Showing Tag: "comic" (Show all posts)

SOME OF MY FAVORITE DC COMICS STORY ARCS

Posted by John Allen Small on Friday, June 11, 2021, In : Pop Culture 

So somebody today on a DC Comics fans page asked fellow members to post their five favorite “DC Events” of all time. And then provided a list of storylines that included Crisis on Infinite Earths and all the post-Crisis usual suspects (Death of Superman, Nightfall, Infinite Crisis, Blackest Night, Final Crisis, et al).


My initial response was to yawn and mutter under my breath, “Not this stuff again.” Then I gave the question some deeper thought and - being the rapidly aging, unapolo...


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CATCHING UP ON THE MOVIES: MONSTERS, WESTERNS AND SUPERHEROES

Posted by John Allen Small on Wednesday, April 14, 2021, In : Pop Culture 

I had the opportunity this past weekend to finally catch a trio of movies I‘d been wanting to see for some time.


First up was the current blockbuster Godzilla Vs. Kong, the fourth (and final, according to some reports) entry in the Warner Brothers “Monster Universe” series that began with 2014’s Godzilla. Like its predecessors, it is a no-holds-barred roller coster ride; not so much a remake as a complete reimagining of the 1962 Japanese film King Kong Vs. Godzilla, the new film makes ...


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WHEN JOSH THE LAD MET STAN THE MAN

Posted by John Allen Small on Wednesday, November 14, 2018, In : Reminiscence 
(Stan Lee as he appeared in a 1977 in-house ad for Marvel's then-new teen-oriented publication, Pizzazz.)


One of the unexpected gifts that has come my way as a result of my chosen profession as a journalist and author has been the occasional opportunity to meet one of my childhood heroes.


Over the years I have written in this column about some of those one-on-one encounters with such luminaries as country music legend Johnny Cash; actor Adam “Batman” West; and two who actually became perso...


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My Top 20 Favorite Batman Comic Book Stories Of All Time

Posted by John Allen Small on Thursday, September 13, 2018, In : Pop Culture 


Just another pointless list 

by John Allen Small




So this is how this list came to be…


On Sept. 12, 2018, I posted a picture of the cover of Batman Comics No. 251 and explained how the story - “The Joker’s Five Way Revenge!” - was one of my two favorite Batman stories of all time and shared how I remember getting this issue when it originally came out. I was 10 years old and Mom bought it for me at the old newsstand on Court Street in Kankakee. 


It was my first encounter with the ...


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LIFE WITH ARCHIE? NOT FOR LONG!

Posted by John Allen Small on Wednesday, April 9, 2014, In : Pop Culture 

A few years back, the folks at Archie Comics put a new spin on the age-old question of which of his two girlfriends their teenage hero would ultimately wind up with: spoiled rich girl Veronica Lodge, or down-to-earth “girl next door” Betty Cooper. 


The resulting six-part mini-series, entitled “The Married Life,” had Archie Andrews imagining what his future life might be like under either scenario (with three issues apiece devoted to each would-be bride). The “what if” premise pro...


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PIC O' THE DAY

Posted by John Allen Small on Thursday, June 20, 2013, In : Pictures 

Ah, the Good Old Days...
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FROM THE ARCHIVES: DAGWOOD'S REVENGE

Posted by John Allen Small on Thursday, April 26, 2012, In : Unbridled Silliness 

Was going through a box of old papers last night and came across this piece I drew way back in 1988 and had forgotten about. Decided to scan it and share with my friends here. It's admittedly odd, but I hope you like it.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: ANOTHER CROSSOVER IDEA

Posted by John Allen Small on Thursday, March 22, 2012, In : Pictures 

Those Archie-related Photoshop pics of mine that I've posted here over the past week made me remember that there are a few earlier pieces in the same vein that I did some years back but to the best of my memory have never shared. Here's one of my favorites. Hope you enjoy it.
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PIC O' THE DAY: ANOTHER CROSSOVER IDEA

Posted by John Allen Small on Tuesday, March 20, 2012, In : Pictures 

Here's yet a third cover for an imagined comics crossover idea i came with with the other day. Have to be honest with you, though: even I don't know what I was thinking of when this one popped into my head...
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PIC O' THE DAY: "ELSEWORLDS" IDEA

Posted by John Allen Small on Friday, March 16, 2012, In : Pictures 

Got inspired last night to do another "fantasy crossover" comic book cover like the one I posted yesterday. In this case i guess it really isn't so much a crossover as it is an "Elseworlds" or "What If?" sort of thing. Looking at it now I realize I should have included Reggie as Cyborg; maybe I'll go back later and redo it.
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PIC O' THE DAY: CROSSOVER COMICS IDEA

Posted by John Allen Small on Thursday, March 15, 2012, In : Pictures 

The fellow that's been creating his own crossover comic book covers using the old DC "The Brave And The Bold" and "Super-Team Family" designs and posting them at his website (http://braveandboldlost.blogspot.com) has been providing me with so much fun that I decided to take a another stab at putting together such covers of my own. I'll grant that it's not quite as good as his work, but it was still fun to do. I've done this sort of thing off and on over the years anyway but I hadn't come up w...
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Won't Find These In Overstreet's...

Posted by John Allen Small on Thursday, September 8, 2011, In : Pop Culture 


A while back I wrote about a website where a fellow has been designing his own fake comic books covers and shared an example of his work. That got me to thinking that I've taken a stab at that same sort of thing every now and then for the past few years, and thought maybe I'd share some examples of my own work from time to time. This is one I did about six or seven years ago; it was inspired by a discussion I had with my son Joshua, who was about 13 or 14 at the time, regarding the fact that ...
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PIC OF THE DAY: All You Need Is The Thing!

Posted by John Allen Small on Friday, July 15, 2011, In : Pop Culture 


There's a great blog - http://braveandboldlost.blogspot.com - manned by a fellow who does a killer job of creating his own team-up comic book covers. He originally did a series of imaginary "Brave And The Bold" team-ups between Batman and a myriad of guest stars you'd have to see to believe; more recently he set Batman aside to concentrate on a new series of "Marvel Two-In-One" covers featuring The Thing in similar team-up situations. I was glancing through the site today after not having had...
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PIC OF THE DAY

Posted by John Allen Small on Thursday, June 30, 2011, In : Pictures 

This is a picture I cobbled together on Photoshop just for fun a few years back. Always kinda liked this one, silly as it is...
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About Me


John Allen Small John A. Small is an award-winning newspaper journalist, columnist and broadcaster whose work has been honored by the Oklahoma Press Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press, the National Newspaper Association, and the Oklahoma Education Association. He and his wife Melissa were married in 1986; they have two sons, Joshua Orrin (born 1991) and William Ian (born 1996). Mr. Small is the News Editor and columnist for the Johnston County Capital-Democrat, a weekly newspaper headquartered in Tishomingo, OK. He obtained his nickname, "Bard of the Lesser Boulevards," from a journalism colleague - the late Phil Byrum - in recognition of the success of his popular newspaper column, "Small Talk." (In addition to the many awards the column itself has received over the years, a radio version of "Small Talk" earned an award for "Best Small Market Commentary" from the Society of Professional Journalists in 1998.) John was born in Oklahoma City in 1963; lived in the Bradley-Bourbonnais-Kankakee area of Illinois for most of the next 28 years (with brief sojourns in Texas and Athens, Greece, thrown in to break up the monotony); then returned to his native state in 1991, where he currently resides in the Tishomingo/Ravia area. He graduated from Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School in 1981, and received his bachelor's degree in journalism from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais in 1991. The years between high school and college were a period frought with numerous exploits and misadventures, some of which have become the stuff of legend; nobody was hurt along the way, however, which should count for something. In addition to his professional career as a journalist he has published two short story collections: "Days Gone By: Legends And Tales Of Sipokni West" (2007), a collection of western stories; and "Something In The Air" (2011), a more eclectic collection. He was also a contributor to the 2005 Locus Award-nominated science fiction anthology "Myths For The Modern Age: Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Universe," edited by Win Scott Eckert. In additon he has written a stage play and a self-published cookbook; served as project editor for a book about the JFK assassination entitled "The Men On The Sixth Floor"; and has either published or posted on the Internet a number of essays, stories and poems. He has also won writing awards from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the National Library of Poetry. He is a past president of the Johnston County Chamber of Commerce in Tishomingo; was a charter member and past president of the Johnston County Reading Council, the local literacy advocacy and "friends of the library" organization; served as Johnston County's first-ever Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator in 1994-95; served two terms as chairman of the Johnston County (OK) Democratic Party; and has taught journalism classes for local Boy Scout Merit Badge Fairs. He is a member of the New Wold Newton Meteorics Society.

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