Once again, celebrating The 4th of July with a cool Captain America page seems like a an appropriate — albeit obvious — idea.
This year, Steve Epting helps us out, with a great Cap (and Sharon Carter) page from the Ed Brubaker story arc that introduced readers to the Winter Soldier. (AKA Bucky Barnes, if you’ve been copying Rip Van Winkle the last 20 or so years.)
Chances are Bucky, as a Russian agent, wasn’t celebrating in those days. But I’m guessing he’s made up for it more recently.
Pete Poplaski turns ordinary looking white-collar criminals into a rogues’ gallery suitable for Dick Tracy in this terrific cover for the short-lived “underground” comic, Corporate Crime. (Two issues, two years apart in 1977 and 1979.)
I’ve said plenty about Pete previously, but it deserves repeating: It’s amazing how he manages to capture so many classic art styles, so well. His originals (and I’m grateful that I own a few) are astonishing.
Seeing this cover for the first time a few months ago made me wistful that we (IDW Publishing) never pitched DC a Batman / Dick Tracy crossover set as a period piece in the 40s. Not sure if Pete would have been up for illustrating an entire series, but I certainly would have hired him for the covers.
I believe Mad Cave currently has the Tracy rights: Guys, it’s never too late.
If you want to sample the golden age of more “traditional” crime comics (1948-1954) you have plenty of opportunities with a plethora of terrific modern collections . Coincidentally, Poplaski also drew the cover for the Crime Does Not Pay sampler from Dark Horse Comics. (The original for that cover also came up for auction recently, but it was too graphic for my own taste.)
Family Values — The fifth Sin City yarn (and the only one released as a straight graphic novel instead of individual comic issues) — seems to be at the lower end of the rankings for Frank Miller Sin City fans. If you ask me (and I know you didn’t) this is a bad rap.
While definitely more straightforward and less rich story-wise than some of the earlier tales, Family Values is a revenge thriller told well. Perhaps fans found it too conventional: Had Miller decided to make a few changes, it could easily be transformed into a Daredevil/Electra/Punisher story.
This art is from the terrific multi-page opening sequence. Dwight McCarthy visits the scene of the crime of a recent gangland killing, at night, in Volkswagen Beetle… in a blizzard. Beautiful noir storytelling — and perhaps the best-looking snowstorm to ever appear in comics. And has a VW bug ever previously looked menacing? Only Miller could pull it off quite this way.
“Pok Pok “indeed.
(And my folks were in the food business. How could I resist a splash page with a diner in it?)
Family Values has been offered in multiple editions, most recently (the red graphic cover) in a lovely deluxe format (8 x 12 vs. 6 x 9).
A prized possession: A classic “Uncle Duke” original strip from Doonesbury. Certainly, my favorite character from that strip. And a perfect gag for the over-the-top Duke.
Hunter Thompson, the incredible “gone” journalist (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, et al) and Uncle Duke had a love-hate connection. Duke was a hyper-exaggerated version of Thompson—boozy, wild, unhinged—who appeared from time to time in the strip. Legend has it that, at first, Thompson was cool with the characterization, maybe even flattered. But eventually, he became irritated, believing Duke made him look like a complete maniac. During a 1977 lecture at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Thompson commented that “some people grow up and want to be firemen, and some want to be president; nobody wants to grow up and be a cartoon character.”
Thompson also said he had no desire to meet Trudeau “because I might set the little bastard on fire.”
That said, toward the end of his life, Thompson reportedly told friends he had “made peace” with the Duke character, and the depiction no longer annoyed him.
And truly, Thompson and Duke will both live on a very long time.
A reprint of the strip can be found in the “Club Scud” book, as well as the fantastic Duke collection “Action Figure” which does indeed come with an action figure of Uncle Duke.
Muhammad Ali,Alternate Cover, TV Guide, May 10, 1975
A 20th century hat trick — in one piece of Bernie Fuchs art:
• A terrific illustration — by a talented illustrator, whose well-known commercial work was among the best of its era.
• A magazine, that in its day, was among the most widely read, and a staple in many American households, mine included.
• An astonishing boxer and cultural icon who, when he self-identified as “the greatest” made a nearly impeccable case for that title with his actions. My admiration for Muhammad Ali’s ability, tenacity and courageousness of his convictions remains off the charts.
This illustration is one of a few that Fuchs created for the TV Guide cover. Like the final published image, it’s simple, but amazingly powerful — and instantly recognizable.
Muhammad Ali caught the last train out nine years ago today, June 3, 2016. He was 74.
Here is a very dynamic page from a very dynamic art duo (sorry, couldn’t resist) of Ron Frenz and Tom Plamer. Following the terrific run by Walter Simonson and a few fill-in issues from Gene Day, Frenz took over as regular penciller; Palmer stayed on as inker, once again providing a smooth consistency to the art.
As for the story? Don’t let the cover blurb fool you. The quest For Han Solo most definitely did not end here; he wasn’t able to return to Marvel’s Star Wars series until a few months after the release of Return of The Jedi. (Issue #81, to be precise.) And again, Marvel’s creative team did a heckuva job with the little information they had ahead of ROTJ.
Hey Disney — if you had simply adapted and updated material from the Thrawn Trilogy (“Heir to The Empire.”) by Timothy Zahn, and the Dark Empire Trilogy (Tom Vetch) you would have had a sequel film series that people would still be talking about — favorably.
The Star Wars expanded universe was on fire in the early 90s, and these Dark Empire comics are among the standouts. Pretty much every painted page by Cam Kennedy is a masterpiece, and I’m glad to finally add one to my collection. Luke, Lando and the now ultra-essential Mon Mothma are featured here, along with that ridiculously cool war machine.
That was the Star Wars experience we deserved — then and now.
Ah, to have been a fly on the wall at a Marvel Comics- Lucasfilm meeting, about 9 months or so before the release of Empire Strikes Back in 1980:
Lucas: “So, guys, let us tell you— the next film is going to end quite dramatically: Han Solo will be in suspended animation, in the ship of a bounty hunter, on his way to the clutches of Jabba The Hutt. Chewie, and a new character, Lando, will appear to be going after them, and Luke, clearly not a Jedi yet, will remain with Leia and the droids in the rebel fleet.
Marvel: “Great, what happens next?”
Lucas: “That’s it, that’s the end of the film. It’s a cliffhanger.”
Marvel: “And we don’t know what transpires until the next film?” Lucas: “Correct.”
Marvel: “For three years?
Lucas: “Also correct.”
Marvel: “Ok. That’s about 36 issues. You’ll give us the broad strokes of how the next film opens so we can create scenarios and plots with the remaining characters accordingly?”
Lucas: “Er, we don’t have all the details yet, but we will figure it out.”
All credit to Louise Simonson, Archie Goodwin, Walter Simonson, David Michelinie and an hefty all-star group of talent for somehow making the challenge work.
And, of course, extracredit to Tom palmer, who, as always, made it visually come together, regardless of who penciled the book: Simonson, Ron Frenz, Gene Day, Kerry Gammill, et al.
Oh, and they recycled an unused Carmine Infantino John Carter of Mars story during this period as well.
This fun Star Wars cover from Adam Hughes brings a giant smile to my face.
It reminds of the pre-digital age of photos, when we all used film cameras (with some notable exceptions thanks to Polaroid). We took the roll of film into a processor (Fotomat* anyone?) and never knew what we would find in return.
Didn’t quite frame all the subjects the way we planned? Oops, too bad. I had a few of those photos. Probably more than a few.
The focal point of Adam’s composition, of course, is to highlight the Millennium Falcon, something more obvious in the original art. The detail in the ship is just great, as is the clever cropping. (Much of the Falcon’s detail is obscured in the published color version.)
If it weren’t for the tiny ship in background flight, by the way, It looks like Han and Chewie visited Star Wars Galaxy’s edge at Disneyland and couldn’t quite get the selfie right. I think I may have one of those pictures myself.
Happy Star Wars month — more to come, of course. And of course, Happy 45th, Empire Strikes Back, as well.
*Odd fact of the day: Fotomat processing centers peaked in scope in 1980, with 4,000 locations, at about the release time of ESB.
Fun covers all around: The Hughes variant and the “main” cover, courtesy of Phil Noto.
All-star creator Jaime Hernandez delivers a great cover — full of quirky fun — for the short-lived Fantagraphics humor publication, Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy.
Coincidentally, this cover appeared at the same time (December 1987) as one of Jamie’s best-known Love & Rockets covers, #24, which, among other swipes and homages, has been purloined by a number of musical acts for posters.
(That original published Jamie image remains iconic — It’s still available as a t-shirt, nearly forty years later.)
Sadly, the Bumble-Puppy cover isn’t available as a t-shirt.
