TAKING A LONGER "VACATION"

The next new bloggy thing will appear on Monday, July 9.  Between my son's upcoming move to Marietta for his new job, the holidays, my monthly Comics Buyer's Guide gigs, and the preparation for the start of my garage sales, I am swamped.  Thanks for your patience.

BLOGGY THING VACATION

This too busy month of June has finally caught up with me, so I'm taking five days off from the blog to clear the decks for what will hopefully be a very busy and productive July.  See you on Monday.

VAST ACCUMULATION OF STUFF SALE 6/26

My summer-long garage sale will commence within a week or two.  So,
while I’ll continue to offer new items from my Vast Accumulation of
Stuff to my online readers, you’ll only get one shot at these items
before they are put into the garage sale.  Keep reading this blog
and my Facebook page for the latest information on the garage sale.
If you’re anywhere within a hundred miles of my Medina, Ohio home,
you’ll want to attend the sale.

Here’s how these online 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.  All 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 five 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...

BRONX KILL by Peter Milligan and James Romberger. Vertigo Crime
softcover. 2009. ($4)

CABLE: WAITING FOR THE END OF THE WORLD by Duane Swierczynski and
Ariel Olivetti. Marvel softcover. 2009. ($5)

CELADORE by Caanan Grall. Zuda softcover. 2010 ($5)

CUBA MY REVOLUTION by Inverna Lockpez and Dean Haspiel with Jose
Villarrubia.  Vertigo hardcover. 2010. ($8)

DARK WOLVERINE: MY HERO by Daniel Way, Marjorie Liu and Stephen
Segovia.  Marvel softcover. 2010. ($5)

DMZ: COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT by Brian Wood and others. Reprints #55-
59. Vertigo softcover. ($5)

DMZ: M.I.A. by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli. Reprints issues
#50-54. Vertigo softcover. ($5)

EXECUTOR by Jon Evans and Andrea Mutti. Vertigo Crime softcover.
2010. ($4)

HELLBLAZER: PANDEMONIUM by Jamie Delano & Jock. Vertigo softcover.
2010. ($6)

JOHN CONSTANTINE HELLBLAZER: BLOODY CARNATIONS by Peter
Milligan & various.  Vertigo softcover reprints issues #267-275. 2011. ($7)

JOHN CONSTANTINE HELLBLAZER: CITY OF DEMONS by Si Spencer and
Sean Murphy.  Vertigo softcover. 2011. ($5)

JOHN CONSTANTINE HELLBLAZER: INDIA by Peter Milligan and various.
Vertigo softcover reprinting #261-266. 2010. ($5)

NOCHE ROJA by Simon Oliver and Jason Latour. Vertigo Crime HC.
2010. ($6)

PUNISHER: MOTHER RUSSIA by Garth Ennis and Dougie Braithwaite.
Marvel Max softcover. Reprints issues #13-18. 2005. ($5)

RAT CATCHER by Andy Diggle and Victor Ibanez. Vertigo Crime HC.
2010. ($6)

SICKNESS IN THE FAMILY by Denise Mina and Antonio Fusso. Vertigo
Crime hardcover, never unwrapped. ($7)

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE’S SHERLOCK HOLMES. Mockbuster DVD
from the Asylum. Stars Dominic Keating and Gareth David-Lloyd. The Great
Detective versus dinosaurs! ($5)


TRANSMETROPOLITAN: ONE MORE TIME by Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson
and Rodney Ramos. Vertigo softcover reprinting final stories of the
series. 2011. ($7)

TOP 10 BOOK 1 by Alan Moore, Gene Ha and Zander Cannon. Wildstorm
softcover reprinting issues #1-7. 2000. ($5)

VICTORIAN UNDEAD: SHERLOCK HOLMES VS. ZOMBIES by Ian Edginton and
Davide Fabbri.  Wildstorm softcover collecting entire mini-series.
2010. ($6)

X-INFERNUS by C.E. Cebulski, Giuseppi Camuncoil & others. Reprints
X-Men miniseries plus related stories. Marvel softcover. 2009. ($6)

Thanks for your patronage.

Tony Isabella

NOTHING LIKE A TRIP TO THE COUNTRY

It was summer.  July 1963, to be specific.  The month I decided the
best job in the world would be to get paid for making comic books.
Fantastic Four Annual #1 was the catalyst and now we’re looking at
other issues from that month.

The cover of Archie's Girls Betty and Veronica #93 [September 1963]
was drawn by the great Bob White.  However, the inside B&V stories
were all penciled by Dan DeCarlo, inked by Rudy Lapick, and written
by Frank Doyle.  In addition to the stories, there was a one-page
Li’l Jinx strip written and drawn by Joe Edwards, a one-page Betty
and Veronica strip written by George Gladir with art by DeCarlo and
Lapick, and a one-page text piece on “Ann-Margret...Beautiful Teen
Bombshell.” Lots of material for only twelve cents.

The Grand Comics Database page for this issue includes synopsis of
the stories.  Here are the ones that stood out:

The girls go to a local island for the day to get some privacy, and
the boys follow them, only to discover that the island abounds in
rockslides and wild goats.

Betty admires Ronnie's great collection of raincoats.

Betty makes the acquaintance of a handsome new boy. When she
refuses to introduce him to Veronica, Ronnie tries a series of
tricks, disguises and assumed identities to get close to him.

Li'l Jinx's daddy is concerned about her strange gyrations.

More covers from July 1963 coming soon. 

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

After a solid month of reading, I am more or less caught up on the
Avengers and X-Men titles...or at least those the friend who lends
me his comic books buys.  The reason I wanted to get current on all
those titles was so I could read and understand Avengers Vs. X-Men,
Marvel’s latest big event.

Some quick thoughts on the first four issues...

The conflict between the two teams works for me.  The Phoenix Force
is coming to Earth with Hope its likely host.  The Avengers think
this could mean destruction while the X-Men believe it could mean
a rebirth of the mutant species.

The execution of this event to date has left me not much liking the
leaders of the two teams.  Captain America has become an incestuous
clone of Nick Fury and the Tony Stark of Civil War.  He no longer
stands for the American dream or our better angels.  Instead, he’s
an overbearing government thug who acts as if all authority rests
with him.  In short, he’s no longer my Captain America.

Cyclops? He’s the new Magneto.  His actions reveal he has come to
consider mutants as separate from and superior to those mere human
beings with whom his kind much share the planet.  He’s been a party
to murder and ordered murder.  All the while overlooking that the
greatest wrong ever done to mutants was done by the Scarlet Witch,
herself a mutant.

Avengers Vs. X-Men has lots of pages of Avengers fighting X-Men in
the equivalent of a video game.  Indeed, though my friend decided
to pass on it, he tells me there is a companion title to the main
series - A Vs. X - which is nothing more than extended versions of
the battles from the main series.  Sheesh!

Where the series and its related spin-offs and titles shine for me
is when individual mutants have to chose a side.  Their decisions
don’t come easy and that makes for interesting moments.

I’ll be looking at some of those related spin-offs and titles soon.
For now, here’s my call...

Avengers Vs. X-Men isn’t either a solid creative success or a total
failure.  It’s about halfway between the two extremes.  I’m hoping
there is redemption for some of these heroes, human and mutant, who
have strayed from the path of the truly heroic.  I’ll choose hope
over misery every time.

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

Some quick and overdue notes on stories that appeared in issues of
Jughead’s Double Digest...

Jughead’s Double Digest #177 [March 2012] had an all-new, 22-page
story by the team of Tom DeFalco (writer), Ron Frenz (penciler) and
Al Milgrom (inker).  Reprints included many stories by some of my
favorite Jughead writers and artists: Craig Boldman, Frank Doyle,
George Gladir, Samm Schwartz and others.

There are more classics by those writers and artists in Jughead’s
Double Digest #178 [April 2012] and #179 [May 2012].  Since I like
to take notice of Archie stories involving comics or super-heroes,
issue #179's “The Solution” features Jughead as a super-powered and
costumed pizza delivery man.  The tale is by George Gladir with art
by Fernando Ruiz and Al Nickerson.
******************************

Three Captain America titles, two of them ongoing, are on my desk
at the moment.  Captain America #1-5 featured yet another trip to
an alternate reality, which has become Marvel’s fall-back position
when its writers can’t come up with interesting stories that take
place in the “real” reality.  Issues #6-10 continued that story in
our reality as Jimmy Olsen, I mean, Cap underwent another strange
transformation, this time to a pre-super-soldier-serum version of
himself.  Issues #11-12 got a little more interesting with the new
Scourge killing villains in witness protection.  I bet that story
runs five issues as well.

Writer Ed Brubaker has done some wonderful work on Captain America,
but his decision to leave the title is probably a good one.  He’s
served his time with honor and, even in these stories, we still get
a glimpse of the honorable Steve Rogers, so unlike the one running
around most other Marvel titles.  Also worth noting/praising is the
high quality of the art in these dozen issues: Steve McNiven, Alan
Davis, Patch Zircher, all top talents.

Brubaker and co-writer Marc Andreyko also did fine work in Captain
America and Bucky #620-624, a storyline centered around World War
II missions.  That was followed by a four-issue story by Brubaker
and James Asmus involving some obscure continuity and a substitute
Cap from the 1940s.  Neither was the stuff of awards, but both were
entertaining and well-done. 

The title changed to Captain America and Hawkeye with issue #629.
The new creative team is writer Cullen Bunn with artist Alessandro
Vitti.  It’s “nothing to see here” disappointing save for Captain
America turning into a dinosaur.  Or was that Jimmy Olsen?  Looking
back at some Cap stories of the past, I wonder if there’s a secret
comics brotherhood of silly transformations.

One more: Captain America Corps by Roger Stern with art by Philippe
Briones.  It features a team-up of Captain Americas from different
times and realities trying to foil a plot to destroy every version
of Captain America throughout those times and realities.  What can
I say? Sometimes a writer does the alternate reality thing right.
The five-issue series has been collected in a trade paperback and
I do recommend it.

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

In future business...

Later today, I’ll be posting a list of new items for sale from my
Vast Accumulation of Stuff.  These items will not be listed again.
Whatever doesn’t sell goes into my summer-long garage sale, which
will commence within a week or so.  Keep watching this blog and my
Facebook page for details.

Tomorrow, it’s another Rawhide Kid Wednesday as I look at the last
Jack Kirby issue of the title.  See you then.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

VAST ACCUMULATION OF STUFF SALE 6/25

I have a Vast Accumulation of Stuff and I want to sell most of it
in the next five years.  The following stuff is previously-offered,
still available items.

I’ve cut the prices on almost every item being offered again in an
effort to make those items unavailable as soon as possible. Here’s
how the sale works:

First come, first serve. In other words, the quicker you e-mail me,
the better your chance of getting the item or items.  All 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 five 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 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.

This is your last chance to purchase these particular items online.
On Friday, whatever hasn’t sold will go into my summer-long garage
sale.  More on that garage sale in tomorrow’s bloggy thing.

Here’s the list of items still available...


BATMAN: SCARECROW TALES by various. DC softcover. 2005 ($5)

BEST OF STAR TREK by Mike W. Barr, Diane Duane, Peter David, Tom
Sutton, Dan Jurgens, Curt Swan, James Fry & Gordon Purcell ($5)

BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL: MASSACRE by Hiroaki Samura. Dark Horse
manga. ($1)

CAPTAIN BRITAIN VOL. 1: BIRTH OF A LEGEND by Chris Claremont, Herb
Trimpe and others HC ($12)

DANGER GIRL: ODD JOBS by Campbell, Hartnell, Adams, Noto & Chiodo.
Reprints Danger Girl Special, Danger Girl Hawaiian Punch & Danger
Girl Viva Las Danger.  Softcover. ($2)

DC: THE NEW FRONTIER VOLUME TWO by Darwyn Cook.  DC softcover. ($5)

DEAD@17: THE COMPLETE FIRST SERIES by Josh Howard ($1)

DRAWING DRAGONS AND THOSE WHO HUNT THEM by Christopher Hart. The
ultimate book for drawing the ultimate beast Softcover, 9" by 11", 128 pages. ($2)

ELEKTRA: THE HAND by Akira Yoshida and Christian Gossett.  Material
from Elektra: The Hand #1-5. Softcover. ($2)

EXCALIBUR CLASSIC VOLUME TWO: TWO-EDGED SWORD by Chris
Claremont, Alan Davis, Ron Lim, Arthur Adams, and Marshall Rogers. Reprints
issues #6-11 plus Excalibur: Mojo Mayhem. Marvel softcover. ($6)

FLASH: IGNITION by Geoff Johns and Albert Dose. Reprints issues
#201-206. Softcover. ($2)

FOGTOWN by Andersen Gabrych and Brad Rader. Vertigo graphic novel.
Hardcover. ($4)

GACHA GACHA THE NEXT REVOLUTION by Hiroyuki Tamakoshi Volume 1, 2,
4, 6, 7, 8, 11 ($1 each)

GREEN ARROW: CITY WALLS by Judd Winick.  Reprints issues #32, 34-
39. DC softcover. ($2)

HOUSE OF MYSTERY: UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT by Matthew Sturges, Luca
Rossi and Jose Marzan, Jr. Vertigo. ($2)

IN PLAIN SIGHT: SEASON ONE DVD unopened ($8)

INU-YASHA: A FEUDAL FAIRY TALE 4 by Rumiko Takahashi ($1)

INU-YASHA: A FEUDAL FAIRY TALE 5 by Rumiko Takahashi ($1)

ISAAC THE PIRATE 2: THE CAPITAL by Christophe Blain. ($1)

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #57 ($2)

JLA: CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE by Geoff Johns and others.  Reprints JLA
#115-119. DC softcover. ($2)

JSA: BLACK REIGN by Geoff Johns and Rags Morales ($2)

JSA: BLACK VENGEANCE by Geoff Johns and Don Kramer.  Reprints #66-
75. Softcover. ($2)

JUNIOR MISS #33 [Marvel; 1949] good condition ($4)

JUSTICE LEAGUE GENERATION LOST Volume 1 HC ($12)

KICK ASS by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. HC ($7)


LEGEND OF GRIMJACK VOLUME TWO by John Ostrander and Timothy
Truman. Reprints first seven issues. Softcover. ($5)

LIVING LIFE INSIDE THE LINES: TALES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF
ANIMATION by animator Martha Sigall.  Softcover. ($4)

MAXX VOLUME 4 by Sam Kieth. Reprints issue #21-27. Softcover. ($2)

PLANETARY: LEAVING THE 20TH CENTURY by Warren Ellis, John Cassaday.
Reprints issues #13-18. Wildstorm softcover. ($3)

PRETTY GUARDIAN SAILOR MOON Vol. 1-4 plus CODENAME SAILOR V Vol. 1-
2 (all 6 for $15)

QUEEN & COUNTRY: DECLASSIFIED VOLUME 2 by Greg Rucka and Rick
Burchett. Reprints Queen & Country Declassified Volume 2 #1-3.  Oni
Press softcover. 2006. ($2)

SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING #31 by Alan Moore, Rick Veitch and John
Totleben ($2)

SAMURAI DEEPER KYO 1 by Akimine Kamijyo ($1)

SCRAPBOOK OF FRANKIE PRATT: A NOVEL IN PICTURES by Caroline
Preston. HarperCollins, 2011. HC. ($1)

SPAWN VOLUME 4 by Todd McFarlane and others.  Reprints issues #55-
75. Softcover. ($8)

SPIDER ISLAND: HEROES FOR HIRE #1 by Abnett, Lanning and Hotz ($1)

SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE by Sean McKeever and Takeshi Miyazawa.
Full-color manga-size softcover reprinting issues #1-5. ($2)

STAR TREK: THE MODALA IMPERATIVE by Michael Jon Friedman, Peter
David and Pablo Marcos ($4)

STAR TREK: WHO KILLED CAPTAIN KIRK by Peter David, Tom Sutton and
Ricardo Villagran ($4)

STAR WARS #80 by Jo Duffy, Ron Frenz, and Tom Palmer ($2)

SUPERMAN: BRAINIAC by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank and Jon Sabal ($2)

THUNDERBOLTS: GUARDIAN PROTOCOLS by Fabian Nicieza & Tom
Grummett. Reprints issues #106-109. Marvel softcover. ($2)

VERTIGO FIRST TASTE by various.  Reprints first issues of Death:
The High Cost of Living, Transmetropolitan, 100 Bullets, Books of
Magic: Life During Wartime, Y: The Last Man, and Saga of the Swamp
Thing #21. Vertigo softcover. ($2)

WAKING DEAD BOOK TWO by Kirkman and Adlard HC unopened ($8)

X-MEN AND POWER PACK: THE POWER OF X by Marc Sumerak and Gurihiru.
Full-color manga-size softcover reprinting issues #1-4. ($1)

X-MEN KITTY PRIDE: SHADOW AND FLAME by Akira Yoshida & Paul Smith.
Reprints issue #1-5. Marvel softcover. ($2)

X-MEN: THE BLOOD OF APOCALYPSE by Peter Milligan, Salvador Larroca.
Reprints X-Men #182-187. Marvel softcover. ($3)

X-MEN: THE COMPLETE AGE OF APOCALYPSE EPIC BOOK 3. Softcover, full-
color, 360 pages ($4)

Thanks for your patronage.

Tony Isabella

SUMMER FUN

For those just joining us:

It was July 1963 when I realized people got paid for making comic
books and that I wanted that job.  This epiphany was triggered by
my buying and reading Fantastic Four Annual #1, the greatest comic
book of all time.  So, when I’m not starting these bloggy things of
mine with covers from my birth month of December 1951, I’m starting
them with covers from July 1963. 

“Betty and Veronica Summer Fun” was featured in Archie Giant Series
Magazine #23 [September 1963].  The cover was penciled by the great
Dan DeCarlo and an as-yet-unidentified inker.

The 68-page issue had seven Betty and Veronica stories, a handful
of one-page gag strips (one with Li’l Jinx by Joe Edwards) and all
sorts of fillers: fashion, pin-ups, and profiles of actor/singer
Eddie Hodges and actress Tuesday Weld.  The stories were written by
either Frank Doyle or George Gladir and drawn by DeCarlo with inker
Rudy Lapick.

The Grand Comics Database has one-line synopsis of the seven Betty
and Veronica stories and, though I’ve never read these tales, some
of the synopsis alone have me intrigued and/or smiling:

Betty and Veronica must confront their fears when they're on an
island with a mysterious creature.

Betty is better than Veronica at every game except one.

Veronica hides from Archie so she won't commit the faux pas of
being early for a date.

Watch for more covers from the month of my awakening in this week’s
bloggy things.

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

Launching this week’s random comments and reviews...

I was so not the audience for Avengers: X-Sanction, the four-issue
limited series by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness wherein a dying Cable
travels from a future to our time to destroy the Avengers he holds
responsible for “what happened to Hope.”  There isn’t much in that
sentence that I liked.

Loeb’s writing is hit and mostly miss for me.  I think that Cable’s
a stupid character. Future alternate worlds usually bore the crap
out of me.  I don’t dislike Hope per se, but these cling-ons to her
story have become incredibly tiresome.  Nothing worth reading here.

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

Riverdale Con 2012 is the setting for a Chuck and Nancy story in
B&V Friends Double Digest #224 [Archie; June 2012].  Written and
drawn by Dan Parent with inks by Rich Koslowski, the six-page tale
finds the duo going to the convention to promote cartoonist Chuck’s
newest creation, Danger Giraffe 3000.  Nancy is usually a bit more
supportive of her beau than she is in this story, though she does
come around when she realizes how much a little girl loves Danger
Giraffe.  Big no-no: Nancy leaves Chuck’s table unattended to grab
a romantic lunch with someone in a Danger Giraffe costume who she
thinks is her boyfriend.  Riverdale’s a pretty nice place and all,
but I bet it still has shoplifters.

As much as possible, I’m going to try to note Archie stories that
involve comic books or super-heroes.  Look for more of these notes
as I catch up on recent Archie comics and digests.

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

Spider-Man is spoofed on the cover of MAD #516 [August 2012] and is
just part of the super-hero silliness within.  While there isn’t a
parody of the upcoming movie inside the issue, there is “Spider-Man
Tweets While Watching the Avengers,” “What If Batman Were Jewish”
“MAD’s Less-Than-Amazing Outtakes from The Amazing Spider-Man” and,
“Super Powers You Didn’t Know the Avengers Have.”

Other features that tickled me included: “Least-Recommended Dating
Websites,” “A MAD Look at Hospitals” by Sergio Aragones, “Chilling
Thoughts 2012 Edition” by Desmond Devlin with art by Evan Dorkin,
and writer/artist Teresa Burns Parkhurst’s wonderfully topical and
biting “New Laws Under Consideration to Regulate Women’s Bodies.”
Even at $5.99 cheap, I’m enjoying MAD a lot these days.

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

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 1 "Race to Death Valley" by Floyd
Gottfredson [Fantagraphics; $29.99] collects some terrific Mickey
Mouse stories from Mickey’s early 1930s newspaper strip.  This is
one of my favorites versions of the immortal Mouse with comedy wed
to edge-of-your-seat adventure...and there’s just over two years of
the strip lovingly restored for modern readers.

In addition to the strip reprints, Fantagraphics packs this volume
with close to a hundred pages of informative articles and art from
the Disney archives.  Part of me would have preferred another year
of the strip.  Part of me is bowled over by the remarkable material
uncovered by editors David Gerstein and Gary Groth.  Every bit of
me recommends this book.  Check it out.

ISBN 978-1-60699-441-2

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

I’m not a fan of DC’s “New 52.”  While I’ve enjoyed some of those
titles, most of them have left me cold.  Even some titles I liked
after reading their first issues ended up disappointing me as they
continued.  Then there’s The Flash.

When I reviewed The Flash #1, I brushed it off with “nothing to see
here.”  Since then, I read issues #2-7 in one sitting and, just a
few days ago, read issues #8-9.  Darn if it isn’t one of those “New
52" rarities, a title that has gotten better with each succeeding
issue.  My kudos to artist/co-writer Francis Manapul and co-writer
Brian Buccellato.

In those two most recent issues, we’ve seen a super-powered, lost-
in-the-speed-force member of the Tuskegee Airmen, a most intriguing
take on the Flash’s relationship to the Speed Force, a new take on
Grodd and Gorilla City, a new, very true-to-life take on the Pied
Piper, an anti-super-hero movement that actually makes some sense
to me, and what appears to be a re-imagining of the Weather Wizard
as the head of a crime family...and those are only the new things
added to the title in those two issues.

I’m also loving the flow of Manapul’s visual storytelling and the
wonderfully weird things he’s doing with some of his sequences.  It
isn’t your typical comics storytelling or, in the case of too many
artists, an utter lack of storytelling.  It’s something different
that still works to move the story forward.  Though I almost never
say this about the current batch of artists, Manapul is someone I’d
love to work with.  I think his skills would challenge a writer and
challenges have always excited me.

The Flash is a contender for my favorite DC super-hero title.  I’m
looking forward to upcoming issues.

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

Paying the bills...

Later today, I’ll be posting a list of still-available sale items
from my Vast Accumulation of Stuff.  Then, on Tuesday, I’ll post a
list of new items for sale.  My bloggy thing readers came through
big for me last week and I’m hoping for even better results this
week.  I promise you that every purchase helps support me and the
family in the lavish style to which we have grown accustomed.  You
know, things like eating and having electricity. 

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.
 
© 2012 Tony Isabella

YET ANOTHER BLACK LIGHTNING INTERVIEW

A while back, I asked my bloggy thing readers what they believed my
responsibilities were towards interview requests.  Many felt that
I should be grateful that people wanted to interview me, even when
they asked the same questions I have answered time and time again.
I don’t entirely agree with that position and I certainly believe
there are basic rules of courtesy interviewers should follow before
and after getting interviews.  We’ll discuss that a little further
after this interview, which was sent to the person requesting it on
May 11.  Rather than post the actual questions, which I don’t own,
I’m prefacing each answer with a subject line.

Basic concept for Black Lightning

Entirely from me and my sense of fairness.  I had a lot of black
friends who read comic books and there weren’t a lot of black
heroes for them to enjoy.  I really liked the Black Panther and the
Falcon and Luke Cage, but I wanted to create a more relatable hero,
one who wasn’t an African king or an ex-con.

Influences and inspirations

It was a process.  I tried to do something different when I had
Bill Foster take Hank Pym’s growth serum and become Black Goliath.
I wanted to call him Giant-Man.  But a scientist still wasn’t the
kind of person young readers would encounter in their own lives on
a regular basis.  When I started thinking about what kind of person
kids would encounter regularly and be very familiar with, “teacher”
seemed a natural choice.

After that, creating Jefferson Pierce was job one.  I wanted him to
be a fully-realized character, so I had to figure out most of his
background and why he could do the super-hero thing.  The notion of
returning to teach at his old high school was inspired by Welcome
Back Kotter, a TV show starring comedian Gabe Kaplin. 

Why Black Lightning was part of the DC Universe

DC was planning to launch a book called Black Bomber, featuring a
white racist who turned into a black super-hero without either of
his identities being aware of the other.  It was easily one of the
most offensive concepts I’d ever seen...and DC had already bought
two really awful scripts for this character.  The company wanted me
to rewrite those scripts and then continue writing the series.  On
reading the scripts and seeing the basketball uniform costume which
had been designed for the Bomber, I declined.  Indeed, I begged DC
to write off those scripts and go with a new hero of my creation.

What convinced them was when I asked them if DC really wanted its
first headline black super-hero to be a white racist?  The company
gave me three weeks to come up with something better.  Which I did.
Without any input from DC.

What Black Lightning brought to DC

Diversity, reality, a street vibe, and, a more ground-level kind of
inspirational hero than DC had known.  DC was still real stuffy
when I came to work for them.  Their heroes weren’t connecting with
the younger readers of the 1970s in the way Marvel’s heroes were.
DC recruited me because they wanted some Marvel magic.  Always one
to go my own way, I tried to create a blend of both Marvel and DC’s
respective strengths. 

The creation of Black Lightning

Jefferson Pierce was created first, then I needed a super-hero
persona for him.  Julius Schwartz had a Wonder Woman cover hanging
on his wall in which she was trying to lasso a black lightning bolt
while imploring Hera to help her “stop this black lightning before
it splits that building in two.”

The words “black lightning” sounded cool to me in the era when so
many movies included “black” in their titles, so I decided that’s
what I would name my creation.  The lightning motif was one of the
last pieces of the puzzle.

I never considered any other names for my character.

Jefferson Pierce

Jefferson Pierce is a reluctant hero.  He abhors violence, knows it
is necessary to fight the criminals who were plaguing his inner-
city neighborhood.  He holds himself to a very high moral code and
inspires others to do so as well.

When I wrote the second Black Lightning series, I decided he should
also be a religious man.  He was a “liberal Northern Baptist.”  He
was a man of faith without the bigotry that so often goes hand in
hand with so-called Christians.

Jeff Pierce is a man of faith.  He has faith in Jesus, in himself,
and in the potential of human beings.  He makes mistakes and they
weigh heavily on him, but he never stops trying to do what’s right
and never stops trying to improve the lives of those around him.
As a teacher and as a super-hero, he uses all his gifts in pursuit
of that.

My goals for Black Lightning

Black Lightning was supposed to be a partnership between me as his
creator and DC Comics as his publisher.  Unfortunately, DC has
never honored its agreements with me.  But my hope was that Black
Lightning would be the fourth iconic hero in DC’s “Big Four” along
with Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.  I wanted to write novels
with the character and also a newspaper comic strip.  I wanted to
see a live-action Black Lightning TV series.  Because I thought and
still think he’s a great character who should be a major player in
the entertainment world.

Trevor von Eeden

I am the sole creator of Black Lightning.  Period.  That is the
actuality and that was the designation DC agreed to when we struck
our partnership deal.  If you’ll look at the first Black Lightning
series and the handful of stories that appeared in World’s Finest,
you’ll see I am the only credited creator.

Everything vital to Black Lightning was created before Trevor was
hired to draw the series.  I consider him the primary designer of
the first Black Lightning costume - which was replaced in my second
series - but he wasn’t the sole designer of that costume.  I had a
hand in the design as did Bob Rozakis and Joe Orlando.

While it has become commonplace to designate the first artist of a
character as co-creator, that wasn’t the case when I created Black
Lightning and it wasn’t what was in the agreement I struck with DC
Comics.  It was only when I inquired about buying out DC’s share of
my creator that DC retroactively and inappropriately decided Trevor
had been the character’s co-creator.  He wasn’t.

Trevor has developed into an insanely talented artist.  I love his
work.  But he had no effect on the creation or development of Black
Lightning.  Indeed, Eddy Newell, who drew my second series, had a
greater impact.  Eddy’s more realistic approach to Black Lightning
and his inner-city world inspired my scripts...and the costume in
that second series is nearly all Eddy.  The only things I gave him
there were the lightning eyes and a direction that the new costume
should looked like something Jeff Pierce put together on his own.
The Newell-designed costume is my favorite Black Lightning costume.

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

The interview request and questions were sent to me on May 3 sans
any prior “could you do this” notice as if it were expected of me
to answer questions for a DC-centered magazine.  The interviewer
needed my answers by May 17.

Initially, I wasn’t going to answer the questions at all.  But the
comments from my bloggy thing readers convinced me that I should.
So I did.

I sent the interviewer my responses on May 11, six full days before
my “deadline” of May 17.  I did include a copyright notice staking
my claim to my answers and giving him permission to use them.  But
I also included the instruction to him that my responses could not
be edited without my express permission.  I felt six days was more
than sufficient time to work out any problems he might have with my
responses. 

Since May 3, I’ve received no e-mails from the interviewer.  Not
even a simple “thank you.”  That’s not the first time someone has
failed to perform that basic courtesy, but it’s still pretty rare.

This interviewer hasn’t ruined things for anyone else who wants to
interview me.  As always, my acceptance or refusal will depend on
my own schedule and the nature of the questions I’m asked.  When I
accept, I’ll answer the questions honestly...and I’ll also reserve
the right to re-purpose my answers as I choose.

Will the above interview ever appear in the magazine for which it
was conducted?  I don’t know.  But, given the discourtesy shown me,
I decided to run my answers in today’s bloggy thing. 

There probably isn’t anything in my answers I haven’t said before.
Still, I hope you find those answers entertaining and informative.
I’d like to have something to show for my time.

I’m taking a day off for the Columbus wedding of my nephew Lou and
the most excellent Erica, but I will be back on Monday with more
stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella