Friday's Favorite OTR

 Gunsmoke: "Romeo" 1/22/56

Two wealthy ranchers hate each other. But the daughter of one rancher has fallen in love with the son of the other. This is likely to get someone killed.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Silver Age Superman

 I hope you all don't mind if I take a Thursday to highlight someone else's work, but this video about the value of Silver Age Superman stories is extremely well-done and deserves to be shared:

What Happened to Poor General Norton?

 

cover art by Joe Kubert

A brief bit of comic book history: In G.I. Combat #148 (June-July 1971), writer Bob Kanigher and artist Russ Heath introduced the character of General Norton, who is clearly an expy for real-life General Patton.

In fact, he's so clearly supposed to be a fill-in for General Patton, it's a wonder that Kanigher didn't just use Patton as a guest star again.

In G.I. Combat #159, writer Archie Goodwin and artist Sam Glanzman give us a General Norton cameo as he sends an armored column led by the Haunted Tank on a raid behind enemy lines to liberate a POW camp. This mission fails, just as the real-life March 1945 raid ordered by Patton failed.

That brings us to G.I. Combat #196 (November 1976). General Patton appears in this issue, pushing his tank column forward to reach a fuel depot before he runs out of gas, ramming tanks that do run out of gas off the road so the rest of the column can keep moving.

Jeb is asked to lead a column of four other tanks to take and hold the fuel depot until Patton arrives. Along the way, though, a German ambush leaves the crews of the other tanks dead, killed by concussions that left the tanks intact. With no time to bury the dead, each member of Jeb's crew takes the driver seat in one of the tanks, making an eerie trip to the fuel depot with dead men essentially looking over their shoulders. 

They reach the depot just in time to hold off an approaching German column. The German commander realizes the tanks are short-handed, but doesn't want to attack in the growing darkness for fear of igniting the fuel. He needs it as badly as Patton does.

During the night, Jeb and his men sneak into no-man's-land to plant cannon shells as booby-traps. They're spotted just as they finish and Rick is wounded, but they all make it back to their tanks.

There's an effectively done scene showing Gus praying for Rick. Then daylight comes. Jeb sees Patton's tanks approaching and roll barrels of gas down towards them. 

The Germans attack, but are slowed by the cannon shell booby-traps. Patton's tanks arrive and drive them off. 

It's a good story. The tank ride with dead companions really does hit an eerie vibe. Gus's concern for Rick and his faith in God are handled respectfully. Patton's determination to keep moving forward is historically accurate, while the story moves along at a nice pace. As usual, Sam Glanzman's art is superb. 

Patton would make several other appearances in the book (issues 208 and 275), with the General actually getting to see and talk to the ghost of General Stuart in #208. 

Why didn't Kanigher originally use Patton back in #148? It's very possible there were legal concerns--Patton had been dead for 25 years by then, but his son was still around and was himself a general who had served in Vietnam. A concern that an appearance by Patton in a comic book might generate a lawsuit may have existed.

 

So what opened the door? I have no documented proof, but I have a theory. In 1974, Jack Kirby put in a Patton cameo in Our Fighting Forces #148, based on his own encounter with Patton during the war. Kirby, I suspect, just did this without worrying about legal concerns and, as it turns out, there were no legal concerns. No lawsuits came flying at DC Comics.

Was this, then, what convinced Kanigher to drop poor General Norton into Comic Book Limbo and begin using the real General Patton? Kirby did it--got away with it--so Kanigher followed suit. I think it's at least possible. And it would be ironic, considering that Kanigher was always openly critical of Kirby's work.

Of course, the 1970 movie Patton, which helped shape him as an iconic historical figure, might have also eventually helped convince DC legal eagles that using Patton in a story was okay. 

That's it for now. Next week, we'll return to the Marvel Universe as one unlikely character is thrown into a sword-and-planet adventure. 

Cover Cavalcade

  APRIL IS "WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE SNAKES" MONTH!!!!

An intense Tony DeZuniga cover from 1972. 

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Archie Andrews: "Dinner in a Restaurant" 1949 

Mr. Andrews decides to take his wife and Archie out to a nice restaurant for Sunday dinner. What can possibly go wrong?

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Yet another Werewolf

 

cover artist uncredited

Last November, I wrote about a werewolf story by Karl Edward Wagner. I mentioned at the end of that post that it would be interesting to look at another classic werewolf tale--James Blish's "There Shall Be No Darkness." Well, it took me several months, but I finally got around to it.

The story first appeared in the April 1950 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. Blish usually stuck to science fiction, as opposed to fantasy. So when he tackled the werewolf trope, he introduced an explanation for the condition that strips it of the supernatural. Lycanthropy, we learn, involves a disease that affects the pineal gland, allowing the person suffering from it to shape change (including changing his clothes) and be unaffected by non-silver weapons. Silver, on the other hand, works as a poison. Wolfsbane activates a strong allergic reaction.

It's an explanation that does work quite well within the story, though it's so far-fetched that the story might as well be treated as a fantasy. That's not a criticism, by the way. The "rational" veneer does give the story a unique feel and works quite well. Blish opted to come up with a rational explanation for something that is inherently irrational and did as well as anyone could.

The story is set in then-modern day, when an artist named Paul Foote realizes a fellow guest at a house party is in fact a werewolf. He soon turns out to be correct and soon after manages to chase the werewolf off by wielding a silver candlestick.

A doctor also staying at the house backs up Foote's claim that a werewolf exists. This, along with tracks in the snow, quickly does away with initial skepticism. Silver is melted down and molded into bullets and the party goes a-hunting.

Stopping a werewolf is not that simple, though. He escapes this initial attempt to get him and--well, what happens to a normal human who is bitten by a werewolf? The situation quickly grows more complicated.

I don't want to give more details because Blish does an excellent job of building suspense and tossing in a few plot twists. "There Shall Be No Darkness" is a great werewolf tale and well worth tracking down to read.

You can read it online HERE. 

THAT is one heck of a fight scene!

 

cover art by Sal Buscema

Captain America and The Falcon #152 (August 1972) has Gerry Conway (writer) and Sal Buscema (artist) bringing their A-game to finish up the Scorpion/Hyde storyline.

It tosses us right into the action with Falcon tracking down the villains by also tracking down the chemicals Mr. Hyde needs to maintain his super strength. He intercepts a shipment, finds out who the boss of the operation is, then goes to see that boss.

It is, by the way, the introduction of the crime boss Morgan, who will be a thorn in Falcon's side in the future.

Anyway, this allows Falcon and Cap to raid the bad guys' hideout, where they have been holding Sharon Carter prisoner. Cap has to go AWOL while on patrol as a cop, but he's been tense and sleepless since Sharon was kidnapped and NEEDS to do this.

What follows is one of Buscema's best ever fight scenes--six pages of kinetic, viceral action as Cap trades blows with Scorpion and Hyde. 

Wait... while CAP trades blows? Where's Falcon?

This issue is a great example of how fictional logic sometimes SHOULD differ from real-life logic. Sam realizes that Cap is running on fumes, but also that he does indeed need the cathartic effect of beating the villains on his own. He needs to regain a feeling of control after feeling he failed Sharon when he didn't prevent her kidnapping. He's confident that Cap will show both physical AND emotional strength when he needs to do so. This is what happens. Skill, timing and an unyielding will make the difference. When Cap finishes off Hyde with a punch to the face, its one of the most satisfying conclusions to a comic book fight ever put down on a page.

Sam's decision doesn't make real-life sense. In real life, no responsible person in a dangerous profession would sit back and watch while his partner did something life threatening without helping. Yes, Cap needed the emotional release, but if he lost, he would have been dead. A cop or soldier would have backed up his partner without hesitation and worried about emotion crises afterwards.

But, as I said, in the world of fiction and superheroes, sometimes the rules are a little different. The writing and characters still have to be strong enough for us to empathize and identify with the protagonists, but sometimes--to hit an important character beat--the "right thing to do" becomes different from what it would be in reality.

It's an example of superhero fiction bending realism to hit a necessary psychological or mythic beat.

There's a few other subplots going on in the story. Nick's jealousy that made him kick Cap out of SHIELD is given a page or two--a motivation I always thought of as out-of-character for the always professional spy/soldier. There's the beginning of a subplot involving a supporting character who works with Steve in the police department. But the Scorpion/Hyde fight is the heart of this issue and, gee whiz, it is cool.

Next week, General Patton needs fuel and its up to the Haunted Tank to get it.

Cover Cavalcade

  APRIL IS "WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE SNAKES" MONTH!!!!

A 1977 cover by Gil Kane. 

Friday's Favorite OTR

 The Six-Shooter: "The Capure of Stacy Gault" 11/8/53

People are in a panic when outlaw Stacy Gault rides into town. Britt, though, has some doubts about whether the stranger really is Gault.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Underwater Shenanigans

 

So I watch the 1973 movie The Neptune Factor on YouTube and I kind of like it. So I decide to do a blog post about it, alerting my thousands of devoted readers (don't disillusion me!) to the movie's existance.

Except now that I'm writing about it, the flaws in the movie are starting to become more apparent. This doesn't retroactively prevent me from having enjoyed watching the movie, but the flaws are real.

The movie is about an undersea lab, with three men aboard, that's knocked into a deep trench by an undersea earthquake. An experimental sub--the Neptune--is sent down to see if the lab is still intact and the crew rescued.

The sub is cool and the underwater photography is quite good. Also, I like the cast, especially Ernest Borgnine as a diver and Yvette Mimieux (who played Weena in George Pal's The Time Machine) as a scientist. Ben Gazzara (an actor I normally like) puts on a very unconvincing Southern accent as the sub's designer/pilot, but he's still good in the role.

When the sub gets close to the remains of the lab, the crew discovers the deep waters are infested with huge sealife. Rescuing the crew, who are rapidly running out of air, means running a gauntlet of giant moray eels.

This is all pretty cool. The problems with the movie are:

1. Why is there sunlight this deep?

2. How can the divers so casually leave/enter the sub this deep without worrying about water pressure?

3. The "giant" fish are regular fish shot in extreme closeup without any effort to give them a sense of scale.

These problems were obvious when I watched it and more obvious now that I'm writing about it.

But, gosh darn it, I like the sub. And I like Ernest Borgnine. I watched this whole movie and I don't regret it. 

I've read of a Sean Connery rule--a rule that states if Connery was in it, the movie is worth watching no matter what its quality is otherwise. Should there be an Ernest Borgnine corollary to this rule?

Decide for yourself. Here's the movie: