Number 1011





Reptisaurus and the jungle love triangle





This entertaining Charlton comic is new to me, even though it was published in '63, when I was visiting the comic book spinner rack in my local drug store every week. I missed a monster book where the monster, Reptisaurus, is almost a bit player in the story, and the main plot involves a love triangle. Rich man, his blonde fiancée, and a white hunter who bags the babe! Oh yeah...they also figured in some Aztecs who worship Reptisaurus.



The artwork is by Montes and Bache. I don't know the work of Bill Montes at all, and what I know about Ernie Bache is that he worked with Dick Ayers during Ayers' original 1950's Ghost Rider days. A quick search of the internet didn't turn up any information on Bill Montes, and all I found about Bache is what I already knew. If anyone knows if these two men are still around please let me know.



A criticism I have is of the ashen gray the colorist made the Aztecs. I know this portrait I found online is heroic, glorified artwork, but it's probably closer to the real Aztecs than Charlton's colorist made them.



There were 6 issues of a Reptisaurus comic in 1962; Montes and Bache drew the last two issues, preceding this "special edition." From Reptisaurus Special Edition #1, 1963:













































Ernie Bache also inked this four-page humor strip from Charlton's Abbott and Costello #5, penciled by Grass Green. Grass was an early member of comics fandom, one of the first fans to attempt to turn pro. Most comics companies were by then closed shops, and what work he got was sporadic at best. I think the Steve Skeates script is funny, and Grass' artwork with Bache's inks serves it well.

Not Birds of a Feather

The cultural and historical significance of this issue is pretty obvious. Back in 1968, the battle over the Vietnam War was raging in America. Dick Giordano had just arrived at DC, bringing with him some of the talent he'd had at Charlton, including two guys named Steve: Ditko and Skeates. With Ditko handling the art chores and Skeates the dialogue, the concept of the Hawk and the Dove was born.

Hank and Don Hall are about as different as two brothers can be. Don is a man of peace, while his brother believes that might makes right. The story starts with them on opposite sides of a demonstration at the local college:

Meanwhile, their father, a local judge, is sentencing a hoodlum to jail. The crook vows revenge and it is not long in coming:

The three survive the attempted murder, but the judge is injured enough to require hospitalization. The next day, Hank spots the bomb thrower. Don wants to call a cop, but his brother insists on following the man. They trail him to an old warehouse, but get trapped inside a locked room, where they overhear the plans to kill their father in his sickbed. They try to open the door, or a window, but their efforts come to naught. In desperation Don wishes that they had super-powers and:

As superhero origins go it's not terribly credible, but you know how that is; credible is being bitten by a radioactive spider. It's certainly a desirable origin; all you had to do was wish for it hard enough and if you were one of the chosen ones, you'd be turned into a powerful being. They confront the villains at the hospital:

Well, you can probably guess the problem with being the "Dove" of this duo; you're not going to get much respect from crooks by telling them that they should give up. Indeed, Don is quickly defenestrated:

Fortunately a convenient flagpole saves him and he returns to the hospital room in time to save his dad. But he has his hands full:

But they are stunned to hear their father's reaction to their super-deeds:

Hank still wants to fight criminals with their new abilities, but Don wants no part of fighting and is dismayed by his dad's words.

Their solo series lasted for only six issues, but they managed to jump over to Teen Titans for a year or so.

Number 470


Who's afraid of the big bad werewolves


Karswell started this, posting horror stories from the '70s DC's, so I'm just following along behind him. It was his idea, really. I'm using him for inspiration.

Here are two werewolf stories, picked out because (1) they both have great Bernie Wrightson werewolf covers; (2) I like werewolves, and (3) because I own a page of the original artwork from "Way Of the Werewolf" from House of Mystery #231. It's by Gerry Talaoc, and demonstrates how the muddy coloring and printing of the 1970s obscured some really fine artwork. I've shown this page before, but it's worth looking at again.


"Deadly Stalkers Of the North" is drawn by Ricardo Villamonte and gives Wrightson an opportunity to draw three wolves on the cover. Weird Mystery Tales #21 has a cover date of August 1975, while House of Mystery #231 is dated May 1975. So 1975 was a good year for werewolves.