Super Stuff in the Bronze Age: August 2022

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Comics placement in Movies: The Wrong Arm of the Law

Spent part of this Saturday afternoon re-watching the 1963 British comedy The Wrong Arm of The Law. I’m sure many of our UK readers recall seeing this film many times on Christmas afternoons in the early 1970s, when I used to avidly watch any British comedy film of the late-1950s and early 1960s.

The film The Wrong Arm of the Law was one of the last films that Southsea-native Peter Sellers made in England before decamping to Hollywood, paired with Lionel Jeffries (incidentally Jeffries' brother owned a TV aerial and electronics shop in Southsea) for comic support.

Studio Canal have remastered this black & white film for blu-ray and the image really sparkles. Peter Sellers and Lionel Jeffries are on top form, and the extensive London suburb location work of various High Streets has real nostalgia value for a time of long gone streets and cars.

The film remains most famous for the high-speed car chase around Uxbridge Moor in a classic Aston Martin DB4, but this time around my eye was caught by comic books on display.

There is a scene half-way through the film when police officers are idling the time in a control room on "No Crime" night, when the gangs of London have agreed a truce. To pass the time, they are all reading different magazines.

Take a look at this shot; what do you see? Look closely.

Dominating the foreground is the Dell Comic Car 54 Where Are You?, issue #3, cover dated October 1962, published in the US June 14th 1962. The earliest this comic would have been on sale in the UK was at the very end of September 1962.

Car 54, Where Are You? had aired on NBC on TV in the States from September 1961 to April 1963, but it was not until April 9th 1964 that ITV premiered the show in the UK, with the final UK transmission on 29th September 1966. The strong placement of the comic on screen would only have had relevance for US cinema-goers at the time of the films release in 1963.

The eagle-eyed among you will have spotted the 'Superman' logo on the magazine that the young lad is reading in the background. It is an unusual styling of the logo. After a bit of digging, I've concluded that the comic in question is an issue of UK comic weekly Buster, folded around to show the Superman masthead from an interior page.

According to George Shiers' "Whacky Comics" blog, Superman US newspaper strips were repurposed in the UK in 1959 for the pages of Radio Fun, continuing right up until the title merged with Buster in 1961, at which point it continued in Buster for a further year. The panel below (credit the Whacky Comics blog) is a sample of a Superman page within Buster.

So we can conclude that the Buster comic (published prior to the end of 1962) and Car 54 #3 (in UK end Sept 1962) were reasonably contemporaneous, but there is a timing mystery concerning the headline of a newspaper seen on screen a few seconds later. (See below).

The newspaper headline "Ron Flowers Collapses" refers to Wolves football (soccer) player, wing half Ron Flowers, who collapsed from 'flu during the England national team practice on 12th April 1962. It is interesting that a newspaper at least six months old was used in the filming.

I am coming to the conclusion that the scene with Car 54 and Superman were cut in at a later date for the US release of the film, and that UK Studio Canal have restored the film from a US print.

There is one final shot of an unknown comic page in this scene. I have rotated the image should any of you wish to peruse your Buster collections to identify the exact page.

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

First Comics: The Brave & The Bold #67

Batman entered my life on May 21st 1966, when the TV show debuted on Southern TV in the UK, four months after it had premiered in the US. But it was four months later that I acquired my first American comic featuring Batman - Brave & Bold #67, the first ever team-up of Batman and Flash.

My memory is a little hazy, but I believe I was given it to occupy myself while my Mum had her hair permed at the Co-Op ladies hairdressers which used to occupy the upstairs floors of what is now The Slug and Lettuce in Palmerston Rd, Southsea (and incidentally where I also acquired The Green Hornet #1 and an Alan Class comic probably Creepy Worlds).

Looking at my Thorp & Porter calculator, I reckon the book appeared on UK newsagent spinner racks at the end of October 1966. By this time I had been fully exposed to the TV series, had acquired the Cherilea play figures, the 4-Square Batman paperback, a toy Batplane fired by catapult, and had been bought my first pack of Batman cards.

Brave & Bold #67 - “The Death of The Flash” - was written by Bob Haney, with artwork by Carmine Infantino , inked by the prolific Charles Paris. Carmine Infantino had been a frequent artist on B&B since issue #45 , illustrating Strange Sports Stories, but this was the first time he’d drawn Batman in the pages of this particular book, now that B&B had been re-invented as a superhero team-up comic. Infantino was the natural - perhaps only - choice, as he was strongly identified as the main Flash Artist and had been drawing Batman in the pages of Detective Comics since the advent of the New Look in 1964.

Re-reading the comic today, I am reminded that my first impression of the comic was formed by the splash page of Batman facing the reader and holding a dead Flash in his arms. I found this idea both shocking and confusing ; shocking because I don’t believe I had encountered death in comic book pages before, and confusing because I had not considered that other superheroes inhabited Batman’s universe. Who was this Flash?

Writer Bob Haney was acquiring a reputation as a writer of Batman stories which sat outside of canon, but were wildly entertaining. This story is full-on 'Haneyverse'.

The story involves a crime club which has developed “speed sneakers” using radiation, so that its members can steal valuables and out-run the police. In parallel, the Flash finds his super-speed is gradually killing him.

I won’t spoil the story (you must read it), but highlights include:

- Batman is a total klutz. Batman crashes first the Batmobile by driving down an alley too narrow to pass, and subsequently crashes the Whirly Bat into the corner of a building! (the Whirly-Bat was a staple in Batman's arsenal before the New Look, no engine - it appeared to be just a wooden chair with a helicopter rotor)

- Batman demonstrates convenient kit such as a jet pack revealed to be carried under his cape, as well as a segment of his utility belt that squirts enough black oil to cover the floor of an entire room.

The dialogue and panel captions are certainly tongue in cheek. I can’t quite make up my mind if Bob Haney’s “hip” commentary is trying to be authentic to appeal to teenagers, or is intended as a send-up. There are some great one-liners that now make me laugh out loud ; Batman calling Flash “FLASHER” ; the dialogue by the villain referring to their “Male Midget Member”.

And finally after many chases and some clever detection, Batman finally tracks down the villains’ lair which has a huge sign “Accelerated Gentleman’s Club” on the outside. At age 7, I had no inkling of what a ‘Gentleman’s Club’ implied.

Perhaps Haney was trying to capture some of the zaniness of the TV show. Back in 1966, I thought this was a great comic. I still do. The artwork was top-notch Infantino, with sympathetic inks by Charles Paris.

The ads in the comic opened up a whole new world for me. Free admission and rides at Palisades Amusement Park! (Did all US readers live in driving distance of New York?). Ads for G.I. Joe with kit we could only dream of in the UK. Plus everything in the comic was in colour!

This was not Carmine Infantino’s only issue of Brave & Bold. He subsequently drew B&B #72, which was a Spectre/Flash team up (well worth reading), but did not draw another B&B until 14 years later - issue #172, a Batman/Firestorm team up (“Darkness and Dark Fire”), which hit the stands in December 1980. That story could have been drawn in the sixties, apart from some concessions to the length of the ears on Batman's cowl. Even the Batmobile looks 1960s.. Written by (Gerry Conway , inks by Steve Mitchell)

A year later Infantino drew B&B #183 (Batman and The Riddler) “The Death of Batman” - the title perhaps a callback to the “The Death of the Flash” title of #67. (The artwork still evoked the 1960s, but the inks by Mike De Carlo detracted from Infantino’s pencils).

B&B #190 - was an Batman/Adam Strange team-up “Who Killed Adam Strange?” (there seems to be a death theme here), written by Mike W Barr, inked by Sal Trapani.

Finally, Infantino wound up his B&B tenure with issue #194 - fittingly a Batman/Flash team-up “Trade Heroes and Win” (Mike W Barr and Sal Trapani).

At age seven I was confused by the comic numbering of Batman, Detective and Brave & Bold, not really cottoning on to the fact that these were different titles, so it was not until I got serious about comics in 1971 that I started collecting B&B with a vengeance.

One final comment: I believe that Brave & Bold #67 (apart from being the first Batman/Flash team up) was the first time that the Flash was to be killed (or apparently killed) in a DC comic. If a concept is popular, it gets done over and over. The cover of Justice League of America #91 seems to be an homage to the B&B #67 splash page.

Monday, August 22, 2022

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

[ Continuing a multi-part blog documenting the Mad Comic Hunt of collecting American Comic books on Saturday afternoons in the early 1970s. You can read Part One here and Part Two here. -- baggsey]

An essential accessory to our comic hunting around Portsmouth was the canvas haversack that Nigel and I wore to hold the comics we collected along the way. These haversacks were purchased from Ben Grubb's Army Surplus store in Commercial Road, and were intended for carrying heavy school text books around. But at weekends, they were used for a better purpose. I don't think we were at all worried that the rough canvas would damage the comics.

Those of you following this blog series will recall that the previous stop was just inside Kent Rd, Southsea. We now re-mount our bikes for a quick trip of 50 yards or so into Castle Road, where we find...

Stop #14: Wilson & Co., 81 Castle Road. Newsagents at the bottom of Castle Road.

This newsagents is now a barber shop, but interestingly still retains the facade of the original newsagents. No plastic neon signs. The comic rack used to hang on the left hand side of the entrance. SuperStuff co-editor Nigel Brown reminisces:

“This was where my father used to stop to get cigarettes, after picking me and my brother up from Sunday School, on the way to my grandmother’s for our regular Sunday lunch. I remember him lifting me up to browse the comic rack – out of a child’s reach (perhaps to discourage pilfering as the rack was in the shop’s doorway!. We were allowed one comic each. When we got bigger, he used to detach the whole stand from the wall and bring it down to our height. After I accumulated sixty comics or so, I’d give them to my grandfather to sell (for a penny?) from a cardboard box he put on his counter at the family’s Edinburgh Road tobacco/confectionery shop.
“I bought many DCs here, from about 1967 onwards: mostly the Superman titles, Adventure Comics featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes, and also Flash. I remember being creeped out by the cover of Flash # 186 in 1969… but I still bought it!
"Stan Lee might be a legend, but in my book Jim Shooter's not far behind... .. not only did Shooter write the first Superman comic I read (Superman # 190), but he was 14 years old at the time!!
“This Castle Road newsagents was a reliable source of DCs – and also later well-positioned on the walk home from school – and seemed to stock a good range. I particularly remember buying Kirby’s stunning New Gods # 5 there, in 1971, and flicking through it in wonder, out in the street.” – Nigel

“Wilson’s was a newsagent owned by Mrs King, part of a local chain she and her late husband owned. I had a Saturday job in the Summer of 1978 opening the shop in the morning and marking up the papers for delivery, before heading to the Marina Cafe on Southsea Seafront for my other holiday job. By that date, Wilson's were no longer selling American comics.” – Ian

Leaving Wilson's, we head north towards Elm Grove, turning right/east to "Stan's", a shop which as the years rolled towards the mid-1970s, became one of the first ports of call for new Marvels.

Stop #15. S Stan, Newsagents, 76 Elm Grove, Southsea

Stan's was situated a couple of doors east of the Elm Grove/Grove Road North traffic lights. It was not a pre-possessing shop (well, which newsagents were?), but it was well placed as being almost adjacent to Knight & Lee's boys school-wear shop, which our mothers dragged us to for new bits of school uniform from time to time.

“Stan’s was a newsagent that carried Marvels (one of the relatively few places), and was a frequent stop in the 1975-1976 period, although the shop had been open under that management since 1972. I have no special memories of it, but looking back through my diary I know that I bought copies of Daredevil issues and Kirby’s return to Captain America there in early 1976” - Ian

From Stan's, we now head north towards Somerstown, an area of Portsmouth with an identity of its own. (That's code for it being a part of Portsmouth where you cycled warily, lest some of the local youths took a dislike to you.) Importantly for us, Somerstown featured both a good newsagents that stocked comics on a spinner rack inside the door.

Stop #16. A.G. Taylor and Son, Somers Road.

“There was a small newsagents in Somers Road, a DC shop. It had the spinner rack just inside the window. I remember getting Brave & Bold #97 there - the Wildcat team-up issue with a great Nick Cardy cover. I particularly remember that I picked up this issue having already read B&B #98 (The Phantom Stranger team-up) and #99 (The Flash team-up). This comic cemented my intention to collect Brave & Bold henceforth. I also remember that this shop was a good source of House of Mystery issues.The shop may have also featured a small Post Office Counter, but my memory is hazy on that score.” – Ian

Re-reading the comic today, it is a great Bob Haney tale that takes Bruce Wayne (and Batman) to South America. Although Bob Brown did the pencils, the inks are unmistakably Cardy's. His art style so dominates Bob Brown's pencils that some panels look like Cardy drew the whole thing. The panel of Batman's face below is prime Cardy.

There was to be one more stop in Somerstown before we headed towards the Dockyard.

Stop #17. Unknown newsagents in St Paul's Road area

The vagaries of urban redevelopment in Portsmouth have in many places completely razed row upon row of houses, and re-aligned roads, and built new blocks of flats. My pal Geoff Cousins and myself both remember a convenience store somewhere in the vicinity of St Paul's Road that we'd visit around 1974 on the bike ride, but a recent drive slowly cruising around the area yielded no evidence of the place. Perhaps some spark of memory will re-surface, but for now, we'll leave the area of Somerstown and head towards the Dockyard....in the next installment.

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

How Alfred Hitchcock brought Avengers Endgame to the movies in 1971

Fifty-One years ago this week my comic collecting began in earnest, when I bought Batman Giant #233 from Gardeners Newsagents in Albert Road, Southsea.

That same week Albert Hitchcock was filming a key scene of his film “Frenzy” near Covent Garden in London. I watched the film for the first time this afternoon, and the extensive location shooting of the Thames and the area in and around Covent Garden provide a captivating window into the past - a kind of disturbing “Look At Life” travelogue with a serial killer and an innocently accused man as an added bonus.

The eagle-eyed amongst those of you who are familiar with the film may have noticed the scene at 14m 57s, where our anti-hero, played by Jon Finch, enters an alley on Charing Cross Road, walking past a news stand.

Visible to the naked eye we can see Harvey Comics, Alan Class reprints, Time magazine, Private Eye, Punch, and a wide variety of other British magazines of the day. Talk about a camera into the past!

Unlike more recently filmed period pieces which feature comics of the era (eg Catch Me If You Can), Frenzy displays actual magazines on sale at the time of filming.

The Time magazine on display is of the week of Aug 9th 1971, while the Punch is for the week of 4th- 10th Aug 1971, so we have a pretty accurate pinpoint on when this scene was filmed.

The three Harvey comics on display are:

Richie Rich - #108 - Harvey - Aug 1971 - on sale in US May 15 1971
Wendy - The Good Little Witch - #68 (Aug) - on sale in US May 15 1971
Spooky #125 (Aug) - on sale in US May 15 1971

I was never a Harvey comic collector - in fact have no firm recollection of having seen them on the T&P spinner racks in Southsea, but here they are for all to see. And the dating of the filming giving some confirmation that Harvey, like DC and Marvel, were subject to a 3-month delay between US street-date and appearing on UK stands.

Of more interest to readers of this blog are the two Alan Class reprint comics:

Creepy Worlds #123 “The Final Battle” - 5p issue - reprinting The Avengers (Marvel, 1963 series) #71 (December 1969)
Uncanny Tales #80 - a 1/- and 5p dual-priced issue - pre- and post-decimalisation - featuring bland Science Fiction reprints from Forbidden Worlds (American Comics Group, 1951 series) #76 (March 1959)

"The Final Battle" story (actually titled 'Endgame') was to be reprinted a number of times, first by Alan Class, and then in the Oct 1975 UK Avengers Weekly #109, before next appearing in the US Marvel Super Action #32 (1981). It was then reprinted in the US a further 11 times, the most recent being the 2019 True Believers reprint timed to coincide with the release of the Marvel mega-movie "Avengers Endgame", which was based on the comic.

The Uncanny Tales story can make no claim for enduring in posterity, although it is graced by Al Williamson pencils. That said, Alan Class had had great success with reprinting this comic, having previously reprinted sections of it variously in Uncanny Tales #19, Forbidden Worlds #7, Astounding Stories #16 and #75, and would go on to reprint sections in Creepy Worlds #69 and #132 over the following two years! With its dual shilling/pence pricing, this particular issue may have been hanging around the newspaper rack for 6 months or more, since decimalization in February 1971.

I think that's about all I can discern from the books on display. Interesting to think that Alfred Hitchcock was the first director to bring Avengers Endgame to the big screen!

Alfred Hitchcock went to garner late career acclaim for the film, and I went on to a family holiday in Devon later that month.