The Tiger Beat Record Club

TIGER BEAT, in 1970, was an arbiter of all things groovy. If TIGER BEAT (or its rival 16 MAGAZINE) pronounced something hip well then, man, it was HIP with a capital IP! Here we have an ad for the Tiger Beat Record Club. Unlike those record club ads in comic books that maddeningly mixed Andy Williams and Glen Campbell with Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa, if the TB Record Club had it, it was guaranteed groovy (no pun intended).

Of course, their idea of a record club was a little more along the lines of just--send us the money and we'll send you these record albums. There really was no "club." Well, to be fair, you DID get a free 45 (for you youngsters, that was a smaller, 2 song record with a bigger hole in the middle) for each order. And you could apparently choose your OWN! WOW! How much you want to bet they got hundreds of requests for songs that never existed as singles?

Oh, and their choices? As I say, things didn't get any groovier than these!

BOBBY SHERMAN--This was the first LP I ever owned, purchased right after I got my very first "grown-up"record player. I enjoyed Bobby's pleasant but unspectacular singing and he had a lot of catchy songs. In fact I bought all his albums until his career petered out more completely than just about anyone's. Sold 'em for a tidy profit a few years ago,too! I am surprised that they say that many stores won't even be carrying Bobby's album as it was briefly quite huge!

THE MONKEES GREATEST HITS--As with the last one, I bought this early on at Twin Fair in Covington, KY, about three blocks from where I'm sitting right now. I had enjoyed the Monkees since they had first appeared on TV in 1966 but had never had any of their music for my own. I loved this album (in spite of ZOR & ZAM) and played it quite literally to death.

DAVID JONES--This was heavily touted in the teen mags but it was actually a reissued (or more likely remaindered) LP from the pre Monkees days. I never had it but I seem to recall it consisted of the type of Broadway showtunes with which Davy was associated when he first came to the US. Monkees fans were not amused.

THE MONKEES PRESENT--Nobody ever seemed to be clear on the actual title of this album. Was it THE MONKEES PRESENT, as in a gift to you of Monkees...or was it THE MONKEES PRESENT as in "Here we are now?" Perhaps, since their individual names (sans the already departed Peter) are on the cover, it was actually supposed to be THE MONKEES PRESENT MICKEY, DAVID (&) MICHAEL! Maybe. Who knows? All I know is that what TB calls "The Monkees' best album yet" was made of castoffs and a few new numbers recorded completely solo by the remaining three, few of which were memorable. Only the next album (with only two Monkees left) would make it look good.

DARK SHADOWS--Yes, DARK SHADOWS was hip! Astonishingly hip! This horror soap TV soundtrack (with poetry and Shakespeare!) featured cast members Jonathan Frid and David Selby and turned out to be fairly hard to find but I did get a copy eventually! Lots of spooky music from the show but otherwise pretty hokey. DS fans have revived it on CD, though, as well as manufactured multiple sequels!

Finally, the one and only SAJID! Who, I hear you asking? Oh, come on! Sajid Khan! MAYA! Remember? MAYA? With the elephant and Dennis the Menace? Oh, come on! Sajid Khan was briefly a heartthrob after the 1966 movie MAYA became a 1967-68 TV series of the same name co-starring Jay North. This being 1970, quite frankly they must have had some leftover copies lying around. "Sajid sings all 12 songs!" it says. On his own, self-titled album? Were they admitting what we now know as the "sweetening" of less than talented voices sometimes took place? IMDB has Sajid Khan long since returning to India with only occasional local returns to acting.

Oh, one last thing about the Tiger Beat Record Club--Note that it says all of their packages were "wrapped with care and Love." Note that in 1970, "Love" came with a capital "L." It was just the groovy way to do it, baby.

Here's Something You Don't see Every Day, Chauncey

Here we have a 1950's Archie Comics ad in which the company actually offers to buy back copies of one of their comics. I find myself wondering exactly why they'd need 500 freakin' copies for their library but hey, they were willing to pay the big buck for it...literally. And if you don't think one dollar per copy is a good deal, remember that this is the first Archie Annual we're talking about and Annuals only cost a quarter each back in the day! So you could make back four times your initial investment! Of course it's been going from anywhere between $10.oo and $300.00 on eBay more recently but hey...

My Vampirella Letter

Previously we ran my letter written at age 9 and published in ADVENTURE COMICS. Then I found the letter I had in LOIS LANE when I was 12. Now, at the wizened old age of 13, we have my "anonymous" letter to VAMPIRELLA. I had decided I was going to become a famous LoC writer in the way that The Mad Maple and Uncle Elvis Orten would later on! Thus I became...STARBLAZER! Note that it was years before the STARBLAZERS TV series, too. After this I wrote a few more Starblazer letters but none were ever published. As I recall, my last letter--which thankfully went unpublished--was to DC's FREEDOM FIGHTERS in the late seventies complaining about the decline in Jack Abel's inking. I was later embarrassed to hear he had, in fact, had a stroke.

For the record, someone at Warren added the last line in my letter about their then-upcoming reprint of the Spanish DRACULA volumes. I wasn't that interested and, in fact, never got a copy.

Review--The Thin Black Line

In comics these days, everyone has his fans and everyone has his detractors. Somebody with an absolute TON of each is Vince Colletta, the late inker who was and is arguably the most polarizing artist in the history of comics.

Colletta-bashing has practically become an Internet meme but now comes Robert L. Bryant's new volume, THE THIN BLACK LINE, subtitled "Perspectives On Vince Colletta, Comics' Most Controversial Inker." With the help of such bystanders as Bob McLeod, Mark Evanier and Colletta's own son, we are shown two distinct ways to look at the man's work.

One--He was a true hack, dedicated only to making as much money as he could in comics by inking more and more pages faster than anyone...even if that meant simply erasing or blacking out large portions of the work.

Two--He was one of the most reliable artists in comics--always available for more work and always turning it in on deadline so the material would be on time. If it was running late, they'd call Vinnie.

The truth of the matter, of course, is that he was a little of both. At his best, his subtle line and softening inks made a bad pencil job look good. Equally, when rushed for an approaching deadline, he could cause amazing comics art to become dull and lifeless.

The book also introduces us to the man himself, a larger than life figure who propagated his own legend whilst holding court and building a wonderful, huge home with the profits of his comics work. As with his inking, he was revered by some in real life and reviled by others. Fred Hembeck claims nearly to have lost his very LIFE due to Colletta's negative reaction to his portfolio! To some like Rich Buckler, he was a mentor. To others like Gil Kane, he was a metaphorical destroyer of art by more talented artists.

THE THIN BLACK LINE is filled with examples of Colletta's work both good and bad. There's an absolutely amazing panel from Jack Kirby's IN THE DAYS OF THE MOB where the inker so notorious for silhouetting background characters (if not taking them out all together) has lovingly inked more than a score of small figures. Many other examples show an artist who truly adds to the penciler's work. By contrast, all the usual suspects as far as Colletta panels are also collected here.

There's debate, too, Colletta's long-running collaboration with Kirby on THOR at Marvel and Jack's 4th World titles at DC. Me. I have always fallen into the category of liking--no LOVING-- that combination of artist/inker on those titles. To me, Vince brought Kirby a much needed softening effect, especially by the time they were at DC. By contrast, Kirby's hand-picked inker, Mike Royer, although a fine artist in his own right, so slavishly covered Jack's stylized pencil art that everything and everybody looked to me like they were made out of metal.

THE THIN BLACK LINE is, itself, rather a thin book but it's nicely illustrated, informative and for the old time comics fan a fun if frustrating read. It probably won't change anybody's mind about Vince Colletta but at least it gives you enough info to make up your own mind. As I said, it isn't really the cut and dried situation it seems...but it certainly makes for an interesting read.

Special thanks to Twomorrows for providing me with a review copy. You can get yours now from Amazon.

Leslie Hunter is Taking Commissions

If you've heard of Leslie Hunter at all it's probably from when I purchased some original art from her last Winter. If you have NOT heard of her it is your loss. I think she's quite impressive. She's never done a comic book (well, she has and it's a good one but it has yet to be published), she doesn't do cons and you won't find her works in a Heritage Auction. In fact, she is strictly a talented amateur but hey, that's how they described Mrs. Peel in THE AVENGERS and she's remembered quite well today!

Take a look at some of her works in various media. She has a natural design instinct, an obvious manga bent, a talent for utilizing color in unusual ways and a wonderful flair for the dramatic.

Leslie is now willing to take commissions for black and white or color pencil sketches at low, negotiable rates. I predict one day many people WILL have heard of her and having some originals in your collection will be a good thing. Leslie Hunter can be contacted directly at

eilseleiramretnuh@yahoo.com

Comicscope Ads-1940

What grabbed me more than anything else about these Fox SCIENCE COMICS ads from 1940 was the bit on the bottom center of the lower ad that says, "Just like the talkies!" and goes pn to state, "...all have words which are projected and readable on your screen..." Ummm....I know I'm not THAT old but somebody correct me if I'm wrong here; wouldn't THAT make them EXACTLY like silent films instead of "just like the talkies!"????

Random Panels of Comic Book Weirdness # 76

So many things to say here, all of them very awkward and squicky. Yes, that's Betty and Veronica, perpetually aged 16 and a half, in their scanties and discussing Mr. Wetherbee's... voyeurism (??). From a real ARCHIE comic book! But why are they silhouetted when their AHEM...attire isn't? Are the clothes glow-in-the-dark or are they really wearing blackface...and everything else? I am NOT even going to mention Betty's rather obvious err...AHEM...I blush. It's only one panel out of context but if you really look at it, it is SO WRONG!!