The Strangest Sub-Mariner Tale of Them All

All of us comics fans know Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, Bill Everett's masterful anti-hero and the very FIRST Marvel super hero. Namor who fought his way through New York City and fought the Human Torch, Namor who was tried and convicted of murder, Namor who was ret-conned into the Invadersand fought nazis alongside the Torch and Toro and Captain America and Bucky, Namor who was awakened from years of amnesia to battle the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and Daredevil, Namor who regally defended the throne of sunken Atlantis from the likes of Attuma and Krang. Yeah, yeah. "Imperius Rex" and all that. Here, however, we offer two pages showing the one true Sub-Mariner in a different and perhaps thankfully forgotten light! This is from MARVEL MYSTERY # 89 from 1948.

Barney Beck

For the third Old Time Radio and Nostalgia Convention in Cincinnati (nearly twenty years ago now. Geez!), I adapted and directed a script called RESULTS INC. starring an all amateur cast. The hardest part was the special effects. We ended up tape recording endless variations on footsteps and doors opening. For gunshots, we had a box full of balloons and a paddleball paddle with a nail driven through it. We would rapidly pop the balloons and it worked fairly well. The following year, however, they brought in a pro.
Barney Beck was an absolutely delightful gentleman with a million stories and a great sense of humor. In the golden age of radio, he reportedly worked at various times on episodes of BOBBY BENSON, SUPERMAN, BOB AND RAY and THE SHADOW. Barney’s area of expertise was all but a lost art by the time we met but he took pride and delight in sharing it with all and sundry, both on a one on one basis or in groups. During the live on-stage re-creations, I sometimes just watched Barney running around his little sound effects area stage right. He knew exactly what, when, where and why and watching Barney at work was often like watching a skilled dancer. On the other hand, when he flubbed up (which was rare) he laughed louder than anyone and urged the cast to go on so as not to throw off his timing. One of the best compliments I ever received was when Barney told me after I acted in a re-creation performance that I was born 40 years too late and had missed my calling.
Barney Beck became a fixture at the Cincinnati Con for years until illness forced him to give it up. This past week, word came that Barney had died at age 86. Thanks for sharing yourself and your very special art form with all of us, sir. May your footsteps creak forever in our memories.

Monday Morning-The Ads

Not the Super Bowl ads if that's what you're expecting though. Around here, we have our own ads! Today's are from 1955 and feature Willie Mays, Mickey (CIRCUS BOY) Dolenz, POPEYE and Miracle Aid. Mark Evanier's been talking about Funny Face drinks which I loved as a child. Here's an earlier one:Miracle Aid- "If it tastes good it's a miracle." Anyway, sure looks tasty in this ad but seems to have been gone by the time I would've noticed ten years later. And finally...PIRATES!! Who says the world of fifty years ago was all that different than the one in which we find ourselves today?

Judge Dredd Ad

Here's a 1992 ad for a UK drink product contest featuring as unlikely pitchman Judge Dredd. By that point more than ten years old, 2000 AD's Dredd had become as iconic in Great Britain and parts of Europe as Batman and Spider-Man. Never really more than a cult figure in the US for some reason, the well-written and often amazingly and uniquely drawn (and/or painted) satirical adventures of the world's most incorruptable lawman continue unabated to this day. Special thanks to the erstwhile Klaus Kinski, Jr. ( Bruce over at Bookgasm) for pointing out this ad to me.

More Captain Tootsie

Here we have yet another Tootsie Roll commercial in the form of a comic strip. If CAPTAIN TOOTSIE was, as we have stated previously, similar to CAPTAIN MARVEL, then this installment presents Dr. Narsty, the strip's bald, lab-coated equivalent to Marvel's arch-enemy, Dr. Sivana. This installment is, in fact, credited to Marvel's pappy, C. C. Beck and Rod Reed, a longtime writer for the Big Red Cheese.

Tip Your Waiter As You Go

Once again I come to you with an uncharacteristicly personal request. As some of you may know, my scanner blinked out quietly a couple of months back which severely limited what I can post here in regards to my actual library. Multiple attempts at fixing and/or otherwise rigging it have now led to the conclusion that we need a new scanner. Unlike some bloggers (and no offense meant to any of them), I have consistently posted at least once daily since December of 2005 in spite of illness, weather, power outages, unemployment, severe depression, and more recently sleep deprivation and overwork. Even the scanner issue hasn't stopped me but it HAS limited me to images already scanned or found on-line. So here I am, thanking all of you yet again for your continued support and asking that you consider a tip in the Paypal tip box if you like what you've seen. I don't plan on retiring the blog but I would like to get back to more substantial posts. We are still crawling out of the financial hole caused by last summer's unemployment and any help would be appreciated as always.

DC Subscription Ad

I never subscribed to a comic book but these ads sure made it enticing. Here, in this early sixties one, Johnny DC points out the merits of what, at the time, were DC's TOP books and why it would be worth your while to pay for them a year in advance so they could be sent directly to your mailbox!