Will and Ebony

1966

Recently I got into a discussion with son Bookdave regarding the Spirit's oh-so politically incorrect sidekick, Ebony White. Just about everyone acknowledges Eisner's genius and that THE SPIRIT remains a pinnacle of comic art but it gets harder and harder to accept the racially stereotyped Ebony. 

The thing is that the Spirit himself is a cipher. He has no real character other than being stalwart and tough. He's there just for the action. In many of Eisner's best stories, he simply shows up in cameo at the end. No, it's Ebony who--to me--is the true emotional heart of the strip. Visually unacceptable though he is and with an unfortunate dialect, he nonetheless is, in a way, a great character. Contrast Ebony to Steamboat in CAPTAIN MARVEL or Whitewash Jones in YOUNG ALLIES. They are offensive pure and simple, even to me as a white man. From the first time I saw them. Not so Ebony! Tonight I was hanging around the edges of a discussion of Ebony online between, among others,  African-American creators Milton Knight and Cartoon Joe. That;s what led me to dig out these pieces where Eisner himself attempted to rationalize or apologize for Ebony. But the fact remains. When Will tried to write him out and replace him with a similar white kid, Sammy, it just didn't work as well.

Mickey Mouse On the Air-1938

Thanks to M. Knox.

Buster Keaton Article 1952

Watch for the Buster Keaton Blogathon coming next month to this and many other fine blogs!

R.I.P. Taylor Negron

Oh, no! Taylor somehow became a fan of my first high school journal blog a couple years ago which led to us talking a number of times online. Always enjoyed seeing him as an actor and a comic so it was so cool to find him enjoying MY writing, too. R.I.P.

Le Jouet and Marvel

LE JOUET is a 1976 French comedy/drama later remade in the US as a vehicle for Richard Pryor. The original starred the more Gene Wilder-like Pierre Richard as a man "bought" by a spoiled young rich boy as a toy. The coolest part is the boy's room, loaded with off-model Marvel super characters!

The Thing

Captain America and Cyclops

Iron Man and some sort of odd Spider-Man/Daredevil mix with an X Men belt!

Angel and a couple of Captain Marvels.

Black Bolt

Spidey and DD

A miscolored version of Iron man villain, The Unicorn, along with the off-model Spidey again.

The gang.

Yet another Mar-Vell here and below.

Jean Grey

Yoe Is Me

Keeping his resolution to return to drawing more this year, here's the great Craig Yoe's portrait of me on my birthday. Craig writes, "It's important, along with everything else, to Keep Calm and Keep Cartooning or the negative forces win, so here's my portrait of Steven Thompson (who happens to be one of my best friends)."

Movies That Fell Through the Cracks # 76

Seriously? It's been two whole years (and one week) since we looked down in the cracks and found a movie?? Wow. Hard to believe. But...here's one! TOOMORROW came out in 1970. It was produced by one of the 007 producers along with Monkees/Archies producer Don Kirshner and directed by Hammer veteran Val Guest! The film score was by Hugo Montenegro who was then best known for his Top 40 rendition of the theme from THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY.

Basically, in the tradition of the Monkees (which worked) and The Phynx (which flopped), the idea was to literally put some good-looking kids together and then completely control their musical career as they ride the charts. In this case, they never made the charts.

The one thing Toomorrow had going for it was Olivia Newton-John. A couple of years later, the young Australian singer rebounded into a solo singing career that kept her at the top of the charts for more than a decade as well as led her to one particular film role that has become completely iconic over the years--in GREASE.

So Toomorrow, the group of tomorrow, is now the group of yesterday.