For those who have forgotten because of revisionist history, it was Jerry Robinson who initially created the Batman's greatest foe, the Joker, and it was Bill Finger who wrote the first story featuring the character.
Now, Bob Kane did work on the Joker character, and his contribution to the mythos should not be marginalized in this instance. He did create Batman after all (though it was obviously inspired by the villainous character in the 1926 movie The Bat). Still, it is not entirely correct to give Kane full credit for everything in the early Bat-verse. It also is not right to take away a contribution from him, either. During the process when Kane was fleshing out the character, Bill Finger produced a photo of actor Conrad Veidt as he appeared in The Man Who Laughs from 1928. It was apparently typical of Finger of to do extensive research like that for a project. Viedt was the perfect model for the Joker, everyone agreed, and it is pretty much how the character appeared in Batman #1.
The production of the Batman titles did not happen in a vacuum and maybe the ultimate product should be considered at least in part as an ensemble effort.
As far as creator rights go today, DC has to be cautious in bestowing credit because of royalties and ownership issues. Well, from a business standpoint contracts were signed, people got paid for the work, that's howo it stands. I am not saying that was right, but it is how the biz worked back then (and today, I understand).
My observation is that if The Bat and The Man Who Laughs came out in the 80's and someone tried to pitch comic characters based on them today, it would be considered a straight rip-off. Kind of like how Deadpool is just Deathstroke composited with a homicidal Spider-Man, as designed by He-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named (when Deadpool first appeared I just assumed he was a Spider-Man clone). What made Batman and Joker unique and not just a copy is the early departure into originality from the source material.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
The Man Who Laughs
And the Oscar goes to...
Superboy v1, #164, 1970
I swear, I'm looking for goofy Marvel and Indy stuff.
Cmon, c'mon...just get on with it
Suddenly, Vandal Savage attacked Tom, killing the time traveler instantly and without mercy.
"I have waited in front of this edifice for months in my quest to identify the origin of the time disruption. If not for this fool talking to himself, he may very well have passed by with me being none the wiser!" He said, to no one in particular. "I, the immortal Vandal Savage, must not..nay...will not allow any threats to my immortal existence! So I seek out and destroy all who have mastered the secret of travel through time! Though I wait forever, what matters cooling his heels to the immortal Vandal Savage?"
Now that's a twist ending.
When I re-read this story from Strange Adventures #94 a few weeks ago I noticed the man on the sidewalk staring at Tom. This is the first time I can recall that a character not a part of the story took notice of exposition. His resemblance to a certain long-lived bad-guy was uncanny.
From the bearded fellow's expression I imagine it's how one would react to something similar occurring in real life.
"My day was filled with adventures in Human Resources and correctly filling out Form I-9's for new employees. I wonder...tonight, will there be meatloaf?"
Don't make any sudden moves and maybe he will keep on walking.
Comic book characters talk to an unseen audience constantly, as a device to keep a reader up-dated with what is happening. Back in the newsstand days when faithfully following a book was harder due to the sporadic availability, it was much more necessary. I recall missing titles regularly because some other kid got to them before I did. When coming in on the 3rd chapter after missing the 2nd part anyone would need an update. With the comic stores, trades and direct market I don't see how it is as much of a requirement. In reading a trade I don't want to see the character's origin, name and back-story readdressed every chapter. Just get on with the story, comics cost too much to waste precious space.
While the market hopes to reel in the casual reader, the decompressed pacing of books today do not require the unnecessary expositon. I'm getting of the opinion monthlies are considered loss-leaders and are strictly for the benefit of advertising a TPB and to keep the copyright alive for the licensing division.
Unnecessary exposition has become a common schtick for comedic relief over the last few years. It was dead-on parodied most recently in the animated feature The Incredibles, but has been routinely lampooned in the Marvel comic title She-Hulk for several years. I can recall a few other instances when that story device was poked at also. In Strikeforce Morituri, the enhanced soldiers comment on the ridiculousness of the propaganda comic made in their images. In an issue of Fantastic Four, the team is falling into an abyss and Reed Richards fills the panel with observations. The Thing's reply: "Sheesh, only guy I know who can talk while falling on yer noggin'."
Sometimes comic books still have a roll-call of the cast on the splash page, but it still doesn't stop the creative team from having the characters talking like idiots.
"Look at that, Specter, who is the Spirit of Vengeance, Timmy has fallen off a cliff and needs insulin!"
"Yes, Dr. Mid-Nite, but we both know that you as a doctor, though blind, are the best one qualified to help Timmy, the orphan who we adopted as the official super-hero clubhouse mascot. So says THE SPECTER!"
I mean, if you don't know who the character is, look at the splash page. There is a usually a floating head with a name under it.
Mostly this kind of device fading from fiction, but it depends on the skill of the creators and the requirements of keeping the audience informed. I get a little annoyed when I see it in films, television and other media. If the audience can't keep up, that's too bad as far as I am concerned. It isn't necessary to remind a viewer that Cylons are out to manipulate humanity after each commercial break.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Groin Injury Saturday BONUS: Sin City
As a salute to one of the better and most unusual films to come out this year on DVD, I'm posting a bonus Groin Injury Saturday featuring a few characters from Frank Miller's Sin City.
I didn't see Sin City in the theatre because I really hate people. The last movie I saw in a theatre was, I think, Spider-Man 2. After my nauseating experience in having to listen to a morbidly obese woman chew on the contents of a an entire 16 piece bucket of KFC during the film I decided I'll wait for the DVD's from then on. Now I don't want to seem anti-obese and prejudiced against what in some cases is a mental or medical condition.
No.
What I am 'anti' in that instance was the complete lack of class she displayed. That lady (see how polite I am?) stuffed her mouth until she nearly swooned, actually holding her breath in her desire to fill her maw. After about a minute of noisome bolting of cooked foul the basic survival urge kicked in and she'd pause eating long enough to gasp for air. Then she starts the whole cycle over. It went on like that for 2 hours. It is incomprehensible to me that a person is stupid enough make the conscious decision to chew over drawing breath.
Occasionally, she would keep the chicken clamped in her teeth while seeing to her oxygenation requirements. The sound of her labored breath forcing itself, the oil hissing and bubbling, through the filter of Original Crispy batter-coated skin was an added aural treat for myself and the other members of the audience.
Sometimes you just want to scream at some people in public and hurl obscene invective like an angry god smites unbelievers with his lightning. But in our Bizzaro-society, I'd be the one taken away by the police and labeled as crazy.
Frank Miller is one of the few writers I have seen in the comic medium who can, in my opinion, show people in their full potential and probably what they are really like. 'Gritty' is too weak a word to describe how his people are portrayed. Creators like Miller, Ennis, Ellis, Sim and others often reveal people and the world they create for themselves as totally bleak, lacking in hope and corrupt beyond redemption. Depending on your job or where you hang out when bored, you might recognize that people can be incredible bastards sometimes.
Miller's heroes are flawed. In fact, you can't really say there are any protagonists. Just different types of antagonists. For instance, Marv is a thug, certainly insane, probably a serial-killer. But he spends most of his stories dealing out something that a rescued victim could see as justice. His target would see it as brutality, coming from a guy who may have enthusiastically joined in on a similar act with him a week before.
From The Big Fat Kill comes this humiliating Rectal Area Groin Injury, where a bad cop gets a shuriken in the backside. The use of the swastika in the form of a weapon was an interesting image to use, given it's association in America and Europe to fascism. Being aware, however, that the swastika is an ancient symbol and was only recently co-opted by assholeoids, instead of sending off an alarmist sound-byte producing e-mail to Congress, I did a little research first. Wow. Not evil at all!
Then of course there is the great double-whammy Groin Injury from That Yellow Bastard. Noir-ish cop Hartigan expresses his opinion of a child-rapists' activities by shooting the twisted freak in the crotch with a hand cannon. I love that description. Hand...Cannon. A few years later Hartigan follows it up and forcibly removes what was remaining by hand. Yay, Hartigan!
The Sin City DVD will hopefully turn-on a lot of people to the books and similar works.
Just so you know I'm not happy with one thing about the DVD release. The main complaint is multiple covers. I don't care how many special alternate art cases you produce, I will only buy one copy, ever, and it will prominently feature either Bruce Willis or Jessica Alba on the cover. Since this release is bare-bones I will put off buying it until an expanded-feature version comes out. Sorry, Marketing Guys, the scams don't work on this guy.
I'm glad Director Rodriguez talked Miller into letting this film be made. When throwing money and begging didn't work against the oft-burned Miller, Rodriguez successfully got it done by making what amounted to a fan film. Rodriguez is also a hero by telling a guild to go climb their thumb so Miller could get Director credit.
Without doubt Miller gets hit up with offers, and I hope he lets more of his work get produced in other mediums without it getting the usual marketing-driven, demographic-pleasing dilution and creative ass-raping by Hollywood suits. It was really good to see a product out that was so faithful to the original material. Of course it's Miller's right to just sell a license and not care what they do like Dean Koontz has stated to doing. Koontz sees it like this: They bought the rights, he sold it, end of story. Nothing wrong with that. If someone came to me and said they wanted to buy the concept of this blog for a million dollars, but said they would turn it into a XXX Nun & Beastiality site, I'd only say, give me the check. But that's me.
Creators like Alan Moore and Frank Miller are obviously protecting the future of their work and by extension, the genre and marketability. A string of failed films will kill the chances of major comic book movie being made for at least ten years. The calamity that is LXG had to be factored in with the decision to cancel Watchmen. It's ironic the industry that saw too much financial risk in Watchmen was the same group that by producing crap created the undesirable marketing environment itself. I think Hollywood is using hand cannons to shoot themselves in the collective foot.
Hollywood should be more concerned with making a film that can create a franchise that will generate revenue for a decade or more, when they usually go for the short-con and churn out stuff that is half-assed, de-boned, and won't find an audience or generate return business. Look to the awful 80's Punisher and Captain America for a few examples of that philosophy. Good comic book films make money. Someday Hollywood will get it.
It was really good to see a product out that was so faithful to the original material and I recommend all the Sin City books and the film. Read it, see it, now.
Marvel should be so easy
In one ear, out the other.
That blank expression on her face makes Duo Damsel seem twice the idiot. The force the beam impacts Brainiac's forehead also leads me to believe there wasn't much to slow down it's passage.
"Everything getting...hazy..."
Oh, well...she's easy to look at and she can split into two girls. Who cares if she can't complete a sentence?
CHONK! BAM! POW!
There is a darn good reason for not putting sound effects on the cover of a comic book.
It's stupid.
That's on my X-mas list
I really do question the need for an off-switch.Me... the only reason it'd ever be dialed away from 'telepath' and put on 'dream' is because I collapsed from exhaustion as a result of the non-stop mind-peeping.
Strange Adventures #134
Friday, August 19, 2005
Groin Injury Saturday: Henry Peter Gyrich
The sometimes Avengers-liaison and full-time Government ass-bite, Henry Peter Gyrich, has been portrayed much more sympathetically of late. He's being shown more often not as a jerk, but rather as a man with over-whelming responsibilities trying to keep the lid on 20 pounds of mutant worms in a 10 pound can.
Screw that. Back in the 80's Petey was an irredeemable anus, and that's how I like him. To hell with character evolution. In Doctor Strange terms, Gyrich is the Universal Aspect Personification of the Bureaucrat-with-a- personal-grudge. I think it all stems from when the Beast humiliated him in court in a classic sequence drawn by John Byrne.
In Marvel's Damage Control (v2, #4) Ms. Hoag, the former owner of aforementioned Damage Control, is confronted by a shapeshifter disguised as Gyrich who plans to to kill her during the 'Acts of Vengence' tie-in. Don't get excited, it isn't Mystique.
But feisty Ms. Hoag won't have any of it. The ersatz-Gyrich not only gets pistol-whipped by his own gun while he is still holding it (added humiliation), but Ms. Hoag slams one of her tree-trunk like legs up into his crotch REAL HARD. Just imagining how violently you have to hit a shapechanger in the groin to prevent him from an immediate recovery by shifting away the injury makes me strain to breathe. If I could change shape I'd be shifting some dermal ridges and thick bone plate to protect the vulnerable parts before I got into a fight.
It wasn't the real Gyrich who got the groin injury, but it was him in spirit. There wasn't much difference between the real and faux-Peter, so I say it counts.
Everything you know is wrong
Sometimes there are stories that have a profound affect on a person. I can actually recall how I felt and what I was thinking when I read a version of the old folk tale The King of the Cats. Initially the story scared me in a keep-the-lights on kind of way.
I was very young when I was first exposed to the tale through the library and I kept with me from the story a real sense of reality, to look at things with new eyes, to question the nature of things. I learned right there and then that it is possible that everything I thought I knew up to then was wrong.
Like the characters in the story I realized I was taking things at their face value and there are depths to most things that are not considered. Pretty unsettling for a young kid to realize and far greater of an epiphany than realizing Santa is not real. Later my parents said I was cynical, I saw it as being skeptical.
I embarked on a journey grounded in reality. I no longer feared the monsters under the bed because I knew they did not exist. I didn't allow people to assign to demons the bad things that people were able to accomplish on their own. That foolishly underestimates what people are capable of. I also applauded the good that people did, aware that it is really done just for the sake of doing it even though it is often contrary to survival.
I didn't lose any of the 'magic of childhood' either. I had fun. I voraciously devoured multiple sources of fantasy, science fiction and horror. I read about UFO's, Bigfoot, Chariots of the Gods and the Loch Ness monster. But I knew none of it was real or at the least was mundane and incredibly misinterpreted.
At a young age I asked why archaeologists always seemed to attribute religious significance to the lone standing block of stone remaining from what was a huge city thousands of years ago? I continued to ask questions. How can anyone justify racism? How could people that lived in the shadow of the pyramids for so long forget what they were really for? How can anyone support a system that stifles personal freedom? Why do people believe in supernatural forces when for all of recorded history there is absolutely no evidence they exist?
In the absence of many answers I had to seek out my own. I came to the conclusion religion is a method of crowd control. Psychics are frauds or delusional. Homoeopathy is unabashed fraud disguised with elements of magic and alchemy (dilutions are equivalent of one molecule of 'cure' in a sphere of water the size of the solar system). People have an amazing capacity for self-deception and memory editing. I found out it is statistically improbable that we are the only life in the universe. It is equally improbable that we have been visisted by these other lifeforms. Carl Sagan once said to the effect that in regards to life in the galaxy, someone has to be the first and someone has to be the last...and that may just be us. Sad, but munchies for consideration. Matter is self-organizing and a deity is not required for a chemical reaction. From a biology viewpoint self-sacrifice is actually a selfish act.
One of the things I learned is that dictionaries or encyclopedias contain misinformation, and for a reason. Collecting and compiling the information within a volume is a great feat. To protect their investment, some facts are deliberately incorrect or fabricated, under the (sometimes justified) assumption that a rival company will be lazy and simply copy another work and present it as their own. How do you take as fact something that might be purposefully inaccurate?
I raised my son that way also, but letting him make up his own mind. I despise brainwashing in any form. At a young age he decided monsters were not real and did not experience night terrors and fear of the dark, saving suspicion for strangers and not wasting energy on bogey men. I let him believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny as long as he wanted. His mother insists he go to church with her, and he complains about it. I told him to come up with a good reason not to go, like I did with my parents, and you can sleep in on Sundays. He's either too lazy give me a good argument or goes to keep his Mom happy because he hasn't bothered with an explanation better than 'it's boring' yet.
Folktales become incredibly diffused over time. The King of Cats story may hardly represent what it was as it was originally told. Nonetheless, it's message in that context may be intact. It also seems to have evolved thematically from older tales. Folktales are often used to explain events or nature and may also be cautionary tales. Popularized in the mid-1800's in England and Scotland, I think the Cats story was more for the adults, prodding them not to accept their situation at face value. Interestingly it also includes the chimney metaphor, which is not really necessary for the tale but important as a symbol. The chimney image has shown up in mythology (Rev 9:1-2) for thousands of years.
I'm not one of those who believe that without all the supernatural and fantastic extras the universe is interesting enough and that the real world should be sufficient. I'd like to see Bigfoot. Ghosts would be uber-neat. It would be great if aliens warped over to our neck of the spiral arm for a visit. Let's face it...a park is fun, but a park with a rollercoaster is way better.
The Man of Tomorrow
In the distant future, mankind will evolve into Homo Penis-Head. It would be interesting to discover what evolutionary pressures caused that trait to be dominant.I'd like to thank Mike Grell's artistic vision of things to come from Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes #204, for letting me use the word 'penis' today.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Hal does not suck vs. Kyle really sucks
This is why Kyle does not...
I predict that a few years from now all the creative people who worked on the Kyle character will admit they secretly hated him and the entire idea of him. I'm reminded of the story about the animators that worked on the old Betty Boop cartoons, who despised Rudy Valee, so they drew him without pants when he guest-starred in a cartoon feature. I think it is a similar situation as the reason why Kyle was written to act like such a dumbass for ten years.
Now as a fan there are a few things that bug me about Hal's return, and I don't mean Rebirth. It's a comic, he's back, so get over it. As a story concept the idea of Hal going back to work as a test pilot just doesn't do it for me unless that element gets a lot of back story to it. Hal's old for a test pilot and he crashes everything he flies. He has a lousy work history. It's more likely he'd be a consultant or a desk-jockey, if not running his own firm. I think there would be more story possibilities if he was working for himself, getting access to Top Secret installations and the like. I don't want to see the current arc become a DC version of Armor Wars as Hal goes to track down and destroy alien tech.
At least he's isn't a toy salesman.
Comic Book Feature: Superboy's Workshop
Silver Age comics were a lot more fun than the ones published today. In each issue a kid not only got about 3 full stories, but also was exposed to science fun-facts, dioramas they could put together, mini-gag comics and my favorite, the Public Service Announcements. Some of the entries would lead to at least the partial destruction of the comic, something that makes me cringe. As a collector, anyone who does not check a back issue for damage is a fool. It is especially critical to check to make sure the Fun Stamps that were produced in the Marvel titles during the 1970's are intact.
Here is a craft project entry for a feature known as Superboy's Workshop from Superboy #64, 1958.
Since this issue was published back in pre-history before good copy machines, putting this toy together caused some destruction of the book. As a kid I always copied the coupons when sending away for stuff but I doubt many others did likewise for this craft project. If you feel nostalgia for things like this and want to do this project with your own kids the image is big enough to print if you click on it.
For those curious, in making Tumbling Clown from the original book the first page for the cover story The Rebel Super-Dog would be ruined. No great loss. The best thing about that story is what Lana Lang says to Krypto on the splash page...
The cover to Superboy #64 also has the worst rendering of Krypto's face I have ever seen. He looks like a 1930's cartoon character that should be hanging out with Betty Boop.
In that story is also this...
I really hope no one tried this with a couch cushion and dad's pistol. In reality, successfully following the comic book instructions for the Tumbling Clown is a bit less complex than making an effective bullet-proof jacket for your dog.
While market forces like public or government oversight, cost and consumer demand has made most of the non-story features vanish, it still does exist in spirit in product-driven titles like Disney Adventures and others. Except that a similar feature would be a Tumbling Herbie the Love-Bug or something related to whatever film or TV show they were most recently pushing. Nothing wrong with that, but the high ad to low content ratio is why I cancelled my son's subscription to that mag when he was a youngster.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Bill Mantlo, the Destroyer of Dreams
When Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #38 came out back in 1980 it really annoyed me. Never mind the Ditko-panel rip-off cover by Al Milgrom, it was the content that ticked me off, specifically the first three pages.
Written by Bill Mantlo and pencilled by Sal Buscema this issue is memorable in Spider-History, if at all, for the spontaneous cure Morbius had of his vampire-disease. A sub-plot across many books of the time was the hunt for Morbius, who was considered a serial-killer. One of those plots came to a head shortly in this title as Morbius was tried for murder after his temporary disease remission.
What irked me to no end in this issue is that Marvel came right out and left no doubt what their target demographic then was...the Total Geek.
The tale opens with the cliche of the Jock, Hottie and the Geek that lusts after the Hottie from afar. That particular combination of characters right there on the splash page had me dreading what happened next, because I just knew what was coming. I was correct.
The Geek, having no self-respect whatever, hangs with the others in the hopes that he'd get some kind of notice as a person. But all he receives is abuse from the Jock and the Hottie pretends she doesn't know he's alive. Being the object of desire Jenny is very aware of her effect on others and uses it for manipulation. Look at how the girl uses Geek-boy as a buffer against Mark the Jock.
Anyways, while storing up on the festering resentment that will some day have him looking at innocent people through the cross-hairs of a rifle sight from the top of a tall building, Freddy the Geek notices blood-thirsty Morbius swooping down on them.
Morbius attacks Jenny and starts with the biting. Jenny yells for help from the Jock, who of course, freezes in fear. Raise your hand if you did not see that coming. Puny Freddy tries to help but gets his lunch handed to him twice with casual backhands from Morbius. When the attack is done Morbius flees, supposedly leaving his victim alive.
Predictably, the jock is a coward and the geek is a hero.
Right...there. Right there on the last panel of page-freaking-3...I was enlightened, and not in a good way. Darn it! I was Freddy! I imagined that across America thousands of other fan-boys were shaking as the hammer of realization smashed into their acne scars and shattered their delusions. Did they cry? I bet they did.
Bill Mantlo took the rusty knife of my high school feelings of inadequacy and dorkness and rammed it straight into my psyche, twisting it with every panel. I felt as if that dream you have of being naked in a public place had come true.
Up until I read this issue the fact that geeks bought comics and you were a geek for buying them was always politely left unsaid and in the background. It was like an embarrasing secret no one talked about. Right up until Bill Mantlo shoved it in my blotchy face I was doing just fine, existing with the belief that I too, could get a Super-Model Girlfriend once someone cared to look beneath my nerdiness and noticed my not-so-obvious superiority to everyone else.
Denial is not just a river in Egypt, you know.
That was 1980, when a reader wanted to identify with a Richard Ryder, but not so much that they couldn't feel superior. With the exception of the once-brilliantly written Jessica Jones in Alias, gone are the pained characters who come from loser backgrounds.
From the characters populating today's books, it's obvious the target consumers are beautiful, wealthy ravers who know code, hold their pistols sideways and have unlimited personal resources. Even the persecuted characters are still coming from a home that has plasma screen television sets in every room. From a sales perspective that drives editorial policy that makes sense. Who wants to read about the "Parker Luck" when they can identify with popular Ken and Barbie-clone mall-rats with disposable income?
Comic characters have gone from being people who are starting a journey to ones who already have everything, and are only treading water, fighting to keep what they have. That reflects kind of negatively on us, I think.
To boldly go
And people complain that comics had suggestive art. This is nearly pornography.
Interesting that the organic landscape reacts by forming feminine attributes once her surface is violated by men in their HUGE rocketship.
SF mags and pulps also shared an attribute with comics in that the cover often did not match the content. That is not so unusual as deadlines and the need for effective marketing on crowded newstands require a cover that catches the attention of a consumer. I am a reader though who often feels dissapointed, if not outright ripped off, by the promise of a good story on the cover of a comic (in particular) or book.
June 1960 FS&F contents
Covert art by Emsh
The Non-Humans by Charles Henneberg; trans. by Damon Knight
Fireside Talk by H. F. Elli
Cato the Martian by Howard Fast
The Swamp Road by Will Worthington
Slammy and the Bonneygott by Mrs. Agate
The Sixth Season by Avram Davidson
The Golden Bugs by Clifford D. Simak
Beyond Ganga Mata by John Berry
All the indexes I can find simply describe the cover as "Emsh's version of a soft landing".
Emsh was born in Lansing, MI and served in the Army from 1943-1946. He earned a bachelor of design degree from the Univ. of Michigan in 1949 & studied art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (with his wife, Carol), & Art Students League.
He designed hundreds of covers for the SF mags, able to do a painting to order in just a few days.
In much the same way comic editor Julie Schwartz worked in the Silver Age, Emsh would sometimes make a cover painting for which editors would assign an author to write a story about. For many magazines the cover art had no tie-ins to stories in the issue. The art would be a story or even a character in itself.
Monday, August 15, 2005
Return of the Bounty Hunter
There probably isn't anyone as excited as I am at the the prospect of the return of Jonah Hex to his own series, and by excited I mean typing-with-one hand excited!
Jonah Hex is one of the best DC characters ever created. Premiering in All Star Western #10 (1972), Jonah was a horribly scarred bounty hunter roaming the wild west. It was a great concept that rarely did not meet it's potential. I say rarely, because the notable exception is the Science Fiction-themed Hex series, where he went into the future. Ugh. I'm usually in the minority as most people I have talked with liked the SF series.
One of the interesting facets of the original Jonah Hex is that the stories were all mundane. During the original run of the series there were no supernatural or fantastic elements in the books, with the exception of the last issue of the Jonah Hex series, where he was transported to the future. While there were occasional guest-appearances in JLA, like with Warlord, none of it crossed-over to the Jonah Hex title.
The later appearances in Swamp Thing, the Lansdale-Truman mini-series, etc. all had fantastic elements to the them. When well-written it works. I have not seen anything either way to suggest the new series will return to it's roots or not. Likely, the editors are keeping all options open.
A number of Jonah Hex stories stand out but the one that absolutely is the best appeared in the Jonah Hex Spectacular back in 1978 (DC Special Series #16). Written by Michael Fleisher and penciled by the great Russ Heath, it told the tale of Jonah's final days as a bounty hunter. I won't spoil it for anyone who has not read it, but it was chilling and controversial. FYI: The Wikipedia link I include here has spoilers a-plenty, so don't go there if you want to be surprised later.
Michael Fleisher wrote a lot of Jonah's story. He is one of those writers who was once prolific but is not around much in the industry these days. He was once known as much for his comic work as getting into a spat with Harry Harrison, who Fleisher felt had made some unkind comments to say about him and his book, Chasing Harry. I liked his work on Jonah Hex and Spectre, but it seems many people in the industry did not care much for him. He also had a habit on doing variations of a theme. A story he wrote in one book would be similar to one in another he also wrote. His comic work decreased about the same time as many others also did, in the wakes of upsets at DC & Marvel.
Tony Dezuniga regularly penciled or at least inked Jonah Hex, and he lent a dirty, grungy realism to the character.
Here is a sample of typical bad-ass Jonah Hex...
In this issue (Jonah Hex #39), he is hunting a bad guy who married and had a child with a woman thought to have been a captive. What happens with the woman's father is the main story and this page is the denoument. Out of fear, the villain of the piece takes his own wife and child hostage and Jonah shoots him in the face.
Then he just rides away. That's really harsh. It's also the kind of plot that can lead into a vengeance story years later. If you read this book it's obvious that Jonah shot the guy just because he's upset with him over the day's events. He left the body behind, so maybe the widow can turn it in for the reward. That's how Jonah thinks.
Jonah Hex was not really a hero. In the stories about his background you can see that he grew up as damaged goods. He often tortured his targets, killed women, beat animals and had no problem using a sneak attack if it meant he got a payday. In one story Jonah shoots the gun out of an adversary's hand, and when the guy exclaims, shocked, how amazing the shot was, Jonah is annoyed. "Ah know thet...can I help it if you were holding the gun over yer heart?"
Still, he usually ended up on the side of the angels, albiet the Old Testament kind.
Jonah Hex Chronology
Hal Jordan's Love Nest
Everyone has probably seen this highway sign by now...
But how many knew about the Green Lantern Motel?
Motel rooms can come with king or Arisia-sized beds...
The vacation and wedding rental home looks big enough to accomodate the Green Lantern Corps and the New Guardians at the same time.
This immaculate 3600 sq feet home is located just two blocks from casinos, world famous Heavenly Gondola and private beach on the lake.Heart shape. Jacuzzi. OVERSIZED.
The large downstairs living room of the house has a gas fireplace, brand new 52" big screen TV, VCR, DVD & CD player with a top of the line surround sound system. Gourmet kitchen in the house has a center island cook-top and double oven. The upstairs master bedroom of the house has a gas fireplace and a 27" TV. There is an oversized heart shape jacuzzi tub in master bathroom. Upstairs living area includes a wet bar and air hockey table. The house can comfortably sleep 12-14 people with 4 King beds, one full size bed, one full and one queen sofa sleeper.
Whoo hoo! Party at Hal's place! B.Y.O.B.
The Return of the MacGuffin
One of the things I like and respect in the creative team of a comic is a knowledge of, and respect for what has gone before.
A little research into the situations, past and personality that make up a character really does lead to better stories. This has been getting ignored with greater regularity over the years. Now I am not a continuity purist and I'm not a fanatic about it, but a writer shouldn't throw out years of characterization or established background because they want a nifty throw-away scene...cough Bendis cough.
A non-Bendis example of what I find irritating is like the scene in 2005's Marvel Team-Up #11, written by Kirkman. In that issue She-Hulk and Carol (Warbird) Danvers are shown partying in a bar and drinking beer. This is after Carol has been consistently portrayed as an emotionally unstable alcoholic for the last 5 years. Way to write for the trades, man. I can't help but think that in ignoring the regular reader for the casual TPB consumer, comics are hurting their future. MTU #11 alone isn't going to cause the industry to come crashing down, but it appears to be a good example of the attitude of the companies towards its reader-base.
Paying attention to the history of a character can be fun and the fans like it. Case in point...The Green Glob.
The Green Glob first appeared way back in 1964 in Tales of the Unexpected #83, in the cover story King of the Nightmare Jungle.
Like a Silver Age Julie Schwartz concept-cover or Red Kryptonite, the Green Glob was a literary device used for the sole purpose of setting up a story. Originally the Glob was an invisible field of energy that could alter reality and do other fantastic things. It tossed people into situations that they would then have to spend the next 8 or 9 pages getting themselves out of. That the field was green was only for the benefit of the reader back then, as it was undetectable to the protagonists of the story. The Glob changed reality temporarily with the only permanent result being the lesson learned by the story's subject.
In it's premier issue the Glob transported a meek Earthman to a world where everything was shaped like a penis. In reading the story of a man who was elbowed out of a date by a rival, this makes sense. After beating up on giant carnivorous phallus-plants and electrical-discharge monsters, the hero having found his nerve, returns to earth and re-claims his girlfriend.
The Glob served as a plot device much in the same way Marvel's Captain Universe temporary cosmic hero did, providing impetus for a story. In fact, it is difficult not to compare the Glob to the Captain Universe concept and see that the former may have been the inspiration for the latter.
The Green Glob was featured in Tales of the Unexpected #'s 83-98, 100, 102-103. After it last appeared in the 1967 issue #103 it faded into comics obscurity.
In 1991 it returned as the MacGuffin in the Angel and the Ape mini-series by Phil Phoglio. In that story Gorilla Grodd captured the Green Glob, intending to use it's reality warping powers in another megalomaniac scheme.
It is somehow fitting that after it first appeared in a story about Wang-World, the Glob is now trapped in a mechanical vagina.
Eventually the hero Sam Simeon, the Ape half of Angel and the Ape, discovers that the Glob is a proto-type creation of the Guardians of the Universe, sent out into the universe to teach lessons to sentients. Sam fakes out Grodd and in doing so, allows the Glob to break it's programming. FYI, it's probably not a good thing to mess with Guardian-tech in the DCU. The Glob started acting a little unbalanced in the final panels. It's interesting to note the Glob now superficially resembles not only a power-battery, as befits it's origins, but also the Emerald Eye, another possible Guardian artifact.
Now that was a fun trip. Comic writers, please take note. Those who do not know the past are destined to pull things out of their ass.
1963 vs 2005
Unlike in 1963, the world of 2005 has been able to put a face to the current threat against the United Nations.Sunday, August 14, 2005
Must be President Bush's science advisor
A foremost scientist has a premonition...from Strange Adventures #94
Arrrrgh, we be philatelists
"...stamps from pirate hideouts like primitive Madagascar..."What a great & ethnocentric ad! I can't get over that pirate image.
from Jimmy Olsen #37
The Gospel According to Mike
Mike Grell has been a favorite Writer/Artist of mine for years, from way back when he did the art on the old Legion of Super-Heroes title. I'll put a Grell Princess Projectra up against Churchill's Super-lolita anyday in a hot wimmin contest, and I know Projectra would kick some barely-concealed super-butt!
I picked up Jon Sable - Bloodtrail #3 because...Jon Sable rules! Jon Sable is better than a Ninja and a pirate combined. But the book is also informative. Mike Grell once taught me that when shooting Gazelle, one must aim high over a long distance. This is because a bullet will arc and the round could fall short or hit an obstacle. I never forgot that lesson and next time those dirty Gazelle attack, I'll be ready.
More recently, I received enlightenment of two new things from Master Grell. Each one shook my world to its very foundations.
My first enlightenment is from when Jon Sable got injured and goes to a ladies' restroom to get patched up...
Maxi-pads can help when bleeding? I did not know that...
The second thing I learned was revealed when Jon Sable stopped a mugging and I received this awsome blast of wisdom...
WHOA! So what Grell is actually saying is that the ass-kickers of the world are the truly civilized people because they get involved. The non-murderous, peaceful, sunshine-and-puppy tree-huggers content to let their world collapse while they watch are the primitive sheep!
I KNEW IT!
Look at how Jon Sable's piercing eyes break the fourth wall and gaze directly at you, nay, into your very being.
I believe Mike Grell speaks to to us all through his mercenary character. Mike Grell is Jon Sable. He only expresses, in comic form, what we always knew was in our hearts all along, but we needed him make us realize it.
Jon Sable - Bloodtrail #3 is now my bible. It has a good story also, but who cares when you can learn something?
I have realized that everything I need to know I can learn from Mike Grell!
Go and buy Jon Sable - Bloodtrail now.
Jim Shooter vs. Green Lantern
I enjoyed this sequence featuring DC Comic's one, true Green Lantern Guy Gardner and a Marvel New Universe Star Brand clone when it first came out way back in the Legends mini-series from 1986.
It's the ultimate in-joke and it still makes me laugh.
from Legends #5, Creative team of Ostrander, Wein, Byrne & Kesel, et al
Sunspot appeared briefly just one more time as a patient on a hospital gurney, but I don't recall what title or company...darn it.
Comic Book PSA - The Family Circle Magazine
10 years before Werthem, various busy-bodies, panicky doltish parents & Congress nearly destroyed the comics industry forever, this April 1942 Family Circle article with Bob Kane art on the cover actually promotes comic books as a positive influence. The cover text reads:
SHOULD YOU WORRY...if you find your child lost in the spell of some such weird and fantastic tale as "Batman and Robin" (shown at the right)? Psychologists who have made a wide study of this type of comic have an answer for you.
I'm told the inside article was in favor of a child reading comics due to the moral lessons books like Batman contained. Today the relationship between an adult and a child who dress in costumes would be considered ill-advised. If you don't understand what I mean, check out the All-Star Batman & Robin that was recently released. Eugh...
Recommended reading: Seduction of the Innocent
I question how effective all these credentialed people were in assisting DC with their quality control. Especially since all those unintentionally hilarious Batman & Robin images kept getting into the books so regularly.
