Todd Klein's Blog, page 21

Rereading: WAR ON THE DARNEL by Philip Turner

The fifth book in Turner’s Darnel series, taking place in a coastal town in northern England, is full of action, as the title suggests. Cruising down the river in their home-made paddle boat, Peter, Arthur and David find their way barred at Ballast Island, where a larger group of boys led by George Brody, a school friend, have a pirate camp and are charging a toll for passage to raise money for charity. The crew of Sea Peril II are indignant, and also annoyed that George is trying to top their own charity fund raising. They try to run the passage, but are forced to turn back by enemy fire (clumps of sod) and a rope barrier at the downstream end. Peter vows revenge, and begins planning.

Meanwhile, their friend the Admiral has bought a group of abandoned buildings just downstream, Powder Quay, and he and his right hand man Guns Kelly are renovating it as a place to live, while staying in their own large ship Northern Lion, on the quay. The boys also meet an American businessman and former Marine, Colonel MacKenzie, who has bought the remains of the former Darnley Mills rail line, and has plans to restore it and make it a tourist attraction. Those plans don’t sit well with Lady Bridgebolton, whose estate includes part of the rail line, though her niece Jane loves the idea, and quietly leads the boys to a large woodshed on the estate where they find the line railway engine Taffy hidden behind the woodpile, where it’s sat for many decades.

The battle at Ballast Island takes up a good part of the book’s planning and execution, but then a strong storm makes allies of all the opposing sides, as flooding and high winds threaten Sea Peril II, the camp at Ballast Island, and the Bridgebolton estate and cottages. Teamwork is needed, but will it be enough?

Wonderful series, recommended.

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Incoming: THE SANDMAN: THE COMPLETE SHAKESPEARE COLLECTION

This trade paperback is an interesting idea that came from colorist Steve Oliff, as he describes in his introduction. Steve was the colorist of SANDMAN #19, with art by Charles Vess, that revolves around Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” He decided to restore the color to what he originally intended, and also revisit the coloring on the other two SANDMAN issues involving Shakespeare: #13 with art by Michael Zulli and Steve Parkhouse, and #75, again with art by Vess. I can see where this might appeal to readers who might not otherwise pick up a SANDMAN comic or collection, and at a retail price of $9.99, it’s a fine introduction to the series, and certainly of interest to Shakespeare readers. On sale Oct 9, 2024.

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Rereading: THE BIRDSTONES by Jane Louise Curry

The fifth book in Curry’s Abáloc series connects directly to the third, “The Daybreakers,” and takes place largely in present-day Apple Lock, the small riverside town that was once the home of the Abáloc people centuries ago. Next to it, in the Ohio River is the island, where the hidden stairway and cave still remain, a place of magic, though unknown to current townsfolk. Mike Pucci, known as Pooch, helps his father with their garden on the north end of the island, and their neighbor, elderly Mr. Douglass, has another garden there where he grows shrubs and trees for his shop. One day Pooch discovers the hidden stairway and cave with its amazing carved stone tree, and hidden in the carving, a beautiful stone bird. That’s the beginning of Pooch’s encounter with the magic of the cave, which is a kind of time portal from ancient Abáloc for those who know how to use it.

Meanwhile, a group of girls in the local school come up with a clever hoax to fool and surprise everyone as the new school year begins. They create an imaginary student, Dayla Jones, and get her registered for classes, a locker, and projects. At first it’s exciting and fun, but then they begin to find strange things in the locker they didn’t put there, and other students seem to know a real girl named Dayla Jones. The hoax has become a frightening reality. In town, a series of break-ins and robberies apparently committed by a group of strangely dressed men that no one knows seems to be focused on artifacts from the town’s ancient history. Students are being followed, and their treasures destroyed. What is going on, and how can they stop it?

At first this series seemed unconnected and hard to follow to me, but either the author’s skill improved or the stories became clearer. This and the previous two are exciting adventures with appealing characters, and the connections between them are stronger. Recommended.

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Rereading: THE THREE POLICEMEN by William Pène du Bois

William Pène du Bois was something of a child prodigy as a children’s book writer and illustrator, his first book, “Elizabeth the Cow Ghost” was written at age 18 and published when he was 19 in 1936. Four more quickly followed, including this one. It’s an oversized chapter book, 7.5 by 10 inches, 92 pages, with illustrations on nearly every page, many in gray tones, a few in color. The figure work is a bit stiff, but the architectural and decorative elements are brilliant. Perhaps it helped that both his parents were artists.

The story takes place on small, secretive Farbe Island, somewhere west of France in the Atlantic Ocean. The inhabitants are blessed with rich farmland and very productive ocean fishing nearby, and live idyllic lives. The three policemen, Peter, Paul, and Joseph, have almost no real police work to do, and their lives are made easier by the help of a young assistant, Bottsford, who does the cleaning and maintenance on their home and equipment. One night that changes when the island’s fishing nets all disappear, somehow stolen. The same thing happens the next night, and the policemen are put on the case. They believe a sea serpent has stolen the nets, and they construct elaborate swimming fish machines/costumes to find out for sure. Alarm bells are attached to the third and final set of nets, what will happen when the policemen hear the signal that something is taking them? And how will Bottsford help the policemen in their moment of crisis?

Great fun, charming and clever, recommended.

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GASPAR SALADINO and FAMOUS MONSTERS #36

Images © Warren Publishing

This morning I received an email from Chris Bieniek that read:

I was reading about Harry Chester (the guy who’s generally credited with all the great “monster lettering” in old copies of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine) and I’ve seen several online sources specifically credit him with the lettering on the cover of issue #36, from December of 1965. The thing is, even though Chester is credited in that issue as its designer, the lettering on the cover of issue #36 doesn’t resemble the lettering on any other issue of Famous Monsters. To me, it looks much more like the examples of Gaspar Saladino’s work that I’ve seen on your website.

Your blog mentions Saladino doing some work for Warren in the ’70s, but I haven’t found any reference to him doing so in the mid-60s. I could be way off, but please take a look at the attached scan if you’re so inclined. I’d love to know if you agree that it might be his lettering. 

I do agree, this looks like Gaspar’s cover lettering to me! I had found lettering by him in other Warren magazines like CREEPY and EERIE, but as FAMOUS MONSTERS isn’t comics, I hadn’t looked there. Studying other covers online, I found many examples of Harry Chester lettering like this one:

It’s fine work that I would say is rooted in showcard lettering of the 1950s, and it could well have been an influence on 1960s rock poster artists, too. But, Chris is right, nothing like Saladino’s work, and FM #36 is nothing like this.

In 1965, Gaspar was busy at DC lettering pages, and a few covers as well as fashion art for the romance titles, but he was still somewhat under the shadow of Ira Schnapp, who held the lead role in setting the style for DC at the time, and since at least the late 1940s. While Saladino probably didn’t have much time to work elsewhere, he did do a little lettering for Tower Comics and Western Publishing, so he was open to taking other freelance work. This FM cover is the only one I see with his lettering, but I haven’t looked at them all. It’s possible there are more. Meanwhile, I will add this to his body of work detailed in THIS article.

Thanks, Chris, I appreciate the help!

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Rereading: TIME AND MR. BASS by Eleanor Cameron

The fifth and final book in the Mushroom Planet series is the best, in my opinion. It was published in 1967, thirteen years after the first one, and Cameron had grown as a writer in those years.

Mr. Bass, at home in Pacific Grove, CA for a while, gets an urgent phone call from Towyn Niog in Wales, head of the Mycetian League, the council of mushroom people on Earth. He needs Mr. Bass to come to his ancestral home there as soon as possible. Mr. Bass makes plans with his friends David and Chuck to travel by space ship so they can come with him, rather than just using his method of instant mental travel. He senses the boys have a role to play in the trouble in Wales, and it proves to be so.

When they arrive, they learn that the ancient scroll and the necklace of jewels that are the priceless treasures of the League have been stolen by Penmaen, a locksmith Towyn hired to help open the chest they were kept in. The three new arrivals are soon on his trail, and discover that Penmaen is selling the jewels one by one to raise money for his travels, and each person he’s sold one to has had a severe personality change and is doing odd things relating to mushrooms. When Mr. Bass persuades them to sell the jewel back to him, their frantic trance fades, and they come back to themselves.

That’s not the only trouble brewing, David has a frightening encounter with a dark spirit known as Narrow Brain, a centuries-old enemy of Mr. Bass and the League, he’s trying to keep Mr. Bass from translating the ancient scroll. The elderly man and his friends travel to the Mushroom Planet, Basidium, to try to find out what the scroll means, but can they accomplish that before the next meeting of the League?

The science fantasy elements of this series are downplayed in the final book in favor of magic, history, the land of Wales, a chase after the thief, an ancient crime, an evil spirit, and wonderful characters. Highly recommended.

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Incoming: BATMAN AND BATWOMAN New Reprints

All images © DC Comics

It must be reprint season again, I received three newly printed trade paperbacks this week. First up is the one above, which reprints these Elseworlds stories: Batman: Brotherhood of the Bat, Batman: Dark Knight of the Round Table 1-2, Batman: Knight Gallery, Batman: Masque, and Batman: Scar of the Bat, which I lettered. This seems a good value if you don’t already have these, or the 2018 edition. Retail price is $34.99, release date is 11/5/2024.

The first I’ve seen of the DC FINEST reprint series, it collects BATMAN 401-412 and ANNUAL #11, plus DETECTIVE COMICS 568-579. At 632 pages, that’s a large chunk of Batman from Nov 1986 to Oct 1987, and of course includes the BATMAN: YEAR ONE issues I lettered. Retail price is $39.99, also due out 11/5/2024.

This seems to be a straight reprint of the 2011 trade paperback with wonderful stories and art by Rucka And Williams III, which I had a fine time lettering, from DETECTIVE COMICS #854-860 with additional material. Retail price is $19.99, and again is due out 11/5/2024. In time for Christmas shopping, perhaps.

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Rereading: FREDDY AND THE DRAGON by Walter R. Brooks

The 26th and final book of the Freddy series is just as entertaining as the rest. (I didn’t reread “The Collected Poems of Freddy the Pig,” all the others are on my Book Reviews page.)

Freddy and Jinx and their mounts Cy and Bill have returned from their vacation tour of New England to find a new crime wave in Centerboro with animals as suspects, including Freddy himself. Freddy’s friends know he’s not involved, but others want him arrested. Windows are being broken, gardens and property ravaged, and notes have been delivered to some home and business owners demanding protection money if they don’t want the same treatment. Money is to be left on the road between the Bean Farm woods and the Big Woods, behind the Bean Farm.

Freddy and Jinx decide to spy on the collection of some of that money, and are startled and frightened to see it being picked up by a headless horseman carrying his head on the saddle horn of his horse. The state troopers are equally frightened by this, and are unable to make an arrest. Some of the tough animals that threatened the area during the attempted coup by Simon the Rat are being identified as culprits, and one of them, Percy the Bull, shows up at the Bean farm to make trouble. He turns out to be the father of Bean cows Mrs. Wiggins and her sisters, but is rude to them, and everyone. Freddy and friends manage to capture the bull, and Freddy sets his new mole friend Samuel on the job of being Percy’s unseen conscience to try to turn him around.

In another plotline, Jimmy, the boy Freddy helped once before with a neighborhood circus, is back asking for more help to raise money for his baseball team. Freddy and Uncle Ben come up with a dragon costume to be worn by Freddy, Jinx and the Bean dog Robert. The dragon is realistic and can breathe fire and smoke. Just the thing for the show, if Freddy can avoid being arrested before it goes on.

My copy of this book is a later printing and includes a bio for Brooks that I don’t think was in earlier ones. I found it interesting and copy it here:

Walter R. Brooks, author of the famous Freddy the pig stories, was born in Rome, New York. He attended the University of Rochester where he planned to study medicine. He prepared for medical college, but gave it up after a year, substituting the typewriter for the stethescope. He did advertising and editorial work, and was with the American Red Cross for a number of years. He was also with the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. One of his hobbies was learning new languages every two or three years.

For many years Mr. Brooks lived in New York City, on celebrated Washington Square. Then he decided to move to the country. He lived for many years in Roxbury, Delaware County, New York, where he wrote many of the stories about Freddy and his Bean Farm friends for an ever-increasing audience of boys and girls.

Brooks also wrote stories for magazines, including a series about a talking horse that was the inspiration for the TV show “Mr. Ed.” All the Freddy books are fun to read and recommended.

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Rereading: CRUSOE ISLAND by M. E. Atkinson

Cover and illustrations by Harold Jones

The sixth book about the Locketts and their British holiday adventures is a corker. Torrential rains that go on for days have ruined their planned holiday in rented rooms at a cottage with Aunt Lavinia, so after a week they decide to pack up and return to her new home. The Locketts: Oliver, Jane and Bill, and their friends Anna and Robin Angel with their dog Angelina soon get separated from their Aunt, and the planned reunion at the cottage goes badly wrong for both parties. The children are forced to try to get there on their bikes, but the rains are soon so bad that the countryside around them is flooded. Desperate for a dry refuge, they break into an empty cottage in a remote place with only one other apparently empty cottage next to it, and otherwise surrounded by flooded fields and gardens. Realizing they’re in another adventure, they declare the cottage their Crusoe Island, and soon the arrival of a nearly drowned cocker spaniel and two soggy hens complete the group, with the dog being named Man Friday.

At first it’s fun, and they’re able to send a telegram to Aunt Lavinia’s house, but unknown to them, she’s had an auto accident and never receives it, in fact is in the hospital, unconscious. The children explore the two houses and gather enough resources to make two rafts, but then Oliver gets sick, and Bill falls and breaks his kneecap. The fun is now gone, and someone must brave the floods to go for help. Anna takes on that job, but she’s not the strongest or the best swimmer. Will their raft and her strength last long enough to reach someone?

An exciting page turner, Atkinson’s style has tightened with experience, and this 336 page book is remarkably taut and suspenseful, though there’s also room for character development and bits of humor. Recommended.

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Rereading: COUNTRY COLIC by Robert Lawson

By 1944, Robert Lawson had already illustrated many books for children, and with this title he began writing them as well. The theme is humor, about the trials of living in the country and gardening amid all kinds of competition from insects and animals, and I suspect it was produced at the same time he was writing another better-known book about the animals of his Connecticut home, Rabbit Hill. This one is 70 pages with wonderful and funny illustrations on nearly every page, and it contains alphabetical entries from Airplanes (buzzing the house when the author was trying to sleep) to Zany (the author’s description of himself for loving his home despite all the complaints here). Along the way are entries on Ants; Beetles, Japanese;, Birds; Cows; Chickens; Dogs; Insurance; Lawns; Poison Ivy; Termites; Weeds and many more. Well worth reading if you can find it, and still funny.

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