Number 449


Rocky X goes by the numbers


From Boy Comics #82, 1953, here's the followup to last week's Rocky X episode. Our young rocketeers are in another mess, as usual. They encounter a flying saucer!

Sorry I don't have issue #83 to show you the "invisible" aliens promised at the end of this episode. Maybe someday I'll run across the comic and show it to you.

I like the precise Norm Maurer artwork. With his refined brushwork and careful composition he reminds me of Fred Guardineer, another Golden Age artist I like. I think I've said that before, but forgive me. You get my age you forget what you've said.

You forget what you said. Did I already say that?

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

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, Rocky X of the Rocketeers and Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, are all part of that wonderful era of 1950's science fiction brought about by the primitive rocket experiments going on after World War II. Before the war space exploration was "Buck Rogers stuff," very fanciful, but when rockets began lifting off the public became believers. As we know, President Dwight Eisenhower warned against the "military-industrial complex." It was decided to take space exploration out of the hands of the military, so NASA was formed. It made the military structure of "Rocketeers" and "Space Rangers" obsolete.

In 1954 I watched Rocky Jones, Space Ranger on TV. A couple of years ago a friend gave me this DVD, a compilation of episodes made into a feature film, and for a little over an hour I was entertained by my youthful past. With all of the corny aspects of the show--it was aimed at children, after all--there was something in there for the dads, too. The girls are 1950's-cute. As I recall the fashions from '54, skirt hems hit around mid-calf, so a hot Doris Day-style blonde in a skirt that ended mid-thigh, coupled with a boob-enhancing design on top should have made us males, even pre-pubescent ones like me, sit up and take notice. Hot rockets, indeed! Bring on the space babes!

Note to Space Ranger commander: This is a rocket ship, not a ship on the sea. Sit down.

All expense was spared in bringing state of the art special effects!

"Is that a microphone you're holding, Rocky, or are you just happy to see me?"

[This review comes from Collected Editions guest-blogger Doug Glassman:]

It’s sometimes tricky for a comic book company to coordinate its comics with its movies so that the latter can drive business for the former. Marvel found this out after viewers of the first X-Men film found that the X-Men comics of the time were rather impossible to crack into for newcomers (though this eventually led to Grant Morrison’s New X-Men). Spider-Man was given organic web shooters in a pretty terrible story in order to sync up with the films. As a big Iron Man fan, I personally wondered what Marvel would do to cash in on the film, which presents a rather accurate picture of Iron Man . . . at least, as he was until Civil War. Would readers really get into Iron Man, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Marvel found a rather brilliant solution in their second Iron Man title, Matt Fraction and Salvador Larocca’s The Invincible Iron Man, the first seven issues of which have been collected into The Five Nightmares. On one level, it appears to be a deliberate movie tie-in. The villain bears the last name of Stane, Pepper Potts looks quite a bit like Gwyneth Paltrow, arc reactor technology comes into play and the banter between Iron Man and War Machine wouldn’t sound odd coming from Robert Downey Jr. and Terrence Howard. On the other hand, this is clearly set in the current Marvel universe; Tony is the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and we see Rhodey only as War Machine. Because the movie was so good and incredibly true to the character, the comic book and film elements mesh nicely.

The Stane in question is Ezekiel Stane, son of Obadiah, a homicidal sociopath who can barely be considered human after all the changes he’s made to his body. His plans hinge around suicide bombs based off of Stark technology. If this sounds a little bit like the classic “Armor Wars” story, you wouldn’t be far off—Tony brings up that adventure and a hologram of the various people he believes to be using his technology includes Stingray, Firepower, the Raiders, Mach IV (who was the Beetle back then) and the Mandroids. Matt Fraction adds a more complex riff onto the old “Armor Wars” concept, with Tony fearing that he is becoming outdated and that his technology is once again becoming more common. Considering that Tony lost much of his human touch with the addition of his Extremis armor, this is a good way to go back to some of the old Iron Man drama.

An epilogue issue featuring Spider-Man compounds this feeling of “bridging the gaps” between movie, pre-Civil War and post-Civil War Iron Man. Spidey helps Shellhead take down a black market technology network. Iron Man continually tries to get Spider-Man to leave, citing the SHRA, but as Spider-Man points out, he’ll just keep showing up anyway. Tony’s rather weak protestations and Spidey’s remembrances of the days when heroes could just team up remind me of better times in the Marvel universe. Appearances from old-school foes such as Big Wheel and the Terrible Tinkerer compound this. An earlier cameo by Thor compounds Tony’s problems with his fellow heroes. I have no problem with new villains and developments—Ezekiel Stane especially is a wonderfully-done character—but I’ve found myself disagreeing with most of the changes wrought by Civil War. Invincible Iron Man seems to strike at all of my problems and ease me back into the Marvel characters.

Salvador Larocca's art is wonderful, drawing on elements of Adi Granov and Bob Layton simultaneously while keeping its own flavor. His Iron Man has intriguing eye holes with a small vertical slit that make him look like he is crying in close-ups. As mentioned before, his Pepper looks like the movie version, but his Tony is closer to Granov and Layton with just a bit of Downey Jr. mixed in. Stane looks maddeningly familiar, but I can't tell if he's been based on an actor. His characters are "on-model," his faces are expressive and his action scenes are clearly laid out. It's very solid artwork for a very solid story. I especially like the new Evangelion-inspired Raiders. Unfortunately, the hardcover has almost nothing in the way of extras—just a gallery of variant covers. I would have liked some design notes or at least an introduction.

Whether you’re an old Iron Fan disenchanted by recent events, or a new fan brought in by the best comic book movie that isn’t The Dark Knight, I would highly suggest giving The Five Nightmares a read. The Tony who stars in this book is simultaneously the one from the “Demon in a Bottle” and “Armor Wars” glory days and the one portrayed so well by Robert Downey Jr. in the film. You may want to wait for the trade paperback edition, but check it out all the same.

[Contains covers and variant cover gallery. $24.99.]

Number 448


"...a smarter moron..."


Dodo and the Frog was a popular feature for DC Comics during the heyday of funny animal comics, the 1940s and '50s. It was drawn by animator Otto Feuer, born in 1907 in Germany, who died in the U.S. at age 91.

Where would funny animal comics have been without animators who moonlighted? They understood pacing, storytelling, gags. Feuer had a very attractive style. He kept his layouts and panels simple and instantly readable, and understood the use of white space. His characters were silly, as are the stories. They're fun!

These two strips come from a coverless copy of DC's Funny Stuff. I don't know the issue number, so I've included an in-house ad with other comics from DC's funny animal line. Grand Comics Database doesn't have this issue indexed. Maybe someone out there can identify the issue for me.

Number 447


"C'mon you yellow Ratzis!"


As a young comics fan in the early 1960s, some of the first World War II-era comics I saw were by Al Avison and Al Gabrielle, carrying on the work of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby on Captain America. Avison and Gabrielle were part of the shop that produced those popular comics, and carried on when S & K left to go to DC. I loved the frantic action, legs flying out of panels, heroes and bad guys alike flying through the air in the endless fistfights that filled the pages. It was heady stuff for a kid raised with the more sedate post-Code comics.

Al Avison worked for many years in the industry. He was a true professional and an artist who worked in several styles, often imitating other artists. He did many covers for Harvey Comics, working in the style of Chester Gould on the Dick Tracy reprints, for instance.

The Grand Comics Database shows that "The Cobra Ring Of Death" was published in Captain America #22 from 1943, and again in The Golden Age Of Marvel Comics, a one-shot published in 1997. It doesn't show this printing, which was in Captain George's Comics World #23-24, a double issue from 1969. George Henderson, a publisher and store owner in Toronto, Canada, had gotten ahold of some black and white photostats from Timely Comics of the 1940s, and published them in his fanzine.

The Grand Comics Database guesses the writer was Stan Lee.

Number 446


To know the secret of the Black Dungeon is to die...


"Black Dungeon" is from 1951, Mystic #2. The Atlas site, www.atlastales.com, says the artist is Mike Sekowsky.

I owned Mystic #2 until about 2000 when I sold it on eBay. Ever do that? Sell something and immediately kick yourself for doing it? I've done it too many times. My bum is sore from those self-kicks. I felt lucky to find the story in one of the Marvel reprint books of the '70s, Beware #8, 1974.

I like the splash panel, although it doesn't have anything to do with the story, nor does the original 1951 cover, but in its own right the story is pretty good.

More from our Heroes of the DC Universe puzzle ...



Observations from the Heroes of the DC Universe puzzle:
1) Putting together Aquaman's hairy chest? As creepy as it sounds.
2) Batman? Never heard of 'em.
3) Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner, and Wally West. Three surprisingly complex guys.

Updates to come ...