Top Cat

Loved, loved, loved Top Cat as a kid. Even if he was renamed Boss Cat in the UK ( for fear of it being confused with Top Cat cat food! ) I think it was basically the fact that it was a cartoon about a small-time crook and a street gang that sold it to me, even at that age. ( And Boss Cat, of course, makes him sound even more like a gangster ). It also subtly, or maybe not so subtly, told kids that grown-ups/authority figures were generally fools and idiots. And don't tell me the animators weren't completely aware of that.
Gold Key, Dell & Charlton all had a go at publishing Top Cat comics. This story is, I think, from Gold Key or Dell, looking a little too old for Charlton's run. Regardless, it's a fun piece, even if it seems as if the uncredited scripter has never actually seen the show. Neither T.C. or Benny The Ball talk or behave like we're used to here; I mean Top Cat? Willingly clearing up trash? Handing back a treasure map because 'honesty demands it'? Man, talk about neutering the poor guy. Anyway, if I were you, I'd read this quick before Officer Dibble gets here, or to put it another way: mmmokay boys blue blur blur!!

Solomon Kane : Skulls In The Stars

Man, I can't wait for this movie. Just watched the trailer over on youtube, and it looks pretty damn good. It's dark and moody, almost monochrome, just as Kane should be. James Purefoy kind of looks right, and at least he isn't some Hollywood pretty boy, plus they've actually given him the Devonshire accent he should have. There is that old ' hero done bad / looking for redemption ' plot ( which they're also using for Jonah Hex ) but I guess for movie audiences, Kane can't be as dark & unrelenting as he is in the original stories, at least not without a ' movie ' reason. Civilians, natch, will obviously say it's just Van Helsing, not realising that particular piece of nonsense ' borrowed ' our favourite puritan's look, and ignored his actual personality, which is why Van Helsing is as empty and souless as it is, and why this movie might just work. Anyway, I'll be first in the queue. Just so long as he says: " Men shall die for this. "


Here's the dour one's first comic book appearance, courtesy of the first issue of Monsters Unleashed. It's adapted by ( natch ) Roy Thomas, and illustrated by Ralph Reese in his best, strangely underground style, bringing Kane and his grim, dark world perfectly to life. Kane should always be done in murky black & white for my money. Even more than Conan or Kull, his is a place of despair and horror, where life is short and brutal, and the best you can hope for is an easy death. This is also one of many stories where Solomon sets himself up as judge, jury & executioner, ( or as he would put it ' The Hand Of God ' ). Wouldn't have him any other way.

KISS

Marvel Comics Super Special 1 starring KISS was unleashed in 1977, and though it doesn't quite beat Marvel Premiere 50 starring Alice Cooper for Greatest Rock Comic Of The Bronze Age, it does come a really, really close second.

Hands up, I'm not a card-carrying member of the KISS Army. We never really heard their music in this country on the radio until Crazy Crazy Nights, and by that point they were just another hair metal band. I do remember being fascinated by the occasional photo of the group that made it over here in the '70's. At that point, and particularly to a little kid, they looked like the greatest thing ever, like Marc Bolan and Howie Chaykin had had kids. Trouble was, I really expected them to sound like the greatest thing ever too, like the most insane, most intense, loudest, rockin'est band in the universe. So years later, when I finally got to hear them and they were, well, just another rock band, it was a bit of a disappointment. Quite like I Was Made For Loving You tho'. ( This is the point where you go: Pete! That's their worst track!! )



Anyway, the KISS Super Special was the brainchild of Steve Gerber, and he was on a real mission to raise the game in terms of dragging Marvel into the colour magazine market. Here's Steve a year after the book came out discussing it: I'm not going to try and defend the content of the book in terms of the art or this particular story that was written for it. There were good things about it, there were bad things about it. In a strange way, given the nature of the project, it's probably some of the straightest superhero material I've written for Marvel in the past three years. What was important, paramount, to me about the KISS book was the concept of doing a book in that format with that marketing strategy. If it could be duplicated with other publications, not necessarily movie adaptations or presentations of rock n' roll groups, I think Marvel - or whichever publisher is smart enough - might eventually be able to abandon the 35-cent books almost entirely in favour of a small line of magazines - say six different magazines - that would make more money for them while producing better quality material.

Which happened a couple of years later with Epic of course, but Steve got in there first, and everybody thought he was nuts for doing it. The book went on to sell nearly half a million copies, and was a virtual sell-out. According to Gerber, for a while there was a draw at Marvel's offices for fan mail for the KISS book, and another for the fan mail on all the other Marvel books. Obviously, it sold mostly on the band's name, but as Steve went on to say: But a crappy looking book might not have sold as well. The fact that it was a classier publication in terms of paper stock and printing and so on certainly helped it. People could look at it and say, " This is worth $1.50. I'm going to plink down that much and take it home with me. "

But is it any good? Hell, yeah. As Gerber says, it's mostly a straight super team origin story, even if the superhero's do look more than a little bit pervy. Steve has fun with each of the band's stage persona's, Gene Simmons coming off best as a demon in waiting, eager to go over to the Dark Side. Though Ace Frehley is fun too, as a philosophy spouting space cadet.
The wizard who gives the group their powers and new identities is a typical Gerber creation, all downbeat realism and parody, and is the only real sore point for me, as he seems to have wandered in from Howard The Duck and, as the rest of the story is played relatively straight, sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb.
There's some nice linking scenes with the rest of the Marvel Universe, particularly the grouping of The Defenders Steve was scripting at the time, and his version of Doc Doom is a revelation, acting exactly as you expect him to right up until the end, where he does an absolute about turn and makes you look at him in an entirely new light. No mean feat for such a familiar character, and yet more proof of Gerber's genius.
The art is solid, although in places it does look like any other Marvel book of the period. Maybe suffering from too many cooks, with contributions from Alan Weiss, John & Sal Buscema, Al Milgrom & Rich Buckler, most of whom were clearly chosen for their classic Marvel style. I've never liked Milgrom's finish, and I think if Weiss had done the whole thing, or even if they'd got Tom Palmer to ink it, it would've been monumental.
But that's nitpicking. Even if you hate KISS, it's a classic just because it exists. That fact it's as much fun as it is, is a bonus. And don't forget it is printed in REAL KISS BLOOD!!!!

Dax The Damned

Hola mi amigos, back from Spain ( where, as it turns out, the rain does fall mainly on the plain ). Which is all the excuse I need to post this: Dax The Damned ran in the early issues of Eerie, and was of course illustrated by Spanish master Esteban Maroto. It was technically a reprint, originally appearing in Spain under the title Manly, and was heavily rewritten by Budd Lewis for American audiences. But whatever you call it, it's classic fevered Maroto, similar to Phillipe Druillet's Urm The Mad. with a ' hero ' that's little more than a plaything of fate, and is full of despair & hopelessness. Like in this segment, which is kind of The Seventh Seal in comic form: Only an artist from a catholic country could be this magnificently depressing.

Dirty Job

Off on my hols for a coupla' weeks, so here's an absolute masterpiece to be getting on with.
This strip, from the Feb 1972 issue of Our Army At War, was written by the late great Bob Haney and illustrated by the equally late great Alex Toth, and might just be the best thing either man ever did. There's really not much you can say about it, other than ' Wow. '

Super DC Calender '76

And here's another fantastic calendar it never occurred to me at the time I could actually buy. This is most of the whole piece I could get ahold of, ( there's a Wonder Woman one I'm sure ) with Neal Adams & Dick Giordano clearly having a ball with DC's best characters.








Not actually sure this piece belongs here, but it's so great, what the hell.

Mighty Marvel Calenders

What better way to get ready for the new year than with a look at some of these beauties.
Yet more proof, were any needed, of what an absolute doofus I was as a kid. It simply never occurred to me that all those great things I saw advertised in Marvel's ad pages could be mine. I used to see things like these fantastic calendars and wish I could get 'em, but you had to have american money! Where could I get that?
Anyway, these things are, of course, treasure troves of exclusive art, like this strange composite of The Avengers here. is it a re-drawing of some classic Buscema poses, or is it the real thing?


Or this Bee-ootifull Romita original. So weird to see Luke Cage, and especially Conan, grinning like loons alongside everybody else.


October is Halloween, so by law, every pic for that month had to feature the Marvel monsters. Here's Marvellous Mike Ploog's superb Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, Man-Thing & Werewolf By Night.


I'm always fascinated by the bizarre choices Marvel used to make of which characters to show off on their promo stuff. Doc Doom and The Vision is a little odd, isn't it?


Here's Jazzy John's masterful cover to the '76 calendar. I think the only other Bicentennial thing Marvel did that year was Kirby's Captain America's Bicentennial Battles, which is odd. Beautiful cover though, as I say.


But here's more nationalistic flag-bearing with George Washington crossing the Delaware alongside The Avengers. I'm not suggesting Hawkeye isn't as true-blue as, say, Cap, but I just don't see him volunteering for this little trek. He'd be spending the Bicentennial in some bar somewhere, wouldn't he?


Another Halloween fest here, this time from Frank Brunner, with Drac, Manny & Wolfie re-enacting The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow, years before Tim Burton.


And here again, is another strange grouping. Apart from the fact a few of these guys became Defenders, what on earth do they have in common? Not to mention Shang-Chi possibly wanting to celebrate the chinese new year, if anyone bothered to ask his opinion. And I still, nearly every day, have to pinch myself to believe that Marvel ever got away with a character called The Son Of Satan.



On to '77 though, with this wonderful cover that looks like Kirby inked by Romita. Though I'm willing to be corrected on that, there's no way, f' instance, Jack drew that Spidey.



Here's a rejig from that year of Doc's first story, originally by Ditko of course, this version, equally obviously comes from Gene The Dean.


And talking of The Defenders ( as we sort of were ), here's Our Pal Sal's reinterpretation of their first adventure. As much as I love Gerber's Defenders ( which is to say, a whole hell of a lot ), I also can't get enough of these early Thomas / Englehart issues. It was just about the only time I ever really liked Subby, and the idea of a group who genuinely don't get on was irresistible.


More Colan here, with a brilliant scene encapsulating everything that was great about his & Marv Wolfman's Tomb Of Dracula.


And finally, from the 1981 Spidey calendar, heres' John Byrne's illo of all of the webbed wonder's Team-Up buddies. I'd say name 'em all, but that'd be too easy.


Tomorrow: The DC calendars. (Which I also never realised I could buy!)