New Music Friday: The Nazz; Frank Zappa; James Carter Organ Trio; Ezra Furman; Poco; Ken Burns' Country Soundtrack
Our picks this week. Click the links to order vinyl, CDs or downloads from Amazon.
Pop Culture Roundup: Bronze-Age nostalgia; Ray Harryhausen; Marvel advent calendar
ITEM! I love it that DC and Marvel are producing some real comic books - the regular-sized, floppy kind - for my age bracket. Out this week is another facsimile edition of a classic DC issue, House of Mystery #92 and next week Marvel has The Amazing Spider-Man: Going Big, a standalone comic featuring three new stories by veteran scripter Gerry Conway.
Most of my comics buying these days is confined to collected editions. But things like this will get me down to the local comics shop on a regular basis, which is great!
ITEM! A tribute to the original special effects whiz, Ray Harryhausen.
ITEM! Funko Toys is releasing a Marvel Comics 80th Anniversary advent calendar.
Most of my comics buying these days is confined to collected editions. But things like this will get me down to the local comics shop on a regular basis, which is great!
ITEM! A tribute to the original special effects whiz, Ray Harryhausen.
ITEM! Funko Toys is releasing a Marvel Comics 80th Anniversary advent calendar.
Review - "American Comic Book Chronicles: 1940-1944"
The Sixties were nothing to sneeze at, but when it comes to American comic books, the Forties were the biggest decade of all.
Comics were new pop culture sensation of the day - selling millions of copies at the newsstand and spawning multimedia tie-ins: radio shows, comic strips, movie serials and decoder rings. Hell, who needs streaming video and the Internet? Decoder rings!
After Superman and Batman socked open the floodgates in 1939, America's corner shops and grocery stores were inundated with a flood of colorfully clad heroes with seemingly more and more of them always on the way.
From DC (then known as National, which also soon swallowed up All-American Publications), you had not just the World's Finest duo, but also Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Hawkman, the Atom, the Spectre and more.
From Marvel (then doing business as Timely Comics) you had Captain America along with fire/water sparring partners the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner.
And over at Fawcett, you had the biggest-selling hero of all: Captain Marvel.
Plus, from all over the place, you had a whole range of other heroes - some great, some terrible: Blue Bolt, the Shield, the Fox, the Green Llama (for real!), etc., etc., etc.
And that's not mention other genres (yes, there were once other genres): Westerns, jungle adventure, sci-fi, funny animals and teen humor (a kid named Archie made his debut in 1941). All in color for dime.
So it's no wonder TwoMorrows is covering this storied decade over two - not just one - volumes in its excellent "American Comic Book Chronicles" series.
This first installment, penned by Kurt F. Mitchell in consultation with the famed Roy Thomas (who knows a thing or two about comics of the Forties. Don't get him started on the Justice Society), is excellent.
Mitchell's writing is clear and engaging and his scholarship robust. He does a great job of setting the stage, detailing where America was as the decade began - just recovering from the depression with a war on the way. Comic books, along with the aforementioned movies, serials, radio shows and more, provided a lively distraction from it all. The book chronicles the gamut, from great comics and innovative creators to the crap and the hacks.
The decade saw the debut of masterful visual storytellers who became giants in the field: Jack Kirby, Will Eisner (yes, we're counting his Spirit strip as a comic book), Jack Cole, Reed Crandall, Mort Meskin, Mac Raboy, C.C. Beck, H.G. Peter and Carl Barks. But the book also makes mention of oddball creators of the day such as Basil Wolverton and the bizarre Fletcher Hanks, who'd like be classified an "outsider artist" if he were around today.
Examples of these and other creators is found throughout the book, which reproduces hundreds of comics covers and art pages - it's a joy to browse.
The emerging war, and America's involvement in it, is a constant, unavoidable part of the narrative throughout the book. By 1941 and 1942, domestic gangsters start to get sidelined as villains; our heroes are now too busy fighting the Axis threat. Jack Kirby's unforgettable over to Captain America #1 depicts the star-spangled warrior punching Hitler right in the face. Violent, yes, but such comics and images emboldened young Americans and fired them up to defend what's right.
Unfortunately, the war also sidelined many top creators for a number of years. Kirby was drafted and ended up fighting real Nazis in Europe, nearly freezing off his feet in the process. Eisner also served in the military, using comics in a new way to teach soldiers how to maintain equipment. A young writer/editor at Timely named Stan Lee was drafted, too, working in the Army's film training division. Part two will presumably cover the return of those creators and others following the war and their continued creative development, which saw the rise of the romance, crime and monster comics that ruled the Fifties (an era already covered in TwoMorrows' series).
This is a vital chunk of comics history, extremely well-captured. You can order it here.
New trailer for Amazon Original "The Aeronauts"
Details:
In 1862, daredevil balloon pilot Amelia Wren (Felicity Jones) teams up with pioneering meteorologist James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne) to advance human knowledge of the weather and fly higher than anyone in history. While breaking records and advancing scientific discovery, their voyage to the very edge of existence helps the unlikely pair find their place in the world they have left far below them. But they face physical and emotional challenges in the thin air, as the ascent becomes a fight for survival.
In theaters December 6th and available on Prime Video December 20th
New Comics Day: House of Secrets; Orion; Tales of the Batman
Our picks this week:
DC's original Swamp Thing made his unforgettable first appearance in this 1971 mystery comic, now reprinted in this new facsimile edition! Now's your chance to experience writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson's first take on DC's most popular monster, along with several other scary tales.
House of Secrets #92 Facsimile Edition
(W) Len Wein, Jack Kirby, Mark Evanier, Virgil North, Gerry Conway (A) Bill Draut, Alan Weiss, Tony DeZuniga, Dick Dillin (A/CA) Bernie Wrightson DC's original Swamp Thing made his unforgettable first appearance in this 1971 mystery comic, now reprinted in this new facsimile edition! Now's your chance to experience writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson's first take on DC's most popular monster, along with several other scary tales.
His name is Orion, and this is the story of his greatest adventure! Ranging from the streets of America to the furthest reaches of time and space, this epic saga will uncover long-hidden secrets from Orion's past--and provoke the ultimate reckoning for his future! Only one talent could possibly summon the vision and fortitude necessary to recount such a mighty tale as this--the supremely gifted writer and artist Walter Simonson!
Orion by Walter Simonson Book One collects issues #12-25 of the legendary storyteller's acclaimed Orion series, and also includes a treasure trove of Simonson's Fourth World-related short stories, covers and sketches.
Orion by Walter Simonson Book One collects issues #12-25 of the legendary storyteller's acclaimed Orion series, and also includes a treasure trove of Simonson's Fourth World-related short stories, covers and sketches.
Illustrated by artists including Gene Colan, Don Newton, Klaus Janson and José Luis García-López and featuring guest appearances by Superman, Man-Bat, and the whole Bat-Family, these classic tales showcase one of the greatest talents ever to write for the Caped Crusader!
Collects Batman #349-359 and Detective Comics #515-526.
Collects Batman #349-359 and Detective Comics #515-526.
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