

Like most of you, I am anxiously waiting for the return of Lost. Last season's
cliffhanger is one of the best in recent memory. I love how what seem to be chance
or random events come back to have meaning... in fact it seems that everything
happens for a reason.

The other day I posted that Over There is my favorite show of the summer. So
you can imagine how happy I was to hear that Over There will soon be seen in
about 100 territories around the world.

The fact that Over There has been picked up in so many territories increases
the odds that the series will be back next season. And that just makes my day.

YES! The news that we've been waiting for...

The deluxe dvd edition of Sin City [Recut & Extended] will be available starting
December 13th at about $39.99. The dvd will include the 124 minute theatrical
release and a new 147 minute extended cut with both presented in 1.85:1
anamorphic widescreen, along with English DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround tracks.

Extras will include three commentary tracks: 1] with directors Robert Rodriguez
and Frank Miller; 2] Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino; and 3] the Austin
Premiere crowd reaction!

Additional extras include a 15 minute film school with Rodriguez, 17
uninterupted minutes of Tarantino's segment, footage of a Sin City cast/crew
party, featurettes on the cars, special effects, make-up, costumes, props,
how they convinced Miller to assist with the film; casting, Tarantino, plus
trailers, bloopers, and an interactive game. Topping it all off will be the
complete Sin City graphic novel The Hard Goodbye.

Whew!

I... can...not... wait...

I had thought that Blondie's 75th Anniversary cross-over event was over.
Yesterday's strip, posted above shows that I was wrong.

I guess that The Phantom was in a hurry to make the plane since he didn't have time
to put on his full costume. [Another tip of the cowl to Mark Evanier!]