George Perez (1954-2022)

One of the most-successful of the second wave of fans-turned-pros...

...George Perez became his generation's Jack Kirby*, producing a massive (and magnificent) body of work spanning decades and genres**, yet never losing his modesty about his accomplishments...

...or his fanboy sense of humor, as this piece, done during his run on the Logan's Run comic demonstrates!
Besides super-heroes and tv/movie adaptations, George drew almost anything he was asked to do...including the massive JLA/Avengers crossover (two different versions) and the continuity-redefining Crisis on Infinite Earths!
He even did two Beatles-themed projects...

...The Beatles Story and the unreleased-in-America Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band**!

We've presented a few of his lesser-known stories...

Frank (Dune) Herbert's thought-provoking "Occupation Force"

The post-apocalyptic "Ride the Blue Bus"

Gullivar Jones "Martian Genesis"

...and next Tuesday and Thursday we'll present a couple more rarely-seen tales illustrated by George.

*To be fair, Kirby created far more characters than Perez, who specialized in revamping/revitalizing characters!
**Curiously, though he did numerous super-hero tales involving romantic relationships, George never did an actual romance comic story!
***Sgt Pepper was released in Europe (including England) and Asia.

Monday Madness WARP: Neal Adams on Broadway!

In 1973, Chicago's Organic Theatre...

...presented their most daring bit of theatre to date..

...a science fiction trilogy!

(You thought George Lucas was the first one to do it?)

After successful runs of all three parts in Chicago, the crew, led by Organic co-founder Stuart (ReAnimator) Gordon, headed for NYC to present the first chapter, "My Body, My Battlefield!"...with some significant upgrades by DC/Marvel artist Neal Adams (1941-2022)!

Besides doing the above poster, plus insert art and the cover for Playbill, Neal did...well, I'll let the Monster Times explain...

Sadly, the Broadway version ran for only eight performances (after a couple of weeks of previews).

It was later revived (using Adams' designs and tech improvements) for another successful run of all three chapters in Chicago!
Plus, WARP became one of the lynchpin series for Chicago-based publisher First Comics when they launched in 1983, with a nine-issue adaption of the entire trilogy featuring art by Frank (Doctor Strange) Brunner and utilizing Neal's designs!

The series then told new stories for the remaining ten issues (plus three Specials).
If there was ever a theatrical project that was ahead of its' time, this was it!
Could the Organic Theatre (which still exists) re-mount it now, utilizing the advanced tech now available for live theatre?
We could only hope...

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Buy a Reproduction of This Out-of-Print Almost 50-Year-Old Poster...

...at ImageKind

Richard Corben (1940-2020)...by Will Eisner

Richard Corben was one of the greatest of comics creators!

Who says so?

No less a personage than Will Eisner, in the intro to the HTF Warren's The Odd Comic World of Richard Corben (1977)!

At this point, Corben had only been a published artist for seven years!

Yet the one-and-only Will Eisner penned an intro to his first "best of" compilation book.

(The fact Richard had a "best of" book after only seven years in the field is an accomplishment in itself!)

And this was about the period I first encountered, and was extremely-impressed by his work.

I've been extremely-impressed ever since.

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Odd Comics World of Richard Corben

(a hard-to-find collector's item in itself)

Sean Connery (1930-2020) in Comics

Only one of the late, great Sean Connery's James Bond movies was adapted into comics...

...the first one, Doctor No!

Published in England as part of Gilberton's Classics Illustrated series, it was considered too lowbrow by the publisher's American editors.

They shopped it around to US publishers, almost all of whom passed on it...except DC Comics, who ran it (with Comics Code-approved changes) as part of their Showcase anthology comic!

Ironically, DC released the comic in January, 1963...but the movie wasn't in American theatres until May, 1963, by which point the bi-monthly comic was off the newsstands two issues and four months ago!
Remember, no internet, streaming video, DVD/BluRays, or even video cassettes at that time!

As you may have guessed, it sold poorly, and DC never picked up the option to do other James Bond movie comics...though their contract gave them the rights for a decade!

(Haven't you ever wondered why Gold Key, the leading movie-tv comic adaptor didn't do 007 comics?)

But that didn't mean Sean Connery (or his likeness) didn't appear in DC books!

In 1965, DC launched a futuristic spy series, Interplanetary Investigations in Mystery in Space.

Though the lead character, Jan Vern, was a typical blond, square-jawed comic hero (who looked in some panels like Robert Shaw, Connery's nemesis in From Russia with Love), supporting character Agent X aka Damos was a dead ringer for Sean...

Sadly, the never-reprinted series ran only two issues, but you, dear fan, can see them HERE and HERE!

(and, yes. both chapters feature Damos!)

In the early 1970s, Connery's appearance as Zed in the movie Zardoz...

...inspired (if that's the word) the look of a new Superman character...

...Vartox, a hero from another planet, who, after the misunderstanding on the cover of DC's Superman #281 (1974) was cleared up, became a staunch ally to the Man of Steel!

He's guest-starred ever since in various DC titles in basically the same outfit!

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Connery

A biography in Graphic Novel Format

Gone Too Soon...Chadwick Boseman 1976-2020

I didn't know he had cancer...

...and he didn't publicize the fact, preferring to perform and create memorable cinematic personas, both real and fictional.

As a Brooklyn boy born the year the Dodgers left town, I grew up with my dad (who hated the Yankees) telling the story of Jackie Robinson and the incredible guts he had in order to do what no Black man had done before!

When the movie 42 hit theaters, I rushed out to catch it, and see the tales my dad told me about (including some of the really-nasty, racist shit) brought to life.

Boseman's Jackie Robinson wasn't a pure, larger-than-life icon, but a guy who wanted to do something he loved, no matter what it took.

When he was cast as The Black Panther (and yes, I bought Fantastic Four #52 at my local candy store in early 1966), I knew he'd have the physical prowess to make the character convincing on-screen, but wasn't sure he'd pull off the persona, not to mention the accent.

I shouldn't have worried.
He was great!
Now he's gone.
What can you do to pay respect?

VOTE!

No matter what it takes!

It's what Jackie and T'Challa Would Do!

His last tweet before he died celebrated fellow Howard U alumni VP candidate Kamilla Harris!

So, let your voice be heard!

If You Haven't Already Done So...Register!

#WhenWeAllVote

#Vote2020

Ernie Colon (1931-2019)

Though best known for his Harvey Comics humor work...

...Ernie Colon had an impressive career as a sci-fi/horror/superhero editor/writer/artist as well, including this strip, his first non-humor comics work, in Wham-O Giant Comics (1967), the biggest single comic book in history (21" x 14")!

Ernie penciled and inked the story..and may have written it as well!

We've run a number of his HTF projects including...

The Medusa Chain

Phase 1 "Impact"

Battlestar Galactica "Saga of a Star World"

9/11 Report: the Graphic Adaptation

I have more Ernie Colon original art in my collection than any other artist's work!
He's one of the unappreciated geniuses of the business, and, now, sadly, he's gone!

Stan Lee (1922-2018) IN the Comics (Conclusion)

As we've been showing for the past couple of days, Stan Lee didn't just write and edit comics...

...he appeared as a character in them as well!

Writer/editor Stan Lee (in the pink...er...salmon shirt), and artist Stan Goldberg (doing a great Dan DeCarlo imitation) produced this tale for Marvel's Chili #3 (1969).

Note: In the  Silver Age, Stan and the assorted artists he was working with would appear in 3-5 page stories in the 64-page Annuals, showing to fans how they conceived the stories in those books and their monthly counterparts.

Since there are a half-dozen of them, and they've already been reprinted (plus, I couldn't decide which of them I'd include), we suggest you track down the reprints of...

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (1964) "How Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Create Spider-Man!" Lee & Steve Ditko

Daredevil Annual #1 (1967) "At the Stroke of Midnight!" Lee & Gene Colan

Fantastic Four Annual #5 (1967) "This is a Plot?" Lee & Jack Kirby

Avengers Annual #2 (1967) "Avenjerks Assemble!" Lee & Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Don Heck

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5 (1968) "Here We Go-a-Plotting!" Lee & John Romita Sr, Larry Lieber, and Roy Thomas

...in various trade paperbacks and hardcovers.

Once Lee stepped down as a writer/editor and became publisher, he became more an icon than mere mortal...

...as the publication of the Origins of Marvel Comics book series, with intros and behind-the-scenes stories about the early days of the Marvel Age of Comics by Stan the Man made him into an almost Watcher-like figure who would pop up almost everywhere...including this one-shot about Marvel's greatest boo-boos...

(Yes, the cover's upside down!)

BTW, The never-reprinted book is a fun read, but I'n not running it here...yet!
Remember the quote on the cover?
Here's the explanation for it...

...and here's the cover...right-side up!

This is only an example of the stories Stan (the Man) Lee has appeared (or just cameoed) in.
There are many more (almost a hundred) that I've seen over the years, not to mention his film and TV appearances.
Let me know which ones you find...

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Stan Lee
Man Behind Marvel
Bob Batchelor

Stan Lee (1922-2018) IN the Comics (Part 2)

As we have previously seen, the late, great Stan Lee would occasionally cameo in the books he wrote and/or edited...

...as in this tale from Atlas' Astonishing #4 (1951), written by Hank Chapman (who's the protaganist) and illustrated by Wayne (Superman) Boring!

The snarky Stan Lee we all knew and loved finally appeared in several stories illustrated by Dan (Archie) DeCarlo...

...like this one from Atlas' Casper the Friendly Ghost imitator Homer the Happy Ghost (V1N18 in 1958)...

...and this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' My Friend Irma #41 (1954), based on a then-popular radio/tv/movie character!

As the Silver Age dawned, Stan continued to appear in more "breaking the fourth wall" stories, including this one from Atlas' Amazing Adult Fantasy #12 (1962) rendered by co-star Steve (Spider-Man/Dr Strange) Ditko...

Note the story's title is "Something Fantastig!"

Sometimes Stan didn't properly proofread his own work!

There's more, gang. but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see them!

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EXCELSIOR!

The Amazing Life of Stan Lee

by Stan Lee and George Mair