Confessor
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Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on Apr 16, 2020 19:33:46 GMT -5
Something that's just occured to me, is The Spirit in the public domain? I'm pretty sure it's still owned by DC comics or Eisner's estate.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Apr 16, 2020 20:53:26 GMT -5
This isn't the first story. That was published June 2, 1940 and features the origin of the Spirit, as Denny Colt. He is chasing after one Dr Cobra, a chemist and criminal. he corners him and is attacked by a henchman and then gets knocked against a glass container and is drenched in some chemical and collapses. The police arrive and he is declared dead. However, he was only in a form of suspended animation and awakes, then works "from beyond the grave" to capture Dr Cobra. From then on, he is known as The Spirit, and operates out of Wildwood Cemetary. I stand corrected. The sources I checked said June 1940, and Comic Book Plus began with this June 30th installment, so I assumed this was the first appearance. Dang. I wonder why comic book plus begins with June 30. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Apr 16, 2020 20:54:25 GMT -5
Something that's just occured to me, is The Spirit in the public domain? I'm pretty sure it's still owned by DC comics or Eisner's estate. Comic Book Plus says it is. |
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Post by electricmastro on Apr 16, 2020 21:25:38 GMT -5
Something that's just occured to me, is The Spirit in the public domain? I'm pretty sure it's still owned by DC comics or Eisner's estate. Comic Book Plus says it is. Yeah, from what I’ve seen, the people running the public domain sites such as that, digitalcomicmuseum, and the PDSH wiki have forums to discuss in-depth what’s public domain and what isn’t, and the answers are educated ones most of the time from people whom seem to have done their homework on this sort of thing. That said, there can always be the possibility of someone occasionally making a mistake or not having researched enough of course. Inevitably, this sort of scenario can fall into requiring a little bit of trust in going along with the idea of believing something to be public domain just because it’s labeled to be as such, even with tons of research having been done, and could possibly run a risk depending on what one decides to do with the reportedly public domain work, but so be it. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Apr 16, 2020 22:33:17 GMT -5
Comic Book Plus says it is. Yeah, from what I’ve seen, the people running the public domain sites such as that, digitalcomicmuseum, and the PDSH wiki have forums to discuss in-depth what’s public domain and what isn’t, and the answers are educated ones most of the time from people whom seem to have done their homework on this sort of thing. That said, there can always be the possibility of someone occasionally making a mistake or not having researched enough of course. Inevitably, this sort of scenario can fall into requiring a little bit of trust in going along with the idea of believing something to be public domain just because it’s labeled to be as such, even with tons of research having been done, and could possibly run a risk depending on what one decides to do with the reportedly public domain work, but so be it. I would assume The Spirit is too high profile a property for them to have made such a careless error. I suspect the fact that their archive begins with June 30th may be a clue. Perhaps the reprints were copyrighted, but not the originals? They would be able to scan them SO LONG as they used the originals and not pages from The Spirit Archives? Just a guess, really. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 16, 2020 22:33:28 GMT -5
Geez, I take a couple days away and you guys read like 5 things... I'm going to go back and catch up, but I wanted to read the current one first...
The Spirit story was quite good, I though, much better plot and writing than the usual Golden Age fare. The art isn't as good as other Eisner I've read, but that's probably because it's early, I'm sure. I'll give him a pass for it being completely illogical that you could clean out a casino playing Faro (much less so quickly), nor does it make sense that word would get around town so fast with no cell phones (or probably not even many regular phones.
I really liked Lady Luck... reminded me of the Angel from Marvel, but with a Carmen Sandiego flair... I'd definitely read more of her.
Mr. Mystic... meh. I don't love ill defined magic powers to start with, and the one was very wooden all around.
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Post by MDG on Apr 17, 2020 11:28:07 GMT -5
Eisner, rather thank take up six or seven panels leading up to a dramatic one, manages to make each panel dramatic in of themselves, which I think Quality Comics took up on later, particularly Lou Fine: I believe Eisner did layouts for a lot of Quality stories that he didn't draw or were credited to "house" names. As Kirby at Marvel, Eisner set the tone for several of Quality's titles. |
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Post by electricmastro on Apr 17, 2020 18:24:28 GMT -5
Eisner, rather thank take up six or seven panels leading up to a dramatic one, manages to make each panel dramatic in of themselves, which I think Quality Comics took up on later, particularly Lou Fine: I believe Eisner did layouts for a lot of Quality stories that he didn't draw or were credited to "house" names. As Kirby at Marvel, Eisner set the tone for several of Quality's titles. Indeed, I’m sure it was Eisner’s direction is what encouraged many of the artists at Quality to draw their art as if it’s leaping off the pages:     I also like how they would make shirts translucent when wet! |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 17, 2020 21:25:47 GMT -5
Here are some comments for Ghost Rider #3:
- Nothing to exciting plot wise, but nothing bad either. I do very much like how the 'ghost' tricks Ghost Rider uses are all explained and are not supernatural at all.. makes my logical heart glad.
- I thought Sing Song was maybe going to be a good as a 'tech guy', but turned out he's just a standard Tonto style side kick, with the Golden Age stereotypes to go with it. At least he speaks pretty normal English.
- I was pleasantly surprised to have the whole book be the main character... I feel like that's pretty rare. Was that a new development in 1951? Or just this particular publisher?
-I liked the art, but it seemed rushed in parts.. the splashes and cover are really good though!
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Apr 18, 2020 9:19:51 GMT -5
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Post by electricmastro on Apr 18, 2020 10:17:48 GMT -5
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Post by MWGallaher on Apr 18, 2020 12:32:22 GMT -5
I love these old Captain Marvel comics, but I admit that I'm even more interested in the less-known back-up characters.
Golden Arrow is second up after Cap and Junior lead off, and exhibits a problem I've seen crop up in other Golden Age "westerns"--the creators lose track of where they are in time. According to the opening caption, Golden Arrow operates in the "old west", but the story involves a circus under a massive big top where the trapeze artists are illuminated by...spotlights?!
Spy Smasher appears in a reasonably well-done story, competently rendered, but I've never understood how he was popular enough to merit his own magazine, with that dull visual, bland concept, and unmemorable cast. This guy got his own serial?
Lance O'Casey...well, we're far removed from the days when South Seas adventure was a popular genre, but I get this a little better than I get Spy Smasher. A variation on jungle comics with some interesting visuals.
Dr. Voodoo: we're coming on during an ongoing serial, it appears, and it's not what I was expecting! A period piece set in the Spanish seas, rendered in the Hal Foster Prince Valiant format--no dialog balloons. I feel like I'm missing some key information in my attempts to read this: I don't know who Dr. Voodoo is, or who these apparent zombies are.
Ibis the Invincible: I've always had an inexplicable fondness for the way-overpowered magician Ibis. Ghosts, the reanimated dead--crude but gruesomely interesting stuff.
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Post by brutalis on Apr 18, 2020 15:51:32 GMT -5
Just had time to enjoy Ghost Rider #3. Kind of different for the time in that all the multiple stories were all done by Dick Ayers. Wasn't more usual to having several different artists/teams to fill an issue?
Snazzy grab ur attention cover make u want to purchase & read. While all the stories contain GR it's interesting that he truly isn't the main character of them. U really dont learn much of him or his life outside of being GR. The issue covers all the fairly traditional western tropes of the time-train robbers, Indians, lady in distress & a "comical" sidekick with a smart quick shooting hero. It does what is necessary to pull you into reading and provides plenty of adventure along the lines of the classic half hour western television shows. Easy to see why Stan fairly well just followed the same style for the Marvel westerns of reprints during the 60s & 70s.
Ayers does a fine job delivering action packed easy to follow panels while giving characters their own individual looks. I can see me buying and looking for this series if I was a kid at the time. Lots of bang (dynamite & pistol shots) for the $!
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Post by MWGallaher on Apr 18, 2020 16:55:30 GMT -5
Speaking of Ghost Rider, isn't it really weird that Marvel would just straight up appropriate a defunct character name and design like that, using the exact same artist, with no legal foundation (so far as anyone knows)? Yeah, it's a great design and a killer trademark for a comic book character, but not something I'd have expected the innovative Marvel Comics to do in the late 60's. I know that supposedly they'd originally conceived Daredevil as a closer match to the Golden Age character, but they opted for a fresher, clearly distinct take. I can't think of anything else like that happening until the 80's, when public domain could be more reliably ascertained...well, I guess there was I.W./Super out there ignoring copyrights and claiming probably defunct trademarks, but they were a low-grade operation, not the prominent spearhead of the industry like Marvel was.
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Post by electricmastro on Apr 18, 2020 18:46:56 GMT -5
Speaking of Ghost Rider, isn't it really weird that Marvel would just straight up appropriate a defunct character name and design like that, using the exact same artist, with no legal foundation (so far as anyone knows)? Yeah, it's a great design and a killer trademark for a comic book character, but not something I'd have expected the innovative Marvel Comics to do in the late 60's. I know that supposedly they'd originally conceived Daredevil as a closer match to the Golden Age character, but they opted for a fresher, clearly distinct take. I can't think of anything else like that happening until the 80's, when public domain could be more reliably ascertained...well, I guess there was I.W./Super out there ignoring copyrights and claiming probably defunct trademarks, but they were a low-grade operation, not the prominent spearhead of the industry like Marvel was. Even Marvel isn’t necessarily above capitalizing on any name or concept they feel they can get away with, being a big money-making business after all. Either that or they likely named their characters as they did without worrying too much about what came before:        |
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