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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 Monday, May 12, 2008
Earlier this month, Tony Polls balloters were asked to vote on their first, second, and third choices for the summer movie they were most eager to see.
Here are the first choice results:
Of these summer movies, which is your first choice for the one you are most eager to see?
Iron Man.....37.98%
Dark Knight.....22.48%
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.....17.83%
Hellboy II: The Golden Army.....5.43%
X-Files: I Want To Believe.....3.88%
Speed Racer.....3.10%
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.....2.33%
Incredible Hulk.....2.33%
WALL*E.....2.33%
Star Wars: The Clone Wars.....1.55%
Get Smart.....0.78%
Babylon A.D......0%
Hancock.....0%
Journey to the Center of the Earth.....0%
Meet Dave.....0%
Mother of Tears.....0%
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.....0%
Space Chimps.....0%
The Happening.....0%
Wanted.....0%
My first choice was Iron Man, followed by Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Incredible Hulk. I also want to see Dark Knight, Get Smart, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and X-Files: I Want to Believe on account of I want to believe the new X-Files movie will capture the quality of the show's best "monster of the week" episodes.
Iron Man also got the most second-place votes (25.20%) with Dark Knight (22.05%) and Indiana Jones (20.47%) trailing the Armored Avenger.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull got the most third-place votes (23.81%), followed by Dark Knight (23.02%) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (14.29%).
Awarding three points for every first-choice vote, two points for every second-choice vote, and one point for every third-choice vote, here's how the movies did:
Iron Man.....222 points
Dark Knight.....172
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.....151
Hellboy II: The Golden Army.....47
Speed Racer.....32
Incredible Hulk.....30
X-Files: I Want To Believe.....29
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.....23
WALL*E.....17
Hancock.....13
Get Smart.....11
Star Wars: The Clone Wars.....10
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.....5
Journey to the Center of the Earth.....2
Wanted.....2
Babylon A.D., Meet Dave, Mother of Tears, Space Chimps and The Happening received no points.
Last week, our Tony Polls questions were on Free Comic Book Day and the Iron Man movie. Today is your last chance to vote on them, which you can do by going here:
www.worldfamouscomics.com/tony/poll
New Tony Polls will be posted on Tuesday.
******
THE TEN-CENT PLAGUE
David Hajdu's The Ten-Cent Plague: the Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America [Farrar, Straus and Giroux; $26] is a book both fascinating and frightening. The book details - and I mean "details" - the political and public crusades against comics in the 1940s and 1950s. He shines a spotlight on the pure and not-so-pure motives of the crusaders and their targets alike. Because it looks at its subject from a viewpoint well outside the comics community, it's arguably the best book ever written on the era. The conflicts examined by Hajdu altered the then-adolescent comics industry for a half-century or more and, in many ways, the industry continues to be affected by its past notoriety. Which is why we still need the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Hajdu immediately puts a human presence on the era by writing about Janice Valleau Winkleman, an 81-year-old widow who, in the 1940s, was an artist for Quality Comics. She was one of many artists and writers who loved creating comic books, but who never drew or wrote another comics story after the "purge of the 1950s." Reading about Winkleman, reading about others who had their art and livelihoods ripped from them, brought a lump to my throat as I made my way through this book. That lump exploded into outrage when Hajdu wrote of a gun-runner, a man who imported death to South America, telling an artist that the artist should go to jail for "the crime you're committing."
Of particular interest to me was Hajdu's reporting the motives of those who crusaded against the comics. Some were clearly acting out of their own self-interest: a children's book author concerned that comics were cutting into his sales, the politician looking for an election hook, and, of course, the complex Dr. Fredric Wertham, a humanitarian in some ways and a calculating liar in others. The publicity-seeking doctor specialized in presenting misinformation and outright mistruths as scientific facts. It was a tactic used by other comics "critics" as well. Indeed, it sometimes appears to be the keystone of our political and social discourse. Listening to President Bush's most recent speech on Iraq shows "the big lie" is a frequent weapon of choice for those determined to act contrary to the facts of any given situation.
The anti-comics crusaders who broke my heart were the parents and especially the children, who actually believed in the rightness of their cause. Raised in the Catholic Church, I know well how that institution - and most religions - try to indoctrinate their young to rigidly follow the positions of their leaders. But it's sad to read of essential freedoms dismissed without a thought.
Hajdu does a masterful job showing the comics industry as it was in the era. He doesn't ignore the artistic passion that drove many of the creators, nor does he excuse the unrestrained avarice of some of their employers. It may be no one could have prevented the fate that befell the industry in those terrible years, but I still wonder what the outcome would have been if the voices of creators and readers had been heard.
After the proceedings, after the purge, Hajdu drives home the cost of the "plague" by presenting an appendix listing artists, writers, and others who never again worked in comic. The appendix runs just over 14 pages, two columns per page. I can quibble with a few of the names on this list. Joe Maneely was still drawing comics at the time of his tragic death. Other artists and writers went on to do newspaper comic strips. That still leaves hundreds of artists and writers who left comics and never came back.
The Ten-Cent Plague: the Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America is a must-have book for anyone interested in the history of comic books. It earns the full five Tonys.
******
HULK VS. FIN FANG FOOM
I was and remain a fan of those giant Marvel monsters who stomped through Strange Tales, Journey Into Mystery, and the other sci-fi comics of the 1960s. So, once I got a copy, how could I resist reading and reviewing the one-shot Hulk Vs. Fin Fang Foom [$3.99] that came out late last year?
How did I love it? Let me count the ways.
Jim Cheung's cover is nothing short of, well, incredible. His Fin Fang Foom is a veritable avatar of animosity and the artist totally nails the Hulk of the 1960s.
Peter David's "The Fin From Other World" isn't an award-winner, but it has its moments. His handling of the angry, somewhat slow Hulk who used to bemoan his persecution by the "puny humans" is right on the money. His echoes of "The Thing From Another World" - the classic sci-fi movie of 1951 - are very cool. The battle between the Hulk and Fin Fang Foom is terrific fun, even if its conclusion is a bit far-fetched. On the other hand, given that I apparently have no difficulty accepting an alien talking dragon wearing maroon briefs, I probably shouldn't be complaining about said donnybrook's denouement.
As for the visual end of the book, penciler Jorge Lucas, inker Robert Campanella, and colorist Brad Anderson all delivered solid performances. The storytelling was first-rate with moody settings and exciting fight sequences. Good stuff all around.
Bonus features include "Official Handbook" pages for Fin Fang Foom and the Hulk, as well as a reprint of the original "Fin Fang Foom" from 1960. Penciled by Jack Kirby, inked by Dick Ayers, and likely written by some combination of Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, that tale is my favorite of all the giant Marvel monster stories of the era. It has a misunderstood hero who takes on tremendous odds - Fin Fang Foom and an entire invasion force - and who triumphs by courage and intellect. It's a true comics classic.
Hulk Vs. Fin Fang Foom pushes all my happy buttons. I give it the full five out of five Tonys.
******
BLACK LIGHTNING
Over at Newsarama, Matt Brady is reporting on a new DC mini-series that is generating a lot of discussion on the website's message board. Brady wrote:
Everyone's talking about politics these days, and in September, that will come to include the heroes and characters of the DC Universe.
The place for the discussion: DCU Decisions, a four-part mini-series shipping every other week in September and October, written by Bill Willingham and Judd Winick, with art and covers by Stephane Roux. The heroes...they're drawn into the political arena both by circumstance and by the actions of one of their own.
While I always hope for the best when I read about something like this series, the idiotic campaign poster shown above and the involvement of writer Judd Winick makes it hard for me to invoke my natural optimism. I generally enjoy Bill Willingham's writing, but the stunt-pairing of a conservative and a liberal - if, indeed, the writers actually claim such political affiliations - brings to mind the uncomfortable team of Steve Ditko and Steve Skeates on the late 1960s The Hawk and the Dove, stories in which the artist and the writer were very clearly at odds with each other's viewpoints. Still, even with these misgivings, I doubt I'll be able to resist reading DCU: Decisions. I like mixing super-heroes with a bit of the real world.
One Newsarama poster opined that Black Lightning would be a conservative. Not that DC - and especially Dan DiDio and Judd Winick - has ever shown much regard for what the creator of Black Lightning thinks, but, for those of you who do care, here's where I stand on this matter:
Jefferson Pierce is a liberal and, more often than not, votes as a Democrat. Depending on what state he lives in and when that state held its primary, he probably voted for John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, or Barack Obama in that state's primary. If his state's primary came after the race narrowed to Obama and Hillary Clinton, he voted for Obama.
Jeff would never vote for John McCain. If Clinton were to be the Democratic Party nominee, which seems unlikely at this time, he would probably hold his nose and vote for her unless there was an acceptable third party candidate who he believed could beat McCain in the general election. That's my position on where Jeff stands politically, but, if my creation appears in the mini-series, who knows what DC will do?
If you'd like to read Brady's story on this series and check out the message board chatter, go here:
http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=156482
******
COMICS IN THE COMICS
Iron Man references have just begun appearing in comic strips. Sent to me by Tom Duffy, this installment of Housebroken by Steve Watkins ran on April 25:
Bill Amend's FoxTrot from April 27:
Finally, Brad Guiger featured the Civil War incarnation of Iron Man in his online Evil, Inc. for May 5:
Evil, Inc. is one of my favorite comic strips. You can read it here:
www.evil-comic.com
Keep watching TOT for more Comics in the Comics.
Thanks for spending a part of your day with me. I'll be back tomorrow with more stuff.
Tony Isabella
<< 05/09/2008 | 05/12/2008 | 05/13/2008 >>
Discuss this column with me at my Message Board. Also, read Heroes and Villains: Real and Imagined.
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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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