Comic Books – Page 58 – Prattling before the Pratfall

Pretty faces for Marvel Comics

I missed the Valentine’s Day deadline for this post, but here it is anyway.

I became a comic book fan when Batman appeared on TV in January, ’66. After reading only DC titles for a few months, I started reading Marvel Comics. My first two favorite Marvel artists were John Romita Sr. and Gene Colan. Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko’s drawings were, well, scary, when I was ten. It was Joe Sinnott’s clean and friendly style of inking that made Kirby approachable for me.

As Kirby progressed creatively and artistically, paradoxically he seemed to lose his ability to draw attractive people. Women in particular. Were they noble? Yes. But pretty? Not so much. Ditko’s characters looked so outright strange that he almost seemed to be conveying an innate misanthropy.

I don’t know if Stan Lee was inspired by Roy Lichtenstein’s swiping of romance comic book panels, but he brought in Romita and Colan, who had been drawing love comics for DC. I think Romita and Colan deserve a lot of credit for the way they broadened the appeal of Marvel Comics, starting in the mid-60’s. They learned how to draw the dynamic action scenes that Stan wanted, while making it possible for him to better develop the soap opera elements of the stories. Never underestimate the power of a pretty face! Later, when John Buscema came back on board, I think the writing was on the wall for Kirby. After Stan assigned Buscema to illustrate the premiere issue of ‘The Silver Surfer’ in 1968, Jack’s departure from Marvel was inevitable.

Courtesy of D.F. Rogers, here is an excellent example of John Romita’s work at DC. It’s from ‘Young Romance’ No. 134, Feb-March, 1965. Go to the Gallery and read, “A Ticket to ROMANCE!” And be sure to read the love letters page.

Captain America steeping in the tea baggers

Marvel Comics is taking some heat for what’s being taken as a swipe against the Tea Baggers, in the latest issue of Captain America.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100211/ts_ynews/ynews_ts1129

I heard about this while watching Keith Olbermann. Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada issued a statement that seemed to implicate… the letterer?? Then, in the middle of the piece, Bill Clinton’s doctors held a press conference about his heart stent operation. I just checked the MSNBC site and this part of Olbermann’s show isn’t there, so I grabbed it myself from the re-broadcast at 10. I sure can make good video transfers off of Verizon FiOS TV, huh?

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2010/FEB/Olbermann.flv 512 384]

Clinton’s doctors refused to say what brand of stent was used but if it’s a Kamen stent there’s still a comics connection, because it was invented by Dean Kamen, son of the late comic book artist Jack Kamen.

She’s not bionic after all

As my sister Jean will corroborate with sarcastic glee, as a young man a secret shame of mine was “The Bionic Woman.” Today, I had the pleasure of saying hi to Lindsay Wagner.

Lindsay put a lot into making “The Bionic Woman” more than just a spin-off of “The Six Million Dollar Man,” and for her efforts she won an Emmy. Ostensibly a kid’s show, there was plenty in there to keep college boys like me watching, as seen in this video that a Lindsay fan put on YouTube. You’ll see scenes from a beauty pageant, and you’ll find the complete episode below.

Lindsay is an advocate of homeopathic health, and she holds seminars and workshops as part of a program she calls “Quiet the Mind, and Open the Heart.” Here is part of a recent conversation with Lindsay.

Ellie Drake-Bionic Woman of Healing Lindsay Wagner Pt 2
by BraveHeartWomen

There isn’t a DVD set of “The Bionic Woman” in America yet, although Linsday says it’s been released in England and elsewhere in Europe. She was surprised to learn today that some of the shows are available on Hulu. Here’s the beauty pageant episode.

Denro’s promise to Sin Not!

Do my cataract replacement lenses deceive me, or is that D.F. Rogers hanging out at the home of none other than Marvel Comics legend Joe Sinnott?

Dennis spent some time with Joe this past weekend, and of his brief stint at the drawing board he says,

“Joe let me airbrush some drawings. The only thing on the brush was air!”

Even I, who once could handle a #2 Kolinsky Sable dipped in Higgins Black Magic with some confidence, wouldn’t dare dab so much as a dot on a piece of paper that the great Joe Sinnott had touched. To do that would be a sin as well as a crime!

Here are a couple more snaps of Den with Joe. Maybe Dennis can add a comment to fill in some details about his visit. The thing about Dennis is, he is very knowledgeable on two of Joe’s favorite subjects: Baseball and Bing — Bing Crosby that is, not the Microsoft search engine. I’m not qualified to keep up my end of the conversation on either of these topics.

This picture of Joe and his son Mark (the tall guy), was taken last February in New York. Standing between Joe and Mark is Mike Uslan, one of the producers of the Batman movies, including The Dark Knight, and on the right is Chip Cronkite, the son of another legend, Walter Cronkite. I’ve featured Chip before, at this link.

1965 comic book predicted the iPhone

Denro visited today, which is always fun, bringing with him the new mono Beatles CD set. We listened to “Sgt. Pepper’s” and realized that mono is indeed the best way to hear the Lonely Heart’s Club Band. The experience really was as if we were hearing it almost for the first time.

I always expect Dennis to bring a stack of old comic books, and he didn’t disappoint. One story in particular caught my eye. Take a look at this drawing.

Gil Kane drew this picture of a smartphone in 1965! He really nailed it in every way. Very impressive.

STANd and deLEEver

A long time ago, my world would have been rocked by the news that Disney is buying Marvel. Today the news interests me greatly, but I can’t think of any way that the purchase will have an effect on me personally.

The picture above of Stan Lee is noteworthy, because he’s standing next to Steve Ditko’s unpublished cover for “Amazing Fantasy” #15, the 1962 comic book that introduced Spider-Man. A similar drawing by Jack Kirby was used instead. In my opinion, Jack’s style didn’t suit the character, and I assume Stan felt the same way, because after that first cover he rarely had Jack draw Spidey. Jack included Spider-Man in his 1969 Marvelmania self-portrait, and even at the time that seemed wrong to me.

One of the most reliable hit-getters for this site is the BBC documentary, “In Search of Steve Ditko.” At this link you will find Stan talking about Ditko’s insistence that he is the co-creator of Spider-Man.

Stan is always lavish in his praise of the artists who worked for him in the Marvel Bullpen, and that’s great. Stan absolutely deserves everything he has received in money and recognition, and he has received a lot of both:

Lee sued Marvel, claiming he was owed profits from the Marvel films that had started to take Hollywood by storm. The suit was eventually settled with Lee reportedly getting a settlement of more than $10 million.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32645353/ns/business-media_biz/

But if Stan deserves the money and credit he has received, Steve Ditko deserves some of the same. With the BILLIONS of dollars now on the table, Ditko should get a million bucks and co-creator status for Spider-Man. Without the latter, it seems he won’t accept the former.