It’s 1975 All Over Again
By Dan Brown There’s a calendar from 1975 on my wall. Each month has a Marvel superhero on it like Spider-Man, the Hulk, Thor and Captain America. With this apparent antique pinned to the wall,, it’s easy for me to imagine I’ve travelled back in time to the era of Gerald Ford, Archie Bunker, bell-bottom jeans, and the fall of Saigon. To be clear, the calendar I’m talking about is actually a re-issue of the Mighty Marvel Calendar from 1975. As it turns out, some marketing genius figured out that 2025 and 1975 share the same calendar dates. I'm guessing the question then became, “Why not just put out the old one again?” The resulting calendar is a slick piece of work, fashioned from sturdy cardstock and bound with a plastic spiral. (Yes, I do have a calendar fetish, I always buy several different ones for home and office.)I say it’s brilliant marketing because it represents a huge potential return on a minimal investment. Marvel already owns all the art, plus the characters featured each month have only become more popular in the intervening decades. As well, 1970s nostalgia is all the rage these days. Aided by the Mighty Marvel Calendar for 1975/2025, let’s imagine it is January 50 years ago, shall we? So what was going on back then? Here in the Forest City, Jane Bigelow was the first female mayor of London. Our nation’s economy was reeling from an ongoing energy crisis.Nicknamed “gas guzzlers,” cars were the size of boats. Compact, fuel-efficient vehicles looked to be a growth industry, yet these Japanese imports were still the subject of ridicule. In the early months of 1975, there was talk of how the motion-picture adaptation of Peter Benchley’s best-selling Jaws paperback had turned into a troubled production. Besides, who went to movies in the summer anyways? Speaking of pulpy sensations, people could still not believe that a crime family had been portrayed on the silver screen as people with regular personalities in The Godfather and its 1974 sequel. It was almost like these movies were saying criminals have a lot in common with ordinary human beings, a shocking concept. A string of dystopian sci-fi flicks mirrored the zeitgeist – when people in 1975 looked into the future, it wasn’t a pretty picture. The Star Trek animated Saturday-morning cartoon from the early 1970s hadn’t done much to spread Gene Roddenberry’s idea of a utopian future society. On the radio in early 1975, you didn’t hear Elvis Presley much anymore. The airwaves belonged to acts like Fleetwood Mac, ABBA, the born-again Bob Dylan and an upstart by the name of Bruce Springsteen. Could he be the future of rock and roll? As for comics, well, they were for kids – though creators like Will Eisner insisted comic books should be taken seriously as a form of literature, even with their cheap paper and splotchy colours. About this time in January of 1975, DC jacked the price of individual comic books up to a quarter from 20 cents. That summer, Marvel would offer a new team of Uncanny X-Men to readers, including a short Canadian mutant with metal for bones who had originally been the villain in a Hulk storyline. In the letters columns of those bygone Marvel comics, readers made their desire known: Somehow, sometime, someway, Marvel heroes had to make the jump to the big screen.Why, one correspondent even argued, Charlton Heston would make a perfect Magneto.Do you miss the 1970s? Do you wish you had been alive back then? Let me know in the comment box below! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
It’s A Golden Age For Animation
By Dan Brown A quick glance in the rearview mirror before we get any deeper into 2025. As last year drew to a close, there was the usual wall-to-wall news coverage in December recapping the highlights and low points from the last 12 months. As all of those stories were airing on TV and running in the papers or online, I noticed something interesting that had happened in the entertainment world, specifically something about the top-grossing movies in 2024. Maybe you noticed it, too. There’s no denying it: We are now living in a new golden age of animation. Long gone are the days when animated stories were relegated to the ghetto of Saturday-morning TV cartoons for children. Also long gone are the days when decent animated movies were rare. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at 2024’s Top 10 films (according to Box Office Mojo) worldwide:1/ Inside Out 2 2/ Deadpool & Wolverine3/ Moana 24/ Despicable Me 45/ Dune: Part Two6/ Wicked7/ Mufasa: The Lion King8/ Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire9/ Kung Fu Panda 4 10/ Venom: The Last Dance The first thing that jumped out at me: The biggest movie of the year, Inside Out 2, is animated. (Don’t tell anyone, but I’m the one person on the planet who didn’t like the original Inside Out, it was hard for me to sit through it. Gimme Ratatouille any day.) But wait, there’s more. A full four out of the Top 10 movies are animated. Almost half the titles on the list!And if you consider computer-generated imagery to be a form of animation, which I do, then every movie in the Top 10 was an animated story to one degree or another. There are other signs of this new golden age. For example, when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem came out two years ago, the creators leaned into its roots as a comic – reviewers said it looked like a comic book come to life. That's how good it looks. And those animated multiverse Spider-Man movies from the last few years have been better than many of the live-action superhero movies made in the same periodAnd don’t get me started on the popularity of anime!This is why it’s an exciting time for animation fans. It was Walt Disney’s dream for cartoons to be taken seriously, so he created the first full-length animated feature back in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Fast-forward to our current era, in which animation is an element used in nearly every film with mass appeal. This new breed of animated movie is even getting critical respect. The quality of these films has improved so much that in 2002, the Academy Awards set aside a category for the best animated feature. Pixar’s 2020 picture Soul won in that category, and some observers came up with convincing arguments that it deserved to be nominated as the overall best picture, animated or otherwise. All of which has me tingling. Now, I don’t know if comic fans are automatically animation fans.But I am confident that the shift I’ve noticed means something positive for those of us who love graphics. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Superman Goes to the Dogs
By Dan Brown I’m not a huge Superman fan, but I am a sucker for a cute dog. That’s why I love the Superman trailer that blew up over the holidays. Debuting Dec. 19, the clip is a promo for James Gunn’s upcoming movie about the man of steel, which is scheduled to land in theatres this summer. It got a lot of attention for a certain canine co-star. Krypto, who is Superman’s dog friend, shows up in the trailer, dragging a wounded Supes across a snowy landscape after being summoned to rescue his best friend.“Krypto, home. Take me home,” the injured hero wheezes. The trailer was a big deal because the white-furred mutt did not appear in the various Superman motion pictures starring Henry Cavill, Brandon Routh, and Christopher Reeve. Meanwhile, in DC Comics, the pooch from deep space made his debut back in 1955. Just like his master, he wears a red cape and flies in the comics. Perhaps the trailer is an attempt to reach dog parents like myself (I have two pups at home) to broaden the Superman fanbase ahead of the film’s release. Or maybe it’s just another quirky James Gunn touch – he’s the filmmaker who made a name for himself with Marvel’s Guardians of Galaxy trilogy. Truth be told, I haven’t read a whole lot of Krypto stories – many “serious” fans write the powerful pet off as a silly part of the Kal-El mythos. But I do have one Krypto-connected graphic novel to recommend.Check out Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? It collects a two-part adventure that was first published back in 1986. Krypto appears in it. I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but I’ll explain how this story came to be. It’s an unusual story because it brings actual change to the DC Universe. That could happen because DC was wrapping up Superman continuity so that it could be restarted after the DC universe was rebooted in the series Crisis on Infinite Earths. The Superman everyone had known since the character was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1938 was coming to an end. Writer Alan Moore and longtime Superman artist Curt Swan had a unique opportunity. They could kill characters, for instance, and they would stay dead. The premise: All of Superman’s major villains unite to corner him in the Fortress of Solitude. (I'm wondering if the snowscape featured in the Superman trailer means we will get to see the same fortress in the new movie.) Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? is the last Superman story, as well as the last Krypto story. I will say no more, other than to reveal it made me cry when I read it the first time because the one big Krypto scene packs an emotional punch. And despite the pencils by Curt Swan, who was also the first artist to draw Krypto, it’s a bit of a dark tale. So congratulations, DC Studios, I wasn’t in the market for a new Superman movie – his origin story has been told too many times on the silver screen – but with Krypto aboard, I might actually watch the thing. If any diehard fans have their own recommendations based on their favourite Krypto stories, I’d love to hear them in the comment box below! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Come Out to GNG This Saturday!
By Dan Brown I can think of no better way to spend a Saturday morning than having a spirited discussion about graphic novels with smart, interesting people. So consider this your official invitation to take part in this year’s first monthly meeting of the L.A. Mood Graphic Novel Group. It takes place Saturday, January 11 at 11 a.m. over by the gaming tables. The street address is 100 Kellogg Ln. here in London. No previous experience in graphic novels is required. You don’t have to have strong opinions or even a long history with comics and superheroes.All you need to be willing to do is read the books and be open to where the conversation goes! The group began in June of 2008 after store co-owner Carol Vandenberg said to me, “We should have a book club for graphic novels. What do you think?” Book clubs were a new thing back then. Genius idea! As far as I can tell, the L.A. Mood Graphic Novel Group, or GNG as it is known to regular attendees, was one of the first book clubs, in this country at least, to focus exclusively on graphic novels and comics. If my memory serves, the first graphic novel we talked about as a group was Watchmen, DC's dark parody of superhero comics by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Did we know the discussion would lead to a comment from Gord Mood (the other owner of the comic store and Carol’s husband) about how the story reflected the reasoning process of thesis, antithesis and synthesis? We did not.And that’s the beauty of GNG. I can never anticipate ahead of time where the conversation will end up. All I know is I come away from every monthly meeting thinking, “I learned a lot.”We’ve covered many different types of graphic novels since the club launched.We’ve read classics of the genre such as Maus. We’ve done superhero books featuring characters like Batman and the X-Men. We’ve done horror comics such as Something is Killing the Children. There’s been books by Canadian creators, wordless comics, bestsellers, obscure manga, you name it. The great part is there is always so much to choose from. Does that mean everyone is obliged to love every selection? Naw. But chances are you’ll find something to appreciate at some point. We meet the second Saturday of each month until the end of the year. The January meeting is an especially good one for newcomers to attend because it’s our annual pitch meeting. This is when each member comes up with possible titles to read in the year ahead and as a group we slot them into a particular month. For example, in July, to coincide with Canada Day, the group has developed a tradition of picking something with a Canadian flavour. So get in on the ground floor for 2025 now! You are in no way required to buy the books from L.A. Mood Comics & Games, although Carol does offer them to customers at a discounted price. We’ve had members bring e-book versions, copies borrowed from the library, or a used copy they picked up at Goodwill. If you’re interested in how comics are made, guest speakers have also come to address us. Byron graphic novelist Derek Laufman, for example, came to discuss his work. Essex County’s Jeff Lemire, before he exploded onto the comic scene, stopped by, as did the creators behind the Kill Shakespeare series. This has led also to field trips (we once went to an exhibit of Seth’s imaginary town Dominion at Museum London) and movie nights (like the time we watched the R.Crumb documentary together). The one thing I can say for sure is, all these years later, my horizons have become so much broader. I would love to see you around the table on Saturday, so please consider attending this week. We're looking forward to meeting you! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Looking Back at 2024: The Year in Comics
By Dan Brown It’s time to go over the last 12 months in comics to pick out the highlights. These categories are arbitrary, the choices are mine alone, and I invite you to chime in with your own selections! Best graphic novel of year: This goes to Walter Scott’s The Wendy Award, the latest chapter in the story of everyone’s favourite anxiety-ridden, coke-snorting young artist. It ends with Wendy, an MFA graduate from the University of Hell (i.e. Guelph), possibly turning her back on the world of art. Say it ain’t so! Best debut graphic novel of the year: I give this one to Maurice Vellekoop’s I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together, his memoir of growing up gay in Toronto as the son of strict Dutch immigrants. His lines are lively, and they evoke Seth’s work for me. Best local graphic novel: You gotta love the Curly Head Ballet from Doug Rogers, the only comic I know that was inspired by London’s Original Kids Theatre. It’s a trip! Barbenheimer of my summer: Montreal cartoonist (and Western Gazette alum) Gabrielle Drolet’s rat character went on vacation in Europe in the warmer months, as Drolet herself went on a parallel journey. Daily deadlines were no obstacle for the artist, and I hope she assembles these strips into an anthology. If the folks at Montreal’s Drawn & Quarterly are as smart as I think they are, they’ll be the ones to publish it! Anniversary of the year: Goes not to a superhero, but to a giant lizard with the ability to breath nuclear fire! I’m talking about Godzilla, the kaiju who in November marked 70 years since his first movie appearance. Oh, no! They say he’s got to go! Go, go, Godzila! Comic villain of the year: I’m giving this one to a flesh-and-blood person, not a comic baddie. A big boo to sometime footballer Colin Kaeprnick for his idea to create a company, Lumi, that aims to replace the talented humans who make comics with AI-created work. Way to cheese off an entire industry! It’s about time: The winner in this category is Canada Post, which issued a series of stamps this year to recognize homegrown graphic novelists such as Chester Brown and the Tamaki cousins. Finally! Better never than late: Marvel Comics might have had a better year if they hadn’t belatedly given Roy Thomas a credit as one of the character Wolverine’s creators, a move which antagonized fans and likely made no one happy apart from the former Marvel editor himself. Least surprising plot twist of the year: Speaking of Marvel, I understand that the Krakoa phase of the X-Men’s history has ended, with our favourite band of mutants returning to mainstream society – thus confirming that as long as a comic sells, any change is temporary. Burgeoning trend of the year: Actor Elliott Page used a pop-culture con, the Calgary Expo, to speak out about the Alberta government’s policies on trans youth. Are we seeing cons become platforms for celebrities to speak out on issues? Something I’ll be watching for in 2025. Say what? of the year: Easily won by Marvel Studios, who used San Diego’s Comic-Con International to announce Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a suit of specialized armour, only this time he won’t be playing Iron Man, he’ll be . . . Doctor Doom? “New mask, same task,” the popular actor enigmatically pronounced from the con’s stage. Non-news event of the year; At the same event, Marvel competitor DC had an announcement of its own: The company is changing its logo back to the one it used to slap on comics in the 1980s. Yay? Cause for concern: In snippets of footage from the upcoming Fantastic Four film, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards still has that damn moustache. Not a good sign. Dearly departed: John Cassaday, Trina Robbins, Greg Hildebrandt and Ed Piskor are among the talented individuals who left us this year. Comic journalist of the year: Eisner Award nominee Rob Salkowitz, who writes about comics for publications like Forbes and Publishers Weekly, was a must-read in 2024. I also finally got around this year to reading Salkowitz’s book Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture, which I greatly enjoyed. Person of the year in comics: It’s a tie between Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, who with their $1.3 billion-grossing Deadpool & Wolverine stopped superhero movies from their downward slide with a huge dose of fan service. We’ll find out in 2025 whether it’s a temporary pause or not. And now I wanna hear from you! What were the year’s comic highlights for you? Let me know in the comment box below. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
The Few, The Proud, The Unproductive
By Dan BrownLet us now praise those comic creators who had a big impact on comic history despite spending very little time in the spotlight.I’m talking about your David Mazzucchellis, your Michael Goldens, your Paul Chadwicks. You may have your own favourites.What do these artists have in common? Compared to such stalwarts as Kurt Swan and Jack Kirby, they were . . . not all that productive. Which hasn’t stopped them from inspiring wildly loyal fandoms.Some of them are still active today. Once in a while.They had brief runs (that are still remembered 50 or 60 years later), they did an amazing job, they revolutionized comics. And then they more or less disappeared.Perhaps some of them had a hard time meeting the grind of monthly deadlines. No doubt some of them made more money as illustrators in other fields. For whatever reason, they found other vineyards to toil in.Oh, we young comics fans loved them. If it was up to us, they would have had their choice of assignment.Mazzucchelli we knew as the artist on Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One, which reset the Dark Knight’s origin for a new generation. The Neal Adams Batman belonged to our older brothers, but this one was OURS. The brilliance of his style was that you couldn’t tell which era this Batman came of age in. Was it the 1970s? The 1930s? The modern day? You couldn’t pin this Batman down, he was timeless.Oh yeah, Mazzucchelli also worked on Daredevil briefly, then years later came out with the graphic novel Asterios Polyp. Might he be a perfectionist, might that be the reason that prevented him from doing more?Michael Golden lit the comic world on fire with his 12-issue run on the Micronauts. It was a comic adaptation based on a toy line, and like Mazzucchelli he also created an otherworldly milieu, with exhausted heroes and truly diabolical villains. Then, a glimpse of something even more awesome: For one issue, Star Wars No. 38 in 1980, Golden showed us a vision of a galaxy far, far away with art that we actually dug.It had seemed up to that point Marvel was abusing Star Wars fans on purpose by using mediocre artists.When we got a little older, graduating to more mature stories, Chadwick spoke to our young-adult selves with his thought-provoking Dark Horse series Concrete. A book built around a superhero who wanted only to sit around and think? We were intrigued, It was as if Ben Grimm had become a philosopher.But unfortunately for us, it didn’t last. He was another creator who, it seemed, had found other things to do outside of comics. Perhaps he just lost interest.Like I said, not everyone is blessed with the work ethic of a Kirby or the endurance of a Swan or a John Romita. Not every comic creator even wants to be in the conversation.Some are destined to be excellent, then be gone. Could be it’s a blessing in disguise? One byproduct is we will never get sick of their expressive lines.Nor am I suggesting any of these talented people are snobs for finding other pursuits. Not everyone has thousands of individual issues in them, I get it.Heaven forbid they should ever be among the most productive people in the industry’s history. Because those folks get a different label: We deride them as hacks.Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
