The Comics Rack

THE GREEN ARROW BY JACK KIRBY

   A small gem of a comic may have missed your attention amongst all your Christmas preparation (I know I almost missed it and I was looking for it!).
   Published by DC in late November, it is called The Green Arrow by Jack Kirby and this slim, comic format (think DC annual) volume reprints all 11 Green Arrow stories that Kirby did for DC in the late 1950s.
   These stories fill an important niche in Kirby's massive body of work. After the collapse of their own publishing house, Mainline Comics, the team of Simon and Kirby moved back to DC, before they went their separate ways. Gone are the splash pages and double page spreads that were the trademarks of the Simon and Kirby strips: in their place are the homogenized "DC style" layouts that were used until the mid-60s (Looking at these pages, one might even venture to speculate that Jack's early Marvel work was influenced, by editorial decree, by the DC "house" style of the time, since DC was the leading publisher of comics until the late 60s). The Green Arrow stories are a bridge between the layout style that Jack used in the early 50s and the layout style he used in the early days at Marvel. Even with the limitations in layout, Kirby's figures are bold and heroic and there is plenty of action in each and every panel.
   Of even greater interest, however, is that these 11 stories are a rare chance to view Kirby inking his own work. In order to squeeze more money out of a collapsing comic market, Jack, with an assist from his wife, Roz, inked all the stories in this book; a task he loathed. His dislike of this task doesn't show in these stories and there is a slickness to the line that hearkens back to the best of Kirby's earlier work with Simon.
   My only complaint about this volume would be that it does not mention anywhere on the cover that it is a complete reprinting of all of Kirby's Green Arrow work. You have to read the introduction to find out that little bit of information.
   Available at the usual outlets, The Green Arrow by Jack Kirby retails for $5.95 and is worth every penny. One can only hope that DC will continue to preserve Kirby's work in volumes such as this.

THE COMPLETE GUNFIGHTER/SADDLE JUSTICE

   I finally found time to read the Russ Cochran reprint set of the EC titles Saddle Justice and Gunslinger after it had languished on my bookshelf for about a year. Historically, these books fall into, what is called by EC historians, the "pre-trend" period, meaning those comics published by Bill Gaines prior to the launching of the EC line that is remembered by the fans of today: a line that included Tales from the Crypt, Weird Science and Two-Fisted Tales among others.
   Both of the volumes in this set are reprints of western material that EC produced in 40s and, as westerns go, they are nothing special. Each story is filled with cliches ("Drop that smokepole!" and my favorite "He salivated my Stetson") and the plots of the stories are rather stock as well. What makes these volumes so outstanding is, as with most of the EC books, the art. Al Feldstein and Johnny Craig, two of my favorites, shine in these early examples of their work and they both prove that a pretty girl can be drawn very pretty indeed. There are also 2 stories in the set that were originally produced only in pencil and the subtlety of both Feldstein and Craig's pencil work, sans ink, is a joy to behold. One of the few collaborations between Feldstein and Craig is also included.
   One surprise of the books is the work of Graham Ingels, best known for his horror work. Ingels has a bit of a scratchy line at times, but he manages to convey a great deal of energy in his work and, his pretty girl drawings hold up to Craig's. Ingels also produced the majority of the covers for both comics and his work on them is excellent as well.
   Another surprise are the 2 stories with art by Fred Peters, an artist I have never seen before. His style is close to Jack Kirby by way of Mort Meskin and is quite pleasing.
   The rest of the art is passable at best: H. C. Keifer turns in his usual pedestrian work, Sheldon Moldoff is represented by 2 Moon Girl stories, there are 2 stories by Harry Harrison and Wally Wood and stories by artists I have never heard of, who are better left unheard of.
   The biggest bonus of the set are two long interviews: one with Al Feldstein (which appeared in The Comics Journal) and the other with Golden Age artist Sheldon Moldoff (never before printed). Feldstein was the main writer and editor of the EC material, and, up until his retirement, the editor of MAD. In this rare interview, conducted around 1995, Feldstein brings up some of the major points about his association with Gaines at EC, what he feels he contributed to the line, and how he feels things could have been different. Nothing major is revealed, but it interesting due to its rarity.
   The interview with Moldoff is repititious at times and then, right near the end, he drops a small bombshell that makes the whole interview worth reading. Moldoff claims that in 1948, in an attempt to help Gaines expand EC, he sold Gaines on the idea of a horror book (title was Tales of the Supernatural), signed a contract for a percentage of sales, and even delivered an entire first issue (according to other editorial content in this set, the stories from the Moldoff book appeared in other EC titles). Gaines did nothing with the book at the time, told Moldoff he would contact him at a later date, and Moldoff thought nothing more about it until he saw the EC horror books on a newsstand nearly a year later. When he approached Gaines about the contract, he was rebuffed and later meetings with a lawyer showed the the contract was worthless. If this story is indeed the truth, it certainly changes the view of how the EC new trend titles came about.
   Unfortunately, none of the material in the Gunfighter/Saddle Justice set has been reprinted by Gemstone, so this reprinting is the only place to find these westerns outside of the originals. I would recommend it to you for a fun read, and especially if you are a fan EC art, but at nearly $100, this set is quite pricey (I found mine for much less at a sale). One can only hope that Gemstone will come up with a printing of these comics (and especially the interviews) in the same format as the rest of their EC reprint line.

A BUNCH OF AC COMICS

   Just got a big envelope of comics from AC Comics and thought you should be aware of some of their new releases.
   Best of the West #23 and 24 both feature a great selection of western material selected by Bill Black from the backlog of stories he has amassed from the files of Magazine Enterprises, Charlton and other publishers. Both books feature The Haunted Horseman (originally published as the Ghost Rider, but presented with the name change due to copyright problems with Marvel), with outstanding art by Dick Ayers and then the usual mix featuring The Durango Kid, The Black Phantom, Redmask and more western heroes than you can shake a six-gun at. Of particular interest is the Ken Maynard story in #24 with art by Carl Pfeufer and the "3 dimensional" art on the Redmask stories in both #23 and 24. Both these stories come from the period when 3-D was in vogue and M.E. tried to give their books a 3-D effect by having the artists extend their drawings beyond the panel borders in additon to the usual "objects coming out of the panel" drawings. All in all, if westerns are your genre, you should pick up the entire run of Best of the West.
   Also in this latest batch are issues 31-34 of Men of Mystery Comics and there is so much good stuff in here I could go on for page after page about the contents.
   A quick summation of the highlights includes:

• #31-The last story to feature the golden-age Daredevil and a Crimebuster story, both from the Lev Gleason era. Also a Black Terror story by Jerry Robinson and Mort Meskin.
• #32-An issue devoted to the Ajax line of comics, with an overview of Ajax, numerous reprints from the publishing house and (why, I'm not sure) a Mysterious Treveler reprint by Steve Ditko.
• #33-All patriotic heroes, including Miss Victory and a Spy Smasher story that may never have been printed in the US before.
• #34-A special Halloween issue that includes a Dick Briefer Frankenstein story, a Claw story by Bob Wood, another Mysterious Traveler by Ditko, and a rare collaboration between Joe Orlando and Wally Wood, featuring the character Jungle Jo.

   As with all the AC reprint projects, there is lots of good reading in each of these books and the only complaint I can come up with is that these later issues of both titles have less editorial content than the earlier issues of the series. A little more background information on the stories, and their creators, would be welcomed. This does not, however, take away from the sheer enjoyment of these early stories.
   AC comics can be accessed through our links page and all of their in print books are available through their website.
   Tell 'em Clark Savage, Jr. sent you, and you'll get no real response at all.

THE GOLDEN AGE GREEN LANTERN ARCHIVES

   The Golden Age Green Lantern Archives is up for review this week and, I must admit, I'm not as wildly enthusiastic about this volume as I have been over the other volumes in the DC Arcives series.
   On the plus side are the historical contents of this volume. It reprints the Green Lantern stories from All-American Comics #16-30 and Green Lantern #1 and shows the progression, of the Green Lantern character. In the origin, he is "Alan Scott, young engineer in charge of construction." By the fifth appearance, he has become a radio engineer and, in true Golden Age fashion, obtains a job that does not require him to do (seemingly) any work. There are also little tweaks and changes to his powers. It is established early on that Green Lantern can fly. At first he just up and does it, later he flies in a green cone that is generated by his ring. He is also portrayed as being super strong in the early stories and in the later he has a bit of a power down to more normal (for a super hero) level. There is no explanation of how Green Lantern's power ring works, except to say it is by "will power," a point that was so heavily stressed that there is an article by Wonder Woman creator Dr. William Moulton Marston, reprinted from Green Lantern #1, that attempts to explain what will power is and how you can make it work for you.
   These changes don't particulary take away from the stories, but rather add to the historical importance of the volume. In these stories, we get to see the development of the character as the creative hands behind the stories attempt to find who the character is and what powers make the character work. One point of personal revelation I discovered concerns the invulnerability given to Green Lantern by his power ring. I had always been under the impression that he was only vulnerable to wood, yet these early stories make it clear that he is vulnerable to non-metals of any kind, so the wood vulnerability must have been a later addition. If anyone has any clue when this change occurred, please let me know.
   On the down side, Mart Nodell, the artist and creator of Green Lantern, had an art style that was at best crude, even by golden age standards: his figures are mis-shapen, and the facial features of the characters are distorted. One needs only to look at the stories by E.E. Hibbard and Irwin Hasen in this volume to see how far Nodell deviates from what could be called a Golden Age style. The stories are also not quite up to par in the writing department, and, since they were written by Bill Finger, Green Lantern comes across like Batman (something that should not come as a great surprise). Under Finger's guidance, the magical power ring is just a gimmick; a good gimmick, but a gimmick just the less. Although the power ring helps Green Lantern out of a scrape here and there, it is the punch to the jaw that ends most of the stories.
   From the historical sense, the Golden Age Green Lantern Archives, would make a nice addition to your library, but I would tend to shy away from this one if Golden Age comics aren't really your cup of tea.
   Available from the usual sources. SRP is $49.95.

DAREDEVIL VISIONARIES:  FRANK MILLER VOL. 1

   One of the pleasures of reading comics is to re-read a series of issues, or even an individual issue, of a favorite title. Sometimes the memories are better then the actual item, but often, the time between the initial reading and the re-reading allows for new insight and enjoyment. Case in point: Vol. 1 of Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller.
   I probably haven't read these stories in at least 10 years and I must say they hold up extremely well. At the time Miller started as artist of the Daredevil comic, the character was at the bottom of the Marvel super-hero heap. Poor writing and art were part of the problem, but it was also the basic concept of the character that was lacking. Daredevil had no real personality. His blindness was used as a handicap. His enhanced senses were used as a plot device, rather than an asset. In short, it seemed as if the book was simply being published to maintain the trademark.
   Under Miller, and writer Roger MacKenzie, Daredevil, and his alter-ego Matt Murdock, began to emerge as real characters who inhabited a world that was at the edge of the Marvel universe. Gone were the goofy villains and "poor Daredevil" stories. In their place emerged gritty tales of violent, often psychotic, criminals, who were frightened of the abilities of the man they know as "the Devil".
   This volume starts with Miller's first artwork on the strip and follows through the next 9 issues. From this beginning, which was a wrapup to the previous story line, Miller and Mackenzie begin to shape Daredevil into a character who is truly "the man without fear." He becomes more athletic and his enhanced senses become more acute. He gives to the criminals as well as he gets, often putting them out of action and into the hospital. Daredevil becomes a haunter of waterfront bars and dark alleys, who does his own legwork to solve a case. Along the way, there is also the development of the Matt Murdock character and the triangle that develops between Matt/Daredevil, Karen Page, and The Black Widow. In short, there is the development of a storyline with human characters, that was remarkable when they were written and seem even more remarkable today.
   Of course, since these are Marvel comics, some familiar villains make their way into these pages. The Hulk and Doctor Octopus make appearances in a couple of these stories, but they too are a bit darker in tone than they appeared in other comics of the time. Also, Bullseye, a throwaway villain in the pre-Miller stories, becomes more psychotic and lethal; a plot thread that comes to fruition in the later stories of the series.
   Much of the tone of the series is due to Miller's art, which is a combination of Gil Kane linework with the film noir settings of Will Eisner. Most scenes are moody with heavy shadows and Daredevil moves through it all with athletic grace. Of particular note is the faces Miller puts on the characters. They show their emotions without being overwrought, even though Miller's style is quite impressionistic.
   These are excellent stories that come highly recommended, whether you are reading them for the first or twentieth time. Later volumes in the series will finish Miller's run on the series, including the issues where he doubled as writer and artist.
   Available from the usual outlets, Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller Vol. 1 retails for $17.95.