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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 22, 2024 9:06:34 GMT -5
In March of 1964, I bought just one book off the stands, and it was the first time a Silver-Age DC character debuted in his own magazine, rather than appearing in another title first. Captain Storm was clearly Robert Kanigher's idea of what you'd get if Ahab had had a baby with JFK, as Storm had lost his leg when a Japanese sub rammed his PT boats and split it in two and he was obsessed with finding that sub throughout the run of his title. JFK had only been dead about three months; I don't know how quickly DC green-lit this comic, or whether the idea had even been in the works before the assassination. It's possible, because the movie PT 109 had come out in the summer of '63 and was still making the rounds of theatres before it was quickly withdrawn for a bit after Dallas. (And, yes, of course all my friends and I went to seeit.) In either case, DC read the zeitgeist (that's for you, shaxper ) right and got this book on the stands quickly. The Capt. Storm covers never got better than this beauty by Irv Novick, many of which smacked more of the Sgt. Fury school. Would love to have seen a few Russ Heath covers during the 18-issue run.  PS: Have often wondered if Irv Novick had seen this 1958 cover by Jerry Grandenetti before he put pen to paper on Storm #1... And what Andy Warhol would have said to him if he had.   I don't know about Warhol, but RA-TA-TAT (1961) sold for half a million!  |
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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 22, 2024 10:03:27 GMT -5
Oh, Fap!
I meant Lichtenstein, of course, not Warhol.
Aging sucks.
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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 22, 2024 10:49:49 GMT -5
codystarbuck, outside of the famous British pilot Douglas Bader, who flew with two artificial legs, I'd never heard of an American who'd been allowed back into combat with a prosthetic leg or arm. (When he was captured, the Germans allowed a prosthetic leg to be dropped for him, as one of them had been caught in his plane when he bailed out.) I thought I'd do a quick search to see if any naval officers had. I had read about the diver, Carl Brashear, but I was curious about an officer commanding a ship. (In the 20th century, anyway.) Given your knowledge of the Navy, you may have heard of Admiral John Hoskins, aka Uncle John, aka Pegleg, who lost his right foot to a Japanese attack on the USS Princeton at Leyte Gulf and fought his way back through rehab and bureaucratic resistance to another carrier command. During the Korean War, he commanded the Valley Forge. Not sure how well known his story might have been during and after the war, but I wonder if Kanigher added a dash of Hoskins to his JFK/ Ahab recipe when he was cooking up Captain Storm.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 22, 2024 21:20:43 GMT -5
codystarbuck , outside of the famous British pilot Douglas Bader, who flew with two artificial legs, I'd never heard of an American who'd been allowed back into combat with a prosthetic leg or arm. (When he was captured, the Germans allowed a prosthetic leg to be dropped for him, as one of them had been caught in his plane when he bailed out.) I thought I'd do a quick search to see if any naval officers had. I had read about the diver, Carl Brashear, but I was curious about an officer commanding a ship. (In the 20th century, anyway.) Given your knowledge of the Navy, you may have heard of Admiral John Hoskins, aka Uncle John, aka Pegleg, who lost his right foot to a Japanese attack on the USS Princeton at Leyte Gulf and fought his way back through rehab and bureaucratic resistance to another carrier command. During the Korean War, he commanded the Valley Forge. Not sure how well known his story might have been during and after the war, but I wonder if Kanigher added a dash of Hoskins to his JFK/ Ahab recipe when he was cooking up Captain Storm. Knowing Kanigher, I doubt it. he seemed pretty ignorant of the most basic things related to the military and the artists always seemed to be the ones who brought the research. Hoskins was a pretty unique case, as he was an expert, who literally wrote the book on carrier aviation operations, including service crews and landing signals officer. he also had friends in high places. A lowly lieutenant does not have that, unless his name was Kennedy and even he was medically discharged, due to his back, as a result of the PT-109 sinking. Hoskins was instrumental in the transition from prop to jet aircraft, which is one of the main reasons he was allowed to stick around, aside from having buddies like Admiral Halsey. Also, big difference between a carrier and a PT-Boat. PT-Boats don't have ice cream. |
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