Many people have come across the small cartoon tracts published by Jack T. Chick, which carry a fire-and-brimstone message of Christian evangelism. Lesser known, however, are Chick’s standard-format comic books, 32-page full-color stories intended to deliver his fundamentalist message to adults and teens. Although these comics are typically shunned by fans of the art form, I decided it would be interesting to take “the road less traveled” into the backwaters of the comic book industry.
Issue number 15 of The Crusaders (copyright 1983) presents the fourth chapter of the epic “Alberto” storyline, in which our heroes, Tim Clark and Jim Carter, sit in a room listening to Dr. Alberto Rivera explain many of the astonishing secrets he discovered deep within the Vatican vaults while he was a Jesuit secret agent. As the dramatic tension builds, the characters are driven to stand up, and they continue their conversation in this manner.
The character of Dr. Rivera is based on the real-life Alberto Rivera, who was born in the Canary Islands in 1935 and died in Oklahoma in 1997. Rivera claimed to have been a Jesuit priest in the 1950s and ‘60s, during which time he discovered a fundamental corruption at the very heart of Catholicism. The Roman Catholic Church vehemently denied such claims, and painted Rivera as a crook and a fraud. Jack Chick, however, was convinced that Rivera was genuine, and agreed to publish his story in comic-book form. The six-part storyline was written by Chick based on Rivera’s testimony, and, although the artist is not credited, it is most likely Chick’s long-time associate Fred Carter. In any case, it is certainly the same artist who drew memorable Chick mini-tracts such as Dark Dungeons, That Crazy Guy, Bad Bob!, The Sissy?, The First Jaws, and Room 310.
This chapter, entitled “The Force,” opens with a suspenseful scene of an exorcism held in a village on Rivera’s native Canary Islands early in his career. When the local parish priest is overwhelmed by the evil “force” within the Montez home, Rivera is called in, for, being a Jesuit, he has been expertly trained in dealing with the occult. The hapless local priest is torn to bloody shreds by the demonic forces, but Rivera is undaunted and enters the dwelling. Once inside, he is swept into the air and spun about, as the women of the house, also levitating, vomit great quantities of green slime. Flying furniture and exploding chairs menace the heroic priest as his vestments are shredded by the unseen force. The sinister sound of laughter, the evil “HAW HAW” familiar to Chick fans, permeates the scene. Finally, he manages to administer a communion wafer to each member of the Montez family, driving away the evil spirits. However, Rivera reveals, although it seemed he had won the day, in truth he had merely been a pawn in an elaborate scheme perpetrated by none other than Satan himself.
Next, Rivera fills in some backstory by describing the origin of Satan and the development of his nefarious conspiracy to damn the human race to hell by setting up a false religion. The character of Satan is here depicted as a humanoid wearing an all-concealing magenta robe with a hood that leaves his face in opaque shadow. Only the eerie red glow of his eyes is visible. He lives in a cavern deep in the bowels of the earth, attended by his legions of monstrous demons. In a sequence curiously thin on scripture citations, Rivera describes the war in heaven that led to Lucifer and his fallen angels being cast down to earth, where the rebellious Lucifer became Satan, the Prince of Darkness, the Devil, and subsequently gained complete “legal and spiritual control” over the human race. Eventually, his demons had possessed everybody except Noah’s family, leading to the Great Flood and the famous animal-filled ark. Although the hapless humans all drowned, the cunning demons merely retreated to hell, where Satan began to scheme to subvert the biblical prophecies, all to gain revenge on God. In essence, he is the ultimate diabolical mastermind.
Satan’s false religion would, of course, eventually become Roman Catholicism, but it had its origins in ancient Babylon, where, according to Rivera, Satan established an occult religion centered around the beauteous Queen Semiramis and her hirsute husband Nimrod. At this time, which was shortly after the Great Flood, many familiar elements of Catholicism were introduced, such as the celibacy of the priesthood, the confessional, and the use of crosses and crucifixes. Each was a devious scheme concocted by Semiramis to keep the people under her wicked thumb. “The nuns were temple prostitutes, serving the priests — just like today,” quips Dr. Rivera. Additionally, he continues, Nimrod oversaw the development of astrology, until he was finally killed by one of the sons of Noah in an attempt to end such occult practices. However, Semiramis merely claimed that Nimrod had become a god, and that he was reincarnated in her son Tammuz, a product of virgin birth. Already claiming to be a moon goddess, she added the title “Virgin Mother” to her list of accomplishments, and had statues made of her holding her son, the infant sun god, which were displayed in most Babylonian homes and gardens. Semiramis, the so-called Queen of Heaven, was clearly the prototype for the Virgin Mary. Rivera further claims that all the world’s pantheons were inspired by Semiramis, Nimrod, and little Tammuz in one way or another, and that Satan and his demonic agents even performed the occasional “miracle,” such as making a statue move or weep, in order to convert the gullible.
As Tim and Jim listen with rapt attention, Rivera continues his history lesson, briefly telling of the creation of God’s chosen people, the Children of Israel, commonly known as the Jews, and their period of slavery in Egypt. As the Egyptians adopted the religion of Semiramis, further pieces of the puzzle appeared, such as the concept of transubstantiation, by which their sun god Osiris was transformed into an edible wafer. Curiously, Rivera claims that the familiar monogram IHS originally stood for “Isis, Horus, and Seb,” although, of course, the ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphics rather than an alphabet. This point is not explained, although a footnote does reference the book The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop. Anyway, time passed, and dark days befell the Children of Israel. As they moved into Canaan after escaping Egypt, they slowly became corrupted by the influence of the false religion, which included, as we are shown, babies being sacrificed to Nimrod (in the guise of “Molech”) by being tossed kicking and screaming into a raging fire. Many of the Jewish elders offended God by creating a secret society “similar to Masonry” and engaged in both idol- and sun-worship. Thus, as a grim Dr. Rivera intones, “after the book of Malachi was written, God remained silent for 400 years.”
Although God may have been silent during the interregnum between the Old and New Testaments, Satan was, of course, very busy. Among the blasphemies he invented during this time was the Apocrypha, a set of books meant to subvert the true scriptures (which can, apparently, be found only in the Protestant version of the King James Bible). Out of the Apocrypha came the idea of purgatory, although Rivera defers revealing its sinister purpose until later. He further claims that the Devil also took the opportunity to lay the foundations for the concepts of liturgy, canon law, and dogma — each of which would work its dark magic in the centuries to follow. Finally, though, God sprang into action, leaving heaven to be born on the planet earth as a flesh-and-blood boy named Jesus. Dr. Rivera gloats, “Satan’s deadliest enemy had arrived!” After knocking down the Roman Catholic contention that Mary remained a virgin throughout her life, Rivera introduces God’s “last prophet to the Children of Israel,” John the Baptist, who utters God’s first word after four centuries of silence: “REPENT!”
Then follows a three-page summary of the ministry of Jesus and its bloody, prophecy-fulfilling end. Rivera asserts, “Jesus is not a weak fairy like so many would like to picture him. He had guts and strength.... He didn’t pull any punches, and they hated him because of that.” However, Jesus appears quite passive and non-violent in the illustrations. The only violent image is of one of King Herod’s soldiers hacking a two-year-old child to death with his blood-drenched sword. The third page is given over to a dramatic splash of the crucifixion. Although Jesus is naked, a strategically-placed caption preserves his modesty. Rivera explains that the cross is shaped like a “T” in honor of Tammuz, and is not actually a Christian symbol, according to the Bible. Next, to Satan’s horror, Jesus rose from the dead and returned to heaven. Thus began the supernatural “cold war” between the Savior and the Devil. Satan’s initial tactics included the creation of the Latin Vulgate Bible and the persecutions of Christians in the Roman Coliseum. As the Christian church continued to grow despite Satan’s attacks, the Devil finally converted the Roman Empire itself into his new church, with the Emperor Constantine as the first pope. Rivera asserts that the letters of Constantine’s mother, Helena, which are housed in the Vatican vaults, reveal that he actually remained a worshipper of Nimrod / Tammuz (now in the guise of “Sol”) and continued to persecute true Christians after publicly declaring his conversion to Christianity. Rivera flatly states that “her son was an Anti-Christ, completely controlled by seducing spirits, just like every pope who ever followed him.”
Following the death of Constantine, Rivera reports, Roman Catholicism began to spread throughout Europe, and in its wake followed “witchcraft,” i.e., the practice of “hexes, spells, curses, soul travel, black masses, sacrificial murders, and drinking of human blood. Much of this,” Rivera adds, “went on in the convents and monasteries throughout Europe.” He further claims that “witches” were servants of the Vatican, and those who were put to death by Roman Catholics were merely renegades. “That is why Joan of Arc was burned to death,” he notes matter-of-factly, without elaboration. We are then treated to a gruesome image of the severed heads of Anabaptists, caked in blood and gore, atop posts stretching thirty miles along the road to Rome, illustrating Satan’s treatment of true Christians in the early days of his phony church.
Nevertheless, a revival was underway as the true Christians converted — or “saved” — numerous Catholics by preaching the true gospel. When Jim asks Dr. Rivera where he learned all this, the former Jesuit responds, “I read it in the archives of the Vatican. Every detail had been recorded, but very carefully kept out of our history books.” To counter this revival, he continues, Satan raised up his own champion, none other than Ignatius de Loyola, who instituted a series of inquisitions that, according to Dr. Rivera’s calculations, ultimately killed a staggering 68 million people — which apparently includes the six million Jews killed during the Holocaust, as Rivera claims, in his inimitable off-handed way, that even that was masterminded by the Catholic Church. Furthermore, Loyola created the Illuminati to “control the minds of European leaders through hypnosis, witchcraft, and mind control” and also his crowning achievement, the Jesuits, who mastered such Satanic practices as levitation, telepathy, speaking in tongues, transcendental meditation, parapsychology, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and psychiatry.
Dr. Rivera bitterly complains of the Jesuits’ studies of the occult, Buddhism, and Voodoo, as well as the many Satanic cults they have spawned, such as Freemasonry, Mormonism, Christian Science, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, all of which were molded by undercover Jesuit agents to serve the interests of the Vatican. Meanwhile, the Illuminati gained control of the world’s military forces and international banking systems, while cleverly covering-up their connection to the Roman Catholic Church, even using patsies like Adam Weishaupt to muddy the waters.
Next, Dr. Rivera rails against the evils of Christmas, an unbiblical Roman Catholic “holy day” that Protestants have been pressured into celebrating. In reality, however, he explains, it is a ceremony of white witchcraft derived from Semiramis, who declared December 25th to be the birthday of her child, Tammuz the sun god, since it is at this point in the year that the sun is furthest from the earth. With the first Catholic mass, which was said on December 24th of the year 394 A.D. (or thereabouts), the Church changed the birthday of Tammuz into the birthday of Jesus, adopting many of the pagan practices used to celebrate the day, such as decorating trees with shiny balls (which represent the sun), drunkenness and merriment, orgies, and, of course, roasting babies on an open fire.
The true Christian holiday, according to Dr. Rivera, is Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, even this has been marred by Satan’s sinister scheming, for every November, the Vatican-controlled mass media is sure to remind everyone about the Salem Witch Trials, calling them a “terrible blot on American Protestantism.” The Jesuit-controlled Church of Wicca and all its witches proclaim self-righteously to the TV cameras, “Never again will we witches be put to death by Christians!” However, they know as well as Dr. Rivera does that it was only Christians who were put to death during the Salem Witch Trials, while their accusers — the real witches — went scot free.
At this point, Tim becomes extremely concerned for the souls of Catholics worldwide, and Dr. Rivera assures him that their prospects are dim, due to the indelible mark of Satan placed upon them during the abomination that is infant baptism. Rather than throwing the baby on the fire, as in times past, the canny priests practice a symbolic sacrifice of the child to Nimrod / Tammuz (or “Baal,” as Rivera now calls him). They take the baby to the back of the church, far from the altar containing the cracker god (the pre-transubstantiated communion wafer), where they put the occult mark of Tammuz (the sign of the cross) on the baby’s head with oil, put salt in his mouth, and “baptize” him with water, all according to the Babylonian practices set down by Semiramis. Thus is the innocent baby made a member of the evil Roman Catholic system, which Rivera identifies as the “Great Whore of Revelation 17.” Unless saved, the baby will be kept in spiritual bondage by the mass, which is a counterfeit Last Supper using the ancient Egyptian IHS wafer, now called “the host.” Catholics are told that if they refuse to eat the host, they will be eternally damned, little realizing it is transubstantiated not into the flesh of Jesus, but rather that of Baal, the Satanic sun god of Babylon.
Likewise, the crucifix represents strong demonic forces that Catholics surrender themselves to when they pray to the blasphemous object. In order to illustrate Rivera’s point about the power of the crucifix, Count Dracula makes a cameo appearance, seen recoiling from such an item, “as depicted in the vampire movies.” Here, at last, the story comes full circle, as Rivera reveals what really happened during the Montez exorcism. The occult force behind the crucifix that the young priest wielded drove the weaker demons out of the women only so that they could be possessed by seven more, just as Jesus warned might happen in the Book of Matthew. Thus, the entire charade worked to Satan’s advantage, and the Montez women were merely bound that much more tightly to the Roman Catholic system.
Then, Dr. Rivera relates his most blood-curdling story yet. When he was 14 years old, he claims, he and a group of fellow students at the Jesuit college visited a nunnery elsewhere on the Canary Islands. While romping on the grounds, they discovered a deep trench, in which were hidden the bodies of seven babies. On the heads, hands, feet, and chests of each victim had been carved the symbol of the “Pax Christus,” and their hearts had been cut out. The boys were terrified. Days later, one of Rivera’s friends revealed their discovery to his teen-aged sister, who told her priest about it in the confessional. Shortly afterwards, her mutilated body was found dumped by the side of the road, and her brother vanished without a trace. Rivera was shaken to learn that the girl’s ears, tongue, and heart had been removed and the “Pax Christus” had been carved into her chest. Years later, he learned the motivation for these atrocities: the babies had been sacrificed to the Virgin Mary, just as babies had been sacrificed to Semiramis ages ago. “Nothing has changed,” he says grimly. The Jesuits use the “Pax Christus” as a sophisticated Satanic symbol for Mary worship, to indicate that the victim has suffered, as Mary suffered during the crucifixion, to gain her sympathy so that she might intercede on their behalf with her son Jesus on his heavenly throne. Without suffering, the thinking goes, there can be no peace. Rivera asserts, “If a nun is bleeding to death giving birth to a priest’s baby, medication is withheld so she can suffer for Mary... and if need be, die for her. The baby is always baptized before it is sacrificed. Many times, they are tortured so they can suffer.” This cold-hearted Virgin Mary is not the sweet, innocent Jewish girl who gave birth to Jesus; she is none other than Semiramis herself.
In the light of these purported horrors, Rivera advises a “zero tolerance” policy toward Roman Catholicism. He excoriates “Bible-believing fundamentalists or evangelicals” who support dialogue with the Vatican, and who attend Catholic healing services where the priests of Baal worship their occult symbols. In the final panels, Tim and Jim are utterly aghast, and Dr. Rivera closes by saying that true Christians have been betrayed by their own leaders — modern-day Pharisees — who have compromised with the Devil by cozying up to the Catholic Church rather than taking a stand against it. Furthermore, Rivera intones, unless the eight hundred million Roman Catholics in the world are saved, “they will be eternally lost and their blood will be on our hands at the judgment seat of Christ.”
As always, on the inside back cover, Jack Chick summarizes the message in his strongest possible language. Here, he writes, “Satan has tricked almost everyone into believing that the Roman Catholic institution is Christian. We found out that their “Jesus” is Tammuz, their “Mary” is Semiramis, the pope is an Anti-Christ, their “host” was stolen from the Egyptians and represents the sun god, and the Catholic crucifix is the heart of the occult. The Bible tells us this system is the habitation of devils. Jesus hates, and has cursed, this evil religion, and warns Catholics to get out of it.... Only by coming out and receiving Christ as lord and savior, can Roman Catholics be freed from this occult power and escape the lake of fire.”
Strong stuff in this extremely text-heavy comic book, with illustrations that, though skillfully done, are generally quite static. The lettering is typographical, done long before the advent of computerized lettering, and has a clumsy feel that detracts from the skilled rendering of the art. The sans-serif font is quite easy to read, however, and the sheer amount of text would have taxed the skills of even the most prolific hand letterer of the day. The coloring is actually quite sophisticated, far more so than was typically found in mainstream comics from this period, although it is occasionally hampered by poor registration of the color plates during the printing process. There are no ads, making, all in all, for a very dense read.
While the authors’ most basic premise, that much of Roman Catholic dogma and practice is not based on the Bible, seems valid, Chick’s overarching conspiracy theory is a tough pill to swallow — in no small part because it hinges on there being a controlling intelligence provided by a malevolent immortal being with virtually a free hand in human affairs. And the true Christians, beset on all sides by this malevolence since time immemorial, seem to have done little else but survive in the face of it, which I suppose is commendable. But it should be remembered that, for an apocalyptic thinker like Chick, it won’t be long before Jesus rides down on his mighty steed to bail them out and set things straight once and for all. But that’s a story for another time....
Next
Monday
Saturday
Those Kinky Sixties
Bondage imagery has become increasingly prevalent in the mainstream media in recent years, especially in high-fashion photo shoots and advertisements. Although it first began to rise from the underground press and gain mainstream acceptance in the 1970s, there were earlier flashes of kinkiness in the 1960s, often riding piggy-back on the “spy craze” of the mid-decade. In England, much was made of Honor Blackman’s leather outfits on The Avengers, but the program did not gain an international reputation until episodes featuring Blackman’s replacement, Diana Rigg, reached U.S. television screens -- episodes in which her character frequently endured bondage while dressed in a leather catsuit. However, the focus of the craze in America was the series of James Bond films and the variety of TV series launched to cash in on it.
While perusing some back issues in the library, I was surprised to happen upon this advertisement in the pages of The New York Times Magazine, the November 15, 1964 issue:
As we can see, the ad plays with the common imagery of the spy genre: a fashionable yet mysterious woman in black, wearing gloves and wielding a gun, apparently does in a man in a gray flannel suit. Curiously, in the middle of the vertical sequence of panels, she finds herself locked into a pair of handcuffs, shown in another close-up. Then, she apparently springs the locks and gets free:
While the overall visual impression is of the woman’s body seen from head to toe, this sequence of panels tells a story like a comic book, and the story it tells follows the conventions of the spy genre. The mystery woman is introduced, along with her gun, in the close-up in the first panel. Next, we see that she is stylish, yet ready for clandestine action in her black dress and long leather gloves. Suddenly, she is trapped and disarmed, much as James Bond is always captured in the course of his adventures. However, as with Bond, she quickly gets free and springs into action. Finally, she stands triumphant over her vanquished foe, who is laid out like a slab on the floor.
The “spy” trappings seem to be merely an excuse to feature images of a woman wearing leather gloves and handcuffs. Interestingly, the text makes no reference to the spy genre, merely extolling the virtues of the garments and the amazing synthetic fabric they are made from. Thus, the little bondage scene tries to slip in under the cultural radar. However, despite its 1964 vintage, there is no denying the kinky flavor of this mainstream ad.
More kinkiness
While perusing some back issues in the library, I was surprised to happen upon this advertisement in the pages of The New York Times Magazine, the November 15, 1964 issue:
As we can see, the ad plays with the common imagery of the spy genre: a fashionable yet mysterious woman in black, wearing gloves and wielding a gun, apparently does in a man in a gray flannel suit. Curiously, in the middle of the vertical sequence of panels, she finds herself locked into a pair of handcuffs, shown in another close-up. Then, she apparently springs the locks and gets free:
While the overall visual impression is of the woman’s body seen from head to toe, this sequence of panels tells a story like a comic book, and the story it tells follows the conventions of the spy genre. The mystery woman is introduced, along with her gun, in the close-up in the first panel. Next, we see that she is stylish, yet ready for clandestine action in her black dress and long leather gloves. Suddenly, she is trapped and disarmed, much as James Bond is always captured in the course of his adventures. However, as with Bond, she quickly gets free and springs into action. Finally, she stands triumphant over her vanquished foe, who is laid out like a slab on the floor.
The “spy” trappings seem to be merely an excuse to feature images of a woman wearing leather gloves and handcuffs. Interestingly, the text makes no reference to the spy genre, merely extolling the virtues of the garments and the amazing synthetic fabric they are made from. Thus, the little bondage scene tries to slip in under the cultural radar. However, despite its 1964 vintage, there is no denying the kinky flavor of this mainstream ad.
More kinkiness
Thursday
Photo Essay: My Neighborhood
I thought I would give a little tour of my neighborhood, and some of the sights that I see every day.
This is the street I live on. Traffic is not usually a problem.
This is my apartment. The rent is pretty high, but it's fairly spacious.
Sometimes I like to sit outside my door and enjoy the view.
This is the side street that runs next to my apartment. A good place to walk the dog.
There's a park at the end of the street, by the river, where I enjoy hanging out.
A nice view of the river.
This is where I work.
This is the street I live on. Traffic is not usually a problem.
This is my apartment. The rent is pretty high, but it's fairly spacious.
Sometimes I like to sit outside my door and enjoy the view.
This is the side street that runs next to my apartment. A good place to walk the dog.
There's a park at the end of the street, by the river, where I enjoy hanging out.
A nice view of the river.
This is where I work.
I hope this will help my readers feel like they know me.
Monday
Tony Television Special # 2
Because you demanded it! The Tony Television Network presents its most pulse-pounding TV movie event ever! The tantalizingly true tale of two of the titans of American comic books and their rip-roaring, mind-bending, and heartstring-tugging roller-coaster relationship! See the birth of a new American art form! Witness the struggle of two young dreamers to make it in the rough-and-tumble world of periodicals publishing! Thrill to the highs and lows of their tempestuous partnership! Face front, True Believers! This one has it all!
STAN AND JACK: THE EARLY YEARS
Starring “Torrid” Topher Grace as Stan Lee and “Dogged” Dominic Cooper as Jack Kirby, this all-star bio-pic opens in late 1930s New York City, as two young men who will change the face of American popular culture meet for the first time and begin working for the small publishing firm that will one day become Marvel Comics.
Jack Kirby, a talented self-taught artist struggling to get his young family out of the city’s infamous Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, is less than impressed when he first encounters young Stan Lee, the teenage gofer for Jack’s new boss, comics publisher Martin Goodman (David Hyde Pierce). However, although Goodman is his distant relative, Stan is determined to become a writer on his own merits, and uses his irrepressible enthusiasm to buddy up to both Jack and his partner Joe Simon (David Schwimmer).
The company finds its first success with a magazine called Marvel Comics, and its two main superhero features, “The Human Torch,” created by brash young Carl Burgos (Taylor Handley), and “Sub-Mariner,” by pipe-smoking pro Bill Everett (special appearance by Ben Affleck). This convinces Goodman to publish Simon and Kirby’s new strip, called Captain America, which is a smash hit. Due to a series of fortuitous coincidences, Stan quickly becomes the editor of Goodman’s comic book line. Meanwhile, Jack and Joe Simon are riding high on their newfound fame.
With the outbreak of World War II, Stan and Jack both volunteer for service, but their experiences could not be more different. While Jack is under heavy enemy fire on the wintry front lines of France, Stan remains in New Jersey writing Army training films. When the war ends, they return to their former jobs in the comic book industry, which is now booming. Stan soon marries a drop-dead gorgeous, British-born model named Joan (Alexis Bledel), who could not be more different from Jack’s forthright working-class wife Roz (Kristin Kreuk).
Through the booms and busts of the post-war period and into the 1950s, Stan hangs on to his job at Goodman’s company, first known as Timely and then as Atlas Comics. He builds a staff of talented pros, including his right-hand man, Sol Brodsky (Zach Braff), versatile Syd Shores (Josh Randall), and his star artist Joe Maneely (Ben McKenzie). Campbell Scott makes a special appearance as Stan’s friend Mickey Spillane, who considers a career in comics before deciding to write detective novels instead.
Jack, meanwhile, bounces around the industry as his fortunes rise and fall. A failed attempt to start their own company leads to the end of the Simon & Kirby partnership. Then, Jack’s hopes for a successful newspaper comic strip are wrecked by a double-dealing editor at National Comics, played by Cotter Smith. Times are hard all around, and Jack commiserates with fellow artist Gil Kane (special appearance by Alan Cumming). But through it all, Roz gives Jack her unflinching support.
In 1959, after a series of major setbacks, including Joe Maneely’s sudden death, Stan finds he must rebuild the company almost from scratch, and convinces Jack to come work for Marvel. They begin turning out imaginative “monster” comics that meet with moderate success, although they soon become dissatisfied with the stories’ repetitive and formulaic nature. However, Goodman continues to insist they follow industry trends and play it safe.
As the company regains its footing, Stan hires another talented artist, the reclusive Steve Ditko (Dustin Diamond), as well as illustrator Dick Ayers (Andy Richter), letterer Artie Simek (Steve Paymer), and even his own younger brother Larry Lieber (Justin Long). Freelance artists come and go, including Gene Colan (Matt Damon) and John Buscema (Kevin Smith), who make cameo appearances.
With the arrival of a sexy young secretary named Flo Steinberg (Jennifer Love Hewitt), the company settles into a comfortable routine, but Stan feels creatively frustrated and plans to quit the business. Jack also feels dissatisfied, as he comes to realize that Goodman is taking advantage of him, and all his promises to reward Jack’s talent go unfulfilled. He starts looking for a better gig.
Then, on a fateful day in 1961, Goodman plays a round of golf with the head of National Comics, Jack Liebowitz (John C. Reilly), who brags about the success he’s had lately with superhero comics, particularly his new title Justice League of America. Goodman immediately orders Stan to copy the idea and come up with a team of superheroes. Stan considers this the last straw, until his wife Joan convinces him he has nothing to lose by doing the new book in his own way.
Intrigued by the possibility of telling more complex stories with compelling characters, Stan meets with Jack, who is also excited to return to the superhero genre, where he always had his greatest success. In a marathon brainstorming session together, they hammer out the details of the new series; dream up, design, and name their cast of characters; and work out the exciting first adventure for The Fantastic Four.
As the first issue of their groundbreaking title hits the newsstands, both Stan and Jack, and their families, wait to see if their creative experiment is a success, or whether the comic book industry is truly a dead end. Then, when fan mail starts pouring in, the two creators realize they are on to something big, and the Marvel Age of Comics is born.
The Tony Age of Television is Here!
Previous: Tony Television Special #1
Next: Tony Television Special #3
STAN AND JACK: THE EARLY YEARS
Starring “Torrid” Topher Grace as Stan Lee and “Dogged” Dominic Cooper as Jack Kirby, this all-star bio-pic opens in late 1930s New York City, as two young men who will change the face of American popular culture meet for the first time and begin working for the small publishing firm that will one day become Marvel Comics.
Jack Kirby, a talented self-taught artist struggling to get his young family out of the city’s infamous Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, is less than impressed when he first encounters young Stan Lee, the teenage gofer for Jack’s new boss, comics publisher Martin Goodman (David Hyde Pierce). However, although Goodman is his distant relative, Stan is determined to become a writer on his own merits, and uses his irrepressible enthusiasm to buddy up to both Jack and his partner Joe Simon (David Schwimmer).
The company finds its first success with a magazine called Marvel Comics, and its two main superhero features, “The Human Torch,” created by brash young Carl Burgos (Taylor Handley), and “Sub-Mariner,” by pipe-smoking pro Bill Everett (special appearance by Ben Affleck). This convinces Goodman to publish Simon and Kirby’s new strip, called Captain America, which is a smash hit. Due to a series of fortuitous coincidences, Stan quickly becomes the editor of Goodman’s comic book line. Meanwhile, Jack and Joe Simon are riding high on their newfound fame.
With the outbreak of World War II, Stan and Jack both volunteer for service, but their experiences could not be more different. While Jack is under heavy enemy fire on the wintry front lines of France, Stan remains in New Jersey writing Army training films. When the war ends, they return to their former jobs in the comic book industry, which is now booming. Stan soon marries a drop-dead gorgeous, British-born model named Joan (Alexis Bledel), who could not be more different from Jack’s forthright working-class wife Roz (Kristin Kreuk).
Through the booms and busts of the post-war period and into the 1950s, Stan hangs on to his job at Goodman’s company, first known as Timely and then as Atlas Comics. He builds a staff of talented pros, including his right-hand man, Sol Brodsky (Zach Braff), versatile Syd Shores (Josh Randall), and his star artist Joe Maneely (Ben McKenzie). Campbell Scott makes a special appearance as Stan’s friend Mickey Spillane, who considers a career in comics before deciding to write detective novels instead.
Jack, meanwhile, bounces around the industry as his fortunes rise and fall. A failed attempt to start their own company leads to the end of the Simon & Kirby partnership. Then, Jack’s hopes for a successful newspaper comic strip are wrecked by a double-dealing editor at National Comics, played by Cotter Smith. Times are hard all around, and Jack commiserates with fellow artist Gil Kane (special appearance by Alan Cumming). But through it all, Roz gives Jack her unflinching support.
In 1959, after a series of major setbacks, including Joe Maneely’s sudden death, Stan finds he must rebuild the company almost from scratch, and convinces Jack to come work for Marvel. They begin turning out imaginative “monster” comics that meet with moderate success, although they soon become dissatisfied with the stories’ repetitive and formulaic nature. However, Goodman continues to insist they follow industry trends and play it safe.
As the company regains its footing, Stan hires another talented artist, the reclusive Steve Ditko (Dustin Diamond), as well as illustrator Dick Ayers (Andy Richter), letterer Artie Simek (Steve Paymer), and even his own younger brother Larry Lieber (Justin Long). Freelance artists come and go, including Gene Colan (Matt Damon) and John Buscema (Kevin Smith), who make cameo appearances.
With the arrival of a sexy young secretary named Flo Steinberg (Jennifer Love Hewitt), the company settles into a comfortable routine, but Stan feels creatively frustrated and plans to quit the business. Jack also feels dissatisfied, as he comes to realize that Goodman is taking advantage of him, and all his promises to reward Jack’s talent go unfulfilled. He starts looking for a better gig.
Then, on a fateful day in 1961, Goodman plays a round of golf with the head of National Comics, Jack Liebowitz (John C. Reilly), who brags about the success he’s had lately with superhero comics, particularly his new title Justice League of America. Goodman immediately orders Stan to copy the idea and come up with a team of superheroes. Stan considers this the last straw, until his wife Joan convinces him he has nothing to lose by doing the new book in his own way.
Intrigued by the possibility of telling more complex stories with compelling characters, Stan meets with Jack, who is also excited to return to the superhero genre, where he always had his greatest success. In a marathon brainstorming session together, they hammer out the details of the new series; dream up, design, and name their cast of characters; and work out the exciting first adventure for The Fantastic Four.
As the first issue of their groundbreaking title hits the newsstands, both Stan and Jack, and their families, wait to see if their creative experiment is a success, or whether the comic book industry is truly a dead end. Then, when fan mail starts pouring in, the two creators realize they are on to something big, and the Marvel Age of Comics is born.
The Tony Age of Television is Here!
Previous: Tony Television Special #1
Next: Tony Television Special #3
Friday
Black Widow
During Marvel’s Silver Age period, the Black Widow went through three distinct phases, during which her look changed drastically. Each phase is illustrated below.
Initially, the Black Widow appeared in glamorous eveningwear, and was presented as a cunning Soviet spy without any superhuman abilities. During this period she matched wits with Iron Man and seduced Hawkeye into helping her steal military secrets. This is how she was dressed for her first appearance, in Tales of Suspense #52.
After a while, it was decided to make the Black Widow into a costumed super-villainess, so she was taken back to Russia and outfitted with high-tech accoutrements that enabled her to stick to walls, swing on a cable, and fire lethal energy blasts, which she called her “Widow’s Bite.” Even after she defected to the West, she continued with this look for some time. Her new costume made its debut in Tales of Suspense #64.
Finally, the Black Widow decided to adopt a sleeker look, in part to distance herself from her life as a Communist spy. She chose a simple black catsuit, with weapon-laden gold accessories provided by the international espionage agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D. She also gave up on the black hair dye, letting her true colors show. The Black Widow made the change in Amazing Spider-Man #86.
The Black Widow kept this image well into the 1980s. She has since returned to it, or some modernized version of it, and it is the look by which she is best known.
Back to the Black Widow Chronology.
Initially, the Black Widow appeared in glamorous eveningwear, and was presented as a cunning Soviet spy without any superhuman abilities. During this period she matched wits with Iron Man and seduced Hawkeye into helping her steal military secrets. This is how she was dressed for her first appearance, in Tales of Suspense #52.
After a while, it was decided to make the Black Widow into a costumed super-villainess, so she was taken back to Russia and outfitted with high-tech accoutrements that enabled her to stick to walls, swing on a cable, and fire lethal energy blasts, which she called her “Widow’s Bite.” Even after she defected to the West, she continued with this look for some time. Her new costume made its debut in Tales of Suspense #64.
Finally, the Black Widow decided to adopt a sleeker look, in part to distance herself from her life as a Communist spy. She chose a simple black catsuit, with weapon-laden gold accessories provided by the international espionage agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D. She also gave up on the black hair dye, letting her true colors show. The Black Widow made the change in Amazing Spider-Man #86.
The Black Widow kept this image well into the 1980s. She has since returned to it, or some modernized version of it, and it is the look by which she is best known.
Back to the Black Widow Chronology.
Sunday
Doctor Strange and Clea
The Master of the Mystic Arts and his otherworldly disciple really know how to relax, as seen in this drawing I did recently. Namasté!
Thursday
Black and Blue
I have had several contentious discussions with an old friend and fellow comic book aficionado about the representation of blacks in superhero comics. I’m not talking about blacks as in African-Americans, but blacks as in the color black, specifically as it relates to the color blue.
Due to the vagaries of the four-color printing process and the traditionally primitive techniques of making color separations, objects and materials that are meant to be black often appear bluish-black, dark blue, or just plain blue in comic book illustrations. The reason for this is that black and gray, like gold and silver, were not colors that could be readily reproduced by the processes used in the comics industry for most of its history. This had led to a good deal of confusion in many minds, particularly in regards to characters’ costumes.
Solid blacks could only be applied to the page by the inker, and these artists often left areas “open for color” to serve as highlights and to define the character’s shapes, rather than having them look like a silhouette. This left the colorist to figure out a way to represent the “light black” areas with their limited palette. Grays could only be approximated using a series of muted purples, with only two or three basic shades available, and so, since there was a consensus that primary colors suited comic book characters best, solid blue was settled on as the best solution.
The best example of this can be seen in Superman’s hair. Obviously, Superman does not have blue hair, although it sometimes looks like it. His hair is black, but the highlights are usually colored solid blue. Likewise, Lois Lane has black hair with blue highlights, but this is not meant to suggest that she has blue highlights added to her hair at the hairdresser. It is simply a convention of comics coloring.
Similarly, in Marvel comics, both the Black Panther and Black Bolt wear costumes that usually appear to be blue but are in fact black. This would seem to be obvious, given their names. If the Black Panther’s all-concealing costume was inked solid black every time, he would not be very interesting visually. Plus, it would often be difficult to tell what he was doing, since he would just be an amorphous black blob. John Byrne once tried to underscore that the Panther’s costume was not blue by covering his highlighted areas with gray tone – small black dots on clear acetate laid down over the inked image. See Fantastic Four # 241 to judge whether this experiment was successful. Black Bolt’s costume often appears to be blue with some light-blue accents, but is actually black and silver, two colors beyond the capabilities of the old-fashioned printing process. If his costume were actually blue, wouldn’t he be called Blue Bolt?
Surprisingly, Spider-Man was originally depicted in a costume of red and black, rather than the now-familiar red and blue version. This is unmistakable in his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy # 15, penciled and inked by Steve Ditko. Spidey’s costume is still pretty clearly meant to be red and black in the first six issues of Amazing Spider-Man, with Ditko leaving those areas un-inked more and more. After this point, Spidey seems to suddenly have a new costume of red and blue, though it may have been only because Ditko was trying to save time and India ink. The only exception is the back-up story in Amazing Spider-Man #8, where Ditko inked Jack Kirby’s pencils. Spidey’s costume is again unmistakably red and black here. In more recent years, some artists have tried to evoke the original version by making the usually blue areas of the costume solid black again.
If you don’t want to take my word for it, how about “Jazzy” John Romita’s? In Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution by Ronin Ro, the long-running Spider-Man artist and Marvel art director relates a conversation he had with Stan Lee, when television executives were demanding changes in Spidey’s costume for the 1977 live-action TV show. Fearing the blue areas of the costume would interfere with the blue-screen special effects shots, they wanted it changed to red and black, which upset Stan Lee for some reason.
“‘You know, there’s nothing wrong with Spider-Man being black,’ Romita told [Stan Lee]. He was actually supposed to be red and black in the comics. The blue appeared on his costume as highlights because artists didn’t want him to resemble a cardboard cutout. But over the years, artists started leaving him ‘open for color,’ which led to zealous colorists filling these empty spaces with lots of blue. ‘So it evolved into a blue-and-red costume, but he was supposed to be black and red originally,’ Romita explained.” (p.192)
The same thing happened with the X-Men. In their very first issue, penciled by Jack Kirby and inked by Paul Reinman, it is obvious their costumes are yellow and black. However, by the second issue, Reinman was leaving more and more of these black areas “open for color,” probably out of sheer laziness. When Chic Stone took over the inking duties a few issues later, he was no better in this regard, and it soon came to be believed that their costumes were just yellow and blue. By the time of the first fully post-Kirby issue, by Werner Roth and Dick Ayers, the uniforms didn’t look black at all, or even particularly dark. The twelfth issue is an exception -- with layouts by Kirby, pencils by Alex Toth, and inks by Vince Colletta – for their costumes look yellow and black most of the time. Later on, Cyclops kept this black-and-yellow color scheme when the team adopted individual costumes, a look he kept for decades. His teammate, the Beast, adopted a red-and-black costume, and the Angel eventually settled on a black-and-white suit. However, many people, including some of Marvel’s writers, erroneously believe these costumes to have been dark blue. They weren’t.
The Fantastic Four’s traditional costumes were blue, though their gloves and boots were black, as were their collars and belts. However, the gloves and boots often appeared blue or dark blue, since they were supposed to be sort of leathery and had a lot of highlights. However, this can be seen depicted more realistically by Alex Ross in his Marvels series with writer Kurt Busiek. When John Byrne revamped the costumes in 1985, they became black with white gloves, boots, belts, and collars. They were not dark blue, although they were often depicted that way, especially in licensed merchandise. Again, the true color scheme is made clear in the first couple of issues after the change was made, and became obfuscated over time.
The Wasp’s original costume was red and black, and was normally inked in a way that made this clear, and there is little contention on this point. Likewise, Nightcrawler was usually shown in red and solid black, plus white gloves and boots. Havok was always done as a solid black silhouette, and no one would argue what his costume looked like. But Hawkeye was introduced in a purple and black costume, which would look much more dynamic than the purple and dark blue combination he was later usually shown wearing, and I would argue that his costume was always supposed to be purple and black.
To clarify my stance on this issue, here is a list of Marvel’s other major characters whose costumes were primarily black and not blue, in my estimation:
Aurora & Northstar (original costumes, black & white)
Black Cat (black & white)
Black Knight (black w/ red & gold accents, silver chain mail, blue cape)
Black Mamba (all black)
Black Queen (black leather)
Black Widow (black leather)
Blacklash (black & gray w/ purple cape)
Blackout (black & yellow)
Bullseye (black & white)
Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell of the Kree, black & red)
Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau, silver & black)
Constrictor (black & orange)
Corsair (black & red)
Darkstar (black & yellow)
Deadly Nightshade (black leather)
Enforcer (black & white)
Foolkiller (mostly black)
Grim Reaper (second version, black w/ purple cape)
Gypsy Moth (black & orange)
Hellcat (gold & black – NOT yellow & blue)
Mister Sinister (black w/ red accents)
Mockingbird (black & white)
Morbius, the Living Vampire (black & red)
Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers, black w/ red & gold accents)
Nighthawk (black & yellow w/ red wings)
Nomad (Steve Rogers, black & gold)
Paladin (purple & black)
Power Man (Luke Cage, black leather pants, yellow shirt & boots)
Psylocke (ninja version)
Puck (black & orange)
Punisher (black & white)
Nova (Richard Ryder, black & gold)
Shadowcat (black w/ light-blue leggings)
S.H.I.E.L.D. uniforms (black jumpsuits w/ color-coded accessories)
Shroud (black w/ midnight-blue cape)
Storm (original costume, black leather w/ gold accents)
Sub-Mariner (fancy version, shiny black w/ gold accents)
Tarantula (red & black)
Terrax (black & red w/ gold accents)
Thunderbird (black & red w/ gold accents)
Tigra (black bikini)
Valkyrie (black & silver w/ blue cape)
Yellowjacket (both characters, black & yellow)
The following is a list of those characters who wear costumes that actually are blue or dark blue, in my estimation. A slightly less distinguished company, I might add.
Captain America (obviously)
Archangel
Blitzkrieg
Blue Streak
Bucky
Cobalt Man
Controller
Cyclone
Dazzler (post-disco version)
Galactus
Goliath (Henry Pym)
Graviton
Ikaris (of the Eternals)
Jack of Hearts
Ms. Marvel (Sharon Ventura)
Nomad (Jack Monroe)
Patriot (Jeffrey Mace)
Sabra
Shooting Star
Speedball
Spirit of ’76 (William Nasland)
Super Sabre
Texas Twister
Torpedo
Union Jack
Vanguard (Soviet Super-Soldiers)
Finally, two characters I was just never sure about:
Moon Knight
Apocalypse
Although modern computer-coloring techniques and improved printing processes make it easier to depict black costumes more realistically, old habits die hard, and decades of having a particular convention ingrained into the thinking of comics readers and creators perpetuates the confusion over what’s black and what’s blue.
Due to the vagaries of the four-color printing process and the traditionally primitive techniques of making color separations, objects and materials that are meant to be black often appear bluish-black, dark blue, or just plain blue in comic book illustrations. The reason for this is that black and gray, like gold and silver, were not colors that could be readily reproduced by the processes used in the comics industry for most of its history. This had led to a good deal of confusion in many minds, particularly in regards to characters’ costumes.
Solid blacks could only be applied to the page by the inker, and these artists often left areas “open for color” to serve as highlights and to define the character’s shapes, rather than having them look like a silhouette. This left the colorist to figure out a way to represent the “light black” areas with their limited palette. Grays could only be approximated using a series of muted purples, with only two or three basic shades available, and so, since there was a consensus that primary colors suited comic book characters best, solid blue was settled on as the best solution.
The best example of this can be seen in Superman’s hair. Obviously, Superman does not have blue hair, although it sometimes looks like it. His hair is black, but the highlights are usually colored solid blue. Likewise, Lois Lane has black hair with blue highlights, but this is not meant to suggest that she has blue highlights added to her hair at the hairdresser. It is simply a convention of comics coloring.
Similarly, in Marvel comics, both the Black Panther and Black Bolt wear costumes that usually appear to be blue but are in fact black. This would seem to be obvious, given their names. If the Black Panther’s all-concealing costume was inked solid black every time, he would not be very interesting visually. Plus, it would often be difficult to tell what he was doing, since he would just be an amorphous black blob. John Byrne once tried to underscore that the Panther’s costume was not blue by covering his highlighted areas with gray tone – small black dots on clear acetate laid down over the inked image. See Fantastic Four # 241 to judge whether this experiment was successful. Black Bolt’s costume often appears to be blue with some light-blue accents, but is actually black and silver, two colors beyond the capabilities of the old-fashioned printing process. If his costume were actually blue, wouldn’t he be called Blue Bolt?
Surprisingly, Spider-Man was originally depicted in a costume of red and black, rather than the now-familiar red and blue version. This is unmistakable in his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy # 15, penciled and inked by Steve Ditko. Spidey’s costume is still pretty clearly meant to be red and black in the first six issues of Amazing Spider-Man, with Ditko leaving those areas un-inked more and more. After this point, Spidey seems to suddenly have a new costume of red and blue, though it may have been only because Ditko was trying to save time and India ink. The only exception is the back-up story in Amazing Spider-Man #8, where Ditko inked Jack Kirby’s pencils. Spidey’s costume is again unmistakably red and black here. In more recent years, some artists have tried to evoke the original version by making the usually blue areas of the costume solid black again.
If you don’t want to take my word for it, how about “Jazzy” John Romita’s? In Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution by Ronin Ro, the long-running Spider-Man artist and Marvel art director relates a conversation he had with Stan Lee, when television executives were demanding changes in Spidey’s costume for the 1977 live-action TV show. Fearing the blue areas of the costume would interfere with the blue-screen special effects shots, they wanted it changed to red and black, which upset Stan Lee for some reason.
“‘You know, there’s nothing wrong with Spider-Man being black,’ Romita told [Stan Lee]. He was actually supposed to be red and black in the comics. The blue appeared on his costume as highlights because artists didn’t want him to resemble a cardboard cutout. But over the years, artists started leaving him ‘open for color,’ which led to zealous colorists filling these empty spaces with lots of blue. ‘So it evolved into a blue-and-red costume, but he was supposed to be black and red originally,’ Romita explained.” (p.192)
The same thing happened with the X-Men. In their very first issue, penciled by Jack Kirby and inked by Paul Reinman, it is obvious their costumes are yellow and black. However, by the second issue, Reinman was leaving more and more of these black areas “open for color,” probably out of sheer laziness. When Chic Stone took over the inking duties a few issues later, he was no better in this regard, and it soon came to be believed that their costumes were just yellow and blue. By the time of the first fully post-Kirby issue, by Werner Roth and Dick Ayers, the uniforms didn’t look black at all, or even particularly dark. The twelfth issue is an exception -- with layouts by Kirby, pencils by Alex Toth, and inks by Vince Colletta – for their costumes look yellow and black most of the time. Later on, Cyclops kept this black-and-yellow color scheme when the team adopted individual costumes, a look he kept for decades. His teammate, the Beast, adopted a red-and-black costume, and the Angel eventually settled on a black-and-white suit. However, many people, including some of Marvel’s writers, erroneously believe these costumes to have been dark blue. They weren’t.
The Fantastic Four’s traditional costumes were blue, though their gloves and boots were black, as were their collars and belts. However, the gloves and boots often appeared blue or dark blue, since they were supposed to be sort of leathery and had a lot of highlights. However, this can be seen depicted more realistically by Alex Ross in his Marvels series with writer Kurt Busiek. When John Byrne revamped the costumes in 1985, they became black with white gloves, boots, belts, and collars. They were not dark blue, although they were often depicted that way, especially in licensed merchandise. Again, the true color scheme is made clear in the first couple of issues after the change was made, and became obfuscated over time.
The Wasp’s original costume was red and black, and was normally inked in a way that made this clear, and there is little contention on this point. Likewise, Nightcrawler was usually shown in red and solid black, plus white gloves and boots. Havok was always done as a solid black silhouette, and no one would argue what his costume looked like. But Hawkeye was introduced in a purple and black costume, which would look much more dynamic than the purple and dark blue combination he was later usually shown wearing, and I would argue that his costume was always supposed to be purple and black.
To clarify my stance on this issue, here is a list of Marvel’s other major characters whose costumes were primarily black and not blue, in my estimation:
Aurora & Northstar (original costumes, black & white)
Black Cat (black & white)
Black Knight (black w/ red & gold accents, silver chain mail, blue cape)
Black Mamba (all black)
Black Queen (black leather)
Black Widow (black leather)
Blacklash (black & gray w/ purple cape)
Blackout (black & yellow)
Bullseye (black & white)
Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell of the Kree, black & red)
Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau, silver & black)
Constrictor (black & orange)
Corsair (black & red)
Darkstar (black & yellow)
Deadly Nightshade (black leather)
Enforcer (black & white)
Foolkiller (mostly black)
Grim Reaper (second version, black w/ purple cape)
Gypsy Moth (black & orange)
Hellcat (gold & black – NOT yellow & blue)
Mister Sinister (black w/ red accents)
Mockingbird (black & white)
Morbius, the Living Vampire (black & red)
Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers, black w/ red & gold accents)
Nighthawk (black & yellow w/ red wings)
Nomad (Steve Rogers, black & gold)
Paladin (purple & black)
Power Man (Luke Cage, black leather pants, yellow shirt & boots)
Psylocke (ninja version)
Puck (black & orange)
Punisher (black & white)
Nova (Richard Ryder, black & gold)
Shadowcat (black w/ light-blue leggings)
S.H.I.E.L.D. uniforms (black jumpsuits w/ color-coded accessories)
Shroud (black w/ midnight-blue cape)
Storm (original costume, black leather w/ gold accents)
Sub-Mariner (fancy version, shiny black w/ gold accents)
Tarantula (red & black)
Terrax (black & red w/ gold accents)
Thunderbird (black & red w/ gold accents)
Tigra (black bikini)
Valkyrie (black & silver w/ blue cape)
Yellowjacket (both characters, black & yellow)
The following is a list of those characters who wear costumes that actually are blue or dark blue, in my estimation. A slightly less distinguished company, I might add.
Captain America (obviously)
Archangel
Blitzkrieg
Blue Streak
Bucky
Cobalt Man
Controller
Cyclone
Dazzler (post-disco version)
Galactus
Goliath (Henry Pym)
Graviton
Ikaris (of the Eternals)
Jack of Hearts
Ms. Marvel (Sharon Ventura)
Nomad (Jack Monroe)
Patriot (Jeffrey Mace)
Sabra
Shooting Star
Speedball
Spirit of ’76 (William Nasland)
Super Sabre
Texas Twister
Torpedo
Union Jack
Vanguard (Soviet Super-Soldiers)
Finally, two characters I was just never sure about:
Moon Knight
Apocalypse
Although modern computer-coloring techniques and improved printing processes make it easier to depict black costumes more realistically, old habits die hard, and decades of having a particular convention ingrained into the thinking of comics readers and creators perpetuates the confusion over what’s black and what’s blue.
Ralph Macchio on Continuity
Marvel editor Ralph Macchio weighed in on the subject of continuity in the Original Marvel Universe on the letters page of Thor #364 (February 1986):
Most of the original Marvel characters from the sixties are still thriving, and we intend to keep them that way. What we don't want to do is embalm them. Change and growth are essential. In a comic book that runs a long time, you're likely to have antagonists coming around again for the zillionth time--and how many times can you believe that the heroic Purple Pantywaist will take the menace of the terrible Tape Dispenser seriously since he's already beaten that nasty villain 37 times? ...So you search for ways to bring back old guys without simply retelling the old stories. Because if the readers begin to feel like they've read it all before, they'll start reading something else! And no worse fate can befall a comic book!
It's too bad Marvel lost sight of this sensible approach a few years later, locking their characters into a continuity merry-go-round that continues to this day. No growth, no lasting change, and embalmed "iconic" characters that fight the same fights over and over with no sense of history.
Most of the original Marvel characters from the sixties are still thriving, and we intend to keep them that way. What we don't want to do is embalm them. Change and growth are essential. In a comic book that runs a long time, you're likely to have antagonists coming around again for the zillionth time--and how many times can you believe that the heroic Purple Pantywaist will take the menace of the terrible Tape Dispenser seriously since he's already beaten that nasty villain 37 times? ...So you search for ways to bring back old guys without simply retelling the old stories. Because if the readers begin to feel like they've read it all before, they'll start reading something else! And no worse fate can befall a comic book!
It's too bad Marvel lost sight of this sensible approach a few years later, locking their characters into a continuity merry-go-round that continues to this day. No growth, no lasting change, and embalmed "iconic" characters that fight the same fights over and over with no sense of history.
Tuesday
Tony Television Special # 1
No self-respecting television network would be without the occasional TV movie, and nobody has more self-respect than the Tony Television Network! Thus, we present the first in a series of special two-hour features that we’ll schedule whenever we feel our viewers deserve a wonderful gift! Can you spell star-studded major TV event?
THE GREAT BIRD OF THE GALAXY
Greg Grunberg stars as Gene Roddenberry in this humorous bio-pic detailing his dauntless efforts to launch the Star Trek television series in the mid-1960s. Aided and abetted by his ambitious personal assistant Dorothy Fontana (Moira Kelly) and the eager young intern Morris Chapnick (Adam Brody), Roddenberry must navigate the byzantine world of Hollywood production companies and major TV networks, relying on the expertise of two industry insiders, Herb Solow (Peter MacNicol) and Bob Justman (Jeffrey Nordling).
With the help of sympathetic studio executive Oscar Katz (Saul Rubinek), Roddenberry gets the go-ahead to produce a pilot. He quickly assembles a zany design staff, including Pato Guzman (John Leguizamo), Matt Jefferies (Tom Verica), and William Ware Theiss (Patrick Dempsey), whose irrepressible personalities keep Roddenberry on his toes.
Things only get crazier as Roddenberry hires actors and must deal with their eccentricities, including Leonard Nimoy (Wes Bentley), Susan Oliver (Elisha Cuthbert), and his difficult star Jeffrey Hunter (special appearance by Ray Liotta). To top it off, Roddenberry falls in love with one of his leading ladies, Majel Barrett (Juliet Landau).
When the troubled pilot is rejected by the network for being “too cerebral,” Roddenberry and his team scramble to get a second chance, reworking their approach to the material and hiring new actors, teaming Nimoy with Gary Lockwood (Ashton Kutcher), Sally Kellerman (Mischa Barton) and new star Bill Shatner (Shane West).
All involved then sweat out the final decision of the network, to see if they will get their chance to make television history.
TTN – Where No Television Network Has Gone Before!!!
Previous: Tony Television Scores Big!
Next: Tony Television Special # 2
THE GREAT BIRD OF THE GALAXY
Greg Grunberg stars as Gene Roddenberry in this humorous bio-pic detailing his dauntless efforts to launch the Star Trek television series in the mid-1960s. Aided and abetted by his ambitious personal assistant Dorothy Fontana (Moira Kelly) and the eager young intern Morris Chapnick (Adam Brody), Roddenberry must navigate the byzantine world of Hollywood production companies and major TV networks, relying on the expertise of two industry insiders, Herb Solow (Peter MacNicol) and Bob Justman (Jeffrey Nordling).
With the help of sympathetic studio executive Oscar Katz (Saul Rubinek), Roddenberry gets the go-ahead to produce a pilot. He quickly assembles a zany design staff, including Pato Guzman (John Leguizamo), Matt Jefferies (Tom Verica), and William Ware Theiss (Patrick Dempsey), whose irrepressible personalities keep Roddenberry on his toes.
Things only get crazier as Roddenberry hires actors and must deal with their eccentricities, including Leonard Nimoy (Wes Bentley), Susan Oliver (Elisha Cuthbert), and his difficult star Jeffrey Hunter (special appearance by Ray Liotta). To top it off, Roddenberry falls in love with one of his leading ladies, Majel Barrett (Juliet Landau).
When the troubled pilot is rejected by the network for being “too cerebral,” Roddenberry and his team scramble to get a second chance, reworking their approach to the material and hiring new actors, teaming Nimoy with Gary Lockwood (Ashton Kutcher), Sally Kellerman (Mischa Barton) and new star Bill Shatner (Shane West).
All involved then sweat out the final decision of the network, to see if they will get their chance to make television history.
TTN – Where No Television Network Has Gone Before!!!
Previous: Tony Television Scores Big!
Next: Tony Television Special # 2
Friday
The Passion of Stan Lee
It has been in the news the last few days that Stan Lee won a judgment in a legal battle with Marvel Enterprises, Inc. over money. According to the terms of his contract, he was to receive ten percent of any profits Marvel made by licensing the characters he co-created for movies, merchandise, and the like. Marvel had tried to get away with just not paying, and even now plans to appeal the verdict.
Ever since Marvel became a big company, starting around the time they went public in the late 1980s, they have been lambasted for their often shameful business practices. But whatever the company has become, nothing can change what it once was—a small, dedicated staff cranking out the best product they could manage under the circumstances. And in the mid-1960s they were riding the crest of a wave of popularity that they earned by working hard at something they enjoyed and believing in what they were doing.
In the June 1966 issues, Stan Lee ran an editorial on their “Bullpen Bulletins” page that, despite his normally bombastic style, was unusually passionate in both its attack on low-rent comics publishers and in its statement of his company’s philosophy. Some excerpts:
“In a nutshell, the situation is this: As you know, Marvel has spent years trying to upgrade the art of comic magazines—for an art it truly is, every bit as much as the cinema, the legitimate stage, or any other form of creative expression. We don’t resent competition—indeed, we welcome it. But we DO resent shabby, carelessly-produced, badly-written and –drawn, conscienceless IMITATIONS of our Marvel mags—imitations which are callously lacking in quality, and which are produced for the sole purpose of making a fast profit in the very field which they themselves are helping to keep at the bottom of the artistic totem pole!”
After further complaints about the competition, he concludes:
“And this is our promise to you—no matter what befalls, no matter how rocky the road ahead may be, your staff here at the Marvel bullpen will never compromise with quality! Our stories, our art, our lettering, and our coloring will always be the best that money can obtain—the finest that dedicated craftsmen can produce! Though the newsstands grow ever more cluttered with inferior imitations, the mighty Marvel magazines will still stand out like shining beacons, guiding you to the finest in reading entertainment! That is our promise, our pledge, our credo! You’ve made us what we are today—you deserve nothing less! ‘Nuff said!”
Stan was a master of hucksterism, but the tone of the editorial convinces one that this time he really meant it. Unfortunately, by the 1990s, Marvel was guilty of all the things Stan had once railed against, and to this day the company seems dedicated to “the sole purpose of making a fast profit” at the expense of the fans. Quality is a subjective evaluation, but the slick comics of today fail to inspire the same passion and loyalty—not to mention circulation figures—that the somewhat more crude “Silver Age” product engendered during Stan Lee’s heyday.
In those days, Marvel was a company, not a corporation. And that’s the Marvel Comics I’m a fan of.
Ever since Marvel became a big company, starting around the time they went public in the late 1980s, they have been lambasted for their often shameful business practices. But whatever the company has become, nothing can change what it once was—a small, dedicated staff cranking out the best product they could manage under the circumstances. And in the mid-1960s they were riding the crest of a wave of popularity that they earned by working hard at something they enjoyed and believing in what they were doing.
In the June 1966 issues, Stan Lee ran an editorial on their “Bullpen Bulletins” page that, despite his normally bombastic style, was unusually passionate in both its attack on low-rent comics publishers and in its statement of his company’s philosophy. Some excerpts:
“In a nutshell, the situation is this: As you know, Marvel has spent years trying to upgrade the art of comic magazines—for an art it truly is, every bit as much as the cinema, the legitimate stage, or any other form of creative expression. We don’t resent competition—indeed, we welcome it. But we DO resent shabby, carelessly-produced, badly-written and –drawn, conscienceless IMITATIONS of our Marvel mags—imitations which are callously lacking in quality, and which are produced for the sole purpose of making a fast profit in the very field which they themselves are helping to keep at the bottom of the artistic totem pole!”
After further complaints about the competition, he concludes:
“And this is our promise to you—no matter what befalls, no matter how rocky the road ahead may be, your staff here at the Marvel bullpen will never compromise with quality! Our stories, our art, our lettering, and our coloring will always be the best that money can obtain—the finest that dedicated craftsmen can produce! Though the newsstands grow ever more cluttered with inferior imitations, the mighty Marvel magazines will still stand out like shining beacons, guiding you to the finest in reading entertainment! That is our promise, our pledge, our credo! You’ve made us what we are today—you deserve nothing less! ‘Nuff said!”
Stan was a master of hucksterism, but the tone of the editorial convinces one that this time he really meant it. Unfortunately, by the 1990s, Marvel was guilty of all the things Stan had once railed against, and to this day the company seems dedicated to “the sole purpose of making a fast profit” at the expense of the fans. Quality is a subjective evaluation, but the slick comics of today fail to inspire the same passion and loyalty—not to mention circulation figures—that the somewhat more crude “Silver Age” product engendered during Stan Lee’s heyday.
In those days, Marvel was a company, not a corporation. And that’s the Marvel Comics I’m a fan of.
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