Bloggy Comic Book Goodness Elsewhere

It's been awhile since I've pointed out the excellent posts going on around the comic blogosphere, so here's a taste:

Mark Engblom's got a pair of posts up on his ten favorite comic book robots of all time. I'm disappointed that neither the Doom Patrol Robotman or the Star Spangled/Detective Comics Robotman made the cut, but he did include the Metal Men. The Vision is a bit of a cheat (he's an android, not a robot), and I was inclined to feel the same way about his #1 selection, until I watched the little video that he included with the post. Okay, he qualifies!

Booksteve's Library has a post on a series of Bob Hope shows in Cincinnati. Which reminds me, I really should put together a post on the Bob Hope comics of the Silver Age. I'm not sure how much involvement old "ski-jump" nose had with the comics that bore his name, but they're actually quite funny and entertaining.

The Groovy Agent has a post up on Don Newton and the Phantom that I recommend. Newton's art was unfamiliar to me, even though he apparently worked on Batman at one point, but it is indeed beautiful.

The Fortress of Fortitude points out a Charlton comic where Steve Ditko reprised his Doctor Strange character (albeit with another name). Ditko has always been one of my favorite artists, and it is my opinion that his Dr Strange stories were among the most beautifully illustrated books in the Silver Age, so it's a real treat to read a "new" Ditko Dr Strange. Note: After clicking on a page, click on the magnifying glass, otherwise the text is hard to read.

Four Color Media Monitor has a post on the demise of several Batman-related books (Birds of Prey, Robin, and Nightwing) and speculation on the upcoming Batman, RIP series. If you want to know why I pay almost no attention to current comics, it's because of what DC has done with Batman over the last two decades. I focus on the Silver Age because it's the last era in comics where heroes were worth emulating and provided their readers with a strong moral code.

Along the lines of my recent post about defining the Silver Age, I Believe in Bat-Mite has a post defining the 1950s Batman as extending to the end of Jack Schiff's run as editor in May 1964. This is a good argument and one that I essentially agree with. I've been meaning to put together a post on the four distinctly different Batman eras of the 1960s; maybe this will get me busy on the topic.

Note: Friday Trivia Quizzes will return, although maybe not every week; I just felt like I was running out of good questions.