Cover Cavalcade

This is a dynamic and wonderfully composed John Severin cover. I love how he got so much action into it without making it seem crowded. All the action flows together smoothy.

Friday's Favorite OTR

The Lone Ranger: “Three Callers” 6/9/44

Three important but dishonest town leaders appoint a drunk as sheriff, figuring that if he notices their corruption, they can just wave a bottle under his nose and not worry about it.

But, with the help of the Lone Ranger, the new sheriff might just pull himself together and do some actual law enforcement.

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Sometimes, the title alone is enough.

As I’ve advised before—on more than one occasion—it’s always a good idea to rummage through the discount DVD bin at retail chain stores. You never know when you’ll find something worthwhile for a low price.

This time around, it was a set of movies and TV episodes titled Heroes of the Old West, containing a lot of the 1930s John Wayne movies that are often found in public domain Western sets. There were a half-dozen early Bonanza episodes that have slipped into the public domain—including a strong episode guest-starring Vic Morrow. Though it should be mentioned that the generic music played over the credits to replace the still-under-copyright Bonanza theme is downright awful. There’s a dozen or so Lone Ranger episodes—all of which I’m pretty sure I already have on various DVDs.

Two items on this set made me buy it, anyways. One is an episode of an early ‘60s Western titled Outlaws, which featured Barton Maclane. I actually hadn’t heard of the series, but always admired Maclane as a character actor. The episode turned out to be a very good story that featured another appearance by Vic Morrow, along with Dean Jones and Ray Walston (playing a manipulative and murderous con man—it was fun to see My Favorite Martian play an out-and-out villain).

The other “I gotta buy this” item was a 1937 film titled The Riders of the Whistling Skull, starring Ray “Crash” Corrigan.

The Riders of the Whistling Skull? How can you NOT want to watch a movie with that title? 

Well, it turned out to be a Three Mesquiteers film---in this particular instance: Stony Brooke (Robert Livingston), Tuscon Smith (Corrigan) and Lullaby Joslin (Max Terhune).

The Mesquiteers starred in a series of 51 B-Westerns between 1936 and 1943, sometimes with different actors and occasionally with different names for the main characters. John Wayne did eight Mesquiteer films as Stony Brooke. The films were obviously popular enough in their day, noted for including modern elements along with all the Old West stuff. But that wasn’t uncommon—in the B-movie and serial universe, the Old West remained the Old West pretty much into the 1940s, with horses, six-guns and Indian uprisings still common. The last few films in the series had our heroes fighting Nazis. In The Riders of the Whispering Skull, the modern elements are a little more subtle, reflected mostly in the dress of a few characters and Stony reading a modern pulp magazine (as opposed to a dime novel).

But in the end, the Three Mesquiteers didn’t quite achieve the same cultural longevity that the contemporaneous Hopalong Cassidy films would, or that Roy Rogers would achieve a decade later. And it’s actually easy to see why.

Whistling Skull is a fun enough movie. The three heroes get involved in helping a scientific expedition that’s looking for a lost city and a lost scientist. There’s a violent cult of Indians out to stop them and one of the expedition members also might be a murderer. A couple of people are, in fact, murdered and the expedition loses its supply wagon when the Indians attack.

They eventually find a landmark appropriately called the Whistling Skull—a large rock formation riddled with caves that cause the wind to whistle when it blows through. The good guys are trapped inside the Skull for a time. In the finale, Tuscon is unarmed and being chased through the desert by Indians; Stony has been captured and is about to be executed; and Lullaby is trying to start an avalanche in a last-ditch effort to save Stony.

As I said, it’s all perfectly good fun---though the arrival of a posse in the nick of time is a bit too much of a dues ex machina. But the level of fun simply doesn’t rise to the same level as it does in the best Hopalong or Roy Rogers films.

Why not? The problem is that there isn’t just one main hero with a couple of sidekicks. Instead, there are three heroes. That’s an important distinction. The movie only runs 53 minutes and in that time Stony, Tuscon and Lullaby each get a chance to play hero. In one sense, the movie manages to maintain this balance nicely, shifting between the characters without losing track of the story. But in a B-movie that’s barely enough long enough to qualify as a movie, there’s not enough time to do this AND give each of the heroes distinctive personalities. The individual quirks they do exhibit (Stony fancies himself a detective and Lullaby sometimes acts as the comic relief) come and go so quickly that there’s no time to really notice them.

Hopalong and Roy are as cool as they are because they had personalities we could latch on to. Hoppy’s boisterousness and Roy’s inherent kind-heartedness drew us to them and they became the moral heart of the movies they starred in. 

With the Three Mesquiteers, we have three perfectly likable guys, but not one of them fills the roll that Hoppy and Roy filled. So we have a good movie that really is worth 53 minutes of your time. But--- well, there’s no way to say this that isn’t incredibly corny, so I’ll just say it. The Three Mesquiteers simply don’t have the heart that Hoppy and Roy gave their films.

All the same, it’s called The Riders of the Whistling Skull. That’s just COOL.

History of the Marvel Universe: October 1970

FANTASTIC FOUR #103

The first ever Kirby-less issue of Fantastic Four is illustrated by John Romita, Jr.  Romita will be around for four issues, then John Buscema will take over as the regular artist for an extended run.

And that’s just fine. Jack Kirby will, of course, always be missed. And I don’t know if any artist drawing the FF has ever succeeded in making them look as cosmically cool as did the King. But Romita and Buscema are at the top of the “great artists” list as well, so the book will continue to look great.

Though there still seems to be some sloppy plot construction going on. Stan really seems to have forgotten—as he apparently did last issue—that Atlantians other than Namor can’t breathe while out of water. Once again, though, the black-and-white reprint I own of this story might be giving me a false impression.

Oh, well, aside from that, the story flows along nicely. Magneto is still trying to convince Namor to attack the surface world. Reed talks to President Nixon and gets permission to try to negotiate with Namor before our military takes action.

But Magneto is still using his powers to secretly manipulate weapons and equipment, managing to get Namor and the FF into a fight.

After playing “behind-the-scenes manipulator” as long as possible, he kidnaps Dorma and Sue, intending to force Reed and Namor to play along while he uses the Atlantian military to wipe out mankind.

I will say that the dialogue during this storyline is sometimes a little heavy-handed. Stan seemed to be on a peace-and-brotherhood kick while writing this story. This is fine in of itself—peace and brotherhood are good things to kick about. But it really doesn’t need to be expressed in dialogue such as Reed telling his infant son “You deserve something better than—War!” Gee whiz, Reed, he’s just a baby. That tone of voice is just gonna scare the little guy!

SPIDER MAN #89

Peter’s personal problems continue to pile up. He’s concerned that Doc Ock actually survived last issue’s plane crash, so he’s determined to track down the villain. So when Randy Robertson asks him to participate in a protest against air pollution, he declines. Randy accuses him of selfishness and stalks off.

Which brings up something I notice while reading this month’s FF and Spider Man. I’ve realized that Stan Lee wasn’t just on a peace-and-brotherhood kick. He was, by golly, on an all-encompassing social responsibility kick.

I’m taking a wild guess here—remember that I do the Marvel Universe reviews with little or no research beyond reading the issues in order to judge them purely on their own merits—so this is an uninformed shot in the dark:  By 1970, Marvel had nearly a decade of success in making comics more intelligent, with more internal continuity and complex characterizations. That meant that there were a much higher percentage of older readers than there used to be—especially among college students.

I think this might have touched Stan’s social conscious. He was thinking seriously about ways to make the stories he was writing more important than just escapist entertainment, so started looking at ways to comment on the important issues of the day.

Sadly, this often got expressed in heavy-handed dialogue. That was the case in this month’s FF and it’s the case here. Of course, Stan often wrote over-the-top dialogue, but his skill in shaping empathetic characters usually made us accept such dialogue regardless. But this time, for instance, Robbie Robertson sees Spidey swinging by and tells an angry Jonah Jameson “Cool it, mister. He’s not hurting half as much as that pollution up there.”

Mr. Lee, I know it is often said of your dialogue that “no one really talks that way.” But for heaven’s sake, man—NO ONE REALLY TALKS THAT WAY!  We get it. We get it. Pollution is bad. Thanks for letting us know.

Gee whiz, I’ve spend far too much time complaining about this—because this really is a good issue. It’s the start of a truly classic arc that will see an important character die.

It’s illustrated by Gil Kane, who will be doing the three issues after this as well. Regular Spidey artist John Romita will be doing the inking. Kane is another of the greats—Marvel really was blessed in regards to its available pool of artists in 1970. Kane never drew an uninteresting panel in his life. He catches the personalities of the regular characters and he’ll give us one of the best Spidey/Ock fights in recorded history.

Because Spidey goes looking for Ock, who actually wants to be found so he can finally crush the wallcrawler. The ensuing rooftop fight runs for 11 pages, with Kane weaving Ock’s tentacles in and out of each panel in a way that makes them seem truly menacing.

In the end, Spidey is distracted when he prevents a water tower from crashing down on bystanders, which allows Doc Ock to get the drop on him and toss him off a roof.

So I forgive Mr. Lee for beating us over the head with the evils of air pollution. He and Gil Kane gave us one of the best fight scenes ever. It’s enough to make you want to pollute more if it results in this sort of quality graphic storytelling.

That’s if for October. Next week, we’ll study the behavior of Kryptonian primates. Then, in November 1970, we’ll finish off our regular look at the Fantastic Four while Reed and Namor whine about their ladies being held hostage; while someone in Spider Man’s cast of characters gets dropped from the book like a ton of bricks.

That will be the last post I title “History of the Marvel Universe.” We’ll continue to follow Spider Man through the Death of Gwen Stacy storyline, so we’ll be with him for awhile. But calling it a history of the whole universe has become too much of a stretch.

We will never leave the other members of the Marvel Universe behind forever—we’ll always be back to look at specific issues or story arcs from time to time. We’ve also got quite awhile to go on our look at the Weisinger-era Superman stories.

I’m always open to suggestions about what to review. Quite some time ago, someone suggested a look at the Charlton heroes. At the time, I didn’t have the source material handy. But we have since acquired an Archives volume of some of those stories at the library where I work, so I’ll make a point of reviewing a few issues. Let me know what else you’d like me to cover.

The end of an era

The Golden Age of Radio ended 50 years ago--the last two network dramatic radio shows were broadcast on September 30, 1962.

Here's a nice tribute to old-time radio:

We're Fifty Years Late

Cover Cavalcade

10/8/12

Actually, if you're in an issue of Twilight Zone, following a magic amulet is probably an inherently bad idea.

Friday's Favorite OTR

The Lone Ranger: “Chop Chop Handyman” 5/24/44

The Ranger’s nephew Dan Reid is a witness who can identify a gang of rustlers. But while separated from the Ranger and Tonto—and down with fever—he may be an easy target for them.

A supporting character at first seems to be an offensively stereotypical Chinese cook, but a really nice twist near the end of the story shows us that all is not as it seems.

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No Hero

Read/Watch ‘em in Order #24

There are, of course, two kinds of people in the world. There are the intelligent and kind-hearted saints who have read my books. Then there are the uncultured and thuggish Philistines who have NOT read my books and who probably beat up puppy dogs just for the fun of it.

Since I’m sure no uncultured Philistines visit my blog, then I’m presuming you have all read my books. If you haven’t, then you should immediately institutionalize yourself before you do any more harm to society.

I’m making this point because we are going to be taking a look at the six Mr. Moto novels written by John Marquand between 1935 and 1957. Since I talked about these novels in Radio by the Book: Adaptations of Literature and Fiction on the Airwaves, I will be repeating myself here. So doubtless I am telling you things you already know. Because you have read my books, haven’t you?

Mr. I.A Moto is a soft-spoken and very polite Japanese man who works for the Japanese Imperial government in the years before World War II. He’s a man of many talents. For instance, he worked as a valet while attending an American university. He can tend bar, perform carpentry, sail a boat and—if it is necessary to do so in service to his Emperor—slit your throat from ear to ear. Of course, he would apologize profusely for the necessity of doing so.

John Marquand was asked to create an Oriental detective character by the editors of the Saturday Evening Post, who wanted to fill a gap left by the death of Earl Derr Biggers (the creator of Charlie Chan). Marquand toured the Orient on the Post’s dime and created not a detective, but a spy. Possibly the coolest spy ever, because we can’t help but like and admire Mr. Moto even when he’s not really one of the good guys.

And that’s one of the most interesting things about the Moto novels. Mr. Moto isn’t the main character—there’s a different protagonist each time out. Often, the protagonist is a cynical American adrift in the Orient who gets caught up in some conspiracy or other espionage shenanigans. Mr. Moto will also become involved but--depending on the circumstances—he might be an ally or he might be an enemy.

The first Moto novel—NoHero—was serialized in the Post in 1935, with an alcoholic American named Casey Lee taking on the lead role. (The novel has occasionally been given the title Your Turn, Mr. Moto in some book versions.)

Lee is a former Navy pilot who flew in combat during the Great War and later made a name for himself as a daredevil civilian pilot. But now he’s past his prime and drinking too much. He’s in Tokyo to make a Trans-Pacific flight, but when his sponsors pull out, he publically bashes the United States, ripping up his passport and declaring that “There are plenty of other countries.”

This brings him to the attention of Mr. Moto, who soon recruits Lee, asking the disillusioned pilot to pump his old Navy buddies for military information. Lee agrees at first, finding ways to rationalize the decision to himself. That Moto is using a pretty Russian refugee named Sonya to help recruit Lee is another factor in the pilot’s decision.

But, much to Lee’s astonishment, he soon realizes he can’t bring himself to betray his country. “Men die for their faith who have never been inside a church,” he explains, “and men die for their country although they may have spent their lives criticizing all its works. The amazing thing is that they are probably surprised by their irrational willingness to die.”

So Lee begins working against Moto. It soon turns out that Sonya is really on his side. Well, maybe. Or maybe she has an agenda of her own.

Soon, intrigue, escapes and assassination attempts begin to run deep. Everything turns out to revolve around a message that gives the location of a certain very valuable object that might change the balance of power in the Pacific. A powerful Chinese crime-lord is also involved by now and may have a jump on everyone in recovering that object. But Lee’s ability to fly an airplane might just upset everyone’s plans.

The Moto novels get off to a great start with No Hero. Marquand (who would eventually win the Pulitzer Prize—though not for any of the Moto novels) was a superb writer who employed clear and clever prose while presenting both Americans and Asians as complex and very real people. This is especially notable in the character of Mr. Moto. Though he’s technically the antagonist this time out, we can’t help but admire him. He might be ruthless when he feels he has to be, but we understand that he does what he does in service to his country. We really can’t help but like him. Besides, he’s so darn polite to everyone—how can anyone dislike him? There are five more books to come and Moto’s presence ensures all of them will be worth visiting.

Mr. Moto has had a pretty varied career in the various media in which he has appeared. He was a detective/spy working for Western political interests in the excellent Peter Lorre film series from the 1930s, then became an American-born CIA agent in the 1950 radio series. Gee whiz, one of the books should have been titled Make Up Your Darn Mind, Mr. Moto.

But then, you all already knew all that. You have read my books, haven’t you?

History of the Marvel Universe: September 1970

FANTASTIC FOUR #102

Kirby’s last issue is the beginning of a pretty good but flawed story arc. Namor has found an unconscious Magneto (who just suffered a defeat at the hands of the X-Men) and taken him to Atlantis for medical aid. But once there, Magneto starts using his powers to secretly attack New York City (and specifically the FF), as well as secretly shake apart some of Atlantis. He convinces Namor that the surface world is attacking him, determined to get him to do the dirty work of destroying mankind.

This sets up the story for John Romita’s first two issues as the FF’s new artist. (We’ll cover those issues, by the way, before leaving our regular coverage of this book. It would be rude to leave our heroes behind in mid-story.)

It’s a good story—visually strong and with some fun moments in which Johnny and Crystal are trying to nurse a flu-stricken Ben. But it does have a few annoying flaws.

I’m reading this story in a black-and-white Essential volume and I’ve never happened to see it in color, so perhaps some of the finer details of the art are lost. But, all the same, I can’t tell if—while Magneto is in Atlantis—whether he’s somehow breathing underwater or if Submariner’s palace is not water-filled. There’s any number of explanations for how Magneto could be water-breathing at the moment (Heck, Marvel Universe science includes oxygen pills), but if Stan and Jack had Atlantians other than Namor breathing air, then they made an embarrassing mistake. But, as I said, a black-and-white reprint may be fooling me. Perhaps the original color makes it clear the palace is water-filled. Anyone with access to the original comic or a color reprint is welcome to comment and clarify this.

The other misstep, I think, is how quickly Namor believes Magneto’s claim that he’s being attacked from the outside. Yes, Namor is impetuous and prone to distrust surface dwellers. But Magneto is a surface dweller as well—you’d think even the quick-tempered Namor would want to do a little fact-checking before going to war on Magneto’s word alone.

Oh, well, it’s still a good set-up for what is a strong story idea, even if the execution is a little flawed. Still, I wish Jack Kirby had gone out on a bit more of a high note. I liked his last Thor story arc a lot. With the FF, after a classic 100^th issue, he ended with a pair of merely average stories.

SPIDER MAN #88

Peter’s grades are dropping because he keeps missing so many classes, but there’s no time to worry about that now. Doctor Octopus has escaped and hijacked a plane that has an important foreign dignitary aboard.

So Peter gets aboard the plane as well, managing to distract Ock long enough for the hostages to get free. The plane blows up and Spidey escapes, but is Doctor Octopus dead?

Well, of course he’s not. In fact, he’s going to be the main villain for the next few issues, in which Stan Lee and John Romita will give us yet another classic story arc.

This particular issue is pretty much self-contained, though it establishes that Doc Ock has escaped from prison and thus sets up the next story. What makes it work are the fun fight scenes.

For instance, Doc escapes by mentally summoning his mechanical arms, even though they are being stored hundreds of miles from his prison. This leads to a short but delightful scene in which Spidey tangles with the disembodied arms.

Then there’s the fight on the plane, in which Romita uses the fact that it takes place in an enclosed space to give the short sequence a lot of intensity.

That’s it for September. In October 1970, we’ll see that Namor and Magneto just can’t get along; while Spider Man gets his butt handed to him by Doctor Octopus.

Cover Cavalcade

Great composition and figure work here. Covers like this are typical examples of why I love the superb illustrations that came out of the pulp era.