Comics go to the movies

In celebration of the 97th Academy Awards (the Oscars) I thought I would look out a few of the comic book adaptions of some of the best SF / fantasy films of the bronze age. The above cover to "Marvel Special Edition" #1 (Star Wars) by Rick Hoberg is from the internet (I never had this book) but you can't focus on comic book adaptions of films without Star Wars.

"Alien The Illustrated Story": Written by Archie Goodwin with art by Walt Simonson. Simply put the Heavy Metal adaption of "Alien" is a blood-soaked comic book masterpiece. I have been looking for a copy of this book for years having read nothing but positive reviews, and only purchased my copy a few months ago - the hype was justified.

Logans Run - This was a 7 issue monthly series that adapted the popular 1976 film. Written by Gerry Conway with art by George Perez and Klaus Janson "Logans Run" is probably best known to comic book fans for featuring the first Thanos solo adventure story in # 6.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Cover by Bob Larkin. Written by Archie Goodwin with art by Walt Simonson and Klaus Janson - With such talent on board it's not surprising this was an excellent comic book adaption of one of the best ever SF movies

The Land that time Forgot - Cover by Nick Cardy - Written by Marv Wolfman with some nice art by Sonny Trinidad this comic was far better than the movie.

The Labyrinth - This book was illustrated by the great John Buscema from a script by Sid Jacobson. This didn't really contain big Johns best art, but it was largely faithful to the plot of the film. Following its initial release as a Marvel Super Special, the comic was split and released as a three-part limited series between November 1986 and January 1987. Cover from internet (I only have the 3 issue limited series comics - covers aren't as good)

Jaws 2 - Cover by Bob Larkin. Written by Richard Marshcall with art by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer. "Jaws 2" was the best of all the Jaws sequels and this adaption does the film justice. Colan's pencils are inked and painted by Tom Palmer and look excellent.

Planet of the Apes - Cover by Bob Larkin. Written by Doug Moench and illustrated by George Tuska and Mike Esposito . This is another of my favourite comic book film adaptions. I actually read this tale in the UK weekly POTA comic before I saw the film.

Milestones: The Super-Heroes" & "Savage Sword of Conan" first issues from 50 years ago!

Fifty years ago (yes, it really was that long ago) on the 8th March 1975, the company that would become known as Marvel UK expanded on its stable of 5 weekly titles by adding two more comics to its UK portfolio: "The Super-Heroes" (cover above) and "The Savage Sword of Conan" (cover below). While both titles were not that successful (Conan was a downright failure) I was initially pretty excited by their introduction as the Silver Surfer and Conan were (and still are) 2 of my all-time favourite comic book characters.

As was the case with most British comics the first issue (at least) always contained a free gift, in the case both titles this was a free poster (see below). The "Super-Heroes" comic initially featured reprints of the US Silver Surfer and X-Men strips and when the Silver Surfer reprints ran out (after issue 30), they were replaced by The Cat. Later issues of the title included Doc Savage, Giant Man, The Scarecrow, The Thing (from "Marvel Two-In-One"), Bloodstone, and Black Knight. I personally lost interest in the title after the Surfer tales ended as the revolving door of reprints (some looking very dated in 1975) were of little interest to me. The "Super-Heroes" comic only lasted for 50 issues before it merged with "Spider-Man Comics Weekly".

The "Savage Sword of Conan" reprinted the US tales from the colour "Conan the Barbarian" comic as well as "King Kull" strips. Despite containing some of the 1970's best illustrated and written comics, the title was not a success and was cancelled after just 18 issues on 5th July the same year. In a strange move by Marvel, they merged the Conan strip into the pages of the weekly "Avengers" title before Conan then moved into the pages of the "Mighty World of Marvel" weekly for a short time. Of course, you can't keep a barbarian down and Conan would eventually be resurrected as a successful monthly title in 1977.

Above the excellent free poster from the weekly "Savage Sword of Conan" by Neal Adams (the cover of issue 2 of the US "Savage Sword of Conan" magazine) - This was one of the few non-pop star ( Debbie Harry, Bowie, Velvet Underground etc) posters that I ever had on my bedroom wall as a teenager.

Bring on the Back ups: Alex Nino & Robert Kanigher - Space Voyagers

When it comes to drawing sci-fi, barbarian, fantasy and horror comics few artists can compare to Alex Nino. My first encounter with Nino's work was in the pages of "Adventure Comics" where he drew the Captain Fear back up strip, but it was in the pages of "Rima the Jungle Girl" (stunningly illustrated by Nester Redondo) that I came across one of my favourite of Alex Nino's many back up tales "Space Voyagers". These short 4 or 5 page strips written by Robert Kanigher showcased the talents of Alex Nino perfectly. Sadly "Space Voyagers" only lasted for 5 issues before "Rima the Jungle Girl " was cancelled. Below is my favourite of the series from the last issue of Rima:

Although Nino's page layouts could at times be overly detiled and confusing (but always interesting) on "Space Voyagers" he kept it simple and a joy to look at.

Above the cover to the final issue of "Rima the Jungle Girl" where this tale was taken from.

Bizarre Characters: Arm-Fall-Off Boy

There are weird comic book characters and then there are really stupid comic book characters and Arm-Fall-Off-Boy probably falls into the latter of these two descriptions. Arm-Fall-Off-Boy’s first appearance was in Secret Origins Vol. 2 #46, in December 1989 in a story based on a fan parody, this came as a bit of a surprise to me as in my mind the character was a throwback to the late 1960’s silliness of DC comics. The characters powers are pretty much as you would expect from his name, he can detach his own limbs and use them as weapons – well I did say he is a pretty stupid character.

Above the splash page from the"Sercret Origins" tale that introduced Arm-Fall-Off Boy to an unsuspecting world. The only thing more surprising than a comic character with these powers was the fact that DC hired Superman legend Curt Swan to illustrated this tale.

Despite the silliness of the character, DC did give Floyd Belkin aka Arm-Fall-Off-Boy a second outing in the pages of “The Legion of Superheroes in the 31st Century “(splash page above at header) which featured tales based on the Warner Bros animated cartoon series of the same name.This was actually a really fun comic expertly illustrated by Shawn McManus as can be seen from the opening page above.

Despite the abusurdity of the character Arm Fall-Off Boy has even been used in movies where his name was changed to TDK (The Detachable Kid) played by Nathan Fillion, a member of the Suicide Squad. And in comics in an attempt to make him more believable, the character was reintroduced as Splitter.

Above the cover to "Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century" Despite my misgivings of the character I actually enjoyed both this comic and Secret Origins # 46.

Top Tens: Superhero weddings - Big snakes, Vampires, Zombies & Supervillain's

February is the month of love, so join me in celebrating those romances that appeared in the weird and wonderful world of superhero comic book weddings. Of course love isn't easy and even in our normal world it can sometimes go awry, but thankfuly it is rarely every as manic as can be seen in these covers, incuding the above John Buscema/John Romita classic originally from Avenger #60.

Amazing Spider-Man #131- Cocver by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia

Giant-Size Avengers #4 Cover by Gil Kane and John Romita

Tomb of Dracula #47 - by Gene Colon and Tom Palmer

Detectice Comics #407 - Cover by Neal Adams

Batman Family # 1 - Cover by Jim Aparo

Brave and the Bold #197 - Cover by Jim Aparo

Action Comics #484 - Cover by J. Garcia Lopez and Dick Giordano

Legion of Super-Heroes # 200 Cover by Nick Cardy and below, Tales of Terror # 1 (cover originally from Tales of the Zombie # 6) Cover by Earl Norem.

The Spinner Rack - 1973 - Part 4

My final selection of comics from my favourite year,for now. Most of the comics shown here I have repurchased in the last 10 or so years but in many cases I still own my original, albeit tatty issues from over 50 years !!!.

For your information it was the Elongated Man the was the new member that joined the JLA.

The Spinner Rack: 1973 - Part 3

Over the last few months I have been making yet another attempt to thin out my comic book collection, partly to free up some storage space in our wee cottage and partly to enable me to access my comics more easily from my favourite decade, the groovy 1970's. In doing this I found tucked away in an unmarked box, a selection of comics from my favourite year , 1973. Below are some of my favourite comics from that great year including the above issue of Action comics #424 (cover by Nick Cardy) to add to my previous 1973 Spinner rack (Part 1 and Part 2) posts.

Above: Flash #221 - Cover by Nick Cardy

Above: Wierd Worlds #3 - Cover by Mike Kaluta

The Shadow #2 Cover by Mike Kaluta (my first "Shadow" and a classic comic book)

Shazam #2 Cover C.C Beck - This comic (not my copy above) is on a sale in Forbidden Planet (Glasgow) for £100 which seems exceptionaly high to me. I have cleaned up almost all my covers here using my natty new "Picsart" app to make them look "pretty" but regardless of my copys wear and tear, I can see it going on ebay soon lol.

Fantastic Four # 134 - Cover by John Buscema / Joe Sinnott - My first US issue of the FF was #150 and this issue (#134) was one of the first back issues I ever bought in the late 1970's.

Captain Marvel # 26 - Cover by Jim Starlin and Frank Giacoia - a repurchase from last year.

The Defenders # 11 - Cover by Sal Buscema and Frank Bolle

Thor #211 = Cover by John Buscema - Another repurchase from a few years ago.

Dead of Night #1 - Cover John Romita - I picked this issue up on a city break in Haarlem (Netherlands) in a great little comic shop for around £2 - I never had this comic back in 1973 but I just love the issue and I'm sure that 13 year old me probably drooled over the cover if it was advertised in Marvel titles.

Conan the Barbarian #26 - cover by John Romita, John Buscema and Ernie Chua - I have already shown my (newer) US cents copy of this issue but above is my original UK pence issue (tidied up on my app).

The Phantom #55 - Cover Pat Boyette - Next up more from 1973 in part 4.