Number 462


What the Heck...?



I was never a big Don Heck fan, but I like the job he did on this well-drawn strip. It's obvious he put a lot of work into this five-pager from Strange Worlds #1, 1958. You'll probably recognize the last panel of this story It's a tale told in various forms over the years, with the same punchline.

I've now posted all of the stories from Strange Worlds #1, which was the reintroduction of the old Atlas line after a hiatus of over a year, when publisher Martin Goodman sold his Atlas distributing company.





Nobody added a great comment to our discussion about the Batman: Black Casebook trade paperback, regarding the apparent crossover bewteen Batman: RIP and Final Crisis -- and it reminded me that I've been wondering lately, which book should I read first?

I'm reaching out to those who've read Batman: RIP and Final Crisis ... which one should I read first? Which one leads into the other? No spoilers in the comments, please, but I'd love if you'd use the handy poll below to let your opinion be heard!

Which book should be read first, continuity-wise, Final Crisis or Batman: RIP?
Final Crisis
Batman: RIP
pollcode.com free polls



I'll post the results soon. And thanks!

UPDATE: Overwhelmingly, the Collected Editions blog readers chose Batman: RIP to read before Final Crisis -- but Collected Editions respectfully disagrees. As I've noted on our DC Universe Trade Paperback Timeline, some events in Batman RIP may take place before Final Crisis and some during Final Crisis, but the end of Batman RIP can't be understood (even if it's mildly anti-climactic) without first knowing the details of Final Crisis. (The Mister Miracle issues from the third Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus help, too). Read our full post on the issue.


Number 461


Oh, you Boodyful Babe...


Boody Rogers' exquisite creation, Babe Boone, returns to us in this story from Babe #8. The story is bizarre, the dialogue, told in dialect, practically needs translation, but as always, the drawings are hilarious.
















[Contains spoilers for Green Lantern: Secret Origin]

Geoff Johns makes it seem like he's been writing Green Lantern: Secret Origin all throughout his Green Lantern run, whether he actually has or not. Secret Origin, in a way not unlike a good mystery novel, dips and climbs through a number of episodes we've already seen in flashback earlier in Green Lantern, revealing more going on than we were originally lead to believe. All of this is in service of the forthcoming "Blackest Night" storyline which, admittedly, begins to feel over-hyped to me, but there's a bunch of great characterization in Secret Origin focusing on Green Lantern's earthbound supporting cast that I enjoyed very much.

Johns' Green Lantern title takes a deserved breather after the Sinestro Corps War. I had thought that Secret Origin moved between the present and Green Lantern's beginnings, but indeed this story is set in the past only; Secret Origin forwards the current action by implication only, not in fact. There's some value in this, especially if the next Green Lantern remains as cosmic as the one previous; I miss the stories of Hal Jordan, superhero, rather than Hal Jordan, space warrior, and Secret Origin at the least brings Green Lantern planetside for this seven-issue tale.

Being therefore an origin story, Secret Origins reduces Green Lantern to its principle players: Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris, and Tom "Pieface" Kalmaku. Whereas in Superman Geoff Johns has brought Clark Kent back to basics with his Lois-Perry-Jimmy supporting cast, in Green Lantern he's largely absented Hal from his regulars in favor of Jillian "Cowgirl" Perlman, General "Herc" Stone and others. Me, I'm a traditionalist, and there's something gigantically comforting about an adventure where Hal Jordan flirts with Carol and confides in Tom, just like the old days.

It's Carol, and the not-yet-renegade Lantern Sinestro, who really shine in this story. Johns parallels perfectly Hal's loneliness at the loss of his father and Carol's loneliness at the disintegration of hers; when Hal finally remembers that Carol cried harder when Hal's father died than even he did, it's clear to the reader why these two characters care about one another.

And Johns makes even more clear the grudging friendship between Hal Jordan and Sinestro; in Hal, Sinestro sees a kindred spirit, an ally, even a younger version of himself, someone just perhaps even more willing to question the Guardians than Sinestro is, while Hal can't resist the first Green Lantern he meets that doesn't play by the rules. This Sinestro seems far more rational, even, than the Sinestro we know today, and Johns suggests today's Sinestro may very well be infected by the fear that ultimately killed Abin Sur. If so, it's intriguing to think today's Sinestro might very well be redeemed, or at least that Hal Jordan might once again have a chance to speak with his old friend, if only he can reach Sinestro's sanity.

Green Lantern: Secret Origin is probably not a story we necessarily needed, but it's a interesting oasis among all the big Green Lantern events. I'm still holding my breath for "Blackest Night," however -- I'm eager, and hopeful, to see whether this story can deliver on so many stories worth of build-up.

[Contains full covers]

We'll follow the threads of the Sinestro Corps War a little longer now, with Blue Beetle: Endgame up next.
Number 460


Journeyman


I know you guys are here to read comics and not get preached to, but bear with me. Here's a PSA, a Pappy Service Announcement:

Last week I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I don't want sympathy. It's a curable form of cancer, and because of my astute primary care physician and my habit of going to my doctor once a year, it was caught at an early stage. So while I have cancer right now, there's no reason to believe I will have it after my surgery in a couple of weeks, or that it will be what ultimately kills me. Here's my preaching, though: Because this blog is read mostly by males, I am advising if you are over 40 you have your prostate examined once a year. Most guys don't like the idea of a Digital Rectal Exam (DRE), but for a couple of seconds of inconvenience and indignity, your life may be saved.

So, now that I've had my say, we return to our regularly scheduled program...


Vern Henkel's artwork might not have been splashy, might have been derivative--in "The Man Who Made A Wish" the devil looks like he's swiped from Will Eisner--but the Golden Age of comics wouldn't have happened without artists like Henkel. They were the guys who weren't stars, who did all of the backup stuff, kept the comic book machine running.

Henkel, who was born in 1917, sent a comic book story unsolicited to Quality Comics publisher Everett "Busy" Arnold in the 1930s. Arnold accepted it and Henkel's comic book career began, right around the time the comic book industry began. Over the years there were dozens, maybe hundreds, of guys like Henkel, who were the journeymen of the business.

"The Man Who Made a Wish" is originally from Mystic #7, 1952, but scanned from the reprint in Marvel's 1974 Crypt of Shadows #8. "Captain Fortune" is from Feature Comics #26, November 1939.

I posted a crime story by Henkel in Pappy's #132.








Number 459



Joe and Moe


"The Case of the Vanishing Year" is from Flash Comics #88, October 1947. The artwork is by Joe Kubert and the inking by Moe Worthman.

Moe...Who-man? Well, I don't know. Besides this strip, Grand Comics Database lists 14 other known jobs by Moe. It's obvious Moe was a pro, but why "no moe" from him? There could be many jobs by him just unrecognized, or he could have been an artist who spent a very short time in comics.

The story is a time travel story. Scientist Homer Brown loses a year, as does Flash. I thought while reading it, what would I do if I ended up a year ago, January 2008, with knowledge of the whole year until now? I'd probably have bet heavily on Barack Obama to win the U.S. presidency. As I recall a year ago he was quite a longshot. I would have dumped all my stocks before the economy, banks and stock markets tanked.

"Vanishing Year" is a fun story. Even with the talent he showed early on, some of Joe's figures look foreshortened, squatty and squashed. He kept working at it and became one of the best comics artists of all time. In the meantime, inker Moe might not have drawn that many paychecks from DC, but he did a decent job here. Joe and Moe seem to have worked well together.














Number 458


More Space Rangers


A couple of weeks ago I showed you a Rocky X story, another Space Cadet/Space Patrol/Space Rangers type of story from the early 1950s. When it comes to a good thing, I'm all for overdoing it. So here's a Fiction House strip about--appropriately enough--Space Rangers!

It's from Man O'Mars, a Fiction House one-shot from 1953, which consisted of one new story, "Man O'Mars", and the rest of the contents reprints from Planet Comics.

Lee Elias, one of the greats of the Golden Age drew the story, attributed to the ficticious Hugh FitzHugh. Elias drew another Space Cadet series in the '60s for DC, Tommy Tomorrow in Showcase.