Nervous Rex #1 Signed Copies

 

For all you Blackthorne Comics fans, here's some more news on that Nervous Rex re-release from publisher Drew Ford at It's Alive.

Mild-mannered tyrannosaur Rexford doesn't really fit in with the Jurassic age, as he would rather just eat oatmeal and hang out with his friends. But his wife Dearie is always after him to be a more aggressive meat-eater and add to the fossil record. Also featuring a backup story starring the diminutive King Billy. 

 

 

This is the first comic book work from animator and children's book illustrator William Van Horn, who is known by most as a comic book artist for Disney. 

One copy of NERVOUS REX #1 signed by William Van Horn. LIMIT 100.

$30 + Tax & Shipping. 32 pages, B&W. 

Go grab your signed copy of NERVOUS REX #1 here:  

https://itsalive.bigcartel.com/product/nervous-rex-1

 

 

Drew Ford

Publisher

IT’S ALIVE!

www.itsalivepress.com

 

Instagram: @itsalivepress

Facebook: @itsalivepress

Twitter: @itsalivepress

 

IT'S ALIVE! is the brainchild of multiple Eisner Award nominee Drew Ford, publishing out of print comics, English translations of foreign material, original projects, and other unique collectibles.

 

Nervous Rex

Once upon a time in San Diego, there was an independent publisher called Blackthorne. They published a wide range of comics, including a series called Nervous Rex. Several decades later, I became friends with professional colorist Barbara Marker, who colored covers of this fun series. 

In time, Blackthorne went away. Most of the titles the company published faded into obscurity. Some can prove difficult to find. 

Then it happened one day that an announcement arrived in my e-mailbox. For fans who lament the passing of Blackthorne, it seemed like good news. It also told me a little about a comics creator who wasn't on my radar. As I enjoyed reading it, I thought I'd share the announcement with you.

If you're a fan of Blackthorne comics, perhaps you can live happily, forever after...

 

 

Coming soon from IT'S ALIVE!

 

NERVOUS REX by William Van Horn

 

IT'S ALIVE! is proud to announce the publication of NERVOUS REX by Disney artist William Van Horn, known for his work on Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics.

 

 

 

 

Van Horn worked in animation and children's books for some years, before joining Gladstone Comics in the mid 1980’s, creating mainly short Donald Duck stories for them. Though he started that career about the same time as Don Rosa, Van Horn hasn’t had nearly the amount of attention as Don. He has also produced new Donald Duck stories regularly for Danish publisher Egmont, which have been reprinted by Gemstone.

 

Most of William Van Horn’s fans around the world only know him for his hilarious Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics. But few know about Van Horn’s first comic book masterpiece, NERVOUS REX.

 

The series about Rexford--a nervous, pint-size and very henpecked dinosaur--shows off Van Horn’s unfettered love of whimsy and wordplay.

 

Much of the humor would be echoed later in Van Horn’s Disney duck comics. But visually and thematically the REX series is inspired by George Herriman’s classic comic strip Krazy Kat.

 

The series sold well initially, but when Van Horn started working for Disney, he largely left REX behind. . .

 

. . .but now it’s back!

 

IT'S ALIVE! plans to reprint the original ten issues, along with an eleventh issue, which will collect the NERVOUS REX short stories that first appeared in issues of both Laffin' Gas and Disney Adventures.

 

 

 

Drew Ford

Publisher

IT’S ALIVE!

www.itsalivepress.com

 

Instagram: @itsalivepress

Facebook: @itsalivepress

Twitter: @itsalivepress

 

IT'S ALIVE! is the brainchild of multiple Eisner Award nominee Drew Ford, publishing out of print comics, English translations of foreign material, original projects, and other unique collectibles.

 

Currently publishing: Airboy, Air War Stories, Breathers, Combat, Dose!, Holler, Kona, Nervous Rex, Red Range, Strange Attractors, and Tangled River.

 

Graphic Novels currently available: Dope, Family Man, Red Range, The Silver Metal Lover, and Voyage to the Deep.

Mark Hamill, Ray Harryhausen & Don Rickles

 

 

Here's a little more from that Mark Hamill interview in Starlog #21:

It seems that one of Mark Hamill's childhood heroes was Ray Harryhausen. When Hamill got to talk with the celebrated special effects wizard, he said, "Thank you. For good or for bad, your films really captured my imagination, and just intrigued me so much." Mark Hamill was so blown away by his first viewing of Ray Harryhausen's movie Jason and the Argonauts that he stayed at the cinema and watched it two more times that day. 

"I was eleven when I saw it, which was the perfect age for that kind of picture. In fact, if Harlan Ellison was eleven, he'd probably love Star Wars."

As someone who first saw Star Wars around that age, and returned to the cinema later that week to see it two more times, I couldn't agree more.
 

As for comedian Don Rickles...

 

Bom Vimdin: smuggler & mercenary

 

One of the patrons of the Mos Eisley cantina was later named Bom Vimdin. But during the filming of the cantina scene, the character lacked a name. So, according to online source Wookieepedia, the production crew gave him one.

Yes, you guessed it. They called him: Don Rickles.

Dragon Dave

P.S. Want to read the entire interview? Here's the Link:

Starlog #21 Mark Hamill Interview

Mark Hamill, the Parisian Movie Critic & Harlan Ellison

 

26 year old Mark Hamill

 

In an interview in Starlog #21, published in April 1979, a young Mark Hamill recounts a conversation with a Parisian movie critic.

Reporter: "Not only did I find Star Wars vapid and unimaginative, but I found it downright frightening in its mystical-religious, crypto-fascist, bargain-basement dogma."

Mark Hamill: "I bet you can't say that three times fast."

 

 

The interviewer suggests that the critic who irked Mark Hamill the most was noted science fiction author Harlan Ellison. It seems the famous author argued that Star Wars represented the triumph of technology over content, and of special effects over a "people" story, to the ultimate detriment of both science fiction and literature.

According to Hamill, Ellison also wrote, "Luke Skywalker is a nerd, and Darth Vader sucks runny eggs."

Mark Hamill's response?

"I saw him on a talk show in Canada and I thought he was like a game show host. He's like the Don Rickles of science fiction."

Hey, no knocking the late Don Rickles, Mark! He was cool!

Dragon Dave

P.S. Want to read the entire interview? Here's the Link:

Starlog #21 Mark Hamill Interview

Sam Glanzman Combat Collection: Dunkirk Preview Pages

 

 

Want to see a little more before you commit to funding in the 250+ page Sam Glanzman Combat collection? The good folks at It's Alive have you covered! 

Here's some preview pages from the Dunkirk story.

 

Click HERE to back COMBAT on Indiegogo

PEARL HARBOR • DUNKIRK • MIDWAY • BATTLE FOR BRITAIN • D-DAY 250+ pages of WWII greatness!

 

We are proud to announce the first COMBAT collection by Sam Glanzman. This includes Pearl Harbor, Dunkirk, Midway, Battle for Britain, and D-Day. Over 250 pages of WWII greatness! Plus, three cover galleries, including all the great retro covers from the 1960's, plus the new variant covers by Dave Dorman, Walter Simonson, Russ Heath, John McCrea, and Russ Braun. 

 

Dunkirk variant cover by Walter Simonson

 

We also included all the essays, old and new, about WWII and Sam Glanzman. And each comic book page in this collection has been brilliantly cleaned up and restored by the talented restoration artist Allan Harvey!  We currently have 48 backers, and we need 77 more backers to raise $5000, so we can print and ship this 250+ hardcover collection, and we are asking $40 per book. We also have hard covers available for $60, signed by Sam Glanzman's widow, Sue Glanzman. 

 

CLICK HERE TO BACK THE COMBAT COLLECTION CAMPAIGN

 

 

There's a LOT more info (and images) on the campaign page.

 

 

To add a little context, Sam Glanzman, a WWII veteran, enjoyed a long career in comics. In addition to his military stories, he also had a gift for fantasy. He drew Hercules and Tarzan for Charleton, Savage Tales for Marvel, Turok Dinosaur Hunter for Acclaim, and Zorro for Topps. 

As I mentioned in the previous post, I have no history with It's Alive, and cannot vouch for their products, service, or reliability. Still, if you're a fan of any of those classic series, you might enjoy contributing to this project, and seeing Glanzman's WWII stories.

 

Dragon Dave

Tangled River #1 Preview Pages

Here's a sneak peek at a contemporary comic, published by the good folks at It's Alive.

Tangled River is an all-ages science fiction story, told from the point of view of Tanya, an artistic teen growing up in a space colony on a distant Earth-like world sometime in the future.

 

Earth colonies have been set up across the planet, but a mysterious event ten years previously has wiped out all technology. Tanya is one of the small group of children born on this planet, who have never seen any of the technological wonders that their parents once took for granted. Now at age 14, her life consists of school, chores, taking care of her sick mom, and hanging out with her rebellious best friend, Licorice. All that changes when she sees a mysterious flaming object in the sky.

 

Tangled River #1 Cover A by Michael Cohen

 

The heart of the tale is Tanya’s relationship with her mother and friend, especially when both join her as part of an expedition to find the remains of the ship that brought them here from Earth. It’s a coming-of-age story, told as a memoir, as Tanya struggles to find her identity in a society where she isn’t highly valued.

 

Tangled River #1 Cover B by Jenni Gregory

 

Each issue of TANGLED RIVER features a standard cover by Michael Cohen and a variant cover by Jenni (DREAMWALKER) Gregory! 

 

Here's a preview of the first five pages of Tangled River #1.

 

If you enjoyed this preview, you can download the first two issues for free, but only in the next couple days.

 

DOWNLOAD TANGLED RIVER #1 & #2:

 

If you like them, please consider picking up print copies from your local comic ship, or you can order them from our online store HERE.

 

Many thanks to the good folks at It's Alive, for giving us a look at the comics they publish.

Dragon Dave

Sam Glanzman Combat Collection: D-Day Preview Pages

 

From the Pages of Combat by Sam Glanzman

Recently, the good folks at It's Alive sent me an email asking for assistance. I've never dealt with them personally, but as I know my readers enjoy my musings on older novels, I thought I'd pass along their write-up, along with preview pages and some stunning variant covers from today's leading comic artists. Enjoy!

PEARL HARBOR • DUNKIRK • MIDWAY • BATTLE FOR BRITAIN • D-DAY

250+ pages of WWII greatness!

 

We are proud to announce the first COMBAT collection by Sam Glanzman. This includes Pearl Harbor, Dunkirk, Midway, Battle for Britain, and D-Day. Over 250 pages of WWII greatness! Plus, three cover galleries, including all the great retro covers from the 1960's, plus the new variant covers by Dave Dorman, Walter Simonson, Russ Heath, John McCrea, and Russ Braun. We also included all the essays, old and new, about WWII and Sam Glanzman. We currently have 41 backers, and we need 80 more backers to raise $5000, so we can print and ship this 250+ hardcover collection, and we are asking $40 per book. We also have hard covers available for $60, signed by Sam Glanzman's widow, Sue Glanzman. 

 

CLICK HERE TO BACK THE COMBAT COLLECTION CAMPAIGN

 

 Here's some Preview Pages from D-Day

 

Here's some newly commissioned variant covers for this Combat Collection

 

Pearl Harbor by Dave Dorman

Dunkirk by Walter Simonson

Midway by Russ Heath

Battle For Britain by John McCrea

D-Day by Russ Braun

We really need your support to get these comics by Glanzman collected, and out to a larger audience through book (not just comic book) distribution. We hope you will grab a copy of the COMBAT HC collection. And please spread the word to anyone you think would be interested in supporting war comics and/or Sam Glanzman. Thank you so much!

 

CLICK HERE TO BE ONE OF THE 80 BACKERS WE STILL NEED
TO PUBLISH THE COMBAT COLLECTION!

 

 

To add a little context, Sam Glanzman, a WWII veteran, enjoyed a long career in comics. In addition to Combat for Dell, he also worked on GI Combat and Sgt Rock for DC, and Semper Fi for Marvel.

 

Also very cool: he drew a four-part adaptation of Irwin Allen's movie Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea! 

I have no connection with It's Alive, and cannot vouch for their products, service, or reliability. Still, if you're a fan of any of those classic series, you might enjoy contributing to this project, and seeing Glanzman's WWII stories.

 

Dragon Dave

 

 

 

 

James Herriott on Tristan Farnon

The World of James Herriot, Thirsk, UK

 

In his novel All Creatures Great and Small, writer James Herriot paints an intriguing portrait of his younger colleague Tristan Farnon. Unlike in the 1970s TV series, we don't see his first arrival in town by train. Instead, Tristan hitchhikes his way home from veterinary college in Edinburgh.* When James picks him up at a cafe on the Great North Road, Tristan carries his own luggage out to the car, instead of expecting James to carry it. 

As in the TV series, Tristan gets on well with older folks. There are, for example, his fellow members of the Darrowby Bellringers Society. But there is also old Boardman, a character not featured in the TV series. 

The old man, a WWI veteran, serves as gardener for Siegfried. Although he's friendly with James, Tristan is the one whom he's most taken with. Perhaps it's the youthful high spirits that prompt Tristan to ride a bike through Skeldale House while performing his errands. 

 

The back garden of "Skeldale House"

 

I suspect that easygoing Tristan possesses vast stores of patience, and is a good listener. Old Boardman always welcomes Tristan into his little gardening headquarters, whereas, according to Herriot, few others are ever invited. There, surrounded by his tools and Bairnsfather cartoons, the veteran regales Tristan with his wartime adventures.

Tristan may be training to be a veterinarian, but he also loves to study personalities. When Siegfried strongarms him into caring for the chickens, he spectacularly fails to do so regularly enough to produce eggs. Yet on the occasions he does feed them, he studies them intensely, learning to distinguish each by sounds and mannerisms.

When Tristan is forced to feed the pigs Siegfried buys, he finds himself attracted to the piglets. Yet as they mature, and trade in their youthful personalities for increased girth and determination to consume, his affection for and interest in them wanes. Perhaps Tristan missed his calling as a psychologist?

Additionally, despite not always doing well at university, Tristan possesses a keen mind for facts. James Herriot finds it humiliating to do the daily newspaper at Skeldale House, as Tristan can finish them in the time it takes James to fill in one answer.

Actor Peter Davison (Tristan) visits the real "Skeldale House"**

All these little observations that James Herriot puts into his novel may not be at odds with the Tristan that we saw on our TV screens in the original All Creatures Great and Small series, but they do enhance our understanding of him. Or at least, the fictional character based on Brian Sinclair, as chronicled by James Herriot, the pen name of veterinarian Alf Wight. 

Perhaps sometime I'll have to watch the 2020 TV series, and see how they portray Tristan in the updated show.

Dragon Dave

*That's a 180 mile journey. Given the state of the roads back then, I wonder how long it would have taken him to reach Thirsk (Darrowby), and if he managed it in one day.

**Photo from The World of James Herriot, Thirsk, UK

The Wisdom of Judi Dench

It's been a while since Judi Dench appeared on our TV screens in "As Time Goes By." Still, she speaks to us. Consider this little gem I found in a recent issue of AARP Magazine.

So what if she's taken to wearing funny hats? So what if she's looking a little green these days? Whether she's speaking as Jean Hardcastle or Dame Judi, her insights on life still ring true.

In these difficult times, we could do worse than follow her advice.

Dragon Dave