Archive for January, 2009

Batman : The Brave & The Bold

The Brave & The Bold

If you want to have a whole lot of fun packed into 30 minutes or less, watch an episode of the new Batman: The Brave & the Bold TV series on Cartoon Network in the U.S. and Teletoon in Canada. You also might find it, *ahem*, on the net while we await a DVD package.

The Brave & the Bold started off as a Showcase-like tryout comic from DC, before becoming the Batman team-up book in the Silver Age. Scripted almost exclusively by Bob Haney, it was there that Neal Adams began redefining the visual look of Batman before Jim Aparo took over and drew the book until its cancellation in the mid 1980s.

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James Bond : The 1960s Pan Covers by Raymond Hawkey

James Bond Pan Books

This stunning series of James Bond covers were the paperback presence of Ian Fleming’s character during the height of its fame in the 1960s and the Sean Connery films. There were millions of copies printed so that by the time I started collecting in the late 70s/early 80s, these were still the most-common editions to be found, even though other cover designs had succeeded them.

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Raymond Chandler Covers by Tom Adams

Raymond Chandler covers by Tom Adams

Tom Adams is one of the most accomplished cover artists of the past 50 years. He’s better known for his long-running series of Agatha Christie book covers, but my favourites are the ones he did for the works of Raymond Chandler. These were the 1971 series of paperbacks from Ballantine Books. If Vintage Books (the current Chandler publisher) were to re-release these as oversized trade paperbacks, I’d buy the whole set.

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What Would Zig Ziglar Do?

What Would Zig Ziglar Do?

For this short article in Alberta Venture on the effect famous businesspeople have in Alberta, I drew upon the idea of spheres of influence, and more directly the orbits of planets and comets. We’re all in the same system exerting forces on each other.

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