Detroit MIke Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Also, I noticed that Mike and I have a vastly different ranking of the stories in the book! Compare his dislike of Auro to my liking the execution of the story and my dislike of Flint Baker to his praise of that sequence, giving it an A. Mike and I are Bizarro versions of each other on this! I felt a little bad after I noticed the difference in opinions. But, that's what makes this fun to do. If I had read your critique first, I probably would have agreed too much with you ... so I could be accepted by the cool kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted February 23, 2007 Author Share Posted February 23, 2007 Also, I noticed that Mike and I have a vastly different ranking of the stories in the book! Compare his dislike of Auro to my liking the execution of the story and my dislike of Flint Baker to his praise of that sequence, giving it an A. Mike and I are Bizarro versions of each other on this! I felt a little bad after I noticed the difference in opinions. But, that's what makes this fun to do. If I had read your critique first, I probably would have agreed too much with you ... so I could be accepted by the cool kids. Mike. I'm glad I've started this thread now that I read your and Theagenes' comments. This has turned out to be better than I thought. Now, if we could only hear from the other members of the gang I've also decided on the comic for next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstrange Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Well, my background is in history and anthropology so this kind of stuff sort of jumps out at me. Mike, to answer your question - I think that the only thing that can be said with reasonable certainty is that the writer of Nelson Cole is probably not the same writer as Gale Allen. I want to go back and download some more of these early Planets and read some more Nelson Cole stories to see if this anti-intervention theme is present. It just struck me as unusual - i'm used to seeing pro-war propaganda in GA comics, not anti-war. As for the writers, I remember reading that Iger wrote a lot of the scripts for the books that the Eisner-Iger shop packaged, but I think this issue (spring 1940?) was done after Eisner left to form his own shop(?). Maybe someone who knows more about the history of the Eisner-Iger shop can shed some light on who might have been doing the scripts on these storys. Did Bob Powell write as well as draw Gale Allen, perhaps? If Fiction House lists an author you can be pretty certain that it's, well, fiction. Iger was a sales person and manager not a writer. Alter Ego reprinted Jay Disbrow's "The Iger Comics Kingdom" if you want to more about the man and the shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detroit MIke Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 We can get some momentum going. I guess the comic will determine the participation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted February 25, 2007 Author Share Posted February 25, 2007 We can get some momentum going. I guess the comic will determine the participation? Well, let's hope I chose well for this coming week - Wonderworld Comics # 4 - August 1939 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hand ® Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 I loved The Flame, Dr. Fung and Shorty Shortcake. Pretty solid book and typical of that year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theagenes Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 Cool! Downloading now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstrange Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 We can get some momentum going. I guess the comic will determine the participation? Maybe a little marketing might help, like calling it the "Dead Artists' Society". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detroit MIke Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 We can get some momentum going. I guess the comic will determine the participation? Maybe a little marketing might help, like calling it the "Dead Artists' Society". That might offend the one or two guys still living? I vote for a free coffee mug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theagenes Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 You can never have too many coffee mugs. First off, let me say that I love this cover! When he's on, Fine is way out of everyone else's league in this early period. The enlongated anatomy that his figures have sometimes does annoy me, but you don't have that here. Great compostion, dynamic action and plus I'm sucker for sword fighting covers. An underrated cover IMHO. The Flame story was by far my favorite - and again it's mostly due to Fine. I'm not as familiar with his interior work as with his covers, but I can see why there is so much praise for him in the Greatest GA Artist Thread. Not a bad a character and story either (Eisner -script?) - reminds me of the Phantom. Yarko was also well-drawn (Bob Powell? according to GCD) but the ending was a little weird. What was the point of him faking his death? The female detective got them to give up and confess without any help from Yarko, who only shows up after the fact to turn them into pearls so they'd be easy to carry? I don't get it. Humor strips aren't usually by cup of tea, but the Shorty feature was pretty funny actually. Dr. Fung was pretty cool too - Vampires, castles going up in flames, great stuff! I suppose Dr. Fung is supposed to be a Charlie Chan knock off? Tex Maxon was kind of generic. I'm pretty sure that the "Wonders That are True" are not true at all. Certainly the one about Ramses II is not (not to mention, Alexandria wasn't built until about 1000 years after Ramses). K-51 by Eisner was entertaining as well, although you never really get an explantion as to why Senor Anza was blowing up ships. Just a evil madman I suppose. The pacing of the ending was a little off - it took an entire anticlimatic page to finish off the story after the bad guy was already defeated. Z-19/Claire was great as a strong female character. Love the pseudonym - Rensie=Eisner. Gotta go to work, so I'll have to finish my review tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theagenes Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 Hey, we just got stickied! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sal Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 i'm still cracking up over "Spurt Hammond." what a name! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theagenes Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 i'm still cracking up over "Spurt Hammond." what a name! He does sound like a 70's porn star. *Bow wow chicka chicka!* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
selegue Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 i'm still cracking up over "Spurt Hammond." what a name! It's worse than being A Boy Named Sue, isn't it? That Spurt's story was about dastardly calcium thieves who somehow transported the goods between planets via some sort of ray was a big plus! I was hoping to jump into the discussion, but I knew that I couldn't make the Sunday deadline. Great idea to spur(t) discussion! Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share Posted March 3, 2007 The Flame: The Flame rescues new indictees into Doxol’s secret society. I love nothing more than secret hooded evil societies so that aspect of the story was a treat for me. The overall story however suffers from the poor plotting that afflicted most of these early GA stories. The Lou Fine art though was a treat: clear crisp lines with anatomically accurate figures, heads and shoulders above the average art we saw in the Planet book from last week. Now, if someone could explain to me why the Flame disappeared in a puff of smoke when the gal he rescued is thanking him … Armstrong the Lumberjack: huh, I’d better hold back comments on this one because the punch line has left me still scratching my head! Yarko the Great: Yarko helps stop a jewel smuggling gang. I’ve always liked Bob Powell art. This is a tad too early for me to be wholly enthusiastic about the qualities I like in Powell are already evident: clear story-telling and easy pacing combined with fluid character movements made this an easy read. BUT, let me not commend the story which had me gritting my teeth throughout. First, what business does that she-detective have to barge in the judge’s house gun in hand to interview him?!? The judge wanting to commit suicide this early in the story made no sense nor did Yarko’s intervention to stop him: it killed whatever flow the story had barely achieved. The tiny pearl bit while interesting fell flat. I’d still be interested in knowing if Yarko and Gail Martin’s relationship evolves in later stories. Shorty Shortcake by S.M. Iger: Shorty and Suzy with Woofy go to Guatemala to look into events at Mr. De Welth’s mine. This was a fun read!! A complex story as part of a larger whole (since this is to-be-continued) with enjoyable art made for a surprising little gem in this book. This was more enjoyable than the Yarko yarn. Patty O’Day: Some Navy secrets are stolen by person in guise of Patty and her assistant. With the aid of Lord Mike, undercover agent for ?, Patty is able to recover the secret plans. My favorite sequence was Patty going under cover as a moll to crash English Eddie’s mob gathering. With that beret on, I had vision of Claudette Colbert in It happened one night playing the role of Patty. The rest of the story is rather disappointing since our supposed heroin played no hand in the story’s resolution which is always a let down. Dr. Fung: Dr. Fung and Dan Barrister find on a body the vampire ruby. While trying to return it to the London Museum, they find themselves involved in the curator’s attempt at making his vampire wife able to live among the living. Here’s Powell for sure with the same qualities seen on Yarko. This is a better effort in fact. I especially liked the page with the bat and the chase through the castle with its forced perspective, see the last panel on that page. On the last page, the element that struck me the most was the typical Fox coloring job with stones in the vaulted ceiling of all different hues: red, yellow, green and blue: it’s a common element on Fox’s covers and the early Spirit strip in fact making me wonder if they had the same colorist? Tex Mason: A cow-hand is tempted to help a stagecoach robbery but changes his mind at the last minute and helps Tex Mason stop the perpetrators. Yawn …Mind you there is nothing flawed in this story’s execution, the horses are quite realistically drawn; the story has several rebounding to carry it forward but in the end it’s run-of-the-mill still. Don Quixote: Entertaining feature for what it was. K-51: Ships going through the Panama canal mysteriously disappear. Agent K-51 and his wife Agent Z-19 investigate and foil the plot. It is a nice story by Eisner with some interesting choice of point of views throughout the story making the story somewhat stand-out from the others in the book. I don’t want to make too much out that because the Dr. Fung story-telling is as strong as this K-51 story. I’d love for someone to explain to me why they bombed the castle as the solution to this case? Mob Buster Robinson: As Mob Buster Robinson is captured, the local mob unites to take over the town but Robinson escapes and stops the crime spree. If Tex Mason was a yawn, this is a YAWN. Robinson escapes off camera and single-handedly takes over a whole mob. Sure … Spark Stevens: Spark and Chuck stumble upon an illegal gold mine in the Philippines where the locals are exploited. They hold the fort until the Filipino army takes over. I’ve never really cared for Klaus Nordling’s Gouldish style used for this story and the interaction between Spark and Chuck felt flat: this would have probably been more entertaining to me when I was a youngster (even though I have my doubts). It’s not quite clear to me what the intent was here. Looking back over these comments, while the art was a definite step-up from the Planet from last week, the stories are even more uneven in this book. Now, I can go back and read Theagenes' comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hand ® Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 Great review Scrooge! Thank's! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted March 4, 2007 Author Share Posted March 4, 2007 Great review Scrooge! Thank's! Thanks BH. Maybe I can generate more interest with this book for the coming week. We've seen / talked a lot about Flessel recently but here's our chance to discuss the interiors of a pre-hero Detective. I picked Detective Comics # 7 for this week. It's a little earlier than the previous two since it came out in 1937 - Detective Comics # 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hand ® Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 The guy on the cover looks a bit like Paul Muni the actor, don't you think? One of the things I got out of reading this is an even greater appreciation for Segal and Schuster. I really like their pre Superman stuff as well as their Superman work. I enjoyed the rest too, but I'm going to leave the reviewing to those who are better at it than I am. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theagenes Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 Great review Scrooge! Thank's! Thanks BH. Maybe I can generate more interest with this book for the coming week. We've seen / talked a lot about Flessel recently but here's our chance to discuss the interiors of a pre-hero Detective. I picked Detective Comics # 7 for this week. It's a little earlier than the previous two since it came out in 1937 - Detective Comics # 7 Cool! Never read a pre-Batman Tec before! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theagenes Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 OK review time. First I have to say I was very impressed with the quality of the art and writing on most of the stories. I've never read one of these early Tecs before and I suppose I had low expectations. After all, these early original comics books are full of the stuff that wasn't good enough to make it in the newspapers, right? But I found most of them to be entertaining reads. There were a few overused cliches and hackneyed themes, like the disgruntled ex-employee out for revenge, but for the most part you were getting a pretty good entertainment package for a dime - even a 1937 dime. Let's start with Flessel, since he's been in the spotlight here for the last week or so. It's easy to see why he got so many covers - he was clearly one of the top two or three artists in the National stable in these early years. I have to admit, I usually skip over the text stories, in GA books - often they are "throw-away" pieces anyway - but Flessel's illustrations made me actually stop and read "Rifles on the River." And, I have to say, it was not bad. It gives a little snippet of often-forgotten history - unofficial US involvement in the Chinese civil war. A number of American advisers, volunteers and mercenaries, like Kit in the story, were active in China during this period, supporting Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist forces against both Mao's Communist forces and the invading Japanese. As I mentioned, Flessel's amazing illustrations are what drew me in to the piece. I only wish the opening splash wasn't cropped in the center. The illustration below looks very familiar to me, but I can't imagine where I might have seen it before - has it appeared elsewhere? Moving on to Flessel's other work in the issue, Speed Saunders was one of the weakest stories in the issue - poor pacing, lame "disgruntled ex-employee" motive, every plot element seemed contrived and forced. But Flessel's artwork makes it visually enjoyable at least. It's interesting to see the different style he uses for regular panel work, than for his covers and splashes - cleaner, more distinct linework, less use of the thick brush stokes (I'm assuming he did most of his own inking). But he still throws in the occasional chiaroscuro-style film noir panel with heavy blacks, like this one: Great stuff from an amazing artist! Gotta go to work, but I'll try and comment on the two Siegel & Schuster pieces tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
