The comic books on the wall behind Stan Lee date this to early in 1966, so he was 43 years old. Stan was promoting the upcoming Marvel Super Heroes syndicated cartoons. A couple of years later he was sporting a beard and a toupee. I’m hoping a complete copy of the film shows up.
Category: Comic Books
Bettie’s Bangs and Hard Knocks
Betty Page was a one-of-a-kind pinup girl. Appearing mostly in low-brow magazines, Bettie’s appeal was more kitschy than sleazy. Bettie (her preferred spelling) was happy to pose nude, but Irving Klaw never had her do that in his famous fetish photos. Personally, I don’t get the attraction of fetish material, and Bettie thought of it as a funny performance.
Bettie Page Reveals All, an affectionate yet unflinching portrait, is on Amazon Prime. The documentary is a bit amateurish, like the magazines Bettie appeared in, but I recommend it for both the cheesecake photos (there’s an old-fashioned term) and for Bettie’s life story.
For years, Bettie’s fans wondered where she was. The documentary really does reveal everything, including how she went from this…
… to this.
Bettie’s resurrection was thanks to comic book artist Dave Stevens. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Dave saved Bettie’s life, as the documentary explains. Bettie died less than a year after Dave’s untimely passing. Tim Estiloz, a comic book fan and friend, who I met through Joe Sinnott, once interviewed Bettie.
Who Binge Watches the Watchmen?
One thing I didn’t need was another streaming video service, but I got talked into giving HBOmax a try. Over the past three days I’ve watched the nine episodes of HBO’s Watchmen sequel.
The series pushes hard on culture war issues. The presentation owes a lot to the stylistic influence of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Some hardcore Watchmen fans have complained the series doesn’t remain true to Alan Moore’s original vision, but it carried me through from one episode to the next. HBO has made the soundtrack available on YouTube, and it’s worth scrolling through the playlist for tracks that may be of interest.
Thumb Up for Finger
I am putting this photo here at the request of Mark Evanier.
Kirby/Sinnott — ‘Nuff Said!
“Dougie, it was a job.” — Joe Sinnott
Joe was sincerely modest about his work, but he was also justly proud of it. He used to say he hit his peak in 1961, and stayed there. Which he did.
More For MIH
Heritage Auctions has been a key driver of original art prices, but ya gotta love their high-resolution scans. So click to enlarge!
Compare the page above, inked by Vince Colletta, with the page below, inked by my pal Joe Sinnott. The only thing they had in common was that neither one of them ever missed a deadline.
