Torchy Todd Day!

Bill Ward was born on tomorrow's date in 1919. Ward was an amazing talent with a special kill drawing bodacious women. He created many Good Girl illustrations but he's most likely remembered for the focus of today's Dojo celebration -- Torchy. 

Bill Ward was a special artist. He had that uncanny knack of being able to simultaneously draw a fetching female who oozed sex and still seemed somehow impossibly demure.  A Ward woman was always exceedingly well endowed, gifted as it were with those special attributes men find alluring from a distance and even up close. Among Ward's greatest visions was his creation Torchy, a vintage hottie often rendered by the very talented Gill Fox after Ward was shifted to more traditional romance comics by his publisher. Torchy Todd is a blonde bombshell who affects the men around her with seismic intensity.

As you can see by the covers and recreations above, Torchy as illustrated by Ward made a most memorable impression. The artwork above for an early edition of Bob Overstreet's Price Guide also showcased the bodacious beauty and other lovelies as well. For the record: Wonder Woman, Bulletgirl, Hawkgirl, Miss Fury, Lady Luck, Sheena, and Phantom Lady.

Rip Off

The Hawk And The Dove!

The Hawk and The Dove comic was the absolute exquisite product of a powerful moment in American history when the nation was torn about wars abroad and the youth culture of the time was demanding accountability and a new way forward. The schism in the society of the day was between those who had long trusted their government to prosecute necessary wars in the defense of the nation and those who felt that the government had violated the trust of the average citizen by pursuing a war by means of deception. The argument waged between the brothers Hall, who are the titular heroes Hawk and Dove was an argument raging in many if not most households across the nation in the day.

Steve Ditko had left behind his co-creation of Spider-Man and found at DC under editor Dick Giordano, at least momentarily, a haven where he could produce the kinds of politically sensitive stories he craved to present. His Beware The Creeper showcased his long-standing complaint against personal cowardice in the news media and here we see his take on the war debate. He didn't last long on the book, producing only the first three issues (one the Showcase debut issue). Gil Kane with writer Steve Skeates picked up the reins and later Kane himself wrote the stories. The duo also made a guest-starring appearance in the Teen Titans by Neal Adams and Nick Cardy. This led to more appearances in later years and the brothers Hall were considered members of a sort. 

The collection is highly recommended and sits on the very tip top of my reading stack.

The United States is undergoing the greatest stress to its character since those now seemingly far-off days of the Vietnam War. A pirate has swindled and lied his way into the White House and he and his minions seem intent on not just lining their own pockets, but they are breaking the peace of the world to do it. The struggle for the soul of America is far from over. The current powers of the opposition have not fully grokked the nature of the threat, or they hide cowardice and timidity behind parliamentary procedure. New leaders are rising even now, and again it's among the young. The inevitable success of that struggle might well not end in my lifetime, or it might end more quickly than we imagine. These are unprecedented and troubled waters we sail on today. 

Rip Off

The DNAgents Day!

Mark Evanier was born on this date in 1952. Evanier was a key assistant to Jack Kirby in the 70's and had a robust career writing for Gold Key in the 70's and DC in the 80's and 90's. He became a force in the Indy market and co-created Groo the Barbarian.  He also created one of my favorite Indy comics- the focus of today's Dojo celebration -- The DNAgents. 

Let me say categorically that "The DNAgents" might be my favorite title for any comic anytime. It's ferociously clever and instantly communicates not only the name of the heroes but also identifies their plight as "artificial" human beings. Grown in a vat from strands of select DNA and a multitude of chemicals these superhumans are wonderful analogs for any marginalized group who might want to identify with them, a fantastic ploy for comics seeking readership. Created at the height of the popularity of the X-Men and the New Teen Titans, Mark Evanier (a first-rate writer and comics-lore expert and raconteur) and Will Meugniot (the second best Good-Girl artist of his generation after the late Dave Stevens) found a fantastic formula (almost literally) which tapped into that same vein without seeming imitative. Some of that goes to the strength of the characterization which is evident in both the writing and the illustration. These are stories about "people" seeking relationships among themselves, others outside their group and with the broader society which slowly learns of their existence.

For those who might not know The DNAgents are Surge, Rainbow, Tank, Amber, and Sham, five teenagers who are all of five years old. Grown in a lab they have been developed and programmed by rather cold-blooded scientists and even colder-blooded businessmen to serve the interests of the Matrix Corporation, specifically one man named Lucius Krell. The team are sent to perform various tasks for Matrix, rarely if ever told the truth behind their missions and at the same time they are seeking to find some semblance of what passes for a normal existence as college students in Southern California.

I've always gotten a smidgeon of a Jack Kirby vibe off this book, not in the way that often comes across as an attempt to clone Kirby's style in the art, but rather in regard to the themes. The Matrix Corporation always struck as me as The DNA Project/Evil Factory set in a more realistic and recognizable environment. The Agents themselves have a "Forever People" vibe, though the personalities are slightly different. Their "bus", the awesome ship they used to travel in from time to time reminds me of the Super-Cycle and the Fantasticar at the same time. I say this not to suggest the DNAgents are mere copies of other work, but that like most superhero work they evolved from that which had come before, using the themes and tropes in new ways to somewhat different effects.

Also I've always thought (and maybe Evanier or someone else has said as much) that the DNAgents were a commentary on the then new concept of creator-owned properties. That the Agents are the "property" of Matrix goes to the thematic core of the comic, and it's difficult to imagine that Evanier and Meugniot weren't speaking to the comic book powers-that-were-at-the-time about the changing nature of the enterprise. 

I read the saga as it first appeared, but then ultimately traded away those comics. Then I re-gathered them again many years ago. Most recently I picked up the black and white reprint of the adventures from Image which featured many pages developed directly from Meugniot's originals. The DNAgents, published by Eclipse was always a professional looking publication, properly bright and colorful. But reading these same stories in a restrained black and white format has caused me to focus more intently on the writing and less on the shiny well-crafted images, and good writing it is indeed.

The DNAgents - Industrial Strength Edition a was published a few years before that in 2008, and before that About Comics reprinted the first six issues. It's a total hoot to read stories filled with nostalgic tech such as video game parlors, walkmen, and pagers. The 80's seems like yesterday to me, but then I'm getting rather old and reading stories which document that time can really drive home how quaint it all was compared to the way technology has seared its way into nearly all aspects of modern life (this blog for instance).

Here are the lovely covers for the issues contained in this Industrial Strength Edition. (One is already above.)

Rip Off

Guardians Of The Galaxy Day!

Arnold Drake was born on this date in 1924.  Drake was a key writer artist at DC and later at Marvel in the 60's and 70's. He is best known for The Doom Patrol, but I'll always remember him as the writer of the Guardians of the Galaxy story - the focus of today's celebration. 

If I was forced to pick only one comic book ever and that's all I ever got, Marvel Super Heroes #18 might be the one. I love this comic for its pure blend of science fiction and superheroics. I love this comic for its wonky heroes, four very different men from across the solar system fighting against a bizarre lizard people tyranny. 

The debut story is by writer and co-creator Arnold Drake and exquisite artwork by fellow co-creator Gene "The Dean" Colan and Mike Esposito (under his "Mikey Demeo" disguise),  and relates the 31st Century future in which the Earth has colonized the solar system and beyond thanks to "Harkovian Physics" (move over Einstein), and finds a motley gang of aliens and hybrid humans joined to battle the deadly Badoon, a warlike lizard race from space. Arnold Drake and Gene Colan were at the top of their respective games with this showcase for a new super team, each though merely the product of circumstance. Charlie-27 is my favorite, a simple man who merely seeks to save his family and who is forced to run for his life despite his great strength and speed when he can't do that. Martinex is properly shiny and knowing and weird, but he is similarly motivated. 

And then there's Major Vance Astro, the thousand-year-old Earthman who is at once bitter and selfless, a proper blend of human characters which Drake was so adept at showing. Alongside this "Lone Ranger" (a resurrected masked man, don't you know) of the future is the noble native, the taciturn Yondu with his delightful Yaka arrows which act like living things and obey his commands. These are fascinating characters who were united and committed by story's end to battling against the alien threat of the dominating Badoon.

Major Vance Astro is a 20th Century man sent into deep space to Alpha Centuari in 1988 only to find his long journey and the 1000 years it took unnecessary when he finally arrived at a fully settled colony on a planet in deep space. After realizing he is trapped inside his life-preserving copper foil suit, he joins up with Jovian militiaman Charlie-27 and Pluvian scientist the crystalline Martinex along with Yondu, a finned alien native from the Alpha Centauri system.

The same Badoon who had only a few months before appeared in the pages of Silver Surfer #2 in our modern day. That invasion was thwarted but now we see they returned, and they have won the day conquering not only Earth but all its disparate colonies on Jupiter, Pluto, and beyond. It's a fresh dazzling world that Drake and Colan present and I was hungry for more after the first Marvel Super- Heroes outing. I never got it, that is I never got it for a good long while.

This unlikely gang of four battle the Brotherhood of the  Badoon in 3007 A.D. for one brief shining issue then disappear into the comic book mists.

They reappear many years later in the 1974 pages of Marvel-Two-In-One and enlist the time-traveling Ben Grimm and Captain America to help them in their ongoing future war with the deadly Badoon. These stories were written by Steve Gerber and drawn with precision by Sal Buscema.

That battle continues in the 20th Century in the pages of Giant-Size Defenders #5 with vibrant Don Heck artwork . Some of the Guardians are now sporting ginchy new costumes designed by Dave Cockrum.

Then the saga shifts back to the future in four issues of The Defenders regular comic again written by the  Gerber-Buscema team. The Badoon are ultimately defeated and the Guardians meet a new member, the enigmatic Starhawk.

These Defenders issues were a try-out of sorts for the space team of the future and it worked, with the Guardians next showing up in their very own comic under the official title of Marvel Presents. With scribe Steve Gerber and artist Al Milgrom in control, the Guardians at long last would find their way forward.

The team adds yet another member when Nikki, a firebrand from Venus hooks up with the Guardians. I'm of two minds about the addition of Nikki and Starhawk because I always felt that the original core group of four, Astro aside, were not developed sufficiently before these additions. Nonetheless the team pressed on.

One curious issue of Marvel Presents was a fill-in which featured some of Silver Surfer #2, the 1968 comic which actually debuted the Badoon battling the "Sentinel of the Spaceways" a few months before they show up in the future to conquer our solar system.

The run in Marvel Presents ended after a cool dozen issues and after this brisk but potent outing the Guardians were once again an itinerant team. 

The comics feel less escapist now than they did years ago for some reason. 

Rip Off