Super Stuff in the Bronze Age: June 2022

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Favourite Comics - Irv Novick in Detective Comics #414

Of the three artists who defined the look of Batman in the 1970s - Neal Adams, Jim Aparo and Irv Novick, it is Irving H Novick who gets the least attention from fans. And yet he drew 107 Batman stories across the pages of Batman and Detective Comics during that period - far more than Neal Adams, and a production rate on a par with Jim Aparo.

Irv Novick was the artist at the helm as The Bronze Age for Batman started on 6th June 1968, with the publication of Batman #204 ("Operation Blindfold"), starting a fruitful partnership with Frank Robbins over the next two years.

Robbins brought a crime caper story sense that he had honed on Johnny Hazard for two decades, but although Novick's artwork layout and perspectives were very innovative, the renditions of Batman were uninspired and relied too much on the more recent Silver Age depictions of Batman extant since the “New Look” premiered in 1964.

©DC. Batman #204 "Silver Age style"

Over the following months Novick continued in this style, inked by Joe Giella through to issue Batman #214, but with #215 the style changed radically, with Dick Giordano now inking. Batman was no longer drawn in a cartoony fashion.

Batman issue #217 cemented the new image of Batman as a loner, with Novick upping his game considerably to draw the pivotal “One Bullet Too Many” story which took Batman out of the Batcave, and Robin went off to college.

No doubt the change in illustration was driven by reader reaction to the Neal Adams version of the Batman present in Brave & Bold, but also I suspect that Novick was also smarting from having his cover to Batman #210 ("The Case of the Purr-Loined Pearl") redrawn by Neal Adams at short notice.

For my money, Novick’s best renditions of Batman were in Detective Comics #414, a story inspired by the movie Key Largo, again ably assisted by Dick Giordano on inks. The line work is the finest I ever saw on his work; the splash page showing Batman in the rafters is worthy of Adams, and the renditions of Batman in action are exciting and full of energy.

©DC. Detective #414 foreward page. Fine art work.

The story - written by Denny O’Neil - gives time over for quieter moments of discussion between the characters, and Novick brings his “A” game in those moments as well, with a touch of Adams pastiche particularly in this image of "Loosy".

Unlike Adams and Aparo, Novick rarely (if ever?) inked his own pencils, and without doubt his work when inked by Dick Giordano shone at its brightest. Other subsequent inkers like Frank McLaughlin demonstrated that Novick's style dominated and was not unduly influenced by different inkers, but that said, Giordano was without a doubt brought out the best in Novick's pencils.

Sunday, June 19, 2022

House of Mystery books #1 and #2 by Jack Oleck & Berni Wrightson

House of Mystery was my favourite of the DC horror/anthology comics that emerged in the early 1970s following the relaxation of rules by the Comics Code Authority. I became an avid collector of House of Mystery, which I had gotten into through exposure to the Batman/House of Mystery team-up in Brave & Bold #93. Thus the House of Mystery line was my “gateway drug” into the line of other DC light-horror comics of the early Bronze Age. I had come for the stunning Neal Adams covers, but stayed for the compelling stories by Jack Oleck and great artwork by the likes of Nestor Redondo, Alex Toth, Gray Morrow , and particularly Berni Wrightson.

The brother-in-law of Joe Simon, Jack Oleck was an extraordinarily prolific comics writer. He had worked as an EC writer in the 50s before moving to DC to pen “The Devil’s Doorway” in House of Mystery #182 in July 1969. He went on to pen a further 227 stories for DC, found in the pages of House of Mystery, House of Secrets, The Unexpected, Witching Hour and other DC gothic romance comics from the mid-70s, finishing his run with House of Mystery #287 "Legend of the Lost" in 1980.

Jack Oleck 1914-1981

Despite Jack Oleck penning 67 tales in House of Mystery during the 1970s, and Berni drawing 7 stories in House of Mystery (24 in all across the DC horror books), they never worked on the same story in a comic book. Their only collaboration was in two paperbacks issued by Warner Paperback Library in 1973.

Which is why I was so pleased to see the two books for sale in Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed in a visit to Soho in late 1975. priced at 47 1/2p each.

The two paperbacks House of Mystery #1 and #2 were written by Jack Oleck, featuring amazing B&W artwork by Berni at his creepiest. I must have disposed of my copies sometime in the 80s, but was fortunate to have snagged these two very fine copies recently and enjoyed them just as much in re-reading this time around.

So why did Warner publish these books? The early 70s was a time when horror anthology films were making a comeback at the cinema. Films like Doctor Phibes were capturing the public imagination, and Oleck had already experienced success with movie novelisations of the films Tales From The Crypt and The Vault Of Horror at Bantam books. Those films were Amicus productions based on the old EC horror comics. Oleck had been a natural choice for those novelizations, having been a writer for EC comics himself.

Perhaps Warner were thinking of making a film based on House of Mystery? The film title had been used 3 times before for supernatural horror films, the most recent at that time being in 1961. Perhaps Warners wanted to again experiment with seeing if they could cross-fertilize genres across media, from comics to books.

Warner had established Warner Paperback Library as a home for TV tie-ins, film novelizations, science fiction and factual music books. They also had a long line of bringing selected content from Mad Magazine in the paperback world. In 1972 they had ventured in bringing superhero comic properties into the adult paperback world by producing two books reprinting GL/GA issues 76-79 in January and June 1972, which had sold well, and had been commercially successful

According to openlib Warner Paperback Library published 196 books from 1961 to the mid-70s, when it became Warner Books. They hit their peak in 1973 with 71 editions that year alone, with books including novelizations of the Kung-Fu TV series, lots of Mad books, Gothic romances and humorous books by Woody Allen. They also published 36 stories of pulp hero The Avenger during this period.

After publication of House of Mystery #2, Warners ceased the experiment. The horror anthology cycle in films was waning at the box office and no more books were forthcoming.

Jack Oleck continued his work at DC, and Berni Wrightson went on to Swamp Thing and other endeavors.

Sunday, June 12, 2022

Early Comic Memories: Green Hornet #1 - What's a Rain Check?

Photo © Greenway Productions

I cannot clearly remember my first American comic, but the Gold Key-published Green Hornet #1 (cover date Feb 1967) was in there somewhere at the start, probably acquired along with Batman comics of that era when I was transfixed by the Batman TV series.

My abiding memory of the comic was that in the final page there is a reference to a “rain check”, and I had no clue what a “rain check” was. I asked my mother, who was none the wiser. I do remember being quite taken by the look of this new dynamic duo of The Green Hornet and Kato, and confused that the TV series never appeared on UK television ( at least where I lived).

My interest in The Green Hornet was therefore somewhat short-lived, although I was very pleased to receive the die-cast model of Black Beauty by Corgi for Christmas in December 1967, only a month after it came to market in November of that year.

Looking back at the comic Green Hornet #1 now, it is a pretty pedestrian story, and it is no wonder that the comic was canceled after 3 issues.

The story was written by Paul S. Newman (interestingly credited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most prolific comic-book writer of all time), with artwork by Dan Spiegle (who subsequently went on to work both for Marvel and DC).

In the story "Ring of Terror" The Green Hornet takes on criminals who use a drug to make upstanding citizens cooperate in their crimes with no memory of what they have done. The artwork is serviceable, and certainly far better than the “Bob Kane” Batman artwork in comics published by DC at the same time, but the comic lacked pizzaz.

The comic survived in my ownership until sometime in 1973, when I cut off the front cover and pasted it into my scrapbook, as part of my Kung Fu interest.

Watching the one-season TV series now in reruns on MeTV, I can see that it had huge potential with Bruce Lee playing Kato, but somehow the somber tone never caught the public imagination they way that the Batman TV show engendered.

Did anyone else collect these comics?

What's a Rain Check?

[Note: I do now know what a rain check is, having attended a few Chicago Cubs baseball games over the years.]

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Searching for comics in Portsmouth, 1970s style: Part Two

[Continuing the recounting of the route that comic fans Nigel Brown and Ian Baker took, hunting down American comics in Portsmouth & Southsea in the 1970s. Read Part One here . ]

baggsey's Carlton Corsa bike

Stop #8: Harmony House second-hand shop in Albert Road, near to the King’s Theatre at 66 Albert Road (1972-1978)

Like many (if not all) of the newsagents and second-hand shops that formed the weekly ports-of-call, Harmony House is no longer in operation. Now it forms one half of a restuarant.

Heading west from Albert Rd traffic lights, we continue our journey to start at Harmony House, before doubling back to Albert Road traffic lights to head south to the Strand.

“I believe that the stock of this small second-hand shop was primarily focused on LPs by the likes of Yes and Camel, and had flower-power/alternative posters on the wall.” – Ian

“I remember there was a Superman 52-page ‘Swanderson’ in stock, Superman # 241, but the chap who owned it made a complimentary comment about my anorak, reaching out to feel it, so we made a hasty exit!” – Nigel

Stop #9: R.W. Kittredge, Newsagents at 9 Waverley Road, opposite Wadham Stringer Car Parts

"The area of the Strand in Southsea was blessed with a small number of shops and newsagents which provided me with comics, A&BC trading cards, paperbacks and sweets in the 1960s and 1970s.

“The newsagent R.W. Kittredge was a DC shop, and where I picked up many issues of Detective Comics in the earliest days of collecting DC comics in 1971. I have strong memories of buying Detective Comics #413-#416, #418-#424 there. I remember that my copy of Detective #413 had the '5p' printed on the cover (a "UK pence" price variant rather than a 15-cent copy with a T&P stamp), and I also remember being impressed by the fine inking of Irv Novick's pencils on the splash page of Detective #414 by Dick Giordano." - Ian

"I also remember picking up Batman Double Double #3 there, which included World's Finest #175 "The Superman-Batman Revenge Squads" glued into the contents, which I subsequently separated from the binding and attempted to re-draw/re-construct the cover using one of those DC house ads as a guide. ” – Ian

Stop #10: The Strand Gift Shop, Southsea

This shop was unique in that it was the only “seaside” gift shop that stocked comics in Portsmouth, and brought out on a seasonal basis. They did not get comics on a monthly basis, but must have got stock from some wholesaler, which also included Alan Class comics. The gentleman who owned the shop was (from memory) a medium height gentleman with glasses and a moustache. I believe he was called Mr Sprackling.

“Apart from the saucy seaside postcards, the main attraction of the shop to me was that this shop stocked both DCs and Marvels. They used to put away their stock for the winter, and I got both old Marvels and DCs there (ie. Mid 1960s) in excellent condition. I did buy 5 copies of rare Silver Surfer # 10 there, which I later sold to Alan Austin of Fantasy Unlimited for 75p each.

“They also had a tray of paperbacks outside the side door in Clarendon Road. I remember buying the Batman paperback “Batman vs. the 3 Villains of Doom” written by Winston Lyon from that tray, as well as a Man From Uncle paperback published by 4-Square “The Finger In The Sky Affair” by Peter Leslie – must have been around 1967”. Also I bought a Batman “jamboree bag” there, which included a Batman ink pen, a badge and a paper Bat-Plane." - Ian

“I remember getting some early Tales to Astonish (Sub-Mariner) issues there, and the first issue of Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD, with its striking Steranko cover" – Nigel

Stop #11: Lewis A. & Co, Tobacconists & News, 61 Osbourne Road Newsagents

2022 location of Osborne Rd newsagents

Like many places we frequented, the exact location fades from memory, as shop facades change over the years beyond all recognition. Such is the case of 'Lewis A. & Co, which was primarily a tobacconist with a side business as a newsagency. However, a look at the 1971 phone directory refreshed our memory of the exact location.

“I think it first became an Estate Agent’s, opposite where Le Petit Escargot used to be. It was about halfway down that parade, about where the Rancho Steak House is now. I recall they not only had a rotating rack of Marvels, but also a pile of comics for sale beside it. All new comics. I remember getting early Marvel Collector’s Items and Marvel Tales from that pile.

"I can confirm that the Marvel Tales (dated Feb '67) # 7, and the Marvel Collectors Item (dated March '67) # 7 were the issues, and I bought them about 1971/72 so they may have been sitting in a warehouse for a while before then. I distinctly remember a pile of maybe 15 or 20 comics sitting on the shelf in the newsagents, alongside the usual spinner rack of comics.

"Incidentally, I recall this was the shop that I first bought Scientific American from, in 1972. [Checking up on JSTOR] I can confirm the Scientific American was issue August 1972. Why did I notice it and buy it? (And it was relatively pricey then, but I don't recall how much). That was because - and I hadn't seen or heard of this magazine before - the title was two words I was interested in: 'Scientific' and 'American'. Also, this particular issue had an article on 'The Birth of Stars', which was also of interest to me.

"You have to remember that, back then, a lot of British publications were printed in black and white (at least most interiors) with poor quality photographs, and I was quite taken by 'The Birth of Stars' article, with its high quality images of star nebulae, their vivid colours and beauty.” – Nigel

Stop #12: Simpson of Southsea Newsagent, 37 Osbourne Road

This was one of relatively few newsagents that stocked US Marvel comics.

“Round the corner from our house in Ashburton Road, this was our local newsagents, delivering every morning my parents’ Daily Express and for me, the UK comics Cor!, Joe 90, Fantastic, Terrific, Look-In and later Countdown. The first issue of Look-In was cover-dated January 8th 1971, and the first issue of Countdown came out just over a month later in February 1971. These two title debuts bracketed the February 15th 1971 change to decimal currency in the UK.

“Simpson’s displayed Marvels on a rotating rack, and sold them right up to when distribution was cut back following Amazing Spider-Man #120, being the last UK distributed issue due to Marvel’s perceived own competition from Spider-Man Comics Weekly which debuted in February 1973. I remember getting Amazing Spider-Man #s 100-120 from there as they came out. It was devastating to see adverts in later distributed US Marvels about the unattainable events happening in the newly non-available Spider-Man’s # 121 and 122 (decades-late spoiler alert (!) – they featured the death of Gwen Stacey).” – Nigel

"I also have memories of picking up a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #120 that same day with Nigel. I also have much later memories (around the end of 1980) of picking up copies of Daredevil by Frank Miller and early Moon Knights by Bill Sienkiewicz in his days of drawing in a Neal Adams pastiche." - Ian

Stop #13: 2nd Hand Shop two doors inside Kent Road from Castle Road

“This was our equivalent of the Mile High Comics discovery of the Edgar Church collection! I’ll never forget the surprise and wonder of going into this shop – a place I’d never visited before – and faced with piles and piles of DCs stacked up all around the interior, going back to the early 60s. I think they either had some comics in the window that I noticed as I sped by on my bicycle, or there were some in a box outside the shop. They’d obviously just acquired a huge collection from someone. I bought what comics in the Superman lines that I could (one was Action Comics #314 ‘The Day Superman became The Flash’) then cycled madly round to Ian to rave about the place. I recall telling Ian at his front-door, I hadn’t even waited to go inside the house.

“At that point, after I’d bought up what I wanted from that shop, I remember that was the maximum extent of the numbers of American comics I had – there was barely room in my bedroom for them. I recall my Mum made an unhappy comment about the untidy piles of comics on top of cupboards.” – Nigel

“I think I only bought comics there once – probably the only time they had American comics to sell. They had a big pile of second-hand DCs, 2p each. I think we bought them all between us. I got the Batmans and Detectives originally, but went back with my Dad for the Lois Lanes and Jerry Lewis’s later.” – Ian

[Well, that's it for this week. A lot more to come as we head to the areas of Portsea and Landport in subsequent installments.]