HOLLYWOOD FUNNY FOLKS

Hollywood Funny Folks #43 was on the newsstands in my birth month
of December 1951.  The cover features Nutsy Squirrel and his then-
partner Robert Rabbit.  On this cover by some unidentified artist,
possibly Rube Grossman, Nutsy looks kind of sort of like a cat to
me and Robert looks like a kid in a rabbit costume. 

Here’s what I know and it is precious little.  Nutsy was created by
writer Woody Gelman with art by Irving Dressler.  In 1951, Gelman
was still writing the character but the feature was being drawn by
Grossman, who drew lots of funny animal comics.  Nutsy was pretty
much insane.  Gelman wasn’t.  He also created the Dodo and the Frog
for DC, did lots of great stuff for Topps, and founded Nostalgia
Press, whose publications included reprint volumes of Flash Gordon,
Little Nemo, EC horror comics, and Scorch Smith.

Despite appearing in Hollywood Funny Folks, originally titled Funny
Folks, Nutsy didn’t appear in screen cartoons.  DC just thought the
comic book would sell more copies if its young readers believed its
characters came from cartoons.  I know, it’s hard to believe that
DC would ever lie to its readers or its freelancers or its staffers
or...you get the picture.  With truth and justice out the window,
the current Superman only stands for the American Way.  Except it’s
more like the Corporate Way.  But I digress.

If I weren’t unwelcome at DC, I’d pitch a new version of Hollywood
Funny Folks to the company.  One day of watching entertainment news
and Hollywood-based “reality” series would give the writer of such
a title all the “funny” folks he would ever need.

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

Bob Hoskins of Stormwatch Comics (West Berlin, New Jersey)
sent me Free Comic Book Day comics so I could write about
them here.  A good man, he is.

Atomic Robo/Neozoic/Bonnie Lass [Big 5 Comics] had three stories or
snippets of stories.  Of the three, Atomic Robo was the tightest.
The title hero is a robot built by Nikola Tesla who now heads up an
organization that uses science to save the world.  Written by Brian
Clevinger with art by Scott Wegener, it did a good job introducing
the characters and concepts in a fun little tale.  If I were buying
comics, Atomic Robo would rate a “maybe buy” from me.

Neozoic didn’t work as well with me.  The premise of the series is
that dinosaurs never died out, but the eight pages in this special
issue didn’t show a wide enough picture of what that world would be
like.  I’d likely pass on it.

Bonnie Lass is the daughter of a famous pirate and her adventures
involve supernatural and weird creatures.  The six-page intro was
fun.  I’d probably give it a shot.  The story was by Michael Mayne
and Tyler Fluharty with Mayne on script and art.

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

Dark Horse Comics offered a pair of flip books: Buffy/The Guild and
Serenity/Star Wars.  Each of the issues had a two-page fragment of
a new comics series called Alabaster.

Written by Andrew Chambliss with art by Georges Jeanty and Dexter
Vines, the Buffy story found the vampire slayer taking a vacation
on Spike’s spaceship and facing a vampire space bug.  It was a good
story and reminds me I should catch up on DH’s current Buffy book.

This FCBD issue was my first exposure to The Guild, which seems to
be about a group of role-playing game players.  I wasn’t completely
sold on this one - story by Felicia Day with art by Jonathan Case -
but I liked it enough to track down a collection if such a volume
exists.  More of the story might win me over.

Even reading just four pages between two comics, Alabaster: Shelter
looks pretty good.  Spunky young heroine Dancy Flammarion caught my
interest, as did the Caitlin R. Kiernan story and Steve Lieber art.
I’d buy this one.

As for the Serenity/Star Wars issue, I enjoyed the Serenity story
(script by Zack Whedon, art by Fabio Moon) and was less entertained
by the Star Wars tale (script by Zack Whedon, art by Davide Fabbri
and Christian Dalla Vecchia).  I’d buy the former and likely pass
on the latter, but that’s more due to ambivalence towards the Star
Wars prequels rather than the comics themselves.  I just can’t get
into Star Wars these days, even when the comics feature characters
I really like (Han Solo and Chewbacca).

****************************** 

The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel [Yen Press] gave readers the
manga’s entire 29-page first chapter.  However, as can sometimes be
the case with manga, there wasn’t enough background/information in
the chapter to give readers easy entry into the story and the world
of that story.  I’d pass on this one.

****************************** 

Jurassic Strike Force 5 [Silver Dragon] has 10 pages of a dinosaur
in armor fighting a robot...without any explanation of what’s the
back story.  Surprise, there’s also an ad for action figures from
the series.  Not so surprising, I found this FCBD special boring.
If I were buying comics, I couldn’t imagine ever buying this one.
Where’s the meteor when you need it.

Watch for more of my looking gift horses in the month as I continue
to read FCBD comics.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

LOVE LIVES IN THIS BLOG

I have little to say about Hi-School Romance #13 [Harvey; February
1952], which hit the newsstands in my birth month of December 1951.
“Darling Phil” is bewitched by a rose-tossing hussy on the cover.
The artist of this cover has not yet been identified.

Inside the issue is what seems to be the usual Harvey romance mix
of comics stories and features.  The latter include hints on crafts
and fashion, love advice, text stories, and letters from readers on
their most romantic moments.

The comics stories:

“Midnight Lover!” (8 pages)

“A Night To Be Loved” (4 pages)

“A Marriage Made in Heaven” (6 pages)

“My Revengeful Heart” (5 pages)

Harvey must have taken a last shot at romance in the 1960s because
I recently came across two annual-size issues of Hi-School Romance
from that decade.  I suspect I’ll read and write about them in the
near future.

Also in the near future are more comics from my birth month, but I
will be changing that up on occasion with comics from several other
important months in my comics life. 

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

The title of the blog entry was going to be something like “I’m Not
Always Angry, It Just Seems That Way” and I took several stabs at
it.  Because, Lord Godzilla knows, there a lot of things I can get
angry about.  I’ve written about some of them in the past and I’ll
likely write about some of them in the future.

Just not this weekend.

This weekend is all about the love.  The people and things who make
me happy.  The people and things that delight me.  The people and
things I love.  Health warning...it might get a wee bit sugary in
the next several hundred words.  Consult your doctor if this poses
a health risk for you.

We begin...

Some writer I am.  I can’t even begin to describe how much I love
my family...Barb, Eddie, Kelly, “other daughter” Giselle, our
wonderful friends and the fans of my work who have become friends.
Even with missing our away-at-college kids, I don’t think Barb and
I have ever been happier.  We’re always in each other’s corner and
we always have each other’s back.  Next month, we’ll celebrate our
28th wedding anniversary.

So many joys with Barb.  Sharing a quiet meal.  Juggling our crazy
schedules.  Even just kicking back and watching some TV. 

I used to watch Desperate Housewives with Barb, but gave up on the
show after a few years.  Barb has only watching it sporadically for
many years.  But I watched most of the series finale with her and
we enjoyed it. 

SPOILERS AHEAD

The stories of the main cast members were wrapped up nicely.  There
was also a bittersweet quality to the finale with the death of one
favorite supporting player and the realization these dear friends
were moving on.  It was sad, but very true to life.

My two favorite moments? Susan takes a final drive around the hood.
We see, dressed in white, those who had lived there and have passed
on, leaving a part of themselves behind.  That’s one.

Susan has a brief conversation with the woman who bought her house
and has just arrived to move in.  The woman seems skitterish as she
carries a mysterious box into the house and puts it in a secluded
cabinet.  It’s clear from this scene that, whether we are there to
see what happens or not, Wisteria Lane will continue to be a very
strange and dramatic place.

SPOILERS END

Later that week, Barb and I treated ourselves to an In Plain Sight
marathon of the show’s final four episodes.  No spoilers here, but
we were pleased with where the finale left Mary Shannon, Marshall
Mann and the rest of the cast.  With great characters and a strong
setting (The United States Federal Witness Protection Program), the
show was always entertaining and frequently thoughtful.  I’m happy
to see it go out so well.

Eddie, Kelly and Giselle have grown into amazing people.  Okay, we
can’t take the credit for Giselle, but we had something to do with
how the other two turned out.  I’m so darned proud of them I get a
little bit teary just thinking about them.

Oh, yeah, and I have a crazy cat named Simba who’s as friendly as
she can be without losing her feline street cred.  Most nights, she
sleeps where I sleep, cutting off circulation to my feet.  When I
am under the weather, she doesn’t leave my side.

Even with the expense of maintenance and renovation, what’s not to
love about our Tardis of a house?  Four levels, six bedrooms, great
kitchen open to our family room and more. 

Our block is pretty spiffy as well.  My kids and their friends call
it “The 800 Block” and even have t-shirts with that name on them.
Lots of kids of varying ages and they’re all great kids.  Parents
who look out for their kids, the other kids, and their neighbors.

I love comics as much as I ever did and maybe more since there’s so
much more variety available to me.  My local library, allied with
100 area libraries, gets me just about everything I want to read.
I get a couple dozen review items a month.  I borrow a whole bunch
of comics from a generous friend.  Not to mention the thousands of
unread comics and books I own.  If print died tomorrow, I might not
notice until 2112.

I love that I’m not fixed on one kind of comic book.  I can enjoy
super-heroes, humor, manga and more.  It can be a chore reading a
few years worth of DC or Marvel comics at a time, but I still take
delight in coming across good stories and character bits.  I never
expect a comics series to be exactly what it was when I first read
it, but I’m good with variations on a theme when they stay true to
the core of the original series.

I love having a small-ish body of comics work that readers continue
to enjoy to this day.  Sure, I wish I were writing new comics and
I’m not giving up on that - a subject for another day’s bloggy
thing - but, bottom line, if I never write another comic book, I
still have accomplished so much more than the occasional online
louts who attempt to annoy me from time to time.  I’m good.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more love.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

INSPIRING ARCHIE

Henry Aldrich #10 [February-March 1952] falls smack in the middle
of the 22 issues published by Dell Comics in the first half of the
1950s.  Aldrich was allegedly an/the inspiration for the amazingly
successful Archie of Archie Comics fame, but Henry’s own journey to
super-stardom is pretty interesting of itself.  With a tip of the
hat to Wikipedia...

Created by playwright Clifford Goldsmith, Henry was basically a bit
character in the author’s What a Life.  The play was produced and
directed by George Abbott and ran for 538 performance on Broadway
from April 13, 1938 to July 8, 1939.  Played by Ezra Stone, Henry
caught the eye of critics and the audience.  So much so that Rudy
Vallee asked Goldsmith to adapt the play for sketches that aired on
the bandleader’s radio program.  This was followed by a 39-week run
of sketches on The Kate Smith Hour.

The Aldrich Family got its own show in the summer of 1939. Opening
each show was a soon-to-become-famous exchange between Henry’s mom
and Henry: "Hen-reeeeeeeeeeeee! Hen-ree Al-drich!" followed by the
high-pitched "Com-ing, Mother!"  The teenage situation comedy ran
from 1939 to 1953. 

Paramount Pictures would make 11 Henry Aldrich films between 1939
and 1944 with Jackie Cooper playing the teenager in the first two.
A television series with an ever-changing cast debuted on October
2, 1949 on NBC and continued until a month after the radio series
ended in 1953. 

The TV series was responsible for the lowest moment in the life of
Henry Aldrich.  From Wikipedia:

The program garnered some adverse publicity when film and radio
veteran Jean Muir was signed to play Mrs. Aldrich in the second
season, which was to begin on August 27, 1950. Shortly before
Muir's scheduled premiere, right-wing groups accused the actress of
being a Communist sympathizer (her name appeared in Red Channels,
a pamphlet listing the names of performers allegedly involved in
left-wing activities), and General Foods, the show's sponsor,
cancelled the first episode of the new season, replacing her with
Nancy Carroll a week later, when the series returned on September
3rd. Muir went on to defend herself before a Congressional
committee, but her career never recovered from the charges.

Something to keep in mind watching today’s right-wingers indulge in
bigotry, fear, hate-mongering, distortion and outright lies.  They
haven’t changed in over 50 years and I long for the day when they
are consigned to the dustbin of history.

Lord knows what today’s right-wingers would have made of the above
comic-book cover.  Additionally, in the issue’s text story, which
ran on its inside front and back covers, Henry dresses up as Cupid
for a Valentine’s Day dance. 

The Grand Comics Database doesn’t have a credit for the artist of
the cover, text story illustrations, or the longest of the issue’s
four comics stories.  However, Bill Williams signed his 12-page and
single-page Henry Aldrich stories as well as a six-pager starring
Homer Brown, Henry’s best friend.

All of the above is second-hand knowledge.  I’ve never listened to
the Henry Aldrich radio program, watched any of the movies, or read
an issue of the comic book.  His TV series was long-gone before my
family owned a television set.  But, reading the various accounts
of Henry’s history, it becomes clear to me that many of the things
we associate with teen humor comics stem from Goldsmith’s creation.

Perhaps the next time Archie takes a stroll of the sort that have
previously led him to alternate pasts and futures, he could meet up
with Henry.  I suspect the two of them would hit it off.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

AMERICA’S SCREEN QUEEN

Though the cover of Hedy of Hollywood #47, which hit the newsstands
in my birth month of December 1951, proclaims the title heroine to
be “America’s Screen Queen,” I’m not buying it.  I did a search at
the Internet Movie Datebase and couldn’t find even a single acting
credit for her.  Nor were there credits for her director Trumpetski
or co-star Sandra the Star.  If you can’t believe what you read in
comic books...

There’s not much I can tell you about this issue.  The Grand
Comics Database only has the cover.  Atlas Tales had
a little more info, but not much.  Here’s what I have...

There were at least four stories in the issue, two of them starring
Hedy DeVine.  One story stars her director Trumpetski, who sort of
reminds me of Don DeLuise from Blazing Saddles.  The fourth story
stars Sandra the Star.  Ed Winiarski drew the cover and maybe all
of the inside stories.  Stan Lee wrote most and maybe all of them.
That’s all I got.

As always, I am eager to be enlightened by any bloggy thing readers
who know more about Hedy De Vine than I do.  Look for more covers
from my birth month in the weeks and months to come.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a full-sized bloggy thing.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

RAWHIDE WEDNESDAYS 10

Previously in Tony Isabella’s Bloggy Thing:

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

A passel of bounty hunters are backing our hero off a cliff on Jack
Kirby’s cover for The Rawhide Kid #26 [February 1962}.  Dick Ayers
inked the cover. 

If the scene looks familiar, it’s because the cover of The Rawhide
Kid #22 [June 1961] also showed the Kid being backed off a cliff by
the Terrible Totem.  The similarity leads me to speculate that the
earlier cover sold quite well and publisher Martin Goodman wanted
editor Stan Lee to do something like it sans monster.  The second
time around might not have been as successful as neither cliff nor
monster motif would again be used on a Rawhide Kid cover.

This issue has three Rawhide Kid adventures and a non-series tale.
“Trapped by the Bounty Hunter” - the cover story - suffers from its
too-short seven pages.  The tale opens with an uncharacteristically
jittery Kid spooked by the thought of an unknown bounty hunter on
his trail.  That sort of tension, which, at one point, has the Kid
ready to draw on just about anybody could have been extended for
a few more pages. 

“Trapped” opens strong with writer Stan Lee and the Kirby/Ayers art
team bringing real apprehension to the story.  Sure, we know that
the Kid will relax his guard and try to help someone he thinks is
in need, only to have that person turn out to be the bounty hunter.
A three-year-old could see that coming.  But it works.

When the bounty hunter is waylaid by the Grimm Gang - they’re the
ancestors Ben doesn’t like to talk about - the Kid is set free to
join the gang.  Instead, he takes them down and frees his captor,
getting himself wounded in the process.  The Kid figures this will
be the end of his trail.  He can’t shoot the bounty hunter and he
won’t be taken alive.  And then...the bounty hunter decides that he
doesn’t want to be a bounty hunter anymore.  He resigns and gives
his guns to the Kid. 

Forget Namor.  The Rawhide Kid is the first mutant.  His power is
to get people to quit their jobs.  The bounty hunter quit in this
story and a sheriff did likewise in issue #21 [April 1961].  I’m
thinking this could be the springboard for the launch of a brand-
new Rawhide Kid series:

RAWHIDE KID, THE WILD WEST MUTANT

But I digress.

“Shoot-Out in Scragg’s Saloon” - the second Rawhide Kid tale - does
well in its five pages and manages to convey some real emotion and
tragedy.  In the aforementioned establishment, Rawhide comes to the
aid of a janitor being bullied by a mug who’s teasing the old man
about the senior’s alleged son.  The old man thinks the Kid must be
his son, the child he says was abducted by “Injuns” years earlier.
The baffled Kid exits the bar, but not before two thugs recognize
him as a wanted outlaw and plot to ambush him for the reward in the
Kid’s head.

Later that day, the janitor, now dressed in his Sunday best, visits
Rawhide in the Kid’s hotel room.  Rawhide figures the old man for
crazy.  The old man follows the Kid down the street and spots the
ambushing thugs.  He throws himself in front of a bullet meant for
the Kid, who makes short work of the thugs.

The Kid rushes the old man to a doctor and grants the dying man’s
request to “tell ‘em you’re my son!” After the man passes, Rawhide
reflects that he could’ve been the guy’s son because he never knew
his father.  The doctor reveals the truth.

DOCTOR: No, son, he wasn’t! You see, he never had a child!! It was
all just a delusion!

RAWHIDE: All he wanted was for someone to call him “Pa”! He gave up
his life for it.

With his back turned to bystanders as he walks away, the Kid says:
So long...Pa!

Talented creators can deliver a solid story with a punch in a mere
five pages, especially if they’re Lee, Kirby, and Ayers.

“Strong-Man” is the non-series story.  It’s unsigned, but the GCD
credits Lee as the writer and I’m inclined to agree.  However, the
GCD is just plain wrong in listing Ayers as the artist of the five-
pager.  Atlas buff Tom Lammers pegs Bob Forgione for the job and,
again, I’m inclined to agree.

This isn’t one of Lee’s better five-pages.  A strong guy bullies a
town.  He steals an unsigned deed from a miner.  The miner tries to
stop the bully from entering the mine.  The bully doesn’t listen.
He should have.  The mine is a dud and also unstable.  When a man
of the bully’s stature leans against a post, the mine collapses on
him. The most interesting thing about the story is the blurb that
runs beneath its final page: You’ve never read a comic like “The
Fantastic Four”! Get your spine-tingling copy today!

The Marvel Age of Comics has begun.

For his third and final Lee/Kirby/Ayers adventure of the issue, the
Kid must face “The Bullet-Proof Man!” It’s five pages of fun that
practically begs a reviewer to be cruel to it.

Cack Clugg is the Bullet-Proof Man.  Stan must have thought “Cack
Clugg” was a terrific name because he uses the full name over and
over again.  No bullet can hurt Cack Clugg.  Cack Clugg is “plumb
bullet-proof.”  Cack Clugg speaks to anyone he wants to.

However, reading this story for the first time in years, what strikes me is
how much Cack Clugg looks like a scumbag lawyer I knew back when I
owned and operated a comic-book shop in downtown Cleveland.  Cack
Clugg is downright hideous.

When Cack Clugg - now I’m doing it - tries to force his attentions
on a comely damsel, the Kid gives him a boot in the ass.  So Cack
Clugg - it’s contagious - gets in Rawhide’s face and challenges him
to a gunfight.  After Cack Clugg has a drink. 

The concerned townspeople tell Rawhide he should get out of town.
The Kid asks for information about - say it with me - Cack Clugg.

Ain’t much to tell! He comes from the east!

When Cack Clugg returns to draw on the Kid, Rawhide uses a lasso to
yank the gun from Cack Clugg’s pudgy hand.  Then Rawhide clobbers
Cack Clugg with one-two punches.  The Kid explains his actions and,
if you haven’t been laughing derisively this whole time, this will
do it for you:

Look at my bullets! They’re blanks! Cack Clugg was nothin’ but a
pickpocket!

He’d get next to a man and change his bullets for blanks without
anyone knowin’ it!

Ain’t any pickpockets out west, but when I heerd he came from the
east, I suspicioned it right away!

Cack Clugg...first pickpocket west of the Mississippi.  Maybe not
Stan and Jack’s finest effort, but the kind of entertaining 1960s
silliness that you can’t hardly find back east.

Giddiyap, Nightwind! Let’s ride!

Look for more Rawhide Kid recollections next Wednesday.  I will be
back tomorrow with other stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

I FLIRTED WITH MADNESS

It’s been a while since I ran a cover from December 1951, which, as
we all know, is my birth month.  It’s Heart Throbs #9 [March 1952].
This Quality Comics series was returning to the newsstands after a
year-long publishing hiatus.  It would run 46 issues before being
sold to DC Comics when Quality gave up on the comic-book business.

Appearing on the issue’s photo cover are Hollywood’s Jane Russell
and Robert Mitchum.  The only clue I have as to what “I Hated Men”
was about is what’s in the cover copy.  The Grand Comics Database
doesn’t have any information about story content or the creators of
those stories.  But it does have their titles:

“I Hated Men” (9 pages)

“Mother's Boy” (6 pages)

“They Called Me a Poor Sport!” (8 pages)

“Blonde Heartbreaker” (7 pages)

I was going to make up plot synopsis for these stories to amuse my
legion of bloggy thing readers - we hit 100,000 views on Monday -
but the best I could come up with the dysfunctional super-hero duo
of the Blonde Heartbreaker and sidekick Mother’s Boy.  Maybe I’ll
write that origin story someday.  I already flirt with madness on
a daily basis.

Hmm...”I Flirted With Madness!”  That would be a good title for a
romance comic story.

******************************
                                             
Five Star Comics is published by Five Star Comics, a collective of
artists and writers based in the Ohio Valley and American Midwest.
Larry Blake sent me the first two issues of this anthology series,
52-page black-and-white comics priced at $5 apiece.

Five Star Comics #1 features five stories of heroes believed to be
in the public domain - Moth Man, Silver Streak, Marvel Maid, Flip
Falcon and Cave Girl - and done in styles reminiscent of the 1940s
and 1950s.  My favorite of the bunch was Blake’s own “Yesterday and
Today,” which introduced Missile, the great-granddaughter of Silver
Streak, and kind of sort of teamed her up with her great-granddad.
It’s an interesting concept that carried over into the Missile tale
in the second issue.  That one was written by Terence Hanley with
pencil art by Blake and inks by Tim Corrigan.

Cave Girl also returns in Five Star Comics #2.  New/old characters
making their first appearances in that issue are the Black Bat, son
of the original, and Lady Luck, granddaughter of the hero that ran
in Will Eisner’s Spirit sections. Rounding out the line-up for the
second issue are the Amalga-Mates, cojoined super-heroes.  Though
I find it hard to believe Lady Luck was allowed to lapse into the
public domain, her story was my favorite in the issue.  Both story
and art are by Gary Gibeaut. 

My specific quibble on the second issue revolves around the Amalga-
Mates.  Beside being pretty sure “Siamese twins” is now considered
an insensitive/offensive term, the story was poorly done and seemed
to mock its heroes.  The collective should be a bit more choosy in
what it publishes in this anthology.

My general quibble is what strikes me as an attitude that comics,
at least super-hero comics, stopped being fun half-a-century ago.
Old-time comics readers seem to embrace this idea with a religious
fervor, but it’s demonstrably erroneous.  There are plenty of fun
comics being published today if you’re willing to seek them out and
not insist they look and read exactly like the comics you read as
a kid.  Most of the characters in these two issues could have been
just as entertaining without the seeming insistence that they even
look like old comics.

I think many of my bloggy thing readers would enjoy these two comic
books.  Unfortunately, there’s no discernable way to order them on
the Internet.  You have to order them ($5 each postpaid) directly
from Blake.  His address is:

Larry Blake
69306 State Route 124
Reedsville, OH 45772 

Blake also sent me Terence Hanley’s Lucky Girl #1.  I found the 28-
page black-and-white comic book charming.  Its title heroine is a
young girl whose power is...she’s incredibly lucky.  She uses this
gift to solve ground-level crimes.  This is Hanley’s first comic,
which inexperience probably explains why there’s no publishing info
in the issue or a price on its covers.  However, an inserted slip
of paper gives his website address and, if you go there, you’ll see
this issue costs $3 plus $2 for shipping and handling.  Take a look
at Hanley's website.

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

Archie’s Americana Vol. 3: Best of the 1960s [IDW; $24.99] gathers
together thirty stories from that pivotal decade in a full-color,
spiffy keen hardcover.  From fashion and folk singers to proms and
giving peace a chance, the collection encompasses some of Archie’s
best artists and most clever writers.  Unfortunately, there are no
creator credits given for these stories and that’s a shame because
many of those credits were available at the Grand Comics Database.
“Measure Up” from Archie #148 [August 1964) is said to have been a
favorite of the late Richard Goldwater, President and Publisher of
Archie Comics.  Checking the GCD, I learned it was written by Frank
Doyle, my all-time favorite Archie writer, with pencil art by the
great Harry Lucey and inks by Marty Epp. Editors and publishers of
classic material have an obligation to give credit where credit is
due.  It’s the right thing to do.

ISBN 978-1613770795

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

Comments to this bloggy thing have to be approved by me before they
appear.  I could try to explain my reasons for this in as nice and
diplomatic a fashion as possible.  Or I could just come out and say
it’s because I’m not going to give a voice to online jerks.  They
know who they are and you know who they are.

But your comments are important to me and I’m going to respond to
them within this and future bloggy things.  First up is a question
from hobbyfan who, after sharing his thoughts on Marvel’s Avengers
movie, asked: “Tony, if you were asked to write a screenplay based
on some of your comics work, what would be your preference?”
Good question.  While I’d love to see a high-quality movie of Black
Lightning - and shudder to think what liberties a filmmaker might
have to take to make it attractive for an audience that expects big
flashy spectacle and special effects from super-hero movies - I’m
not the guy to write that movie, though I would, of course, love to
be an adviser on it.  As a writer who has never even attempted a
screenplay, my possibly surprising choice would be...It the Living
Colossus!

Regular readers know my love for giant monster movies.  Even as a
first-timer, I think I could write an exciting film featuring all
sorts of Marvel monsters from the pre-hero days.  The hardest part
would be limiting the Colossus’ opponents to a manageable number.
There are a dozen Marvel monsters I would love to include, but too
many would turn such a movie into nothing more than a CGI slugfest.
Having thus revealed my secret desire, I eagerly await phone calls
from George Lucas, Steven Spielberg or Roger Corman.    

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella

MIORE MUTANT MUSINGS

The road I traveled last week was bumpier than I could have hoped,
but comics always help smooth things out.  For reasons that likely
have something to do with having too many comic-book boxes fall on
my head, I’m catching up with Marvel’s multitudinous X-Men titles.
I’m currently reading titles from the last weeks of 2010, well on
my way towards my catch-up goal of the end of this month.

My friend Steve “The Steve” Chaput marvels at my desire to read so
many comic books to get current on titles, but it’s not difficult
for me.  I have a not-carved-in-stone “eight-page rule” which gives
comic books that many pages to hook me.  I’ve adapted that rule a
bit for the X-Men titles.

When a X-title proves to be as mediocre as, say New Mutants by Zeb
Wells or X-Force by the writing team of Craig Kyle and Christopher
Yost, I pretty much just skim them.  That moves my reading along a
little faster.

There always seems to be an “event” of one sort or another going on
in some or all of the X-Men titles.  Necrosha seems to have been an
excuse to bring back lots of dead characters, many of them boring.
Even if I still don’t believe any American president would give so
much power to a Norman Osborn, I thought Utopia made sense within
the Marvel Universe.  Despite my dislike for its back-from-the-dead
villains, Second Coming was exciting and well-coordinated with some
actual and tragic consequences.  Granted, tragic consequences are
undone with regularity in comic books.

Because I’m writing about so many comic books that were published
a few years back, I’m not writing reviews per se here.  Just some
general comments that occur to me as I box up the issues to return
them to the generous friend who loans them to me.

X-Force didn’t have a chance with me.  Cyclops creating a secretive
“kill team” never rang true.  That he now regrets that decision is
a good thing.  That there now seems to be a new “kill team” that he
doesn’t know about isn’t.  That the new “kill team” is led by the
overexposed Wolverine makes it even worse.  My friend passed on the
Uncanny X-Force title, but I have some of the collection editions
coming via my local library.

Wolverine continues to be a bad brutal joke.  His healing factor is
cartoon-ish.  One of my readers tells me Wolverine was once thrown
into the sun and healed from that.  That’s just stupid.

Wolverine’s search for the monster who “created” him turned out to
be insanely boring.  The dreaded “big bad” was basically a bigger
older Logan and we’ve seen that before.  Also eye-rolling boring
was anything involving Wolverine’s sociopath son Daken. 

Wolverine’s comics seem to be little more than exercises in blood-
letting, degradation, and torture.  He gets torn to pieces, forced
to kill innocents, sent to Hell, and it makes for really bad comic
books.  There was a time when Chris Claremont gave the character a
sense of purpose, a quest to rediscover his humanity and become a
true hero.  I use to like that Wolverine.

Peter David’s X-Factor remains my favorite of the X-titles.  Sans
any major headlines, David has consistently written good and even
great stories with Madrox, Layla Miller, Wolfsbane, and the rest.
Save for Second Coming, X-Factor has avoided various X-events
and, in that instance, the team's physical distance from Utopia allowed
the team to play a role in the event more in keeping with the tone
of their own title.  I also get a kick out of the oft-adversarial
Cyclops and Madrox relationship.

Though today’s X-Men are far from the X-Men I grew up with in the
1960s and as a Marvel writer and editor in the 1970s, I like many
elements of these titles.  I like Cyclops truly coming into his own
as a leader.  I love his relationship with Emma Frost.  I’m crazy
about Emma Frost and her quest for redemption.  I get a kick out of
the Science team created by Hank McCoy and, though saddened to see
Hank leave the X-Men over issues of morality, such a tough decision
makes him even more heroic in my book.

Namor and the X-Men? It’s a great concept, made more so by the oft-
uneasy alliance between Utopia and New Atlantis.  While having so
many mutants in one place may make them an easier target for their
enemies, the mix of personalities delights me.

Magneto on Utopia?  My jury of one is out on this one.  Despite
Magneto's past, I’m still a sucker for a good redemption story
and his could be one of the best.  He’s a complex character and
I hope he stays on the side of the angels. 

X-Men Legacy isn’t as strong as Uncanny X-Men or X-Factor, but its
saving grace is its emphasis on Rogue.  The character has finally
and fully come into her potential.  She’s admirable and effective,
a role model for mutants young and old.  I hope she remains a major
player in the X-titles.

Marvel published a neverending supply of X-Men mini-series and one-
shots.  In this catching-up phrase of mine, I’ve read some of those
and put others aside for later reading.  Here are quick thoughts on
a few of the ones I read...

Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis (2010) is a limited series by Warren
Ellis with art by Kaare Andrews.  It’s a gritty inventive tale set
in Africa with a bunch of seeming mutant births in a small village
attracting the attention of the X-Men and then bringing them into
contact and an uneasy alliance with a local dictator.  It is, by no
means, a warm and cuddly story but it is an engaging and well-done
story.  It ran five issues.

Maddox (2004) is a five-issue mini-series by Peter David with art
by Pablo Raimond.  This one is mutant detective noir with Maddox as
the private eye.  It’s real good.

I have mixed feelings about Magneto: Testament (2008) by Greg Pak
with art by Carmine Di Giandomenico.  It’s a five-issue account of
Magneto’s childhood under the Nazi occupation of Europe.  Though
well-done, well-researched and moving in a horrifying way, the tale
somewhat fails as a Magneto story.  His being a mutant and his powers
are downplayed to such an extent that the series protagonist need
not have starred Magneto.  Still worth reading.

Mekanix (2002) is five issue of Kitty Pryde trying to fit in at the
University of Chicago and coming into conflict with a nasty group
of mutant-haters.  It’s written by Chris Claremont with art by Juan
Bobillo and Marcelo Sosa.  It’s not a great series, but it’s good
enough to get a “worth reading” from me.

Muties (2002) was a six-issue anthology series featuring one-shot
stories of mutants.  Good concept, so-so execution.  I prefer Demo,
the 2003-2004 series by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan and published
by AiT/Planet Lar.  That twelve-issue series revolved around young
people with supernatural powers, but often de-emphasized the powers
in its stories.

New Mutants Forever (2010) is a five-issue series in which writer
Chris Claremont picks up from where his run on New Mutants ended.
Drawn by Al Rio and Bob McLeod - Claremont and McLeod created the
series - it’s not outstanding but it is quite readable.  Which is
not an insult in my book.  Had I bought these issues and not just
borrowed them, I would have happy with my purchase.

X-Men/Spider-Man (2009) is another interesting concept that doesn’t
quite come together.  These are stories taken from four different
years in the lives of these heroes with a plot element connecting
them all.  Written by Christos Gage with art by Mario Alberti, it’s
worth checking out.

That’s all my mutant musings for the week.  I’ll be back tomorrow
with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella