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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2015 18:17:29 GMT -5
I don't think so. At least not if it's something I have read yet. It sure does resemble her, though! So, actually, it probably is her.
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Post by Hoosier X on Nov 16, 2015 19:17:22 GMT -5
Werewolf by Night #17 May 1974 This starts out pretty cool. Werewolf by Night and Topaz are looking over the ramparts of the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral. Below, the gendarmes are gathering in the courtyard. (Shouldn't he be safe because of the protection the church can provide? Or are Werewolves by Night exempt because they can't say "Sanctuary!") Anyway, he grabs up Topaz and carries her down from the tower. She's in no danger from Werewolf by Night. No, not because she gave him water. Topaz is psychic and she can commune with Werewolf by Night on a very basic level and she sometimes makes suggestions. Like "Don't tear me to pieces" or "Go get me a latte." They evade the police in a corridor, Werewolf by Night turns into Jack Russell, enabling Topaz and bare-chested Jack Russell to just walk past the French police because they were expecting a blonde psychic and a Werewolf by Night and not a blonde psychic and a bare-chested American wearing green pants. This was written by Mike Friedrich. The art was provided by Don Perlin, who I've come to really like over the years. They get into the courtyard and then go back to Los Angeles between panels, where they are welcomed by Jack's step-father Phillip and his sister Lissa. She's kind of upset because of the family curse that turns everybody into Werewolves by Night when they turn 18. She's only got six months! (I think this is kind of an ongoing concern because I've heard of this problem with Lissa even though I've only read four or five more issues of WBN.) Outside the window there's a guy in a fedora spying on them and he reports to his boss, a fat guy names Baron Thunder who decided he needed all the accessories available for tuxedoed masterminds - buzzcut, monocle, long cigarette holder, cape. I'm glad one of the henchmen talked him out of the eyepatch and the hookah! Well, I have the comic book open beside me, so I guess it's not too much trouble to read a few panels and see what he's up to! (I just glanced through it when I first got it. I had a bunch of comics!) He wants to capture Jack Russell! But no one knows why. One of his flunkies comments that nobody on the Inner Council knows why they want Russell. "The reasons remain my own!" says the baron. They refer to the sorcerer Taboo as one of Baron Thunder's agents, which is kind of cool because I have WBN #13 and #14, the issues where both Taboo and Topaz were introduced! This conversation contains the phrase: B-BUT WE Of THE INNER COUNCIL DON'T KNOW THE REAL REASON WE HUNT RUSSELL - ONLY THE INANE PSUEDO-ECONOMICS WE FOIST OFF ON FLUNKIES LIKE SARNAK! I love that phrase "pseudo-economics"! And who is Sarnak? This is the kind of confusion you come to expect when you own five issues of a series that lasted for 43. On the next page, Baron Thunder reveals the Behemoth, "a veritable mountain of synthetic clay-like muscle," which he plans to use to capture Werewolf by Night. The Behemoth is ten feet high, has gray skin and wears orange size-XXXXL underpants. But we have to wait for the full moon. Because it won't be very interesting if the Behemoth attacks Jack Russell. So we get a few pages of Jack Russell reading occult books to fins a cure for his lycanthropy and telling the neighbors to keep it down and meeting his Hollywood friend Clary Winters. Then Topaz drops by to remind him that it's almost the full moon. Not in a few hours. RIGHT NOW! So Jack turns into Werewolf by Night and it looks like he's going to attack Topaz! (Her psychic control of him doesn't always work as well as it should. So you know what that means, Topaz! No latte!) But the Behemoth attacks and so Werewolf by Night is distracted form Topaz and there's a fight for a few pages! Werewolf by Night cuts off the Behemoth's hand with his claws! Eventually, the Behemoth is called away by Baron Thunder and Werewolf by Night turns back into Jack Russell with a little mental prodding from Topaz. Baron Thunder is shown repairing the Behemoth and lamenting that brute strength will not be enough. He has somehow retained the services of a Werewolf by Night hunter! At that very moment, Jack is answering the door for Lieutenant Hackett of the police Department! And he has reason to believe there's a werewolf on the premises! We'll have to wait until I get the next issue to find out what happens. Solid Bronze Age storytelling. You have to accept some silly developments (like Jack forgetting that it's the full moon), but that's a genre thing. Every comic book series has silly tropes. You accept them or you don't. The real test is, yeah, I do want to know what happens next. I am curious about Baron Thunder's motivations. I hope there's an Essential Werewolf by Night collection and that my library system has it.
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Post by Hoosier X on Nov 16, 2015 19:22:56 GMT -5
I don't think so. At least not if it's something I have read yet. It sure does resemble her, though! So, actually, it probably is her. It's her! It's from Sensation Comics #12, the last story in The Wonder Woman Archives, Volume One, which I checked out of the library a few weeks ago and haven't quite finished yet. I found the art of Etta Candy on the Internet and posted it, but after I noticed the Baroness, I wondered if it was from one of the stories in the WW Archives volume I have.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2015 19:40:05 GMT -5
I don't think so. At least not if it's something I have read yet. It sure does resemble her, though! So, actually, it probably is her. It's her! It's from Sensation Comics #12, the last story in The Wonder Woman Archives, Volume One, which I checked out of the library a few weeks ago and haven't quite finished yet. I found the art of Etta Candy on the Internet and posted it, but after I noticed the Baroness, I wondered if it was from one of the stories in the WW Archives volume I have. Yeah, half way through my reply I realized it DID look just like her. But I haven't read issue #12 yet. I'll get there. I so love golden age Wonder Woman so far. I realize there are some sexist things in it, but sheesh! for the time? They tried. And, honestly, they did quite well, imo.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Nov 16, 2015 20:06:55 GMT -5
Somebody must have liked Moondark (who I agree is seriously lame). He appears again in MTU #91 fighting Spidey and Ghost Rider, then again in the blazing biker's solo book (#56 and 59.) Cei-U! I summon the Human Punching Bag! Seriously? I remember whole sequences from that issue! Pat Broderick! It was Spider-man and Ghost Rider at a carnival! But I don't remember Moondark. I think my brain just spontaneously erases any Moondark related visual stimulus. "Nah. THAT'S not important."
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Post by Hoosier X on Nov 17, 2015 23:48:04 GMT -5
Jungle Action #3 February 1973 I saved the best for last! Of all the comics I got from the bargain boxes last week, this is my favorite! It's a 1970s comic book full of reprints from 1950s Atlas jungle comics. I love jungle comics! I haven't read very many Atlas jungle comics (I used to have a copy of the original Jungle Action #2 from the 1950s and I also had a copy of Lorna the Jungle Queen #24 (Bill Everett art!)) but I have all five issues of Shanna the She-Devil and I used to have a bunch of low-grade Fiction House comics, including Sheena, Queen of the Jungle #18, bunches of Jumbo Comics (with Sheena on every cover) and a few issues of Fight Comics (with the amazing Tiger Girl!). Not to mention the Black Panther issues of Jungle Action, Black Panther's own series, Tarzan comic books and Korak. Tharn the Magnificent is up first. Art by Joe Maneely! Hoo-ray! Here comes Tharn riding a nicely rendered elephant at the head of a herd of elephants. But a leopard attacks for some reason! Tharn fights him off and then waves goodbye to the elephants. I should mention that this character's name was not originally Tharn. He was Lo-Zar. I'm guessing that it was just a little too close to Tarzan and Marvel decided to change it to avoid any hint of a legal problem. In addition to all the places in the text where Tharn has been added, I noticed that the lettering for "Frisco" looks different than the rest of the words in a balloon where the main bad guy is saying that "those guys in 'Frisco need the dough from all that ivory." I suspect that the original wording is "Moscow" or something like that. My experience with Atlas jungle comics, as limited as it may be, tells me that these bad guys are very likely working for the Communists. The elephants are on their way to a place called "Elephant Haven," a secret place known only to elephants (and Tharn) where they are safe from hunters. The bad guys convince Tharn that they aren't after the ivory, they are nature-loving, peaceful photographers and they want to know if they will help him find the Elephant Haven. One of the bad guys is a pretty girl with black hair and a pith helmet, and she is so cute! It's amazing what Maneely can do with a few lines and a couple of dots for eyes. Tharn agrees to help. In the very next panel they are attacked by Serpo, the snake, and Tharn kills it. Eventually they find the Elephant Haven and the bad guys secretly send a radio message to the ivory hunters who are waiting with a helicopter to fly in and kill the elephants for their ivory. But Tharn is ready for them. He suspected them from the start (from their Russian accents, no doubt) and the elephants charge in and ... well, it's in silhouette, but the caption says "the havoc is terrible to behold" so I guess they squashed everybody. The cute girl's still alive, but she's lost her pith helmet in the confusion. Next up is Lorna, drawn by Werner Roth! Lorna is a jungle girl who hangs out with a great white hunter type named Greg who is a total jerk. (I remember this guy from that one issue of Lorna I used to have. What a tool! He's so much worse than Sheena's buddy, who was totally useless.) Greg is trying to fish and Lorna's along and Greg is telling her to "try to stay out of my way, Lorna, and don't make trouble. I want to spend a quiet day fishing!" But Lorna, being a troublesome sort, decides to save a native boy from being killed by a devil octopus. And so Greg's quiet day of fishing is ruined because she meets with the natives to help them kill the devil octopus, and Greg - who's about as useful as a nose on your shoulder - just has to go along because he can't imagine that Lorna can accomplish anything without a man around. Lorna does just fine. At the end, as they are taking the boat across the lake to their camp, Greg pushes Lorna out of the boat and tells her: THIS IS ONE RIDE YOU CAN SWIM HOME FROM, "O JUNGLE QUEEN"! And Lorna, sticking her head out of the water and watching Greg paddle away in the distance, says: SOME MEN HAVE NO GRATITUDE! Yeah. Greg is totally a tool! Next is a four-page story from an interesting ongoing series called "The Unknown Jungle." All these stories were about the adventures of jungle animals. In the original 1950s Jungle Action #2, there was a story about Man-Oo the gorilla. As I recall, he was looking for the lost baby gorilla and he was attacked by a snake! The story in this 1970s reprint is from Jungle Tales #1 and it called "The Challenge of the Pit." It's the story of Nuba the lion. His mate has just had cubs and he wants to be useful, so he kills a baby giraffe and drags it to the den and throws it down by the nursing cubs. And Nami the lioness smacks him across the snout. The caption describes Nami's attitude this way: NUBA IS GREAT, NUBA IS MIGHTY, NUBA IS STRONG, SAY THE SCORNFUL EYES OF NAMI ... BUT DOES THE STUPID LOUT NOT REALIZE THAT YOUNG CUBS HAVE NO TEETH TO CHEW MEAT AND MUST BE FED MILK? He skulks away. But eventually he gets his chance to be useful when one of the cubs, almost grown to full lionhood, gets caught in a lion trap and can't escape on his own. It's pretty cool! Since the lion story and the Jann of the Jungle story are both from Jungle Tales #1, I thought I would just put that cover here. Jann of the Jungle is pretty interesting. This is my favorite story in this issue. It appears to be her origin. She's a stunt double on the set of a jungle girl movie that's being shot on location in the Congo. After the natives see her jump on a lion's back, they crowd around her and ask questions and start chanting "Jann! Jann! Jann!" (Even though her name is Jane Hastings. She's a former trapeze artist and animal trainer.) The natives also warn her that the movie people should move on because there's a drought and the animals might go crazy and kill everybody. And on the very next page, guess what happens? The animals go crazy and try to kill everybody! But fast-thinking Jann jumps on a rhino's back and leads the animals away. Then she kills a snake and goes back to camp where she finds out that her grandmother had been the original Jann of the Jungle, the protector of the people of the Congo, until she fell in love with a white hunter and moved away. And when the shoot is over and everybody heads back to Hollywood, Jann decides to stay in the Congo and be Jann of the Jungle. Awesome! It's not as good as Rulah's totally bonkers origin but it's still pretty awesome!
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,069
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Post by Confessor on Nov 18, 2015 3:37:26 GMT -5
I've been reading my newly acquired Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 3 and over the past few nights I've read FF #61-65 (all from 1967). This is the first time that I've ever read these issues, but man, Stan and Jack are just on fire here! Already I've got to see the first appearance of Sandman's (admittedly ludicrous) new super-villain costume, Reed Richards getting lost and almost dying in the Negative Zone, the first appearance of Blastaar, Johnny Storm and Crystal have finally been reunited after months apart, and the first appearance/mention of Ronan and the Kree. Phew! This is some awesome Silver Age goodness.
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Post by Spike-X on Nov 18, 2015 5:04:55 GMT -5
Yeah, I need to get stuck back into FF. I've read up to #50 so far.
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Post by Rob Allen on Nov 18, 2015 15:43:34 GMT -5
I should mention that this character's name was not originally Tharn. He was Lo-Zar. I'm guessing that it was just a little too close to Tarzan and Marvel decided to change it to avoid any hint of a legal problem. I think they wanted to avoid confusion with Ka-Zar, who had his own color and b&w mags around that time (he was the star of Savage Tales after Conan).
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Post by Hoosier X on Nov 18, 2015 16:46:54 GMT -5
I should mention that this character's name was not originally Tharn. He was Lo-Zar. I'm guessing that it was just a little too close to Tarzan and Marvel decided to change it to avoid any hint of a legal problem. I think they wanted to avoid confusion with Ka-Zar, who had his own color and b&w mags around that time (he was the star of Savage Tales after Conan). I thought of that after I turned off my computer. Duh! It's pretty obvious that's what they were doing. I can't believe it wasn't the first thing in my head.
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Post by DE Sinclair on Nov 18, 2015 16:50:44 GMT -5
I think they wanted to avoid confusion with Ka-Zar, who had his own color and b&w mags around that time (he was the star of Savage Tales after Conan). I thought of that after I turned off my computer. Duh! It's pretty obvious that's what they were doing. I can't believe it wasn't the first thing in my head. First thing I thought of was that Lo-Zar was too close to "loser".
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2015 2:40:10 GMT -5
Do not repeat this sequence of reading, it is dangerous to your brain's well-being... Got home from work and cracked open the first volume of Showcae Presents The Martian Manhunter reading a half dozen of the back up from the 1957 issues of Detective (339-345)-very repetitive fire makes Martians weak being the plot in every one with only the details and the crooks varying-there's only so many ways you can have Jones run into fire get weak, figure out a way around it and wrap up the story in 6 pages, so your brain kind of goes into slo-mo as you read them, just kind of taking in the Silver Agey-ness of it all. Interesting but couldn't take more than 6 stories in a row, so I put that volume down and picked up the top book off the pile of still unread trades I got in the mail this week and cracked it open. The oversized hardcover edition of The 6 Voyages of Lone Sloan by Philippe Druillett (the recently released English edition put out by Titan Publishing). Started in on The Throne of the Black God. So good, but after reading the Manhunter stuff I started feeling a twitchiness in the brain. Sometime in the middle of the Bridge over the Stars I think my brain melted, and by the time I finished Terra I was sitting staring vacantly at the mind-blowing art and drooling a little bit. Time passed, I came back to myself, but I think a part of my brain is now permanently surfing the ether never to be seen again. Never mix Silver Age Martian Manhunter and psychedelic European sci-fi. It's hazardous to your psyche. This public service message has been brought to you by The Commission for the Safe Consumption of Comic Books. -M (I think, still not quite sure....)
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Post by Action Ace on Nov 19, 2015 13:18:17 GMT -5
Do not repeat this sequence of reading, it is dangerous to your brain's well-being... Got home from work and cracked open the first volume of Showcae Presents The Martian Manhunter reading a half dozen of the back up from the 1957 issues of Detective (339-345)-very repetitive fire makes Martians weak being the plot in every one with only the details and the crooks varying-there's only so many ways you can have Jones run into fire get weak, figure out a way around it and wrap up the story in 6 pages, so your brain kind of goes into slo-mo as you read them, just kind of taking in the Silver Agey-ness of it all. Interesting but couldn't take more than 6 stories in a row, so I put that volume down and picked up the top book off the pile of still unread trades I got in the mail this week and cracked it open. The oversized hardcover edition of The 6 Voyages of Lone Sloan by Philippe Druillett (the recently released English edition put out by Titan Publishing). Started in on The Throne of the Black God. So good, but after reading the Manhunter stuff I started feeling a twitchiness in the brain. Sometime in the middle of the Bridge over the Stars I think my brain melted, and by the time I finished Terra I was sitting staring vacantly at the mind-blowing art and drooling a little bit. Time passed, I came back to myself, but I think a part of my brain is now permanently surfing the ether never to be seen again. Never mix Silver Age Martian Manhunter and psychedelic European sci-fi. It's hazardous to your psyche. This public service message has been brought to you by The Commission for the Safe Consumption of Comic Books. -M (I think, still not quite sure....) Sounds like you need a Bob Haney World's Finest chaser.
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Post by berkley on Nov 19, 2015 13:28:49 GMT -5
Werewolf by Night #17 May 1974 Anyway, he grabs up Topaz and carries her down from the tower. She's in no danger from Werewolf by Night. No, not because she gave him water. Topaz is psychic and she can commune with Werewolf by Night on a very basic level and she sometimes makes suggestions. Like "Don't tear me to pieces" or "Go get me a latte." They evade the police in a corridor, Werewolf by Night turns into Jack Russell, enabling Topaz and bare-chested Jack Russell to just walk past the French police because they were expecting a blonde psychic and a Werewolf by Night and not a blonde psychic and a bare-chested American wearing green pants. This was written by Mike Friedrich. The art was provided by Don Perlin, who I've come to really like over the years. ... The real test is, yeah, I do want to know what happens next. I am curious about Baron Thunder's motivations. I hope there's an Essential Werewolf by Night collection and that my library system has it. I think Don Perlin's artwork really came into its own on the WbN series when he started doing his own inks. It's fun to see an appreciative review by someone who hasn't read the comic before. maybe you should think about doing a Werewolf by Night review thread - the back issues shouldn't be too expensive, apart from a few exceptions like the first appearance of Moon Knight.
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Post by Hoosier X on Nov 19, 2015 13:38:18 GMT -5
Do not repeat this sequence of reading, it is dangerous to your brain's well-being... Got home from work and cracked open the first volume of Showcae Presents The Martian Manhunter reading a half dozen of the back up from the 1957 issues of Detective (339-345)-very repetitive fire makes Martians weak being the plot in every one with only the details and the crooks varying-there's only so many ways you can have Jones run into fire get weak, figure out a way around it and wrap up the story in 6 pages, so your brain kind of goes into slo-mo as you read them, just kind of taking in the Silver Agey-ness of it all. Interesting but couldn't take more than 6 stories in a row, so I put that volume down and picked up the top book off the pile of still unread trades I got in the mail this week and cracked it open. The oversized hardcover edition of The 6 Voyages of Lone Sloan by Philippe Druillett (the recently released English edition put out by Titan Publishing). Started in on The Throne of the Black God. So good, but after reading the Manhunter stuff I started feeling a twitchiness in the brain. Sometime in the middle of the Bridge over the Stars I think my brain melted, and by the time I finished Terra I was sitting staring vacantly at the mind-blowing art and drooling a little bit. Time passed, I came back to myself, but I think a part of my brain is now permanently surfing the ether never to be seen again. Never mix Silver Age Martian Manhunter and psychedelic European sci-fi. It's hazardous to your psyche. This public service message has been brought to you by The Commission for the Safe Consumption of Comic Books. -M (I think, still not quite sure....) Sounds like you need a Bob Haney World's Finest chaser. I suggest the Super-Sons.
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