Metal Men

June 18 marks the birthday of Robert Kanigher, the man who wrote the book on how to make money writing comics. And I mean that literally. Among his many accomplishments in a career that spanned four decades was the publication of How To Make Money Writing in 1943. At the time, Kanigher was already ten years into writing professionally, and in addition to sections on writing for radio shows, films and the stage, the book featured tips for aspiring creators who were looking to break into this brand-new medium called comics. Looking back, that book's a footnote, but I have to imagine that there were some good tips in there, considering that Kanigher would go on to co-create some of DC's greatest characters, including Poison Ivy, Sgt. Rock, and, in 1958, Barry Allen, the character who would launch the Silver Age of Comics as the Flash.

On this day in 1927, Rossolav Andruskevitch was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He showed an aptitude for art from an early age, and after attending the High School Of Music & Art in New York City, serving a stint in the Army, enrolling at the Cartoonists And Illustrators School (now known as SVA), and shortening his professional name to Ross Andru, he launched himself into a career in comics that would span six decades, and establish him as one of the industry's finest craftsmen.

Q: Let's say I know nothing about the Metal Men except some of their names. Should I care about those guys? -- @_lexifab A: On the off chance that you're wondering why this is the week that people are asking about a relatively obscure team of disposable superhero robots now, I'm going to go ahead and guess that it has something to do with their return in the pages of the brand-new Justice League #

This Saturday's DC Nation block on Cartoon Network sees the first in a series of Metal Men animated shorts devised by cartoonists and animation veterans Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer. I confess the allure of Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru's intelligent robots whose personalities reflect the properties of their designated metals and their eccentric creator Dr. Wil...

As if Men In Black and his collaboration with Grant Morrison on Dinosaurs Vs. Aliens wasn't enough to demonstrate movie director Barry Sonnenfeld's comic credibility, perhaps this newly announced project will seal the deal. According to reports, Sonnenfeld plans to bring DC Comics' Metal Men to the big screen...

Following his stint on "Metal Men" in "Wednesday Comics," DC Comics' Senior Vice President - Executive Editor Dan DiDio says he'll have his name on a regular title in the coming months. Blog@ broke down Ain't It Cool's Comic-Con interview with DiDio, who promised more writing by the end of 2009...

Savage Critic and "Reading Comics" author Douglas Wolk joins ComicsAlliance for a rundown of the hottest comics and graphic novels coming out this week. KEY:^ Signs of the end times: two Metal Men appearances in one week Ω Contains work by artists who were in "Kramers Ergot 7" # Romance comics in various sorts of drag ≠ Machines sometimes don't function as intended † The franch