Friday's Favorite OTR

Escape: "A Sleeping Draught" 10/1/50

A ship is transporting a group of convicts from England to Australia. The convicts are somewhat... disrespectful of authority and a few knives smuggled aboard make them a real threat to the crew. The captain can only defuse the situation by trusting a murderer to help him.

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Wild Mustang (1935)

 

Ajax Pictures was one of the Poverty Row studios able to churn out inexpensive B-movies to inhabit the bottom half of double features, In 1935, they produced Wild Mustang, starring Harry Carey as former sheriff Joe "Wild Mustang" Norton. 

As is the case with many of the B-movies, it's a fun little movie. The story certainly unfolds quickly. It pretty much has to--the movie has a mere 58-minute run time.

Veteran Western villain Bob Kortman is Utah Evans, an escaped convict that "Wild Mustang" Norton sent up the river years ago. He puts together a gang, robs a bank and commits a couple of murders. The murder victims include the current sheriff.

So Norton comes out of retirement and soon has his own son Reno going undercover, joining the gang as an outlaw. Reno's cover is quickly blown, but he's learned of the gang's plan to raid the town.

In the meantime, old "Wild Mustang" gets himself captured. With the help of his horse, he escapes, but then soon gets captured again. This leads to him being tied up and gagged in a cabin that his own son is about to blow up with dynamite. Harry Carey was a good actor with a real screen presence, but his character this time can be said to have an over-confidence problem. 

In the end, of course, the good guys win. Utah is caught by the hero (who does manage to escape again) and, though we don't see the rest of the gang caught, its implied that are. The story does indeed move quickly and I think it's worth an hour of your time if you are in the mood for an old-fashioned oater. 

War Between Worlds--the Finale

 

Cover art by Rich Buckler

(figures of Sue and Reed by John Romita)

The complex four-issue story arc involving war between parallel worlds, written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Rich Buckler, comes to an end in Fantastic Four #163 (October 1975). 

There are two important battles on. In one, Ben Grimm has used interdimensional skates to travel into a small pocket of hyperspace. Located here is the Nexus that connects the three dimensions on the verge of war with one another to Arkon's home dimension. Check last week's review for an explanation of  Arkon's plan. For now, its important to remember that his nefarious plan can be foiled by destroying the Nexus.

Ben has a hockey-puck shaped devise he needs to throw into the Nexus to collapse it, but Arkon's minion--the hockey-themed being called Gaard--is one step ahead of him. Reed and Sue are watching the battle on an interdimensional monitor, but the hyperspace pocket is designed so that no more than two living beings can occupy it at the same time. So Ben can't expect any help.

 Meanwhile, Thing-Reed from the alternate Earth and Johnny are carrying the fight to Arkon's home world. It's a cool fight scene, well-choreographed and well-drawn. During the fight, Thing-Reed has some character development, realizing he can't spend his existence locked in a lab tinkering with robots, but needs to become an active participant in life again.

Though from different dimensions, Johnny and Thing-Reed work well together and eventually put Arkon down.

But that won't do any good if Ben can't close up the Nexus. But Gaard is good at... well, guarding stuff. Ben can't get by him.

Reed finally tumbles on an idea to help, transmitting a holographic illusion of another Thing into the hyperspace pocket, distracting Gaard and allowing Ben to toss the anti-Nexus hockey puck into the Nexus.

War is averted and everyone heads home to their proper dimensions. We do get one last look at Gaard. He takes his mask off and we discover he's the alternate Earth's Johnny Storm, who had supposedly been killed in Vietnam. 

Gaard then disappears from continuity for 20 years, not reappearing until well after Marvel Comics stopped being fun. So this can be effectively considered his only appearance worth mentioning.

This was a great story arc and the finale is largely satisfying. Buckler's art work is wonderful and the action scenes are more fun than a barrel of interdimensional skates. It's not without a few minor flaws: Sue doesn't really get to do anything significant during the story arc. And Gaard's hockey-themed character design is considered by many fans to be a little too silly to be effective. And, though the resolution of Thing-Reed's character arc was a legitimate part of the story, the fight against Arkon didn't make any difference to the main plot. Whether or not Arkon went down, it all depended on Ben closing the Nexus. 

But there's are indeed minor glitches. I admire the way Thomas took a complex story idea and laid out the plot in a way that we readers could follow along without confusion. And the action scenes are magnificent from start to finish. 

Next week, we'll visit with the Haunted Tank.

Cover Cavalcade

  MARCH IS ANTHROPOMORPHIC BEARS MONTH!

 From 1959: I could not close out Anthropomorphic Bears Month without highlighting another superb Morris Gollub cover. 

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Mysterious Traveler: "Locomotive Ghost" 7/6/47

Do trains have a life of their own? If so, do they continue to travel the rails after death? Two men, both murderers, will soon find out. 

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TIME-OUT

 

cover art by Joe Kubert

I got asked with two days notice to preach the Wednesday night sermon at my church. That left me with the necessity of cramming to write the sermon. So I'm afraid I'm going to have to forgo Wednesday and Thursday posts this week to give myself more time. 

Two days notice. Gee whiz.

Cover Cavalcade

  MARCH IS ANTHROPOMORPHIC BEARS MONTH!

A 1978 cover by John Carey

Friday's Favorite OTR

 You Are There: "The Rise of Alexander the Great: The Great Mutiny in India" 3/20/49

Alexander the Great has reached India and wants to continue on to conquer more lands. But after nine years of warfare, his army just wants to go home.

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A Nasty Officer and a Nasty Revenge

cover art by A.L. Ripley

Read/Watch 'em In Order #179

It's the most annoying thing in the world. I'm married to a wonderful, nigh-perfect wife--I have a job I enjoy and attend a church I love. But all the same, my life is empty and miserable because I can't find a list of stories by J.D. Newsom that feature Foreign Legionnaires Withers and Curialo. I reviewed one of them a little while back and enjoyed them as protagonists. My understanding is that Newsom used them again in several more stories and I would like to read them all. But I can't find a list of these specific stories ANYWHERE. My life is indeed empty and meaningless.

 The next story in the January 10, 1926 issue of Adventure gives me some small comfort in that it is a Withers and Curialo tale. 

Newsom's uniformly excellent Foreign Legion yarns can sometimes be intense, sometimes tragic and sometimes humorous, with a mixture of brutality and nobility combined with an often cynical commentary on politics and human nature.

"Mumps," is set in Morocco and leans heavily on humor. Withers is serving at the aide/valet to an officer named Trudaine. It's not a fun job, because Trudaine is an abusive and mean-spirited man. When he catches Withers writing some unkind things to him in a letter to a girl, Withers knows he's destined to be sent to a punishment regiment. Things are always tough in the Legion, but the punishment unit is particularly brutal. 

Trudaine comes down with the mumps, giving Withers a temporary reprieve. It's Withers' friend Curialo who comes up with a solution--a nasty prank to play on a nasty man. A fellow soldier named Krause bears a superficial resemblance to Trudaine AND he also has reason to dislike the officer. So what if Krause went into town while impersonating Trudaine and act in a way that would bring disgrace to Trudaine. Trudaine would then be relieved of command before he could reassign Withers. 

It's a great plan. Or it would be a great plan if Krause doesn't get too carried away with his role.

"Mumps" is a quick and funny tale. It's interesting to compare it to "Mud," the World War 1-era story I reviewed last October, in which there was still funny banter between the two protagonists, but the action was edge-of-your-seat stuff. Withers and Curialo are great characters in part because they fit nicely into Legion stories whether the emphasis is humor or action. 

I just wish I could find a complete list of their stories. It's hardly a state secret. It's gotta be somewhere.

War Between Worlds, Part 3

 

cover art by Rich Buckler

Roy Thomas (writer) and Rich Buckler (artist) have weaved a complicated story together over the last couple of issues. So, in Fantastic Four #162 (September 1975), they provide a handy flow chart, showing us why each of three different dimensions is convinced one of the other dimensions is attacking them.

This is understandable. Most readers of superhero comic books (and readers of SF in general) are 

The issue opens with Thing-Reed being held prisoner by Akron

Thing-Reed, along with us readers, assume that he's being held on Arkon's world, but he's actually in a secret base located in Thing-Reed's home world. Anyway, Arkon leaves Reed in adamantium chains--presumably helpless.

But a Reed Richards from any dimension is rarely helpless. He manages to make telepathic contact with our Reed, explaining Arkon's plan. This involved a representative of Arkon, posing as a businessman on each of the worlds, simply buying the technology that would be used to attack other worlds. The two Reed share mental energy, allowing Thing-Reed to break out of his prison. Then our Reed goes off to have some... stern words with Arkon's agent.

Thing-Reed rescues our Ben from prison, but are soon confronted with military troops led by that dimensions version of Thunderbolt Ross. Adding to the confusion, Johnny (that's our Johnny--the alternate Johnny was reported killed in Vietnam) comes through a dimensional portal leading an army from the 5th Dimension.

Johnny thinks both Things are fake, but the situation is explained to him. He sends the 5th Dimension troops home and puts up a firewall to keep out the military. Then our Reed sends an interdimensional message and drops some more plot exposition. There is a nexus located between the three dimensions, through which Arkon will collect the energy released when the worlds destroy one another. Reed (our Reed, that is) sends a pair of interdimensional skates through a portal. Our Thing will use this to skate through interdimensional space and destroy the Nexus. In the meantime, our Johnny and Thing-Reed head off to Arkon's world to attack the villain directly.

Our Ben, though, is given no easy task. The Nexus is guarded by an... interdimensional hockey player?  It's a villain design that has generated eyerolls and criticisms from fans. But... well, if one guy can fly through space on a surfboard, there's no reason another guy can't take on a hockey theme for his space shenanigans, is there? Perhaps Gaard is a silly villain, but I'm enjoying the overall story too much to be critical. 

This story is more fun than a barrel full of alternate dimensions. Yes, the plot is complicated and this leads to a few instances in this issue that are perhaps crammed too thick with dialogue. But the plot is explained clearly (much more clearly, I think, than I managed in my summary), there's some great action scenes and Rich Buckler's art sometimes pops off the page. This penultimate issue of the story arc does a great job of leading us into what will be a wonderful climax. We'll look at that climax next week.