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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 Sunday, April 10, 2005
If you can't get enough of my 1970s writing, head over to your friendly neighborhood comics retailer and check out ESSENTIAL TOMB OF DRACULA VOL. 4 [Marvel; $16.99]. Having published the entirety of the classic Tomb of Dracula comics, the black-and-white trade paperback series has moved on to reprinting the Dracula tales from the Tomb of Dracula magazine, Dracula Lives!, and The Frankenstein Monster. The volume lacks page numbers, but it measures just over an inch thick and clearly features hundreds of pages of comics and an assortment of special features. There are four Isabella stories in this collection:
"Shadow Over Versailles" has Dracula enjoying the hospitality of the French court at the dawn of the French Revolution. Drawn by John Buscema and Pablo Marcos, it's a favorite of mine.
"Bounty For a Vampire" came about because editor Marv Wolfman asked me to write a Dracula story for Tony DeZuniga. I immediately decided to do "Jonah Hex Vs. Dracula," as I was a big fan of the DC western series and especially DeZuniga's art for it. As characters often do between a tale's first conception and its completion, the marshal tracking Drac turned into someone quite different from Hex. But, then and now, I was very happy with the story and it, too, is one of my favorites.
"The Terror That Stalked Castle Dracula" was my first Dracula script. Set during World War II, it was plotted by Steve Gerber with layouts by Jim Starlin and finished art by Syd Shores. I was awfully excited about this assignment at the time, but, reading it today, I don't think I pulled it off as well as Gerber would have. Neither the copy nor the art drive home the tale's surprise ending clearly and the lack of explanation for some of what happens in the story bothers me more now than it did then.
"Night Flight To Terror" came about because Wolfman asked me to write a story based on his one-line idea: Drac is on a hijacked plane. Both Marv and I were swamped with our editorial duties and our regular writing assignments, but I wasn't about to pass up the chance to write a Dracula story for Gene Colan.
Marv had a knack for putting a human face on Dracula's horror by telling readers just a little about the vampire's victims before they died. What could have been sadistic in the hands of a lesser writer was poetically tragic when Marv did it. I consciously tried to ape the technique, albeit putting a little of my own spin on it. It might have been second-string Wolfman, but I thought I did okay with the bits and with the story in general.
The volume concludes with over forty pages of covers, pin-ups, and other special features. Most noteworthy among them are a dozen unpublished pages by Wolfman and Colan - some of them finished and some in pencil form only - which were originally intended for the finale of the Tomb of Dracula comic book series. That's a terrific and not-to-be-missed bonus.
Less noteworthy - but still kind of cool - are two of the one-page "fact" stories Marvel used to run in blatant imitation of the "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" features which used to appear on inside front covers of Jim Warren's Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella titles. I wrote over a dozen of these and the ones reprinted here are "The Boyhood of Dracula" (drawn by Val Mayerik) and the moderately wacky "How To Ward Off Vampires" (drawn by Ernie Chua).
If you've been keeping track, that makes 46 pages of Isabella writing in this book. But, wait, there's more.
There's one other story in this collection which was largely written and/or rewritten by me. I don't recall the circumstances behind this. Someone - either Marv or Roy Thomas - must have felt the original script wasn't up to snuff and asked me to punch it up. It's entirely possible that some of the pages hadn't been lettered yet and were entirely scripted by me.
I likely did this rewriting in the office and promptly forgot all about it...until, months later, the story appeared and a friend recognized my style in it. I was amazed when he asked me about it. I wasn't sure I even had a style back then. But, on rereading the story today, I can recognize a line here, a line there, and a whole bunch of lines on some pages.
I'm not credited on the story and I'm very content to leave it at that. But, if you're inclined to test your literary detective skills and send me your best guess, I will let you know if you get it right. Go for it, Sherlock.
This isn't actually a review of ESSENTIAL TOMB OF DRACULA VOL. 4. I'm not comfortable with reviewing books, comics, and magazines to which I've contributed. But I wanted to let you know this book was out and also share some memories of those stories of mine found therein. I hope it was good for you, too. ****** AGING BADLY
The 35th edition of THE OFFICIAL OVERSTREET COMIC BOOK PRICE GUIDE [$25] has arrived at Casa Isabella. I note with some dismay the book now claims nine distinct ages of comics:
Pioneer [1500s-1828]
Victorian [1828-1883]
Platinum [1883-1938]
Golden [1938-1945]
Atom [1946-1956]
Silver [1956-1970]
Bronze [1970-1984]
Copper [1984-1992]
Modern [1992-Present]
This makes my head hurt.
I'm okay with the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Ages, even though I think of the Bronze Age as a strictly 1970s thing. But anything before the Golden Age is pre-history as far as I'm concerned...and anything after the Bronze falls into the "Not As Good As When I Was Young" Age.
I'm *mostly* kidding with that last crack.
The "Atom Age" serves no purpose other than to fill the space between the Golden and Silver while the "Copper Age" designation is just too stupid for words. You have my permission to grab anyone who came up with or seriously uses the phrase "Copper Age," drag them to the nearest restroom, and give them a right proper swirlie. It's nothing more than a crass marketing term for the peddling of largely undistinguished comics...which is not to say there haven't been swell comics in every single decade since the publication of ACTION COMICS #1. But we should have some standards.
We're already a dozen years into the so-called "Modern Age." When will those Overstreet retailers, excuse me, "advisors," decide we need yet another new "age" designation? I recommend "Petroleum Age" because this nonsense is certainly leaving an oily film on the secondary comics market.
This is as much as I can write about comics "ages" without my head liquefying and running down my shoulders and torso. However, if you want more of this discussion, check out the round-robin chat currently scheduled for COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1606 [July, 2005]. Editors John Jackson Miller, Maggie Thompson, and Brent Frankenhoff go at it with Craig "Mr. Silver Age" Shutt, Andrew "Captain Comics" Smith, and me. I'd tell you how it ends, but I was voted off the island in the first round.
******
COMICS IN THE COMICS
What can I say? I love guest appearances in comic strips and I love self-referential comic strip humor. Today's first example comes from Jimmy Johnson's ARLO AND JANIS for April 8. For a few strips at this point, Arlo has been "haunted" by a man he sees at a restaurant who he thinks looks just like him. In Friday's strip, we see his doppelganger's date:
Dan Piraro's BIZARRO for April 9 is a bit of a stretch, but I still think it fits our theme:
Look for more COMICS IN THE COMICS in future columns. In the meantime, don't be shy about sending me other examples that I may have missed.
******
PARTNERS FOR LIFE
Tentatively scheduled for publication by TwoMorrows in March of 2006 is PARTNERS FOR LIFE: THE STORY OF [Ross] ANDRU and [Mike] ESPOSITO by Mike Esposito and Daniel Best. That's the preliminary cover design above. The book not only chronicles one of the most remarkable partnerships in comics history but it also open a window on the decades during which that partnership flourished. I think it's going to be an amazing volume.
My contribution to this worthy tome is an introduction titled "10 Things I Never Told My 'Uncle Mike' Esposito" and I was pleased with how it came out. In his blog, Best wrote:
Received one of the Andru/Esposito book introductions this morning. This one was from Tony Isabella and quite frankly it's one of the most moving pieces that I think I've ever read. I thought it might have just been me, so I asked 'Er Indoors to have a flick through it. She was moved to tears, so that's a great sign. It's not maudlin or sad, just a beautifully written article about what Mike Esposito means to Tony. Hopefully he'll call him soon and tell him, otherwise I'm tempted to email Mike a copy and see what he thinks. Hopefully the book as a whole can live up to the tone Tony has now set.
Forgive my lack of modesty in quoting Best, but that was one of the most gratifying responses I've ever received from my work. I did phone Mike shortly after writing the introduction and we had a wonderful conversation about this and that.
For updates on PARTNERS FOR LIFE, including excerpts from the book, visit Danny's ADELAIDE COMICS AND BOOKS website at:
www.adelaidecomicsandbooks.com
In fact, there's so much cool stuff on that website it'll take you multiple visits to see it all. Enjoy.
That's all for now. Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'll be back soon with more stuff.
Tony Isabella
<< 04/09/2005 | 04/10/2005 | 04/11/2005 >>
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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.
Please send material you would like me to review to:
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Medina, OH 44256
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