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Reviews and commentary by Tony Isabella
"America's Most Beloved Comic-Book Writer & Columnist"
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TONY'S ONLINE TIPS
for Thursday, March 3, 2005
I'll be diving into my e-mailbox today, hence this crazy cool Russ Heath cover from ASTONISHING #9 [February, 1952]. "The Little Black Box" was written by Hank Chapman and drawn by Bob Fujitani. As described by comics fan and historian Ger Apledoorn, the story features "A meek little man who works at the post office finds a package that has been lost in time and came from the year 2000. It contains a duplicator, which could be a way to escape his shrew of a wife...or not."
Hey, it's now 2005. How come they don't sell them duplicator things at the Wal-Mart?
The issue's other stories:
"Who Dares to Enter???" by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely;
"Where Is Death?" with art by Don Rico;
"Vengeance of the Time Stream," a text story;
"The Luck of Louis Nugent," which comics fan and historian Dr. Michael J. Vassallo opines is drawn by Marty Elkin; and,
"The Scientists," which Doc V - I want to license his nickname for a costumed adventurer - believes is drawn by Harry Lazarus with possible inker Chris Rule. The good doctor says this story has the "exact same plot as the Lee/Ditko classic "Those Who Change" from AMAZING ADULT FANTASY #10."
Do I have to state the obvious? I am fascinated by the Marvel comics of the 1940s and 1950s. I'm indebted to Greg Gatlin for his wonderful ATLAS TALES website [www.atlastales.com] for the terrific cover scans I often appropriate for TOT and to Ger, Doc, and other members of Yahoo's TIMELY-ATLAS mailing list for expanding my puny knowledge of those comics. Membership requires approval, but you can sign up for the mailing list at:
groups.yahoo.com/group/timely-atlas
Onward...
******
DC RARITIES
My good buddy ANTHONY TOLLIN sent me this e-mail after reading my March 1 review of the DC COMICS RARITIES ARCHIVES. As he's much taller and smarter than I am, as well as incredibly knowledgeable about comics, pulp magazine, and radio history, I'm always happy to hear from him. He wrote:
To quote your column:
"Keeping in the wacky vein, Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys must contend with mobsters and a bratty kid while Johnny Thunder throws a birthday party for "Peachy Pet." The Little Boy Blue tale has a certain charm, but the JT story is just dumb."
I'm surprised you didn't point out the Johnny thunder story was one of the only three comics stories solo-scripted by Julius Schwartz. It may be dumb, but it's still a part of comics history. His Green Lantern story didn't see print until the Schwartz issue of AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS.
You also wrote that "There was never a second Big All-American Comic Book, so I'm guessing the one re-presented here did not perform to expectations."
Actually, Julie claimed otherwise in his autobiography, MAN OF TWO WORLDS. He wrote on pages 71-72:
"Max Gaines, publisher of All American Comics...came up with the idea of a really big comic book that would be called The Big All-American Comic Book and would feature stories of all the heroes in the line, some 15 of them in total. It would be a big, fat book (132 pages) for just 25 cents and for which I contributed a Johnny Thunder story. All the employees were contributors, and all the editors and heads of production would share in the royalties.
"A couple of days after the book hit the newsstands, a smiling Max Gaines came around and said that it looked like it was going to be such a big success that rather than waiting the mandatory time it would take for royalty accounting, he had decided to share the wealth and give each of us a check for $250 (roughly four times my weekly salary) as a flat payment instead.
"We were all thrilled by his generosity.
"Only later did we find out how well the issue really sold and that we probably all would have made at least four times as much had we stuck to our original royalty agreements."
Based on Julie's recollection, I suspect that the lack of a second 132-page BIG ALL AMERICAN COMIC BOOK was more likely due to: a) wartime paper shortages; b) Max Gaines sale of All-American to Donenfeld and Liebowitz; or c) rising paper and production costs. Just trying to keep you honest.
I appreciate that. If I can't be smart myself, it's good to have friends who are.
The DC COMICS RARITIES volume didn't credit Schwartz with the Johnny Thunder story, but that he wrote it seems to be confirmed by his autobiography. There are several other discrepancies between the credits listed by DC in this book and those found at the GRAND COMICS DATABASE [www.comics.org], so I'm going to list them and let God sort them out.
DC says the cover of NEW YORK'S WORLD'S FAIR #1 was drawn by Vin Sullivan. The GCD says Sheldon Mayer.
DC credits no writer for "Chuck Warren Goes to the New York World's Fair while the GCD says the story was written by artist Tom Hickey.
DC says the "Would You Believe It?" page was drawn by George Papp. The GCD credits it to Sheldon Moldoff.
DC says Bill Finger wrote "Ginger Snap at the World's Fair," while the GCD credits it to artist Bob Kane.
Moving on to NEW YORK'S WORLD'S FAIR #2:
DC credits Joe Shuster as the artist of "Superman at the 1940 World's Fair" while the GCD gives the nod to Jack Burnley, who also drew the cover of the special issue.
DC lists no writer for the Red, White, and Blue story, but the GCD credits it to Jerry Siegel.
DC credits Joseph Sherman as the artist of the Zatara episode, but the GCD lists Joseph Sulman.
DC has Siegel as the writer of the Hourman story, but the GCD says it was written by Ken Fitch. In Tuesday's column, I credited Gardner Fox as the creator of Hourman, but I've since been told it was Fitch who created the pharmaceutical super-hero.
DC has Fred Schwab as the artist of the "Catnip" page, but the GCD credits Paul Gustavson.
DC credits Bill Finger as writing Ginger Snap's 1940 visit to the fair, but the GCD says it was artist Bob Kane.
As noted in my March 1 column, the GCD lists George Roussos as the background artist of the Batman story by Finger and Kane. DC doesn't include him in the credits.
Moving to THE BIG ALL-AMERICAN COMIC BOOK:
DC doesn't credit a writer for the Little Boy Blue story, but the GCD lists Lynn Evans.
As noted above, Julius Schwartz wrote the Johnny Thunder tale and not the DC-credited John B. Wentworth.
DC doesn't list a writer for the Green Lantern story. The GCD has tentatively identified Alfred Bester as the probable writer of "Heroes Are Born...Not Made."
Finally, DC lists E.E. Hibbard as the sole artist of the Flash story featured in this comic. The GCD says Hibbard's pencils were inked by Martin Naydel.
I'm not enough of a comics detective to say conclusively that either DC or the GCD is 100% correct in these identifications. My own experience has been that the GCD is generally the more accurate of the two, especially since DC's credits are sometimes determined by the publisher's interpretation of contractual agreements, such as when DC absurdly credited Bob Kane as artist on reprinted 1960s Batman stories I suspect Kane never even looked at.
However, the detective work continues and I applaud all those who labor to give credit where credit is due.
******
DINOSAURUS
Digging further back into my mailbox, KEVIN sent me this note after reading my January 4th column on the Dell Comics adaptation of DINOSAURUS. He wrote:
TARZAN was drawn from 1947-1965 by the great Jesse Marsh, who drew DINOSAURUS! and other movie adaptations. Marsh illustrated Dell's JOHN CARTER OF MARS and others. His Tarzan was written by Gaylord Dubois who created his own Tarzan universe, sort of an amalgam of the Edgar Rice Burroughs books and the Johnny Weismuller films. Marsh also drew the Tarzan backup strip, Brothers of the Spear, with a black prince and a white prince of two jungle kingdoms presented as equals. BOTS was later taken over by Russ Manning. The JUNGLE ANNUALs are real prizes because they give you several long stories and lots of features including the obligatory Ape/English dictionary.
Kevin also directed me towards some terrific websites devoted to Marsh:
members.aol.com/caderoni/marshp1.html
home.inreach.com/emmaus/marsh-tarzan.html
******
CARY GRANT
This was sent to me by a friend who received it from another friend. It's the circle of online life:
From my daily devotional:
If you are a teenager, you may not even remember Cary Grant. Grant was an actor and superstar in every sense of the word. In his later years, he made occasional appearances in theaters around the United States in a show billed simply as "A Conversation with Cary Grant." He didn't need much advertising; one small ad would appear in the local newspaper and the theater would immediately sell out. Everywhere he appeared, he received a standing ovation simply for walking out on stage. At the end of his performances, he always read a piece he called "A Meditation," saying he didn't know who wrote it but that this meditation also expressed his own feelings of life. I like it very much and offer it to you today:
"Now Lord, you have known me a long time. You know me better than I know myself. You know that each day I am growing older and someday may even be very old, so, meanwhile, please keep me from the habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.
"Release me from trying to straighten out everyone's affairs. Make me thoughtful, but not moody, helpful but not overbearing. I have a certain amount of knowledge to share, still it would be very nice to have a few friends who, at the end, recognized and forgave the knowledge I lacked.
"Please give me the ability to see good in unlikely places and talents in unexpected people. And give me the grace to tell them so, dear Lord."
I don't have any comment on the above, save that I think most of us can take something of value from it.
******
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION
Yes, I know it's March. I told you I was digging deep into my e-mailbox for these letters. This one came from the ever-writing JON KNUTSON:
While I had a bit more time this morning, I figured I'd chime in with resolutions for you for the New Year...
1) Continue to get healthier to live a longer, more active and enjoyable life. This is a resolution I've just started on myself. Jessi and I joined Weight Watchers and I've been amazed at how good some of the alternative foods are. You have tried the Morningstar Farms "Gardenburger" stuff, haven't you? It's very tasty; I think they improved the flavor since I tried it a number of years back.
2) Maintain the high level of quality in TONY'S ONLINE TIPS, sharing not only your reviews about current comic books, but also sharing any other opinions or thoughts about other, non-comics related areas, whether it be politics or just telling us about the latest from the Family Isabella.
3) Continue to resist letting those who suffer from a lack of comprehension in regards to what the First Amendment is about - and who express their lack of comprehension in reprehensible or ill- considered ways - deter you from resolution #2.
4) Find the artists you are looking for and get those stories published so the loyal legions of TOT readers will have new Tony Isabella material to read!
5) Start the first-ever TOT "Zatanna & Black Canary Look-Alike Contest"...in which TOT readers can submit photos of women who look like Zee and Dinah and dressed in the appropriate costumes...and, by appropriate, I naturally mean the versions with the fishnets. Okay, that's more of a personal desire than anything else...but one which I imagine you wouldn't be too adverse to seeing.
Happy new year to you and yours. I'm hoping that despite the guy voted into our nation's highest office, that 2005 will turn out to be a wonderful year for us all!
The main reason I ran this letter was so I could plug my pal's terrific new blog - WAFFY JON'S RANDOM THOUGHTS - where, along with his comments on life and stuff, he also presents covers from comic books that never were. Like this one:
You can read the esteemed Knutson's blog at:
waffyjon.blogspot.com
Moving on to his resolutions for me:
1) 2005 has had its bad health moments for me, but I continue to work through them. I'll start looking for coupons for and sales on the Morningstar products.
2) I seldom know what I'm going to write about in TOT, but I expect you'll continue to get a little bit of everything you like about the columns and then some.
3) I thought the First Amendment is now considered quaint. I was sure I got a memo from the Attorney General on that.
4) I have actually lined up some terrific artists to work on my new stories. But it also looks like I'm going to be doing some writing for other publishers as well. I'll have more on this when projects are further along.
5) I'm all for receiving photos of women wearing Zatanna and Black Canary costumes. Or any of my readers wearing costumes, for that matter. Despite some concerns about inappropriate costuming, I think "cosplay" adds a lot to comics conventions and fandom...and hope said sub-hobby continues to grow.
While I wait for those photos to start filling my e-mailbox, here's a shot of the lovely NEKHOCHAN as one of my favorite comics characters:
You can see more of her costumes at:
images.cosplay.com/showgallery.php?userid=6823
Thanks for spending a part of your day with me. I'll be back soon with more stuff.
Tony Isabella
<< 03/02/2005 | 03/03/2005 | 03/04/2005 >>
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THE "TONY" SCALE
ZERO: Burn your money before buying any comic receiving this rating. It doesn't *necessarily* mean there's absolutely nothing of value here - though it *could* - but whatever value it might possess shrinks into insignificance before its overall awfulness.
ONE: Buy something else. Maybe I found something which wasn't completely dreadful in the item, but not enough for me to recommend it when there are better comics available. I only want what's best for you, my children.
TWO: Basic judgment call. I found some value, but not enough to recommend it. My review should give you enough info to decide if you want to take a chance on it. Are you feeling lucky today, punk? Well, are you?
THREE: This denotes something I find perfectly respectable. There are better books out there, but I wouldn't regret buying this item. Based on my review, you should be able to determine if it's of interest to you. Let the Force guide you.
FOUR: I recommend anything earning this rating. Unless you don't like the genre, subject matter, or past work of the creators, I believe you'll enjoy this item. Isn't it uncanny how I can look right into your soul that way?
FIVE: Anything getting this rating is among the best comicdom has to offer. You should buy/read this, even if the genre/subject matter doesn't appeal to you. It's for your own good. Me, I live for comics and books this good...but not in a pathetic "Comic-Book Guy" sort of way.
Please send material you would like me to review to:
Tony's Online Tips
840 Damon Drive
Medina, OH 44256
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