* At The Comics Reporter, Tom Spurgeon is compiling a canon of underground cartoonists. As a very young comics reader, my earliest exposure to underground comix scared the living shit out of me; so familiar, and yet so obviously blasphemous and forbidden. In a metaphorical sense, I ran like hell. It was stuff like what we once called "ground-level" comics like Star*Reach and FantaCo's Gates of Eden that served as a bridge to the undergrounds for me in my middle teens. Some of the people on Spurgeon's list I've never heard of; others, like Crumb, Gloeckner and Jaxon, I hold in the very highest regard. Interestingly, I first discovered Eisner and Kurtzman in what could be called underground comix, although obviously neither of those two greats was truly an underground cartoonist. Despite the plethora of reprints and books about the undergrounds, I feel like there's still a great deal left to be said about the underground comix movement. Certainly without it comics would be very different today, and far more creatively bankrupt as a whole.
* Joe Casey explains how easy it is to do the right thing: "If I were offered one of the Before Watchmen titles to write...I would’ve turned down the gig simply on the basis of Moore having stated unequivocally that he’d rather this specific project didn’t exist." See how easy that was, scabs?
* Courtesy of Sean Kleefeld, check out the censored Mark Waid Captain America issue as it was intended to be read. When you look back, it's kind of astonishing how much Marvel fucked with Waid's two Cap runs; someone must have really hated how good the comic was under Waid's tenure. I hope to hell Marvel leaves his Daredevil run alone; last week's issue was one of the best yet, featuring great guest appearances by Hank Pym and Tony Stark, a plot recalling a classic Marvel storyline and yet feeling as fresh as next week, and spectacular art by Chris Samnee.
* At The Comics Journal, Frank Santoro sings the praises of artist Klaus Janson, one of his current comics obsessions: "[H]e is more responsible for the look of Daredevil during Miller’s run than we all tend to remember. He was inking and coloring the book before Miller signed on and so already had a hand in the tone and feel of the book." I couldn't agree more. Whenever I refer to Miller's run, I always refer to it as the "Miller/Janson" era of Daredevil, because without Janson, you'd have had a very different book, and I'm not entirely certain it would be remembered the way it is today without his contributions.
* Martin Wisse responds to my comments on his dismissal of EC Comics. Okay, I feel a little dizzy.
* Bob Temuka on why Batman will always beat Superman. Coincidentally, you'll find some Janson inks in that post.
* Uncomics: Ever wonder what my favourite 16 movies are? Now you can find out, just make with the clicky. And it's almost uncanny how quickly my buddy Chris Allen responded to the list, with some apt psychological profiling added in as a bonus. Dude, you will love Dark City AND The Station Agent, no question. (He already loves Ed Wood, and wrote about it last night.)
* Also uncomics: My thoughts on three movies I rented from the Redbox this weekend.
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