Stay Tooned! #1 - July 2008

If you don't mind, I'm going to write a post today that is pure plugging. But since I have no vested interest in this magazine, rest assured my hucksterism is right out there in the open.

I got the first issue of this new magazine, Stay Tooned!, which is all about the lives of professional cartoonists. Its creator, John Read, says he wants the magazine to "advance the knowledge of the craft of cartooning", a laudable enough goal to get me interested.

As anyone who reads this blog knows, I'm a fan of magazines--I just love the format, and I wish there were more of them about and/or featuring comic-related material. I bought/buy both iterations of Comic Book Artist, subscribe to Illustration magazine, and I love TwoMorrows' Back Issue! so much I started writing for it.

So while John has a real uphill climb here, starting a new magazine all about artists and their lives, I'm glad he's giving it a shot. I found the magazine breezily written and fast moving, and covers a wide variety of topics within the magazine's framework. And even though I wasn't familiar with most of the artists profiled, I still enjoyed it.

So anyone interested in this kind of magazine, head on over to Stay Tooned!'s site, where you can learn more about the mag and even subscribe.

/end plugging

Soupy Sales #1 - Topps

Fall 1965 - It's time for Soupy!

Sorry for the delay in posts; I had intentions to run this right after Saturday's post about Mad; but the week got away from me and now I see it's Thursday already!

I was never that big a fan of Soupy; he was still airing (whether in all-new shows or re-runs, I know not) in my area when I was a kid, and while I would occasionally take a look, it all seemed so silly to me that I quickly moved onto other more exciting Saturday morning fare, like Shazam! and Isis to an eight year-old, those shows were deadly serious).

But in the 60s at least, Soupy was a genuine phenomenon, as this magazine entirely devoted to him will attest. Here's the intro page, O.D.ing on hyperbole:

...wow, the greatest since Charlie Chaplin?!?

Anyway, this magazine is exactly the kind of thing Warren did so well, except in this case it was made by Topps, taking a few inroads into magazine publishing. It features photos of the things Soupy was most famous for, like getting a pie in the face:

...appearing in Donnie Darko, apparently:

...doing wacky gags with people off-screen:

...as well as getting famous movie stars in on the act. The mug under all that whipped cream is none other than Frank Sinatra!:

(...Soupy was later beaten senseless and left in a field in Hoboken)

There's also informative stuff about the show here, like an interview with Frank Nastasi, the man behind Soupy's most famous co-star, the always unseen White Fang:

There's also a F.A.Q. with Soupy, a profile of his family, and we get to see Soupy so his famous dance, "The Mouse."

In the section called "Soupy's Scrapbook" we get to see just how friggin' huge Soupy was. Here's a shot of people waiting to get in to see a Soupy show--it looks like Beatlemania:

...and check out that marquee. Soupy got billing over Little Richard! Pretty amazing stuff for a comedian whose main bit was throwing a pie!

We get some shots of the show, and then some random facts about Soupy (during WW II, he served during the invasion of Okinawa, and how he started his career as a disk jockey), all wrapped up with this back cover shot:

I'm fascinated by magazines like this, that were a snapshot of a time that seems like it was a million years ago. Is there a comedian around today that is so popular that they could inspire a magazine just about them? Adam Sandler? Mike Myers? Can't picture that, yet here's a 68-page magazine all about Soupy Sales.

When Comic Book Artist (Vol.1) did an all-Tower issue, they delved a little bit into Tower's brief foray into magazine publishing, with longtime Topps staffer Len Brown, who worked firsthand on the Soupy one-shot:

...the other big one-shot Topps did (mentioned above) was a Man From U.N.C.L.E. book, which I hope to get my hands on some time.

Until then...let's throw some pies!

Mad #492 - EC

Aug. 2008 - I was in the supermarket yesterday and I happened to cruise by the magazines, and there was a new Mad! Since I like to check in with everyone's Usual Gang of Idiots every so often, I picked it up--after all, how could I resist that cover?

Like I've mentioned before, I'm pleasantly surprised at some of the jokes Mad puts out nowadays--sure, some of it is purely juvenile and just makes me roll my eyes, but they do include some more thoughtful stuff that probably aims at just above their demographic, like this political stuff:

...sure, it's not exactly The Daily Show, but I give Mad credit for doing stuff like this at all. Plus, the Obama thing is referencing something probably a lot of their readers have never seen. When they come across it later in life, they can say "Hey, I remember I saw that in Mad!"

There's a fun segment called "Are You a Celebrity or a Celebutard?", a joke about Amish people (they don't care whose toes they step on!), "Mad's International Preview of the Beijing Olympics" (complete with jokes about political prisoners), and then a classic, Mad-style movie parody:

...this is a splash-page after my own heart. You've got Tony Stark, Bush, Halliburton, Lyndie England, Osama Bin Laden, and gas jokes all crammed into this tiny space. Nice job, artist Tom Richmond!

This parody also features appearances by The Thing, Batman, Peabody and Sherman, even Wall•E! A great parody.

After "10 Ways to Beat High Gas Prices", we have another segment of Peter Kuper's "Spy vs. Spy", this time taking place at the San Diego Comic-Con:

...this will probably be the closest we'll ever get to seeing Peter Kuper draw Batman, the Hulk, or Conan.

There's movie poster parodies, "Hancock Outtakes", a really clever mash-up called "Calvin and Jobs", featuring Bill Watterson's creation and the head of Apple, "A Field Guide to America's Most Incompetent Summer Camp Counselors", and then the one, the only Sergio Aragones taking a look at super-heroes:

Next is "Sucker City", a four-page parody of those junk mail ads you get that is so visually spot on that the first time through the magazine, I skipped over it because I thought it actually was an ad for Circuit City!

There's a collection of strips called "The Strip Club" (featuring "Fantabulaman" by Ted Rall), and then the issue ends, as all Mads must, with the Mad Fold-In:

...the joke is weak, but that's ok. Like with Peter Kuper, I enjoy the sight of seeing Superman, Batman, et al, drawn by Al Jaffee.

Mad is in pretty good hands, I have to say. Early teens looking for some edgy humor are well served by the old stand-by. I think W.M. Gaines would be pretty happy.

Savage Tales #2 - Marvel

Oct. 1973 - I had a pile of magazines sitting on my desk, and while I was deciding which one to talk about next, I got a bunch of scans from Marvel's Savage Tales #2 sent to me by Robby Reed of Dial "B" For Blog, and that very issue just happened to be in the pile! So thanks Robby and here we go!

After a two-year hiatus between issues, Marvel brought Savage Tales back to give the whole b/w magazine thing another go. Behind the tough-as-nails cover (drawn and painted by John Buscema!) is the lead feature--Conan of course--written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Barry Smith:

All Conan fans are familiar with this story by now, where Conan is chasing after the beautiful but savage Valeria, but she makes it pretty clear she's not interested. Crom!

After their horses get eaten(!) by a giant dragon, they escape for higher ground. With no way to escape, they decide to try and wait the dragon out. Of course, with nothing else to do, Conan gets amorous:

After fighting off the dragon, they wander to a mysteriously-quiet city, where they discover even more strange goings-on, like a skeleton that has come to life, introduced in this very creepy sequence:

...Conan disappears while searching the city, and Valeria, given the chance to leave, chooses to stay behind and make sure Conan leaves with her. Aw, she is sweet on the Cimmerian!

Next is an article on The Hyborian Age by Thomas and featuring spot illustrations by Al Williamson, and then another about Robert E. Howard:

...this article features illustrations by Frank Brunner, full of guys fighting a genie, a giant octopus, plus this piece:

Mitra, I love the way Frank Brunner draws women.

Anyway, next is a sword and sorcery/sci-fi tale called "Dark Tomorrow" by Gerry Conway and Gray Morrow:

...I find all of Morrow's work to be exceptional, but this story is especially nice. He uses a lot of heavy darks which gives the visuals a real sense of heft. Plus he draws beautiful women, too.

Next is "Cimmeria", a prose piece adapted by Barry Smith:

Each b/w Marvel mag usually had at least one reprint, and this issue is no exception. In this case, the story is "The Crusader", drawn by Joe Maneely and written by Stan Lee:

Reprinted from Black Knight #1 (1955), its the story of Sir John O'Dare, who was part of King Richard's Crusades. Maneely does a really nice job on the art.

Another text piece follows on Conan's history, assembling the original Howard tales into some sort of chronology, and even features reprints of some pulp covers. Neat.

Last is King Kull in "The Skull of Silence", which originally ran in Creatures on the Loose #10:

...sure, its reprinting a story that ran less than two years ago in a color comic, but when you've got Berni Wrightson doing the art, who cares?

This issue is lots of fun, of course--soon after Marvel would turn Savage Tales over to Ka-Zar, give Conan his own magazine, and then not too long after cancel Savage Tales altogether.

Dread of Night #1 - Hamilton Publishing

Nov. 1991 - Boo!

I had never heard of this magazine, Dread of Night, until this first issue was generously sent to me by Friend of the Blog Christopher Mills. Thanks Chris!

Apparently, a line of b/w magazine-sized comics were started by Bruce Hamilton, as a sort of sister line to Gladstone. Three titles--Dread of Night, Grave Tales, and the delightfully-titled Maggots--were launched, featuring some of the best talents in comics:

...this first story was written by Michael Brewer, with art by Ralph Reese and the legendary Gray Morrow (though I can't see much Reese here). A well-done, if predictable, tale of a guy who meddles in the Dark Arts and pays the price for it.

Next is "He's A Charmer" by Russ Miller and Batton Lash, which has a very go-go 80s feel to it, featuring yet another jerk getting his comeuppance:

After a multi-page preview for the next issue (where we get to see a few pages from upcoming stories, a fun touch) we get "Upgrade!" by Nat Gertler and featuring a superb art job by Howard Bender and Brian Buniak, recalling the classic early Mads:

...its a ghoulish, gory tale of a doctor who takes on the wrong client, but told with a light, almost goofy touch which made it, for me, the best tale in the book.

After a letter's page ("Dead Write"), and another story, "Withdrawal" (by Charles Marshall and Dan & Dave Day), comes another blast from comics past, a text story, written and drawn by our pal Nick Cuti:

It's neat seeing Nick drawings accompanying his words, for once. His one spot drawing is a creepy little piece.

Last is "Blood Island" by Bill Pearson and the incomparable Ernie Colon:

...set on an island where people become infected and turn into the living dead, it works as sort of an origin story for DON's host, Count Robespierre.

Overall, the contents of Dead of Night are a little hit or miss, but there's enough good stuff here that it makes me curious to hunt down the other magazines in the line, even one called Maggots.

Unfortunately, none of the titles lasted past three issues, rendering this experiment an odd little footnote in b/w comics magazine history.

Bizarre Adventures #30 - Marvel

Feb. 1982 - He is Paradox!

Who, exactly, is Paradox? I found that out for the first time myself reading this issue, in a story called "Saturn's Secret" by Bill Mantlo, Mike Vosburg, and...Joe Jusko?

I can't exactly tell what Joe did in this issue...the inks and wash tones, perhaps? Joe, if you're reading this, clue us in!

Anyway, after the unusual splash page:

We open on the planet Mercury, in the future, where Man now has the ability to breed an off-shoot of their species, a group of beings bred to be able to survive (and work) on the scorching hot planet, to mine it for metals needed for Man's growing empire to thrive.

But of course there's tension, leading to this new breed of humans to break free of their masters and declare open rebellion!

On Earth, we meet Paradox who is, Mantlo informs us, "the Empire's premier antigravity danseur."

He is met by several agents of the government, who want to hire him to quell this rebellion. And as we see, not all of them think too highly of Paradox:

He agrees to the mission, reluctantly, after being told all the other agents that have been sent on this mission have failed. After they leave, Paradox talks to a hologram of a woman named Catherine, whom he acts as though is really there. Hmm...

On Paradox's way to Mercury, we're given an interesting glimpse of the rules of this kind of society. The humans treat the aliens with contempt, and when two teenage girls rudely push an alien girl over to get Paradox's autograph, he teaches them a lesson:

Soon enough Paradox arrives on Mercury, where he meets up with a team of other agents all sent to quell the rebellion.

Turns out Paradox is well named, because he turns out to be on the opposite side of his employers, helping to turn these enslaved people free!

Years ago, Paradox helped jail this woman, Catherine, for crimes against the government. But then he fell in love with her, and came around to her way of thinking. When she was brutally raped and murdered by his own kind, he resolved himself to be come a sort of double agent. As he watches the revolution happen right before his eyes, he thinks of her:

Definitely some interesting stuff going on here. Bill Mantlo manages to get a lot of info across about the world of Paradox, and still finds time for Marvel-style action. Paradox is definitely not your typical hero.

Next is a story called "Silhouette" by Peter Gillis and Gene Day, about two different sets of people chasing after a valuable element. I had a hard time figuring out what the heck was going on a lot of the time, though Day's art is nice.

Next is a great little tale, "Honor", by Steve Skeates, John Buscema, and Bob Wiacek:

...interesting to see Big John render a sci-fi tale, but of course he does just fine. And no offense to guys like Tony DeZuniga or Ernie Chan, but I really liked Bob Wiacek's inking over Buscema's pencils:

This story only runs five pages, and wraps up with a nasty, downbeat ending. A nice little tale, would've made a great episode of Outer Limits.

Last is the regular BA feature, "Bucky Bizarre" by Skeates and Steve Smallwood, wrapping up an unusual issue that had some definite interesting moments.

Superheroes Monthly Debut Party

From time to time I've profiled issues of the fun U.K. reprint title Superheroes Monthly; this photo is from an event at a comic book store celebrating its debut. Now that's a store that knows how to throw a party! Look how ecstatic that kid on the far left is--now that's Comics.

I had never seen this photo before until I came across it on the uber-cool site Wonder Woman Collectors, site master Kyall Coulton generously told me I could post it here. Thanks Kyall!