Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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Do you like films that are both hairy and subterranean?
If so, you loved October 1970, as it saw the release of Trog, the tale of modern-day characters discovering a prehistoric man still living in a cave in England.
I've never actually seen the movie but have heard it mentioned many a time, over the years, and, obviously, it's impossible to escape the suspicion that Atlas Comics' The Brute was based upon it.
But it wasn't all prehistoric shenanigans in the cinemas of the world. For, that month also saw the release of Hammer Horror's Sapphic lust-a-thon The Vampire Lovers, that story of Karnstein carnality in the 19th Century.
On the UK singles chart, October was dominated by Freda Payne, retaining the Number One slot she'd grabbed the previous month with Band of Gold. But, in the very last week of October, she was deposed by Matthews Southern Comfort's Woodstock.
Over on that nation's LP chart, things were far more volatile, with a total of four separate albums managing to claim the top spot during the month.
Those LPs were; Black Sabbath's Paranoid, Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water, Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother and, finally, the compilation album known as Motown Chartbusters Volume 4.
Clearly in a laughing mood, Marvel launches its second new humour mag of the month.
This time, it's something called Harvey whose cover leads me to assume it's some sort of rip-off of the work of Archie Comics.
I know even less about this one than I do about Spoof but I do know it only lasts for six issues before meeting its demise. So, I assume it doesn't prove to be what you could call a sales blockbuster.
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28 comments:
Astonishing Tales, as well as Marvel's other split books, were some of my all-time favorite titles.
Though being one of the few proponents of Rick Jones on the planet, I could do without his musical interludes in comics.
Does anyone know if any of the writers who subjected us to that lame poetry ever wrote a real song, that was published and/or recorded?
I think we could all do without Rick Jones' musical interludes in comics, Kd; actually, we could all do without Rick Jones full stop.
Wasn't it usually Roy Thomas who wrote Rick's lyrics? And a bit later when he went glam in his space-suit phase (Rick that is, not Roy Thomas) maybe Steve Englehart?
The only old skool Marvel writer I can think of off hand with any kind of career in recorded music was, perhaps surprisingly as his comics generally seemed fairly square, Don Glut. At the arse end of the 60s he was in a band called Penny Arkade with legendary (to some) acid casualty Craig Smith (aka Maitreya Kali), a sort of cross between Syd Barrett and Charles Manson.
Steve, is that musical interlude in the Sub-Mariner the Rick gig where the kids wear imitation pointy ears because they dig Namor and the way he takes umbrage at the Man, man?
-sean
KD, I'm not aware of any Rick Jones writers who had music careers of any kind.
Sean, it is indeed the gig where all the hip kids dig the groovy Subster because of his status as a right-on eco-freak.
I really take umbrage at Marvel calling a comic "Harvey." How the hell didn't Marvel get sued by Harvey for Trademark infringement??? At least Marvel put little boxes on the end of the letters to avoid Copywrite infringement.
Spoof -
I recognize Barnabas Collins from Dark Shadows.
I recognize the 3 some from Mod Squad.
Who's the chap in the Space Suit? It's too early for 6 Million $ man. I can't of a TV series in space?
As I age, I really have formed an opinion that, unless he's in the ocean, or Golden Age comics, Subby in a swim suit really looks out of place on land.
Not to mention it invokes memories of summer time, being in your cold, wet swimsuit on a hot summer day. The cold, damp feeling around the "midsection" would become irritating after a bit... In that context, I tend to agree that the switch to the Reed Richards (?) uniform was agreeable.
Can someone tell me the logic behind putting KaZar and Doom on the same cover, in the same comic. I just don't see the synergy. HELP! Say what you really think, please.
I won't take any umbrage as I don't really have much emotional investment to either character. Indeed, I think one of the most boring comics I read was DD (Xmen?) in the Savage Land in a 64-page giant. Painful. And, it may have even had Kirby art. That said, I really dug Pete and Gwen in the Savage Land around ASM 104(?).
But now I wonder if she had been impregnated by Norman Osborne whenever I see her. When exactly in the ASM timeline was she supposed to be pregnant? Anyone know?
The astronaut in the Spoof cover could be a parody of the 1969 film Marooned and could be a representation of Gregory Peck who starred in that movie ( looks a bit like him).
I don't think synergy was invented til the 80s Charlie, and went mainstream a bit later.
Maybe because mixed genre anthology titles were quite common here in the 70s I don't have a problem with putting different stuff in the same comics, like Ka-Zar and Dr Doom. Maybe think of it as getting Jack Kirby and Wally Wood in the same mag?
Thats not to say I wouldn't take umbrage at some dodgy combinations though, like the Travelling Wilburys. You've got to have some standards.
-sean
Well, Charlie, Astonishing Tales wasn't the only odd pairing for a Marvel split-book.
The Dr. Strange/Nick Fury combo in Strange Tales seemed kind of weird, and maybe on a milder note the Black Widow/Inhumans pairing in Amazing Adventures.
At least they didn't try a shared title featuring Galactus & Patsy Walker!
Always thought the Strange Tales with Shield and Dr. Strange was the ultimate in opposites(that doesn't sound right).You had right wing,conservative government superhero backed up by left wing,liberal(drug influenced?)supernatural hero.Polar opposites yet ironically they both only survived in comic terms when they existed together in the dual format and when both received their own titles they were cancelled!
Charlie- regarding the "Harvey" book- at least they featured a teen humor character. About that same time Marvel could have published "Homer the Happy Ghost" ,which much more resembled a Harvey character.
McScotty- you're quite right, that astronaut in Spoof was from "Marooned". I actually bought that book off the stand, it was the last Marvel I'd buy for 4 years. If memory serves the parody was called "Maroonded".
Count me among the fans of 'split' comics. I love a bit of variety. That explains my fondness for anthologies as well- DC's horror books being a great example.
KD- Galactus and Patsy Walker? I'd buy that book in a heartbeat!
They might have been quite different, but Dr Strange and Nick Fury seemed like a good mix to me, certainly while Jaunty Jim Steranko was making SHIELD great again.
Black and white, sweet 'n' sour, Little & Large (ok, maybe not that last one) - theres no reason why putting together apparent opposites can't work well. I'm with Redartz, whats wrong with a bit of variety?
-sean
Sean - if you like a bit of Steranko, look at that Marvel Superheroes card game I recommended - the Silver Surfer, Thor and Captain America are all Steranko art! ;)
In Marvel, ultimately, putting opposites together gets you the Inbetweener!
Don Glut wrote the Anubis episode of 'The Space Sentinels' animated series. Anubis was, to the Sentinels, what the Super-Skrull is to the Fantastic Four - i.e. he combined all of their powers. I don't know if you're the right age to remember that cartoon. M.P. is - he's roughly the same age as me.
On the earlier subject of Bigfoot, a plaster cast of a giant footprint (clearly referencing Bigfoot) was presented to Wolverine, when the Wendigo was doing the rounds in Canada, and Wolverine had to track it down.
In the Defenders, the Silver Surfer adopted a group of Yetis/Abominable Snowmen, and look how that turned out!
As I've said before, the Six Million Dollar Man tearing Bigfoot's arm off was a rip off of Beowulf (terrible pun, I know!)
Phillip
In a minute, Sean's going to correct me, saying the pun should be: "It's a rip off of Grendel, not Beowulf, it being Grendel's arm that's torn off!" - so I've beaten him to it!
Phillip
Its a rip off of Grendel, not Beowulf, it being Grendel's arm thats torn off Phillip.
-sean
Oh, you beat me to it.
-sean
Btw Phillip, following an earlier discussion, I hear that while you're not getting a House of Lords in Yorkshire (you're in God's Own County aren't you?) you will definitely be getting a tory party HQ. You lucky devils.
Somewhat surprised they haven't opted for somewhere a bit more Brexity than Leeds though...
-sean
Sean - If it does ever happen, it won't be the main Tory HQ. To the party faithful, it'll be a place like Siberia, where they threaten to deport Tories who step out of line, making them wear flat caps and walk whippets! The kind of place Thatcher would have sent Heseltine & Geoffrey Howe, if she could! (Getting a bit political, here!)
Phillip
At least it wasn't me making the flat cap and whippets remark.
-sean
Sean - I'm humorously suggesting that's the way some of the Tories might view us! ;)
Phillip
I know Phillip but all the same, better you said it than me (;
-sean
I don't care who said it! I don't get it! Sean, Phillip - help this yank out!
Its a social stereotype Charlie, that Yorkshiremen have flat caps and whippets.
-sean
Charlie - Sean is exactly right. Also, until the mid-80s, South & West Yorkshire's major employers were the steel industry (Sheffield) & the coal mines. Thatcher closed these industries down, resulting in mass unemployment. This casts a long shadow...! (Whatever your political views on the rights or the wrongs of the issue.)
Phillip
I was listening to Radio 4 a couple of years ago and I heard a Brexit voter from the North of England claim that the government would re-open all the coal mines after we'd left the EU.
I think Charlie may possibly be familiar with the phenomenon of voting for right-wing crazies in the belief they'll re-open mines and re-start other old industries (despite having closed them down in the first place).
Call it a wild hunch.
-sean
Good hunch mate!
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