Mighty Samson Volume Three!

Mighty Samson had apparently proven to be a sturdy seller for Gold Key even after the loss of Frank Thorne as the artist. Jack Sparling was an artist from the Caniff school of drawing and that meant he made decent use of blacks to bring effect, but alas his creature design was wanting in many of the issues. It's easy to pick apart the science fiction aspects of the series, an atomic war which results in a ruined New York City which can still yield canned goods and working machinery wouldn't allow enough time to have passed for the profound mutations which run rampant on the land, in the sea, and in the air. Many of the mutated "monsters" are offbeat crossbreeds of types of animals which could never have mated in any capacity. But that is the whimsy of this world and paying too much heed to the requirements of science will only make the reader unhappy. The key is to revel in the splendid storytelling. 

The collection begins with the fifteenth issue in which Terra of Jerz returns yet again to make life difficult for Samson and company. But this time her scheme shows some savvy as she is attempting to introduced a coinage system which will make trade much easier just as currency does in this real world. Taking a page from the Roman Empire she makes sure her face is stamped on her new coins. Though this is arguably not an evil plan, Samson, Sharmaine and Mindor nonetheless uncover her cache of precious metals which turns out to be the United States Treasury in the center of New Y'ark, long abaondoned and forgotten by most. The weirdest creatures they battle is a some mole-like critter which can shoot out soapy suds. 

The next issue pits Samson and the gang against the "Gnarly Men" who live atop Radio City, isolated from the rest of New Y'ark by the self-contained tunnel system. These Gnarly Men made use of some powerful beasts to fend off Samson when goes there to protect his allies the Undermen who have been attacked by the Gnarly Men. There's a enormous gator and an actual fire-breathing dragon of sorts. 

Terra of Jerz returns again, this time bearing deadly seeds which create a range of plants meant to bring her enemies to their knees. Investigation proves that the seeds are from a vibrant agricultural society atop buildings in the lower east side of New Y'ark, and that the folks who produce a wide range of plant life are not threatening at all as long as those they deem "groundlings" stay away. Terra's schemes of course fall apart and it's up to Samson to save the day when she falls victim to her deadly plants. Perhaps the weirdest creature in this story is a thing called a "Bone Beast" which is a walking four-legged skeleton. 

Some of Sparling's most arresting work came in the story titled "The Winged Raiders" for the eighteenth issue. Winged men descend upon New Y'ark and one of them named "Hawkaar" cottons to Sharmaine in particular. So much so that he betrays his leader and tribe who live atop the distinctive  Chrysler Building. The blue skin of the flying people are vibrant and add some depth to Sparling's increasingly loose artwork. 

Otto Binder begins his last Mighty Samson story in issue nineteen and it begins right in the middle of the action as a tremendous flood has overtaken the broken down metropolis of N'Yark. Samson spends nearly all of this story apart from his friends Mindor and Sharmaine who are struggling to deal with the flood waters themselves. Rather Samson constructs a mighty raft capable of carrying hundreds of survivors. It's a fragile creation is subject to much pressure from creatures under the water and it takes all of Samson's might to keep it afloat. But his decision to look for Mindor and Sharmaine makes him unpopular and he is unceremoniously kick overboard. He does find his friends but the flood waters are still raging as the story ends. There is a terrific snafu in this one as an unmutated pelican is suggested to have batwings, but appears in Sparling's art to be normal. There's a ramshackle quality to both the art and the story frankly. 

Binder's final tale picks up where the last issue from 1969 left off and as the flood waters in New Y'ark still keep the populations in peril, a new threat shows up in the form of mermen led by a craven king named "Nephtoon". This underwater people have dammed the waters in such a way as to keep the flood high. The story is a little hard to follow frankly but there is much folderol above and below the waves before Samson is finally able to grab hold of King Nephtoon and hold him hostage against the rest of the underwater tribe giving up their designs on the city and the dams are undone. The city finally drains, but it is a muddy world indeed that Samson, Sharmaine and Mindor find themselves in as the saga concludes for many years to come. 

The twenty-first and twenty-second issues of the series reprint Mighty Samson seven and two respectively. It's a somber end to a series which had managed to cling to life for five years. But all was not done yet, though when the series would return alas Otto Binder would not be involved in any way. 

It would be five years until the next issue of Mighty Samson hit the comic racks and the most remarkable thing is the price hasn't changed. According to some source I read it was the success of the Star Trek comic which prompted Gold Key to revive some of their sci-fi properties and Mighty Samson got the nod. The twenty-third issue featured artwork by Jose Delbo, a seasoned veteran and writing by Jack Abel. I associate Abel more with his feathery inking style than writing, but his bring back of Samson is a reasonable success. Samson, Sharmaine and Mindor find a tribe of genetically blind people who are psychically able to find food who led by a wise old man about to die. Sharmaine seems to be elected to take his place but circumstances are such that his estranged brother who led another tribe takes up the mantle when differences are solved. The giant ant on the cover is invisible inside the comic but able to be seen by the infra-red sensitive people of the tribe. Samson and Sharmaine get a makeover due to her wishing it so and finding fabric to fashion new garments. Gone is Samson's lio-bear pelt and he now is sporting a more colorful vest and tunic. Sharmaine doffs her colorful costume but rewards the reader with hot pants. 

The writer of the last issue in this volume is unknown but Delbo is back on the art chores. George Wilson supplies the covers for all of the issues in this tome. The story this time showcases the future's look at Kung-Fu which was a fad in the 70's. Samson runs up against a potent fighter named "Chang" who is more skillful than Samson. The two are pitted against each other by the leader of this Asian tribe who turns out to be Terra of Jerz. But her dishonorable ways cause the tribe to reject her and Chang assumes the leadership. The flying shark is called an "Eagark" for heaven's sakes. 

These last two stories seems to have a less sweeping feel than the earlier 60's material which frankly was contradictory in the way it presented New Y'ark. The trio seem to be exploring the city and are not quite so prone to jump across country. It makes the stories more intimate and presumably a fuller and richer New Y'ark is being developed. But that remains to be seen in the fourth and final volume of Dark Horse's Mighty Samson which drops this same time next week. 

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Son Of Godzilla - The Criterion Colletion!

Imagine Christopher Lee's Dracula starring in Father Knows Best, or Mighty Joe Young on What's My Line? There are some venues which strike at the very essence of a character and undermine what that character represents. Alas such is the case with director Jun Fukuda's Son of Godzilla. Now I know that apparently they seemed to be running dry on  Godzilla ideas and that the target audience was skewing ever younger, but really. This is harmless movie that is as close to being about nothing as I can imagine. We have a hapless gaggle of sort of hapless scientists wanting to tinker with the weather (for the good of all mankind of course) and in the process irradiate the island they are on and make already horse-sized insects into literal block busters. Not to mention that aforementioned bugs (a bevy of praying mantises called "Kamacuras")  unearth an egg in which resides the titiular offspring. He's goofy as can be, and watching him wriggle and  doddle around seeking comfort from his parent, a literal engine of utter destruction, is a bit hard to process. There is a pretty girl, a Japanese Honey Wilder of sorts so that helps. 

The Godzilla in this flick has not much to do with any Godzilla who has come before. We see a creature with paternal instincts who likes to laze around napping while his kid nips at his talons. He rears up to fend off a deadly mantis here and there and ultimately takes on "Kumonga" a ginormous trapdoor spider.  They do have him show up early, in the first few minutes in fact, but it's not really for any specific purpose. (I suspect they were stung by criticism from the last one in which he was not seen for nearly an hour.)But as the movie ends, he's cuddling his kid as the artificially manufactured snow drifts down and covers them until the next flick arrives. 

Godzilla is presented here as a father figure of sorts and I guess his popularity made that seem like a great idea, with notions of merchandising dancing in Toho's collective heads. But I wish they'd made a more interesting movie. Turns our they did, but that's later. 

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Dojo Classics - Godzilla Vs. The Marvel Universe!

Sending Godzilla through time did free (for a time) the 20th Century from his threatening tread. As it turned out Godzilla traveled to the distant past, to a time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, a time when Godzilla, still recovering his true size thanks to the application of Pym Particles, could himself become well and truly "King of Monsters".  But there was a rival.

Devil Dinosaur was the creation of Jack "King" Kirby, who had returned to the Mighty Marvel Bullpen after some years abroad at the Distinguished Competition. He returned with a flourish helming the titles Captain America and Black Panther, as well as creating new ones like The Eternals and Devil Dinosaur. Devil and his caveboy friend Moonboy proved to be a doughty team for nine issues which wrapped a few months before this crossover with Godzilla.

Big G and Devil do what you'd expect, they encounter each other and do ferocious battle, each gathering a smattering of respect for the power of the other.

Later that power is harnessed in tandem to battle the larger threat of the Lizard Warriors who menace the peace of the great valley which Devil and Moonboy protect.

Eventually Godzilla's battles in the deep recesses of the past come to an end as he continues to grow and is drawn back into the modern world of New York City, which must at last finally face the unleashed might of the King of Monsters.

Seeing as how this is the Marvel Universe, the superheroes are assembled to confront the threat of Godzilla and the Avengers take the lead.

Thor, Iron Man, Vision, Yellowjacked and Wasp work together to stem the threat posed by the giant monster which rumbles through the city.

Eventually they are able to turn him away from the center of the city if not defeat him, and Godzilla finally at last completes his tour of the great American continent as he steps into the harbor beyond New York City and for the last time in the Marvel Universe disappears beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

And so it ends, one of Marvel's most unusual partnerships. Bringing Godzilla to the comic book universe had taken much too long and trying to fit the giant monster into the Marvel mythology, even for a relatively short time was a challenge. The massive destruction caused by the monster and the countless people who suffer because of that damage make it incredibly difficult to have any empathy for the fate of the monster who for the most part exists apart from man, who lives by rules which are beyond our control and arguably our understanding. Godzilla is to be endured and like any great storm which finds landfall, the recovering is costly and long lasting.

But that's what makes for a great monster!

For the record Marvel revived Godzilla (sort of) in the pages of Iron Man when it is shown that Dr. Demonicus has gained control of the giant monster and mutated him, altering him sufficiently to stave off lawsuits. They needn't have bothered as the monster they made was too pitiful to sue over.

In the end there's only one "King of the Monsters"!

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Ebirah, Horror Of The Deep - The Criterion Collection!

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep or as it's also known Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster is an offbeat 1966 Godzilla flick and for a good reason. It was originally a King Kong project, one which was to be the movie that became King Kong Escapes. But when Toho had this script on its hands they went and made a Godzilla movie out of it and let Jun Fukuda direct it, but alas it adds little alas to the "Big G" mythos. That's not to say it's a bad movie, in fact it's rather entertaining jaunt filled with charismatic characters we care about as they are thrown together on a remote island and find it occupied by a terrorist organization called "Red Bamboo". Aside from Godzilla there are three other monsters -- the every faithful Mothra, a giant Vulture who lasts about a minute, and the eponymous Ebirah -- a ginormous lobster.

Actually Godzilla himself spends most of this movie asleep. He's not discovered snoozing away in a cave until the fifty minute mark of the movie and a viewer could be well forgiven for forgetting he or she was even watching a Godzilla movie by the time he wakes up nearly ten minutes later and gets into a rock throwing contest with Ebirah. But even after he's awake he spends some time weirdly gazing at a girl (King Kong influence I guess) and napping some more. Then he kicks it into gear and roasts the Vulture, stomps the nuclear facility of Red Bamboo, and tears into Ebirah for the final time. The Godzilla here looks remarkably like a frog in the face and not much at all menacing really. 

Not a shining moment for those just watching for monster fighting, but for those looking for broader entertainment with fun and funny human characters still interesting. Heck it's worth just to watch the fetching Kumi Mazuno run around in her sparse native garb. 

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Dojo Classics - The Devil Is In The Dinosaur!

Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia

Devil Dinosaur is one of Jack "King" Kirby's weirdest offerings. Coming late after his return to Marvel in the Bronze Age, this wacky tale of a pre-human cave-boy and his amigo, a mighty T-Rex is at once bizarre fantasy and oddball allegory. Moonboy is a youthful protagonist who is separated from his tribe the "Small Folk" and finds a baby Tyrannosaurus Rex who has ferociously fought off raiders dubbed the "Killer Folk" who have annihilated his whole brood. A fire causes the T-Rex's skin to turn a fiery crimson and so he gets his sobriquet of "Devil Dinosaur". Moonboy and the Devil inexplicably bond and are able at some basic level to communicate.

Jack Kirby and Mike Royer

They revenge the death of Devil's "family" when they confront the giant spider god and see to it that the prehistoric raiders who were responsible meet a properly grim fate.

Jack Kirby and Dan Green

They battle a giant caveman who proves a rival to Devil himself, but find some level of peace in this encounter.

Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott

And then things really being to heat up when aliens descend from outer space and start herding up biological samples into their spacecraft. Moonboy and Devil Dinosaur become separated when Moonboy is captured and Devil must make other allies to battle against the alien threat.

Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott

This story continues when Devil and his new allies Stone-Hand and an Elder make use of giant ants to battle the aliens, to a very large extent defeating them and saving the creatures they captured.

Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott

Then the allegorical aspect of the series, already hinted at in places comes fully to the fore when an ersatz Garden of Eden is established by a remnant of the alien technology (which remarkably resembles a tree) and Stone-Hand and his newly acquired "mate" Eev find themselves held captive within. The garden is a mixed blessing as it offers lush sustenance but limited liberty.

Jack Kirby and Steve Leialoha

Then Devil invades this "Eden" and things change pretty dramatically. I won't spoil it.

Jack Kirby and Walt Simonson

For the final two stories in this brief series, we get Devil and Moonboy battling against cave-dwellers who have "domesticated" dinosaurs as steeds.

Jack Kirby and John Byrne

And Devil finds his way into the future world of 1978 when he falls into the magical pit of a witch-like crone. Needless to say that Devil finds plenty to do in his brief stay in the "modern world".

All in all, the Devil Dinosaur series is a hoot and a half, full of riotous action and some of the absolute best two-page spreads in Kirby's illustrious career. The lush inks are by Mike Royer. See below for some wild examples.

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Invasion Of Astro-Monster - The Criterion Collection!

I really love the movie The Mysterians, an early 50's flick from Toho about aliens who invade the Earth to breed with our women. It's a great lark of a sci-fi outing which landed amongst the monsters before Toho gave over to Godzilla and his kin. Invasion of Astro-Monster is The Mysterians with Godzilla and gang, and it's a lot of fun. If features an American co-star, Nick Adams, present for the sole reason to make the movie marketable overseas. And he's an enthusiastic addition to Toho stock company of seasoned pros. 

But focusing on Godzilla himself for a moment let's all agree that the movies never got sillier than one single moment in this highly memorable screen saga. The aliens (called "Xillians") are attempting to trick mankind into thinking their invasion is not that and that they mean us only the best, such as when they offer up a cure for cancer. They say they are afflicted by King Ghidorah on their homeworld "Planet X" out around Jupiter. But they are liars and Ghidorah is under their control and by trickery theyget Godzilla and Rodan also who fight off Ghidorah. As he flies into space Godzilla crosses his arms and jumps for joy in a move called a "Shie dance" after a cartoon character who performs the move and yells "Shie". It's goofy and lots of folks including the director didn't like it, but it stayed and after that Godzilla moved into another place completely. 

Like most hardcore Godzilla fans I hated it for a long time, but I've changed my mind and embrace it. Godzilla in this movie is not the "Big G" of other films, he's a movie star who can appear in a range of different kinds of movies and comedy is just one. More next time. 

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The Sunday Funnies - Alley Oop 1934-36!

It's a general notion that not much captures a young kid's imagination like dinosaurs. It was certainly the case with me. The idea that once upon a time immense beasts roamed the landscape, long before man was a figment of nature's imagination is thrilling in a way. Even more thrilling is the bizarred but compelling notion that maybe despite all the geological evidence to the contrary that dinosaurs and mankind might have coexisted. Maybe these beasts (all called "dinosaurs" despite their actual classifications) are still lurking up some forgotten river or inside some lost valley and maybe people might stumble across them sometime. 

It's the basis for many a yarn including those spun by the likes of Verne (Journey to the Center of the Earth) and Doyle (The Lost World). Movies made of these stories and originals have spread the vicarious gospel that man and prehistoric beast are good together. The thrill of dinosaurs hit a peak when The Lost World made it to the silent picture screen and later still in 1933 a little movie called King Kong transformed the movies and the way we think about dinosaurs. But in 1932 in the comics pages V.T. Hamlin was scratching about trying to find a formula for a hit strip to make a living with. He fashioned one which showcased some rather sophisticated cavemen and lo and behold they shared their four-color universe with a wide assortment of dinosaurs. The strip was named Alley Oop and it made Hamlin's career and he worked on it the rest of his life. 

According to my exhaustive research (Wikipedia) the Alley Oop stories take place in the "Bone Age" and the names of "Alley Oop" and "Oooola" his girlfriend are derived from the French phrases "allez hop" and "oo-la-lah" respectively. Alley and his ever-rhyming colleague Foozy live in "Moo" (Mu) and contend from time to time with folks from "Lem" (Lemuria). Hamlin was having lots of fun with language as he fabricated light-hearted misadventures for his prehistoric gang. In 1934 a Sunday page began and that's what I just finished reading the first volume of from Dark Horse. The strips are from the years 1934 through 1936, and we meet our cast and learn quite a lot. 

Alley and his buddy Foozy as the pair try to make a go of their mercantile storefront (a cave opening) which specializes most often in clubs and stone axes. In fact they even scheme to trigger a small war between Moo and Lem to driving up sales at one point. At another the two fall out and begin a heady competition. At other times they must placate King Guzzle and Queen Umpateedle who rule over Moo. In these early tales Alley Oop is not seemingly all that interested in romance, but does have a hankering for fisticuffs. I was reminded of Popeye's pugilistic ways, though Oop doesn't seem to be all that much tougher than his mates. All of them though are plenty tough though because they commonly hunt down giant dinosaurs for a host of resources such as meat for food and bones for equipment. 

The strip also supplies real actual information in the form of images and data on actual real dinosaurs and other assorted prehistoric creatures in a feature dubbed "Dinny's Family Album". Later this will give way to other kinds of premium activities, but for the first few years of the Sunday page it could be relied upon to display some very bizarre ancient critters indeed. 

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