Showing posts with label otto binder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label otto binder. Show all posts

Monday, 15 April 2019

Tiger Boy By Gil Kane



Hey look, we've all gotta put food on the table...
Even Gil.






Monday, 3 December 2018

Adam Link - I, Robot



Adam Link was one of sci-fi's ( and comics ) first intelligent, sympathetic robots, and appeared originally in ten issues of pulp magazine Amazing Stories from 1939 to 1942. He was created by Eando Binder, actually a pen name used by brothers Earl & Otto Binder.
Otto, of course, went on to write tons of the original Captain Marvel stories and work for DC, while Earl became his sibling's literary agent.
Adam made it into comics too, firstly in the pages of EC's Weird-Science Fantasy ( from which the above shot is taken ) in 1955, then a mere ten years later, in the early Creepy.
Both times he was written by Binder and drawn by Joe Orlando, so you can only assume editor Archie Goodwin was a fan of both Adam, and Joe's '50's work. As others have noted, the early Warren's do feel like EC pt. 2, which was Goodwin's intention presumably.
Adam also made it onto TV, of course, in the I, Robot segment of The Outer Limits, though I'm bound to say I preferred Joe's original design:


However they appear though, the Adam Link stories are great, intelligent sci-fi. Here's Orlando's second go at the material, from Creepy #2:








And here's Joe's 1955 original:










Saturday, 7 February 2015

Mighty Samson


 

Mighty Samson was a great little post-apocalypse romp from Gold Key, of all people. Scripted by Otto Binder, the first 7 issues were drawn by a youngish Frank Thorne, and as Saturday Morning thrills go, it's a lot of fun. Like a precursor to Thundarr The Barbarian in a way.
This first issue covers a lot of ground in it's 36 pages, with Samson taking a while to get the iconic look he wears on the cover, and even has flashes of darkness in it, which is really odd for a family friendly Gold Key book.
But at heart, it's a perfect excuse for Binder and Thorne to ignore reality, and make up the rules of Samson's world as they go along, what with Liobears, Lightning Beasts and six-pawed Gorilla's rampaging around the place.
Having said that, no one here seems to be having too much of a hard time considering it's the end of the world, especially red headed totty Sharmaine, who seems to have stepped out of a salon, and who the male survivors seemingly have no interest in beyond her use as a 'hostage'. A Boy And His Dog this is not.
Although I for one never quite trust Mindor. Maybe it's the way Thorne draws him, but he always looks to me like the kind of scientist who'd willingly let his daughter and new best friend stand in front of a radium reactor if he learnt something out of it. And let's face it, our hero isn't the brightest bulb in the post-apocalyptic box.
But End Of The World fun for kids? Yeah, let's have some more of that.
Mighty Samson lasted quite a while, running right through to 1976, although Gold Key, much like Charlton & Warren, loved reprinting the same material over and over again, so it's the original premiere issue we'll stick with here, thank you very much.