Well, today is the last day of the beloved Google Reader. As of this writing, it still seems to work, but that might not be the case by the time you're reading this.

If you were a frequernt user of Google Reader, this throws you into a bit of a lurch since there is -- and I don't believe there's any hyperbole in this statement -- nothing quite like it. There are indeed a lot of different ways to follow RSS feeds, certainly, but the particular mix of features that Google Reader had is, to my knowledge, unique. With the additional impending demise of iGoogle... well, we've got no choice but to check out the alternatives.

Why is that relevant here on a comics blog? Because, as I've noted before, I relied heavily on both for reading comics online. My Google Reader has something in the neighborhood of 200 comic feeds in it and, with my new column at MTV, I expect that number'll be increasing dramatically. (No, I don't read 200-some comics every day. Many of them are weekly or twice weekly or whatever.)

Here's my personal set of criteria that I'm working with. First, as noted, I read a lot of comics on different update schedules, so I can't rely on my memory to check bookmark links. Second, I work from at least six different devices with four different operating systems regularly, and often find myself working on others that I've never touched before. Which means that my comics access needs to me cloud-based, and not a stand-alone app. Third, I use my feed reader for ONLY comics. Any news type feeds I read directly through a portal set-up.

When I learned that iGoogle was going away, I looked at portal alternatives and landed on NetVibes. It doesn't have the number of comics-related widgets that iGoogle has, but it's got enough that I can kludge some workarounds together. Not ideal, relative to the smoothness I found with iGoogle, but serviceable for what I wanted. It handles the news feeds well -- better, in some cases -- but the comics portion is pretty light by comparison.

Google Reader's replacement has been more difficult. I've played around with all the alternatives people have been suggesting over the past few weeeks: Feedly and The Old Reader and everything. I even dove right into the Digg Reader when it was launched a few days ago. I've found quirks in all of them so far that make my comics reading a little less than optimal. Not that Google Reader was optimal, either, but the alternatives seem less so.

Anyway, I spent a fair amount of time sorting out how to best read all my favorite webcomics in one easy-to-handle package back in 2008. It looks like I'll be doing more than a bit of time sorting that out again this year. The changing landscape is challenging to keep up with, to be sure, but I'm trying to look at it as a way to force me from getting too staid and comfortable with (potentially) outdated systems. Relying on habits without examining whether there are better/more effective methods is a sure-fire way to fall behind the rest of society, and these changes are a prime opportunity to re-examine webcomics' technology. As before, I'll likely provide a few updates on my progress and, hopefull, that'll prove useful to some of you who might be struggling to keep up with their favorites.

Once agaion, I find myself really, really busy so I'm going to pull out another piece from my old FFPlaza website. This was a visual history of the costumes used by the Fantastic Four up through around 2001. I can see in the comments that I had intended to flesh this out some more with additional costumes of Crystal, Medusa, Ant-Man, etc. but I can't say why I never did. My guess is that the project just didn't continue to interest me enough to continue. In any event, here's my old FF costumes piece...

The first "uniform" the team wore was actually the flight suits they had on during their exposure to cosmic rays in Fantastic Four #1. Although the actual comic itself depicts the colors as being blue with white highlights, every retelling and reprint since then has presented them as purple and blue.
This is generally considered the "classic" FF uniform. It was designed by Susan Richards (then Storm) and debuted in Fantastic Four #3.
The Thing was uncomfortable in his original costume, so by Fantastic Four #4, he had trimmed it down to only include shorts, a belt and boots.
Still somewhat uneasy, Ben eliminated the use of boots in Fantastic Four #5 and spent much of his time in what is considered his classic outfit.
In Strange Tales #106, Johnny briefly joined forces with The Acrobat to discover -- and thwart -- his plans. This costume was designed and given to Johnny by The Acrobat.
Reed borrowed this costume from Nick Fury in Strange Tales #127 to conceal his identity from Ben and Johnny during an impromptu training exercise.
In Fantastic Four #68, Susan played a little with her original costume design to better accomodate her pregnancy. She wore this only briefly before taking a temporary leave of absence from the group.
After a devastating battle against Omega, Johnny used Inhuman technology to give himself a new uniform design in Fantastic Four #132. It's clearly an amalgam of his former uniform and the costume worn by the original android Human Torch.
After Ben was transformed back to his human form, Reed need a replacement member until he could complete Ben's exoskeleton. Power-Man was hired in Fantastic Four #168, but kept his existing costume while he was with the group.
After losing his powers, Reed Richards was unwittingly duped into helping Dr. Doom capture the other members of the Fantastic Four. To that end, he donned the Invincible Man costume in Fantastic Four #196. Interestingly, an alternate reality Reed donned the costume in Fantastic Four #388, calling himself the Dark Raider.
Returning from the Negative Zone in Fantastic Four #256, the Fantastic Four found that their costumes had become 'negative' versions of their originals.
After dating Johnny for some time, Frankie Raye discovered that she also had similar powers. Her stepfather, Thomas Horton, created this uniform for her shortly after she gained her powers in a lab accident and used hypnosis to make her forget the incident. When Frankie was asked to join the FF in Fantastic Four #239, she simply continued to wear the outfit.
Helping Spider-Man teach some kids a lesson in Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man #103, Johnny briefly claimed the identity of Blaze.
In the last issue of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, Ben wished to stay behind on the Beyonder's world. To keep from causing too much undue stress to the rest of the team, he asked She-Hulk to take his place. She accepted and created a stream-lined version of the FF's latest uniform.
Being mentally controlled by Psycho-Man, Susan enacted her 'revenge' on the other members of the Fantastic Four. She concealed her identity behind a 'Malice' persona starting in Fantastic Four #280.
After a bout with further mutation, Ben returned to the FF. Although he had returned to his "normal" rocky appearance, his unease led him to briefly utilize a full body-suit costume starting in Fantastic Four #302. Shortly afteward, however, he returned to his black shorts.
In Fantastic Four #359, Ben took to wearing long pants and boots.
In what some claim as another lapse into her 'Malice' persona, Susan donned a very revealing version of her black uniform in Fantastic Four #371.
After getting his face hacked up by Wolverine in Fantastic Four #374, the Thing once again donned a helmet to hide his looks.
By Fantastic Four #377, Ben became even more self-conscious of his appearnace and started wearing a tank top as well.
After hiding his face for some time after being slashed by Wolverine, Ben removed his helmet in Fantastic Four #386.
Gaining some of her senses back, Susan tempered her previous outfit with some modesty in Fantastic Four #388.
Although no reason was given, the Fantastic Four jointly redesigned their costumes in the midst of Onslaught's menace, as seen in Fantastic Four #415.
The heroes ended the Onslaught affair and were sent over to a Counter Earth by Reed and Sue's son, Franklin. They relived their early adventures there and modified some S.H.I.E.L.D. uniforms to identify themselves in Fantastic Four volume 2 #2.
Upon returning to their home planet, the FF returned to a look reminiscent of their original costumes in Fantastic Four volume 3 #1.
Reed, having defeated a Celestial and deserving of punishment in said Celestial's eyes, found himself trapped in Dr. Doom's armor at the end of Fantastic Four volume 3 #25. Interestingly, Reed had already found his mind trapped in Doom's body (and armor) as early as Fantastic Four #10.
In Fantastic Four volume 3 #27, Johnny took to wearing a non-uniform style jumpsuit with no explanation given.
Although Susan's uniform ripped in a similar fashion earlier, it wasn't until Fantastic Four volume 3 #28 that she permanently modified her uniform shirt into a tank top.

Back in 2009, Miguel Cima released a 20 minute documentary called Dig Comics, talking about how comics used to be well-read by the American population and aren't as big a deal any more. You can check out the piece here...His goal, as he states at the end of the film, is to continue trying to persuade more people to read comics. Clearly, the man loves the medium.

Which leads to his current project: a Kickstarter to fund an expanded full-feature version of the movie. Here's his pitch...Again, Cima clearly shows his love of the medium.

Will Cima's efforts save comics in America? Not by themselves. As easy as it is to pin comics' fall from grace all on the shoulders of Frederic Wertham, he wasn't the sole instigator, and the multiple causes took place over a period of decades. You can't turn that around overnight.

Which isn't to say that Cima's efforts are futile or in vain!

There's an old adage in marketing that you need to get your message to a person three times before they'll really even notice it. And while Man of Steel and Iron Man 3 and all the comics-related movies are great, they're not actually promoting comics at all. None of them say anything along the lines of, "If you want to read more adventures of Wolverine, check out your local comics retailer" or anything like that. (And why should they? We know from before Marvel was bought by Disney that they were making far more money licensing t-shirts and notebooks than they were selling comics.)

Now we can talk to the existing comics audience super-easily. And we do. The problem is that that audience doesn't need the message -- they're already buying comics! (In many cases, probably more than they can even afford!) And while Cima's movie will likely be seen by a large number of that crowd already buying comics, it will likely get seen by a number of folks who don't buy comics as well! And those are the types of people we, collectively, need to target. Cima's trying through his Kickstarter; I try with more individualized efforts. But the effects of all our efforts are cumulative. We get one person here, one there, another from over yonder... It might take a while, but the more people we get reading comics, the more types of comics will be made, and the more likely are favorites make enough money to avoid cancellation!

Really, don't we all dig comics?

Well, I broke down and spent a good chunk of change on the Fantastic Four Artist's Edition from IDW. The Artist's Edition line always struck me as interesting, but I hadn't seen a volume that piqued my interest enough buy one until now. Basically, what they're doing is reprinting old-ish (mostly Bronze Age, I think) comics, but they're just showing the original artwork -- pencil scratches, eraser marks and all -- at or very near the original size. They're definitely a premium type piece, easily over $100 each, so there's not many of them -- maybe 15 or 20 in all, each focusing on a creator's work on a single character or title.

This particular one stood out for me because John Byrne's run on Fantastic Four is what really drew me into comics. I had read them beforehand, but those issues were the ones that really drew me into their world in a way that I hadn't really seen anywhere else. The Star Wars movies came close, but the serial nature of comics meant I could visit that same world month after month, instead of once every few years. John Byrne almost single-handedly got me interested in not only the Fantastic Four, but the Marvel Unvierse and, ultimately, comics in general. You would not be reading this here today if it weren't for the copy of Fantastic Four #254 I got for my birthday.

This volume reprints FF #231, 238, 241, 243, 247, 261 and What If? #36. There's also a selection of covers and splash pages towards the back. But, aside from those reprints, that's pretty much it. No introduction, foreward, or commentary of any kind. Just the work standing on its own.

I suspect that the audience for these books isn't looking for anything else. Frankly, I doubt there's much I would've learned from any sort of commentary that could be provided -- hell, I probably could've written something more insightful than just about anyone except maybe Byrne himself. No, there's a reason that IDW is publishing these and not Marvel. There's a decidedly finite market for these books -- I see that the Gil Kane Spider-Man book only sold 2,000 copies, and that seems to be one of the more popular ones. So they're being bought expressly by people who A) remember reading the issues when they came out, B) have a deep affection for both the characters and the artist, and C) are highly interested in the art and production process of comics. It's likely a highly knowledgeable (at least with regards to these particular comics) and highly engaged audience. They're buying the book to see high quality reproductions, and let's not bother with any other nonsense.

This book covers really only the first half of Byrne's run on the book, but provides a pretty good representation of his work within that timeframe. You can see his art evolvea and you naturally get a good sense of how he constructed a page. Of all the issues presented, there are four pages of original art from these stories that were, for whatever reason(s), unavailable, and IDW has replaced them with black and white line art, so the stories can still be read in full. Even though these pages were originally drawn well after people stopped discarding comic art casually, I'm still surprised that they were able to get so many complete books for this project. It must have taken a huge amount of effort to track them all down.

The book is gorgeous, and I'm sure I'll spend many more hours pouring over the details of Byrne's art that first captured my imagination so many years ago. Very high kudos to IDW for putting these books together in the first place, and going to obviously great lengths to make them look fantastic in the second. I certainly can't afford to buy all the books in the line, but I'll be keeping tabs on it in case the gather together another great collection of fantastic work by a favorite artist of mine.

• Jeff Severns Guntzel and Andy Warner offer up this PSA comic on the subject of "moral injury" and how that goes beyond what's typically defined as PTSD.
• Matt Kuhns visits the 75th anniversary Superman exhibit presented by the Cleveland Public Library. Though he admits he may have some bias, he thought they did an excellent job overall.
  
• Rick Bentley of The Fresno Bee talks with Neal Adams. Nothing really new in the interview, but the outlet struck me as interesting in that it doesn't seem like one that would normally do comic creator interviews.
• Dan Peretti has some thoughts on Superman, Hinduism, and Henry Cavill's use of the word "mythology."
  
• There's a new Asterix book out in France. There's a commerical for it. It's bizarrely hilarious.
  

Random question that I've kicked around from time to time. Which actor(s) has appeared the most in movies and TV shows that were based on comic books and/or comic strips? Here's some candidates I've thought of...

Noel Neill appeared in the 1948 and 1950 Superman movies as Lois Lane, as well as in the subsequent TV show. She's also appeared as other characters in the 1978 and 2006 Superman movies, and The Adventures of Superboy television series.

Chris Evans is racking up a resume of movies. Two Fantastic Four films, two Captain America films, The Avengers, the 2007 TMNT movie, The Losers, Scott Pilgrim, and Snowpiercer to date with another Avengers movie coming down the pipe.

Doug Jones doesn't have the star power of Evans, but he's showed up in two Hellboy theatrical release and two TV movies, Men in Black II, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Mystery Men and a third Hellboy feature film has been announced.

Hugh Jackman is, of course, really the only version of Wolverine most people know. He's appeared as the character in five X-Men films that have been released and two more that are being worked on now.

Scarlet Johansson, before appearing as Black Widow in Iron Man 2 and The Avengers, played Rebecca in Ghost World and Silken Floss in The Spirit. She voiced Veronica Lodge in an episode of Robot Chicken. She's scheduled to return to her role as Black Widow in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Avengers 2.

Samuel L. Jackson has shown up in five Marvel movies as Nick Fury, with another three allegedly on the slate. He also appeared in The Spirit and lent his voice to Astro Boy (2009), The Boondocks and Afro Samurai.

Adam West, the iconic Batman of the 1960s, appeared in both the TV show and feature film of that era. He provided the voice of Hercules in the 1976 Shazam! show, and returned as the voice of Batman in The New Adventures of Batman and SuperFriends cartoons. He's also lent his talents to cameos in other TV shows, including Batman: The Animated Series, Lois & Clark, Weird Science, The Boondocks, The Batman (2004 series), The Brave and the Bold, and The Super Hero Squad Show.

Frank Welker is pretty exclusive to voice acting, but he's got one hell of a credits list! Super Friends, The All-New Popeye Hour, The Fantastic Four (1978), Casper and the Angels, The New Shmoo, Heathcliff, The Ri¢hie Ri¢h/Scooby-Doo Show, Ziggy's Gift, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Lucky Luke, Smurfs, Superman (1988), Beetle Bailey, Marvin: Baby of the Year, This Is America, Charlie Brown, Blondie & Dagwood: Second Wedding Workout, A Wish for Wings That Work, Fish Police, Batman: The Animated Series, The Savage Dragon, The Mask (1995), Superman (1996), Batman Beyond, Static Shock, The Batman (2005), plus various iterations of Garfield cartoons and probably a few dozen other things I'm missing.

Stan Lee is more well-known for writing superheroes, but he's been doing cameos for decades. After a stint as the narrator on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and The Incredible Hulk cartoons from the 1980s, he's popped up in The Trial of the Incredible Hulk; the Spider-Man, Hulk, and FF cartoons from the 1990s; the 2004, 2009 and 2012 Spider-Man cartoons; Avengers Assemble!; and the spate of Marvel movies from the past decade including X-Men, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Hulk, Spider-Man 2, Fantastic Four, X-Men: The Last Stand, Spider-Man 3, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, and The Amazing Spider-Man. Plus, there's a good chance he'll show up in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Thor: The Dark World.

The interesting thing, then, is how you define "the most". Lee certainly has a long list of credits to his name, but they're almost all limited to appearances of only a few seconds. Evans has had starring roles in nine feature films. And then there's Welker with a ton of significant roles, but all of them behind the camera. Which is more salient? More importantly, who have I missed that's got more than three or four credits to their name?

The image here is a "Komic Kamera" from the Russakov Can Company circa the early 1930s. Looking through the eyepiece on one end, you could see an enlargement of a filmstrip backlit from a hole on the opposite end. The knob on the top cranked the filmstrip forward one frame at a time. It essentially acted liked a ViewMaster but without the stereoscopics to produce the 3D effect.

Judging by the images on the unit itself, it was mostly used to present comic strips. (The back side features Krazy Kat, Dagwood Bumstead and others poorly drawn versions of comic strips characters popular around that time.) The only strip example I've seen featuring illustrations; I'm guessing the black and white linework was cheaper to produce in this format than photos and/or color? But as near as I can tell, you could swap the film strips out almost as readily as you could a ViewMaster reel, so even though I've only seen the one, I'm sure there would have been others available.

Now, here's the interesting bit. The one strip that I've seen is currently up for auction on eBay here. Here's the title image...

The story, from what I can tell, is basically just a sex romp with no appreciable differences from a Tiajuana Bible! There's some pretty lewd imagery and a variety of celebrity appearances like Jimmy Durante and Samuel Goldwyn (of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer fame). The story is a little over 30 frames long, so substantially more detailed that a typical Tiajuana Bible, and the art at least in this particular one seems of considerably higher quality.

The steroescope was around long before ViewMaster came into being -- the earliest ones date back to the 1830s! But ViewMasters' big revolution was in using them to present stories instead of just scenic images. I argued back here that this made those reels comics. But evidently, ViewMaster wasn't the company to come up with the idea in the first place. This Russakov Can Company was doing comics and comics porn decades before!

And what I find really amazing is that these ever existed. Compared to a Tiajuana Bible, these must have been incredibly highly priced just to cover the basic costs. I was always under the impression that smut from that era was produced as cheaply as possible because it was all under the table. Evidently, though, there were several socio-economic levels in that particular black market!