Enjoy.
Small House of Everything
Sunday, April 7, 2019
GROUCHO MARX AND WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY
Groucho Marx appears on Firing Line with William F. Buckley, Jr., July 7, 1967. Interesting back-and-fourth.
Saturday, April 6, 2019
BOY COMICS #11 (AUGUST 1943)
Beginning in 1939, Lev Gleason Publications put out comic book title which had a profound effect for the next decade and a half. A good part of the company's success was due to Charles Biro, an innovative cartoonist, who became Gleason's executive editor. Gleason's comic book title included Daredevil (not the later Marvel Comics character), Crime Does Not Pay, and Boy Comics (which started with issue #3, April 1942, having taken over the numbering of the short-lived Captain Battle).
The main hero of Boy Comics was Crimebuster, who was really Chuck Chandler, a student at Custer Military School and the son of a well-known war correspondent. When Adolph hitler ordered the death of that pesky correspondent, it fell to the villain Iron Jaw to carry out the deed and murder Chuck's parents.
(Iron Jaw was so named because, while serving in World War I alongside Hitler, his jaw was incinerated by a grenade and replaced with (naturally) an iron jaw. Flash ahead to World War II and Iron Jaw has become Hitler's main agent and the fifth highest ranking person in the Nazi machinery.)
Anyway, back to Crimebuster. Chuck dons the school's hockey uniform (which conveniently has a large "C" emblazoned on it) adds a cape and a monkey named Squeeks (whom he liberated from a cruel organ grinder) and goes after Iron Jaw. Over the next dozen issues, Crimebuster has eight encounters with the evil Nazi, beating him every time until he finally presumed killed in issue #15. Since this is comic book world, Iron Jaw would be resurrected in issue #50 -- this time as a Communist agent, only to have his butt handed to him repeatedly by Crimebuster, now known as C.B. (the newly installed Comics Code forbade the word 'crime').
So much for background. Turning to issue #11, Iron Jaw is about to go on trial for the murder of two boys. He fakes insanity and the trial judges orders him to an asylum. Jeannie Carroll, the beautiful blonde sister of one of the victims, knows that Iron Jaw is faking insanity. Wanting vengeance, she tries to shoot Iron Jaw. Iron Jaw turns the tables on her, taking her hostage and shooting his way to freedom. A love- (or sex-) smitten Iron Jaw decides to take Jeannie to Germany. He steals a plane which then crashes in the Atlantic. Iron Jaw and Jeannie are picked up by an Argentine freighter, where no one speaks English. Iron Jaw speaks Spanish and is able to convince the captain that he and Jeannie are having a lovers' tiff. Crimebuster takes a Navy torpedo boat and goes after the freighter by himself (well, with Squeeks). Unfortunately, Crimebuster cannot speak Spanish either and Iron Jaw convinces the captain to toss Crimebuster in the brig. Iron Jaw then kills the captain and all but four crew members. The boat then headed to Germany and, in a twist of fate, is spotted by a German sub, which blows up the freighter. Aha! but Crimebuster and Jeannie have managed to escape in a lifeboat just seconds before. But wait! Squeeks did not make it off the freighter. Have both he and Iron Jaw perished? Before the story ends, Crimebuster uses some conveniently locate depth charges to spell finito to the Nazi sub. Jennie gives Crimebuster a big kiss. Ah, gee whiz! Do we have to go into the mushy stuff?
The rest of this issue is filled by stories about Swoop Storm (boy aviator), Little Dynamite (a Brooklyn street kid), Yankee Longago (a boy of today in the land of yesterday), and Young Robinhood and His Band (the good guys), ad well as a tribute to the "Boy Comics" Hero of the Month," George Holle, a fighting marine who had hid his true age of 13, and a two-page text story about Daredevil.
Some pretty entertaining reading for a dime, if you ask me.
Enjoy.
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=73459&b=i
The main hero of Boy Comics was Crimebuster, who was really Chuck Chandler, a student at Custer Military School and the son of a well-known war correspondent. When Adolph hitler ordered the death of that pesky correspondent, it fell to the villain Iron Jaw to carry out the deed and murder Chuck's parents.
(Iron Jaw was so named because, while serving in World War I alongside Hitler, his jaw was incinerated by a grenade and replaced with (naturally) an iron jaw. Flash ahead to World War II and Iron Jaw has become Hitler's main agent and the fifth highest ranking person in the Nazi machinery.)
Anyway, back to Crimebuster. Chuck dons the school's hockey uniform (which conveniently has a large "C" emblazoned on it) adds a cape and a monkey named Squeeks (whom he liberated from a cruel organ grinder) and goes after Iron Jaw. Over the next dozen issues, Crimebuster has eight encounters with the evil Nazi, beating him every time until he finally presumed killed in issue #15. Since this is comic book world, Iron Jaw would be resurrected in issue #50 -- this time as a Communist agent, only to have his butt handed to him repeatedly by Crimebuster, now known as C.B. (the newly installed Comics Code forbade the word 'crime').
So much for background. Turning to issue #11, Iron Jaw is about to go on trial for the murder of two boys. He fakes insanity and the trial judges orders him to an asylum. Jeannie Carroll, the beautiful blonde sister of one of the victims, knows that Iron Jaw is faking insanity. Wanting vengeance, she tries to shoot Iron Jaw. Iron Jaw turns the tables on her, taking her hostage and shooting his way to freedom. A love- (or sex-) smitten Iron Jaw decides to take Jeannie to Germany. He steals a plane which then crashes in the Atlantic. Iron Jaw and Jeannie are picked up by an Argentine freighter, where no one speaks English. Iron Jaw speaks Spanish and is able to convince the captain that he and Jeannie are having a lovers' tiff. Crimebuster takes a Navy torpedo boat and goes after the freighter by himself (well, with Squeeks). Unfortunately, Crimebuster cannot speak Spanish either and Iron Jaw convinces the captain to toss Crimebuster in the brig. Iron Jaw then kills the captain and all but four crew members. The boat then headed to Germany and, in a twist of fate, is spotted by a German sub, which blows up the freighter. Aha! but Crimebuster and Jeannie have managed to escape in a lifeboat just seconds before. But wait! Squeeks did not make it off the freighter. Have both he and Iron Jaw perished? Before the story ends, Crimebuster uses some conveniently locate depth charges to spell finito to the Nazi sub. Jennie gives Crimebuster a big kiss. Ah, gee whiz! Do we have to go into the mushy stuff?
The rest of this issue is filled by stories about Swoop Storm (boy aviator), Little Dynamite (a Brooklyn street kid), Yankee Longago (a boy of today in the land of yesterday), and Young Robinhood and His Band (the good guys), ad well as a tribute to the "Boy Comics" Hero of the Month," George Holle, a fighting marine who had hid his true age of 13, and a two-page text story about Daredevil.
Some pretty entertaining reading for a dime, if you ask me.
Enjoy.
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=73459&b=i
Friday, April 5, 2019
FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE PRIVATE EYE
The Private Eye by Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin (2015)
Brian K. Vaughan is a superstar in the world of comic books and graphic novels. Now 42, he has won 17 Eisner Awards, 14 Harvey Awards, two Joel Schuster Awards, a Wired Rave Award, a British Fantasy Award, and a Hugo Award -- this does not count the many times he has been nominated. He has such classic series to his credit as Ex Machina (50 issues, plus four special issues, all reprinted in ten volumes), Y: The Last Man (60 issues, collected in ten volumes; now in production as a television series from FX), Runaways (co-created by Vaughan and artist Adrian Alphona for Marvel Comics; although the two left after 42 issues, the series continued for another 28 issues and the characters were included in various cross-over adventures within the Marvel Universe; a new series premiered in 2017; Runaways also has appeared as a television series on Hulu with two seasons aired thus far), Pride of Baghdad (a 2006 graphic novel that won a IGN Award for Best Graphic Novel), Saga (the first issue of this ongoing series appeared in 2012; 54 issues has been released thus far, collected in nine volumes), and Paper Girls (26 issues so far in this ongoing series; the first 25 issues have been collected in five volumes). Vaughan has also written for X-Men, Captain America, Doctor Strange, The Hood, Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus, Batman, Green Lantern, Superman, Young Justice, Swamp Thing, The Escapist, and The Walking Dead, among others. His television work includes stints at Lost and Under the Dome. He has also written scripts for an untitled Silver Surfer film and an untitled Mobile Suit Gundam film -- both in development.
Phew.
Artist Marcos Martin has won two Eisners and Harvey award, and has been nominated for another three Eisner and two Harvey Awards. His comic book work includes Batgirl: Year One, Doctor Strange, The Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, Daredevil, and Green Arrow. In addition to working with Brian K. Vaughan on The Private Eye, the two have collaborated on The Walking dead: The Alien and the on-going series Barrier.
The Private Eye was originally released as a ten-issue, digital, pay-want-you-want comic book running from 2013 to 2015, with IDW releasing all ten issues in print form with this collection in 2015.
In the world of The Private, all information -- including everyone's personal information -- was stored in the Cloud. Then one day, the Cloud burst and everyone's darkest secrets were revealed. Lives were destroyed, the economy was shattered, and the world was altered forever. Forty years later, the population has adjusted, protecting their privacy by use of various individualized masks for all their public interactions. Masked identities are hidden from all but close friends and family -- and in some cases, not even them. Law enforcement has been taken over by Journalists who have broad authority. In the underbelly of this society are the Paparazzi, who mine personal information by any means necessary.
Our protagonist is an unnamed paparazzi, who goes by the initials P.I. (and sometime by the Greek symbol for the letter pi). His assistant is a teen-age girl named Melanie, not yet of legal age to don a mask and be given a pseudonym. P. I. stumbles across a convoluted plot to change the world by restoring the internet convoluted plot. The violent mystery that results is a mind-bending roller-coaster of a tale, behind which lay deep questions about the nature of privacy and what we might to to protect it.
The Private Eye is not an easy book to get into but, as the action speeds up, so does the reader's appreciation, bolstered by some jaw-dropping art by Martin depicting the strange world of 2076. (The choice of a date was not accidental.)
It's not the best example of Brian K. Vaughan's work, but it is still a pretty good one. And it stands far ahead of many of the graphic novels released over the past five years.
Give it a try.
Brian K. Vaughan is a superstar in the world of comic books and graphic novels. Now 42, he has won 17 Eisner Awards, 14 Harvey Awards, two Joel Schuster Awards, a Wired Rave Award, a British Fantasy Award, and a Hugo Award -- this does not count the many times he has been nominated. He has such classic series to his credit as Ex Machina (50 issues, plus four special issues, all reprinted in ten volumes), Y: The Last Man (60 issues, collected in ten volumes; now in production as a television series from FX), Runaways (co-created by Vaughan and artist Adrian Alphona for Marvel Comics; although the two left after 42 issues, the series continued for another 28 issues and the characters were included in various cross-over adventures within the Marvel Universe; a new series premiered in 2017; Runaways also has appeared as a television series on Hulu with two seasons aired thus far), Pride of Baghdad (a 2006 graphic novel that won a IGN Award for Best Graphic Novel), Saga (the first issue of this ongoing series appeared in 2012; 54 issues has been released thus far, collected in nine volumes), and Paper Girls (26 issues so far in this ongoing series; the first 25 issues have been collected in five volumes). Vaughan has also written for X-Men, Captain America, Doctor Strange, The Hood, Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus, Batman, Green Lantern, Superman, Young Justice, Swamp Thing, The Escapist, and The Walking Dead, among others. His television work includes stints at Lost and Under the Dome. He has also written scripts for an untitled Silver Surfer film and an untitled Mobile Suit Gundam film -- both in development.
Phew.
Artist Marcos Martin has won two Eisners and Harvey award, and has been nominated for another three Eisner and two Harvey Awards. His comic book work includes Batgirl: Year One, Doctor Strange, The Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, Daredevil, and Green Arrow. In addition to working with Brian K. Vaughan on The Private Eye, the two have collaborated on The Walking dead: The Alien and the on-going series Barrier.
The Private Eye was originally released as a ten-issue, digital, pay-want-you-want comic book running from 2013 to 2015, with IDW releasing all ten issues in print form with this collection in 2015.
In the world of The Private, all information -- including everyone's personal information -- was stored in the Cloud. Then one day, the Cloud burst and everyone's darkest secrets were revealed. Lives were destroyed, the economy was shattered, and the world was altered forever. Forty years later, the population has adjusted, protecting their privacy by use of various individualized masks for all their public interactions. Masked identities are hidden from all but close friends and family -- and in some cases, not even them. Law enforcement has been taken over by Journalists who have broad authority. In the underbelly of this society are the Paparazzi, who mine personal information by any means necessary.
Our protagonist is an unnamed paparazzi, who goes by the initials P.I. (and sometime by the Greek symbol for the letter pi). His assistant is a teen-age girl named Melanie, not yet of legal age to don a mask and be given a pseudonym. P. I. stumbles across a convoluted plot to change the world by restoring the internet convoluted plot. The violent mystery that results is a mind-bending roller-coaster of a tale, behind which lay deep questions about the nature of privacy and what we might to to protect it.
The Private Eye is not an easy book to get into but, as the action speeds up, so does the reader's appreciation, bolstered by some jaw-dropping art by Martin depicting the strange world of 2076. (The choice of a date was not accidental.)
It's not the best example of Brian K. Vaughan's work, but it is still a pretty good one. And it stands far ahead of many of the graphic novels released over the past five years.
Give it a try.
Thursday, April 4, 2019
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