by Howard Zimmerman | Oct 19, 2012 | Comic Con
The elections are over and President Obama has won an historic second term. The Affordable Care Act—yes, Obamacare—is here to stay, even if some Republican lawmakers are still in denial. The Affordable Care Act is a huge, sprawling, encompassing piece of legislation...
by Howard Zimmerman | Sep 13, 2012 | Adaptation, Graphic Novels, Ray Bradbury, Science Fiction
We just can’t get enough of Mars! NASA saw its largest, most sophisticated robotic explorer yet, the Curiosity Rover, successfully land in a highly complex maneuver in mid-August. The damned thing is so large and so heavy that they needed to remotely lower it...
by Howard Zimmerman | Aug 30, 2012 | Tribute, Visionary Men
The end of summer is always a bittersweet time. This year there’s overt sadness as well, as we’ve lost three talented men whom I (and the world) have long admired: Joe Kubert, Harry Harrison, and Neil Armstrong. I grew up on Kubert’s version of Tarzan and his war...
by Howard Zimmerman | Aug 15, 2012 | Publishing
Recently, Publishers Weekly’s ace graphic novels reporter Calvin Reid did a column on the changing of the guard at Hill & Wang’s Novel Graphics Imprint. The founding publisher of the imprint, Thomas LeBien, has moved on and is now with Simon & Schuster, his...
by Howard Zimmerman | Aug 1, 2012 | Graphic Novels, Hammer and Anvil
A hundred and fifty years ago, the nation was ripped asunder by the bloodiest conflict it has ever known, the American Civil War. The Confederate and Union armies battled in Virginia, with Lee leading his troops to victory and then threatening to sweep through...
by Howard Zimmerman | Jul 14, 2012 | Graphic Novels, Health Care Reform
Chief Justice Roberts did the right thing for America. It came as a pleasant surprise to supporters of the Affordable Care Act, who were gearing up for the incredible chaos that would have followed an unfavorable ruling, as portions of the bill have already been in...
by Howard Zimmerman | Jul 13, 2012 | Comic Con
Brooklyn-born Phil Seuling was the first independent national distributor of comic books. If not for Phil’s early work in the field, there would be no Diamond Comic Distributors today. Back in the 1970s, Phil hosted comic cons at the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan....
by Howard Zimmerman | Jun 26, 2012 | Graphic Novels
Of all the books I’ve worked on, one I’m most proud of is Evolution: the Story of Life on Earth. When I worked for Byron Preiss Visual Publications, we tried for over a decade to sell a young-adult book on evolutionary science. But we were told it had...
by Howard Zimmerman | Jun 11, 2012 | Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Science Fiction, Tribute
As a kid in the 1950s, I knew that there were three shining stars in the science-fiction firmament: Asimov, Bradbury, and Clarke. Isaac Asimov was a second-generation “Doc” Smith. Whatever sci-fi tropes and vistas Doc did not invent, Asimov did. Isaac was also, quite...
by Howard Zimmerman | Jun 6, 2012 | Howard Zimmerman, Science Fiction, Starlog
As a child of the Fifties, I was nurtured by a society that was rushing to embrace the future. I watched the old Buster Crabbe Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon serials on TV—we had the first one on our block. And there was Captain Video, Tom...
