Bronze Age Sub-Mariner Splash Page Saturdays # 57

This issue is WET! Subby's creator Bill Everett rallies one final time for a full issue on his own and it may well be his magnum opus, going so far as to resurrect Everett's other major Marvel (or rather Atlas) character, Venus!

As far as the splash here, let's just say the word "splash" is most appropriate. One might quibble with Namor's anatomy  but this is an amazing splash page. While Everett will continue on a bit longer, he will never again be at full strength, using assistants and in-house retouches from Romita's Raiders.

If you can find this issue, though, enjoy! THIS is the one true Sub-Mariner!

Attention Kindle Users!

Do you have a Kindle? You can now get BOOKSTEVE'S LIBRARY's daily postings delivered to your Kindle for only 99 cents per month!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007PDI6EM

Let's Recap

Just a warning that there is yet again a very real chance that we may end up being offline for a while after the first due to lack of payment. Should this occur--or even if it doesn't--we wanted to remind you that there are plenty of cool things to read on all 12 of the Booksteve Blogs.

This blog, BOOKSTEVE'S LIBRARY, is celebrating its 6th year this year and there are over 3000 posts you can go back and pick up on dealing with forgotten films, cool comic books, Linda Blair, Hayley Mills, ads, book reviews and much more.

GOING FOR BROKE-THE CHRISTA HELM STORY archives our exclusive coverage of the life and murder of the tragic starlet. A fascinating story that may soon become an e-book.

HOORAY FOR WALLY WOOD--Wallace Wood died in 1981 but 2012 is easily his most successful year ever with two lovely new hardcover books out so far and two (or maybe four!) more due by the end of the year. You'll find lots of rare photos and examples of his work here. More than 700 posts here.

SHADES OF GRAY--Similar to the above, this one shares the art of the unique comics artist and sci-fi painter, Gray Morrow who died a decade back.

THE BOOKSTEVE CHANNEL is our newest blog, highlighting my personal relationship with television shows an specials from the past five decades.

BOOKSTEVE PRESENTS is following my attempts at learning about Italian slow cooking to promote a new Italian slow cooker cookbook.

DAYS OF ADVENTURE offers issue by issue highlights from nearly fifty years of ADVENTURE COMICS, home to, among others, Sandman, Superboy, the Spectre, the Bizarros and The Legion of Super Heroes.

FOUR COLOR SHADOWS is my Rondo-nominated blog reprinting rare, interesting or unusual comic book stories from the thirties to the sixties. It's been getting a lot of good press lately and as of this writing there are 660 stories there you can read!

A GEEK'S JOURNAL, 1976 is the one that really went through the roof. All last year, day by day, we posted my high school diary to a bizarre and wonderful level of acceptance. This one will be going away soon--with an expanded book to possibly follow!

1974, A GEEK'S FIRST JOURNAL is the (surprisingly) much demanded follow-up chronicling the movies, comics and dirty magazines in the life of 15 year old me back in the mid-seventies.

After those two years, go back even further to 1966, MY FAVORITE YEAR, in my opinion the single best pop culture year of the 20th century. 386 posts of music, books, movies, TV and comics there.

And finally, BOOKSTEVE'S BOOKSTORE PLUS! was quite successful in netting us some much needed money last year but sales have fallen off drastically. If you get your tax refund or have a little extra, please take a look at the more than 100 items still offered there, many recently marked down form already low, low prices!

Find links to all of the above over on the right sidebar and enjoy! Don't forget to let us know what you think!

As always, many thanks for everyone's support. We aren't going anywhere, even if we do end up getting briefly interrupted. So keep checking back for more pop culture goodness!

Coming up next month--The final Cincinnati Old Time Radio Con and the annual Stevens Point, Wisconsin Weekend-long Trivia Contest! And on the Wally Wood blog, my review of the variant edition of IDW's incredible new EC original art book! (Thanks to Scott D. for snagging me a copy!)

The Farrah Fawcett Fan Club

If you followed my 1976 blog, you know that, like every other red-blooded American teenage boy in the Bicentennial year, I was a BIG Farrah fan! In fact, the following year I even joined the Farrah Fawcett Fan Club! I wrote all about it a few years back on the late, lamented BUBBLEGUMFINK blog but Fink took that post with him when he crashed and burned. Today I found some of the scans of the Fan Club kit on an old hard drive!

The Avengers Dead Man's Treasure Hunt Murdersville Weekend

The Bull's Eye--Green Arrow's Joker

Over at our DAYS OF ADVENTURE blog, I've noted in recent weeks how surprised I was to discover that the Golden Age Green Arrow and Speedy had their own version of Batman and Robin's arch-villain, The Joker--theirs being The Bull's-Eye. Reader Kelly writes to tell me that, in fact, this crime clown actually debuted earlier in two issues of WORLD'S FINEST. So I found those splashes, presented here. Check out his later appearances at DAYS OF ADVENTURE!

Dee As Art

Friend and fellow writer Dee Sutter, photo taken and "psychedelically enhanced" yesterday. Check out Dee's newest eBook, JOURNEY OF SHADOWS, edited by yours truly.

Bronze Age Sub-Mariner Splash Page Saturdays # 56

The bad news--Bill Everett is missing. The good news--Dan Adkins who had drawn Namor in some of his TALES TO ASTONISH stories a few years earlier fills in with this absolutely marvelous splash. The design, the coloring, the lettering and the art itself. After the frenetic Everett work of recent issues, the innate calm here is almost palpable. One of my favorites of the whole run.

The Single Most Important Magazine In My Entire Collection.

This 1972 issue of GRAPHIC STORY WORLD was--


1st Fanzine I ever saw, my introduction to organized fandom.


First info I ever had on EC, a company I'd never heard of before.


Introduction to Gilbert Shelton, one of my all-time favorite cartoonists.


Introduction to the work of Dan Spiegle, another favorite artist.


First time I ever saw uninked Kirby pencils.


First time I ever heard of Shel Dorf.


Intro to the mag's publisher, Richard Kyle, later credited with coining the term "graphic novel."


 Introduced me to foreign comics including LUC ORIENT, BERNARD PRINCE and BRUNO BRAZIL, all of which later became favorites even though I can't read a word of them!


And most importantly, I ordered the "free lifetime subscription" to TBG from an ad here, starting my sub with issue 17 and continuing it for another 25 years long past the point where they started charging and went weekly!

Masked Men, Danger Men, Castaways and Lamb Stew!

Just another plug for our newest Booksteve Blog, THE BOOKSTEVE CHANNEL, in which I'm having great fun chronicling my own personal association with TV shows over the years.

We certainly haven't abandoned the Library but this is one of those weeks when real life is insisting on being an issue (remember, donations are appreciated and check out our sale site for bargains!) so I'm devoting a bit more energy to getting that one started.
http://bookstevechannel.blogspot.com/

And don't forget our promotional blog, BOOKSTEVE PRESENTS, currently serving up my adventures and misadventures in Italian cooking (and eating!).

http://bookstevepresents.blogspot.com/

Superman Faces the Consequences!

Another New Blog!!??

Check out my latest blog!

http://bookstevechannel.blogspot.com/

Bookstore Bargains--Order While They Last

We've sold about half of what we put on our sale site but as of this writing, there are still 118 items there including some great bargains. So today's post here will be reprinting some posts from there.

This oversized bound portfolio was originally done up as a fundraiser in the seventies for the folks behind THE MENOMONEE FALLS GAZETTE and THE COMIC READER.

Just about anyone who was anyone at the time in comic books or strips contributed to it.

Frank Thorne
Wally Wood
Gray Morrow
Don Heck
Berni Wrightson
Walt Simonson
Jim Starlin
Dick Giordano
Sal Buscema
Milton Caniff
and a score more!

The copy seen above is not my copy. It wouldn't fit the scanner so I found another online to show you. Because of it's size, this has been hard to store properly and the copy being offered is a tad rumpled and has what appear to be a couple of ancient, non-invasive cat scratches on the front cover.

It's been offered for upwards of $100.00 online recently in only slightly better condition.

Our copy: $75.00 postpaid!

********************************************************************************

Still got your cassette player? If so, here's 45 hours of entertainment! If you're a fan of classic radio, you already know these series. If not, here's what you get:

GUNSMOKE--The classic story of Marshal Matt Dillon in Dodge City. What we have here is an ultra-rare 5 hour radio documentary from 1976 featuring William Conrad, radio's original Dillon! Lots of clips, history and full episodes! Also included are ever rarer audition episodes with other actors!

NICK CARTER, MASTER DETECTIVE--The elegant Lon Clark personified this classic pulp detective on the air and here are 17 action-filled whodunits for the mystery fan. I got to appear with Clark in a re-creation of an episode on stage. I played a dog.

FIBBER McGEE and MOLLY--One of the all-time great radio series, this one pioneered a sitcom within its essentially variety show format and arguably had the most memorable characters in all of radio comedy! Included here is the special one hour all-star 15th Anniversary episode form 1949!

THE ALDRICH FAMILY--This series defined the sitcom as we came to know it. Typical teenager Henry Aldrich came from a stage play and also inspired Andy Hardy and even Archie Andrews! I was privileged to appear as sidekick Homer to the original star, Ezra Stone's, Henry on stage in the early nineties.

FRED ALLEN--A collection of sketches and complete episodes from one of THE great wits of the 20th Century, the acerbic Fred Allen, complete with lots of celebrity guest stars and many classic strolls down "Allen's Alley."

Enjoy them in your car or in the privacy of your own home. Or better yet...introduce the younger generation to entertainment like they've never heard before.

Packaged in booklike containers, each housing six audio cassettes, I have to say that at the time these were the most entertaining things in the world to me. They just never got old. But my car's cassette player is long broken and I no longer have time to listen here inside.

$35.00 gets all 5 packages with a total of 35 tapes. That's only a little more than $1.00 per tape for some mighty good listening!

$35.00 + $5.00 postage

**********************************************************************************


If you were of a certain age in the late sixties--early seventies, like anywhere between 9 and 16, odds are you were a fan of DARK SHADOWS, the creepy soap opera that found unlikely success with kids and teens. And by success, I don't just mean a little success, I mean phenomenal success! Vampire character Barnabas Collins was on the cover of not just FAMOUS MONSTERS but also SIXTEEN and TIGER BEAT! He appeared on the nationally syndicated kids show, BOZO THE CLOWN, too!

Anyway, the series' legions of now-middle-aged devotees are still loyal and the entire run of episodes with all its werewolves, ghosts, vampires, alternate dimensions, old Gods gothic romance and sideburns is out on DVD.

Here, however, are a couple of VHS samplers. The first is THE BEST OF DARK SHADOWS with, obviously, highlight clips from the series. The second, BLOOPERS, deals with the fact that the series was done on the cheap, often with no retakes, leaving in forgotten lines, missed cues, stray electricians, swaying cardboard headstones, etc.


$6.00 for the pair of VHS tapes +$4.00 postage



*******************************************************************************

In March of 2010, I reviewed this book as a guest reviewer on the wonderful book site PATTINASE. Here's that review:

I’m known for an interest in old television and comics so I chose for my review a novel that combines the two…literally. Batman Vs. Three Villains of Doom by the pseudonymous “Winston Lyon” was originally published in the year of Batmania, 1966. To the best of my knowledge, it was the very first prose appearance of Batman and Robin and it isn’t at all bad. It is, however, rather an odd bird in and of itself.

Although ostensibly a tie-in to the then-new and phenomenally hot Batman TV series, Batman Vs. Three Villains of Doom is in actuality a bizarre hybrid of parts of that series and the more serious (by comic book hero standards at least) 1950’s DC comics stories of the Dynamic Duo.

The author seems to have been given at least some access to the TV series or perhaps simply early scripts as we have the familiar bust of Shakespeare opening the Batcave entrance, Alfred (who was deceased at that time in the comics!) protecting the characters’ secret identities from Aunt Harriet and over the top scenes such as Bruce Wayne reading and memorizing every story from a score of daily newspapers.

On the other hand, we also have the Batcave entrance being in the Wayne Manor living room as opposed to the private study, the batsignal displayed on the side of the tallest building in Gotham and we are introduced to “Inspector” O’Hara, the Irish cop.

As for this book itself, there’s a natural tendency to presume that it might be the source material for the Batman feature film that was made and released before the end of the year but it was not. There are three of the same four villains from the movie, there’s a yacht and there’s a scene where the Caped Crusader has to get rid of a bomb but the similarities end there. “Lyon” would, himself, go on to also novelize the Batman movie, but that’s another book and another story.

At 128 pages, this is a short novel but nicely laid out. In the beginning we are shown a conference of criminals in which the Joker, the Penguin and the Catwoman are all introduced as competitors for crimedom’s “Tommy Award,” a gold-plated tommy gun, to be presented for killing Batman. Tellingly, the characters are all described as they looked in the old comics instead of their television incarnations, with the Joker being tall and thin (a description that would never have fit Cesar Romero!) and the Catwoman having a “smoothly furred leotard” and a long green cloak.

Batman and Robin have already gotten wind of this confab, however, and arrive to break it up, capturing Catwoman in the process but being themselves bested by the Penguin. We then see Penguin take his shot at winning the award with a long, realistically paced chase scene and a genuinely thrilling blimp crime.

When the Tuxedoed Terror inevitably fails in his ultimate quest, the Joker takes his turn. It is pointed out that this is the truly insane Clown Prince of Crime from the early comics or as he returned in the 1970’s. The Joker is genuinely scary in some of his scenes, both to the other characters and the reader as well.

Finally, just when you think it should be over, an escaped Catwoman returns to the plot with the deadliest trap yet for the Caped Crusaders.

“Deadly” is a good word for the criminals’ intentions here, by the way. On the series, the serious consequences of the villains’ attempts at “getting rid of” Batman and Robin were always downplayed and even sugarcoated. Here, that is most definitely not the case. For example, the Joker tricks Robin into leaping at a dummy and then immediately opens a trap door beneath them so that Robin will fall directly into corrosive acid a mere five feet below him! How he survives that very realistic and scary trap is the biggest stretch of credibility that the reader is asked to buy in the entire novel.

Which brings us to the biggest fault of Batman Vs. Three Villains of Doom—it can’t make up its mind as to how serious it wants to be! The parts of the book that play like a straightforward crime story are the best with the author giving almost noir-ish descriptions of settings and fight scenes. On the other hand, the concept of “camp” as popularized by the TV series seemed to completely throw him and he instead relied on a vague Mad-style (or maybe Cracked-style) parody feel in the book’s few attempts at actually treading that fine line.

“Winston Lyon,” by the way, was the pen name for former comic book writer William Woolfolk. Woolfolk had worked on many comic heroes beginning in the 1940’s including Blackhawk and the original Captain Marvel. He even claimed to have coined the latter’s “Holey Moley!” catchphrase. Two heroes he had not worked on before, though, were Batman and Robin.

By the early 1960’s, Woolfolk won praise as one of the main writers for the long-running television legal drama, the Defenders. He became a successful novelist both as Winston Lyon and under his own name, eventually even hitting the bestseller list, a feat his daughter, Donna Woolfolk Cross, would repeat many years later with her 1996 novel, Pope Joan.

Batman fans all have their own idea of how the character “should” be so this unusual and unique combination of serious and silly versions may not appeal to everyone but taken as a product of its time I found it immensely entertaining and, for the most part, very well written by an author who seemed to have quite a good feel for the characters. I wish he had written more Batman stories!

Batman Vs. Three Villains of Doom, with its Adam West cover, was originally published in April of 1966 and is long out of print.

My copy of BATMAN VS 3 VILLAINS OF DOOM is a well-loved copy that undoubtedly went through several hands before ending with me in the eighties. The front cover has a crease down the middle. The back cover has a small tear that also cuts slightly into the final page. Overall, the book shows its age but is fully together and readable.


Was $10.00 + $3.00 postage


Now only $8.00 + $3.00 postage!

********************************************************************************

There's lots more of the same over at BOOKSTEVE'S BOOKSTORE PLUS! and we could really use the money. Please check it out!

The Official Barf Book Revisited

Efforts to create a Facebook Page for Craig Yoe's THE OFFICIAL BARF BOOK in recent days have failed due to various Facebook policies, not the least of which is that "barf" seems to be one of their forbidden words when it comes to pages (although I'm sure I've seen worse!). I have created a group for the book but the group page leaves something to be desired and, as yet, there isn't much there.



Here, however, we see the opening pages of several sections in this disgusting--but hilarious and educational!-- book written by yours truly.

Some marvelous illustrations in the rock section, all by Greg Oakes, with whom I have since become friends online!

This section below was probably the hardest to write as I had to watch a  LOT of applicable scenes from various films to determine the most...the best...the...well...Yuck!

I wrote a number of limericks used elsewhere in the book but the two below were actually contributions from longtime friend of this blog, Lisa Mynx.

THE OFFICIAL BARF BOOK really is the perfect April Fool's Day gift. Still time to get it by April 1st if you order today! See the Amazon Link elsewhere on this page.

Week of Hong

Coming soon from many of the same folks--myself included--who participated in last year's weeklong tribute to actor Yaphet Kotto, comes a similar six day celebration of the works of actor James Hong who seemed to be in everything in the seventies. And I mean everything! Wait until you see what film we'll be writing about here.

Bronze Age Sub-Mariner Splash Page Saturdays # 55

Note that this one says "A Bill Everett Production" rather than credit him with anything specific. It's obvious he does the lion's share of the work again but some of the inking--as well as some pasteovers or retouching--is clearly from someone else. That's Namor's old girlfriend Betty Dean in the glasses, about to take custody of the Prince's jailbait cousin so he can get on with some adventures and stuff. 

As splash pages go, this one is largely exposition, quickly finishing off the preceding, problematic storyline in order to introduce a big, kind of silly looking monster. I do like the design of Betty's dress, though, and the muted colors are always welcome. At the point where the fans were reading this and raving about Everett's big comeback, little did we know he had only about six months to live. 

R.I.P.--You're Only As Good As Your Last Picture

Thanks to all the fans who supported my movie blog, YOU'RE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR LAST PICTURE but earlier today, after long consideration and more than a year since I've been able to update that one, I decided to pull the plug on it. If possible, I may incorporate new posts on the subject here at BOOKSTEVE'S LIBRARY in the future or, if posting becomes an issue here, reprint some of the old posts, as well.

Depending on how you look at it, this leaves me down to a more manageable eleven blogs...or an uneven eleven blogs. Do I need one more to fill that gap? If so, what subject?? Any suggestions?

Encyclopedia Brittanica

Here's Donavan Freberg (with the voice of his father Stan) with one of the most memorable commercials of its day (which was 1991). Today Brittanica announced they would no longer be publishing the encyclopedia. The future is here. R.I.P.

Donavan, by the way, went on to be a brilliant photographer and is one of my Facebook friends.

We Appreciate Your Support

Crunch time on some bills again and now we have some computer issues, too! Aargh!  If you like what we do here (and on our other 11 blogs!) we ask that you consider a PayPal donation (on the sidebar) to help keep us doing it! If you've given in the past, we appreciate your support more than you can know but you aren't eligible to give again at this time. Take care of yourselves.  Thanks!

Seen here, btw, are two of my newest pieces of computer pop art, the first I have made in more than two years!

Rare Bob Kane Batman From 1985

March DVD Update

Lots of new things this time around at BOOKSTEVE RARITIES. Here are just a few.

NEW ITEMS AS OF March 1, 2012

BLONDIE: The Television Series 

In the 1950s, a short-run television series starred Arthur Lake and Pamela Britton (with Harold Peary as Mr. Dithers), based on the long-running comic strip of the same name. Yes, Lake was reprising his role of Dagwood from the movies. These half-hour TV shows are very enjoyable. This five disc set includes the following: The Pilot Show, Mr. Dithers is Hospitalized, Deception, The Payoff Money, Made to Fire, Alexander's Birthday Party, Dagwood's Ego, The Lamp, Get That Gun, The Spy, Howdy Neighbor!, Mr. Dithers Moves In, Husbands Once Removed, Blondie is the Bread Winner, The Grouch, Puppy Love, The Payoff Money, Rummage Sale, The Tramp, Blondie Redecorates, and The Quiz Show. This is a five-DVD box set!  $25

THE TALL MAN  (Complete Series)

Fictionalized stories about Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, set in New Mexico in the 1870s. The complete 1960-62 television western, all 75 half-hour episodes, are contained in this eight-DVD box set. Stars Barry Sullivan and Clu Gulager. Guests include Kermit Maynard, Leonard Nimoy, Martin Landau, George Macready, Jim Davis, Andy Clyde, George Kennedy and more!

$40.00 

ORCHIDS AND ERMINE  (1921)

Even if you don't care much for silent movies, this is one of the ten must-see films. Known as the film debut of Mickey Rooney (age 3), it's also one of the funniest films ever made. Colleen Moore plays a switchboard operator at a fancy hotel who meets an oil millionaire from Oklahoma but thinks he's just the valet. Comical situations start to happen. Very witty, very funny, and gorgeous picture quality (especially considering the fact we've bought four different releases of this movie till we finally found a gorgeous one).

THE GOOD HUMOR MAN  (1950) 

Biff Jones is a driver/salesman for the Good Humor ice-cream company. He hopes to marry his girl, Margie, who works as a secretary for Stuart Nagel, an insurance investigator. Margie won't marry Biff, though, because she is the sole support for her kid brother, Johnny. When gangsters come into the picture, Biff tries to help out --only to be accused of murder. When the police refuse to believe his story, Biff and Johnny set out to prove Biff's innocence and solve the crime. Stars Jack Carson, George Reeves and Lola Albright.

REX BELL WESTERNS 

Six classic cowboy Westerns starring Rex Bell. The Tonto Kid (1934), Law and Lead (1936), Saddle Aces (1935), The Idaho Kid (1936), Gunfire (1934) and West of Nevada (1936). This is a two-DVD set.

To order any of these or hundreds more rare items, go here!

Bronze Age Sub-Mariner Splash Page Saturdays # 54

This one has an excuse. Looks like Bill Everett pulled it together and finished the story that was left undone halfway through the previous issue. Unfortunately, there was no new splash--just the next page. Editor Roy Thomas or someone pulled together a fake splash here by devoting the top quarter page to the horrendously colored new title for this second half. And that's all it is, too, as this one also ends halfway through. The issue is padded out with a fun backup by the always-interesting Alan Weiss. For Everett's part, his panels seem less detailed than usual and there's some obvious retouching from John Romita. 

R.I.P-- Moebius/Jean Giraud