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The Comic Geek Speak podcast often talks to comic artist Buzz. Until the show, I’d not heard that much about him, but I was familiar with some of his work.

Anyway, Buzz has always professed his admiration Michael Golden, specifically Dr. Strange #55. after investigating Golden a little, I realized how many of my favorite books as a kid were drawn by him and how much his style influenced artists like Art Adams, who was/is another favorite of mine. I actually met Adams and got a sketch from him back in the late 80’s at Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC.

Anyway, back to the story, it seems that Golden is making an attempt to get back into comics and procure a little more work, however I don’t think it’s going to work out that well for him. Check out the below piece of art Golden produced as a paid, $500 commission:

Dr. Strange sketch by Micael Golden

You can read the full story here, but the short version is as follows. Golden was paid $500 + $37 shipping, by a fan. The piece was to be delivered within a 6 week time frame. Finally, nine months later, after continually contacting Golden and his agent, the fan received the above image of Dr. Strange apparently blowing a “raspberry” and stating that “Patience is a Virue[sic]”.

I guess Golden isn’t aware of this little thing we call the Internet. I’m sure this story will spread like wildfire and I’d hazard a guess that Golden’s commission work (and rate) will decrease as the convention season comes to a close.

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DC’s Who’s Who - Bound Volume of all 26 issues (cover shot).

DC’s Who’s Who - Bound Volume of all 26 issues (interior shot).

I think I see a lot of my comics being stored/save in this way in the future. Similar to the way magazines are bound for the library, comics can be bound together. Library Binding is one company offering this service, starting at $14. Scroll down a bit (on their site) to check out the options you can add to your bound comic collection.

This seems like the perfect way to keep a lot of the sets I own. Many aren’t worth any true amount of money, they hold sentimental and nostalgic value. By binding them I can keep them neatly on a bookshelf and read them anytime I want. Very cool.

Speaking of comic storage, Collection Drawer has just announced their new 18″ storage box. This is the “short” box that many have been waiting on (myself included). Between binding, thinning out and the new 18″ drawer box, I see my collection becoming very manageable.

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Superboy Prime, Cyborg Superman, and the Anti-Monitor re-appear in DC’s Recently Released Green Lantern Sinestro Corps Special #1

It’s seems that every few months there is a new, big thing in the comic book industry (at least Marvel and DC). After one event ends, another had better start soon or readers will disappear. Marvel quickly followed their Civil War with World War Hulk (and a similar slew of ancillary titles). DC’s Infinite Crisiswas followed by 52, which is being followed by Countdown.

And, just when I thought I was out, they sucked me back in…

With one image, the just released Green Lantern Sinestro Corps Special #1 revealed that it had more to do with Infinite Crisis (and other events) than I think anyone imagined. That one image above encompasses 20+ years of stories I’ve read (both recent and long ago). I think there is something to be said for forging ahead and changing everything the way Marvel is doing with their Civil War related fall-out. But, nostalgia feels good and DC is firing on all cylinders right now and I can’t wait to see where it leads.

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The Ultimate Nick fury character was visually based on Samuel Jackson

Ain’t It Cool News is reporting that Samuel Jackson is shooting a cameo as Nick Fury in the Iron Man movie. If this is true, then I hope it’s a setup for many more cameos and future roles to come.

In Marvel’s Ultimate line of comics, Nick Fury (who is based on Jackson) has dealt with nearly every hero/team in the Universe. He formed the Avengers team of that universe (named the Ultimates). With Marvel producing and developing Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor and others in house, let’s hope these links continue to build toward something practically unseen of in the movie world.

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Justice League of America - Issue #13 Cover - Look at all those villains.

Over Father’s Day weekend, there were two big comic conventions, Heroes-Con in Charlotte and Wizard World Philly. There were tons of announcements over the weekend, but the best one has to be Dwayne McDuffie taking over writing chores on Justice League of America.

McDuffie was the guiding force on the Static Shock animated series from a few years ago and also a major contributor to the Justice League Unlimited animated (and comic) series. Both of those shows were excellent and should hopefully entice fans of those former series to check out Justice League.

Recently McDuffie penned the final three issues of the Firestorm series and is currently writing the Fantastic four at Marvel. The few issues of that series have been better than any in recent memory and really captured the “family” feel the Fantastic Four should have.

With McDuffie writing flagship books at Marvel and DC, I predict a bidding war for exclusive rights to start any day now. I’ll go ahead and say that I hope DC wins, because I do like the Justice League better than the Fantastic Four and I’d expect McDuffie to add Firestorm to the team, now that his solo series has been canceled. Plus, the fact that Dan DiDio (DC Executive Editor) stated that “Dwayne is the writer of Justice League now until he doesn’t want to write it anymore,” is exciting.

Too many comic series these days have writers that stay for only a certain amount of issues. Big name writers sign up for short arcs on popular books. Brad Meltzer is finishing up a 13 issue stint on JLA just before McDuffie. Joss Whedon is finishing up a 24 issue arc on Astonishing X-Men. While I think both arcs have been great, these short runs make for uneven reading. Let’s see someone take on 110+ issues of X-Men or JLA like Brian Michael Bendis has done on Ultimate Spider-Man or the 70+ issues that Geoff Johns has done on Justice Society of America.

Uncanny X-Men #172Comics are exciting and unique because they are a monthly, continuing work of fiction. It’s nice to see a new writer come in with fresh ideas, but even more exciting is watching a dedicated writer with a love of the character(s) continually develop those characters over years and various story arcs. I think that’s what made me love comics so much when I received my first issue (#172) of the Uncanny X-Men by subscription almost 25 years ago.