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Reviews and commentary by Tony Isabella
"America's Most Beloved Comic-Book Writer & Columnist"
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TONY'S ONLINE TIPS
for Tuesday, March 1, 2005
A multitude of sins can be laid at the feet of DC Comics, sins dating back to the very origins of the company. Of course, we can also lay sins before most corporations and individuals, including, as difficult as it is to imagine, beloved writers and columnists. We are imperfect beings and constructs, only tolerable when we are striving to be better beings and constructs.
The DC COMICS RARITIES ARCHIVES VOLUME ONE [$75] earns DC some slack for past sins. I can't imagine that this gathering of rare-but-largely-mediocre material will fill the corporate coffers with gold, but the material has unquestionable historical value and that alone makes it deserving of praise.
DC COMICS RARITIES does not lend itself to a standard review. So, instead, I'll simply stroll through it, commenting on whatever elements caught my interest.
The introduction is by Roy Thomas, the esteemed comics writer, editor, historian, and fan. He does an excellent job putting the re-presented antiquities - NEW YORK'S WORLD'S FAIR COMICS 1939, NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR COMICS 1940, and THE BIG ALL-AMERICAN COMIC BOOK - into comics industry and real-world historical contexts. These were novelty items and experiments; the first two were designed to cash in on the Fair, the third to test the market for higher-priced comics magazines.
Did they succeed? We can only speculate. DC did publish that second World's Fair tie-in (albeit at a lower price), so the first one must have been somewhat profitable. I wonder if DC considered publishing a tie-in to the New York World's Fair of 1964-1965. For that matter, have there been any World's Fairs *anywhere* in recent decades or have such events disappeared amidst the squabbles of our contentious planet?
There was never a second Big All-American Comic Book, so I'm guessing the one re-presented here did not perform to expectations. I wonder what a 2005 version would look like.
"Crude" is the description that leaps to mind while looking at the contents of NEW YORK'S WORLD FAIR COMICS 1939. Jerry Siegel's and Joe Shuster's Superman tale is good fun, but the "Chuck Warren" episode is screamingly awful.
Some of the humorous features are surprisingly entertaining. I got a kick out of Hanko the Cowhand (drawn by Craig Flessel) and Fred Schwab's Butch the Pup. From a historical perspective, it was neat to see the Ginger Snap gag strip by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. How is that DC never got around to revamping Ginger and adding her to the Batman cast?
The "History of the New York World's Fair 1939" text feature was written in such a dated style I had a hard time reading all the way to its finish. The Flessel-drawn "A Day at the World's Fair" comics story was better, but, changing scenes every panel, it read like an illustrated checklist of fair attractions.
Siegel and Shuster also had a Slam Bradley story in the book. What I liked best about it was that Bradley, like Superman in his earliest adventures, was based in my birthplace of Cleveland, Ohio. Slam has been hanging with Catwoman in recent years and I think it would be fun to have Selina follow Bradley on a return visit to his old hometown.
I'm just full of goofy ideas today, aren't I?
Given the easy racism of the 1930s and 1940s, I always thought it remarkable that DC, consciously or otherwise, avoided to a large degree, those racial slurs so common in the movies and pulp fiction of the era. Yet prejudice wasn't entirely absent from their books as witness the Zatara appearance in the 1939 World's Fair edition. Written by Gardner Fox, who would go on to write several wonderful stories extolling equality and tolerance in the 1940s through the 1960s, and drawn by Fred Guardineer, the tale has little regard for the Asian lives lost during the adventure and some Zatara dialogue that made me wince:
"I think it is about time someone taught these Chinese bandits a few things, Tong, so that white men may be safe from them in the future."
Tong was the magician's servant.
The highlight of the NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR 1939 comic has to be the Sandman story by Fox and artist Bert Christman. The career of the latter was cut short when he died while serving his country in World War II, but his Scorchy Smith newspaper strip and his work here leave no doubt that he was already a master of the fledgling art form.
Moving on to NEW YORK'S WORLD FAIR COMICS 1940...
The Jack Burnley cover is the first time Superman, Batman, and Robin appeared together. The heroic triumvirate was a common sight for those of us who enjoyed their WORLD'S FINEST adventures in the 1950s and 1960s; it's hard to imagine a time when this was not so. How remarkable this cover must have seemed to a kid seeing it for the first time at the Fair or on a 1940 newsstand.
Superman, Hanko the Cowhand, and Slam Bradley returned for the issue...with Bradley now based in New York City. Service buddies Red, White, and Blue were added to the mix.
Zatara was back, sans his Asian servant. He wasn't using his backwards magic spells in his 1939 trip to the Fair, but there were many sorcerous tongue-twisters in this story.
Hourman appears in this issue in a rare story written by Jerry Siegel instead of creator Gardner Fox. I chuckled at the opening scene in which Rex Tyler's boss berates the chemist for his lack of gumption and further opines that he has never had a more spineless employee. Was this typical of Hourman's solo adventures or was his boss just channeling the 1940s Lois Lane?
Fred Schwab is represented by a single-page gag strip starring a cross-eyed cat called Catnip. It amused me.
"The Sandman Goes to the World's Fair" is more comedic in tone than I expected from the character. It's written by Fox and drawn by Chad Grothkopf.
Johnny Thunderbolt - who soon became Johnny Thunder - makes an appearance in an unimpressive story by John B. Wentworth and Stan Aschmeier. Johnny's sentient thunderbolt doesn't appear until the end of the tale and looks completely different from the thunderbolt of later adventures.
Ginger Snap was back for the 1940 edition. She crosses swords and wits with the Penguin over some rare hatchlings.
No, not really. I'm just messing with you.
The issue's big finish has Batman and Robin going to the Fair in their civilian identities before being called away to combat an evil scientist who has invented a device which can turn steel into dust. He tries to blackmail the city - no distinction is made here between the fictional Gotham City and the real New York City - in a story by Finger, Kane, and background artist George Roussos. The Roussos credit comes from the GRAND COMICS DATABASE, which can be found at: www.comics.org
It should be noted that the DC Comics credits listed in this volume are not always in sync with the credits listed at the GCD. For example, the GCD doesn't list Finger as writer of Kane's Ginger Snap strips and opines Ken Fitch - not Jerry Siegel - as the writer of the Hourman story. I generally favor the GCD credits, but that "spineless" crack made by Rex Tyler's boss screams "Jerry Siegel" to me. Isn't comics history fun?
THE BIG ALL-AMERICAN COMIC BOOK didn't have Superman, Batman, and Robin, but it did have its own trio of super-stars in Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Flash. Princess Diana got the lead spot with "Danny the Demon Had Plans." Dastardly Danny is nothing more than a murderous thug, but he gives a surprisingly "good" accounting of himself in this quirky story by William Marston and H.G. Peter. He kills two men, frames Steve Trevor for one of the slayings, and makes the Amazon, her Holiday Girl sidekicks, and the Major work way too hard to apprehend him.
Sheldon Mayer's "Scribbly and the Hunkel Family" isn't as good as Mayer's best work, but it's still great fun. DC should get more of this cartoonist's comics back into print. His SUGAR AND SPIKE would be first on my list, followed closely by SCRIBBLY.
The Atom appears in a truly wacky adventure involving crooks and a performing dog. It's written by Joseph Greene and drawn by Joe Gallagher.
Keeping in the wacky vein, Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys must contend with mobsters and a bratty kid while Johnny Thunder throws a birthday party for "Peachy Pet." The Little Boy Blue tale has a certain charm, but the JT story is just dumb.
Hop Harrigan and his creepy buddy Tank fight the Japanese in a mediocre story by Jon L. Blummer.
The Zorro-esque Whip appears in a story by John B. Wentworth and Homer Fleming. The story is notable solely for the incredibly racist Japanese piggy bank that appears in a last-panel exhortation to buy war bonds.
A.W. Nugent's "Pint-Size Pete" - the title character is a very black cat with very bad luck - reminds me of the milder underground comics of the 1960s. I'm not sure why.
Green Lantern is the next big star to appear in this special issue, but "Heroes Are Born...Not Made" is a bizarre piece of work. It's got a town obsessed with getting an aging war hero to ring a bell, which he will only ring for a hero, and trying to curry favor with the coot by building monuments and ignoring their town's real needs. It's a mess on several levels, not the least of which is a monumentally unsatisfying ending.
The Wentworth-written Ghost Patrol episode is a mess, too, but darned if there isn't something appealing about those silly spooks. I think I could revamp this concept into the funniest Vertigo title of all time.
In his story, Mr. Terrific triangulates the whereabouts of the bad guys from a radio in a model ship and a room. I don't claim to be an expert in such things, but doesn't "triangulate" sort of mean there has to be a *third* point of reference?
Wildcat and Hawkman battle foes who wouldn't out of place in the Batman's world. In "Wildcat Meets the Kidder," a compulsive practical joker turns to crime after his urges get him fired from honest jobs. Joe Gallagher drew this story, but neither DC nor the GCD knows who wrote it. My guess would be Bill Finger, but that's based almost entirely on the Batman-like villain.
In Hawkman's "Hot Time in the Old Town," Hot Shot can survive only in blistering heat. Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert don't portray their pyromaniac villain as anything other than vicious, but still manage to make him a tragic figure at the story's end.
Many of the super-hero stories in these DC rarities are weaker than I would have expected. Conversely, the humor strips were much stronger.
Ronald Santi's "Bulldog Drumhead" has a terrific concept. A bumbling detective ends up as guardian of a youngster whose father he sent to prison. The two are natural "enemies" in a sitcom-like way, but the kid ends up solving Drumhead's case for the detective. With human characters, DC could probably get a TV pilot, at least, out of this premise.
The Flash is the third star of THE BIG ALL-AMERICAN COMIC BOOK and closes out this special. Unfortunately, not even he could run fast to escape the stench of "The Million Dollar Apple." I have to ask: in the entire Golden Age of Comics, did *anyone* ever write a decent story co-starring the Three Dimwits? Because I sure haven't come across one yet.
I said at the front of this column that the DC COMICS RARITIES ARCHIVES would not lend itself to a standard review. It also does not lend itself to my standard scoring. Were I to judge this book solely on the quality of its contents, I'd have to give it a lesser score than its historical importance warrants.
There are some good stories in this volume and there are some real stinkers. But, holy cow, how can I not applaud DC reprinting these obscure curiosities and opening this window to a unique part of the company's history? I can't.
The DC COMICS RARITIES ARCHIVES VOLUME 1 picks up five out of five Tonys. Now go surf the Internet or something while I work on my Batman/Ginger Snap proposal.
I'll be back soon with more stuff.
Tony Isabella
<< 02/28/2005 | 03/01/2005 | 03/02/2005 >>
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THE "TONY" SCALE
ZERO: Burn your money before buying any comic receiving this rating. It doesn't *necessarily* mean there's absolutely nothing of value here - though it *could* - but whatever value it might possess shrinks into insignificance before its overall awfulness.
ONE: Buy something else. Maybe I found something which wasn't completely dreadful in the item, but not enough for me to recommend it when there are better comics available. I only want what's best for you, my children.
TWO: Basic judgment call. I found some value, but not enough to recommend it. My review should give you enough info to decide if you want to take a chance on it. Are you feeling lucky today, punk? Well, are you?
THREE: This denotes something I find perfectly respectable. There are better books out there, but I wouldn't regret buying this item. Based on my review, you should be able to determine if it's of interest to you. Let the Force guide you.
FOUR: I recommend anything earning this rating. Unless you don't like the genre, subject matter, or past work of the creators, I believe you'll enjoy this item. Isn't it uncanny how I can look right into your soul that way?
FIVE: Anything getting this rating is among the best comicdom has to offer. You should buy/read this, even if the genre/subject matter doesn't appeal to you. It's for your own good. Me, I live for comics and books this good...but not in a pathetic "Comic-Book Guy" sort of way.
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