Dark Corners and Little Windows
In 1977, DC Comics was undergoing seismic changes. The year before Carmine Infantino, Editorial Director, then Publisher, a man that had set the look and direction of DC for almost ten years, was unceremoniously shown the door at Lexington Ave by the higher-ups at Warner Communications.
Read MoreIn 1973, Bruce Lee was the coolest man on the face of the earth. He had the look, the style, the ability, the genius, and the fans. Lots of fans. He became a one-man industry of posters, books, t-shirts (you could get your very own iron-on through the comics! That and a ‘Mickey the Rat’ or ‘Keep On Truckin’ would make you the king of the playground), velvet posters, black light posters, and of course, movies.
Read More“Kirby is coming”. It was splashed across ads for DC comics in the early 70s. It was the biggest thing to hit the ever-shrinking comics world since the Batman TV series. Jack Kirby, a (the?) mainstay of Marvel Comics, erstwhile partner of Stan ‘the Man’ Lee, was leaving the company he’d help lift to popularity with his shear talent, and going to Marvel’s greatest rival, DC Comics. Worlds shook that day. When Jack arrived, he was there to shake those worlds even more.
Read MoreHis face clouds. His speech becomes clipped, the words bit off and spat at the viewer. "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, de-briefed or numbered. My life is my own." With that, the man known only as Number Six, turns and stalks toward the door. He doesn't where he is, where he's going or how he'll get there, all he knows is he has to get OUT.
Read MoreThe Joker’s ‘team-up’ with Batman (Brave and the Bold #111, Feb-March 1974) was one of the best-selling issues the title had up ‘til then. Psycho killer be damned! Here was a character just crying out for his own title, and Infantino, Julie Schwartz and Denny O’Neil would give it to him!
Read MoreHe was a working actor, maybe not working enough. He had several guest roles in series, even a supporting role in a series, and supporting roles in movies but nothing that broke him out of the herd of other handsome actors in his age range... until Batman. He was a smart and talented actor with the sense of humor and innate ability to 'get' what William Dozier and Lorenzo Semple Jr. were after in the pilot script. He nailed it. See the screen tests done by Adam and his competition for the role Lyle Waggoner. Lyle plays a man who believes what he is saying, Adam plays one who believes, but is in on the joke. It's a fine line and not easy to play, but one that is bright as day when you see. Adam got the part.
And therein lies the tale doesn't it?
.
First of all, a confession. As a kid, (a very young, very ill-informed kid) I didn't care much for Mike Sekowsky's artwork. There, it's said, so let it be writ against me in the Book of Life. It seemed clunky, blocky, and just, well, strange. (I thought the same thing about Kirby...
Read MoreWell, it has come to my attention that the vast reading public might enjoy some of these excursions into the side alley of comics, (in other words a friend said, in exasperation, "Why don't you tell someone who cares?"). So here it is, the second installment of “Comics of the Strange Too! Even Stranger!”
Read MoreIn 1968, a curious ad started running in Superman DC Comics. It featured a gangly figure, in silhouette, stalking toward the reader, with the legend, "Bat Lash. Can he save the West, or RUIN it?".
Read MoreNow my friends, gathered here today under the auspices of the mighty web, let me tell the sad tale of Carmine Infantino and one of his biggest fans, Thomas P. Stewart, and, in the course of the story, how I got the name, “The Comics Savant”.
Read MoreThis is the story of Ray Palmer and the fabulous Shaver hoax. It is a tale full of sound and pulp, signifying...Well, you'll see. As this is the 70th anniversary of the mystery, hoax, or whatever you call it, and since everyone is way too centered on the 'important' things like, the Supreme Court and ecological disaster, it's up too me to tell the story.
Read More