The first season of the 1990s FANTASTIC FOUR animated series is widely considered…well, awful. Which it is. It does, however, have a very jaunty theme song.
Author Archive | Scott Tipton
And Harry’s Wild About Me
Editor’s Note: The old Dreaded Deadline Doom has got its claws in me once again this week, so while I fight to get out from under, I thought I’d re-present this lost offering from the original COMICS 101 Archives, focusing on Spidey-friend and foe Harry Osborn, as originally presented on June 1, 2005: I caught […]
John Byrne: Filling Big Footsteps
Not many creators can lay claim to being a true successor to the legacy of Jack “The King” Kirby. John Byrne, through his decades of impressive output as both an artist and a writer/artist, is one of the few. Byrne, British-born but Canadian-raised, began his artistic career humbly enough. In the mid-’70s, he worked for […]
Boy, Reed Richards Is Smart
How smart is he? He stops Magneto with a wooden gun…
Everything Old Is Newish Again
With all the MARVEL NOW! Announcements that have been coming out in the last few weeks, the one that seems to have surprised and confused people the most is the new FF series by Matt Fraction and Mike Allred, featuring a new replacement team of Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk and hilariously, “Miss Thing,” a celebutante-type in […]
Groovy, Man
For its time, the 1967 FANTASTIC FOUR animated series from Hanna-Barbera was pretty good. It had decent animation, good action, strong scripts, and a really jazzy little theme song:
There’s Something About Lois
Every time I get too concerned about the state of today’s comics industry, all I have to do to cleanse the palate is look at a random issue of SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE, and I can breathe easier. Things could always be much worse. Let’s look for example, at LOIS LANE #131 (June 1973), […]
Isn’t It Ironic?
The best superhero origins are the ones that are timeless. You can pick them up and the story and concepts are as fresh as they were the day they were created. “A shy teenager is bitten by a radioactive spider, and learns a tragic lesson about responsibility.” “Rocketed to Earth from a dying world, a […]
Of Muppets and Moonmen
Last week saw the loss of two significant figures, two men whose careers couldn’t have been more different, yet both of whom had a profound effect on the world around them, and on me personally, one affecting me fancifully and emotionally, the other inspirationally. I’m talking about Muppeteer Jerry Nelson and astronaut Neil Armstrong. Jerry […]
Strange Days Indeed
In 1963, as Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were laying the groundwork for what would become the Marvel Universe, there were other books still being published by the company as well, remnants from the company’s days pumping out sci-fi and monster comics in the late ’50s and early ’60s. As Marvel editor Stan […]
Gone But Not Forgotten
With the New 52Verse now firmly entrenched in the hands and minds of readers, the initial shock has worn off, and many DC readers have found things to like in the new books and its accompanying continuity. While I’ll admit the jury’s still out for me, I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on: […]
Gone Too Soon: Joe Kubert
Where to even start with this one? Comics legend Joe Kubert passed away Sunday morning, August 12, at the age of 85. Kubert was a peerless editor, writer, and artist, best known not only for his work on characters like Sgt. Rock, Tor, Tarzan and Hawkman, but also for moving non-fiction work like FAX FROM […]
Kirby Kreates Kobra
In the late 1960s, DC wasn’t much known for innovation. That is, until the arrival of Marvel co-creator Jack “King” Kirby in 1970, who in short order injected the DC Universe with more new blood than it had seen in decades, characters and concepts like Darkseid, Orion, the New Gods, the Forever People, Kamandi, the […]