Just Say Nazi!

I'm always a bit flabbergasted when any politician or public figure compares anyone or anything to the Nazis or Hitler. It never ever works out.

Even in these waning days of the "Greatest Generation" those defining World War II memories are too potent to invoke casually. To compare any modern figure to Hitler (as Hillary did recently with the unctious Vladimir Putin) is stupid. The comparison, even if technically apt, is so toxic and inflammatory by its very nature that any relative value is immediately blunted.

Both sides of the political stream in the United States seem to want to trawl these questionable waters from time to time, but you'd think after all the many times it has gone haywire for whomever evoked the long-dead name of the Fuhrer or his defunct evil regime, that pols would steer clear and dump this dopey comparison. Here are some prime examples.

The Nazis serve the world of fiction well as iconic villains, leaders and servants of a starkly vile philosophy and they should stay tucked away inside those fictional walls. We should never forget the horror of the camps, nor should we forget the courage and sacrifice of those who battled against this morally bankrupt power. But the Nazis are gone, part of history save for a few knuckleheads here and there who might ludicrously imagine themselves still a part of the movement. It's time to dump this misguided rhetorical flourish into the waste bin of history along with the vile regime it stupidly evokes.

For more on this dumb habit see this article about "Godwin's Law".  And below are some vintage comic book covers which give the infamous leader the respect he deserves.

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Dojo Daddy!

The Dojo would like to take a moment and wish a very happy birthday to Frank McLaughlin, the man who created Judomaster (along with uber-scribe Joe Gill) and whose deft clean line work graced all the wonderful Charlton issues of "The Scarlet Smasher's" run from its 1965 debut to its untimely demise in 1967. Frank was born in 1935 in Connecticut and after a stint in the army found his way at long last at Charlton where he toiled in production uncredited for many moons, eventually passing up becoming editor when Pat Masulli moved on up the chain. That job went to Dick Giordano and then came the "Action Heroes" and the creation of Judomaster, Thunderbolt, Peacemaker and so many others.

Eventually Frank went to Marvel for a short but memorable time and then to DC Comics where he became an inker par excellance and locked down the Justice League of America over Dick Dillin's pencils for many years among many other gigs. He also drew comic strips like Gil Thorp and DC's World's Greatest Heroes. Frank McLaughlin, Judomaster's "Daddy", is a rock-solid professional!

Happy Birthday Frank! The Dojo literally wouldn't exist without you.

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El Fantasma Del Espcacio!

I ran across this delightful Spanish language reprint of the one and only Gold Key Space Ghost comic book. This was published by Editorial Novaro in their long-running comic Domingos Allegres (which translates to "Cheerful Sunday"), a series which seems roughly equivalent to Dell's Four-Color series from years before.

Here's a good look at the vintage 1966 Gold Key original, a comic I added to my own collection only about a year ago now.

Below is a neat Spanish-language version of one of  El Fantasma Del Espacio's adventures, this one originally from an issue of Hanna-Barbera's Super TV Heroes.

And here's the cover of the Gold Key comic which featured the original English language story.

I adore Space Ghost, in whatever language I might discover him in.

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Kung Phooey!

Hong Kong Phooey is a frothy bit of 70's fun from the Hanna-Barbera house. Featuring the memorable voices of Scatman Crothers and Joe E. Ross, this somewhat different looking cartoon (thanks to its Oriential water color-style backgrounds) lasted one season for sixteen shows and thiry-one episodes. It's a fun send-up of the Kung-Fu craze sweeping the popular culture of the time in the form of Bruce Lee movies and the television show Kung-Fu. Wearing the classic red shirt like his comics cohort Shang-Chi, Hong Kong Phooey uses his super-powered "martial arts" as well as his gadgets which were part of his miraculous "Phooeymobile" to bring an array of wacky criminals to justice.

The character is a cartoon conundrum. He's a talking animal who operates in a human world without comment or question, not dissimilar to other Hanna-Barbera creations. He is a humble janitor named "Penry" who, when duty calls, secretly but dramatically transforms into "America's Super Guy", the crime-fighting Hong Kong Phooey. Originally called "Kung Phooey" his name was changed before his show debuted in 1974 for a single season of original episodes before running many years in rerun.

Hong Kong is surrounded by some memorable humans, in particular Sergeant Flint a blustery blowhard voiced by Joe E. Ross intentionally evoking his classic Car 54, Where are You? character. Also on hand is the very daffy and very sexy telephone dispatcher Rosemary, who wears some some awesome mini-skirts and has some utterly fantastic cartoon gams. His real secret weapon is his cat Spot who works tirelessly to save Hong Kong time and again from the dangerous situations he stumbles into.

As much fun as the cartoons were, the series did prompt a relatively brief two-year comic book run from Charlton Comics. Below is a gallery of the full run of Hong Kong Phooey comics from 1975 through 1976. Featuring covers by Paul Fung Jr. and others this comic captured the general flavor of the cartoon if not its delightful pacing.

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Young Love!

If mentioned names like John Romita, Don Heck, and Gene Colan you would quite logically think I'm about to discuss the wonders produced at the "House of Ideas", the domain of Stan "The Man" Lee who built Marvel Comics in part thanks to the talents I mentioned earlier. But I'm not.

Rather I'm going to discuss DC Comics which employed all of these talented and highly professional artists, but used them mostly on their successful romance comics.

I've been in a romantic mood lately. It must be true since I've been buying romance comics all over the place. I used some store credit to get a Showcase volume I've been looking at for quite a while since its publication in 2012. It's the volume dedicated to the earliest issues of DC's Young Love, a series they inherited from Prize Comics.

These are some handsome comics indeed. The stories aside, the art is lush and showcases truly professional storytellers, confident artists, but not yet having been mutated by demands to become more like Jack "King" Kirby. I'm far from an expert on romance comics, very far. But I do like looking at pretty dames and John Romita is expert at rendering those.

It's clear that Romita was the star artist of this series. He does almost all the covers seen below. Those he didn't do I've indicated. His artwork dominates the contents of most issues which feature the work of Heck early on and Colan a bit later. Also on hand are DC vets Mike Sekowsky and Jay Scott Pike among others.

I cannot share the lovely interiors of these comics, perhaps even more starkly beautiful in black and white. But I can share the covers. Enjoy.

Gene Colan and Dick Giordano

Jay Scott Pike

Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs

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