Todd Klein's Blog, page 243

And Then I Read: FRANKENSTEIN ALIVE, ALIVE! 3

Image © Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson.

I’ve loved Wrightson’s work since I first discovered it on the original SWAMP THING in the early 1970s, and I treasure his illustrated version of the Mary Shelley novel. This story is almost as impressive visually, and well written by Steve Niles, who brings all the tortured emotional complexity and moral agony of Shelley’s creature to life. The story so far is moving quite slowly, and has included some flashbacks, but with this issue seems to be getting into new territory, with the monster taking shelter from another mad scientist who has an agenda of his own, of course. The art is beautifully painted in warm grays and blacks, the technique is generally less detailed than the novel line art, but there are some impressive exceptions that will amaze you. The only thing wrong with this book in my eyes (aside from how difficult the cover is to scan!) is the fact that there isn’t more of it more often, but the work speaks of the time taken, so I understand why. The backup excerpt from the Shelley novel seems unnecessary, but I suppose works to fill out the issue’s 19 pages of story.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: GREEN LANTERN 32

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

Part 3 of “Uprising” demonstrates the largest problem with villain team-ups: as soon as things seem to be going well, or even if they suddenly go wrong, the bad guys turn on each other. So it is with the Khund and the Durlans here, with the rebels led by Prixiam caught in the middle. Nicely written by Robert Venditti, well drawn by Billy Tan and Rob Hunter.

Recommended.

The DO AC Sand Sculpting World Cup Part 2

If your idea of sand sculpture is castles, you have to love this one, based I guess on the TV series, which I haven’t seen. An amazing amount of detail on these solo sand sculptures on the Atlantic City beach. Even with about a week to produce them, I find it hard to imagine how some of them were finished in time. More details of this one below.

Two sides of this Disney-inspired sculpture.

Now we begin the duo sculptures created this past week by pairs of sculptors. Not sure how the pairs are teamed. Some seem to work separately on two sections with a single theme, other pairs work together on one piece, as here. Most of the duos are larger than the solos.

Another amazing castle sculpture, this one includes a seaside town, lighthouse, and sailing ship! Some details below.

Here’s the first place winner in the Duo Competition. Details below.

This was my favorite of the duos: clever, artful and amazing. Lots of details below.

This one was also brilliant, the best use of two individual pieces working together. Here we have a loving couple from history below a camera, and through the lens is the second sculpture behind this one. Details below.

An odd but interesting sculpture of a former Atlantic City boardwalk attraction, the Diving Horse. This one got thumbs down from Ellen for celebrating what she considers animal cruelty, but I thought the sculpture was good. Crowd detail below.

I’ll end with this description of Sand Sculpture history, which the contest claims began right here in Atlantic City in 1897. I’m sure there are other opinions. It’s an ephemeral art that I love to see. Come visit and see them for yourself if you can.

The DO AC Sand Sculpting World Cup Part 1

Yesterday Ellen and I spent over an hour enjoying dozens of wonderful sand sculptures on the Atlantic City beach opposite Pennsylvania Avenue, next to the Steel Pier. It’s the second year of this competition (though rumors have it not returning to Atlantic City next year), and the work is impressive and amazing. The sculptures will be on display through next Sunday, July 6, so if you have the chance to visit I urge you to come see them. Photos can’t capture the size and detail, but here are lots of them anyway. At the entrance are welcome sculptures by local artist and event organizer John Gowdy.

More by John Gowdy featuring Atlantic City themes. “DO AC” is the town’s current promotional slogan, by the way.

Details of the welcome sculpture, this is right next to the boardwalk.

As you enter the beach at the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance you walk past the welcome sculptures, then walk a path over the dune, where the rest of the sculptures are first seen, Steel Pier in the background. Now I’m going to show sculptures from the Solo Competition, first the name and artist poster, then the sculptures. I think they speak for themselves, so I won’t be commenting much. Here we go.

Didn’t care for this one, but I was impressed with the thin walls of sand making the cardboard boxes.

This was my favorite of the solo sculptures, also the winner of 1st place and People’s Choice awards. Two more views of it below.

Love the simple outer shapes and amazing interior details on this one.

This really is a good idea, emerging from the head of the person below it. Very clever!

A second snail sculpture, what are the odds? That’s half my pictures. More tomorrow, including the even larger duo sculptures.

 

And Then I Read: SWAMP THING 32

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

After kicking each other around in the swamp, Alec and Arthur take it to the deep sea, where a new threat to both of them has surfaced, a threat to sea life and a challenge to Swamp Thing’s mastery of The Green. While Alec struggles with the new monster, Arthur prepares to destroy both of them to protect the sea. It’s nicely done, well written, full of action and interesting ideas. It’s still a crossover story, but not a bad one. And more surprises at home for Alec when he returns. The art by Jesus Sais continues to be excellent.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: AQUAMAN AND THE OTHERS 3

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

Aquaman and his team are in the hands of some powerful magic, and people who can use it effectively. Each member of The Others possesses one or more artifact from ancient Atlantis that gives them a magic power of their own, and that’s what these enemies are after. They seem to have a good claim, too. Despite his own powers, Aquaman isn’t very effective against them. Some of his team manage better, but only temporarily. The villains have captive a friend of the team, and they do track her down, finally. It’s not looking to promising beyond that. An enjoyable story by Dan Jurgens, and nice art by Medina and Martinez. I’m not sure whether this team is working, though, it seems more a group of individuals so far.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: ASTRO CITY 12

Image © Juke Box Productions.

Here’s an unusual addiction, a costumed criminal who is infatuated not with the loot but with the clothes and costumes, and the fancier and more stylish the better. It’s something I suspect many villains could be guilty of, not to mention the heroes. Our protagonist, Ned, has been part of many gangs, all of them somewhat redolent of show-biz in one way or another. Will true love give him the strength to give up crime? Is a stint in Biro Island Penitentiary enough? How about encounters with heroes having superior power and skills? Or is his addiction too strong to beat?

Fine issue with nice fill-in art by Graham Nolan. One small disappointment: from the cover I was expecting a criminal gang with actual animal heads. Okay, on looking closer, the lack of eyeballs might have been a clue they were masks, but I missed that…

Recommended.

And Then I Read: ECHO, The Complete Edition

Image © Terry Moore.

I’ve had this 600-page book on my reading shelf for a long time. It comprises all 30 individual issues of Terry Moore’s self-published comic and extras. I’d read a few issues of Terry’s earlier series, STRANGERS IN PARADISE, and liked them, but not enough to keep buying it. I’d heard much praise for this book, and when I finally started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. I loved it! For one thing, it’s true science fiction, a rare thing in comics. Jeff Smith’s R.A.S.L. is the only other recent series that I feel qualifies, and there’ve been precious few over the years. No costumes, no super-heroes, plenty of action, thrills, mystery and some pretty good science. Good enough to allow for the suspension of disbelief that makes a story work.

Annie Trotter is a brilliant nuclear scientist at a private nuclear development company where she’s helped develop a sort of semi-liquid bomb. Annie has found a way to make it into a shiny metal suit that covers her body, and is using it in the test of a jet-pack flight device over the desert when, for reasons that don’t become clear until much later, she is shot down by a missile, which explodes her and the suit into hundreds of tiny pieces. On the ground below is Julie, a photographer. The hail-like pieces of suit rain down on her and her truck, and are soon coalescing on her body, and won’t come off. It’s only a small part of the original suit, but it seems to have a mind of its own. When anything threatens Julie, the suit lashes out with powerful bursts of energy to protect her. Julie hooks up with Annie Trotter’s boyfriend, Dillon,and they begin trying to figure things out. It soon becomes clear that some part of Annie is still in the suit, and Julie can occasionally interact with her. Meanwhile, the army and the nuclear company have called in a special agent, Ivy, to track down the missing parts of the suit, and she’s soon on Julie’s trail. Then there’s the crazy guy who also has part of the suit on his hand, and is using it to kill people. He’s after Julie, too. There’s lots more, all fascinating, as the true nature of the suit and the project, it’s heartless leaders, and those who want to stop them all come together in a tornado of events around Julie and Dillon.

It’s a complex and wonderful story with terrific characters and lots of surprises, but ones that all flow logically from the original idea. Masterful work that I can’t praise enough. If you like great comics, this is for you. Well done, Mr. Moore!

Highly recommended.

 

Julie Schwartz and SUPERMAN 411

Images © DC Comics, Inc.

On Friday, June 19th, writers Paul Kupperberg and Peter Sanderson both commemorated what would have been the 99th birthday of long-time DC editor Julius Schwartz on Facebook. Peter included the cover above, (this copy signed by Julie himself) the first time I’d seen it in decades. It came out in 1985. I had a hand in the production of the comic, which celebrated Julie’s life on the cover and inside. The entire issue was produced secretly. Julie was the Superman editor and was working on an entirely different story that he thought was going in issue 411.

Meanwhile, writer Elliot S! Maggin and penciller Curt Swan were crafting this tale of an alternate universe where Superman was real, and so was Julie, though his life had taken a very different course. When the story was lettered by John Costanza and inked by Murphy Anderson, it came to me. I was the Assistant Production Manager at DC then, still doing lots of hands-on stuff. I took the pages home to do all the needed production work on the issue: corrections, art touch-ups, pasting in logos and so on. I didn’t dare work on it in the office. Julie was a very involved editor, and he might have popped by the production room to check on his books at any time. I’m not sure who penciled the cover, it was certainly inked by Dick Giordano, who might have also penciled it. When it was ready, I took that home too, doing the cover lettering (top line above the logo, word balloon and UPC box lettering for the direct sale edition), pasted on the trade dress (logo, price box, DC bullet) and everything was photostatted or xeroxed for the colorists, probably Tatjana Wood on the cover and Gene D’Angelo on the interior pages. Finally everyone approved the finished work, and it went off to the printer with Julie none the wiser, though there were some close calls I think.

As Julie remembers in his book “Man of Two Worlds,”:

“So comes the day [of his 70th birthday], and all of a sudden publisher Jenette Kahn’s administrative assistant Carol Fein comes in and says we’re having a special meeting in the conference room. I probably fretted as I walked down the hall wondering what the latest crisis was—and walked into the conference room to discover champagne on ice and Jenette handing me the first copy of SUPERMAN #411, and I see that I am depicted on the cover.”

A thorough and well-managed surprise, and a pretty fine tribute to one of the best editors I’ve worked with, as well as a friend. I think one reason Julie and I got on well was that he understood about being a fan. The thing was, Julie was not so much a comics fan — that was his job — but a science fiction fan, something we had in common. Julie always said he didn’t know much about art, and it’s true his main focus was always the writing of his comics. I don’t think he ever collected any comics art, but when the original art for that Superman cover was given to him, he was delighted with it…and he proceeded to get it completely covered in autographs. I don’t recall how that all worked, but I think many of the staff and artist signatures had been put on the art before it was given to him at the party. More may have been added there. I believe Julie continued to gather more signatures on the piece whenever someone he knew stopped in to see him at his DC office. The art may also have made rounds elsewhere, or Julie might have brought it to conventions and gotten more signatures there. The result is a rather sadly defaced piece of art, but one with lots of historic autographs, as well as many obscure and hard to read ones.

In one of the Facebook postings, someone added a very low resolution version of the signed cover, which I found fascinating. Seeing a Heritage Auctions tag on it at the bottom, I looked up the auction and pulled out a high resolution version, which allowed me to see all the signatures much better. I’ve put that HERE. I thought I’d go through the image and list some of the signatures, at least the ones I can read (can’t get them all). We’ll look at the art in four sections, and you can refer to the higher resolution scan in the link above.

Starting from upper left, the ones I can read only, we have Mike Carlin, not yet on staff at DC, but soon an editor there. Top right is Joanne Siegel, wife of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and (as she notes) original model for Lois Lane. Right of the DC bullet are inker and former production staffer Steve Mitchell, and artist Steve Rude. Below the DC bullet is writer/artist/editor Joe Kubert. Below that is editor Robert Greenberger. In the S of the logo are artist Bernie Wrightson, writer Steve Englehart and writer/artist John Byrne. In the U are artist Curt Swan, colorist Tatjana Wood, artist George Tuska and DC art director Neal Pozner. In the P are colorist and production staffer Bob LeRose, artist/editor Al Milgrom, and writer (and co-author of Julie’s book) Brian M. Thomsen. In the E is editor Joey Cavalieri. Back to the left edge we have writer/editor Mike Friedrich, then inside the border writer/editor Laurie Sutton, writer/artist Bill Willingham and artist John Totleben. Under the S of the logo we have writers David Michelinie and Paul Kupperberg. Under the U are DC executive/writer Paul Levitz and “Gaff,” colorist and former production staffer Carl Gafford. Under the P is writer Cary Bates and writer/artist Karl Kesel. He and writer/artist Jerry Ordway’s autographs are split across this and the next section. Back on the left to the right of Willingham are artist/editor Joe Orlando and artist Don Heck, with writer/editor and long-time science fiction friend Forrest “Forry” Ackerman. Right of Orlando is the hard-to-read signature of writer/artist Howard Chaykin, with writer Peter David under him. Below Superman’s arm is Kim Foley, “Wonder Woman,” I believe a model who played the character at conventions. Just above Julie’s head is artist Dave Hunt, with artist Gil Kane signing right on Julie’s forehead. Just right of that is artist Murphy Anderson, and right of that colorist and DC staffer Anthony Tollin. Back on the left, in red are designer/DC staffer Richard Bruning and writer/editor Roy Thomas. Right of that is artist Manny Stallman. On Julie’s shirt is artist Chuck Patton, and on his collar artist Mike Grell. Whew! That’s just the first quarter of the cover, and there are a number of names I can’t read.

Okay the upper right quadrant. At the top is writer/artist Colleen Doran, and below her Graffiti Designs head Bob Chapman. Inside the border we have Superman’s “dad” Jerry Siegel. Inside the R of the logo are artists John Buscema and Paul Chadwick (I think). Inside the M is artist Steve Lightle. In the A is artist Joe Staton, and in the N is artist Michael Kaluta. Further right are writer/editor Marv Wolfman and artist Frank McLaughlin. Back to the left we have Len Wein in red, and under him editor Murray Boltinoff, one of only two people here that predate Julie on the DC staff. Right of that are writer/artist Harvey Pekar and writer/editor Barbara Randall (Kesel). A red heart and large signature for Robyn McBride, whose name seems familiar but I can’t place who she is. Under that are artist Steve Leialoha, writer/letterer Shel Dorf and writer/artist Keith Giffen (who has commented on Superman’s face with “too traditional”). Down and left, on the Superman figure we have writers/publishers Jean-Marc and Randy L’officier, science fiction writer David Brin, writer/artist Trina Robbins, and writer Steve Gerber has signed twice, once on Superman’s belt. Right of that is writer/artist Bob Burden. The birthday cake is signed by DC publisher Jenette Kahn. Just right of that is artist Bob Oksner. Right of the vertical line is artist Shawn McManus, artist/editor Ernie Colón and writer/artist Dave Gibbons. Right of the cover border is writer/historian Peter Sanderson and Murray Boltinoff has signed again. Back to the left, writer and long-time friend Ray Bradbury has signed the chair in white. Left of that is “Locus” publisher Charles N. Brown, writer Robert Loren Fleming, writer/editor Andy Helfer, and artist/editor Sal Amendola. Below that is artist Bob Smith, artist Rick Bryant, artist Alex Saviuk, and another Michael Kaluta signature. On to the next quadrant!

Okay, on the left edge is science fiction writer/editor Ben Bova. On the typewriter is Elliot S! Maggin. Just below is artist Kurt Schaffenberger. Below them in red is writer/artist Lee Mars, then on the books are artist/inker Joe Rubinstein, writer Max Alan Collins and artist Art Adams. Below Julie’s pencil is writer Ann Nocenti and artist John Romita Jr. On the paper Julie’s holding are artist Rich Buckler, science fiction writer Samuel R. Delany, DC editor Karen Berger and writer/editor Jim Shooter. Moving right on the shirt are DC editor Alan Gold and Jack Kirby. On the cuff is artist Winslow Mortimer. Below Julie in red is DC staffer Tom Condon and writer Doug Moench. Back on the left border are artists Jan Duursema, Tom Mandrake and Howard Bender. Below the books are artist Rick Hoberg, writer/DC Production Manager Bob Rozakis (that’s meant to be him on the left of the cover), artist Ron Wilson, artist Gray Morrow, writer/artist Kyle Baker, writer Mark Evanier, writer Alan Moore, and perhaps the most surprising signature, Steve Ditko. (I’ve never seen anything signed by Steve other than his own art occasionally.) On the head below is artist Bill Sienkiewicz, and just right of that is former DC editor Jack Schiff, the other person here I think predates Julie on the DC staff. Then artist Greg Theakston, and artist Paris Cullins. In the UPC box are artists Ed Barreto, Marshall Rogers and Klaus Janson. Then I think writer Louise Simonson just left of her husband artist Walter Simonson. My signature is at the bottom. Below the box is artist Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. Right of the box in red is DC editor/writer E. Nelson Bridwell. That’s all I can read in this section.

Last quadrant. On Julie’s sleeve are writer Jan Strnad and artist Ross Andru. Below are writer Mike W. Barr, inker Al Gordon and DC production staffer Shelley Eiber. Right of his chair are “Comics Buyers Guide” co-editor Don Thompson and artist/editor Dick Giordano. Below are artist Gene Colan, another Jan Duursema signature, writer Tony Isabella and artist Terry Beatty. In Dick Giordano’s face is the other co-editor of CBG, Maggie Thompson. On the right border is editor Deni Loubert. Moving left, under the word balloon is actor Mark Hamill. Below is DC staffer Pat Bastienne and another signature from Bob Smith. I don’t know the large red signature, but at the bottom is SF editor and long time friend of Julie, Charles D. Hornig.

There are quite a few more I can’t read or don’t recognize. If you do, please email me HERE, and I’ll add them to the list! I have to say whoever bought the cover at that 2004 Heritage auction, along with the entire interior story, got quite a bargain. This collection of autographs alone is unique, historic and remarkable, as was Julie Schwartz.

For more articles on comics history, visit the COMICS CREATION page of my blog.

Thanks to Matthew Thompson and Patrick Wynne for additions and corrections.

 

First Summer Beach Day

Fine sunny weather today with temperatures in the mid 70s. We considered a traditional beach visit this afternoon, but opted instead for a trip to Springer’s Ice Cream in Stone Harbor, then a walk. Springers is the best ice cream around here, and only open in the summer!

We drove to Stone Harbor Point for a long walk along the beach there. Ellen took off her sandals and waded, I opted to keep my walking shoes on.

There weren’t many birds around other than the usual gulls, but we did enjoy a few pairs of American Oystercatchers, still looking quite sharp in breeding plumage, and nesting somewhere in the protected areas back from the beach.

We made it all the way to the end of the long beach, must be close to two miles, or it sure felt like it! Across the channel is North Wildwood. A nice afternoon out, summer is definitely here!