Treasure Hunts Can Get Complicated

 

cover art by Graves Gladney

Isle of Gold, published in the August 1, 1939 issue of The Shadow Magazine, is simply made of Pure Fun. 

Walter Gibson (who wrote 283 of the original Shadow novels using the house anme Maxwell Grant) often reused very general plot ideas, but always gave each iteration of that plot a unique twist or took it in a new, unexpected direction. 

For instance, last week we took a look at the 1938 novel Vanished Treasure, which involved a search for a hidden treasure, with a gang of bad guys ready to swoop in and take the treasure once it's found.

Isle of Gold is about a search for a hidden treasure, with a gang of bad guys ready to swoop in and take the treasure once it's found.  

Sound familar? But despite the identical premise used in each, the two novels could not be more different. The setting is the most obvious difference. The earlier novel is set in New York City and Long Island. Isle of Gold begins in the Big Apple, but soon shifts the action to Portland, Maine and a couple of remote islands off the coast of that city.

Even outside of the change in setting, the stories unfold in different ways. Both are enormously entertaining, but Isle of Gold edges out Vanished Treasure as the better of the two. 

Two friends--Roy Orwin and Sid Bayne--are searching for an old treasure on a small island. The very pretty Catherine Dale turns out to own the island. A gangster named Clink Brackell plans to steal the treasure once its found. And a gang of smugglers is active nearby, though they don't at first seem to be involved in the treasure hunt at all. 

Hovering over all of this is the Shadow, who wants to eventually round up all the bad guys while also protecting the several innocent people involved in the potentially violent proceedings. 

Some of the elements that make Isle of Gold so good are:

1. Great use of the Shadow's agents. Harry Vincent, Burbank, Cliff Marsland, Hawkeye and the always epic Jericho Druke are all involved and all get to demonstrate their bravery, initiative and intelligence, especially during the final, extended action scene.

2. There are a number of things that happen that do not at first seem to make sense. Why was a gangster trying to see Catherine Dale before other gangsters kill him? Why was a sniper trying to kill Roy Orwin such a short time after Roy ends up in possession of a treasure map? How did the bad guys know he had the map? Why does the hermit living on the treasure island try to knife Roy to death and where did the hermit disappear to afterwards? What connects the smugglers to the treasure hunting shenanigans? But all these questions are gradually answered over the course of the novel, tying everything together into a tight and satisfying tale.

3. The finale takes up several chapters and involves the Shadow, his agents, the gangsters and the smugglers coming together in a series of violent clashes that take place on two islands and at sea. Catherine Dale is endangered, but turns out to be willing to trade shots with the bad guys along with the Shadow's agents. She needs to be rescued twice, but the bad judgement call that puts her back in danger after the first rescue is understandable from her perspective and doesn't distract from the overall strength of her presence in the novel. The action set piece is truly exciting, with unexpected twists coming quickly. 

4. Several more twists involving character motivations and the smuggler's supposed leader are revealed during all this action. I thought I had one particular plot twist figured out, but I turned out to only be 33 1/3% correct. 

5. I don't think Jericho Druke ever appears in a Shadow novel without at least one Crowning Moment of Awesome. His last-second rescue of another character during those final chapters is wonderful.

Vanished Treasure and Isle of Gold  were reprinted together a few years ago in #131 of the Sanctum reprint series. They were chosen to go together because of the shared Treasure Hunt theme. But each novel can be enjoyed and appreciated on a unique level. 

Drinking Water from a Fork

 

My Dad used to tell me about a particular Dick Tracy story arc he remembered reading in the newspaper (probably the New York Daily News) when he was a kid. It involved Tracy being captured by villains who tried to starve him to death, feeding him only water served on a fork.

Well, I was delighted a few years ago with the publication of The Complete Dick Tracy, volume 10, which reprinted this story. Sharing this with Dad was nice.

Anyway, the starvation sequence began in late November 1945. Tracy was pursuing a bad guy named Itchy, who had (among other crimes) kidnapped Tess Trueheart. This by itself is not unusual. Prisons in those days were stuffed to the gills with criminals who had kidnapped Tess Trueheart.

Tess is rescued when Itchy's car gets stuck in a tunnel. But in the ensuing confusion, Itchy steals a patrol car. Tracy manages to dive into the trunk of the car as Itchy flees the scene. 

Unfortunately for Tracy, Itchy spots his reflection in a plate glass window. He manages to get the drop on the detective and, along with Kitty--the widow of a crook killed by Tracy--decides to do away with him in a particularly insidious way.

They keep him tied up, feeding him one turnip per day and all the water that will cling to a fork. The idea is to slowly starve him to death, as they often eat full meals right in front of them. Their meals and snacks are all chosen because they smell so good, such as popcorn or hamburgers with onions. 

Chester Gould's villains were meant to represent the depths of evil that human beings can sink to. With Itchy and Kitty, this symbolism might have been the most explicit he ever achieved. They are driven entirely by the need for vengence and this in turn amps up their capacity for cruelity.

Tracy gradually weakens, but the patrol car (which Itchy dumped) has been found. The cops search it and fail to find a clue. Fortunately, Tracy's adopted son Junior is better at being a detective than the actual detectives. He gives the car one more going over and finds a note Tracy had left in the trunk, revealing the address at which he's being held.

Junior sneaks in, cuts Tracy loose and gives him a gun. Then, while Junior goes for reinforcements, the weak but still game Tracy gets the drop on his captors. 

Kitty faints, but Itchy makes the mistake of trying to pull a gun. He's dead before he hits the floor.

I can see why Dad remembered this story arc so vividly. The cruel plan of the villains combines with Gould's disturbing portrayal of a gaunt and starving hero makes the tale very, very memorable. 

Next week, we look at another example of just how much fun it is when Jack Kirby draws a story about a rampaging monster.

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Episode #23: The Eternal Savage Part 2

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Episode #23: The Eternal Savage Part 2:   Jess, Scott and Tim discuss the second half of The Eternal Savage, first published in 1915. This half recounts a prehistoric adventure tha...

Cover Cavalcade

 

SEPTEMBER IS WORLD AT WAR MONTH!

From 1927. Cover art by Sidney Riesenberg.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Suspense: "The Swift Rise of Eddie Albright" 4/3/47

Phil Silvers plays an elevator operator with a tendency to exaggerate both his importance and his ability to observe what's going on around him. But when two men get into his elevator while carrying a carpet that appears to have feet sticking out of one end, he finds himself in a rather dire situation. 

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Never Bring a Revolver to an Elevator Fight!

 

cover art by George Rozen

Treasure hunt stories are inherently fun. In this case, the treasure being hunted is Revolutionary War-era gold supposedly hidden in an old mansion--a mansion that is also said to be haunted by the ghost of a British soldier.

Vanished Treasure (written by Walter Gibson under the Maxwell Grant house name) was published in the October 15, 1938 issue of The Shadow Magazine. We jump right into the story when Marcus Beld goes to the hotel room/headquarters of gambler Itch Fendel to tell him he doesn't have enough money to pay off his 30 grand gambling debt.

By the way, at first it seems as if "Itch Fendel" is the best gangster name ever. But we soon meet Itch's bodyguard Croak Lorman. That's the best gangster name ever!

Beld would normally be in trouble because of his shortage of funds, but he has valuable information. A relative owns an old mansion in which a fortune in treasure is supposedly hidden. That relative thinks he can find the treasure. So Beld can keep Itch informed and then Itch can move in to take the treasure as soon as its found.

illustration by Edd Cartier

The Shadow is there, though, listening in. So a battle of wits between the Shadow and the villians begins.

Actually, they battle with more than wits. The Shadow gets into a hand-to-hand struggle with Croak. And, surprisingly, Croak gets the upper hand. That's not something that happens to the Shadow that often.

But Burbank, one of the Shadow's agents, is nearby posing as an elevator operator. Burbank reacts with speed and cleverness. Croak quickly learns that you don't bring a revolver to an elevator fight. It's a great action scene which allows an agent who normally just answers the phone to show his true mettle. 

Harry Vincent, the Shadow's primary agent, is soon involved as well, looking after a man named Roger Hasting. Roger is connected to the Beld family by being engaged to the very pretty Eunice Beld. He's doing research on the treasure in a small library when he and Harry find themselves surrounded by thugs. Fortunately for them, the Shadow arrives in time to save them.

illustration by Edd Cartier

From there, the story begins to take a number of twists and turns. There are more fights, a kidnapping, a rescue, and a ghost sighting. As is so common in a Shadow novel, when we think we know who the main bad guys are, we actually don't. The Shadow plays the villains off against one another, which leads to gun play in the mansion's cellar, a few surprising revelations and a satisfying conclusion.

But as much fun as Vanished Treasure turns out to be, another treasure-themed Shadow novel published ten months later is even better. We'll take a look at that one next week.

Merciless Justice

 

cover art by Jim Aparo

I wonder what Jim Corrigan's fellow cops think of him? From their point of view, he often fails to catch the crooks. Of course, he is catching them and administering a ruthless form of justice as the Spectre, but the other cops don't know that. What does the chief put in his performance evaluations?

In Adventure Comics #431 (Jan-Feb 1974), we see how this might be a problem. Michael Fleisher writes a by-the-numbers tale of supernatural revenge and Jim Aparo's art brings the story to creepy life. This story is, by the way, the Spectre's Bronze Age debut--the first of a ten issue run in Adventure Comics. 

Four crooks rob an armored car and ruthlessly kill all four guards. Their leader also shoots one of his his own wounded men to make sure he doesn't spill anything to the police. The three surviving bad guys get away.

Jim Corrigan is put on the case and finds a clue--a business card for an antique shop--in the pocket of the dead bad guy. So he pays a visit to that shop.

He finds one of the crooks, who immediately pulls a gun. But trying to shoot the Spectre isn't an effective tactic. The crook flees. The Spectre follows invisibly until the crook calls one of the others in the gang, then he runs the crook's car off the road. One bad guy dead. Two to go.

Spectre tracks down the second bad guy and... well, he melts him.

The story is unclear on how Spectre finds the last villain, who is on a plane fleeing the country. This guy tries to take a hostage when he sees the ghostly vigilante, but the lights go out for a second and we discover he's been skeletonized.

According to comic book historian Les Daniels, the Spectre was brought back to his own series after editor Joe Orlando was mugged and decided it was time to bring back a ruthless hero.

The trouble with the Spectre is that he's pretty much omnipotent. He zips through this story without effort to take vengence on the crooks, so there is no real suspense or drama. The story still works--primarily because of its short 12-page length and because Aparo's excellent art makes the story pop. 

At the conclusion, though, Jim Corrigan's chief is asking him about the "escaped" crooks and Jim merely replies that the city is sealed off and they'll be caught eventually. Of course, they are now dead and thus will never be officially caught. So what does the chief write on Corrigan's performance reviews?

Next week, we'll visit with another relentless police detective--Dick Tracy.

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Episode #22: The Eternal Savage, Part 1

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Episode #22: The Eternal Savage, Part 1:   Jess, Scott and Tim analyze the first part of "The Eternal Savage," first published in All-Story Magazine on March 7, 1914. Clic...

Cover Cavalcade

 SEPTEMBER IS WORLD AT WAR MONTH!

From 1969. The art is by John Severin.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Dragnet "Myra the Readhead" 9/1/49

Several hundred cars in L.A. have been broken into recently. The leader of the gang responsible for this is soon tentatively identified, but she proves very hard to find.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Fabulous World of Jules Verne

 

When I was a kid--I don't remember how old--I saw Journey to the Beginning of Time in a theater. It had dinosaurs in and and, consequently, it was epic. I still remember being enthralled by it.

At the time, I would have had no idea that the movie had been made over a decade earlier in Czechoslovakia by a film-maker I wouldn't have heard of. I probably didn't realize that it was inspired by Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, either.

As an adult, I eventually read about Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman and learned about some of the other wonderful and imaginative films he made. Zeman was a Jules Verne fan and shout-outs to Verne pour out into pretty much everything he made. In 1958, he made Invention for Destruction, which is based on Verne's 1896 novel Facing the Flag, though elements from other Verne novels are there as well. (It was titled The Fabulous World of Jules Verne for its original, dubbed U.S. release.)

The movie is set in what we would now call a Steampunk world, with airships and submarines are common. A scientist has invented the ultimate weapon and gets kidnapped by pirates who have both a submarine and a secret island. The scientist is childish in his outlook and doesn't really think about how his invention might be misused. His assistant, kept locked away in another part of the island, is painfully aware of what the pirates will do with the weapon and makes plans to put a stop to this.

What makes the movie awesome, though, is the design of it. Zeman made the decision to look just like the original engraved illustrations that graced the original editions of Verne's novels. He has costumes and scenery decorated with hatchings that give it the proper look. He combines live action with animation (traditional, stop motion and cut-out) to add to this look and provide the images of the various vehicles, mansions and secret islands that populate the films. 

The awesome end result can only be described as wonderful. Or perhaps delightful. Delightfully awesome? Awesomely wonderful? The movie really does appear to be the book engravings come to life. As much as a Blu-Ray set of three Zeman films has me looking forward to finally watching Journey to the Begining of Time, I'm even more pleased to be able to watch a properly restored and properly subtitled print of this film. It is delightfully, wonderfully, awesomely... well, you get the point.

I generally like to make my own clips of movies I review here, but my poor laptop can't handle a Blu-Ray. So here's the trailer for the film's new restoration.

Asgard vs. Olympus

 

cover art by Jack Kirby

Thor is, after all, immortal. He was around for thousands of years before taking up the Donald Blake identity and became a member of the Avengers. So it only makes sense that writers would occasionally take advantage of that by telling tales from Thor's past. We saw that when we took a look at Thor Annual #8 a year or so ago. 

A few years before that issue was published., Thor Annual #5 (September 1976) also did a flashback story. In fact, writer Steve Englehart and artist John Buscema flashed back to the beginning of time.

We start with an overview of Norse mythology, covering the creation of the universe and Asgard through the creation of the human race and the gods of Asgard being worshiped by the Vikings. It's a great beginning, with the epic story told very concisely but still brought to life by Buscema's magnificent art.

So when Thor sees some Vikings fighting an unknown enemy army, he jumps in to help his worshippers. The enemy, though, turn out to be Greeks, who have their own gods to call on. They summon Hercules.

The two gods slug it out for several pages in typically wonderful Buscema fashion. When Thor realizes he's facing another god, this comes as a surprise for the Thunder God. He didn't know any gods other than the Asgardians existed. He calls a one-week truce, challenging Olympus to an all-out war at the end of that week.

Thor is acting purely out of his pride. He wants a war to prove that the Asgardians are superior to any other group of gods--there is literally no other reason to fight. It's a reminder that this is Thor as a young man--the man who would have to learn humility by being turned into a crippled human before he was really worthy of being a hero.

Anyway, neither Odin nor Zeus will agree to go to war. Thor marches off in a snit, but it turns out he'll get his war anyways. Loki, in his usual trouble-making mode, sneaks into Mt. Olympus, impersonates Thor and ticks off the Greek pantheon enough to start the war.

A huge battle ensues. Once again, Buscema's art brings it to life, especially a spectacular splash page.

It's also a lot of fun to see the various Marvel versions of the two pantheons battling each other. In the end, the Asgardians appear to win, though there are a lot of casualties. The Valkeries are busy taking the dead to Valhalla.

Neither Odin nor Zeus took place in the battle and we soon find out why. Odin refuses to declare a celebration after the victory. So Thor, once again in a snit, gathers up some of his comrades and they march to Athens, intending to take over. But the Athenians barely even acknowledge them and Thor discovers he has no powers.

He finds out several things:

1. Zeus and Odin has mutually agreed to allow the battle to happen to teach their followers (at least the ones that lived) a lesson.

2. Both sides were led to believe they had won.

3. Both sides learn that they literally cannot conquer the others' earthly followers. The small-g gods are all powered by their worshippers and no god has power over a people group that worships someone else. 

Thor storms off in yet another snit. He might very well be setting the single-issue snit record here. He is given a vision of the future in which he fights along with the Avengers. But that will happen only after he learns some humility.

The story really does have the feel of a story from ancient myth. Both the beginning--recounting creation according to Norse mythology--and the rhythm of the rest of the story gives it this mythic vibe. And, of course, John Buscema's art makes it all look fantastic. The ethics of Zeus and Odin agreeing to teach a lesson in humilty that leads to many violent deaths can be debated, but overall the story is great.

Next week, we'll jump over to the DC Universe and visit with the Spectre.

Cover Cavalcade

 

SEPTEMBER IS WORLD AT WAR MONTH!

A Frederick Blaskeslee cover from 1939. 

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Mini Podcast #57: A Princess of Mars Chapters 27 & 28

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Mini Podcast #57: A Princess of Mars Chapters 27 & 28:   We bring our analysis of A Princess of Mars to an end with a discussion of the last two chapters. Click HERE for the audio version email u...

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Martin & Lewis: "Marilyn Maxwell" 6/5/49

I'm not a huge fan of the Martin & Lewis radio show (Jerry's voice grates on me a little), but the gangster sketch they do in this one is hilarious.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Legal Shenanigans and a Fist Fight.

 

Read/Watch 'em In Order #131

The next story in the May1927 issue of Frontier Stories is "Long-Leaf Lands," by J.E. Grinstead. And, by golly, I can't quite make up my mind if I like it.

The premise is sound enough. A businessman named Sam Smedley owns a lumber mill and some land with good trees. If he can build a small-gauge rail line from his mill to the main railroad, he can make a fortune supplying the railroad with fuel.

There are two pieces of land he still wants. One is full of good trees and is owned by an old squirrel hunter who owes back taxes. The other is along the right-of-way for his small-gauge track, but the owner of that land has recently abandoned it. 

But things go wrong when Smedley asks his assistant, Tom Stone, to falsify an estimate of how much the squirrel hunter's land is worth. Stone is perpetually honest, so he quits rather than go along with this.

This leads to a story in which Stone is attempting to prevent the old man from being swindled (and falling in love with the man's pretty daughter, of course). I like the characters and I like Tom's personal story arc, in which he needs the wisdom of an older friend to keep him from getting into trouble by losing his temper. But a lot of the story is simply legal and business manuevering, without any real tension being generated. 

There is some action when Tom acquires that abandoned land along the right-of-way. Tom gets into a fist fight with Smedley's bully-in-chief and there's an arson attempt and a couple of shots fired. But most of the story involves men borrowing money, getting credit and buying stuff. 

As I said, I do like the characters and the story did maintain my interest long enough to run its course. But Frontier Stories is a magazine that promises us adventure. It's okay to have a plot point centered around when a mortgage is due--countless Westerns have done that. It's just that you need interesting stuff to happen within that context. And in an adventure story, that usually involves battles, chases and rescues. "Long-Leaf Lands" needed a little more of that.

You can find this story online HERE.

Gee Whiz, Delivery Boys Face Terrible Dangers, Don't They?

 

cover art by Walt Kelly

As I pointed out a few years ago, when Walt Kelly was writing and drawing Our Gang for Dell Comics, he had an advantage in that the movie shorts had ceased production. Kelly was thus free to use any characters and invent any plot he wanted.

I love his work on this book, as it highlights both his skill at presenting comedy and his ability to tell an adventure story. Our Gang #21 (Jan-Feb. 1946), for instance, is one of many examples in which he brings these genres together into a purely entertaining mixture. 

It all begins innocuously enough when Red is roped into a job as a delivery boy by Froggy, who wants to add to the gang's meager treasury. Red, in turn, ropes Froggy into helping them and they are soon carrying a heavy package to the home of Dr. Philpot.

Well, the Gang does tend to run into criminals a lot, so perhaps its no surprise when they are taken prisoner by an insane scientist who has invented (or at least he thinks he's invented) an atomizer--a device that is essentially a matter teleporter. The real Dr. Philpot (who has been hiding in a barrel) frees the kids. A combination of whacking the insane guy over the head with a piece of equipment, smashing his eye glasses and giving him a hot foot puts him out of commission and saves the day.

But stopping the schemes of a mad scientist doesn't end Red's work day. The store owner is about to fire him for taking so long with Dr. Philpot's order, but he likes Red's excuse so much that he keeps him on. A story about teleportation and mad scientists is apparently a step up from the stock excuses usually used for late deliveries.

So they are given a package to take to an elderly spinster. They spot Bucky being pulled along in a wagon by his pet goat Julip. Bucky soon finds himself drafted as a delivery driver. Soon after, a successful struggle to keep Julip from smashing a pet store window (Julip wants to attack his own reflection) earns them the appreciation of the pet store owner.

In a nice touch, that pet store owner shows he was more concerned with Julip getting hurt than with the window. The kids like that and offer to deliver a package for him for free.

So now they have two packages. And, in a plot twist that is predicatable but still funny, they take the wrong package into the spinster's home and end up accidentally releasing a bunch of mice.

The spinster and her friend panic and call the fire department. The kids manage to gather up the mice, but forget that, while chasing the mice, they had put Julip out of the way in a cabinet.

So the fire department finds no mice, but does rescue a goat from the cabinet, earning Julip a ride on a fire truck.

And, gee whiz, the gang's home town has a crouchy fire department, don't they?

This issue uses its premise to essentially combine two stories into one. The Mad Scientist story and the Mice Run Wild story are completely seperate tales, linked only by the Delivery Boy Plot Device. And that's fine. Each mini-story has fun art and strong comedic moments, with the Mad Scientist half building a real sense of adventure and danger into the tale as well. Kelly was a master storyteller and a wonderful artist. He's best remembered for Pogo, of course, but his other work at Dell Comics (including Our Gang and Fairy Tale Parade) is also worth celebrating. 

Next week, Asgard and Olympus go to war!

Cover Cavalcade

 

SEPTEMBER IS WORLD AT WAR MONTH!

A typically awesome Joe Kubert cover from 1957.

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Mini-Podcast #56: A Princess of Mars, Chapters 25 ...

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Mini-Podcast #56: A Princess of Mars, Chapters 25 ...:   An analysis of two chapters from A Princess of Mars. Huge battles rage as the story comes to an end and Burroughs (perhaps unintentionally...

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Dangerous Assignment: "Stolen Relief Supplies" 7/6/49

In the premiere episode of the series, Steve is sent to Sicily to find out who is stealing post-war relief supplies. Soon, he's a prisoner of an egotistical Sicilian bandit.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

John Wayne and Oliver Hardy

 

After Napoleon was defeated in 1815, a number of his former soldiers came to the U.S. and were given land grants in Alabama. And that little known historical fact provides the background for 1949's The Fighting Kentuckian, one of four films in which John Wayne wears a coonskin cap.

In this case, Wayne plays John Breen, a member of a Kentucky militia unit on its way home after fighting alongside Andy Jackson during the War of 1812. It's while that unit is passing through one of the areas settled by the French that Breen falls hard for a beautiful French woman named Fleurette (Vera Ralston). He opts to leave the militia here rather than march home with him. His buddy Willy Paine also sticks around. 

Willy, by the way, is played by Oliver Hardy. It's not a pairing you would expect to see, but it works. The two have remarkable chemistry together, with Wayne playing an effective straight man for Hardy's comedic sidekick moments.  Two scenes in particular stand out. One in which they are posing as surveyors and have to pretend they know how to use the proper equipment; and another in which the two end up sitting with a group of fiddlers playing at a party. Willy can handle a fiddle, but Breen hasn't any idea what to do with one. Both are sincerely funny moments of comic relief. 

At the same time, we easily believe that Willy will have Breen's back whenever there is trouble.

In fact, Wayne wanted Hardy to appear with him in more films, but Stan Laurel (who had been ill) recovered and that classic partnership resumed. The world didn't get enough Laurel and Hardy as it is, but it's too bad Wayne and Hardy didn't get a few more films in. 

And trouble does indeed ensue. Fleurette is already engaged to a local businessman. And that businessman is involved in a scheme to cheat the French out of their land. He is, in fact, one of four main bad guys (well--three bad guys and one bad gal), pretty much all of whom turn out to have Chronic Backstabbing Syndrome.

The story doesn't involve a great deal of action until the end, but the story remains interesting as Breen gradually figures out what's going on and tries to prevent the French from being cheated out of their land. Along the way, several strong character moments give strength to the story. A confrontation with Fleurette's fiance has the villain cleverly using Breen's sense of honor against him. And a scene in which Breen talks with Fleurette's father (a former general in Napolean's army) is very nicely done. I especially like the way Breen treats the older man with unfailing respect, even when the general is making a (not unreasonable) arguement for why Breen can't marry the woman he loves.

When we get to the action scenes, they are worth waiting for, with escapes, chases and a pitched battle between the French and a group of rivermen working for the villains.

By the way, there is a colorized version of this movie kicking around. Avoid it like its the Black Plague suffering from Typhoid, Yellow Fever and Gangrene. If you see more than two minutes of it, you'll be struck with an urge to gouge your own eyes out. Watch this film only in its original black-and-white.

A Reputation Can Be a Burden!

cover art by George Wilson

In the pages of Turok, Son of Stone #32 (April 1963), writer Paul S. Newman and artist Giovanni Ticci remind us that having a reputation can sometimes bring us trouble.

The various cave tribes that live in Lost Valley have not yet discovered fire. Turok has made it a hard and fast rule that he and Andar will never teach the often violent cave people how to make fire themselves. First, its something that gives the two Native Americans an edge in this dangerous environment. Second, we're about to learn that the cave people, with no experience in using fire, are likely to use it irresponsibly.

After 31 issues, it looks like Turok and Andar have built themselves a reputation as fire-makers. That's not surprsing. Their exile in the Lost Valley has certainly been eventful and--though the Valley turns out to be absurdly large as the series went on--its only natural that word about them would get around.

The tale begins with two cavemen watching Turok make a fire using flint. They try to emulate him by knocking two random rocks together. Annoyed that this doesn't work, they move on to Plan B.

Luring Turok into the jungle with cries for help, they capture him. Andar is told to "make lightning" or Turok will die. Andar is about to give in when a storm breaks and a nearby lightning strike scares away the cavemen.

This is one of two times the story depends on a coincidence to move the story along. That is a weakness, but the premise and the great action make up for this.

And that action continues at a fast and furious pace. Another lightning strike starts a fire, allowing the cave people to make torches. They use these to drive another tribe out of a large and desirable cave.

That second tribe assumes that Turok and Andar gave their enemies the secret of fire. They jump them and tie them to a tree, intending to do away with them.

But in the meantime, the first tribe (the ones with fire) set the grass ablaze. The purpose is to flush out small dinosaurs that they can then kill and eat. But the flames also soon flush out really big dinosaurs and then continue to spread, now burning out of control.

Both tribes scatter and run. A big carnivore is about to snatch up Turok and Andar, but a second big carnivore begins to fight him for dibs on the human snack bar. Turok is able to cut them free and they take to the trees.

They manage to get away from the dinosaurs and a sudden rain storm puts out the fire. (This is the second coincidence used to move the story along.) Neither tribe has any fire left to use and the protagonists continue on their way.

As I said, it's a fun story with a lot of great action, especially the scene involving the double-threat of dinosaurs and fire at the end. Yes, the use of two seperate coincidences is a weakness, but the story as a whole still works just fine.

Next week, we'll pay a visit to Our Gang.