Will Pfeifer's Blog, page 38

Will Elder Weekends: Roll credits

It was just about a year ago that I kicked off Will Elder weekends, a semi-regular salute to one of the greatest cartoonists of all time. Today would have been Will's 91st birthday, so both as a salute to his birth and as a way to wind up this series, I'm sharing one of my favorite Will Elder panels of all time...


It's from near the end of "Mickey Rodent!" in MAD #19 (Jan. 1955), and I've always loved the way it contrasts the clean, friendly house style of the Walt Disney Company with the darker, richer style of Elder's own work. It's not just funny, it's ominous in a wonderfully clever way, and points the way to the story's even darker ending. Plus, it gives Elder a chance to not only sign his work in big, bold writing but to have the characters comment on it. Genius!

And that's it for the salute to Will Elder. A ton of his work is in print, so you have no reason not to be checking it out. The MAD stuff has been reprinted again and again, Fantagraphics put out the complete HUMBUG a couple of years ago, Dark Horse reprinted most of his "Little Annie Fanny" work for PLAYBOY and what's not covered in there is at least heavily sampled in the massive (and massively entertaining) book, "Will Elder: The Mad Playboy of Art," which I've mentioned several times in this posts. It's all very, very good -- and most of it is still pretty damned funny.

Next week, I'll be kicking off a new series with a much more wide-ranging look at the history of comics. Be sure to tune in!

Will Elder Weekends: Special Art Issue

It's not often that a magazine or comic book devotes an entire issue to one of its creators*, but MAD did just that with its April 1955 issue, spotlighting "Bill 'Chicken Fat' Elder" (as the intro copy says). Divided into five sections -- "The Boy!," "The Young Artist!," "The Commercial Artist!," "The Old Pro!," and "Senility!," it also includes a reprint of "Mole!" from MAD #2.

Aside from that "Mole!" reprint, it's mostly a lot of altered art, photos and other bits and pieces, but it's very funny stuff, all written by Harvey Kurtzman, of course, with a nicely conceived ending where Will's final works (in "Senility!") are duplicates of his first works (in "The Boy!"). Plus, it has this great cover, sticking our hero's face into a Picasso...


* Actually, National Lampoon saluted another great American satirist with this June 1985 cover, but Doug Kenney had to die to get that tribute. All Will Elder had to do, according to legend, was have Harvey Kurtzman back up against a deadline and have to throw an issue together on the fly. Not that Will -- or Doug, for that matter, didn't deserve the honor.

Say, gang! Let's all drink a toast to eight whopping years of pointless blogging

That's right, eight years ago today, Sept. 13, 2004, I first put fingers to keyboard and, for no particular reason, fired up the blog you're reading. Other big news from that fateful day?

Noah Wyle was quitting "ER" after 10 years. (He'd be back.)

Dougray Scott was going to replace Pierce Brosnan as the new James Bond. (He wouldn't.)

Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott signed to star in the big-screen version of "The Dukes of Hazzard." (Unfortunately, they did.)

And what was I doing? I was writing the following post, which takes an almost (I said almost) charmingly innocent look at an Internet that didn't yet know about Twitter and barely knew Facebook. So here's what I wrote:

Welcome to the future! Now leave!

You know, when I first became aware of the Internet back in the mid '90s, I figured it was the turn of the century version of the CB radio. Lots of people talking to each other, using crazy "handles," without a whole lot to say. 

But now that I've been "surfing the Web" (as the kids say) for about 10 years now, I've got a whole new respect for the Internet, and realize it's not the CB radio of the 21st century. Nope, it's more like the adult bookstore near the off ramp of the 21st century, except it's so big it takes up the entire interstate system, leaving a tiny little bike ramp for all the other content. Content like insane political conspiracies, 12th-generation nude photos of "Star Trek" extras and "Manimal" fan fiction. Oh, and plenty of pop culture blather....which, naturally, is where I come in.

 I signed up for this blog on a whim, and really have no idea what I'm going to fill it with. If it's like most of my other projects, look for a whole lotta nothing. But, on the offhand chance I actually follow through on something, it could be fun. Or at least something to look at when you're pretending to work. 

All together now: EIGHT MORE YEARS! EIGHT MORE YEARS!

Warning: The following post may contain adult language. No, scratch that. The following post definitely, positively, absolutely contains adult language.

One of my all-time favorite TV shows, "The Thick of It," is finally coming to the States in a gleefully foulmouthed unexpurgated form, both on DVD (buy it here -- seriously -- the subtitles alone are worth the price of admission) and on Hulu. Here's the Hulu trailer. Remember, you've been warned.



"The Thick of It" was created by Armando Iannucci, the guy behind HBO's hilarious (but not quite as hilarious) "Veep" and the movie "In The Loop," which includes many of the actors and a few of the characters from "The Thick of It." Chief among those characters is Malcolm Tucker, chief enforcer of the Prime Minister, played with profane relish by Peter Capaldi. (That's him jokingly proposing a "swear jar" at the end of the preview. Once you get to know Malcolm, you'll realize just how big a joke that it.)

The fourth series (as they say in Great Britain) is in production now and is slated to arrive before the year is out. I can't wait to see what happens, and if you follow my advice and watch the series thus far, I'll bet you won't be able to either.)

Will Elder Weekends: The MADness begins!

Here's a genuine historical moment: The first page of Will Elder's first story for MAD from (what else?) the first issue, which was cover dated Oct./Nov. 1952. It was written by Harvey Kurtzman, of course, and used character designs that Elder would return to in "Frank N. Stein" (which ran in MAD #8).


In the beginning, MAD didn't spoof specific comic books or movies. Instead, it spoofed genres. Besides Elder's crime story, the first issue had a horror story illustrated by Jack Davis ("Hoohah!"), a science fiction story illustrated by Wally Wood ("Blobs!") and a Western illustrated by John Severin ("Varmint!").

The word "ganef," by the way, is Yiddish slang for "thief, scoundrel or rascal." How many white-bread midwestern kids reading MAD decades later (like, for instance, yours truly) had an unusually wide knowledge of 1950s Yiddish slang thanks to the work of Kurtzman and Co.?

Movies I watched in August

Busy month, what with Allie starting second grade, me starting a new job and my 20-year subscription to Entertainment Weekly finally dying out, but I did manage to find time to watch a baker's dozen of movies....


I'd heard a lot of hype about this film by writer/director Ben Wheatley, hype along the lines of it being one of the most intense, shocking movies to hit the pike in a while. And though I thought it was very well made and compelling, for a while the story of a reluctant hit man and his partner taking one last job (OK, actually three last jobs) didn't live up to the buzz. Then the third act kicked into gear out of nowhere (the shot on the poster is from that sequence) and I saw what everyone was talking about. Don't read anything about it, don't watch the trailer and don't look at the scenes on the DVD intro screens. Just push play and get ready. It's pretty damned great after all, and it's the sort of movie that can lurk in the corners of your mind for days after you've seen it.



Followed up last month's viewing of  "Metropolitan" this later effort from Whit Stillman, also re-released on Criterion Blu-ray. It's definitely (a) more ambitious and (b) more polished, but while fun, it lacks the first-film energy (and, frankly, focus) of "Metropolitan."  Still, definitely worth a look. Just got my Warner Archives copy of "Barcelona," so it looks like there'll be more Stillman in this spot next month, too.


This promising pre-Code I'd never seen was disappointing when I finally caught it on TCM, mostly because lead Warner Baxter was, in my opinion, a dud. (I actually DVR'ed it because I misread the cast listing as "Warren William" -- more on him in a little bit.) Despite her billing, Myrna Loy doesn't show up until late in the game, and Mae Clarke (one of my favorite pre-Code actresses) doesn't get much to do. About the only one who's any fun in the movie is Charles Butterworth as the butler. That guy always cracks me up.

For some reason, Allie was on an "Aladdin" kick, which means I was on an "Aladdin" kick, too. I saw it in the theater way back in 1992, but I hadn't seen it since and thought it held up surprisingly well. The ending, where Aladdin shows some cleverness in using the badguy's lust for power against him, is especially effective. I also noticed there are a few credits for "Pixar" at the end, probably for the work done on the lion head sand cave, the carpet (the pattern wouldn't be possible with cel animation) and a rolling tower that shows up near the finale. This was, let's remember, the dawn of feature film computer animation -- "Beauty and the Beast" had only come out the year before, and "Toy Story," which was in the works, wouldn't be released for two more years.

Another fine, fun release from Warner Archives. Here's what I had to say about it in my Movie Man column a few weeks ago: 
"A year after the Beatles cemented their spot as The Biggest Thing in The World with the release of the movie “A Hard Day’s Night,” fellow British invaders The Dave Clark Five released their own wacky black-and-white film, “Having a Wild Weekend.” Lacking the fame (and, frankly, the talent) of the Fab Four, the five were recast as movie stuntmen who go on an adventure when their leader (Dave, of course) runs off with the spokesmodel for a British meat company. (Really!)  Though it’s not as much fun as “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Having a Wild Weekend” (which is named after a Dave Clark Five song, of course) isn’t bad. The plot, with all the intrigue involving the meat industry, is refreshingly weird, and the direction (from first-timer John Boorman, who later helmed “Deliverance”) has a surprisingly ethereal feel, like some snappy cousin of the French New Wave. 
"Best of all, this movie moves, with the band jumping from location to location and a new, crazy character lurking around every corner. The ending even manages to be somewhat thoughtful, with the forces of consumerism winning out against youthful rebellion. Which, if you think about it, is what really happens when bands make movies like this. Pretty meta, eh?"

I'd heard this was one of the most impressive action movies in years, and it certainly lived up to that hype. I can't imagine how any of the actors, stuntmen or production crew managed to survive the nonstop whirl of feet, fists and machetes. (This is one of the most stab-happy films I've ever seen.) The plot is as bare-bones as it gets, and the characters are paper-thin, but at least it has the good sense to skip all that and let the jaw-dropping action take center stage.


Another forgotten classic from Warner Archives that I reviewed in my column. Here's what I said: 
"A gritty reworking of the classic heist movie “The Asphalt Jungle,” this version moves the action to Los Angeles and replaces the all-white lineup of the 1950 movie with a more colorful cast. Leading the lineup is Thalmus Rasulala, a man with a name meant to be said loudly during movie trailers. He specialized in playing extra-cool supporting characters in early 1970s movies, but he might be best remembered for playing the absent dad on the sitcom “What’s Happening?” Here he plays Sidney Lord Jones, an ex-con so bold he’s seen reading a book about rare jewels as the guards release him from his prison cell. After that, most of “Cool Breeze” follows Jones’ complicated — but rather entertaining — path to find financing and a crew for his elaborate jewel heist. The robbery itself takes little screen time, just like the original “Asphalt Jungle” (though this job involves a stolen laser, believe it or not). Then, of course, everything goes wrong during the escape and Jones and company split up to various ironic — and distinctly 1970s — fates. The same thing happened in “The Asphalt Jungle,” though I don’t remember anyone pretending to be a beauty contest mogul, as Jones does in his final scene. 
"Produced by Gene Corman, “Cool Breeze” shows the same flair for exploitation that his brother, Roger Corman, was legendary for. It’s violent, sarcastic, exciting and funny in just the right way. Keep an eye out for a very young Pam Grier in one scene. Before long, she’d be a bigger name than any of her “Cool Breeze” co-stars."

Odd 1933 movie that combines the structure of  "Grand Hotel" (lots of big stars in different plots with a Barrymore or two thrown into the mix) with the plot of "Only Angels Have Wings" (South American fliers face death). John Barrymore is the tough, unsentimental boss who's willing to risk his pilots' lives to keep the mail on schedule, brother Lionel is the nicer guy who struggles with his feelings toward the probably-doomed pilots and his own itchy eczema (really!), Clark Gable is a pilot who we never see out of the plane, Helen Hayes is his soon-to-be-widow (really!) and the rest of the actors fit into the plot wherever there's room. It drags in spots (mostly anything involving Hayes), but the flying scenes -- a combination of models and actual footage -- are impressive, the low-tech methods of the pilots (mostly involving a notebook being passed back and forth) are fascinating, and John Barrymore has a great big map in his office. Sold!


After doing some good-deed missionary work in China, husband and wife Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer reward themselves with a train trip across the former Soviet Union, and, of course, that's where everything goes wrong. What makes "Transiberian" work in a sub-Hitchcockian slow-burn way is how you're not exactly sure how and when everything does go to hell. Is it when the younger, twitchy couple shows up to share the cabin? Is it when they learn about how prevalent heroin smuggling is? Is it when Woody wanders off during a stop to look at old trains and Emily winds up leaving without him? There's a definite, shocking moment midway through when you know everything's gone bad, but what I liked about "Transiberian" is you're not sure when it started to go (pardon the pun) off the rails. This movie, by the way, is a real showcase for Mortimer. If you're tired to seeing her play the typical Sorkin female on "Newsroom," watch this movie instead.

The last time Jack Black and director Richard Linklater teamed up, the result was the very entertaining "School of Rock." This movie -- even though it centers around the murder of an old lady -- is a lot more low-key, but still entertaining. Jack Black plays a nice guy funeral director who's the only person willing to befriend the meanest woman in town (Shirley MacLaine). Eventually, her nastiness even gets on his last nerve, and he shoots her in a moment of rage. (Don't worry -- these aren't spoilers; it's the basic premise of the movie.) What happens next is the meat of the story: District attorney Matthew McConaughey (very good delivering a study of frustrated disbelief) discovers he can't find a dozen local jurors who think Jack should be convicted -- even though he confessed. Everyone's solid, but my favorite parts of the movie involved the Texas townfolk -- who all played themselves.

Also known as "The Hatchet Man," this pre-Code oddity is distinct because while almost all the characters are Chinese, virtually none of the actors are. Trust me, you haven't lived until you've seen Edward G. Robinson and Loretta Young pretending to be Asian, with the help of some very unconvincing makeup. The plot itself is even stranger, with Robinson playing a hatchet-wielding Tong hitman whose dying buddy (that he himself killed) makes the final request that Robinson raise his young daughter and, when she becomes an adult, marry her. All together now, yeeeech! Otherwise, it's a standard Warner Brothers gangster movie, with the standard tropes -- long-suffering wife/girlfriend, romantic rival, fall from grace, shot at redemption and a former badguy running afoul of the mob when he tries to go straight. Stick around for the ending, when Robinson buries a hatchet through a wall and into the back of his rival's head. When he tries to remove it from the other side of the wall by wiggling the handle, Robinson accidentally makes his (dead) rival shake his head back and forth. Hilarious!


Sacha Baron Cohen leaves the pranks of "Borat" and "Bruno" behind to deliver a pretty funny but very standard fish-out-of-water comedy. The best bits are when the title character shows how amazingly cruel he can be, but the actual story is both too meandering and, somehow, too choppy. And why hire the great John C. Reilly if you're only going to use him in one or two relatively straight scenes? Worth a look, and it definitely delivers some solid laughs, but it's nothing compared to "Borat," which I'd rank among the funniest movies of the last 10 years.

Remember when I mentioned Warren William back in the entry for "Penthouse"? Well this is the guy I was talking about, arguably the smoothest bastard of my beloved pre-Code era. The movie in question is "The Mouthpiece," and though I couldn't find a poster, this still works pretty well for summing up the movie. See, William used to be an ethically upright prosecutor until he got an innocent guy executed. After that, he's determined to earn a bundle helping crooks avoid the chair. In that shot above, he's about to drink a vial to convince a jury that what the police claim is poison is nothing of the sort. He drinks, they acquit and the guy walks free. The twist? It was poison, William knew it, and he hurries off to (a) get his stomach pumped and (b) collect his fee. Naturally, he eventually both repents and pays for his crimes, but up until those final five minutes, it's an hour-and-a-half of good ol' pre-Code fun.

Will Elder Weekends: How this Will Met That Will

I was born in 1967, so I was too late for Elder's run on Mad, Trump, Humbug and Help, and I was  still too young to sneak copies of Playboy to read "Little Annie Fanny." So where did I first encounter the genius that is Will Elder? In the pages of  Mad Super Special #24, which included a full-size comic book insert of "The Nostalgic Mad" reprinting, among other stories, "Flesh Garden!" (with art by Wally Wood) and "Mole!" (with art by Elder). Here's how I summed up that momentous moment in a piece I wrote in 2006 for Comic Book Resources entitled "10 Comics that Screwed Me Up":

"Had to look the date on this one up. I never owned it, and wasn’t sure what issue it was. All I remember was some kid brought it to fourth grade and, sneaking peeks during homework time, I devoured the reprinted comic book spoofs FLESH GARDEN! and MOLE! (with art by the incomparable Wally Wood and Will Elder, respectively). Suddenly, every other comic book seemed bland and tame. These comics were clearly not for kids – not really. I didn’t get all the jokes, but I got Elder’s dark, spooky art and Wood’s insanely voluptuous babes. A copy of THE MAD READER paperback a year or so later gave me a bigger taste, and there was no going back. I still say those original comic book MADs are the finest comics ever published."

Here's the link to the original article, which also includes a segment on Jack Davis' classic "Foul Play!" from The Haunt of Fear. Now there's a comic to warp a young mind!

Final trailer for P.T. Anderson's 'The Master'

Here's what's being hyped as the "final" trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming movie, "The Master," which is due to hit theaters in mid-September (though I'm betting it arrives on Rockford screens sometime in mid-2015).



Looks great, right? Tense, foreboding and driven by a compelling rhythm that comes from Joaquin Phoenix's increasingly frenetic pounding. Plus, after his absence in P.T. Anderson's last movie, "There Will Be Blood," it's sure nice to see Philip Seymour Hoffman return, and for a role that looks much, much meatier than the supporting parts he played in Anderson's other movies, "Hard Eight," "Boogie Nights," "Magnolia" and "Punch-Drunk Love."

My favorite P.T. Anderson trailer, though, is this one from his 1999 epic "Magnolia," which packs so much into just under three minutes that it's practically a movie all by itself. And talk about rhythm -- that Ricky Jay narration paired with Aimee Mann's music mixed with the introduction of all those characters makes it one of the most compelling trailers I've ever seen. Here -- see for yourself...

A birthday message for The King from THE WORLD THAT'S COMING!!!!!

As virtually every comics-related site has rightly pointed out, today is the 95th anniversary of the birth of Jack "The King" Kirby, the man who -- more than anyone else -- shaped the history of super-hero comics and created or co-created a very large chunk of all the comics on the stands today.

I was never fortunate enough to meet the man myself, but I've been reading Kirby comics before I could read. Thing is, it was never his classic runs that really connected with me. Don't get me wrong, I love his work on Fantastic Four and The New Gods, but it was an eight-issue series from his 1970s stint at DC that was -- and remains -- my absolute favorite. I appreciate the epic scope and endless imagination of Kamandi, another book from that period, but for sheer strangeness, balls-out action and bizarre (just dig that first image!) concepts on every page -- or, hell, in every panel -- for my money, there's no topping OMAC.

(Plus, at a mere eight issues, I think this was the first series I ever managed to completely collect.)

Here are some images from those eight issues. I think you'll agree there was energy and vision to spare. If you like what you see, DC has thankfully reprinted the entire series in a single handy volume. It's sitting in a proud spot on my bookshelf -- make sure it finds a spot on yours, too.

Happy birthday, Jack!

Will Elder Weekends: Will gets serious -- well, sort of

Here's the splash page of "Counter Clockwise," a story Will Elder inked over John Severin's pencils for Weird Fantasy #18, which was cover dated March-April 1953. Like most of the stories Elder inked for his old buddy Severin, it looks swell and displays his usual stellar technique, but there's a little something missing, a sense that an important part of Elder's talent is being reined in.


Of course, during the same time at EC comics, Elder was appearing in issues 3 and 4 of Mad Magazine, with the stories "Dragged Net!" and "Shadow!' -- and within the pages of Mad, absolutely nothing about Elder was ever, ever reined in.