Who's the Best... Doctor Strange Artist?

Redartz: With the Doctor Strange film coming up before the year is out, it seems appropriate to pay some love to the remarkable array of great artists the good Doctor has been blessed with...

Steve Ditko

Gene Colan

Dan Adkins

Frank Brunner

Marshall Rogers

Michael Golden

Paul Smith

Who's the Best... Monster and/or Horror Artist?

Karen: Happy Halloween friends. Today we're talking about who's the best Bronze Age horror or monster artist. A lot of great names...Ploog, Wrightson, Colan instantly come to mind. Who's your choice for the top spot in comic book horror from the 70s/80s? And you can name others.

Bernie Wrightson

Mike Ploog

Gene Colan

BAB Classic: Dude, Look -- It's My Magnum Opus!

 

NOTE: This post originally ran on March 24, 2011. I've had "Kraven's Last Hunt" on my mind as I've been looking through the Mike Zeck Artist Edition. Fabulous art in that tale. So this weekend we'll revisit this fun topic/argument. Thanks!

Doug: So the other day I'm down in the comic room sliding side-to-side on the Total Gym (just like Chuck Norris), looking at my library, when the trade paperback for Crisis on Infinite Earths catches my eye. Of course I note that it's by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, and I'm suddenly struck with an inspiration for an Open Forum! Today's question is: Toss out the name of a writer or artist, and give us your opinion on what is their very best work. And if you can narrow it to a particular story or arc, that's even better. When did they peak?

For example, let's go back to Wolfman. Would anyone out there say that Crisis was "it" for him, or would you lean more toward some of his work on the New Teen Titans mag? How about something out of Tomb of Dracula? Perez? Man... Personally I love his art on the first several issues of the Wonder Woman reboot back around 1987 or so. I thought he drew Diana's hair in a different and very attractive fashion -- I know that may sound weird, but it was far removed from any depiction of her we'd seen before. That was eye-catching, and the rest of his images, notably the way he drew Paradise Island and the various Greek backdrops was super as well.

What the heck would you say about someone like John, or brother Sal-, Buscema? Curt Swan, Neal Adams, John Byrne? Chris Claremont, Frank Miller, or Roger Stern? Stan Lee?? When was their very best output?

It's your turn. Who ya got and when ya got 'em?

Arc of Triumph? Captain America #137-138

Karen: Any love for this two-parter, where the Falcon decides to take on Spider-Man as part of a plan to prove himself? There's also the villainous Stoneface, who's straight out of  one of the Blackxploitation films of the era. Art chores on issue 137 were handled by Gene Colan and Bill Everett (and not my cup of tea, to be honest); issue 138 -the first issue of Cap I ever read by the way - was pencilled and inked by Jazzy Johnny Romita. Stan Lee wrote both issues. I think Romita did a fantastic Cap and Falcon, and of course his Spidey -well, nuff said!

It may go against all common sense, but I still kinda like the Falcon's crazy green and orange outfit...

BAB Book Review: Marvelous Mythology

Doug: Today you'll be able to find some thoughts on the very-soon-to-be-released history of Marvel Comics, Marvelous Mythology: How the World's Greatest Super-Heroes Were Created by Todd Frye. If you recall, in a post a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that Todd had reached out to the BAB through our email account. He requested that we review his book and then hopefully give it a plug on our blog. To be honest, Karen and I have been solicited for such things in the past, but I'll say personally that I don't think I've been offered a book that was in my wheelhouse such as today's tome is.

Doug: Those of you who have been patronizing our blog for many years know that I usually frame my reviews in a "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" manner. Trouble is, Todd's book didn't really fit into that mold. But unless you think I'm on the take today, or that Todd's written the be-all-and-end-all of Marvel history, I'll state truthfully that I did have some concerns about the book and even a correction. Those were dealt with through email, and quite cordially. So today we're going to try something new, and that's to welcome an author onto the blog for a sit-down about the contents and creative process of his book. The interview you're about to read was carried out December 15-16, and was approved for publication here by myself and Todd Frye. Enjoy! And of course, as all good BABers do, leave a question or comment at the bottom!

Doug: Todd, you've written the about-to-be-released book, Marvelous Mythology: How the World's Greatest Super-Heroes Were Created (Action Figure Publishing 2015). I guess the first question would be "Why did you write this book?" 

Todd: Money. …..Oh, you want a more meaningful answer. Um… well, the truth is, I wanted to see if I could do my own take on a sort of informal history of how the Marvel characters were created. Not simply how they were created, as in how the artists and writers thought them up, so much as how they fit into the context of the time, what superhero comics were like in the early 60’s, how all of the new characters being introduced fit into the new Marvel universe, that sort of thing.

The book is chronologically ordered, so as each character is introduced, hopefully readers will get a picture of how the Marvel universe looked at each point in time. I think it’s relevant to see how it all fits together in the early stages, like puzzle pieces.

Doug: Give us a bit of background on your comics reading/collecting past -- when did you get into comics, and do you consider it now (or then) a hobby? Are you into the newer stuff, or stuck in the past like many 40- and 50-somethings? 

Todd: Well, I was born in 1966, so I grew up in the 70’s basically. 1974 was the year I really started collecting comics as a kid. And what a year it was… that was when Marvel and DC were both doing their experiments with different sizes and shapes of books, like Marvel’s Giant Sizes and Treasury Editions, DC’s 100-Page Giants, and so forth. But you also had great reprint comics like Marvel Tales, Marvel’s Greatest Comics, Marvel Triple Action… so in addition to the regular, new comics that were coming out, thanks to the reprint titles I got to read a lot of the ‘classic’ stories too.

I don’t really collect any more, even though I have a few collected editions and bound copies here and there. My comics reading is mainly stuck back in the 60’s and 70’s. Not completely, though: I think Alan Moore is a genius, and I pick up just about anything he does. Also the Hernandez Brothers, who I got to meet at a con several years ago. But for the most part newer books just don’t interest me. Maybe it’s the art styles… I know I don’t respond to it the way modern kids do. Anyway, I know there’s probably a ton of brilliant comics being published, but I just don’t have the energy to wade through all of it to find the good stuff.

Doug: At the end of your book, you list several other books as resources for your research, such as Mark Alexander's Lee & Kirby: The Wonder Years and Sean Howe's Marvel Comics: The Untold Story. What separates Marvelous Mythology from those other books? Why should a reader come to you first? 

Todd: Good question. Well, in many ways each of those books had a different focus, even though the subject matter certainly overlapped. My main concentration was on the origins of the Marvel universe, going forward slowly from the beginning as each new character was introduced, and as each new important story or issue or concept was released to newsstands. It was never really meant as a history of Marvel Comics as a publisher, so much as telling the story of the beginning of that fictional universe. I also meant it as a book that could be enjoyed by people who don’t necessarily read the comics – after all, the movies are bringing in a LOT of new fans, and I wanted to make the story accessible to them without bogging them down in the minutiae of historical record.

Why might readers come to my book first? I would say that – to me, anyway – my book concentrates on ‘the good stuff,’ the character introductions and important moments in early Marvel history, rather than having that be just a part of a larger narrative that might be forced to cover less interesting topics also.

Doug: As I read, I noticed that there are no creator interviews. Was this intentional from the beginning of the project, or did you get stymied early on in trying to reach Silver and Bronze Age creators and shift your direction? 

Todd: No, I didn’t really try to interview anyone… that kind of ‘journalistic’ writing style just doesn’t interest me. I thought about reaching out to a few people, but I knew that each link in that chain would make writing the book take just that much longer. Besides, good interviews with all of these people, or at least most of them, already exist by the dozens. Also, whenever possible, I tried to let the printed comic stories speak for themselves. After all, if you’re going to try and survey the fictional Marvel universe, it might be best to go back to the original source material, just as if you were a kid buying the comics off the newsstand back in the day.

I guess I could have written a different type of book. Well, sure I could. But I’m contrary, I have to do things my own way.

Doug: Readers might be interested in knowing that there are no images or graphics in the book. Since the Internet gives us almost instant access to any picture, cover, etc. I did not at all feel like it detracted from your writing. But it would interest me to know if you did pursue any rights permissions, and if so what you encountered? 

Todd: I didn't pursue that sort of thing. Like with trying to contact possible interview subjects, I just figured that it would be endless waiting and red tape to try to license any images, and possibly more money than I was willing to spend, too. Just as the manuscript was being finished up, though, I did discover a couple of images of Jack Kirby that are in the public domain. But they wouldn't really have added anything substantial to the book. Like you said, readers have a vast array of online tools they can use to seek out images.

In a perfect world, I would have had color illustrations, full panels and covers and original art. But just thinking about negotiating with Disney's lawyers for all of that stuff makes my head spin.

Doug: Ha! Fair enough. As you originally envisioned the project, did you finish what you set out to do? For example, one of the things I thought of as I read was an analysis of those areas you feel the Marvel Universe is better or (insert whatever other adjective you want) so on from other companies' pantheons -- most notably DC's. Was there any interest in doing a comparison/contrast with other characters? 

Todd: Okay, those are two separate questions. Um, the first one… I guess I didn’t really have as clear a vision in mind when I started as I thought I did, because I was actually about two and a half chapters into an earlier version when I realized that it wasn’t quite working. I was using too much detail, and listing each title that the company was publishing in chronological order… which got to be silly, because they had a lot of two-issue funny animal series, things like that, which was just a nightmare to catalog. Also, an average reader just couldn’t possibly care about such things. So I threw most of that out and then had a clearer idea of what I wanted to write, which I did.

As to comparing Marvel characters and stories to those of other companies and such… I think that to understand Marvel’s impact on the world of comics in the early 1960’s, and on the larger popular culture later in the decade, you have to kind of… contrast what the company was doing, versus what everyone else was doing. Marvel superhero comics really were radical for their time, in that they just had a lot of what I guess you could call ‘realism’ in them. People quarreled, they had girlfriend and money problems, that sort of thing. Most of the time before that, superheroes were just defined by whatever stories they were in, or whatever villain they fought. They were really two-dimensional, or at least I think so. Marvel made them more interesting by making them more human.

Doug: Was it difficult to write the book and think only of the characters? Readers might be interested to know that you mention from time-to-time what was happening at Marvel Comics, and perhaps how business practices and personnel may have shaped the budding mythology. Can we really separate Conan, from say - Roy Thomas? Or does Roy's increasing status/stature in the company need to go hand-in-hand with a discussion of Conan? 

Todd: Yeah, like I said, I wasn’t really trying to do a history of Marvel as a publisher, but at a certain point it would be silly to try and talk about these characters being created without talking about Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Or about Ditko or John Romita if you’re talking about Spider-Man. Especially Lee and Kirby, though… I might get yelled at, but I would say that a good… 85%?… of the important early stuff came just from those two men. And to get a good overall picture, it’s important to know what their working relationship was like, or how the comics were done 100% by freelancers for a long time, how they were limited to publishing only eight titles a month, that sort of thing. Because it all had an effect on what got published.

As far as separating an important character from his creators… well, yes, it’s good to know these things. Giving Spider-Man as an example, John Romita’s smooth art style went a long way toward making the character more approachable to readers later in the 1960’s, I think. Ditko’s weird, unique art style may have been important early on – and he certainly was responsible for so many of Spider-Man’s cool enemies – but I think Marvel needed a Romita on board to take the character’s popularity further, where it needed to go. And now he’s the company’s most important superhero.

Doug: You do a nice job of surveying many key literary events throughout the growth of the Marvel Universe. Did you read all of these comics? And if so, what sort of access do you have to classic comics? 

Todd: Thanks. I really did sit down and read nearly every Marvel superhero comic from 1961 to about 1964… and a goodly number of issues beyond that. Most of them were in reprints. I also have a local friend who has a killer collection of old issues… If you’re willing to spend the time and a little money, you can usually get your hands on darn near every story they published. The ‘Essential’ volumes, for example, provided a nice, cheap way of accessing a lot of material. But then you have to put them all in chronological order, which can be a nightmare…

There were a LOT of stories that I only read for the first time while writing this book… like the first appearance of Ant-Man, the first two Fantastic Four annuals, and so forth. Some of it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped – like, now that I think about it, the return of Captain America in Avengers #4. What a mess that issue was! But some of them astonished me by how good they were… again, like those first two Fantastic Four annuals. Kirby really outdid himself with those. And when Thor got going in the mid-to-late 60’s, like when the living planet Ego was introduced… those stories just knocked me out.

Doug: I enjoyed your style of moving from topic to topic -- you sort of built in some cliffhangers either from section to section or even between chapters. Did you sort of "story board" the project, or does that type of narrative style come to you naturally? 

Todd: I wish I’d put a bit more of that stuff in, to be honest. It does kind of come naturally, though. It helps if you know what you’re going to write about next, as opposed to what you’re working on at the moment. Then you can kind of see where two subjects are going to connect, so you can write a little transition between them. I noticed as I was working on the book that that sort of thing was getting easier as I went along, I guess as I got more comfortable writing it. Of course, I also knew the later source material better than I knew the early stuff.

Also, there were some storylines that I was chomping at the bit to write about. You know, it’s toward the end of 1965, and you’re thinking, ‘Oh boy! Galactus is going to show up soon!’ Or, ‘I finally get to talk about Mary Jane Watson.’ That sort of thing. I was anxious to start talking about my favorite stuff, which is only natural, I guess.

Doug: Winding it down here... So what's your favorite era of Marvel Comics? Does that contrast with an era you feel is most important? 

Todd: As far as ‘most important,’ I would have to say that the years 1962 and 1963 were, because you had so many great characters and titles starting up. Of course, you could also argue that many of the best storylines and such didn’t start showing up until a few years later. Also, like I talk a little about in the book, it took time for Stan Lee to work through a lot of his sort of bad writing habits in the early era. He had been doing run-of-the-mill comics for so long, and now he had to start upping his game. But either way, I don’t think there’s much argument, that if we’re talking about Marvel Comics, the 1960’s were by far the most important period.

It’s also my favorite era, even though by the time I was growing up, it was all in the past. My favorite title is Amazing Spider-Man, and reading those great stories reprinted in Marvel Tales month after month… it was heady stuff. John Romita’s art was just gorgeous, and Stan Lee was at the absolute top of his game. Kirby’s work on FF and Thor was unbelievable. And I just love the Don Heck era of The Avengers where the team consisted mainly of Cap, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Hank Pym. It was all so much fun. 

Doug: You wrap the book up with the All-New, All-Different X-Men. Why? Is that a personal break line for you?

 Todd: Good call, it is kind of a personal break for me. I lose interest in Marvel's output starting in the early 1980's. And frankly, from the standpoint of what the book was meant to accomplish, a lot of what happened from that time forward would be irrelevant. I had to include the modern X-Men - I mean, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, etc., simply because of the characters' popularity thanks to the films. That's also the reason I included material about the Guardians of the Galaxy. After all, the book is supposed to be concerned with characters that readers might want to know about.

I realize I left some things out, especially characters that will soon appear in feature films: Deadpool, a lot of those later X-Men characters like Cable, for example. I didn't go into Frank Miller's era on Daredevil, and how it coincided with how a lot of 80's comics took a darker turn. But much of that is just outside the scope of the book. It was always meant to concentrate on the 'classic' Marvel characters, the ones who mainly started appearing in the early 1960's. The further out from that you go, in my opinion, the less relevant things become, at least in the context of the book.

Doug: In closing, I'd again state that it was an easy read -- very accessible, I think novice-friendly. But there's enough in the book to keep even well-studied fans interested. So here's your chance to blow your own horn one last time -- 

Todd: Thanks so much for your kind words. I’m glad you like it. I tried hard to make it accessible to as many readers as possible, and of course there should be plenty of meat there for the die-hard comics fans, especially classic-Marvel fans. Also, thanks for the opportunity to talk with you! It’s been fun.

I should mention that the e-book version comes out on December 20th through the usual places, while the paperback is available on January 20th, although of course you can pre-order at Amazon. I’ll also be selling copies directly from the book’s website at MarvelousMythology.com, where everyone can also read the first chapter for free.

Now, if everyone reading this would buy ten copies to hand out on street corners, I can finally start buying the name-brand Ramen noodles instead of the store-label variety…

A Classic Review from Doug -- Marvel Super-Heroes 18

Note: This review was originally published at Two Girls, A Guy, and Some Comics on 26 July 2009.

Marvel Super-Heroes #18 (January 1969)

"Earth Shall Overcome!"

Arnold Drake-Gene Colan/Mickey Demeo

Doug: I recently picked up the Marvel Premiere Hardcover, Guardians of the Galaxy: Earth Shall Overcome. I recalled the Guardians mainly from the pages of the Defenders, back in my early comics-buying days. When I saw that not only this collection was coming out, but its sequel (Guardians of the Galaxy: The Power of Starhawk), I was very excited to read them. I am a big fan of Marvel's recent strategy of getting not only important storylines from the Bronze Age back into print, but entire runs of short-lived series.

Since we tend to focus mainly on the Silver Age here at TGAGASC, I thought I'd stick to the first appearance of the Guardians from 1968 -- Marvel Super-Heroes #18 (cover-dated January 1969). The tale was authored by Arnold Drake and rendered by Gene Colan and Mike Esposito (under the latter's pen name of Mickey Demeo).

Arnold Drake, creator of the Doom Patrol and Deadman, was a longtime writer for DC Comics who fell out of favor with editorial toward the end of the 1960's. Shortly after seeing his workload dwindle to nothing, he moved over to Marvel Comics, where he created (with Colan) the Guardians. You can read more about Drake in a wonderful obituary penned by Mark Evanier at the following link:

http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007_03_12.html#013083

I'll be honest -- this story reads just like a 1960's DC science fiction yarn! Colan's pencils (and I am speaking of figural form, speed lines, etc.) somewhat lend themselves more to the DC style than to what Marvel was then producing. Saying that, however, other than one splash page, there is not a single panel in the story that has right angle corners! Colan was really pushing the envelope with panel lay-outs here. Although there are no characters or backgrounds that break the panel boundaries (as we'd see a little later from not only Colan but also from the likes of Neal Adams, et al.), Colan's style is somewhat unnerving to the unsuspecting reader. A Colan-art veteran, I was nonetheless taken aback by the frenetic pace of the storytelling -- it was as if Drake's words could not keep up with Gene the Dean's pictures!

Drake's characterization is pretty basic. The bad guys, an alien race known as the Badoon, are pretty typically malevolent. They posture, they say all the right (or wrong, I suppose) things, and are pretty menacing in speech and in their looks. The goal of the Badoon is to eradicate the galaxy of humanity. On the other hand, the good guys fall into pretty basic team-book dynamics. It's difficult at this point to tell any pecking order among the four white knights, but it is pretty clear that Yondu the archer will be toward the bottom. I really had to laugh at the total lack of political correctness in Yondu's speech patterns -- reading him here was to "hear" Jay Silverheels speaking as Tonto! It really was funny. Vance Astro is a little bit of a smart aleck, and nowhere near the Captain America-clone he will become in subsequent incarnations of the team. Martinex is basically written as he will be later -- serious, focused. Charlie-27 is the one character who seems really undefined. He is listed as a survivor of the Jupiter colony, with a mass 11x that of an Earthman. However, the way Colan draws his head is quite odd, as it seems almost to flow -- it certainly changes shapes throughout the story. And, one would think that in spite of his bulk and weight that Charlie-27 possesses super-speed. He is drawn on many pages either with an overabundance of speed lines, and even at times in sequential pictures as if moving faster than the eye could normally follow -- as if he were Quicksilver or the Flash! I never remembered Charlie-27 possessing super-speed in any other stories, and indeed I can find no online references to that power in regard to his character. So perhaps Drake/Colan wanted to tinker with this later...

And that "later" wouldn't come to pass anytime soon. The Guardians, after their one-page, cliffhanger first appearance, would be back-burnered until Steve Gerber chose to unshelve them in 1974. After that, they would appear somewhat regularly as guest-stars in Marvel Two-In-One and the Defenders (1975), before gaining their own series in the pages of Marvel Presents (1977).

If you're a fan of the Bronze Age, or of science fiction, or just of today's Guardians (which I admittedly know nothing of), then you should seek out this hardcover. For my money, I wouldn't plunk down any change just for Marvel Super-Heroes #18, but for the added content the collection was the way to go.

PS (27 July 2014) -- I think I've gotten better at writing reviews over the years...

Who's the Best... Batman Artist?

 

Doug's Favorites: Marvel Heroes & Legends 1

Marvel: Heroes & Legends #1 (October 1996)
"For Better and For Worse"
Stan Lee/Fabian Nicieza-John Buscema/Sal Buscema/Gene Colan/Steve Ditko/Ron Frenz/John Romita, Sr./Marie Severin/Terry Austin/Al Milgrom/Tom Palmer/Bill Reinhold/Joe Sinnott

Doug:  Just take a look at that cast of creators, and you'll easily see why this book is a favorite of mine!  I'll admit right up front that the script here stinks for the most part.  I think Stan was working way too hard to seem quaint -- really wanting a throwback to Marvel's Silver Age heyday.  But, he was certainly handicapped from the get-go by a weak plot from Fabian Nicieza.  This book was published in the years shortly after Marvels, when the House of Ideas had ceased to be new for the most part, and became bent on a program of recycling; hence you'll find Marvels narrator and protagonist Phil Sheldon alongside a youth -- the latter serves as the catalyst to bring all of the heroes  into action.  But what's lost here is the fact that Kurt Busiek told the tale of Marvels through Phil Sheldon.  Here, Sheldon is a bystander who just happens to find himself in the thick of things.  And the young lad who gets himself lost amid the throng of celebrity watchers on the day Reed Richards married Susan Storm?  He's really a pain-in-the-butt and for my money would have been better left to the mercy of the Grey Gargoyle.  Sheesh, but I'm curmudgeonly in this season of brotherly love!

Doug: So given that the basic premise of the story is that the kid is along a crowd-restraining barrier, freaks out when the super-scuffle breaks out and gets separated from his dad, and encounters all of Marvel's Silver Age stable (sans the Hulk and Dr. Strange) of characters before he's eventually reunited with his father, I thought I'd approach this review just a bit differently.  I've included nine images from the story, the latter eight celebrating the artists of Marvel's past (with the exception of the final sample, which is by Ron Frenz).

Doug:  Leading off, above, is Our Pal Sal Buscema.  I chose this page, as well as all of those that follow by this simple criteria -- I felt these pages best represented the artists as we knew them.  Look at the Sal offering -- action, emotion, and those undeniably Sal-like facial expressions.  One comment -- I cannot stand when stories that are written from a past perspective use modern expressions in the script.  Example A is Jonah telling Robbie, "Grab your cellular phone!  Gotta call the Bugle!"  Given that this is an "untold tale", I don't know why any such updating was necessary.

Doug:  Next up is Sal's older brother, Big John Buscema.  I know we sometimes use the term "stock pose", and one could certainly argue that the second panel is just that from the pencil of JB; but ain't it great??  Love it to pieces.  In case you're wondering, the story segues from one artist to the other, sometimes on the same page, but sometimes at the top of a page.  In the case of the brothers Buscema, they actually share a transitional page -- very appropriate, I felt.

Doug:  Jazzy Johnny takes center stage next, and on his trademark character.  This was a bit ironic to me, as on the cover credits you'll notice the name of Steve Ditko.  But, given that there is no mention of Dr. Strange, I thought Ditko on Spidey would be a slam dunk.  But no -- you'll have to scroll down just a bit to see where he wound up.

Doug:  Yep, Ditko's on the Fantastic Four.  A couple of things to remember -- Jack Kirby had passed away about two years prior to the publication of this mag.  And, what's more, Ditko had only a smattering of experiences as the penciller on Fantastic Four stories.  So I still believe that, while his inclusion in this book was a wonderful touch, his assignment to the FF portion is dubious at best.  Romita could have done it, as he'd had that short stint following Kirby; but I think we'll all agree that Romita and Spider-Man are like peanut butter and jelly.

Doug:  You know what I like about Gene Colan?  His energy.  From the panel lay-outs to the incredible sense of speed he instills to his characters in action, Colan is a vibrant storyteller.  Below you'll find yourself some vintage Daredevil.

Doug:  Of all the Silver Age greats included, I felt that Marie Severin's talents had declined the most.  This is unmistakably her; you can even get a sense of the caricature work she did in Not Brand Echh!  I'm at a loss to know if she ever did the art on the X-Men, but given the choices that were not available (Don Heck, Werner Roth, etc.), it's fine by me that the first lady of Marvel was included on the Merry Mutants.

Doug:  I'm not sure what's going on with Ron Frenz in this book.  Don't get me wrong -- I enjoyed his work on Amazing Spider-Man and the Silver Surfer revival.  And I suppose for those consumers who were teens in 1996, a little injection of then-modernism may have been a selling point - search me.  It's good stuff (although some of his faces are really off -- there's a panel of Sue that I didn't include where her eyes are closer to her ears than to her nose!)

Doug:  I'm sure there are those among our readers who didn't even know this magazine existed.  There's actually a second issue that features the Avengers, but I've never seen it so can neither pump nor pan it.  Despite this story's poor writing, it still remains a fave of mine.  I've long contended, contrary to the opinions of just about anyone who will listen, that art carries the comics medium over story.  And I'll use this book as my support.  At the end of the day, Stan failed me.  But the heroes of my youth -- those guys and gal who gave me the best time copying their lines as if they were my own, returned one more time to make me smile.  That's what comics in the '60's and '70's were all about, after all.

BONUS:  How about one more page of John B. love?  Several years ago I purchased a pencil rough from a dealer on Ebay.  It happens to correspond to the published page below it.  We've discussed recently how by the '80's and beyond Big John was largely doing breakdowns with his inkers given the responsibility of finishing and polishing.  So marvel at this creative process, and get all giddy at the sight of a JB original.

 

Who's the Best... Captain America Artist?

 

BAB Frightfest: Tomb of Dracula 1

Tomb of Dracula #1 (Apr 1972)
"Dracula"
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Gene Colan

Karen: Dracula was indisputably the most successful of Marvel's monsters. The series lasted far longer than any of its counterparts, running 70 issues, and Marvel's version of Dracula showed up in many of their magazines as well as other comics. I came late to the TOD fold; as I have mentioned in previous posts, I really hadn't read many issues of the title until I picked up the TOD trades, volumes 1-3. The series definitely improved as time went on. The early issues featured a parade of writers, until Marv Wolfman came along in issue #7, and began to forge his long and highly acclaimed run. Of course, any discussion of Dracula would be incomplete without praising the efforts of artist Gene Colan, who truly owned the character. Colan was the penciller for the entire run! His style, making great use of lighting and shadows, fit the book perfectly.

Doug:  Well you have much more of a history with all of our ghouls this month than do I -- I am lame-o supreme-o when it comes to the monsters.  I don't know why I never got into them, because as I read this stuff now in the Marvel Firsts, the Essentials, etc. I love them!  So I'm going to be positive about making up for lost time rather than dwelling on my lack of taste as a Marvel Superhero Zombie in days of yore.

Doug:  I'll echo your sentiments toward Gentleman Gene Colan -- I've always loved him on Daredevil and already get the feeling I'm going to like him on just about any Tomb of Dracula I'll encounter. 

Karen: This first issue would introduce us to the supporting cast, who in many ways were just as popular as the title character. Dracula was never portrayed as "the hero" in the series -- complicated, intriguing, yes, but the vampire was always shown to be at his core, evil. The heroic vampire hunters who took him on were given as much face time as the Count.

Doug:  And I'll ask everyone to pardon my ignorance, as I'm not trying to be coy -- I really did read this for the first time for this review.  But it was pretty obvious that the young folks were going to be the protagonists with the Count the antagonist.  They're a little formulaic, as we'll describe, but that seemed to fit well into the tale.

Karen: Our story opens, and it is a dark and stormy night. No, really. Three travelers are driving to  an ominous castle, when their jeep goes off the road. Frank Drake, his girlfriend Jeanie, and their companion, Clifton (Jeanie's ex-boyfriend -- that won't be a problem, will it?) scramble out of the vehicle unscathed and walk back to the last village. The villagers, who would all fit in nicely in any Hammer horror film, are sitting in the local inn, speculating about these newcomers, with an old man named Burgeister saying that the castle will bring them only sorrow. The door pops open and the three bedraggled travelers enter, and Burgeister welcomes them to Transylvania! At this point I do have to note that I found it odd that the villagers seem to be Germanic, calling everyone 'Herr' -- wouldn't Transylvanians speak Romanian? Another thing -- this whole scene plays a bit odd for me, as I had the impression that the threesome had already stopped in this village, and yet they introduce themselves as if no one knew them. Did you find that odd?

Doug:  You know, I read it and re-read it, and to be honest I'm not certain.  Clifton does remark that they passed the village, but it's sort of ambiguous as to whether or not they'd actually stopped.  And how about the period costumes on the denizens of said village?  Clifton reminded me somewhat of Sir William Cecil Clayton from Tarzan of the Apes -- you just know that down the road he's going to become a major pain-in-the-butt.

Karen: Frank and the others try to get someone to take them to the castle, but most of the villagers are afraid, but one, Otto, says he'll give them a lift in his carriage if they pay him well enough. On their way there, the three young people question Otto about the rumors of Dracula. Otto says its superstition -- and yet, he won't drive all the way up to the castle. The travelers dismount and begin their long walk. Clifton notes that they're almost out of money. They better hope the castle is a real tourist attraction.

Doug:  The carriage was the perfect touch, wasn't it?  Who needs a car in a yarn like this?  I thought Gerry Conway did a nice job of building suspense in these early parts of the story.  Certainly we know where this is all headed, but there's still a sense of wariness. 

Karen: As they approach the castle, Frank muses about how they got here. He had inherited a million dollars from his father, and blown through it in three years. He'd also wound up falling in love with his best friend's girl -- but oddly enough, Clifton took it pretty well. In fact, Clifton was the only one who stood by Frank after he lost his money. Frank realized his only hope to make some money was to sell the castle he'd inherited. "Castle?" Clifton asked. It turns out Frank is a direct descendant of Count Dracula -- yes, the real Dracula. Clifton tells him that this is huge, that it could make a ton of money. Frank reads back through the centuries-old diary he's been carrying around, one that was written by Dracula's daughter, grandson, and a man named Van Helsing. It describes how Dracula became a vampire and also how he was killed. Frank keeps thinking about the body of Dracula, lying staked in the depths of the castle. He can't get it out of his head. Clifton tells him that they could turn it into a museum and make a ton of money. And so the three of them are off.

Doug:  This section of the story was great -- Conway did a nice job getting the casual reader up to speed on the mythos of the Count.  One really begins to get the sense, too, that Clifton deserves to "get it"... and soon.  He's just smarmy, isn't he?  Frank, on the other hand, is somewhat of a dubious hero isn't he?  He's certainly not virtuous in regard to heisting Clifton's girl and his financial lack-of-prowess.  Yet at this point he's all we've got.

Karen: You're right, Clifton may be a creep, but Frank's no paragon of virtue either. By the time they reach the castle though, Frank is sick of Clifton.He doesn't trust him. Frank blows up at Clifton, but once they enter the castle, he gets caught up in a feeling of deja vu. It's like he knows this castle. Suddenly a gaggle (flock?) of bats fly past them. Startled, the three separate. Clifton falls through some rotted floorboards and winds up beneath the castle. He goes down a set of winding stairs and finds Dracula's coffin. Clifton is filled with excitement. Turns out he's been planning to take the castle, steal Jeannie back, and kill Frank.  He approaches the coffin and pulls it open to reveal a staked corpse. Clifton chuckles about what idiots people were to think Dracula was a vampire. He pulls the stake out and leaves, thinking about how he'll arrange Frank's 'accident'.  Now maybe I am asking too much, but isn't it convenient that he decides to pull the stake out for no reason?

Doug:  Actually, bats travel in a colony.  Or a cloud.  Not that I knew that...  Yep, ol' Clifton's got everyone in a pickle now, doesn't he?  And how about him falling through the floorboards?  Didn't you find it odd that no one heard the ruckus and came to his aid?  Surely, too, he would have cried out.  Colan is not called a master of shadows for nothing, and he certainly shows it throughout these pages.  The coloring, full of grays and browns, is aptly moody, but Gene the Dean's blacks are fantastic. 

Karen: As soon as Clifton leaves, the skeleton in the coffin begins to change. Flesh forms on the bones and suddenly, Dracula is back. The Count stops Clifton, who shoots him, but to no effect. Dracula tosses him down a hole, "with the Others," and pauses -- he hears voices above, including a woman. Dracula flies up as a bat and turns back into his human form to confront Frank and Jeannie. He mesmerizes Jeannie and she tries to go to him. Frank knocks Jeannie out and drives Dracula away with her silver compact. Now that just seemed silly. Dracula flies off to the village and slakes his thirst with the blood of a local barmaid. Her body is soon discovered and the enraged villagers head off with torches in hand to the castle. Torches?  It's 1972!

 Doug:  Sort of B&W magazine fare with Jeannie's blouse flying open, ya think?  Loved the scene with the villagers -- just goes to show you that these scary stories are timeless!  Everyone has a part to play, I guess.  Colan's scratchy style really lends itself to the turmoil brewing as Dracula comes back from the dead and begins to do his thing.

Karen: Dracula goes back to the castle and creeps towards the unconscious Jeannie, but draws back when he encounters the golden crucifix around her neck. Frank leaps out and tells Dracula that he is his descendant. Dracula says he'll wind up a vampire too, but Frank comes towards him with the compact again. Worse, he throws the compact at him. Oh come on! Dracula, annoyed, grabs Frank and slams his head against the wall. As Frank slips from consciousness, Jeannie awakens, and Dracula commands her to remove her cross.

Doug:  The thrown compact was pretty dumb.  C'mon -- when it's your only weapon, you've got to at least use it to buy some time, huh?  Dracula does exude power, and the scene where he gets Frank around the neck just feels like it would hurt (a lot!).  Dracula has about as many powers as Ultra Boy, ya think?

Karen: The villagers reach the castle and set it on fire (a stone castle??) just as Dracula begins to leave with the girl. But Frank wakes up, and armed once again with his trusty silver compact, he drives Dracula off. Frank grabs Jeannie and carries her outside. He fears she's dead, but she rises and turns to him. He sees her fangs and she tells him that once one is bitten by a vampire, one can never die. Frank covers his face and cries as the girl disappears into the night.

Doug:  I wish I had the following issues -- Conway and Colan wove an interesting tale; certainly not without some bumps, but compelling nonetheless.  I'd be curious to see how Wolfman settled in and started to steer this in his own direction, past this introductory tale that served mostly as set-up.

Karen: I have to say that the whole silver compact thing drove me a bit crazy. The story had a lot of atmosphere, but this was - -I thought -- a fairly weak start.The art was really the saving grace. As a bonus, I'm including a pin-up from the Tomb of Dracula TPB, which is apparently the piece Colan did to convince Stan Lee he should be the artist for the book. Pretty nice, huh?