My quick trip to Burbank took more out of me than I anticipated. Look for today's bloggy thing preview of G-FEST XXIV later today.
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Monday, July 10, 2017
JULY 1963: BLACKHAWK #188
Welcome to what I’m considering “Volume Two” of my 136-part series on the comic books that arrived on the newsstands in July 1963. As I’ve explained in previous installments of this series, that month was pivotal to my own comic-book career because it was the month when Fantastic Four Annual #1 ignited my desire to write comics.
I’m thinking in terms of “Volume Two” because the previous columns in this series have been collected in July 1963: A Pivotal Month in the Comic-Book Life of Tony Isabella Volume One. The columns that appear in that softcover book were rewritten as needed with bonus material added to the mix. The book is available from Amazon in two formats: Kindle and actual print.
Today we’re looking at DC’s Blackhawk #188, dated September 1963. The cover - pencilled by Dick Dillin with inks by Sheldon Moldoff - illustrates “The Petrified Giant of Blackhawk Island,” one of the two Blackhawk adventures in this issue. Neither story has ever been reprinted in this country nor are they likely to be reprinted any time soon. So we’re dispensing with the usual SPOILER WARNINGS and giving you the details.
The inside front cover of this issue is a full-page advertisement for “the amazing MADE SIMPLE Self-Teaching Encyclopedia.” I wrote about this in a previous “July 1963" installment, which, amazingly, you can read in July 1963: A Pivotal Month in the Comic-Book Life of Tony Isabella Volume One. I would promise that’s the last plug for my new book today, but the odds of that are slim.
The Blackhawks were a hit when they debuted in Military Comics #1 [Quality; August 1941]. Led by the mysterious Blackhawk, they were a team of ace pilots from different countries. They had their own title as well. When Quality got out of the comic-book business, DC bought the Blackhawks and other features and titles.
“Mr. Justice, the Blackhawks' Ally” (11.67 pages) was written by the prolific Dave Wood with Dillin on the pencils and Chuck Cuidera on the inks. After years of fighting the Axis powers during World War II and Communists after World War II, the seven Blackhawks were now little more than crime-fighters who spent much more time on the ground than in the air.
This time around, the Blackhawks are on the trail of the Scavenger Gang, a well-organized criminal organization. Captured members of the gang refuse to talk but Chop-Chop, the not-as-racist-but-still racist sidekick of the Blackhawks, discovers strange green clay at the scene of his team’s first encounter with the Scavengers. Taking a page from Batman’s casebook, Blackhawk recognizes the clay comes from the banks of a river in Emeraldville, fifty miles upstate from where they are.
Hendrickson asks Blackhawk:
Himmel! Vot causes such coloring?
Such dialects were common in Blackhawk tales, especially with such members as Andre, Hendrickson, Olaf and Stanislaus.
Blackhawk responds:
Years ago the waste disposal from a chemical plant dyed clay pit deposits there –- which pinpoints the spot this [Scavengers] plane came from!
A second team of Blackhawks has already encountered other members of the Scavengers trying to rob a small-town carnival. Confronting the gang, the Blackhawks are assisted by Mr. Justice, a costumed crime fighter who himself looks like a carnival performer.
Hearing of the green clay, local hero Mr. Justice tells Blackhawk the Scavenger hideout can only be in one of two places. The heroes split into two teams.
The first team - led by Mr. Justice - finds a trap and a deserted headquarters. Somehow the crooks knew they were coming and managed to escape with their records and possessions. All the Scavengers left behind was a short-wave radio. The heroes are amazed the bad guys were able to move so fast.
The second team - led by Blackhawk - finds the Scavenger Gang, but are outnumbered and captured. When the first team tries to rescue them, they are also captured and we discover that Mr. Justice is the secret leader of the criminals. His super-hero role was a cover for his true activities.
That’s when one of the Scavengers notices that there are only six Blackhawks. They are missing one. The math genius is rewarded for his counting skills by being socked in the face by...Mr. Justice?
It’s Chuck, who was suspicious of Mr. Justice as the first team of heroes approached the second headquarters. He slugged Mr. Justice and then discovered the shortwave radio in the costumed man’s car was operating on the same frequency as the shortwave radio set in the deserted hideout. He posed as Mr. Justice to trick the rest of the Scavengers into unlocking the cell where they were keeping the other Blackhawks. The freed heroes punched out the Scavengers just in time to hear Chuck’s exposition and check out the Tootsie Roll ad that occupied the bottom third of the final page of this rather tepid adventure.
A house ad for Giant Superman Annual #7 and Giant Batman Annual #5 runs after page 8 of the above Blackhawks story. The Superman comic celebrates the silver anniversary (1938-1963) of the Man of Steel. The Batman issue features “The Strange Lives of Batman and Robin.” Eighty pages of vintage thrills in each annual.
“The Archers of Yesteryear” is a one-page text feature that follows the first story. It relates that bow-and-arrow weapons seem to have sprung up independently all over the world, tracing the different styles of the weapons. Of course, it also throws considerable shade on Native Americans:
“Surprisingly enough, the American Indian was not a particularly skilled bowman, despite the fact that the bow and arrow was his chief hunting and fighting weapon.”
The author of the text page is unknown.
The text page is followed by “Little Pete” (2/3 page), a gag strip by master cartoonist Henry Boltinoff. Every time I read one of his strips, I wish DC would publish a big thick collection of them. I like his work more with each passing year.
“The Petrified Giant of Blackhawk Island” (12.67 pages) is also by Wood, Dillin and Cuidera. This cover story is much better than the first story and guest-stars Lady Blackhawk.
Blackhawk Island is shaken by a violent volcanic eruption. From a fissure, the giant Tarn emerges from a suspended animation sleep of a hundred years. He doesn’t attack the Blackhawks. He runs off into the jungle. He builds a giant raft, hews a paddle out of a tree and then starts paddling across the ocean.
Finding a giant war club in the fissure, Blackhawk recognizes it as having designs used by the Taleekans, whose island lies 300 miles south of the Blackhawk base. The heroes split up. Blackhawk, Lady Blackhawk, Andre and Hendrickson fly to the other island. All the others follow Tarn in a submarine.
Surprisingly, Tarn is swimming west and not to his home island. On the island of the Taleekans, the Blackhawks learn the story of this giant warrior.
A century earlier, the Taleekans lived in peace with the Marnos on a different island. Until they were driven off the island by that other tribe and had to relocate to another island. A great Taleekan witch doctor created a brew that would transform one warrior into a giant. Tarn was the chosen warrior.
Tarn was sent to their old island home to drive the Marnos from it. But the giant warrior was caught in the fury of a volcanic eruption and entombed underneath Blackhawk Island. Revived, he’s determined to complete his original mission.
The Taleekans plan to follow Tarn to their old home and join in the battle with the Marnos. The Blackhawks want to prevent that battle. What with having jets, the Blackhawks reach the island first. The Marnos don’t believe them and move to seize the intruders. Which is when Tarn shows up.
Blackhawk and his men distract Tarn. Lady Blackhawk startles Tarn with the reflection of the sun off her hand mirror on account of girl heroes always use girly things to fight both giants and run-of-the-mill menaces.
The Blackhawks from the submarine further distract Tarn by hurling phosphorous grenades. Meanwhile, the Marnos chief and witch doctor have concocted a deadly potion to use against the giant. The smoke fumes from the potion fell Tarn.
The sympathetic Lady Blackhawk, on account of girls are kinder than boys, gives Tarn water. The giant is still dying, but he plans to use what strength he has left to crush the Marnos.
The Taleekans and the Marnos are facing off for battle. Blackhawk and his men try to keep the two sides apart. Uprooting a tree, Tarn is about to use it against the Marnos when Lady Blackhawk beseeches him to choose a better path:
No, No, Tarn! You mustn’t! Listen to me...I am your friend! No good will come of this useless war! You must prevent this battle!
Tarn sees the wisdom of her words:
I’m thinking in terms of “Volume Two” because the previous columns in this series have been collected in July 1963: A Pivotal Month in the Comic-Book Life of Tony Isabella Volume One. The columns that appear in that softcover book were rewritten as needed with bonus material added to the mix. The book is available from Amazon in two formats: Kindle and actual print.
Today we’re looking at DC’s Blackhawk #188, dated September 1963. The cover - pencilled by Dick Dillin with inks by Sheldon Moldoff - illustrates “The Petrified Giant of Blackhawk Island,” one of the two Blackhawk adventures in this issue. Neither story has ever been reprinted in this country nor are they likely to be reprinted any time soon. So we’re dispensing with the usual SPOILER WARNINGS and giving you the details.
The inside front cover of this issue is a full-page advertisement for “the amazing MADE SIMPLE Self-Teaching Encyclopedia.” I wrote about this in a previous “July 1963" installment, which, amazingly, you can read in July 1963: A Pivotal Month in the Comic-Book Life of Tony Isabella Volume One. I would promise that’s the last plug for my new book today, but the odds of that are slim.
The Blackhawks were a hit when they debuted in Military Comics #1 [Quality; August 1941]. Led by the mysterious Blackhawk, they were a team of ace pilots from different countries. They had their own title as well. When Quality got out of the comic-book business, DC bought the Blackhawks and other features and titles.
“Mr. Justice, the Blackhawks' Ally” (11.67 pages) was written by the prolific Dave Wood with Dillin on the pencils and Chuck Cuidera on the inks. After years of fighting the Axis powers during World War II and Communists after World War II, the seven Blackhawks were now little more than crime-fighters who spent much more time on the ground than in the air.
This time around, the Blackhawks are on the trail of the Scavenger Gang, a well-organized criminal organization. Captured members of the gang refuse to talk but Chop-Chop, the not-as-racist-but-still racist sidekick of the Blackhawks, discovers strange green clay at the scene of his team’s first encounter with the Scavengers. Taking a page from Batman’s casebook, Blackhawk recognizes the clay comes from the banks of a river in Emeraldville, fifty miles upstate from where they are.
Hendrickson asks Blackhawk:
Himmel! Vot causes such coloring?
Such dialects were common in Blackhawk tales, especially with such members as Andre, Hendrickson, Olaf and Stanislaus.
Blackhawk responds:
Years ago the waste disposal from a chemical plant dyed clay pit deposits there –- which pinpoints the spot this [Scavengers] plane came from!
A second team of Blackhawks has already encountered other members of the Scavengers trying to rob a small-town carnival. Confronting the gang, the Blackhawks are assisted by Mr. Justice, a costumed crime fighter who himself looks like a carnival performer.
Hearing of the green clay, local hero Mr. Justice tells Blackhawk the Scavenger hideout can only be in one of two places. The heroes split into two teams.
The first team - led by Mr. Justice - finds a trap and a deserted headquarters. Somehow the crooks knew they were coming and managed to escape with their records and possessions. All the Scavengers left behind was a short-wave radio. The heroes are amazed the bad guys were able to move so fast.
The second team - led by Blackhawk - finds the Scavenger Gang, but are outnumbered and captured. When the first team tries to rescue them, they are also captured and we discover that Mr. Justice is the secret leader of the criminals. His super-hero role was a cover for his true activities.
That’s when one of the Scavengers notices that there are only six Blackhawks. They are missing one. The math genius is rewarded for his counting skills by being socked in the face by...Mr. Justice?
It’s Chuck, who was suspicious of Mr. Justice as the first team of heroes approached the second headquarters. He slugged Mr. Justice and then discovered the shortwave radio in the costumed man’s car was operating on the same frequency as the shortwave radio set in the deserted hideout. He posed as Mr. Justice to trick the rest of the Scavengers into unlocking the cell where they were keeping the other Blackhawks. The freed heroes punched out the Scavengers just in time to hear Chuck’s exposition and check out the Tootsie Roll ad that occupied the bottom third of the final page of this rather tepid adventure.
A house ad for Giant Superman Annual #7 and Giant Batman Annual #5 runs after page 8 of the above Blackhawks story. The Superman comic celebrates the silver anniversary (1938-1963) of the Man of Steel. The Batman issue features “The Strange Lives of Batman and Robin.” Eighty pages of vintage thrills in each annual.
“The Archers of Yesteryear” is a one-page text feature that follows the first story. It relates that bow-and-arrow weapons seem to have sprung up independently all over the world, tracing the different styles of the weapons. Of course, it also throws considerable shade on Native Americans:
“Surprisingly enough, the American Indian was not a particularly skilled bowman, despite the fact that the bow and arrow was his chief hunting and fighting weapon.”
The author of the text page is unknown.
The text page is followed by “Little Pete” (2/3 page), a gag strip by master cartoonist Henry Boltinoff. Every time I read one of his strips, I wish DC would publish a big thick collection of them. I like his work more with each passing year.
“The Petrified Giant of Blackhawk Island” (12.67 pages) is also by Wood, Dillin and Cuidera. This cover story is much better than the first story and guest-stars Lady Blackhawk.
Blackhawk Island is shaken by a violent volcanic eruption. From a fissure, the giant Tarn emerges from a suspended animation sleep of a hundred years. He doesn’t attack the Blackhawks. He runs off into the jungle. He builds a giant raft, hews a paddle out of a tree and then starts paddling across the ocean.
Finding a giant war club in the fissure, Blackhawk recognizes it as having designs used by the Taleekans, whose island lies 300 miles south of the Blackhawk base. The heroes split up. Blackhawk, Lady Blackhawk, Andre and Hendrickson fly to the other island. All the others follow Tarn in a submarine.
Surprisingly, Tarn is swimming west and not to his home island. On the island of the Taleekans, the Blackhawks learn the story of this giant warrior.
A century earlier, the Taleekans lived in peace with the Marnos on a different island. Until they were driven off the island by that other tribe and had to relocate to another island. A great Taleekan witch doctor created a brew that would transform one warrior into a giant. Tarn was the chosen warrior.
Tarn was sent to their old island home to drive the Marnos from it. But the giant warrior was caught in the fury of a volcanic eruption and entombed underneath Blackhawk Island. Revived, he’s determined to complete his original mission.
The Taleekans plan to follow Tarn to their old home and join in the battle with the Marnos. The Blackhawks want to prevent that battle. What with having jets, the Blackhawks reach the island first. The Marnos don’t believe them and move to seize the intruders. Which is when Tarn shows up.
Blackhawk and his men distract Tarn. Lady Blackhawk startles Tarn with the reflection of the sun off her hand mirror on account of girl heroes always use girly things to fight both giants and run-of-the-mill menaces.
The Blackhawks from the submarine further distract Tarn by hurling phosphorous grenades. Meanwhile, the Marnos chief and witch doctor have concocted a deadly potion to use against the giant. The smoke fumes from the potion fell Tarn.
The sympathetic Lady Blackhawk, on account of girls are kinder than boys, gives Tarn water. The giant is still dying, but he plans to use what strength he has left to crush the Marnos.
The Taleekans and the Marnos are facing off for battle. Blackhawk and his men try to keep the two sides apart. Uprooting a tree, Tarn is about to use it against the Marnos when Lady Blackhawk beseeches him to choose a better path:
No, No, Tarn! You mustn’t! Listen to me...I am your friend! No good will come of this useless war! You must prevent this battle!
Tarn sees the wisdom of her words:
You are right, little one! Bloodshed will not solve our tribal problems!
He addresses both tribes:
Heed well the advice of these strangers and end the hatred that exists between us...live...in peace...together...o-oh!
Tarn collapses. His body falls between the warring tribes. Even in death, he tries to prevent the fighting.
The Taleekans and the Marnos accept the giant’s dying wisdom. There is enough room on the island for both tribes. Just as there was in ancient days.
The Blackhawks get the final words...
He addresses both tribes:
Heed well the advice of these strangers and end the hatred that exists between us...live...in peace...together...o-oh!
Tarn collapses. His body falls between the warring tribes. Even in death, he tries to prevent the fighting.
The Taleekans and the Marnos accept the giant’s dying wisdom. There is enough room on the island for both tribes. Just as there was in ancient days.
The Blackhawks get the final words...
It’s rather ironic that the giant who was created to wage war brought everlasting peace to his tribe!
I wasn’t a big Blackhawk fan growing up. It was one of those comic books I would get as an add-on in trades or from the neighborhood barber shop where I would sweep hair for comics. When I was living on a pretty small allowance, I only bought an occasional issue of the title. Usually when Lady Blackhawk was prominently featured on the cover. She was pretty hot, even to a pre-teen.
That’s all for now, my beloved bloggy pals. I know you're eager to head over to Amazon and order July 1963: A Pivotal Month in the Comic-Book Life of Tony Isabella Volume One. I will be back tomorrow with my G-Fest preview. See you then.
© 2017 Tony Isabella
I wasn’t a big Blackhawk fan growing up. It was one of those comic books I would get as an add-on in trades or from the neighborhood barber shop where I would sweep hair for comics. When I was living on a pretty small allowance, I only bought an occasional issue of the title. Usually when Lady Blackhawk was prominently featured on the cover. She was pretty hot, even to a pre-teen.
That’s all for now, my beloved bloggy pals. I know you're eager to head over to Amazon and order July 1963: A Pivotal Month in the Comic-Book Life of Tony Isabella Volume One. I will be back tomorrow with my G-Fest preview. See you then.
© 2017 Tony Isabella
Sunday, July 9, 2017
LOS ANGELES CONFIDENTIAL
Now it can be told! Well, some of it can be told. You’ll see what I mean as you read this digest version of why I was gone from the Internet for a few days. A longer version will follow after I get back from G-Fest next weekend and have time to elaborate.
Early Thursday morning, my son Eddie drove me to the Akron-Canton Airport to board a flight to Detroit and there board a connecting flight to Los Angeles. I had been asked to come to Burbank to meet with the writers of the Black Lightning TV series which will begin filming in Atlanta in August.
I was treated with great generosity and respect at every stage of this trip. I flew first class to Los Angeles and, on my return, to Atlanta and back to Akron-Canton. At LAX, a car was waiting to take me to the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. This was going to be a quick trip, which is why I only spent one night at the Ace. But it was a memorable stay.
The Ace Hotel is in the running for the weirdest hotel in which I have ever stayed, but it was weird in a wonderful way. The once-classic hotel is being refurbished along with much of the surrounding area. The room was full of surprises, including a cool turntable and a stack of vinyl albums to play on said turntable.
When I was settled in the room, I called Mark Evanier who is, in order of importance, one of the finest people on our planet, one of my best friends for going on half a century, and one of my favorite writers. Mark sent his assistant John to pick me up and drive me to Mark’s house. I had a terrific couple of hours with Mark before jet lag hit me hard. He drove me back to the Ace.
There was a lot of construction going on around the Ace. The sounds of trucks woke me up early. When I explored the area a bit, most of the people I saw were construction workers. Back at the Ace, I had one of the best room service breakfasts ever with the absolute best scrambled eggs I had ever had in life.
I checked out of the hotel and another limo drove me to Burbank and the Black Lightning writers room. Jamon Brown, assistant to show runners Salim and Mara Akil, was one of several people who planned my trip/visit and took great care of me. I got nothing but love and respect the whole time I was there.
Pause to contemplate this amazing situation with me. After years of what we will describe as friction between myself and DC Comics, I was invited to Burbank to meet with the writers and staff crafting a TV series based on my proudest comics creation. There are moments in my life when I fear I am in a coma somewhere hallucinating what my life has become and is becoming. That’s how unreal all of this feels to me sometimes.
Walking into the writers room and seeing a white board mapping out the first season of Black Lightning was an experience I will never forget. Looking at the opposite wall where another white board had the names of characters, several of which I created with Trevor Von Eeden or Eddy Newell, who might appear on the show added to my joy, as did the placards with characters who are appearing as they were originally drawn by Trevor, Jim Aparo and others. I don’t have the words to express what I felt without quickly descending into happy and nervous babbling.
And then...spending a couple of hours answering questions from the writers, talking to them about the characters, listening to them, well, that was equally indescribable. They know Jefferson Pierce. They know Anissa and Jennifer. They know Jefferson’s world and the challenges and conflicts he faces. And when I was asked questions about things from individual comic books I had written, I realized they knew and respected my work.
Comic books and TV shows are not the same. There are elements that work in the former that won’t work in the latter and vice versa. To know that and then to discover how much of my work will be represented in the TV series as translated by show runners Salim and Mara Brock Akil, the writers and the actors, I literally can’t tell you what raced through my mind during this meeting. I would sound like one of the bubbly Minions of Despicable Me.
I was shown the full Black Lightning presentation piece created for the CW. The trailer you saw is the definition of awesome. The full piece adds even more weight to that awesomeness. Though I suspect I might be somewhat biased, I think Black Lightning is going to be a huge hit when it debuts early next year.
I am constantly in awe of how important Black Lightning is to more people than even I have realized. I was stunned into silence when I looked at the schedule board in Salim’s office. I’m a comic-book writer. I thought I knew how much bigger an undertaking creating a TV series had to be. Then I saw that schedule. Wow.
Salim gave me a Black Lightning ball cap, which came in handy just a few minutes later. I signed a copy of Black Lightning #5 (second series) for him. It’s my favorite issue and his as well.
If you’re waiting for me to spill details about what I know about the TV series that you don’t know, you’re going to be disappointed. Even if I were at liberty to tell you these things, I wouldn’t. I want you to experience the TV series without any conceptions that are filtered through my perceptions. When you do see the show, you will be almost as thrilled as I was in the writers room. In other words, don’t ask because I ain’t telling.
I will have much more to say about the writers when I can write a more comprehensive report on this visit. The kindness and respect they showed me was incredible. I feel so confident that they will knock this series out of the park week after week.
Salim thought the session was very helpful and productive. I hope so because, as I said several times, I will do anything I can to be of assistance to the show and the people making it. Because Black Lightning is more important than my contributions to the character. He means too much to too many people. He deserves to be a star.
We also covered a lot of ground quicker than had been anticipated. I was originally scheduled to be in the writers room until seven. So I ended up getting a tour of DC Comics/Entertainment, which is located just a block away. Jamon walked me over to DC. It was a blistering hundred degrees in Burbank that afternoon. Thankfully, I had my Black Lightning cap.
Those DC offices, which occupy multiple floors, are kind of like Oz and Starfleet HQ rolled into one. Because it was Friday afternoon, which operates on flex-time, the officers were relatively quiet as my guides Renee and Mike showed me around.
For this bloggy thing, I’m not going into detail about this tour, but the wonderful art on the walls, the statues, the memorabilia, the ever-present spinner racks stocked with free-for-the-taking comic books and the brightness of the place was astonishing. It exceeded anything I ever thought the DC offices could be. And I got great swag.
I also got to meet with Jim Chadwick, my editor on the mini-series I am writing for DC that hasn’t been announced but which you know a bit about because several people, most definitely including me, are too excited about it to keep their mouths shut. Today, I will be uncharacteristically circumspect. Save to say what I have told many of my friends: Chadwick is one of the best editors I’ve ever worked with. He has been letting me tell my story and helping me tell it as best as I possibly can. If you love the series as much as I think you will, he gets a good share of the credit.
Look. Most of you have been with me a long time. You know most of my history and, in particular, my history with DC Comics. None of that is going to be rehashed here. I love the folks I have worked with at other publishers. I am happy to continue to be associated with Marvel in minor ways and am treated extremely well by Marvel.
However...
I have never been treated with greater respect than I am receiving from DC these days and on more levels than I ever imagined. I feel honored to be working with the company again and I think they kind of like having me on board as well. I get dizzy when I look at how things are now. At how far we’ve come.
People have been telling me my life is about to change in ways I’ve never imagined. That opportunities will be coming. And, since I’m not exclusive to DC, that these opportunities might come from many different directions. If my life stays exactly as it is now, I’d be blessed beyond my previous expectations. If it gets even better and more exciting, I would relish what ever comes my way. I'm ready to ride the lightning, as it were.
I am blessed. I hope I can share those blessings with others in my industry and with the fans. My life is an adventure.
Okay, before I burst with happiness, let me get through the rest of this not-as-detailed-as-it’s-going-to-be trip report.
I didn’t want to have people trying to find ways to entertain me when they had work to do. So Jamon called the car service to take me to the airport early. My flight wasn’t leaving for six hours, but I figured I could hang around the airport as easily as anywhere else. My driver, hating what he’d seen of the expressways that day and knowing we had plenty of time, took me to the airport via land routes. So I got to see all sorts of cool architecture and scenery. I think we made better time than we would have had we taken the expressways.
A minor glitch in my return tickets omitted the pre-check status I have purchased from the TSA. So I had to go through the bothersome removing of my shoes and belt while dealing with an obnoxious TSA agent. But Delta had a first class line, so the experience wasn’t too long for me.
The airport terminal was packed. I realized hanging out there was not going to be as relaxing as I had hoped. So I did something that surprised me. I walked up to the Delta Air Club and bought a one-day membership. Relatively quiet and relaxing large room. Free food that was excellent. Free drinks. Free magazines and newspapers. Pristine bathrooms. Hey, at 65 years old, a man has priorities.
Early Thursday morning, my son Eddie drove me to the Akron-Canton Airport to board a flight to Detroit and there board a connecting flight to Los Angeles. I had been asked to come to Burbank to meet with the writers of the Black Lightning TV series which will begin filming in Atlanta in August.
I was treated with great generosity and respect at every stage of this trip. I flew first class to Los Angeles and, on my return, to Atlanta and back to Akron-Canton. At LAX, a car was waiting to take me to the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. This was going to be a quick trip, which is why I only spent one night at the Ace. But it was a memorable stay.
The Ace Hotel is in the running for the weirdest hotel in which I have ever stayed, but it was weird in a wonderful way. The once-classic hotel is being refurbished along with much of the surrounding area. The room was full of surprises, including a cool turntable and a stack of vinyl albums to play on said turntable.
When I was settled in the room, I called Mark Evanier who is, in order of importance, one of the finest people on our planet, one of my best friends for going on half a century, and one of my favorite writers. Mark sent his assistant John to pick me up and drive me to Mark’s house. I had a terrific couple of hours with Mark before jet lag hit me hard. He drove me back to the Ace.
There was a lot of construction going on around the Ace. The sounds of trucks woke me up early. When I explored the area a bit, most of the people I saw were construction workers. Back at the Ace, I had one of the best room service breakfasts ever with the absolute best scrambled eggs I had ever had in life.
I checked out of the hotel and another limo drove me to Burbank and the Black Lightning writers room. Jamon Brown, assistant to show runners Salim and Mara Akil, was one of several people who planned my trip/visit and took great care of me. I got nothing but love and respect the whole time I was there.
Pause to contemplate this amazing situation with me. After years of what we will describe as friction between myself and DC Comics, I was invited to Burbank to meet with the writers and staff crafting a TV series based on my proudest comics creation. There are moments in my life when I fear I am in a coma somewhere hallucinating what my life has become and is becoming. That’s how unreal all of this feels to me sometimes.
Walking into the writers room and seeing a white board mapping out the first season of Black Lightning was an experience I will never forget. Looking at the opposite wall where another white board had the names of characters, several of which I created with Trevor Von Eeden or Eddy Newell, who might appear on the show added to my joy, as did the placards with characters who are appearing as they were originally drawn by Trevor, Jim Aparo and others. I don’t have the words to express what I felt without quickly descending into happy and nervous babbling.
And then...spending a couple of hours answering questions from the writers, talking to them about the characters, listening to them, well, that was equally indescribable. They know Jefferson Pierce. They know Anissa and Jennifer. They know Jefferson’s world and the challenges and conflicts he faces. And when I was asked questions about things from individual comic books I had written, I realized they knew and respected my work.
Comic books and TV shows are not the same. There are elements that work in the former that won’t work in the latter and vice versa. To know that and then to discover how much of my work will be represented in the TV series as translated by show runners Salim and Mara Brock Akil, the writers and the actors, I literally can’t tell you what raced through my mind during this meeting. I would sound like one of the bubbly Minions of Despicable Me.
I was shown the full Black Lightning presentation piece created for the CW. The trailer you saw is the definition of awesome. The full piece adds even more weight to that awesomeness. Though I suspect I might be somewhat biased, I think Black Lightning is going to be a huge hit when it debuts early next year.
I am constantly in awe of how important Black Lightning is to more people than even I have realized. I was stunned into silence when I looked at the schedule board in Salim’s office. I’m a comic-book writer. I thought I knew how much bigger an undertaking creating a TV series had to be. Then I saw that schedule. Wow.
Salim gave me a Black Lightning ball cap, which came in handy just a few minutes later. I signed a copy of Black Lightning #5 (second series) for him. It’s my favorite issue and his as well.
If you’re waiting for me to spill details about what I know about the TV series that you don’t know, you’re going to be disappointed. Even if I were at liberty to tell you these things, I wouldn’t. I want you to experience the TV series without any conceptions that are filtered through my perceptions. When you do see the show, you will be almost as thrilled as I was in the writers room. In other words, don’t ask because I ain’t telling.
I will have much more to say about the writers when I can write a more comprehensive report on this visit. The kindness and respect they showed me was incredible. I feel so confident that they will knock this series out of the park week after week.
Salim thought the session was very helpful and productive. I hope so because, as I said several times, I will do anything I can to be of assistance to the show and the people making it. Because Black Lightning is more important than my contributions to the character. He means too much to too many people. He deserves to be a star.
We also covered a lot of ground quicker than had been anticipated. I was originally scheduled to be in the writers room until seven. So I ended up getting a tour of DC Comics/Entertainment, which is located just a block away. Jamon walked me over to DC. It was a blistering hundred degrees in Burbank that afternoon. Thankfully, I had my Black Lightning cap.
Those DC offices, which occupy multiple floors, are kind of like Oz and Starfleet HQ rolled into one. Because it was Friday afternoon, which operates on flex-time, the officers were relatively quiet as my guides Renee and Mike showed me around.
For this bloggy thing, I’m not going into detail about this tour, but the wonderful art on the walls, the statues, the memorabilia, the ever-present spinner racks stocked with free-for-the-taking comic books and the brightness of the place was astonishing. It exceeded anything I ever thought the DC offices could be. And I got great swag.
I also got to meet with Jim Chadwick, my editor on the mini-series I am writing for DC that hasn’t been announced but which you know a bit about because several people, most definitely including me, are too excited about it to keep their mouths shut. Today, I will be uncharacteristically circumspect. Save to say what I have told many of my friends: Chadwick is one of the best editors I’ve ever worked with. He has been letting me tell my story and helping me tell it as best as I possibly can. If you love the series as much as I think you will, he gets a good share of the credit.
Look. Most of you have been with me a long time. You know most of my history and, in particular, my history with DC Comics. None of that is going to be rehashed here. I love the folks I have worked with at other publishers. I am happy to continue to be associated with Marvel in minor ways and am treated extremely well by Marvel.
However...
I have never been treated with greater respect than I am receiving from DC these days and on more levels than I ever imagined. I feel honored to be working with the company again and I think they kind of like having me on board as well. I get dizzy when I look at how things are now. At how far we’ve come.
People have been telling me my life is about to change in ways I’ve never imagined. That opportunities will be coming. And, since I’m not exclusive to DC, that these opportunities might come from many different directions. If my life stays exactly as it is now, I’d be blessed beyond my previous expectations. If it gets even better and more exciting, I would relish what ever comes my way. I'm ready to ride the lightning, as it were.
I am blessed. I hope I can share those blessings with others in my industry and with the fans. My life is an adventure.
Okay, before I burst with happiness, let me get through the rest of this not-as-detailed-as-it’s-going-to-be trip report.
I didn’t want to have people trying to find ways to entertain me when they had work to do. So Jamon called the car service to take me to the airport early. My flight wasn’t leaving for six hours, but I figured I could hang around the airport as easily as anywhere else. My driver, hating what he’d seen of the expressways that day and knowing we had plenty of time, took me to the airport via land routes. So I got to see all sorts of cool architecture and scenery. I think we made better time than we would have had we taken the expressways.
A minor glitch in my return tickets omitted the pre-check status I have purchased from the TSA. So I had to go through the bothersome removing of my shoes and belt while dealing with an obnoxious TSA agent. But Delta had a first class line, so the experience wasn’t too long for me.
The airport terminal was packed. I realized hanging out there was not going to be as relaxing as I had hoped. So I did something that surprised me. I walked up to the Delta Air Club and bought a one-day membership. Relatively quiet and relaxing large room. Free food that was excellent. Free drinks. Free magazines and newspapers. Pristine bathrooms. Hey, at 65 years old, a man has priorities.
If I hadn’t checked my suitcase, I could have taken a shower and changed out of the clothes I would end up having worn for over 24 hours before I got home. I ate. I drank. I relaxed. It was well worth the 59 bucks I paid for the one-day pass. If I end up doing a lot more traveling in 2018, I might spring for the yearly membership.
I was very pleased with Delta on the flight from LAX to Atlanta. We had a friendly pilot who chatted with passengers before the flight. The flight crew was terrific. I even managed a couple hours sleep, albeit in increments of fifteen to thirty minutes, before we landed in Atlanta and my three-hour layover before my flight back to Ohio. I spent a lot of time in the various airports and on airplanes this trip. Still incredibly worth it.
Things didn’t get dicey until we were close to boarding our plane to Akron-Canton. The pilots felt there were problems with the plane and that it needed maintenance. We would have to go to a different plane at a different gate. I was 100% good with this. If the pilots thought there were problems, I was not going to suggest we roll the dice and hope for the best.
Unfortunately, there was a lot of confusion and even some anger at the new gate. Two flights would board at close to the same time. Some vocal passengers were bitching about the order in which we’d board our plane. A grumpy old man who was in the premium line - not this grumpy old man, mind you - started arguing with them. He sat in front of me during the flight to Ohio and never stopped being a grumpy old man.
There were technological problems with switching the luggage from the first plane to the second plane, which extended the departure delay. Finally, there was some sort of water warning at the airport with the result that our flight would not be able serve coffee or tea. Not a problem for me. I was good with bottled water and soft drinks. But other passengers were less than thrilled.
All in all, I give Delta a solid “B” on the four flights I was on this trip. I enjoyed flying with them.
I was picked up at the airport by Sainted Wife Barb. Eddie ordered pizza from our new favorite local pizza place and we picked it up on our way home. I changed out of the clothes I had worn too long and they walked themselves over to the laundry basket. I unpacked, shared quality time with my family, did some online stuff, watched The Gong Show and Battle of the Network Stars, and finally relaxed enough to sleep.
It was a great couple of days. I look forward to telling you about them in more detail and even showing you some photos. Come back on the morrow and we’ll talk a little about the upcoming G-Fest, the Godzilla convention heard around the world. Roar.
© 2017 Tony Isabella
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
TONY'S TIPS #216
This week in TONY'S TIPS at Tales of Wonder: John Stanley: Giving Life To Little Lulu, Eisner Award-winning writer Bill Schelly's latest comics biography; the Big Moose one-shot from Archie Comics; and Worlds of Fear Volume One, reprinting five issues of the Fawcett Comics horror title.
RAWHIDE KID WEDNESDAY 115
RESOLVED: The Rawhide Kid is my favorite western comics character and one of my favorite comics characters period. This is why I’ve written over a hundred columns about him. Something about his short stature, but large courage, honor and fighting skills speaks to me. After rereading the Kid’s earliest adventures when Marvel reprinted them in a pair of Marvel Masterworks and an Essential Rawhide Kid volume, I decide to reacquire every Rawhide Kid comic, reread them and write about them. We’ve reached the title’s extended twilight. We’ve seen the last new Rawhide Kid story that will appear in the now-bimonthly reprint series. This is the 115th installment of my “Rawhide Kid Wednesday” columns.
The Rawhide Kid #128 [September 1975] has a spiffy cover penciled and inked by Gil Kane. A master of western action, Kane excelled at these covers. From the few times I worked with him on them, I can tell you they came easy to him.
This issue reprints the 17-page “Fall of a Hero” from Rawhide Kid #56 [February 1967]. The story was written and drawn by the great Larry Lieber and inked by Vince Colletta. The Rawhide Kid figure on the original cover was penciled by Lieber and inked by Sol Brodsky. The vignettes surrounding that figure come from the interior art. I wrote about this story in May 2013 and you can read my comments on it here.
There are a dozen comics-related “classified” ads in the issue, but only two are notable. Collectors Showcase of Hollywood, California sold “Original Comic Art” featuring “100s of full color paintings and drawings by famous artists.” The 72-page catalogue costs $4.95. Did any of my bloggy readers ever order from them? I’d love to find out what art they had and what happened to the company.
The more notable of the two ads was Marvel superstar artist John Buscema announcing he was accepting a limited number of students for his course in comic book art with the workshop located in New York City. I know this has been written about and, if any of those articles are online, I would love to share links to them with the readers of this blog.
With a mere 17 pages of actual story in its comics and a dwindling number of paying advertisers, Marvel started running a whole lot of house ads in its comics. This issue had a full-page ad for Marvel Treasury Editions across from another full-page ad for “The Hulk on the Rampage” Treasury Edition.
The Marvel Comic Con was held earlier that year. Working with the late Phil Seuling, the company put on its on comics convention. I remember Stan Lee being taken aback when some artists and writers wanted to be compensated for their appearances at the event. Stan didn’t see the convention as any different from the fan conventions we attended.
Stan had a point. The fan-ran conventions were profitable or, at least, intended to be profitable. How was that different from the Marvel-run convention?
While I can’t remember how much we were paid for our participation in the Marvel Comic Con, we did get paid for it. I never knew how much Marvel made from the event or even if it made a profit at all. But there was convention swag to be had and a full-page ad to let true believers know about it.
The program book cost $2.25 (including postage). The event poster also cost $2.25. A button was seventy-five cents. Bumper stickers were two for a buck and a quarter. A convention tee-shirt cost $3 for boys sizes and $4.45 for man sizes. You could order all of the above for $7.74 and get a free Marvel Con shopping bag and events list in the deal.
The Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page was almost all plugs. “Stan Lee’s Soapbox” plugged the Marvel-Ous Wizard of Oz treasury edition, the sequel to Origins of Marvel Comics, and the forthcoming Nostalgia Illustrated Magazine.
The rest of the Bullpen page plugged forgettable and mostly short-lived new features and titles with the notable exceptions being the Invaders and the X-Men. The former got close to fifty issues before it was cancelled, the latter has published hundreds and maybe even thousands of issues in various incarnations.
There were also items about writers and artists switching over to new assignments. Roy Thomas was writing Thor. Len Wein was taking over Spider-Man and Marvel Team-Up. Marv Wolfman was the new writer on Daredevil, replacing yours truly. Doug Moench was writing Ka-Zar and George Tuska was returning to Iron Man. Inker Mike Esposito was reuniting with long-time friend and partner Ross Andru on the main Spider-Man title.
Amazing Spider-Man #149 would be revealing the startling secret of the Jackal. Spoiler alert. The Jackal was a crazy college professor with a crush on the dead Gwen Stacy. The startling part is that the character would come back time and time again and that the clones he created would change the Marvel Universe forever.
The final news item was the launching of the new, black-and-white Marvel Movie Premiere. The first issue would feature The Land That Time Forgot as adapted by Marv Wolfman and Steve Gan.
The final item was the sad news that ace letterer Artie Simek had passed away on February 20, 1975. He was one of the best letterers in comics and someone I had worked with from time to time. He was not the first comics pro I’d worked with to pass, but that didn’t make it any easier. It hasn’t gotten any easier since.
The last editorial page in the issue had two half-page house ads. The first was for the FOOM fan club, which would cost a fan $2.50 to join. The second was for the upcoming Doctor Strange Treasury. It ran on the last interior page of the issue.
That’s all for today and for the next several days. I’m leaving in the wee hours of Thursday morning to fly to...well, that would be telling. But it’s a pretty exciting trip and I’ll tell you as much about it as I can when the bloggy thing resumes on Monday or maybe Tuesday of next week. See you then.
© 2017 Tony Isabella
The Rawhide Kid #128 [September 1975] has a spiffy cover penciled and inked by Gil Kane. A master of western action, Kane excelled at these covers. From the few times I worked with him on them, I can tell you they came easy to him.
This issue reprints the 17-page “Fall of a Hero” from Rawhide Kid #56 [February 1967]. The story was written and drawn by the great Larry Lieber and inked by Vince Colletta. The Rawhide Kid figure on the original cover was penciled by Lieber and inked by Sol Brodsky. The vignettes surrounding that figure come from the interior art. I wrote about this story in May 2013 and you can read my comments on it here.
There are a dozen comics-related “classified” ads in the issue, but only two are notable. Collectors Showcase of Hollywood, California sold “Original Comic Art” featuring “100s of full color paintings and drawings by famous artists.” The 72-page catalogue costs $4.95. Did any of my bloggy readers ever order from them? I’d love to find out what art they had and what happened to the company.
The more notable of the two ads was Marvel superstar artist John Buscema announcing he was accepting a limited number of students for his course in comic book art with the workshop located in New York City. I know this has been written about and, if any of those articles are online, I would love to share links to them with the readers of this blog.
With a mere 17 pages of actual story in its comics and a dwindling number of paying advertisers, Marvel started running a whole lot of house ads in its comics. This issue had a full-page ad for Marvel Treasury Editions across from another full-page ad for “The Hulk on the Rampage” Treasury Edition.
The Marvel Comic Con was held earlier that year. Working with the late Phil Seuling, the company put on its on comics convention. I remember Stan Lee being taken aback when some artists and writers wanted to be compensated for their appearances at the event. Stan didn’t see the convention as any different from the fan conventions we attended.
Stan had a point. The fan-ran conventions were profitable or, at least, intended to be profitable. How was that different from the Marvel-run convention?
While I can’t remember how much we were paid for our participation in the Marvel Comic Con, we did get paid for it. I never knew how much Marvel made from the event or even if it made a profit at all. But there was convention swag to be had and a full-page ad to let true believers know about it.
The program book cost $2.25 (including postage). The event poster also cost $2.25. A button was seventy-five cents. Bumper stickers were two for a buck and a quarter. A convention tee-shirt cost $3 for boys sizes and $4.45 for man sizes. You could order all of the above for $7.74 and get a free Marvel Con shopping bag and events list in the deal.
The Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page was almost all plugs. “Stan Lee’s Soapbox” plugged the Marvel-Ous Wizard of Oz treasury edition, the sequel to Origins of Marvel Comics, and the forthcoming Nostalgia Illustrated Magazine.
The rest of the Bullpen page plugged forgettable and mostly short-lived new features and titles with the notable exceptions being the Invaders and the X-Men. The former got close to fifty issues before it was cancelled, the latter has published hundreds and maybe even thousands of issues in various incarnations.
There were also items about writers and artists switching over to new assignments. Roy Thomas was writing Thor. Len Wein was taking over Spider-Man and Marvel Team-Up. Marv Wolfman was the new writer on Daredevil, replacing yours truly. Doug Moench was writing Ka-Zar and George Tuska was returning to Iron Man. Inker Mike Esposito was reuniting with long-time friend and partner Ross Andru on the main Spider-Man title.
Amazing Spider-Man #149 would be revealing the startling secret of the Jackal. Spoiler alert. The Jackal was a crazy college professor with a crush on the dead Gwen Stacy. The startling part is that the character would come back time and time again and that the clones he created would change the Marvel Universe forever.
The final news item was the launching of the new, black-and-white Marvel Movie Premiere. The first issue would feature The Land That Time Forgot as adapted by Marv Wolfman and Steve Gan.
The final item was the sad news that ace letterer Artie Simek had passed away on February 20, 1975. He was one of the best letterers in comics and someone I had worked with from time to time. He was not the first comics pro I’d worked with to pass, but that didn’t make it any easier. It hasn’t gotten any easier since.
The last editorial page in the issue had two half-page house ads. The first was for the FOOM fan club, which would cost a fan $2.50 to join. The second was for the upcoming Doctor Strange Treasury. It ran on the last interior page of the issue.
That’s all for today and for the next several days. I’m leaving in the wee hours of Thursday morning to fly to...well, that would be telling. But it’s a pretty exciting trip and I’ll tell you as much about it as I can when the bloggy thing resumes on Monday or maybe Tuesday of next week. See you then.
© 2017 Tony Isabella
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY IN JUNE
Sorrow and ugliness hang over the United States these days like a toxic cloud of right-wing flatulence. The struggle to restore our country to one where decency reigns over bigotry and greed will be a long and hard one. As honorable folk fight for a better America, I take strength from the many people and things that bring joy to my life in my daily “Things That Make Me Happy” posts on Facebook and Twitter. Here’s my list for June...
June 1: National Geographic Magazine. Endlessly fascinating. Find the truth and print it. 6-1-17.
June 2: Canoe Cops vs. The Mummy by my pal Stephen D. Sullivan. A monstrously hilarious novel. 6-2-17.
June 3: Homicide: Life On The Street: The Complete Series. Coming my way on July 4th. 6-3-17.
June 4: Barb, Kelly and I cleaned the garage for my summer sales. They did the heavy thinking and lifting. I did whatever they told me to do. It’s a system that works for us. 6-4-17.
June 5: Giant Days by John Allison, Lissa Treiman and Max Sarin. I like Esther, Susan and Daisy and I’m a tough sell when it comes to comics about college students. 6-5-17.
June 6: Rough Riders by Adam Glass and Patrick Olliffe. Think Teddy Roosevelt leading the 19th Century Avengers. 6-6-17.
June 7: Wonder Woman. The best DC super-hero movie ever. It hit all the right notes for me. 6-7-17.
June 8: Gotham’s two-hour season finale. Big moments in every act. I’m looking forward to next season. 6-8-17.
June 9: The cast of Lucifer has been knocking it out of the park, especially Lesley-Ann Brandt as Maze. 6-9-17.
June 10: The rise of moderate Republicans in Kansas. Still a long way to go, but it’s a start. 6-10-17.
June 11: Gorgo. I watched the 1961 movie again as prep for a G-Fest panel. I enjoyed it as much as when I was a kid. 6-11-17.
June 12: Watching The Secret Life of Pets with Barb, Eddie and Kelly. A rare family movie night. 6-12-17.
June 13: Jason Klepper Solves Guns. Funny, informative, insightful. Kudos to Comedy Central. 6-13-17.
June 14: Allison Janney will voice Goldie O’Gilt in the Duck Tales revival. If that’s not cause for geeking out, I don’t know what is. 6-14-17.
June 15: Assassination Classroom Volume 16. What a game-changer for one of my all-time favorite manga series. 6-15-17.
June 16: Learning cool Monopoly stuff from a Monopoly collector who came to my garage sale. 6-16-17.
June 17: I’ll be returning to the wonderful Pensacon in 2018. Might have a few surprises for you then. 6-17-17.
June 18: Barb and Kelly made a spectacular breakfast for Father’s Day. And for lunch: donuts! 6-18-17.
June 19: Fiesta Jalapeno takeout for Father’s Day dinner with Barb, Eddie, Kelly and Giselle. 6-19-17.
June 20: Putting great stuff at great prices into my next garage sale. Looking forward to happy customers. 6-20-17.
June 21: Adam West’s guest appearance on Powerless. He nailed each and every joke. 6-21-17.
June 22: Snapple’s Takes 2 to Mango Tea. By the way, an ostrich's brain is smaller than its eye. 6-22-17.
July 23: My pal Marlie. He’s been helping me get ready for the next garage sales. When you see all those great Batman and other comics, thank Marlie. 6-23-17.
July 24: The Gong Show on ABC. It’s not the classic Chuck Barris series, but it was still good goofy fun. 6-24-17.
June 25: G.L.O.W. Kelly and I watched the first two episodes. They were fun. Now we have a new show to share. 6-25-17.
June 26: My son Ed, who is 29 years old today. He’s a fine man and our future President. Though he’ll have to disavow that crazy dad of his. 6-26-17.
June 27: Ed’s birthday dinner with Barb and Kelly at the Longhorn Steakhouse. My salmon was amazing! 6-27-17.
June 28: The exhilarating moment when you have a breakthrough on a difficult script and a scene turns out better than you could have imagined. 6-28-17.
June 29: Mark Evanier’s Cuter Than You series on his News from Me blog. It always makes me smile. 6-29-17.
June 30: Thanks to my new phone, I can play theme music whenever I walk into a room. Some members of my family do not find this quite as awesome as I do. 6-30-17.
I’ll be back tomorrow with the latest installment of “Rawhide Kid Wednesday!” See you then.
© 2017 Tony Isabella
June 1: National Geographic Magazine. Endlessly fascinating. Find the truth and print it. 6-1-17.
June 2: Canoe Cops vs. The Mummy by my pal Stephen D. Sullivan. A monstrously hilarious novel. 6-2-17.
June 3: Homicide: Life On The Street: The Complete Series. Coming my way on July 4th. 6-3-17.
June 4: Barb, Kelly and I cleaned the garage for my summer sales. They did the heavy thinking and lifting. I did whatever they told me to do. It’s a system that works for us. 6-4-17.
June 5: Giant Days by John Allison, Lissa Treiman and Max Sarin. I like Esther, Susan and Daisy and I’m a tough sell when it comes to comics about college students. 6-5-17.
June 6: Rough Riders by Adam Glass and Patrick Olliffe. Think Teddy Roosevelt leading the 19th Century Avengers. 6-6-17.
June 7: Wonder Woman. The best DC super-hero movie ever. It hit all the right notes for me. 6-7-17.
June 8: Gotham’s two-hour season finale. Big moments in every act. I’m looking forward to next season. 6-8-17.
June 9: The cast of Lucifer has been knocking it out of the park, especially Lesley-Ann Brandt as Maze. 6-9-17.
June 10: The rise of moderate Republicans in Kansas. Still a long way to go, but it’s a start. 6-10-17.
June 11: Gorgo. I watched the 1961 movie again as prep for a G-Fest panel. I enjoyed it as much as when I was a kid. 6-11-17.
June 12: Watching The Secret Life of Pets with Barb, Eddie and Kelly. A rare family movie night. 6-12-17.
June 13: Jason Klepper Solves Guns. Funny, informative, insightful. Kudos to Comedy Central. 6-13-17.
June 14: Allison Janney will voice Goldie O’Gilt in the Duck Tales revival. If that’s not cause for geeking out, I don’t know what is. 6-14-17.
June 15: Assassination Classroom Volume 16. What a game-changer for one of my all-time favorite manga series. 6-15-17.
June 16: Learning cool Monopoly stuff from a Monopoly collector who came to my garage sale. 6-16-17.
June 17: I’ll be returning to the wonderful Pensacon in 2018. Might have a few surprises for you then. 6-17-17.
June 18: Barb and Kelly made a spectacular breakfast for Father’s Day. And for lunch: donuts! 6-18-17.
June 19: Fiesta Jalapeno takeout for Father’s Day dinner with Barb, Eddie, Kelly and Giselle. 6-19-17.
June 20: Putting great stuff at great prices into my next garage sale. Looking forward to happy customers. 6-20-17.
June 21: Adam West’s guest appearance on Powerless. He nailed each and every joke. 6-21-17.
June 22: Snapple’s Takes 2 to Mango Tea. By the way, an ostrich's brain is smaller than its eye. 6-22-17.
July 23: My pal Marlie. He’s been helping me get ready for the next garage sales. When you see all those great Batman and other comics, thank Marlie. 6-23-17.
July 24: The Gong Show on ABC. It’s not the classic Chuck Barris series, but it was still good goofy fun. 6-24-17.
June 25: G.L.O.W. Kelly and I watched the first two episodes. They were fun. Now we have a new show to share. 6-25-17.
June 26: My son Ed, who is 29 years old today. He’s a fine man and our future President. Though he’ll have to disavow that crazy dad of his. 6-26-17.
June 27: Ed’s birthday dinner with Barb and Kelly at the Longhorn Steakhouse. My salmon was amazing! 6-27-17.
June 28: The exhilarating moment when you have a breakthrough on a difficult script and a scene turns out better than you could have imagined. 6-28-17.
June 29: Mark Evanier’s Cuter Than You series on his News from Me blog. It always makes me smile. 6-29-17.
June 30: Thanks to my new phone, I can play theme music whenever I walk into a room. Some members of my family do not find this quite as awesome as I do. 6-30-17.
I’ll be back tomorrow with the latest installment of “Rawhide Kid Wednesday!” See you then.
© 2017 Tony Isabella
Monday, July 3, 2017
DOUBLE MONSTER MONDAY
With G-Fest just a little over a week away, I have now finished my assigned reading and viewing for the Gorgo/Konga/Reptilicus panel I’ll be doing at that most glorious of American events celebrating Godzilla and his fellow kaiju.
Reptilicus [1961] was a Danish-American film featuring an enormous dragon-like monster that has always looked like a pissed-off sock puppet to me. Wikipedia says the movie was produced by American International Pictures and Saga Studio, and separate versions were released in Denmark and in the United States. I have no idea which version I’ve been watching all these years. That’s right. Despite my disdain for this movie, I watch it every now and then. I can’t explain why. Here’s the Internet Movie Database summary:
After copper miners discover part of the frozen tail of a prehistoric monster in Lapland, scientists inadvertently bring it back to life.
Reptilicus was released in the United States in January of 1963. As was the case with Gorgo and Konga, the novelization and the comic book came out long before the movie. The novelization by the quite prolific Dean Owen was published in June of 1961. The first issue of the comic book is dated August of 1961. From here on in, we’re letting you know there are
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
The novelization adds a whole lot of hanky-panky to the movie, even more so than in the Gorgo and Konga novelizations. Svend Viltorft, the miner who discovers the tail of Reptilicus, has had an affair with the wife of his boss. Which he breaks off when he realizes her true identity. Neither the wife nor her husband are in the movie.
As in the movie, Professor Otto Martens had two gorgeous daughters. Outside of being very lovely, neither character is notable in the movie. In the book, older sister Lise is coming off a love affair that ended badly and is also being tormented by her younger sister Karen. Because of lies told to her when she was growing up, Karen thinks she is the child of her mother and an illicit lover. She competes with Lise for the affections of Svend. Karen boasts that she’s done the deed with Svend first and, later, that she had another round of sex with the hunky miner on Lise’s bed. However, by the end of the novel, the professor sets Karen straight. On Lise’s part, she gets inexplicably rescued from a trio of would-be rapists by the lover who left her. Turns out said lover wasn’t the married man he’d claimed to be. He just got cold feet.
In other salacious goings-on, grumpy American General Mark Grayson gets it on with UN scientist Connie Miller in the office of his makeshift command center. In the movie, all Mark and Connie get to do is have a night out in Tivoli, chaperoned by Captain Brandt of the Danish military. In one unforgettable cinematic scene - I know it’s unforgettable because I’ve tried to forget it. Lord knows I’ve tried to forget it - the trio are serenaded by a perky chanteuse in a nightclub. Once you’ve heard “Tivoli Nights”...
Enough with the sex. The novelization makes the monster stuff much more chilling and exciting than the movie. In the book, Reptilicus actually flies before his wings are destroyed and is much scarier all around. In the American version of the movie, hapless victims die horribly as they are covered over by the monster’s sickly green phlegm. It’s an incredibly hokey special effect.
In the novel, when characters we know die, the impact of the deaths is far greater than in the movie. The same holds true for the fear that almost overwhelms Grayson, Martens and the other Reptilicus-fighting forces. The novel also lacks the comedy stylings of the custodian Petersen, who comes off like a member of a really awful Three Stooges tribute band.
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
Owen’s novelization follows the plot of the movie closely, adding the sex scenes and spending more time developing Grayson, Martens and the other characters. It’s far better than the movie and even better than the comic book.
The comic book only ran two issues before Charlton Comics changed the name to Reptisaurus a full year before Reptilicus was released in the United States. Reptisaurus was canceled before the film was released in the U.S., though, decades later, in 2009, a Reptisaurus movie was made by monster master Christopher Ray. The movie, never released in this country, bears no resemblance to either Reptilicus or the Charlton comic book on which it claims to be based. You can read my review of Reptisaurus here.
Within days of watching Reptilicus for the umpteenth time, I also watched Yongary: Monster from the Deep [1967] for the first time. It’s a South Korean kaiju film whose original version was lost when its negatives were shipped to American International Pictures to be edited for distribution in the United States. Perhaps someday that original version will surface. If it does, I’ll do my best to watch it and write about it in a future bloggy thing.
Here’s the quick Yongary summary from the IMDb:
Earthquakes in central Korea turn out to be the work of Yongary, a prehistoric gasoline-eating reptile that soon goes on a rampage through Seoul.
KIND OF SPOILERS AHEAD
KIND OF SPOILERS AHEAD
KIND OF SPOILERS AHEAD
The film is so forgettable that, just a few days after watching it, I have trouble remembering details. It opens with a small wedding. Driving off, the couple begins to itch painfully because Icho, one of those typical-for-monster-movies mischievous boys, is firing an “itch ray” at them. The ray was invented by Icho’s brilliant if shy with women uncle.
It takes a good twenty minutes before we get the vaguest glimpse of Yongary. Maybe the intent there was to build suspense, maybe it was to delay showing the audience the full Yongary suit. Said suit is well below the quality of Toho Studios kaiju movies, even though it was built by the same guy who built Godzilla and Kong suits for earlier movies.
Politicians, scientists and military men are all familiar with the legend of Yongary. They take learning the creature really exists in stride. Not so much their failure to stop him. In an explicable scene, Icho uses the itch ray on Yongary and the two of them dance to generic pop music.
Icho stumbles on a way to incapacitate the monster. His uncle takes it from there. In the end, Yongary is destroyed.
Icho is sad but philosophical. He knows Yongary had to be killed, but wishes the adults could’ve seen the monster dancing so happily. Icho’s uncle gets the remaining single girl.
KIND OF SPOILERS OVER
KIND OF SPOILERS OVER
KIND OF SPOILERS OVER
The movie’s human characters are likeable, even the annoying Icho. There are scenes of the politicians, scientists and military folks discussing possible courses of action in a manner done much better in 2016's Shin Godzilla.
Yongary was kind of sort of remade in 1999 as Yonggary, released in the U.S. as Reptilian. The remake is a decent giant monster film that casts the title monster as a Godzilla-like hero-villain. It’s a real stretch to seriously consider it a remake of the original.
The bottom line is Yongary: Monster from the Deep is simply not a very good film. The only reason I’d ever watch it again would be if the original uncut version surfaced, giving me a chance to compare the two. I’d recommend the existing version only to those monster movie fans who have to see every giant monster movie.
That’s all for today’s bloggy, my friends. Come back tomorrow for a recap of the things that made me happy in June.
© 2017 Tony Isabella
Reptilicus [1961] was a Danish-American film featuring an enormous dragon-like monster that has always looked like a pissed-off sock puppet to me. Wikipedia says the movie was produced by American International Pictures and Saga Studio, and separate versions were released in Denmark and in the United States. I have no idea which version I’ve been watching all these years. That’s right. Despite my disdain for this movie, I watch it every now and then. I can’t explain why. Here’s the Internet Movie Database summary:
After copper miners discover part of the frozen tail of a prehistoric monster in Lapland, scientists inadvertently bring it back to life.
Reptilicus was released in the United States in January of 1963. As was the case with Gorgo and Konga, the novelization and the comic book came out long before the movie. The novelization by the quite prolific Dean Owen was published in June of 1961. The first issue of the comic book is dated August of 1961. From here on in, we’re letting you know there are
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
The novelization adds a whole lot of hanky-panky to the movie, even more so than in the Gorgo and Konga novelizations. Svend Viltorft, the miner who discovers the tail of Reptilicus, has had an affair with the wife of his boss. Which he breaks off when he realizes her true identity. Neither the wife nor her husband are in the movie.
As in the movie, Professor Otto Martens had two gorgeous daughters. Outside of being very lovely, neither character is notable in the movie. In the book, older sister Lise is coming off a love affair that ended badly and is also being tormented by her younger sister Karen. Because of lies told to her when she was growing up, Karen thinks she is the child of her mother and an illicit lover. She competes with Lise for the affections of Svend. Karen boasts that she’s done the deed with Svend first and, later, that she had another round of sex with the hunky miner on Lise’s bed. However, by the end of the novel, the professor sets Karen straight. On Lise’s part, she gets inexplicably rescued from a trio of would-be rapists by the lover who left her. Turns out said lover wasn’t the married man he’d claimed to be. He just got cold feet.
In other salacious goings-on, grumpy American General Mark Grayson gets it on with UN scientist Connie Miller in the office of his makeshift command center. In the movie, all Mark and Connie get to do is have a night out in Tivoli, chaperoned by Captain Brandt of the Danish military. In one unforgettable cinematic scene - I know it’s unforgettable because I’ve tried to forget it. Lord knows I’ve tried to forget it - the trio are serenaded by a perky chanteuse in a nightclub. Once you’ve heard “Tivoli Nights”...
Enough with the sex. The novelization makes the monster stuff much more chilling and exciting than the movie. In the book, Reptilicus actually flies before his wings are destroyed and is much scarier all around. In the American version of the movie, hapless victims die horribly as they are covered over by the monster’s sickly green phlegm. It’s an incredibly hokey special effect.
In the novel, when characters we know die, the impact of the deaths is far greater than in the movie. The same holds true for the fear that almost overwhelms Grayson, Martens and the other Reptilicus-fighting forces. The novel also lacks the comedy stylings of the custodian Petersen, who comes off like a member of a really awful Three Stooges tribute band.
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
Owen’s novelization follows the plot of the movie closely, adding the sex scenes and spending more time developing Grayson, Martens and the other characters. It’s far better than the movie and even better than the comic book.
The comic book only ran two issues before Charlton Comics changed the name to Reptisaurus a full year before Reptilicus was released in the United States. Reptisaurus was canceled before the film was released in the U.S., though, decades later, in 2009, a Reptisaurus movie was made by monster master Christopher Ray. The movie, never released in this country, bears no resemblance to either Reptilicus or the Charlton comic book on which it claims to be based. You can read my review of Reptisaurus here.
Within days of watching Reptilicus for the umpteenth time, I also watched Yongary: Monster from the Deep [1967] for the first time. It’s a South Korean kaiju film whose original version was lost when its negatives were shipped to American International Pictures to be edited for distribution in the United States. Perhaps someday that original version will surface. If it does, I’ll do my best to watch it and write about it in a future bloggy thing.
Here’s the quick Yongary summary from the IMDb:
Earthquakes in central Korea turn out to be the work of Yongary, a prehistoric gasoline-eating reptile that soon goes on a rampage through Seoul.
KIND OF SPOILERS AHEAD
KIND OF SPOILERS AHEAD
KIND OF SPOILERS AHEAD
The film is so forgettable that, just a few days after watching it, I have trouble remembering details. It opens with a small wedding. Driving off, the couple begins to itch painfully because Icho, one of those typical-for-monster-movies mischievous boys, is firing an “itch ray” at them. The ray was invented by Icho’s brilliant if shy with women uncle.
It takes a good twenty minutes before we get the vaguest glimpse of Yongary. Maybe the intent there was to build suspense, maybe it was to delay showing the audience the full Yongary suit. Said suit is well below the quality of Toho Studios kaiju movies, even though it was built by the same guy who built Godzilla and Kong suits for earlier movies.
Politicians, scientists and military men are all familiar with the legend of Yongary. They take learning the creature really exists in stride. Not so much their failure to stop him. In an explicable scene, Icho uses the itch ray on Yongary and the two of them dance to generic pop music.
Icho stumbles on a way to incapacitate the monster. His uncle takes it from there. In the end, Yongary is destroyed.
Icho is sad but philosophical. He knows Yongary had to be killed, but wishes the adults could’ve seen the monster dancing so happily. Icho’s uncle gets the remaining single girl.
KIND OF SPOILERS OVER
KIND OF SPOILERS OVER
KIND OF SPOILERS OVER
The movie’s human characters are likeable, even the annoying Icho. There are scenes of the politicians, scientists and military folks discussing possible courses of action in a manner done much better in 2016's Shin Godzilla.
Yongary was kind of sort of remade in 1999 as Yonggary, released in the U.S. as Reptilian. The remake is a decent giant monster film that casts the title monster as a Godzilla-like hero-villain. It’s a real stretch to seriously consider it a remake of the original.
The bottom line is Yongary: Monster from the Deep is simply not a very good film. The only reason I’d ever watch it again would be if the original uncut version surfaced, giving me a chance to compare the two. I’d recommend the existing version only to those monster movie fans who have to see every giant monster movie.
That’s all for today’s bloggy, my friends. Come back tomorrow for a recap of the things that made me happy in June.
© 2017 Tony Isabella
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