APB

Cop fiction. Veteran readers of this bloggy thing will recall I’m a big fan of cop fiction and have been since my days in the Marvel Bullpen. On at least one occasion, Don McGregor did a reading from an 87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain. That got me hooked on McBain’s books and cemented by love of the kind of sort of genre.

Two of my all-time favorite TV shows are NYPD Blue and Hill Street Blues. Depending on how long such a list would run, you’d see many other cop shows on it as well.

I love mixing cop fiction with super-heroes, the supernatural and science fiction. Gotham Central. Lucifer. Robocop. Just to name a few such pairings.

So when a show like Fox’s APB comes along with this premise...

After witnessing his best friend's murder, a tech billionaire makes an unprecedented deal to privatize the troubled local police force and transform it with cutting-edge technology, challenging Chicago's 13th District to rethink everything about the way they fight crime.

...you know I have to check it out.

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Some critics of the show have called it derivative. That’s not an unfair observation. When Justin Kirk plays Gideon Reed, there are clear echoes of Robert Downey, Jr.’s portrayal of Tony Stark from Iron Man and all those other Marvel movies. However, to the credit of Kirk and the writers, the character is convincing when his best friend dies in his arms, when he tries to bond with the officers under his command, when their initial rejection of him and his tech hurts him, when he realizes the mayor really wants him to fail and when he becomes fully conscious of the enormity of the task he has undertaken. As long as Kirk and the writers keep the cockiness and the seriousness in equal measure, the character will continue to be real to the audience.

Natalie Martinez is excellent as Amelia Murphy, her name likely a nod to Robocop. She has played many detectives and police officers in her career. She has the cop role down. What distinguishes Murphy from Martinez’s other cop roles is that she appears to be a single, divorced mother sharing custody of her son with said son’s father. It’s underplayed, though we definitely saw her mother’s dislike of the father in the brief scene. With Murphy being the only regular character shown to have a life outside of the police work, this is a part of her life that needs exploring.

“Murphy” is not the only nod to Robocop. There is a Robocop vibe to this pilot. Less dystopian, but still there.

Three more actors worth mentioning here. Ernie Hudson, who has been a favorite of mine since Ghostbusters and who has shown incredible range over his career, plays Sgt. Ed Conrad. Not much was done with Conrad in the pilot. That should change because Hudson could be a major asset to the series.

Nestor Serrano as the slimy Mayor Michael Campos brings the evil to the show. He’s appropriately dismissive when Reed first makes his proposal, quietly seething when he realizes Reed has left him no choice but to agree to the proposal and downright menacing when he realizes Reed is a threat to his power. He’s a worthy adversary for Reed and I hope the writers keep the character away from any ties to crime families or some such. He’s a callous politician. That’s plenty of evil for one character.

Kevin Chapman isn’t a regular, but the Internet Movie Database has him appearing in at least three episodes. He played Fusco in Person of Interest. The man just looks like a cop who has seen too much of it all, but is still in the fight. I hope the series makes use of Chapman’s talents.

The technological centerpieces of this series are the APB app that allows citizens real-time communication with the police and the advanced drones Reed puts into the field.  

This amazing app comes with drawbacks. Some people can’t resist the urge to try it out whether there’s an emergency or not. I suspect “crying wolf” will be a part of other episodes as well. Because, in the real world, even without such technology, police departments do get bogus calls and even well-intentioned false calls.

The drones are very visual and, by the end of the episode, they are upgraded to be more effective. There are lots of ways to go here. Drones could be hacked. Drones could be protested as an invasion of privacy. Drones could be misused by police officers for their own personal benefit.

The pilot episode is shy on stunning moments. Reed tries too hard. Some things don’t go as planned. A rookie officer gets injured on the job. Reed has a brief crisis of confidence. The mayor tries to bully the billionaire. But, by the end of the episode, the killer of Reed’s friend is brought to justice. That’s when we get a pair of great moments.

The first is when Murphy asks Reed what happens next. He’s got what he wanted - justice for his friend - but what happens next. And I think this is the start of Reed maturing from brilliant dilettante to committed police commander.

The second is when, following this initial success of the APB app, their board lights up with calls from all over the city of Chicago. The 13th District was meant to be a test precinct. But the entire city wants in on this new technology. That scene of that big board lighting up is nothing short of amazing. It make me downright eager to see what happens next.

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APB has a solid premise. It’s got several outstanding actors. The pilot might not have been as solid as the premise, but it was good enough to bring me back next week. For now, I’m in.

Some additional notes from IMDb and elsewhere:

Following the departure of series creator David Slack over creative differences, Matt Nix has hired to be the new show runner. Nix is the creator of Burn Notice and The Good Guys, both of which I liked quite a bit.

IMDb claims the series is...Based on New Orleans sanitation magnate Sidney Torres and his formation of the French Quarter Task Force, a semi-privatized police force he created to deal with the rise of crime in his neighborhood after Hurricane Katrina.

Also from IMDb...The drone Gideon demonstrates at the beginning of the episode has the code name "TK421". This is the designation of the stormtrooper Luke Skywalker impersonates on the Death Star in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977).

That’s all for today, my friends. I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2017 Tony Isabella

RAWHIDE KID WEDNESDAY 101

The Rawhide Kid is my favorite western comics character and one of my favorite comics characters period.  Something about the short of stature (but big on courage and fighting skills) Johnny Clay spoke to the short of stature (but big on comics-reading skills) teenage Tony Isabella.  After rereading the Kid’s earliest adventures when Marvel Comics reprinted them in a pair of Marvel Masterworks and an Essential Rawhide Kid volume, I wanted to reacquire every Rawhide Kid comic, reread them and write about them in this bloggy thing of mine. This is the 101st installment in that series.

The Rawhide Kid #115 [September 1973] has a cover by Larry Lieber with inks by Frank Giacoia. Inside, “The Last Gunfight” (14 pages) is written and penciled by Lieber, inked by George Roussos, colored by Linda Lessmann and lettered by June Braverman. It’s the last new Rawhide Kid story that will appear in this title.

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A lawman in the “twilight” of his life is practicing his shooting skills with his young son Davy. Sadly, the man’s eyes are weak and his hands have become unsteady. He plans to hang up his badge in a few days. By chance, on their ride back to town, the sheriff spots and recognizes the Rawhide Kid.

Knowing he’s no match for the wanted fugitive, the sheriff sets up a trap. Dave pretends to have a broken leg. When the Kid dismounts to help him, the lawman gets the drop on him from behind. The Kid unhitches his gun belt and is taken prisoner. He’ll be kept in the town jail until the territorial marshal can get him.

The Kid seems strangely resigned to his fate. He asks the sheriff if it matters to the lawman if he’s innocent. The sheriff says it doesn’t:

I’m just a lawman...not a judge and jury! It was my job to bring yuh in and I did it! Period!

Elsewhere, gunman Carl Kane has escaped from his captors. His gang is waiting for him with a horse. He tells his men that he’s got a score to settle. With the same sheriff who caught the Rawhide Kid and who caught Kane years ago. If you’re thinking just a little bit “High Noon,” you’re on the money.

Two good men are facing major life-changing events. The sheriff is going to face Kane alone. Not one of the men in the town will stand by him. They say this is the sheriff’s fight. And, in his cell, the Kid is facing a life in prison.

The Kid decides he must break out of the town jail. He fakes having a burst appendix, tricking the sheriff into coming into the cell.  He knocks the older man out, grabs his guns and heads for freedom. When the sheriff comes to, he knows he can’t go after the Kid. He has to stay and face Kane and his gang.

The fleeing Rawhide Kid spots the afore-mentioned gang heading for the town. It gives him pause:

I thought I could do it! I thought I could vamoose and let a hard-nosed old lawman handle his own problems! But I can’t! I can’t just ride off and let that sheriff die in the dust! I’ve got to go back to Rustwood!

Digression. What kind of town names itself “Rustwood”? First off, wood doesn’t rust. Second, wouldn’t you want a more inviting name for a town? Unless the town was founded by someone named Rustwood  who wanted to share his misery. End of digression.

The townspeople are surprised the Kid is back. The lawman doesn’t believe he’s there to help and thinks he’s working with Kane. But the sheriff realizes Rawhide is all he’s got.

Things move fast. At the sheriff’s cabin, Kane kidnaps Davy. One of his men comes to town and tells the lawman to come to Puma Pass to face Kane and his gang. The sheriff despairs, but the Kid comes up with a plan.

It’s conveniently raining. The Kid covers his clothes with a poncho and wears the sheriff’s star. He fools Kane and the gang just long enough to get Davy to cover. That’s when the shooting starts.

The Kid takes out Kane’s three men. He’s facing Kane. That’s when the lawman tells Rawhide to stand down:

I couldn’t have taken on the whole gang! But now that you’ve evened the odds...Kane is mine!

Kane draws first and wounds the sheriff in the shoulder. The lawman raises his own gun and shoots Kane dead.

Rawhide is impressed:

You won, sheriff! Not with speed or fancy tricks...but with a raw courage that age couldn’t kill!

He then asks:

Now what happens between you and me?

The sheriff responds:

Nothing! It’s no longer muh job to bring yuh in! Yuh see, muh term in office ended a couple minutes ago! I’m no longer the sheriff of Rustwood. I’m just an ordinary citizen!

An old man who has fought his last gunfight. A man who wants only peace and quiet from here on out.  

The Kid hopes the retired lawman finds it. He hopes they both do. It’s a satisfying ending for the story and, in some ways, even for the series.

The Rawhide Kid rides off to face the challenges of staying alive and staying free, always searching for a happiness and a peace he may never find. His legend lives on.

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This story has never reprinted in the United States, but there was a French-Canadian edition of this issue. I don’t think Lieber knew this was the last new Rawhide Kid story for the title. Indeed, he was already working on another story which would end up in Western Team-Up #1 [November 1973], a one-shot that wasn’t actually a team-up book. Additionally, this issue’s letter column does not mention that the title is going all-reprint.

Bloggy note. I’ll be writing about Western Team-Up #1 as soon as I can get a copy of the issue. Watch for it.

Just before the last page of “The Last Gunfight,” there’s a half-page house ad for Savage Tales #2, which is said to be on sale June 26. The 76-page, black-and-white magazine features the first part of “Red Nails” by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith, a non-series story by Gerry Conway and Gray Morrow and other features. The issue also reprinted the Roy Thomas/Bernie Wrightson story from just two years prior and a Crusader story by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely from Black Knight #1 [May 1955].
                                                                            

This issue’s non-series back-up story is “The Life and Death of the Phoenix Kid” (5 pages) with art by Jay Scott Pike. The writer has yet to be identified, but the tale originally appeared in Frontier Western #10 [August 1957].

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A young man - “You’re Pete Bannock’s boy! You wouldn’t hold me up!” - takes up crime, robbing a general store and taking the name “The Phoenix Kid.” He vows folks who get to know that name from one end of the territory to the other.

Bannock holds up stores and stagecoaches again and again. He shoots and, though the story isn’t specific about this, likely commits a few murders along the way. His wanted posters, offering a reward of $1000, are everywhere. He’s kept his vow.

But when he robs a mail stage, he commits a federal offense. Now he is being pursued by government lawmen. He flees through the desert, but the trip takes its toll on him and a horse. Needing some fresh transportation, he sneaks up on a campfire, clubs the one man there and steals the man’s pony.

Bannock is moving faster than the posse, but the lawmen remain on his trail. He thinks stealing the pony was good luck because it’s faster than any horse he’s ever ridden. That’s because it is not, as he learns, a “paleface horse.” His instructors are two braves. He tries to bribe them. They aren’t interested.

The story’s last three captions...

Minutes later, the braves rode off, taking the stolen pony with them...

The contents of his saddlebags were scattered by the desert wind, while a lone coyote howled at the cloud-tossed moon...

The posse found him the next day, and they put him to rest with the others on lonely Boot Hill...
His tombstone reads:

The Phoenix Kid
Violence was his way
So he lived
So he died!

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Though the story is so straight-forward as to be uninteresting, I thought the Pike art was first-rate. The scripting had its moments, such as in those last panels quoted above. This was the only time this tale was reprinted in the United States.

The half-page Marvel Bullpen Bulletins plugged a variety of Marvel magazines and comic books: Savage Tales, some annuals (Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Conan the Barbarian), Dracula Lives, Tales of the Zombie, Crazy Magazine and Strange Tales starring Brother Voodoo. There was also a brief obit for Bill Everett, the creator of Sub-Mariner, who passed away on February 27, 1973. The rest of the page is the usual half-page house ad for FOOM, the Friends of Ol’ Marvel fan club.

The “Riding the Trail with Rawhide” letters column was once again a half page of very small type. There were three missives from readers. Robert Bendt of San Francisco praised Rawhide Kid #112, especially applauding supporting characters Cole and Nora. I also liked those two characters.

M. Posey (no address( called Marvel out for the racism in Rawhide Kid #110. Bloggy readers will recall I had problems with the issue as well. In its response, Marvel speaks to the times in which this story was set, mentions sympathetic treatment of Native Americans in Red Wolf and Man-Thing, and promises to be more careful in the future.

“Darango” of Alden, New York loves westerns, but has never read a western comic book because he thought they would make westerns look like the Three Stooges. But he loved Rawhide Kid #109 and plans to buy future issues of the book. He also requested a story explaining how the Kid got his horse Nightwind.

The rest of the page was a house ad for Dracula Lives! #3 [October 1973] which features new stories by Marv Wolfman with John Buscema, Gerry Conway with Alfonso Font, and a Dracula/Solomon Kane battle by Roy Thomas and Alan Weiss. There were also reprints of vampire comics from the 1950s and the usual text features.

The next issue of Rawhide Kid would commence the title’s new status as an all-reprint title. If all goes as planned, the next edition of “Rawhide Kid Wednesday” will feature that issue and at least one more reprint issue.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2017 Tony Isabella

TONY'S TIPS #195

This week in TONY'S TIPS at Tales of Wonder...Monsters Unleashed Prelude, a 264-page collection of 13 of the giant monster stories by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers and Steve Ditko, along with some more recent stories...I Am Jim Henson, the latest in the “Ordinary People Change the World” series of children’s books by Brad Meltzer and Christopher Eliopoulos...and manga classic NonNonBa by Shigeru Mizuki!

POWERLESS

Set in a DC Universe that includes Batman, Crimson Fox, Lex Luthor and Starro the Conqueror, Powerless made its NBC television debut last Thursday at 8:30 pm. The sitcom stars Vanessa Hudgens as Emily Locke and Alan Tudyk as Van Wayne. She’s the newly-hired director of research and development at Wayne Security in Charm City. He’s the CEO of the failing company. The firm designs products to make people safe in a world where super-heroes and super-villains cause collateral damage on a daily basis. I watched the pilot the night it first aired.

There are things I like about this pilot episode. There are things I don’t like about this pilot episode. There’s no way I could hate a series that features a cameo appearance by Starro the Conqueror from the first Justice League of America story...or that uses some classic comic-book covers in its opening credits. That said, I do have concerns.

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First and foremost, with the exception of the wonderful Tudyk, I’m not seeing any serious comedic chops in this cast. That’s okay for Hudgens. She’s the determined and hopeful young executive with the sincere desire to help people and make the company a success. But the delivery of the jokes by other cast members was weak. They all need to enhance that part of their performances.

I did like Christina Kirk as Jackie, Wayne’s executive assistant. She’s got moxie and, according to Wikipedia, her character is a fan of super-heroes. The “fan” aspect and the pushing back against the insufferable Van could serve her character well.

Tip to the writers: “Dumb” is not the same thing as “funny.” Some of the protection devices are blatantly absurd. A protective suit that only works once. Kryptonite glass which, being made of what I assume is a rare substance on Earth, would be astronomically expensive to produce in the necessary quantities. Engineering goofs can be humorous in this show, but the dumber you make the devices, the less creditable you make their inventors. Smart people can be funny. Witness the creative and popular success of CBS’s The Big Bang Theory.

Case in point for smart inventions: the EpiPen-like device that can inject its user with an antidote to the Joker’s venom. The device itself is a brilliant idea. The notion that, unable to come up with a next big thing, the best the company can do the following year is to simply release the device in a different color, made me laugh.

There’s another smart invention with a great payoff, but I’ll get to that in a bit. It’s worth the wait.

There are several nice “super-hero world” touches in this premiere episode. The resigned look on a man’s face when his car is crushed by a transit train that went off the rails during a battle between the Crimson Fox and a villain. Her staff buying Emily a bus pass on account of buses are safer than trains in this super-hero world of theirs. That background shot of Starro near the top of a skyscraper makes me smile every time I think of it. That juxtaposition of the fantastic and the mundane is key to this series.

There are some “inside” jokes that will make me watch this episode a second time because I missed them. The one I didn’t miss was an unseen Adam West voicing a commercial. One I missed is that a newscaster was apparently named “Marv Wolfman.” Is there no end to my pal Marv’s talents?

Digression. I want Emily to adopt a super-cat. If we can’t have a “Streaky” on Supergirl, maybe we can have one here?

Now that smart invention with the great payoff...

Inventor Wendy (Jennie Pierson) is mean to Emily from the get-go. She makes a device that warns her whenever Emily comes near to her. After a comment by another character that it would be nice if there was some way citizens could be warned of the approach of a super-villain like the currently-marauding Jack-O-Lantern, Emily comes up with the idea of adapting Wendy’s device for that very purpose.

They come up with a wrist device that can detect Jack-O-Lantern's unique scent pattern. It works. The unseen and unheard Bruce Wayne says the device will be put into Beta testing. The firm is saved. But, wait, there’s more.

Later, Emily and her team see a news report about how Batman used a new “scentreceptor” to track the Joker. Emily is surprised Batman came up with the same idea they did, and hopes that someday they'll work for him. A delightful moment.

Digression. I hope we see more such moments when something Emily’s team comes up with is reported to have been used by Batman or some other hero. It makes perfect sense that Bruce Wayne would want to keep Wayne Security operating for no other reason than the firm’s occasionally coming up something of use to him in his war against crime. It’s one answer to the eternal question of where Batman gets his wonderful toys.

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Summing up...

Powerless has a great premise. The series is in a position to make use of DC’s super-heroes without actually showing them. This will please comics fans, even those comics fans who don’t actually read comic books. Hey, it’s the world we live in.

Hudgens and Tudyk are the stand-out performers in this cast. Emily doesn’t need to be funny. She needs to be earnest and to react to the funny. Van needs to keep being the whiny asshat consumed with his “first world problems” and not really giving a darn about the firm or other people. His deadpan delivery of funny lines will work for this show.

Kirk has great potential. The writers need to give her every chance to become the third lead of the show. Since her character seems to have a thing for super-heroes, maybe the inventors can come up with a dating app for “civilians” and “supers” to connect.

The rest of the cast needs to bring their game up. The writers need to work with them on this.

Most importantly, the scripts have to be smart-funny and not dumb-funny. If they go for cheap super-hero laughs, they will mock the popular genre at the expense of the show. Embrace the genre. Treat it seriously and let the laughs grow out of that.

I’ll keep watching Powerless. Who knows...maybe the writers will name an obnoxious television pundit after me.

I’ll be back on Wednesday with more stuff. 

© 2017 Tony Isabella

ABOUT COMICS AND HISTORY

My friend Nat Gertler’s About Comics publishes comics and comics-related books as well as historical material that usually but not always has something to do with comics and/or cartooning. If that sounds a little less than exact, it’s because the company has put out books ranging from Charles M. Schulz’s It's Only a Game: The Complete Color Collection and remembrances of the beloved Schulz by his friends to comic-book reprint volumes to books about creating comics to Adult Coloring Books of the 1960s. Oh, yeah, and in its spare time, Gertler and About Comics created 24-Hour Comics Day, an  international celebration of comics creation that generated tens of thousands of pages every year.

Earlier this week, Nat sent me three of his most recently published  books. They were so unusual and, far more important, so interesting I read them within a day of their arrival.

Vic the Vet by Gabe Josephson [$9.99] is a new edition of a World War II Purple Heart recipient’s college cartoons about going back to school on the G.I. Bill. The collection was originally published by the Syracuse University Press in 1947. This new edition includes an informative introduction by Gertler, historical notes that put the cartoons in context and a cartoon that wasn’t included in the original volume. The book had me at its back cover blurb:

SURE, THEY BEAT THE NAZIS, BUT NOTHING PREPARED THEM FOR THE HORRORS OF...ACADEMIA!

The cartoons, featuring a look-alike of Josephson, were taken from the Daily Orange, the campus newspaper of Syracuse. They are funny snapshots of their times. One might show its soldier protagonist as he tries to adjust to being a college student. The next shows the fashions or the “customs” of the day. Josephson’s talents are being formed in these single-panel cartoons which also reveal some of his artistic influences, such as Dr. Seuss.

Digression. Has there been a collection of college life cartoons over the decades? When I look at Josephson’s work and think of the campus life of my children in the past decade, I wonder how those institutes of higher education got from there to now, and how they reflected all those decades. End of digression.

Coming in at just over a hundred pages, Vic the Vet was a very cool way to spend a couple hours. After his graduation, Josephson went on to become a cartoonist and book illustrator for such clients as Walt Disney Productions, the New York Times Book Review and Sesame Street. His The Skier’s Coloring Book is reprinted in the afore-mentioned Adult Coloring Books of the 1960s. I’m forever fascinated by comics I never knew existed. If you’re of a similar historical bent, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this book.

ISBN 978-1-9364-0465-0
                                                                         

                                                                             

Also from About Comics...

Published by Victor H. Green, The Negro Motorist Green-Book: 1940 Facsimile Edition [$8.99] and The Negro Travelers' Green Book: 1954 Facsimile Edition [$8.99] aren’t comics-related. These 5 by 6.5 inches books were originally prepared by Green, who was “a New York mailman when he decided to start a travel guide for folks like him, the rising African-American middle class with the means to travel. His success with publishing the series, known to his customers simply as "the Green Book" led to him starting a travel booking agency aimed at the same market.”

Some history about these fascinating books:

The Green Book, first published in 1936, was [for folks] having the finances and vehicle for travel but facing a world where social and legal restrictions barred them from many accommodations. At the time, there were thousands of “sundown towns,” towns where African Americans were legally barred from spending the night there at all.

There was no Internet to guide Green in creating his travel guides. The United States Travel Bureau was one of his sources, but he also relied on reports from his customers. The thinness of these books (respectively, 52 and 88 pages) reveals the difficulty of his task and the paucity of African-American acceptance by whites in those times. I think my heart sank when I saw how few accommodations were available in even a large city like my native Cleveland. Just as my heart sinks when I see so many open racists appointed to positions of power in the Peepee Cheeto administration. Will this battle ever be won?

When the weather gets nicer, I hope to spend a day visiting some of the Cleveland sites listed in these books. I don’t expect to find the original structures, but I think it’ll be time well spent. If we do not remember history...

I recommend these guide books, especially if you’re interested in African-American and U.S. history.

The Negro Motorist Green-Book: 1940 Facsimile Edition

ISBN 978-1-9364-0467-4

The Negro Travelers' Green Book: 1954 Facsimile Edition

ISBN 978-1-9364-0466-7

That’s all for now. I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2017 Tony Isabella

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY (January 2017)

Happy is something we will have to fight for in 2017. I have never seen a more deplorable President in my lifetime. I have never seen so many Nazis welcomed into our government and given positions of influence and actual power. I have never seen such vicious assaults on common decency, the common good, and the traditional compassion, generosity and tolerance of the American people.  

However...even as many good and intelligent people continue to fight for justice against the Peewee Cheeto regime...I think it’s important to also recognize the people, events and creations that bring joy to our lives in this and other times of adversity. Every day, on my Facebook page and on Twitter, I remind myself of these blessings in a segment I call “Things That Make Me Happy.”

At the end of each month, for my bloggy thing readers who might not be following me on Facebook or Twitter, I collect the items posted during that month. Here’s what I posted in January...

January 1: TGI2017! Though there are many challenges ahead of us in the new year, I’m glad to be done with 2016.

January 2: Hanky panky. Meat, cheese, seasonings, pumpernickel or rye bread. We make these tasty treats every New Year’s Day. I love ‘em.

January 3: The CW/DC’s Greg Berlanti for so many reasons and with congratulations on his engagement.

January 4: ABC’s To Tell the Truth. It’s good goofy fun. I even get a kick out of host Anthony Anderson’s mom.

January 5: The Dennis the Menace comic books of the late 1950s and early 1960s. We need more reprints of those.

January 6: The life-affirming and progress-promoting anthem that is Hairspray’s “Can’t Stop the Beat.”

January 7: Planned Parenthood. Provided vital health care services to women since 1916. #IstandWithPP

January 8: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.” It has been doing this necessary work since 1920 and is needed today more than ever. I am proud to be a member.

January 9: Meryl Streep. Because artists must always speak truth to power and power’s moronic supporters.

January 10: Southern Poverty Law Center. Fighting for civil rights and the public interest since 1971. Republicans want to remove its non-profit status, one more reason to support it.

January 11: President Obama’s amazing farewell address, a blueprint for what an American leader should be. I hope our choices in 2018 and 2020 reflect that.

January 12: The NAACP. Mission: “the political, educational, social and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.” I am now a proud member of this 108-year-old organization.

January 13: The OutServe-SLDN. It provides free and direct legal assistance to LGTB service members and veterans worldwide. I made my first donation to the organization this week.

January 14: My latest DC Legion of Collections box. What’s not to love about a Krypto t-shirt and 1960s Batman and Robin salt and pepper shakers?

January 15: Fatwa. Created by and starring Aasif Mandvi, it’s a new Showtime sitcom about a down-on-his-luck cartoonist whose life gets better after a fatwa is declared against him. I’m looking forward to it.

January 16: I have a hot date for Pensacon 2017. Sainted Wife Barb will be joining me at the Florida convention.

January 17: Roy Wood Jr.’s amazing Steve Harvey impersonation on The Daily Show. So brilliant!

January 18: Love is Love. Both the sentiment and the inspirational comics anthology for the survivors of the Orlando Pulse shooting.

January 19: DC’s Powerless. The official trailer made me laugh out loud. Looking forward to the series, which will made its debut tonight on NBC.

January 20: The pleasant young ladies at the local Bureau of Motor Vehicles, especially the one who was so sweet suggesting the color of my hair was now gray.

January 21: The Daily Show Inauguration Day Special. The laughs I needed and a hilarious musical number.

January 22: Here’s to the ladies who march and all those who love and support them.

January 23: Chuck Todd and Merriam-Webster calling out deplorable Kellyanne Conway on her “alternative facts” bullshit.

January 24: A family member’s release from prison after serving a too-long sentence for a non-violent white collar crime.

January 25: Marvel’s Monsters Unleashed Prelude arrived yesterday. Looking forward to reading and reviewing it.

January 26: TEAM BLACK LIGHTNING THE TV SHOW. This closed Facebook group is just getting started. Check it out.

January 27: Barb’s annual cruise with her friends. No one deserves or needs a vacation more.

January 28: Passionate fans who can express their passion without being angry or insulting towards others.

January 29: Marvel’s Defenders on Netflix. I know I’m being unfair to Marvel’s Iron Fist on Netflix, which will air first and which I am also looking forward to, but I’m just pumped seeing promotional photos of Luke, Jessica, Matt and Danny all together.

January 30: Christopher Walken as King Louie in The Jungle Book. The whole movie was fun, but Walken was special. As he so frequently is.

January 31: The LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland, which is celebrating 40 years of community and service.

Keep looking for that brightness in your lives, my friends. I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2017 Tony Isabella

RAWHIDE KID WEDNESDAY 100

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

The Rawhide Kid #114 [August 1973] has a cover by Larry Lieber with inks by Jack Abel. Inside, “Captured by the Comanches!” (14 pages) is written and penciled by Lieber, inked by George Roussos, colored by Linda Lessmann and lettered by June Braverman.

SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD

The story opens with Johnny Clay aka the Rawhide Kid riding through Comanche land to avoid lawmen and posses. Unfortunately, the Kid is spotted by a Comanche war party who shout stuff like “Death to the white eyes!” Sigh.

Digression. Western comics have always had a difficult relationship with indiginous people. Elements of stories like this, which didn’t bother me when I first read them, are difficult for me when I read them four decades later. Even the familiar “noble savage” trope is problematic. I don’t dwell on these elements because they are the product of their times. They are as they were in these old stories. What I take from them is the desire to do a better job if and when I write stories featuring such characters. End of digression.

The Kid falls to the overwhelming numbers of the war party and the shot that, grazing his head, knocks him from his horse. The braves are led by the vicious Yellow Wolf. He orders them to strip Johnny of his boots, gun belt, hat and shirt. They tie the Kid to stakes pounded into the ground and leave him to the heat of the sun. This will be a long and painful death.

BRAVE: How long will the white-eyes last beneath the head of the sun?

YELLOW WOLF: Long enough for him to pay for the sins of his people against ours!

The Kid is rescued by Sam Lomax. Years ago, “redskins” massacred his family and took his infant son away. Lomax has been searching for the boy ever since. Though Johnny doesn’t believe all “Injuns” are like those who attacked him and recognizes that Lomax’s hatred is all-consuming, he has little choice but to accompany the older man. But he cautions him...

RAWHIDE: Your son...even if you find him...by now he’s all grown and Indian.

LOMAX: He may be grown...but no flesh of mine can be Injun.

 

Rawhide and Lomax track the Comanches who stole his duds and horse. With Nightwind - Johnny’s horse - providing a distraction, the two men deal death to the braves. All except Yellow Wolf who decides to escape to fight another day.

Rawhide has a debt to pay to Lomax. He sticks with the angry man.

Meanwhile, at the Comanche camp, Yellow Wolf and brother Sky Eagle have a disagreement.

YELLOW WOLF: The foe I fought was no ordinary paleface! He is the warrior they call the Rawhide Kid!

SKY EAGLE: That will be of little comfort to the squaws of the braves slain in battle!

SKY EAGLE: My brother is a fool! The great wars are ended! The white man has defeated us! We cannot defy his superior strength!

YELLOW WOLF: Bah! Those are the words of a coward!

 

CHIEF: No! They are words of wisdom...and you will heed them! There will be no more bloodshed between the white-eyes and our people!

YELLOW WOLF: Bah! Always you favor Sky Eagle...though I am of your flesh and he is not!

CHIEF: You are wrong! I call you both sons! You both share my heart!

Gee...Sky Eagle doesn’t seem quite as red-skinned as his brother. Oh, well, it’s probably nothing.

Lomax and the Kid ride to a small distant outpost. Elias Drudd, the only man who survived the massacre, lives there. Drudd isn’t right in the head since he was caught by the Comanches. In response to their questions, all he can do is repeat the words “three spears” over and over again.

Lomax and the Kid then ride to the scene of the massacre. Johnny figures out what Drudd meant. He points to some peaks:

The raid took place at night! In the moonlight...to a half-crazed captive...those peaks would’ve resembled three spears! The Indians took off with your son in that direction!

The land beyond the peaks is Comanche territory, but the Indians at the massacre were Navajos. Johnny says Comanches sometimes ride with Navajos and suggests one of them might have made off with the Lomax infant. The two men decides a visit to the Comanche camp is called for.

At the Comanche camp, Sky Eagle is trying to convince Yellow Wolf to rid his heart of hatred and live in peace. Yellow Wolf is having none of that. Sky Eagle suggests his brother’s real foe is his own ambition and lust for power. Yellow Wolf says he doesn’t answer to any man, least of all one not Comanche born.

Lomax and the Kid ride into the camp with their weapons holstered. They are allowed to pass. Lomax tells the chief he is looking for his son. The chief says:

What Comanches take, they keep! Go, white-eyes.

That’s when Lomax recognizes the charm Sky Eagle is wearing. Which belonged to his wife. Sky Eagle is his son. The chief has something of an alternate opinion:

Yes, he is your son...but only my blood! It was I who raised him! I who taught him! And I who will keep him!

The Rawhide Kid says there is a Comanche law that all disputes can be settle by combat. He’ll fight any of the chief’s braves.

Yellow Wolf accepts the challenge. Since we’re on page thirteen of this story, it takes Rawhide four panels to beat the enraged brave. He turns his back on his foe.

Yellow Wolf grabs a knife and rushes towards Rawhide. Sky Eagle leaps towards his brother:

You will bring dishonor to our people by a foul kill!

The brothers battle. Yellow Wolf tries to kill Sky Eagle. But, in the struggle, it is Yellow Wolf who dies. The chief of the tribe is crushed by this turn of events:

The gods are merciless! For this day they take from me both my sons!

Lomax begs to differ. Though the Rawhide Kid has won the right for Lomax to take Sky Eagle back to his birth people, the man has had a change of heart.

LOMAX: He is with his people! I gave him life...but you gave him manhood! You taught him the meaning of courage and honor! You are as much his father as I am!

RAWHIDE: That’s quite a mouthful, for an Indian hater!

LOMAX: Ex-Indian hated! I misjudged and underrated red men all the way!

His debt repaid, Rawhide rides from the camp.

The problematic “Indian” stuff aside, this isn’t a terrible story. However, it needed more pages. For Lomax’s change of heart to make sense, there needed to be something about the Comanches maybe not being involved in the massacre but only its aftermath. The battle between the Rawhide Kid and Yellow Wolf needed more space. Likewise the battle between Sky Eagle and his brother.

SPOILERS OVER
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This is another Rawhide Kid story that has never been reprinted in the United States. It was reprinted in black-and-white in a comic book from a Québec publisher.

Next is “They Strike By Night” (5 pages). The writer of this non-series story has not been identified at this time, but it’s drawn and signed by Al Hartley. Linda Lessmann likely colored this tale. From what I recall of my long-ago time in the Marvel Bullpen, when a title had more than one story, the same colorist would be given the entire issue.
                                                                           

“They Strike By Night” is from Western Outlaws #12 [December 1955]. The cover of that issue is by Joe Maneely.

SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD

The “Indian” problems continue with this mediocre five-page story. Ranch hand Yancy threatens to shoot Running Fox, despite the Navajo being a friend of ranch owner Murdock. Yancy gets smacked around, then fired.

Running Fox tells Murdock about how poor his tribe has become with no buffalo to hunt. Murdock figures there must be some way that he can help his friends.

Two nights later, rustlers make off with 60 head of Murdock’s best stock. A Navajo feather was left at the scene. Murdock rides over to the Navajo village - two hours away - and asks Running Fox who the feather belongs to. It belongs to Running Fox. Murdock slugs Running Fox. The friendship between them is over.

The next night, the rustlers strike again. But Murdock and his men are waiting for them. The rustlers are disguised as Navajo braves, but are really Yancy and his men, including one actual Navajo who had previously planted Running Fox’s feather.

Murdock figured it was Yancy, but didn’t let Running Fox know that. He wanted to make the breakup of their friendship look real and not tip off the crooked brave helping Yancy. He asks Running Fox if he will forgive him. Which Running Fox does.

MURDOCK: This west of ours is big enough for all men of every color who desire to live in peace.

RUNNING FOX: So shall it always be, quimo sabe!

Who wants to tell them about President Peepee Cheeto?

SPOILERS OVER
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In the middle of the above story, there’s a full-page house ad for Supernatural Thrillers #5 [August 1973], the first issue to feature “The Living Mummy.” The cover was pencilled by Rich Buckler, inked by Frank Giacoia and has alterations by John Romita. The 19-page story was written by Steve Gerber, penciled by Buckler and inked by Frank Chiaramonte. After one more Gerber story, I would write the feature for the next few issues.

The half-page Marvel Bullpen Bulletins was mostly plugs for Marvel black-and-white titles and various color comics. This time around, Vampire Tales gets promoted, as well as a color series starring the living vampire Morbius, the new “Monster of Frankenstein” feature in Monsters Unleashed, and extra summer issues of The Defenders and Marvel Premiere with Doctor Strange.

Artist Bob Brown is welcomed to Marvel where he’ll be drawing The Avengers and Warlock. Jim Mooney is drawing most issues of Marvel Team-Up. I got to work with both of them on other titles.

Two new comics series are teased. One is “The Mark of Satan,” which morphed into “The Son of Satan” before publication. The other was “Brother Voodoo,” which debuted in Strange Tales.

The rest of the page is a half-page ad for FOOM, the Friends of Ol’ Marvel fan club helmed by Jaunty Jim Steranko. I would follow Jim on the club’s FOOM Magazine for a couple of issues before turning it over to others.

The “Riding the Trail with Rawhide” letters column is a little less than half a page of very small type. Theresa Reynolds of Miami has trouble getting every issue of the Marvel westerns. The letter-answerer says Stan Lee is such a stickler for authenticity that he insists the comics be delivered by Pony Express. Which, as I think about it, is kind of a dick response.

Jimmy Cornette of Middletown, Kentucky wants a no-prize on account of Marvel got the Rawhide Kid’s real name wrong in the letters page for issue #109.

Randy Mikell of Prentiss, Mississippi, citing the same issue, wants to know why Civil War renegades are almost always depicted as big burly Southern soldiers with sideburns and then points out that, though wearing Confederate grey on the cover, the renegades in this story were Union soldiers. The letter-answerer admits to the cover error and then states the obvious. Maybe Confederate soldiers had no homes or lives to return to after their slaver nation lost the war. So they became renegades.

Confession. The completely accurate comment about the Confederate States being a slaver nation wasn’t in the original letters column. I added it. Because...you know...truth.
                                                                             

The rest of the page is a house ad for The Haunt of Horror, a prose digest featuring stories by Fritz Lieber, Harlan Ellison, Anne McCaffrey, Lin Carter, Ron Goulart and Dennis O’Neil.

The next issue of Rawhide Kid would feature the last new story to appear in the title, though the series would continue as a reprint title for several more years. I’ll be writing about that issue in next week’s installment of “Rawhide Kid Wednesday.”

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2017 Tony Isabella