Diamond Distribution files for Chapter 11 and Comic Books see the end of an era by Man of the Atom Introduction. Thanks to Fandom Pulse, I found out that the last of the Direct Market Comic Book Distributors — Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. — has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. This is a great…
Author: Man-of-the-Atom
The American Comics Codes, Epilogue
Series links: Prologue Part A Part B Part C Epilogue Links to previous posts and some follow-up thoughts by Man of the Atom These posts have been slowly germinating since 1983 and the Bill Gaines interview in The Comics Journal Issue #81. A small collection of magazine and online interviews started from there, grew slowly…
The American Comics Codes, Part C
Series links: Prologue Part A Part B Part C Epilogue The Senate comes to Town! The cameras are rolling, the microphones are live, and the Gaines hits the fan! “Are You a Red Dupe?” by Man of the Atom As I have stated in my previous series of posts, I am not presenting an academic…
The American Comics Codes, Part B
Series links: Prologue Part A Part B Part C Epilogue Parents being “concerned” and “angry” doesn’t equate to them being “afraid” by Man of the Atom Note 1: this post will also appear on Substack shortly, for various levels of shortly. Note 2: I am purposefully not including direct references to quotes, paraphrases, or summaries…
The American Comics Codes, Part A
Series links: Prologue Part A Part B Part C Epilogue US historical background (1946 to 1954); the “Delinquency Problem” by Man of the Atom This is a series of three posts on the American Comic Book Codes and their development. See the bottom of this article for general references used for this post, as well…
Comics History Recap and Summary of Upcoming US Comics Code Posts
Series links: Prologue Part A Part B Part C Epilogue Wertham, Distributors, and Gaines! Oh, MY! By Man of the Atom This is part of a cross-post with Substack. The referenced articles will appear here on Postcards one day prior to posting on Substack. Comics history is rather convoluted, and driven like the wind by…
Reviews of Books from Pilum Press
Welcome to a brief set of book reviews covering a relatively new publishing imprint, Pilum Press. Pilum is a venture started by Neal Durando who has experience in the old world of Big Six Five Four “Lumber Mill” publishing. He clearly wanted to bring back Adventure to the world of books. His observed solution: re-ignite…
Attack of the Silents: When Was the “Realism” Poison Injected into DC Comics’ Superheroes?
Post 01 Post 02 Post 03 Post 04 Post 05 Post 06 As discussed in the previous articles in this series, Marvel Comics’ deterioration began in 1968 after its sale to a corporate raider, and was exacerbated by the departure of Stan Lee from editorial and writing duties in 1972. The premier of Star Wars in 1977 and Jim Shooter’s…
What’s Gone Missing from US Comic Books and When Did It Go Away
Post 01 Post 02 Post 03 Post 04 Post 05 Post 06 To start this fifth post on comic book history and the search for “Marvel Magic”, we first return to Jim Shooter discussing his duties as Editor-in-Chief at Marvel Comics in 1978: “The comics business went into a steep decline in the ’50s and early ’60s. During that time…
Commercial Art, Not Cheating the Reader, and Dissecting the Superhero Trope
Post 01 Post 02 Post 03 Post 04 Post 05 Post 06 In this fourth post, I will tie off the distribution discussion by addressing two points that arose in discussion with commenters on Brian Niemeier’s blog and with some folks on other forums. The first point was an question about the range of impacts of the Thor Power decision….