Comic Books – Page 61 – Prattling before the Pratfall

Waiting and Watching

The best comic book series I ever read was Watchmen. Now the movie of it is about to come out. I agree with everything that Boston Globe movie critic Ty Burr says about his own sense of anticipation.

http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/blog/2009/02/the_watchmen_wa.html

I thought 300 was one of the worst movies I’d ever seen. I scanned through most of it on DVD. Something I’m worried about for a general audience is that a full appreciation of Watchmen requires a vast knowledge of the history of comic books and their creators. Everybody knows Batman, but almost nobody knows that Dr. Manhattan was adapted from Captain Atom, and Rorschach is based on the work of Steve Ditko.

‘Blind Date’ by Morty Gunty

Recently I posted comedian Morty Gunty’s rendition of “There’s A War.” Here is the flip side of the single, a comedy routine called “Blind Date,” with Morty backed by a cool jazz ensemble.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/JAN/GuntyBlindDate.mp3]

The writing credit is “A. Cogan,” presumably a misspelling of comedy writer Arnie Kogen, who can be seen with Mark Evanier and some other noteworthy gents, all associated with MAD Magazine.

Arnie Kogen, Al Feldstein, Sergio Aragonés, Mark Evanier, Al Jaffee

Goodbye, Bettie Page

Well, here’s the end of an era. Fiftie’s pin-up model Bettie Page has died at 85. One man who did a lot to re-popularize Bettie for a younger generation, artist Dave Stevens, died earlier this year.

Gene Colan wins Sparky Award

The Sparky Award, given by the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, is named after Charles M. Schulz. This year the Sparky Award has been given to none other than Gene Colan. As I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, Gene is seriously ill, but he’s been feeling well enough for a trip to California. After Gene’s been back home for a few days maybe I’ll give him and Adrienne a call to offer my congratulations.

One of the first Web pages I ever composed, back in 2002, was about Gene Colan. You’ll find it at this link.

Joe Sinnott depicted first black President in 1964

Various news services, including NPR’s website last February, picked up the story that in 1964 there was a comic book that predicted/depicted the first black candidate for American President. In January, this video about the comic book series was posted on YouTube. (Turn down the sound if you don’t like “Switched-On Bach”!)

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/NOV/TreasureChest.flv 448 335]

The man who illustrated those comic books is Joe Sinnott. I took this picture of Joe with his son Mark in New York on Saturday. Dennis provided the comics.

Peek-a-boo Hulk

The new Incredible Hulk movie isn’t as good as the Iron Man movie, but it’s sure better than the awful first Hulk movie! We borrowed Bismo’s copy, with deluxe packaging that was available at Target stores exclusively. Maybe it’s still available, but my guess is it’s already been turned into an eBay exclusive.