Souper Swipe!

I stumbled across the poster above for some dumb porno flick which apparently attempted to ride the wave of popularity of the Superman movies back in the late 70's.

It's fairly forgettable, save for the "Man of Steel" pose; it seemed familiar. I think it must come from the cover of the Super Spectacular below. The direction of the flying has been flipped and couple of chippies have been added, but this seems pretty much to be the Neal Adams pose below.


Up, up and away!

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Art Of The Overlooked - The Avengers!

The cover above for The Avengers #74 is one outstanding bit of artwork. This one never seems to ever make any lists of great covers, but I've always regarded it as a masterpiece. Tom Palmer's inks are still somewhat light at this early stage of his career and he had not yet full developed the heavier stroke he's famous for today. Adding that more subtle texture to this monstrously dynamic John Buscema layout makes for a cover that's almost three-dimensional.


The Black Panther's punch sends a sprawling Yellowjacket from the roof.


Meanwhile the Vision races to his aid. The Wasp seems much more intent on attacking the Panther.


With anguish on his face Goliath reaches up to try and catch who he can. The guy on the phone is almost the center of the image and the woman watching from the next building is easy to detect. Lots of bodies doing lots of different things and it's all focused very effectively. The lines of the buildings also add to the three-dimensional effect.

And one final detail is the color, specifically the use of color. The yellow is stationed on the cover at just the right places to make the image pop forward.


The only thing about the cover that might undercut its drama is the word balloons which almost communicate a comedic effect in the abrupt turn the lines take.

Wonderful cover nonetheless, one that needs to get more attention.

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The Man, The Machine!

Machine Man was one of those happy surprises that pops up in comics from time to time. Originally created by Jack "King" Kirby during his run on the 2001 A Space Odyssey comic book, Machine Man (originally named "Mister Machine") proved to be a concept with "legs". He got his own book, again written and drawn by Kirby and the adventures were what you'd expect, full of energy, power, and bristling with technology.


The book gets canceled, Machine Man does a few guest-star stints and then suddenly he's back again, this time featuring artwork by Steve Ditko. This is an interesting distinction, that such a minor character should have been drawn by the twin titans of Mighty Marvel's early history, and at a time in both men's careers when they had come back to the house of mostly their ideas for a few more paychecks. The Ditko run features writing by Marv Wolfman and Tom DeFalco and is much more a character-driven notion than the high-tech rendition by Kirby. But it too got canceled.


I've always found it interesting to compare the two debut issues by Kirby and Ditko, as it shows not only the difference in the handling of this character but also the fundamental differences in the approach of both of these great talents to handling character in general. Kirby's figure is power and energy barely contained and focus is on the "machine" and Ditko's figure is reflective in its stance and clearly this is mostly about the "man". Two different takes, both valid, and both interesting. But alas not commercially successful.

Then comes 1984 and the limited market is ravenous for product. Limited series pop up like mushrooms in the dark and practically any hero you can name at Marvel and DC gets a title of some kind. Machine Man returns in a very exotic story with fabulous artwork by Herb Trimpe and Barry Windsor Smith. This story by Roger Stern projects Machine Man into the future and really makes the most of the characters artificial nature. The covers by Barry Smith though still shine as some of the most innovative and compelling I've ever seen. And I can think of few limited series that made better use of the cover designs not only to showcase the main character, but to drive home the theme of the story to boot. Beautifully rendered, these are very smart comics, implying a narrative as they are viewed in succession. (See above.)


Machine Man has been around since in the Marvel Universe, going by the name of X-51 sometimes. He will always be around. Heck Disney might even make an animated feature with him some day. It could be very neat. Few of Marvel's second-tier characters have been as well served as X-51 (Aaron Stack) the Machine Man.

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Bombs Away!

Few things are more classically cliche than the old bomb with the fuse. It's a staple of cartoons and broad comedy. Here are a few covers from Charlton featuring the old-fashioned explosives in various worlds of sport.

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The Architect Of Fear Is Gone!

I just learned that Robert Culp has passed away. A dang good actor, he was a big part of many of the TV shows I grew up on. His biggest success was I guess I Spy, but I never much watched that show.


I first noticed Robert Culp on The Outer Limits. He stars in a bravura performance in the story "Demon With A Glass Hand", an adaptation of a Harlan Ellison story. It's a tale that makes the most of its limited setting to create some really fantastic atmosphere.


But the Robert Culp role that most affected me was his turn in "The Architects of Fear". In this story Culp plays a scientist who gets chosen to become something quite different. All to prod the general population to take action in their own seeming best interests. It's a complicated story of sacrifice, courage, terror, and confusion. The message ain't necessarily a simple one, but its effect on me was palpable. I won't say more for fear of spoiling a great story.


If you want to check out, here's a link to get you started. Here's another.

The story left a mark on me for sure. Without question it's the scariest thing I ever saw on television. Robert Culp's ability to display his humanity is a big part of what makes this superior story work.

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The Ninth Wonder Of The World!

Tales to Astonish is a venerable comic from Marvel which went on to feature Ant-Man who became Giant-Man and later gave a nest to the Hulk, and then to the Sub-Mariner. Later still the numbering of TtA was taken over by the Hulk and the series continued under that title for decades.

But it all began with giant monsters.

Tales to Astonish #1 has a cover announcing the coming of "The Ninth Wonder of the World", and shows giant gates opening as the massive bolt that holds them shut splinters. Natives and explorers shudder in front of what is coming through those gates and some run away.


It's a scene obviously intended to evoke the magnificent movie King Kong where Kong pursues Bruce Cabot and Fay Wray from the top of Skull Mountain and crashes through the gates which have held him at bay for years. It's also what brings about his ruin, but that's another story.


Years later Marvel reprinted the story in Weird Wonder Tales #4, but they altered the image of the "Ninth Wonder", making it more obviously aggressive and I guess more immediately menacing.

Why did they need to up the ante on terror. The first cover was apparently unusually subtle, as subtle I guess as a giant monster comic book cover can be. But what is all the running and terror about. What is the "Ninth Wonder" so skillfully hidden on both covers.

Yep. That's right, it's a turtle. A giant turtle, and based on this one page from the story not a terribly fearsome one. Just a turtle that is really really big.

Ah well. To my knowledge there has never been a sequel to this epic, this story that launched the venerable Tales to Astonish. But who really can be sad about that.


Oh I guess he might be.

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Pencil Of Doom!

This cover for a 1959 issue of DC's House of Secrets not only offers up an out-sized pencil as an instrument of ultimate destruction. (How long it takes for a six-foot "pencil of doom" to wear out? How do you sharpen it? With a "Sharpener of Destruction"?)

The cover also seems to suggest that "Koj", the mysterious beastie who is heralded might just perhaps be a relative of Grimace. Yes that Grimace!

I like pencils. They are one of the great inventions of civilization, a device that is difficult to improve upon. I didn't realize they were so potent as this evocative cover suggests. And as for Grimace, well, he's one of a kind as well.


You be the judge.

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