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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 12, 2022 20:54:27 GMT -5
I picked up The Fourth World Omnibus, Volume Four, at the library today! I’ll be reading the first issue - Mister Miracle #10 - before I go to bed.
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Post by profh0011 on Jan 12, 2022 22:32:52 GMT -5
While I've long come to believe that Kirby modelled Nick Fury on actor Ralph Meeker (nobody else in Hollywood quite matched the character so perfectly), I got the impression the secret agent in MM #10 was modelled after Dean Martin's version of Matt Helm. I'd have liked to have seen more adventures of that guy.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 18, 2022 22:17:52 GMT -5
I’m making my way through the Fourth World Omnibus, Volume Four.
It starts with the last issues of Forever People and The New Gods (I love New Gods #11!) and then there’s a bunch of issues of Mister Miracle, which kept going for a while after Kirby launched Kamandi and The Demon.
I’ve never been much of a fan of Mister Miracle. I first saw him in an issue of The Brave and the Bold (#128, I think) and the Aparo art was great, but it didn’t make me want to follow the character.
But I’m digging the Kirby issues! Especially Big Barda! She’s the real star of the series.
And it gets even better when the Female Furies show up and join the cast!
These last few villains have been pretty awesome ... in their way. I read the Satan Club story last night and I read the Mr. Fez story this morning. I think I would like to write a Mister Miracle series just to play around with his wacky rogues gallery.
I’m thinking about a team-up between Mr Fez and Signal-Man.
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Post by berkley on Jan 18, 2022 22:29:06 GMT -5
While I've long come to believe that Kirby modelled Nick Fury on actor Ralph Meeker (nobody else in Hollywood quite matched the character so perfectly), I got the impression the secret agent in MM #10 was modelled after Dean Martin's version of Matt Helm. I'd have liked to have seen more adventures of that guy. I'll keep that in mind next time I see Meeker in anything, which could be next month, since I have Kiss Me Deadly lined up to watch next time I'm doing some 1950s reading/listening/viewing.
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Post by berkley on Jan 18, 2022 22:30:15 GMT -5
I’m making my way through the Fourth World Omnibus, Volume Four. It starts with the last issues of Forever People and The New Gods (I love New Gods #11!) and then there’s a bunch of issues of Mister Miracle, which kept going for a while after Kirby launched Kamandi and The Demon. I’ve never been much of a fan of Mister Miracle. I first saw him in an issue of The Brave and the Bold (#128, I think) and the Aparo art was great, but it didn’t make me want to follow the character. But I’m digging the Kirby issues! Especially Big Barda! She’s the real star of the series. And it gets even better when the Female Furies show up and join the cast! These last few villains have been pretty awesome ... in their way. I read the Satan Club story last night and I read the Mr. Fez story this morning. I think I would like to write a Mister Miracle series just to play around with his wacky rogues gallery. I’m thinking about a team-up between Mr Fez and Signal-Man.
When was the first time Barda appeared outside the Kirby Mister Miracle? I agree that she was the real star of the series.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 18, 2022 23:10:12 GMT -5
I’m making my way through the Fourth World Omnibus, Volume Four. It starts with the last issues of Forever People and The New Gods (I love New Gods #11!) and then there’s a bunch of issues of Mister Miracle, which kept going for a while after Kirby launched Kamandi and The Demon. I’ve never been much of a fan of Mister Miracle. I first saw him in an issue of The Brave and the Bold (#128, I think) and the Aparo art was great, but it didn’t make me want to follow the character. But I’m digging the Kirby issues! Especially Big Barda! She’s the real star of the series. And it gets even better when the Female Furies show up and join the cast! These last few villains have been pretty awesome ... in their way. I read the Satan Club story last night and I read the Mr. Fez story this morning. I think I would like to write a Mister Miracle series just to play around with his wacky rogues gallery. I’m thinking about a team-up between Mr Fez and Signal-Man.
When was the first time Barda appeared outside the Kirby Mister Miracle? I agree that she was the real star of the series.
I was thinking there was a previous Brave and Bold appearance, so I looked it up. Mister Miracle and Big Barda were both in The Brave and the Bold #112, which appeared just a month or two after Mister Miracle #18.
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Post by berkley on Jan 19, 2022 1:31:53 GMT -5
When was the first time Barda appeared outside the Kirby Mister Miracle? I agree that she was the real star of the series.
I was thinking there was a previous Brave and Bold appearance, so I looked it up. Mister Miracle and Big Barda were both in The Brave and the Bold #112, which appeared just a month or two after Mister Miracle #18.
Might have to look for that, even though I'm always sceptical about how Kirby's characters are handled by other creators. But sometimes the earlier appearances are closer to the original concept - maybe just because the writers haven't had time to get ideas of their own, or to get bored and try to "jazz things up".
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 19, 2022 4:42:50 GMT -5
The Brave and the Bold #112 is a 100-Page Super-Spectacular, so you’ll at least have a chance of finding one story you like if you don’t like the Mister Miracle story.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 19, 2022 9:39:00 GMT -5
I am kind of fascinated by Mr Fez, and I’ve been thinking about how comics could be enriched by more hat-based super-villains.
Captain Kepi would be a great foe for Green Arrow.
And The Scarlet Shako would be a great villain for Ant-Man.
The Terrible Trilby would be an awesome rival for Harley Quinn and a great addition to the Batgirl rogues gallery. Which Batgirl? You pick!
And Gotham City could be menaced by the depredations of the Fedora gang!
Oh. Wait. That could be any Gotham City criminal gang before 1970.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 19, 2022 13:38:25 GMT -5
I am kind of fascinated by Mr Fez, and I’ve been thinking about how comics could be enriched by more hat-based super-villains. Captain Kepi would be a great foe for Green Arrow. And The Scarlet Shako would be a great villain for Ant-Man. The Terrible Trilby would be an awesome rival for Harley Quinn and a great addition to the Batgirl rogues gallery. Which Batgirl? You pick! And Gotham City could be menaced by the depredations of the Fedora gang! Oh. Wait. That could be any Gotham City criminal gang before 1970. And a gang of stock brokers-turned-bank robbers: The Greed Berets You could have an assassin that combines sun helmets and swinging blades, with the Pith and the Pendulum. Panama Jack is a no-brainer. Of course, Iron man would be menaced by Communist agents in fur hats: The Ushankas!
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 20, 2022 9:52:49 GMT -5
I read Mister Miracle #18 with wedding of Big Barda and Scot Free and I’m rather surprised that the Forever People, Jimmy Olsen and the Newsboy Legion weren’t invited!
What snobs!
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Post by profh0011 on Jan 20, 2022 17:28:58 GMT -5
I'll keep that in mind next time I see Meeker in anything, which could be next month, since I have Kiss Me Deadly lined up to watch next time I'm doing some 1950s reading/listening/viewing. I'd seen so many actors suggested as the model for Nick, but none of them seemed quite right. I'd seen Meeker in a few things, but when I finally got around to watching KISS ME DEADLY the first time, I suddenly realized, he was it.
It's NOT anywhere near my favorite Mike Hammer film. In fact, I have a SERIOUS problem with that movie. I do feel of the 3 that were done in the 50s (all 3 from the same company, yet, with 3 completely-different producers, writers, directors, and casts of actors), it's the best-looking, best-produced, slickest, you name it. Max Allan Collins long ago went on record saying it was HIS favorite version of the character.
The problem, for ME, is the story, and the characters. Director Robert Aldrich (THE DIRTY DOZEN, SODAM AND GOMORRAH, HUSH... HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE) held Mickey Spillane & his work in OPEN CONTEMPT. He and his screenwriter deliberately set out to make a film that would portray the characters in the WORST-possible light. Mike Hammer is a guy who holds truth and justice as the highest virtues, and the law is usually an inconvenience that gets in the way. But the people in this film are not that, at all. "Mike" and "Velda" in KMD handle divorce cases, where they often set up one side or the other (sometimes both) to get the goods on them or even blackmail them. It's no wonder "Pat" thinks they're lowlife scum. Then "Mike" stumbles on something he thinks could make him a pile of money-- and he doesn't care who or how many get hurt or killed in the process.
The film looks and feels a lot like a Joe Stefano episode of THE OUTER LIMITS, right down to an out-of-place sci-fi McGuffin. I'd like it a HELL of a lot more... if they'd just changed the names. Because the people in this movie, to me, are NOT, NO WAY IN HELL, "Mike Hammer", "Velda" and "Pat Chambers".
So, to me, Ralph Meeker might have made a great Mike Hammer. But he never got the chance to.
I just found out the producers were inspired by the unsold 1954 TV pilot written & directed by Blake Edwards, that starred Brian Keith. It was rejected by the networks as "too violent", but apparently, they liked how it was done, and thought, "Hey, why don't we do the next movie LIKE THAT?" Only I don't think what Aldrich did was what they had in mind.
Personally, I wish they'd brought back the same crew & cast who did "I, THE JURY" (1953), as, until last year, when I finally tracked down the 1958-60 TV series with Darren McGavin, was MY favorite version of Mike Hammer. It just makes no sense to me that they went thru so many different versions in a 5-year period (between 3 features, the unsold TV pilot, the radio show, a story done on LP, and the syndicated TV series).
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Post by profh0011 on Jan 20, 2022 17:29:20 GMT -5
Meeker playing someone in the army...
This could have been him in the C.I.A.....
But when I saw him in an EYEPATCH...
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 23, 2022 10:58:12 GMT -5
I’m reading The Hunger Dogs, in ten-page segments. It’s wonderful! I never want it to end.
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Post by profh0011 on Jan 23, 2022 17:23:47 GMT -5
I’m reading The Hunger Dogs, in ten-page segments. It’s wonderful! I never want it to end. At the time it came out, it was one of my ALL-TIME FAVORITE stories that Jack Kirby ever wrote.
Decades later, I read about all the behind-the-scenes chaos and constant, non-stop editorial interference that went on in its creation. It's like the editors at DC were determined to out-do their predecessors at Marvel when it came to finding more and more and new and inventive ways to SCREW OVER Kirby's work-- the story, the structure of the story, the art (total sabotage at the inking stage), the formatting (causing panel edges to be redrawn drastically to fit a "graphic novel" size book), and the "overdone coloring" (to borrow a phrase I got from Dick Ayers-- heh).
So... the miraculous thing, to me, is that the published book-- as is-- is STILL so damned good.
But I can only imagine how it might have been, without all that UNCALLED-for "tinkering".
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