RAWHIDE KID WEDNESDAY 63

The Rawhide Kid is my favorite western comics character and one of my favorite comics characters period.  Something about the short of stature (but big on courage and fighting skills) Johnny Clay spoke to the short of stature (but big on comics-reading skills) teenage Tony Isabella.  After rereading the Kid’s earliest adventures when Marvel Comics reprinted them in a pair of Marvel Masterworks and an Essential Rawhide Kid volume, I wanted to reacquire every Rawhide Kid comic, reread them and write about them in this bloggy thing of mine. This is the 63rd installment of that series.

The Larry Lieber cover on The Rawhide Kid #78 [July 1970[ is a cool downshot of our hero being ambushed by a trio of outlaws. The Grand Comics Database tentatively credits the inking to Lieber and Herb Trimpe. I can see both in the cover, but art identification isn’t really my strong point.

“The Badman and the Kid” (20 pages, but two of those are only half-pages) is another strong Lieber story. However, it’s unfortunately marred by the use of a bit I know I’ve seen at least a dozen times in this title and other Marvel westerns. You’ll recognize it when I get to it.

The story opens with gunfighter Matt Tanner riding into this small town. Everybody freaks. One man rushes into the ten-cents bath and plans to stay there until Tanner leaves. Coincidentally enough, the Rawhide Kid is also enjoying a hot bath.

The Kid and the new arrival chat with Rawhide, who knows of Tanner, opining the gunslinger might just be passing thru town. The other man scoffs at this:

No chance of it! Varmints like Tanner never just “pass thru”? But then, what’s a young clean-cut lookin’ fella like yourself know about such matters!

The older man tells the Kid to be careful. The Kid gets dressed and the man recognizes his buttons and twin colts. The man realizes he has been trash-talking gunslicks to the Rawhide Kid and faints in his tub. It’s a funny scene.

Two amateurs try to call out Tanner in the town saloon, but run for the hills when they realize Tanner already had them covered with an under-the-table gun. Outside the tavern, Billy Dolan of the Dolan Gang figures to be the man who outguns Matt Tanner.

Dolan is planning to cheat. He has another gang member stationed on the roof. Rawhide spots the second outlaw. As Tanner shoots Billy, the Kid shoots the gun out of the other outlaw’s hand. Billy isn’t so lucky. He’s dead.

Rawhide and Tanner let the second outlaw go. In gratitude for his life, the outlaw tells him Billy had brothers who won’t take kindly to their kin’s death. He recommends Tanner ride hard and fast out of the territory.  “Your concern touches me,“ says Tanner, “but I have my own unalterable plans!”

Tanner is riding south and suggests the Kid join him.  However, on the trail, he realizes the Dolan Gang will be looking for him and suggests Rawhide steer clear. The Kid says he already bought into this fracus when he fired at the bushwhacker. It’s his fight, too, and he’s pretty sure Tanner will be needing his guns.

Tanner requests another favor from Rawhide. His business is in the town that lies ahead of him. He doesn’t want that business soiled by gunplay. The Kid tells Tanner to hide on. He will hold off the Dolan Gang as long as he can.

Tanner rides into town. People freak. A couple of kids playing with wooden guns are impressed by him. In a general store, owners John and Bess are worried. Tanner is here to see his son.

Bess and Matt had been married, until Tanner turned outlaw and did a long stint in prison. Bess remarried. I wonder if divorce was a common thing in the Old West.

Bess and John have been giving young Tommy a clean, decent life and they don’t want that spoiled by the lad learning he’s the son of an outlaw.

Tanner says he won’t tell Tommy anything. He just wants to see him once more before he dies. Bess understands, pointing out a boy with sandy hair playing shoot-out:

I’ve tried to stop him from doing that, but it’s useless. The boys in these parts think gun fighting is exciting and glamorous! Their heroes are men like you! Men whom they try to imitate.

Tanner responds:

That’s how it begins--with toy guns! And this is how it ends--old, broke, and on the run! But it won’t happen to my son! Not if I can help it!

Tanner bullies the boys. He grabs Tommy’s gun and breaks it, saying he ain’t about to let Tommy get faster than him. John rushes out to confront Tanner. Tommy screams Tanner can’t draw on his unarmed pa. Tanner says: That’s the kind of fight I like best, boy--the one that I can’t lose!

Any regular reader of Marvel’s westerns had to know what was coming next. John stands up to Tanner and punches him out. Tanner “turns tail” and runs away. The boys are impressed and realize a gun isn’t the measure of a man.

Bess thanks Tanner for what he did. She promises to tell Tommy the truth someday, when the boy is old enough to be grateful for what his father did for him.

Meanwhile, the Dolan Gang has caught up with the Rawhide Kid. Lots of gun play ensues. The Kid handles most of the gang, but is about to be killed when Tanner shows up. The two gunfighters finish the Dolan Gang without killing them.

The Kid asks Tanner if he attend to his business:

You and me--we’ll be tangling with “Dolans” the rest of our days! But there’s a boy who’s gonna be spared that nightmare! A boy who’s  gonna grow up straight and decent! Someone who folks will respect!

When Rawhide asks if the kid carries Tanner’s name, the older man replies:

No...but he carries my future! He’s my son...and some day he’ll be part of a better world than you and I have ever known!

“The Badmen and the Kid” has never been reprinted in this country. Even with the familiar “measure of a man” bit, I think it’s worthy of being reprinted.

As has become usual, “The Mighty Marvel Checklist” shares a page with the Marvelmania International membership pitch. This month’s highlights include Fantastic Four #100, a Black Widow appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #86, Captain Marvel going up against the Hulk in Captain Marvel #21, and the return of Wally Wood for am anthology story in Tower of Shadows #6.

There is a half-page ad for Steranko’s History of the Comics, the first of the two completed volumes. There are classifieds ads from comics dealers Grand Book Inc., Comic Sales Co., Howard Rogofsky, Richard Alf, F.L. Buza, Passaic Book Center and Robert Bell. There is also an ad for Gary Groth’s Fantastic Fanzine Special.

The “Marvel Bullpen Bulletins” page has shout-outs to inkers Chic Stone, Vince Colletta and several other artists. There’s a mention of “Gal Fridays” Lovely Leslie Dixon and Mischievous Mimi Gold. I think I once met Mimi at a Detroit comics convention before I went to work for Marvel.

Jack Kirby’s visit to the offices (from California) is a plug for his new Inhumans feature in Amazing Adventures. There’s news that Marie Severin will be drawing a new superhero feature for Marvel and that Don Heck is working on a new Doctor Strange series.

“Stan’s Soapbox” talks about how long it takes to do a comic book. Half a day to plot a 20-page story with the penciler then doing 1-3 pages per day. Two days for the writer to script the story from the art. About 20 hours for the letterer to letter the issue with the inkers taking roughly the same amount of time to do what they do as the pencilers took to do what they did.

At the bottom of the page are very tiny ads for Thor #177 and Sgt. Fury #79. Very tiny.

A full-page house ad pitched The Ringo Kid #4 and Two-Gun Kid #93. Ringo Kid featured reprints from 1956 and 1957 with a new cover by Herb Trimpe. Two-Gun Kid reprinted issue #68 from 1964 with a new cover by John Severin.

The “Ridin’ the Trail with Rawhide” letters page had letters from two future comic pros: Alan Kupperberg and Mark Verheiden. In his letter, my friend Alan expressed the opinion that the Rawhide Kid stories by Larry Lieber had more of an adult sensibility than the ones by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Mark, also a friend, thought issue #75 was too many familiar elements, but thought the over-all issue was quite good.

In other letters...

Terrence Kalkanian of Villa Park, Illinois, praised a recent issue of the title and added that he enjoyed the other Marvel westerns as well. I’m right there with him on that.

Daniel Lieberman of Cleveland Heights, Ohio found Rawhide Kid #74 to be “a great new twist on an old, old plot.” He requested Larry Lieber do a superhero yarn and brand-new stories for Ringo Kid and Kid Colt. Since Cleveland Heights is right next door to Cleveland, I’m trying to recall if I ever met Lieberman.

That’s all for this weekly installment of “Rawhide Kid Wednesday.” I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2015 Tony Isabella

I AM GOING TO INDIANA

I’ll be a guest of Indy Pop Con, Friday through Sunday, June 26-28, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. Though some of my readers may be disappointed by my reversing my earlier decision to stay away from Indiana, no one can accuse me of burying the lead of today’s bloggy thing.

I’m going to Indy Pop Con because I believe I can do more to fight Indiana Governor Mike Pence and his fellow bigots, who are mostly Republicans, by traveling to the state. If I were to stay at home, I think my impact would be minimal and quickly forgotten. If I go, I can do more than complain long distance.

Before I get into the reasons for my decision, let me recap recent events and answer a few questions.

Pence and his thugs, who control Indiana, passed a bill that would have allowed discrimination against LGBT citizens in the bogus name of religious freedom. He made the ridiculous claim that was not the bill’s intent, but he was lying. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was promoted and virtually written by the anti-gay groups who have always been Pence’s allies and supporters. When he signed the bill, he was flanked by representatives of those groups, including Micah Clark of American Family Association, an organization on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of hate groups. To sum up: the bill was always meant to allow so-called Christians to discriminate in the bogus name of “religious freedom.”

Republicans, including most of the clown crowd who are thought to be seeking to be the party’s nominee for the Presidency, were quick to sign on to Pence’s discriminatory law.  Let’s hope that support comes back to haunt them.

The state of Indians immediately found itself in trouble. A number of major companies and organizations either pulled events from the state or threatened to do so. Calls for boycotting the state were being heard in increasing numbers. Heck, basketball legend Charles Barkley, who once fought Godzilla, even called for the Final Four games to be pulled from the state.

In no uncertain terms, Pence said there was nothing wrong with the new law and it would not be changed. He and his statehouse buddies caved within days. The new law was altered to be more in line with a federal religious freedom law. The insufficient change to the law was not even remotely one of the several reasons I changed my mind about going to Indiana. It remains an awful and discriminatory law. It’s not as bad as it was, but, like every one of these state and federal religious freedom laws, it needs to be dumped and replaced with laws that do not provide cover for bigotry in the name of so-called religion. That’s a topic for another day, perhaps as part of my upcoming “Tony Isabella for President” series of bloggy things. Yes, I am looking for a fight.

One of my Facebook friends pointed out that over thirty states have heightened religious freedom “protections.” A would-be poster to my blog sent me this comment:

“Hey, I've got an idea! Instead of just protesting one state, why don't you protest the entire country! The Indiana law is part of the federal law signed by Bill Clinton in 1993. Several states have had to adapt the law on a state level because of how the constitutions of those states work. ie: This law has been in effect in all 50 states since 1993. Why only protest one state when it's the federal government behind it?”

That post is typical of the fact-challenged comments I receive from right-wingers. The Indiana bill went further than the federal one. The federal bill was supported by some Democrats over two decades ago. I doubt many of those same Democrats support the bill in these more enlightened times and strongly suspect most Democrats of 2015  would not support it today. The argument is another feeble attempt to pretend there is no difference between the two parties. It’s not enough of a difference to suit me, but it’s there for those of us who care more about truth than ideology. 

The question of why protest in Indiana is a legitimate one, albeit one easily answered. Because you have to start somewhere. Indiana  made its move at the right time to be that starting point for me.

Almost all of the comments I received were supportive of whatever decision I made. Some of my readers and Facebook friends gave me a lot to think about. I was pleased that only one clearly homophobic reader - and from another country at that - posted to this bloggy thing with his tired “you’re intolerant because you don’t respect my intolerance” crap. Excuse me as I pause a moment to roll my eyes at his hate-fueled idiocy.

When I told Indy Pop Con I could not accept the convention’s kind invitation to be one of its guests, the promoters asked me just as kindly to reconsider. But, before I had even told them I would not be attending, they had added this to their website:

As proud citizens of this city and state, we’re saddened that this bill has cast such a negative light on Hoosiers.  The perception created by this bill does not represent who we are or what we stand for. Our fans and attendees are as diverse as they come, and we want them to feel comfortable in our city.  We are Hoosiers, some of us born and raised, and we know that our friends, family, and our neighbors are some of the warmest and most welcoming individuals in the country, even if the new legislation threatens to paint us otherwise.

As a show born and bred here in Indiana, we’re going to continue to fight against these negative perceptions and continue to offer a warm and inclusive environment for all of our fans, guests, and attendees.  We do not wish to leave, we wish to affect change.  In response to the RFRA, we have updated our exhibitor terms and agreements to make it clear that we will not do business with, accept money from, or receive sponsorship from any business entity that chooses to discriminate against people based on their ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, abilities, religion, or socio-economic background. We will not tolerate discrimination in any form and will continue to promote a welcoming atmosphere within our walls and within our city.

As I wrote in my bloggy thing for March 30:

That’s a powerful and powerfully stated response to the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act.” It’s the kind of message which makes me think I should reconsider my decision, though that’s something I’m not going to do until I hear back from my bloggy thing readers and my other friends online.

I heard from a whole bunch of my friends and readers. Some thought I should stay home. More thought I should go to the convention and gave me compelling reasons to do so.

Neither Governor Pence or the GOP legislators would be hurt by my staying home. Only the convention promoters and the fans who would want to see me at the event would be harmed. I would be penalizing those who were not bigots.

Not all Hoosiers are bigots. In fact, I’d wager that the majority of them were just as appalled by the actions of Pence and his goons as me. The speed and intensity with which many Indiana businesses embraced the “THIS BUSINESS SERVES EVERYONE” campaign and stickers developed by Openforservice.org is evidence that most Hoosiers are good people. As much as humanly possible, I will only spend money with retailers who display that sticker.

Indiana, like most states under Republican control, is hurting big time. Its citizens need to fight back against polices that hurt the average citizens to benefit the wealthy and the powerful. Shunning Indians - or boycotting the state - will hurt good people more than Pence and his supporters. I want to do what little I can do to try to empower Hoosiers to throw those bums out of office.

Ultimately, I decided I could do some good if I did attend Indy Pop Con. I told the promoters that I wanted to share my table with some local LGBT group or progressive organization which would inform the fans of the issues and real freedoms at stake. I would ask fans who wanted me to sign their Isabella-written items to make a donation to the fight against discrimination.

Indy Pop Con was completely cool with what I wanted to do and was already working on something similar. It’s too early for me to talk about these in-the-works ideas, but they will satisfy my desire to make my Indy Pop Con appearance a positive force, however small, in these matters.

So...I am going to Indy Pop Con. I will have more details about my appearance in the weeks to come. I hope those of you who said they wanted to see me there do come to the event. I hope those who felt I should stay home will understand I did not come to the decision to attend the convention any more easily than I came to my original decision not to attend it.

Thanks for your advice and support. I’ll be back here tomorrow with a new “Rawhide Kid Wednesday” feature. See you then.

© 2015 Tony Isabella

TOO MUCH WEEKEND

I overdid it on Friday and Saturday with the result that I was sick most of Sunday. However, I woke up this morning feeling fine. You'll get a full-length bloggy thing tomorrow and - fingers crossed - some short posts today.

COMIC BENTO

Loot Crate was my gateway drug. Recommended to me by my pal Roger Price of Mid-Ohio-Con fame, the subscription service sends me a box of over $40 of cool geek and gamer stuff every month. The service costs between $13.95 (for a one-month plan) to $11.95 for a full-year plan that includes an extra gift. There is also a $6 shipping and handling charge.

Loot Crate delights me and my family. I usually wait until Barb and Eddie are with me before I open each monthly box. Kelly and Simba aren’t into Loot Crate, but even non-geek Barb thinks the idea is fun. Eddie generally ends up with the t-shirt and at least some of the cool stuff so he’s really into it. In the near future, I will be posting monthly reviews of my Loot Crate boxes

Since getting hooked on Loot Crate, I’ve started to sample a couple other subscription boxes of stuff. I’ll be writing about those as well, starting with...Comic Bento.

Comic Bento is “A surprise selection of fantastic Graphic Novels with at least $60 worth of comics in every box and mailed right to your door!” I’m currently on the automatically renewable one-month plan which costs $25 with shipping and handling.

It was the “bento” part of Comic Bento that caught my eye. Here’s how Wikipedia describes bento:

Bento is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento holds rice, fish or meat, with pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container.

The making and eating of Bento figures, sometimes prominently, in several of the manga series I have enjoyed over the years. It can define a character or show a character’s love or regard for another character. Think of it as a Happy Meal with class, imagination and style. I’m getting hungry just writing about it.

My first Comic Bento box arrived earlier this week. Inside, there were four books. The first was...

The Shadow Volume One: The Fire of Creation is by Garth Ennis and Aaron Campbell [Dynamite; $19.99]. From the back cover:

It’s 1938 and The Shadow returns in a tale of blazing action and deadly intrigue, as a night of carnage on the New York waterfront plunges the mysterious vigilante into a conspiracy involving the fate of the world itself. As storm clouds gather across the globe, American military intelligence meets with a certain Lamont Cranston, determined to beat a host of spies and assassins to the greatest prize of all...but what that might be, only the Shadow knows.

Digression. I like descriptive back-cover blurbs. I recognize them as sales come-ons, but I have often been swayed to purchase a book because of its back-cover blurbs.

Next up was The Coldest City by Antony Johnston and illustrated by Sam Hart (Oni Press; $19.99]. From the back cover of this hardcover spy thriller:

As Communism collapses and the Berlin Wall crumbles, an undercover MI6 spy is killed while carrying priceless information - a list containing the name of every spy in Berlin.

But no list is found on his body.

MI6 sends veteran operative Lorraine Broughton to recover the list. But she walks into a powder keg of social unrest, counter-espionage, defections gone bad and secret assassinations.

The third book was Hit List by Ralph Tedesco, Sami Kivela and Bryan Valenza [Zenescope; $15.99]. From the back cover:

As a young boy, Jordan Bale’s life was drastically affected by unthinkable violence few people can relate to. Driven by that anger, Bale grew to become one of the wealthiest businessmen in the country.

Now, a group of hired killers will be brought together to carry out Bale’s intricate plan for vengeance thirty years in the making and it’s a plan that could very easily spiral out of control.

Finally...Unity: To Kill a King by Matt Kindt, Doug Braithwaite and Brian Reber [Valiant; $14.99]. From the back cover:

The world’s most dangerous man, Toyo Harada, has been struck by the one thing he never thought possible - fear. Halfway across the globe, a new power threatens to topple modern civilization and, to preempt the cataclysm that is to come, Harada will unite the most unforgiving team the world has ever known - UNITY. Their mission: defeat the threat responsible for the destruction of MI-6, the decimation of an alien world and the occupation of Eastern Europe. Unseat the warrior king armed with the universe’s most powerful weapon. Kill X-0 Manowar!

At full-cover price, these four books would cost a buyer just over $70. Even with the sometimes generous Amazon discounts, the books would cost in the neighborhood of $50. So far, Comic Bento strikes me as a pretty good deal.

Keep watching the bloggy thing. I’ll be reading and reviewing each of these four books later this month.

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

A quick schedule note. For today’s bloggy thing, I planned to give you an update on Indiana’s discriminatory “religious freedom” bill  and announce my decision on whether or not I would be attending a convention in that state. That piece is taking a little longer to whip into shape. Look for it on Monday.
                      
There won't be a new bloggy thing on Easter. For those of you celebrate that delicious and sometimes religious holiday, I hope you have a great day.

© 2015 Tony Isabella

REPORT: WIZARD WORLD OHIO COMIC CON 2014

Last October and November, I attended five conventions in just six weeks...and then never got around to writing about them. This was a disservice to these events, which I’ll be correcting throughout the month of April. By the time I catch up to writing about this year’s February appearance, I’ll be adding two ongoing features to this bloggy thing of mine. I’m excited about them.

I wrote about the one-day Cleveland Comic Con back in November. You can read my report here. For today, we move on to the Wizard World Ohio Comic Con, held October 31-November 2 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

Wizard World has an undeserved reputation for not being much of a comic-book convention. While it’s true their conventions have much more than comic books, I look at this as being good for the comics community. At least that part of the community that doesn’t relish the old days when comics fans were figuratively and actually shoved into school lockers.

I see the fans who come to Wizard World for the celebrities or the cosplay or the gaming or the amazing fantasy and science-fiction crafts and doodads as having the potential to be new customers for our comic books and graphic novels. Comic-book guests and retailers have the chance to interact with thousands of potential new comics readers. Those possibilities excite me.

There was plenty of comics content at this show. Danny Fingeroth, comics historian and a former editor and writer for Marvel Comics, put together a terrific schedule of comics-oriented panels. I was on three of Danny’s panels with him and enjoyed the heck out of the experience. He’s really good at this sort of thing.

My first panel was “How to Write Comics” with Danny and Thom Zahler of Love and Capes fame. It was so entertaining and informative that I even learned something from it, albeit a marketing tip I picked up from Zahler. During the panel, Zahler had copies of some of his L&C collections on little stands. They were a constant reminder to the audience of what was for sale at my friend’s Artist Alley table. I thought that was a great idea. Who says you can’t teach an old dog the occasional new trick?

I also appeared on Danny’s “1939: Batman’s Beginning and the Year That Changed Everything” panel, which was a great presentation of the era in which Bob Kane and Bill Finger’s legendary creation was introduced to the world. To accompany the panel, Danny had prepared

a slideshow of the year’s key events and people.  Because Danny had given me time to prepare, I was able to do my own research on 1939. The audience learned a lot from this panel.

So did I. I had a copy of my award-deserving 1000 Comic Books You Must Read on a display stand throughout the panel. When I got back to my Artist Alley table, there was a run on the book. I ended up selling every copy I had brought to the convention.

“From, Cap’s Shield to Agents of SHIELD to Groot: Marvel Comics at 75" was the third panel I did with Danny. With less than an hour to cover three-quarters-of-a-century worth of Marvel history, it was a rapid-fire panel. Danny had another slideshow and the two of us traded facts and quips as we sped along. Of my quips, my favorite was “The Blonde Phantom could do everything the male heroes could do, but backwards and in heels.”

The Greater Columbus Convention Center is an excellent facility for events. Unlike the steaming dump that is NYC’s Javitz Center, it is a clean and well-maintained facility with ample room for conventions. The Center is located in the heart of the Arena District, noted for its entertainment and fine dining. It is connected to two hotels - the Hyatt Regency and the Drury Inn - with a convenient food court located on a lower level between those two establishments. I had tasty and reasonably priced meals at Chicken and Eggs, Fame’s Diner and the Siam Express. There are over a dozen other eateries in the court. There’s even a comic-book shop next to the food court. I like this venue so much that I rarely pass on an opportunity to attend a convention or event held there.

Back to the convention. The Wizard World promoters and workers are efficient, friendly and always treat me right. My table was across from Nathan Szerdy Art. Szerdy had a magnificent display of prints done in the style of 1940s pin-ups and posters. His work is clever and striking. I bought three prints towards that distant day when I can frame and hang them on my office wall.

Lots of great creators were in Artist Alley as well. With apologies to those I will inevitably leave out, these included Andrew Shaffer (author of How to Survive a Sharknado), Dace Acosta, David Aikins, Dirk Manning, Patrick and Shelly Block, Sandy Plunkett, Sean Forney and Victor Dandridge.

Some random notes from the convention:

Hipster idiots smoking their E-cigarettes look even dumber than the just plain idiots smoking real cigarettes. You can take the cancer out of the cigarettes but you can’t take out the stupid.

It was a great joy to see some of my old Cosmic Comics customers at the convention. It was am even greater joy to introduce a group of young black men to Black Lightning, my proudest comics creation. I had a great time talking with these guys and we continued our talk when they came to the Akron Comic Con a week later.

It was not great to see a creepy fan we threw out of Mid-Ohio-Con back in the day. He carries around a sketchbook filled with awful drawings of super-villainesses and, if given the opportunity, goes on and on about his sexual and violent fantasies about them.  When I first met this guy a decade or so ago, he thanks me profusely for bringing back the Marvel Comics villainess Nightshade. Then he told me he’d do anything for Nightshade, including murdering a pregnant woman for her. He creeped out other Mid-Ohio-Con guests, fans and volunteers before he was barred from the convention. I’d hoped this guy would have been put away in the years between Mid-Ohio-Con and today’s conventions, but, alas, he’s still out there. He has been warned to stay well away from me at future conventions.

Back to the pleasant stuff...

Wizard World has free bags for fans at the entrance to its shows. They’ve probably had these for a while, but this is the first time I noticed it.

I had a very brief conversation with Nicholas Brandon, who played Xander on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I told him how much I liked him in the SyFy movie Fire Serpent (2007) and remarked that I hoped he would do more films like that. He is perfect for the slightly geeky but capable hero of such films. He thanked me for the compliment.

Addendum. I know Brandon is going through some rough times at the present and I wish him all the best. He seemed like a nice guy to me and the fans seem to like him a lot.

The cosplay was enormous fun at the convention. My favorite was the guy dressed in an amazing Groot costume who never broke character save for a private chat he had with me. If someone asked permission to take his picture, the response was “I am Groot!” Who would have through a 1960s Marvel monster would end up becoming a cinematic and comics superstar?

Other wondrous cosplay: the 1960s Batman with a bomb he was trying to get rid of...a cute Zatanna or two...and a sensational Dazzler from the disco era. After Groot, my favorite was the young lad who was cosplaying as Star-Lord. However, when someone called him Star-Lord he corrected them and said he was “the legendary Star-Lord!” Even when I don’t recognize the characters - as in any character from video games - I enjoy watching the cosplay at conventions. Well done, ladies and gents!

If I had to pick a favorite moment of the show, it would be when I overheard two young boys. They had just come from a Lego exhibit, making their way to Artist Alley for the first time since arriving at the convention. When they realized where they were, one of them exclaimed to the other:

Look! They have comic books, too!

I found that ironic, delightful and exciting. Ironic because comic books is where the fan festivals known as Wizard World make their entrance into the world. Delightful because the kids were just so darned pleased by their discovery. Exciting because this is what I think events like Wizard World can be. Though comic books may only make up part of the convention, they can still bring new readers to our part of that world. I like that a lot.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2015 Tony Isabella

MIDNITE MOVIES DOUBLE FEATURE

Last Friday was one of those days when nothing was going right for me. I was having a bad medication day. I wasn’t liking anything I was writing. I had a minor gout attack. By three in the afternoon, I was running on fumes and so retroactively decided I was taking a sick day.

I had the house to myself. Barb, Eddie and Kelly were all going to some church fish fry with members of Barb’s family. As I am neither Catholic nor fond of seafood, I wouldn’t have been joining them in any case. Our cat Simba was home, but she was fully occupied with running from window to window to keep an eye on any cat, squirrel, bird or Sasquatch who crossed our property line.

Lacking human or even feline companionship and pretty sure eating even comfort food would not end well for me. I decided I would go for mental comfort food. I would watch old horror movies.

Courtesy of my local library system, I had a MGM Presents Midnight Movies Double Feature of Voodoo Island (1957) and The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959). Though these black-and-white films were low-budget productions, they boasted surprisingly spooky scenarios and decent performances. I enjoyed them both.

Distributed by United Artists, Voodoo Island was the first movie of a three-picture deal between star Boris Karloff and producer Howard W. Koch. Karloff plays supernatural debunker Phillip Knight, hired by a wealthy hotel magnate to investigate the disappearance of four men sent to an island the magnate plans to develop. A fifth member of the ill-fated team was found alive, but in a zombie-like trance. Knight accepts the assignment.

Knight is accompanied by Sarah Adams, his all-business assistant; Barney Finch, the rich guy’s muscle; Claire Winter, a designer who also works for the rich guy; and the zombie survivor of the first expedition to the island. From an island near to “voodoo island,” the greedy Martin Schuyler and his jack-of-all-trades Matthew Gunn join the group.

Karloff is terrific in his role as a professional skeptic who finds things that can’t be explained by reason. Beverly Tyler plays his assistant, a human recording device who has embraced coldness and solitude. Jean Engstrom is the lesbian designer who clearly lusts after Tyler and whose fine performance left me shaking my head in wonder as to how a gay character showed up in a 1957 horror film without the censors raising a fuss. Elisha Cook Jr portrays the avaricious Schuyler and delivers what is arguable the best performance of the movie. Not a bad bunch of actors for a low-budget flick.

Spooky long-distance voodoo stuff plagues the group as soon as they fly to Schuyler’s island. What they find on the “voodoo island” is both beautiful and terrifying. Human-eating plants suffer from the low budget, but still deliver some frightening moments. While some characters meet their dooms, others find new lives. The ending of the 76-minute movie struck me as rushed and unable to sustain the suspense of the rest of the movie, but the good moments outweighed the bad. It’s not a movie I’d likely watch again, but it was worth watching this first time around.

Production notes: Voodoo Island was directed by Reginald Le Borg and written by Richard H. Landau. It’s set in the South Pacific and was filmed on Kauai, Hawaii, back to back with Jungle Heat.

Trivia note: An uncredited Adam West made his first film appearance here, playing a weather station radio operator. See if you can spot him when and if you watch this movie.

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I’d rate The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake as the better of the two movies on this DVD, though I think it might have the lower budget. The film was written by Orville H. Hampton, directed by Edward L. Cahn, produced by Robert E. Kent and distributed by United Artists. Wikipedia says “it was made as a part of a package with Invisible Invaders,” a film about an alien invasion that, somehow, I’ve never seen. But I digress.

The Wikipedia entry for Four Skulls sets up the movie pretty well, so I’m going to quote it:

Jonathan Drake (Eduard Franz), a university professor specializing in the occult, is summoned to the home of his brother, Kenneth Drake (Paul Cavanagh), when a family curse threatens Kenneth's life. Jonathan Drake arrives too late to save his brother from a violent death and subsequent decapitation before his burial. The curse is the work of Dr. Emil Zurich (Henry Daniell), a Swiss agent who was a member of Jonathan Drake's ancestor's exploration party two hundred years previously. Zurich was captured, thus forcing Captain Drake to lead a rescue party into the jungle. Drake's party massacres the tribe (save for the tribal witch doctor Zutai (Paul Wexler), only to find that Zurich has been beheaded. Zutai is assisting the miraculously resurrected Zurich in his pursuit for revenge and supernatural destiny against Captain Drake's male descendants. Zurich and Zutai lay their plans to murder and behead Jonathan Drake, which will end the curse on the Drake family.

Daniell is unsettling as Zurich, even when he’s not ordering Zutai to kill and decapitate their various victims and even when he’s not cackling over his head-shrinking skills. Wexler, who doesn’t have any dialogue, is more frightening. Heroine Valerie French (Alison Drake) and hero Grant Richards (Lt. Rowan) give decent performances while Frank Gerstle shines in a minor role as a combination police coroner and lab rat.

Four Skulls is very tight at 70 minutes in length. Its main special effect are floating skulls, but, despite a low budget, it maintains  suspense from start to satisfying ending. It’s a better movie than Voodoo Island and worth watching a second time.

Trivia note from the Internet Movie Database: The script is based in part on the Amazonian Indian practice of removing the skulls from decapitated heads, padding them with hot sand and shrinking them to an extremely small size.

While we don’t see the removal of the skulls from the heads in the movie, we do see Zurich and Zutai do the boiling water and hot sand stuff. It’s both cool and disturbing.

I love horror and monster movies almost as much as I love my comic books. Look for more reviews in upcoming bloggy things.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2015 Tony Isabella

RAWHIDE KID WEDNESDAY 62

The Rawhide Kid is my favorite western comics character and one of my favorite comics characters period.  Something about the short of stature (but big on courage and fighting skills) Johnny Clay spoke to the short of stature (but big on comics-reading skills) teenage Tony Isabella.  After rereading the Kid’s earliest adventures when Marvel Comics reprinted them in a pair of Marvel Masterworks and an Essential Rawhide Kid volume, I wanted to reacquire every Rawhide Kid comic, reread them and write about them in this bloggy thing of mine. This is the 62nd installment of that series.

The Rawhide Kid #77 [June 1970] has a cover pencilled and inked by Larry Lieber, the issue’s writer/artist. I’m not 100% convinced my pal Larry inked the cover, but that’s how the credit reads on the Grand Comics Database. Me, I think I see John Tartaglione’s inks on the cover, which would make sense given that Tartaglione inked the interior story.

“The Reckoning” is 20 pages long if you count the two half-pages on the centerspread as two full pages (as Marvel did) or 19 pages long if you’re me. If memory serves me correctly, this configuration was standard in Marvel’s comics for a month or two.

“The Reckoning” is one of Lieber’s best stories of this period. It is one of the most dramatic of his run with the emotional content resonating with this reader more than the action.

The story opens with the Rawhide Kid stopping a stagecoach robbery. Sam Logan, the robber, forces the Kid to fire on him, which results in Logan’s death. One of the passengers tells the Rawhide that they are much obliged to them. The Kid’s grim response: Don’t be...don’t ever be obliged for bloodletting.

The stagecoach brings Logan’s body to town. The sheriff knows Logan was working a small spread east of the town. When asked if the dead man had any kin, the sheriff says: Just his son, who’s young enuff to be hurt..and big enuff to be trouble!

Davy Logan take the news poorly. He says his dad was desperate for money. But, no matter what his dad did, the Rawhide Kid had no call to kill him. In Davy’s eyes, the Kid is an outlaw who has broken every law in the book.  He vows:

But he ain’t gonna get away with this! If the law won’t make him pay for murderin’ muh pa, then I will! S’help me!

The sheriff hopes Davy will come to his senses, but we know that’s not likely to happen anytime soon. Davy buries his dad, telling him this won’t be finished until he’s avenged his death by killing the Rawhide Kid.

Davy sees this as an achievable goal. He’s young with a steady hand and razor-sharp reflexes. He’s been practicing gun play for months. He will find the Rawhide Kid, call him out and kill him. It takes the angry young man a page of traveling from town to town before he tracks the Kid to the slumbering town of Beaver Falls.

Rawhide tells Davy that the elder Logan gave him no choice and begs the young man not to make the same mistake. Davy insults the Kid. He slaps him across the face. Our hero realizes the only way to convince the grieving son of the foolishness of this vendetta is to give him the gunfight Dave demands. The outcome isn’t the least bit surprising:

Yuh--you shot the gun right outta muh hand!

Davy still won’t listen to Rawhide, telling the Kid that was just the first round. Some shady-looking gunhawks befriend Dave before Rawhide even walks out of the page. The Kid knows this association will not end well for the lad.

The next day, Rawhide tries again to talk some sense to Davy. That afternoon, Davy and his new pals ambush the Kid in an alleyway, but  the law shows up before the owlhoots can kill our hero. They take off. Davy goes with them. He has to live up to his part of the deal he made with these murderous thugs.

Meanwhile, back in Beaver Falls, the Rawhide Kid is getting no love from the law. When he asks why the sheriff didn’t go after the bad guys, the lawman says:

I would have, if they had worked over a respectable citizen! But, you’re a gunhawk! The same as them! And I figure a fight between gunslicks is none of my business!  

The leader of the gang sends Davy to scope out another town to see if said town has a lawman. When the gang learns the sheriff is out of town, they decide the place is right for robbing. Here is what they didn’t count on...

Rawhide doesn’t want Davy to end up a wanted fugitive like him. He tracked the boy to this town and arrives in time to stop the gang from robbing it. He disarms and wounds three of the four bad guys, but there’s a fourth outlaw with a drawn gun pointing at the Kid’s back. Davy sees the gunman and knows the man will gun Rawhide down without giving him a chance.

Davy yells out a warning to Rawhide, who spins to face the would-be back shooter. The outlaw points his gun at Davy: You stupid squirt! You’ve ruined it! But you’ll never do that again, sonny...’cause yore gonna get the lead that was meant for the Kid!

Not gonna happen. Rawhide shoots the gun out of the outlaw’s hand. He then punches the bad guy a couple of times for trying to ambush him and for turning a youngster into an outlaw. For trying to gun down Davy, the outlaw is punched through a window.

Rawhide lets Davy ride free. The townspeople aren’t at all pleased with this. Rawhide says he saved the town’s money and put four bank robbers out of business. They should be satisfied with that.

The Kid tells Davy to head for home as he covers the lad’s escape. He then meets up with Davy as the Logan homestead.

DAVY: I don’t understand...I was your sworn enemy, yet you risked your neck to help me! Why?

 

KID: I took from you, Davy! And, somehow, I had to give it back to you, to square the account!

 

DAVY: You did! You took my pa’s life, but you gave me back mine! You stopped me from becoming a criminal! You gave me a second chance!

The two part as friends.

Veteran readers of this blog know I consider Larry Lieber to be one of the most underrated writers of the era. He could handle action and human drama with equal skill. In this particularly story, he deftly understates the Rawhide Kid’s desire to save Davy from the life on the run that is the Kid’s existence. It’s a satisfying tale and, like the rest of Lieber’s work on this title, really deserves to be collected. This story has never been reprinted in the United States. That’s darn near criminal.

This month’s “The Mighty Marvel Checklist” shares a page with the usual Marvelmania International membership pitch. Jack Kirby is the only creator mentioned by name for his cover story in the anthology title Chamber of Darkness.

This issue’s comics-related classifieds ads include “Nobody Loves the Hulk (a “great new rock song”), The Comicollector (fanzine) and comic-book dealers Howard Rogofsky, Robert Bell, Grand Book Inc., Passaic Book Center, Comic Sales Co. and Clint’s Books. Are any of these dealers still active?

The “Marvel Bullpen Bulletins” page has the largest type I recall seeing for this feature. There are plugs for Captain Marvel by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, Conan the Barbarian by Thomas and Barry Smith, Stan Lee and Jim Steranko’s collaboration for Our Love Story #5 and the new titles Amazing Adventures and Astonishing Tales. There is also a mention of the rock band Country Joe and the Fish paying a visit to the Marvel offices.

“Stan’s Soapbox” is only one paragraph long and directs readers to a survey that takes up over half the page. The survey is written in a painfully “hip” manner with these questions:

[Who are] Marvel’s best pencillers and inkers?

Hey, man, these are my favorite types of plots:

These are the kind of yarns that turn me off:

Wow! These are the type pf mags you should do more of:

If I were Stan, these are the changes I’d make at Marvel:

I’m guessing the deadlines were particularly pressing this month. Because this page looks like it was thrown together at pretty much the last minute.

The issue also had a full-page ad for The Ringo Kid #3 and Kid Colt Outlaw #146, both of which were all-reprint titles. That brings us to the “Ridin’ the Trail with Rawhide” letters column...

Norm Severud of Durango, Mexico wants Rawhide to do more planning and work before he wins his battles and not just out-shoot all of his foes. As usual, the anonymous letter-answerer says Severud may have a point and throws the question to the rest of the readers of this title.

Matt Holtzman of Birmingham, Michigan praises Larry Lieber’s art. He spots a panel in issue #74 where Herb Trimpe did a little touch-up on the Kid’s face.

David Drucker of Brooklyn, New York wants to see Rawhide go south of the border more. The letter-answerer directs him to Rawhide Kid #76, but the answer makes it appear said answerer doesn’t know the issue has already been published.

Finally, Bob Finkel of North Hollywood, California, who enjoys all Marvel’s western titles, wants the company to bring back the Ghost Rider. This is a request that pops up in almost every Rawhide Kid letters column. I’m beginning to suspect someone at Marvel wanted to see Ghost Rider’s return as much as the readers.

That’s all for today, cowboys and cowgirls. “Rawhide Kid Wednesday” will appear most Wednesdays.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2015 Tony Isabella