• ‘Masters of Comic Book Art’ Documentary Reemerges from the VHS Ether [Video] 
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Masters of Comic Book Art is a documentary film that offers insightful on-camera remarks from some of the medium's most gifted artists [...]. [....] Spider-Man and Doctor Strange co-creator Steve Ditko is the only participant who doesn’t appear on camera, but he offered an audio recording of a statement concerning his comic book character Mr. A. and its roots in the philosophies of Ayn Rand and Aristotle. It’s a protracted speech that is deeply fascinating but doubtlessly objectionable to some people.  

• ‘Curvy’ Takes a Sex Tour of the Candy and Pirate-Filled Multiverse 
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Adult webcomic review: Curvy.
Corporate World is an uber-Randian nightmare, where even a kiss requires money changing hands.  

• • A 1966 Newspaper Predicts a Future Where People Find Meaning In Batman 
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Released through the United Press International agency on February 1, 1966 [...] [Rick] Du Brow's article is ostensibly a review of the Batman TV show, which debuted on ABC two weeks before. Really, though, it's less a reaction to the show itself than an apparent vehicle for Du Brow to vent his anger over what people might say about it sometime in the future. [....] Mostly, his fury seems aimed squarely at anyone who wants to find deeper meaning in what he dismisses as pure camp: “ [....] Even now, there are probably scores of [...] eternally serious souls hard at work designing theories to show that the program is a sign of total regression, or perhaps a revolt in favor of heroic man against the collective machine, possibly engineered by Ayn Rand [and] others of us who liked The Untouchables.”  

• Don’t ask! Just buy it! - December 8: Triple Uru hammer attack! 
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The second volume of Fantagraphics’ Blake Bell-edited reprints of [Steve] Ditko’s early material collects the pieces he banged out for Charlton Comics in 1957, and I do mean banged out: that year alone, he drew around 450 pages for them (as well as a few pieces elsewhere, some of which appear here too). Ayn Rand’s acolytes always seem to have a curious relationship with the idea of a work ethic.  

• Comics career guide: What to expect from a career in the arts 

You do not want to be a Harrison Bergeron. It’s unlikely that you’ll be literally cut down by soldiers, unless the universe you’re in is extremely Randian. Instead, the more incredibly, inhumanly, breath-takingly talented you are, the riper you are for some archetypal tragedy.  

• iPad: The best way to read comics 
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The Comics app [...] blows [Marvel’s] away in terms of selection on the free stuff. That’s to be expected, considering that it encompasses Marvel as well as indie companies and creator-owned books with creators offering samples, but the end result is that you can read full issues of great comics like “The Middleman,” “Atomic Robo,” “Action Philosophers” (and the fact that the free story is the Ayn Rand one is hilarious) or the truly phenomenal “Chew,” with samples and previews of plenty more.