Measure Of A Man!

That's a pretty dang good splash page by Don Heck and Frank McLaughlin.

For many years Hawkeye was my favorite Avenger, and arguably my favorite superhero. It was for two reasons really, his entertainingly abrasive personality and the fact that he was in fact decidedly not a "super" hero. Hawkeye was a man among gods having to wade into battle against the likes of Kang the Conqueror, the Collector, Ultron, and Doctor Doom minus the advantages of Thor, the Vision, Giant-Man, or even Captain America. Hawkeye was a guy who had his guts and his wits and his skills. Pretty admirable stuff, but sadly Clint Barton never seemed to think so as he was always trying to redefine himself. One of those periods of redefinition put him into the infamous costume above.

He didn't wear it long though as it turned out.

Hawkeye began as a baddie, admittedly not a very devoted one. He fell in love with the Black Widow and she led him astray. He quickly recovered and became one of Cap's "Kooky Quartet".

But he always seemed to feel he lived in the shadow of his fellow Avengers, so he decided to cast a larger shadow himself. To that end he adopted the role of "Goliath" which at the time had been dropped by Hank Pym in favor of the roguish Yellowjacket persona.

Clint was Goliath for several years until during the infamous Kree-Skrull War he found himself alone and his strength failing. He returned to his old ways, and rediscovered his skills as the best bowman in the world.

He returned to the Avengers with the old bravado but some decidedly weird looking rags. The costume seemed decidedly minimal as rendered by Barry Smith.

Rich Buckler seemed to do better with it, but it was a lost cause and as we saw above, by the time Hawkeye again left the Assemblage, he was back in his classic costume.

But that basic look never was a sleek and handsome as when Don Heck drew it in a few issues of the run. Heck's rendition even rated a cover in this French version of the comic. Not bad looking at all here.

But I still like the classic Hawkeye, and I'm glad to see that in the upcoming movie they have made him look a little bit more like the vintage hero.

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There's Johnny!

As a fledgling Marvel fanboy in the late 60's, I had not true understanding of what greatness was actually, only a glimmer. So when I was presented with the completely smooth and professional but somewhat sedate work of one Johnny Craig, I might not have fully appreciated its pedigree.

I landed on Iron Man in full force with the fifth issue, but I'd seen a story here and there and I had seen the name Johnny Craig listed as an inker. He even made the photo gallery of the Bullpen in a Fantastic Four annual, so I knew he was a quiet-seeming handsome fellow.

Craig was the inker of record for the debut issue of Iron Man's comic over Gene Colan's pencil art, which lifted off from the pages of Tales of Suspense. Craig had gotten the Shellhead gig with the final issue of that magazine before it converted to Captain America.

But with the second issue, he was doing the whole shebang. He was penciller and inker and cover artist for the second issue of Iron Man.

And he kept that role until the fourth issue, offering up some atmospheric adventures. 

With the fifth issue though he back on inks, over the somewhat more dynamic pencils of George Tuska. There's no denying that Craig's work lacked the punch of Tuska and other Bullpen artists of the time, but his skills were evident. Apparently he was also quite slow, too slow to be trusted with a full-time monthly gig as a penciller, so he became a regular inker on Iron Man and other books over the years.

He came back to doing full art chores on the fourteenth issue of Iron Man and again a year or so later on the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth issues, the former featuring inks by Tuska in a reversal of their traditional roles.

Craig soon enough disappeared from the pages of Marvel, but eventually I figured out who he was and how influential he'd been years before at a little company called EC Comics, and came treasure the craft of those early Iron Man issues. He might've lacked the pop Marvel was looking for as they tried to evoke the Kirby style on book after book, but there's no denying he laid down some handsome pages.

Yesterday was Johnny Craig's birthday and today is George Tuska's. Both men have left us, but their art remains, as effective as it ever was.

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The Black Gang!

The Black Gang is the second Bulldog Drummond adventure and once again pits the British strongman against his arch enemy Carl Peterson.

I'm loathe to say too much about the details of this story as some mild surprises are in store in the early stages. Suffice it to say that Britain is under assault from a concerted Communist threat as the enemies of Capitalism use a host of provocateurs and anarchists to stir up trouble in the the working community, threatening the status quo.

Against this threat rises the equally mysterious and equally violent "Black Gang" so named because the dress from head to to in black robes. These mysterious agents descend on the threats to the British welfare and exact punishment, whisking away the offenders to some mysterious site.

Bulldog Drummond is called in to investigate this threat and quickly becomes embroiled with traitors and thugs and hunchbacked bombers. His adventure soon involves Carl Peterson and his beautiful companion Irma as well as Drummond's wife Phyllis.

This is another wonderfully briskly paced adventure that hums along powered by both its charm, wit, and polish. A reader though must be cautioned that the narrative is rife with some pretty rough ethnic slurs, especially some Anti-Semitic ones. Not unlike Sax Rohmer's work, the plight of civilized white society is the focus of the hair-raising events.

Highly recommended.

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Stuntman - Split-Second Action Take Three!

The third issue of Stuntman came out and it didn't. The series was cancelled with the second issue, but a third was published (sort of) in black and white and mailed out to subscribers. That issue featured one sole Stuntman story. The original unused cover art can be seen in the ad above and in a revised form as the cover for Joe Simon's The Comic Book Makers.

"Rest Camp for Criminals" begins with the Stuntman gang of Don Daring, Sandra Sylvan and Fred Drake doing research on the old west for a possible script. They are looking particular for a story about the scar-faced outlaw Windy Hill who supposedly lived in a town called Roaring Gulch. The gang head there for more details not knowing that the near ghost town is actually a rehab for mobsters who have lost their edge and need some re-training to become functioning thugs once again. But soon enough they stumble on the truth and Stuntman (Fred Drake) must don his costume and save the day with wild fisticuffs.

This story was ultimately published in color in the thirty-ninth issue of  Harvey's Green Hornet Fights Crime.

Harvey also published another remaining Stuntman story in the thirteenth  issue of All-New Comics.

"The Diamond's Curse" begins with Fred Drake, Don Daring, and Sandra Sylvan all at a party at the home of Adele Hoppat who famously owns the "Hoppat Diamond" and is having the party to celebrate the completion of her fancy new fish pond. But villains are in the shadows and soon robbery is afoot as Stuntman dons his costume to rescue Sandra who was kidnapped by the thugs as they attempted to speed away by car. He does so, but a ferocious crash kills the hoodlums and despite that the diamond still is missing. Don Daring investigates of course and suspects Banker Burns to whom Hoppat owes a great deal of money. The fish pond becomes an item of interest and when Sandra naively catches a rare fish for dinner the diamond turns up in its stomach. But things are not what they seem still and Stuntman must still make an appearance to save the day.

A fourth issue of Stuntman must have been underway since so much artwork exists of unpublished stories. The art above appears to a cover for issue four (some sources say the second issue), but the story doesn't seem to connect any existing material.

Some of the greatest and most tantalizing Stuntman artwork was discovered in 1980 and existed for many years only in the personal collection of Joe Simon. One example is this utterly fantastic two-page spread for a story featuring "The Panda". Love to have read that one.

Here's an ad with a smidgeon more on the character. 

Likewise this story titled "The Evil Sons of M. LeBlanc" seemed exciting. Looks like some great derring-do by the whole Stuntman gang.

This artwork (in magnificent color) made the cut into the Titan reprint volume which I've been using for these reviews. Likewise is complete but largely un-inked unpublished story "Stuntman Crowns a Jungle Lord" to the African jungle to film a movie. They quickly run up against dangerous cannibals but press ahead nonetheless. The film is not successful because of Don Daring's less than convincing portrayal and the antics of Ozzie Meeker who wants the role for himself. Ultimately Stuntman must put in an appearance to fend off dangerous African animals including a leopard and a gorilla.

There is one more Stuntman tale that got published, a two-page text piece which showed up without notice or fanfare in, of all places, the ninth issue of the highly successful Joe Palooka comic. Not at all sure who the author might've been. I suspect it was not Joe Simon nor was it Jack Kirby.

And that was that.

Stuntman, for all his brief glory has long taken his place among the great creations of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby -- the only costumed hero they created for an entire decade, from 1942 (Golden Guardian) to 1953 (Captain 3-D). The lighthearted tone of the stories offers a nice reprieve from the density of many of comics great characters who are often dealing with mighty weighty things. Simon and Kirby characters smile an awful lot, showing that while they are most often dealing with danger they nonetheless enjoy the thrills and life itself. A good lesson for us all, fight the good fight, but don't forget to grin from time to time.

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Justice Swiped!

While I likely am not going to be getting this Justice Inc. series, I might pick up the debut issue sporting this delightful Alex Ross swipe of Joe Kubert's exceedingly memorable cover for the "1st Sensational Issue!" of DC's brief but potent attempt to put Street and Smith's The Avenger into comics form.

Justice Inc. was written by Denny O'Neil and drawn by the Jack "King" Kirby, something the powers at DC weren't interested in hyping at this time. Oy vey.

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Nighthawks Of Riverdale!

I adore this modern interpretation of Edward Hopper's classic "Nighthawks", one of my favorite pieces of fine art. The Riverdale gang are pop culture icons, ideally suited to blend with Hopper's famous tableau.

Ironically, or perhaps not,"Nighthawks" was painted in 1942 and Archie Andrews first saw publication in Pep Comics #22 in 1941, so both instantly recognizable creations are of the same era.

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Super Funds!

It's Earth Day, and naturally the first thing which pops into my comic-soaked consciousness was Joe Simon's offbeat blend of Richie Rich and the Newsboy Legion, dubbed in their one and only Bronze Age appearance "The Green Team".

These are four teenage millionaires who wear trippy jumpsuits filled with cash and fly the globe looking for thrills which will apparently momentarily dissolve the ennui which dominates their existences. These jet-setting one-percenters are every boy's dream and their superpower is cold hard cash.

In the face of the many hard-scrabble boy teams Joe Simon concocted with his once-upon-a-time partner Jack Kirby, these millionaire mopes are hard to love. Lacking the brashness which attaches to upstarts like the Newsboy Legion's Gabby or the Boy Commandos' Brooklyn, this team is a gaggle of over-soaked haves who evoke no sympathy and precious little empathy.

Ironically the Green Team debuted in the second issue of the awkwardly named "First Issue Special", which in its sixth issue featured The Dingbats of Danger Street, another kid gang by Simon's former partner Kirby, but this gang was much more in keeping with the classic street urchin model.

It's not fair of course to hate the Green Teamers for their money, that would be just plain jealousy. But it's hard to root for these overdogs, and that's just the way it is. I have a general rule to never feel sorry for millionaires. They of course have many if not most of the problems the vast majority of mankind faces, but then they have at least a million dollars to help them cope with it, so there.

The book was drawn by the great Jerry Grandenetti. I love his work, so that's something. 

How's that for an uplifting environmental message? Ah well, maybe next year.

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