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Post by kirby101 on Jul 2, 2017 7:52:08 GMT -5
I am surprised no one has mentioned the Spirit yet. Perhaps the best thing published in the Golden Age. With story and art that holds up to today's standards. A-hem...I mentioned The Spirit, along with other newspaper strips like Dick Tracy and Hawks of the Sea, in my post on the first page of this thread. Totally agree with you though about how well Eisner's work on the strip holds up. I went back and saw that you did, See the edit in my post  |
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 2, 2017 11:27:36 GMT -5
This thread has reminded me of a large hardcover book I read about 30 years ago but can't remember the title. It had an overview of the golden age of comics and featured excerpts and overviews of all sorts of great comics from the period - Hydroman, Crimebuster, early MAD, and of course, Superman, Batman, Captain America. The book would have been published sometime in the 1970s but for the life of me, I can't recall its title or who edited it. It's not All in Color for a Dime. It's a big book and would have been something like 300 pages long. Can anyone help?
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Post by Batflunkie on Jul 2, 2017 20:57:17 GMT -5
I'd love the Spirit if he looked like a spirit [undead]. I'd love the Phantom if he was a phantom. But that kind of adds to the Phantom's whole mystique, that he's a "ghost who walks", but it's little more than superstitious speculation drummed up by the village natives. If anything, it makes the franchise just that more plausible |
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 2, 2017 21:42:03 GMT -5
This thread has reminded me of a large hardcover book I read about 30 years ago but can't remember the title. It had an overview of the golden age of comics and featured excerpts and overviews of all sorts of great comics from the period - Hydroman, Crimebuster, early MAD, and of course, Superman, Batman, Captain America. The book would have been published sometime in the 1970s but for the life of me, I can't recall its title or who edited it. It's not All in Color for a Dime. It's a big book and would have been something like 300 pages long. Can anyone help? Crawford's Encyclopedia of Comic Books. |
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 2, 2017 21:42:28 GMT -5
This thread has reminded me of a large hardcover book I read about 30 years ago but can't remember the title. It had an overview of the golden age of comics and featured excerpts and overviews of all sorts of great comics from the period - Hydroman, Crimebuster, early MAD, and of course, Superman, Batman, Captain America. The book would have been published sometime in the 1970s but for the life of me, I can't recall its title or who edited it. It's not All in Color for a Dime. It's a big book and would have been something like 300 pages long. Can anyone help? Crawford's Encyclopedia of Comic Books. That's it! Thanks Chad! |
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Post by LovesGilKane on Jul 3, 2017 0:56:45 GMT -5
I'd love the Spirit if he looked like a spirit [undead]. I'd love the Phantom if he was a phantom. But that kind of adds to the Phantom's whole mystique, that he's a "ghost who walks", but it's little more than superstitious speculation drummed up by the village natives. If anything, it makes the franchise just that more plausible i love that you feel that way; I'd prefer to feel that way, but as a 'monster lover' from the age of 3, I can't. for me alone, it feels like a 'bait and switch'. it's the same reason I feel %##!! towards Jacob's Ladder as a film; it marketed itself as supernatural. the marketing lied. I know the Phantom doesn't do that, and I greatly respect the writing and art of decades within its canon, and I've even done a Phantom trading card out of that respect. but the property itself doesn't appeal to me, because it's really adventure-genre. I couldn't care less about Tarzan, either. or Indiana Jones; the only thing I like about the Indie films are the modicum of metaphysical/paranormal elements they use to justify the plot. Re golden age, I much prefer the original Vision, and Specter. To each their own, but I dig yur passion for the Phantom |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2017 7:55:07 GMT -5
Crawford's Encyclopedia of Comic Books. That's it! Thanks Chad! You get my vote for funniest member next year! |
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 5, 2017 0:21:25 GMT -5
No less an authority than The Tick once made this observation about the Golden Age: "Science in those days worked in broad strokes - they got right to the point! Nowadays it's all just 'molecule, molecule, molecule' -nothing ever happens big." Not so with Bob Blake Hydroman.    Two panels into the story and a scientist has already blown off his hand. Three panels in and an endless geyser of water has replaced the missing appendage. Although it takes another few panels before we can locate a character who seems capable of grasping the seriousness of this situation, it only takes another few panels following that realization for the scientist himself to have completely acclimatized himself to those tragic events of one distant page ago. Oh, and by the end of page three, so have I. Once Bob Blake "goes up in a geyser of water" everything which preceded that moment feels trivial by comparison. I think it was Tom Defalco who once said "a good idea gets you as far as the first page". That adage is working overtime here - I can't wait to find out what happens next and yet I don't want to miss a single detail. |
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Post by Jesse on Jul 5, 2017 0:43:29 GMT -5
"Harry just blew off his hand in an explosion or something!"  |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2017 4:45:36 GMT -5
No less an authority than The Tick once made this observation about the Golden Age: "Science in those days worked in broad strokes - they got right to the point! Nowadays it's all just 'molecule, molecule, molecule' -nothing ever happens big." Not so with Bob Blake Hydroman. Two panels into the story and a scientist has already blown off his hand. Three panels in and an endless geyser of water has replaced the missing appendage. Although it takes another few panels before we can locate a character who seems capable of grasping the seriousness of this situation, it only takes another few panels following that realization for the scientist himself to have completely acclimatized himself to those tragic events of one distant page ago. Oh, and by the end of page three, so have I. Once Bob Blake "goes up in a geyser of water" everything which preceded that moment feels trivial by comparison. I think it was Tom Defalco who once said "a good idea gets you as far as the first page". That adage is working overtime here - I can't wait to find out what happens next and yet I don't want to miss a single detail. I love Hydroman and I've completely forgotten all about this character and thanks for bringing it up chadwilliam and thanks for sharing with us today. |
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bran
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Post by bran on Jul 5, 2017 11:10:49 GMT -5
she's got a couple of yt reviews of old super-hero comics from the 30s, such as Superman etc.
it's fascinating - original Superman was not fighting aliens all that much, or even the crime on Earth - rather fixing (what he perceived as) social injustices of the era. He is tearing down (privately owned) poor housing (in favor of presumably government-built projects), (privately owned) radio-stations, (privately owned) casinos, fixing prisons etc. Odd mixture of left-wing activism on steroids and right-wing moral patronizing... and beating up humans for the kicks LOL
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 5, 2017 22:49:43 GMT -5
I love Hydroman and I've completely forgotten all about this character and thanks for bringing it up chadwilliam and thanks for sharing with us today. It's my pleasure - thank you very much for this thread! Though I never forgot about Hydroman after first reading what was reprinted of his debut in the Crawford Encyclopedia I mentioned above, it was only about five years ago that I actually got to read the rest of his appearances (at least the Bill Everett material) when they were reprinted in the two Bill Everett Archives put out by Fantagraphics. So if anyone's interested, these tales are out there (and as a public domain character, can also be found online at the Digital Comic Museum). And since it's a neat bit of trivia... Bill Everett also created, of course, the water based Namor for Marvel Comics (as well as The Fin, come to think of it). Namor spelled backwards is Roman, but spell Hydroman backwards and you get Namordyh. Not sure what that's all about, but thinking about it certainly keeps me tossing and turning at night. |
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 14, 2017 23:59:00 GMT -5
 A fascinating character who fell far short of his potential in the four appearances he made in Mystic Comics. His backstory is so intriguing that I can't understand how so much of it was simply discarded as soon as it was introduced. The year is 1852 and a troubled Doctor Keen describes his concerns over an experiment he has been conducting involving a mysterious blue flame to his son Spencer. The scientist had at some point in the past discovered a blue flame which he initially tested by killing mice and insects with. However, months later, the corpses of these creatures returned "stronger than ever" with the ability to live several times its usual life span. Frightened by the flame, Doctor Keen announces his intention to end his experiments and destroy the blaze. At that moment however, a tornado hits this small mid-west town, Spencer is thrown into the path of the flame, and is one of the 85% of town folk to die in this calamity. Although buried, Keen remains in a state of neither life nor death, his strength grows as does an awareness of the evil permeating the coming world. In 1940, he makes his debut by crawling out of his own grave  Although his outfit suggests Fox Feature's The Blue Beetle, the supernatural aspect of it brings to mind Green Lantern Alan Scott. Unlike his Silver Age prodigy, there was something disturbing about Scott's green flame; namely, its sentient promise to flame three times - first, to bring death; second, life; and finally, power. Keen's blue flame, is no less frightening. It is in control and the human it has attached itself merely a vessel for its purpose. Interestingly, with a March, 1940 cover date on Mystic Comics 1 compared with the July, 1940 date on Green Lantern's first appearance reveals which hero made their introductions first. But all this potential - the first zombie superhero, the mysterious blue flame which works by killing its subject and then restoring them to life, even the fact that the good guy's world isn't wartime America 1940 but peaceful 1852 - is wasted. Pretty soon he's driving around in a roadster he shouldn't know how to operate and treating his abilities as if they were nothing special. Even the added bit in his final appearance about his grave somehow picking a new location every evening and appearing where he's needed is mentioned rather than explored (although given that this was his final appearance, that bit of neglect might be understandable). It's really too bad. Here's a character brimming with ideas which his handlers didn't seem to realize the value of. The character out of time appeal of Silver Age Captain America was here from the beginning; the green flame from which sprang Green Lantern was here colored blue several months before All-American recognized that this was too good an idea to throw away; and there is a tenor to some of these tales where The Blaze's foes and environment were unique even in an era, heck, title which boasted so many new ideas. There's a weird looking, tank top with a skull on it wearing, 1970's punk styled hangman in his fourth appearance chucking bodies into lime pits at the start of this super-horror tale so it's not as if Timely couldn't handle the tone such a hero's adventures required, yet in spite of the promise of a story which never came, The Blue Blaze dropped out of sight almost as quickly as he arrived. The end of The Blue Blaze  |
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Post by LovesGilKane on Jul 15, 2017 22:20:24 GMT -5
Frankenstein (the Monster)... such an original yet oddly traditional take on the character  |
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Post by Paste Pot Paul on Jul 16, 2017 3:35:28 GMT -5
How good is that Everett guy on Hydroman, he could make it in the biz if he applied himself...
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