Pulp Hero

Last Burly Men on Earth

2010-08-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

http://earthboundburlyman.blogspot.com/

Join the burlier faction of the web. By the makers of Pulp Hero.

Chad

Friday Night Fights! G-7! Apeman!

2009-08-07T13:53:00.000-07:00

One of the best of the Pulp Hero classic analogues is Ka-Zar, created to appeal to the Tarzan reader. Ka-Zar has kicked around at Marvel Comics alone since the late 1960s, before you even get into his pulp magazine roots back in the 1930s.

In DAREDEVIL ish 12, DD gets a lesson in the old hand to hand from the bestial Apeman himself. Art layouts by Jack Kirby, and finishes by a rookie John Romita Sr!

In mans evolution he has created the cities and
The motor traffic rumble, but give me half a chance
And Id be taking off my clothes and living in the jungle
cos the only time that I feel at ease
Is swinging up and down in a coconut tree
Oh what a life of luxury to be like an ape man
Im an ape, Im an ape ape man, Im an ape man
Im a king kong man, Im a voo-doo man
Im an ape man

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Apeman/8017268

http://www.spacebooger.com/ understands the pleasure of the feral.

More Bash Brother: THE ANCHOR by Phil Hester and Brian Churilla

2009-07-25T10:06:00.001-07:00

Saying what I say about how you can never have enough robots fighting monsters, or monster fighting robots, or gorillas fighting zombies, I think it's safe to say there's nothing wrong with Big Bruisers fighting any and all of the above.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22177

Of course I'm Johnny on the Spot for this as well. Phil Hester is a pretty solid talent, writing or drawing, so I'm there.

Friday Night Fights! G-7! First Time...I Hurt Your Face!

2009-07-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/The_First_Time_Ever_I_Saw_Your_Face/1113864

A little Roberta Flack to accompany this twin fist to face action, from BLUE BEETLE and the 1980s, by Len Wein and the sadly missing Paris Cullens.

http://www.spacebooger.com/ remembers the first time, and every time...

Friday Night Fights! G-7! Richard Dragon: Cruel to be Kind!

2009-07-09T20:11:00.000-07:00

Cruisin around and found these on the CBR Forums...and because there's no way I shouldn't have known that Jack Kirby drew a Richard Dragon comic, specifically issue 3 RICHARD DRAGON: KUNG FU FIGHTER with a Denny O'Neil script no less.

I think I'll go off the beaten track, and put down a little Nick Lowe action,

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Cruel_To_Be_Kind/1859667

I mean, after all, cruel/kind is pretty much yin/yang, ain't it?

http://www.spacebooger.com/ has a need to strike strange karate poses at the press of the Swiss' button!

STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES 200: "Deathride!"

2009-07-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

Well, couldn't have planned this better if I'd planned it better, but the 200th issue of STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES falls on Independence Day.

Parts One and Two here:

http://pulphero.blogspot.com/2009/06/star-spangled-war-stories-198-traitor.html

http://pulphero.blogspot.com/2009/06/star-spangled-war-stories-199-crime-of.html

The Unknown Soldier, still disguised as Nazi Lt. Holbach, is about to be ventilated by a super-pissed Mlle. Marie, French rebel, flanked by her Maquis fighters. At the Soldier's feet is the recent suicide, guard Sgt. Schepke, whom he'd come to find. As Marie draws down on the Soldier, Nazis guards slam into the room and begin a firefight with the Maquis. Mlle. Marie is trying to escape via a window, but the Soldier knows she will sign his death warrant with the Allies by confirming his guilt as a double agent. "Holbach" quickly captures Marie, demanding the Maquis stand down before he kills her.

Holbach knocks out Marie before she can reveal him to be a spy. The Nazis are unaware that Holbach is the Soldier, and so he continues the pretense. Ordered to tie Marie in the Colonel's office for questioning and, no doubt, torture, Holbach is on the spot when Marie regains consciousness and explodes with anger. Holbach convinces her to play along, with the possibility of striking a "blow for France."

Marie pretends to still be unconscious while the Nazi Colonel returns, gloating over the Fatherland's victory. The "Sonic Shell" has been loaded on a train headed to the French Front, where it will be used against the Allied Forces there. Holbach gets the Colonel to reveal how the Nazis fooled the Unknown Soldier into delivering a deadly bomb to the Allied Foreign Forces leader Lethin. Once Marie has overheard this information, Holbach breaks a wine bottle over the Colonel's skull and frees her. Together, Holbach and Marie gather the design plans for the Sonic Shell and prepare to stop the train. However, they find that Marie's Maquis have been tied to the exterior of the train engine to discourage attacks. Marie is distrought, convinced there is a way to save her men. The Soldier knows there's no time, and locks Marie in a utility shed to keep her out of the way while he goes to destroy the train.

Marie breaks out of the shed, but the Soldier reaches the train engine and gets it rolling. The Maquis tied nearest explains he understands the situation, that they will all die destroying the train. The Maquis knows how to run the train. The Soldier frees him, and the Frenchman gets the train up to speed while the Soldier lays down cover fire. Once out of range of the Nazis soldiers, the Maquis tells the Soldier to jump free. The Soldier refuses, taking full responsibility for the suicide mission, but the Maquis pushes him off: "...you are the most valuable weapon ze Allies have. And I'm afraid zat our mistake in not believing that makes the responsibility ours!"

The barreling train smashes into the munitions factory, erupting in a massive conflagration, killing the Nazi Colonel and all of Marie's fighters strapped to it. The Soldier slips away, but is stopped by Mlle. Marie, her weapon trained on him. She agrees that the train had to be destroyed, but the Soldier is responsible for murdering her friends. Walking away, Marie relates that she will report the Soldier's innocence to the Allies, but "I warn you, monsieur: should you ever return to France when ze War is over, watch carefully ze shadows, because I will be among them...and I will be waiting..."

Another solid gem from Michelinie and Talaoc. Their timing and execution is impeccable by this time. Again, this particularly three-parter isn't as strong as some of the individual stories, but the depth gained by adding Mlle. Marie makes up for it. There's a strange and unique interaction beneath the surface of the War-bound warriors, something in the art I think. And I find it a shame Marie isn't in more stories of this run, because Talaoc has a fascinating touch on her, finding a nice balance between courage and vulnerability, allowing Marie to be a woman while still formidable as a rebel leader.

Out of Five 3D Men

Pulp Hero Guide to Good Comics: Top Ten Covers

2009-07-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

As with anything in life, we'll start with the covers.

#10: STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES 126, by Joe Kubert

You can pretty much thank the great Pulp artists of the magazines, the subsequent Pulp-inspired covers to the lurid paperbacks of the 1950s/1960s, and the poster art for some of the greatest films of all time, leading to the elevation of the comic book cover to another level as well.

# 9: NEW TEEN TITANS 13, by George Perez and Romeo Tanghal

Us kids didn't know how good we had it, meaning kids growing up in the 1970s. We thought great covers and posters grew on trees. These bits of incredible art lured us to the outer reaches of imagination, providing clear sign-posts to find our way. Great times for everybody.

# 8: TALES OF THE ZOMBIE 5, by Earl Norem

You only have to look around now to realize the expert salesmanship of our beloved culture has fallen on terrible times. We don't get anything cool any more. It's a punishment from the gods of commerce, or something. More likely, though, consumers are satisfied with buying crap that looks like crap, signifying crap. Because the culture has gotten more stupid, more pre-packaged, it is therefore unnecessary to convince people to see tripe like TRANSFORMERS 2: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN. People just assume that they are going to get exactly what they are paying for.

#7: BRAVE AND THE BOLD 38, by Ross Andru and Mike Eposito

That wasn't the case in the 1970s, or farther back. See, the folks making movies and comics and television wanted to do everything in their power to convince you to see their product. They made clever trailers that didn't reveal anything, yet just enough to give any Horror/SF/Crime lover a massive rod-like projection in their pants to see the movie. Book covers of slender, tough novels about displaced private eyes and snake-eyed C.I.A. assassins, read by the extinct male reader, encapsulated their awesomeness by having a cover with a barely-dressed broad in stockings with a .45 in her hand getting ready to blow the head off a handsome tough with a cigarette dangling off his lower lip. Even porn movies and novels had experts working to convince the consumer they had to experience what they were selling.

#6: STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES 130, by Russ Heath

Illustration and art worked hand-in-hand with our imaginations...who can forget the poster for the original JAWS, or the iconic Frank Miller cover for THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS collection the first time that thing hit the stands? Maybe one of the last of the recognizable icons of what is fast becoming another generation, The Batman is shown in outline leaping over a cityscape with a huge bolt of lightning slicing the night behind him. That lightning is a savage life, flowing through The Batman, drawing him toward the city, where his justice will strike.

#5: DETECTIVE COMICS 565, by Gene Colan

I hate talking about how much current culture sucks. I can't even generate enough interest to come up with a clever way of saying how much culture eats the pig offal straight out of the pig's ass. It's almost worth pointing out that my generation sh*t the bed where this is concerned, because it's my 1970s born/bred generation that allowed men like Bill Gates and his funky computers to overthrow the physical incarnations of art. Computer Generated Images have subverted everything we've ever believed. In fact, you can no longer trust anything you see or read anymore, can you? How do you know Bill Gates has not manipulated that image? How do you know that scanned book or novel or comic is the original version? How do you know anything, Neo?

#4: SUPERMAN 317, by Neal Adams

So, my generation allowed the generation before mine, my father's hippie-infested generation of fake-tits and blondes with moronic ambition and plastic man-women ruling an airscape of relentless salesmanship, to fester in their own version of rebellion: to do nothing, they ruined everything. Now Oprah Winfrey continues to shill, our wars are fallacious, and where's the next original idea going to come from? Don't you hate existence enough by now not to ask the questions?

#3: OUR FIGHTING FORCES 155, by Jack Kirby and D. Bruce Berry

At any rate, while I'm waiting to die, I'm here to show you the Top Ten Covers according to me. The ones I think are fantastic, though not the only ones. Far from it. Everything is subject to change, and this is comic books. There's always an unseen, unknown cover lurking to surprise you.

#2: TOMB OF DRACULA 57, by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer

But for our discussion, these I've been showing are tops for me and Pulp Hero.

#1: MACHINE MAN 1, by Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia

Friday Night Fights! G-7! Off the Wall!

2009-06-26T14:18:00.000-07:00

I can't say I was the biggest Michael Jackson fan ever, but I'd be hard-pressed not to admit he came up with some good tunes. As a tribute to Jackson, and the Vigilante's battle in issue 31 of his 1980s series (by Paul Kupperberg and Chuck Patten) I give you: "Off the Wall"

Do what you want to do

There aint no rules its up to you (aint no rules its all up to you)

Its time to come alive

And party on right through the night (all right)

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Off_The_Wall/14022119

http://www.spacebooger.com/ continues to spin the wax, weekly!

STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES 199: "The Crime of Sgt. Schepke!"

2009-06-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

Part One Here http://pulphero.blogspot.com/2009/06/star-spangled-war-stories-198-traitor.html

Disguised as the unfortunate Georges Ronsard in Avignon, the Soldier is immediately spotted by the Nazis, confirming he was, indeed, set up for the murders at Allied HQ. After a quick getaway, the scene switches to the hidden-behind-a-waterfall HQ of one of the famous French rebel fighters, Mlle. Marie and her men. Intelligence reports the Soldier must be found and stopped, and Mlle. Marie is hot to kill any traitors to France. She's on the hunt.

Meanwhile, the Soldier kills a Nazi in an alley, a Leutnant Holbach, and "steals his face."

At the moment, Sgt. Schepke reports to his superior, who informs Schepke he is being dishonorably discharged for his incompetence. Schepke begs for his position, but the Colonel has no choice. Schepke leaves, weeping and eating a candy bar.

The false Lt. Holbach arrives, seeking Schepke, and freely searches the munitions factory. As he's passing a mop-woman, Holbach is struck from behind by the mop. The attacker is Mlle. Marie herself, along with her Maquis fighters. Revealing she deduced the Soldier's identity by the fact that his mask does not sweat in the factory heat. Before Marie can kill him, the Soldier breaks free and begins fighting the Maquis hand to hand, as gunfire will alert the Nazis all around them.

Simultaneously, Sgt. Schepke is in his quarters, cleaning himself up, regretting his sad existence. He puts on his best uniform, contemplatively.

The Soldier stems the tide of battle by convincing Mlle. Marie that he was set-up, though she remains highly skeptical. The Soldier assures her he can produce "the man who did it." As Holbach, the Soldier leads Marie and her fighters to Sgt. Schepke's quarters just as a shot rings out. The Soldier breaks in to find Sgt. Schepke, and his alibi, dead. Mlle. Marie draws a bead on the Soldier with her machine gun, to dispense justice.

Things just seem to be getting worse for the Soldier, as this is the end of Part Two. The inclusion of Mlle. Marie is a nice touch, as she's a recognizable historic figure within the DC Comics universe, created in 1959 by Robert Kanigher and Jerry Grandenetti http://www.toonopedia.com/mllemari.htm.

David Michelinie and Gerry Talaoc produce another solid winner here...the worst that can be said is that most of these stories are too short. At the time, and for whatever reason, the War Comics had back-up stories, usually of far inferior quality. On some of these back-ups you'll recognize some future stars of comics, like Frank Miller for instance. In general, the back-up stories tend to prevent us from getting even more Unknown Soldier story, which is a shame.

Out of Five 3D Men.

STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES 198: "Traitor!"

2009-06-23T15:59:00.000-07:00

The Unknown Soldier is a prisoner awaiting trial for, you guessed it from the story title, treason.

The story opens with the Soldier being locked up, and thinking back on his mission prior to his traitorous acts. Hours before, the Soldier had been receiving orders from Marshall Letain, an officer of the Allies in charge of the French Front. The Allies' "Operation Anvil" is ramming the Nazis back toward Paris, but the Axis has plans to counter-attack with a new weapon "said to make standard explosives obsolete." However, no one knows exactly what the weapon is, but it's the Soldier's job to find it and destroy it.

The Soldier parachutes into a small Occupied French town called Avignon, where he uses his make-up affects to become a standard peasant. He locates the munitions factory, but hasn't a clue how to get inside. At that moment, while having a beer in a watering hole listening in to a clutch of Nazi guards off-duty, the Soldier sees his opportunity in the form of a Sgt. Schepke, a sad, plodding little guard whom the others mock. Sgt. Schepke nervously gobbles one of his chocolate bars, leaving the derisive laughter of the other guards. Schepke runs into a Frenchman named Georges, who is Schepke's friend. The two discuss Schepke's helpless indulgence of the other men's cruelty, and Schepke admits he is a career soldier with nothing else to endeavor for. Georges is a widower and a toy-maker, whose only joy is in the faces of happy children in his shop. The Frenchman and the German are fast friends because of their mutual powerlessness against the external forces battering them.

When Georges returns home, he is greeted by a pistol pressed to his temple. The Soldier shackles Georges hands and hangs the man from his wrists, to keep him from touching the floor while the Soldier fashions a mask of Georges' face. Now "Georges," the Soldier departs, leaving the real Georges to attempt his escape. Georges knows the Soldier is a spy, and fears he will harm Schepke. Valiantly, Georges struggles to slide his shackles along the length of the wooden bar he is suspended by. But when he drops, he is impaled by one of his own toy-carving knives.

The other Georges, meanwhile, goes to Schepke while he's on guard duty and asks if he might have an escort about the munitions factory. Though forbidden, Schepke agrees to show his friend what he can.

The two men watch, hidden, during a test of the new weapon the Soldier is searching for. In a field are a herd of sheep. From the ground rise small extended mechanisms all around the sheep. In less than a minute, all of the animals convulse and immediately die. Schepke points out to Georges that the new weapon is "shell(s that) don't explode--they emit sounds waves that disrupt the nervous system, bringing death in seconds!"

During the test, Schepke had been eating one of his candy bars, and dropped the wrapper. Later, Nazi guards discover the wrapper, leading the Commandant to the identity of the watcher. Schepke is confronted and tries to deny it, but the Commandant uncovers the sheeted corpse of the real Georges. Schepke must reveal what he knows of the espionage agent who has impersonated Georges.

The Georges double, unknowing, breaks into the munitions offices, to steal the "sonic shell" plans. He even finds a "wave transmitter", a small box-like device, which he takes for the Allied scientists to study. The Soldier sneaks out of the town, making his way back across Allied lines. However, the Soldier's journey is intercut with the Nazi Commandant at a radar console, watching his progress. At Allied H.Q., the Soldier and Marshall Letain enter a scientific lab, where a Dr. Forster is busy analyzing the wave transmitter in hopes of designing a jamming signal for the weapons. Too late, Dr. Forster realizes the device isn't a transmitter, but a bomb, which is detonated by the Nazis.

The Soldier is farthest from Letain and Forster, who are both killed. The Soldier has been set up, and he is presented as a double agent having succeeded in murdering an important stradegist. Back in the present, the Allied guards have returned to haul the Soldier before a court martial, but they find an empty cell. Also, the Soldier has retrieved his make-up kit. Orders are issued by Allied command that the Soldier be apprehended, "dead or alive!"

More of the usual excellence from David Michelinie and Gerry Talaoc, as this is Part One of yet another multi-part story, which Michelinie is doing more and more by this point in the run. I don't think at any other point in the Unknown Soldier's original stories were there any multi-part stories. Mostly in keeping with the War Comic traditions of one-and-dones, but Michelinie kinks the formula to produce some of the best war stories of the era.

Out of Five 3D Men.

Friday Night Fights! G-7! See Ya Later, Alligator!

2009-06-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

Ted "Wildcat" Grant gets a measure of ass-kickery on Killer Croc, with an awesome explanation of exactly how to beat down the murderous man-monster. This comes from the pure fun mini-series BATMAN/WILDCAT by Chuck Dixon and Beau Smith, with Sergio Cariello and Art Thibert on art.

This rumble gets scored by Bill Haley and the Comets, and their quite obvious smash hit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaCh_kguyVA

http://www.spacebooger.com/ puts the brisket in the basket...

I've Got Hellfire Pants for Hellboy!

2009-06-17T16:56:00.000-07:00

Wielding the Right Hand of Sock, this seriously stylin' little fellow is courtesy a young lady named China Delius http://www.flickr.com/photos/chinachichi/

If such as these interest you, check out the arty dame's shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6465055 and invest in manly icons done just so damn cute.

Characters I Want To Write! Four to Grow On!

2009-06-15T17:23:00.000-07:00

Of course we'd all like to be writing comics, when in reality we'd rather be drawing comics. Perhaps I might have had the latent talent to draw, but not now. Writing is an arduous process, denying one the hope of ever being confident in your chosen craft. I'd rather be a metallurgist or something viable like that.

Characters I'd love a chance to create stories for, in some kind of way...here's four of 'em.

Frankly I find it almost offensive there isn't a regular monthly SAVAGE SUB-MARINER comic available. Here's one of the cornerstones of Marvel Comics, a character who's been around since the 1940s, relatively unchanged to this day. He's the inspiration (and superior) to Aquaman. One of the first legitimate "anti-heroes" in comic book history, Namor has fought hero and villain with equal ferocity in his existence. The Avenging Son has pasted every major Marvel character in the kisser at least once, which has to be some kind of precedent.

I think the thing to remember about Namor as a character: he's just not going to do what anyone thinks he should do. Namor needs to be arrogant and proud, uncompromising, and to that end he should be teamed up with other characters. A nice, simple unit of secondary characters would offset Namor's belligerence, if that's the sore point for "today's" readers.

The Creeper is a character I've gotten wood for, and the connective tissue for me if the Creeper's mishmash of influences, all of them cool. If you took the Shadow and turned him into a Steve Ditko Spider-Man with an ape-sh*t color scheme, then you have the Creeper.

I think, as you can see, the Creeper wasn't designed to be a "clown" character. He's crawling down walls and laughing like a maniac, but it's all an act. What isn't an act is how he scares the hell out of everybody. Frankly, if you think of the Creeper running on all fours at you, I think you'll understand my meaning.

Here's another yellow-garbed character who really gets yanked through the smarmy "too cool" school of comic book fan. Known as "The Whizzer", this character was also created in the 1940s, with the unbelievably Pulpy/comic book origin of gaining his powers, as a child living in Africa, from an injection of mongoose blood. That's right, folks. Super-speed from mongoose blood. The cool thing is, I like the origin. You could do something with the origin, whether you know it or not. It's downright entertaining. But here's the deal: Robert Frank is a speedster, and the good thing about him is there's no "Speed Force" at Marvel (that's right, the "Speed Force"...which is supposed to explain why there are so many speedsters at DC Comics, as they all "tap into" this "Force." Sounds kind of like something else that a bunch of mid-late 30s age men fondly recall from a certain Blockbuster Movie of their early childhood.) What I'm saying is, the Whizzer is like any other character: he could be cool. He could be awesome. Somebody just has to see him that way. And that would be yours truly.

The Question is a woman nowadays, but back in the 1960s he was a man (created, as was the Creeper, by artist Steve Ditko) who expounded the black/white worldview of Objectionism. Reporter Vic Sage's quest for justice enabled him to wear a special featureless mask designed by his friend Professor Rodor. The Question is a character with two fists and a very clear, very defined sense of right and wrong. "A is A." There is no middle ground, there is no "gray area" where it concerns morality and ethics. Either you ARE a criminal, or you are NOT a criminal. You make the choice.

I love the Question, his spooky visual, his even more disconcerting judgement. What the Question does is remove any notion of chance or Fate...you are what you are. And you must face the consequences for your choices. Often as not, the cowards who cannot face themselves end up dead by their own hand, or while trying to escape. The Question continues on.

Friday Night Fights! G-7! Bang-A-Boomerang!!!

2009-06-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

Yeeaahhh-hh-hhhh! In INCREDIBLE HULK 295 by Bill Mantlo and the great Sal Buscema, there's absolutely no doubt:

"Like a bang, a boom-a-boomerang

Dum-be-dum-dum be-dum-be-dum-dum

Oh bang, a boom-a-boomerang

Love is a tune you hum-de-hum-hum

So give it away, I think you'll learn

You'll get love in return

So bang, a boom-a-boomerang is love

A boom-a-boomerang is love" -ABBA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npcSH7niuHI

http://www.spacebooger.com/ says, "Love is waiting for you, just come on back like a Boomerang for my love!"

Like I'm not Going to Buy It: ROBOT 13!

2009-06-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

First off, it's a robot named Robot 13. Then, it's a robot named 13 with a skull floating around in a tank with its own consciousness. And then it's a robot named 13 which isn't a model number but a number carved into the skull's forehead. And it's a robot named 13 who fights giant monsters and other stuff straight out of my skull.

In light of all this, plus the obvious Mike Mignola (HELLBOY) style to this thing, I'm now thrilled to have something else to get thrilled about!

Here's a couple of links: http://blacklistedtom.blogspot.com/ for the writer's blog.

http://www.blackliststudios.com/ for them who publish the thing.

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2009/05/six-by-6-six-questions-with-robot-13-writer-thomas-hall/ for a short little interview with CBR.

I already saw one complaint about "too much like Mignola." Too much like Hellboy and the Goon. Listen, you can never have enough cool robot heroes, or gnarly finned fish-men, or brutish gorilla-built guys who punch squirmy monsters. Some people claim you can, but I'm not one of them. Same with zombies, still love'em. You can overexpose them, you can make them banal, but you can't completely exhaust them of story possibilities. It just takes someone with a variation on a theme to make the icons brand-eye new again.

So take a chance on ROBOT 13, because more robots vs monsters in a world full of reality television and economics is sorely, vitally required!

PARKER is Almost Here

2009-06-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

There isn't a project in any media I'm more excited about than PARKER by Darwyn Cooke.

http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/brubaker_cooke_rough/ : this is a nice interview with Cooke and Ed Brubaker, colleagues who have grand affection for the Parker series by Richard Stark. (The link seems to take a minute or so to load, but it's worth it.)

To me, this project is sort of the whole reason for comic books to exist, in their most evolved state. This fusion of talent and talent, and one of the most iconic characters in literature, is unprecedented, in my mind. This is not only an interesting project for Darwyn Cooke, but a responsibility to Stark/Donald Westlake's memory, and his legacy. So many great writers have been influenced by Westlake, so many filmmakers and artists found their tone through Westlake's prose, his evergreen ideas. In a world where people get congratulated for being complete idiots, Westlake's humble views of his influence only make him more revered.

Buy THE HUNTER, friends. And tell everyone: Parker is almost here.

Friday Night Fights! G-7! Deathlok's Bluest Heaven!

2009-06-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

Rolling out of ASTONISHING TALES (ish 26?) as one of the better ideas in the 1970s was Rich Buckler's wicked creation, Deathlok, a reinanimated future Super Soldier/cyborg up against a Totalitarian regime. Scripts by Doug Moench and later, Bill Mantlo. In all that bloodshed, it speaks to the humanity of the man codenamed Deathlok, Luther Manning, who once had a wife and son he is too grotesque to ever hope to regain. Manning understands poignantly that Molly and baby did indeed make three, and losing "My Blue Heaven" makes him want to send a lot of folks to a very red hell, courtesy of the great Fats Domino http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncTSipsee7I

http://www.spacebooger.com/ thinks it doesn't matter where you go when you die, just that you die hard.

Pulp Hero(es): AGENTS OF ATLAS

2009-06-03T15:14:00.000-07:00

Short and sweet: AGENTS OF ATLAS is one of those comics you folks must support.

Especially now, because there's a "new" artist doing the book, named Gabriel Hardman, who is fast becoming one of my favorites. Kudos to whoever at Marvel for realizing this guy is the artist for this comic book about heroes from the 1950s. Hardman ain't too shabby on heroes from the 1940s either, as evidenced by his Sub-Mariner stage left.

The other major reason, among many, is not only the writing of Jeff Parker, who is the best comic book superhero writer right now, period, but the Agents themselves. An immortal talking gorilla, a super-strong Atlantean chick, a literal god, a secret agent, a Uranian, and a 1950s robot with a death ray...I just don't know what else you could need/want from a superhero comic book. Even while weighted down with the latest crossover at Marvel ("Dark Reign"...whatever) the book still managed to be readable. That in itself is almost unheard of.

Please do yourself a favor and pick up AGENTS OF ATLAS, which is a monthly ongoing. We may not see its like again for some time.

Genre: Pulp

2009-06-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

Generally, I see myself as a man who'd enjoy writing Pulp type stories, about a Pulp type character, imbued with enough "timeless" qualities that they could be mistaken for more than they are, but still gratefully exactly what they are.

To that end, I've begun to put pressure on myself to accomplish a tough feat in today's "modern" culture: write books for men, about men, doing men kind of things. Right now, the publishing industry is rife with fiction for, about, and catered to women, particularly suburban women with children who turn Oprah's latest preferred author into a million seller overnight. All well and good, I've been told, and really I can't blame the publishers for targeting the one sure audience they are guaranteed in these here United States, particularly the East and West Coasts: women.

Popular fiction for men has dwindled steadily since the 1980s, the zenith of the "macho" novel series by writers like Don Pendleton and Warren Murphy, as well as the core of action movie cinema, both of which had taken on hysterical aspects until nothing was left but those aspects, such as the movies of Michael Bay (THE ROCK, THE ISLAND, BAD BOYS.) The "stay at home" mother tested her might by vaulting Stephen King into a stratasphere of popular success unrivaled in the 20 years following the cruel pelting of Carrie White with sanitary napkins on the first page of King's first published novel, CARRIE. Every girl's worst fear was realized, and King's innate ability did not specify gender views, but tapped into them. Men and women readers saw themselves in King's words, thus King remained one of the only writers of the modern era to successfully cultivate both the reality of American rural/suburban life and the fictional Pulp iconography of his childhood 1950s in an undeniable product. Where the Pulps may have arrested the attention of the pre- and post-War Americans prior to the arrival of the greatest threat to the written word in every American home (television), Stephen King's work in the selfish "Me Generation" of fast-food and easy-access became a compulsion in an already overstimulated society.

I've seen, in my near-forty years, a slow damning of the Pulp ideology, which in turn created the sort of genres that boys could understand, like the Superhero. As has been pointed out ad nauseum wherever finer books are sold, without Doc Savage and the Shadow, in particular, Superheroes would not exist. Doc Savage and the Shadow were genetic fathers of Superman and Batman; their motifs spawned the Fantastic Four, which began the "Marvel Age" of comics. Today these characters are produced in movies which encapsulate hundreds of individual careers and generate tens of millions in revenue.

Yet still does the idea of Pulp, from pulse-pounding adventure to lurid exploitation, find itself tethered to a male-centric stigmata. At this point in time, Pulp itself has begun to take on a shape, to form itself as its own genre, identified by a construct of forgotten memory, of late-night B-movies and Kung-Fu Theatres on Saturday afternoons, and the more poignant formulas of short, tersely-thrilling novels and tattered comic books from long ago.

There's been a barricade of technology obscuring the sweaty unknown dangers of Pulp, a barricade of pop literature and celebrity accessible at all times to a hungering public. And yet the technology itself, the Playstation and the Xbox, lean heavily on the archetypal Pulp storylines and characters, their clarity and honesty. Audiences transport themselves into the core characters of video games who themselves are cyphers for adventures, both the pulse-pounding kind and the lurid. The technology supports the possibility that the Master Chief or the Hitman are Pulp archetypes as inviting and informing as the Shadow or the Whistler on radios of the 1930s.

Of course I want to write books anyone can pick up and read, but I really want to write books anyone will pick up and read because there's a lot of crazy Pulp between its covers. Though steeped in formula, the Pulp novel/comic is as predictable as a tsunami...but still as powerful in scale. The potential to make an impact on the minds and hearts of readers is important to every writer, but the Pulp writer is maintaining a legacy which has existed at least since the Murders of the Rue Morgue. It's an important position, which requires a humble, dutiful attention, not slavish but inspired.

A lot of my favorite writers, Richard Stark and John D. MacDonald for instance, took a lifetime of Pulp and infused it with an inevitable brilliance. The results were Parker, professional thief, and Travis McGee, salvage expert, respectively. The Pulp character had been electro-shocked by Stark (Don Westlake) and MacDonald's talent into a new, shining life, complete with literary import. Meanwhile, the movies, as they have always done, physicalized the Pulp Hero and made it even more palatable, in the form of Indiana Jones' and Luke Skywalker's eternal portraits.

Recently there's been an upsurge in the genre of Pulp, as a genre in itself. Comics have spear-headed the movement, from Mike Mignola's inspired Hellboy to Eric Powell's wondrous Goon, to Ed Brubaker's CRIMINAL series. Along with them has come a fleet of new Pulp-inspired artist/writers, operating in the various theatres of technology, the Internet, the digital medium. All of them perceive the Pulp Genre, the iconography of Pulp as an art form. It's a fascinating status for Pulp in general, which of course I'd like to take the Nestea Plunge within myself. And I always have, since I was nine years old writing and drawing a comic book adaption of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. I never finished it, and it became something else, something of my own. And I'm still trying to figure out how to finish what I started. It was a contract, an agreement signed in the blood of snakes and Nazis...and I must fulfill it.

Friday Night Fights! G-7! Vampiro!

2009-05-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

Gene Colan's TOMB OF DRACULA ish 1 stylings. I can think of no more appropriate fight song than "Vampiro!" by Satan's Pilgrims!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhUzn9kfIlQ

http://www.spacebooger.com/ adds the production values necessary for a SMASH hit!

Memorial Day

2009-05-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday's My Fun Day...

2009-05-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

Well, not really. I'm not made to have fun.

I was wondering about the characters I'd like to see in a "Saturday Morning Cartoon" context...I mean, Saturday mornings as we kids from the 1970s remember them, instead of how they actually were. Saturday mornings and cartoons, well, that was damn near Christmas throughout the year. I mean, Christmas without the inevitable post-present opening mother backlash with her screaming at you to get dressed to go to the family Christmas dinner, and calling you ungrateful and selfish because you're an only child who just wants to play with his toys. No, Saturday mornings didn't have that part, but the excitement...that they had.

So, here's some stuff I wish had been on Saturday Morning Cartoons:

COMMANDER STEEL!

THE TIMELY HERO POWER HOUR

CAPTAIN SPECTRE!

THE NIGHT RIDER!

CLOUDBUSTER!

All by Hanna Barbara, of course.

STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES 197: "The Henschel Gambit"

2009-05-20T16:20:00.000-07:00

An Arab in collusion with the Nazis named Hassan Ben Haroun is captured by covert guerrillas at an airfield. The rebels are led by a white woman. Hassan is actually the Unknown Soldier in disguise, who has been sent to North Africa to take Hassan's place and sabotage the Nazis last line of defense in the desert: a set of three Henschel HS 129 experimental bombers. Without these bombers, Rommel and the Afrika Korps will be defeated and the desert war won.

However, the unknown white rebel with the Arabs is determined to take Hassan back to face justice. The Soldier manages to escape by alerting the Nazi guards, but the white woman, still believing him to be Hassan, tracks him for the kill. The Soldier, meanwhile, recalls more information regarding his primary orders, preventing him from killing the white woman.

Back at Allied HQ, the Soldier was introduced to a Senator Evans, a brusque, entitled man whose daughter Jeannie is the white woman leading the guerrillas. Being a woman, Jeannie has a need to join the war effort, and has fled her father's political world for something real. Senator Evans has assurances from the Soldier's superiors that the Soldier will find and return Jeannie to the States. Obviously disgusted by such pandering and the Senator's short-sightedness (as the Soldier points out: "Seems I do remember rumors concerning a white woman leading a band of guerrillas. Only from what I heard, she's doing an excellent job.") the Soldier will perform his duty.

Back in the present, the Soldier as Hassan is about to be executed by Jeannie Evans, and he turns the tables on her, still disgusted by his orders, and renders her unconscious. Taking Jeannie to one of the Herschels, the Soldier fires up the bomber and flies from the airfield. The other two Herschels take off in pursuit, but they are ill-prepared for the Soldier's dive-bombing of the airfield, using the mounted 75mm anti-tank gun to destroy the other planes.

After that, the Soldier flies the limping Herschel several miles before it crashes in the desert and itself is destroyed. The Soldier carries the still-unconscious Jeannie Evans from the wreckage. Soon he discovers she is dead, however.

The story ends on the Soldier's righteous anger at the Senator, and his lament that he would not be able to forget Jeannie's face, "in restless dreams."

It's interesting that writer David Michelinie never explicitly states whether Jeannie has been killed by the bullets of the Nazi soldiers during the escape, or more darkly whether his own blow to Jeannie's head to knock her out might have killed her.

I didn't catch this subtle hint the first time around. Though obviously easy enough to suspect Jeannie was collateral damage during the Soldier's mission, still the Soldier's deep regret seems especially poignant...and I wonder. Was the Soldier's blow the moment Jeannie Evans died? Either way, the Soldier holds himself and a selfish bureaucrat responsible for the loss of a spirited fighter with integrity.

This is a quick little story, hardly a story more than an incident, as most of the tale occurs in the past. The Soldier's determination to follow orders, no matter what, has killed Jeannie Evans, whose own contributions to the War effort had been immense. It's a bleak look at the Soldier's military strength and human weakness, at how what he became to end the War seems to erase whatever he knew of decency prior to his horrific scarring.

Out of Five 3D Men.

Will Murray Talks Pulp

2009-05-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

Will Murray, Pulp authority, has an interview at Comic Book Resources, discussing upcoming Pulp releases from various sources spearheaded by his efforts:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=21252

Looking forward to checking out "The Whisperer" novels!

A Night. A Fight. A Friday Night. Fight!

2009-05-15T16:55:00.000-07:00

Here we learn what happens when you talk too much smack too soon!

Aw sh*t! Suck that!

Anyway, here's to DC Comics not killing off any more great characters, just because some pretentious writers want people to take them seriously. Please? Stop?

Characters I Want to Write! THE FACE!

2009-05-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

Created by artist Mart Bailey in the 1940s, The Face is one of those time-and-place concepts that gets snickered at by the modern reader.

A reporter-type guy named Tony Trent puts on a scary rubber mask, a visage so terrifying that criminals sh*t their pants instead of shooting Trent in the Face. This hesitation on their part leads to Trent, as The Face, cleaning their clock for them.

The original series of stories are actually really well-done, art-wise. Bailey had that clean, smooth style we associate with Wally Wood or Al Williamson. Of the stories I've seen, most have been highly entertaining pieces.

The Face, as an intellectual property, has fallen into the Public Domain. Thus, anyone can create stories based on the original version of The Face, created in the 1940s. And recently, Alex Ross and the Dynamite Comics machine has seen fit to reinterpret the character for their PROJECT SUPERPOWERS series. Unlike the original (which no one is bound to...only Alex Ross' version of The Face will be protected by his copyright,) Ross' Face has a supernatural ability to illicit terrifying hallucinations when criminals stare into his kisser.

Eh. Whatever. I mean, it would explain why The Face was so terrifying in the first place, but really I don't care much for the whole of PROJECT SUPERPOWERS so...I disparage it.

My version of The Face, I've been thinking, would have a great secret about him, something he keeps hidden. I've wondered about the whole idea behind Tony Trent in relation to other heroes who illicit revulsion, like The Creeper and The Question (both Steve Ditko creations, and Ditko himself has worked on The Face, illustrated here,) and Trent psychologically destroys his prey. I wonder what would happen if Trent's real face began to destroy his Face persona. What if Tony Trent was the thing that scared The Face most in the world?

Literalizing this would require some Pulp intervention, particularly in regards to something called "the Bultugin." This is a word in parts of Africa which supposedly means, "I change into a hyena." Literally. The idea of the were-hyena is actually a strong legend in Africa, a boogeyman who haunts many nights there. I keep looking at The Face and connecting "Bultugin" to it. I find there's something there...something relevant and terrifying.

All in all, I'd feel like a crumb "taking" The Face and altering Mart Bailey's creation to suit my desires...at the same time, the character is compelling and visually striking, and it's unfortunate to see The Face unused, unappreciated, by a modern audience.

Friday Night Fights! The FINAL O.P.P.! Daredevil Has Four Ways to Take You OUT!

2009-05-08T19:37:00.000-07:00

And it looks like the pillar was the most fun one!

Because in Frank Miller's DAREDEVIL 226 with the great Dave Mazzuchelli on art, Daredevil will actually consider all the ways he can take you. You know you're badass when you have time to ruminate on how to take out a dangerous psychotic hand-to-hand.

http://www.spacebooger.com/ similarly anticipates your moves for his pleasure.

F*ck Yes! THE MERCURY MEN!

2009-05-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

http://www.mercuryseries.com/

Check out this gnarly new trailer for a fabulous Pulp experience!

Ric Estrada: Professional Comic Book Artist...RIP

2009-05-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

Photo courtesy of http://ninjasandballroomdance.blogspot.com/2009/01/photos-with-ric-estrada-comic-artist.html

I hate losing a solid professional comic book artist. They're an extinct beast in current society as it is, but at least you know they're still out there, still as talented as they ever were. Hoping, waiting, someday some comic book publisher will look around and say, "Man, Ric Estrada is still alive and ready to work. Sal Buscema, too. George Tuska. Nobody is using them and paying them what they're worth. That's what we'll do: bring back solid professional comics by solid professionals!"

Well, in this case, it's too late. Ric Estrada leaves behind a legacy of great work and assuredly a lot of family and friends who loved him. RIP.

Friday Night Fights! O.P.P.! Afrodisiac Straightens Out a Jiveass!

2009-05-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

From Jim Rugg's "Dracula Vs Afrodisiac", which is the smooth story of Street Superhero and vainglorious pimp Afrodisiac's battle against the Evil of Dracula, which results in perhaps the only recorded appearance of Dracula's entire brain. Who knew?

Read the whole goddamn awesome story here http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/06/comics_meat3.html

http://www.spacebooger.com/ usually keeps his bi*tches in line. See his pimp hand and tremble.

Pulp Hero Guide to Good Comics 3: Death Be Proud!

2009-04-28T15:27:00.000-07:00

I was pontificating on the state of culture, as is my wont, and mainly because I don't have the financial resources to ignore it/create my own, and it occurred to me that the critical loss of subtlety in death within comic book stories is a problem.

Now, for the uninitiated, comic books and the death of characters is nothing new. Some of the pinnacal moments of comic book history revolves around major character deaths, such as Captain Marvel dying of cancer, the Dark Phoenix suicide in UNCANNY X-MEN, the accidental neck-snapping of Gwen Stacy in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, the brutal death of Elektra in DAREDEVIL. These were watershed moments in which readers were given the possibility of death and then had it paid off. Of course, being comics, the characters all returned from the dead, diluting the power of the original story in which they met their fate. This is because the American culture is creatively bankrupt.

However, death in comic books had only begun to get cranked up. As rare as death was in comics prior to the 1980s, all of that went out the window with the adultification of comics. As the older readers stayed on, reading and more importantly influencing the content, comics grew darker, grimmer, more violent and sexualized. Seeing Conan the Barbarian hack some dude's head off in the black and white magazine SAVAGE TALES was a special treat in the 1970s; by 1985, entire worlds were being swallowed in mass extinction by anti-matter in CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, by DC Comics.

And the specific character deaths, in that series, of the Flash (Barry Allen) and Supergirl (who cares) were the sobering identifiers for the readers that "comics aren't just for kids!"

I was about 16 when this mentality took hold of comics, and I for one was glad: Now, I reasoned, the rest of the world would read comic books and take them as seriously as I did. Because comic books were important, they were unique, and no one knew it. I didn't know, of course, that "comics aren't just for kids!" meant no one would ever read comic books again except adults. Who knew that was coming? Maybe the talented people working on the comics, like John Byrne, who was a superstar of the 1980s and pretty much saw exactly where superhero comics were heading. I'm sure those that respected and loved the medium were horrified.

Death exists in comic books, but the poignancy of death, like the poignancy of love, is lost beneath the imagery of violence and sex. Two aspects of human existence, by the way, which I have no problem with contextually. Superhero comic books starring Batman and Superman contextually do not need overt violence and sex, and yet their books are rife with it. To an adult, it's just another dumbing down of the overall quality of comic books. To someone looking for a new experience by reading comics, they see nothing but the violence and sex. Who does that draw to comics? Yes, the adult, longtime reader expecting to find violence and sex.

My issue is that violence is not death, in fictional terms...violence in superhero comics should be scaled to the genre...meaning, a hero punches a villain through a wall, but there's no ordinary guy sitting on the other side of that wall who is instantly killed. That is a long-standing "understanding" between the reader and the comic book. Collateral damage in superhero comics is just not done, generally. It isn't necessary to show the shocking loss of life that would occur "in the real world," since the superhero comic is not the real world.

Superhero violence has become more gory and grotesque as the readers have aged...after all, comics are in competition with other media. And death, the natural byproduct of "real" violence, has become cheap as well. The convention of the superhero story no longer has room for "shorthand" of the superhumanly strong superhero "pulling his punches" to keep from killing his weaker opponent. Only by skill and the grace of the gods does the weaker character escape, and yet lost is the drama of survival beneath an avalanche of horror. Bleeding mouths, gored lips, tattered flesh have replaced the old artist shorthand of crosshatches to indicate bruising and the ripped cape.

Comics taught me valuable lessons when I was growing up in the 1970s, one of which involved death. Death was not alien to comic book superheroes, they lost girlfriends and friends and family. It did happen. They lost loved ones because death is a part of living in this world, as immutable and inescapable as the oxygen in our lungs. I was prepared for death by witnessing death in comic books. I believe the power of the Universal Horror Monsters, Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolf Man and Dracula, touched on the bizarre character flaw of having died and still...life continuing on. It was a kind of subtle hope to all of us kids who watched those movies, who read the comics. Survival was not impossible, defying death had drawbacks like becoming a blood-thirsty beast or ghoul, and death was never the answer as justice. The hero did not kill because it was the natural thing to do. Humanity is about rising above inherent savagery, at least in superhero fiction, which has always been about the ideals of humanity, the testing of the will of the hero a lesson for all of us. Especially as read and perceived by punk kids like we all were. Death in comics prepared us for death in life, because it was an approximation of death, a lesson about how to behave in the face of the unknown.

So, for my money, comic books are too busy with their preoccupation with violence and sexuality to worry much about death, except to understand death as a byproduct easily solved by the conventions of the comic book...no one ever truly dies in comics. But this is an attitude which has unfortunately colored the ultra-violent acts as well, making them byproducts of an ignorance of ethical behavior. Within the superhero comic book, the questions of the unknown have been replaced by the unethical, which means no one has to "feel" the death, only the gruesome pain of disfigurement and the titillation of the exposed female mammary. Death as byproduct, and an increasingly jaded readership, stands in for the ethics of the audience, and it's a very poor replacement.

Friday Night Fights! O.P.P.! Right Turn, Ted Grant!

2009-04-24T17:21:00.000-07:00

This is a Don Kramer-rendered, Pete Tomasi-scripted, solid right cross from our favorite Wildcat to our favorite Flash-cat, from JSA CLASSIFIED ish 9.

http://www.spacebooger.com/ has had Pabst Blue Ribbons with Ted Wildcat Grant. Red Cliff, Nebraska will never be the same.

Get Ready to Get Your Parker On

2009-04-23T16:59:00.001-07:00

http://www.idwpublishing.com/previews/parker/

Preview of the most anticipated comic book adaption ever, at least for me. Darwyn Cooke's PARKER.

STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES 196: "Target Red"

2009-04-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

The Soldier, as Klaus Oster: Nazi assassin, doesn't know which of the dignitaries is about to kill General Volochisk (see part one http://pulphero.blogspot.com/2009/04/star-spangled-war-stories-195.html ). He's already in mid-karate kick and decides to slam that boot into the Russian General, displacing him just as a shot is fired.

The General is saved, and the assassin Gherner, disguised, breaks for his freedom through Russian troops. For his trouble, Oster gets beaned by a Russian rifle butt (he is still in a Nazi uniform, after all) and can only shout out at Gherner. The shout causes Gherner to hesitate, and the Russian soliders kill him. The soldiers are about to kill Oster too when he manages to say, "Mazeltov." This is a recognized codeword for the Soldier to the Russians, saving his life.

Later, the General reveals to the Soldier that the Russians have leaked that the assassination of the General was successful, and that Gherner escaped. The head of the School of Assassins, the Count Witschenbach, has returned to his villa in Germany to continue plotting for Nazi supremacy. The Soldier creates a mask of Gherner's face and is dropped into Germany, using a cane and pretending to be wounded. He's spirited to the Count's villa, where he's congratulated. Wishing to know the Count's "next project" for him, Gherner is stonewalled by the Count, who doesn't trust Gherner's short disappearance and keeps the new plot secret.

Irked, Gherner activates a trigger on his cane, which leaks a line of phosphorus on the floor as he walks. The phosphorus reacts with the air and billows smoke, signaling a fire. Gherner slips away to investigate the villa for possible hints of the Count's new mission, when he runs into a young woman with a pistol. He's about to kill her when the woman runs into his arms, revealing herself to be Anna Gherner, his sister. Six months had passed since their mother died, but Anna has been held prisoner in the villa, writing letters to Gherner to convince him their mother was yet still ill, and still in need of medicines. This, to keep Gherner's top-flight abilities in line with the Count's wishes. Anna has come with pistol in hand, after hearing of Gherner being "lost" in the Odessa mission, to kill the Count herself for the evils against their family.

At that moment, the Count and some soldiers arrive, and Anna attempts to shoot him but her aim is thrown off by Gherner. This convinces the Count that Gherner is loyal beyond doubt and can be trusted. The Count brings Gherner to the South Wing of the villa, where Gherner runs smack into General Volochisk, who can now reveal Gherner is a spy. However, it turns out the General and the other Russian commanders are disguised surviving members of the assassin school, and their mission will be to kill and replace the officers they represent.

Gherner realizes his mission has taken another turn. He decides on a course of action, reporting to the other assassins that a change in plans has occurred and the Count expects them in his office in twenty minutes. This gives Gherner time to reach the Count, who has just finished torturing Anna Gherner. Knocking out the Count, Gherner ties him to a chair, plants a German grenade on him, pulls the pin and shouts an alarm to the arriving assassins. Leaping free with the girl, the room, the Count, and the assassins are destroyed.

Gherner carries Anna to a secluded spot, where she swoons in pain and expresses gratitude for at least still having her brother, after all their family has perished in the War. The Soldier tries to be reassuring, but he is about to tell her her brother is dead, as the story closes.

Again, more superb economy from Micheline and Talaoc, who nail the evergreen beats of their offbeat War story and offer up another painful episode. The emotional turmoil is never entirely forgotten with the introduction of Anna Gherner, who again reminds the Soldier of war's true face, and the costs.

Out of Five 3D Men

STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES 195: "The Deathmasters"

2009-04-18T16:28:00.000-07:00

This story begins with a Kommando named Oster breaking into the Nazi HQ of a "School of Assassins" located on a remote Rumanian island. Oster has come to kill the head of the school, Count Witschenbach. However, Oster is captured, having been tracked since stealing his way onto the island. The Count demands Oster's orders, while Oster reflects back to his briefing at Allied HQ, as he is the Unknown Soldier in disguise as Klaus Oster.

The School of Assassins is preparing a counter-offensive against the Russians in Moldavia, and so the Soldier has been sent to stop it. As new "trainee" Oster, the Soldier has infiltrated the School, and the Count prepares him as he does all new recruits. Oster is trained vigorously in the days following, but he learns nothing of the School's plans.

Finally he encounters a fellow recruit named Gherner, who is said to be the Count's "number one man." Oster decides to sabotage a routine training session involving the planting of wired dynamite; Oster insures the dynamite is real, not fake, and that his name will correspond with Gherner's on the duty list. During the training, Oster waits for Gherner to plant the bomb, before taking action and saving both men's lives. Oster relates that the live explosives must have been a mix-up, as "...luckily, I recognized the code numbers on the charges just in time!"

The Count, though, isn't convinced of the accident, and decides to keep a closer watch on Oster. Meanwhile, Gherner brings Oster to his cabin for drinks, and to relate a bit of backstory. Gherner's family is Communist, yet obviously this is an unpopular position in Germany. Gherner's mother is very sick, and Gherner has become a Nazi assassin to afford her medications. The friendship continues, until the evening when Gherner is ordered to report personally to the Count. Oster follows, taking up a position on the roof to listen in to the plan: Gherner is to kill an important Russian General at a ceremony in Odessa.

Oster is then nearly captured, as the Count's spy has discovered Oster's ruse. Oster kills the spy but is too late to stop Gherner from starting off on his mission. Oster can only race to Odessa and hope he is not too late.

Oster, on his way, blows up the entire School compound. At Odessa, Oster reaches the presentation honors for the Russian General, and realizes Gherner is in disguise as one of the dignitaries. Knowing it could be any one of them, Oster concludes the issue by racing forward toward the dignitaries and launching into a karate kick.

Another solid issue, replaying some themes writer Micheline uses often in these stories. Talaoc's art is settled into a grimy groove perfect for the work. Another two-parter here as well, as Michelinie continues to evolve the War Comic format. Though the War Comic would eventually return to its former creaky execution, this comic displays yet more evidence of what could be done with the formula.

Out of Five 3D Men.

Fack! I Missed Friday Night Fight Deadline! Again!

2009-04-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

Boy that burns me up. I hate missing out on the Fights http://www.spacebooger.com/ as it's akin to forgetting a wicker man burning or other wondrous heathen celebration positively bloated with human sacrifice and wanton sexual acts in grassy fields while the ash singes naked flesh.

To that end, as a "filler," I want to provide a proper panel of punishment, in lieu of FNF participation, just as I did before when I didn't unleash the dogs of war:

Yah, that's right...smacked in the kisser with a turkey leg, from Steve Gerber's Man-Thing analogue called "Sludge" in his own comic back in the 1990s...instead of a monster and man fused with the muck of the Florida Everglades, Sludge is a monster and man fused with New York sewage. It was the 1990s after all.

Pulp Hero Guide to Good Comics 2: The Batman says, "What Have You Done?"

2009-04-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

First of all, the best Batman story I've read since sometime in the early 1990s has run its course. I'm speaking of BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL issues 26-28, with the beautiful art of Jose Garcia-Lopez (pure dee old school, folks) and inking by Kevin Nowlan. The story is three parts and was written by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir.

Not only have I never heard of DeFillipis and Weir, I hadn't known this title existed. It's ancillary, a Batman book that seems fairly unrelated to whatever f*cked up weirdness is going on with Grant Morrison's work on the regular Batman books. Which I guess are cancelled now or something. Maybe my ass cares, but I don't.

However, any time Garcia-Lopez is working is a good damn thing, as he's one of the premier anatomists (along with John Buscema) of comics. So somebody handed me these Batman comics explaining how good the story was. I'd read how good it was. I generally find myself incredulous in the face of a concensus. But I tried it and found the story pretty much had everything a Batman story needs, and a "flagship" characters deserves: good art, fine characterization on both Batman and the Riddler (whom he's reluctantly partnered with,) and a villain with a stupid name (King Tut, but not the great Victor Buono) yet has plenty of threat and gravitas. Color me shocked, but this book could have come out back in the 1980s heyday of Gerry Conway and Gene Colan (you know, back in the day when Batman didn't sell very well? Remember that?) It's that well-done.

Of course, nothing lasts forever, but you should mark down to follow DeFillipis and Weir, whoever they are, and always support Garcia-Lopez whose art will make you bust out crying for its radness.

This story started me on a new/old rant...the flagship titles of DC Comics (and Marvel Comics) absolutely working James Brown hard overtime to alienate future readership.

I haven't seen anything like it in my whole life: a comic book company like DC, with the greatest, firmly iconic, most recognizable characters on Earth this side of Spider-Man, has warped their comics into completely inaccessible religous tracts. Unless you are a longtime convert to DC, you are not only not going to understand their stories, you're probably unaware of "which version" of the iconic character(s) you're supposed to be following.

DC in the last couple of years has been attempting to "return" to recognizable identities for such characters as Green Lantern and the Flash (while managing to ostracize Superman and Batman from their own titles-- no small feat, friends and neighbors.) The editorial mandate is for the original versions of these characters be returned to the forefront of the reading public's consciousness. However, instead of creating comic book stories to reflect a "generalized" approach to the characters, DC has decided to parlay their moneymakers into vehicles for their "star" creative talent, namely Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison. This leads to the unfortunate problem of the iconic characters being unrecognizable to a general audience.

These two writers, Johns and Morrison, are spearheading DC Comics these days. They've both written decent stories, even great stories, at times. They also both suffer from a myopic view of comic books. Their work and its "themes" suggest they are embarrassed by superhero comic books, to a degree, and like most of the adults who read them, they want the superhero comic to be Something Else. "Graphic Novels" is the preferred nomenclature. I must emphasize, again, superhero comic books should be designed with the most wide, most general audience they can attract. You know, like back in the 1960s when they were never more popular. They eschewed adult language and extreme violence, as such things were regulated by the Comics Code Authority, a watchdog of "censorship." The thing is, comic books could do anything they wanted, it just took a little imagination and skill not to do it blatantly.

These days, the secret is out: censorship wasn't the problem being kept under control by the Code. It was actually the creative talent's over-indulgence and selfishness that the Code apparently kept in check. It's clear now that the Code made comic books about superheroes better than they ever have been. Why is that? You'd think the opposite would be true. And everyone will point toward the Spider-Man issues by Stan Lee and Gil Kane, in which Harry Osborn is popping pills and hallucinating, which Marvel released in the late 1960s without the Code approval.

Fine and dandy, except Marvel didn't kick the Code in the nads and spit on it--Stan Lee was instrumental in putting the Code together, he respected it. He knew what the Code was supposed to do, and why it had to exist.

The comic book is a very special art form. I won't overstate it: comic books aren't going to supplant Ernest Hemingway, or Johann S. Bach, or Ingmar Bergman. But the guys working on superhero comic books think that their work should somehow be elevated, just because they believe it should be so. They don't want to accept that telling adventure stories about men in long underwear, mainly for a general audience and primarily for kids and teens but enjoyed by consenting adults (meaning, adults who understand who comic books about superheroes are originally intended for,) is not going to win them the Pulitzer. It is never going to happen. Stop justifying the superhero to everyone who will listen, while also making it impossible for a general audience to read about them.

What has DC Comics done? Well, for one thing, they removed the excitement of younger, newer readers from reading their comics. People in the "Industry" don't understand what they are doing, and it's a fact. They've isolated the adult reader as the only viable reader for their brand of comics. They've shut off all other avenues to find future readership, and talent. That talent, the future of comics, is going off to design video games and Disney cartoon movies. They don't care about the corporate shills, Superman and Batman. At this point, they never cared, because Superman and Batman have never appealed to them. Which is to say, they weren't given the option to find out there's more to Superman and Batman than the f*ckbags at DC Comics are telling them.

DC Comics has hired talented people who are telling you, and you, and you, and me, that their version of Superman or Batman or the Flash is the "best" version. Not only will you have to like their bizarre takes on the icons, you'll have to wait longer than the usual month to read about those heroes. Because, unlike the grindhouse days of the 1960s and 1970s, comic books are art, and they take time. This is shorthand for, "You're lucky we're working on these lousy superhero comics at all. And oh, we're in a recession so you're gonna pay $3.99 per comic and you're going to like it, fanboy..."

Batman, in the comics, is always the character least likely to buy into a concensus. He's always going to have questions about anything everyone else agrees upon. He's careful and precise, generally. I think he'd be the first to speculate that DC Comics and the people running it have no idea what they are doing. None. The people who run the company are way too busy suckling at the teat of "stardom" within their ranks, the few "name" talents DC has who draws attention to their comics. It's a humilating experience for me, personally, to watch. Superhero comic books were meant to be an experience for younger people, a way to link them to avenues of imagination unlike any other medium, be it television or books or movies or especially video games. The comic book can outshine them all, as a medium. Superheroes in general must be designed to support the medium, not the other way around. Superheroes bring the kids to comics, and the genre comics, the stuff branching off from the superhero, the War comics and Westerns and Horror and Science Fiction comics, the surreal adult themes of Charles Burns, the poignancy of MAUS, these are examples of what the adult reader will have available to them after they have "moved on" from the superhero.

The superhero doesn't have to "grow up." The adult audience needs to accept that the superhero doesn't need to explain itself to them. As inexplicable as the "science" of the superhero is, it is that much more inexplicable how the adult audiences continue to cling and mutate comics to suit their desires.

Something's Coming

2009-04-12T16:45:00.000-07:00

A man among boys (the rest of us,) Dave Flora (of burgeoning Ghost Zero fame) has released the teaser for another sa-weet creation on his website, http://www.ghostzero.com/, and it looks positively intriguing, you must admit.

Friday Night Fights! O.P.P.! Demon Rock!

2009-04-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

Jack Kirby's DEMON issue 4 displays Etrigan's rock skills. None of the Guitar Hero dorks can possibly match the Demon's wicked licks he hits.

http://www.spacebooger.com/ provides lyrics to this impossibly righteous melody.

Characters I Want to Write: THE BEETLE!

2009-04-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to put down a post on one of my favorite characters, Abner Jenkins, the bombastic Beetle!

Now this character has been around for a long time, since 1964 in fact, which is a looooong time ago, folks. He's had different iterations since then, as Jenkins has upgraded his Beetle armor over the years. He's gone from loser thug to just loser-joke to giving up the criminal life to become part of a superhero team called the Thunderbolts, under his new identity as Mach IV (at this point; I guess he will continue to become Mach V, Mach VI, and so on as long as anybody interested in another version of Jenkins' character's look.)

The Beetle is a pro heist-man kind of character, who carries out robberies with planned precision. He's fought a bunch of Marvel Comics' superhero types, usually on the receiving end of a trouncing by Daredevil or Spider-Man or Iron Man, or whatever new character might need some instant street cred. The Beetle deserves better...hell, he was at Reed and Sue Richards' chaotic wedding in 1965! He's a definitive part of the Marvel U.

(Origin sequence for the original version of the Beetle!)

This gives me a chance to bemoan one series Abner Jenkins starred in, from the early 1990s sometime around the time I was damn near crying when my beloved Houston Oilers blew the biggest lead in NFL Playoff history against the Buffalo Bills...man, I need to let that go. The series was called THE DEADLY FOES OF SPIDER-MAN, and it was a four issue mini-series written by Danny Fingeroth, with pencils by Kerry Gammill and old pro Al Milgrom.

This series is pretty damn frustrating, with good stuff submarined by overwriting, and then the retarded ending, at least in character assassination. The premise is that the Beetle leads a heist team made up of Spider-Villains working for the Kingpin of Crime. Jenkins owes the Kingpin for his new Beetle armor. The Rhino, Boomerang, Speed Demon and Hydro-Man make up the heist "string." The Beetle gets to pulling off those jobs, and doing a good job of it, even taking out Spider-Man with his team. As the story progresses, Boomerang is captured and Jenkins and the others think he might turn over on them. The Beetle is torn about either springing Boomerang, killing him, or setting him up for a long prison term. This is when I thought Jenkins was written well...Fingeroth touches on the idea of Jenkins being a professional criminal...as such, Jenkins knows something has to be done to prevent his team from getting apprehended. But there's also an unspoken loyalty, the idea that Boomerang has an integrity that won't allow him to turn State's Evidence. Fingeroth's story goes friggin' nuts, though, and the Beetle seems hardcore but screws up enough that one-half of the team, including Rhino, Boomerang and a chick using the Ringer's ring-weapons take on Hydro-Man, Speed Demon and the Beetle in a revenge melee.

Now, up until this time, the Beetle was played fairly straight as a professional, albeit one with a heart. Suddenly in the last act he turns into a complete snieveling coward; he spends most of the melee crying not to be killed by the Ringer chick. Spider-Man saves Jenkins from his fate as a corpus, but not from being a whining coward. This is the all-time low for Jenkins, at least that I've read. Fingeroth bunged up a neat SUICIDE SQUAD/SECRET SIX type dynamic by making Jenkins interesting and then deciding that, yes, villains really do blink their eyes. That gets a big double middle finger from me to Fingeroth.

So, as is usually the case, a character no matter what their "level" can be awesome (see Gail Simone's Catman over the last half-decade, for instance) if written well. They can also become a joke, if not. The Rhino and Boomerang and the Beetle certainly had their share. At least Speed Demon recently got to be part of the NEW THUNDERBOLTS, assuring him of a high point in his fictional existence.

The Beetle as we understood him is still "a joke." Even when Jenkins donned the old Beetle armor again in recent years, for a couple of issues of THUNDERBOLTS, he was pretty much mocked for it.

The problem is, ever since Jenkins became "Mach I" in THUNDERBOLTS, he's been a rehabilitated criminal trying to do the right thing. Which is fine, but I'm not crazy about "Mach I" or whatever since Marvel already has Iron Man and half a dozen knock-offs related to Stark Industries besides. In another case of a character being "deuniqued" by the shills, Abner dumped the Beetle moniker, color scheme, and theme for a basic generalized armor look that frankly isn't very exciting.

Personally, as much as I like Abner Jenkins, I'd give a stab at having the Beetle become someone else. Not a new character necessarily, but someone recognizably non-superpowered. And someone with a Parker mentality, the mentality of the hardcore heister. A man with his own moral code who you don't want to mess with or get in the way of, but not a psycho or whatever passes for "criminal" in most comics. Just because someone is a "bad guy" doesn't mean they can't be respected. The reader will follow the character of the Beetle because, frankly, he's riveting. He's not going to fold under pressure. He's a man using an armor who will do whatever he has to to pull off the "job."

The primary thing about the Beetle is the thematic motif, the Beetle. There's a surprising number of beetle/insectoid characters out there, but this Beetle uses the basic natural characteristics of the beetle to augment his skills. He's tough, he's strong, he's fearless, and in a lot of ways, the Beetle is necessary.

Why?

Well...if nothing else, the Beetle should be a fierce individual. He's not going to fall in line with some stupid crapfest Event cooked up by the comics companies. He might take advantage of the chaos and confusion, but he won't be a joiner. In fact, "joining" means being made vulnerable to superheroes or other villains or the Authorities, and a "real" professional like the Beetle who's whole modus operendi is stealth and efficiency won't take that chance. I could see this Beetle killing anyone who tried to "subvert" his individuality. This Beetle, in particular, is no joke.

You have been warned, by the Beetle!

Pulp Hero Guide to Good Comics 1

2009-04-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

Two things happened to me in/around January of 1977: on a Friday night, while watching Channel 20's "Creature Feature" out of Washington DC, with host Count Gore De Vol, the horror movie NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD burned itself into my seven year-old brain, causing a sleepless night and terrors for decades (even to this day, though I love them zombies!)

The next day, excrutiatingly freaked out by George Romero's movie and after Saturday cartoons I'm sure, I went to do my usual bike-riding around the front lot of my mechanic grandfather's business, Carter's Garage. At some point during the early afternoon, he drove me to a local 7-11. There, amid the wonderful smell of old coffee unique to 7-11 stores, I bought this comic:

This is the first comic in which I am mind-blown by Jack Kirby. I think it's pretty much the first time "Jack Kirby" becomes a brand I will follow through the rest of the decade, and well into this adulthood.

On the second and third page, as was Kirby's want at that time, he draws a spectacularly cool two-page splash of Captain America in a jungle, suddenly being attacked by an amphibious monster known as the "Man-Fish."

Unfortunately, I don't own my own scanner. Half of the page I found online, showing the creature.

Now, this is a typical example of Jack Kirby brilliance, and the entire splash remains my all-time favorite. It treated me to a desperate moment within mere seconds of opening the comic. The adrenalin pumped as my already sleep-deprived and terror-stricken zombie-plagued brain sought to handle the pressure.

Essentially, what Jack Kirby did was introduce me to Pulp Writing 101: ramp up the action and craziness and then keep topping it. By the time this creepy dude, Arnim Zola, shows up on the last page of the comic, I'm a mess.

This comic would begin the formulation of what should be called "taste." As in, I began at seven years to grasp what exciting experience through story-telling was. It wasn't just reading the comic, it was living in the moment of reading the comic. Much as the case with watching NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD...I believed, after about an hour of Romero's skillful increasing of the zombie threat against those poor people in the barricaded farmhouse, and the "news reports" informing people to seek emergency shelters, that what I was watching was actually happening. I was in the moment of the intense excitement perpetrated by a master story-teller. Suddenly, you couldn't tell me the zombies weren't coming. Hell, I still believe they're coming. While reading this CAP comic, I feared for Cap and the chick he's protecting in the story, Bella Donna. I perceived as a child as I'm incapable of perceiving now, swayed by the imagery and the excellence of George Romero and Jack Kirby.

The problem today is folks my age want to feel the same way they did then, only in order to do that, they have to change the superhero to become adults, like them, and have adult problems, like them.

But here is the beginning of my education in the Pulp pop culture, of which we'll continue to track. Jack Kirby was only getting started with me.

The Pulp Hero Guide to Good Comics

2009-04-04T17:26:00.000-07:00

The thing about Pulp Hero, I hope, is that folks realize the point of the blog is to discover the "new" Pulp thematically in what we term comic books. The connection between the two goes far deeper than merely Doc Savage = Superman, The Shadow = Batman...comics emerged from the Pulp magazines, a natural successor derived from the illustrations adorning the lurid, surreal stories, not to mention the brilliant covers. Contextually, the Pulp adventurers could make hay in the superhero's universe(s.) The icons of Pulp not only inspired most of the iconic superhero archetypes, but they informed the stories' general commercial appeal as well. The characters were designed to entertain and thrill as general an audience as possible, while still straddling lines of good taste. Basically, what most people wanted to read in the 1930s or the 1950s had the resonance of bad taste with the skill of professional writers/artists who knew what to include and what to allude to, in order to both avoid the censors and manipulate the old imagination.

Meaning, a lost art, essentially.

Anyway, my bend is toward Pulp as I understand it, and it all comes back to Pulp at some point. Comic books, the ones I really like, have elements of the long-standing traditions of Pulp and its derivatives, Drive-In movies and "macho" fiction ala "The Destroyer" "The Penetrator" and even Surf Music! There's a concussive reverberation from Pulp which continues to evolve and encompass Popular Culture.

Anyway, let the Guide commence hereforth.

Friday Night Fights! O.P.P.! Cap in a Chippy Mood!

2009-04-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

Getting cracked on the teeth with something hard and metallic is bad. It's bad in a holy crap I just broke my tooth and will be mistaken for a hillbilly way. No offense to hillbillies. This painful panel courtesy of John Byrne from CAPTAIN AMERICA 254, a legit classic of my childhood!

http://www.spacebooger.com/ is still wondering when the real Cap is coming back.

Read'm And Weep: Comic Books of Our Time

2009-04-01T18:41:00.000-07:00

Comic books about superheroes are for kids. No, really, they are. Comic books as a medium for talented people to tell stories, that's for everyone. For one, comic books aren't restricted to long-underwear heroes. There's all kinds of genres to operate in. Superhero comic books, specifically, should be designed for a general reading audience. Adults can read them, but the superheroes we all know? Those guys/gals belong to the kids. Superheroes teach kids about stuff without being an allegory. By following these heroes, kids learn what it is to do the right thing and help the helpless and so on. Adults don't need any lessons like that. They're already screwed up, and now they've taken the comic book superhero with them.

That said, I love comic books. I love comic books by people who love comic books, and novels, and movies, and old television shows, just like me. They collate the information above and funnel it through the medium of comic books. Whether those comic books are about superheroes, or Western gunfighters, or criminals, or supernatural detectives, is part of the beauty of the comic book. Which also happens to be one of the most unique, purely American art forms, in case the intellects can't grasp the point of comic books as having import in our rapidly digitizing world.

Unfortunately, most of you will never experience the full potential of comic books. Before the corporations are through, "comic books" will cease to exist. The character icons will continue to exist, and rake in hordes of money for these companies while the original character creators live in practical poverty, but those creators signed their work-for-hire contracts and them's the breaks.

So, what's all this getting to? I'm going to remind you to support http://www.heroinitiative.org/ which is a fine organization to help aging talented people who don't have all that heaping helping of corporate money from their creations. And if I ever get the chance, I'll help revitalize the dying comic book industry. Because somebody has to do it.

Tomorrow I'll get into some comic books worth reading today. And yeh, they are out there.

The Poll: Francesco Francavilla's Max Malone Vs Black Beetle

2009-03-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

Over at http://pulpsunday.blogspot.com/2009/03/black-beetle-plus-poll.html the cool that is Francesco Francavilla is thinking of producing a web comic based on two original ideas. He has two sa-weet teasers for the impending awesomeness:

Now, you can pretty much guess which way I'm voting, but I leave it to you wonderful folks to pander, promote, cheer and cherish FF's work, as he is an inestimable talent of true Pulp from bone to blood.

Go to vote!

STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES 194: "The Survival Syndrome"

2009-03-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

Continuing our look at the 1970s 20-issue run of Unknown Soldier stories by David Michelinie and Gerry Talaoc...

This story begins in occupied France, at night, as a Nazi courier on a motorcycle spots a trap on a lonely road. A line of wire has been drawn taught across the roadway, at just the height to decapitate the soldier. Having easily spotted the wire, Conrad Vorst goes to cut the wire and is electrocuted. From the shadows, the Unknown Soldier steps out, his trap successful. The Soldier opens his make-up kit and assembles a mask from dead Vorst's face.

The Soldier reflects on his orders, provided him by a superior, in which he is to find a vital Nazi communications center in the French town of Beaulieux. This communications center is providing information about Allied troop movements, and the Soldier must destroy it. While putting on the dead courier's uniform and face, the Soldier wonders why Conrad Vorst had no identification papers. With no time to ponder, Vorst makes his way to the French town and is meeting with the Mayor, to find out the communications location. Nazi soldiers burst in and knock Vorst unconscious. When awakened, Vorst discovers he is a deserter, and is placed under arrest.

Meanwhile, the Mayor is chastized by his daughter for being spineless in the face of the Nazis. The Mayor follows the Law, and the Nazis are the Law in their world now. He asks his daughter to accept their predicament, for her own sake.

Vorst is put into a cell, to await execution the next day. The Major's daughter Yvette visits Vorst with his last meal, the next morning, and reveals to Vorst that she is a rebel. She distracts the guard, enabling Vorst an upper hand. The two make their escape, and Vorst retrieves his equipment from the motorcycle. The Mayor's daughter, head of the Underground, knows the exact location of the communications center, in the basement of a building heavily guarded by Nazis. Needing to wait for night, Yvette takes Vorst to her home, the Mayor's house. The Nazis would not, she reasons, seek rebels in the home of a collaborator. However, she has been seen by the Mayor, who promptly alerts the Nazis.

When the soldiers arrive, Vorst is showing Yvette the "K-6 Disruptor," a device which "has the same effect on radio equipment as a hand grenade in a bowl of pudding." However, this espionage device is a back-up to the vast amount of explosives on hand. The K-6 Disruptor can only work at extremely close range, unlike the explosives. But before any action can be taken, Vorst and Yvette are caught by the Nazis, with her father leading them. The Mayor is a "good citizen" and, though condemning his own daughter, he must follow his principals. Vorst and Yvette are led away to be killed. Vorst quickly overpowers two captors and escapes, leaving behind Yvette to fulfill his mission. He intends to return for her once the communications center is put out of commission.

However, after killing a guard and obtaining two German grenades, Vorst stumbles upon Yvette before a firing squad. She is executed a moment later.

Enraged, Vorst leaves behind the grenades, and the next scene cuts to the following day. The Mayor has been invited to the Nazi General's quarters, and the General rewards the Mayor with a box of cigars and special privileges. The General even leads the Mayor to the communications center in the house basement, a room full of sophisticated equipment. The moment the Mayor enters the room, the equipment explodes in a shower of sparks. The General has disappeared, but a moment later charges into the communications room, demanding to know why the Mayor is there. After a quick search, the Nazis discover the K-6 Disruptor inside the Mayor's cigar box. The Mayor pleads that the General himself had given him the box, but the General knows the truth: while the Mayor set up others for espionage, he himself was the master spy. While the Mayor screams that he only obeyed the Law, the General shows him the Law, ending in a gunshot.

While escaping the village, the Soldier removes his "General" mask, "...mission accomplished...and debt paid."

A swift, sharp little tale, in which one man's desire for conformity has twisted him into a fearful coward. I really like the more calculating decision on the Soldier's part, to gain revenge on the Mayor for Yvette's death in the most ironic way possible. Generally, the Soldier is slightly damaged on his missions, as the War gains its attrition of innocents killed. However, in this case, it is the Soldier who coldly determines the fates of the story's characters. Again we are privvy to the Soldier's rage, but it is the War which gives personal satisfaction to the dead in Its boot heels.

Four and a Half out of Five 3D Men

Friday Night Fights! O.P.P.! Bisected by a Primate!

2009-03-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

Yeh, needless to say, what with ape on human violence on the uprise these days, this is an apt representation of a 1970's fear still to be realized: Ape Revolt!

This particular bit of carnage courtesy of the inimitable Beau Smith and artist Kevin Bernhardt, from a comic called PRIMATE back in 2001, concerning a gorilla with two gigantic knives taking it to some poacher types in the best possible way.

http://www.spacebooger.com/ thinks often about training his own private primate army...when the zombies come. Man, where is ZOMBIES VS APES comic or movie?

Characters I Want to Write: HAWKMAN!

2009-03-22T15:44:00.000-07:00

Here's the "other" convoluted character whom no one can seem to sustain over a long period of time, at least in the eyes of the public.

Hawkman's had just as many variations as Aquaman, or nearly, and in collating those histories and various "looks," the character has become schizoid. Writers James Robinson and Geoff Johns took all the different Hawkman conceits (at one time Hawkman's real identity was Carter Hall, archaeologist and reincarnated Eygptian Prince...then he was Katar Hol, an alien called a Thanagarian, a policeman studying our crime-prevention methods, and later refined as a policeman pursuing a deadly criminal to Earth, and so on) and smashed the ideas together, which is perhaps the last time the character has been rebooted for a modern audience.

Hawkman's persona has ranged from stoic leader to barbarian warrior. He's been intelligent, he's been salt-of-the-earth, he's been conflicted. He's been benign, he's been malignant. His costume has ranged all over the place, with the primary difficulty in presenting a man with big (fake) wings being less visually clumsy and more workable.

I think the thing with superhero comics, and superheroes in general, is a combination of persona externally represented by the costume...meaning, the best superheroes act like they look.

Most writers will give you the Bad. "Bad" is how us 1970s kids would describe something that today is "cool." Cool used to mean how somebody acted...the Fonz was cool, nothing rattled him. "Bad" was usually said as "He is Baaaaaaad." Meaning, usually, tough. Especially in a fight. If you were "baaaaaaad," you didn't have to worry about anything.

Comic book writers in general will give you plenty of "baaaaaaad" but surrender the common sense and internal logic of the characters to do it. Batman has suffered mightily because of this preoccupation. And a psycho-anal world of soft-guts says that to be "bad" one also has to be "disturbed." Batman becomes a bit of a loon to justify kicking criminals in the face. This characterization becomes rote, eclipsing the more structured and balanced notion of the "Dark Detective" which the character fostered post-1950s until the 1980s. Basically, Batman lost his "cool" and kept up the "bad."

Hawkman flies using "Nth Metal," a Thanagarian alloy which allows anyone wearing it to defy gravity. This also provides somewhat superhuman strength. The Carter Hall archaeologist version is conversant with ancient styles of warfare and weaponry. He enjoys hitting people with a big spiked mace. Who wouldn't?

That's Hawkman's "bad" right there. He's a reincarnated man from all different eras of history. He's fought in every conceivable war, he's experienced every unconceivable heartbreak. He's also got a woman, his Hawkgirl, usually reincarnated with him in whatever era Carter Hall is in. At some point, the two of them are murdered and will once again be reincarnated, this cycle to occur over and over as the two lovers are forever cursed.

It's a bit heavy, especially for your "new" reader...various writers over the years have sought to remove the unwieldy aspects. Like Aquaman, Hawkman suffers from audiences who really shouldn't have that much of an influence on his comic book. I'm speaking of adults who have clung to the various Hawkman versions and refuse to acknowledge any Hawkman that doesn't represent, in some way, their Hawkman.

Way to murder the future of comic books, fellows.

I never really thought much about Hawkman when I was a kid, but I wasn't that smart as a kid. From the viewpoint of new readership for comics, and my current affection for the character, I'd probably get rid of a couple aspects of the overall character, like the curse thing (which may have already been solved.) Also, I'm not a big fan of the Hawkgirl dynamic. I can't help it, but knock-off versions of male characters grate on me...they're rarely able to step out of the shadow, and since there's so few really good original female characters...well, Hawkman wouldn't have Hawkgirl.

The other point: Hawkman's environment is off. Currently, or at least as of the last of his solo series a couple years ago, Hawkman lived in the DC Comics version of New Orleans, a place called St. Roch. Fine and good, except when you look at Hawkman, or when I look at Hawkman rather, what you see is a character who makes much more sense in exotic locales. He's been in a Science Fiction setting, he's been in the big city, he's been stationed on a satellite in space...where Hawkman works would be a kind of Indiana Jones world of international intrigue. Carter Hall should be a fairly nondescript dude, like Indy Jones in his civilian life, but once he's Hawkman, he's in the deserts of Cairo punching Nazis into airplane propellers.

Unlike Tarzan, who actually works better outside of the Jungle, Hawkman would be perfectly suited to life in a unpredictable Savage Land, preferably packed with hyena-men and wicked monsters. But yet intricately connected to "our" dimension and reality...Hawkman would rule Monster Island while having no idea of what was around the corner. A Hawkman who has never seen this landscape has to survive in it.

To me, that's the core of Hawkman according to his external motif: he's a survivor, a fierce predatory survivor in point of fact. He should be one of the most savage, and adaptable, superheroes in comics.

Pulp Hero: CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT!

2009-03-21T15:56:00.000-07:00

Over at http://atomic-pulp.blogspot.com/ Christopher Mills is proudly showing off the cover of the new Moonstone Comics series, CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT, written by hisself and art by Richard Clark. Frankly, I'm more than all over the new character design.

Man, I do love goggles, folks.

Friday Night Fights! O.P.P.! Savage Reconstruction!

2009-03-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

This rhinoplasty courtesy of Gil Kane, from his short-lived Parker-inspired crime comic, SAVAGE, starring Savage, a man with six bullets, two fists, and one huge sack.

http://www.spacebooger.com/ knows that it's all relative, but a good solid pistol-whipping never counts against you.

Facebook Comic Con

2009-03-14T13:55:00.000-07:00

If you're a member, get on over there for the official weekend celebration. After all, what with the crummy weather and all, what can be better than a virtual comic book Con?

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=8206&uid=63366131619#/group.php?gid=63366131619

If you're not a member, join up just to take part in Michael Netzer's foundation for a comic book tomorrow!

Friday Night Fights! O.P.P! Superboy's Passion!

2009-03-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

The dangers of getting too "into" a girl, courtesy of Bob Brown and Wally Wood, in SUPERBOY.

http://www.spacebooger.com/ never gets too close to love. It just ain't done.

WATCHMANIA: Forget the Giant Squid Vagina (Philip Jose Farmer and the Spoiler of WATCHMEN)

2009-03-09T16:39:00.000-07:00

I'm remiss for not having mentioned the death of Wold Newton theorist and all-around great story-teller Philip Jose Farmer a week or so back. I should have put up a post on a blog calling itself "Pulp Hero"...particularly when you consider my first exposures to Tarzan (albeit in "alternate" form, via "The Jungle Rot Kid on the Nod" short story) and Doc Savage (Doc Caliban) in print derived from the mind of this man. And in honor of Farmer being the only writer I can imagine with the guts to show Alternate World Tarzan (Lord Grandrith) unknowingly killing a horsefly with the power of his ejaculate, the title of this entry is appropriate to include my PJF death acknowledgement. It's not that I wasn't aware, I just felt a little like there's a ton more folks who know Farmer's work intimately and more thoroughly...then I realized that the connective tissue of Farmer's imaginative infusion into this world of Pulps demanded I make some record of his influence. It's like trying to figure out what to say about Jack Kirby. You have to start from your own experience. For me, without A FEAST UNKNOWN or RIVERWORLD AND OTHER STORIES (where I first encountered the Jungle Rot Kid and the Dawn Patrol and Sore Bridge,) I don't know if I ever understand the literary (stress) quality of the Pulps. Hope I'm not too late to say RIP to a great man.

Everyone's talking WATCHMEN and as mentioned by the Groovy Agent at http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/ , Dick Giordano's Action Heroes line at Charlton in the 1960s led directly to "the greatest comic book story of all time" in many minds. While that's hyperbole, the characters are Pulp Archetypes of one form or another, particularly Rorschach/Question and Nite Owl/Blue Beetle, the respective night and day of Pulp Action in comics. I like being reminded of a great man like Giordano anchoring the talent behind those characters (genius Steve Ditko for the most part.)

THE BOOK: I don't think WATCHMEN clobbered me at age 16 the way DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and even CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS had, only because I was playing catch-up with DC Comics at this time (having read very little DC stuff outside of Gene Colan's Batman work and Perez on the Teen Titans.) SWAMP THING and MIRACLEMAN was also blowing me away at that time. What WATCHMEN did was support the notion of "comics aren't for kids anymore" which DC was promoting heavily. I think we're suffering for that mentality now, but that's another discussion entirely. For better or worse, I was glad comics were challenging me, rocking my conceptions, and so on. Alan Moore was at the forefront of that wave. Luckily for me, I was too old at that point to really do more than admire Moore's work, not emulate it. I was heavy into Ernest Hemingway at that time, too, and in fact the idea of "literature" would soon chase comics, adult or not, out of my life for a while. I read a lot of books in those years. But I came back to comics, to the sensibilities instilled in me long before Alan Moore, in Kirby and Lee.

All this to say, I wasn't immune to the sway of Rorschach. Like thousands of others, I felt Rorschach was the star of WATCHMEN and an identifier of sorts, the hero who saw Things the Way I Saw Them. It's a teenage affinity, to accept the dark core of reality even if you have no idea what it truly looks like. I admired Rorschach's viewpoint and how he came to it. He broke mentally so I did not have to, if you understand. He was and has remained an integral character in my lexicon. If I had to have a poor outlook on the world, at least it wasn't Goth, right?

THE MOVIE: I admired everything about it, even while seeing the faults. I didn't do this with BATMAN BEGINS or SPIDER-MAN or HULK or HELLBOY, even. I walked out of all those movies thinking something was wrong. It wasn't fidelity, it was just a basic understanding between what I know and what the filmmakers know. The factors behind making a movie are beyond most of us, the pleasing of so many crying bird mouths waiting to be fed. How any good movies get made in this atmosphere of lapdog slavering is incredible, but it does happen.

You'll find many people loving the movie and the performances. I agree. See it for Rorschach, of course. I was shocked to fing myself drawn and even identifying with the Comedian most of all. I love a cruel disposition in a character without boundaries, and the Comedian is that, for sure.

There's an ending to this movie that, while not perfect, is actually better than the original book.

The warlock, Alan Moore, will never see that, but I'd like to point out here and now: in the book, the world drops their atomic countdown and unifies in the face of an alien invasion of Earth. My problem with this, in the context of the world of WATCHMEN, is that there's no indicator that aliens even exist. Dr. Manhattan is the only hero with actual powers, and he's not viewed as an alien from another world. None of the Watchmen have, in their histories, fought aliens or Skrulls or anything not of terra firma. Even the literature of this world eschews science fiction genres for comics about the horrific pirate ship, the Black Freighter. Nowhere is there aliens in this alternate world, so why should humanity believe, even in the moment of "invasion" that such malignant creatures exist, when they have no pretext culturally to accept them?

So, the ending is better. Theoretically. And the movie overall is well worth seeing. I'm going again soon.

I Missed Friday Night Fights: Which Calls for a Sunday Name-Calling

2009-03-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

That's better, courtesy of the Human Fly as rendered by the inimitable Frank Robbins and the 1970s.

Don't forget, http://www.spacebooger.com/ has the full compliment of titanic tosses, and expects you fine folks to vote for The Best!

Characters I Want to Write: AQUAMAN!

2009-03-05T19:11:00.000-08:00

Me, your mother, your great uncle, we all want to write Aquaman.

I think the character survives on Saturday Morning Cartoon nostalgia, for the 30 going on 40 generation who caught "Super Friends" on the television. That Aquaman had the cool sound effect when his little sonar concentric circles commanded the creatures of the sea to battle evil with (for) him. Thus was Aquaman coined as a passive character for all the generations to come, a character who needed to be in the ocean, who could only operate in that realm.

Aquaman in the comics when originally conceived wasn't an Atlantean, of half-Atlantean, but a regular kid whose scientist father acclimated him to the ocean. Arthur Curry could survive in the Deeps, and like Tarzan, developed the strength and stamina one would associate with a man able to operate under the ocean's crushing fathoms.

Soon this iteration gave way to the updated version, who had been the product of an Atlantean and a human. Unlike the other Atlanteans, Arthur didn't have blue skin. He had his water-bourne powers and his WASP features to get by on. The orange shirt and green fin pants are righteous, but worn by a generic bohunk. Not that there's anything wrong with a bohunk, at all, but Aquaman is too nonspecific in appearance.

Peter David, writer of the Aquaman comics of the 1990s, decided to "Namor-up" the character. Make him brutal and savage and gruff and dangerous, pretty much the formula for established character "revisions" across the board during the era. Aquaman had his hand eaten off by pirhana and arbitrarily rammed a vicious harpoon hook onto the stump, as his emblematic weapon. Arthur grew a beard and long hair, and turned into an undersea Conan the Barbarian. Aquaman wasn't boring, that was for sure, but something was lost in the translation. Arthur had been turned into an a**hole.

There's been more variations on Aquaman as a character than I've read, so I can't comment on them all. Tons of writers and artists in comics have failed to reenergize the character for the modern audience. Some say it cannot be done. And I think most people who are drawn to Aquaman sense the futility of the attempt. This is why they are so eager to try. Aquaman seems ripe to become an icon, and yet is sneered upon in the next breath by the fans who still welcome his presence as a guest star in some higher-profile mag.

There's several ideas I think would work, because I'm superficially drawn to the character...I don't like anything about Atlantis. The fabled city works better as ruins, and Arthur is no more a King than I am. Or, the connection is tenuous at best, as was first the case during the 1940s. Arthur discovered Atlantis as a dead city, seeming to perceive the possibility of a unique rapport with the underwater metropolis and its ancient artifacts.

An entire generation of stories has concerned themselves with Arthur's political problems, his King Arthur equivalency, but I reject them. Arthur is much better seeking out the answers to the secrets of Atlantis. So yes, Atlantis is not populated in this "new" Aquaman universe...or rather, it may be, but by isolated beings or outright monsters who aren't so friendly about their territory being invaded.

The other factors concern Arthur's personality, but good character writing in this case isn't really a problem. That is, Arthur is a survivalist of the ocean depths...he's not brutal because he's angry, he is violent as a response to death. If Arthur encounters a beast in the waters who wishes him ill, he will kill it and, depending, probably eat it. I mean, why waste the food?

In appearance, Arthur should look as if he's lived in the ocean all his life. That being the case, his skin is going to be tougher than leather, craggy and probably a sharkish gray. I think his costume would have more fin-like stuff on the arms and legs, made by Arthur to propel him more easily. His belt will hold stuff like squid ink to release into the ocean around him, throwing enemies into a darkness they may never emerge from.

I think, if you've noted large fish and sharks and manta rays and whatever else in aquariums, you'll note how curious they are. Always probing, moving and probing. I think Arthur does that too, he's inquisitive about a human world and the beings in it. He's not stupid, when on land, but he's about as comfortable there as a whore in church. He can live easily out of water, but psychologically he's attuned to the waves. His lungs grow tight on land from the same panic we experience when drowning. Arthur's adventures on land are driven by a need to conquer his fear. Meanwhile, being human requires more from him than he has ever learned. And on and on.

Also, forget calling the comic AQUAMAN. Seriously, it's a death-knell, and it doesn't even make much sense. He's not a man made of water. Still, the name is a "brand" and should remain with him. The comic itself should be called something else, but not Aquaman.

The best case? Revive the old SEA DEVILS comic with the "new" Aquaman and the team operating out of an island base in the Pacific. In fact, the Sea Devils probably are the first humans to actually encounter and communicate with Arthur. And after Arthur inadvertantly wounds one of them in the confusion of their first encounter, he has a lot of make up for. Something like that, you know?

STAR-SPANGLED WAR STORIES 193: "Save the Children!"

2009-03-01T13:39:00.001-08:00

David Michelinie gets an issue off here, as Gerry Conway fills in with Gerry Talaoc keeping on with the art duties. Conway had been writing for DC for several years by this point, and in several years would be at Marvel Comics creating a future money-machine (far-future admittedly) character called The Punisher.

This story begins with the Unknown Soldier parachuting into the German countryside, five miles from the Swiss border. He immediately kills a patrolling Nazi soldier and jogs to the nearest town, called Berghoff. He arrives at the train station, where he finds a Nazi officer to kill and impersonate.

While preparing his mask, the Soldier recalls his orders from a blustering General, who berates the Soldier and refuses to share information about the Soldier's objective. Which, as it turns out, is to destroy a German transport train carrying a Nazi Field Marshall named Helmholt. The Soldier is instructed to kill anyone and everyone in pursuit of the train's destruction.

Stealing the face and uniform of the dead officer, the Soldier carries a packet of plastic explosive in his tunic. He boards the train and is immediately confronted by his family, a wife and two children. As Ernest Heidak, the Soldier bluffs his family while discovering that the train is rolling into Berlin, and that Ernest's family will be aboard the entire way. Thus, when he destroys the train and the Nazis officers, he kills the innocent families as well.

Unable to bring himself to perform such as act, Colonel Heidak determines he will accompany the officers to their quarters in Berlin, wait until they seperate from their families, and kill them there.

Colonel Heidak is taken into a private meeting of the officers on the train, where he learns the men there are taking over the stradegems for the war on the Russian Front. This clears up part of the Soldier's question about his mission. Once in Berlin, Colonel Heidak is shown to his own chauffeured car, as all ten of the officers and their families are being driven by different routes. The Gestapo suspects a mass assassination and has acted to avoid it. Colonel Heidak can only follow along, until entering Berlin, and nightfall.

The Soldier emerges to find out where the secret staff meeting is taking place. He breaks into the German High Command executive offices, sure to find the information he seeks. While probing, the Soldier comes across a discussion between two officers. One of them, "Frederick," is incredulous that Field Marshall Helmholt is about to take command of the Russian Campaign. Helmholt sneers at Frederick's desire to have destroyed his career in the "Balkan assignment." From childhood, these two men have despised one another. Now, Helmholt is in a position of power, with the means to win the War. Helmholt also reveals the location of the meeting: Hitler's bunker.

The Soldier is nearly discovered, and shoots his way out of the offices. The next day, Colonel Heidak is driven to the bunker, and he and the other offices convene. Ernest sets a timer on his satchel, containing his plastic explosive. He is stopped by Field Marshall Helmholt, who wishes to gloat over their coming achievement. Ernest knocks him aside and flees the bunker as his bomb explodes. However, he is recognized as Colonel Heidak while escaping, and upon reaching the hotel where "his" family has been staying, discovers the Gestapo there. Heidak's family is removed, to be placed in the concentration camps, and the Soldier realizes his action to save Heidak's family, the children in particular, has failed. He bitterly swallows the ugly truth of their impending deaths. And he leaves them to their fate.

A more-than-solid work which thematically falls in line with Joe Orlando's editing on this series so far. Gerry Talaoc's art is fabulous here, perhaps the apex of the series in quality. The script really doesn't miss a beat in the formula established by Michelinie, and the twist of the Soldier's complications to save innocent lives which nevertheless ends up resulting in their deaths is well-done. A solid issue which doesn't flag in the face of Micheline's absence.

Out of Five 3D Men.

Friday Night Fights! O.P.P! Breadbasket Batman!

2009-02-26T14:12:00.000-08:00

According to the infinite talent of Dave Mazzuchelli, and a pre-crazy Frank Miller during the classic BATMAN: YEAR ONE, Batman apparently ended this uppercut about twelve inches past that cop's broken sternum. Considering Batman trains by splintering large oak trees on his property, it's easy to see how insubstantial the human body can be when encountering his fist.

http://www.spacebooger.com/ knows the limits of the human body, and says there's no way you can survive the damage.

Friday Night Fights! O.P.P.! You're Standin' Where I'm Walkin'!

2009-02-20T09:31:00.000-08:00

"Ronnie" was the Muscle of the Beach. As awesomely relayed by Sal Buscema and Gerry Talaoc, in INCREDIBLE HULK 298 back in the 1980s, "Ronnie" gets the pain of the day.

http://www.spacebooger.com/ says don't even think about kicking sand in anyone's face.

Pulp Hero: Lobster Johnson!

2009-02-18T17:44:00.000-08:00

Not long ago, we got our first mini-series starring a "historical" figure within the Hellboy Universe, created by Mike Mignola.

Lobster Johnson appeared, drawn by the able Jason Armstrong, and was one of the best things from the year. Needless to say, a comic about Lobster Johnson serving justice in the 1930s against Nazis and demonic wizards and floating bodiless brains and giant Gorilla Men was made just for me, lovingly.

Not much is known about Lobster Johnson, save what we've seen in his few (memorable) appearances over the years. It turns out the Claw enjoys what many justice-servers enjoyed, such as the Shadow and the Spider: namely, opening up on criminals with his double .45s and then burning his Claw insignia into their foreheads after they are dead, as a warning to others.

Lobster Johnson takes other inspiration from the Pulps, having his own team of secret operatives who assist him in his work. They are all hardened men, all as unknown as the Lobster, except for their shared obsession to rid the world of evil.

There's nothing not to love about Lobster Johnson. He wears awesome goggles all of the time, which look like the bulbous eyes of the sea creature he's named after. He seems to have only his purpose for characterization. He's uncompromisingly vicious, but not inhuman. He's not superhuman, either, as he's often injured and, according to Mignola's history, he's deader than sh*t. He does pop up as a ghost quite often, doing something nutty like shooting phantom bullets into a comatose woman before dissipating. The woman soon awoke from her trance, but how the Claw serves within that world, officially, is anyone's guess.

What's important is that readers seem rightfully entranced by Lobster Johnson, and his mystery, which I hope Mignola never spoils. I don't really want to know who Lobster Johnson was, or what he did. Certainly hints and allusions are welcome, but I prefer the mystery. Really, the purpose of Lobster Johnson is to hammer the anvil of justice. We are compelled to follow his thirst for justice, as if he was starving before our eyes. We want him to have justice, then, to survive and enthrall us more. Hopefully we will be seeing more of the Claw very, very soon.

Characters I Want to Write: MR. ELEMENT!

2009-02-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

There's a real dirth of information on Mr. Element.

I mean, Dr. Alchemy (who is Albert Desmond, who is also Mr. Element) sure. But unless you've read the original Fox/Infantino THE FLASH, you will find it hard to find stuff online about Mr. Element.

Not that that's gonna stop me from being in love with the character and wanting to write him.

I think the one cool aspect of Mr. Element is that he's a "Science Villain" for a "Science Hero" in the The Flash. Both characters operate under physical laws, but those laws found in comic books. Which isn't to say the physics aren't accurate, but someone far more intelligent can and probably has argued the point.

Albert Desmond was a chemist (like Barry Allen aka the Flash) who suffers a split personality.

His dark half becomes the criminal Mr. Element, who develops technology to use elements as a weapon. He's an enemy of the Flash for a while, and then he finds DC Comics' version of "the Philosopher's Stone." This is a supernatural stone which can transmute alchemically. Thus, does the Science Villain become the Druid of Crime, Dr. Alchemy. This, in fact, turns out to be Al Desmond's third persona. So much so that using the Philosopher's Stone, the mad Desmond creates an identical twin of himself to carry on as Dr. Alchemy, named "Alvin."

After that, Albert becomes Mr. Element to combat "himself," as Dr. Alchemy. The two are obviously natural enemies. Soon, the "second" Desmond is destroyed, and Albert once again became Dr. Alchemy. Or something like that.

Mr. Element, proper, is a pro heist man who uses the elements to pull off crimes and make his getaways. I'd love a shot to turn Mr. Element into the "Parker" of the DC Universe, a hardcore and dangerous criminal with his own moral barometer. An anti-hero with a very strict and vicious code, uncompromising and all business.

And Albert Desmond himself? Well, Al surrendered to the Mr. Element persona completely. But Dr. Alchemy is still out there, still muddying the waters with his "magician's tricks" as Mr. Element would put it. So who is this Dr. Alchemy? Is that the construct from the Philosopher's Stone? Or is it Albert himself, still playing both sides?

Well, dig it, I don't know where this could all play out, but I know you readers would appreciate it. Just imagine the man-bro crush between Metamorpho the Element Man and Mr. Element! There's two guys with a lot to talk about.

Friday Night Fights! Love Tap!

2009-02-13T10:32:00.000-08:00

What you have here pretty much happens to a lot of us dudes, in "the moment."

Not technically a fight, but Spider-Woman Jessica Drew has a pretty shocking "physical" encounter here, in ish 18 of her 1979 series, by Mark Gruenwald and Carmine Infantino.

http://www.spacebooger.com/ never has an issue with control. It's all slow and easy for him.

STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES 192: "Vendetta"

2009-02-08T13:16:00.000-08:00

When last we saw the Soldier, he had been wounded and captured, leaving him at the mercy of Lt. Rico Strada, the young man with the serious vendetta, due to the Soldier being responsible for the death of Strada's "only family," a priest named Memmoli way back in ish 187. Also, the Soldier's wounding of Strada left him with only one arm. And on the end of that arm is his Luger.

Lt. Strada gloats how he will be turning over the "mask-making" kit to the Gestapo, once the Soldier is dead. He has sent away everyone except himself and the Soldier, isolating them in the countryside so Strada can enjoy his kill.

The Soldier, hands chained in front of him, kicks dirt into Strada's face and flees. Strada however is confident that the Soldier must face him eventually, to retrieve the mask kit. Should it fall into Nazi hands, the Soldier knows he will have committed a treasonous act resulting in irrepairable damage to the Allied cause. The Soldier breaks his chain using a boulder. Lt. Strada waits with the leather attache, knowing the Soldier must come for it.

As night falls, the Soldier begins to stalk Strada, hoping to get close enough to avoid Strada's pistol. He soon discovers a pack of wolves are hunting him. A savage battle begins as the Soldier begins killing wolves with his bare hands. Worn down during the fight, the Soldier is nearly overwhelmed when bullets scare off the animals.

Lt. Strada steps forward, Luger trained, while the Soldier again tries to reason with him, that Father Memmoli's death could not be laid at the Soldier's feet. Strada refuses to listen. The Soldier manages to throw a stone at a broken tree branch above Strada as he fires. The branch falls, disarming Strada, who leaps for the pistol. However, he is on the edge of a cliff and topples over. Catching a protruding branch with his one arm, Strada hangs there, the mask kit slung over his shoulder.

The Soldier attempts to reach him, prompting Strada to question why. Even when the Soldier explains Strada still has the make-up kit, Strada points out the attache will be destroyed when he falls. What is the point? The Soldier responds that Strada is wrong about him, about the circumstances behind Father Memmoli's death. Understanding at last, Strada is too ashamed to allow himself to be saved. He has been used by the Nazis, all he had remaining as a symbol of his worth. Strada releases the branch, falling to his death. The Soldier walks away into the night.

Another good issue, summing up the Monte Grande storyline from Michelinie's earlier issues. The Soldier's knockdown-drag out with the wolf pack is the highlight, with Gerry Talaoc shining. Strada seems hesitant to actually murder the Soldier, despite having the drop on him twice in this story. Strada's hesitation, something the Soldier does not share, hollows out his vendetta. Without true passion, Strada's desire is murder only, and thus he is unable to accomplish his goals. The Soldier has no qualms about letting any man die who impedes his missions, but makes the attempt to save Strada...even though he had not given his word to Father Memmoli, still the Soldier had compassion for the younger man. He'd already spared him once at Monte Grande and again, here, to save Strada from his own intellectual folly.

Out of Five 3D Men

Characters I Want to Write: THE 3D MAN! Obviously!

2009-02-07T20:59:00.000-08:00

There's a fascinating allure to the 3D Man that I simply cannot ignore.

Readers in general don't seem to get what the deal is, how Roy Thomas managed to get such a concept published. Well, Roy Thomas was a pretty influential guy at Marvel Comics and a huge Golden Age Hero fan. Melding his love of movies from the 1950s with this conceit, Thomas created a character who is still kicking today, albeit in an altered form. Kurt Busiek got rid of the original version of the 3D Man for his own, and there's probably good reasons for that.

However, I'm proposing to return to the conceit which truly entrances me about the 3D Man. Namely, he's not just one dude, he's three.

Now, originally the 3D Man was two brothers, one a tough guy pilot type named Chuck Chandler, the other Hal, who is crippled. During the 1950s, an evil alien race called the Skrulls invaded Earth, to conquer it. Chuck was abducted by the Skrulls during a test flight, perhaps to be replaced by one of them, via the Skrull's natural shape-shifting ability. The panel above shows Chuck being confronted by three Skrulls. This is interesting to me as a plot point.

Chuck is a man's man, and manages to break free. His battle with the Skrulls inside their spaceship causes the whole thing to explode. As he's escaping in the experimental NASA rocket, Chuck becomes erradiated by the explosion. By the time he crashes the rocket, and nearly reaches his brother Hal waiting for him, his body explodes before Hal's eyes.

Chuck is dead, but Hal discovers the last image of his brother has been blasted onto his glasses, in red and green.

Goofy? Sure. Pure comic book delight. Absolutely.

So Hal is sitting around thinking hard about his brother Chuck when he slips into a trance and the 3D Man leaps out of Chuck's eyeglasses!

Now, the thing to remember here is Hal and Chuck shared their fusion. Hal lived vicariously through Chuck's superior physicality, and their fusion gave them a physical Third Man. Thus, the speed, strength, stamina and healing ability of three men in one. Chuck's mind, as the 3D Man, controlled the "body." Hal's mind sort of "rode along."

I was first exposed to the 3D Man via Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema, in the issue cited above, in the story "Whatever Happened to the 3D Man?" Mantlo wasn't the most original or versatile writer who ever worked, but he loved these second bananas. He dug the 3D Man enough to throw him up against the Incredible Hulk. A mismatch of massive properties, in which Hal Chandler, middle-aged in the "1980s" of comics, had long retired with his wife and children from any adventuring "as" the 3D Man. Living in suburbia, Hal encounters a half-naked unfortunate who needs a helping hand. This kind man is learned and appreciative of Hal's family, and during the night Hal calls the cops. There's no flies on Hal, and he knows the stranger is Bruce Banner, aka the Incredible Hulk. Like everyone else, Hal thinks the Hulk is a killer, and dangerous. Hal calls up the 3D Man for the first time in decades, to presumably hold Banner until the authorities arrive.

As you can see, that turns out to be mere folly!

Eventually things went back to normal. The 3D Man realized the Hulk wasn't going to really hurt anybody unless provoked, and the Hulk hated everyone and jumped out of the story.

My idea is to have a 3D Man which incorporates the idea of three men in one. Each of their personalities will actually take part in creating this 3D Man, who is neither yin nor yank.

Reader disparage having "triple powers" in a world of superheroes. Pfft. I'll take triple powers any day. In my scenario however, the 3D Man is a bit more tragic. See, he doesn't exist without those other personalities, and neither of the primary personalities can do what they can as the 3D Man. Meaning, have powers, and be able to do real good in the world.

Which of course means smacking supervillains around and kicking the hell out of punks robbing old people on the streets.

Aside from darkening the colors a bit, to avoid the "hey, he has Christmas colors!" schtick, the 3D Man costume remains the same. What I liked about the original version is that the "costume" isn't a costume but part of the 3D Man. He's one with it. The goggles are his freakin' eyes, man.

I mean, that's my speculation. The 3D Man is, like, a ghost who can speed punch you right in the groin.

As far as the humans who make up 3D Man in this fusion, I've always been intrigued by the idea of the two men in love with the same woman. Only, neither have a chance with her. And she's enarmored with the 3D Man. Takes all kinds, right?

What's a Friday Night Without Friday Night Fights?

2009-02-06T18:11:00.000-08:00

Comic books are about passion. Not the sexy kind, necessarily. The heart kind.

With that in mind, and in respect to a week off from the Sweet Science, it's all about the Good Times this Friday night. We've had our fill of darkness and blood-vomiting and unnecessary character death and terrible art in comics. We get it: the world's a piece of sh*t.

Time for change! Comics can incorporate the Good Times, the Fun Times, just as well!

Characters I Want to Write: WILDCAT!

2009-02-03T18:47:00.000-08:00

Yeh, I know what the world needs. Maybe not as much as the world needs our current Commander-in-Chief, but it wouldn't hurt: a Wildcat comic book. Starring Ted Grant, the Wildcat. All about Wildcat. Fists by Wildcat. Love-makin' by Wildcat. And, shocks galore, most of it wouldn't happen inside a boxing ring.

See, Ted Grant was the Heavyweight Champion of the World. Now, most everyone will point out he was Champ during the 1960s, which is fine. For my purposes, and bringing a healthy, middle-aged Ted Grant to comicdom, we go with the old "timeless times" of comics. What that means, comics used to not be confined to their "era." They obviously reflected their times, especially in the 1940s and 1970s, but to specify that Captain America shucked the Flag and Shield for his Nomad costume "in the 1970s" is to "date" the characters. Then some OCD writer guy comes along and decides Ted Grant, the Wildcat, is too old to play superhero games. He's a geriatric and needs to be "replaced" via his "legacy" being passed down, name and all.

I'm looking at you, Geoff Johns.

What you get with Ted Grant is a chance to tell two-fisted stories with a non-PC, non-affiliated, non-commercialized Pulp derived hero. In the 1970s he rode around on a Cat-O-Cycle. If you can't appreciate the Cat-O-Cycle, you just don't have it in you to love Wildcat.

I love me some Wildcat. Not many people can write a great Wildcat. Beau Smith (see "Busted Knuckles" webspace) can write the hell out of some Wildcat. I won't pretend to have Beau Smith's hand at it. But Wildcat reflects everything I love in a good two-fisted hero: he doesn't back down, he's uncompromising, he loves to fight.

The writers today can't let go of his boxing background. It's all fine and good, Ted Grant is a boxer with a hell of a left hook. But you gotta leave the boxing stuff alone. The character does represent the Sweet Science only marginally, actually. Say, if Matt Murdock's dad hadn't been killed by those gangsters, he could've become Wildcat. Ted Grant doesn't need an excuse for what he is. Punch first, ask questions later.

A lot of writers think a guy like Wildcat, who is just a man, with a man's courage (Queen's "Flash Gordon" of course) is somehow limited to his default "environment." Well, false on that. Wildcat should be as rootless as a boxer, long trained to not have a home, "performing" much like a carnival act. Ted loves to show off his physicality, it's his Bach, his Jack Kirby. Ted doesn't want to be adored for being a former Champion, he wants to knock you out to prove he's better than you.

So, psychology aside, Wildcat should be roaming everywhere getting into crazy sh*t with wicked villains super or not and monsters and dames who dig his love handles and his beefy thighs. That's Ted Grant, and that's what I propose.

Friday Night Fights! Jack Klugg-Man

2009-01-30T09:03:00.000-08:00

PETER PARKER THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, by Bill Mantlo and early-early Frank Miller all at home in the dark.

http://www.spacebooger.com/ says he don't ask twice about such things. After that, the only answer is the sound of blood.

PARKER: THE HUNTER

2009-01-26T19:47:00.001-08:00

As usual, Christopher Mills strikes the gold at http://gunsinthegutters.blogspot.com/2009/01/first-look-hunter.html

STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES 191: "Decision at Volstadt"

2009-01-25T12:31:00.001-08:00

The story opens with Gudren Schopfer, the child the Solder saved last ish, captured by "Brownshirts," Austrian children being trained as Nazi soldiers. The Soldier had left Gudren alone in the forest while he went into a local village for clothing to replace his Nazi uniform. By the time he had returned, Gudren had been found by Hitler's Youth. Worst than that, the Brownshirts have obtained the Soldier's "mask-making gear" in a leather briefcase. This is cause for serious concern, as the "secrets and innovations" it contains cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of Nazi Intelligence. The Soldier must get it back, but doesn't want to risk Gudren being killed in the melee. He follows instead.

With a Luger trained on the child, the Brownshirts prod Gudren back into the village. The Soldier, face bandaged, is stopped by a Nazi officer, curious why his face is hidden. The Soldier attempts to bluff his way out, but the Nazis aren't convinced, forcing him to attack them and flee. Turning down a blind alley, the Soldier is hidden by the Volstadt Resistance. The woman to whom the Soldier communicates his needs is named Joanna. She informs him that his briefcase, and Gudren, have been taken to Nazi General Von Bittschwann, head of the Occupation Forces in Volstadt, and also the man who has lured the children of the village into the Hitler Youth.

In an office nearby, General Bittschwann is meeting with Lt. Rico Strada, who pierces the General's sense of national pride by being "a mere Italian...(risen) to Officer's rank and have orders directly from the Fuhrer...orders that supercede your own authority!" Strada's righteous mission is to find the owner of the make-up kit, the man who Strada believes "cost me my arm--as well as the only family I ever had (Father Memmoli, the slain village priest from ish 187's "A Death in the Chapel.)"

The Volstadt Resistance helps the Soldier infiltrate the Nazi HQ, and find Gudren. The Soldier senses a trap too late, as Lt. Strada's soldiers cut off the Resistance. The Soldier quickly acts however, providing an escape route. With Gudren in hand, the fighters make it outside. A lone Brownshirt with a Luger draws down on them, and Joanna has the closest shot to kill the boy. However, she cannot bring herself to do it. The next moment, the boy shoots her in the back.

Back in the catacombs of the Resistance HQ, Joanna dies while pleading that "it was dark...and (Erik) couldn't...see...couldn't..."

The Soldier is informed that the boy who shot Joanna was named Erik, her own son. The Soldier takes up a rifle to return to Von Bittschwann, to get the make-up kit and with "a debt to pay."

The Soldier again sneaks into the Nazi HQ, but before he can kill Bittschwann and reclaim his briefcase, young Nazi Erik appears with his Luger, holding the Soldier at bay. Bittschwann orders Erik to execute the Soldier. The Soldier reveals to Erik that the woman he shot in the alley was his mother. Further, the boy may "have held the gun...but sure as hell it was Von Bittschwann who pulled the trigger!" When the Soldier illustrates who really deserves to die, the boy agrees and shoots the Soldier.

Von Bittschwann is relieved, and proud, but Erik quickly informs the General that he'd done his duty, but "this is for--my mother!" He empties his pistol into Bittschwann. A moment later, the boy is shot by alerted Nazi guards.

The wounded Soldier awakens to find himself a prisoner of war, with Lt. Strada proclaiming, "It is over. You gambled once too often--and you've lost."

Great little hard-hitting story here, as Michelinie continues to orchestrate the subplots expertly with his wartime mini-dramas. Again, it isn't the power of the Nazis which instills the greatest fear, but the corruption of the soul. While the Soldier fights on a superior moral authority, still his primary responsibility is to obtain his make-up gear, his "identity" as the unstoppable secret weapon of the Allies. And again, amid the espionage, the small crushing loss of love and family, a mother and her son sent to early graves, wounds the Soldier just as truthfully as the bullet he received.

Out of Five 3D Men

Facebook Comic Con

2009-01-25T11:58:00.000-08:00

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=63366131619#/group.php?gid=63366131619&ref=nf

http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2009/01/facebook-comic-con-is-here-free.html

I think this is a pretty keen idea. Particularly where it concerns a ton of comic book artists and writers both professional and non- getting to interact.

Spread the word among you Facebookers.

Friday Night Fights! Superman's Boom! Boom! Boom!

2009-01-23T09:20:00.000-08:00

Roger Stern and Steve Rude produced one of the most enjoyable, fun, and amazing comics I've ever read, via THE INCREDIBLE HULK VS SUPERMAN. Not only that, it's poignant and even chokes you up by the end. And all due to Stern's ability to illicit just what you need to pay off the end of the one-shot one-and-done single issue of a meeting between the world's mightiest mortal and the world's most tragic.

http://www.spacebooger.com/ expects you will whimper from the pain, but try not to embarrass him while doing it.

STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES 190: "Project: Omega"

2009-01-20T16:22:00.000-08:00

The creative team wastes no time, as the Soldier, disguised as Colonel Rolf, one of the few men with access to "Project Omega" is about to be shot from behind with a Luger.

After a brief flashback sequence to establish the first part of the story, Col. Rolf meets with Dr. Schopfer to obtain vital information from him. As Rolf turns away, the scientist pulls the pistol. However, Rolf is contacted that a Nazi General Olbricht and his staff have arrived for the demonstration of Schopfer's Nazi super weapon. Dr. Schopfer hides his pistol, unable to pull off the assassination. The General and his people greet Col. Rolf, and the demonstration begins.

Massive steel doors open to reveal strange ape-like men, towering tall, and the General is assured the creatures are fully controlled. Dr. Schopfer's experiments involved "strengthening" the Nazi soldiers into practically unkillable monsters, but at the "cost of their minds!" Schopfer has implanted electronic devices in the creatures' brains, not only to keep them docile, but to control them.

Dr. Schopfer ends his speech by addressing the General directly, "But that's all wrong, can't you see? I only wanted to save lives, not turn men into mindless zombies!"

To which the General replies, "But my dear Doctor--what do you think good soldiers are?"

Resistence fighters attack the Castle at that moment. The General is overjoyed at a chance to see the "Super Soldats" in action, live. Col. Rolf is instructed to activate the creatures, but the false Rolf has no idea how. The General takes over, ordering Dr. Schopfer to intiate the monsters' attack. The Underground is swiftly destroyed by the beasts.

Col. Rolf slips away while General Olbricht crows about using the Jews as "raw material" for mass producing the monsters. At the lab once more, Rolf is faced down by Dr. Schopfer, who begins firing at him with a pistol. The Soldier removes his Rolf mask, revealing himself before Schopfer can wound him. The Soldier asks Schopfer to sabotage his own implants, which he does, causing the creatures to go berserk, killing Nazis and anyone else in their way.

Back at the lab, the Soldier is about to spirit Schopfer and his little daughter away from the castle when the General arrives, tattered and wielding his Luger. Dr. Schopfer attempts to shoot the General and is himself mortally wounded. The Soldier snatches Schopfer's falling Luger out of mid-air and guns down the General.

The dying scientist sends the Soldier to take his daughter from the castle, in order to set off explosives that utterly destroy Project Omega and everyone involved in it. Only the Soldier, his face hidden by rags tied over his horrible scars, and the child who bears the knowledge of his father's death, walk from the smoldering ruins.

An epilogue shows Nazis investigating the rubble the next day. A one-armed Leutnant searches for clues as to what happened. Other soldiers describe him as "obsessed with finding the Amerikanisch spy who cost him his arm!"

Lt. Rico Strada stands, displaying the discarded Col. Rolf mask worn by the Unknown Soldier. Strada promises to kill the Soldier, who "...took more than mere flesh--for he also murdered my soul."

There's an odd schism this issue between Michelinie's script and Gerry Talaoc's art, regarding the "monsters." Michelinie must have wanted something a bit more like, well, zombies...actual soldiers enhanced in some grotesque way. Perhaps even linking to Anton Arcane's "un-men" from SWAMP THING a couple years earlier. Talaoc renders the monsters as gorillas with very long arms and legs, standing upright. Though not actual gorillas, they're built like the Harlem Globetrotters, with little menace.

Strange to consider, but I'm wondering if this was a case of Michelinie going too far with the whole science-fiction/horror aspect and Joe Orlando or some other editorial force put the nix on the thematic choices. I feel like it wouldn't have been Orlando, per se, but someone "got" to Talaoc to slap the old gorilla motif atop Michelinie's gene-altered zombies. DC Comics was the old dependable company, and though dabbling in horror was one thing, I suspect DC might have a hard time spinning an Unknown Soldier vs Nazi zombies comic to readers of war comics who bought the Unknown Soldier. Believe it or not, comic book companies once upon a time didn't change a character's modus operendi at the drop of a hat, in order to satisfy some "hot" writer or artist. The Soldier was a war comic, incorporating aspects of horror, but not a horror comic. Case closed.

Thus, this short foray into a more fantastical arena for the Unknown Soldier comes to an end. There's a lot crammed into this issue, and not a lot for the Soldier to do (though certainly the Talaoc-rendered catch-the-falling-gun and blast-the-General panels are a nice innovation.) This war formula story clashes uncomfortably with the horror aspects, but is entertaining overall.

(2 1/2)
Out of Five 3D Men

Friday Night Fights! Wildcat and Batman's Power PTOW!

2009-01-16T09:50:00.000-08:00

Because a Classic never gets old, BRAVE AND THE BOLD ish 118 by the incomparable Bob Haney and Jim Aparo. One of the best Batman fights of all time, and one of Wildcat's best moments as well.

http://www.spacebooger.com/ will tell you, if he wants you unconscious, there's not a thing you can do about it.

Patrick McGoohan, Dead at 80

2009-01-14T19:19:00.000-08:00

Another one of my heroes has perished. Be seeing you, Number 6.

STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES 189: "The Cadaver Gap Massacres"

2009-01-13T16:55:00.000-08:00

Here comes perhaps the craziest story in the Michelinie/Talaoc run of Unknown Soldier.

Some American soldiers on the Austrian Front are set upon by huge, monstrous figures who are unstoppable by bullet or bayonet. Three units end up ripped to pieces by these creatures.

Watching a short film obviously shot by one unit's cameraman, the Soldier receives his orders from Allied HQ in Corsica. The intel is sketchy, as all the Allies have are rumors of experimental research in an Austrian castle. An important SS Officer is traveling to the castle to provide a demonstration of the new "weapon" for the Nazi higher ups. The Soldier must take the place of the Officer and discover what the weapon is, and sabotage it.

On a road in the Alps, a car carrying SS Major Wollheim is stopped by an obstruction. The driver struggles to move the rocks and branches. Wollheim is garroted while the driver is occupied. When the road is clear, the driver is met by Wollheim, returning from "the call of nature." Wollheim arrives at Castle Todesfall, greeted by an eyepatch-wearing Colonel named Rolf.

Moments later, local Resistance fighters escape their cells, and take off across the fields. This gives Rolf the chance to demonstrate one of the Reich's new inventions: small pipe jets in the field release what appears to be lasers which utterly incinerate the Rebels. Afterward, Wollheim is introduced to the lead scientist, Dr. Schopfer and his small daughter Gudren. A brief conflict erupts between Schopfer and Col. Rolf over the morality behind murder, even during war. Rolf makes implies once again that Gudren will be harmed if the scientist does not remain loyal to the Reich.

Wollheim is led about by Col. Rolf, who introduces him to "...everything from gases that turned the nervous system into jelly--to land mines set to explode at the mere heat of a human body." But none of these deadly weapons match what the Soldier saw in the film. Wollheim quickly finds the most guarded project and attempts to bluff his way inside "Project Omega." Col. Rolf arrives curious why Wollheim would try to enter, since it was under his orders that only Rolf, Dr. Schopfer and the Fuhrer himself be allowed in. Wollheim passes it off as a "security check" to insure his orders are being carried out. Later, the Soldier determines he must take the place of Col. Rolf, become Rolf, if he is to infiltrate "Project Omega."

However, the suspicious Col. Rolf has baited Wollheim, and holds a gun on the spy, taunting him. The Soldier quickly disarms Rolf and batters him into unconsciousness (Talaoc's art shows Col. Rolf with one staring eye, quite dead...but this is a mistake, or Col. Rolf sleeps with his eye open.) When the Colonel awakens, he looks up to find himself. The duplicate Rolf forces a Wollheim mask over the Colonel's face, and leads the new "Wollheim" gagged and at gunpoint outside.

Col. Rolf instructs "Wollheim" to begin running, and the real Rolf flees directly into the field of lasers. The Soldier as Rolf takes a long time to finally push the button, milking the sadistic Rolf's terror before finally obliterating him, and the Wollheim personae.

The new Col. Rolf determines to get inside the guarded room. Meanwhile, Dr. Schopfer stands over his sleeping daughter, whom Rolf has threatened. Coming to a final decision, Schopfer takes up a Luger and promises to assassinate Col. Rolf at the first opportunity.

The story is more science fiction oriented than perhaps any Unknown Soldier story ever written anywhere (outside of the unfortunate revision series from the 1980s that cast the Unknown Soldier as a "super soldier" via chemical enhancement, giving him quick healing and a measure of superior physical strength...good stories but just not quite right.) Massive lurking man-monsters and lasers aside, the story concentrates on the brief test of intellects between Col. Rolf and the Soldier (which Rolf actually wins, resulting in a gruesome death.)

The SF elements actually don't harm the formula of the war story, and as usual Editor Joe Orlando follows the compelling story wherever it leads. Also, here in this comic and ish 188 as well, the letters pages begin to reveal reader opinion on the new direction. One reader , Bob Rodi, calls the Unknown Soldier comic the "most promising series of 1975." Joe Orlando calls out for more feedback, asking if readers want, "more two-part stories? Or feature novel-length adventures...more frequently?"

I miss the way the world used to work, when an actual letter meant something, both for the writer and reader.

Tarzan: Joe Jusko Style

2009-01-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

I don't know admittedly very much about Joe Jusko. His art is found http://comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=1950 in such places, and at other sites associated with the man. I haven't found much to indicate who he is or where he's from, but I recently stumbled onto a ton of Tarzan paintings from the man.

It's rare to have a visceral reaction where I immediately think, "Yeh, this is pretty much what Tarzan would look like." And I'm not a big believer in the beefcake overmuscled hulk to indicate anything to do with power and strength in characters (see Superman, who shouldn't look like a body-builder...what is he using to build his muscles up with? He's super strong, naturally, and aside from being a bruiser at his height/weight, he's not going to look all cut and sh*t.) Still, Jusko has some awesome stuff going on here. I can't help but be impressed.

All these scans from http://www.comicvine.com/joe-jusko/26-5550/gallery/108-8441/

Go there to check out other Jusko amazement, including John Carter and Conan and other similar pop culture properties.

Friday Night Fights! Wildcat's Kangaroo KO!

2009-01-09T10:56:00.000-08:00

Scan courtesy of "The Comic Treadmill"...brilliance courtesy of Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, from BRAVE AND THE BOLD ish 62.

Life may not be complete without seeing Ted Grant knock out a marsupial. I'm dying to find out what happened when he tried that with the polar bear!

http://www.spacebooger.com/ screams prayers for the evil to leave your body, so he can kick it right in the crack part!

Don Westlake Interviews Richard Stark, October 18th 2002

2009-01-08T19:06:00.000-08:00

http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/Richard_Stark_(1012860)_AuthorInterview(2).htm

This is a fun piece which I'll scan in here, just for posterity's sake.

A few years ago, I ran across this thing and found it pitch perfect, as the comedic/playful novelist Donald Westlake interviews the hard-bitten Richard Stark, author of the "Parker" novels ie the finest series of crime novels ever written.

Having maintained absolute silence for 23 years, 1974 to 1997, the famously reclusive crime novelist Richard Stark (RS) suddenly reappeared with a new novel, Comeback (1997), featuring his amoral anti-hero, Parker. Since then, the once-taciturn Stark seems unable to shut up; 5 novels in 5 years, including his latest, Breakout. At the time of his initial comeback in Comeback, (hah!), RS agreed to be interviewed by fellow crime novelist Donald E. Westlake (DW), in September of 1998. The feathers ruffled during that exchange having finally been smoothed (one hopes), the two participants have agreed to a rematch.

This second interview took place in an alley behind a poolhall on October 18, 2002.

DW: It seems your voice is well and truly back. Congratulations.

RS: I see you're still grinding them out, too.

DW: Yes, well. The last time we chatted, there was a certain . . . hostility in the air. I hope we're past that now.

RS: I'd been traveling.

DW: So I gathered. Would you say your latest Parker novel, BREAKOUT, is the most autobiographical so far?

RS: No, I wouldn't, and if you're smart you won't, either.

DW: You do seem to know quite a bit about crime and the criminal mind.

RS: I read the papers. The business section. You mostly read the funnies, I think.

DW: The greatest insights come from so-called comedy, I believe. But how do you manage to maintain absolutely no sense of humor year after year?

RS: No sense of humor? Don¹t make me laugh.

DW: I wouldn't even try. But speaking of humor, perhaps inadvertent, what did you think of Payback, the Mel Gibson programmer based on Parker's first outing, THE HUNTER?

RS: It was a remake. The first time, Point Blank, with Lee Marvin, I got paid. Also, it was a better picture.

DW: You didn't get paid for PAYBACK?

RS: Ask me again what I know about the criminal mind.

DW: You must be a little shallow-pocketed at the moment. What's next for you and Parker?

RS: Who wants to know? I like that watch.

DW: Thank you. Is there another outing for Parker com--

RS: I said, I like that watch.

DW: This interview is over.

STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES 188: "Encounter"

2009-01-07T16:11:00.000-08:00

A rarity, Joe Kubert doesn't provide the cover for this issue...Ernie Chan, one of the second-generation artists post-Silver Age, renders a basic mirror image of the Soldier and a Nazi antagonist effectively enough.

"Encounter" is almost like "Part Three" of the two-part Monte Grande story previous, with the Unknown Soldier in his "non-mission" trenchcoat and stingy hat and facial bandages, on a hospital ship full of wounded soldiers heading to Corsica. The "last mission left a bad taste," and the Soldier is eager to move on from it. So eager that the near-zero visibility of dense fog slowing the ship is a welcome opportunity for the Soldier to be "alone."

While brooding on deck, the Soldier is surprised by Nazi soldiers invading the ship. The Soldier swiftly reacts, escaping into the hold. Stalking one of the Nazi hunters, the Soldier kills him, but is concussed during the fight and blacks out. A flashback occurs of several hours before, with the Soldier's arrival on the hospital ship. While visiting the head nurse onboard, a woman named Lt. Molly Barnes, the Soldier walks in on Nurse Molly and her wheelchair-bound fiancee, Sgt. Cross, having a tender moment. Sgt. Cross is immediately agitated, and seems to recognize the Soldier. This arouses the Soldier's curiosity, since he is, well, "unknown." When asked about her involvement with Cross, and his odd antagonism toward the Soldier, she relates Cross' paralysis and bitterness over his wounding. The Soldier is privvy to Molly's new-found romance with Cross, how a woman who is "not very...attractive" is treated so well by a man like Cross.

Unconcious only a few seconds, the Soldier uses his make-up kit to assemble a mask of the slain Nazi. Appropriating the SS uniform, and dressing the corpse in his own clothing, the Soldier tosses the body over the side and opens fire on it. The other soldiers arrive with "Stefan" claiming to have killed the escapee. Stefan joins the rest of the Nazi boarding party who have taken the , crew, doctors and nurses prisoner. One of the Nazis relates the mission objective to the prisoners, pointing out their destination of Port Boursin contains the largest of the Allied Naval Support Group in the Mediterrean, and the entrance to the harbor is narrow enough to be blocked, crippling the American Fleet. The hospital ship itself is to be scuttled, creating an impassible barricade. When the Nazis reach for the explosives they will plant for this task, Stefan draw his weapon on them. The next instant, Stefan is knocked out from behind by Sgt. John Cross, out of his wheelchair with Luger in hand, revealing himself to be Hauptmann Johann Kraus, a Nazi spy. Molly Barnes is confused, and Kraus explains to her that he recognized the Soldier by his face bandages and determined to neutralize him. Kraus sets the task of throwing the Soldier overboard to two soldiers and takes Molly into the Captain's Quarters.

While apologizing for betraying Molly's confidence, Kraus admits he has fallen in love with her. When expecting her loathing, Kraus finds Molly truly loves him as well. She cuts off the light, promising herself to Cross/Kraus, unable to let true love slip from her hands.

Meanwhile, Stefan/the Soldier is being dragged topside when he awakens and kills the soldiers. Taking a weapon, he makes his way to the explosives the Nazis have activated, discovering them welded to the hull with no chance to be defused in time.

Molly and Kraus discuss their issues in the face of the War, how their love is forbidden. Molly is willing to live as best they can, as long as they can.

In the hold, the Soldier determines the only thing to do about the bomb is to set it off prematurely, before the ship reaches the Port. He fires his weapon at the explosive, which tears a massive hole in the hull. The Soldier then begins evacuating the wounded Allied troops onto lifeboats, just as Kraus and Molly arrive to stop him. Kraus gets the drop on the Soldier, pointing out he cannot have the soldiers leave. They are the enemy, and even though his prime mission has failed, it is best the soldiers die on the vessel than in battle. Molly is incredulous the man she loved would murder innocents, and Kraus reminds her "There's no such thing as murder in war, Molly--and very little innocence either!"

Pleading to Molly to understand his actions, Kraus is distracted long enough for the Soldier to tackle and disarm him. With water fast rising, the two struggling men are stopped by Molly, who holds the Luger now. While the Soldier and Kraus continue to battle, Kraus asks Molly to shoot the Soldier, preserve their love. Molly fires the weapon. Leutnant Kraus falls, dead.

Eventually the hospital ship is fully evacuated, and the Soldier rides in one lifeboat with Molly. He tells her she made the right choice, to save all those lives and help the War effort. Molly, weepingly, points out what a sheltered life she'd led, how she'd learned little of men, or weaponry. She then tells the confused Soldier: "...You see (sniff) I was really aiming that pistol--at you!"

One of the best of the Michelinie/Talaoc stories, "Encounter" is a remarkable achievment in story economy and characterization. With little to support the doomed love between Nazi spy and lonely Allied nurse, the writing effortlessly details the conflict. Again, the individual tragedy has been lost amidst the struggle of Wartime, with only the Soldier aware of the details. The story ends on the lifting of the fog and the dawn's light, but the realization is apparent: Molly cares nothing for flag and country in the face of agonizing mortality, and if not for the whims of Fate, she could have altered the course of World War 2. The individual choices do affect the tides of history, but those choices have meaning only to those who make them. History does not acknowledge the "faceless" dead.

The best issue of the run so far.

Out of Five 3D Men.

Pulp Masters: Stark and Cartier Tribute

2009-01-05T18:19:00.000-08:00

"The Shadow Magazine" cover illustrator Edward D. Cartier and Richard Stark (Don Westlake) by birth, are no longer with us.

Over at http://pulpsunday.blogspot.com/ Francesco Francavilla posted this beauty in tribute.

AFRODISIAC

2009-01-03T14:26:00.000-08:00

Somehow I'd missed out on this Jim Rugg creation. I'd "felt" it before, but never so strong as now.

Rugg is, needless to say, the Mack.

Friday Night Fights: It's Machine Man's Kang Thang

2009-01-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

Aaron Stack received a royal all-over Hulk Smash! in INCREDIBLE HULK 235, getting hit so hard his robot body flew into pieces.

Well, by ish 236, Machine Man has put himself back together in order to save his friend/psychologist from a very angry Hulk, but he's in too big of a hurry to repair himself altogether. Thus, he's carrying one of his arms while he runs to intercept the Hulk. Courtesy of Sal "Brings It" Buscema, scripted by Roger Stern, providing the first truly "badass" moment of Aaron Stack's career where he actually defeats the Hulk. By himself. A robot.

Stack reminds the Hulk that the ugly part of the bruise is purple.

http://www.spacebooger.com/ reminds you that whatever you call it, whether a severed arm or a "figment of your imagination," it still hurts.

The Last Heist

2009-01-02T13:32:00.000-08:00

I have to come up with something a little more intensive, but we lost a great one today.

A great novelist and a reinterpreter of the form of crime fiction, Don Westlake.

His shadow self, Richard Stark, influences everything I do. Without Stark, and his creation Parker, I don't know where I'd be.

So, think about Parker driving some dark highway, not speaking to the studious man in the passenger seat, the man with the plan, the man who always had the plan. The two men don't speak because it's all been said. There is only the doing now.

Looking For a Kiss: Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T17:24:00.000-08:00

Happy New 2009 Year folks. It's gotta be better or it could be worse!

STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES 187: "A Death in the Chapel"

2008-12-28T13:58:00.000-08:00

Part One http://pulphero.blogspot.com/2008/12/star-spangled-war-stories-186-man-of.html

This was actually the first issue of the Michelinie/Talaoc run I read. I'd picked up most of the run without knowing its quality, simply because I'd always liked the surreal Unknown Soldier "weird war" type character. I was about to get an education, and it didn't take long to figure it.

The Nazi who attacks Aschermann is killed in seconds by the Faceless Commando, and Aschermann proceeds to relocate the bodies to Father Memmoli's church.

Memmoli does indeed discover the bodies, and the ruse of Colonel Weile. Confronting Weile, Father Memmoli vows the villagers will learn of the deception. However, Weile places Memmoli under armed guard...the guard of Father Memmoli's young orphan-turned-soldier, Rico, with orders to kill the priest should he attempt to leave. Memmoli pleads with the young man to understand the wrong the Nazis represent, but Rico wishes to remain a loyal soldier. Father Memmoli will not be deterred from his duty to inform his people, and Rico is unable to shoot the kindly man of God.

Father Memmoli is off to find his people, and Aschermann follows to "insure" Memmoli's passage. However, Memmoli strays too close to the American lines and is accosted by a unit of GIs. Knowing if the Father is detained, the mission will be in jeopardy, Aschermann takes out the GIs barehanded and sends Memmoli on his way. Confused, Memmoli proceeds. Soon, the villagers and their weapons are turned on the Nazis.

Colonel Weile finds Father Memmoli in the church, discovering Memmoli's involvement. Accompanying him is Leutnant Aschermann. Before Aschermann can stop him, Weile kills Father Memmoli. Aschermann executes the Colonel, who manages to tear the Soldier's mask. Father Memmoli's last words are for the Soldier to help young Rico. The Soldier cannot promise to help, and after Memmoli dies, he says "I'm sorry, Father...but I'm afraid that's not part of the job."

Just then, Rico himself arrives, witnessing the Soldier/Aschermann kneeling over Memmoli's body. The young soldier tries to gun him down, and the Soldier blows apart Rico's right arm with his own Luger. Thus, the Soldier has spared Rico, and delivered a wound that will "be a ticket home for the duration."

The Soldier realizes the "kid" will hate him forever, believing him responsible for killing the only family Rico ever had. Rico crawls to Memmoli's body and collapses atop it. The Soldier escapes, accepting (once again) the anguish of the individual lost under the tidal wave of history.

The epilogue shows the Soldier being congratulated by Intelligence, only to learn the Americans are pulling out of the village and abandoning the once-critical mountain pass. The Soldier is enraged and storms out, sickened.

Again, the Soldier's primary drive, to end the War as soon as humanly possible, is betrayed by his own efficiency. His mission succeeds but "when you're playin' a game with thousands of lives, the individuals always tend to get lost in the shuffle..."

The Soldier's "big picture" continues to get smaller as Michelinie shows the "killing machine" having a poignant understanding of tragedy. No matter how "dehumanizing" the Soldier's training, he is still a man and still affected by the details of the War, swept under the bootheels of history.

The last is not seen of the young Rico, as this particular drama, as in life, will have long-reaching effects for the Soldier.

Out of Five for the Two Parter

STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES 186: "Man of God...Man of War"

2008-12-28T12:38:00.001-08:00

The first multi-part story from Michelinie/Talaoc begins in an Italian village called Monte Grande in the Apennine mountain range. The village is occupied by the Nazis, though the village itself does not actively support the Axis. At this time, the Nazis are battling Americans in the mountains, with villages like Monte Grande caught in the middle.

After the Nazis have captured an American soldier in the village, the Nazi commander Colonel Weile attempts to convince Father Memmoli, the village priest, to sway the villagers to fight the Americans. Father Memmoli refuses, as "war is not God's way."

Just then, a small unit of American soldiers intiates an escape for their comrade, running down and killing several innocent village children with their jeep. Father Memmoli, grief-stricken, finds himself ready to assist the Nazis. The villagers battle the Americans at a "bottleneck" in the Apennines, keeping the Allies off-balance while the Nazis fortify.

As reported to the Unknown Soldier by Intelligence, this village's efforts undermine the Allies, and thus must be stopped. The Soldier is directed to infiltrate the village as an "escaped" Leutnant named Aschermann, using one of his mask disguises. Once there, the Soldier must eliminate Father Memmoli.

In order to authenticate who he is, the Soldier as Aschermann uses a GI's .45 to wound his own left arm. Aschermann then stumbles to a villager unit, who take him to Colonel Weile.

Once at the village, Weile directs the only local doctor, Father Memmoli himself, to dress Aschermann's wound. Father Memmoli reveals his inner conflict over having been "forced" to choose between the Allies and Nazis. While Memmoli's back is turned, Aschermann is about to kill him when a young Nazi footsoldier named "Rico," a former orphan raised by Father Memmoli. While the two greet warmly, Aschermann learns why Memmoli has joined the Nazi cause. Aschermann is secretly incredulous however, as no Intelligence record of the rescue exists, as far as the Soldier knows.

Taking his leave, Aschermann finds a Nazi-guarded house, raising his suspicions. After dispatching the guards, Aschermann overhears two Nazi soldiers discussing why they are in hiding. Working for Colonel Weile, these men portrayed the "American soldiers" who raided the village and intentionally killed the village children, to sway Father Memmoli.

Aschermann executes the two and prepares to display their bodies in Father Memmoli's church, surreptitiously unveiling the deception. Preparing to drag the bodies, Aschermann is unaware of another Nazi soldier approaching with a knife, to kill him.

This issue is set up, and a lesser entry in the Unknown Soldier run. However, some nice character bits with the Soldier at the Intelligence HQ, and his jarring self-wounding, along with some Talaoc-rendered karate, keeps the story snappy and visually interesting.

Also of note, the events begun here will influence another conflict later in the run. Michelinie is already preparing to usurp the usual formulae of the "one and done" war story.

Friday Night Fights! Ka-Zar and Your Short Ribs

2008-12-26T10:28:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when Ka-Zar decides you need a "talking to." The simple fact of the matter is Ka-Zar delivers his John Buscema-rendered punches just about better than anybody. He also has a pet sabretooth tiger. You can't even begin to feel shame from chastizement delivered by Ka-Zar's thews.

Quote of the day: "...bend before the Will of Ka-Zar!" From ASTONISHING TALES 16 by Mike Frederich on script, Rich Buckler handling half the art chores and some cat named Buscema on the rest. Because back in the day, that issue was coming out, no matter who had to fill in.

http://www.spacebooger.com/ just stands in your doorway, uttering the immortal question: "Do you wanna f**k? Or fight?"

Jingle Jangle Jumble

2008-12-23T13:58:00.000-08:00

I was never a DC Comics reader growing up in the 1970s. Even remotely. The 1970s was the decade of the Hulk on television, whose impact on seven year old Carter was immeasurable by any scale.

Marvel Comics wasn't necessarily blowing the doors off the creative Coup de Ville, but during the 1970s Marvel knew exactly how to talk to readers of any age. Readers wanted that included feeling, the clubhouse effect, of Marvel. All the Marvel readers were hip, they all knew the continuity, and they were getting exposed to some of the future artistic luminaries of the field just starting out (George Perez, John Byrne) and other legends of their decade (Barry Windsor Smith, Frank Brunner, Michael Golden.)

It hasn't been till recent times I've discovered the DC Comics of the 1970s. There was interesting things going on then. Some of it worked and some didn't. DC was competing with the runaway train of Marvel and trying new stuff, while trying to be the "down-home" comics tradition it had always been. Which didn't work, and ruined their one big coup (welcoming the greatest living artist and disgruntled primary creator of Marvel, Jack Kirby, into DC's ranks in 1970, ostensibly giving him control of his own books and then wresting that control away, alienating Kirby and driving him back to Marvel by 1975.) The sad thing is: DC could have competed. By 1981, according to stats from COMIC READER, DC's top seller, SUPERMAN at 195,000 sold, couldn't crack Marvel's Top Ten books, with AMAZING SPIDER-MAN nearly doubling DC's number one in sales. That's horrific.

Of course DC did finally reclaim a huge portion of that lost ground in the 1980s, but the worm has turned again. DC languishes far behind Marvel.

But what I've discovered in my aged years, the best of DC in the 1970s are some the best comics I've ever read, and speak to me more now than they ever could when I was a kid. Weird, that, considering Marvel's 1970s product supposedly targeted the college age, while DC retained their appeal to pre-teen readers. Yet I get more from the better DC comics of that era than from Marvel (well, barring MAN-THING or TOMB OF DRACULA.)

I've added some great Christmas-themed covers from the 1970s and slightly beyond, which bespeak of DC's bizarre approach to the Holidays. No garish Treasury Edition Holiday Specials for DC: the subtle implications of Christmas, in most cases, was supposed to clue you in. It's too bad we don't get these neat little zingers much anymore!

Nick Cardy

Jim Aparo

Jose Garcia Lopez

Joe Kubert

and Gil Kane round out the luminaries involved in these covers.

Friday Night Fights: Don't Bring a Hammer to a Hulk Fight!

2008-12-19T09:06:00.000-08:00

It won't end well: Courtesy of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee from the Hulk's aborted first series (six issues)...the best part of this is the hammer flying off to the left of the redirected cannonball guy. I keep wondering where this guy ended up, and how many bones were broken before and after he lands. And god help anyone hit by that flying hammer.

http://www.spacebooger.com/ brings the cucumber to the facial!