Free Comic Book Day this coming Saturday

Coming up this Saturday, August 14, 2021, you’ll be able to walk into most comic book stores in the US and Canada and walk out with free comic books. (There are some stores that don’t participate, and a few that require a purchase to get the free ones… but they are very much in the minority.) There aren’t any free Peanuts comics this year, but nonetheless you should be able to find something for you amongst the wide range of offerings. There’s a wide range of comics whose name you’ll recognize, whether it be things that originated in the comics (Smurfs, Avengers, Tick) to things derived from films (Star Wars), games (Assassin’s Creed), TV (Legend of Korra, Trailer Park Boys), prose (The Bailey School Kids, Zorro). For those who have just watched the new filmĀ The Suicide Squad (which I enjoyed, but its gore very much earns its R rating), you can pick up a new tale of King Shark. Plus, there’s plenty of things that you probably have never heard of that will be worth trying. So put your mask on and go get yourself some free Batman, Vampirella, Archie, or Street Fighter (and while in the store, have a look around and see if there’s something you want to buy as well.)

General
Peanuts publisher buyout

Sources are reporting that KKR is buying Simon and Schuster, probably currently the biggest publisher of Peanuts thanks to their Little Simon-published storybooks, from the current owner, Paramount. Sometimes, when one company buys another, it makes no real difference, just a slight change in letterhead. However, KKR isn’t a media …

General
Correct the record

While searching for something else, I stumbled across this announcement of the Kaye Ballard Peanuts album in theĀ Chicago Sunday Times Magazine for January 15, 1961. Now, let’s take a zoom in on that drawing… and its caption. Magazine sections are generally created with a long lead time, allowing them to …

General
Spot the Dog

I publish things. I also research things. And really, the two efforts are often one and the same: I research stuff and find that it’s worth publishing; I publish stuff and in the process I’m doing research. That all just happened for me with a syndicated comics panel called “Spot” …