Comic books
It’s the Danny & Arie Show on “Dollar Bin Bandits”!
Not long ago, my friend Danny Fingeroth and I were both guests on the “Dollar Bin Bandits” podcast, where host Oren Phillips spoke to us about the history of Jews in the comic book industry. Danny and I are both experts on that topic (since we’ve both written books on it), and we had a wonderful time talking to Oren about the impact and legacy of legendary Jewish comic book creators like Will Eisner, Stan Lee, and Jack Kirby. I think it made for a really fun episode of “Dollar Bin Bandits.”
Oh, and did I mention that the episode is out NOW? Because it IS! You can check out the episode right this very minute, on YouTube and all podcast platforms. HERE is the YouTube (video) version.
And you can listen to the Apple Podcasts version of the episode HERE.
The X-Men Little Golden Book Is Out NOW!
As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I wrote a children’s book called The X-Men Little Golden Book, which came out TODAY from Penguin Random House. It’s an adaptation of X-Men: The Animated Series, the iconic TV series from the 1990s. I think the book really turned out well and I’m very proud of it. The X-Men LGB was illustrated by Shane Clester, who did an X-cellent job. (See what I did there?)
And as I type this, The X-Men Little Golden Book is already the #1 New Release in Children’s Superhero Fiction on Amazon!
Here’s the official publisher description of the book:
Inspired by the 1990’s animated series , Marvel’s mightiest mutants—the X-Men—arrive to save the day in their first ever Little Golden Book! Perfect for kids 2 to 5 as well as collectors and fans of all ages.
Born with amazing mutant abilities and trained by Dr. Charles Xavier, the X-men stand ready to defend the world even though that world doesn’t always trust them. These action-packed full-color pages will introduce Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Cyclops and the other mutants on their team as well as their friends and foes. Kids 2 to 5—along with Marvel fan and collectors—will love this Little Golden Book based on X-Men: The Animated Series.
You can order the book HERE and HERE.
And to see all of the other books I’ve written for Penguin Random House, click HERE.
I’m In the “Free Comic Book Day” Issue of MAD!
Hey! Tomorrow, Saturday May 4th, is Free Comic Book Day, and if you don’t know what that is, well, it’s…uh, kind of what it sounds like. It’s an event where comic book stores give out free comics, and it usually happens during the first Saturday in May.
Why am I mentioning this? Well, for one thing, Free Comic Book Day is an event you should take part in, if you can. Support your local comic book store! But also, I wrote a Batman parody story that will be reprinted in the FCBD issue of MAD Magazine, which is among the items that will be given out for free tomorrow.
The story I wrote was originally published five years ago and was called, “What if Batman Were Actually 80 Years Old,” because at that point – in 2019 – Batman had been around for 80 years. But the story has been retitled for this FCBD issue of MAD, where it’s now called “What if Batman Were Actually 85 Years Old” (because this year is the Caped Crusader’s 85th birthday).
“What If Batman…” was illustrated by the amazing Pete Woods, and when it was first published in 2019, there were previews of the story in Nerdist and Yahoo News, which you can check out HERE and HERE (respectively). Out of all the humor pieces I wrote for MAD over the years – and in total, there were approximately 29 or 30 of those – this is one of my personal favorites. I hope you enjoy it, too!
The cover of the Free Comic Book Day issue of MAD was illustrated by the wonderful Kerry Callen, who also did some of the interior art.
Oh, and the issue is also available on Kindle via THIS link. (Meaning that you can pre-order it today and it’ll be auto-delivered to your Kindle tomorrow, in time for FCBD.)
BTW, if you’d like to check out some of the other humor pieces I’ve written for MAD, you can see them HERE.