Comic Books – Page 9 – Prattling Before the Pratfall

Jimmy’s Kimmelmann Turn^*

I’m pleased to be wrong about Jimmy Kimmel not returning to ABC-TV. He’ll be at his usual spot tomorrow night. If he’s going to make a change to his show, it should be bringing up the lights on his set. It’s as dark as the Batcave.

Did you like that AI Batman clip? Here’s another one.

On Facebook, the MAGA trolls were repeating Trump’s taunts about Kimmel’s network TV ratings, with reportedly about 1.5 million regular viewers. What they’re missing is that he has 20 million followers on YouTube.

^* “An Immelmann turn was a maneuver used after an attack on another aircraft to reposition the attacking aircraft for another attack.”

Doing My Bidding

Today’s Jumble has prompted me to mention that I lost the Heritage Auction for the five pages of Harvey Comics original art, featuring Casper, Richie Rich, and Wendy The Good Little Witch. I lost by only ten dollars, but my strategy is to bid my maximum amount and stick to it.

Cover Thumbs-Up

Most “hour” network TV shows are now about 40 minutes long. So is this survey of Fantastic Four comic book covers from the legendary Lee-Kirby run on the title. More than half of the issues were inked by my dearly departed pal, Joe Sinnott, who returned to the series in issue #44, after inking Jack’s art for the introduction of Doctor Doom in issue #5.

Breaking Bat

Bryan Cranston is the voice of Jim Gordon in Batman: Year One, adapted from the comic book limited series, written by Frank Miller and drawn by David Mazzuccelli. Real life cryptocurrency crime fighter Ben McKenzie, who later played Gordon in the Gotham TV series, is the voice of Bruce Wayne.

Take Another Look

Here’s that unpublished Harvey horror comic book cover again.

Such exceptionally splendid inking, attributed to Warren Kremer. The needle on the gauge has a shadow!

Here’s another beautifully horrible example.

Ape Art

Bidding will end soon on Frank Frazetta’s painting for the Lancer paperback book cover of Robert E. Howard’s Conan story, “Rogues in the House.”

https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/paintings/frank-frazetta-conan-novel-cover-painting-original-art-lancer-ace-1967-/a/7446-1.s

It’s currently at $8,500,000, with Heritage Auction’s so-called Buyer’s Premium taking it up to $10,625,000.

This is Barry Smith’s cover illustration for the Marvel Comics adaptation of the story, as written by Roy Thomas.

Here is an interesting comparison. It’s Bernie Wrightson’s illustration for Poe’s “Murders in the Rue Morgue.”

Thank you for the thoughtful comment, Anonymous of Phoenix.

I was trying to find out if he was a real person, as well, Doug. But for a guy who's…

The Chart Gods agreed with you.

Guilty as charged! I always liked Helen's slightly nasal version better.

Molly of all people showed this to me first! She took an AP tele-Russian class in high school and her…