What I’m Reading, Part 6 (More Classics)
Sunday, May 4th, 2008I think I had posted awhile ago about how much I loved the big Terry and the Pirates collection that is being published by IDW Publishing. Well, the third book of that collection just came out last week and the comic strip just keeps getting better and better. The first book, which collects the first two years of the strip from 1934-1936, was really good. But the second book, which runs from 1937-1938, is at least fifty times better. I just picked up the third volume, 1939-1940, and am about halfway through it and have to say that it’s at least fifty times better than the second book was. I had been a big fan of Milt Caniff’s Steve Canyon comic in the paper when I was a kid, but had never read his Terry and the Pirates comic before, so this has just been a great treat for me to discover these comics for the first time.
There are two downsides to these books though. First off, they’re so nicely put together that the price is a bit steep. I just checked on Amazon and they’re listed at about $30. The second drawback is that it’s heavy reading, in that the books are really thick. I’m totally working out my arms holding the book up for hours because I can’t put it down.
Now, to change the topic and recommend some more contemporary webcomic reading, I discovered a brand new comic called Radbod that looks awesome. The characters have a fun Gumby feel to them, and the colors are fantastic. The story is just starting up so it’ll be fun to see where it goes. I hope you enjoy it. (link via Drawn!)
May 4th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Smiley Balloon is as appalled as we are.
May 5th, 2008 at 6:19 am
I bought that gigantic Little Nemo collection a while back (the one that’s like 10 foot by 5 foot) and it’s the same problem. Love to read it, hard to hold it.
Great comic today BTW!
May 6th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Hey Schwa, you’re right it is an appalling situation.
Mark, I’ve seen that Little Nemo book in the store. It is freakin’ huge! I haven’t had a chance to look at that book. When I’d seen it in the store it was all wrapped up. I bet it’s incredible. I’ve got a Nemo book that I got about 10 years ago that I really like called The Best of Little Nemo. While not as extensive as that one, it’s a more comfortable reading size, and has introductions for each section by Maurice Sendak, Charles Schultz, Bill Watterson, and even Chuck Jones.
May 8th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
What is that yellow floaty thing doing above the kayak? Did Zip and Li’l Bit manage to bring the moon down with them?
May 9th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Hey Maia, Thanks for the question. Is it the balloon shape in the first panel that you’re looking at? Or the hazy yellow color in the third panel? If it’s the first, it’s just the yellow balloon from the kayak. If it’s the third panel, it’s a color change that I tried to use to show the glow from the porchlight. Looking at it though, it doesn’t work so great so I may edit it a little when I have a chance. That’s the beauty of the web. You can always change stuff if you need to.
June 6th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Trade, did you struggle at all with the placement of the speech balloons in panel 3? It took me a couple reads to get the right flow (Zip’s words followed by Willoughby’s words). I kept reading it the other way for less impact.
It’d be interesting to get your thoughts on how you place your word balloons to ensure the right flow…(in general, not necessarily on this specific panel).
jas
June 7th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Hey Jas. Yeah that panel did give me some troubles. And you’re right, I didn’t get it the way I really would have liked. When I had first roughed this page out, it was even in worse shape in that I was trying to fit Zip’s dialogue from panel 2 in there as well.
I talk a little bit about the troubles I encountered with this scene in the blog next week. It’s good to make mistakes though with comics. It’s what keeps the creative juices working.