Friday, November 30, 2012

TONY HELPS THE ECONOMY!

Just received this nice note from a delighted 1000 Comic Books You Must Read reader:

I just wanted to let you know that I've enjoyed reading '1000 Comic Books You Must Read.' Great fun! 

Also—you're costing me a small fortune on eBay. Most of the auctions I'm losing, but I guess I can feel good that my bidding is doubling and tripling many of these sales?

Your influence may be doing more than you've ever thought about for our economy.
 
The book is still available at better comics shops everywhere, from the publisher, via Amazon and, if you want a signed copy, from me. 

Thursday, November 29, 2012

TENSE SUSPENSE

Here's Tense Suspense #1 [December 1958], another item that will be showing up in a near-future Vast Accumulation of Stuff sale.

STAR TREK CONFUSIONS

This is the German edition of Star Trek: All of Me by yours truly, Bob Ingersoll, Aaron Lopresti and Randy Emberlin.  Google translate tells me the title has been changed to "Confusions."

THE FLINTSTONES' NEW YORK ADVENTURE

Here's another item that will be showing up in my Vast Accumulation of Stuff sales.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

HE COULDN'T BE TRUE TO ME!

Here's the cover to Girls' Love Stories #127 [May 1967], which will be part of next week's Vast Accumulation of Stuff sale.

LOOK OUT FOR LOVE!

Here's Girls' Romances #91 [March 1963], one of the items that will be part of next week's Vast Accumulation of Stuff sale.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

DIFFICULTIES CONTINUE

It'll be a few more days before full-scale bloggy things resumes. 

Some of these technical difficulties involve my own aches and pains as well as some household problems...like our thermostats going crazy.  The upstairs thermostat is set at 50 degrees and the actual temperature is 80.  It makes for an unpleasant evening.

So...I'm going to try to get all my ducks in a row - RABBIT SEASON! - and then return by the weekend with new and even more exciting bloggy things.

Monday, November 26, 2012

VAST ACCUMULATION OF STUFF SALE 11/26

Most of this week’s items come from a bookcase I’m clearing out for
my Marvel Essential and DC Showcase Presents volumes.  This will be
a process because the volumes are scattered throughout a great many
boxes and because I need to buy a second bookcase.  I have a lot of
these thick trade paperbacks.

In addition to these new items, I have previously offered items at,
in many cases, reduced prices. 

For those of you who’ve asked, once the last already-assembled and
ready-for-shipping mystery boxes are sold, then I’ll start taking
orders for new mystery boxes.  When I’m ready to take orders, I’ll
announce it in a bloggy thing and on my Facebook page.

Here’s how my VAOS sales work...

First come, first serve. In other words, the quicker you e-mail me,
the better your chance of getting the item or items.  Only e-mail
orders will be accepted. 

All the items are in very good or better condition unless otherwise
noted.

Items will be shipped via United States Postal Service.  There is
a $5 shipping/handling charge for up to four items via media mail.
Add $1 for every two additional items.  The charge helps defray my
expenses.

Payments are by check, money order or PayPal.  My PayPal address is
the same as my email address.  Purchases will be shipped within a
week of checks clearing,  money orders received or PayPal payments
received.

Because this is a one-man operation done between family, household
and work responsibilities, these items are only available to buyers
within the United States and to APO buyers. 

Here are this week’s new items...

ART OF WALT SIMONSON [DC; 1989]. Softcover. $10

BATMAN 3D by John Byrne [DC; 1990]. Softcover. $5

BATMAN: BLIND JUSTICE by Sam Hamm and Denys Cowan [DC; 1992]. From Detective Comics #598-600. First printing softcover. $10

BATMAN: DIGITAL JUSTICE by Pepe Moreno. [DC; 1990]. Hardcover. $12

BATMAN IN DETECTIVE COMICS VOLUMES 1 & 2 [Abbeville Press; 1993]. Features the complete covers of the first 50 years of the title in full-color 4" X 4-1/2" softcovers with introductions by Joe Desris. Originally priced at $10.95 each. For the set: $10.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN by Alan Davis and Jamie Delano [Marvel; 1988] with introduction by Chris Claremont. Softcover. $5

CROSSOVER CLASSICS: THE MARVEL/DC COLLECTION [1991]. Reprints the two Superman Vs. Spider-Man crossovers plus Batman vs. the Hulk and the Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans. Softcover. $9

DAREDEVIL/BLACK WIDOW: ABATTOIR by Jim Starlin & Joe Chiodo [Marvel graphic novel; 1993]. Softcover. $7

DEATH’S HEAD: THE BODY IN QUESTION by Simon Furman and Geoff Senior [Marvel graphic novel; 1990]. Softcover. $3

GOLDEN AGE OF BATMAN: THE GREATEST COVERS OF DETECTIVE COMICS FROM THE ‘30S TO THE ‘50S. [Artabras; 1994]. Oversized hardcover. $20

GOLDEN AGE OF SUPERMAN: THE GREATEST COVERS OF ACTION COMICS FROM THE ‘30S TO THE ‘50S. [Artabras; 1993]. Oversized hardcover. $20

GREEN ARROW: THE LONGBOW HUNTERS by Mike Grell [DC; 1989]. Reprints mini-series. Softcover. $6

HEARTS AND MINDS: A VIETNAM LOVE STORY by Doug Murray & Russ Heath [Epic/Marvel; 1990]. Softcover graphic novel. $4

HOT BLOOD: DEADLY AFTER DARK [Pocket Books; 1994]. Original erotic horror anthology with stories by Max Allan Collins and others. $2

HOT BLOOD: SEEDS OF FEAR [Pocket Books; 1995]. Original erotic horror anthology with stories by Rex Miller and others. $2

HOT BLOOD: STRANGER BY NIGHT [Pocket Books; 1995]. Original erotic horror anthology with stories by Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley, Bruce Jones and others. $2

LIFE AND TIMES OF DEATH’S HEAD by Simon Furman, Bryan Hitch, etc.[Marvel; 1990]. Softcover. 146 pages. $6

LOIS AND CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN [DC; 1994]. Photo cover.  Reprints “the stories that inspired the hit ABC television show.” Softcover. $5

MANY LIVES OF THE BATMAN: CRITICAL APPROACHES TO A SUPERHERO AND HIS MEDIA [Routledge/BFI; 1991]. Softcover. $15

PRISONER: SHATTERED VISAGE by Dean Motter and Mark Askwith. [DC; 1989]. Based on the TV series. Softcover. $10

SPECTRE: CRIMES AND PUNISHMENT by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake [DC; 1993]. Reprints The Spectre #1-4. Softcover. $5

SUPERMAN TIN PRETZEL SNACK CAN [DC; 1987]. 50th Birthday with large figure of Superman and comic-book covers. 9" high, 5-1/2" wide with original label on bottom and a few small dents. $15

VIKING GLORY: THE VIKING PRINCE by Lee Marrs and Bo Hampton [DC; 1991]. Introduction by Will Eisner. Hardcover graphic novel. $12

Here are this week’s “Black Friday” items...

1000 COMICS YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO COMIC BOOKS, GRAPHIC NOVELS AND MANGA.  Foreword by Terry Gilliam.General editor Paul Gravett. Hardcover. $8

ALTER EGO #110 (June 2012). Shazam! Leonard Starr. $2

BOOK OF SCHUITEN. Oversized, unopened hardcover. $15

COMIC BOOKS MYSTERY BOX #32. Includes approximately 100 comic books plus another 5-10 items from my garage sales.  Price includes the shipping and handling. $25

COMIC BOOKS MYSTERY BOX #33. Includes approximately 100 comic books plus another 5-10 items from my garage sales.  Price includes the shipping and handling. $25

DISTANT NEIGHBORHOOD VOL. 1 by Jiro Taniguchi. Softcover. $4

FANTASTIC ART: THE BOOK OF LUIS ROYO. Oversized hardcover. $8

FANTASTIC WORLDS OF FRANK FRAZETTA (Image). Reprints four stories inspired by Frazetta paintings.  Contributors include Steve Niles, Nat Jones, Rick Reminder and others.  Unopened hardcover. $8

FRANK FRAZETTA’S DEATH DEALER SHADOWS OF MIRAHAN: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION DELUXE HARDCOVER. Unopened. $12.

GRACE RANDOLPH’S SUPURBIA #1-4 (Boom!) Art by Russell Dauterman. Series about a community of super-heroes. First issue is a second printing, other issues are first printings.  Ongoing series coming soon. $4

IN PLAIN SIGHT: SEASON ONE. Unopened DVD set. $2

SCHULZ AND PEANUTS: A BIOGRAPHY by David Michaelis. Hardcover. $5

SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane David. Hardcover. $5

Thanks for your patronage.

Tony Isabella

Sunday, November 25, 2012

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

A series of events led to the technical difficulties that kept me offline and unproductive yesterday.  It'll be a day or two before I get back into things.

It started when my son's laptop (bought in June) was stolen while he was visiting his old fraternity house.  With its return unlikely, he bought a new one on Wednesday night...and had to return that new one on Friday.  In the course of Best Buy trying to make things right - which they did - the store give him a new Kaspersky anti-virus program.  To mess up the thief of his stolen laptop, his old one was deactivated.

The problem is...because the program can be installed on up to three computers, this left Barb's laptop and my computer without protection.  Enter the virus.

I tried to buy/upgrade my Kaspersky online to no avail.  I went out and bought my own Kaspersky program, but, because "the new version was already installed" (which it wasn't), I couldn't install the new one.  I was told to uninstall the existing program, but was blocked from doing so by a virus.

This necessitated bringing in a local to Medina remote control technician who labored mightily on my ancient rig.  He managed to uninstall Kaspersky - it will be returned - and install AVG, which I don't much like.  But my rig is too generic and old for him to speed it up as much as I would like.  So I'm now trying to decide if I want and/or can afford a new computer.  That may depend on whether or not I can land some new clients or get work commitments from existing clients for 2013. 

Please, no crap from MAC zealots.  Heard it all.  You're just annoying at this point.

I have a lot of odds and ends to deal with today, if I don't just blow off the day and watch TV.  So it may be one or two days before I'm back up to sleep and posting.

But, regardless of all the above, I still give thanks for my wonderful life, wife, kids, friends and that I'm still able to write and entertain/inform people and, if only through my garage and online sales, make comics fans happy.  It's a good life if I don't weaken.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

THE SECRET ORIGIN OF WONDER WOMAN

The Secret Origin of Wonder Woman came packaged with Leaf Candy of
some sort.  It’s the last of eight mini-comics - 4-1/4" tall and 2-
3/4" wide - sold circa 1980 as “Comicbook Candy.” Each of these
booklets consisted of a cover, 14 pages of story and a back cover
advertisement for a DC Super Heroes Collector Album.

The Grand Comics Database has indexed these comics and, thanks to
the effort of the tireless GCD indexers, we know a lot about them.
But not everything.

Here’s what the GCD says about the cover: Dick Giordano in an email
to the indexer has confirmed that he inked this cover, and suspects
that he pencilled it based on a layout from Carmine Infantino.
However, it also seems to have a Curt Swan look; particularly the
Cheetah.


In a post to this blog recently, Bob Rozakis told me he wrote this
secret origin and that of the Flash.  I think he did a fine job on
both of them.  In this one, we see the birth of Diana, learn about
her powers and witness the arrival of Steve Trevor to the Amazons’
island and the competition to choose the island’s ambassador to the
world.  That’s a lot to cover in the too few and too small pages of
this booklet.

The GCD identifies the mini-comic’s artists as Jose Delbo (pencils)
and Vince Colletta (inks).  That looks spot on to me.  Delbo works
well with the limited space he had and Colletta did a good job of
inking the pencils.

Joe Orlando is believed to have been the editor of this and all of
the other “secret origin” booklets.  The colorist and letterer have
yet to be identified.  As with the other unidentified credits, I’d
love to hear from those creators who worked on the books.  I will
pass on any information to the GCD.

Going through my Vast Accumulation of Stuff is always great fun for
me and it’s precisely because I come across little treasures like
these mini-comics.  While I plan to sell most of these items in my
online and garage sales, it’s still cool to see them one more time
and, as in this case, write about them.  You’ll definitely see more
of this in 2013's bloggy things.

To answer a frequently-asked question, yes, I will be selling this
set of “Secret Origin” comics via my weekly online sale.  I think
they will be in the very next one.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

Friday, November 23, 2012

THE SECRET ORIGIN OF SUPERMAN

Packed with Leaf Candy and sold circa 1980, The Secret Origin of
Superman
was one of eight comics sold as “Comicbook Candy.” Each of
these booklets consisted of a cover, 14 pages of story and a back
cover advertisement for a DC Super Heroes Collector Album.  These
mini-comics measured 4-1/4" tall and 2-3/4" wide.  Last Friday’s
bloggy thing had a photo of the product’s display box.  The Grand
Comics Database has indexed these comics and, thanks to the effort
of the GCD indexers, we know a lot about them.  But not everything.

Here’s what the GCD says about this cover: Somewhat based on the
cover to Superman #300 (June 1976). Dick Giordano in an email to
the indexer has confirmed he inked this cover, and suspects that he
pencilled it based on a layout from Carmine Infantino. However, it
also seems to have a Curt Swan look, particularly Jor-El and Lara.


“The Superman Story” is a good retelling of the hero’s origin tale,
though it doesn’t have room for much about the Man of Steel’s adult
life.  Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen aren’t even mentioned.  As is the
case with most of these mini-comics, the writer of this one has not
yet been identified.  The editor of the comic was most likely Joe
Orlando, who was in charge of special projects for many years.  Can
anyone tell me when Orlando moved to that department?

As for the art, the GCD says: The Comic Reader #191 (May-June 1981)
lists the artists as "Rich Buckler/Dick Giordano". In separate e-
mails to the indexer, Rich Buckler has confirmed that he pencilled
it, Mike DeCarlo has confirmed that Dick Giordano inked it and Todd
Klein has confirmed that Ben Oda did the letters.


An additional note.  The shot of the wildly gesturing Jor-El in the
sample pages above looks familiar.  It looks like a swipe of a Irv
Novick figure to me, but I can’t pinpoint where it first appeared.
Am I dead wrong on this? Am I right? As always, your comments would
be appreciated...especially if I’m right and you can tell me where
the swipe came from.

The Secret Origin of Wonder Woman will wrap up this bloggy series
on “Comicbook Candy” tomorrow.  See you then.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

Thursday, November 22, 2012

THE SECRET ORIGIN OF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA

It’s Thanksgiving, so it’s fitting that today’s “Comicbook Candy”
booklet is the only real turkey of the eight mini-comics packaged
with Leaf candy and sold circa 1980. 

The Secret Origin of the Justice League of America is 16 pages: a
cover, 14 pages of story and a back cover advertisement for a DC
Super Heroes Collector Album.  This miniature comic measures 4-1/4"
tall and 2-3/4" wide.  The display box for this product was posted
in last Friday’s bloggy thing.  The Grand Comics Database has
indexed these minis.  So we know a lot about them, but by no means
everything.

Here’s what the GCD says about the cover: Dick Giordano in an email
to the indexer has confirmed that he inked this cover, and suspects
that he pencilled it based on a layout from Carmine Infantino.
However, the Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Green Lantern figures seem
to also have a Curt Swan look.


The small size of the booklet makes it difficult to determine the
artists in some cases.  On some of the other booklets, I couldn’t
see Swan in the art.  On others, like this one, I think the GCD is
right.  Someone should ask the esteemed Infantino if he remembers
working on these.

“The Origin of the Justice League of America” reads like one of the
PSAs (public service announcements) that Jack Schiff used to write for
the DC comic books of the 1960s.  Kids playing JLA tell young Kim
Luc that he can’t play with them because he’s not even an American.
Today those mean kids all work for Fox News.

Superman flies down to them and tells them the origin of the JLA,
badly condensed from the actual story.  He tells a meandering tale
of some JLA history, concentrating overmuch on the two headquarters
the League has had in its history.  He then points out that five of the
current League members aren’t American: Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Red
Tornado, the Martian Manhunter, and the Man of Steel himself.  One
of the mean kids demands a border fence around the Earth and moves
to Texas, one of the three dumbest states in the United States of
America.  I’m going with Arizona and Alabama for the others, but I
am open to suggestions.

The art on this story is just plain awful.  Concerning who was its
perpetrator, the GCD says: The Comic Reader #191 (May-June 1981)
lists the artists as "Buckler?/McLaughlin". Rich Buckler has denied
that he pencilled it in an email to the indexer. The art seems to
consist of a bunch of swipes from various sources including Irv
Novick, Marshall Rogers, Neal Adams, and others, but the name of
the creator of this art is eluding the art experts here at the GCD,
and it might have even been a joint effort. Todd Klein confirms on
his web site that he did the letters for this story. Mike DeCarlo
confirms that Frank McLaughlin inked this in an email to the
indexer.


I’m dubious about this being a joint penciling effort.  All of the
art strikes me as coming from the same hand, though the swipes from
other better artists are evident.  Maybe editor Joe Orlando threw
this bone to an artist trying to break into the business.  Unless
the original art turns up or McLaughlin remembers whose pencils he
inked on this, we may never know the artist’s identity.

Two more “Secret Origin” booklets to go: Superman and Wonder Woman.
Come back tomorrow for “The Superman Story.”

© 2012 Tony Isabella

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

THE SECRET ORIGIN OF HAWKMAN

The Secret Origin of Hawkman was one of eight mini-comics packaged
with some kind of Leaf candy - no one seems to remember what kind -
and sold by the Leaf Candy Company as “Comicbook Candy” circa 1980.
As previously noted, each 16-page booklet consistsed of a cover, 14
pages of story and a back cover advertisement for a DC Super Heroes
Collector Album.  The miniature comics are 4-1/4" tall and 2-3/4"
wide.  A photo of the display box from which this 1980 product was
sold was posted in last Friday’s bloggy thing.  The Grand Comics Database
has indexed these booklets.  So we know a lot about them, but by no
means everything.

According to the GCD, Dick Giordano confirmed that he was the inker
of this cover and suspected he penciled it from a layout by Carmine
Infantino.  As with a few of the previous booklets, someone at the
GCD opined “it also seems to have a Curt Swan look” and, for once,
I can see that in the two figures.  Of course, the GCD also opines
the cover was “somewhat based” on the cover of Hawkman #11 [1965]
and I would dispute that.  The only similarity is that both covers
show Hawkman fighting the Shrike in the air.

The Shrike does not appear in “How Hawkman Won His Wings!,” which
was drawn by Alex Saviuk with inks by Vince Colletta.  The as-yet-
unidentified writer of this story concentrated on how Hawkman and
his dad used their artificial wings for scientific purposes until
Thanagar was invaded by the Manhawks. Father and son figure out how
to guard against the destructive ray-blasts of the creatures with a
winged helmet.  After the aliens are defeated, it is decided that
Thanagarian police officers will wear the winged helmets.  Only the
last page of the story covers Hawkman and Hawkgirl coming to Earth.
It’s a good story, though penciler Saviuk is hampered by the small
size of the pages and the uninspired inking of his work.  The mini-
comic was lettered by Todd Klein.

The Secret Origin of the Justice League will be the lead subject of
tomorrow’s bloggy thing. See you then.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

THE SECRET ORIGIN OF GREEN LANTERN

The Secret Origin of Green Lantern is another of the eight booklets
packaged with possibly delicious candy - no one seems to remember -
and sold by the Leaf Candy Company as “Comicbook Candy” circa 1980.
As previously noted, each 16-page booklets consists of a cover, 14
pages of story and a back cover advertisement for a DC Super Heroes
Collector Album.  The miniature comics are 4-1/4" tall and 2-3/4"
wide.  A photo of the display box from which this 1980 product was
posted at the head of last Friday’s bloggy thing.  The Grand Comics
Database has indexed these booklets.  Because of that, we know a
lot about them.  But not everything.

According to the GCD, Dick Giordano confirmed that he was the inker
of this cover and suspected he penciled it from a layout by Carmine
Infantino.  Someone at the GCD opined “it also seems to have a Curt
Swan look,” but I still don’t see that.  Neither the cover scene or
the villainous Doctor Polaris appear inside.

This mini-comic is a fine recap of Green Lantern’s origin.  It also
mentions the Guardians of the Universe, Carol Ferris, Tom Kalmaku
and concludes with the Green Lantern oath.  I’ve long thought this
oath was one of the best written bits in comics.  Alas, neither the
GCD or yours truly knows the identity of the author of this secret
origin of Green Lantern.  Indeed, at this time, we know only that
Paul Kupperberg wrote the Aquaman booklet and Bob Rozakis wrote the
ones for Flash and Wonder Woman.  Any 1980s writers want to claim
credit for any of the others? 

The art is by Joe Staton (pencils) and Steve Mitchell (inks).  Both
have confirmed these credits.  I think they did an excellent job on
a difficult task; these tiny comics are the worst showcase for an
artist’s work I can imagine.

The GCD believes - but isn’t certain - that Joe Orlando edited the
booklets, but offers no opinions as to the letterer and colorist of
this particular issue.  I’m open to suggestions.

UPDATE: Anthony Tollin tells me he is certain he colored this Green 
Lantern mini-comic and pretty certain  his wife Adrienne Roy colored
the Batman one.

Hawkman’s secret origin is winging its way to my next bloggy thing.
Our Rawhide Kid Wednesdays will resume in January.

******************************

Going through the boxes of comic books loaned to me by a friend, I
randomly chose to catch up on Legion Lost.  The last issue of the
title I had read was issue #7, so I thought I’d have a half-dozen
or so issues to read.  I thought wrong.

Legion Lost tied into Superboy and Teen Titans and something called
The Ravagers, the last of which is a contender for dumbest title of
a super-hero comic book ever.  I hadn’t read Superboy since issue
#1 or Teen Titans since #7, so, counting the Teen Titans Annual, I
had 19 issues to read.  This turned out to be as far away from fun
as I could imagine.

Legion Lost stars seven Legionnaires who are trapped in the past.
None of them are the good ones.  Superboy stars a version of that
character who is the second most unpleasant version of Superboy in
history and that’s only because he hasn’t yet ripped off anyone’s
arms or beheaded them.  Teen Titans either doesn’t have good Teen
Titans or doesn’t have good versions of good Teen Titans.  And the
less said about The Ravagers the better.

So we have unlikeable characters - lots of them - in stories made
of brutal action and ponderous plots.  If this is what DC readers
truly want, if this is the kind of storytelling that sells comics,
then I understand my lack of interest in and respect for most “New
52" titles.  I don’t think I need to read another issue of any of
these titles.

******************************

Much more to my liking is Craig Yoe’s The Creativity of Ditko [IDW;
$39.99], a 200-page oversized examination of the work of one of our
greatest comics artists.  The book reprints several stories Ditko
drew for Charlton Comics interspersed with single pages from some
of his other works and essays/memories by comics professional who
worked with Ditko, one of his most avid fans and the daughter of an
artist with which he shared a studio.

Ditko has always said his work speaks for him.  Seeing his stories
reprinted at 11" by 7-3/4" makes that work darn near shout for him.
The Charlton stories from the 1970s are the most assured and most
impressive, amazing visuals in the service of quirky scripts that
shine because of Ditko’s handling of them.  Most of the choices are
excellent, though the book inexplicably concludes with two weaker
efforts from the 1950s.  It’s like the editor miscounted the pages
of the book and had to throw together another 10 pages.

There will never be a complete picture of Ditko the man because he
has been an extremely private person all his life.  But this book
brings the picture we have of him into somewhat clearer focus.  The
pieces by former DC editors Mike Gold and Jack C. Harris expose an
impish quality to Ditko that occasionally - too occasionally for my
own taste - transferred into this art.  By contrast, Amber Stanton,
the daughter of fetish artist Eric Stanton with whom Ditko shared
a studio, reveals the more rigid and unyieldingly anti-social Ditko
from which the artist’s Ayn Rand-inspired screeds were born.  It’s
presumptuous of me to say this, but I do so wish the impish Ditko
had conquered that other guy.

Every book on Ditko will be a flawed book on Ditko because of his
refusal to participate in them.  He’ll never open up to those who
would tell his life story as did other greats like Jack Kirby and
Joe Kubert.  That said, The Creativity of Ditko and the fine series
of Ditko books produced by Blake Bell and Fantagraphics Books are
as good as we’re likely to get.  I recommend all of them and hope
Ditko can at least appreciate his powerful work has had such impact
on his fans that we can’t get enough of books like these.      

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

Monday, November 19, 2012

BIGGER SECRET ORIGINS SCANS


As promised, here are bigger scans from the interior pages of the secret origins of Aquaman, Batman and the Flash.


BLACK FRIDAY VAST ACCUMULATION OF STUFF SALE 11/19

Sainted Wife Barb asked me if I was going to have a “Black Friday”
sale this week.  I laughed about it for a couple of minutes, then
realized it wasn’t a bad idea.  Especially since I have a bunch of
stuff to do this week before Thanksgiving.

There are no new sale items on this list, but every item has been
reduced in price.  Including the mystery boxes.  Which surprised me
because I wrote this last week:

I have not reduced prices on the Comic Book Mystery Boxes.  The $30
price (including shipping and handling) is the lowest I’m willing
to go for the amount of effort required to make and ship the boxes.
If you are hoping for a lower price on these mystery boxes, you are
hoping in vain.

Why the change of heart? Mostly because I’m coming to believe that
the “market” for these mystery boxes is entirely different than the
market for the other items I sell here.  So, after this sale, I’m
going to return to my former method of selling the mystery boxes.
Watch for an update in the next week or so.

Back to this week, here’s how these VAOS sales work...

First come, first serve. In other words, the quicker you e-mail me,
the better your chance of getting the item or items.  Only e-mail
orders will be accepted. 

All the items are in very good or better condition unless otherwise
noted.

Items will be shipped via United States Postal Service.  There is
a $5 shipping/handling charge for up to four items via media mail.
Add $1 for every two additional items.  The charge helps defray my
expenses.

Payments are by check, money order or PayPal.  My PayPal address is
the same as my email address.  Purchases will be shipped within a
week of checks clearing,  money orders received or PayPal payments
received.

Because this is a one-man operation done between family, household
and work responsibilities, these items are only available to buyers
within the United States and to APO buyers. 

Here are this week’s “Black Friday” items...

1000 COMICS YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO COMIC BOOKS, GRAPHIC NOVELS AND MANGA.  Foreword by Terry Gilliam.General editor Paul Gravett. Hardcover. $10

ALTER EGO #110 (June 2012). Shazam! Leonard Starr. $2

BOOK OF SCHUITEN. Oversized, unopened hardcover. $20

CAPTAIN BRITAIN: BIRTH OF A LEGEND (2011). Reprints over 40 stories by Chris Claremont and others.  Almost all of the stories are from the UK’s Captain Britain weekly.  Hardcover.  376 pages. $20.

CITIES OF THE FANTASTIC: THE INVISIBLE FRONTIER by Schuiten and Peeters. Oversized hardcover. $3

COMIC BOOKS MYSTERY BOX #32. Includes approximately 100 comic books plus another 5-10 items from my garage sales.  Price includes the shipping and handling. $25

COMIC BOOKS MYSTERY BOX #33. Includes approximately 100 comic books plus another 5-10 items from my garage sales.  Price includes the shipping and handling. $25

COMIC WARS: HOW TWO TYCOONS BATTLED OVER THE MARVEL COMICS EMPIRE by Dan Raviv (2002). Hardcover. $5

COVER RUN: THE DC COMICS ART OF ADAM HUGHES. Introduction by Adam Hughes. Unopened oversized hardcover. $15

DISTANT NEIGHBORHOOD VOL. 1 by Jiro Taniguchi. Softcover. $5

FANTASTIC ART: THE BOOK OF LUIS ROYO. Oversized hardcover. $10

FANTASTIC WORLDS OF FRANK FRAZETTA (Image). Reprints four stories inspired by Frazetta paintings.  Contributors include Steve Niles, Nat Jones, Rick Reminder and others.  Unopened hardcover. $10

FRANK FRAZETTA’S DEATH DEALER SHADOWS OF MIRAHAN: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION DELUXE HARDCOVER. Unopened. $15.

GOTHAM CENTRAL: HALF A LIFE by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark (2005). Reprints material from Batman Chronicles #16, Detective Comics #747 and Gotham Central #6-10. Softcover. First Printing. $2

GOTHAM CENTRAL: UNRESOLVED TARGETS by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka with art by Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano (2006). Reprints issues #12-15, 19-22. Softcover. First Printing. $2

GRACE RANDOLPH’S SUPURBIA #1-4 (Boom!) Art by Russell Dauterman. Series about a community of super-heroes. First issue is a second printing, other issues are first printings.  Ongoing series coming soon. $5

IN PLAIN SIGHT: SEASON ONE. Unopened DVD set. $2

MICKEY MOUSE: RACE TO DEATH VALLEY by Floyd Gottfredson. Hardcover. $15.

PUNISHER: FRANKEN-CASTLE. Hardcover. $10

ROUGH JUSTICE: THE DC COMICS SKETCHES OF ALEX ROSS. Edited by Chip Kidd. Softcover. $8

SCHULZ AND PEANUTS: A BIOGRAPHY by David Michaelis. Hardcover. $8

SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane David. Hardcover. $5

TORCHWOOD THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE YEARBOOK (2009). British hardcover. $2

WALKING DEAD #19. First Printing. $75

Have a happy Thanksgiving and thanks for your patronage.

Tony Isabella

THE SECRET ORIGIN OF THE FLASH

The Secret Origin of the Flash might well be the best of the eight
booklets packaged with undoubtedly delicious candy and sold by the
Leaf Candy Company as “Comicbook Candy.” As previously noted, the
16-page booklets consist of  a cover, 14 pages of story and a back
cover advertisement for a DC Super Heroes Collector Album.  The
miniature comics are 4-1/4" tall and 2-3/4" wide.  A photo of the
display box from which this 1980 product was sold can be
seen at the head of last Friday’s bloggy thing. 

The Grand Comics Database has indexed these booklets.  Because of
that, we know a lot about them.  But not everything.

According to the GCD, Dick Giordano confirmed he was the inker
of The Secret Origin of the Flash cover and he suspected he penciled
it from a layout by Carmine Infantino.  Someone at the GCD opined
“it also seems to have a Curt Swan look” and mentioned the Captain
Cold figure.  I’m not seeing Swan there, but I do have an alternate
theory as to the layout artist.

I’m getting a “sense” of Ross Andru in these cover layouts.  Andru
was a DC editor from 1978 to 1986.  He drew covers for several DC
titles during this period and, if I recall correctly, also designed
covers for other artists.  As always, I welcome information on this
and other credits for these booklets.

In a comment to this bloggy thing, Bob Rozakis believes he was the
writer on this and the Wonder Woman booklet.  If he’s correct - and
I’ve no reason to doubt him - then he can take pride in a job well
done.  This is a terrific recap of the Flash’s origin that includes
Barry Allen’s love of the Flash comics the police scientist read as
a kid and still enjoyed as an adult.  It also devotes three pages
to the Flash’s battles with his colorful Rogues Gallery and shows
Turtle Man, Trickster, Mirror Master, Captain Cold and Heat Wave.

Don Heck penciled this Flash origin and it sure looks to me as if
he also inked it.  Heck was always his own best inker and that’s one
of the reasons I consider this the best of the booklets.  The art
is exciting and tells the story exceedingly well. 

As with previously discussed booklets, the GCD believes Joe Orlando
was the editor of this one.  It offers no credit opinion as to the
letterer and colorist.  I’m open to suggestions.

The secret origin of Green Lantern is on tap for tomorrow.

******************************

I’m continuing my weekly movie nights, though, most recently, I was
the only one in our home “theater.”  These movie nights consist of
a Three Stooges short, a Bugs Bunny or other Warner Bros. cartoon,
a chapter of a serial, and a feature film. 

Over the past two weeks, the Three Stooges shorts have been "Men in
Black” and "Three Little Pigskins,” both from 1934.  The former is
a spoof of Men in White, a Clark Gable/Myrna Loy drama from the
same year.  Says Wikipedia: “Because of the suggested illicit
romance and the suggested abortion in
[Men in White], it was
frequently cut. The Legion of Decency cited the movie as unfit for
public exhibition.”
Now there’s comedy gold for you.

“Men in Black” has lots of wild verbal and visual gags.  Repartee
with nurses, particularly one squeaky-voiced nurse, are moderately
amusing, but I preferred the visual gags of the boys racing from
patient to patient via go-carts and other odd means.  This is the
short that coined the famous line "Calling Doctor Howard, Doctor
Fine, Doctor Howard"
and also the only time the Stooges would be
nominated for an Oscar (Best Short Subject - Comedy).

In “Three Little Pigskins,” the Stooges are mistaken for a trio of
college football stars and hired by a gangster team owner for a
professional game in which he’s bet a large sum of money.  This one
bounces from setting to setting without much success, but it does
have an early performance by Lucille Ball.

Superman (1948) is the serial I’m watching and it’s great fun.  I
especially like Kirk Alyn’s portrayal of Superman and Clark Kent,
and, of course, my beloved Noel Neill as Lois Lane.  Neill can be
funny one moment and feisty as heck in the next, sometimes within
the same moment.  I get a kick out of Carol Forman as the evening
gown-clad Spider Lady, but her acting ability is limited.

The two Bugs Bunny cartoons are also from 1948: “Long-Haired Hare”
and “High Diving Hare.”  The former pits Bugs against opera singer
Giovanni Jones and didn’t do much for me, but the latter, which I
hadn’t seen before, is terrific.

In “High Diving Hare,” Bugs is the barker and host of a vaudeville
show whose main attraction is a high-dive.  This act is what brings
the cantankerous Yosemite Sam to the show.  But, when the star of
that act is delayed, Sam insists - at gunpoint - that Bugs fills in
for said star.  Hilarity ensues.  You can guess who ends up taking
the high dive again and again and again.

Daughter Kelly was home from college for the earlier of these two
movie nights, so she got to pick the movie.  I can only assume her brain
has been damaged by too much studying because she chose That's My Boy
(2012) starring Adam Sandler and Adam Samberg.  But Kelly did have
the good sense to fall asleep during the movie.

Sandler plays Donny Berger, who became a “pop-culture icon” after
his middle-school teacher was convicted for having sex with him on
many loud and uncomfortable occasions.  Facing jail for not paying
his taxes, the adult Berger tries to reconnect with his son by the
teacher in hopes of getting his son (Samberg) to appear with him on
a televised reunion with the still-jailed teacher. 

This is a terrible movie.  It’s like Sandler wants to win even more
Golden Raspberry awards.  The film attempts to deliver laughs from
hilarious topics like pedophilia, statutory rape and incest. The
only fun thing about it is that the teacher is played by Susan
Sarandon and, in the flashbacks, by Sarandon’s real-life daughter,
Eva Amurri Martino.  Otherwise...ewwwwww!

I did only slightly better with my feature film choice for my solo
movie night.  Having read about the film in The Otaku Encyclopedia,
I requested and got Love & Pop (1998) from my local library system.
It’s a live-action, sub-titled movie from Japan.

I’ll let Wikipedia describe it:

The film follows four Japanese high school girls who engage in enjo
ko-sai, or compensated dating. This is a practice in Japan where
older businessmen pay teenage girls more commonly to simply spend
time with them, or rarely for prostitution. The movie is also a
coming-of-age story. The main character, Hiromi, does not have the
direction in life that her friends already have. Hiromi's friends
were going to buy Hiromi a ring, but Hiromi refuses to take all the
money because she does not want her friends to be jealous. Hiromi
goes on dates by herself to get money for the ring. Soon, she gets
in over her head. Hiromi falls too far into the world of enjo-kosai
as she tries to hold onto a "friends forever" vision of the past.


I have a great interest in frequently odd aspects of the Japanese
modern culture, even when I find those aspects disturbing.  Love &
Joy
falls into the disturbing category.  It is often tedious with
artsy-fartsy camera work that adds to the tedium.  It didn’t really
add to my limited knowledge of compensated dating, but, on what I
guess I could call the plus side, it didn’t eradicate my interest
in the subject.  Hopefully, I’ll eventually find another movie or
book or manga that will teach me more.

What I am really enjoying at these movie nights.  I’m delighted I
have been able to make time for them four weeks in a row and hope
to keep up that pace.  Even though the upcoming holidays will make
that difficult.

That’s all for now.  I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

Sunday, November 18, 2012

THE SECRET ORIGIN OF BATMAN

The Secret Origin of Batman is one of eight booklets packaged with
undoubtedly delicious candy and sold by the Leaf Candy Company as
“Comicbook Candy.” The 16-page booklets consists of  a cover, 14
pages of story and a back cover advertisement for a DC Super Heroes
Collector Album.  The miniature comics are 4-1/4" tall and 2-3/4"
wide.  Check out yesterday’s blog for a photo of the display box
from which this 1981 product was sold.  The Grand Comics Database
has indexed these booklets.  Because of that, we know a lot about
these booklets.  But not everything.

As with the Aquaman booklet, The Secret Origin of Batman cover is
a scene not found inside the booklet.  Dick Giordano confirmed that
he was the inker of this cover and suspects he penciled it from a
layout by Carmine Infantino.  Don Newton did the pencil art and the
GCD suggests Frank McLaughlin as the inker.  The writer of the tale
has not been identified at present.

The fast-paced origin starts with the Wayne Family walking through
that fateful alley.  Bruce watches his parents murdered by a mugger.
He vows to devote his life to fighting crime, trains for the job,
makes some of his wonderful toys, forms a secretive alliance with
Commissioner Gordon, builds his Batcave, takes in Dick Grayson and
trains him as his partner.

The writing is pedestrian.  The only lively lines are those taken
from previous versions of Batman’s origin.  The murders of Bruce’s
parents are shown directly, not soften by shadows as in many such
origin recaps.  It’s going to take a better comics detective than
me to figure out who wrote this one. 

Newton managed some good panels here and there, but the small size
of the pages worked against him.  That’s going to be the case with
all of these booklets.

Neither the letterer or colorist has been identified at this time.
The GCD opines Joe Orlando as the editor.  If anyone can name the
letterer and colorist and confirm Orlando as the editor, please do
so.  I’d love to be able to fill those information holes.

UPDATE: Anthony Tollin tells me is pretty certain that his wife Adrienne
Roy colored this Batman mini-comic.

Next up is the secret origin of the Flash and, now that I’ve gained
some breathing room on my schedule, there will be some additional
material as well.  See you tomorrow.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

Saturday, November 17, 2012

THE SECRET ORIGIN OF AQUAMAN

The Secret Origin of Aquaman is one of eight booklets packaged with
undoubtedly delicious candy and sold by the Leaf Candy Company as
“Comicbook Candy.” The 16-page booklets consists of  a cover, 14
pages of story and a back cover advertisement for a DC Super Heroes
Collector Album.  The miniature comics are 4-1/4" tall and 2-3/4"
wide.  Check out yesterday’s blog for a photo of the display box
from which this 1981 product was sold.  The Grand Comics Database
has indexed these booklets.  Because of that, we know a lot about
these booklets.  

The cover of The Secret Origin of Aquaman depicts a scene not found
inside the booklet.  Dick Giordano confirmed that he was the inker
of this cover and suspects he penciled it from a layout by Carmine
Infantino.  Paul Kupperberg wrote the condensed origin story.  It
was penciled by Don Heck and inked by Vince Colletta.

I like my super-hero origins quick and to the point.  This version
of Aquaman’s origin fits that well.  Aquaman visits the lighthouse
where he was born.  Through him, we learn ex-sailor Tom Curry was
the master of the lighthouse and that Curry took the job because he
could not bear to be parted “from the sea he so loved.”

Curry rescues a mysterious blonde woman adrift on the sea during a
storm.  Though Atlanna reveals nothing of her past, Curry falls in
love with her.  They marry and have a son, a most remarkable child
who swims “like a champion” before he can walk.  After a harrowing
incident in which the lighthouse keeper believes young Arthur has
drowned, he learns his son can breathe underwater and command the
denizens of the sea. 

On her death bed, Atlanna tells her husband and son that she is an
outcast from the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, banished from her
home because of her interest in the surface world.  She says Arthur
has “inherited the Atlantean powers of the world’s oceans” and that
he will someday be “the King of the Seven Seas.” 

Years later, after his father dies, Arthur takes to the oceans as
Aquaman and fulfills his mother’s prediction.  He takes his leave
of his birthplace, but promises to return there soon to again honor
his parents. 

Kupperberg fits a good chunk of story into slightly over two dozen
panels.  The small size of the pages limits Heck’s visuals, though
not as much as do the unimpressive Colletta inks.  Heck’s individual
style, which I always liked, is lost in the inking. 

Lettering is by Ben Oda.  The identity of the colorist is unknown
at this time.  The GCD opines Joe Orlando was the editor of these
booklets.  If anyone can name the colorist and confirm Orlando as
the editor, please do so.

When I asked my Facebook friends and the members of various comics
mailing lists about these booklets, there was great interest about
them.  So I’m going to spend most of the next few days discussing
them.  Come back tomorrow for the secret origin of Batman.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

Friday, November 16, 2012

COMICBOOK CANDY 1

My VAOS (Vast Accumulation of Stuff) continues to yield treasures
long forgotten by its aging accumulator.  Most recently, I found a
series of eight tiny “secret origin” comics of Aquaman, Batman, the
Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Justice League of America, Superman
and Wonder Woman.  These 16-page booklets consisted of a cover, 14
pages of story and a back cover advertisement for a DC Super Heroes
Collector Album.  The miniature comics are 4-1/4" tall and 2-3/4"
wide.  I couldn’t remember anything about the booklets or how they
came into my possession. That’s why we have the Internet, my
Facebook page, and the comics mailing lists of which I am a member.

The Leaf Candy Company, one of several names the company has used
in its long history, produced “Comicbook Candy” in the early 1980s.
Each package of candy was wrapped with one of these secret origins
comics.  I had a set because I sold this item in my Cosmic Comics
store in 1981.  Alas, I didn’t keep an entire box or even an empty
box.  Just the comic books.

Where did I get this item?  Unique among the other comics shops in
the Cleveland area, I had accounts with distributors other than the
usual direct market outfits.  While it’s possible I got the candy
from one of those direct market outfits, it’s also possible I got
it from one of those other distributors.  Sadly, I don’t remember
which vendor supplied me with the candy, its retail price or what
kind of candy came with this comics.  In my defense, it was 30 years
ago and, over the decade-plus I owned and ran Cosmic Comics, I
carried tens of thousands of comic books and other products.

The Grand Comics Database has indexed these “secret origin” comic
books, though some credits are less than certain.  Since I plan to
sell my set - as a set - and since there was some interest in the
books on my Facebook page and elsewhere, I’ll be writing about them
over the next couple weeks.  Look for the next entry tomorrow and
new ones as I can squeeze them into the mix.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

Thursday, November 15, 2012

CATCHING UP

Where did the first half of November go?  It’s been quite the ride
for me.  Days of great productivity followed by days when various
ailments slowed me to a crawl.  Concern for friends and strangers
caught in the wake of Sandy.  The tensions of the 2012 elections.
The victories.  The defeats.  Projects that had to be finished and
projects I wanted to start but which I had to push to the remotest
corners of my mind.  Crazy times.

My friends came through Sandy pretty well.  Others didn’t.  I made
a few donations and will make more.  I was pleased to see Governor
Chris Christie of New Jersey come down from Bullshit Mountain and
work with President Barack Obama.  That sort of thing should become
the model for Christie and his fellow Republicans.

About that election...

I’d be lying if I denied my heart didn’t sing when I saw Karl Rove
melt down on realizing how many hundreds of millions of dollars
creeps like him and his supporters flushed away trying to buy the
Presidency and other offices.  That must be what it feels like to
be bitch-slapped by God.

President Obama and Senator Sherrod Brown were my candidates from
the get-go.  So, sure, I was happy they were reelected.  I stand by
my belief that the Romney/Ryan ticket was a disaster and would’ve
been a bigger disaster if it won.

But most of the other local and state races didn’t go my way. Jim
Renacci beat Betty Sutton for my district’s House of Representative
seat.  The game was rigged.  The district was drawn with his input
and drawn to include the most Republican parts of my Medina County.
Those parts were the difference for him.

A state issue to remove restricting from the control of the party
in charge was defeated.  It wasn’t a perfect fix, but it would’ve
been a good start.

Nationally, I was pleased to see support for equal marriage growing
across our country.  It’s the right thing to do.

Also nationally, I was dismayed at the raw racism displayed by many
right-wingers after the Obama victory.  The Republicans have a lot
of work to do to convince me that racism isn’t a key part of what
they have put forward in recent years.

A great many people are devoting a copious number of words to the
subject of what the Republicans did wrong and what they have to do
right in the future.  Me, I hope they keep doing the cruel stupid
things they have been doing.  Because it works so well for them and
because they don’t deserve to win until they purge their party of
the extreme right-wing whack jobs they keep electing and listening
to.  Party on, GOP!

******************************

Before the election, I posted that no matter who won there would be
a lot of hard work to do.  That has become more evident than ever.
What reminds to be seen is how many politicians hold their oaths of
office in higher regard than their ridiculous pledges to the odious
Grover Norquist.  I’m not optimistic. 

Mitch McConnell’s comments after the President’s reelection were,
plain and simple, dick-ish. Obama has as much of a mandate as his
predecessor did and more than GOP pundits claimed Romney
would have had if he’d won fewer electoral votes than the President
did.  And, of course, John Boehner’s constant opposition to asking
the wealthy to pay even a little bit more in taxes shows that he,
too, doesn’t understand what happened in this election.

******************************

I wrote about obnoxious lawn signs last week.  Most of the ones I
saw in Medina were taken down...except for an Obama/Biden sign on
the other side of our street.  I don’t know the resident, so there
is no diplomatic way for me to tell him to take it down.  Yeah, it
may be his right to have the sign on his lawn, but leaving it up is
still a dick move.

Driving down Route 18, I was dismayed to see how many Romney/Ryan
and Josh Mandel signs were still up.  Dozens of them on lands not
currently occupied.  Win or lose, we have an obligation to remove
such signs.

I was driving down Route 18 on my way to the Akron Comicon, though
my first stop would be to pick up my old friend Dave Barrington and
his service dog.  As bad as Route 18 was, the back roads of Akron
and nearby towns were even worse.  More signs and more obnoxiously
huge signs were still up.  Sigh.

******************************

The Akron Comicon took place last Saturday at the University of
Akron Student Union.  The organizers did a terrific job, which is
nothing short of amazing when you consider this was the first such
event they had ever done. 

Here’s what I posted on my Facebook page:

The Akron Comicon was great. For a first time event, the convention
runners knocked it out of the park. Sure, there were a few bumps in
the road, but they were inconsequential.

Lots of fans. Lots of great guests. Lots of fine retailers. Lots of
local groups. You can't ask for more than that and an event putting
all that together the first time out is amazing.

The only downside for me was that, due to illness, I left the show
around 3 pm. I would have loved to stay for the whole day, but that
wasn't in the cards.

To make up for this, I'm going to find a nearby venue for a program
showing my 1000 Comic Books You Must Read slide show, answering
questions, and signing stuff. I'll keep you posted.

Akron Comicon will be back next year and I'll be there!


******************************

The vintage comic-book covers and reviews of comics and other stuff
will be back soon.  But there’s a lot of other things and topics to
discuss as well.  The next few bloggy things should be interesting.

As a closing note, kudos to the cast of Bones for “The Patriot in
Purgatory” - which aired Monday - and especially to writer Stephen
Nathan for that memorable episode.  Dr. Brennan brings together five
of her “squints” (interns) and set them to identifying thousands of
remains.  It turns into a true team-building endeavor as the whole
crew work to identify a homeless man found in an alley days after
the 9/11 attacks.  It’s a powerful episode with wonderful character
bits and a valuable message for its viewers.  Shows like Bones get
overlooked by the various entertainment industry awards, but this
episode deserves to be noticed and honored.

I’ll be back here tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

RAWHIDE WEDNESDAYS 27

Previously in Tony Isabella’s Bloggy Thing...

The Rawhide Kid - the one created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, then
continued by Larry Lieber - is my favorite western character.  So,
inspired by Essential Rawhide Kid Volume 1, which reprinted all the
Lee/Kirby issues and then some, I’ve been writing about the Rawhide
Kid most every Wednesday.  When I ran out of the issues reprinted
in the book, I tracked down some owlhoots, brought them in and used
the reward money to buy the next ten issues of the title.  Because
that’s what the Kid would have done.

Jack Kirby’s cover for The Rawhide Kid #43 [December 1964] is inked
by Chic Stone.  It’s a combination I’ve always liked and they work
especially well together on this striking image of the Kid grabbing
his just-wounded shoulder while surrounded by foes.

“Where the Outlaws Ride!” (18 pages) has several familiar elements
from earlier Rawhide Kid stories.  The Kid prevents Patch Morgan’s
gang from robbing a stagecoach and, smitten by a beautiful blonde,
decides to accompany the coach to town.  Unfortunately, said young
lady is the daughter of the town marshal and he recognizes the Kid
from wanted posters.

Rawhide is shot by the lawman while fleeing and forced to hold up
in a deserted barn.  The Kid digs the bullet out of his shoulder.
The injury is never mentioned again, nor does it seem to impair the
Kid in the least throughout the rest of the story.  This is further
evidence that the Rawhide Kid was one of Marvel’s earliest mutants,
complete with crazy healing powers.

Let’s pause for a moment to discuss this issue’s credits:

An epic western legend by: Stan Lee

Brought vividly to life by: Larry Lieber
.

The Grand Comics Database credits Lee for the script and Lieber for
the pencil art with an uncredited Paul Reinman doing the inking.
I see a lot of Reinman in the art, far more than can be explained
by in-house touch-ups, so I agree with the GCD on this one.

When Lee and Lieber did giant monster and other stories, Stan would
usually come up with the plot and go over it with Larry, who would
then write a full script for Kirby and other artists.  I’d thought
that was how they worked on Larry’s earliest Rawhide Kid stories,
but this story, at least, doesn’t seem to follow that method.  It
has so many witty lines of the type found in so many Lee scripts,
there’s no doubt in my mind that Stan was the scripter.  Add those
familiar story elements mentioned above - with more to be mentioned
soon - and it’s clear Lee also did the heavy lifting with the plot.
Still, Larry definitely brought the story to that vivid life touted
in the credits.  A fine job all around.

In a cool twist, Patch Morgan and his gang gallop into town to rob
the local bank and run into the marshal and his armed posse.  This
is a break for the Rawhide Kid, but not so much for the lawman.  The
marshal gets gunned down by Morgan.  In the chaos, Morgan’s gang
robs the bank.  The Kid sees them and takes off after them, much to
the dismay of the marshal’s daughter, who thinks the Kid is riding
off to join the gang:

The Rawhide Kid was decent and honest, but Dad wouldn’t believe it!
Now the Kid feels everyone’s against him...that no one will listen
to him...understand him! So he’s living up to the false accusation!
He’s really...becoming an outlaw!


Rawhide catches up to the Morgan gang, but a gopher hole trips up
his horse and he hits the ground hard.  When he wakes up, the Kid
is a prisoner of the vengeful Patch.

Patch is as stupid as any costumed villain.  Instead of finishing
off the Kid, he decides he and his gang will fight Rawhide one at
a time.  Until the Kid seems likely to beat them all.  Then he is
knocked out and tied up once again.  Hey, just because the Kid was
able to dig a bullet out of his own shoulder, escape from the law,
shrug off getting thrown from his horse and hold his own against an
entire gang of owlhoots doesn’t mean he’s got a chance of escaping
from this, right?

He does have a chance.  He does escape.  He beats up the owlhoots -
yes, I love that word - while unarmed.  He beats up on Patch.  He
gets one of Patch’s guns.  He outshoots the gang.  Then he beats up
on Patch some more.  Lieber has clearly been studying Kirby’s work
because the action sequences are very well done.

The Rawhide Kid crawls into the recuperating marshal’s bedroom to
tell him he’s brought him the tied-up Morgan Gang and the loot they
stole from the bank.  The marshal realizes he was wrong about the
Kid and wants to tell his daughter about this.  That’s when the Kid
does something we’ve seen him do in several other tales:

She mustn’t learn the truth! Let her go on thinking I’m a bandit!
It’s better that way! 


It could never work out between Lucy and me! I’m a hunted man! No
matter what I do, I’m always on the run! She’s too fine a girl to
share a life like mine!


Once again, as in earlier stories, the Kid allows someone to believe the
worst of him. The marshal agrees to go along with this:

Alright, Kid! I’ll let Lucy go on thinking you’re on the wrong side
of the law!

As for me, I’ve learned my lesson! Anytime I’m tempted to judge a
man too quickly again, I’ll stop and think...

...of the Rawhide Kid!


Cue the closing caption:

And so the Kid rides out of town, and another dramatic page is
written in the legends of the West!


What else was in the issue?  A full-page advertisement proclaimed
“America’s 3 Greatest Westerns!” and showed the logos of Kid Colt
Outlaw, Rawhide Kid
and Two-Gun Kid.  But the western comics field
wasn’t very competitive at the end of 1964.  Charlton had several
titles of uneven quality while Dell and Gold Key published just two
or three fairly obscure series.  I’d rare this advertising claim as
pretty accurate.

Jack Kirby penciled “A Marvel Masterwork Pin-Up” showing the fast
draw of the Rawhide Kid.  The GCD credits Paul Reinman as the inker
of the pin-up and that looks right to me.

“The Gunfighter They Called ‘Brass Buttons’" (4 pages) is a Lee and
Kirby collaboration with uncredited inks by George Roussos.  It’s
a delicious tight little tale of an aging gunfighter challenged by
a brutish bully who wants to make a reputation as the man who beat
the famous Brass Buttons Kid.  The thug isn’t concerned the Kid is
an old man who doesn’t even carry a gun anymore.  He knows it will
be his victory and not the circumstances of that victory that will be
passed from town to town.

Lee is downright serious in his writing here.  No clever quips to
dull the sense of doom and drama.  Kirby does outstanding work even
by his own high standards and the Roussos inks compliment the art
perfectly.  This one is an unheralded treasure.

The thug tosses a gun to the Brass Buttons Kid.  The old man takes
it, so tired of running from his past that even being gunned down
doesn’t seem to bother him.  But the sun catches the brass buttons
on the old man’s shirt and blinds his opponent.  Though the bully
was faster, it’s the Kid who walks away from the fight.  He tosses
the gun away:

By the time Blackie recovers, I’ll be gone...off to some other
territory...hoping to find a place...any place...where I can forget
the past...where nobody’s ever heard of...the Brass Button Kid!


The final caption:

And, so, the man who was once one of the most famous, one of the
most feared of all the western gunslingers, walks silently away
into the gathering darkness...into the oblivion he seeks...all that
he has left, after years of gunfighting, are...his brass buttons!


I love this story too much to bring up that the aging gunfighter
could probably save himself future grief just by buying himself a
new shirt.  Because that would be snarky.

Wrapping up the issue is a full-page “Coming Soon...” announcement
that The Rawhide Kid will have a letters to the editors page with
the next “spectacular” issue.

It goes on to say: “So, all you hombres be sure to send us your
gripes and suggestions, hear?”


After giving the address for the letters, the page says:

And please be sure to either type your letters, or write clearly
with ink or a dark lead pencil...because the ol’ wranglers here at
the Marvel corral want to be sure to read everything you have to
say! We’re waitin’ to hear from you, pards, so let’s go!


Like the old wranglers at the Marvel corral, I’d love to read your
comments on this bloggy thing of mine.  Don’t be shy about sending
them my way.

I’ll be back here tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

TONY’S BACK PAGES: CRIME DOES NOT PAY

From Comics Buyer’s Guide #1696:

Dark Horse has been reprinting the earliest issues of the legendary
Crime Does Not Pay (see yesterday’s bloggy thing).  But my equally
legendary Vast Accumulation of Stuff recently yielded an issue from
the last year of the title’s 13-year run.  

Crime Does Not Pay #141 [January 1955] is very different from those
earlier issues.  The cover has a dedication to “all law officers in
our war against crime!” Publisher Lev Gleason and producer Charles
Biro are credited on the cover, but editor Bob Wood’s name was no
longer there. A few years later, Wood would go to jail for killing
his lover in drunken rage, but I suspect his bad habits had already
made him a less-than-desirable contributor to the title.

The cover is less busy and much less violent than the early covers.
The criminals are depicted as confused and fearful.  No glamorizing
them in 1955.  Not with the outcry against comic books in general
and crime and horror comics in specific.

Inside the issue, the stories and art are also far tamer.  Deaths
rarely occur on stage...with one of the rare exceptions being a
rooftop battle in “The Violent Saga of the Ambitious Hank Dorish.”

The writing and art are competent but determinedly subdued.  Save
for a story drawn by Joe Kubert, this is unexciting work.  Even in
the Kubert story, the demise of a bootlegger in a pit of alligators
is not shown.  Since the bootlegger knowingly sold poisonous booze,
his fate is deserved.  Showing his death wouldn’t raise an eyebrow
today, but 1955 was a perilous time for comics publishers.

Who knows what wonders my VAOS will next reveal to us?  We’ll find
out in future visits to my back pages.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

Monday, November 12, 2012

VAST ACCUMULATION OF STUFF SALE 11/12

There aren’t many new items for this week’s sale.  Last week turned
out to be a very challenging week and didn’t leave me with enough
time to add more than a handful of items.  However, I have reduced
prices on many previous items.

I have not reduced prices on the Comic Book Mystery Boxes.  The $30
price (including shipping and handling) is the lowest I’m willing
to go for the amount of effort required to make and ship the boxes.
If you are hoping for a lower price on these mystery boxes, you are
hoping in vain.

Here’s how these VAOS sales work...

First come, first serve. In other words, the quicker you e-mail me,
the better your chance of getting the item or items.  Only e-mail
orders will be accepted. 

All the items are in very good or better condition unless otherwise
noted.

Items will be shipped via United States Postal Service.  There is
a $5 shipping/handling charge for up to four items via media mail.
Add $1 for every two additional items.  The charge helps defray my
expenses.

Payments are by check, money order or PayPal.  My PayPal address is
the same as my email address.  Purchases will be shipped within a
week of checks clearing,  money orders received or PayPal payments
received.

Because this is a one-man operation done between family, household
and work responsibilities, these items are only available to buyers
within the United States and to APO buyers. 

Here are this week’s new items...

FANTASTIC WORLDS OF FRANK FRAZETTA (Image). Reprints four stories inspired by Frazetta paintings.  Contributors include Steve Niles, Nat Jones, Rick Reminder and others.  Unopened hardcover. $15

GRACE RANDOLPH’S SUPURBIA #1-4 (Boom!) Art by Russell Dauterman. Series about a community of super-heroes. First issue is a second printing, other issues are first printings.  Ongoing series coming soon. $8

STRANGERS IN PARADISE POCKET BOOK 2 by Terry Moore.  Reprints Vol. 3 issues #1-17. Softcover. 344 pages. $9

WALKING DEAD BOOK TWO by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard. (2007). Reprints issues #13–24. Unopened hardcover. $15

WALKING DEAD DELUXE HARDCOVER VOLUME 2 (2009). Reprints issues #25-48. Unopened hardcover with slipcase. $50

MICKEY MOUSE: RACE TO DEATH VALLEY by Floyd Gottfredson. Hardcover.$18.

Here are the previously offered items...

1000 COMICS YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO COMIC BOOKS, GRAPHIC NOVELS AND MANGA.  Foreword by Terry Gilliam. General editor Paul Gravett. Hardcover. $12

AGE OF BRONZE: A THOUSAND SHIPS BY Eric Shanower.  Image Comics.Nominated for multiple Eisner Awards. Unopened hardcover. $8

AGE OF BRONZE VOLUME 3A/BETRAYAL PART ONE by Eric Shanower. Originally serialized in Age of Bronze #20-26. Hardcover. $8.

ALTER EGO #110 (June 2012). Shazam! Leonard Starr. $3

BOOK OF SCHUITEN. Oversized, unopened hardcover. $25

CAPTAIN BRITAIN: BIRTH OF A LEGEND (2011). Reprints over 40 stories by Chris Claremont and others.  Almost all of the stories are from the UK’s Captain Britain weekly.  Hardcover.  376 pages. $25.

CITIES OF THE FANTASTIC: THE INVISIBLE FRONTIER by Schuiten and Peeters. Oversized hardcover. $5

COMIC BOOKS MYSTERY BOX #31. Includes approximately 100 comic books plus another 5-10 items from my garage sales.  Price includes the shipping and handling. $30

COMIC BOOKS MYSTERY BOX #32. Includes approximately 100 comic books plus another 5-10 items from my garage sales.  Price includes the shipping and handling. $30

COMIC BOOKS MYSTERY BOX #33. Includes approximately 100 comic books plus another 5-10 items from my garage sales.  Price includes the shipping and handling. $30

COMIC WARS: HOW TWO TYCOONS BATTLED OVER THE MARVEL COMICS EMPIRE by Dan Raviv (2002). Hardcover. $10

COVER RUN: THE DC COMICS ART OF ADAM HUGHES. Introduction by Adam Hughes. Unopened oversized hardcover. $20

DISTANT NEIGHBORHOOD VOL. 1 by Jiro Taniguchi. Softcover. $8

FANTASTIC ART: THE BOOK OF LUIS ROYO. Oversized hardcover. $12

FRANK FRAZETTA’S DEATH DEALER SHADOWS OF MIRAHAN: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION DELUXE HARDCOVER. Unopened. $20.

GOTHAM CENTRAL: HALF A LIFE by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark (2005). Reprints material from Batman Chronicles #16, Detective Comics #747 and Gotham Central #6-10. Softcover. First Printing. $5

GOTHAM CENTRAL: UNRESOLVED TARGETS by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka with art by Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano (2006). Reprints issues #12-15, 19-22. Softcover. First Printing. $5

HARVEY PEKAR’S CLEVELAND with art by Joseph Remnant.  Hardcover.$10.

IN PLAIN SIGHT: SEASON ONE. Unopened DVD set. $5

MISADVENTURES OF A ROVING CARTOONIST: THE LONG RANGER’S SECRET SIDEKICK by Tom Gill with Tom Lasiuta. Autobiography of artist Tom Gill. Hardcover. $10

PUNISHER: FRANKEN-CASTLE. Hardcover. $12

ROUGH JUSTICE: THE DC COMICS SKETCHES OF ALEX ROSS. Edited by Chip Kidd. Softcover. $10

SCHULZ AND PEANUTS: A BIOGRAPHY by David Michaelis. Hardcover. $12

SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane David. Hardcover. $10

TORCHWOOD THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE YEARBOOK (2009). British hardcover. $5

WALKING DEAD #15. First Printing. $12

WALKING DEAD #16. First Printing. $8

WALKING DEAD #17. First Printing. $8

WALKING DEAD #19. First Printing. $100

WALKING DEAD #21. First Printing. $10

WALKING DEAD #36. First Printing. $7

WALKING DEAD #38. First Printing. $7

WALKING DEAD #46. First Printing. $8

WALKING DEAD #51. First Printing. $6

WALKING DEAD #52. First Printing. $5

WALKING DEAD VOLUME 1: DAYS GONE BY. 7th printing.  Softcover. $5

WALKING DEAD VOLUME 3: SAFETY BEHIND BARS. First printing. Softcover. $5
   
Thanks for your patronage.

Tony Isabella

REVIEWS! REVIEWS! REVIEWS!

From Comics Buyer’s Guide #1696:

“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.”

- Jorge Luis Borges

Editor Brent Frankenhoff has declared this an “all reviews” issue,
which I think is a terrific idea and which I recommend to all of my
fellow CBG contributors.  You see what I did there?  I reviewed the
theme of the issue.  I’ve got this concept nailed.

Dark Horse’s Crime Does Not Pay Archives Volume 2 [$49.99] is even
better than the first book.  Reprinting issues #26-29 of the comic
that set the pace for all the crime comics to follow, this volume
has the same great reproduction as the first.  However, this time
around, the stories and art are even better.

The writers, mostly Charles Biro and Bob Wood, have a much better
handle on the docudrama feel of these stories.  There’s a greater
sense of reality to these “all true crime stories” that sometimes
echos the newspapers of the day.  A tale of “The Terrible Touhys”
of Chicago infamy ends with a breaking news caption that one of the
brothers has been captured.  The following issue presents the story
of that capture.

Artists Jack Alderman and Alan Mandel deliver several outstanding
efforts.  Norman Maurer gets better with every story.  The wild and
often wacky style of Dick Briefer worked surprisingly well when he
drew a story and added a demented energy to the proceedings.  Grim
as the subject matter is, these are still entertaining comic books.
I look forward to future volumes.

ISBN 978-1-59582-920-7

******************************
   
My further recent Dark Horse reading included two science-fiction
series, which I guess I could call limited series or mini-series if
I haven’t developed something of a loathing for such designations.
Limited? Mini? Neither sounds like a positive adjective to me, but
they’re all we have until some clever person figures out a better
appellation for their like.  But I digress.

In Peter Bagge’s four-issue Reset [$3.50 per issue], a down-on-his-
luck-and-career actor signs on as guinea pig for a virtual reality
experiment which allows him to relive and, if only in the virtual
world created by the experiment, try to avoid the mistakes of his
past.  Guy Krause is a jerk, but, despite that, he’s a sympathetic
character, especially compared to the folks running the experiment.
He wants to be a better person and have a better life than that he
has known.  I won’t tell you if he achieves either goal, but I will
say Bagge delivers a satisfying conclusion to the tale.

A hardcover collection of Reset [$15.99] is scheduled for January,
2013.  You can get the hardcover through Amazon at the discounted
price of $10.87. 

ISBN 978-1616550035 

Not scheduled for a hardcover or trade collection is Resident Alien
by Peter Hogan with art by Steve Parkhouse.  The title protagonist
is a shipwrecked extraterrestrial masquerading as a retired doctor
in a small town.  When the town doctor is murdered, “Doctor Harry”
is asked to fill in for him and finds himself in the middle of the
ongoing investigation.  Hogan and Parkhouse combine low-key science
fiction with the mystery genre in masterful fashion. 

Resident Alien #0 [$3.50] reprints the chapters that first appeared
in Dark Horse Presents with issues #1-3 continuing and concluding
the initial story arc.  There are clearly more stories to be told
with “Doctor Harry” and the townspeople and I hope we get to read
them in the near future.

******************************

It’s 1963 and there’s a conspiracy to assassinate President John F.
Kennedy...in Chicago. 

Max Allan Collins’ Target Lancer [Forge; $25.99] is the latest in
his Nate Heller series.  Heller’s cases often involve him in some
of the past century’s more intriguing crimes.  Thanks to the crazy
obsessive research that goes into these novels, the fiction often
seems more plausible than the recorded history. 

Heller is one of the great detectives of fiction (or maybe he’s as
real as the world in which he operates).  Even though most of the
books in this series take place earlier in Heller’s life, this one
portrays the character in crystal clarity.  The reader gets to know
Heller and his often-grey sense of morality, how loyal he is to his
friends and how dangerous he is to his enemies.  You can’t go wrong
with any Heller novel, but this new one is as good a starting place
as any.

Target Lancer has gutsy action, political intrigue, and a mystery
that echoes the questions that still exist in the assassination of
Kennedy.  Buy it, clear your schedule and settle down for a punchy
page-turning ride.

ISBN 978-0-7653-6146-2

******************************

Al Capone. Eliot Ness. Vampires.  And Lovecraft’s Old Ones trying
to make a comeback.  Those are some of the elements found in Cosa
Nosferatu
[CreateSpace; $12.99], an ambitious first novel by E.J.
Priz.  It’s a good start.

With Capone’s release from prison, he and Ness are at a war again.
But they aren’t the only players on the field, what with Capone’s
earthly rivals and undead creatures in the thrall of the Old Ones.
The early chapters are somewhat choppy and the cast of characters
grows very large very quickly, though well-read genre readers will
get a kick out of some members of the cast.

What I like is that Ness and Capone aren’t at all two-dimensional
in this book, that a mysterious woman turns out to be dangerous and
fascinating and that the novel roars to an exciting climax.  It’s
a flawed book, but it’s also great fun.  I look forward to another
book from Priz, hopefully one in which he plays less with classic
genre characters and creates new ones.

ISBN 9781477416228

******************************

Dirt Candy: A Cookbook [Clarkson Potter; $19.99] is a cookbook and
a non-fiction graphic novel.  Written by Amanda Cohen, the chef and
owner of the Dirt Candy restaurant, with journalist Grady Hendrix
and artist Ryan Dunlavey, this delightful tome is a good example of
how the comics art form can tell any story and transmit any kind of
information. 

Dirt Candy is an all-vegetable restaurant in New York City’s East
Village.  Cohen and her collaborators tell the history of how this
place came to be, portray the chaos and hard work necessary for the
restaurant to serve its clientele and breaks up the narrative with
recipes for mouth-watering dishes.  I confess I skimmed most of the
actual recipes - I plan to spend more time with them when Sainted
Wife Barb and I can consider them together - but those I did read
struck me as both wonderfully exotic and down-to-earth.  I wonder
if Dirt Candy offers discount coupons for comics reviewers.

The writing is breezy and Dunlavey’s art is amusing and animated.
This would make a terrific gift for the cooks in your life, even if
they aren’t comics readers.  Not only will they enjoy it, but it’s
a way of leading them through our comics door.

ISBN 978-0-307-95217-2

******************************

As a youngster growing up in Cleveland, the oceans never held much
interest for me.  So most of the issues collected in DC’s Showcase
Presents Sea Devils Volume 1
[19.99] were new to me.  I’m actually
glad I didn’t read the title as a kid because I don’t think I could
have appreciated the wacky inventiveness with which writer/editor
Robert Kanigher infused those watery adventures.

The characterizations of the four Sea Devils are standard Kanigher,
which put them way above most of DC’s heroes.  Each member of the
team has something to prove and finds something in the oceans that
they lack in their land-bound lives.  Muscleman Biff is clumsy on
land, but moves freely in the water.  Teenager Nicky and his sister
Judy can ignore age and gender issues underwater.  Nominal leader
Dane wants to honor the legacy of his frogman father and earn his
dad’s prized flippers.  Maybe Kanigher hits these notes too often,
but at least there are notes to be hit.

Nothing is too wild for Sea Devils stories.  A giant octopus man.
Transformations into half-fish/half-human creatures.  A sea-going
battle between Hercules and Neptune.  A mad scientist who shrinks
them and imprisons them in a bottle with a ship.  Sure, teams like
the Challengers of the Unknown and Time Master Rip Hunter’s group
had adventures like this all the time, but the Sea Devils had them
on a budget.  In other almost unique touch for that time, the Sea
Devils were always running light in the checkbook.  When their own
ship is destroyed, they must enter a contest to win a new ship and
stay in business.  Like Stan Lee over at Marvel, Kanigher was way
ahead of the 1960s curve.

The great Russ Heath was at the artistic helm for the three issues
of Showcase that introduced the Sea Devils and the first ten issues
of their own title.  Irv Novick did the next two and was followed
by issues in which several artists drew and even took part in Sea
Devils adventures.  Besides Novick, the artists were Jack Abel, Joe
Kubert, Gene Colan and Ross Andru and Mike Esposito.  On board for
issue #16, the last issue reprinted in this volume, were pencilers
Bruno Premiani and Howard Purcell and inker Sheldon Moldoff.  It’s
a Silver Age smorgasbord! 

Other writers also contributed to the stories in this volume.  Bob
Haney was the first, followed by Hank Chapman and France E. Herron.
All took their cues from Kanigher’s work on the title.

Showcase Presents Sea Devils Volume 1 is enormous quirky fun.  I’d
rank it as one of my favorite Showcase Presents volumes to date and
recommend it to you most heartily. 

ISBN 978-1-4012-3522-2

******************************

For more contemporary weirdness, you need to look no further than
Swamp Thing vs. the Zombie Pets by John Sazaklis with illustrations
by Art Baltazar [Picture Window Books; $4.95].  It’s one of about
two dozen “DC Super Pets” books for younger readers and for older
readers who, having read about this one online, had to have a copy
of it.  This must be my third childhood.  And counting.

Aided by his Undead Pets Club, Solomon Grundy plans to revive all
the dead pets in the world and then conquer the world.  His zombie
menagerie is a Manx cat, a Persian cat, a hound dog, and a possum.
Opposing him: Swamp Thing, Batman, Ace the Bat-Hound and Swampy’s
Down Home Critter Gang: a raccoon, a skunk, a possum and a basset
hound.  It’s a clash of titans.  Or not.

Swamp Thing vs. the Zombie Pets is good goofy fun.  While I’m sure
some adults will object to the zombie characters, the horrors are
presented with such child-like glee that the chances of any child
being frightened by them is slim.  I think kids will dig this book
and others in the “DC Super Pets” series.  I know I’m tempted to go
on a shopping spree.

You definitely need this book for the “odd” section of your comics
library.  I’ll let you know about the others in the series when I
finally give in to the afore-mentioned temptation.

ISBN 978-1-4048-7667-5

******************************

When it comes to the classic American Comics Group title Adventures
into the Unknown
, there are dueling archives editions.  Dark Horse
has published one volume, British publisher PS has published two.
Dark Horse has the better reproduction, though I thought the second
PS volume showed quite a bit of improvement.  Each PS book reprints
five issues to Dark Horse’s four.  Though I prefer the additional
material, I’d have to call this a draw for most comics fans.

Adventures into the Unknown Volume 2 [$47.99] reprints issues #6-10
from 1949 and 1950.  There are no writer credits, but the stories
are an enjoyable mix of vampires, ghosts, deals with the devil,
witches and other genre fare.  An ongoing series - The Spirit of
Frankenstein - appears in four of the five issues.

My favorite story in this collection is “The Civic Spirit,” wherein
ghosts get active in local politics.  I’ll leave the Chicago jokes
to those who like the low-hanging fruit.

Peter Crowther provides a nice introduction to the volume.  I was
especially pleased to see then-reader E. Nelson Bridwell get some
well-earned props.  Bridwell was a runner-up in one of the comic’s
contests and his story appears in this collection.

With solid art for the era, Adventures into the Unknown Volume 2 is
an enjoyable visit to the dawn of the horror comic.  It has earned
a place in my own comics library.

ISBN 978-1-84863-329-2

Also from PS, Out of the Night Volume One [$47.99] reprints issues
#1-6 of that 1952-1953 title with a foreword by Roy Thomas.  These
stories are better crafted and generally stronger than those in the
Adventures into the Unknown volume.  Editor Richard E. Hughes and
his writers were quick studies. 

The art is better as well.  Artists include Al Williamson, Charles
Sultan, Harold LeDoux, George Wilhelms, Frank Frazetta, Pete Riss,
George Klein, Lou Cameron, Harry Lazurus and others.

In addition to the ACG material, PS also offers collections of the
Harvey horror comics of the 1950s and will soon release a volume of
the earliest Heap stories.  It’s good stuff and, though they come
out with books with a rapidity that leaves my wallet in the dust,
I’m glad the company is publishing these books.

ISBN 978-1-84863-327-8

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella