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1980: Warren vs Harris - Buying & Selling Warren Publishing

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What happened to Warren Publishing is a sad, and cautionary, tale. The company was founded by James Warren in the late 1950s and in it’s heyday, was responsible for some of the best comic book magazines ever published. Titles such as Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella and Blazing Combat are still looked upon today as being before their time, and feature some of the best, and most imaginative, work by the likes of Archie Goodwin, Frank Frazetta, Joe Orlando, Alex Toth, Bernie Wrightson, Gene Colan, Steve Ditko, Neal Adams and dozens of others. The magazine format enabled Warren to circumvent the Comic Code, thus freeing artists and writers up to use their complete imagination. Add to that a preference to publish in black and white, and it’s easy to see why many felt that working at Warren was the pinnacle. It wasn’t the most lucrative company to work for, but the freedom offset the page rates. By the early 1980s, Warren Publishing was in trouble. Sales began to drop and Warren himse

Original Art Stories: Miller v Varley: Stolen Art Allegations

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The most recent court case involving comic book creators landed on Monday, 18 November 2019, and it's a doozy! I have to admit that when I saw the name 'Frank Miller' pop up in my feed, I instantly thought that Miller had finally grown a pair and was suing Marvel for ownership of Elektra . Alas, that's not to be. Instead he's suing his ex-wife, the colourist Lynn Varley, alleging that she stole several of his roughs and consigning them to well known art dealer Mitch Itkowitz. Watch this one, it has the potential to get very, very interesting indeed, and not just because of the fight between Miller and Varley, no, this has the potential to expose how some (not all) art dealers openly deal in art that they know or even suspect is stolen, or has dubious title. The under the table deals, the quick sale, the secrecy - fingers crossed that it all comes out in the open with this case. It certainly has the potential. Until then, feast your eyes upon Miller v Varley!

Supanova Adelaide, 2 November 2019

Observations on Supanova Adelaide. Recently the organisers of Supanova posted on Facebook about the Adelaide event and how falling attendance levels have forced them to rethink their long term commitment to the city of Adelaide and placing the onus on the future of the show squarely on the public. As usual, I went yesterday and, frankly, I was a bit taken aback. Here's what I've noted, for whatever value it's worth. 1] The whole show was poorly laid out, a first for me. It seemed to arranged at random and looked smaller than usual. That might have something to do with... 2] The lack of comic book dealers. I counted two (might have been three?) dealers selling comic books. Bear in mind this event is billed as being a ComicCon and Gaming show, so the very nature of the name says Comic Books will be there. They weren't. None of the Adelaide comic shops, or book shops were in attendance. I know full well there's a story there, but I'll let those people leav

5AD Official Top 40! October 14, 1961

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Fifty eight years ago, in Adelaide, you would have been listening to these songs. And you'd have been enjoying them. The charts, in 1961, were dominated by American acts, not a sign of what was to come in two sort years time. More charts to follow.

The World vs Todd McFarlane: Book Extract - Todd Runs Neil Around

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TODD RUNS NEIL AROUND The meeting in Phoenix didn’t go as well as planned, with neither side seemingly capable of being able to see the other’s point of view. Neil Gaiman   was quite clear as to what he saw happen at the meeting. “Todd kept saying ‘but you can trust me and I will send you, I will send you bigger checks than you will get if you have a contract.’ And I said ‘Todd, call me silly, but I would much rather have a written contract and $500 in royalties than $1,500 that is going to turn up on a whim and could end the moment that you decide it's not convenient.’ “He said that he thought that was crazy and I said that that was how, you know, just assume that was how I was billed. And we then wound up – then everything ended very badly in terms of Todd had to wrap up rather quickly. Larry Marder had come out for that meeting because they just learned that Marc Silvestri had left the Image partnership that day, so they had to sort of get on the phone and try

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