Saturday, April 18, 2015

Reading Room UNKNOWN WORLDS "Man Who Could Fortell Death!"

There are so many comic tales relating to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln...
...that our blog is overflowing with them!
This never-reprinted tale from ACG's Unknown Worlds #17 (1962) by writer "Zev Zimmer" (actually editor Richard Hughes, who wrote almost all of ACG's output) and artist Tom Hickey was one of several Lincoln-themed stories ACG published in their anthologies.

Friday, April 17, 2015

STAR WARS: Then and Now

When this trailer hit theatres in 1976, there was a lot of excitement...

Yesterday the trailer for the new film "dropped"...
..generating a similar level of excitement.
Here's a special treat from 1977...a condensed audio version of the first film, narrated by Roscoe Lee Browne...

...originally presented in the now all-but forgotten format called an "lp record album"!
Before YouTube, downloads, streaming video, even cds and (gasp) videotape, this and print versions like novelizations and comic book adaptations were the only way to re-experience the film outside the movie theatre.
Enjoy.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Reading Room WORLD AROUND US: CIVIL WAR "An April Day"

Our final entry is a straightforward text feature not unlike some history books' telling of the tale...
This never-reprinted page from World Around Us: The Civil War (1960) was the next-to-last chapter in the oversized graphic reteling of the events leading up to and following the Civil War as well as the war itself.
Though most of the artists who contributed to other sections are easily recognizable (including Sam Glanzman, Gray Morrow, and Angelo Torres, the illustrator of this text feature (as well as the writer) is unknown.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Best of Reading Room BIG APPLE COMIX "Token" by Herb Trimpe

The Abraham Lincoln story scheduled for today can be found HERE.
In the early 1970s, there were a lot of underground / alternative comics...
...but this HTF 1975 one-shot was one of the koolest, if only for it's awesome lineup of big-name New York-based comics talent including:
Wally Wood (who did the amazing cover above as well as a NSFW spoof of his classic "My World" strip, plus he wrote a second strip and inked a third.)!
Al Williamson, who illustrated a NSFW strip written by Wood, illustrating a Roy Thomas-lookalike nerd thrust into a world of barbarians, nude princesses, and monsters, becoming a loincloth-wearing, sword-wielding hero!
Plus: Neal Adams, Larry Hama, Ralph Reese, Paul Kirshner, Archie Goodwin, Marie Severin, Mike Ploog, Alan Weiss, Stu Schwarzberg, Linda Fite, and Herb Trimpe.
Edited and published by Flo Steinberg (known as "Fabulous Flo" when she was Stan Lee's Gal Friday during the Silver Age), the comic was sold primarily in "head shops" and sleazy bookstores since the Direct Market was in it's infancy and there were maybe two dozen comic book shops in the entire country!
The comic was a tribute to New York City, the city we love, the city we hate, the city we love to hate and hate to love.
(Yeah, I was born and raised in NYC...Brooklyn, to be exact!)
There's lots of venting of cynicism and irritation, like the cover with commuters just standing there with an "It's always something!" attitude instead of fleeing in terror as most populaces do at the sight of giant monsters tearing up the skyline.
And then there's the gentle, poetic, side as shown by the highly-underrated Herb Trimpe's visual treat...
BTW, the object in question is a subway token.
Its' use was discontinued over a decade ago in favor of "smart cards", so there are probably readers of this blog who have never used, or even seen them.

Penciler/inker (and occasional writer) Herb Trimpe, who fell into disfavor with Marvel in the 1990s, despite trying to adapt by becoming a Rob Liefield clone, was as much a part of their Silver and Bronze Age success as the Buscema brothers, Don Heck, John Romita Sr, Dick Ayers, Frank Giacoia, Joe Sinnott, or any of the other hardworking craftsmen of the era.
He passed away a couple of days ago...another of the links to the Silver and Bronze Ages (and, according to all accounts, a heck of a nice guy) lost to eternity.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Reading Room HOUSE OF MYSTERY "Second Death of Abraham Lincoln"

For the past couple of days, we've been presenting straightforward retellings of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln...
...but that's about to change.
It's gonna be a looong vacation, since he screwed up his job as Abraham Lincoln by "breaking character"...one of the worst faux pas an actor can commit!
Written by Arnold Drake and illustrated by Leonard Starr, this cover-featured story from DC's House of Mystery #51 (1956) is one of several stories where people from the present become involved either in the actual assassination or recreations of it.
Be here tomorow for another comic book story about the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

Monday, April 13, 2015

Reading Room LIFE STORIES OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENTS "End of the Civil War & Death of Lincoln"

BTW, did you note that, at the top of the page, Grant and Lee have the wrong uniform colors?
Though the author is unknown, the artist who penciled and inked the entire 100-page cavalcade of Presidents from Washington to Eisenhower in Dell's never-reprinted one-shot, Life Stories of Ameican Presidents (1957), was John Buscema!
Be here tomorrow for another look at the Assassination of the President...

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Design of the Week: CIVIL WAR

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week, commemorate 150th Anniversary of the end of the Civil War with this kool retro graphic by none other than Jack (King) Kirby!