WHO WAS THAT MASKED LOGO?

What jumps out at me when I look at the cover of The Lone Ranger
#44 [Dell; February 1952] is that terrific logo!  Whoever designed
it knew what they were doing.  Not only do you get the iconic mask
of the hero, but you get the title of the series in crystal-clear
white lettering on black.  It’s simple but more effective that most
of today’s comic-book logos.

We don’t know who painted this cover, but we do know who wrote and
drew most of the 36-page issue’s contents.  The Lone Ranger starred
in “The Masked Lady” (18 pages) by Paul S. Newman with art by Tom
Gill. 

Gaylord Du Bois wrote “When the Earth Opened” (2-page text) and a
9.5-page “Young Hawk” story drawn by Jon Small.  The latter’s worth
noting because the first Turok Son of Stone comic [Four Color #596;
October/November 1954] was originally written by Du Bois’ for his
earlier Native American hero. 

Rounding out the issue were “Red Cloud's First Battle,” a two-pager
which the Grand Comics Database describes as the “true story of
Sioux chief Red Cloud's first battle against the Army in Wyoming in
1866" and which has a follow-up story in The Lone Ranger #45...and
a single-page fact feature on “Indian Lingo.”

The Lone Ranger #44 hit the newsstands in December 1951, the month
of my birth.  I’ll have another Lone Ranger comic from that month
in tomorrow’s bloggy thing.

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

If you happen to find yourself in the vicinity of Casa Isabella at
840 Damon Drive in Medina, Ohio on Friday or Saturday, September 7-
8, you’d do well to stop by one of the few remaining Tony Isabella
garage sales of the year.  As always, I’ll have thousands of comic
books (including a nice selection of comics and books suitable for
all ages), magazines, paperbacks, trade paperbacks and hardcovers
on sale at insanely low prices.  The sale hours are 10 am to 3 pm,
though, truth be told, I sometimes get excited and open the garage
door early. 

I’ll also be selling the very spiffy two-sided Superman/Clark Kent
poster created for Cleveland's International Superman Exposition in
1988.  I’ll be selling the posters for $20 each and there will be
a limited supply available.  After my garage sale customers have a
chance to buy them, I’ll make them available via mail order.  Look
for details on that next week.

Here’s the schedule for this summer’s remaining sales:

Friday, September 7 (10 am to 3 pm)

Saturday, September 8 (10 am to 3 pm)

Friday, September 21 (10 am to 3 pm)

Saturday, September 22 (10 am to 3 pm)

MYSTERY SALE Friday, October 5 (9 am to noon)

MYSTERY SALE Saturday, October 6 (9 am to noon)

MYSTERY SALE? What the heck is that all about?  I guess you’ll have
to ponder that for a while.  Heh, heh, heh.

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

Remember how in yesterday’s blog, I didn’t know much of anything
about Little Iodine?  Well, I know a little bit more today thanks
to this e-mail from Brent Frankenhoff, the editor of Comics Buyer’s
Guide.  He wrote:

Nope, not strip reprints as far as I can tell. It's a fun series,
with a kind of a Dennis the Menace as a girl vibe to it. It's not
really Little Lulu-like in that Iodine has male friends, but
they're not at odds as Lulu and Tubby can be, it's more of the
Iodine gets some screwy idea to help her dad or do something else
and she drags her friends into it to help. The usual round of
misunderstandings ensue.

You know, you can always ask Maggie [Thompson] or me about this
sort of stuff. Thanks to my folks and a whole mess of later
purchases, I've got plenty of comics from the late 40s/early 50s.
My maternal grandmother taught school in one-room schoolhouses in
northeastern Iowa and, as a reward for the kids, she'd let them
read comics. (Progressive lady.) She "borrowed" my mom's comics for
the purpose, but my mother, being the anally retentive person she
is, put her initials in pencil on the covers and counted exactly
how many went to school. They all had to come back home as well.
Grandma never threw them away and, when I was old enough, we
retrieved them from storage at my grandpa's farm. I've still got
every one. Mostly Dell Westerns, but some other oddities mixed in.
My dad's comics were a little older and I foolishly sold a big ol'
bunch of 'em (a good run of Joe Palooka, a bunch of Walt Disney's
Comics & Stories, etc.) just before I started at CBG. What did I
know? Kept his Popeyes, his one Captain Marvel Adventures (origin
of Billy Batson and his mean uncle), and a tattered Captain Marvel
Jr.

Thanks for the information, Brent, and for that great story about
your mom and grandmother.  It made my day.

There are two reasons why I don’t ask knowledgeable people like you
and Maggie for information before I post these bloggy things..

One good reason and one bad reason.

The bad reason...I don’t make a dime off my blog and, as a result,
I’m kinda lazy when it comes to researching stuff for it.  If I
can’t find information online and quickly, I embrace ignorance and
move on to whatever paying work I have on my desk.

The good reason...that occasional ignorance is part of what makes
this blog fun for me.  It reminds me of my earliest days in fandom
when the only way I found out anything about comics from before I
started buying and reading comics was if I read a fanzine article
about them or talked with someone who was around when those comics
were published. 

I have read almost none of these comics from my birth month.  If I
had access to them, I would devote an entire blog to writing about
each issue.  But, since I don’t, I seek out whatever knowledge is
easily available online and hope for more information from fellow
fans.  Once again, thanks for the note.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

LITTLE IODINE

Here’s the cover of Little Iodine #10 [Dell; February-March 1952],
which would have shown up on newsstands in December 1951, the month
of my birth.  When I looked at this cover, I realized that, while
I knew of the title character, I had never read any Little Iodine
story or newspaper strip.

What makes this incredible is that Little Iodine was around for a
long time.  Wikipedia says:

First seen during the 1930s in a supporting role in [Jimmy] Hatlo's
popular gag panel, They'll Do It Every Time, Little Iodine was the
daughter of Henry Tremblechin and his wife, Cora. Her purpose was
to serve as a pesky nuisance to the strip's star, Henry, and her
behavior caused endless misery for her. 

Iodine became so popular she had her own Sunday strip from 1943 to
1985.  There was a Little Iodine film in 1946, though no copies are
believed to exist at this time. 

After a couple issues in Dell’s Four-Color series, Little Iodine’s
own comic ran 56 issues from March-May 1950 to April-June 1962.  I
don’t think I’ve ever so much as seen an issue.

I’m guessing the Little Iodine comic books reprinted the newspaper
strips, but that guess may not be 100% correct.  As always, if any
bloggy readers know more about this comic than I do - and, clearly,
that won’t be difficult - I’d love to hear from you.

Keep reading this bloggy thing for more vintage comic-book covers
from the month of my birth.

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

My two favorite Marvel titles are Avengers Academy and Daredevil.
The former, though brilliant, is drawing to a close because of the
Avengers Vs. X-Men event.  Thankfully, Daredevil, written by Mark
Waid, will be continuing.

Daredevil won Eisner Awards for Best Writer, Best Single Issue and
Best Continuing Series, so I don’t have to tell you that a lot of
folks like it as much as I do.  Waid took a character who had been
beaten to a pulp by a succession of sadistic writers and editors
and brought him back to life.  That he did it without walking away
from what his predecessors had done is nothing short of miraculous.
Indeed, the events of those dismal pre-Waid stories still exercise
a pull on Matt Murdock’s life and adventures.  The deterioration of
his relationship with best friend Foggy Nelson is but one example.

I read Daredevil #15-17 [$2.99 each] in one sitting.  Three issues
weren’t enough.  I wanted more.  Waid’s writing and the remarkable
art of Chris Samnee and guest artist Michael Allred bowled me over.

The desperate plight of Daredevil in Doctor Doom’s Latveria was one
new to the hero.  Think about that.  New to a character who’s been
around since 1964.  Now that’s writing.

DD’s courage and determination in this situation was breathtaking.
The roles played by Iron Man and other Avengers made perfect sense
without diminishing the title hero.  The frightening discovery made
by Foggy kept the tension high, even as the Allred issue examined
the Murdock/Nelson friendship and partnership.  I want to hack into
Waid’s computer and read the next issues.

Read Daredevil.  It’ll remind you how good super-hero comics can be
in the right hands.

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

I wanted to love Marvel’s new Captain Marvel title.  Unfortunately,
two issues was all in took to dash that hope. 

From a distance, the new title’s covers looked terrific.  The bold
logo and colors, the heroic poses, what’s not to love?  Then I got
closer.  Silly-looking hairdo and a doll’s face that doesn’t look
like it belongs to either Carol Danvers or an adult woman.

Opening the first issue, I was struck by the over-rendered and just
plain ugly artwork.  The familiar characters (Captains America and
Marvel) didn’t look like themselves.  They did, however, look like
they were brother and sister. 

Carol Danvers has a convoluted back story and, in recent years, has
been written as unlikeable/unpleasant.  The writing in these first
two issues did nothing to change that.  Just added more back story
to the character in a failed attempt to humanize her.  On the other
hand, points for this line: “I think I know your problem, Absorbing
Man.  You’re bitter than your name sounds like a brand of toilet
paper.”

After reading these two issues, I’m more convinced than ever that
the Marvel and DC universes needed to be most sincerely and utterly
blown to pieces.  A new Captain Marvel, preferably female because
there’s still a shortage of well-realized heroines, would be a good
thing.  But it’s not gonna happen with Carol Danvers.

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

I hadn’t looked at anything Teenage Mutant Ninja Mutant Turtles
since my children were kids.  But, when I saw Barbara Randall Kesel
was writing IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Microseries #7 [IDW;
$3.99], I got a copy of that issue.  Barbara was one of my better
editors in comics, a fine writer herself, and a friend.  Not that
any of those things gets her a pass when it comes to my reviewing
something she wrote.

This issue focuses on April O’Neil, friend to the Turtles and, in
this version, a lab assistant to insane scientist Baxter Stockman.
I knew her as a TV reporter, but Wikipedia tells me this version is
how April was shown in the original TMNT comics.  Did I mention how
many TMNT cartoons I watched with my kids?

This story is tied into some larger story, but Kesel provides just
enough information on other components of the story to keep me in
the loop.  That’s the mark of good writing and good editing.  Wish
the industry had more of both.

April comes off as genuine and real.  She’s brave, but she’s not an
action hero.  Her fighting skills are rudimentary, but she manages
to keep her wits about her as she sets about disrupting Stockman’s
various sinister projects.  That’s the key to her success in this
story and as a character.  She doesn’t do anything we couldn’t do.
She does what many of us would be afraid to do.  She’s someone we
can relate to and admire.

The Marley Zarcone art is pretty good.  It has some movement, goes
big when necessary, and does a decent job telling the story.  It’s
solid professional work.

The story isn’t as satisfying as I would like, but that’s because
it’s just part of the puzzle.  If IDW’s other Turtles comics are as
good as this issue, I could see requesting their collections from my
local library system. 

More Kesel writing would be a good thing.  I hope savvy publishers
figure that out.

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

It’s garage sale time again!  My next-to-last full garage sale of
the summer will be Friday and Saturday, September 7-8, from 10 am
to 3 pm, at 840 Damon Drive, Medina, Ohio.

The restocking from the previous show has been largely completed as
I write this bloggy thing.  There will be thousands of comic books,
magazines, and mass market paperbacks at a quarter each.  There’ll
be hundreds of trade paperbacks and hardcovers at $2 and $5 each.
A limited number of the extremely rare 2-sided Superman/Clark Kent
poster from Cleveland’s 1988 International Superman Exposition will
be on sale at $20 each.  There will also be some Isabella-written
material on sale and, as always, whether you buy it at the sale or
not, I’m happy to sign anything I’ve written.

Insanely low prices on comics and books...and yours truly answering
your questions about this and that.  It’s like the smallest comics
convention you ever attended.  I hope to see you there.  
 
I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

RAWHIDE WEDNESDAYS 20

When I was a kid, I watched a lot of western movies and series on
TV and I read lots of super-hero and science fiction comic books.
I didn’t read many western comics because I could watch westerns on
TV and I couldn’t watch super-hero or science fiction on TV, save
for reruns of The Adventures of Superman. 

I did read some western comics and the Rawhide Kid was my favorite.
Over the past several months, I’ve written about the Rawhide Kid
comics reprinted in Marvel’s Essential Rawhide Kid Volume 1.  Now,
thanks to a few purchases and trades, I can continue writing about
the Rawhide Kid for another ten issues or so.

There will be spoilers ahead.

The Rawhide Kid #36 [October 1963] has a remarkably busy cover by
Jack Kirby (pencils), who drew the first 16 issues of the Rawhide
Kid, and Dick Ayers (inks), who follows Jack Davis as the artist of
the feature.  Colorist Stan Goldberg makes clever use of grey and
white to highlight the Kid and his foes.  Cover copy is more than
likely by editor and writer Stan Lee.

“The Prisoner of Outlaw Town” (13 pages) begins kicks off with the
Rawhide Kid rescuing an elderly couple from owlhoots on the trail.
However, when he brings the men back to town, the Kid is arrested.
In the last election, the crooked Handlebar Harry was elected mayor
because his gang members represented more votes than those honest
citizens.  I suspect voter suppression.

Harry appointed one of his henchmen as town judge and the others as
sheriff and deputies.  The old couple were fleeing from the town as
had others before them.

The trial of the Rawhide Kid starts with the judge finding the Kid
guilty.  Though unarmed, our diminutive hero breaks free from his
captors, seeks out the mayor, and learns how crooked things are in
the town.  The cocky Harry makes a serious mistake letting the Kid
walk free, saying there’s nothing Rawhide can do.  Except maybe get
his guns back from the cowardly sheriff and ride off in the hope of
gathering the citizens to take back their town. 

The Kid meets with resistance, but, eventually he recruits a father
and his three sons.  A stranger, having heard what’s going on, also
joins them on the trail. The stage is set for an uneven showdown.

Mistaking the Kid for a federal marshal said to be in the region,
Handlebar Harry and his goons nonetheless reject the Kid’s request
they surrender peacefully and come out shooting.  Yes, I knew who
the marshal was as soon as he was mentioned and you, being clever
readers, have surely figured it out as well.

The Kid’s remarkable gun play and the courage of the stranger, the
father and the father’s sons carry the day.  The Kid dukes it out
with Handlebar Harry and tells Harry he’s not a marshal or lawman.
The scheming Harry figures he can work with that:

Then you still haven’t beaten me! All I have to do is find the
marshal and tell him how a stranger tried to take over a town from
the rightful mayor! No lawman will believe your story!  You’ll be
slapped in jail forever!

Cue the stranger:

You’re wrong, Handlebar! A marshal will believe that hombre!
Because I’m the federal marshal! The honest people whom you drove
from town sent for me! You didn’t think you could really get away
with having a band of outlaws take over an entire town, did you??

The Kid figures he should make tracks before the marshal suspects
who he really is.  However, the marshal’s closing thought balloon
and inspirational message of the day reveals the truth:

Happy trails, Kid! I knew who you were the first time I saw you –-
but now I know that the legends about you are true! I won’t give
away your secret! It’s because of men like you that the West will
some day be free of those who would destroy it!

Ayers does a nice job depicting Rawhide’s short stature, something
Davis never managed.  He can’t match Kirby’s knack for action, but
does a solid job getting lots of movement with lots of people into
the panels.  I liked Dick’s art from the first time I saw it in a
Marvel comic book and was thrilled to meet and work with him when
I went to work for the company.

Stan’s script isn’t quite as exuberant as his collaborations with
Jack Kirby on this title, but he was probably swamped with Marvel’s
new super-hero titles and still popular teen titles.  This month,
he wrote Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Kathy, Modeling with
Millie, Patsy and Hedy, Patsy Walker, a Thor story for Journey Into
Mystery and Ditko-drawn shorts for Strange Tales, Tales of Suspense
and Tales to Astonish while also plotting the Human Torch, Iron Man
and Ant-Man stories in those titles and overseeing a Patsy and Hedy
Annual.  As the super-hero titles demanded more of Stan’s writing,
he would cut back on his work elsewhere.

Also noted is that Kirby more than likely co-plotted many of those
Rawhide Kid stories with Stan and that Jack’s drawings were likely
more exciting than those found in most other comics and just plain
more fun to script.  

“Bare Knuckles in Boonville” (5 pages) is this issue’s non-series
tale and it falls nicely into the category of “Stan Lee’s Hilarious
History.”  These are stories where the surprise ending is that the
protagonist is someone famous, often without regard to the actual
history of said protagonist.  Stan seemed to love them and, though
I made fun of my beloved former boss, I dig them as well.

“Bare Knuckles” is drawn by Jack Keller, best known for his lengthy
run on Kid Colt Outlaw and various hot rod and racing comic books
published by Charlton Comics. 

A stagecoach takes a rest stop in rough-and-tumble Boonville. One
of the passengers is a well-dressed “rosy-cheeked stranger” and the
town bullies immediately harass him.  The thugs are surprised when
the unarmed stranger fights back but, even without guns, he beats
the snot of them with his quick powerful punches.  The townspeople
are amazed by his fighting fury and proclaim: “...after we get thru
telling folks what happened today, we’re gonna make you famous!”

The stranger replies:

“Well, now, that’s mighty kind of you gents! But there are one or
two folks who’ve heard of me already...

“My name’s Corbett! Some folks call me ‘Gentleman Jim!” I happen to
be the heavyweight champion of the world!”

Corbett was the champ from 1892 to 1897.  A quick look at Wikipedia
shows title bouts in New Orleans and San Francisco.  While it might
be more likely he traveled by railroad, it’s definitely within the
realm of possibility that he rode a stagecoach sometime during his
career.  I’m gonna give this one to Stan.

The issue wraps up with “Afraid to Shoot,” a five-page Rawhide Kid
story by Lee and Ayers.  The Kid is broke, hungry and on the run.
He accepts the challenge of an entertainer in a traveling medicine
show who will give twenty dollars to anyone who can out shoot him.
But, when the Kid sees a couple of lawmen, he backs down for fear
of revealing his identity.  When the lawmen move on, he accepts the
challenge a second time and, this time, he out-shoots the performer
by a wide margin.  The Kid gets his money, keeps his anonymity and
the flustered entertainer decides to hang up his guns and go back
to sheep herding.  It’s a cluttered, unsatisfying story, not at all
what we usually got from Lee and Ayers.

The Rawhide Kid is going through a transition period and I’ll keep
exploring that in upcoming “Rawhide Wednesdays.”  In the meantime,
for more talk about western comics, check out my pal Barry Pearl’s
“Barry's Pearls of Comic Book Wisdom.”  It gets the Tony Isabella
Seal of Approval.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

THERE GOES LOVE

Life Story was apparently published monthly by Fawcett, running 47
issues from April 1949 to April 1953.  Issue #33 was dated December
1951, the month of my birth, and presumably hit the newsstands that
month.  All I know of the issue is what’s on the cover, so I’m just
gonna make stuff up.

The cover models are Paul Ryan and Ann Romney, which is gonna make
things interesting on the campaign trail.  There are three stories
in the issue:

“Another Kind of Love” (between a man and a corporation);

“There Goes Love” (Sarah Palin falls for Ron Paul, but he doesn’t
want to tap that); and

“I Hate You...Darling” (the original version of the classic EC tale
in which a man and his wife drift in a lifeboat without food after
their ship sinks).

Bob Powell and Marc Swayze were known to have drawn for this title
in the early 1950s.  I don’t know if they drew any of these utterly
bogus stories.  But don’t you think someone should?

More vintage covers in future bloggy things.

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

I have a bunch of stuff waiting to be reviewed here or in my Tony’s
Tips column for Comics Buyer’s Guide, but I also have a short list
of stuff currently bugging me.  If I write about it, then it won’t
bug me as much.  Hang on.  It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Let’s start with a guy I call Blowhard McBong.  He’s a creature of
ego and needy victimization.  I’ve written about him once before
without identifying him by his actual name because it gave me a wee
bit of pleasure to deny him even the minuscule fame he’d get from
being mentioned here.  It’s a blog, you know, and not the New York
Times.  Heck, it ain’t even Newsarama.

McBong fancies himself an eminent comics historian and something of
a major player in comics history.  Ironically, though he has never
been part of the creative end of the industry, he has been around
for some of that history and done remarkable research in some areas
of comics history.  He’d rank much higher in my estimation save for
his major character flaws.

He has a tendency to exaggerate his role in events in which he may
or may not have played a part.  His apparent low self-esteem drives
him to recite frequently his list of accomplishments, some of which
are actual, in long and boring detail.  I’m pretty happy with some
things I’ve done, but even I don’t give you a list of my credits
with every blessed thing I post.  His mailing list posts often read
like resumes.  A sense of security comes hard for some people.

He has a pathological hatred of Stan Lee and this further colors
his historical writings.  He’s been known to base his conclusions
on never-documented conversations without providing any proof that
the conversations took place or that the content of them was what
he claims it to be. 

Often when I write about this sort of individual or what I consider
shoddy and untrustworthy accounts of comics history, I don’t name
those I’m writing about.  I have no desire to demean them, only to
point out the problematic nature of their claims and to caution my
readers to consider what they claim before accepting it as truth.
Which, as those of you who have read my accounts on my own comics
career know, is a standard I also expect my readers to hold me to.
I tell my history as accurately as possible.  I feel confident in
its honesty, but I don’t take it as a given that you will do so as
well.  We are all the heroes of our own stories and that’s a bias
worth remembering and noting.

McBong has taken extreme offense at my comments about him.  His ego
is easily bruised.  I’m not sure if it’s because he recognizes the
truth in my description of his behavior and character or because I
didn’t name him when I wrote about him.  He enjoys
playing the victim and acts out his dislike of me by sniping at me
on a mailing list whose owner/moderator is forgiving to a fault in
dealing with McBong’s repetitive tiresome posts.

Clearly, McBong and I have very different attitudes.  I’ve had my
share of disappoints and problems in my career.  I write about them
when I’m asked or when I’m trying to provide an accurate record of
my career.  It’s not something I particularly enjoy doing, which is
why I haven’t done much of it in recent months.

McBong likes to take cheap little snipes at me.  I’ve ignored him
on the list because, if I responded to them, he would fill the list
with his bleatings, distorted history, exaggerated achievements and
terrible terrible sufferings.  But, this being an election year and
Ohio being a key state, I’m already getting my daily requirement of
annoyance in the form of political calls.  I’m generously giving
him another fifteen minutes of anonymous fame today in hopes he’ll
finally get the point.

Yeah, I’m kidding myself.  He’ll never get the point.  But perhaps
he can serve as a object lesson for others.

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

2016: Obama’s America is a venomously dishonest documentary doing
good business playing to right-wingers seeking permission to loathe
the black guy in the Oval Office.  A poster on a comic-book message
board praised the disgraceful effort, recommending it to everyone
regardless of their political beliefs.  In my view, that poster was
either knowingly untruthful or alarmingly delusional.  A different
poster on the Harlan Ellison’s Art Deco Dining Pavilion summed up
the movie nicely:

“A person with a deep, abiding and unashamed hatred for his subject
preaches to the like-minded about what constitutes the motivation
of his subject as if he was a mind-reader.”

Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleilberman gave Dinesh D’Souza’s film
a “F” in a short review in the magazine’s September 7 edition.  He
points out how D’Souza has twisted material from President Obama’s
autobiography and puts forth the patently absurd claim that “Obama
has spent his life trying to please his late Kenyan father and that
the result is he’s an anti-colonial revolutionary.”

Anti-colonial revolutionary? Wouldn’t that make the President closer
in spirit to our country’s often-touted founding fathers than those
running against him?  Is D’Souza actually making a case for Obama’s
reelection?

Of course, he isn’t.  D’Souza is an unprincipled liar and his film
was eviscerated by Associated Press fact-checkers.  But the haters
of the right won’t let facts keep them from going to this film and
believing every specious claim it makes. 

It always amazes me when folks insert their politics into message
boards created for the discussion of comics and comics history.  I
think it’s rude.  If they’ve something to say of a political bent,
there are more appropriate forums where they can say it.  Or they
can start their own blogs. 

If I can do it, anyone can do it.
 
I’ll be back tomorrow with another Rawhide Kid Wednesday and then
on Thursday with more stuff.  Maybe even some reviews.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

FORK YOU, WOLFIE!

Leading Screen Comics #53 [February-March 1952] was published in my
birth month of December 1951.  It cover-featured Peter Porkchops,
who was created in 1947 by artist Otto Feuer and quite possibly
writer Sy Reit.  At a time far distant from the coming of Facebook,
Peter is attempting to poke his neighbor Wolfie.  There aren’t any
credits for this issue on the Grand Comics Database at present, so
that’s pretty much all I have for you on this issue.

Issues around this one featured Peter doing his usual thwarting of
Wolfie’s get-rich-quick schemes and also featured such characters
as the Tortoise and the Hare, Roly and Poly, Doodles Duck, Puss ‘n’
Pooch and Clint and the Chair.  Besides Reit and Feuer, the nearby
issues of this title had scripts by Jack Mendelson and art by Rube
Grossman and Howie Post.  The “Screen” part of the title is likely
a fiction intended to attract buyers easily fooled into believing
these characters had appeared in theatrical cartoons.

Peter Porkchops would be transformed into Pig-Iron for DC’s Captain
Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew.  In the same series, Wolfie would
become a wuz-wolf, a wolf who turned into a monstrous human being.
It’s probably a coincidence, but there is a certain lupine look to
Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan.

More vintage covers from the month of my birth?  I expect you will
be seeing more of them in future bloggy things.

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

Lovers’ Lane: The Hall-Mills Mystery [NBM/ComicsLit; $15.99] is the
latest in the remarkable Rick Geary’s “A Treasury of XXth Century
Murder” series.  This new volume explores the 1922 murders of the
Reverend Edward W. Hall and Mrs. Eleanor R. Mills, illicit lovers
found in a New Brunswick, New Jersey park.  Both were shot and the
woman’s throat was slashed so cruelly her head was barely attached
to her body.  The slain lovers were posed next to each other with
Mills’ hand on the Reverend’s thigh and their love letters to one
another strewn around their bodies.  It was a scandalous business,
made the more so by the apparently common knowledge of their affair
and the jealousy of other churchwoman who also coveted the pastor.

Geary pulls you into the setting and time with clear storytelling,
an eye for detail and a enticing style that further evokes the era.
Every one of these volumes, as well as those set in earlier times,
has been a gem.  They are must-reading for me and I recommend them
to you without hesitation.

ISBN: 978-1-56163-628-0

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

Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. [DC; $2.99 per issue] is one of
the few interesting titles among the company’s “New 52" branding.
The guy I borrow comics from gave up on it after one issue, but I
recently acquired and read the first 11 issues of the series.  I’m
glad I did.

The Frankenstein Monster of these stories is a tragic figure.  He
knows he was made for violence, he speaks in a poetic manner, his
dedication to fighting evil contrasts with his resignation to his
violent life, and, in recent issues, he’s beginning to get flashes
of memory from the people whose body parts were used to create him.

S.H.A.D.E. is an ultra-secret organization whose microscopic HQ can
be anywhere it needs to be.  Its leader - Father - gets a new body
every decade.  Currently, he looks like a pre-teen girl.  Wearing
a mask.

Frankenstein works with a team that is basically the old Creature
Commandoes with a new member or two.  Ray Palmer is the government
liaison to S.H.A.D.E. and, in “The New 52,” he’s been elevated to
“Scientist Supreme Henry Pym” levels of scary smartness.  No sign
of the Atom yet, but Palmer has the shrinking stuff covered.

Jeff Lemire wrote the first ten issues of the title.  It’s his best
DC work, a nice mix of horror, spy fiction, and super-heroes that
kept his stories fresh.  There was a tie-in to whatever is going on
Animal-Man that didn’t require one having read Animal-Man.  That’s
good for me because I don’t find Animal-Man at all entertaining.
Matt Kindt wrote issue #11 and maintained the quality of previous
issues.  I don’t know if he’s the new writer of the title or if he
is simply filling in for a spell. 

I’m also liking Alberto Ponticelli’s art.  The man has a style of
its own and makes it work for this title.  The storytelling isn’t
100%, but it’s acceptable.  Thumbs up.

Joey Cavalieri is the title’s editor and, though I have no way of
knowing exactly what he contributes to the stories, I’m guessing he
is guiding the stories rather than dictating them.  Which would put
him way ahead of most DC editors.

I’m looking forward to reading future issues of Frankenstein, Agent
of S.H.A.D.E.  Not something I say about many DC titles.

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

My original impression of IDW’s Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters was
that it was a bit too mean-spirited with its broad caricatures of
various celebrities and seemingly humorous deaths of civilians who
got caught in the monster rampages.  Having read issues #5-12 in a
single sitting, I found the caricatures weren’t as predominant and
the deaths were necessary to the overall story.  Even with a late-
issue switch in writers from Eric Powell and Tracy Marsh to Jason
Ciaramella, that story held up to the end and got more intriguing
with each issue.  My final call: I liked it a lot.

I also liked the art by Victor Santos.  Exciting layouts, enormous
monster scenes when required, clear storytelling, and a good grasp
of human facial expressions.

SPOILER WARNING

The conclusion of Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters leaves mankind with
a devastated world it no longer rules.  I’m hoping future Godzilla
comics explore this scary new world in detail.

END SPOILER

There’s probably a trade paperback collection of this series, which
I recommend.  Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters receives the blessing
of the First Church of Godzilla.  As pastor of that church, I ask
the Great Scaly One to spare IDW his fiery atomic love and protect
it from the perils of the comics marketplace, the better to allow
the company to make more Godzilla comics.

And, if you’re wondering what my dream Godzilla project would be,
wonder no more.  I’d love to do a 12-issue series that adapted and
combined the original Gojira and the American Godzilla: King of the
Monsters...and expanding the human stories found in both of those
versions.

IDW...call me maybe?

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

On Twitter, Gail Simone posed the question “Could you marry someone
who hated geek stuff and geek culture?”

My response: “Yes...but it would be drawn by Jack Kamen and would
end badly.”

That’s all I have for you today.  I’ll be back tomorrow with more
stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

SUNDAY IN THE BLOG WITH LAWBREAKERS

Today’s not-so-classic comic from my December 1951 birth month is
Charlton’s Lawbreakers #5 [February 1952].  There were nine issues
of this title from March 1951 to October-November 1952.  Then the
title was changed to Lawbreakers Suspense Stories for six issues.
Then it became Strange Suspense Stories and then it gets confusing
or, in other words, business as usual for the ever-wacky Charlton
comics empire.

The cover of this issue has no copy except for the logo and a few
identification marks.  Maybe the editors thought the cover was so
dramatic it didn’t need copy.  Maybe they forget to write copy for
it.  Maybe they wrote copy for it and it fell off.  It’s Charlton.
Don’t think about it too hard.

There are four stories in this issue:

“The Missing Witness Mystery” (7 pages), drawn and signed by Stan
Campbell;

“Crimewave” (8 pages), penciled by Al Tyler, inked by Bob Forgione
and signed “Al and Bob”;

“Scene of the Crime” (6 pages), artist(s) unidentified; and

“The Acme Hi-Jack” (7 pages), penciled by Al Tyler, inked by Bob
Forgione and signed “Tyler and Forgione”.

The writers of these stories have not yet been identified.  I know
I didn’t write them, so that eliminates one name.

Look for more vintage comic-book covers in future bloggy things on
account of I like writing about them.

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

I’m not quite ready to do the reviews thing, but I do have a list
of other things to write about...

One of the questions I am most frequently asked at my garage sales
is what I think of DC’s New 52 or Marvel’s alleged plans to reboot
its universe in similar fashion.  I’m not a fan of the former and
don’t care to speculate on the latter.  If it happens, I’ll comment
on it after reading some of the rebooted comics.

Listening to others hold forth on the subjects, which many did at
last week’s sale, I realized my own positions on such things have
changed.  One reader wants DC back to where it was before Crisis on
Infinite Earths, but, quite frankly, those were pretty crappy comic
books.  Another calls for more selective reboots.  And we have the
shining example of DC mostly keeping its Batman and Green Lantern
continuities intact because, you know, those were just so perfect
as they were.  Cue the sarcasm font.

If I were called upon to make a profound change in either Marvel’s
or DC’s super-heroic universe, I would blow them into little tiny
pieces and then stomp on those pieces until there was nothing left
of them...and then I would start over.

My philosophy of super-hero comics is that the genre is at its best
when it’s optimistic about the worthiness of mankind as reflected
in its heroes and its average people.  So many heroes have become
borderline psychotics or crossed the line into pure batshit-crazy.
Every villain has become a sociopath.  None of them wants to maybe
just rob a bank and have a little fun doing so.  Every hero goes to
their dark side to combat the villains and, often, it’s not really
to protect the average citizen.  It’s to act out their own issues
or protect themselves from the villains.  The super-hero selfless
call of duty has become a thing of the past.

Me, I think you can tell riveting stories set in a relatively real
world without being unrelentingly dark.  While real people might be
afraid of Superman or the Batman, they might just as easily become
inspired by them. 

So...I blow up the universes.  I instruct the writers and artists
to look for the original core of these classic characters and then
re-imagine that core for today’s world.  I tell them to make these
characters interesting without pandering to the lowest instincts of
the readers and themselves.  Death and horror can be a part of the
life of a modern super-hero.  Indeed, I don’t think that it could
be avoided.  But it doesn’t have to be the be-all and end-all for
these characters and their adventures. 

My new super-hero universes would be born of heroism and optimism.
They wouldn’t have perfect worlds; the heroes and people who live
in them wouldn’t be perfect.  But the vast majority of them would
be good people doing things for the right reasons.  If a writer or
artist can’t take that concept and make great comics with it, then
I honestly don’t think they’re good at their jobs. 

In the real world, no one is going to hire me to do the above.  I’m
aware of that.  But this is the question I’m asked and this is my
answer.  Blow it all up.  Start over from the core.  Ignore every
story you’ve ever read about these characters.  We’re creating the
mythology for new generations.

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

Another question frequently asked at my sales is...have I read all
these comics?  No, I haven’t.

One of the reasons I ended up with more comic books than any sane
man needs is because I kept deluding myself into believing I would
read them all one day.  I have shaken that delusion and now find it
liberating to put huge batches of comic books and trade paperbacks
into my sale boxes.  Perhaps they are unread and unloved by me, but
they are there for the customer who might be able to give them the
love I couldn’t. 

Some of what I now read are comics collections and graphic novels
I get through my local library system.  It’s a fine way to catch up
on terrific material I hadn’t previously read...and read it without
having buy it and add more books to my Vast Accumulation of Stuff.
For example...

I just read Hicksville by Dylan Horrocks.  Originally published in
1998, I knew of it, knew it was beloved by folks whose opinions I
respect, but I never got around to it until now...and it’s a book
that grabbed me and still hasn’t let go.  Wikipedia quotes Horrocks
as saying, “It's a story about comics — their history and poetry —
and also about what we New Zealanders call 'tu-rangawaewae'—having
a place to stand in the world—a kind of spiritual home. Hicksville
is my way of creating such a home for comics."

There’s a surprise element introduced near the end of this graphic
novel that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.  Describing
it would be an unconscionable spoiler, but it makes me think sadly
about what I might have written and all the more eager to take my
writing into the future.  It takes a powerful story to affect me
that deeply.

The time I save not reading the unread comics I’m selling allows me
to read exceptional works like Hicksville, intriguing comics from
Japan and elsewhere, and even the super-hero comics that manage to
soar above the rank and file of the genre.    

I’m 60 years old and I’ve been reading comic books since I was four
years old.  If you want my attention, you have to be at the top of
your game or, at least, show me something I haven’t read a hundred
times before.

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

I’m only appearing at two conventions this year.  The first of them
is Wizard World Ohio Comic Con, the successor to the Mid-Ohio-Cons
of which I was a part for over two decades.  The event takes place
on September 28-30 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, 400
North High Street in Columbus, Ohio.  Show Hours are 5pm to 9pm on
Friday, 10am to 7pm on Saturday and 10am to 5pm on Sunday.  I’m one
of over 150 guests and will have a table in Artist Alley.

The guest list includes Stan Lee, William Shatner, Neal Adams, Alan
Davis, Eliza Dushku, Dean Cain, Lou Ferrigno, Humberto Ramos, Paul
Jenkins, Mike McKone, Michael Golden and many others.  I’m not sure
any one show can safely hold the awesomeness that is Stan Lee *and*
William Shatner, but it’s a chance I’m willing to take.

I won’t be selling anything at my table.  I’ll be signing things I
have written and, with rare exception, only things I have written.

If you have a comic book, graphic novel, or anything else you would
like me to review, feel free to give me a review copy at the show.
While I can never guarantee a review, much less a favorable review,
the guilt kicks in when someone’s actually handed me the comic book
or graphic novel in person. 

Hopefully, I’ll also meet with artists and publishers who’d like to
partner with me on upcoming projects.  If you fall into either of
those categories, feel free to email me to set times during the con
when we can get together and discuss such endeavors. 

Finally, if you’re an editor or publisher or anyone else who would
like to hire me to write for them, please feel free to come to my
table or set up a meeting.  I’m not against doing work-for-hire if
the conditions of such employment are fair and allow me to do good
work for the client and the readers.

I’m looking forward to Wizard World Ohio Comic Con and especially
to hanging out with old friends and new friends.  I hope to see you
at the show.  Big fun will be had by all.

That’s all I have for you today.  I’ll be back tomorrow with more
stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

WHERE’S YOUR INTEREST, ARCHIE?

Laugh #49 [February 1952] is today’s vintage comic-book cover from
my birth month of December 1951.  Which is all I can tell you about
the issue as it hasn’t been indexed by the Grand Comics Database at
this time.  The artist signed the cover, but my aging eyes simply
aren’t good enough to decipher the signature.  If any bloggy thing
reader can read the signature or, even better, tell me about this
issue’s contents, I’d be delighted to hear from you.

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

Whenever I take some time off writing this blog, I receive anxious
e-mails or phone calls from concerned friends and readers.  I get
why they do that.  I’m 60 years old and have had health problems.
However, all things considered, I’m in decent shape and, whenever
I’m not blogging, I’m working on other things.  Even when I’m not
blogging, I usually make a daily appearance or several on Facebook,
if only to wish a happy birthday to my friends there who are having
birthdays.  Check Facebook before you panic.

I do appreciate your concern and friendship.  There will be times
when I’m offline - because I’m attending a convention or visiting
my kids - but I try to let you know about that before I go offline.
You don’t need to fret about me.

I love blogging almost as much as I love comics.  Stuff happens in
one’s life, but blogging every day remains my goal. 

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

My next garage sale will be held on Friday and Saturday, September
7-8, from 10 am to 3 pm each day.  As always, the sale will be at
Casa Isabella, 840 Damon Drive, Medina, Ohio.

My previous garage sale was my third most successful to date.  My
thanks to all the comics fans who came and bought vast quantities
of stuff from me. 

I revert to my “comics shop owner” mode when I’m doing these sales.
For example, I noticed customers looking through the quarter boxes
of comics were butt-to-butt.  Given the scarcity of butts you might
want to be butt-to-butt with, I rearranged the displays to make for
a more comfortable shopping experience.  My rough estimate is that
I’ll be adding 1200-1500 new comics for the next sale.

My mass market paperback sales were slow at a buck a pop, so I’ve
reduced the price to a quarter each for the next sale.  By moving
them to the center table, I made room for the comics, hardcovers,
and trade paperback boxes that had been on that table.  With my new
arrangement, every category (comics, trades, etc.) is displayed in
easier-to-browse fashion.

Between now and my next sale, I’ll be pulling most non-comics, non-
media hardcovers and trades from display to make room for more of
the comics material my customers favor.  The removed books will be
packaged up in mystery boxes that will sell for five bucks apiece.
Whatever doesn’t sell in this fashion will be donated to one of our
local Medina charities.

While I can make no guarantees at this time, I’m going to try real
hard to have more Isabella-written material available for the next
sale and a selection of older and/or more expensive comics.  

I’ll be selling the 2-sided Superman/Clark Kent posters created for
Cleveland’s 1988 International Superman Expo.  This poster is being
offered on eBay for prices ranging from $19.99 for a used poster to
$75 and an absurd $245.  I’ll be selling the unused posters for $20
each and give a free poster to any customer who buys $100 worth of
stuff at my next garage sale.  Supplies are limited, so make your
move while you can.

In a year when I’ve landed almost no paying gigs, the garage sales
have been a blessing to me and my family.  So, once again, thanks
to all my customers. 

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

I’m voting for President Barack Obama and the other non-Republican
on the ballot.  However, political commentary will be sparse here.
Not only would I likely be preaching to those who also believe as
I do, but I’ve come to realize it’s nearly impossible to convince
the right-wing opposition of anything.

Since Obama became president, I’ve watched Republicans in Congress
disgrace themselves and do a considerable disservice to those who
voted for them.  Instead of working with Obama to address the many
problems facing our nation and its people, the GOP made beating him
this year its only priority.  They even voted against ideas which
they themselves had brought to the table because, to them, solving
problems and improving hardships created by those problems might be
beneficial to Obama’s reelection chances.  They made the well-being
of the American people secondary to their lust for power and to the
ever-increasing wealth of the already obscenely wealthy. 

The Romney/Ryan campaign is built on bigotry, lies, avoiding actual
details as to how they would run this country, voter suppression,
and, of course and as always, making things better for their fellow
one-percenters.  They may talk about the economy in the most gloomy
terms, but Romney and Ryan are doing fine in the present economy.
It’s the rest of us who suffer.

The facts are out there.  The Associated Press fact-checked all of
the major speeches at the Republican National Convention and found
them wanting in the area of truth.  Running in The (Cleveland) Plain
Dealer, PolitiFact Ohio has been examining political statements for
several years now.  Republican politicians hold a considerable lead
over their Democratic Party counterparts in the “False” and “Pants
on Fire” categories. 

But you can’t talk to Republicans about this stuff.  They get their
information from Fox News and right-wing pundits who tell them what
they want to hear and give them license to hold on to their bigotry
and ridiculous sense of victimization.  They don’t use reality and
reason to form their opinions.  They simply have faith in whatever
they are told by Romney, Ryan, and the Fox News crowd.  I believe
in facts, they believe in voodoo.

Am I satisfied with every decision President Obama has made?  No,
I am not.  Yet when I look at what he has done, what he has tried
to do, when I look at the facts, I judge him overwhelmingly better
qualified to be our President than the other guy.  I have made my
decision, not that you’d know it from the thrice-daily robo-calls
I get from the Republicans.  

Some in the comics community are posting wonderful political stuff.
I highly recommend Mark Evanier’s News from Me and Jeff Mariotte’s
Dispatches from the Flying M.  They post wonderful stuff on a wide
range of other topics as well, but we’re talking about the politics
here.  Unfortunately.

That’s my big political speech for now.  I may weigh in on related
topics along the way.  I’m probably overdue for giving you my list
of reasons for disliking Ayn Rand.  But such commentary will not be
a major component of this blog.  Just a casual now and again thing.
I can quit anytime I want.

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

This seems like as good a place as any to remind readers that all
comments to this blog have to be approved before they appear here.
I have little tolerance for anonymous asshats, so, if you fall into
that category, you probably shouldn’t hold your breath waiting for
me to approve your comment.  Or maybe you should.

****************************** 

A recent bogus press release announced that Steve Ditko, co-creator
of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange and lots of other cool comics, would
be a guest at a big comics convention in London.  From the moment
I read the news on one of the mercifully few websites that reported
it as fact, I knew it was a bogus. 

I wanted it to be true.

Ditko seems to be doing what he wants to do and living his life as
he wants to live it.  That’s his call and his right.  Still...it’s
always seemed like a pretty dismal existence to me and I think it
shows in the humorless, minimalist and rancorous comic books he’s
been churning out in recent years.

In my flights of fantasy, I imagine Ditko attending a convention.
I imagine that all the jerks have stayed home that weekend and that
he gets to bask in the admiration and love of the many comics fans
who grew up with his comic books before he fell under the sway of
Ayn Rand.  I imagine him coming back to his studio with a big grin
on his face.  Maybe he sells some of the original art that’s been
piling up around his place and uses the money to give himself some
of the comforts he has surely earned.  Maybe he sits down at that
drawing table and, putting aside his strident social philosophy for
a spell, draws something fun that will mark a new chapter for him.
Maybe he finds his smile.

I wanted it to be true.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella