IDW Publishing Forums

[ericb33]

Merry Christmas to all comics lovers!

[mister allen]

I've finally finished the first two volumes of Little Orphan Annie (I was taking my time with them).

They are so good! I've read throughout this thread that people don't think they're the best years, at least when compared to later strips. If the quality of the strips rises to the level other readers have put them at, I can't wait. I think it's my favourite LoAC series, just off the first two books.

The reproduction is crazy. They might just be the crispest lines in any of my strip collections. The art is just phenomenal.

I find the best strips are the ones when Annie is separated from Daddy. Warbucks is okay, but the comic just feels too safe when he's around. Annie doesn't take the same risks she normally does when he's around.

I'm really looking forward to more from Annie.

[violentmarv]

How about Mutt and Jeff? Alley Oop? Happy Hooligan?

[Cnwl]

Mr. A: I'm with you 1000% when it comes to LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE -- Harold Gray created a true American original when he created her. And I was camped out a lot at The Mugar Library during the production of those first two books, so they hold an especially warm place in my heart. I was personally handling many of Gray's originals, which was an amazing experience, lemme tell you! And the color proofs for the Sundays were also a wonder to behold -- I don't know that I've ever seen deeper, richer blacks and more vibrant reds anywhere! So -- hopin' you enjoy the rest of the series as much as these first two volumes (I know I'm a HUGE Punjab and The Asp fan, so from my perspective, there's great stuff still awaiting you ...)

Marv: Our new ESSENTIALS line will make one or more of the strips you mentioned on the 27th a strong possibility. And that was quite a haul of books you brought home on the 19th! Keep a watch in the springtime, if you will, for our ESSENTIALS volume of POLLY & HER PALS dailies. Man, I love Sterrett's work, and the more I see of it, the more I love it ...

To All: Hope you enjoyed the Christmas-themed postings at the LOAC website. And on behalf od Dean, Lorraine, and Beau, let me offer our sincere wishes for a Happy New Year and a healthy, prosperous, thoroughly enjoyable 2013!
_________________
Best wishes --

- B -

[Cnwl]

You may get a kick out of this -- scroll to the bottom to find the "Archival Collections" category ...

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-comics-of-2012-graphic-novels-art-comics,90282/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=standard-post:headline:default
_________________
Best wishes --

- B -

[violentmarv]

[Cnwl]

Y'got me on the list-length! As with all lists of all sorts, the list-maker comes up with the rules, and they call 'em as they see 'em. Me, I kinda like being represented on 60% of a shorter list, as opposed to being a few mentions in a longer list. (One thing Alex Toth always used to do that bugged me, as a fan/reader-of-comics -- when asked "Who are your favorite artists?", he'd list, like, thirty-five guys! My eyes glazed over the first time he did it; about the fifth time I saw such a response I was going, "Cah-MON! If you like EVERYBODY, then your list is meaningless!" But Alex did what Alex wanted, as was almost always the case -- though my eyes kept rolling everytime I saw that quarter-column-long list of names ...)
_________________
Best wishes --

- B -

[violentmarv]

What is the relationship between IDW and Fantagraphics like? It looked like they were going to have the market cornered on classic archival material then along came the Library of American Comics and things have been interesting ever since. They had announced LOA as an upcoming project, but then LOAC puts it out. One thing is for sure, the true winners are all the fans of classic comics. Having both Fanta and IDW publishing such material has not only given us much more variety, but it has also forced them to step up their game in regards to the quality of the production values. I am extremely grateful of both companies for putting out so many great series and making this the golden age of classic reprints.

[TheLuckyOne]

So has anyone else gotten the Complete Opus yet? My sister got it for me for Christmas. I'd read a few of the strips back when they were first published, but it was always piecemeal, so most of the volume was completely new to me.

The production values are tops, as they've been for the entire series. If I don't spend a ton of time on them, it's only because they've already been documented and praised so thoroughly, and this continues the trend. Solid volume, nice paper, great colors, etc. Excellent job all around!

One thing that differentiates this volume from previous ones is the level of commentary. Berke Breathed's notes, always a bit sparing, are now downright malnourished. There are exactly three in the entire volume: on the first strip, the third-to-final strip, and the final strip. An'tha'sit. I don't know if BB had other projects occupying his time or if he just had nothing to say about these strips, but there's none of the "This one still makes me laugh" or "In retrospect, what does that even mean?" comments from the Bloom County volumes.

Likewise, the editorial comments are scaled way back, with no explanations of what was going on in the world at the time or what such-and-such punchline is referencing. On one hand, I can understand the mindset that since these strips occurred much more recently, most of the reading audience probably remembers the time period pretty well. But at the same time, these volumes are clearly designed to last. I like to think that in a decade, my daughters might have some interest in reading these volumes, and references to Obama's degree of blackness or the Bush twins are going to be just as inscrutable to them as jokes about Charles & Di or Lee Iacocca. Not a big deal, but it would've been nice.

As for the strip itself, I thought it was interesting that near the end, BB seemed to become more comfortable just reintegrating old characters with no explanation. The same thing happened in Outland, of course, but there was usually a tiny acknowledgement of the character's return: the narrator saying "Why, it's Oliver Wendell Jones!" or Binkley's "It's been a long time, but here I am again, with my anxiety closet." In Opus, Bill and Steve get that treatment in the early days, but later Binkley, Lola Granola, and Oliver pop up with no acknowledgement whatsoever; Oliver for a single strip, and bizarrely in Lola's case, with an implication that she's been Steve's girlfriend for a while. I actually went back to make sure I hadn't skipped a couple of pages.

(Speaking of Binkley, I almost wonder why BB bothered, other than simple nostalgia. I'm not complaining because he's one of my favorite characters, but Auggie had already taken on many of Binkley's characteristics, with he and Steve's relationship basically mirroring Binkley/Tom Binkley's relationship from Bloom County. Not sure why we needed both of them appearing together, as they did for the last few months.)

The other new character, Pickles, follows the Ronald Ann path of appearing frequently in the beginning and getting less and less important as time went on. I also found it interesting that, for all the anti-princess rhetoric of her early strips, she clearly gets thinner and cuter as the strip progresses.

Overall, while it didn't hit the heights of Bloom County, I still enjoyed Opus, and this is definitely a worthy presentation to close out the library. (Assuming there's no Complete Academia Waltz on the horizon, anyway...) Has anybody else read it?

[Cnwl]

Hey, Marv --

Well, your latest message makes it look like it's just Fantagraphics and LOAC in the strip reprint market, when in fact Classic Comics Library, Drawn & Quarterly, and Hermes also play in those waters (and companies like Russ Cochran, Dark Horse [CONAN] and Marvel [SPIDER-MAN] dip at least an occasional toe into the pond). In fact, D&Q's first WALT & SKEEZIX pre-dates the release of our TERRY AND THE PIRATES Vol 1, so technically D&Q was the first publisher to follow Fantagraphics into the strip-reprint waters.

With my "historian/geektronic" preamble out of the way, I can report that there's a 99.999% friendly, 100% collegial relationship not only between LOAC and Fantagraphics, but between LOAC and all the other strip-reprint players, as well. Dean has known Gary and Kim at Fantagraphics literally for decades -- I was on a convention panel with Eric Reynolds (and others) at the 2007 San Diego Con -- before we reprinted Dick Moores's GASOLINE ALLEY, Dean solicited D&Q's reaction to the idea and got an endoresement of our plan from them -- we've helped Charlie Pelto and he's helped us -- and there are plenty of other examples I'm forgetting, I'm sure.

Sure, there are times when we each land a "get" the other would like to have snared. In an interview a year or so ago, Kim Thompson pointed to our upcoming LITTLE KING book and said (paraphrasing here) knowing we planned to cover Otto Soglow meant that the material would be given a good presentation, even though Fantagraphics wasn't doing it. We feel the same about something like BARNABY, which we tried to and hoped to get, but which will be coming from Fantagraphics: we wish it had been us, but we're happy an important strip such as BARNABY has found a deserving home.

So -- while I can't speak for Fantagraphics or any of the other players in this marketplace, I can say that here at LOAC we respect and enjoy an excellent relationship with all the other strip-reprint publishers, and it seems to me based on past interactions the others believe they have an excellent relationship with us.

Your concluding remarks hit the nail on the head -- there's more terrific comic strip material available than any one publisher can handle, so having multiple players is the best possible situation for any comics reader/fan. And I have a first-hand appreciation of the situation not just from the "inside," but also as a reader/fan who shells out $$$ to buy things like the Roy Crane reprints, and JULIET JONES, and WALT & SKEEZIX, and POGO, and CISCO KID (and ... and ... and ...), just the way you do.

Hope that answers your question ...
_________________
Best wishes --

- B -

[violentmarv]

Good to hear that there is so much good will between all of the companies. I just mentioned Fantagraphics and IDW because they are the companies that I seem to buy the most books from. I REALLY wish that D&Q would get back on track with the Walt & Skeezix series because they are truly beautiful books and I really want to see how we get from that material to the IDW series of books. Kim Thompson was absolutely correct, Little King is in great hands. I started reading it today and it is a thing of beauty! I can't wait to see what other comic strips will pop up in the next few years! It's been great so far and I'm sure there are plenty of things around the corner.

[bem1]

Just finished Gasoline Alley with Dick Moores at the helm. I'm impressed by how readable it is, and how smoothly the storyline segued from one couple or group of characters to another. I also like Moores artwork. His artwork serves the stories well.
Gasoline Alley was the huge surprise for me out of the comic strip revival. I absolutely love it. Most of the books coming out are at a good pace for me: every year or six months, but I wish Walt and Skeezix came out more frequently.

Been reading Flash Gordon: Would it be heretical of me to say I keep thinking of the Mad spoof by Kurtzman and Wood. Especially with every type of animal having a man or men behind it. One other thing that bothers me is why cartoonists have African natives speak like something from a minstrel show. Raymond is not the first one I've seen do this but it bothers me. Still the artwork is good, and I try not to pay too much attention to the storyline.

I've not read Opus yet, to be truthful it's not high on my list of priorities, but thanks for your review.

I'm looking forward to Bring up Father, Dick Tracy 14, King Aroo 2, LOA 9, Blondie 3, Coming out in the next few months. I'm also waithing to see spring and summer phish from Amazon coming in the next month or so. Til then I've got Flash Gordon, Pogo, and Steve Canyon 1 to finish up.

[emb021]

[metabaron]

Rip Kirby volume 2 is still showing as unavailable from amazon.ca. Very odd since amazon.com is showing in stock. Is it possible to see what's going on?

[mister allen]