Todd Klein's Blog, page 166

And Then I Read: CAVE CARSON #8

Image © DC Comics.

I haven’t been a fan of this title, really, but I keep reading it. I guess I keep hoping it’s going to be more than it has been. The comic I want to read would be more like the original series from DC in my childhood (it ran only in SHOWCASE and THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD). Then and now, the idea of a crew of underground adventurers with a car that could drill through anything was interesting and exciting. This series starts there, takes a few odd twists and turns, then seems to be going the same direction, but never arrives, at least so far.

As this issue opens, Cave and his daughter are standing in a graveyard talking about their wife/mother, though no one is named, and the intent is not clear. The place cap says, “Fawcett City. A different Earth.” Fawcett suggests Captain Marvel, but there’s no evidence of any Fawcett characters. Cave and his crew have apparently emerged on a different Earth’s surface, one that is war-ravaged, its citizens being mentally controlled by The Whisperer, a Lovecraftian creature in cahoots with Carson’s old boss back on his own Earth. They meet Carson’s mentor, a college professor, or at least the version in this reality, and are attacked by The Whisperer. As usual, the visuals are bright, psychedelic, but somewhat simplistically drawn and hard to follow at times. The story is not much easier.

Perhaps the best thing here is two faux pages of a Geologist magazine at the end, which are quite funny.

I can’t really recommend the issue as a whole. I will probably keep reading the series anyway. Not sure why.

And Then I Read: ASTRO CITY #44

Image © Juke Box Productions.

Has writer Kurt Busiek written this issue specifically to appeal directly to ME? Sure seems that way! A super-cat, Kittyhawk, is the star character, nicely portrayed on the cover here by Alex Ross, and equally well inside by Rick Leonardi. He was a stray taken in by Nightingale, petting him here, who with her partner Sunshrike fights crime in 1980s Astro City. They don’t know yet that Kittyhawk has powers, but the strangest things keep happening when he’s around and wants something. The story title, borrowed from Robert A. Heinlein, “The Cat Who Walked Through Walls,” may give you an idea what kind of strange things, but it gets better: Kittyhawk even enlists the help of a superDOG: Rocket Dog, to help her track down the criminal Nightingale and Sunshrike are after, unknown to them. That criminal is Popinjay, a man with the partial head of a Blue Jay. And, of course, Nightingale is another bird, as is Shrike (no real Sunshrike). The best part about the animals in this book? They don’t talk. They act intelligently, but we don’t know what they’re thinking, either. This works much better than the way super animals are often handled.

I’m positive this book is written just for me, but hey, you might like it, too.

Recommended!

Watching FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON (1962)

After enjoying the Jules Verne novel (just reviewed here), I was curious about the Irwin Allen Technicolor film. I’ve rarely liked anything Allen did, so I wasn’t expecting much, but even my low expectations were not met. I found the film on YouTube, not a great copy, but good enough to learn that I could only watch about a quarter of it. The film draws very little from the book, just the basic idea of a balloon voyage across central unexplored Africa, the name of the balloon inventor, Fergusson, and a few greatly distorted events from the book. Visually, the effects are cheap and ineffective from the first frame, as we see the balloon on a demonstration flight for the Royal Geographical Society (not in the book). The gondola of the balloon is laughable, one end looks like the head and neck of a giant unicorn for no good reason. Cedric Hardwicke plays Fergusson ineffectively, he’s dull and uninteresting. His assistant Jacques (replacing black manservant Joe in the book) runs the balloon machinery, thereby giving Hardwicke little to do other than act stuffy and officious. Jacques is played by teen idol Fabian in an obvious ploy to attract a young audience. He’s fine, but completely out of place in this story.

Before the balloon launches, the mission is changed by Britain’s Prime Minister from exploration to a silly military/patriotic one where Fergusson must secretly plant the British flag on the west coast of Africa to thwart some slavers there. In charge of this, and going along is Sir Henry Vining (not in the book) played by Richard Haydn. Haydn’s comic performance was the one thing I did like about the film. A British character actor, he’s best known today as the voice of the Caterpillar in Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland,” he’s always fun to watch and listen to. Other cast members of note like Barbara Eden, Peter Lorre and Billy Gilbert were wasted on nonsense and looked uncomfortable. Red Buttons was awful as the reporter sent along to cover the flight for an American newspaper. In the book, there were only three passengers on the balloon…two for a while when Joe jumps overboard into a lake to help keep the balloon aloft. In the film we end up with about eight people on the balloon, none of them interesting except Haydn. I will admit I skipped through a lot of scenes looking for something enjoyable, so I might have missed a few worthwhile moments, but I doubt it. Even the final thrill ride from the book is made silly and dull here.

Verne’s book is not great literature, but it’s a lot more fun than this awful film!

And Then I Read: FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON by Jules Verne

I read it digitally, but this is a nice example of an early cover in English. The original was published as Cinq semaines en ballon in France in 1863. Note that Verne’s name is not yet on the cover, it was the first of his great adventure novels that helped make him famous.

Dr. Samuel Ferguson, a noted British world explorer and inventor, has planned a trip into the unknown center of Africa, searching for the source of the Nile, and information about other expeditions that have been lost. This was a popular sort of adventure at the time, and about ten previous expeditions had been launched and failed. Rather than go on foot or horseback, Ferguson plans to float into Africa in a hydrogen balloon of his invention. Ferguson’s breakthrough is a double balloon, one inside the other, that can be regulated by heating the gas and transferring it from one layer to the next and back, allowing the balloon to stay aloft for much longer than others of the time. With him will go his faithful manservant Joe, and his friend, the expert marksman and hunter Richard Kennedy. With the backing of the Royal Geographical Society, Ferguson and his crew and equipment are delivered to a small island off the eastern side of Africa for their launch. Kennedy is against the idea, but his friendship with Ferguson wins him over in the end.

Many adventures are had as the balloon drifts over Africa. Verne clearly did his Africa research, and makes the physical journey interesting and believable. By raising or lowering the height of the balloon, and finding different winds, Ferguson is often able to direct their course where he wants to go, but not always. Sometimes they are becalmed over the desert, or swept up in mighty storms. Adventures are had with the animals and natives of Africa, who are mostly hostile and afraid of the balloon. When the crew needs to land for water and game, they are always in danger, as a well-placed spear, arrow or bullet can permanently ruin them. Ferguson is smart and keeps calm in all adversity. Joe is cheerful and sure his master will triumph, and Kennedy is there to back his friend with gunfire when needed. The adventures and thrills are many and fun to read, and the success of the expedition is often in doubt. Indeed their final struggle to reach the west coast of Africa, or at least a part of it controlled by France, is the most hair-raising of all. The balloon is losing hydrogen, and to keep them aloft, the crew has to jettison all their belongings one by one, with an angry tribe hot on their heels as they scrape along just over the higher hills.

This book is very much a product of its time and prejudices. The natives of Africa are seen as superstitious, cruel, warlike, and ignorant, with barely a good word for them in the book, never mind the fact that the balloon is essentially a small invasion of their homes. African animals are there as something to eat, or that wants to eat the crew, little more. In fact, a group of condors destroys the outer balloon at one point for no good reason except to further the plot. Joe, Ferguson’s manservant, appears to be a black man, and may be an actual slave, though neither point is clear, and even he shows no sympathy for the African natives.

The science of the book is convincing, but it does have a hidden flaw: the amazingly unending power source for the heat needed to keep them aloft. In a way, Verne is setting the standard for all future science fiction there by making the science plausible, but not letting real physics get in the way of a good story!

I enjoyed reading this, and plan to read more Verne adventure novels in the near future. Recommended.

THE DANNY CRESPI FILES Part 12

This and all images © Marvel.

Continuing my ongoing series about the cover lettering of Danny Crespi at Marvel Comics, mostly from 1974-1979. Photocopies of saved cover lettering from Danny’s files were compiled into a collection by letterer and friend Phil Felix during the 1980s when he worked with Danny on staff at Marvel, and Phil sent me copies. This time I’ll look at pages 45 (above) through 48. The lettering in page 45 is all by Danny Crespi. Sources are below, except for “Firelord,” which I can’t find. It looks unfinished, and may be unused. Oh, and “New,” can’t find that one either.

Blood Church” from MARVEL TEAM-UP #35, July 1975.

“Rampage of Reed Richards” from FANTASTIC FOUR #188, Nov. 1977.

“2nd Searing Issue” from GODZILLA #2, Sept. 1977.

“Doorway Down Into Hell” from FEAR #28, June 1975.

“War of the Giants” and “Batragon” from GODZILLA #4, Nov. 1977.

“A Doom Named Dr. Druid” from GHOST RIDER #26, Oct. 1977.

Page 46. All by Danny Crespi I think. I can’t find the smaller blurbs on the left side, perhaps you’ll have more luck. Sources of the others are below.

“Showdown” and the arrow below it from MARVEL TEAM-UP #62, Oct. 1977. SHOWDOWN is a little unusual in that the drop shadow is above the letters, but that leaves more room for the small letters below it.

“Sentinels are attacking” and “Last Stand” from THE CHAMPIONS #17, Jan. 1978. Not a smidgen of space left on this cover for any more lettering!

“Back from the Fabulous ’50s” from MARVEL SUPER ACTION #4, Nov. 1977.

Page 47. I believe all by Danny Crespi, not sure about “Absorbing Man,” which is late for him, but it looks like his work. I can’t find the source for “Supernatural Mystery,” the other sources are below.

“Man-Thing” from THE INCREDIBLE HULK #198, April 1976.

“Absorbing Man” from THE INCREDIBLE HULK #261, July 1981. As said above, this is late for Danny, but it does look like his work. Perhaps he pitched in to help with a rush job.

“Darth Vader” from STAR WARS #4, Oct. 1977.

“Holocaust” from DAREDEVIL #123, July 1975. I suspect putting the world Holocaust on a super-hero comic cover would not be approved today.

“Return of the Ancient One” from DOCTOR STRANGE #26, Dec. 1977.

“The Last Gunfight” from RAWHIDE KID #151, May 1979.

“Humanimals” from THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU #1 (A Marvel Movie Special), 1977. Funny how over-the-top melodrama is in this Gil Kane cover for the much more sedate original novel, but that’s comics.

Page 48, all by Danny Crespi, I believe. Of the blurbs on the left, I’ve only found the one in a circle, “Havoc,” which appears on the cover of MARVEL TEAM-UP #62, seen earlier in this post, and the two double-bordered balloons, source below. Finding individual speech balloons is very difficult, as they are often not mentioned or indexed, and therefore don’t turn up in searches. Sources for the four captions at the right are below.

Those double-bordered balloons are from POWER MAN #47, Oct. 1977. Thanks to Michael Styborski for finding them. As usual with Danny’s word balloons, the tails are added later, when they’re pasted on the cover art.

“The Day They Caught The Kid” from KID COLT OUTLAW #197, Aug. 1975.

“Hordes of Hitler” from GIANT-SIZE INVADERS #1, June 1975. Looking at the original lettering, notice the heavy border with small gaps on HITLER? That’s something I think Gaspar Saladino originated, being borrowed by Danny here. I’ve used it many times myself.

“The Guardians’ Last Stand” from MARVEL PRESENTS #12, Aug. 1977.

“Power of the Executioner” from MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #7, Jan. 1975. The layout of this caption is very odd, with lots of extra space where it isn’t needed. The word EXECUTIONER is pasted in, perhaps from another layout. No idea how it ended up this strange, but except for this caption. all the lettering on these pages of the Crespi Files is nicely done if not particularly memorable.

More when I have time to research them. Other parts of this series and more articles you might enjoy are on the COMICS CREATION page and other pages of my blog.

And Then I Read: WONDER WOMAN #17

Image © DC Comics.

This is the second issue of Greg Rucka’s second present-day storyline (alternating issues with a Year One storyline). Diana is in a mental institution apparently bereft of her powers, having a conversation with herself (perhaps) or some outside entity, gradually gaining clues about her situation. Meanwhile, on Themyscira, Queen Hippolyta and her Amazons stand ready for battle before an ancient gnarled tree, but somehow the battle is not coming. They know something terrible has happened to Diana, but not what. In New York, Steve Trevor and two of Diana’s other friends, one a huge bull-man named Ferdinand, are under assault from enemies of Diana that also have Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva (formerly Cheetah) as their prisoner. Dr. Minerva can save Steve and friends if she agrees to once more become Cheetah, under the control of a new master. A lot going on here, all interesting and beautifully drawn by Liam Sharp. Loving the new work of Greg Rucka on this title.

Recommended.

Pulled From My Files #55: SOVEREIGN SEVEN LOGO

This and all images © Chris Claremont and Dwayne Turner.

I have only three marker sketches for this logo, I don’t know why. There were a lot more. The launch of this creator-owned title at DC in 1991 was a very big deal, as DC hoped Claremont would be as successful for them as he was for Marvel on the many X-Men titles he wrote. I know I had a lot of folks critiquing my design sketches. I still like this one, and it would have read better in color.

This one is rather dull with the one advantage of not taking up much space on the cover. Pretty smooth letterforms for a marker sketch.

This one was getting closer to what they wanted, and I think the S7 symbol came from artist Dwayne Turner, or this was similar to one he did. This design would have made cover placement quite a challenge, though.

Here’s the final logo I sent in, offering two choices for the letter O in SOVEREIGN, and making the symbol rougher, and actually harder to read. I think I was probably tired of the assignment and the many opinions I was getting at this point, but I don’t remember anything specific.

The printed books used my letters with the round O and a different S7 symbol, probably by Turner. It works okay even though the symbol is not easy to read. Doesn’t matter, the title is there anyway. That’s all I have on this one.

And Then I Read: UNFOLLOW #15

Image © DC Comics.

As this issue opens the remaining members of the original 140 heirs of Farrell’s vast fortune are down to 40. Many have been killed by a ruthless masked man who apparently worked with Farrell and is known on social media as TheMaskNotRubenstein. He’s about to receive some long-overdue revenge from survivors of his attacks, those lucky or savvy enough to have escaped him so far. Meanwhile, the cult of slain Unfollower Akira is growing, as we see in a massive recruitment center in Los Angeles. An investigative reporter, also a surviving Unfollower, is looking into the cult and finding troubling things there. We’re getting to the end game of this series, and it’s compelling. Nice work by writer Rob Williams and artist Mike Dowling.

Recommended.

Incoming: CLEAN ROOM Volume 3

Image © Gail Simone and DC Comics.

The third and final collection of CLEAN ROOM has arrived, which covers issues 13 to 18 of the monthly series. It’s the final one as far as I know, wrapping up the DC run in fine fashion. Gail Simone has created a story that is really scary, and characters that are engaging, vulnerable, courageous, cowardly, fragile, heroic, caring…in other words, human…to balance the brutal, sadistic aliens from somewhere else that can take over the human mind and body, often without those around them even knowing it. It’s great stuff. The art on this book is by Walter Geovani, and just as good as on the first two books, which had art by Jon Davis-Hunt. I’m going to miss working on this series, I highly recommend it.

Fork-tailed Flycatcher

Fork-tailed Flycatcher at Cape May Point State Park, NJ, yesterday by Jesse Amesbury.

Sometimes you just luck into rare bird sightings, especially around Cape May. This weekend, Ellen’s friend Elise is visiting, and while we were out sightseeing, we stopped at the Cape May Point State Park for a stroll around the area. As we walked up the ramp over the dunes to get to the beach I spotted some familiar birders looking intently at some trees about fifty feet away. One of them said, “You’ve come to Ground Zero.” I asked what they were seeing, and it was this Fork-tailed Flycatcher, a rarity in New Jersey, though one shows up in the Cape May area about once a year. They are generally no further north than Florida. We were lent binoculars and all had a look. Elise is not a birder, but as friend Michael O’Brien said, “This is a great one to start with.” It’s actually a better look than we had in this photo I pulled off eBird, but we saw it well enough. There aren’t many birds with a tail that long in North America. Pretty cool!