Classics Illustrated - A Cultural History!

I have been trying to fit this post in all year. It's been kicked forward month after month, ever since January. I thought it apt that finally I close out 2024 with this reflection on some great vintage comic books. 

Classics Illustrated was once upon a time a noble staple of comics. They were comics you could read in public without drawing down the scorn of the adult class, books that while dry and often dull were nonetheless comics in a world which was not overripe in such bounty. In Classics Illustrated - A Cultural History we get a rigorous telling of the origins and of the development of this distinguished brand even down to the modern day. I have to confess, much more went into the development of these vintage classics than I imagined, and they were held in high regard by those who produced them. Unlike many comics produced for the mass market quickly and cheaply, these were husbanded into creation by some stern editors over the decades. 

Some of the Classics Illustrated books were exceedingly well drawn (The Three Musketeers for instance) and others hold up less well over the decades. But behind their staid painted covers, all had the cache of being acceptable to the general populace, but still with the slight aroma of cheating the system. Enjoy some of my favorite covers from this venerable run. (I've also included when available the original non-painted covers for many of these.)

That wraps up 2024. See you tomorrow in 2025!

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The Cinema Of Narnia!

After the pioneering blockbuster success of The Lord of the Rings, studios were itching for a piece of the epic fantasy pie. One property that immediately came to the mind of any fan of Tolkien was the tale of Narnia by his friend and colleague C.S. Lewis. In 2005 we got The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe from Disney. What annoys me more than a little is that in the expansive supplemental documentaries and such not a single person indicates the success of the Peter Jackson movies as the impetus for this movie. What's more they act like filming in New Zealand was difficult but par for the course. It's a small thing, but it annoyed me. 

That said, I really enjoy The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as directed by Andrew Adamson. It's at once true to the books and still manages to give the viewer a splendid fantasy epic with more actual violence than I'm sure Lewis would've been comfortable showcasing. In books fights can seem ephemeral whereas the lead up to them is crucial. In film we got to see it and we do here. Peter (William Mosely), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmond (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley) are on hand to face off against the White Witch. I cannot take my eyes of Swinton in this role, in which she does what many a movie villain does, and that's steal the show. As good as the animated Aslan is with voice by Liam Neeson no less, this becomes Swinton's movie from the moment she slides up in her demon sleigh. The only real visual competitions she has are those magnificent centaurs who battle on the side of good. This is a heart-warming movie with a message, but it's a pretty decent actioner as well. 

The same crew go at it again in the sequel Prince Caspian. Ben Barnes plays the title role of the displaced prince of Narnia who flees for his life when he becomes superfluous to the tyrant Miraz, leader of the Telmarines, when his actual son is born. This one is pretty dang violent for a movie of this kind. Again, the target audience are those Tolkien fans looking for something between hits of Jackson epics. Our original four are back and after years as kings and queens in Narnia they come with kills. Despite youthful bodies they seem to have retained all the muscle memory they had in Narnia as adults. Peter Dinklage is on hand as Trumpkin the dwarf who seeks the lost kings and queens but doubts their ability to help. Warwick Davis is Nikabrik, a dwarf who has a hard time letting go of the past. Eddie Izzard gives voice to Reepicheep, the mouse with a sword. All the parts are here and they work well, but again this movie owes much of his structure and even some key scenes to the Rings movies. I'm not complaining, but I just wish they'd own it. 

The series gets kicked to the curb by Disney before the third in this trilogy hits the screen. It's up to 20th Century Fox to step in to bring us The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The scope seems smaller for this one than the previous films. It necessarily reminds me of all those Sinbad movies which were great B movie fun, but this is a flicker which has an A movie pedigree. Edmond and Lucy return to Narnia and join Caspian aboard the Dawn Treader to find seven lost lords who fled Narnia when the Telmarines invaded so many years before. They are joined on his adventure by their cousin Eusace (Will Poulter, who does a great job) and Simon Pegg steps in to voice Reepicheep. This one gets a new director in Michale Apted and a screenplay which diverges from the original story in several ways. Some magical hoodoo is added about seven swords and a curse which is attacking all of Narnia if left unchecked. The bits and bobs are mostly here, but the overarching quest for something greater than themselves gets actively muddled. I'm glad this one got made, but I wish it had been a wee bit better. 

And that wraps up my two-month long overview of The Chronicles of Narnia. It's been a treat diving into the Lewis mythology again after decades away from the books and years away from the films. The Narnian books are advertised as children's classics and they are, but there's plenty of richness for any adult to savor in these admittedly somewhat overly reverent yarns. 

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The Television Of Narnia!

Before the big-budget Disney efforts to adapt the Narnia tales, the BBC did its own little take over a decade before. As was to be expected they began with a sprawling adaptation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in 1988. It's a devoted adaptation of the story, following the storyline closely and spanned six episodes. There is some clever use of puppetry to bring Aslan to life and he's given a very reflective and thoughtful but authoritative voice by Ronald Pickup. Barbara Kellerman is outstanding in a bravura performance as the White Witch. When she got mad, she made me wince a time or two. Core to adapting these stories is casting the children and this got it right. The young man who played Edmund (Jonathan Scott) in particular made the most of his role and Peter (Richard Dempsey), Susan (Sophie Cook), and Lucy (Sophie Wilcox) are all quite good. There is some animation used in addition to the costume work to bring the Narnian creatures to life, and one might just have to accept this collision of styles or it's going to ruin this effort for you. There's a gentleness to this production, as if they know they are handling precious materials. 

The next BBC effort was to adapt both the novels Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 1989 and between them also offered up six episodes. While discrete efforts technically, these are really two halves of a single story, featuring Caspian. When we first meet him of course he's but a boy unaware of the truth about his family, but who with the help of Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy is able to lead the Narnians to victory over an invading force which had occupied the country for many years. The highlights of these efforts are nearly all in the Dawn Treader section, which gives the viewer some crackerjack sea adventure. Warwick Davis is on hand as the gallant mouse Reepicheep in both stories. Caspian is a flawed man as King and while he is driven by a desire to do good, often falls victim to other desire. The introduction of Eustace (David Thwaites) and his constant complaining adds a real spice to that part of the tale. The young actor really gets a chance to annoy. His turn as a dragon is well wrought as well given the limits of the era. 

The BBC effort closes out in 1990 with another six episodes adapting The Silver Chair. Eustace is back and welcomes a new character in Jill Pole (Camilla Power). These two are whisked into Narnia and given a tough mission to find the missing heir of King Caspian -- one Prince Rilian. They find an ally in Puddleglum, a dour chap played delightfully by Tom Baker. Barbara Kellerman returns as another evil witch character, this one operating underground. Warwick Davis is on hand again, this time as an owl named Gilmfeather. This adaptation is true to the book save where they opt to juice up the ending a bit.

(Aslan and Friends)

All three of these efforts run over eight hours and adapt four of the seven novels. I wish they'd done them all, but really the last three novels are all mostly insertions or nifty brackets for the stories which are told. They are oddly apart from these core stories. 

More adaptations of Narnia later today. 

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The Last Battle!

The Last Battle is the seventh and final installment of The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and was first published in 1956. As all the others had been, this one was illustrated by Pauline Baynes. Lewis starts this story in a strange place, a quiet section of Narnia where we encounter Shift a talking ape and Puzzle a talking donkey. Shift dominates Puzzle and takes advantage of him. When a lion's hide ends up in his mitts, he concocts a scheme to have Puzzle pretend to be Aslan. The creatures of Narnia have not seen Aslan for many years and if you keep him at a distance and in the shadows, he almost resembles the great Lion who created Narnia. 

The plot works all too well as Shift uses men from Calormen to enslave the Narnian talking beasts and use them for his own enrichment and comfort. Key portions of the Narnian forests are cut down, slaying the dryads who embody them. When King Tirian becomes aware of this sacrilege, he and his ally Jewel the Unicorn slay two Calormenes in haste. Not realizing the true nature of the threat to Narnia they surrender themselves to Shift's forces and Tirian at long last begins to suspect the truth and his error. He remembers how in times past children from another world came to Narnia in times of extreme strife and calls out. He breaks through and in answer to his summons, Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole arrive back in Narnia. 

The arrival of Eustace and Jill give Tirian support after freeing him. They rally in a stocked tower and pretending to be the enemy head back into the camp where they free Jewel and discover Puzzle. Tirian learns that the trust in the long unseen Aslan has weakened and potential allies in the fight, even after learning the truth about Shift and his schemes reveal they no longer wish to serve Aslan as well. Even more devastating news rocks our group when they learn of a full-force invasion by Calormen which has sundered the Narnian forces in the capitol of Cair Paravel. That only prepares our heroes for the final battle which extends further than they can imagine. 

The Last Battle shows us a Narnia of talking magical creatures who have lost touch with their origins. The underlying truth of their existence is confused by the introduction of an ape's story. The analogy Lewis wishes to draw with modern Christianity couldn't be clearer. This wrap up to the saga does what I suppose Lewis wanted, but it does get more than a tad intentional preachy in the ending. That said, there are a few shocks and even a disappointment for the reader as well. These books are worth the time. 

Tomorrow, I take a glimpse at the sundry film and television adaptations of these tales of Narnia. It's a double-header so come prepared.  

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A Frazetta Hoard!

Frank Frazetta was "The Man" when it came to fantasy paperback covers. There are many great artists who plied their trade this way, but Frazetta rose above the outstanding heard with images that seared into the imaginations of the folks who chanced upon them. He redefined Conan, he elevated Tarzan, and he gave us so many covers which are much better than the books they adorn. That said Frazetta Book Cover Art - Complete Collection Definitive Reference from Vanguard is an absolute trove of his mightiest work presented in its original environment. 

They followed that with the more recent Frazetta - World's Best Comics Cover Artist - Complete Collection Definitive Reference. This book is less impressive than the first, but it is still filled with some of the greatest of the classic images from artist. We are so familiar with Frazetta's horror work, it's nice to see other aspects get coverage. One is that several images were taken out of this book at the request of the Frazetta kids. It leaves several pages blank. 

I added The Fantastic Paintings of Frazetta also, but I must confess to being less than completely impressed. For one thing, the number of paintings included is smaller than I expected are presented in ways which make them difficult to savor thoroughly. We are given close-ups which add little but absorb valuable space in the volume. Frankly, I got the feeling this one was intentionally lean on works to create the greater need for sequels. 

I have long had in my collection the four-part series from Ballantine Books which published the vast majority of Frazetta's paintings at that time. I found the presentation in these Ballantine volumes superior to what Vanguard did with their book. 

It's difficult to resist a book called The Sensuous Frazetta, given how sexy so much of his art is by its very nature. This gives us a good look at all those statuesque dames he drew and painted, as well a choice selection of comics stories. This book has a number of bodacious insights into Frazetta's early career both outside comics and within. 

I've had a low-rent copy of ACG's Johnny Comet book for a long time and so I am familiar with the series. But seeing the work on better paper, with better printing in close to its original format was game-changing for me. This is a sleek handsome comic series, and it's not hard to see where Dave Stevens got some of his inspiration. Can't wait to jump in. 

And White Indian is new to me. I took the chance and was much impressed with these stories. Other works are included, but while such work is far from PC in the world of today, it still appears to make a rousing comic. Looking forward to reading these in the new year. 

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The Sound Of Thun'da!

Thun'da King of the Congo #1 has the distinction of apparently being the only full-length comic book illustrated by Frank Frazetta. He is credited with creating Thun'da though the scripts are by Gardner Fox. Frazetta left the comic after a single issue because editorial demanded he move Thun'da from a savage "Lost World" filled with prehistoric beasts to the relatively mundane jungle of the then modern Congo. Instead of a Burroughsian fantasy hero in the mold of David Innes, they wanted yet another Tarzan knock-off. The debut cover is a classic. 

They got what they wanted in subsequent five issues illustrated by reliable comics journeyman Bob Powell. 

Thun'da King of the Congo even went on to become a movie serial starring Buster Crabbe. But there was this one issue by Frazetta. 

The first story by writer Gardner Fox and artist Frazetta is titled "King of the Lost Lands", and it tells of how during WWII Roger Drum an aviator crashes his supply plane inside the mysterious regions of Africa. 

(Thun'da Model Sheet)

He finds a "lost world" filled with beast men and dinosaurs. He battles furiously to survive but eventually goes native and is soon dubbed "Thun'da" by the Valley People and the beautiful Phra. Presumably the name is a result of the boom his gun made as he fired his last bullets to kill a giant snake. This is a rugged story told at a rapid clip and features some fantastic Frazetta imagery. To read "King of the Lost Lands" go here. 

Here are the three remaining Frazetta Thun'da stories with links so you can read the entire thing. 

The second story is titled "The Monsters from the Mists!" and this yarn finds Thun'da fighting monkeymen who have tamed shaggy mammoths. Protecting the lovely Phra Thun'da battles against the apemen, killing thier leader and escaping their lair to lead a counterattack using fire against the enemy by uniting the tribes of the valley. To enjoy "The Monsters from the Mists" check out this link. 

The third story titled "When the Earth Shook" pits Thun'da and Phra alongside a sabretooth tiger named Sabre. Thun'da killed its parent and raises the beast as his companion. An earthquake opens the lost land up and a white hunter and his black bearers find their way into the valley. They take Thun'da captive and threaten him to help them find gold. But he escapes, raises the natives and fights back. The outsiders try to take their gold, but another earthquake buries them and closes off the lost world.  To read "When the Earth Shook" visit this link. 

The fourth and final story "Gods of the Jungle" finds Thun'da operating in the Congo as yet another jungle hero. He battles against natives and white hunters, particularly two Soviet spies who use native superstition to build up a false monster-god. Thun'da reveals the deception and puts down this threat of the agitated and decived natives and the spies are turned over to the authorities. The last scene shows Thun'da, Phra and Sabre heading out into the veldt. To read "Gods of the Jungle" go here. 

(Dave Stevens Bettie Page cover evokes the Frazetta classic.)

(Austrian Reprint 1983)

(Dark Horse Reprint 2010)

(Fantagraphics Books Reprint 1987)

Outstanding stuff. It's a pity Frazetta couldn't do more and it's a pity his vision was snuffed out. I've read some of the Powell Thun'da stories in an AC reprint and they are fine but predictable and bland. Frazetta's Thun'da is dynamic and grim, if not always logical. Like the best of ERB, the Thun'da stories by Frazetta and Fox don't always makes complete sense, but they always carry you away.

In 2012 Dynamite Comics got their mitts on Thun'da and attempted to retell the story. We meet Thun'd all over again, this time he's a conflicted man with an unsavory past and he's plunked down into a world brimming with dinosaurs. The covers are by Jae Lee and they are handsome enough, with issue three having some real power. The series ran for five issues and was collected along with a complete reprint of the Frazetta classic. 

These subsequent Thun'da tales lack the potency of the Frazetta classics, but we already knew that. I imagine there might be Thun'da stories out there I'm ignorant of. Please let me know. 

More Frazetta tomorrow. 

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The Broken Sword!

I'm amazed it has taken me this long, most of my life as it turns out to finally read Poul Anderson's famous The Broken Sword. I thought I had read it once before, back in the 80's but soon after launching into it, I realized I was on untraveled ground. The power of this narrative is nigh magical. It captures you, snarls you in its spell and it's hard to put down. But then when you do, it's surprising how short a distance you've come. The story is exceedingly compressed, in the manner of myth which rolls out the narrative with relentlessness. 

The novel was first published in 1954, the same year that J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece The Lord of the Rings first began to hit the bookshelves with The Fellowship of the Ring For that reason, I gather Anderson's book has been hidden in that epic's shadow. Not because of any other reason surely as Anderson also gives us a tale full of brave warriors, elves, trolls, and other magical creatures. They are profoundly different from Tolkien's creations, filled with a brutality and violence which fills The Broken Sword. Anderson does a magnificent job of capturing that sense of fatalism which informs Icelandic sagas and other Nordic myth. We meet characters only to see them die a few paragraphs later, but rather we feel that we're being cheated of story we are immediately put onto another trail. The richness if this tale is potent. 

This is a Viking saga in which we meet a brutal man named Orm who seeks his own fame and fortune. He murders the family of a witch, and she curses him. He takes a wife Alefrida and has a son, but circumstances are such that an elf named Imric replaces the child with a changeling. The changeling is named Valgard. Imric names the boy Skafloc and raises him to be the best a human can be in the Elven way. Valgard's origins are such that he's an even more violent and brutal son for a violent and brutal man, and he feels apart from his supposed family. What roles this man and changeling play in the wars between elf and troll and to some small extent man makes up the story, as well as the great sin which forms its darkest center. These can be hard characters to like, but they are characters one can admire, if only on their own brutal terms. 

This is story I'm hesitant to discuss in too much detail, as it might spoil the potential excitement for new readers. And the purpose of this post is just that. I want to encourage everyone and anyone to read The Broken Sword. It's taken me far too long to savor this truly awesome tale and I want others to get to it as soon as possible. Michael Moorcock prefers Anderson's story to Tolkien's more famous tale, and I can see why at last, even if I do hold the latter in still high regard. Many aspects of Anderson's saga find a shape in Moorcock's expansive writings. It has been exciting to find a story I can get excited about, even after all these decades. 

It's been a while since I've read a book I didn't want end, while as at the same time I raced to the inevitable conclusion. Read The Broken Sword. 

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