Co-founder and Creative director of Bleeding Cool parent company Avatar Press. Bleeding Cool Managing Editor, tech and data wrangler. Machine Learning hobbyist. Vintage paper addict.
Taken as a whole, Leslie's happens to be my favorite periodical in American history. Over the length of its run from its beginnings as Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper to the magazine-formatted and name-shortened Leslies, the weekly chronicled some defining moments in the history of the United States. Leslies had reporters in the field during the […]
This issue of the New York Herald, September 9, 1894, Sunday Color Section features a political cartoon by Charles G. Bush from the earliest era of America's color newspaper sections. The color Inter Ocean Illustrated Supplement had launched in 1892. In the subsequent two years, the techniques and artistry of the form in color on […]
A recent installment of The Issue featured The Daily Graphic No. 283 January 31, 1874, and referenced an 1889 article that discussed story paper circulation in that era. A "story paper" is simply an illustrated weekly periodical that features fiction, in what we think of as a newspaper format. The serials featured in story papers […]
I've long wondered if American periodical publishers Frederick Gleason and Lev Gleason were related. The parallels between the lives of the two men are compelling: Both lived in the same area for a time. Both were pioneering periodical publishers in their day. And both often employed their publishing apparatus in the service of their radical […]
A man becomes ostracized by the scientifically-advanced, cape-wearing, chest-symbol-wearing leadership of his planet. Sent to Earth, the man is known as "The Messenger" and nobody likes his message, as it includes scenes of destruction and dire warnings about the future of civilization. Newspapers also call the Messenger a "Strange Visitor from Another Planet". Am I […]
Browsing through the selection of patriotic WWII-era Superman-related comics available in Session 5 of Comic Connect's Event Auction 42, which ends May 22, reminds me of some of my very favorite little-known Superman-related history. Generally speaking, I think we have the notion that "The Superman" was a vague, Nietzschean concept barely remembered by the early […]
DC Comics as we know it today is an interesting amalgamation of characters and titles they've absorbed from throughout comics history. Characters like Plastic Man and Phantom Lady from Quality Comics, The Question and Captain Atom from Charlton, and most importantly Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman among others from M.C. Gaines's All-American line. During […]
This issue of The Daily Graphic No. 283 January 31, 1874 is doubly interesting to me because the cover page is a cartoon about a story paper — The New York Ledger. The Issue is a regular column about vintage comics and other vintage periodicals from throughout world history. The idea behind The Issue is […]
Over the past week, the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, or BINC, has become the charity that the comic book industry has rallied around to help comic book stores in need. The recent #Creators4Comics campaign has raised a substantial amount of money, after DC Comics Co-Publisher and CCO Jim Lee started auctioning off sketches in order […]
Universal Studios Orlando has issued an update concerning the operations of Universal Orlando Resort, including their theme parks and Universal CityWalk, as a result of the Coronavirus crisis. The theme parks including Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, and Volcano Bay will remain closed through April 19 according to the current statement. The Universal Studios […]
Theodore Roosevelt crossed my mind recently, prompted by a conversation with comics historian, former Marvel editor, and world's greatest Roosevelt expert Rick Marschall, which led me to think about the term "Rough Rider" because of course the word seeps into several corners of the dime novel field. Naturally, for every question about history, there is […]
When I was researching this installment of The Issue, about The Egyptian Star: An Original Amateur Monthly, I had "The Secret Origin of Fanzines and Fandom" penciled in as the title. That captures the spirit of the thing I suppose, but it isn't quite right. There's nothing secret about this or any of the other […]
Most people reading this post will know The Brave and the Bold as a longtime DC Comics brand best remembered today for its association with Batman. That brand began with the series of that name which began in 1955, largely written and edited by Robert Kanigher to start with, and probably named by Kanigher as […]
Welcome back to a post-revolutionary edition of The Issue. At issue today is Le Grelot No. 208 from April 4, 1875, with cover art by Alfred Le Petit. This one caught my eye for further study due to its usage of the now-familiar "flip cover" technique, complete with flipped logos and cover dress. What could […]
It's flown under the radar a little in recent weeks that the United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also known as the CDC, are using the comics format on their widely-distributed flyers and posters that teach the basics of how to help prevent the spread of respiratory diseases like Coronavirus. Despite the fact […]
Welcome to Demonetized, the first installment of an all-too-regular feature here on Bleeding Cool in which we've published a post that one of Google's advertising arms really wishes we hadn't, and talk about that a little. Being clear, I think that Google can do as they wish with their business within the bounds of the […]
The NBA has just announced that the league will suspend its schedule of games effective with the end of tonight's schedule until further notice, following reports that Utah Jazz Center Rudy Gobert has preliminarily tested positive for coronavirus. The NBA's press release on the matter states that the league will "use this hiatus to determine […]
Many comics historians and collectors reading this will be familiar with the name Holyoke Publishing Company (called that because of its Holyoke, Massachusetts facility) due to the printing and publishing company owned by Sherman Bowles, which made a brief but memorable contribution to golden age comics history around 1942-48. During that period, Holyoke printed 19 […]
Welcome to the once-every-four-years Leap Day edition of The Issue. At issue today is Leslie's Magazine, February 29, 1912 edition. One of the most important non-fiction titles in American history, the series got its start as Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper in 1855. "Frank Leslie" was actually an English engraver named Henry Carter who had gotten […]
David Cronenberg gives good quote. For example, he recently told The Guardian, "Movies were made for sex, there's no doubt about it." He said lots of other things, but he knew that one would be the headline. Reading that closely and seeing that he gave The Playlist something similar, it becomes apparent that — presumably […]
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