Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 23, 2010 in
Comic Books 
Many folks think that Miffy is a Japanese bunny, but that simply isn’t the case! The credit for the kawaii creature goes to cartoonist Dick Bruna who was born today in 1927 in the Netherlands. 82 year old Bruna created Miffy in 1955 when his wife and child spotted a rabbit near the holiday house which he then captured on the page. To date he has authored over 120 books including Queen Miffy which came out in 2007. Read more…
Tags: Children's Books, Miffy
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 15, 2009 in
Pulp Fiction 
Reverend W. Awdry
Wilbert Vere Awdry was born on this day in 1911, his fulltime gig for many years was serving as a clergyman (he was known as the Reverend W. Awdry after all). But luckily for us in 1943 when his son Christopher was suffering from the measles he would make up stories about anthropomorphic trains to distract him from his malady. By 1945 these stories would be turned into his first book The Three Railway Engines which was the beginning of 26 books (the last published in 1972) which were known as the The Railway Series. But it wasn’t until the second book in the series that the title Thomas the Tank Engine would be used: Read more…
Tags: Children's Books, Thomas the Tank Engine
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 16, 2009 in
Comic Books 
Published by Silverline Books The Lava is a Floor is a kids hardcover comic book which is due out in August which looks like a great deal of fun (especially for us fanboys who are still kids at heart). The illustrations by Jeremy R. Scott have a energetic gregarious quality to them which makes you wish you had these devilish creatures as your personal pets to hang out with and to amuse your friends at parties. The story for the book is by Justin Shady and Wayne Chinsang and features the tale of a brother and sister (Blarg and Clarg) who live live in the crater of a volcano: Read more…
Tags: Children's Books, Jeremy R. Scott, Justin Shady, monsters, Wayne Chinsang
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 20, 2008 in
Animation 
This Jetsons Little Golden Book is from 1962 — and what’s refreshing to me about this cover is the bold sense of optimism which you don’t see much these days. Authors like Isaac Asimov always felt that dividing line of modern science fiction was that it viewed technology as a positive force in the universe. However I think science fiction (and other imaginative literature) is a reflection of how society views the world at that point in time. So while attempting to predict the future these cultural documents tell us more about the present — or in this case the past.
Found via stuffbywackystuff.
Tags: 1962, A Little Golden Book, Animation, Children's Books, Hanna-Barbera, The Jetsons
