Last time in this space, we offered you insights into the life of talented artist Fred Kida offered by one of his sons and one of his grandchildren. The focus of that companion piece was the relationship between Mr. Kida – who was called “Fritz” by his family and close friends – and his wife, Elly. The couple was together over six decades.
Earlier this spring we released Spider-Man Volume 5, featuring the comic strip adventures of Marvel’s amazing arachnid from 1985-86. In preparing the text feature for the book I was lucky enough to gain additional insights into the life and career of one of the often-unheralded Spidey newspaper creators, Fred Kida. I got them from the most reliable sources available – via interviews with Paul Kida, one of Fred’s sons, and his granddaughter, Lani! One of the first things I learned was Fred’s nickname.
In keeping with the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 — and in celebration of Star Wars Volume 3 winning the 2019 Eisner Award in its category of “Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips” (grateful thanks are extended to all who voted for it) — the theme of our July spin of the LOAC Wheel of Fortune is space opera. Here are our sixteen books that belong in that subgenre, in the order they were released:
Newspapers across the country delivered coverage of Man’s first steps on the Moon to Americans eager to read every word on the morning of Monday, July 21, 1969. As this breakout box shows, the quotes of astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin were forever preserved for posterity:
— Mankind left its earthly cradle and set foot on another heavenly body as Apollo 11 Astronauts Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin left the confines of their Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), dubbed the Eagle, and walked on the Moon.
That momentous event, however, did not occur until almost 4:18 in the afternoon — which means the Sunday newspapers that day were on sale many hours before Armstrong pressed the first human footprint into lunar soil. In my native New England, coverage of the anticipation of Armstrong and Aldrin’s “extra-vehicular activity” (EVA) was forced below the front-page fold, because news of another newsworthy item concerning a high-profile member of Massachusetts’s “first family” was coming to light.
We’re quickly closing in on the 50th anniversary of The Landing of the Eagle, as the Apollo 11 mission brought Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin safely to the surface of the Moon and back. Surely the media coverage of this golden anniversary is difficult to escape, and that’s as it should be — those of us who were alive to follow the voyage of Armstrong, Aldrin, and Michael Collins (who remained in orbit, piloting the Command Module Columbia as his fellow astronauts trod the Lunar surface) remember it as one of those rare moments when much of the entire planet was united to celebrate an amazing accomplishment.
Being born in mid-July, I was nine years old when Apollo 11 blasted off for its date with destiny, but ten years old when Armstrong made his “one small step for a man.” Headlines across the country mirrored this one, from the Boston Globe, as Columbia roared skyward from Kennedy Space Center atop a Saturn V rocket on July 16, 1969:
Treasures Retold: The Lost Art of Alex Toth is just hitting stores and the raves have already begun:
The Library of American Comics has “put together an exciting and insightful new companion volume to their Eisner Award-winning Alex Toth: Genius trilogy…a superb mix of material.” —Scoop
“An eye feast of words and pictures…Over 290 pages of eye popping, adventure, art, and creativity by Alex Toth. AMAZING stuff. This is an addition that every creative person must have in their personal library.” —Beau Smith
At the halfway point of the year 2019 (what? already? how can that be possible?), we continue to celebrate the LOAC Road to 200 with our June spin of the LOAC Wheel of Fortune.
Our line of books feature a variety of sizes, shapes, and page counts — sometimes that’s determined by our own aesthetic senses, but often it is dictated by the format of the strips that are available for reprinting. “Tab” Sundays — so-called because they ran in “portrait-oriented” tabloid newspapers — require a different layout than do “halves,” which are structured in landscape mode.
Why is size on our minds? Because for our June spin we opted to load the LOAC Wheel of Fortune with most of our tallest books. Of course, this includes our Champagne Edition titles — Polly and Her Pals Sundays and Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim. Our Superman line of Sunday pages, the Alex Toth Genius series, and Alex’s Bravo for Adventure releases all qualify, as do Miss Fury, Beyond Mars, and King of the Comics. The roster of Big & Tall LOAC volumes looks like this:
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There’s no better time to fill in your collection or sample a new series at a fraction of its cover price — and since your books are packaged and shipped directly from IDW, they’ll arrive at your door in excellent condition (unless your mailman leaves the package outside in the rain, that is …)
Also, while supplies last, get an EXCLUSIVE Library of American Comics pin with each order. These pins were a hit when we gave them away at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, and now here’s your chance to get yours!
Keep reading for all the details!
