Chủ Nhật, 19 tháng 10, 2008


Number 398


King Faraday's suicide bombers


Suicide bombers...a terrorist religious leader. Hmmm. Sounds contemporary, but in fact this King Faraday story is from DC's Danger Trail #4, 1951. The closest reference at the time to terrorist martyrs was the Japanese kamikazi pilots of WWII, so that similarity is invoked in the story. There's no clue in the story as to whether the martyrs were promised virgins in heaven after they had blown themselves to atoms.

If you believe our friends at Grand Comics Database the story is written by Robert Kanigher, and drawn by Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella.












Thứ Bảy, 18 tháng 10, 2008

Friday Trivia Quiz #14: Nicknames

1. Who was the Ductile Detective?

2. Who was Horn-head?

3. Who was the Pinioned Policeman?

4. Who was "Stretcho"?

5. Who was Goldilocks?

Thứ Sáu, 17 tháng 10, 2008

#071.Indrajal Comics 27

Friends, as these are already scanned, posting at once. Initially planned to post all till month end.

These are scanned & contributed by an anonymous selfless Indrajal's Fan. Front cover of Indrajal Comics # 434, V20N22 &V20N31 were missing, Ajay provided.



364-1980-Bahadur-The Web of Hatred

384-1981-Flash-The Flames of Vengeance Hindi version is already available in this blog.




V20N31-1983-Lt.Drake-Trials of a Princess

V21N17-1984-Lt.Drake-The Conspiring Ogre

V24N50-1987-Mandrake-The Stalking Executioner It's reprint of #216 (1974) - Test of a Magician, which is already available.

Following are partially available online. Contributor scanned the missing second story and added it to what was already there.

V26N21-1989-Mandrake-The Dreaded Island Part I (full)

V26N22-1989-Mandrake-The Dreaded Island Part II (full)

Next Post: 162-1972-Phantom-Jwalamukhi ki Rani/The Diamond Mountain

Good new: AJAY MISRA in mood to contribute all missing Indrajal Comics under #300 as soon as possible, at least in any one language (Hindi or English) through this blog. I will try to post quickly.

So friends, Rainy season of Indrajal continues, till month end all these followings Indrajal are coming, may be not in order only. Are you happy?












184-1973-Phantom-Jinda Murde

245-1976-Phantom-Ashaay Gajraj
269-1977-Phantom-Daitya Se Samna
295-1978-Phantom-Mrutunjay (NEW SCAN)


Number 397


Harvey Eisenberg's Two Mouseketeers


Yesterday Hairy Green Eyeball showed you a 1953 kid's book with artwork by animator/cartoonist Harvey Eisenberg. The Eyeball showed a Little Golden Book-style adventure of Beany and Cecil. My choice is this beautiful example of his comic book work from The Two Mouseketeers, Four Color Comics #475, with a date of June 1953.

When I think of Eisenberg I think of his great composition from panel to panel and page to page, but also his action-filled artwork. His characters run low to the ground, and they always seem to be in some sort of motion. As a sort of signature of his work Eisenberg used occasional silhouettes, see page 1 of the story.

Eisenberg died way too young in 1965 at age 53.















Thứ Năm, 16 tháng 10, 2008

#070.Indrajal Comics 26 (Hindi)







Ajay presents a missing Indrajal.

271-1977-Phantom-Anmol Hira (5.45 MB)







105-1970-Phantom-Mritu Ke Nagare (15.37 MB)

It's an Anurag's contribution. English version is already available online.

Password for both comics: bookscomics.blogspot.com

Many many thanks to both contributors for rare Indrajal comics.

Thứ Tư, 15 tháng 10, 2008

Weddings Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang of Mine...

Initially, almost all superheroes were single. This is quite common in fiction as it allows for additional storytelling elements like romance and physical attraction.

But the negatives of not being married became apparent when Dr Wertham published Seduction of the Innocent, with its implication of gay themes in Batman's relationship with Robin. So when the Silver Age started, many of the new DC heroes had longterm girlfriends. Ray Palmer had Jean Loring, Barry Allen had Iris West, Hal Jordan had Carol Ferris (more or less; she was mostly interested in Green Lantern). Hawkman and Hawkgirl broke new ground for the Silver Age; they were a married couple right from the beginning.

Aquaman did not have a girlfriend in his Silver Age debut, but he rectified that situation with Aquaman #11, when Mera debuted:



When she returns in Aquaman #13, the Sea Sleuth is not shy about expressing his feelings:



Nor is she timid about pushing matters forward a bit:



And for once there was no extended engagement:



I believe that Aquaman and Mera were the first superhero couple to get married in a comic book; as noted earlier Hawkman and Hawkgirl were married when they first appeared in the Silver Age and the Elongated Man and Sue Dibney were married just prior to their appearance in Detective #327.

However, they were not the only couple to wed during the 1960s. Reed Richards and Sue Storm tied the knot in the pages of Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965):



The final major wedding of the decade was announced rather tastefully:



In two of the stories, there was a usurper to the groom. The Flash's mortal enemy, Professor Zoom attempted to marry Iris in Barry's place as shown here:



And in the Aquaman story, Oceanus kidnaps Mera and attempts to make her his bride. Oddly, there is no similar effort by the Submariner to prevent Sue Storm from marrying Reed Richards.

Why so many weddings in the mid-1960s after none before? I suspect that the comics writers were taking their cue from TV shows, which had discovered around the time that a marriage (and/or a new baby) gave sagging programs renewed ratings.

Update: Turns out there was another wedding which the baddies tried and failed to break up.



And there actually was one wedding that failed to come off due to the actions of the villains; in Hulk 124 Bruce Banner and Betty Ross were standing at the altar when the Leader's ray transformed Bruce back into the Hulk: