Alternative Mindz Blog

GO FORTH AND BUY THE MAXX ON DVD (FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!!!) AT AMAZON.COM ITS WORTH IT AND ONE OF THE BEST COMIC BOOK CARTOON ADAPTION PERIOD!

buy it here

thank you

NEW YORK COMIC CON

THIS WEEKEND IS THE ANNUAL NEW YORK COMIC CON AT THE JACOB JAVITS CENTER.

WHILE THERE CHECK OUT BOOTH 2366

TO SEE THE CAST AND CREATORS OF ISSUES THE SERIES

IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE SERIES YET GO WATCH IT NOW!

ALSO GO TO ARTIST ALLEY AND SEE OUR FRIENDS BUZZ, BILLY TUCCI ,Jason Yungbluth and all the other talent and guests.

we are going to be there but on the other just enjoying the comic con and enjoying our friends soak up the capital of the world (of comics that is ) NY comic con.

we will be filming so if you’re in front of the camera wave !

It’s Christmas time again ….but this year lets have a little more Spirit. With the up coming Spirit film opening on Christmas day, I wanted to spread some holiday cheer and tell people

The history of the Spirit.

But before we can talk about the Spirit we must talk about the man behind the hero.

William Erwin Eisner: born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jewish immigrants — his father was a former painter, marginally successful entrepreneur, and one-time manufacturer in Manhattan’s Seventh Avenue garment district. Eisner attended DeWitt Clinton High School.

He drew for the school newspaper (The Clintonian), the literary magazine (The Magpie) and the yearbook, and did stage design, leading him to consider doing that kind of work for theater. Upon graduation, he studied under Canadian artist George Brandt Bridgman.

In “late ‘39, just before Christmas time,” Eisner recalled, Quality Comics publisher Everett M. “Busy” Arnold “came to me and said that the Sunday newspapers were looking for a way of getting into this comic book boom,” In a 2004 interview, he elaborated on that meeting:

‘Busy’ invited me up for lunch one day and introduced me to Henry Martin sales manager of the Des Moines Register and Tribune Syndicate, who said, ‘The newspapers in this country, particularly the Sunday papers, are looking to compete with comics books,and they would like to get a comic-book insert into the newspapers.

(Alot of publishers at the time felt that the 10 cent comic books where out selling newspapers and some fear that comic books may kill the newspaper market)

‘ … Martin asked if I could do it. … It meant that I’d have to leave Eisner & Iger which was making money; we were very profitable at that time and things were going very well. A hard decision. Anyway, I agreed to do the Sunday comic book and we started discussing the deal which was that we’d be partners in the ‘Comic Book Section,’ as they called it at that time. And also, I would produce two other magazines in partnership with Arnold.

Eisner negotiated an agreement with the syndicate in which Arnold would copyright The Spirit, but, “Written down in the contract I had with ‘Busy’ Arnold — and this contract exists today as the basis for my copyright ownership — Arnold agreed that it was my property. They agreed that if we had a split-up in anyway, the property would revert to me on that day that happened. My attorney went to ‘Busy’ Arnold and his family, and they all signed a release agreeing that they would not pursue the question of ownership” This would include the eventual backup features, “Mr. Mystic” and “Lady Luck.”

Eisner creates The Spirit

The Spirit chronicled the adventures of a masked crime-fighter who fought crime with the blessing of the city’s police commissioner Dolan, an old friend. Despite the Spirit’s origin as a detective named Denny Colt, his real identity was virtually unmentioned again and for all intents and purposes he was simply “the Spirit”. The stories ranged through a wide variety of styles, from straightforward crime drama and noir to lighthearted adventure, from mystery and horror to comedy and love stories, often with hybrid elements that twisted genre and expectations.

The Spirit, referred to as “the only real middle-class crime fighter”,the hero persona of young detective Denny Colt. Presumed killed in the first three pages of the premiere story, Colt later revealed to his friend, Central City Police Commissioner Dolan, that he had in fact gone into suspended animation caused by one of arch-villain Dr. Cobra’s experiments. When Colt awakened in Wildwood Cemetery, he established a base there and, using his new found anonymity, began a life of fighting crime wearing only a small domino mask, blue business suit, red necktie, fedora hat and gloves for a costume. The Spirit dispensed justice, funding his adventures with the rewards for capturing villains.

Will started drawing the Spirit as a traditional detective that he based on old pulp magazine. suit,tie and hat while in the middle of the design Will recieves a phone call from the publisher asking how things were coming along and ask if the hero had a mask

since all costumed crime fighters had masks ……

Will looking at he’s drawing said yes he does and started drawing a mask on the Spirit.

Because of this phone call the Spirit found his persona

The Spirit was based originally in New York City which soon changed to Central City, but his adventures took him around the globe. He met up with eccentrics, crazy, and beautiful but deadly femme fatales, bringing his own form of justice to all of them. The story changed continually, but certain themes remained constant: the love between the Spirit and Dolan’s feisty protofeminist daughter Ellen; the annual “Christmas Spirit” stories; and the Octopus (a psychopathic criminal mastermind who was never seen, except for his distinctive gloves).

so now that you have a taste for the Spirit take your want to the movies and see the film with an open mind and a big bucket of popcorn

one last thing go here and here

check out the site here

We have a good feeling this film will do alot better than the other two versions of the Punisher.

a brief history of the Punisher

The Punisher, is a vigilante who considers killing, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence and torture to be acceptable crime-fighting tactics. Driven by the deaths of his family, who were killed by the mob when they witnessed a gangland execution in New York City’s Central Park, Frank Castle becomes the Punisher wageing  a one-man war on the mob and all criminals in general by using all manner of weaponry.His family’s killers were the first to be slain. A war veteran, Castle is a master of martial arts, stealth tactics, and a wide variety of weapons.

The Punisher’s brutal nature and willingness to kill made him a novel character in mainstream American comic books in 1974. By the late 1980s, he was part of a wave of psychologically troubled antiheroes and was featured in several monthly publications, including The Punisher War Journal, The Punisher War Zone, and The Punisher Armory.

The Punisher was created by Gerry Conway and his first appearance was illustrated by Ross Andru in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #129 (Feb. 1974). Conway had drawn a character with a small death’s head skull on one breast. Marvel’s then art director John Romita, Sr. took the basic design, blew the skull up to huge size, taking up most of the character’s chest, and added a cartridge bandolier that formed the skull’s teeth.

Three movie adaptations have been released, one in 1989, which features Dolph Lundgren as the Punisher,which draws much criticism from comic fans due to the fact of the Punisher not having his trade mark skull shirt. Another in 2004, with the character being played by Thomas Jane. A third adaptation  with Ray Stevenson as Castle and is being released on December 5, 2008.

Michael Turner Passes Away at 37

born in Crossville, Tennessee and primarily known for his work on

Witchblade, Fathom,

Superman/Batman, and various covers for DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He was also the president of his own entertainment company

Aspen MLT.

A prolific artist, he has done work for both DC Comics and Marvel Comics, and has provided covers to some of the best-known comics published in the last ten years, including Brad Meltzer’s “Identity Crisis.”

Turner was discovered by Marc Silvestri at a convention, and hired by Silvestri’s Top Cow Productions as an artist. He initially did background illustrations for Top Cow titles before co-creating Witchblade. In the summer of 1998 he debuted the creator-owned Fathom, having also worked on his new series Soulfire. As well as an artist, Turner was an award-winning water skier, held an instructor level red sash in martial arts, and was an avid video game player.

In 2000, Turner was diagnosed with cancer — chondrosarcoma in the right pelvis, which resulted in his losing his hip, 40% of his pelvis and three pounds of bone. What followed was 9 months of radiation. The cancer has gone into remission and returned multiple times since he was first diagnosed.

check out this article here and his bio here

Michael Turner has died June 27 2008 after a long battle with cancer. He was 37

so I hope this helps

in the coming posts I will teach you how to put together the newer comic book drawer boxes

Charles M. Schulz, the most widely syndicated and beloved cartoonist of all time, is also one of the least understood figures in American culture. Now acclaimed biographer David Michaelis gives us the first full-length biography of the brilliant, unseen man behind Peanuts: at once a creation story, a portrait of a native genius, and a chronicle contrasting the private man with the central role he played in shaping the national imagination.

buy the book here

also from here

get the audio book here

Iron Man (Anthony Edward “Tony” Stark) is a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee, writer Larry Lieber, and artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963).

Tony Stark, after being gravely injured and forced to build a devastating weapon, instead created a suit of power armor to save his life and help protect the world as Iron Man. He is a wealthy industrialist and genius inventor whose suit of armor is laden with technological devices that enable him to fight crime.

Lee had been toying with the idea of a businessman superhero.He set out to make the new character a rich, glamorous ladies’ man, but one with a secret that would plague and torment him as well. Lee based this playboy’s personality on Howard Hughes,

explaining, “Howard Hughes was one of the most colorful men of our time. He was an inventor, an adventurer, a multi-billionaire, a ladies’ man and finally a nut case.”

Iron Man first appeared in 13- to 18-page stories in Tales of Suspense, which featured anthology science fiction and supernatural stories. The character’s original costume was a bulky grey armor, which later turned golden in his second story (issue #40, April 1963), and then redesigned again as a sleeker red-and-golden armor starting in issue #48 (Dec. 1963), drawn by Steve Ditko. In his premiere, Iron Man was an anti-communist hero, defeating various Vietnamese agents; Lee later regretted this early focus. Throughout the character’s comic book series, technological advancement and national defense were constant themes for Iron Man, but later issues developed Stark into a more complex and vulnerable character as they depicted his battle with alcoholism and other personal difficulties.

The Crass Menagerie: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury
Stephan Pastis sketches comic strip tale, which features the arrogant, self-centered, and totally hilarious Rat, who leads his four-legged friends through misadventure after misadventure. Joining him for the journey are Pig, the slow but good-hearted conscience of the strip; Goat, the voice of reason that often goes unheard; and Zebra and the eternally inept Crocodiles who pursue him. Together this mindful menagerie mocks the flaws and shortcomings of human nature through Pastis’s cynically biting wit.

buy it here

Stephan Pastis

Stephan Thomas Pastis (born January 16, 1968)

Pastis was raised in San Marino, California and attended the University of California at Berkeley, earning a B.A. in Political Science in 1989, followed by UCLA School of Law. From 1993, Pastis worked as a litigation attorney in the San Francisco Bay area. At this time he also tried to fulfill his childhood ambition of becoming a syndicated cartoonist by submitting different concepts to syndication agencies. “The Infirm”, “Rat”, and “Bradbury Road”were rejected, but “Pearls Before Swine” was accepted by United Features in 1999. It started publication on December 31, 2001 and is still one of the fastest growing comic strips, appearing in more than 150 newspapers worldwide and counting. Pastis left his law job in August 2002.

also pick up his other collections

history of the comic book: Golden Age part 2, Batman and beyond

The Hero from Krypton blazes the path for the new Archetype, the costumed crime fighter!

In the wake of the new found “super” hero comic book publishers rushed to capture the love of america’s new myths.

heroes appeared from around the globe and sometimes under the ocean.

Crimson Avenger (Lee Travis) pre-dates batman as their first masked crime fighter. Lee Walter Travis is the alter ego of the first Crimson Avenger. The original Crimson Avenger premiered in Detective Comics #20, dated October 1938 (predating the appearance of that title’s most famous character, Batman, who debuted in #27). He was a wealthy newsman named Lee Walter Travis residing on Earth-Two who took up the identity of the Crimson Avenger to battle crime.

Doll Man “The World’s Mightiest Mite,”was created by comics legend Will Eisner and first appeared in a four-page story entitled “Meet the Doll Man” in Feature Comics #27, the December, 1939. research chemist Darrell Dane, who invents a formula that enables him to shrink to the height of six inches while retaining the full strength of his normal size.

The Invisible Hood, first appeared in Smash Comics #1 in 1939, as published by Quality Comics in a story titled “Hooded Justice”.Kent Thurston’s origins or the origins of the cloak and chemical he used.

The Sandman (Wesley Dodds,Attired in a green business suit, fedora, and gas mask,he used a gun emitting a sleeping gas to sedate criminals. later on he became more of a traditional hero acquiring sidekick Sandy, and joining the Justice Society of America.

none of these heroes matched the selling power of Superman. that is until a shadow fell over the comics industry in the form of a Bat

Batman: referred to as the Bat-Man and still referred to at times as the Batman.

First appeared in detective comics #27 1939, Batman’s secret identity is Bruce Wayne, a wealthy industrialist, playboy, and philanthropist. Witnessing the murder of his parents as a child leads him to train himself to physical and intellectual perfection and don a bat-themed costume in order to fight crime.

Batman operates in the fictional Gotham City, assisted by various supporting characters including his sidekick Robin and his butler Alfred Pennyworth, and fights an assortment of villains influenced by the characters’ roots in film and pulp magazines. Unlike most superheroes, he does not possess any superpowers; he makes use of intellect, detective skills, science and technology, wealth, physical prowess, and intimidation in his war on crime.

created by

Bob Kane

and written by

Bill Finger

although only Kane receives official credit. The Batman was created based on a silent movie called the Bat Whispers and Da Vinci’s flying machine

and combined with the popular crime fighters of the time

Doc Savage, the Shadow and the detective skills of Sherlock Holmes.The first Batman story, “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate,” was published in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939).

Finger said, “Batman was originally written in the style of the pulps” and this influence was evident with Batman showing little remorse over killing or maiming criminals and was not above using firearms.

With the debut of The Batman, DC comics had two gang buster hits and open the flood gates for the Golden Age of comics.

Timely comics this same year released its first anti-hero Namor the sub mariner

Namor the Sub-Mariner first appeared in April 1939 in the prototype for a planned giveaway comic titled Motion Picture Funnies Weekly, produced by the comic book packager Funnies, Inc.

When the giveaway idea fell through, creator Everett used the character for Marvel Comics #1, the first comic book by Funnies, Inc. client Timely Comics, predecessor of Marvel.

next part of the history of comics: Golden Age heads to war!