TOP 13 LISTS | 13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture

Oct12

THE TWILIGHT MAN: 13 THINGS You Might Not Know About ROD SERLING

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Oct 12, 2019

THE TWILIGHT MAN: 13 THINGS You Might Not Know About ROD SERLING

The Twilight Zone celebrates 60 years this month and graphic biographer Koren Shadmi has you covered… The Twlight Zone — one of the most ground-breaking and influential programs in television history — debuted 60 years ago this month (Oct. 2., 1959, to be exact) and graphic novelist Koren Shadmi has taken the occasion to produce The Twilight Man, a smartly illustrated biography of visionary creator Rod Serling, published by Humanoids’ Life Drawn series. (Click here for more fancy info.) Not just that, if you’re a West Coaster, the Vista Theater in Los Angeles’ Los Feliz neighborhood will be showing three classic Twilight Zone episodes on the big screen at 10:30 a.m., Oct. 20, as part of the movie house’s popular Secret Movie Club: The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, A Passage for Trumpet and The After Hours. Each film club presentation is preceded by a brief talk from Secret Movie Club founder Craig Hammill and a trivia question for the audience. A correct answer gets you one of a 100-copy limited edition poster designed for the event. The Twilight Man’s Shadmi will be on hand as part of the show. (Click here for more info.) Meanwhile, you are about to enter another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone — with Shadmi’s 13 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT ROD SERLING, accompanied by the opening pages from the graphic novel: By KOREN SHADMI 1. Rod Serling served as a Paratrooper during World War II. He fought in the Philippines and won several medals for his bravery, including the Purple Heart. 2. After his army service, Serling tested experimental aviation equipment to make ends meet. The more dangerous the test, the more lucrative the pay. Once he got paid to test an ejector seat which had previously killed three people! 3. Serling wrote some of the most important teleplays in early television history. These teleplays were similar to theater in that they were broadcast live. His show Patterns was so popular it ran twice, meaning the cast and crew gathered a second time to perform it—a first in television history! 4. Serling got rejected more than 40 times before one of his scripts was bought and turned into an episode of...

Oct10

13 Great Ira Schnapp DC COMICS Logos — RANKED

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Oct 10, 2019

13 Great Ira Schnapp DC COMICS Logos — RANKED

Plus three more… — (UPDATED 10/10/19: Today is Ira Schnapp’s birthday. Or it would be if he were still alive. He was born in 1892 and died in 1969. In case you missed it in 2015, below you’ll find my ranking of 16 of Ira Schnapp’s greatest DC Comics logos. Why 16 as opposed to our usual 13? See the first sentence below. And make sure you check out Arlen Schumer’s five-part series on Schnapp, which you can find here. — Dan) — In his 13th Dimension series OH, SCHNAPP!, Arlen Schumer identified 16 DC Comics logos by Ira Schnapp as exemplars of his talent and impact. I’m picking up the gauntlet and ranking them — 1 to 16. A caveat: In one of his entries (which you can read here), Arlen points out that Schnapp also created the Action Comics and Superman logos. I’m not putting them here because A) I’m sticking with what Arlen called his Sweet 16, and B) those logos are so great they almost defy comparison. Here are Arlen’s Sweet 16 … … and here’s how I rank ’em (plus I’m including the full covers): 1. Aquaman. This is brilliant. The skewed angle and the combination of rounded lines and pointed ends convey an aquatic quality. There’s something about this look that’s indelibly ’60s and yet timeless. Future Aquaman logo designers have tried to emulate or surpass Schnapp’s original and nobody’s hit it yet. — 2. Justice League of America. The gold standard of Justice League logos and whenever DC diverges from it, I find myself asking why. It’s the perfect logo for this team and should never be messed with. I can live with the JLI logo, but other than that, no other JLA emblem is in the same galaxy. — 3. The Flash. This logo takes the motion implied in the Golden Age Flash emblem and brings it into the Jet Age, with the letters getting progressively larger, giving the appearance not only of speed but perspective and power. This is about as classic a logo as you will find in the DC archives. — 4. The Atom. Another of my favorites. It’s interesting that the Tiny Titan gets such large letters that take up so much cover space. But the design gives the sense of growth and perspective so important to...

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