The original Star Wars comic strip was launched on March 12, 1979 and the first storyline ran until early September. It was called "Gambler's World" and was written and drawn by Russ Manning. I haven't read the whole thing, but from what I have seen, it struck me as generic sci-fi and it didn't seem like Manning had a real sense of the Star Wars universe. (To be fair, a lot of people didn't quite get the Star Wars aesthetic in those early years.)

But there were actually a dozen Star Wars comic strips done before Manning started on the ones that were ultimately published. George Lucas himself had previously asked for (and got!) classic sci-fi comic strip artist Al Williamson to adapt the first movie as a comic strip! Williams put together twelve gorgeous strips that cover the first 15-20 minutes of the movie. It moves along briskly, but clearly uses the movie for both visual and dialogue references. (Although it does depart from that for the sake of moving the story along.) Williamson ultimately wasn't able to work on the strip, which is when Manning was brought in.

So here are the original tweleve strips Williamson did, re-telling Star Wars: A New Hope...

I caught this Twitter thread recently, which talks about some compativiely recent (in the past three decades) discoveries about cave paintings. You can read the thread there for the full story, but I'll try to summarize the key point I'd like to touch on.

Some cave paintings that have been found have had multiple drawings overlaid on one another. Like a goat with multiple heads or a mammoth with multiple trunks. When I'd first seen/heard about these in school, no one had a good explanation for the multiple images. My assumption was that the artist simply wanted to redraw that part and, since erasers hadn't been invented yet, just left the original marks in place. However, a scientist named Edward Wachtel happened to be looking in one of the more obscure caves and was forced to use an old oil lamp for light. In the flickering light of the lamp, some of the lines would disappear briefly as the light source shifted slightly. In fact, with the fairly weak light source, it seemed as if none of the lines were all visible at the same time. You could only see one of the goat's heads. Only one of the mammoth's trunks.

They had been deliberately created that way! They were specifically designed so that you couldn't see the whole thing at once. That's why they had to be in caves -- they needed a limited, more directional light source! (Side note: cavemen, by and large, did not actually live in caves; they mostly used crude huts. Caves were either decidedly temporary shelters or used for rituals. Like painting.) Moving the lamp back and forth created almost a sort-of two- or three-frame animation sequence! The person posting the Twitter thread called them proto-movies.

Despite that name, though, the effect is not unlike that of a lenticular image, which I made a post about back in 2019. A post in which I argued that lenticular images are, in fact, comics. The image does not move itself, as is the case with films, but you as the viewer have to change the position of your eyes relative to the image. You can either move the image itself (in the case of the shields that came with Secret Wars action figures) or your head (in the case of a large drawing carved into the interior rock wall of a cave).

You have a sequence of images, viewable only in a deliberate sequence, dictated by where they are placed in space. “Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer” per Scott McCloud. They might be only two or three panels, but these are every bit a comic that the latest issue of Amazing Spider-Man is...!

The cover image here is the first variant cover from The Fantastic Four and I think it might be the first variant cover from Marvel. Although it wasn't an intentional one!

The story, from 1971, is fairly unremarkable relative to other issues for a good stretch both before and after it. Stan Lee had been writing the series for a full decade at that point, and John Buscema had several issues under his belt after Jack Kirby left* and would continue on for a few years afterwards. There are no new charaters introduced, nor are any storylines started or wrapped up. It's not a bad story, by any means, but it's largely unremarkable relative to any other given post-Kirby FF.

Except for the cover.

Fantastic Four #110 was produced in exactly the same way every other issue was produced. Lee provided a general outline to Buscema. Buscema created the story and drew the art. Lee came back and added dialogue. It went to Joe Sinnott to ink, and one of the "house" letterers to letter. (In this case, Mike Stevens.) Then the whole ball of wax got shipped off to the printers to do a print run of 250,000 or so.

Quick lesson in printing. You know how your ink jet printer has four cartridges of ink, right? Black, yellow, blue (cyan) and pink (magenta). Those four colors are used because when they're mixed in the right quantities, you can produce an incredibly wide range of colors. Professional printers who print comics use the same colors. The difference is that back in 1971, instead of being controlled by a computer, the colors were controlled by hand. There would be a person who had to take a copy of the artwork, and physically cut out all the bits that required each color. They would end up with four pieces of art: one containing just the black parts, one containing just the yellow parts, one containing just the cyan parts, and one containing just the magenta parts.

Then, a printer would create a metal plate based on each piece of art. These plates are kind of like rubber stamps, but just made out of (usually) aluminum. The image is reversed, then coated with ink and pressed onto a piece of paper. So when you coat the four images with four different inks, and press them onto the same piece of paper, you get a colored image!

Now, what happened to FF #110 is that the cyan and magenta plates got mixed up for the cover. So everything that was supposed be blue was printed using magenta ink, and everything pink was printed with cyan ink. Consequently, we see the FF in pink uniforms, and the orange of the Thing (remember your old color wheel? yellow + red = orange) now looks green (the "red" of that equation was replaced with "blue").

The issues were shipped out before the problem was noticed. Which means there were over 200,000 of these floating around at one point. Marvel issued a recall, and had corrected issues shipped out (I'm sure at the printer's cost, since it was their fault) but not before a good number of the error version had sold. And while we weren't really into the direct market system quite yet, there were no doubt people who had begun speculating on the market, and deliberately held onto their copies without sending them back to get pulped. So these days, they're not exactly common, but not terribly hard to find either.

So the next time someone talks about some exclusive variant cover they picked up at a convention, you can pull this bad boy out and tell them you've got the original variant cover!
* Yes, I know John Romita did a few issues between Kirby and Buscema, despite the implication my phrasing above implies. There just wasn't a smooth way to add in Romita's contribution there, and it wasn't really relevant to my point anyway.

Here are this week's links to what I've had published recently...

Kleefeld on Comics: Sunday Funnies Cola
https://ift.tt/3iskQYH

Kleefeld on Comics: The Fantastic Four's Chest Emblem
https://ift.tt/3g2P0QB

Kleefeld on Comics: Upcoming Comics Calendar
https://ift.tt/2Sl8uqI

Kleefeld on Comics: So This Happened...
https://ift.tt/3cxDyui

Kleefeld on Comics: De-Syndication
https://ift.tt/3iFtB1T

If you look at the comics in the newspaper, you'll find that many of them are strips that have been around for ages. Long-running strips are LOOOOOONG-running strips, often out-living their original creators. The Katzenjammer Kids, Blondie, The Phantom... I think one of the reasons syndicated comic strips were viewed as the end goal for cartoonists for so long was because it was almost a guarantee of a life-long career.

Of course, not every strip continues indefinitely. Gary Larson and Bill Watterson are probably the most famous semi-recent examples of cartoonists who deliberately discontinued their strips at the height of their popularity. Somewhat more recently, we've seen the official discontinuation of Little Orphan Annie and Brenda Starr.

But what about comics that fade more quietly? Ones that were dropped from syndication because they didn't garner whatever the requisite following was. The ones that never quite got into the public consciousness. I'm sure back when newspapers were a more dominant form of news delivery, seeing a comic disappear from the paper was seen as the paper itself discontinuing that strip. But a reader or fan would comfortably assume that it was still running in The Cincinnati Enquirer or The Miami Herald or somewhere, regardless of the accuracy of that assumption. I know the newspapers I saw when I was a kid changed up their comics line-up from time to time, and it always came under the guise of just switching one comic for another. Dropping Rog Bollen's Animal Crackers in favor of Garfield by this young upstart Jim Davis. Swapping The Born Loser by Art and Chip Sansom out for Aaron McGruder's Boondocks. Those strips that "disappeared" continued on, just not in the local paper.

But there MUST have been any number of comics that also disappeared from a local paper because the syndicate itself no longer distributed it, despite the original creator still working on it. The only instance I can think of where this happened was with Nate Creekmore's Maintaining, which started in 2007 and ended in 2009 when "Universal Press Syndicate has chosen to opt out of its contract" with Creekmore. Though he enjoyed working on the strip, Creekmore stated at the time that it wasn't financially feasible for him to even look for another syndicate. At least relative to other work he was doing. So the strip was discontinued.

Surely, though, Creekmore isn't the only person in that situation. A formerly syndicated cartoonist who managed to "break in" only to have the rug pulled out soon afterwards. I'm curious how often that happens. I suspect it's more frequent now than it was, say, fifty years ago as there's a seeming need for more immediate results (i.e. lots of papers picking the strips up). But does anyone keep track of how often comic syndicates de-syndicate a strip?

So yesterday, pretty much just as I had finished lunch, they announced this year's Eisner Award nominees. Unlike every other year I've ever scrolled through the list, however, this one was different for me. Because my name is on it.

I knew my publisher had submitted the book for consideration, but I didn't know I would be on the final list of nominees until acutally seeing it there. Hoped? Sure, but mostly as an idle pipe dream.

I was still a teen when I first heard about the Eisner Awards. I don't recall if it was necessarily the first year they had them (1988) or just one of those early years, but I do recall seeing a list of all the nominees in a random issue of Comics Buyers Guide I happened across. I remember going through that first list and not even recognizing most of the titles of the books being discussed, much less all the creators who worked on them. ("Concrete? What's that? Mike Baron? Never heard of him.") The list of nominees was elusive -- I could clearly see that the list represented the best work going on in comics at the time, but the vast majority of it flew over my head.

While not really deliberate or conscious, I began using the annual list of Eisner nominees as a sort of barometer for my knowledge of comics. I'd go through the list each year and see what I was familiar with. Could I at least recognize more names than I did the year before? Eventually, it got to where I was at least nominally aware of everyone on the list, and then it became a question of what I'd actually read. Sure, I knew who Kurt Busiek was, but had I actually read Astro City?

I've never gotten to the point where I'd read everything on each year's list, but I did start noticing several years ago that some of the names that might show up were folks I knew. Not just knew of, but people I knew personally and had friendships with. That was the weirdest damn thing for me. From having barely even recognized a handful of names on that list to being friends with several of them. It became an event where I could celebrate friends' successes, instead of just ensuring I was reading the best material.

But now, even more astonishingly, my name is actually among them.

It's a cliche to say "it's an honor just to be nominated" but it really is. I mean, look at the talent on this year's list! Even just in the same category I'm in! If you're gonna lose a footrace, there is no shame to losing to Usain Bolt, and there are five Bolts in this category already! I am truely humbled, honored, and stunned to have my name spoken alongside theirs.

When I was a kid, I never dreamed larger than being a footnote to a footnote to a footnote in the annals of comics history. I was thrilled to death when I was fifteen and got my first letter published. It meant that my name was now forever associated with comics. Formally. Officially. I would never have believed possible that I'd go on to write an entire book about comics, much less have it nominated for the biggest US industry award. I wrote Webcomics because it's a subject that not enough people are talking about, certainly not in anything resembling an academic sense. I hope that this nomination does shine some more spotlight on the subject, and gets people looking at webcomics with a more serious, concerted eye. If I can contribute that to the comics industry -- if that's how my name gets lodged in those aforementioned annals -- that so far exceeds what I ever thought possible, I can't even believe it now.

Kudos to everyone who has been nominated for an Eisner Award this year, regardless of what category. Another round of kudos to all my friends who've been nominated this year -- I am absolutely thrilled you're getting some very much deserved recognition! And yet another round of kudos to the other folks up for "Best Academic/Scholarly Work" -- I was only able to push myself to write a book like Webcomics because all of you have been doing a lot of the hard work in academia, pacing the way for books like mine. For that, I thank you.

It's been almost a full month since I last posted a calendar of upcoming comics events. As usual, please check the time zones noted below and adjust to your location as appropriate.

• June 9, 4:00pm ET
  Chat with Eric Powell
  Chat with Eric Powell about his upcoming true crime graphic novel with Harold Schechter, Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?
• June 9, 6:00pm ET
  Christ in Comics
  Join comic book-style illustrator and historian Arlen Schumer as he explores how superheroes in American comic book history have reflected Christological aspects of heroism and self-sacrifice, whether overtly, subconsciously or unconsciously; you’ll see your favorite superheroes, and comic book art, in ways that will make “all seem new again!”
• June 9, 7:00pm CT
  'Al Hirschfeld: Life & Legacy of the Great American Caricaturist' Webinar
  Join the New York Adventure Club as they venture on a virtual trip through 20th century popular culture as drawn by Al Hirschfeld, who recorded and defined so much of show business — especially Broadway and Hollywood — through his unique and distinct drawing style. Led by David Leopold, Creative Director of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation. Registration: $10 US.
• June 9, 7:00pm CT
  Noir is the New Black
  Noir is the New Black is a graphic novel anthology featuring 16 Noir stories from 40 Black creators from all around the world. This session will discuss the process of creating an independent graphic novel anthology from scratch and will highlight the importance of Black Noir as a genre in American literature and sequential arts. The panel will feature the editors of the anthology and select creators.
• June 9, 9:00pm ET
  Loki Episode 1 Watch Party
  Celebrate the release of Loki with other fans. ReedPop will be stream the first episode of the new Marvel series through Scener via DisneyPlus.com. (Only viewable to fans with active Disney+ subscriptions.)
• June 10, 12:00pm EDT
  Nuances of Racial Bias in America: Making Art in Response to Anti-Asian Hate, Part Two
  Please join Academic Director Beth Fisher-Yoshida, Ph.D., and Columbia's M.S. in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution program for a webinar exploring current issues and how tactics such as conflict analyses, restorative justice, and role-playing simulations can help to resolve them. Art-making and storytelling are vital to the visibility of marginalized communities, as a way to counteract erasure, dehumanization, and to have more nuanced conversations about race. They have invited Cindy Trinh, Yao Xiao, John Lee, and Connie Sun back for a second round of discussion and extended Q&A. Part One remains available here.
• June 10, 4:00pm ET
  Draw like a Comic Book Artist
  "Draw like a Comic Book Artist" is a virtual program that will show you how simple, fun and relaxing it is to draw, communicate and tell stories with illustrations. Using our graphic novel collection as inspiration, we will practice with tools we already have at home and leave you with awesome ideas to explore. Ages 8 - 12.
• June 11, 6:00pm ET
  Howard Chaykin - Part II: PARADIGM BEYOND
  Whether you’re a beginner trying to find your artistic voice or seasoned artist looking to hone your visual language skills, comic book artist/writer Howard Chaykin’s Paradigm art classes exclusively on TalentTalk teaches aspiring artists what shapes, distance, and movement tell us about time and journey. In this visual exploration, Chaykin takes you inside storytelling to walk you through page layout and show you WHAT works and WHY. Registration: $30 US.
• June 12, 5:00pm PT
  Comics in the City 2021: Eunsoo Jeong
  In celebration CCA’s MFA in Comics annual summer session, California College of the Arts hosts its ninth annual Comics in the City guest speaker series featuring Eunsoo Jeong (Koreangry), Akira Himekawa (The Legend of Zelda), Marguerite Abouet (Aya), Emil Ferris (My Favorite Thing Is Monsters), and Alison Bechdel (Fun Home).
• June 13, 5:00pm EST
  Cartoonist Coffee
  Using Zoom's break-out rooms, we'll randomly split participants up into small groups to have 15-minute conversations. Get to know new cartoonists, spend time with friends you haven't seen in a minute! When the 15 minutes is up, we'll reshuffle participants for another small group conversation! No jerks! Bring your own coffee/tea/water/etc.
• June 16, 5:00pm (CEST?)
  Les Wébinaires AF: La BD Franco-Belge
  French teacher Julien Laloy will introduce you to the Franco- Belgian Bande Dessinée. This genre, very much distinct from other traditions in the west (comics) or the east (manga) of the world, has been dubbed the 9th art, it is also a massive industry. Come and discover everything about it with Julien, who is also a comics creator!
• June 16, 6:00pm PT
  Grownups Unite! They Called Us Enemy
  Join the Grownups Unite! crew as they discuss,They Called Us Enemy on Wednesday June 16th, at 6 p.m. with special virtual visit by co-author Justin Eisinger! Come join your fellow adults who love comics and graphic novels! Sacramento Public Library staff will also highlight new Graphic Novel titles for adults.
• June 18-19
  Cloud Comic Con
  Cloud Comic Con will be a virtual comic con, bringing together audiences from Glasgow Comic Con, Edinburgh Comic Art Festival, and Rai Con all into one online space. It will include a series of talks, panels, and a virtual artists alley to promote the works of independent creators. Special guests will include J.M.Demattis (Justice League Int, Batman), Tillie Walden (On a Sunbeam), Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead), Shazleen Khan (Buzza), Dave Cook (Killtopia), and Frank Quitely (Jupiter’s Legacy) plus many more.
• June 18, 6:00pm ET
  Howard Chaykin – Part III: PARADIGM IN PRACTICE
  The Paradigm in Practice deals with writer tools for story breakdown, and also the hidden nuances of comic storytelling. How should you format a script, regardless if you’re working with an artist or drawing it yourself? Why do panel borders MATTER? How can a conversation become the greatest action? How do you best bring the reader into the time-and-place setting of your story? All this and more is addressed by one of comics’ greatest storytellers! CRUCIAL information for pros, and deeper appreciation for enthusiasts! Registration: $30 US.

• June 19, 6:00pm BST
  Panel by Panel Zoom Discussions: Natasha Natarajan and Rob Bidder
  Natasha and Rob's collaborative live drawing will take place from 11am-5pm at The Cartoon Museum and will be viewable by visitors. Join Natasha and Rob at 6pm-7pm as they round up their day's collaboration with a live, online discussion. Registration: £8.50 UK.
• June 21, 7:00pm BST
  LDC Monthly Online
  A live LDComics online event with guests sharing illustrated presentations about their comics work, career-life tips, latest graphic novels and more! Guests this month are Mita Mahato, Gordon Shaw, Eleanor Janega, and Neil Max Emmanuel.
• June 22, 8:00pm ET
  Mark Waid: Comic Writing
  Your purchase of this Talk gets you to access to a limited, private 55-minute tutorial and Q&A session with Mark! This is a highly intensive, learning-focused session in which Mark will lay out the ins and outs of plot structure, and creating riveting stories and memorable characters! Registration: $125 US.
• June 24, 8:00pm ET
  Matt Wagner: Q-and-A and Original Art
  Your purchase of this Talk gets you access to a limited, private 45-minute Q&A session with Matt! Matt is happy to answer questions about the process, his experiences in comics, or art in general! Only FIVE seats are available for this exclusive session! ALSO: Your purchase includes an original bust sketch by Matt of a character of your choice on a special, high-quality, 6.5-by-10 inch 3-ply illustration board provided by TalentTalk! Registration: $275 US.
• June 26, 6:00pm BST
  Panel by Panel Zoom Discussions: Natasha Natarajan and Rachael House
  Natasha and Rachael's collaborative live drawing will take place from 11am-5pm at The Cartoon Museum and will be viewable by visitors. Join Natasha and Rachael at 6pm-7pm as they round up their day's collaboration with a live, online discussion. Registration: £8.50 UK.
• June 26, 5:00pm PT
  Comics in the City 2021: Akira Himekawa
  In celebration CCA’s MFA in Comics annual summer session, California College of the Arts hosts its ninth annual Comics in the City guest speaker series featuring Eunsoo Jeong (Koreangry), Akira Himekawa (The Legend of Zelda), Marguerite Abouet (Aya), Emil Ferris (My Favorite Thing Is Monsters), and Alison Bechdel (Fun Home).
• June 27, 5:00pm EST
  Cartoonist Coffee
  Using Zoom's break-out rooms, we'll randomly split participants up into small groups to have 15-minute conversations. Get to know new cartoonists, spend time with friends you haven't seen in a minute! When the 15 minutes is up, we'll reshuffle participants for another small group conversation! No jerks! Bring your own coffee/tea/water/etc.
• June 29, 7:00pm CDT
  'John Henry: The First American Superhero' Webinar
  Join the New York Adventure Club as they explore the history behind the legend of John Henry, and the mostly-anonymous ex-slaves who helped build this country’s railroads and railroad tunnels — and in doing so, unified it geographically and spiritually, transforming a disconnected America into the United States of America. Led by Arlen Schumer. Registration: $10 US.
• July 10, 11:00am PT
  Comics in the City 2021: Marguerite Abouet
  In celebration CCA’s MFA in Comics annual summer session, California College of the Arts hosts its ninth annual Comics in the City guest speaker series featuring Eunsoo Jeong (Koreangry), Akira Himekawa (The Legend of Zelda), Marguerite Abouet (Aya), Emil Ferris (My Favorite Thing Is Monsters), and Alison Bechdel (Fun Home).
• July 10, 5:00pm PT
  Comics in the City 2021: Emil Ferris
  In celebration CCA’s MFA in Comics annual summer session, California College of the Arts hosts its ninth annual Comics in the City guest speaker series featuring Eunsoo Jeong (Koreangry), Akira Himekawa (The Legend of Zelda), Marguerite Abouet (Aya), Emil Ferris (My Favorite Thing Is Monsters), and Alison Bechdel (Fun Home).
• July 24, 5:00pm PT
  Comics in the City 2021: Alison Bechdel
  In celebration CCA’s MFA in Comics annual summer session, California College of the Arts hosts its ninth annual Comics in the City guest speaker series featuring Eunsoo Jeong (Koreangry), Akira Himekawa (The Legend of Zelda), Marguerite Abouet (Aya), Emil Ferris (My Favorite Thing Is Monsters), and Alison Bechdel (Fun Home).