SPIDER-MAN AT 50

From Comics Buyer’s Guide #1688:

“Peter, sometimes I get the feeling that you’re laughing at a
secret little joke that’s all your own!”

- Betty Brant, Amazing Spider-Man #7 [November 1963]


Our theme this month is Spider-Man 50th anniversary and, for once,
I’m not even going to mock editor Brent Frankenhoff in my opening
remarks.  Created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko,
Spider-Man was as much a comics game-changer as Superman, Batman,
or the Fantastic Four.  Clark Kent just pretended to be one of us.
Peter Parker was the real deal.

Spider-Man made a guest appearance in 1963's Fantastic Four Annual
#1 - the greatest comic book of all time - but I didn’t really get
to know him until I bought Amazing Spider-Man #9 [February 1964].
I was 12, Peter Parker wasn’t much older.  Yet there he was, just
a teenager dealing with adult situations like making money for his
aunt’s medical bills and falling in love with Betty Brant.  That he
fought super-villains was also pretty cool, but even Robin the Boy
Wonder did that and in short-pants to boot. 

After reading “The Man Called Electro!”, I desperately wanted, nay,
needed every issue of Amazing Spider-Man.  I traded for the issues
I didn’t have with friends, with classmates who didn’t want anyone
to know they still read comics and who practically gave me issues
so I wouldn’t reveal their secret, and even with the neighborhood
barber.  When the local supply dried up, I bought back issues from
a mail-order dealer.  My parents didn’t understand why I would pay
a dollar and more for one comic book, but they went along with it.
They gave me wings; it was up to me to determine the flight path of
my life.

Ditko created a visual world for Peter and Spidey that seemed like
the real deal to me.  He designed one of the all-time great super-
hero costumes.  He designed characters who fit his world perfectly.
He drew fight scenes that exploded with movement and excited me as
no others.  Over in the Fantastic Four and Thor and other Marvels,
Jack Kirby drew gods and heroes in spectacular combat.  Ditko drew
street and skyscraper brawls. 

But it was Lee’s words that sealed the deal and made Spider-Man my
favorite of these new Marvel heroes.  The issue that settled it was
Amazing Spider-Man #7.  It arrived in the mail, it was read before
I did my homework - sorry, Mom - and it was read three or four more
times before I went to bed that night.

The issue featured Spider-Man’s second battle with the Vulture and
much of their fight took place in the hallways, offices, and even
printing plant of the Daily Bugle.  Spidey beats the bad guy, only
to have publisher J. Jonah Jameson get in his face.  Tired of JJJ’s
mouth, Spidey webs it shut.  I’d never seen Robin, Superboy or any
member of the Legion of Super-Heroes doing anything half as cool.
But that wasn’t the clincher for me.

The clincher was the last three panels of the issue.  A cursing JJJ
storms past the desk behind which his secretary Betty, now joined
by Peter, had been hiding during the Spidey/Vulture battle.  When
Peter makes a snarky comment about JJJ, Betty chides him with her
wagging finger, faux-angry smile, and the dialogue you read at the
start of this column.  Without even knowing it, Betty has figured
out an essential part of Peter’s character.

Peter flirts with Betty, which comes as a surprise to her.  Then he
tells Betty to put her head on his shoulder and enjoy the silence.
Then comes this exchange...

Betty: But what will Mr. Jameson say?

Peter: Nothing, baby...for at least an hour!

Every time I read that line that night, I laughed out loud.  When
I read it today, I still smile.

Spider-Man has rarely had it as good as when Lee, Ditko, and then
John Romita were presenting his adventures, but there have been a
lot of great Spider-Man comics over the past half-century.  Those
are the ones I remember and cherish. 

Happy anniversary, Spidey...and keep thy webs untangled!                                                

Spider-Man has two dads and one of them has his very own universe.
Edited by Danny Fingeroth and Roy Thomas, The Stan Lee Universe
[TwoMorrows; $26.95] features a compendium of interviews, mementos,
and rarities from the Stan Lee archives.

The “Wow” factor of this book is as amazing as Lee itself.  There
are interviews from the 1950s and 1960s, including the transcript
of a radio debate with a colleague of Dr. Fredric Wertham.  (Yes,
I’m biased, but I think Stan emerged victorious in that encounter.)
There are articles describing Stan’s encounters with famous movie
directors, musicians, and others.  There are promotional materials
in which Stan promotes various products and his speaking services.
There is remarkable correspondence on possible Marvel projects with
Will Eisner and Richard Corben.  There are rare photographs, tips
for writers, and even a few pages on Stan’s more recent ventures in
comics and beyond.  Like I said: Wow!

Danny and Roy - hey, Stan always kept things informal when I worked
for him - have done an outstanding job giving us a look at one of
the most remarkable men in popular culture.  They left me wanting
more.  Say “sequel” with me.

Of course, as I told Stan when I wished him a happy 89th birthday
in December, it’s always been a Stan Lee universe.  The rest of us
are just lucky enough to live in it.

ISBN: 978-1-60549-029-8

DOONESBURY ADDENDUM

On Tuesday, the Akron Beacon Journal printed this week’s Doonesbury
strips (Monday and Tuesday) on its editorial pages while continuing
to run the reprints on its comics pages.  No explanation was given
in the print edition as to why the paper decided to do this a day late
in the game.  I’ll see if I can find out anything. 

While I do that, does anyone know of any other paper running both
the new strips and the reprints?  I’m curious.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

RAWHIDE WEDNESDAYS: PART FOUR

Previously in Tony Isabella’s Bloggy Thing:

The Rawhide Kid is one of my favorite comics characters.  Inspired
by Essential Rawhide Kid Vol. 1, which reprints Rawhide Kid #17-35,
I plan to write about the Kid every other Wednesday.  There will be
spoilers ahead.  You have been warned.

The Rawhide Kid #20 [February 1961] is one of my favorite issues of
the series.  The 13-page “Shoot-Out With Blackjack Bordon” by Stan
Lee, Jack Kirby, and Dick Ayers shows the Kid’s youthful naivety as
he is tricked by a bogus marshal into believing he’s been given a
full pardon by the Governor.  The only condition Rawhide must meet
is to put aside his guns forever...and it’s a condition to which he
readily agrees.

The plot is set in motion by Blackjack Bordon who, in the absence
of the Kid’s ability to defend a western town, takes over the town.
The splash page of the second chapter of this adventure is a great
shot of Bordon towering over the Kid.  Kirby excels at drawing the
5'4" cowboy; other artists didn’t capture that as well.

Frustrated by his inability to stop Bordon, the Kid leaves the town
to avoid losing his “parole.”  That resolve vanishes with a chance
encounter with the bogus marshal, who has also been driven out of
the town by Bordon lest he give away the plan. You can figure out
what happens next.

The shoot-out ends with two fairly common story elements.  The Kid
shoots faster than Bordon even though Bordon already had his rifle
in his hands and shoots Bordon in the hand.  A bystander exclaims that
“Bordon will never be able to use that gun hand again!”

“Return of the Gunfighter” is one of the five-page non-series stories that
ran in every issue of The Rawhide Kid.  Written by Lee with art by the
great Don Heck, it’s the tale of feared gunman Ten-Notch Norton who
is returning to the town where he had his last gunfight.  Norton is
challenged by a guy wanting to prove he’s faster than Norton, but
the Ten-Notch wants nothing more to do with that kind of violence.
Even when Norton admits he’s scared, his opponent won’t let it go.
He’s determined to have his gunfight. 

The twist ending is not that Norton easily beats the man.  It’s the
reason why he was afraid to fight him.  He was afraid he would kill
the man.  Since that last gunfight three years ago, Norton has been
blind.  He had to shoot by the sound of his foe’s voice.

The twist ending doesn’t come out of nowhere.  Looking back at the
second and third pages of the story, there are subtle clues as to
Norton’s condition.  A great little tale.

“The Defeat of the Rawhide Kid” by Lee, Kirby, and Ayers ends this
issue.  An exhausted Rawhide passes out at the deserted ranch of a
father and his young son.  The son recognizes him and says he wants
to join the Kid and become a famous badman.  Knowing this could be
a turning point for the youngster, the Kid pretends to be good with
this idea.  But, he adds, they can’t leave the father alive to tell
the law the Rawhide Kid was there.  When the youngster objects, the
Kid knocks him to the floor and the father goes after Rawhide with
his bare hands. 

We’ve seen this story before.  The Kid feigns being a badman or a
coward to keep someone from making the same kind of mistake he once
made.  The father sees through this, but plays along with the Kid
for the sake of the boy.

As the Kid flees into the full-mooned night, the father things to
himself:

And I hope you grow up to be nearly the man the Rawhide Kid is!  I
know what he did - and why he did it - and I’ll never forget him!
Thank you, Kid - and vaya con dios!

Stan gets the last word in a bottom-of-the-panel caption:

Some day the boy would be told, some day he would learn than it
sometimes takes far more courage to lose an battle than to win
one...the kind of courage that only someone like the Rawhide Kid
could possess!

Yeah, that’s the ticket.  All those times I had to fight bullies in
school and got the shit kicked out of me?  I was being courageous.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! 

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

DEPRESSION DAY DOUBLE-FEATURE

Most of you get that this bloggy thing of mine is as much personal
therapy for me as entertainment for my rollicking readers.  Note to
self: use “rollicking” as seldom as possible.

I have been experiencing more “depression days” of late.  Which is
not unusual given all the depressing things in the world and which
is not a call for your sympathy.  My depression is what it is and,
thankfully, the most important parts of my life - my children and
my wife and my marriage - are safe and secure.  I consider myself
a very lucky man.

One of the ways in which I cope with depression, especially on days
when it becomes clear I will not accomplish anything particularly
constructive, is to surrender to the malaise and watch a couple of
movies.  Hence, the title of today’s bloggy thing.

On the depression day of which we speak, I had checked out movies
from my local library system.  This saved me from having to think
about what movies I wanted to watch.  Depression days and thinking
are not often a good match.
                                                 
Twenty-five million dollars died to make Shark Night 3-D.  Since I
don’t much care for 3-D, I waited to see it until I could get the
2-D Blu-ray version for home viewing.  I’ll be heading into spoiler
territory in a bit, so while you prepare yourself for that, I will
give you my 3-D rant.

A good movie brings me into its story and characters.  It doesn’t
need 3-D and I don’t need to pay extra to see 3-D special effects
at the movie theater.  I’m secure in that position.  The only thing
that baffles me is that how is it possible that the current mania
for 3-D is lasting longer than the past two manias for 3-D.  Have
we learned nothing from yesterday?

In Shark Night (2011), a group of college students go to a secluded
vacation home off a salt-water lake.  Where, of course, their cell
phones won’t work.  Then comes sharks, dismemberment, and various
bloody deaths.  Even in 2-D, you can pretty much tell where all the
3-D special effects happened.  The best actor in the entire movie
is the heroine’s dog.

SPOILERS BEGIN...

The best thing about Shark Night are its villains.  Their brilliant
plan is to fill a salt water lake with all kinds of sharks and then
films those sharks eating people and then sell the videos to people
who want more gore than the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week offers.
While I’m a little unclear how the seemingly inbred villains were
able to pull this off, it’s more of a plan than we usually get in
movies like this one.  That the villains are also sociopaths kind
of adds to their evil charm.

At the end of the movie, after all but the heroine and the hero and
the heroine’s dog have died, a great white shark breaches the water
by their boat.  It may be just the 2-D version of the obvious 3-D
effect, but, it looked like the shark was bigger than the boat.  If
it was, indeed, bigger than the boat, then the hero, heroine, and
heroine’s dog died horribly.  I liked that dog.

SPOILERS ENDED

Of the three shark movies I’ve watched this year, Super Shark ranks
first by a wide margin.  Which is like being the first actor to get
eaten by a shark in any of these movies.

Shark Night comes in second because it had better sharks, a really
smart dog, and decent villains.  I liked that dog.

2-Headed Shark Attack finishes last.

I’m still waiting for Sand Sharks to be released in a format I can
watch on my DVD player.  Amazon only has the U.K. version. 

Are there any other recently-released shark movies I should check
out?  Or will my weekend’s cheesy monster movie watching consist of
Leprechaun, Leprechaun 2, Leprechaun 3, and Leprechaun's Revenge on
the SyFy Channel?  Faith and begorra!                                                 

If the first movie of my depression day double-feature fit my mood,
the second lifted it.  I watched The Ghost Breakers, a 1940 movie
starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. 

Hope is radio crime reporter Lawrence Lawrence.  On the eve of his
departure for a vacation, he gets a local gangster pissed off and
has to go to the guy’s hotel room to make amends.  However, before
he has a chance to do that, he’s caught in a hotel hallway shootout
between two men from Cuba.

Lawrence mistakenly believes he killed one of the men. He hides in
the room of Mary Carter (Paulette Goddard), a feisty, pretty young
woman who’s just inherited a legendary haunted castle in Cuba.
Capricious fate lock Lawrence in Mary’s trunk.  Well, Cuba in the
1940s is as good a place for a vacation as any, Mary’s very pretty,
and Lawrence’s curiosity has been grabbed.

With his valet Alex (Willie Best), Lawrence is determined to find
out why unknown people want to buy Mary’s castle or scare her away
from it...and if the legends about a castle ghost are true.  More
I shall not reveal because this movie is definitely worth tracking
down and watching.

Walter DeLeon adapted the movie from the play The Ghost Breaker by
Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard.  His script combines humor and
suspense.  Hope doesn’t break character - as he often did in films
- and is effective as the brave-but-not-stupid Lawrence.  Goddard
manages to portray Mary Carter as New York tough with a soft side.
Best, though burdened with the stereotypes of the era, does a fine
job as suffering straight man to Hope and his character is several
notches above those usual stereotypes.

Hope and Goddard starred in two other films: The Cat and the Canary
(1939) and Nothing But the Truth (1941).  I’ve put in requests for
both with my local library system.  Let’s hope they get here before
Saturday or I’m stuck with those Leprechaun movies.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

CRIME TIME

Crime comics were still a big part of the comics market in December
1951, my birth month.  However, along with horror comics, the crime
comics would become the poster children for the anti-comics forces
already massing. 

When the Comics Code was adopted in October 1954, the first part of
its “Code for Editorial Matter” was devoted to crime comics.  The
dozen rules, especially the last two, made it virtually impossible
for crime comics to continue as they had.

“The letter of the word "crime" on a comics magazine shall never be
appreciably greater than the other words contained in the title.
The word "crime" shall never appear alone on a cover.

Restraint in the use of the word "crime" in titles or sub-titles
shall be exercised.

No such restraints were in place in December 1951.  Here are three
issues that hit the newsstands that month.

Thanks to Russ Cochran’s magnificent EC library, I have read Crime
SuspenStories #8 [December 1951-January 1952].  Johnny Craig drew
the cover, illustrating a “Haunt of Fear” story by Al Feldstein and
Graham Ingels. 

Craig is my favorite EC creator.  His contribution to this issue is
“Out of the Frying Pan...,” a brilliantly understated tale.  Craig
both wrote and drew most of his EC efforts and he can’t be beat for
sheer storytelling.  Everything is always in service of the story
at hand.  In this one, a friendly old man in a hospital bed cheers
up his paralyzed roommates with his vivid descriptions of the world
outside their window.  Their newest roommate is a temporarily blind
murderer who will soon be taken to prison.  Save for a violent page
showing the murder, the story unfolds at a downright leisurely pace
and so heightens the shock of his surprise ending.  I laughed out
loud when I first read the story and it still makes me smile every
time I reread it. 

Author Max Allan Collins cites an anecdote from Bennett Cerf’s Try
and Stop Me as the springboard for “Out of the Frying Pan.”  The
book was a favorite of EC Comics publisher William F. Gaines, who,
with editor Al Feldstein, often came up with plots for their comic
books and, it must be said, sometimes appropriated those plots from
existing works.

“A Trace of Murder” by Feldstein with artist Jack Kamen is typical
of EC’s many “spouse kills spouse” stories.  Inspired by a murder-
suicide, a husband plans to get rid of his wealthy older wife with
an untraceable poison.  It takes some wild plotting gymnastics to
get to the surprise ending with those gymnastics started by a pair
of young sociopaths, another EC tradition.

Feldstein teams with George Roussos for “The Escaped Maniac,” and,
while Roussos’ work is wonderfully unnerving, you can see the twist
ending coming a mile away.

EC’s horror comics were obviously considered a draw.  “Partnership
Dissolved” by Feldstein and Ingles was proclaimed “an illustrated
terror-tale from the Haunt of Fear” on the cover.  While the meat
wholesaling angle lends itself to a gleefully gory last panel, the
story itself is so-so by the high standards of EC, an outfit that
raised the bar for all crime and horror comics.

Crime Cases Comics #10 [March 1952] has one of those busy, packed-
to-the-corners covers found on many of Marvel’s non-humor titles in
the early 1950s.  Alas, the artist of this particular cover has yet
to be identified.  Inside the issue:

“Crime Wave” is said to be “an actual crime case,” but I’m somewhat
skeptical of that claim.  The seven-page story is drawn and signed
by Tony DiPreta.

The same claim is made for “The Guinea Pig.” The six-page story is
drawn and signed by Jack Keller, best known for Marvel’s Kid Colt
Outlaw and Charlton’s hot rod comics.

The artist for “Murder Will Out” is unknown, but “Mugger At Large”
was drawn by Warren Sitton.  Both of these five pages are said to
be actual crime cases.  What’s the world of 1951 coming to when I
can’t trust what I read in comic books?

A dozen convicts and guards were squeezed into the cover of Crime
Exposed #10 [Marvel; March 1952], an even more impressive feat of
artistic engineering when one also considers the multiple panels on
the left side of the cover.  We don’t know who drew this cover, but
he definitely earned his paycheck.

Warren Sitton and Jack Keller also have stories in this issue.  The
former drew “Grand Jury” (6 pages) and the latter did the honors on
“Death and Sgt. Collins” (7 pages).

The multi-talented Sol Brodsky, one of my first bosses at Marvel,
drew “Escaped Con” (6 pages).  One of my true regrets about those
early days is that I didn’t stay in Sol’s department much longer.
I learned a lot from him and could have learned a lot more.  He was
a good guy.  Rounding out the issue was “The Search,” a four-page
story drawn by Vernon Henkel.

More covers from my birth month to come.

******************************
Just one more item for today:

This week’s Doonesbury strips concern women’s reproductive rights.
The Akron Beacon Journal will run reprints, another example of how
far to the right that once just slightly right of center newspaper
has become.  Then again, the ABJ has been little more than a shadow
for years, having fired or lost its best columnists. 

The [Cleveland] Plain Dealer will be running the Doonesbury strips.
This surprised me because the PD has long been a right-wing tool of
the rich and the powerful.  If I had Mitt Romney’s $10,000, I’d bet
it on the Doonesbury strips being the subject of a slanted column
from Kevin O’Brien, the newspaper’s resident hater of all things
“liberal.” I’d also make a side bet on angry subscribers commenting
on the strips in the letters section by Tuesday.

Once the Doonesbury sequence has run in its entirety, I’ll get back
to you with my thoughts on the strips and the reaction to them in
the Plain Dealer.  Meanwhile, how many of you are hoping for Mary
Worth to lose her cool and punch that soulless neighbor of hers in
the face?  Or, on a less violent note, inform the woman’s employer
that said nasty piece of work framed a former employer for theft so
that she could get his job?

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

SUNSET CARSON RIDES INTO THE SUNSET

Sunset Carson (real name Winifred Maurice Harrison) starred in 21
“B” westerns from 1944 to 1950.  His career in comic books was not
as successful.  He had four issues of his own Charlton Comics title
and appeared in Cowboy Western Comics #27-30 and #35-37.

Cowboy Western Comics #37 [February-March 1952] was Carson’s final
appearance in that title.  He had two stories in the issue, one of
them drawn and signed by W.A. Szantay, of whom not much is known,
and the other by the great Fran Matera, whose work I remember most
fondly from Treasure Chest in the 1960s.  Treasure Chest
was sold through Catholic schools though, near the end of its long
run, it also appeared on newsstands.

The cover of Cowboy Western #37 is drawn by Clinton Harmon.  Inside
the issue, Harmon seems to have drawn everything other than Sunset
Carson: Western Wonders, Legends of Paul Bunyan, Denver Mudd and
Bushey Barns, Happy Homer, Li’l Hootie, Pecos Bill, and Chuck Wagon
Gus.  The Grand Comics Database also credits him with writing all
but the first two of those features.

Cowboy Western Comics #37 hit the newsstands in December of 1951,
the month I was born.  The title amuses me because it strikes me as
redundant.  Where else would you find cowboys other than the West?
I started coming up with other combinations of jobs and westerns:
Cattle Rancher Western Comics, Banker Western Comics and Saloon Gal
Western Comics.  Sadly, I have way too much time on my hands these
days.                                          

                                                     

From Quality Comics, Crack Western #77 [March 1952] also came out
that month.  The numbering continued from Crack Comics, which ran
62 issues.  Crack Western ran to issue #84.

According to the GCD, Reed Crandall drew the cover of this issue.
Inside the issue, the nine-page “Arizona Raines” story was drawn by
Paul Gustavson.  Also in the issue: Two-Gun Lil (drawn by Pete
Morisi, 5 pages); Bob Allen Frontier Marshal (Harry Anderson, 7
pages); and the Whip (Charles Sultan, 7 pages).

I couldn’t resist the urge to give you back-to-back western comics
today.  For Monday, I’ll have three crime comics.

Marvel Comics is dangerously close to having reprinted every story
I ever wrote for them.  Marvel Firsts: 1970s Vol. 2 [$29.99] adds
another to the list by including my first “It, the Living Colossus”
story from Astonishing Tales #21 [December 1973]. 

“It” came about because Supernatural Thrillers #1's adaptation of
Theodore Sturgeon’s classic prose story of that name sold amazingly
well.  So the brass wanted an “It” comic book.  Complicating this
was that Marvel has already started publishing its own variation on
the swamp monster theme with the Man-Thing.  So Roy Thomas asked me
to come up with a new “It” for the new series.

The Colossus had originally appeared Tales Of Suspense #14 and #20.
When those stories were reprinted in Monsters On the Prowl #17 and
#25, there was a spike in sales.  Knowing that, I suggested to Roy
that we make the Colossus our new “It” and he thought that a good
idea.  As I recall, my pitch for the book was a verbal one between
Roy and myself.  Though a text page also credits Don McGregor and
Marv Wolfman for helping with the series, I don’t remember either
of them being in the creation conference.  I suspect I bounced some
ideas off them at a later stage...which wasn’t uncommon for me in
the early days of my career.

My original concept was for Bob O’Bryan, his wife Diana, and there
two pre-teen children to all be involved in the stories.  While Bob
would be the primary “controller” of the Colossus, both kids would
be able to control the statue as well.  Roy rejected that notion.
Instead, we took the disabled hero route which had worked well for
Marvel with characters like Iron Man and Daredevil.

Following an accident secretly caused by a jealous actor, O’Bryan
would end up in a wheelchair and, being foolish noble, would drive
his fiancee Diane away from him.  However, just as aliens had been
able to control the Colossus by projecting their consciousness into
the statue, Bob found he could do the same thing.

My love for Marvel’s giant monsters provided lots of enthusiasm on
my part, but, alas, that didn’t translate into good sales.  There
were only four issues of “It” before he was bounced from his book
to make room for Rich Buckler’s Deathlok.  Sigh.

I could do an entire bloggy thing on the Colossus, but we’ll save
that for some future date.  In addition to this origin tale, this
second volume of Marvel Firsts: 1970s also reprints two stories I
plotted which were then scripted by Chris Claremont.

“War Is Hell” from War Is Hell #9 [October, 1974] introduced John
Kowalski, a man cursed to live in the bodies of others during WWII.
It has been reprinted previously in Marvel Ghost Stories.

“The Serenity Stealers” is a black-and-white Tigra story that ran
in Monsters Unleashed #10 [February 1975].  It takes place between
the often-reprinted Tigra debut in Giant-Size Creatures #1 and the
first story of her short-lived series that began in Marvel Chillers
#3.  The story is drawn by Tony DeZuniga.

Marvel sends me royalty checks when they reprint my work.  Without
me having to chase that money.  The amounts vary depending on how
well the books sell, but, in case you were wondering, I do get paid
for these timeless classics.  I like that.

As for the other firsts appearing in this volume, the roster reads
as follows: Morbius, the Living Mummy, Brother Voodoo, the first of
the Thing team-ups, the Black Panther, Satana, Son of Satan, Sons
of the Tiger, Iron Fist, the Golem, Man-Wolf, Deathlok, Gabriel:
Devil Hunter, Howard the Duck, the Invaders, and the all-new X-Men
that would soon take comicdom by storm.   That add up to 374 pages
of 1970s fun.  I’m looking forward to reading it.

ISBN: 978-0-7851-6381-7

I’ll be back on Monday with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

IF YER HUNGRY, CHEW ON THIS FER AWHILE!

Fighting in Korea, Combat Kelly had a healthy run in the 1950s with
a total of 44 issues from November 1951 to August 1957 and a couple
guest shots in Battle.  His third issue, shown here and dated March
1952 hit the newsstands in my birth month of December 1951.  Since
the Korean War ended in July of 1953, Kelly overstayed his time in
that country by four years.  However, The M*A*S*H television series
holds the record for fighting in that war.  It debuted in September
1972 and in ended February 1983.

The cover of this issue manages to tell a complete story in a mere
three panels, but, alas, no one has identified the cover artist at
this time.  There are two Combat Kelly stories in the issue, both
of them written by Hank Chapman and drawn by Joe Maneely.  If you
want to talk Atlas greats, Chapman and Maneely would be pretty much
at the top of the list.  I’d love to see collections of their 1950s
stories for the company.

The issue also has two non-series stories, one drawn by Gene Colan,
the other by Paul Reinman.  Colan did outstanding work throughout
his career.  Reinman did his best stuff in the 1950s.

Let’s see what else I have for you today.

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

The Elderberries, one of my favorite comic strips, has come to an
end.  Created by Phil Frank and carried on magnificently by Corey
Pandolph, the strip was set in a retirement community filled with
quirky residents and staff.  Strips about senior citizens are not
uncommon, but, unlike most of the other ones, the Elderberries was
not centered on the frailties of old age.  It didn’t go for any of
the easy jokes found in such strips.  Its humor came from a cast of
funny and interesting characters who made their own adventures in
a world that rarely gives seniors their due. 

The strip will continue in reruns.  Dusty, the General, Boone, Miss
Overdunne and the rest of the Elderpark gang will doubtless acquire
new readers who will find them as much fun to be around as I have.
I came to the strip midway through its run, so those older strips
will be new to me as well.  But, for now, my thanks to Frank, Joe
Troise, and Pandolph for their wonderful work on the feature...and
my additional thanks to Pandolph for giving the characters a grand
send-off.  Well done, sir.

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

While trying to get current on Marvel titles, I’m also attempting
to stay current on the DC “New 52" titles I’m still reading and, of
course, reading comics, graphic novels, and manga from many other
publishers.  If Doc Wertham was right, I’m undoubtedly heading for
a life of crime.

Aquaman #2-5 and Batgirl #2-5 were the most recent DCs I read.  I’m
loving both a lot.  I’m still thrown by what is and isn’t still in
continuity in those titles, but it’s starting to come together for
me.  Even with these series, I could use a scorecard.

I haven’t enjoyed Aquaman this much in decades.  Writer Geoff Johns
is making the Sea King relatable and just cool enough to be both a
legend and a bit of a loser at the same time.  Those man-munching
monsters from the Trench were scary villains.  The mysterious fate
of Atlantis and the surprise appearance of some survivors intrigues
me.  Artists Ivan Reis (pencils) and Joe Prado (inks) are producing
outstanding visuals issue after issue.  Unlike many “New 52" books,
Aquaman doesn’t come off as comics by committee.  It has a singular
voice and, for me, that makes for great comics.

Batgirl #1 was good but a little shaky, but, with issues #2-5, Gail
Simone rocked the character and the scripts.  We got to see Barbara
Gordon deal with serious issues, defeat a frightening villain, and
prove herself ready and more than able to run with the big dogs of
Gotham.  Some of the continuity changes throw me, such as her dad
having never remarried, but I’m good with that one.  The surprise
appearance of another member of the Gordon family was also a spiffy
twist.  My only question...did Oracle exist in this new continuity
and, if so, how extensive was Barbara’s involvement with the Birds
of Prey.  Inquiring minds.

Five issues of Batgirl.  Two excellent villains.  Action, drama and
emotion.  At the moment, Batgirl is my favorite DC Comics series.
Have I mentioned that Simone rocks?

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

Save for Avengers Academy, I enjoy New Avengers more than all those
other Avengers titles.  I love the idea of Luke Cage leading these
heroes.  I love the quirky line-up.  I love Squirrel Girl because,
come on, she’s Squirrel Girl. 

Writer Brian Michael Bendis seems to bring his best stuff to this
title.  The banter and the monologues work better here than in his
other books.  The characters don’t seem like they have to work to
be comfortable around and even friendly with each other.  The Mike
Deodato art and storytelling is first-rate, dynamic when it needs
to be, human when that’s called for.  Even the reappearance of the
overused Norman Osborn - I’m all for Hawkeye putting an arrow into
his skull - didn’t harsh my buzz too much.  Even so, Norman is one
of those annoying songs that makes me wince whenever I “hear” him.
Where’s the Punisher when you need him?

While I didn’t think the execution was as strong as it could/should
have been, I was intrigued by Wonder Man’s thinking as to attacking
the Avengers in New Avengers Annual #1 and Avengers Annual #1.  It
always bothers me when these terrible events that dominate Marvel’s
universe get brushed away as if they weren’t absolutely devastating
to the general public.  It’s good to see Wonder Man, crazy though
he may be, addressing this question.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

POLITICS-FREE SINCE MONDAY

Published by United Features Syndicate, Comics on Parade made its
debut in 1938 as an anthology of UFS comic-strip characters.  That
first issue starred Tarzan, the Captain and the Kids, Li’l Abner,
and others.  From issue #30 on, it apparently became a one-strip-
at-a-time title, rotating between the Captain and the Kids, Li’l
Abner, and Fritzi Ritz with Nancy.  Pretty soon, Nancy became the
headliner when she and Aunt Fritzi started and, with issue #60, she
was the permanent star of the title, though she often shared cover
billing with Sluggo.  Comics on Parade #104 [February 1955] was the
last issue of the title.

The comic strip that would become Nancy started out as Fritzi Ritz
in 1922.  Created by Larry Whittington, the strip was taken over by
Ernie Bushmiller three years into its run.  Nancy, Fritzi’s niece,
was introduced on January 2, 1933.  From all accounts, Nancy took
the feature to new heights of popularity and, before long, she was
the star of the strip and it was renamed for her.

Since 1995, brothers Guy and Brad Gilchrist have been writing and
drawing Nancy.  The strip is beautifully drawn with a heartwarming
attitude.  I think it’s one of the finest comic strips of our time.
In the unlikely event I ever become the editor of some newspaper’s
comics pages, it would be the first strip I would add to the pages.
That’s how much I love it.

All of the above is my lame attempt to disguise the obvious truth
that all I know about Comics on Parade #82 is that it came out in
December, 1951, the month of my birth, and that the cover is signed
“Ernie Bushmiller.”  I don’t know if the issue presents reprints of
the comic strip or new material written and drawn for the issue.
I’m eager for further enlightenment, so, please, feel free to share
your doubtless vaster knowledge with me.

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

My library system continues to be a abundant source of entertaining
material.  Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths by Shigeru Mizuki [Drawn
& Quarterly; $24.95] is Mizuki’s fictionalized memoir of his World
War II service in the Imperial Army.  Stationed on an island in the
South Pacific, a company of poorly-supplied soldiers are expected
to hold their positions at all costs and, if necessary, hurl their
bodies at their enemies in senseless suicide charges.  It’s a grim
tale with a large cast of characters, but it humanizes all of them
from the most lowly to the most fanatic officers.  It a way, this stand
alone graphic novel reminds me of Sam Glanzman’s classic U.S.S.
Stevens stories for DC’s war comics.  It has that same sense of reality,
that same sense of empathy for the common fighting man, that same
attention to detail that makes a great story a great learning experience as
well.  Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths is a quiet masterpiece and
I recommend it most strongly.

ISBN: 978-1770460416

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

From 1989, Les Roberts’ A Carrot for the Donkey is the third novel
in that author’s Saxon series.  Saxon is a sometimes actor who pays
his bills between parts by working as a private detective.  I came
to Saxon by way of Roberts’ Milan Jacovich books, which are set in
and about my native Cleveland, Ohio.  Having read and enjoyed all
15 of the Jacovich novels as well as the unrelated Strange Death of
Father Candy, I decided to give Roberts’ first private detective a
chance.  It’s worked out pretty well for me.

Saxon is less morally resolute than Jacovich.  He’s not a bad guy,
just someone who’s adapted to the shady locale that is Hollywood.
When he adopted a street kid in his second novel, Saxon completely
won me over.  In this book, he’s hired by a profligate producer to
find the man’s runaway daughter.  The trail leads to Tijuana and a
world of bullfighters, corrupt cops, people smugglers, and pimps.
The setting is even more sleazy than Hollywood and, in that world,
the detective is completely on his own.

There are three more books in the Saxon series, which seems to have
ended in 1994.  I’m looking forward to reading those and any other
new books from Roberts.  He’s become one of my favorite authors and
I recommend his books to you as well.

ISBN: 978-0312025540

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

Jill Thompson’s Magic Trixie and the Dragon [HarperCollins; $7.99]
is the third in her delightful series about the pre-teen witch-in-
training.  Trixie is one of the great kid comics characters.  Her
enthusiasm is high and her impulse control low.  She makes mistakes
and she learns from them.  Her supporting cast is often hilarious,
but Magic Trixie still commands the center stage.  With outstanding
art that tickles my eyes and writing that makes me smile and even
chuckle out loud, Magic Trixie is fun for all ages.

ISBN: 978-0-06-117050-8

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

I can’t decide if Shunju Aono’s I’ll Give It My All...Tomorrow is
inspirational or depressing.  I just finished the third volume in
the series [Viz; $12.99] and I still can’t decide. 

The protagonist of Tomorrow is Shizuo, forty-something dreamer and
single father who quits his decent albeit unexciting job to devote
himself to becoming a manga creator.  He’s currently working at a
burger joint and living with his father.  His best friend is a co-
worker two decades younger than he is.  His editor is encouraging,
but, as it turns out, that says more about the editor than it does
about the quality of Shizuo’s manga.

While reading each book of the series, despite my keen interest in
the story, I thought about not reading future volumes.  Shizuo is
not an incredibly sympathetic character.  He appears delusional on
frequent occasions.  He’s less than a good father to his daughter,
who, thankfully, is a pretty tough cookie.  He wallows in self-pity
often.  As reviewer Ed Sizemore wrote, I don’t know if I’m reading
this series because I want to see Shizuo succeed against all odds
or becomes I’m curious how big a train wreck his life will become.
Maddening.

But there’s always something that keeps me reading.  In this third
volume, it was a twist involving Shizuo’s editor that I never saw
coming and has me eagerly awaiting how this will affect Shizuo in
his quest for manga stardom.  My interest in the series is sort of
book-to-book.  Right now, I’m hooked.

ISBN: 978-1421533650 (Volume One)

ISBN: 978-1421533872 (Volume Two)

ISBN: 978-1421533889 (Volume Three)

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella