Paul Newman , the Academy-Award winning superstar who personified cool as an activist, race car driver, popcorn impresario and the anti-hero of such films as "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Color of Money," has died. He was 83. Newman died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near Westport, publicist Jeff Sanderson said. He was surrounded by his family and close friends. In May, Newman he had dropped plans to direct a fall production of "Of Mice and Men," citing unspecified health issues. He got his start in theater and on television during the 1950s, and went on to become one of the world's most enduring and popular film stars, a legend held in awe by his peers. He was nominated for Oscars 10 times, winning one regular award and two honorary ones, and had major roles in more than 50 motion pictures, including "Exodus," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "The Verdict," "The Sting&qu

Before you do anything else you need to go out and buy this comic immediately. If you already own a copy then go and buy another. A joint venture between Marvel and The Hero Initiative , all the profits go to assist Gene Colan in his time of need so that should be all the reason you need to buy it. Add to that the fact that it's a damn good little comic book indeed. People might recall that I've been on the front foot when it comes to helping Gene and this is no exception. Buy it today and buy more than one copy. It contains six vintage Colan stories, all equally as good as the other and the reproduction is superb. They might not have been the stories I'd have picked, but I'd hate to be the one who decides what to include, especially when you consider that Gene has such a rich artistic history and has hardly placed a foot wrong in his career. As anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis would know (hello all three of you) one thing that causes me some dismay is

Bryan Stroud, who I frequently correspond with, has posted part two of his excellent interview with Mike Esposito . It's a damn good interview and Bryan has chosen to focus on his own area of interest, the Silver Age of DC. How good is Bryan's interview? So good that even I'm finding things I didn't know in it and I've got so many hours of Esposito on tape and transcript that it's not funny. Plus I did write a book on the guy and his partner Ross Andru . Titled Partners For Life, you might have seen it at some point, and if you haven't then peek at this page and then go and buy the book. Mike is always good value as an interview topic, even if he has withdrawn slightly from the world at large, but then at the age of 81 I'd hazard a guess and say that he's certainly deserved the rest and peace. No matter how good an interview is there'll always be someone who'll be upset that a certain topic wasn't covered in detail. In this case the

The Mighty Thor ! Introduced in 1962 in a story scripted by Larry Leiber and drawn by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott, according to all accounts Thor was one of Kirby’s favourite creations. Whether he created it with or without plotter Stan Lee is a moot point, but certainly the mythical aspect of the book appealed to Kirby and it’s not hard to see why once you read his later Fourth World titles from DC. Indeed it can be said that his work on Thor laid the groundwork for the DC series and, if given the opportunity, it’d have been interesting to see how Kirby would have officially joined the two series together (outside of the tantalising glimpse of Thor’s damaged helmet which popped up in an early New Gods issue). Once Kirby left the title was handed to a number of artists and writers, John Buscema, Neal Adams, Gerry Conway, Bill Mantlo, Roy Thomas, Klaus Janson, Sal Buscema, Len Wein, Walter Simonson, Mark Gruenwald, Keith Pollard and Gene Day were among the artists who had runs on the