Join the ComicMix!

Why does the world need a new site talking about comics? Well, if you have to ask, then you must have wandered into this space by accident because we are all about comics here at Is Nothing Sacred?.



Some personal friends of ours have hooked up with AOL and formed ComicMix. According to the site, ComicMix.com is...

...the new site for readers who enjoy all types of fantastic media, from comic books television and movies to video games and more. Every day, visitors find news, facts, reviews, commentary, columns and a community environment that reaches across the globe, across decades and into the future.

For the rest of that description, you can go here:

A couple of the principals involved in this endeavor are Mike Gold and Mike Raub (both long-time friends). The President and Editor-in-Chief is none other than Mike Gold who is a 30-year veteran of the comic book industry, among his many roles in the industry, Mike has been a group editor and director of editorial development for DC Comics, founder and editorial director of First Comics Inc., and publisher of Classics Illustrated, he was also editorial director for ArrogantMGMS, creating intellectual properties and overseeing media and ancillary rights and packaging comic books published by numerous comic book imprints, including Image, Acclaim, and IDW.

Mike Raub, is the on-line presence of ComicMix, delivering three-times-a-week podcasts that report on comics and all things Pop Culture. I’ve known Mike for probably 30+ years, frist meeting him as a fan when he hooked me up with the guys over at The Comics Journal — who published my first article. Later on, when Mike opened up his first store, I started to buy my comics from him. Mike (like myself) has a radio background, which serves him well in this incarnation of his career.

I checked out a podcast, and found it entertaining, and, well, fun. I urge you al to bookmark his site and check him out as often as you possibly can.

NY Comic Con, here we come!

That’s right kids, the NY Comic Con is coming up this weekend (Feb 23-25). I’ll be there at the Guild Works Production table talking to folks, so come on by.



Oh yeah, in case you haven’t seen it yet, there just might be a buncha cute girls out on the prowl at the con. Yeah, it seems as if some NY blogger knows that that the best way to meet nice guys is at comicbook shows.

Comic Book Conventions should be a great place to meet guys. We're talking about a virtually untapped market. In theory: for a smart, (somewhat) attractive girl, getting a date should be like shooting fish in a barrel, no? Thousands of men are gathered in one place (granted, some of them are taken; some are gay; some, undoubtedly, live in their mothers' basements) with a very small proportion of available women around. The statistics alone would lead us to believe there have got to be a few good men in this crowd.

The full post can be found here.

Well, it promises to be a good show, and — as stated — I should be there both Sat and Sun. So sewriously, swing on by, and say hey!

It is beginning to look a lot like a Spider Easter!

That’s right boys and girls. Valentine’s Day is hardly old, and the Easter candy is already out in full force. (Truth to tell, much of it was out even before Valentine’s Day was even here.) Yeah, yeah, I realize that it is necessary to promo events prior to the event itself, but it is really getting ridiculous. Anyway, all of this is just a lead in to talking about how even our heroes are getting into the act. That’s right kids, You can now get Spider-Man Valentine and Easter Candy, just check out what I got for Valentine’s day.

Personally, I’m waiting for whatever candy holiday event is coming up next, as I think that there is probably a way to work Spidey and the rest of the Marvel Heroes into virtually any (every) holiday (hey, Why not a line of Storm, Black Panther, and Luke Cage chocolates for Black History Month?) Anyway, here is what you can expect for Easter this year:



Oh yeah, if you were looking for Spidey in the Newspaper today, his special reprint appearance was (once again) suspended, as Monday is President’s Day. I know, I know, what boneheads! Personally, I’d rather have the comic myself.



Ah well, I guess all we can really do is wait.

The Spider is Coming! The Spider is Coming!

I just wanted to remind everyone that Spidey 3 is coming soon (well, in three months), but soon enough. Anyway, today is Spider-Man Day in the New York Post day, and in today’s little episode, we are reintroduced to Spidey’s arch nemesis, Dr. Octopus. That’s right boys and girls, today we were treated to the first half of Amazing Spider-Man #11, wherein Peter Travels to Philadelphia, PA to track down the missing Betty Brant (secretary to grouchy old J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of The Daily Bugle.

Needless to say, this brought up an interesting point that I had never really considered until I began to reread these early Spidey episodes. According to official Marvel Cannon, Spidey began his career around the age of 15, which is about how old he is during most of these stories. Now, if Betty was working as a secretary for JJJ, then she was old enough to be employed (at lease 16), but I'm thinking that she was probably older than just 16 (why would the publisher of a great metropolitan newspaper have a 16-year-old as his secretary?) So I'm guessing that she was at least 18. Which kind of makes the relationship between these two somewhat creepy, if you get what I mean. (Plus, in this story Pete goes to Philly from NY by himself, what the hell was Aunt May thinking?)

Ah well, who knows, I guess that under the scrutiny of the modern era, the internal logic of these stories doesn’t hold up so well. Still, this doesn’t detract from the overall enjoyment of them in the slightest. So sit back, put your feet up, and enjoy the story of the Spider and the Octopus. I know that I did.

Ditko Rules!

My very first published article was about the amazing work that Steve Ditko did on the early issues of The Amazing Spider-Man. That article originally appeared in Amazing Heroes #5, now it is posted here, on-line on the Steve Ditko Website.

I truly discovered comics and — by extension — Spider-Man, because of Steve. I have always loved his work on Spidey, and have always wished that someone could convince him to return, at least once more, to draw the character that he helped create. So you can well imagine how pleased I am to be reading his classic work on the early issues of Spider-Man as reprinted in the NY Post.

For me, this is something of coming home. His art was quite possible the most amazing thing I had ever seen in the comicbook form, prior to, or since. His characters all looked different than each other, and he drew the most expressive thugs I had ever seen.

Today, my house is full of comicbooks as well as Spider-Man related stuff. It is because of Steve, Stan, and then John Romita, Sr. I don’t think that the Post comics will ever get up to the comics drawn by JR, but, that’s OK, for now, we are all enjoying the work of Steve on Spidey.

Talk to you again soon.