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Post by MDG on May 10, 2018 8:21:21 GMT -5
... There's also that unusual pacing for a comic from this period (1939) in which time is devoted to showing Dodds simply standing in thoughtful contemplation in panel two and then walking away from the camera in panel three. This is a six page story and so time is of the essence and yet care is taken to slow things down to real time. I feel as though I'm eavesdropping on an almost real person instead of being thrown into the daring new exploits of The Sandman. I think the pacing here (w/o seeing the whole story) echos what creators were seeing in daily adventure strips where each beat of the story got three or four panels. Similarly, pages are laid out with tiers of equal height rather than designing a page as a unit, which will start happening soon.
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Post by mikelmidnight on May 10, 2018 11:40:49 GMT -5
Two pages into the first adventure of a new superhero and that superhero is already given the psychological quirk of having to place a doll of himself in his own bed while he goes out and fights crime in another guise. Strangely, this is the only time Wesley Dodds acts out this peculiar ritual until Sandman Mystery Theatre in the 1990's. I can certainly see why Matt Wagner decided that this strange habit of The Sandman was worth incorporating into his own version of the character, but I can't understand why it was introduced in that first appearance only to be forgotten about thereafter. This isn't a catchphrase which was dropped for not being catchy enough - but a unique personality trait for a character in a medium in which unique personality traits were extremely rare. I had no idea where Wagner got the doll from! Thank you for that!
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Post by chadwilliam on May 11, 2018 1:29:10 GMT -5
... There's also that unusual pacing for a comic from this period (1939) in which time is devoted to showing Dodds simply standing in thoughtful contemplation in panel two and then walking away from the camera in panel three. This is a six page story and so time is of the essence and yet care is taken to slow things down to real time. I feel as though I'm eavesdropping on an almost real person instead of being thrown into the daring new exploits of The Sandman. I think the pacing here (w/o seeing the whole story) echos what creators were seeing in daily adventure strips where each beat of the story got three or four panels. Similarly, pages are laid out with tiers of equal height rather than designing a page as a unit, which will start happening soon. The direct connection between newspaper strips and comics is what I believe makes early comics so exciting - creators had been brought up to believe that you not only had to cram a lot of information and action into three panels but it had to lead somewhere. Once you reached that third panel, somebody had to be leaping through a window or being punched through a wall or reaching a conclusion or stumbling upon something. It didn't matter that with a comic book, the creator had a lot more space to tell their tale, they had already been conditioned to think and work fast. Another reason that I'm surprised that here, we have three successive panels of the hero in silent contemplation.
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2018 11:28:00 GMT -5
Blue BoltThe ability to shoot lightning bolts from his gun and his other superpowers were flight and super-strength. He was initially was created by Joe Simon and eventually Jack Kirby. When, issue #5 came around -- Simon and Kirby were the creative team as the video indicates. I find this character fascinating because he was struck by lightning twice and had a neat costume. I read the stories back in the 60's and the 70's and found out that the stories done by Simon and Kirby were top-notched and when Star Publishing took over -- the Helmet and the Cape were gone and eventually Blue Bolt lost his superpowers and that's when -- I've stopped reading it. I just felt that once this character fell into Public Domain -- it's pretty much the end of it. The video clip that I've provided is from a YouTube Subscription of FizzFop1 and it's my favorite in YouTube Land and that's where this clip came from.
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Post by sabongero on May 11, 2018 11:36:40 GMT -5
The Black Terror. I just liked the costume design. Simple black and white. And it somehow reminded me of The Punisher with a mask.
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Post by chadwilliam on May 12, 2018 0:04:20 GMT -5
Blue BoltThe ability to shoot lightning bolts from his gun and his other superpowers were flight and super-strength. He was initially was created by Joe Simon and eventually Jack Kirby. When, issue #5 came around -- Simon and Kirby were the creative team as the video indicates. I find this character fascinating because he was struck by lightning twice and had a neat costume. I read the stories back in the 60's and the 70's and found out that the stories done by Simon and Kirby were top-notched and when Star Publishing took over -- the Helmet and the Cape were gone and eventually Blue Bolt lost his superpowers and that's when -- I've stopped reading it. I just felt that once this character fell into Public Domain -- it's pretty much the end of it. The video clip that I've provided is from a YouTube Subscription of FizzFop1 and it's my favorite in YouTube Land and that's where this clip came from. Thanks for this, Mecha! Your point about Joe Simon creating the character and then having Kirby join him on the strip reminds me of the fact that it was also Simon who came up with Captain America and The Red Skull. I often think that Joe Simon doesn't get the credit he deserves. Sure, Kirby was great, but he's frequently regarded as an entity unto himself who, even when working with a collaborator, seems to garnish the majority of credit stemming from collaborative efforts from historians who should know better. You might also be interested in tracking down a copy of the following book if you haven't already: In addition to reprinting a Simon and Kirby Blue Bolt tale, it also includes a Sub-Zero back up (the cover you posted mentions his strip), and stories featuring The Clock, The Flame, Daredevil, Silver Streak, The Face, The Comet, Stardust, and more. You've mentioned your appreciation for Dynamite's Project: Superheroes in the past, I believe and a number of those revived heroes are showcased here. Actually, I recommend the above book for pretty much anyone interested in Golden Age comics.
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Post by electricmastro on Jan 2, 2020 22:13:21 GMT -5
The Eye. There's just something about how creator Frank Thomas presented a disembodied body part that, while it might seem stupid to some, manages to resonate a sort of mythological, otherworldly feeling with me.
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Post by profh0011 on Jan 5, 2020 13:20:01 GMT -5
I love both Flash Gordon and The Spirit for the artwork but must admit, the writing on neither strip has ever really captured me. I am a fan of both the hard-boiled/noir and the ERB-style planetary romance genres, so I enjoy those aspects of the Spirit and Flash Gordon, respectively, but the writing itself is pretty much just something to hang the artwork onto, for me. That kind of surprises me, as to The Spirit. I find Eisner a stronger writer than artist and he's no slouch as an artist. I agree with you about Flash Gordon though. Some years ago I read that FLASH GORDON, which virtually every considered as having the best art in the entire comics industry, was the WORST-written adventure strip in the papers.
I've been slowly re-reading the Alex Raymond stuff from the 30s during doctor visits and car repair visits, and what tends to drive me crazy is the "never-ending" aspect of the storytelling. These things just go on and on and on and on, and while certain segments do come to some conclsuion, just as often the plot moves on and things that they spent months buiulding up are just forgotten and never mentioned again (like Azura, Queen of Magic).
Frankly... and this may be one of the few times I can really say this... the Universal serials seem FAR better-written than their source material. Well, the 1st and 3rd ones, anyway.
One minor but outstanding point is the way, in the comics, no matter how many times Flash risks his life to save Dale and proves how much he loves her, at the slightest hint of some other woman giving him the big eye, she becomes the most impossible-to-reason with jealous woman in the universe. The ONLY time this ever happened in the Universal films was in the 3rd one, and in both cases, not only was it justified (Queen Fria of Frigia, and Sonya, Ming's spy), but Flash just smiled, IGNORED Dale's jealousy, then got on with business, not ever giving her an excuse to drag him into such nonsense.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2020 10:42:13 GMT -5
chadwilliam ... I've finally got a copy of it a month ago and sorry that I took so long to thank you for it. Great Read ...
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Post by mikelmidnight on Jan 6, 2020 12:37:54 GMT -5
Some years ago I read that FLASH GORDON, which virtually every considered as having the best art in the entire comics industry, was the WORST-written adventure strip in the papers. I've been slowly re-reading the Alex Raymond stuff from the 30s during doctor visits and car repair visits, and what tends to drive me crazy is the "never-ending" aspect of the storytelling. These things just go on and on and on and on, and while certain segments do come to some conclsuion, just as often the plot moves on and things that they spent months buiulding up are just forgotten and never mentioned again (like Azura, Queen of Magic).
I have never managed to enjoy Flash Gordon. Lovely to look at but the story was uninvolving. Part of that is that I never 'believed' in Mongo as a place. It always felt like a random hodgepodge to me. On the other hand, although Calkins' art is just serviceable, I always thought Buck Rogers was a joy to read with rich characters and complicated plots.
Total fanboy for Eisner's Spirit, too.
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Post by beccabear67 on Jan 6, 2020 14:06:17 GMT -5
I'd love to have a collection of the More Fun Doctor Fate in color with good reproduction... it's such a unique style artist Sherman used, very trippy. I've seen a reprint here and there and liked them a lot. Also the E.C. pre-Bill Gaines Land Of The Lost series I mentioned once before would be hard to resist ideally with a nice text feature on the radio series from an old time radio buff.
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Post by MDG on Jan 6, 2020 14:55:23 GMT -5
I'd love to have a collection of the More Fun Doctor Fate in color with good reproduction... it's such a unique style artist Sherman used, very trippy. I've seen a reprint here and there and liked them a lot. Also the E.C. pre-Bill Gaines Land Of The Lost series I mentioned once before would be hard to resist ideally with a nice text feature on the radio series from an old time radio buff. This might be the only GA Doc Fate story I've read (in one of the 100-pagers). I liked the Lovecraftiness of it and the unique lettering. Sherman comes across as a pretty solid artist.
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Post by chadwilliam on Jan 6, 2020 15:26:58 GMT -5
I'd love to have a collection of the More Fun Doctor Fate in color with good reproduction... it's such a unique style artist Sherman used, very trippy. I've seen a reprint here and there and liked them a lot. Also the E.C. pre-Bill Gaines Land Of The Lost series I mentioned once before would be hard to resist ideally with a nice text feature on the radio series from an old time radio buff. DC released an oversized Archive a while back reprinting the entirety of his appearances in More Fun (55-98). More than is required if you just want the early stuff, but it is out there. When I was a kid I saw bits and pieces of these early tales and really liked the way Sherman (?) elongated the letter 'E' everywhere he could. When I finally read these stories in full however, I started hearing those 'E's being drawn out in my head - "Theee fieeeendd attempts to eeeescapeeee meee!" The strip takes a turn towards basic superheroics after a while, but I actually enjoyed the different styles utilized for Dr. Fate even though yes, the early stuff is the best.
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Post by chadwilliam on Jan 6, 2020 15:28:33 GMT -5
chadwilliam ... I've finally got a copy of it a month ago and sorry that I took so long to thank you for it. Great Read ... I'd hoped you'd get a kick out if it! Thanks for letting me know you did.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2020 15:28:39 GMT -5
I'd love to have a collection of the More Fun Doctor Fate in color with good reproduction... it's such a unique style artist Sherman used, very trippy. I've seen a reprint here and there and liked them a lot. Also the E.C. pre-Bill Gaines Land Of The Lost series I mentioned once before would be hard to resist ideally with a nice text feature on the radio series from an old time radio buff. The Golden Age Doctor Fate Archves collects all the Dr. Fate stories from More Fun. however, only the first third or so are worth reading. After that, they lose their unique tone and flavor and become generic super-hero stories, essentially Dr. Fate as Superman with gas being his kryptonite, and magic limited to basically flying and fisticuffs. -M
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