Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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What was this arriving in your local cinema in January 1973?
It was Last Tango in Paris. A film so controversial that it was guaranteed to make money.
Rather less controversially and, possibly, less profitably, the month also saw the release of Spike Milligan's Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall. The story of a man conscripted into the Royal Artillery regiment at Bexhill-on-Sea during World War II.
I must confess I've seen neither movie and must, therefore, leave it to others to give the final verdict as to which is the finer film.
In it, Robert Walton IV leads an Arctic expedition to retrieve Frankenstein's creature which has been frozen in ice. While he's at it, he takes time off to tell the cabin boy how the monster came to be created.
And, this time, it's Tex Dawson who gets his own book. Which I'm sure is good news, even if I do keep misreading his name as Les Dawson.
In it, we get five Western tales reprinted from various comics in 1956. Interestingly, most of the stories feature work by John Romita.
However, Dracula's plans to kill Rachel are impeded by the deformed son of a nobleman.
It may be 1973 but all of the tales within are reprinted from 1957.
However, this time, there are no reprints. It consists mostly of a 64-page photo strip by Stan Lee and Alan Asherman.
From that cover, I'm assuming it's in a humourous vein but have never read it and, so, can offer no commentary upon its success or failure as an artistic venture.
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21 comments:
Steve! Thanks for telling us the dates of the stories in War is Hell. I did grab this one of the spinner and wanted confirmation my memory still worked! I had this image in my head of war stories from the 50s…
This month, the soap box spilled a lot of ink telling us about the virtues of MARVEL MADNESS. Also the letters pages each dedicated about 25% to a blown up copy of the cover enticing us to buy it. I didn’t buy it but I appreciated marvels efforts to entice me.
Charlie, FFO, RFO
My cover of the month is that Les Dawson #1, but I don't think I'd be too happy if I'd been enticed to buy some old 50s western reprints by a Steranko cover, even a lesser one. Yes, its more of Jaunty Jim's slight return...
A bit of an underwhelming Lucky Bag here this month, Steve. Not that I'm blaming you of course - you can only work with what Marvel put out (not that I've actually read most of these comics either, but I'm not going to let that get in the way of having an opinion).
I have read Monster of Frankenstein #1, much of which is taken up with a flashback to the original novel, and as you might expect, Gary Friedrich is no Mary Shelley. And Mike Ploog ain't no Wrightson (sorry if you're out there Killdumpster - I usually like Ploog's stuff, but even for his early work its disappointing).
Its nowhere near the standard of Tomb of Dracula #6, the other comic I am familiar with - great Gene Colan/Tom Palmer artwork, and the story is... surprisingly ok for Gardner Fox in the early 70s. Fairly vague about the English location, I like to think the suitably atmospheric moors means its set in south Yorkshire.
That could be a Yorkshireman on the cover approaching Drac and his comatose lady friend, right?
-sean
-sean
Oops, apologies for signing off twice there.
Duh. How embarrassing.
-sean
Btw, on that Tomb of Dracula cover, Mike's World of Comics credits it to Gil Kane with Neal Adams inking. Other sources differ, and just say Neal, like yourself Steve.
But to my eye, Dracula and the woman do have a Gil-feel to them...
-sean
Sean, I agree. On that cover, Dracula screams "Gil Kane" at me. Especially his hand. The monster looks like pure Neal to me. The woman looks like an amalgam of Gil and Neal.
Charlie, I must confess I was totally unaware of Monster Madness until now. I see it only lasted three issues which suggests it wasn't exactly a hit.
Colin and Phillip, continuing the conversation from the previous post, not only were there three On the Buses movies, they were made by Hammer and were the most horrifying films that company ever ubleashed.
Speaking of Richard Beckinsale, there were film versions of The Lovers, Porridge and Rising Damp, all sitcoms that starred him.
Dangermash, thanks for the links to those differences between the two versions of the Richard Raleigh story.
Eek! I've just seen that the first On the Buses movie was Britain's 2nd highest-grossing film for 1971, raking in 28 times its budget.
I wonder if that makes it Hammer's most successful film of all time?
Steve - just imagine Blakey standing in for Christopher Lee, as Dracula, and Olive, instead of Ingrid Pitt! Now that would be a horror movie! Come to think of it, didn't they sometimes call Blakey Dracula?
Phillip
I like the Friedrich / Ploog run of FRANKENSTEIN, quite a bit actually.
I dunno, guys, I don’t see any Gil Kane in that TOMB OF DRACULA, looks like 100% Adams to me.
Now that CRYPT OF SHADOWS cover — one of my favorite Kane / Palmer covers ever.
Another ‘Good, Not Great’ cover from Steranko. I like the Tex Dawson stories on the inside, too, with Young John Romita wearing his Milton Caniff influences on his sleeve.
b.t.
I was watching two Christmas-themed episodes of 'On The Buses' a few days ago (on YouTube). Reg Varney was already 53 when he started playing Stan but he looked much younger. He was 16 years older than Bob Grant (Jack) but they looked the same age and he was only 11 years younger than Doris Hare who played his mother!
Steve, I've never seen 'The Lovers' - neither the TV series nor the film. Richard Beckinsale died just a few weeks after completing the 'Porridge' film, and the 'Rising Damp' film was made after his death.
FUN FACT: Reg Varney from 'On The Buses' was the first person in Britain to withdraw cash from a cash machine in a publicity stunt organised by Barclays Bank in 1967.
I quite like Bill Everett's Subby cover. Everett's run was pretty solid and he brought something different. Sadly his swan song.
DW
DW - You nailed it. Incredible Everett art on that Subby cover.
STERANKO does a really nice job on Creatures on the Loose 21 this month. May one assume that the stack of bodies our hero and heroine are resting upon, including the coloring / shading, are inspired by Barry W Smith Conan covers?
SUBBY is the best cover in my opinion.
LUKE CAGE HERO FOR HIRE #5 is a masterpiece as well! Excellent Billy Graham work!
NICK FURY AGENTS OF SHIELD #1, STERNAKO, is a decent cover as well.
STEVE - does DC get a lucky bag too, eventually? Hopefully when they start rolling out those 100-pagers!
Gadzooks!
This month there is a title called "SPECIAL MARVEL EDITION" #8 featuring The Howling Commandos and Nick Fury.
Never heard of it, so Charlie thought. But further availing himself of Mikes Amazing World of Comics, Charlie discovered that the first several issues were THOR $.25 king size and then eventually the title renames to MASTER OF KUNG FU.
This was a gadzook moment for Charlie b/c he had inherited a box of comics about 52 years ago which had a few of the "Special Marvel Edition" Thor in them. But ole Charlie never could find them on the internet, given he had always been searching under King Size and Annuals!
Will wonders never cease?
Creatures on the Loose #21 is the best of Steranko's '72/'73 covers imo Charlie. I tend to assume there was an element of competition in his return to Marvel, that he wanted to show that he was just as good as the people who were getting attention in the early 70s, like Barry Smith and John Buscema. Possibly Wrightson too, with the cover of Supernatural Thrillers #1.
b.t., was I being unfair about the interior contents of Tex Dawson #1 then? Thought I'd better check it out for myself online, but couldn't find it.
Good god - am I going to have to actually pay to read an old comic?!?
-sean
Its only fair to Steranko to point out that the man himself says that he was deliberately concentrating on areas where his work was weak with those covers.
www.thedrawingsofsteranko.com/covers/covers_hm_.html
Some might think that sounds a bit like an after the fact explanation, but ok. The covers aren't supposed to be great.
-sean
I've been watching 'Planet Of The Apes' (on BBC iplayer) and it's undoubtedly still a classic but when Taylor calmed down after finding the Statue Of Liberty he must have thought "So that explains why the apes could speak English. I'd just assumed it was pure coincidence that creatures on a planet light-years from Earth were speaking the same language as me".
In Pierre Boulle's original novel the apes really do live on a planet light-years from Earth and the astronaut (who's French) has to learn their language.
Well, he obviously wasn't American or British if he learnt another language, Colin.
Ok, I'll get my coat...
-sean
Tonight is Twelfth Night which sadly doesn't mean much nowadays.
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