CHRISTMAS COMICS: Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

Have a great Christmas, everyone!

THAT COMIC SMELL: Comics aimed at children

The new episode is online now.

From the web:

"On this brand new episode of That Comic Smell we are still coming to you remotely. This time we just get right into it. We did have a chat beforehand but that was just between us about something coming very soon… But you’ll have to wait to see what it is.
In this we tackle “Comics aimed at Children”, we didn’t go massively in depth but just touched some of our favourites, and had a brief chat about what classes as all ages and should the libraries review how the classify comics ages.

This and all the usual comics chat on…

That Comic Smell!

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Adventure Time (Various, Pendleton Ward)
Animaniacs
Asterix (Albert Uderzo, René Goscinny, Jean-Yves Ferri, Didier Conrad)
Babysitters Club (Raina Telgemeier, Gale Galligan)
Batman: Gotham Adventures (Ty Templeton, Rick Burchett, Terry Beatty)
Be Prepared (Vera Brosgol)
Beano
Beezer
Bone (Jeff Smith)
Broons and Oor Wullie
Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)
Count Duckula
Crunch
Dandy
Dear Justice League (Michael Northrop, Gustavo Duarte)
Dick Tracy (Chester Gould)
Dino Riders
Disneytime
Dragonball (Akira Toriyama)
Fantastic Four (Stan Lee, Jack Kirby)
Fantasy Sports No.1 (Sam Bosma)
Fast Forward (Various)
Franklin Richards: Not-So-Secret Invasion (Chris Eliopoulos, Marc Sumerak)
He-man
Hilda (Luke Pearson)
Hoot
Jungle Book (Gil Kane, Mary Jo Duffy, Craig Russel)
Little Heroes Anthology (Various)
Lookin (Various)
Looney Tunes
Lucky Luke (René Goscinny, Morris)
Mini Marvels (Chris Giarrusso)
Nutty
Panini Pocket Books (Marvel)
Peanuts (Charles Schultz)
Pokemon
Popeye (IDW Reprint)
Roland Rat Annuals
Science Comics: Dogs (Andy Hirsch)
Simpsons
Sisters (Raina Telgemeier)
Smile (Raina Telgemeier)
Space Ghost (Alex Toth)
Spike
Spirou & Fantasio (Various)
Thundercats
Tin Tin (Hergé)
Topper
Transformers
Visionaries
Wild Lives (Claire Hubbard)
World of Quest (Jason t. Kruse)
X-men Adventures"

THAT COMIC SMELL 19: Calvin & Hobbes

The new episode of That Comic Smell is now online.
Have a listen at iTunes, Soundcloud and YouTube.
From the website:
"*Music – Chloe Kepner*
https://chloekepner.bandcamp.com/
Well folks, it’s been one hell of a year. 2017 has had ups and downs for everyone. Although, here at “That Comic Smell” it’s been only ups.
Thank you so much everyone. We have had one hell of a year. Approached by publishers to review their books (thanks to Avery Hill and Centrala) got given other folks books out of sheer kindness (thank you Bob Turner, Rozi Hathaway Good Comics) and discovered a whole world of small press and incredible creators. None of this would have happened had it not been for doing this podcast. We have loved every minute of it. We just get together and gab each month and you folks are so kind to listen to our ramblings each time. We want to thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts. Here's to the coming year, plenty more pods and whatever is ahead in the coming year, for all of us and you folks out there!
To celebrate here is our latest episode that was recorded just before Christmas where we had some dinner and talked “Calvin and Hobbes”
Afterwards we reviewed some books that we were kindly sent and some that we just really wanted to speak about.
So folks, have a great 2018 and enjoy what’s left of 2017.
Cheers.
These are some of the titles discussed:
Ismyre – B.Mure
FLD – Bob Turner
Self-Care & Vegetables – Rozi Hathaway
New York (A Holiday to Remember) – Elizabeth Querstret
SID – Olivia Sullivan
Stir Fry – Sarah Crosby
It’s Cold in the River at Night – Alex Potts
Modern Slorence: Torts and Tinder – Neil Slorance
Happy New Year!"

COMICS JOURNAL 300

When I was 15 I was deep into Marvel comics. Or at least as much as I could be in a town with no comic shop. In the UK, that meant you could pick up some of the monthlies, but no annuals, no specials and no mini-series. (Try following Secret Wars II when you can’t get the series itself, only some of the crossover issues) These comics were listed in mail order catalogues as ND (not distributed), a term my friends and I came to detest.

Despite worshiping Marvel in the traditional way, I was not quite at the zombie level. I was always on the lookout for other comics. This was the time of DC’s overtaking of Marvel being a headline – at least in the comics press, and I was certainly open to the idea of a wider world of comics.

Presently, I met a guy who was around ten years older than myself, I guess. I told him I was on the lookout for something different, but I didn’t really even know what that meant. He let me borrow a couple of his Comics Journals. Well…this magazine!

Prior to reading the Journal, the only comics magazine I’d read had been Marvel Age. The one issue I’d managed to get hold of (yup, it was ND too) had been great in my young estimation. Keeping up to date with all the latest Marvel comics – wow!

The Journal was of a completely different order though. Names of (in my mind) comics superstars were being written of as real people. Previously, my consideration of these names had went along the lines of “Wouldn’t it be great to draw Spider-Man like Ron Frenz?” Suddenly, I was reading matter of fact detailed copy on problems within the Marvel offices.

It was mind blowing to read of these people in this context. And to read of the company in this context. The comics business became more real in an instant. One also began to realise that the “Marvel bullpen gang” image was obviously a façade.

The Journal also featured loads of comics I’d never heard of. It was the door to a whole wide world of comics beyond my ken that I’d been looking for. I recall asking a friend what he made of it. His answer: “It’s too serious”. I didn't understand that. I guess I was already pretty serious about comics.

A year or two later I began picking up the Journal whenever I was visiting a comic shop in a larger nearby city. The first copy of the Journal I bought was #127 – which featured an interview with Bill Watterson.

This was my first exposure to Calvin And Hobbes, and as the years have passed, Watterson has withdrawn from public life almost altogether, and so this remains his only in-depth interview. To reiterate: the first Comics Journal I ever bought brought Calvin and Hobbes into my life. It doesn’t get any better than that and my relationship with the magazine was cemented. I began picking up the latest issue as a treat every time I went to a comic shop. Other issues I happened to buy had interviews with Matt Groening and Alan Moore. The Journal became not just my favourite comics magazine, but my favourite magazine, full stop.

So why the personal history lesson on the Comics Journal? Well, 1. it is about to hit its milestone #300. Well done, folks.

2. After 300, the magazine is stepping off its regular schedule of 10 or so issues a year to bring out just 1 or 2. I’m hoping it doesn’t turn out to be a cancellation in all but name. It is going to become more of a book format. The cessation of the regular magazine will be a loss for me, and for the world of comics in my opinion. Part of the reasoning being given is that more time will be spent beefing up the content at tcj.com, which is fair enough, and I’ll certainly keep abreast of what’s happening there.

I’ll look forward to the newer, bigger print Journal too. I’m just worried that it’ll be quietly taken out back and shot in the head in a year or two. I sincerely hope not.