Husband and wife voice actors Yuri Lowenthal (Superman in “Legion of Superheroes”) and Tara Platt (Wonder Woman in “DC Vs Mortal Kombat”) took a few minutes to talk to me at Comic-Con International about their upcoming book, Voice-Over Voice Actor, available for pre-order at BugBotPress.com.

- Matt Price

The sixth movie adventure of Harry Potter, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” hits theaters at midnight tonight.

Local librarians and booksellers say the movie, and the release of the seventh book in paperback, has quickened Potter mania yet again. They say “Harry Potter” books are flying off the shelves.

“They are pretty much always checked out in the last two or three weeks,” said Leanne Cheek, teen librarian at the Moore Public Library, which is sponsoring a Harry Potter party from 3:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The Oklahoma City Zoo will bring owls and a snake to the event from 4 to 5 p.m. The party will also feature a sorting hat, a costume competition and a Horcrux hunt.

There will be events geared at age groups from first grade to adult.

The magical events are pulled from the pages of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” book series.

“It’s been the one series that got a lot of kids interested in reading,” said Alicia Cox, manager at Second Chance Books in Warr Acres.

Cox said the store has been selling “Harry Potter” books every day for the past few weeks.

Mark Heisey, assistant librarian at the Noble Public Library, said movie releases tend to spur interest in the books.

Fans can watch the previous movie in the series and have Harry Potter-style snacks at the Noble library at 2 p.m. Thursday.

Meanwhile, tickets to the movie, including tonight’s midnight screenings, are going fast, with at least five screenings already sold out in the state.

“Harry is tracking to match last year’s juggernaut, ‘The Dark Knight,’ in advance ticket sales,” said Rick Butler, chief operating officer of online ticket seller Fandango, in a news release.

“Show times are selling out at a very fast pace, and it’s clear that the film’s wider blockbuster appeal, solid word-of-mouth and positive Internet buzz on ‘Half-Blood Prince’ are helping fuel the demand.”

Cheek said the progression of the characters and the battle of good versus evil are among the reasons that “Harry Potter” remains popular.

“It mixes our world with a magical world so that the things that happen are easy to imagine and easy to relate to, but also fantastical and fun,” Cheek said.

By Matthew Price
From Tuesday’s The Oklahoman

WORD BALLOONS

Superman meets Batman in the new novel from writer Kevin J. Anderson, “Enemies and Allies.” Anderson sets the first meeting of the two in the 1950s, at the height of the Cold War.

“It seemed unlikely to set a story in the modern day, and say that Batman and Superman have never heard of each other before,” Anderson said in a phone interview with The Oklahoman. “It felt more in keeping with the spirit of the universe if we set it back in a more nostalgic time. And of course the ’50s is the time we all remember from George Reeves as Clark Kent and Superman, and Noel Neill as Lois Lane, and that was the flavor I wanted to pick up on.”

In “Enemies and Allies,” Bruce Wayne’s Wayne Industries is at the forefront of many technological breakthroughs. But he’s being spied on by another industrialist, Lex Luthor, who wants to stoke Cold War tensions to build his own military-industrial empire.

“Set in the Cold War universe with Bruce Wayne as the big industrialist as well, Lex Luthor just seemed like the natural foil for both Bruce Wayne and Wayne Industries, and Clark Kent and Superman,” Anderson said.

Meanwhile, Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen, reporters for the Daily Planet, are sent to look into a possible flying saucer crash.

“We did the story in stages,” Anderson said. “One was doing Batman and Superman and deciding to set it in the ’50s. And in the ’50s, the primary thing is the Cold War, and everybody was afraid that the Russians were going to launch nuclear missiles at us, and everybody was doing disaster drills. The movies at the theater, they’re … all these wonderful flying saucer paranoia pictures.”

Ultimately, the 1950s setting became interwoven completely with the story.

“It became not just window dressing, but the ’50s setting and everybody’s attitudes about the Cold War, the paranoia about flying saucers, and all of these details became integral to the plot rather than just little backdrops,” Anderson said.

Another new release from Anderson is “Terra Incognita: The Edge of the World,” a fantasy novel featuring high-seas adventure. Additionally, a CD from ProgRock Records tying into the book’s release has lyrics by Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, with music by Erik Norlander (keyboardist for Asia Featuring John Payne).

“This idea’s been in my head for a long time, because I think a lot of the people who listen to that kind of music also listen to the kind of books that I write,” Anderson said. “It’s a crossover rock CD and fantasy novel.”

More about Kevin Anderson’s “Enemies and Allies” and “Terra Incognita” can be found at his Web site, www.wordfire.com.

- Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman

Jessica Akers, author

Local author Jessica L. Akers, who has written a book for young adults, will sign at the Moore Public Library on Saturday. Check out the full release:

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Young Adult Fiction author Jessica L. Akers will be signing copies of her newly released novel The Speaker at the Moore Public Library on Saturday, May 30, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Akers developed a passion for writing at a very young age. “I would write stories, draw pictures, and make them into books. Then I’d take them to school and my teacher would read them after recess.” Akers remembers. Akers got her inspiration for The Speaker while writing another book. She says that a line from the book just popped in her head and she immediately needed to know more about the girl who was talking and immediately The Speaker was born.

The Speaker takes place in Rapid City, South Dakota, revolving around the life of Nata Francis, a young Sioux Indian girl who discovers she has inherited the gift of orenda from her dearly departed grandfather. This gift is a sacred and honored power to possess, but Nata sees it all as a hoax and extreme inconvenience. It is not until one summer night, when a boy who needs help only Nata can give that she realizes she must accept this gift as well as her destiny. Nata must choose between following her head or following her heart.

Akers is a graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma, where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism. Akers has worked in production and has written articles for The Vista and is a member of Oklahoma City Writers, Inc. For updates on upcoming books and other events please visit www.jessicaakers.com.

Looking for more “Wolverine” reading? For this week’s “Wolverine Wednesday” I’ll go off the beaten path a bit and recommend an out-of-print (but findable) “X-Men” novel from 1998: X-Men: Law of the Jungle, by Dave Smeds.
Ka-Zar calls the X-Men to the Savage Land when Sauron and a gang of mutates are kidnapping Savage Land natives.  Sauron’s goal, however, was to lure in the X-Men, to feed on their mutant energies.  This Sauron seems more devious than ever before — Psylocke, of the X-Men, thinks she knows why.  The X-Team featured in this book are Wolverine, Cannonball, Beast, Iceman, Psylocke, Archangel and Storm.  If you enjoy Ka-Zar and his supporting cast — Shanna the She-Devil and Zabu the sabretooth — you’re even more in luck.  I’ve been slowly making my way through all the X-Men novels in the past few years, and I’d say this is one of the better ones.
Admittedly, this might have been more appropriate for a Ka-Zar day than a Wolverine Wednesday — this is the most prominently I’ve ever seen Ka-Zar featured in a Marvel novel.  But Wolverine does have a starring role, and, just check him out taking on Sauron on that cover!

– Matt Price

Writer Chuck Klosterman will visit the University of Oklahoma on Tuesday to speak about the media and journalism. Klosterman, known for his pop culture essays in books including “Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs,” is attending at the request of some of the top students in the Gaylord College of Journalism.

“Every year the Gaylord Ambassadors bring a special guest or guests to speak to the College and University as a whole,” said Chris Borthick, adviser to the Gaylord Ambassadors. “The Ambassadors, comprised of some of the top students in the College of Journalism, came up with ideas regarding who to invite, but the name on the majority of their lists was Chuck Klosterman.”

After that it was a matter of contacting him and working on getting him here

Klosterman graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1994 and began work as a journalist. After his first book, “Fargo Rock City,” he moved to New York City in 2002 where he worked for publications including Spin, GQ and The Washington Post.

Variety reported in November 2008 that Klosterman’s 2005 book, “Killing Yourself to Live,” had been optioned for film by Half Shell Entertainment. In “Killing Yourself to Live,” Klosterman wrote about his experiences traveling to places where famous musicians died.

Chuck Klosterman

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Dale Hall, Room 200.

433 Lindsey, Norman

Book signing immediately following in Gaylord Hall

By Matthew Price
From Monday’s The Oklahoman

Oklahoma writer Mel Odom, of Moore, will create a Green Hornet story for Moonstone Books. The publisher plans a series of short-story collections featuring the character.

The Green Hornet is secretly newspaper publisher Britt Reid, who is assisted by his ally Kato, who was played by Bruce Lee in the 1960s TV series.

Odom, who sported a “Green Hornet” lunchbox in the 1960s, was excited to return to a favorite hero.

“For a chance to get to play around with heroes you grew up with, you can’t go wrong with that,” Odom said in a recent phone interview.

Odom said the story would be set in the past, and be true to the Green Hornet’s mythos.

“It’ll have some of the flavor from the TV show and radio show,” Odom said. “It’s going to have the feel of crime fiction … he’s going to be a man totally on the outside.”

The Green Hornet was himself an outlaw, pretending to ally with criminals to destroy them from inside. Thus, he faced danger from the police and criminals alike.

“We’re obviously thrilled to add The Green Hornet to our stable of licensed properties,” said Moonstone publisher and The Green Hornet editor Joe Gentile in a release. “As a huge fan, I’ve dreamed of bringing back and adding to these great characters’ legacy. It is an honor and a responsibility we take very seriously. I can’t wait to see the new crime fiction stories come in from the many talented authors we have lined up.”

Contributing authors include Harlan Ellison, Max Allan Collins, Ed Gorman, Mel Odom, Greg Cox, Will Murray, Ron Marz and others. Actor Van Williams, who starred in the 1960’s television show, will introduce the first prose volume.

Former Disney artist Rubén Procopio will art direct and contribute cover art and interior illustrations for each volume.

WORD BALLOONS

“Watchmen,” the Zack Snyder adaptation of the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, hits theaters next month. In the meantime, DC Comics and Titan Books have created books and merchandise to take fans into the alternate 1980s world of “Watchmen.”

First, the story itself. Named one of Time magazine’s 100 greatest novels, the “Watchmen” graphic novel is available in a variety of formats.

Most impressively, the oversized “Absolute Watchmen” ($75) features 48 pages of supplemental material beyond the 12-issue series. It contains the series proposal, pages from the original script, and additional art. The art was remastered and recolored for the original printing of “Absolute Watchmen,” and it’s now used for all of the “Watchmen” reprints.

Also available are a “Watchmen” hardcover ($39.99), a “Watchmen” trade paperback collection ($19.99) and a single-issue reprint of “Watchmen” issue No. 1 ($1.50).

In addition to the book, DC’s toy division, DC Direct, has created action figures, busts and props of the “Watchmen” characters.

Titan Books, meanwhile, has released four tie-in books surrounding the “Watchmen” film.

“Watching the Watchmen,” written by Dave Gibbons, comes in two editions. The comic-store exclusive edition has a cover featuring the character “The Comedian” and additional pages. It’s also signed by Gibbons and comes with exclusive prints. This edition retails for $50. The standard edition retails for $39.95 and has a cover featuring Dr. Manhattan.

“Watchmen: Portraits” ($50) features black-and-white portrait shots of people in the film, ranging from stars to extras, and was shot by official movie photographer Clay Enos.

“Watchmen: The Film Companion” ($29.95 hardcover, $19.95 softcover) was written by Peter Aperlo and explores the behind-the-scenes making of the film. Aperlo also writes “Watchmen: The Art of the Film,” ($40), which features storyboards, photography and preproduction art. Possibly most intriguing for comic-book fans will be the new art created by Gibbons, as well as alternate takes on the characters by comic-book artists John Cassaday, David Finch and Adam Hughes.

All of the Titan Books releases contain spoilers for the film and graphic novel, so read the book or see the film prior to reading the ancillary material.

Judging from the books, Snyder and company look to have created a rich alternate world, and tried to respect the graphic novel, which has engrossed readers for more than 20 years.

– Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman

WORD BALLOONS

Today is Friday the 13^th, a day known for horrific happenings. Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, a day noted for love and romance.

If you’re a comic-book character, sometimes the two are closely intertwined.

Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, married in “Amazing Spider-Man” Annual No. 18, found their marriage undone and history rewritten in the storyline “One More Day.”

While Peter’s again a swinging single in current issues of “Amazing Spider-Man,” Spider-fans who preferred the romance and marriage of Peter and MJ can seek out several stories that celebrate the relationship – and some feature horror and peril, as well.

“Spider-Man: Carnage in New York,” a 1998 novel by David Michelinie and Dean Wesley Smith, features the escape of the horrific, mass-murdering Carnage, one of Spider-Man’s greatest foes.

Carnage was the spawn of Venom, and both spawned from the alien symbiote that Spider-Man brought back from the Beyonder’s world in “Secret Wars.” When Spider-Man rejected the symbiote, it bonded with Eddie Brock, a reporter who hates Spider-Man. Later, a piece of the symbiote merged with Brock’s cellmate, the murderer Cletus Kassady.

Michelinie created both Venom and Carnage in the pages of “Amazing Spider-Man,” and wrote the issue that married Peter and Mary Jane. He and novelist Smith capture Carnage’s horrific nature in the novel.

But there’s also room for love – as Peter’s Aunt May faces losing her house, Mary Jane must stand strong with love for her husband and family.

A newlywed Peter Parker took on another of his greatest villains, Kraven the Hunter, in the storyline “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” written by J.M. DeMatteis and drawn by Mike Zeck. “Last Hunt,” considered one of the great Spider-Man stories, has both elements of true horror and true love, as Spider-Man’s love for Mary Jane sustains him through one of his greatest challenges.

“Kraven’s Last Hunt” was reprinted again last year in trade paperback format by Marvel, collecting “Web of Spider-Man” Nos. 31-32, “Amazing Spider-Man” Nos. 293-294, and “Spectacular Spider-Man” Nos. 131-132.

By Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman

The new version is only 10.2 ounces and only 1/3 of an inch thick.  It seems like an improvement over the original Kindle, though its lack of color makes it still an unlikely format for comic books.  (Some black and white comics and graphic novels have been adapted to the Kindle.)  Still, it seems another positive move forward in the development of a light, handy e-reader.

The Kindle 2 will be released Feb. 24.

– Matt Price

The author, who had been privately battling cancer, was 66.

I went through a heavy Crichton phase in high school, shortly after “Jurassic Park” came out.  In 1991, It seemed like that was the book everyone was reading at my school, even people who wouldn’t ordinarily carry a book around.  I liked it quite a bit, and tore through the school library’s Crichton section.    Of course, Crichton had been around for quite some time as an author before then, so there were several books to choose from.

After “The Lost World” in 1995, I haven’t read another Crichton book.  He slowed down publishing them, and I moved onto other authors, I suppose.  But I was always glad he’d motivated so many that I knew to pick up a book.

– Matt Price

Hugo Award winner Ben Bova has a new novel, “Mars Life,” which follows up on his two previous Mars novels, “Mars” and “Return to Mars.” Jamie Waterman, the first man to step foot on Mars, still is the head of the Mars program, which is funded partially by the U.S. and other governments, but mostly by private funding.

However, facing pressure from religious conservatives, the U.S. government pulls funding from the Mars program. With Earth facing fallout from global warming at home, private funding is getting harder to come by as well. Waterman thinks his scientists are on the verge of several breakthroughs to find out more about life on Mars — but even harder than the battle against the Martian elements is Waterman’s battle against political opportunism.

Bova answered a few questions for Nerdage about space, politics and Mars.

Matt Price: In what ways has science fiction predicted what we now know about Mars?

Ben Bova: It’s been the other way around: science fiction stories about Mars have depended pretty heavily on current astronomical thinking about what conditions on the red planet might be. For example, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Barsoom” novels were based (loosely) on Percival Lowell’s very popular descriptions of what he thought Mars was like. Stanley Weinbaum also used current knowledge for his “A Martian Odyssey.” Ray Bradbury – well, Ray based his Mars on nostalgic memories of the American midwest. My own Mars novels are solidly based on what NASA spacecraft have shown us about the planet.

MP: Do you think it’s important for humans to attempt a Mars landing?

BB: Hell, yes! For years I would argue with Carl Sagan that robotic spacecraft can’t possibly tell us all we want to learn about Mars. Human explorers can do much more than pre-programmed machines. Carl eventually came around to my way of thinking, once he began to realize how limited – and frustrating – the robots can be.

MP: How do you think further space travel should be financed?

BB: Scientific explorations should be financed by government and/or private grants. Space efforts aimed at making profits – from tourism, mining, manufacturing, erecting permanent settlements, etc. – should be privately funded.

MP: A push and pull between science and politics takes place in “Mars Life.” What type of space policy would you like to see out of politicians, today?

BB: Think about how we settled the western frontier in the 19th century. Jefferson sent out scouts such as Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike, et al. Scouting out the new territory is a legitimate government responsibility, in my view, and the taxpayers should be willing to pay for it. When people move into the new territory to make homes for themselves or to start business ventures, the government should provide a certain level of information and protection, and allow enough freedom of action for private citizens to prosper.

– Matt Price

From Friday’s The Oklahoman: 

By Matthew Price
Assistant Features Editor

WORD BALLOONS

Unusual superheroes populate “Who Can Save Us Now?,” a superhero prose anthology from 22 writers, including Will Clarke, Jennifer Weiner and Sam Weller.

The anthology was edited by Owen King (“We’re All in This Together”) and John McNally (“America’s Report Card”).

Heroes include the creepy Silverfish, the cuddly-but-deadly Meerkat and dozens more.

“The idea was that superheroes mean really different things to different people,” King said. “And what we hoped, and we’re very happy with the way it turned out, is that would be reflected in the narratives.”

King’s character in the anthology is the Meerkat, a television producer who gains the powers and abilities of a meerkat.

“I was on the treadmill one day, trying to think about anything other than running,” King said. The show ‘Meerkat Manor,’ which he had been watching regularly, popped into his head.

“All of a sudden I had this idea that it would be funny, and it would also present an interesting conflict, to give a character the powers of a meerkat,” he said. “Because they’re cute and cuddly looking, but if you watch the show, they’re really brutal cold-blooded killers.”

He imagined a character with meerkat abilities who would be associated with a cute animal, and wondered what that would do to the hero’s self-esteem.

“I thought it would be interesting to put a character with self-esteem issues into a city that I thought had some self-esteem issues, which was Cleveland,” he said.

King’s co-editor John McNally created the creepy hero Silverfish for the anthology.

“My interest in superheroes was limited mostly to TV as opposed to comic books, so it wasn’t a genre I felt like I knew intimately,” McNally said, adding that he read “The Dark Knight Returns” and “a few other things in the Frank Miller mode” in college.

“Place is always really important to me in my own fiction, and the first thing I thought was I write a lot about the southwest side of Chicago, which is a very blue-collar place,” McNally said. “And I thought, what if we have a superhero who’s living in kind of a small bungalow on the southwest side of Chicago?”

McNally tells the story of the Silverfish — a hero who takes his namesake seriously, going so far as to survive on hair, glue and other silverfish food. McNally’s tale is told from the point of view of the Silverfish’s butler.

“I have this butler who’s living in small quarters on the southwest side of Chicago with the Silverfish, who’s been called the ‘creepiest superhero,” McNally said. “The title, ‘The Remains of the Night,’ is a play on ‘The Remains of the Day,’ the novel by (Kazuo) Ishiguro from the point of view of the butler.”

Other stories take different points of view, as well: “Girl Reporter” by Stephanie Harrell features the point of view of the “Lois Lane” type character, while other stories feature a sidekick or fan of the superhero of the story.

Both McNally and King (son of writer Stephen King) would like for “Who Can Save Us Now?” to lead to more superhero stories.

“It’s piqued my interest in terms of wanting to do something more,” McNally said. “I felt like there was a certain freedom to that story, that I found myself just having a lot more fun with it.”

King agreed.

“My fondest dream is that this will make enough of an impression that we could do it again,” he said. “I can easily think of another set of writers that I’d love to ask, ‘What’s your superhero?’”

– Matt Price

From Friday’s The Oklahoman: 

By Matthew Price
Assistant Features Editor

WORD BALLOONS

The alien takeover of earth in the hit 1983 TV miniseries “V” spurred comic books, video games and other ancillary spinoffs. Creator Kenneth Johnson returned to the world of “V” this year with his sequel novel “V: The Second Generation.”

“The Second Generation” is being developed as a possible TV movie or miniseries.

The original miniseries, a story of America under occupation seen by 80 million people, was inspired by Sinclair Lewis’ book, “It Can’t Happen Here.”

“With ‘V,’ it was very interesting, because my initial concept for ‘V’ had nothing to do whatsoever with aliens,” Johnson said. “I had been going through the works of Sinclair Lewis, who wrote ‘Elmer Gantry’ and ‘Main Street’ and a bunch of great novels. A lesser known novel of his is called ‘It Can’t Happen Here.’”

“It Can’t Happen Here” details an America overrun by fascism.

“What an interesting idea, to turn America into a state that was run by a tyranny and operated by fascists,” Johnson said, who was inspired to write a screenplay about a grassroots fascistic movement taking hold in the United States.

Brandon Tartikoff, then the head of NBC, read it, and wasn’t sure Americans would get fascism. He proposed that America would instead be under occupation by the Russians, or Chinese. Johnson said he wasn’t sure it was believable that the Chinese or Russians could sustain an occupation. Then, Johnson said, someone suggested aliens.

“Here I go again,” Johnson said. As the creator of “The Bionic Woman” and the developer of “The Incredible Hulk” for television, he was wary of being pigeonholed in science fiction. However, after considering the idea further, he changed his mind.

“The more I thought about it, the more I realized it was a great opportunity, because not only could I tell the story that I wanted to tell, about how ordinary people are changed or corrupted or become heroic because of extraordinary circumstances, but I could do it in a way where I had all this wonderful visual eye candy that would attract everyone’s attention,” he said.

This allowed Johnson to tell his story, which was “not about aliens or reptilian races or spacecraft, but a story in which the theme was power,” he said. “People who had power and abused it … and ultimately the heroes, who say, ‘This power is being abused and I have to fight against it.’”

Power returns as a theme in “Second Generation,” as does another theme, which Johnson said wasn’t originally intended, but sort of “bubbled up” as he was writing it.

“Virtually all of the principal characters in the Second Generation have at one point or another a crisis of conscience about loyalty,” Johnson said. “And loyalty is a theme that ruminates entirely through the ‘Second Generation.’”

From Friday’s The Oklahoman: 

By Matthew Price
Assistant Features Editor

WORD BALLOONS

Many people thinking of comics from the 1940s would think of muscled supercharacters such as Superman and Batman. But writer Ron Goulart follows another trend, that’s continued from the early days of comic books until today.

“Good Girl Art,” the latest book by comics historian Goulart, traces the popularity of drawing pretty, often scantily-clad female characters back to the Phantom Lady, Torchy, and Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.

Comics originally were reprints of comic strips from newspapers. But after the success of Superman in “Action Comics,” more and more publishers began requesting original material.

By 1941, “some of the more crafty publishers realized it wasn’t just kids (reading comics), it was teenage boys, it was young men,” Goulart said in a phone interview.

“The thing about GIs in the Second World War, they were kids, 18 or so,” Goulart said.

Rather than look solely at Superman, these teens and young men “might want to see somebody in a bikini, like Sheena,” he said.

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, is described by Goulart as a “blonde, female Tarzan,” and was published in “Jumbo Comics,” from the shop of Jerry Iger and Will Eisner.

“What distinguished her from Tarzan, Ka-Zar and the other comic book jungle characters was that a great many readers found her a bit more interesting to look at,” Goulart writes in “Good Girl Art.”

“Her core audience was added to appreciably during World War II, when thousands of pin-up happy GIs joined the ‘Jumbo’ readership.”

The Good Girl style of art took a bit of a beating in the 1950s, as Dr. Frederic Wertham, senior psychiatrist of the New York Department of Hospitals, led a crusade against comics that caused the adoption of the Comics Code. This voluntary code slowed down Good Girl Art, but it came back in the 1960s and 1970s.

“By the 1970s, you have a college audience and an older audience,” Goulart said, that was drawn to characters like Vampirella and a revived Black Canary.

“Good Girl Art” also follows the career of Dave Stevens in the 1980s.

“We have two pieces of his work, the one where he did the Betty Page-type character for the Rocketeer, and then he did an unpublished Phantom Lady, which is one of the last ones in the book,” Goulart said. “He was one of the, in his period … one of the most popular guys doing that kind of thing. He certainly helped the revival of interest in Betty Page, as well. Betty Page also influenced the return of Phantom Lady in the ’40s.”

And Good Girl art continues to this day, with artists like Frank Cho, who provided the cover to “Good Girl Art,” and Adam Hughes.

But one thing that’s changed is the role the women play.

“In the old days, like the ’40s … when you saw women on comic book covers, about half of them would be victims,” Goulart said. “Now when there’s women on the cover of a comic book, I would say 95 (percent) or 99 percent of them are heroes. You don’t see the woman being saved anymore, you see the woman saving someone else.”

Goulart says comic books often reflect what’s going on in the world and in society.

“In the Second World War you had Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth and you had pin-up girls. This was what was going on. Comics were aimed mostly … (at) males. So they’re going to put pictures of pretty women,” he said. “I didn’t invent that, and I’m not justifying it, but that’s the way it is. You could say, well, this is a very sexist thing, but … the good girl art, for the most part (is) incredibly tame considering what you can see in the men’s magazines, or certainly on the Internet now. It’s a very sedate kind of sexiness.”

Hadju says:

There were very few things in the 1940s and 1950s that were produced, marketed and priced specifically for young people to buy. And a great many comic book artists in the 1930s and ’40s were kids themselves, just in their teens or maybe their early ’20s. If they’re not young people, a great many of them were outsiders of other sorts.

A great, great many of them were members of minority groups – Jews, Italians, Asian-Americans – African-Americans, many more than people realize – and a great many women. They thought of comics as a place where they were welcome, and in comic books they expressed their pride in their outsider status. And comics were free and wild. Anything did go in comics, and they went too far.

More in the link.

Fantagraphics has announced a biography of pioneering artist Joe Kubert, slated for June release.  “Man of Rock,” written by Bill Schelly, will examine the life and career of the popular “Sgt. Rock” and “Hawkman” cartoonist, who founded the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art.

From Fantagraphics:

Joe Kubert’s extraordinary career spans the history of the comic book in America: he began drawing comics in 1938, just as Superman made his debut in Action Comics #1, and continues to be one of the most vital cartoonists working today, writing and drawing both mainstream comic book characters as well as, more recently, graphic novels of his own conception.

MAN OF ROCK: A BIOGRAPHY OF JOE KUBERT provides a unique, behind-the-scenes look at the career of one of the most distinctive, dynamic artists in the history of comics. Bill Schelly’s insightful book covers all facets of Kubert’s creative life: artist, writer, innovator, entrepreneur, and educator. It abounds in heretofore unknown details about Kubert’s life and work, and is rich in colorful anecdotes drawn from numerous interviews the author conducted with Kubert’s colleagues, family and friends. MAN OF ROCK: A BIOGRAPHY OF JOE KUBERT is a full-bodied biography intended to be read and enjoyed by anyone interested in the history of American popular culture.

 – Matt Price

Tor Books brought the Wild Cards universe of George R. R. Martin back this month with “Inside Straight.”  Now, go deeper into the world of the novel with the American Hero Web site, exploring the reality show that provides much of the plot for the novel.

From Tor Books:

Tor Books is proud to present “American Heroes,” the Wild Cards website spin-off blog featuring the characters from Inside Straight, the newest Wild Cards mosaic novel. One of the longest-running series in the shared worlds and fantasy genre, Wild Cards has the superheroes in its latest installment competing in a top reality TV show called “American Heroes.”
 
Now, in addition to the brand new Wild Cards website that launched in December, George R. R. Martin and the authors of Inside Straight have contributed all original narrative and scintillating “behind the scenes” material to a new “American Heroes” blog. Each week, the narrative follows the characters of Inside Straight as they compete–some surviving for another round and others getting voted off the show.
 
Featuring all original artwork by Mike Miller, the “American Heroes” site shows visual profiles of each character and “confessionals” from the individual superheroes.

Today, Tor Books relaunches the popular “Wild Cards” series with “Inside Straight.”  Edited by George R. R. Martin, “Wild Cards” were a series of shared-universe anthology novels that examined a world where superheroes were real.  An alien virus was released on Earth in 1946, killing 9 of every 10 exposed to it. Most of those who survive become deformed, but one in 100 is gifted with amazing powers.  These “jokers” and “aces” are at the heart of the “Wild Cards” series.  This was a favorite for me when they debuted in 1987, and I’m glad, 20 years later, to see the series return.  

Info from Tor:  

Launched in 1987, WILD CARDS is the longest-running series in the shared worlds and fantasy genre. A contemporary world of smart, complicated, and incredibly diverse superheroes is brilliantly re-imagined by this group of acclaimed fantasy writers.

Tor Books is proud to present the re-launch of this landmark series with its eighteenth volume, Inside Straight (A Tor hardcover; $24.95; January 22, 2008). Headed up by #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin, a top-notch cast of authors introduce a new generation of young, hip, and messed-up superheroes in an interconnected storyline that spans from Egypt to Hollywood.

Meet the girl whose stuffed dragon becomes a fifty-foot, fire-breathing version of itself (and she has a whole bag full of other little stuffies …), the six-armed drummer man most likely to appear on a Rolling Stones cover, and the fox-tailed Japanese guy who uses mythology to create optical illusions.

It is 2007, and the highest rated show on television is American Hero. Earth Witch, Pop Tart, Curveball, Bugsy, and twenty-four other young superheroes—aka “aces”—battle one other in a series of tasks and stunts. On this reality show like no other, alliances form and rivalries explode, as the aces race to make it to the final showdown.

Many years ago, a DNA-altering alien virus was accidentally unleashed, killing 90 percent of those infected. Nine percent of the survivors mutated into “jokers,” tragically deformed creatures—while the other one percent, the “aces,” found themselves transformed with superpowers.

Others still carried the “wild card” within them, never knowing the day when their card would turn . . .

Now a new generation has come of age, a generation born into the world of the wild card. Computer geeks, hip-hop freaks, rock stars, and Bohemian slackers—these are the new aces for the millennium. They don’t really understand what the first generation went through—but they know that the world still needs saving and that their parents didn’t quite do the job.

As intrigue boils on and off the set of the American Hero reality show—with a few surprises, tricksters, and old friends shaking up the act—an incident in the Middle East escalates a worldwide event that will involve all the superheroes . . . no matter which side they’re on.

With cameo appearances by the first generation “aces,” INSIDE STRAIGHT is action-packed dangerous fun with an unforgettable and unpredictable cast of characters. This is only the beginning of a projected triad of volumes—so let the games begin.

In addition, Dabel is prepping a comic-book series for April.  From the release:

“Wild Cards is one of those series in science fiction that many comic book fans have read, because it’s really a sci-fi take on superheroes,” explained Ernst Dabel, President of Dabel Brothers Publishing. “And that’s excellent news, because this story feels right at home in the format. It’s a great way for old fans to enjoy the story in a new way, and it’s also a wonderful introduction to the world of Wild Cards for those who’ve never had a chance to read the books before.”

– Matt Price

I got really into these books in high school and early college, but then I got frustrated with waiting for them to come out.  I always figured I’d go back to them when they were finished.   Since Jordan’s death, I’ve been interested in going back and reading them.  Maybe if I got started now, I’d finish by 2009.