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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 Wednesday, April 20, 2005
TOM AND JERRY PICNIC TIME #1 [July, 1958] seems an appropriate cover for our "We're going on vacation, see you in a week!" column. Justin, the wondrous web-wizard who makes sure TOT posts every day, is going to STAR WARS CELEBRATION III in Indianapolis. Rather than have him worry about website stuff while he's away from the secret World Famous Comics command center, I figured I'd give the poor guy a break and shut up for a while.
TOT will actually resume in slightly less than a week. Justin gets back on Monday and, assuming he hasn't succumbed to the dark side of the Force over the weekend, my next TOT posts on Tuesday, April 26. I'll miss you most of all.
Back to PICNIC TIME...
It was a 100-page one-shot starring MGM's cartoon characters. The cover features the biggest stars - Tom and Jerry, Jerry's buddy Tuffy, and the incomparable Droopy - all of whom appear inside the comic as well. The rest of this comic's cast includes Barney Bear, Mooseface McElk, Fuzzy & Wuzzy, Wuff the Prairie Dog, Spike & Tyke, Mouse Musketeers, Bertie Bird, Little Quacker, and Flip 'n' Dip. The Grand Comics Database [www.comics.org] doesn't have much info on the contents, but it looks like there were 11 full stories and some Droopy one-pagers. Even by 1958 standards, getting a hundred pages for a quarter was a terrific deal.
Because I love to torture myself by looking up the prices of comics I can't find and/or afford, I can tell you that THE OFFICIAL OVERSTREET COMIC BOOK PRICE GUIDE [35th edition] feels that a near-mint condition copy of TOM AND JERRY'S PICNIC TIME would sell for $180. Last year's edition of THE STANDARD CATALOG OF COMIC BOOKS pegs it at $75. A quick visit to eBay showed no recently completed sales of the issue, but there's a sweet-looking fine/very fine copy with a "Buy It Now" price of only $24.99. Maybe I should check if there's any change under my sofa cushions.
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CHEEKY ANGEL
Hiroyuki Nishimori's CHEEKY ANGEL [Viz; $9.95] is my current favorite manga series. It's the story of a young boy who wanted to become the manliest of men and who was, instead, transformed into the loveliest of young women by a malicious genie. It has action, drama, heart, humor, romance, and as even-handed an examination of gender identity as I've seen in comics.
The now-teenage Megumi Amatsuka is as fascinating a character as you'll find in comics. By the fifth and latest volume of this series, Meg has been *further* cursed by the genie with the result that she ended up fighting for her life and honor against a gang of Yakuza, and unwillingly risking the lives of her closest friends. Additionally, though she is determined to regain her masculinity, she is beginning to like who she has become, which both frightens and saddens her. Can she accept what is? Can she remain with her friends and risk endangering them further? Those are pretty heavy issues for a young person to face.
Then there's Genzo, ex-bully and now an amazing combination of comedy relief and romantic interest. He's got it bad for Meg, but he'll happily - deliriously so - risk his life to help her in her quest to undo the genie's magic.
This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who's read any of my earlier reviews of this series, but CHEEKY ANGEL VOL. 5 gets the full five out of five Tonys.
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COMICS IN THE COMICS
You know the drill. I love comics references in comic strips and, when I find them, I share them with you.
This is Mike Peters' MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM strip from April 15. Donald and Daisy Duck made their first appearances in cartoons and not comic books or strips, but why let that technicality get in the way of a good laugh?
In Francesco Marciuliano's SALLY FORTH from April 17, husband Ted echoes a complaint I've made on many occasions, that the future didn't turn out as I expected. No "flying cars, personal jetpacks, daily space travel, instant food, or sassy robot maids." Sally, in her typical castrating fashion, does not sympathize with her guy's dismay: "Guess that's the downside of mistaking 'The Jetsons' for a civil engineering prospectus."
Mary Worth ought to give Sally a good talking to.
Look for more comics in the comics when TOT returns from its brief hiatus.
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NOT THE TONY POLLS
I use EXCITE for my home page because it has features I like and find easy to use, The latter is always a consideration when one is an Unfrozen Caveman Comic-Book Writer.
Among the page's less-than-vital-but-fun elements is its daily poll. I haven't kept track of this, but my impression is the more liberal positions are usually in the majority early in the morning and the more conservative positions by midnight...which, I suppose, is when they awake to do their Dark Lord's bidding.
I don't hold much stock in the results, but some of the Excite questions have been interesting. Their limited choices of response are simplistic, but the questions aren't bad.
Earlier this month, Excite visitors were asked how they felt about any nation possessing nuclear weapons?
The choices were:
They're so dangerous no nation should have them.
Only the United States should have them, since it faces the greatest threat.
Only the United States and its allies in the war on terrorism should have them.
Any nation that can develop nuclear weapons should be allowed to have them.
None of the above.
I'm not sure.
Well...I was sure no nation should have them, but I haven't a clue how to get that genie back in the bottle. There was a time I might have thought the United States should have them, but that was before we got an administration with a serious jones for the end of days. I fear the current finger on the button.
Our allies? Don't make me laugh and then cry and then crawl into a deep hole. We've proven ourselves to be a terrible judge of character, what with us having creating some of our current enemies and all. Can we really trust Canada?
A perhaps too logical sense of fairness would suggest that no country has the right to deny any other country the right to build nuclear weapons...not that the current US administration is prone to worry about that sort of thing. Nor am I a fan of proliferation or mutually assured destruction. Still, I may have a solution to offer here.
All nations with nuclear weapons should send them to Mayberry and Sheriff Andy Taylor. He was wise enough not to let Barney Fife ever have more than one bullet for his service revolver at a time, and not to let Barney load that bullet unless it was an emergency. The same logic could apply here.
No country should have more than one nuclear weapon at any one time and shouldn't be allowed to arm it unless they got permission from Andy. Sure, some country might get all puffed up with their exaggerated sense of self-importance - just as Deputy Fife so often did - but you know Andy wouldn't give them another nuclear weapon if they misused the first. They'd know it, too.
Feel free to nominate me for the Nobel Peace Prize. If they could float me a small advance on the prize money which comes with it, that would be swell, too.
******
TALES FROM RIVERDALE
Archie Comics went all out for the premiere issue of its new TALES FROM RIVERDALE DIGEST [$2.39]. The lead feature is a 23-page reproduction of the 2005 Riverdale High School yearbook by writer George Gladir, penciller Fernando Ruiz, and inker Rich Koslowski. Some of the gags are corny, but the yearbook is a fun idea chocked full of trivia. It even has advertisements from some of the local businesses. I think they should expand the notion - adding some of the infrequently seen students and teachers who didn't make the cut this time out - and release the yearbook as a 64-page standard-size comic book. I'd volunteer to work on it; I was too busy with stage crew and comics fandom to work on my own high school yearbook way, way back when.
Teen fashion designer Ginger Lopez stars in two stories by Dan Parent with inks by, respectively, Jim Amash and Al Milgrom. This is my first look at Ginger. I'm not sure how she'll fit into the Riverdale mix, but I like her.
The 100-page digest also features stories starring Sabrina the Teenage Witch (in her pre-teen and pre-manga days), the delectable Cheryl Blossom, Josie and the Pussycats, Betty, Archie and Friends, and, in a particularly funny story, Jughead. That's solid comics value and it earns four out of five Tonys.
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WHILE WE'RE GONE
Guilt-ridden column junkie that I am, I feel terrible taking even a few days off and leaving you bereft of online entertainment. Here are some places you can go for amusement and edification in my absence...
David Craig Simpson's I DREW THIS has new editorial cartoons every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, as well as his too-infrequent commentary on a variety of subjects. As you could probably figure out from the above cartoon, Simpson is a liberal and proud of it. God bless my brother in reason!
You can enjoy Simpson's cartoons and thoughts at:
www.idrewthis.org
WORLD FAMOUS COMICS - with the support of Kevin Smith's VIEW ASKEW PRODUCTIONS - hosts one of the finest gatherings of message boards you'll find anywhere. In addition to a general board and a somewhat more mature pop culture board, COMICS COMMUNITY has boards for creators Mike Allred, Dan Brereton, Frank Cho, Jan Duursema, James Hudnall, Insight Studios, David Mack, Tom Mandrake, Denny O'Neil, John Ostrander, Alvin Schwartz, Jeff Smith, and little old me. Moderators and their deputies keep the place friendly and as spam-free as humanly possible.
You can enjoy these fine message boards at:
www.comicscommunity.com
One more for today. Comics writer TOM PEYER has a way-spiffy blog called SUPERFRANKENSTEIN. It has comics fun and political fun and fun of which Tom Delay would surely disapprove. Peyer updates his blog frequently and you should visit it at:
superfrankenstein.blogspot.com
That's all for now. Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'll be back on April 26 with more stuff.
Tony Isabella
<< 04/19/2005 | 04/20/2005 | 04/27/2005 >>
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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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