It's Short For Troglodyte!

One of my guilty cinema pleasures is Trog. This delightfully offbeat 1970 flick is the story of a lonely cave dweller (a "Troglodyte") who after thousands of years trapped in suspended animation in a glacier comes back to life stranded in a cave only to be discovered by some hapless spelunkers one of whom he promptly kills. It is the heart-wrenching tale of a creature thrust into the modern world against his will and who seeks only some connection with another intelligent being so appease his aching loneliness.

Sounds like a pretty good movie, and it is a lot of fun, but most folks would not categorize Trog as a "good movie". If so then only in the so-bad-it's-good zone. What weighs down this movie almost from the beginning is a lack of funds, though I for one am impressed at the quality of what does get onto the screen. There was apparently little money for special effects, so the make-up on Joe Cornelius, the actor who portrays the forlorn caveman, is pretty wretched when seen from certain angles. But then I think it's pretty decent when seen from others.

The movie is also famous as the last leading part for Silver Screen legend Joan Crawford, who is a mighty trooper in this flick. I always admire actors who act, in whatever capacity and in whatever vehicle, and I try not to hold the quality of a movie against them when it's clear they had little control over anything other than their own part. Crawford here ruggedly pushes through the story, but due to limited funds was forced to use her own wardrobe for the part which creates some distracting color combos in some delicate scenes.

But let me say more about what goes on in this one. I divide Trog into three parts: the Discovery, the Domestication, and the Destruction. Follow me please as we work our way through this epic tale of love and war across the millennium.

The DISCOVERY: This is perhaps my favorite part of the movie. Freddie Francis, the director does a wonderful job as we follow three hale and hearty cave explorers as they find and plumb the depths of a new opening they chance upon. It takes stout hearts to squeeze their way down into the first chamber and even then they must strip and enter dark and freezing water to find the isolated chamber which holds a deadly secret. Two of the three brave the depths, crossing over into an "undiscovered country" which sadly results in one of them ending up dead and the other mad. They find Trog, a caveman who has apparently just awakened after eons of pleasant suspended animated slumber. Enter Dr. Brockton  (Joan Crawford), a local primate specialist who immediately wishes to see the creature for herself and convinces the lone healthy survivor of the original trio to show her the way. How she got into the cave is anyone's guess, but the movie conveniently skips that indignity. Brockton snaps a photo of Trog which unleashes an avalanche of publicity and raw fear. The townspeople converge on the dark maw into the Earth's underworld and set up police cordons and TV cameras to simultaneously limit and probe the mystery. Men are sent down but there is more death and the TV crews beat a hasty retreat as Trog emerges into the sun for the first time in ages only to fall victim himself to Brockton's tranquilizer gun.

The DOMESTICATION: Trog is then shunted into a cage and is chained to the floor as Brockton attempts to communicate and apparently train him in the ways of the modern world. This is some of the most hilarious stuff in the flick as the  tests they put poor Trog through seem downright weird and lack any sense of scientific rigor that I can detect. Brockton's daughter Ann is front and center in this training as is Malcolm, the handsome survivor of the original trio of spelunkers. Anne, a lovely blonde seems to be of particular interest to Trog, following a long cinematic tradition begun with the mighty Kong no less. Trog is confronted with a nest of modern toys and they even try to teach him his colors at one point. He doesn't seem to know blue, likes green, and but gets violent when he sees red. They teach him literally to fetch, but that brings him into conflict with a local dog which sadly he kills. All the time that this is going on a local townsman named Sam Murdock (Michael Gough at his scene-chewing best) is simultaneously fearful and hateful of Trog and wants him destroyed. Murdock seems a thoroughly awful man and aside from some assumed self-loathing it's a bit hard to determine what motivates him save perhaps for a fear of science and the modern world. Also on hand is a Dr.Selbourne who works for Brockton but out of jealousy turns against her at a hearing and gets canned. A bunch of learned folk descend on the Brockton Institute to observe Trog and promptly operate on him inserting all sorts of gear, some of which allows him to speak briefly. It's during this phase that the single stupidest thing in the movie occurs, the "scientists" show Trog skeletons of dinosaurs which they assume will trigger his memory. Even a reasonably intelligent schoolboy knows this is now proper prehistory, but nonetheless they proceed. This does oddly trigger a "memory" in Trog which we get to see, and it's really some stop-motion dinosaurs battling it out by way of another movie by Irwin Allen titled The Animal World.

The DESTRUCTION: After all this Murdock fears that Trog will be allowed to live, so he goes to institute, attacks a policeman, and frees Trog who promptly and quite properly kill him. On the loose now, Trog seem to find an alternately alarmed and tranquil village where he encounters a grocer and a butcher. He dispatches both, the butcher in an especially hideous manner. He encounters a car which he attacks and turns over and which then inexplicably blows up. He stumbles onto the playground (like I said, the alarm seems to not have spread to the whole town despite the many klaxons blaring from time to time) and kidnaps a lovely blonde girl who I think might actually be the daughter of the awful Murdock. He takes her back to his cave. The TV cameras and townspeople return to the cave, this time with the military to boot. They are plotting ways to get to Trog to kill him, but Brockton against orders descends and rescues the girl, appealing to Trog's gentler nature. Sadly when she returns topside, the army descends in mass and Trog is killed in a brutal wave of gunfire, which causes the caveman to fall impaling himself on a pointy stalagmite. Brockton walks away in utter sadness.

So as you can see there is quite a lot going on in this notorious movie. It's a film put together by and featuring professionals. The editing is crisp if obvious (track Crawford's pantsuits and you can almost figure out the shooting schedule) and the acting is broad, but done with proper conviction. There is not hint by those involved that they are in an embarrassing movie. There is only diligent attention to detail and craft, the mark of any worthy effort. For that I admire Trog; for all its weaknesses as a film, it does what it's supposed to do, entertain. It properly transports the viewer to another world and time, not unlike its hapless star Trog himself. The fact that the movie is unintentionally goofy is not what is primarily important. The movie and the participants take themselves seriously and that's sufficient even though we as audience far removed from that time can find all manner of fun with the production.

Find and watch Trog, enjoy it. Don't hate it for what it is not. Let us not make the same mistake with this delightful flick that the hateful Murdock did with Trog, let's appreciate this wild and brazen creation for what it is.

Here's a cover for For Monsters Only by Jeff Jones featuring the one and only Trog. Alas, there's more atmosphere in this cover art than in the entire movie. Sigh. 

(Dick Giordano)

And before I leave the topic, I've mentioned before how in my estimation the Atlas-Seaboard comic The Brute draws a great deal of inspiration from Trog. The Brute might be bigger and stronger and is clearly meant in the long run to be a parallel to The Hulk from Marvel, but the way in which he is discovered underground in the first issue is incredibly similar to the plot of the movie. 

This is a revised Dojo classic re-post.  

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Favorite Covers - IT! The Living Colossus!

"Greater than Godzilla!" "Mightier than King Kong!" That's pretty strong stuff. And while it wasn't really true, it was still pretty stout stuff for comics of the era. I have real affection for this Tony Isabella and Dick Ayers Marvel monster classic. The concept is pretty clever. A special effects expert finds himself being able to animate IT, the Living Colossus. 

The monster showed up in two early 1950's Atlas monster comics, and during the monster boom of the early 70's was revived again in this series. 

IT found itself fighting other vintage Atlas monsters like the Giant Gargoyles from space, and the ultimate Marvel monster Fin Fang Foom.

The artwork was typical sturdy Ayers. The way the blended old story elements, actual pages and panels from the old comics, struck me as clever then. I'm sure some would attack the technique as cheesy and cheapjack. I liked it then, and I still do. The stories were plots merely meant to offer some excuse to have big monsters fight, but that was adequate and actually true to the genre.

I have a fondness for these. The Gil Kane covers for two issues are superb, two of his best at at a time when he was cranking them out. He clearly was inspired by the visual opportunities this giant monster gave to him.  The other two covers are pretty good too, though I've often wished the final battle with Fin Fang Foom had a bit more oomph. But one can't have everything. 

The 70's saga of the Living Colossus came to an end in the pages of The Incredible Hulk where Bruce Banner's bad boy alter ego ended up crushing the stone giant. I think though, he's returned since. 

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The Phantom Novels - The Scorpia Menace!

The Scorpia Menace is the second of two novels written by Basil Copper for The Phantom series for Avon Books and which was more recently reprinted Hermes Press. It's graced with a wonderful cover by George Wilson which is full of derring-do and romance and no small amount of mystery. 

The story begins with the Phantom in his lair, but soon shifts its focus to Diana Palmer who is a young and vivacious sports celebrity and the girlfriend of the Ghost Who Walks. As this story begins, she is taking some college work in history and undertakes some research into an old and presumed defunct pirate band named "Scorpia". But her mild celebrity status makes her research somewhat newsworthy for the more-gossipy oriented news outlets and her searches become known to mysterious villains who it turns out are members of the not-so-defunct Scorpia. 

We are treated to several chapters of these baddies as the news travels along the intricate and secretive chain of command. When the leader of the international gang decides he'd like to meet the fetching Diana Palmer, her death is faked, and she is kidnapped and whisked to his island stronghold. The news of her tragic "death" reaches the ears of the Phantom, and he comes to America to get to the bottom of it. By this time, we are half-way through the novel. Once the Ghost Who Walks is on the case things move swiftly and the solution to this adventure is a most satisfying one indeed. The pure physical power of the Phantom is emphasized to great effect. 

Though no mention is ever made of the infamous Singh Brotherhood, the Phantom's abiding hatred of pirates is referenced. One small quibble is that in my Hermes reprint, which is handsomely done in most respects, there are breaks missing between sections inside the chapters. This will cause the reader to run up on the next scene abruptly. But once you know, it's fine for the most part. 

Next time it's The Veiled Lady. Ron Goulart takes over the writing. 

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The Phantom - The Complete King Years!

Of all of the King Comics hero books, The Phantom was arguably the most consistent. That consistency didn't necessarily rise to greatness, but there was a modicum of quality issue in and issue out. The reason was artist Bill Lignante, a seasoned talent who had broached the Phantom on the strip itself after the passing of Wilson McCoy. When it was decided Sy Barry would take the helm of the venerable strip Lignante was shifted over to the comics. The comic books were then being published by Gold Key and underneath outstanding dramatic covers by George Wilson Linante's efforts were quite good. But then in the middle of the decade King decided they wanted to try and do comic books and took all of their characters then in comics and created their own brand. 

The eighteenth issue, the first of the King Comics issues, the work was decent but hardly stunning. To replace George Wilson, Sy Barry art was used for the covers. The Phantom had been involved in a range of stories at Gold Key, but it seems with his arrival at King the stories took on a smaller scope with nearly everything happening in or around the Deep Woods. "The Treasure of Skull Cave" is the debut King Comics tale and features some thieves who hear about a rumored trove in the Phantom's lair and plot to get access to it. There is much scheming but in-the-end, treasure can be defined a number of ways they discovered. 

There are of course some exceptions, but the Phantom of the King Comics era spent his time battling river pirates and smugglers and such and sadly few of these villains were all that memorable. "The Astronaut and the Pirates" has the Ghost Who Walks attempting to save a space man kidnapped by some scallywags. A second story titled "The Masked Emissary" acts as an official agent of the United Nations to bring down a wannabe dictator. 

One truly memorable aspect of the King Comics run was the debut in comic book form of the "The Girl Phantom". This was a rather silly story at its heart, but certainly one that made attempts to broaden the demographics of the strip. The Phantom of an earlier time, one hundred years or so, had a sister named Julie and when he was wounded for a protracted time, she took it upon herself to put on the mantle and act in his place despite the basic fact that no one ever thought she was actually the Phantom. "The Invisible Demon" pits the Phantom against Dr. Krazz, the agent of the underworld "Mytors" who give him strange powers so they can eventually come up and take over the surface world. 

One thing about the King year of 1966 was the new cover regime. Art was repurposed for the covers, sometimes quite effectively as seen above and in the several covers just below by Sy Barry. "The Treasure of Bengali Bay" has the Phantom battle another seeming haunt named "The Cutlass" who is keeping natives from getting a ship's sunken treasure so that wealth can be used to build a needed hospital. "The Terror Tiger" is about an Indian prince who trains a tiger specifically to hate and attack the Phantom. The Phantom must use a special knife with a strange secret to survive. 

"The Secret of Magic Mountain" gives us the story of a scheming witch doctor who uses a strange legend to gain power and pit himself and his tribe against the Phantom. They don't come out on top, as you'd likely already imagine. But this one is a two-part tale and it's all the Phantom can do to defeat this enemy fueled by superstition. 

In the story "Delilah" a woman of that name and her gang plot to pretend to be agents of the Peace Corps so they can gain access to the Phantom's treasure and plunder all of Bengali. Despite the use of a strange submarine designed to resemble an enormous crocodile their scheming still falls short in this two-part tale. 

We are treated to another tale of the Girl Phantom from Phantom lore as she takes on a strange and truly deadly witch of the dark caves trying to gain control of the local tribes. The Girl Phantom's name is Julie and she is assisted this time by native companion Maru who wears a cunning leopard pelt and her pet leopard named Fury. Another two-parter, these longer Phantom yarns are quite entertaining. 

As with all of the runs from King, the wheels slowly felt like they were coming off a bit as sales ended up putting the series into the famous plastic bags three a time. Another indicator is a different artist on the twenty-fifth issue. Senio Pratesi gives us another version of the Phantom in this story titled "The Cold Fire Worshippers" in which two gangs work together to enslave a tribe to get their diamonds. This is a reprint of an Italian story and there are some plot elements already underway when we begin this one. 

But still and all good stuff was being produced such as my favorite Phantom cover from the run seen above. "The Lost City of Yiango" sees the return of Bill Lignanate and once again the Phantom is working overtime to keep the trust of the local tribes when an idol in his keeping turns out to be a fake. The switch happened a generation earlier with is dad, but still our Phantom must find a solution. "The Pearl Raiders" sees the Phantom take on a disguise to find the thieves who have made off with the Black Pearl of Bengali. 

The Phantom was never bad in any real sense while King Features guided its destiny, but alas neither did it rise up and distinguish itself in any particular way. But they forged ahead with the origin of the Phantom's trusty steed in "The Story of Hero". Actually, Hero is hardly in this yarn after he saves Diana Palmer, and we learn what mission concerning the kidnapping of a royal heir the Phantom undertook which upon its success saw him gifted the valiant horse. 

The King Comics Phantom run ends with issue twenty-eight and the story "Diana's Deadly Tour" in which the lovely Miss Palmer finds herself the unknowing aid to spies trying to smuggle out secret rocket plans. "The Big Fight" wraps up the issue when the vain boxing champ gets humbled by the Ghost Who Walks. This is a good place to remind you that the covers of the King books didn't have much to do with the interiors. But some of them are quite dramatic. 

We also get four four-page Phantom stories used as back-ups in the pages of the first four issues of Mandrake the Magician. The stories are "SOS Phantom" about jungle drums used to save the day, "The River Pirates" where those same drums bring to justice some easily spooked villains, "The Magic Ivory Cage" bout just that which is used to try and capture the Phantom, and "The Girl Phanton" in which Julie uses her wits to stop a local slaver. All of these tales are drawn by Bill Lignante. 

These are good Phantom stories, perfectly fine, but not great ones for the most part. That would come later of all places at Charlton Comics. More on that next time. 

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Atlas-Seaboard Comics - February 1975!

WULF THE BARBARIAN is clearly a blend of Tolkien, Burroughs, and Howard with snippets of other folks tossed in. Wulf is the obligatory orphaned prince cared for and trained by the master-warrior Stavros Dar Kovin, loyal warrior to the slain king and queen. The arch-villain glimpsed only through magical lenses is suitably mysterious and vile using Trolls to do his evil bidding. The story is the brainchild of Larry Hama who both writes and draws the story with effective Klaus Jansen inks. The first story sets up our hero nicely, and sets the stage for many future conflicts. The use of flashbacks to tell the saga works very well in this effective comic book. The cover by Dick Giordano is another beauty!

THE BRUTE is Atlas-Seaboard's homage/swipe of Marvel's the Hulk. A blue sometimes-giant caveman murders and suchlike, but the general idea of a off-colored wildman is communicated. The story (as I've stated in another post) is ripped off from the movie Trog and if any cared enough, legal action would likely yield a result for the filmmakers. Mike Fleisher scripts this exceedingly well drawn Mike Sekowsky-Pablo Marcos effort. The Brute is a better story than it has any right to be, and that Dick Giordano cover is magnificent. Now if they could only figure out just how big the Brute is supposed to be.

MORLOCK 2001 is a sci-fi epic set in (gasp) 2001 by Fleisher and Al Milgrom with Jack Abel inks. Morlock (named of course for the H.G.Wells monsters from The Time Machine...somewhat illogically) is a plant creature who can transform into a humanoid, or is it the other way around. His scientist creator is killed by the oppressive and tyrannical government clearly ripped off from 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. These "Big Brother" types try to control Morlock with all sorts of schemes but it all comes to naught and the plantman is loose by story's end. There is clearly a desire to tap into the muck-monster success of Man-Thing and Swamp Thing with this book. It's a clever mishmash. The cover by Al Milgrom and Dick Giordano seems is deceptive as it offers both versions of Morlock in seeming opposition.

PLANET OF VAMPIRES is another sci-fi effort, this time by Larry Hama and Pat Broderick with Frank McLaughlin inks. The cover by Broderick and Neal Adams is considered the best in the entire line by many folks. It is a dandy! The story is part Planet of the Apes and part I Am Legend, as five astronauts return to Earth after being away to the planet Mars for five years. Ironically, they launched the flight this very year...2005...and returned to a destroyed Earth in 2010. The Earth is overrun with gangs of what appeared to be bikers sans bikes, and there are also high-tech vampires who live in a dome built around the Empire State Building. They ride around in the exceedingly poorly named "floaters" and there is general death and mayhem all around. By the story's end, the heroes (two married couples, one white and one black...with all the obligatory stereotyped dialogue sadly) are split up, and trying to deal with both the threats of the street gangs and the "vampires".

WEIRD SUSPENSE offers a real treat by Michael Fleisher and the exceedingly excellent Pat Boyette. TARANTULA is a monster spider-man of sorts who is an 11th generation European nobleman afflicted with a curse that transforms him into a "weird" (the title did not lie) humanoid-tarantula. In this debut, he and his butler Joseph are confronted with escaped killers who are quicly dispatched by the monstrous Count Lycosa. We also get the origin story by way of flashback, how the first Count Lycosa frustrated the plans of an evil Spider-Witch to transform the whole of a village into tarantulas, hence the curse. It's a quickly-paced monster adventure. Good comic with a better-than-average Dick Giordano cover. Though technically, this is a genre book, it reads more like one of the other self-titled features and so I include it here.

THE SCORPION is often picked by folks as the best Atlas-Seaboard book. It is a good one! Howard Chaykin is given free rein as he both writes and draws this debut adventure of a 1930's mercenary named "Moro Frost" who along with capable and lovely aide Miss Bishop take on cases of a peculiarly pulpish nature. Frost is not the hero's real name and we are clued in on the opening page that the Scorpion is a very long-lived fellow who has been different people at least since the heyday of the Civil War. There are lots of thugs, car chases, biplane derring-do and such as this story rolls along to a very violent and satisfactory conclusion.

THE DESTRUCTOR is the book that gets my vote for the best that Atlas-Seaboard had to offer. With true comics giants like Archie Goodwin on scripts, Steve Ditko on pencils, and Wally Wood on inks, this book is an instant classic. The familiar story has a few interesting twists, as a young boy gone bad works smalltime for the local gangs, and ignores the wisdom of his scientist father. The ganglord imagines the kid to be some kind of threat and orders him hit, but the father sacrifices himself to save the boy. Dying, the father gives the boy a potion that heals the boy's wounds and gives him superpowers of all sorts. The boy of course then realizes the errors of his ways and promptly promises revenge on the gangs. He finds a costume and the game's afoot. The book is full of great Ditko action, and features some lovely Wood finishes. A master-hitman named "Slaymaster" shows up, but the "Destructor" (always found that name a bit of a mouthful) wins out. By story's end the ganglord is killed by his own boys, and the Destructor is set up to continue his one-man war against organized crime. It's a good tight superhero story. A highlight of the Atlas-Seaboard run, there has been a lot suggested about this book being a response to Spider-Man and the parallels are pretty obvious, the most telling thing though is the presence of Spidey creator Ditko. This saga seems like vintage Ditko to me, and typical of his other work for Charlton and DC as well as Marvel. Good Ditko is good no matter where you find it. (Special note: This is the only mainline superhero title of the first wave edited by Larry Lieber, who edited all of the genre books as well...but more on those later.)

It's clear that Atlas-Seaboard desired to attack all the traditional genres of the comic book. They give us in February a horror-short anthology, a western, a crime drama, and a war book. These four along with somewhat genre-sounding Weird Suspense (edited by Jeff Rovin), make for a strong beachhead in the market. All of these books are edited by Larry Lieber by the way, and his touch is felt on many of the covers.

SAVAGE COMBAT TALES offers us SGT. STRIKER'S DEATH SQUAD. This story offers us a somewhat pacifistic hero who is reluctant to kill despite being in a very hostile war zone. Striker is a sensitive fellow who must not look out for himself but his beloved's brother Andy. Of course Andy gets killed, and guilt-ridden Striker finds himself fitted with a battlefield promotion to sergeant and soon finds himself a squad of soldiers/prisoners. These four ethnically diverse fellows hearken back at once to not only the Howlers and Easy Company, but also to the Dirty Dozen. There is the stereotyped asian who of course can effectively use martial arts, a large bald wrestler type, a curly-haired acrobat, and a vaguely Italianesque former gangster and seeming hitman. These five joined, form an effective fighting team, and are capably drawn by Al McWilliams and despite a lack of logical credits written by Archie Goodwin. The Squad will have to wait for issue #2 to get their formal name as "Death Squad". The second offering is a war short story and gives us the destiny of a selfish pilot who is in it for the "bounty" he gets on opposing aircraft. The story gives us a somewhat predictable twist ending, but does feature some better-than-average Jack Sparling artwork.

POLICE ACTION gives us two very different crime adventures. LOMAX is a member of the NYPD and he is very much a Dirty Harry wannabe, as he tears up the criminal element with his singularly violent policing techniques. The story by Jack Younger and Mike Sekowsky has very much a TV-detective feel to it, and reads smoothly if without many surprises. The second feature in the book is a real gem, LUKE MALONE is the work of Mike Ploog (former Will Eisner assistant who shows his talent to great effect here) and the story is a vintage noir story of a hard-boiled dick with a heart of if-not-gold-then-maybe-bronze. There is a real mystery here, and it unfolds neatly as the story winds its way through some dark alleys and up some very atmospheric streets. Frank Springer offers inks, and as good as they are, I wish Ploog had inked himself on this. It would be a masterpiece.

TALES OF EVIL is a typical fright book with three short stories each offering some twist right out of the old EC playbook. Two stories are very nicely drawn by Jerry Grandenetti and the middle story is done by Mike Sekowsky with some very indiffernt inking. The first two stories are written by Russ Jones and the last one by Jack Younger. The Grandenetti story that opens the book is the highlight and offers a story clearly inspired by the Exorcist as a young girl is possessed by a demon and goes about destroying her family. The second offering is a strange story about werewolves and hair tonics; not the best horror story I've ever read. Jones is one for two in this book so far. The final story features a neatly frightened protagonist who ends up being a singularly inept vampire slayer. All in all Tales of Evil is a decent effort but nothing to get terribly excited by or be afraid of. The book will undergo substantial change with its second issue. One thing about this book though, is as bad as the werewolf story is inside it, the cover by Lieber has always been one of my favorite werewolf images. It's a keeper!

WESTERN ACTION offers two features. The cover is an arresting image by veteran western artist and Atlas editor Larry Lieber. It features KID CODY GUNFIGHTER and is a very successful image in my opinion. The Kid Story is written by Lieber, but drawn by the magnificent Doug Wildey. The only problem here is that Wildey's ultra-realistic western images clash somewhat with the more modern kinetic story of Kid Cody. It's a quibble on what is a very good western origin full of the usual revenge stuff. Wildey's western work is famous, as we'd later learn in Rio, but I remember from superb reprints of Outlaw Kid. The second feature in this book is COMMANCHE KID. This better-than-average story is written by Steve Skeates but sadly is not helped by adequate but somewhat inappropriate Al Milgrom pencils. I like Milgrom, but this strip wasn't his cup of tea. Commanche Kid is the cliche white boy raised by Native Americans who grows up to be the run-of-the-mill man-with-no-country type. He wanders the west helping folks and whatnot. There's some decent characterization, and maybe it's the fact the story has to compete with the Wildey magic in the first part, but it's always seemed an oddball effort. The one notable thing about Western Action though is that despite its prominent debut, it becomes the first color Atlas-Seaboard comic to get the axe. Issue #1 was the one and only issue of this pretty good western comic book.

Special Note: VICKI also debuted with a February date and this reprint of the old TIPPY TEEN stories are still entertaining. They reprint those old Tower stories in their totality save for re-lettering Tippy's name as "Vicki" when necessary. One time they messed up and left "Tippy" in one of the balloons. I only have the first issue of this series, but it's unusual too in that it's square-bound and sells for twenty-five cents. Maybe that's why I didn't get anymore!

More Atlas-Seaboard to come in March. 

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Februarius!

This month will spend a lot of time visiting some of the most fascinating territories in popular literature. We will be spending quite a bit of time on Skull Island, the remote and time-lost land where the "Eighth Wonder of the World" the mighty King Kong ruled with savage violence. In addition to other aspects, I'll focus on the additions made to the sprawling Kong saga by Joe DeVito and his co-writer Brad Strickland. These two operating from the base of the Lovelace novelization which rights are owned by Merrian Cooper's estate rewrote the original story and then proceeded to give us both a sequel and a prequel. That's been adapted and revised more than a few times over the last twenty years. I want to dig into these as well as other aspects of the first great giant monster. You only think you know what Skull Island was all about until you enter the "DeVitoverse". 

Then we switch from Skull Island to the Skull Cave as it's into the Deep Woods of Lee Falk's Ghost Who Walks. Expect the Phantom to stay with us both in comic book and novel formats. This month will see a peek at the comic when King Features took it over as well as when Charlton Comics picked up the venerable property.  

My strange and wonderful trip through the strange and wonderful land of OZ continues as well. I'm long overdue to read these charming classics from the beginning of the previous century. Dorothy Gale returns to OZ and meets the newly crowned Ozma of OZ. 

The Dojo will continue to tour the fascinating boroughs of Astro City, the remarkable comics world in which we meet new superheroes as well as those folks around them as understood by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, and Alex Ross. The MetroBook reprints are great ways to revisit these lush and highly personal stories. 

Then it's on to Metropolis U.S.A., that greatest imaginary American city in comics protected by the "Man of Steel". There's some action planned for later in the month for the "Son of Krypton". I've a hoard of Superman collections around here and it is high time I dug into some of them. 

All that and lots of other oddball places and Bronson Canyon as well. February is a short month, but a busy one all the same. You might think you cannot come back and see but you must. 

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