'Zine and Heard: KIRBY COLLECTOR! BACK ISSUE! DITKOMANIA!

To quote B-REAL: "Time for some action!"

Here's a round-up of not one, not two, but three zine appearances I've got going on simultaneously.

Thanks to my boy---that's right, MY BOY----JERRY BOYD, I've got a little somethin'-somethin' in the just released JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #54 (which boasts the above last-minute cover in honor of George Tuska's passing and a spectacular Silver Surfer by Kirby and Sinott on the flip side that was supposed to be the original coever). The issue's topic is Stan and Jack, and I am among the myriad comics industry people offering my first encounter with Lee and Kirby, which also happens to be the first comic book I ever read as a kid, the reprint MARVEL DOUBLE FEATURE # 10 (Lee and Kirby Cap, with a Lee and Colan Iron Man back-up feature....that's one hell of an introduction to the wonderful world of comics!)



Beyond my plug, there's an excellent article in JKC#54 that is worth the price of admission which I'll get into in a separate post later this week.....

I just finished reading the excellent BACK ISSUE #39 ("April Fool's" issue), to which I contributed articles on BOB's BIG BOY COMICS and one of my all-time favorites, DAVID CHELSEA IN LOVE by (redundantly) David Chelsea, who I Q/A'd for the piece. BI#39 has some sterling spotlights, and although I came into it wanting to read about Flaming Carrot and Reid Fleming, World's Toughest Milkman, the best articles turned out to be about PETER PORKER, SPIDER-HAM and an interview with Fred Hembeck!





And no sooner do I wrap up reading #39, BACK ISSUE #40 hits the shops this week!This one, a "Cat Characters" issue, features my articles on TIGER-MAN and THE COUGAR (no relation to Courtney Cox) from Atlas Comics.

On another note, my Ditkotomy column returns to the July issue of DITKOMANIA #80, which is appropriately themed on Ditko's '80s Marvel work. No divulging what I'll tackle this time on my little soapbox within this excellent, examining (and not at all sycophantic) enterprise, but I'm happy to report that "Suave" JAV HERNANDEZ will once again be providing the illustration for the column so that alone will be the price of admission. Editor ROB IMES, a meshugana from Michigan, is doing such an amazing, spectacular and web job putting together this not-at-all-slavish zine dedicated to the dynamic Ditko that STEVE DITKO himself spared him from two insults last month that he usually reserves for all of his other fans while Robin Snyder promised to mention Ditkomania indifferently in his "The Comics" newsletter in the January 3010 edition should he still be cranking those out by then. That, my friends, is gold-plated success in the Ditko business!

Anyway, much cause for celebration! So go find your favorite disco song, blast it loud, and wiggle your booty from right to left because there's more comic book fun to come! Stay tuned like Looney Tunes, ya heard!