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Post by rberman on Oct 8, 2023 15:31:23 GMT -5
That's definitely true! I can enjoys Silver Age DC in small bits, but definitely not something you want to sit down and read a giant Omibus for! Definitely need lots of bookmarks! My kids have experienced many Silver Age books that way, though.
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Post by rberman on Oct 8, 2023 15:12:13 GMT -5
My background is economics, which is smoke and mirrors; but, there are grains of truth within it. Markets are all about supply and demand; but, the academic idea of markets being demand driven ignores some basic psychology: if you can make a person believe something is true, it becomes true. If you can make people believe they have a need for a product they never considered before, they will rationalize a need to not be left out and will buy accordingly. That is what mass advertising is all about and that is what gimmicks like variant covers, holograms or similar features were trying to do: manipulate demand to create it where it didn't exist before. Apple does it all the time. No one NEEDED an iPod....there were mobile cassette and CD players.....but Apple convinced people that they had a need for it and they bought them in droves. Then it was iPads and the iPhones, to the point that they had the consumers trained to buy each annual release, like rats in a skinner box, tapping the lever for food pellets. As an iPod repeat buyer... mobile cassettes and CD players had substantial drawbacks. I had a lot of CDs but wanted the customization of playlists. For years I used blank cassettes and then blank CDs for this but felt constrained by the playback length of those physical formats and enjoyed the freedom of an iPod for a 200 song playlist to randomize. iPods helped to fuel an early 2000s boom in the sale of MP3s, in which I indulged heavily, to the point where no iPod would hold my collection. In recent years my music acquisition rate fell dramatically; there's only so much I can listen to, and songs play in my head now even when I'm not listening to something external. (The best internal hard drive is biological!) As a result, iPhone storage capacity finally caught up with the size of my collection. I don't doubt your assessment of supply-side economics. Money clearly tends to accumulate preferentially in the upper classes, and it's good for society to have mechanisms to spread it back out again. However I do wonder what happens to the money that gets "tossed into an interest-earning account." Doesn't it get lent back out again at lower rates, greasing the wheels at all levels? But perhaps preferentially at the top once again. Bill Cox' YouTube channel Comic Art Fans has become an invaluable resource for comics fandom. Earlier this year he interviewed a collector, I forget which one, who formed a buyer's group in the mid 1970s. It was a consortium of New York-area fans who pooled their purchasing power to buy comics directly from the distributors, yielding a substantial discount on the cover price. They only bought as much as they wanted to keep, hence no returns, which was appealing to the distributor as well. They were the beginning (or at least a beginning) of a Local Comics Store that had nothing to do with Head Shops or other 1960s alternative sales outlets. As the decade went on, periodicals including comics were getting squeezed out of traditional outlets like NYC street corner booths and their other traditional strongholds. Simultaneously, Marvel and DC envied the higher quality paper and ink of Heavy Metal and wanted to get out of the remainders-driven distribution model. Between those two factors, LCS kept the industry afloat when the newsstands failed. But, as you have noted, with the cost of losing access to potential new customers. Here's a fun example of DC specifically encouraging comic book speculation in the lettercol for Wonder Woman #210 (1974).
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Post by rberman on Oct 8, 2023 14:42:16 GMT -5
Wonder Woman #202 “Fangs of Fire!” (October 1972)Theme: Ill met in Nehwon Story: Samuel R. Delany Art: Dick Giordano Editing: Denny O'Neil Dramatis PersonaeDiana Prince, jewel flinger I Ching, blind man, martial arts mentor Catwoman, professional burglar Fafhrd, Barbarian Grey Mouser, thief Gawron, evil sorcerer Jonny Double, dude in distress Lu Shan, Dragon Lady The Story: Diana, Catwoman, and I Ching arrive in the fantasy land of Nehwon and lay sprawled on the ground. Two local toughs named Fafrhd and Grey Mouser attempt to rob them, leading to a Misunderstanding Fight. Turns out the two ruffians are after a jewel known as the Eye of the Ocean, which I Ching somehow knows well. It’s the twin of the Fist of Flame which Diana has, and the two stones function as palantirs, so that gazing into one shows the surroundings of the other. This is a different result than we saw when Diana looked into the stone last issue, but it’s a new writer, so… Back on Earth, I Ching’s evil daughter Lu Shan has the Eye of the Ocean, and also a warehouse-sized dimension-bridging machine but needs both gems to power it. A duplicate of her machine somehow resides inside the fortress of Nehwon’s local wizard Gawron. Sure, why not? I Ching charms a mouse to lead Catwoman and Grey Mouser through a hidden entrance into Gowron’s castle. He has so many handy abilities! Diana and Fafhrd take a more combat-intensive route into the castle but end up in the same place, just as Lu Shan’s magic gem randomly transports her (and her captive Jonny Double, and three tong thugs) into the land of Nehwon. I Ching wanders into the machine room as well. As a plot it’s absurd, but it makes a nice visual for Giordano, one of the few non-opening splash pages we’ve seen in this series. I Ching ends up with both magic gems and uses them to open the portal. He, Diana, Jonny, and Catwoman can run through. Fafhrd and Grey Mouser decide to come as well, and Mouser manages to bring the Eye of the Ocean along so that the villains can’t follow. Everybody’s safe back in our world! Jonny Double’s office, to be exact. Fafhrd and Grey Mouser take one step onto the city streets, complain about the smell, and ask to be transported back to Nehwon. The magic jewel obligingly teleports them home. The end! The end, except for a half page blurb advertising their own upcoming series, Swords Against Sorcery, which was retitled Sword of Sorcery once it arrived. It adapted Lieber stories and featured art from Howard Chaykin, Jim Starlin, and Walt Simonson. Not bad! But it only lasted five issues. My Two Cents: Fritz Lieber’s fantasy characters Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser first saw publication in 1947 but received new acclaim in 1970-71 when their prequel origin story “Ill Met in Lankhmar” won both Hugo and Nebula awards. 1970 also saw the launching of Marvel’s very successful Conan the Barbarian series. Both Marvel and DC scrambled for all the sword-swinging and chest-baring characters they could muster, including Skull the Slayer, Ironwolf, Red Sonja, and a dozen more. Fafhrd and Grey Mouser must have gotten lost in the crowd, despite their name recognition among the generation that wrote comic books. Into this mix throw Hugo/Nebula winning author Samuel “Chip” Delaney, making a comic book debut which would last all of two issues. I can’t imagine this was a story he chose for himself; editor (and departing writer) Denny O’Neil likely tasked Delaney to write a story that wrapped up the “Fist of Flame” story from #202, teased the upcoming Swords against Sorcery series, and made sense of the presence of both Catwoman and Lu Shan in Nehwon. Delaney failed at the "make sense of it" part, constantly relying on coincidence and random events, but don’t hold it against him. The Nehwon story shouldn’t even have begun until the Catwoman/Fist of Flame/Lu Shan narrative concluded. Fashion Plate: Diana hasn’t been home, so she’s still in her all-white turtleneck outfit. I have never specifically mentioned that I Ching always dresses like a funeral parlor host, no matter what combat-heavy adventure he’s likely to be in, or even mountain climbing in Tibet, but you probably noticed that on your own. Gawron the wizard wears the requisite violet robe, but don’t miss the insane magenta collar that towers even above his pointy wizard hat. Catwoman's eyes are not slitted when she takes off her mask. She has a flapper Betty Boop haircut. Lu Shan has a fine Dragon Lady dress completed with diamond-shaped boob window and flowers in her hair. Why do Gawron’s goons wear cat masks? Is this something from Lieber’s books? Sexual Politics: Our new writer has the women acting with impulsive emotionality. Lu Shan throws the valuable Eye of the Ocean on the floor for no particular reason; Diana likewise flings the Fist of Flame away in a fit of pique, forcing Fafhrd to chase it down. She declares herself insane in the second panel below, and from her wide-eyed expression, I’m forced to agree. Bond Girl Boy: Jonny Double spends most of the story lying on the floor, tied up. Body Count: Fafhrd swings his two-handed sword around with great gusto, felling Gawron’s guards left and right. Lettercol: Despite the alleged hundreds of letters O’Neil receives, there doesn’t seem to be much to print, only half a page worth of text, and O'Neil spends half of that space as a an editorial gushing about the coup of getting Delaney to write for Wonder Woman. Two actual letters: Rush Glick declares the confusing Beauty Hater story “the most intelligent and visually stunning tale” ever in Wonder Woman. Scott Gibson wants to see Sekowsky’s supporting cast like Morgana, Tony Petrucci, and THEM again. O’Neil says we will. (We won’t.)
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Post by rberman on Oct 7, 2023 14:11:41 GMT -5
I am extensively involved in the community which collects original comic book art, and the topic is discussed constantly. Prices have doubled or more since pre-pandemic, which runs the danger of attracting venture capital that has no interest in the actual art but great interest in any commodity which is appreciating rapidly. Heritage Auction feeds the high prices due to its exorbitant fees, which can increase the cost of the art by 30-100% every time they sell it, if the seller recoups his own purchase price. Some other segments of the collector's market like baseball cards apparently underwent a recent correction, but original comic art hasn't seen a slump so much as a slowing of the rate of increase in price. Artists are also signing up with agents who ensure that hot new pages sell for four or even five figures straight out of the gate.
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Post by rberman on Oct 6, 2023 7:29:55 GMT -5
Wonder Woman #201 “The Fist of Flame” (August 1972) Theme: Raiders of the lost jewel Story and Editing: Denny O'Neil Art: Dick Giordano Dramatis PersonaeDiana Prince, globetrotting treasure hunter I Ching, blind man, martial arts mentor Jonny Double, absent private investigator Catwoman, professional thief Herby and Lovey-puss proud new boutique owners The Story: Diana and I Ching visit Jonny Double’s office, where they are attacked by a pair of Tibetan assassins who commit suicide after losing the battle. Does I Ching know what their dying words “Fist of Flame” mean? Of course he does! He knows everything convenient. The Fist is a giant ruby somewhere in Tibet. Diana isn’t so sure she wants to go comb the Himalayas, but someone leaves a note on her pillow to convince her. She finds it while wearing her sheer, form-fitting negligee. Diana sells her boutique (which was also her home, remember) so she can afford two plane tickets to Tibet. So much for that “working woman in the big city” trope! A native guide leads Diana and I Ching high into the Himalayas and then vanishes. Happily, they stumble into a cave which turns out to be a tunnel taking them right to the Lost Civilization they were hoping to find. Alas, this Hidden Tropical Valley lacks the usual dinosaurs. Diana uses a grappling hook to scale a cliff without I Ching, then faces a huge swordsman. She carries on a constant internal monologue describing her actions. Diana claims the Fist of Flame as her prize, but its magic powers disable her. Suddenly she suffers a kick in the head from Catwoman, who claims the gem but then finds herself similarly incapacitated. Note that Catwoman has slitlike eyes. The two women are suspended by ropes over a fire pit and forced to swordfight to the death. Catwoman is all too happy to compete on those terms, but Diana ensures that both of them survive. Rescuing I Ching, the two women grab the ruby (safely, this time). They run away shouting last-minute exposition about Jonny Double and Lu Shan, then fall into a dimensional vortex and awaken in Fritz Lieber’s land of Nehwon… My Two Cents: The bulk of this story is pure 1930s pulp adventure: a lush valley in the snow-capped mountains, a hidden civilization, a statue with a cursed gem, etc. We’re a long way from Sekowsky’s “ripped from the headlines” urban stories, which evidently were not setting the sales figures ablaze. Before handing the series to incoming writer Samuel Delaney, O’Neil clears the floor, getting rid of Diana’s boutique that never made sense. Cathy Perkins is not even mentioned; did she get tossed out on her ear? Herby looks kind of sinister, but his money is good, so Diana doesn't ask any questions. Catwoman was on a long hiatus after Detective Comics #211 (1954). But after Julie Newmar portrayed her memorably on the 1966 Batman TV show, DC brought her back to comics as well, beginning in Lois Lane #70, of all places. You wouldn’t think she’d pose much of a challenge to Superman, but by the end of the issue she’s hypnotized Lois to be her double, persuaded Superman to kiss her, and then changed him into a house cat in a kryptonite cage. Aren’t comic books supposed to avoid real world name brand trademarks? Yet, behold this Pan American jet which Diana and I Ching ride to Asia. The price is only 20 cents, but the page count is also only 24 pages; no more reprint back-up story. A half page text block near the back of the issue apologizes for the increasing costs that made these measures necessary. We all know how rapidly prices rose in the next 15 years as circulation plummeted and per-unit costs skyrocketed. Fashion Plate: Diana is still in all white of course, but the “W” buckle is gone. Diana wears sensible boots, while Catwoman is fighting in tall heels. Check the difference below. Catwoman’s costume has been redesigned since her Lois Lane appearance, in which she still wore the villainous colors of purple and green but instead of a long skirt had tights and buccaneer boots. She has tights here too, blue instead of purple, with a bustier and opera gloves. Sexual Politics: The first issue of Ms. magazine was released in summer 1972: “Wonder Woman for President!” Recall that it was an election year. Editor/founder Gloria Steinem had Dick Giordano provide the cover, showing Silver Age Wonder Woman as the ideal woman, astride a city which was half modern paradise and half war-pocked hellhole. Apparently the magazine interior contained an article about Diana, but I have not been able to scrounge up the text online. However, Steinem did tell Vanity Fair a few years ago: Hopefully we’ve seen in this thread that, despite some sour notes along the way, on the whole Sekowsky’s resolute Diana was in fact a substantial improvement on the crying, lovelorn Wonder Woman that preceded her. Wonder Woman made four other appearances on the cover of Ms. over the years. Despite publication for decades under different owners, the magazine has generally operated at a loss. As for the new creative team, O’Neil peppers the dialogue with feminist slogans decrying male chauvinism. But what his words give, Giordano’s repeated upskirt cheesecake poses take away. I do like that dagger flying right at the reader in this panel, though. Looks sharp! Bond Girl: Diana and Catwoman are suspended above the flaming pit in harnesses attached to their waists. Also note that Giordano frequently puts the viewer behind and below Diana, so that her derriere is front and center. Everbody was Kung Fu fighting: In the Hidden Valley, our heroes gallantly attack a bunch of Tibetan civilians in a way that is “sudden yet merciful, for such is the skill of Diana and I Ching that they can disable without hurting!” Riiiight…. Body Count: None; Catwoman’s presence has this story feeling more Silver Age than Bronze. Disable without hurting; that's the ticket... Lettercol: Denny O’Neil reports receiving “hundreds” of letters thanking him for taking the series. Alan Chasin hasn’t even opened issue #199 yet but felt the urge to gush over Jeff Jones’ striking headsman cover. But Mrs. Elizabeth Bleu finds O’Neil’s version of feminism insufferable. “Your male chauvinism is showing.”
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Post by rberman on Oct 4, 2023 11:06:56 GMT -5
A few relevant period films that have been done already:
Wonder Woman (2017) starring Gal Gadot occurred in 1918. The Shadow (1994) starring Alec Baldwin is set in the 1930s. The Rocketeer (1991) starring Bill Campbell is also set in the 1930s. Road to Perdition (2002) starring Tom Hanks? 1930s. Dick Tracy (1990) starring Warren Beaty is in 1938. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) starring Chris Evans occurs in 1942. X-Men: First Class (2011) was in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) unfolds in 1973 as well as the dystopian future. X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) occurred in 1983. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) starring Gal Gadot occurred in 1984 of course. X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019) occurred in 1992. Captain Marvel (2019) starring Brie Larson occurred in 1995. Black Widow (2019) starring Scarlett Johannson has a lengthy opening sequence in 1995 and then skips to the long-ago time of 2016.
For an honorable mention, Tom DeHaven's 2005 novel "It's Superman!" occurs in the 1930s.
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Post by rberman on Oct 2, 2023 16:41:25 GMT -5
Other than the bum-focused panel compositions (the most prominent example of which is shown in the post!) I most remember being fascinated by the Dr. Cyber character, with the cool mask and name. I was actually going to comment on the posterior aspects of Giordano's layouts in my article about the next issue.
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Post by rberman on Oct 2, 2023 12:27:19 GMT -5
Here's something I thought Marvel did that was rather brilliant when it came to not being trapped in continuity chaos. In 2000 they had a notion to do a little thing called Ultimate Spider-Man. It was fresh, it got attention, it got sales. But they knew they had an audience still with the traditional Spidey books (I was one of the them). No continuity-shattering event, no Crisis or Inferno/Heroes Reborn jarring reset of things. They just threw the Ultimate stuff out there in addition, and it did pretty well, expanded to more titles, had a nice run (gave us Miles Morales!). As has been mentioned here, choice is certainly good. DC has been doing all sorts of continuity-free stories as well. The "main" Harley Quinn is the zany murderous one. But simultaneously Stjepan Seijic put out Harleen which depicted her as a lovelorn psychologist who falls under the spell of her charismatic patient. And simultaneous to both of those was the chilling Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity series, a police procedural with Joker as a humorless serial killer and Harleen as a forensic detective, with absolutely no romance between the two, either comic or tragic. Readers have no problem distinguishing between the three Harleys; continuity would have been an encumbrance.
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Post by rberman on Oct 2, 2023 12:17:00 GMT -5
Meanwhile the scene of the women chained up in the dungeon is likely inspired by the 1966 film The Brides of Fu Manchu, with Christopher Lee.... Notice Fu was too cheap to spring for wedding dresses, for his brides. At least one was sensible enough to sit down, if she is going to be stuck there for a while. The one at center left would do well to kick off her heels, like the rest, or she is going to wish Fu was a doctor of podiatry. It doesn't even make much sense from a, well, imprisonment point of view. Every time they have to eat or go to the bathroom they must be released. Unless you have to make a mess every time. Furthermore, from watching the movie on YouTube, I now see that the chained women are also under some sort of hypnosis/mental command, just like in O'Neil's story. So the chains are not necessary, just theater.
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Post by rberman on Oct 2, 2023 8:10:00 GMT -5
Meanwhile the scene of the women chained up in the dungeon is likely inspired by the 1966 film The Brides of Fu Manchu, with Christopher Lee.... Notice Fu was too cheap to spring for wedding dresses, for his brides. At least one was sensible enough to sit down, if she is going to be stuck there for a while. The one at center left would do well to kick off her heels, like the rest, or she is going to wish Fu was a doctor of podiatry. Wow, you have found not only the right film but exactly the right shot from it. Note that the two rightmost women are very similar in Giordano's version. He was clearly using this as photo reference. I wonder whether this issue follows that film in other aspects.
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Post by rberman on Oct 1, 2023 15:30:23 GMT -5
Wonder Woman #200 “The Beauty Hater!” (June 1972) Theme: Fit to be tied Story and Editing: Denny O’Neil Art: Dick Giordano Dramatis PersonaeDiana Prince, bodyguard Jonny Double, man of action Fellows Dill, mind-wiped crazy guy Doctor Cyber, criminal mastermind (not a physician) Doctor Moon, Cyber’s henchman (physician) The Tribunal, upholders of “purity of holiness” The Story: The bullet from Fellows Dill’s gun only nicked Jonny Double after all. Diana disarms Dill, which isn’t difficult since he’s in some sort of trance. He follows them in a daze for several pages and then fades from the narrative. Next, our heroes must evade a kamikaze St. Bernard with a keg of nitroglycerine strapped to his neck. Poor pooch! After that, they find a luxurious cabin in the snowy forest. It’s full of artwork: All expensive, all depicting beautiful woman, all defaced. A pair of goons arrive shortly thereafter, leading to another battle. Diana pilots the VTOL aircraft in which the goons had arrived, but the controls are on autopilot, and the airplane takes them to… the estate of Fellows Dill! A squad of unicycle-riding, lance-wielding women attack, separating our heroes. Pretty wacky. Is this the first instance of a man shooting a woman dead in a DC comic? Here it happens in consecutive panels. Take no prisoners! Note that Giordano (handling both pencils and inks) eschews grid page layouts. Diana ends up inside Dill’s mansion, where she falls down a trapdoor and gets zapped unconscious by a defensive turret. She awakens chained with Jonny Double, prisoners of Dr. Cyber, whose face was disfigured by burning coals back in issue #181. Cyber intends Dr. Moon to transplant her brain into the body of one of her captive beauties; Diana will do nicely. But Diana holds her breath during the anesthesia administration, feigning unconsciousness. Before Dr. Moon starts cutting on her, Diana makes her move. Neither Dr. Moon nor Dr. Cyber is a match for Diana, and Cyber is accidentally impaled in the heart during the fight. My Two Cents: I had more here, but its length seemed tedious. Suffice to say that in switching from “Diana protects Fellows Dill from the Tribunal” in the last issue to “Diana finds Dr. Cyber’s dungeon in Fellows Dill’s basement” in this issue, Denny O’Neil introduced numerous plot holes into the story. I would not be surprised if the explanation is, “Jeff Jones gave me these two covers, and I tried to write one story incorporating both of them.” Dr. Moon had debuted a few months prior in Batman #240 by O’Neil, Novick, and Giordano. He was a mad scientist in the employ of Ra’s Al Ghul, removing brains from bodies and then chemically interrogating them. From his surname, I assume he is Korean. Dr. Cyber breaks the sterility of the procedure by failing to wear gloves when she hands the scalpel to Dr. Moon. And those long sleeves are going to drape all over the tray of surgical implements, setting her up for a post-operative infection. More importantly: Shouldn't Dr. Cyber herself be on an adjacent operating table, if her brain is going to be put in Diana's skull immediately? VTOL aircraft were nearly the stuff of science fiction in 1972, despite two decades of experimentation with various designs by various nations. The British Royal Air Force received their first Harrier in 1969, but it required at least a short runway when carrying significant payloads. Osprey class craft began trials in the 1980s but seem "not ready for prime time" even today. Fashion Plate: It’s a continuation of the previous issue, so Diana still wears the same white suit with an unexplained “W” on the belt. Dr Cyber has a Doctor Doom-esque metal helmet to hide her scarred face, and a low-cut robe with fur trim and a huge Mandarin collar in good Dragon Lady fashion. Her sidekicks wear red tunics atop a black unitard. Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting: Diana actually passes up an opportunity to name-drop I Ching. She just says that she trained “under a master.” Sexual Politics: Dr. Cyber says she founded the Tribunal herself, “to destroy all those who trafficked in feminine beauty" since she herself is no longer beautiful. This is different from last issue, in which the Tribunal leader (a man, as are all Tribunal members) seemed hell-bent on protecting the virtue of women by killing those who objectify them. Was that a lie, or is he unaware that his boss has the opposite purpose? Could have been a good story point. Bond Girl: Jeff Jones’ cover sexes up the scene, putting Diana on the table with a terrified look, a flimsy clinging dress, a bare thigh, and spread legs. The interior story features not just Diana (chained for five pages). Dr. Cyber has a whole dungeon full of other hypnotized, chained women. Seems redundant! Also messy, if the women stay that way for days on end. Body Count: One exploded St. Bernard. Two unicycle goons shot by Jonny Double. Dr. Cyber impaled on a small scalpel; must have gone just in the wrong place. I appreciate that Diana's hair gets at least slightly mussed by her exertions. Second Story: Diana and I-Ching stroll down the boulevard in a frame story page by Giordano. Diana reminisces a Wonder Girl adventure originally published in issue #144. In it, Wonder Girl accepts a date from a bird-boy, forgetting she had already committed to a date with a mer-boy. The two boys fight over her. To show his love, Bird-Boy thwarts an alien invasion of Paradise Island. They must get a lot of those. But wait! A pirate submarine is attacking Paradise Island too, with missiles! (This has huge implications, if we stop to think about it, but the story does no such thing. Continuity, schmontinuity! Note the skull-and-crossbones on its tower.) Mer-Boy disables the submarine’s dive planes, causing the submarine to crash into the ocean floor and snap in two, killing all hands aboard. But Diana is only concerned for the welfare of Mer-boy. Don’t worry; he’s fine. The two boys resume their argument, and Diana is torn between two lovers, feeling like a fool. Just like Bella in Twilight! Write in to say which boy gets our heroine as his flipper or wing candy, as the case may be! Eagle-eyed forum member MWGallaher noticed that this story originally featured Wonder Woman and Wonder Tot in addition to Wonder Girl, but evidence of their presence has been removed from this reprint, as seen below in MWG’s image comparisons, which I link here: Lettercol: Denny O’Neil announces that he has no interest in printing any letters responding to Mike Sekowsky’s stories; no love lost there, it seems. So he uses the lettercol to ask readers to help him rename the lettercol itself. He apologizes for not commemorating the landmark issue #200 somewow. “Wait till the 300th issue,” he promises.
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Post by rberman on Sept 29, 2023 16:02:48 GMT -5
Wonder Woman #199 “Tribunal of Fear” (April 1972)Theme: Hefner’s bodyguard Story and Editing: Denny O’Neil Pencils: Don Heck Inking: Dick Giordano Dramatis PersonaeDiana Prince, bodyguard I Ching, blind man Jonny Double, man of action Fellows Dill, connoisseur of women The Tribunal, upholders of “purity of holiness” The Story: In a rainy alley, private detective Jonny Double (spelled without an “h”) introduces himself to Diana in the usual way: He attacks her to test her combat skills, so she judos him to the ground. Jonny explains himself, but before he can take Diana to his employer, they have to watch an old lady die from a poison dart intended for one of them. But who was the target, and who was the attacker? (We never find out.) In the penthouse (very appropriate it turns out) of the Pasturec Club, Diana meets Fellows Dill, self-styled “King of Beautiful Women.” Diana calls him a pervert, but since he’s going to pay for I Ching’s sight to be restored, she agrees to serve as his bodyguard. You might think that the wars against Ares and Chandalor prepared Diana for anything, but for some reason this bodyguard gig requires her to up her game, practicing martial arts for “sixteen hours a day, seven days a week” for untold weeks. Mainly it’s an excuse to include a training montage, so here you go: The private train (as in, rolling down the tracks) holding the entourage of Fellows Dill is attacked by assailants in Hatemonger costumes. Diana and Jonny Double fight back; note that she is wearing a white combat suit with a “W” on the belt buckle, as a half-concession to fans who wanted to see Diana have a costume. There’s no in-story explanation for this; it would have made more sense for her to wear a “D” for “Dill.” Jonny and Diana are incapacitated by a gas attack and taken in chains to a cave. He offers to deliver Fellows Dill to the bad guys ("The Tribunal") in exchange for his freedom, and Diana’s. Some bodyguard he is! The Tribunal releases Jonny, and Diana is chained in a dungeon as hostage. With nothing to do but hang around (literally), she passes the time by going into a yoga trance. Does yoga prevent her arms from going to sleep in that pose? Jonny Double can’t find Fellows Dill in three days. A headsman comes to mock Diana as a pre-execution warm-up, but she kayos him with a single kick, then unlocks her manacles with her talented toes. Donning a Tribunal costume, Diana finds Jonny begging for Diana’s release. He didn’t abandon her after all! She helps him escape into the snowy countryside, where they walk hand in hand and make some lovey talk. But before they can kiss, Jonny is shot… by Fellows Dill! I guess he wasn't as far away as Jonny Double thought. My Two Cents: Not many artists can also write well enough to carry a superhero book at a mainstream publisher’s rates and schedules. Even a bimonthly like Wonder Woman. Sekowsky acquitted himself well by my lights. That said, O’Neil has a better ear for snappy dialogue. Like Sekowsky (and Jack Kirby), O'Neil has been afforded the privilege of editing himself; he’ll segue into more editorial work in years to come. The title of this issue appears only on the cover, not in the interior. Only once are the bad guys called “The Tribunal,” in a context that makes it seem like the name of that particular meeting rather than the name of their organization. This is clarified next issue. Their stated raison d’etre is to protect the “purity and holiness” of women. This is why misogynist Fellows Dill is on their hit list. So Diana is in the odd position of defending someone who degrades women, while a bunch of men are standing up for women. Issue #200 will put a different spin on the Tribunal’s purpose, however. As in Sekowsky’s final story, bodyguard makes a sensible profession for Diana – more so than shop owner, certainly. It’s also easier for working her into adventure stories. The suggestion that depowered Diana should become Jessica Jones has some merit. Jonny Double debuted in Showcase #78 (1968) in a story by Marv Wolfman and Jack Sparling. He has only a handful of other appearances, with O’Neil using him repeatedly in this era of Wonder Woman. Fashion Plate: Heck takes his cues from Sekowsky’s stylish early work on the series. Heck dresses everybody (except all-white Diana) in an array of hip fashions. The purple suits of the villains strongly resemble Jack Kirby’s KKK stand-in character Hate Monger, who first appeared in Fantastic Four #21. Sexual Politics: A story about objectification, in an era known as much for the Playboy Club as for “I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar.” The Hefner-esque Fellows Dill represents the former, an aristocrat surrounded by “milkmaids” (his term) in leotards and fishnets. He has a reclining nude on the wall which slipped past the Comics Code. He leers at Diana and finds her legendary beauty mediocre but her combat skills useful. Bond Girl: Jeff Jones’ cover fairly represents the plot of the story; Diana does spend four pages chained in a dungeon by a menacing executioner. This is one of the ten most striking comic book covers ever, and there’s no way the interior could ever live up to its promise. At a cocktail party, Jeff Jones spoke to Denny about his admiration for Diana Prince, so Denny asked him to submit cover ideas. I wonder whether the cover came first, and the story was written around it. I can’t find any information online about that detail. What I do know is that DC’s best covers of the era kicked the pants off of Marvel’s best covers of the era, unless you count Marvel’s Curtis books in the reckoning. A ¾ page teaser for issue #200 promises that Diana will be chained “in a chamber far beneath the ground” again. The actual image comes from issue #188, when Dr. Cyber chained Diana in Hong Kong. Body Count: Old woman on the street murdered by poisoned dart. Johnny Double was shot, but is he dead? Tune in next time! Lettercol: Denny O’Neil uses the letters space to introduce himself and flesh out his vision of Diana Prince, including her favorite food (Chinese vegetarian, but also Turkey Stroganoff), her favorite music (“middle Beatles, late Bob Dylan”), her recent reading (Isaac Asimov’s “Intelligent Man’s Guide to Science”) and more. Don Heck does indeed show Diana curled up with a book while riding on Fellows Dill’s private train. Backup story: “The Battle of the Mer-Men” In this reprint from Wonder Woman #111 (1960), a cute mer-boy invites Wonder Girl to attend a literal “enchantment under the sea” cotillion, and she teaches his people about the importance of accepting people of all races. For some reason, the cruelest mer-people are underwater centaurs rather than fish-folk. Recall that when this story was originally published, Wonder Girl was Diana as a teen, but by the time of this reprint, Donna Troy was a separate character. ...
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Post by rberman on Sept 29, 2023 11:20:02 GMT -5
I don't know if Smith re-drew it or if it's Austin linking, but I prefer the published version. Her forearm up over her nose seems a more natural gesture and gets rid of that bad tangent. Also, the differences in line weight better convey morning sunlight (if that's what the scene is supposed to show).
The long hair is interesting; BWS did that again for the aborted Lifedeath III, which he published as "Adastra in Africa." Marco Rudy paid homage to the original Lifedeath splash page several years ago with an image in the space-spy series Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier. It's a Twilek-looking space princess named Ventolin Xthal, which is two references in one.
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Post by rberman on Sept 29, 2023 11:05:48 GMT -5
Tom King I had a bad initial bout with trying to read Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Did not feel like Supergirl even remotely (which is too bad because I kind of liked the general idea of the story). Maybe I need to give him another chance and read some more though if he's well-regarded overall. I like Tom King, but his readers can't be too attached to previous characterizations of anyone; sometimes he uses the characters he's given to tell the stories he wants to tell, like "What if Red Sonja were Supergirl?"
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Post by rberman on Sept 29, 2023 8:41:10 GMT -5
I don't know about "hip" writers; the word "hip" is itself not very hip anyway. Artists with buzz at present include: Peach Momoko Sean Gordon Murphy Tradd Moore J.H. Williams III Daniel Warren Johnson Nick Pitarra Nicola Scott
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