Rare John Byrne

Here are a couple of Charlton text stories with spot illustrations by then-soon-to-be fan fave John Byrne. These were from, of all places, issues of BEETLE BAILEY!

Bronze Age Sub-Mariner Splash Page Saturdays # 49

We skipped last week so just a reminder: we're in mid-'72 at this point and Gene Colan is Subby's regular artist. This issue is inked by Frank Giacoia. Although generally considered on of comics' most reliable inkers of the period, his work really doesn't fit well with Colan's more fluid style.

Still, this splash is pretty good with Namor facing off against Modok and his androids. Odd that Modok's mouth is completely covered since he's speaking so much.

Sub-Mariner is nicely ramed by his attackers and the overall coloring works for a change.

I don't care for the "hip" font used for the title, "The Dream Stone" but other than that, I'd call this a good one.

February Update Highlights at Booksteve Rarities

As always, there are some real gems within this month's BOOKSTEVE RARITIES updates. A portion of each sale goes directly to us and helps maintain the booksteve blogs. Thanks!

Go here to order:  http://oldtimeradiotapes.homestead.com/StevenSiteHome.html

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO: The Complete Series

George Dolenz plays Edmond Dantes, alias The Count of Monte Cristo, in this joint US-UK version from 1956. The first twelve episodes were produced in Hollywood, then the remainder of the series produced in England. Al 39 episodes from the 1956-57 television program are in this 5-disc box set. Watch for such guests as Margaret Whiting, Walter Kingsford, Nancy Hale, John Loder, Ian Fleming and Patrick Troughton!  $25

SCREEN DIRECTOR'S PLAYHOUSE: The Complete Series

This eight-DVD set contains every episode of the TV series, based on the radio program of the same name. Includes "Tom and Jerry" with Peter Lawford and Marie Windsor, "Rookie of the Year" with John Wayne and Vera Miles, "Lincoln's Doctor's Dog" with Charles Bickford, "The Silent Partner" with Zasu Pitts and Buster Keaton, "Number Five Checked Out" with Peter Lorre, "Prima Donna" with Jeannette MacDonald, "The Sword of Villon" with Errol Flynn, "Markheim" with Rod Steiger and Ray Milland, "Claire" with Angela Lansbury, "High Air" with William Bendix and Dennis Hopper, "The Titanic Incident" with Barbara Morrison, "Hot Cargo" with Yvonne de Carlo and Rory Calhoun, "Cry Justice" with Dick Haymes and Macdonald Carey, "Affair at Sumatra" with Ralph Bellamy and Basil Rathbone, "Want Ad Wedding" with Jimmy Lydon, "The Brush Roper" with Chuck Connors and Walter Bennan, "Final Tribute" with Laraine Day and Thomas Mitchell, "The Life of Vernon Hathaway" with Alan Young and Cloris Leachman, "Meet the Governor" with Barbara Hale, "Day is Done" with Rory Calhoun, "A Midsummer Daydream" with Kim Hunter and Keenan Wynn, "Arroyo" with Jack Carson, "A Most Unusual Day" with Fred MacMurray, "The Dream" with Sal Mineo and George Sanders, "What Day Is It?" with Gower Champion, "Every Man Has Two Wives" with Barry Nelson and Janet Blair, "A Ticket for Thaddeus" with Edmond O'Brien, "The Carroll Formula" with Michael Wilding, "White Corridors" with Patricia Hitchcock, "One Against Many" with Lew Ayers, "Partners" with Brandon De Wilde, "Apples on Lilac Time" with Macdonald Carey and Joan Caufield, "The Day I Met Caruso" with Walter Coy, and "Bitter Waters" with George Sanders, Constance Cumming and Robert Vaughn. This is an eight-disc box set.  $40

THE COMPLETE JOHNNY MACK BROWN (Volume Four)

Here it is at last! The fourth and final volume completing all the Johnny Mack Brown Westerns! This ELEVEN disc set contains the following movies! Dead Man's Trail (1952), Silver Range (1946), The Gambling Terror (1937), Colorado Ambush (1951), Law of the Panhandle (1950), Texas City (1952), Range Justice (1949), Undercover Man (1936), Gentleman from Texas (1946), Desert Phantom (1936), Border Bandits (1946), Deep in the Heart of Texas (1942), Crossed Trails (1948), Frontier Feud (1945), Whistling Hills (1951), The Crooked Trail (1936), Trail of Vengeance (1937), Lone Star Trail (1943), A Lawman is Born (1937), Guns in the Dark (1937), Bar Z Bad Man (1937), Code of the Saddle (1947), Oklahoma Frontier (1939), Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie (1941), Boss of Hangtown Mesa (1942), Boothill Brigade (1937), Lawless Land (1937), Law Men (1944), Wells Fargo (1937), and Man from Sonora (1951).

Remember this is an eleven disc set! $50

JAMES DEAN: FIVE TV PROGRAMS

Before he became a celluloid icon, James Dean was an actor on television during the Golden Age of "live" telecasts. This 2-DVD set contains such classics as THE BELLS OF COCKAIGNE (1952), THE UNLIGHTED ROAD (1955), SOMETHING FOR AN EMPTY SUITCASE (1953), I'M A FOOL (1954 with Natalie Wood) and THE JAMES DEAN STORY (1957). Bonus shorts include movie trailers, a TV commercial with James Dean and more!

THELMA TODD: SIX FILM SHORTS

More comedy film shorts not available on DVD before! All starring Thelma Todd! Patsy Kelly and Zasu Pitts can be seen in these as well! WHISPERING WHOOPIE (1930), AT THE SEA SHORE (1936), HILL-BILLIES (1936), ASLEEP IN THE FEET (1933), BACKS TO NATURE (1933) and TOP FLAT (1935).

Naithom, Star Trek and Me

Congrats to my lovely wife for her success in writing STAR TREK fan-fic! Here's a link to download her latest short story (in PDF format), as seen above. Live long and prosper, sweetie!  

HFO PLogs-02x-Naithom-120126a.pdf

Archie-It's a Dame Shame

Odd to see Archie in a text story and even odder to have the title be a pun on an expression one would NEVER find in an Archie comic book!

Random Panels of Comic Book Weirdness # 96

If you've missed the frequency of these panels here, please note that we've got several photo albums full of them on Facebook. You can access the latest, RANDOM PANELS MAKIN' MERRY LIKE IT WAS CHRISTMAS at the following public link. 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151084237685076.778733.859435075&type=3&l=0c38edef09 

Happy Hembeck Day!

A birthday shoutout to Fred Hembeck, he of the swirly knees. I first discovered Fred way back in the seventies in fanzines and followed his cartoon self through a long series of completely drawn and hand-lettered "columns" in TBG/CBG and on into mainstream acceptance with various specials and strips at Marvel and DC.

Fred was one of my earliest supporters when I started this blog and my wife and son and I got to hang out briefly with Mr. H and his lovely wife Lynn (herself a longtime cartoon character in Fred's strips!) a couple of years back at Mid-Ohio Con.

Check out his multi-faceted site here: http://www.hembeck.com/index2.htm

You can order a copy of his telephone book sized strip collection from 2008 at the link below.