ARTISTS, MODELS, & COMICS by Dave Goode

ARTISTS, MODELS, & COMICS by Dave Goode

If you started reading comics at a very young age. Say before the age of six. More likely than not you imagined putting on a costume and going out to fight the forces of evil in the name of "truth, justice, and the American way". Then sometime when you were a little older you imagined being a comic book creator. You probably created your own comics from the very beginning. Self written and drawn pastiches of your favorites. I've got some very fond memories of elementary school and making comics with fellow fan-boys. And there were various episodes of television shows and movies that were cartoonist-themed.

 

I remember the short-lived television series HE AND SHE from the era of Batmania that starred Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss about a cartoonist and his wife. 

 

Also from the Batmania era was The Winged Avenger episode of the cult British television series THE AVENGERS that had Steed and Peel matching wits with a deranged comic book artist.

My favorite comic book creator movie was ARTISTS & MODELS (1955) directed by Frank Tashlin, who also helped to write the screenplay. It starred the comedy team of Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis who had been appearing in their own comic book series from DC since 1952. The movie also stars Dorothy Malone and Shirley MacLaine. Both Martin and Malone play comic book artists. MacLaine plays Malone's roommate who also doubles as the model for the comic book character the Bat - Lady. Interestingly enough the movie was released nearly a year before Batwoman made her debut in Detective Comics No. 233 (July 1956). It should also be noted that Dean Martin, the coolest member of the Rat Pack, was a huge comic book fan.

 

I'm also a fan of the comedy HOW TO MURDER YOUR WIFE (1965) that starred Jack Lemmon , Terry - Thomas , and the stunning Virna Lisi. Lemmon portrays a syndicated comic strip artist who uses models ( just like real life cartoonists Alex Raymond and Milton Caniff ) and researches his comic strip to the last detail. Acting out scenes for his strip. He also lives a swinging bachelor lifestyle that Hugh Hefner would have been envious of. 

Woodrow Wilkins, the comic book artist that Michael Crawford portrays in CONDORMAN (1981) does pretty much the same. I've given my buddy Vance Capley grief over this flick for years now. But the truth is that I find this movie based on Robert Sheckley's book THE GAME OF X very entertaining. 

I also like an episode of the television series SIMON & SIMON titled "Almost Completely Out of Circulation". In this episode from the show's fourth season detectives Rick and A.J. Simon investigate the murder of a comic book artist. Prop comic book art for this episode is provided by Will Meugniot and Bruce Timm. With coloring and color seperations by Jo Meugniot and Murphy Anderson.

When I created the comic book character Mr. Incognito, the American Luchador I used photo references of an old teammate from my high school wrestling days who wrestled semi-professionally as the model for the "poor man's Mil Mascaras". I found it was also a cool way to meet hot models. The ones that posed for the damsels in distress in my various comics.

On my last trip to Columbia, Tennessee my buddy Vance Capley and I posed for photo reference for our Dr. Judo comic.

The Man Who Never Dies by Dave Goode

 

When you talk about mythic comic book/strip heroes the discussion has to begin with Lee Falk's iconic the Phantom. Each new comic strip serial began with a recap of the hero's origin. "For those of you who may have come in late..."

I knew the Phantom from the comic strip. And from the Gold Key comic books
with the wonderful painted covers by the likes of George Wilson.

 In 1966 at the height of Batmania Warren put out a one-shot magazine titled On The Scene Presents Super-Heroes. The mag reprinted articles from Screen Thrills Illustrated on the Batman serials, Flash Gordon, the Superman serials, the Captain America and Captain Marvel serials ,the new Batman movie and the 1943 Phantom serial. From the photos that accompanied the Phantom article I knew I needed to see this serial. And I would years later when it was released on VHS.

Reportedly Lee Falk ,the Phantom's creator ,wasn't crazy about the serial. For the life of me I can't understand why. The chapter-play featured all the requisite thrills you'd expect from a jungle cliffhanger. The hero gets caught in quicksand. There's an avalanche/rock slide. There's a collapsing bridge. And best of all (to me at least) the hero fights a gorilla. There are chapters that seem to be lifted from the comic strip itself. And just might have been. The bits with the Tartar chief and the Fire Goddess for instance.

 

Tom Tyler is picture perfect as the mysterious

masked avenger. Though he's not the wisecracking hero that the character is in the comic strip. And Kenneth MacDonald is outstanding as the villainous Dr. Bremmer. It isn't perfect by any means. The "jungle natives" look like Native-Americans. In fact one of them was played by Jay Silverheels. And the Phantom's pet wolf is portrayed by German shepherd Ace,the Wonder Dog.

  My biggest beef though is that the Ghost Who Walks is seldom referred to as the Ghost Who Walks. Instead he's referred to as the "Man Who Never Dies". Maybe that's the problem Falk had with the serial.

Love old school comics? Do you miss the Bronze and Silver age action packed strips of yesterday? Then you need to read JUDO COMICS written and created by Dave Goode and illustrated by Vance Capley! Grab yours today!!

JUDO COMICS!

Missed Opportunity by Dave Goode

You’re probably familiar with the episode in question. An old friend of Clark Kent,one Gary Allen is visiting Metropolis and is making plans to meet up with the mild-mannered reporter. What no one is aware of is due to exposure to kryptonite radiation Allen has become invulnerable to everything except kryptonite which has the same effect on him as it does on the Man of Steel. There is no real explanation for this. We just except it. Allen’s vulnerability to the “deadly rock” of the title leads to a case of mistaken identity and he is kidnapped by criminals who plan to use the kryptonite to kill him. Lois and Jimmy blunder into the picture and are also threatened with death. Of course the real Superman arrives on the scene to save the day.

This is a pretty mundane episode of the series and only the use of kryptonite and reference to the 2^nd season episode Panic In The Sky make it stand out. But it could have been so much more. You see the actor who portrayed Gary Allen in this episode was none other than B-Movie leading man Robert Lowery. The same Robert Lowery who a few years earlier had portrayed Batman in a movie serial. What an opportunity wasted. I’m not suggesting that Lowery should have worn the cape & cowl in this episode.Though how cool would that have been? I’m only suggesting that the writers could have made the Gary Allen character Bruce Wayne from Gotham City and made some reference to his ward Dick Grayson being unable to make the trip to Metropolis. Shazam...instant cult classic.

By the way this episode wasn’t the 1^st project Reeves and Lowery worked on together. During the 2^nd World War while in the service the pair made a sexual hygiene training film.

I DON'T NEED NO STINKING SUPER-POWER! by Dave Goode

 

If you're of a certain age, the first martial art you were introduced to was Judo. Judo, and it's parent discipline jujitsu, were used by the good guys in pulp fiction and the movies to fight for truth, justice, and mom's apple pie. And if you were a comic book hero, not possessing "powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal man", then, at one time or another, you bashed the bad guys using judo.

 

 Before he was a master of 127 martial arts (or whatever ridiculous number it's up to now), Batman's hand-to-hand combat skills consisted of boxing, wrestling, savate, jujitsu, and judo. Batman was using judo as far back as Detective Comics No.28 (the second appearance of Batman) during the Golden Age of Comics.

Judo's principle, of using an opponent's size and strength against them, was very appealing to early comic book writers. Kid sidekicks used judo to triumph over burly bruisers like David over Goliath.

  Costumed heroines,

like the Black Cat and the Black Canary, were using it to take names and kick b---years before the world heard of Cathy Gale and Emma Peel.

Here's a look at Dr.Judo,a forgotten hero from the Atomic Age of Comics, in action.

Retro style comic art by Vance Capley.

Grab Judo Comics!Click the pic and order today!

America's Cheesiest Super-Hero by Dave Goode

America's Cheesiest Super-Hero 

by Dave Goode

One of the strangest things to come out of the era of Batmania (1966-1968) was the movie Rat Pfink a Boo Boo. This psychotronic classic is one of those ultra low-budget flick that seems like it was being written as they were going along. And that just may have been the case. It starts out as a rock & roll/juvenile delinquency flick hybrid and, about 40 minutes into the movie, it morphs into a parody of the Batman television show starring the great Adam West. It even has an obviously tacked on prologue to lead you to believe it was intended as a spoof to begin with. But I don't think anyone was ever fooled.

     Ron Haydock stars as Lonnie Lord, R&R star turned masked mystery man. And if anyone ever deserved his status as a cult star it was Haydock (1940-1977). Haydock was a recording artist, editor and writer for monster movie magazines and author of several pornographic novels under the name Vin Saxon. Oddly enough Haydock is billed as Vin Saxon in the credits for this movie.

Carolyn Brandt, a cult star in her own right, plays damsel in distress Cee Cee Beumont, and Titus Moody plays the hero's sidekick. The movie was directed by Ray Dennis  Steckler, who along with

Haydock,wrote the story. At the time Steckler and leading lady Brandt were man and wife. 

 

     

 I first learned about this flick from an article in Castle of Frankenstein. I instantly fell in love with the total cheesiness of the whole thing starting with the hero's costume. However, I didn't see the movie until I bought a VHS copy two decades later. I wasn't disappointed. But then again, my sites weren't set that high.

Good cheesy fun.

   And speaking of fun....Bob Burns as Kogar, the Swinging Ape was an added plus. It makes you wonder why none of the villains on the Batman TV series never had a "pet gorilla" to be unleashed on the Caped Crusader. Gorillas in comics were all the rage during this era.Of course in the alternate universe that runs through my head, there was a comic book adaptation of the movie and a series of comic books that ran for an additional 24 issues starring the ersatz Dynamic Duo.

Retro style comic art by Vance Capley