Today’s Must own Blu-Ray Steelbook in the age of Digital : THE THIRD MAN (1949)

In the age of Digital when traditional DVDs are going the way of the dodo, Steel-books are just getting more and more popular. Here is this installment’s STEEL-BOOK of the day:

Orson Welles and Carol Reed’s THE THIRD MAN (1949)

 

Credited to Carol Reed, Orson Welles directorial hand is all over this one. In my opinion Orson Welles’ finest film, and that is saying a lot considering his masterpieces like CITIZEN KANE, MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, LADY IN THE WATER, OTHELLO, CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT and the list goes on. And if any film deserves the upscale Steel-book treatment… it is this one. And this one offers a stellar transfer, commentaries, and great features.

 

Get yours here! (Use this link and get a great item, AND earn a couple very appreciated pennies for this blog):

THIRD MAN LIMITED EDITION STEEL-BOOK

 

If you liked this post, please support this blog using the links below:

BONANZA

EBAY

Best Comic Book Covers of All Time: Joe Kubert’s LOSERS run

What makes a great comic book cover, in this age of virgin variants and gimmick covers, is the same thing that has always made a great cover. When all these flash in the pan virgin covers, are resigned to the 50 cent bin (where most of them belong), the really great covers, will still be… great covers.

They will still have stunning typography, married to great art, with great placement of the various parts, and together the whole, in one moment, both tells a story and sells a product. It is not just this lazy and brainless current fad of a pretty image, but with no context to the story or to the storytelling. Today’s cover artists and editors and art directors, and buyers, confuse a pinup with an effective and affecting cover, and the two are not the same.

Now that is not to say there are not exceptions, where the pinup is so good that you want it for eye candy’s sake alone. That does happen, and is fine, but in my experience it is rare, and is not conducive to books you are actually buying, serialized entertainment you are actually buying,… to read. In that case a pretty picture does not cut it, you need a storyteller as an artist and an art editor, to design a cover that tells a story.

And like i said it is a marriage of many things, some of which are not in the artist’s hands. But when all those disparate elements come together, you have have some of the greatest covers of all time.

There were a lot of people I could have started this new segment with, Neal Adams, Gil Kane, Berni Wrightson, Jack Kirby, but for my money the best cover artist of all time very rarely worked in Superhero Comics, and that is the great Joe Kubert.

Kubert had many magnificent cover runs to choose from but the one that launches this segment is the work of his that made me a Conflict Comics collector. His run on OUR FIGHTING FORCES AT WAR. Not the whole run, because while he did hundreds of covers not all of them have the elements that make an iconic cover. I mentioned a great cover having to do with things sometimes beyond the artists control such as typography and placement of disparate elements on a cover. But Here, for this run of issues, Kubert had complete control over the typography of his covers, and completely integrated that typography into his artwork, in a manner that would have made Eisner impressed. Creating a brilliant image AND telling a story and selling a product.

In the 181 issue run of OUR FIGHTING FORCES AT WAR, all of which had good covers,  there are nineteen covers that stand out as masterpieces… only nineteeneighteen. They are not ‘key’ issues, they are seminal issues in the history of comic book cover design. The following scans were the best I could find on short notice, and do not do the books justice. But they give you a taste of the brilliance that make these 19 consecutive issues of OUR FIGHTING FORCES AT WAR a milestone of cover design, and worth owning.

They are…

 

   

 

Issue 142 would signal the end of the ground breaking covers, as well as heralding the end of Joe Kubert as editor on the series (his name would officially be removed as editor two issues later). Archie Goodwin would take over for a while as editor, followed by Jack Kirby(with all due respect to Jack Kirby, I am not a fan of his work on this book). And while Kubert would continue to do covers sporadically for the series up till the end, never again would the typography and mast-head be part of the story-telling. 141 would be the last of that wild imaginative experimentation with art and typography, the last of nineteen issues of the best and longest consecutive run of great covers by one creator in the history of comics. Pick them all up today, while they can still be had affordably.

 

Use the link below to get your issues today:

https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=180611&AffID=200301P01

If you enjoyed this post and would like to see more like it, please subscribe, leave a like and comment. And what are your favorite cover runs, or cover artists/artwork?

Till next time… be well!!

CLASSIC GOLDEN AGE Horror Comic Book Cover of the Day!

There are no skulls, or drooling monsters, or scantily clad females in peril on this cover (not that there is anything wrong with those covers, the lurid has its place) and yet, this is the cover that made me fall in love with collecting Golden Age Comic Books. The sophistication of John Severin’s artwork, the masterful use of color, its ability to encapsulate mood and storytelling and foreboding in a single pregnant image. 

First time I saw this image, I knew I had to have this book. That i was looking at the work of an artist, Capital A.

This is my book of the day. And it is currently VERY undervalued and very affordable. And is my recommendation for affordable golden age comic book to add or start, your collection with.

Hope you found this post useful, if so give a like and a subscribe. Till next time… be well!

3 days left to PREORDER your comics in October! Here is how!

‘Preorder? Preorder?

We don’t need no stinking preorder!’

Little bit of a bastardization of the famous line from the great john Huston directed, Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston led movie, TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE.

One of the best films ever made, and a must watch if you have, in an age of Disney Blockbusters, never seen this quintessential bit of Americana. From 1948, the film is as riveting as SICARIO or any other thriller you will see today, and amazingly still as timely and as timeless.

Pre-ordering is something unique to that weird world of comic books.

Not every comic store can carry every comic. There are a lot of publishers, coming out every month with new titles. Staying on top of it can be an initial learning curve.

But pre-ordering helps you save money, depending what online or brick and mortar retailer you use, the amount is typically between 10% and 50% savings.

The particular online retailer I use, and that I recommend, saves you 35% off the cover price of your comics.

Why do I use the retailer that saves you 35% as opposed to the retailer who saves you 40 to 50%? Well I’ve used that 50% off retailer in the past, and had issues with their customer service, as well as problems getting the issues I ordered, and problems with how i was being charged.

With the 35% off retailer, the customer service has been excellent, and I get the books I ordered in quality condition.

Therefore they are the ones I use, and the ones I recommend.

Okay this is part one of my comic book pre-order tutorial, the little trailer/preamble if you will.  I am hard at work on part two, with suggestions of what to order and the link you can use to order from my retailer of choice.

Give this post a like, and come back in about 4 hours to see the 2nd and final part of this pre-order for books shipping in over 2 months, in October.

Thanks!

One Day Left for Prime Deals 2019! And here are the ones everyone forgot!

A lot of people are concentrating on the tech deals, but there are also deals on what Amazon initially built its empire on… books.

 

Here then are great book deals recommended for you to pick up this Prime Day… and beyond. (While supplies last!).

Everyone is aware of Kareem Abdul Jabbar as one of the great basketball players of all time. Fewer are aware of him as an acclaimed writer. From non-fiction books on all Black tank units in World War II, to his recent Graphic novel work, Kareem Abdul Jabbar proves himself as compelling a writer as he is a personality. I recommend this Prime Day, picking up his books and audio books.

 

https://amzn.to/2jGI80Y

https://amzn.to/2lJvqiN

https://amzn.to/2kcEoV8

https://amzn.to/2lJxIhT

https://amzn.to/2lImXML

The last link above is for the audio cd. There is only ONE left. So hopefully I beat you guys to it. 🙂

 

https://amzn.to/2lkVVek

The hardcover is almost sold out.

 

And below is his new Mycroft book, the third in the series, coming out this September.

https://amzn.to/2lJMs0d

And I would definitely also recommend the graphic novel, available here:

https://amzn.to/2lJbsEZ

Use the links, get a great item for yourself, and earn a couple pennies for this humble blog. A win-win! 🙂

 

Favorite Modern DETECTIVE Comics Covers! Vol 3!

Here are the best DETECTIVE COMICS covers from the 3rd and current run. What makes a great cover, contrary to those pushing these portrait and variant covers aesthetic, is great typography, meshed with great visual storytelling. Here then, are the best covers to date from that brief run!

GREAT Comic Book covers from the 3RD Volume of DETECTIVE COMICS!

I absolutely love that post issue 1000 logo! And the return to word balloons on covers!

If you like or are missing any of the above issues and would likre to purchase them, feel free to use the handy great link below! You’ll get great books, and earn a couple of pennies for this blog. Also don’t forget to like and share this post if you would like to see more like it! Thanks!

https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?tid=37272914&AffID=200301P01

 

FAVORITE SUPERMAN COMIC BOOK COVER EVER???

My better half thinks I’m a sick puppy for liking this cover, but man, I remember being wowed by this cover as a kid, and as an adult it still makes me literally laugh out loud. Even from the 60s and 70s age of outrageous SUPERMAN covers it is one of the most outrageous and funny.

The thought that even Luthor would stoop to such extremes, is absurd and horrible, both character wise and concept wise. But the absurd part wins out, you can not take it seriously. 

Even as a kid, I knew there was no way anyone was getting ‘killed’ and Luthor would get his well deserved beatdown,  and so even as a kid i saw the cover as a bit of wonderful hucksterism, and wildly audacious fun/comedy. As an adult I still feel that way. I don’t think the interior story is memorable, but that cover… is frame worthy.

 

Lex Luthor turning the heroes into kids is bad enough, but then he is still so cowardly that he is sneaking up behind them and hitting them in the back of the head, rabbit punching them, with his super-powered brass knuckles. Do you get anymore ludicrously, cowardly, mustache twirlingly despicable. It is impossible not to view it like a Chuck Jones Wile E. Coyote skit on meth. :).

Quick aside, my Favorite Luthor in live action, and I have, to varying degrees,  liked all the versions, but the actor for me who is not only the best live action version, but is better than the animated version , is the criminally under mentioned Sherman Howard.

His work in seasons 3 and 4 of THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY, thanks to great scripts and a great cast and crew (including the excellent Stacy Haiduk and Gerard Christopher), was TREMENDOUS. Those two years of THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY, season 3 and 4, I would have to rate as easily the best live action version of Superboy/Superman on the small screen. Better than LOIS & CLARK, better than SMALLVILLE, better than the second season and up, of SUPERGIRL.

And a large part of why those two seasons remain worth revisiting are the Luthor episodes, and the fact that Sherman Howard gets to take the character from brilliant to wildly unhinged to sympathetic and back again. It is really a wonderful performance, that I urge you to go out and purchase or view those two seasons if you have never seen them.

They are that good, and Sherman Howard is that good in the role.

Get the shows here:

https://amzn.to/30zujB9

https://amzn.to/2XHHUod

 

Now getting back to the comic book cover… The cover shows MUCH better in person. But you should get a feel from the image whether it is one to add to your collection. If so, get your copy here:

https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?q=action+comics+466&AffID=200301P01

 

 

If you enjoyed this post, like, share, subscribe, and check out the sponsor link below to order comic book, podcast, and youtube curated laptops or tablets, and/or curated digital picture frames. They also do all manner of repair and customizing for the pop-culture community. Mention you are coming from this blog and get 10% off.

https://techsupport51.wixsite.com/tech-support-2day