John Richard Flanagan, November 1947 The Australian Born America Comic Book Pioneer   Ask almost anyone in Australia who was the first Australian to work in the American comic book industry and they will invariably answer, “Stan Pitt”. It has been that way since Pitt did his first job for an American publisher, DC Comics The Witching Hour (issue 5), which was published in October 1969. But was Stan Pitt really the first or was he the second? What is now known is that there was another Australian who came before Pitt. A man who produced cover art for DC Comics thirty years earlier than Pitt in 1939. His name was John Richard Flanagan. And this is his story. Flanagan was born in Sydney in 1895 and attended St Joseph’s College in Hunter’s Hill. His father passed away when Flanagan was only 12, leaving his mother to make a difficult choice. As Flanagan was the oldest male in the house, the burden of providing for the family would fall upon him. She duly enrolled him in an

More documents have landed in the what's rapidly becoming a nasty battle between Frank Miller and his ex-wife, colourist Lynn Varley ( read here for a recap ). Without getting into the nastier details of the dispute, it can be broken down to the following;  1] Miller and Varley agreed to separate and split their art collection.  As part of the settlement ($1,320,000 to Varley from Miller), sales of art from either side to third parties was subject to a series of rules.  2] All of Miller's art was catalogued and stored in a unit, to which both Miller and Varley's legal representatives had the keys. Either party could inspect the art at any time, but had to be accompanied by the other, or their representative. 3] Miller had strict rules against selling any of his art until Varley had received the final settlement payment. His art was being held as security against the payment. Miller could sell his art, but had to offer it to Varley first. If she wanted it, she could pay