DC Comics’ pulp ‘Wave’ takes the super out of heroes

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By Bill Radford 
The Colorado Springs Gazette
March 5, 2010

It’s a world with heroes — but no superheroes.

The first issue of "First Wave," a six-issue miniseries from DC Comics, arrives in comic book shops this week, ushering in a whole new universe.

The "First Wave" universe has its roots in the pulp adventures of yesteryear. There is a Batman, but there’s no Superman, no Wonder Woman — the "First Wave" heroes are merely mortal.

Standing above the rest of those heroes is Doc Savage — sort of "Superman with a lowercase ’s,’" said Brian Azzarello, who crafted the "First Wave" universe and is writer of the miniseries. Doc Savage may not have powers like Superman, but "physically he’s the best, mentally he’s the best," Azzarello said.

Batman, meanwhile, is the new hero on the scene.

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Hogarth and Montana named to Eisner Hall of Fame (Comic Book Resources)

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The Eisner Awards judges have selected legendary artists Burne Hogarth and Bob Montana for automatic induction this summer into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame.

Hogarth, who passed away in 1996, was an illustrator best known for his work on the Tarzan newspaper strip, an art educator and the author of influential anatomy and drawing books. Montana, who died in 1975, was the co-creator of Archie who drew the Riverdale gang for three decades.

The judges also chose 13 nominees from which voters may select four to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for 2010:

• Carl Burgos -- the late Golden Age-era artist and co-creator of the original Human Torch

• Steve Gerber -- the late writer and co-creator of Howard the Duck and Omega the Unknown

• Dick Giordano -- the artist and longtime DC Comics editor

• Michael Kaluta -- the artist best known for his work on Starstruck and The Shadow • Jack Kamen -- the late illustrator and prolific EC Comics artist

• Frans Masereel -- the late painter, woodcut artist and creator of Mon Livre d'Heures

• George McManus -- the late cartoonist and creator of Bringing Up Father

• Sheldon Moldoff -- one of Bob Kane's primary "ghost artists," and co-creator of Hawkgirl and Poison Ivy

• Marty Nodell -- the late artist and co-creator of the Golden Age Green Lantern • Bob Oksner -- the late artist known for his work on humor, adventure and superhero comics

• Bob Powell -- the late artist known for his work on Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, and Blackhawk

• Yoshihiro Tatsumi -- the creator of Abandon the Old in Tokyo, A Drifting Life and The Push Man and other stories

• Mort Weisinger -- the late and longtime DC Comics editor and co-creator of Aquaman, Green Arrow and Johnny Quick Online voting is open now through March 31.

The inductees will be announced during the Eisner Awards ceremony held July 23 during Comic-Con.
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Toy-A-Day Day 153: The Spirit (Will Eisner)

The Spirit (Denny Colt) is a crime-fighting fictional character created by writer-artist Will Eisner. He first appeared in Spirit Section #1 (June 2 1940), a seven-page insert into American Sunday-newspaper comics sections. He currently appears in comic books published by DC Comics.

The Spirit chronicles the adventures of a masked vigilante who fights crime with the blessing of the city's police commissioner Dolan, an old friend. The stories range 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.

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The Spirit gets a new DC neighbor: Doc Savage!

Two of my all-time favorite characters are The Shadow and Doc Savage, so you can imagine my delight upon reading at ComicBookResources.com that Savage will be joining Will Eisner's The Spirit and Blackhawk in an alternative branch of the DC Universe.

As a teen, I read all the Doc Savage paperbacks and found them imaginative and thrilling. It will be great to see another comeback for Doc, Renny, Ham and the gang!

Read all about it HERE!

The Spirit #31, July 2009; Cover by Nick Cardy (Thanks, Airboy!)

The Spirit #31

Written by Mike Ploog; Art by Mike Ploog and Dan Green; Cover by Nick Cardy

Commissioner Dolan's nephew Danny is in a whole heap of trouble, and it falls to The Spirit to rescue him – but to do so, he's got to contend with Danny's amnesia, a priceless stolen artifact, and the latest in The Spirit's run of femmes fatales, the deadly "Adios!" Don't miss Eisner colleague Mike Ploog's return to THE SPIRIT in this two-part story!

Michael Avon Oeming Talks The Spirit (ComicBookResources.com)

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by Shaun Manning, Staff Writer
March 25th, 2009
ComicBookResources.com

Issue #30 of “The Spirit,” DC Comics' modern take on Will Eisner's classic masked crimefighter, will feature story and art by Michael Avon Oeming, co-creator of Icon’s “Powers” with Brian Michael Bendis. On sale in June and sporting a Kevin Nowlan cover, “The Spirit” #30 is a one-off tale that finds the Spirit caught in the middle of a gang war, and it's down to Denny Colt to save his beloved city.

CBR News caught up with Oeming to discuss the issue, following in Eisner's footsteps, and his support for the Hero Initiative, the non-profit group dedicated to helping comics creators in financial or medical need.

“The city is caught in a war between the Yakuza and Triads, it's tearing the city apart and the Spirit has to find a peace,” Oeming told CBR, explaining the premise of his “The Spirit” #30 story. “Not to get all Zen, but it's a story about balance. Crime/Cops, the law/vigilante etc. There's lots to play on in the world of the Spirit.”

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Episode 97: The Spirit of Will Eisner (Think About It)

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By Chase Bouzigard and Blake Petit

This week, Blake and Chase talk about The Spirit's history in comics, his current status in DC comics, and how the legendary Will Eisner turned a guy in a blue three-piece suit into one of the most innovative superheroes ever created. In the picks this week, Blake recommends Archer and Armstrong: First Impressions, and Chase is still loving the new Flash Gordon series. Don't forget to send us your votes for our Best of 2008 episode! You can find the categories and nominees in Episode 95! E-mail us with your votes, as well as comments, "Ask Chase Anything" questions, or anything else at Showcase@comixtreme.com!

Click HERE to Listen!

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Uslan and DeSanto Catch the Spirit (PW.com)

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By Douglas Wolk

Publishers Weekly

12/15/2008

From February through April, DC's The Spirit series will have a guest writing team: Michael Uslan and F.J. DeSanto, the producers of the Frank Miller-directed Spirit movie that's opening this month. Uslan hasn't written many comics since he became the producer of the Batman movies (aside from the Batman graphic novel Detective No. 27 a few years ago), but he wrote stories for The Shadow, Beowulf, Detective Comics and other series back in the early '70s, when, as he put it at a recent interview in New York, "I was a Junior Woodchuck at DC Comics. They didn't have the term 'intern' then, but it was me and that skinny kid—what was his name?—Paul... Levitz! Levitz! I don't know what happened to him, but he was a Woodchuck too."

The difficulty with creating new Spirit comics, DeSanto noted, is that the character is so closely identified with Eisner: "It's not like Batman, where you have 70 years of Batman stories by so many different creators that you can do The Dark Knight or you can do the Brave and the Bold cartoon—it's Eisner, and that's it." So, before they started writing, he and Uslan made a list of elements of Eisner's work they had to incorporate into every Spirit story.

"They had to have cinematic storytelling, influenced heavily by Hitchcock," Uslan said. "In terms of the heart of the story, they had to be influenced by Frank Capra. There had to be humanity in these stories. They had to be character-driven. Eisner's humor had to be there. Eisner's violence quotient had to be there. Eisner's over-the-top villains had to be there, and Eisner's femme fatales"—the three issues Uslan and DeSanto have written are built around Plaster of Paris, Silken Floss and Lorelei, all of whom also appear in the movie, and they're connected by a plot involving Eisner's foremost villain, the Octopus. Drawn by the former Shadowpact team of Justiniano and Walden Wong, they're full of other little nods to Eisner's work; the first page of their first issue echoes the first page of the classic Spirit story "Ten Minutes."

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INDEX to MR. MEDIA INTERVIEWS

TV Stars * TV Producers * Movie Stars * Movie Directors, Producers, documentary Filmmakers and Screenwriters * Politicians and Political Writers * Stand-Up Comedians * Health Experts * Magazine Editors * Radio Stars * Bloggers, Podcasters and Web Producers * Novelists * Musicians and Music Journalists * Sexuality Experts * Culture and Society Experts * Food Experts * Biographers, Historians and A.J. Jacobs * Athletes and Sports Experts * Photographers * Journalists * Crime Experts * CEOs and Business Experts * Comic Book Creators * Cartoonists * Will Eisner Co-Workers, Friends and Experts

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The 12 comic-related gifts of Christmas

Cover of
The Best of the Spirit

Written by Jim Beard

Toledo Free Press

You only think your true love isn’t into comics. With the incredible expanse of comic book themes, characters, and licensed tie-ins being published, there’s never been a better time to gift that comic-enthusiast or potential comic-enthusiast on your list. Here’s a handy list of 12 tomes with which to surprise and delight this year:

4. “The Best of The Spirit” (DC Comics, $14.99)” Another book to absorb before the film adaptation arrives this month; this archive is the cream of the crop of Will Eisner’s trendsetting Spirit stories. If you know fans of hard-boiled mysteries, these 22 tales are for them.

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Mike Gold, COMICMIX.com editor, co-founder: Mr. Media Interview

Image via WikipediaRemember when convenience stores had spinning racks with signs at the top that shouted, “Hey, Kid! Comics!”?

Actually, I barely remember that myself, it’s been so long. Finding comic books hasn’t been easy since the late 1970s. And the comic book companies don’t even make the real dough from the so-called 32-page “pamphlets” anymore. The real money is in selling characters to the movies or as toys.

So what’s a guy to do if he just wants the simple pleasure of reading a comic book?

Fire up the web browser and head for ComicMix.com.

ComicMix is all things to all people, publishing online comic books as well as being a one-stop shop for comics news and views.

Joining me to day is one of the three founders of ComicMix.com, a veteran of DC Comics himself, Mike Gold.

You can LISTEN to this interview with COMICMIX.com co-founder MIKE GOLD by clicking the BlogTalkRadio.com audio player below!

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Copyright 2008 Bob Andelman. Click here for copyright permissions!

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DC rush solicits "The Spirit Special" #1 (CBR News)

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Official Press Release

With Frank Miller's highly anticipated movie of The Spirit coming in December, DC Comics rush solicits THE SPIRIT SPECIAL #1.

"We're pleased to offer this Special based on suggestions made at the Diamond retailer summit in Las Vegas," says Bob Wayne, DC's VP - Sales. "This issue will be a great way to introduce curious customers to The Spirit as the movie gets closer."

Offered at a cover price of $2.99 US, this 32-page comic includes a cover four classic stories by Will Eisner: 1947's "Sign of the Octopus," 1949's "Black Alley," and "Sand Saref" and "Bring in Sand Saref," both from 1950.

THE SPIRIT SPECIAL #1 (SEP088005) is scheduled to arrive in stores on November 19 and has a Final Order Cutoff date of Thursday, October 30.

Retailers may order this item by contacting their Diamond Customer Service Representative or DC Sales Representative, or by email at reorders@diamondcomics.com.

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