With the Justice League of America, Julius Schwartz and Gardner Fox had something of a problem. During the JSA's run in All-Star during the Golden Age, comics were larger and thus could accommodate what were essentially separate adventures for the various heroes with a plotline that somewhat loosely tied them together. With the smaller comics of the Silver Age (essentially 25-page stories) and five heroes and the need for intros and outros, it didn't make much sense to have individual storylines. As a result the general setup was for 1-2 heroes in separate chapters. However, this created another problem; given that no DC villains had ever defeated even one hero in a story, how could Schwartz and Fox create drama with a villain facing two heroes?
In Brave & Bold #28 (the first JLA story), the answer was to have an alien villain, Starro the Conqueror. Starro looked like a giant starfish, and so he deputized three Earth starfish. They battled Green Lantern, the Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman, and the Flash, respectively. In the finale, all the members ganged up to defeat Starro.
In B&B #29, the JLA faced the Weapons Master, a villain from the future who was trying to figure out which of four amazing weapons he had would defeat the police of his era. So he came back in time and battled the JLA. First he took on the Flash, then Martian Manhunter and Aquaman, then Wonder Woman and Green Lantern. In the final chapter, all the JLA members (including Batman and Superman) defeated the Weapons Master.
In the final tryout in B&B #30, the villain was Amazo, the android who could absorb the powers of the JLA. In the first segment, he defeated Wonder Woman. The second chapter had him beating Green Lantern and Aquaman, while in part three he managed to top Flash and the Martian Manhunter. In the finale, Green Lantern manages to defeat him.
Rather than continue on discussing the individual segments, I'll just talk about the villains and why they were able to handle the JLA:
In JLA #1, Despero (an alien) puts all the JLA members except the Flash into a trance. Then he plays a bizarre game of chess, which results in each of the members being transported to face a menace on an alien world. Thus he really doesn't have to battle the JLA as a team or even individually.
In JLA #2, there are three villains, all of whom use magic to battle the superheroes.
JLA #3 features the first appearance of Kanjar Ro (an alien), who immobilizes everybody on Earth and blackmails the JLA into helping him in his battles with the rulers of three other planets.
In JLA #4, the team faces an alien with amazing weapons.
Doctor Destiny uses robots that are constructed to look like foes of the JLA members and stays in the background until he can use a will-deadening ray on them in JLA #5.
In JLA #6, Professor Amos Fortune invents the Stimoluck, a machine that can cause people to have a run of bad luck.
In JLA #7, aliens use an energy-sapping device.
A small-time crook discovers a flashlight which can force others to obey his commands in JLA #8.
In JLA #9 aliens with weird powers battle the Justice League.
Felix Faust uses magic against the JLA in #10.
Overall, in the thirteen issues, there are six battles against aliens. But even more common than the aliens are the bizarre weapons, which appear in almost every issue when you think about it. B&B #29 and #30 (Amazo the android is a weapon), JLA #4, 5, 6, 7. You can talk about the aliens, but they are mainly there because they bring credibility to the oddball weapons.
This post was suggested in an email by longtime commenter Warren.
Friday, May 10, 2013
Friday, April 12, 2013
1000 Comics You Must Read by Tony Isabella
I've lusted after this book for quite awhile, but when it first came out in 2009 I was too broke, and the local comic store had it shrink-wrapped so I couldn't browse it for free to see how I liked it. In retrospect that was a huge mistake, as if I had opened it up there would have been no way I could leave the store without it. But I stumbled across it used last week for half price and have been devouring it ever since.
I'll start out with the negatives first. The biggest flaw I see in the book is that (like the collector's market) it's a bit over-concerned with #1 issues. In the index, I counted 19 #1 issues under "A" alone. Second, the size of the book (about 270 pages) along with the fact that each comic has its cover included means that there's really only room for a sentence or two about each comic. Third, Isabella limits the 1930s issues to Superman, which means he misses Detective #1. That is far from the only significant omission.
On the positive side is just about everything else. The colors are fabulous, the summaries are generally excellent (if short), and the picks are, for the most part, spectacularly on the money. Some are hidden gems that I have discussed in this blog, like Hansi, the Girl Who Loved the Swastika, or Mysterious Suspense #1 or Blue Beetle #5 or Mystery in Space #90. There's also Justice League of America #16, and Four Color #1309 (87th Precinct) and a few ACG comics like Herbie #14 and Adventures into the Unknown #147. Oh, and Brother Power the Geek #1, and Amazing Spiderman #18 and....
You get the picture. Yes, there are some puzzling omissions, like the phenomenal Mystery in Space #75 (Planet That Came to a Standstill) and (among more recent comics) I can't imagine leaving Darwyn Cooke's The New Frontier off the list. But that's the nature of any list; there are going to be idiosyncratic hits and misses. The purpose of the book is not to end the discussion but to start it.
Highly recommended!
I'll start out with the negatives first. The biggest flaw I see in the book is that (like the collector's market) it's a bit over-concerned with #1 issues. In the index, I counted 19 #1 issues under "A" alone. Second, the size of the book (about 270 pages) along with the fact that each comic has its cover included means that there's really only room for a sentence or two about each comic. Third, Isabella limits the 1930s issues to Superman, which means he misses Detective #1. That is far from the only significant omission.
On the positive side is just about everything else. The colors are fabulous, the summaries are generally excellent (if short), and the picks are, for the most part, spectacularly on the money. Some are hidden gems that I have discussed in this blog, like Hansi, the Girl Who Loved the Swastika, or Mysterious Suspense #1 or Blue Beetle #5 or Mystery in Space #90. There's also Justice League of America #16, and Four Color #1309 (87th Precinct) and a few ACG comics like Herbie #14 and Adventures into the Unknown #147. Oh, and Brother Power the Geek #1, and Amazing Spiderman #18 and....
You get the picture. Yes, there are some puzzling omissions, like the phenomenal Mystery in Space #75 (Planet That Came to a Standstill) and (among more recent comics) I can't imagine leaving Darwyn Cooke's The New Frontier off the list. But that's the nature of any list; there are going to be idiosyncratic hits and misses. The purpose of the book is not to end the discussion but to start it.
Highly recommended!
Friday, April 05, 2013
RIP, Carmine Infantino
One of the major talents of the Silver Age has passed. Some of my favorite covers of his:
Here's a guide that Infantino created for Flash Annual #1:
Infantino called a famous meeting of DC's top brass together in 1968, where he presented them with his versions of several recent DC covers. The bosses had to admit his takes were better than the originals, and as a result he was given the newly created position of Editorial Director. A few years later he was promoted to Publisher.
But obviously it was his art that is his legacy. I don't know where he ranks in terms of total number of comics pages created; I would guess he has to be in the top five, certainly in the top ten.
But obviously it was his art that is his legacy. I don't know where he ranks in terms of total number of comics pages created; I would guess he has to be in the top five, certainly in the top ten.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Modern Silver: Ultimate Spiderman #1-2
Marvel came out with the Ultimates series around 2000. The idea was to create new series about their most popular characters, without requiring the reader to know all the continuity jazz that clutters up the regular comics. Kind of like what DC did last year with the reboot of the entire universe.
Obviously in one sense these are startlingly modern comics. People call each other on cellphones and the slang appears (granted, I am not up on teen trends even 13 years ago) more relevant. Uncle Ben is an aging dude with a ponytail who reminisces at one point about his experiences in a commune. It's kind of odd, but it makes sense; if the guy is roughly 55 in 2000, then he could easily have been a hippie in the late 1960s.
And the comics are largely interested in establishing the current continuity. Peter always knew Mary Jane, she was his boyhood crush, Norman Osborne is a billionaire biochemist at whose plant Peter is bit by the spider, etc. Indeed, if we look at these comics and the first Spiderman movie featuring Tobey Maguire a couple of years later, it looks like Sam Raimi borrowed more from USM than from ASM.
But at the same time, these are basically Silver Age comics in that they re-imagine those early stories in an updated fashion. The opening sequence (as in Lee & Ditko's intro years ago) shows us that Peter Parker is a much put-upon young lad:
But despite much more hazing, we also see that Peter isn't a tattletale. He suffers the slings and arrows and french fries of outrageous fortune stoically.
As is typical of modern comics, the story takes much longer to develop. In Amazing Fantasy #15, Peter gets bitten, discovers his new powers, becomes a wrestler, fails to stop the crook, discovers Uncle Ben's death and catches the Burglar all in a startlingly compact 11 pages. This first issue has 42 pages of story and art and we only get to the point where Peter is starting to understand the transformation that has hit him.
And yet, it does not seem padded. Part of that is because there is a fair amount of groundwork being laid for future stories. We see that Norman Osborne is aware that Peter was bitten by the spider. Initially, it appears that Peter will eventually die from the bite, and so Norman orders him killed. (Not terribly likely, by the way; what billionaire would care if a teen's guardians sued him for a million or so?) But when Peter displays his extraordinary talents in avoiding getting run down by a car, Osborne calls off the hitman. It is obvious that he is going to pay close attention to Mr Parker. We also learn that Otto Octavius (aka Doc Ock) is one of Osborne's employees.
And some events are shifted around in time. For example, Peter's big fight with Flash Thompson, which didn't come until ASM #8, is a highlight of the second issue:
One oddball note: In this series, Mary Jane is not the airhead party girl that we knew and loved in the 1960s. Instead, she's Brainy Janey. Initially this bothered me, but it does make more sense. Would Peter really settle down with a gal who was so obviously his intellectual inferior? Granted, she was gorgeous, but at some point you have to talk to each other, and Peter would not find her vapid responses terribly satisfying.
Overall, I very much enjoyed these first two issues and intend on reading more, although I doubt I will continue to post on them.
Obviously in one sense these are startlingly modern comics. People call each other on cellphones and the slang appears (granted, I am not up on teen trends even 13 years ago) more relevant. Uncle Ben is an aging dude with a ponytail who reminisces at one point about his experiences in a commune. It's kind of odd, but it makes sense; if the guy is roughly 55 in 2000, then he could easily have been a hippie in the late 1960s.
And the comics are largely interested in establishing the current continuity. Peter always knew Mary Jane, she was his boyhood crush, Norman Osborne is a billionaire biochemist at whose plant Peter is bit by the spider, etc. Indeed, if we look at these comics and the first Spiderman movie featuring Tobey Maguire a couple of years later, it looks like Sam Raimi borrowed more from USM than from ASM.
But at the same time, these are basically Silver Age comics in that they re-imagine those early stories in an updated fashion. The opening sequence (as in Lee & Ditko's intro years ago) shows us that Peter Parker is a much put-upon young lad:
But despite much more hazing, we also see that Peter isn't a tattletale. He suffers the slings and arrows and french fries of outrageous fortune stoically.
As is typical of modern comics, the story takes much longer to develop. In Amazing Fantasy #15, Peter gets bitten, discovers his new powers, becomes a wrestler, fails to stop the crook, discovers Uncle Ben's death and catches the Burglar all in a startlingly compact 11 pages. This first issue has 42 pages of story and art and we only get to the point where Peter is starting to understand the transformation that has hit him.
And yet, it does not seem padded. Part of that is because there is a fair amount of groundwork being laid for future stories. We see that Norman Osborne is aware that Peter was bitten by the spider. Initially, it appears that Peter will eventually die from the bite, and so Norman orders him killed. (Not terribly likely, by the way; what billionaire would care if a teen's guardians sued him for a million or so?) But when Peter displays his extraordinary talents in avoiding getting run down by a car, Osborne calls off the hitman. It is obvious that he is going to pay close attention to Mr Parker. We also learn that Otto Octavius (aka Doc Ock) is one of Osborne's employees.
And some events are shifted around in time. For example, Peter's big fight with Flash Thompson, which didn't come until ASM #8, is a highlight of the second issue:
Overall, I very much enjoyed these first two issues and intend on reading more, although I doubt I will continue to post on them.
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Julius Schwartz Builds an Empire
In early 1959, Whitney Ellsworth's name finally disappeared as editor from the indicia of every DC comic. It is well-established that he had actually ceased working in New York by the early 1950s, instead pitching DC's properties to Hollywood and the TV studios.
When the real editors were revealed, Julius Schwartz had a rather modest portfolio. He was responsible for DC's two science-fiction series, Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space, giving him responsibility for 20 comic books a year, as SA was a monthly and MiS appeared eight times a year.
But when the Flash was added to his titles early that year, he boosted his production to 26 books (Flash started out as a bi-monthly). Green Lantern started appearing every other month in mid-1960, and the Flash was promoted to eight times a year, so now Schwartz was editing 34 books per annum. Briefly, because in late 1960 the Justice League of America began appearing, giving him the reins over 40 issues annually.
By the beginning of 1962, Green Lantern and JLA had been bumped up to eight issues a year, giving Schwartz responsibility for 44 comics per year. But that didn't last long, as the Atom got his own title midway through that year, putting Schwartz at 50 issues per solar orbit. The Flash got an annual in 1963 putting the number of Schwartz comics at 51.
Hawkman took awhile to win his wings as I have discussed in the past, but that gave Schwartz briefly 57 comics per annum. In May of 1964, Schwartz was handed responsibility for Detective and Batman, although in return he was relieved of Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space, the two titles he had at the beginning of his empire-building. Although the swap seemed even up with Detective having as many issues as SA, and Batman an equal amount as MiS, Batman did have the Summer and Winter Annuals, ticking Schwartz up to 59 books annually. Correction: As noted in the comments by Christoph Melchert, Jack Schiff continued editing the Batman Annuals for awhile; he is credited in those issues up until Batman #198 when Nelson Bridwell took over. Schwartz did get credit for editing Batman #176; I am not sure if that is just a mistake or what.
That's a pretty hefty workload, especially when you consider that in addition to editing, Schwartz also wrote the filler for his books (unlike many of the other editors, who used Henry Boltinoff's gag strips). Flash had Flash Facts and Amazing Speeds, while for Green Lantern Schwartz gave vocabulary lessons with "What's the Difference" and imitated Ripley with "It's Hard to Believe, But..."
After that Schwartz's workload stayed relatively stable.
Update: Martin O'Hearn points out in the comments that Schwartz did have a few other titles in his stable as of 1959. Western Comics and All-Star Western were both published until 1961, and the last few issues of Rex the Wonder Dog and Hopalong Cassidy (both cancelled in mid-1959) bear his name on the indicia. Good catch, Martin!
This also brings up another interesting point. Who worked on those last couple of issues of Rex? John Broome did the writing chores; guess who became the main writer on the Flash? And Carmine Infantino did the Detective Chimp backup series in those comics; he became the penciller on the Flash. Gil Kane did the pencils on Rex and Hopalong; he did the same for Green Lantern and (eventually) the Atom. I haven't taken a hard look at it, but I suspect that when Rex and Hoppy were cancelled, Kane suddenly started doing a lot more stories in Strange Adventures and Mystery In Space until GL and the Atom filled up his schedule.
In other words, what in isolation may appear like x comic was cancelled and (completely unrelated) y comic was started may simply have been a reallocation of existing resources. Remember, all these creative talents were making a living working for the individual editors at DC, and there was no particular reason to furlough them just because a genre (like westerns) happened to go out of vogue. As well, recall that DC was remarkably consistent in terms of the number of comics it put out during the Silver Age. They basically put out 360 comics a year, every year. That number might vary widely by genre, as I have discussed in the past, but it stayed right around 360. Therefore, they still needed the same amount of script and artwork done every year.
When the real editors were revealed, Julius Schwartz had a rather modest portfolio. He was responsible for DC's two science-fiction series, Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space, giving him responsibility for 20 comic books a year, as SA was a monthly and MiS appeared eight times a year.
But when the Flash was added to his titles early that year, he boosted his production to 26 books (Flash started out as a bi-monthly). Green Lantern started appearing every other month in mid-1960, and the Flash was promoted to eight times a year, so now Schwartz was editing 34 books per annum. Briefly, because in late 1960 the Justice League of America began appearing, giving him the reins over 40 issues annually.
By the beginning of 1962, Green Lantern and JLA had been bumped up to eight issues a year, giving Schwartz responsibility for 44 comics per year. But that didn't last long, as the Atom got his own title midway through that year, putting Schwartz at 50 issues per solar orbit. The Flash got an annual in 1963 putting the number of Schwartz comics at 51.
Hawkman took awhile to win his wings as I have discussed in the past, but that gave Schwartz briefly 57 comics per annum. In May of 1964, Schwartz was handed responsibility for Detective and Batman, although in return he was relieved of Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space, the two titles he had at the beginning of his empire-building. Although the swap seemed even up with Detective having as many issues as SA, and Batman an equal amount as MiS, Batman did have the Summer and Winter Annuals, ticking Schwartz up to 59 books annually. Correction: As noted in the comments by Christoph Melchert, Jack Schiff continued editing the Batman Annuals for awhile; he is credited in those issues up until Batman #198 when Nelson Bridwell took over. Schwartz did get credit for editing Batman #176; I am not sure if that is just a mistake or what.
That's a pretty hefty workload, especially when you consider that in addition to editing, Schwartz also wrote the filler for his books (unlike many of the other editors, who used Henry Boltinoff's gag strips). Flash had Flash Facts and Amazing Speeds, while for Green Lantern Schwartz gave vocabulary lessons with "What's the Difference" and imitated Ripley with "It's Hard to Believe, But..."
After that Schwartz's workload stayed relatively stable.
Update: Martin O'Hearn points out in the comments that Schwartz did have a few other titles in his stable as of 1959. Western Comics and All-Star Western were both published until 1961, and the last few issues of Rex the Wonder Dog and Hopalong Cassidy (both cancelled in mid-1959) bear his name on the indicia. Good catch, Martin!
This also brings up another interesting point. Who worked on those last couple of issues of Rex? John Broome did the writing chores; guess who became the main writer on the Flash? And Carmine Infantino did the Detective Chimp backup series in those comics; he became the penciller on the Flash. Gil Kane did the pencils on Rex and Hopalong; he did the same for Green Lantern and (eventually) the Atom. I haven't taken a hard look at it, but I suspect that when Rex and Hoppy were cancelled, Kane suddenly started doing a lot more stories in Strange Adventures and Mystery In Space until GL and the Atom filled up his schedule.
In other words, what in isolation may appear like x comic was cancelled and (completely unrelated) y comic was started may simply have been a reallocation of existing resources. Remember, all these creative talents were making a living working for the individual editors at DC, and there was no particular reason to furlough them just because a genre (like westerns) happened to go out of vogue. As well, recall that DC was remarkably consistent in terms of the number of comics it put out during the Silver Age. They basically put out 360 comics a year, every year. That number might vary widely by genre, as I have discussed in the past, but it stayed right around 360. Therefore, they still needed the same amount of script and artwork done every year.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Fun With Sexism
You gotta love these two panels from a particularly wacky story appearing in Lois Lane #28:
The first one doesn't really make much sense. See, the super-powered Lois Lane of the future (the gal flying alongside Superman) had been racing him, but she began going faster than he was and because she didn't know how to stop she threatened to circle the universe forever. Fortunately, Superman quickly created a small planet from some nearby asteroids and its gravity slowed her down. So what does that have to do with keeping a husband? Of course, in some societies it is considered traditional for the woman to walk a few paces behind her man, but obviously that was not the case in the USA in 1961, when this story was published.
The second one comes after they land on Planetoid One, which had hit the Earth years earlier, destroying Metropolis and carrying much of the city off with it. Perhaps the oddest thing about Superman's unkind observation is that only moments before, he had been lamenting the fact that he couldn't talk in space to tell future Lois how to slow down. GCD tentatively credits this story to Jerry Siegel.
The first one doesn't really make much sense. See, the super-powered Lois Lane of the future (the gal flying alongside Superman) had been racing him, but she began going faster than he was and because she didn't know how to stop she threatened to circle the universe forever. Fortunately, Superman quickly created a small planet from some nearby asteroids and its gravity slowed her down. So what does that have to do with keeping a husband? Of course, in some societies it is considered traditional for the woman to walk a few paces behind her man, but obviously that was not the case in the USA in 1961, when this story was published.
The second one comes after they land on Planetoid One, which had hit the Earth years earlier, destroying Metropolis and carrying much of the city off with it. Perhaps the oddest thing about Superman's unkind observation is that only moments before, he had been lamenting the fact that he couldn't talk in space to tell future Lois how to slow down. GCD tentatively credits this story to Jerry Siegel.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
I Suspect the Drawing Was Not Random
I was looking through Action #42 (November 1941) and came across this announcement:
That third prize winner's name sure sounds familiar, and it's not as if it's a common one. George Kashdan was a long-time editor at DC. According to his bio at Wikipedia, he was born in 1928, so he would have been 13 at the time. So maybe this was just an early example of a fan who went on to work in the biz? Uh, no, I don't think so:
Of course nowadays it is common for such contests to exclude employees of the company involved and their families.
In 1947, after having written two comic-book scripts for DC Comics, he was hired as an editor at that Manhattan-based publishing company, where his brother, Bernard Kashdan, was a business executive who'd joined the company in 1940.(Italics added for emphasis)
Of course nowadays it is common for such contests to exclude employees of the company involved and their families.
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