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Comic And Book Related => Blog and Site Links => Topic started by: profh0011 on February 03, 2013, 05:35:35 PM

Title: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 03, 2013, 05:35:35 PM
I started this blog in June 2011, and so far the bulk of it has spotlighted Jack Kirby's FOURTH WORLD. But I've also done pages for TIM HOLT, GHOST RIDER (the original, of course), JET! (Bob Powell), a variety of Silver Age Marvel series, and the complete run of SPACE CONQUERORS! from BOY'S LIFE magazine.  (I found that online and cleaned it up, so my postings are now MUCH better-looking and far more readable that at the "official" BL site.)

I just started a section on Marvel's DAREDEVIL, which, I admit, has probably some of the most negative comments I've made at the blog so far... but it was called for in this case.  I can imagine the fanatical "MMMS" types who hang out at the Masterworks board would have violent conniptions if they read what I wrote... GOOD for 'em!  I'm trying to celebrate the people who REALLY created and wrote these books, who've had their careers and reputations smeared for far too many decades already.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/01/daredevil.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 14, 2013, 05:51:40 AM
Wally Wood's DAREDEVIL
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/01/daredevil-part-2.html

Page 2 of my DD blog section.  I admit up-front, this is probably the most controversial page I have ever written on my blog... SO FAR.  Enjoy.  Or just keep it to yourself!

:)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 17, 2013, 04:44:17 PM
DAREDEVIL, Part 3 -- the beginning of the John Romita era.  Be warned, this is probably the most "controversial" blog page I have ever written.  Yes-- even more so than the 2 previous ones!!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/02/daredevil-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: WileyJ on February 17, 2013, 08:01:41 PM
Very enlighting stuff.the truth is sometimes dissapointing.looks like stan is right up there with bob kane!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 18, 2013, 05:12:47 AM
I'm amazed at how inspired and carried away i got with all that.  Finding that ONE rough Wally Wood sketch answered so many questions for me, but it also seemes to have opened up just as many new questions. 

For example... was Dick Ayers the one who came up with the idea of DD going on a sea voyage in the first place?  If so, it seems unlikely Ka-Zar & The Savage Land was supposed to be involved.

Presumably Jack Kirby had a Ka-Zar sequel in mind to do at some point, which would reveal his origin.  Was this what Wally Wood had in mind for the beginning of the SUB-MARINER strip, or was he thinking of a more generic "Lost World" (going direct to Arthur Conan Doyle or Edgfar Rice Burroughs for his inspiration-- did he even know about Ka-Zar?).

My guess is, Stan's SOLE contribution to the plot may have been moviing the story from SUB-MARINER to DAREDEVIL.  Where it makes musch LESS sense.  (Gene Colan no doubt had his own idea for what to do with Subby when he got the strip after Wood departer for Tower.)

I  confess, on thumbing thru my Masterworks book, it does look like much of DD #12 was based on VERY ROUGH Kirby layouts, but Romita's art is so dodgy, it's hard to be sure.  The results were MUCH better on the one HULK episode Kirby & Romita did together.  Of course, over there, Kirby was the regular writer, HULK was his character, and he wa really on a roll!  Whereas, with DD, all Kirby had done was design a costume on demand-- which wasn't even being used anymore-- before Lee pulled him back onto the book to supply Romita with a story. Had Kirby done full art, the results might have been a lot better. As it is, it's clear that most of #13, Romita used Kirby story elements but otherwise TOTALLY changed the layout, pacing, story structure, everything.

A good example is the dining room scene.  Kirby has it near the end of #13, and Ka-Zar is at the table with DD and the Plunderer.  In Romita's version, the scene is only halfway thru the episode, and Ka-Zar is in the dungeon at the time!

Things do get MUCH better once DD is back in his natural element-- NYC-- but still, that "Ox" story is pretty miserable.  It's weird, but Romita finally startes to seem inspired when he gets around to having Spider-Man guest-star for 2 issues. (At Stan's insistence, no doubt!)

This is at least the 3rd time some really bad comics "inspired" me to do in-depth reviews.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 28, 2013, 04:34:26 PM
Remember last year when I spent weeks downloading, cleaning up and re-posting the entire run of Al Stenzel's SPACE CONQUERORS! strip from BOYS' LIFE magazine? Well, I'm finally at it again!

Just posted the 1st 2 installments of TALES FROM THE BIBLE. What can I say? Even as a kid, 2 of my favorite subjects were the future... and the past.  Which may explain my interest in science-fiction, Biblical movies, and anything involving time-travel (heh).

By the way, if anyone can identify the artist who did these, please let me know so I can update the blog page.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/02/tales-from-bible-1952.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on March 01, 2013, 08:31:27 AM
I love a mystery and a quick internet search brought a possible answer. The artist on one of those pages (or both?) might be Creig Fessel...

...according to "Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine":

Creig Flessel, one of the earliest of the comic book journeymen, left comic books and after a stint as an assistant to comic strip artist John H. Streibel on "Dixie Dugan" went to the advertising agency, Johnstone and Cushing. In the heyday of comic art many ads were drawn comic art style by top comic artists (Lou Fine, Milton Caniff, Noel Sickles among others). The real money was in advertising, where pages were drawn for hundreds of dollars rather than a paltry few dollars at the comic book companies.

Beginning in the early 1950s Johnstone and Cushing provided the 8-page comic supplement to Boys' Life magazine. Flessel did this two-page adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol for the December, 1952 issue. It boils the story down to 23 panels, but the tale is so familiar we just fill in the details in our own heads. Flessel's artwork is outstanding. Flessel worked for many more years in various fields of comic art and advertising. He died at age 96 in 2008.


A Christmas Carol (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Khrj6KI_PYg/TvaxWwTCXTI/AAAAAAAAbNY/vzDF9hI_zyU/s1600/BOY%2527SLIFE-1252-37.jpg)

Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: MarkWarner on March 01, 2013, 10:40:13 AM
According to this article it is also Greig Flessel 
http://allthingsger.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/pound-of-flessel-sunday-leftover-day.html (http://allthingsger.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/pound-of-flessel-sunday-leftover-day.html)

Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 02, 2013, 01:47:04 PM
Thanks, guys. SPACE CONQUERORS! did have a variety of artists, but most of them were at least distinctive (at least, until the "Lou Fine" period-- when it's been suggested by several people that there may be several different people in there, not just Fine, and there was virtually nothing of Fine's own style in his J&C work). But I haven't looked much into the BIBLE series yet.  Creig Flessel's signature turned up on the 3rd installment. The odd thing is that is isn't on every one.

It'll be interesting as I continue on this project to see how long the series ran, and if and when they changed artists (if at all).

Last night, by luck, I ran across the Wikipedia page of Bob LaRose, who, apparently, colored ALL the J&C color comics in BOYS' LIFE.  I added links on all the BIBLE pages, and plan to do the same with the SC pages (but, there's a lot of 'em!!).

I was actually looking for info on Al Stenzel, but instead ran across that, and, a lengthy article at Hogan's Alley about the history of Johnstone & Cushing.  I'm sure I've read it before, but now I've included a link to the page on the BIBLE pages at my blog.

One interesting detail was that, at J&C, anytime someone got an account, they STAYED with it, to keep the ads consistent.  Unless they left and were replaced entirely. However, it was about 1962 that Al Stenzel started his own firm and took the BOYS' LIFE account away from J&C (causing J&C to go belly-up!!)  He may not have worried as much about consistency, which does suggest to me that, if there were different artists doing SC during that period I currently attribute to Lou Fine, it seems more likely it would be after the comics switched companies.  But I'm just speculating.

Thank goodness George Evans, Alden McWilliams & Gray Morrow have such distinctive, recognizable styles.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 07, 2013, 02:47:46 AM
From BOY'S LIFE magazine, TALES FROM THE BIBLE, 1956-- Irving Novick takes over from Creig Flessel.  Stories retold this year include 2 tales of King Nebuchadnezzar, "Daniel in the Lions' Den", "Easter", "Passover", "Queen Esther", "The Prodigal Son", "Sodom and Gomorrah", "The Good Samaritan", and "The Nativity".

1952   
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/02/tales-from-bible-1952.html

1953
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/02/tales-from-bible-1953.html

1954
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/03/tales-from-bible-1954.html

1955
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/03/tales-from-bible-1955.html

1956
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/03/tales-from-bible-1956.html

1957
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/03/tales-from-bible-1957.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on March 07, 2013, 06:07:52 AM
It's good to see yet another side to Irv Novick. He certainly grew as an artist. I like the work that he did for DC's war comics in the 50s and 60s. When he took over BATMAN in 1968 (inked by Joe Giella on interiors and inking his own pencils on covers), he melded his own style with Infantino's version. Personally, that's the version of Batman by Novick that I prefer. I was never as satisfied with his Darknight Detective of the 1970s, somewhat influenced by Neal Adams, and maybe heavily influenced by his new inker, Dick Giordano--although I still think he did topnotch work, for which he's never gotten enough credit.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 07, 2013, 06:35:54 PM
I shuld look to see if I have any of that late-60's work. I know I thought the early-70's "Adams" look was interesting, for the period, at least when I was a teenager, but it was never my favorite BATMAN.  I'd say I had several favorites in the comics-- including Jerry Robinson (early 40's), Dick Sprang (50's), Carmine Infantino (60's), Don Newton, and Paul Gulacy.

Unfortunately, while I'm still a fan of Gulacy's work (I LOVED his run on CATWOMAN), the longer he was associated with BATMAN, the more he began illustrating stories I just did not like at all. (That goes for a lot of his recent work. I don't know what "editorial" types are thinking these days...)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 11, 2013, 03:05:44 PM
From BOY'S LIFE magazine, TALES FROM THE BIBLE.

The latest retelling of the story of "Moses" continued for the bulk of 1959! In
addition, there were the latest retellings of "Passover", "Easter" and "The
Nativity
", which had become real perennials by here.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/03/tales-from-bible-1959.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 22, 2013, 06:43:22 PM
1961.

The chronological retelling of the Biblical stories begun with the February 1957 installment continues with the stories of "Jonathan", "David And King Saul", "David And Goliath", "Solomon", and yet again, "Hanukkah".

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/03/tales-from-bible-1961.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 27, 2013, 03:06:26 AM
From BOYS' LIFE magazine, TALES FROM THE BIBLE, 1964.

The newest chronological retelling of the Biblical stories begun with the March 1963 installment continued with the stories of "Abraham", "Isaac", "Jacob", "Joseph", "Moses"... and, of course, "The Nativity".

More commentary on my part than usual so far.  Enjoy!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/03/tales-from-bible-1964.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 29, 2013, 04:25:11 AM
1965
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/03/tales-from-bible-1965.html


The newest chronological retelling of the Biblical stories begun with the March 1963 installment continued with 3 more installments of the story of "Moses"... though these had been done much better back in 1958-59 (6 years earlier).


I don't know what was going on, but the entire April 1965 comics section was printed in ONE color ink on lime green paper.  (That's a really cheap way of doing "2-color" printing and only using 1 color of ink.)  Did the budget run low, or were they experimenting to see how it looked / how it would go over with readers?  Fortunately, it only lasted one month.


Additionally, there were no BIBLE installments for January, June or October.


A real surprise here was the return of "The Parables Of Jesus".  They hadn't done any of these since 1956!  2 of these, "The Good Samaritan" and "The Sower", had been done in the series before, but "The Pharisee And The Publican", "The Unmerciful Creditor", "The House On The Rock" and "The Good And The Bad Seed" were all making their BOYS' LIFE debut here!




1966
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/03/stories-from-bible-1966.html


The series was MISSING for 5 months from January-May 1966.  When it returned, it started over at The Beginning... AGAIN!  It looks like the books of Genesis and Exodus must have been the most popular. So far, this was the 5th time these stories had been told in the BOYS' LIFE series.


It seems very apparent to me (and fellow comics fan Steve Thompson) that the series has switched artists during the hiatus. I half-suspected it might be Gray Morrow, but neither of us have been able to positively identify who the new artist here is. Anyone have any ideas?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 01, 2013, 02:19:45 AM
1967
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/03/stories-from-bible-1967.html


The latest retellings of these stories, begun in June 1966, continue with new versions of "Abraham", "Jacob" and "Joseph".  Plus, as a bonus, the history of the usage of "X" in "Christmas".

At least two distinctly different art styles are used this year. I suspect Lou Fine is the first, but I'm unsure of the second.  See my notes at the blog.


By the way, I just checked... by my reckoning, Lou Fine's last SPACE CONQUERORS! episode on his first run was Feb'66.  So he could easily have taken over THE BIBLE for Jun'66.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 02, 2013, 04:41:27 PM
1968
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/03/stories-from-bible-1968.html

The latest retellings of these stories, begun in June 1966, continue with new 3 more installments of "Joseph", followed by 8 new installments retelling the story of "Moses".  Oddly enough, "Sodom And Gomorrah", skipped earlier, turns up in between therse two.  I wonder if anyone reading these for the first time thought that story took place in between the other two stories?

I've reached the point here where I came in.  My subscription ran from May 1968 to November 1969.  I don't know why it was more than 12 months, but those were the issues we got, based on the episodes of SPACE CONQUERORS! I read way back when (and collected into a scrapbook).

By the way, the artist who took over in mid-1967 continues with his 'realistic" yet "scratchy" rendering style. It kinda reminds me of Dick Giordano, but I can't be sure.  Seriously-- ANY ideas who this could be???
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 07, 2013, 05:54:06 PM
I must be forgetting to post here...

1969
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/04/stories-from-bible-1969.html

1970
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/04/stories-from-bible-1970.html

1971
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/04/stories-from-bible-1971.html

1972
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/04/stories-from-bible-1972.html

The latest retellings of these stories, begun in June 1966, continue with new versions of "Elisha The Healer" (6 installments) and "Daniel" (5 installments).

There was no Bible installment for July 1972. I always wonder why that sort of thing happens.


They've obviously gone through several changes in artists in these last few years here. If anyone can help identify whose work this is, it would be appreciated!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 08, 2013, 01:47:52 PM
Just in case anybody missed it, there was exactly ONE installment of this series in 1973...

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zn0JNK0sgfo/UWJBhkTOoEI/AAAAAAAAKd4/WPdHA7wAnis/s1600/Bible+1973+01++700.jpg


...then it went on hiatus for 17 months, replaced with "The Religious Emblems Program", which was more to do with Scouts than religion.


But then it returned, in July 1974, under a new name... 
BIBLE STORIES.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/04/bible-stories-1974.html


PS:  There seems to be 3 different artists' work on display here.  Any help identifying who the artists are will be most appreciated!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 09, 2013, 03:03:16 AM
1975
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/04/bible-stories-1975.html

As has happened several times before, this latest incarnation of the BIBLE series featured new versions of the stories of "Noah's Ark", "The Tower Of Babel", "Abraham", "Sodom And Gomorrah", and, as a bonus, "Hanukkah".

Interestingly, the last chapter of the "Abraham" story focuses on events which had not been recounted in this series before, that of the search for a wife for Abraham's son, Isaac.  Apparently, Rebecca was already related before her marriage via Abraham's brother. That's keeping things "in the family", I suppose.

The art for the February through September installments border on "art nouveau", almost resembling stained-glass window art, a style that was apparently very popular in the mid-1970's.

1975 was also the first time in quite a few years that the feature reverted to full pages, if only for certain episodes (February-May, one of the two November episodes and the one for December).
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 09, 2013, 04:27:03 AM
FANTASTIC FOUR #1 / Nov'61

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EO3CKlnfmtc/UWOUUld6dnI/AAAAAAAAKhM/olJSmF0EgsQ/s1600/FF+001_cf_BK_HK++B6.jpg

I just dug out the files for these and have begun doing ADDITIONAL clean-ups.  So if you've seen these before, they're going to look BETTER than they did before!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 10, 2013, 10:43:02 PM
X-MEN #33  /  Jun'67  /  v.1 by Werner Roth

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DcsuITDgWLM/UWXnKE1V4TI/AAAAAAAAKjw/14rEBPW0S7o/s1600/XM+033_c1c_HK.jpg

X-MEN seems to have had more than its share of rejected covers.

X-MEN #33 had 2 different covers rejected.  The first was by then-series regular Werner Roth.  While I consider Roth's depiction of the characters to be the definitive one (above even Kirby, who created them, and Adams, whose work was a huge inspiration for the 70's revival), he was known more for romance than action.

Gil Kane, a longtime DC mainstay, wound up doing several Marvel covers around this time.  AVENGERS #37 (Feb'67) & X-MEN #33 (Jun'67), both books written by Roy Thomas, had Kane's work replacing already-drawn pieces by each book's regular artist (Don Heck & Werner Roth, respectively).

(to be continued)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on April 10, 2013, 11:43:53 PM
I must have been in the minority but I did not like Kane's Marvel covers. Avengers 38 is one of my all time least favorite covers
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 11, 2013, 12:22:46 AM
Narfstar:
"I must have been in the minority but I did not like Kane's Marvel covers. Avengers 38 is one of my all time least favorite covers"

I liked certain Kane, but most of it-- AUGH! What I thought was funny was a few years back, when I started doing "fantasy" versions of some covers, that an awful lot of them were Kane covers.  Like, there was some decent work, but buried under horrible (early-70's) design .

Kane did AVENGERS #37 ("To Conquer A Collossus") & 38 ("In Our Midst...An Immortal").  I hated BOTH of them.  Awhile back, I discovered the first one had replaced a AMAZING cover by Don Heck-- one of his BEST!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CMJNp-CxR4A/TtLbAA2s5VI/AAAAAAAAAYs/sN4U04TIm0w/s1600/AV+037_ca_HA++HK.jpg

Just today, Roy Thomas sent me this...

"I really don't recall how Gil happened to be doing those covers, except that he was looking to get away from DC to at least some extent... and he liked the idea of doing one big drawing instead of several small ones for what I believe was the same rate.  I don't think I went after him specifically myself... Stan was still more taking more personal involvement with covers then (1967, early 68?)... and I hadn't really worked with or gotten to know Gil... didn't until we worked together on CAPTAIN MARVEL."

Even so, it's interesting that at least twice a cover, done by a book's current artist, was rejected in favor of one by Gil Kane, and both time, it was on a book Roy was writing. Roy later worked with Kane on CAPTAIN MAR-VELL, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, WARLOCK, IRON FIST, CONAN, and probably some other things I'm forgetting.

Also, I recall once reading that Stan Lee "hated" Gil Kane's art.  On another occasion, Stan Lee claimed he thought Gil Kane's version of Spider-Man was "the best he'd ever seen!"  This makes me think that maybe Lee "hated" the earlier, "transitional" Kane (as seen on his 4 episodes of HULK and 4 episodes of CAPTAIN AMERICA, where he was clearly and deliberately in the process of MUTATING his style into something else).  Kane worked with Lee on those.  The "later" Kane-- the style he developed and KEPT for the remainder of his entire career-- really made its debut (as far as I can tell) on his 5 issues of CAPTAIN MAR-VELL. Kane was with Thomas on those.  Right after, he took over AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, where he worked with John Romita.  According to Romita, HE was writing the stories on all those issues, even when he wasn't doing either pencils or inks! (Lee would write dialogue, and "course-direct" after-the-fact where he felt it needed.)  The issues with Kane, Kane was "contributing" ideas. It's inescapable, the fact that when Kane gets on a series, it goes completely off the deep end into manic, intense, downbeat and ultra-violent. And almost every one of his covers has the word "DEATH!!!" on it somewhere.   ;D


"DEATH!  DEATH TO ALL WHO OPPOSE US!!!!!"
--Barbarian Leader  /  HEAVY METAL  (1981)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on April 11, 2013, 12:46:36 AM
Heck's cover was much better
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 11, 2013, 04:22:12 AM
X-MEN #33  /  Jun'67  /  v2. by GIL KANE

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yB1iOGqvzcs/UWY5FH6jBNI/AAAAAAAAKkU/FHIguuASeBs/s1600/XM+033_c2c_RT_HK.jpg

Kane's X-MEN cover ran into problems.  First, several changes were made, including the positions of both hands on both Marvel Girl and Cyclops, Cyclops' eye-beams were added, and a lot of minor rendering lines were added or redrawn on the main figure's hands.

But then, the Comics Code apparently thought the main figure of "The Outcast" was too frightening.  So The Outcast was replaced by The Juggernaut (who had been on Roth's cover in the first place).  Juggernaut's hands were left unchanged from the previous version.  The figures of Marvel Girl & Cyclops were replaced with Iceman and Angel, and their floating heads were replaced with the faces of Cyclops and Marvel Girl-- taken directly from Roth's cover!

Thomas & Kane would go on to collaborate on a wide variety of books, including the creation IRON FIST.


With the Werner Roth cover, I colored the figures first, then, by trial-and-error, designed the background colors for contrast and dynamic effect.  I like how the color scheme wound up looking so "pleasant" and "traditional", which was a perfect fit for Roth's art. 

For Gil Kane's cover, I started out the same way, but for contrast, my choice of colors, first on "The Outcast" and then on the background, was designed to highlight their otherworldliness and evil, as well as reflect the manic intensity of Kane's art. I didn't even bother trying to make it similar to the published version, and I specifically wanted it to be as "wild" and "demented" as possible.  I feel this manages to capture the look of the era (1967 was the "summer of love" and "psychedelia" after all) but also comes close to almost looking like a "black light" poster.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on April 11, 2013, 10:16:25 AM
Would have been eye catching on the newstand which is what they wanted
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 11, 2013, 12:35:06 PM
First real excuse I've had so far to using "lime green" and that peculiar "neon" shade of purple.  (Stan Goldberg preferered green & purple (and orange) for villains, but not usually those shades of those colors.)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on April 11, 2013, 05:00:40 PM
In terms of Stan Lee hating or not hating Gil Kane's work, I can see where both conclusions could be true. The problem with getting information second or third hand is we don't get the full context.

I know that in some of the articles I've read (probably reported by Roy Thomas), Lee didn't think it was right to pay Kane the full rate for his pencils, because Kane didn't spot the blacks on his art. He left that to the inker, so really the inker was left to do a lot more work--what one would call "finishes."

I believe RT's counter argument to Lee was that Kane's loose pencils were worth the same rate as what they would have paid others for tight pencils.

And when you consider that inkers really were given carte blanche to completely change a penciller's work--why would Gil bother to flesth out his pencils, when he probably knew that his work would be changed anyway.

So I think that Stan Lee was frustrated with Gil Kane. Stan was probably pleased with the work, but he just expected to get fuller pencils for what he was paying.

Other people don't like Gil Kane inking himself, but personally, I really like Gil Kane's own inks on his work. I'm good with Anderson or Greene on Gil's pencils--but as with other artists like Joe Kubert or Kurt Schaffenberger, I sense that the most authentic version of the art is that which Kane has inked himself.

Certainly, once he developed that new style of his (circa 1966), I feel like he was the only one who could really do justice to his own pencils. But that's probably also why he didn't do tight pencils. From what I remember in his shop-talk interview with Will Eisner, Kane would do the inks over and over and over again (on a light table) until he got the look that he wanted. So his art really wasn't complete until it had gone through his inking process.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 11, 2013, 06:17:23 PM
X-MEN #25  /  v.1  /  by Werner Roth & Dick Ayers

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NWKTivFg7wE/UWb4nKuhtJI/AAAAAAAAKkk/W1ItZra6bBo/s1600/XM+025_c1c_HK.jpg

Legend has it editor Stan Lee didn't like covers with heroes facing away from the readers.   More recently I've read that he really didn't like heroes whose behinds were facing him... but never mind that.

For this one, I decided to go with the gray background of the published cover, but for the glowing light, I wanted something other than just white & yellow, so I went with yellow & orange instead. While I do think Jack Kirby's published cover was more exciting than this one, it seems a shame for a book's regular artist to get shoved aside for something so trivial.  The trend, unfortunately, continued, as over the next couple years Werner Roth would be REPEATEDLY replaced by other artists on the book's interiors, including Jack Sparling, Dan Adkins, Ross Andru, Don Heck, George Tuska, Jim Steranko, Barry Smith, and, untimately, Neal Adams. 

It's a hell of a thing when an artist is reduced to being a guest-star on his own book.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 11, 2013, 06:25:12 PM
While Gil Kane did not "spot blacks" (a complaint I believe Joe Sinnott also slammed him with), the pencils I have seen were VERY detailed and intense. it seems to me Kane tended to TRACE what was there, as did many others, with some leeway for style.

On the other hand, you've got AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #121-124, where John Romita REDREW the pencils from scratch based on Kane's "roughs" (done at half-size), while discarding Kane's full-size complete pencils.  The difference is striking. I actually liked the results, but I'd have really preferered if Romita did FULL ART (meaning, his own layouts, full pencils AND inks).

It was only when I bought ESSENTIAL MARVEL TEAM-UP that i realized that at one point, Ross Andru & Gil Kane SWAPPED books, which is how Andru finally became the main Spidey artist (with ASM #125), while Kane was able to see his pencils inked normally again.

I would have a suspicion that Stan Lee (or perhaps Roy Thomas-- or both) may have been offended to learn that Kane was doing full pencils AND Romita was also doing full pencils.  From what I know of Lee, he probably would have liked to just have Kane do the rough layouts and only pay him for those. That may be another reason Kane got off ASM and onto MTU at that point.


By the way, I've been loking very closely at the 2 "Outsider" images I have-- the one I colored, and the other one I found online (much smaller image, not big enough to color properly). The latter, the line detail is MUCH closer to the published cover, before the figures were replaced.  I'm beginning to suspect what I just colored may have been Kane's PENCILS.  There was just TOO MANY differences, too many lines added (assuming what I colored wasn't some kind of recreation).
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 12, 2013, 03:46:22 PM
FANTASTIC FOUR #9  /  Dec'62

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IYcF_NJH9mo/UWgqvY1-w-I/AAAAAAAAKls/Ti35zFupkdE/s1600/FF+009_cc_BP_HK.jpg

First one of these I've done in awhile.  I love the whole look of Kirby-Ayers art from this period. And now you can actually see what you're looking at (compared to other images online).

I wound up cleaning up the entire red background at the top, "filled in" art down both the left and right edges, and (to an extent) cleaned up some dark areas along the bottom edge.  (I could have done more, but you have to know when to stop.)


Jack Kirby was one of the few people who really managed to capture the look and personality of Bill Everett's SUB-MARINER.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 13, 2013, 03:42:49 PM
FANTASTIC FOUR #10 / Jan'63

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-boE4n3NY54U/UWl72ulTTuI/AAAAAAAAKnc/zLqSa2ReD-I/s1600/FF+010_cc_BP_HK.jpg

Another one that took quite a few hours to clean up.  I could stil do a lot more, but, again, you have to know when to say "Enough!"

I look at something like the shading of Reed Richard's dark blue uniform and wonder, HOW the heck did Stan Goldberg DO that, without airbrush?



Something subtle may have crept into the coloring on this job.  Note that "Lee" is wearing gray pants, while "Kirby" is wearing reddish-brown pants. Now look at the figures above, where Dr. Doom (in gray) is about to get punched in the mouth by The Thing (reddish-brown).  A "Freudian slip", or a deliberate comment / observation?


Now that I have a whole page worth set up, here's the first 10 covers!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2011/10/fantastic-four.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: josemas on April 13, 2013, 04:01:31 PM
These look really nice cleaned up, Henry.  Lovely to look at.

Thanks for going to the trouble.

Best

Joe
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: paw broon on April 13, 2013, 06:46:47 PM
I know you are discussing Kane's Marvel work but I have to stick up for him.  Perhaps because one of the earliest American comics I saw as a youngster was G.L., I've never forgotten the thrill of those early covers.  I loved the cover to #8   but the others were memorable also.  This isn't simply nostalgia because I believe Kane was a seriously good superhero artist. I could be showing my ignorance here but I like the cover to Avengers 37. 
As for FF 9, Sub Mariner just looks daft imo, like a business man embarrassed that his clothes have disappeared.  He looks much more serious and dangerous in 4 & 5.
None of this rambling changes the fact that your clean up of the covers is anything other than excellent.
Hope you don't mind my butting in.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: josemas on April 13, 2013, 08:32:46 PM
I've read that Kane, like Alex Toth before him, felt stymied by restrictions that editor Julius Schwartz put on his artwork.  This was one of the reasons that Kane began doing work for other companies in the mid 1960s.  His figure-work became much more dynamic during this period and eventually Schwartz relented and let him use his more "dynamic" style in the DC books as well.

During his earlier DC work I also feel that he was often saddled with inkers like Joe Giella who actually dulled down his work.  When he had an inker like Murphy Anderson or inked his own work it became more vibrant.

Best

Joe
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 14, 2013, 12:47:19 PM
I tend to have 2 main problems with Gil Kane. One is a matter of "personality" that comes through in his style in every panel he ever drew. That's a matter of personal taste, so I can't do anything about it. His stuff is just, generally, too "intense" and "manic" for me. But there's also his inks. Legend has it he worked with a "Flair" pen. This produces a stable "dead weight" line with NO variation at all. It's horribly mechanical and inhuman. When I see Kane inking Kane, I just wanna run away screaming.

DC and Marvel were both known in the 60's for overpowering inkers, with DC's toning things down to a mild, dull "house style", and Marvel's each going in their own different directions.  Kane's "transitional" style didn't last too long (as I see it), and what he developed since CAPTAIN MAR-VELL remained intact for the rest of his career. Too many inkers seemed incapable of doing anything with Kane's work (Mike Esposito, Frank Giacoia), while John Romita, at least on ASM #121-124, proved even more overpowering than anyone at DC had ever been, because he REDREW Kane's pages from scratch and discarded (and ignored) Kane's full pencils!

But there were some inkers capable of taking Kane's work and "refining" it while managing to remain true to it.  That's probably what an inker really should be striving for.  I'd list Joe Sinnott, Wally Wood, Klaus Janson and Joe Rubinstein among them. (I tend to HATE Janson's inks with a passion and vengeance, but somehow, when he teamed with Kane, they both seemed to be "on the same page", so to speak-- dark and nightmarish!)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YyLEGXrgTgY/Tz1GURVPb3I/AAAAAAAABPc/qjF2kJudgOc/s1600/DEF+G02_cc_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 15, 2013, 12:39:46 AM
X-MEN #10  /  v.1  /  by Jack Kirby & Chic Stone

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kmZ5AwKB4YY/UWs_uw-3nSI/AAAAAAAAKo8/zpG4wE_JcMk/s1600/XM+010_c1b_OCAL_HK.jpg


Tarzan knock-off were a dime a dozen in the 30's & 40's, even as Superman knock-offs were.  Timely / Marvel had their own-- KA-ZAR-- first as a a pulp magazine character, then translated into the comics.  25 years later, a brand-new, totally-unrelated version cropped up in the new "Marvel Universe".  Did Martin Goodman request it, to revive and/or protect the name? It seems possible. One thing's for certain, the new character sure seemed more brain-damaged than Johnny Weismuller ever was in his TARZAN movies.

Not sure why this cover was rejected, although perhaps it was a lack of focus.  The published version had a much bigger close-up of Ka-Zar, lunging at The Beast while Cyclops once again fired those annoying eye-beams at him.

I really didn't like the gray plants & white sky in the original, so I let my own instincts dictate the color scheme.

This cover, I'm pretty sure, had already turned up on an issue of Chrissie Harper's JACK KIRBY QUARTERLY magazine some years ago.  I didn't dig that out for reference, either.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 15, 2013, 02:58:43 AM
In honor of the 1968 SPIDER-MAN cartoon "Neptune's Nose Cone"...

X-MEN 10  /  rejected cover /
"Ralph Bakshi-Gray Morrow" tribute version

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I3mW6Izmpv4/UWtq-Aoj6CI/AAAAAAAAKpM/o_cX-1VELaE/s1600/XM+010_c1d_OCAL_HK.jpg


Henry
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 17, 2013, 03:41:55 AM
1976

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/04/bible-stories-1976.html


As has happened several times before, this latest incarnation of the BIBLE series featured new versions of the stories of "Jacob" and "Joseph".

One very noticeable difference, while the story of "Jacob" has been told in this series multiple times, THIS year was the first time they included the later reconcilliation between Jacob and his brother Esau, who he had so terribly robbed and cheated earlier. I would have thought that was the most important part of the story!

Similarly, in the story of "Joseph", the new version describes his being sold to the Ishmaelites BY some Medianite merchants, rather than by his brothers directly, who were surprised when he disappeared.  (What's going on here?)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on April 17, 2013, 08:08:31 PM



DC and Marvel were both known in the 60's for overpowering inkers, with DC's toning things down to a mild, dull "house style", and Marvel's each going in their own different directions.


It's funny, being a DC fan, and largely looking over the fence at Marvel, my opinion is completely the reverse. DC was full of distinctive pencillers and distinctive inkers, while Marvel (after the departure of Ditko) seemed to have that dull house style. Artists who were very distinctive at DC and I could easily tell apart--Jim Mooney, Ross Andru, John Romita, Gil Kane--became very similar once they went over to Marvel.

As well, I found Spider-Man (post-Ditko) really invited a dull, generic look. Unlike someone like Batman, the character didn't invite a variety of interpretation. At least with the Kirby characters there was a degree of excitement--even if every other artist at Marvel was pressed to copy Kirby's style on those characters.

If I didn't see the credits on Mooney's Spider-Man work, I wouldn't have known this was the same artist who did so many great DC comics. Whereas very early on, I learned to tell the difference between all the pencillers and inkers at DC--who often weren't even credited on a story. And DC had all those idiosyncratic artists like Joe Kubert, Kurt Schaffenberger, Mike Sekowsky, Carmine Infantino, Bruno Premiani, Bob Oksner, George Papp, Curt Swan, and Wayne Boring.

The big DC inkers--Sid Greene, Murphy Anderson, Joe Giella, George Klein--I could spot a mile away for their unique styles. But I would admit that each of those inkers tended to overpower the pencillers they worked over to a certain degree.

Being a much bigger tent, employing many more editors and artists, DC had a wide variety of flavours--whereas Marvel had a lot of the same Lee/Kirby/Romita remixes. But I'm sure if I had been a more devoted Marvel follower, my opinion might have been different.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 18, 2013, 02:10:36 AM
BIBLE STORIES,  1977

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/04/bible-stories-1977.html

The latest version of the story of "Joseph" continues.  This one features an epilogue not seen in the previous versions in this series.  After, a new version of the story of "Moses" begins.

The series got another new artist-- along with a new LOGO-- for the October 1977 installment.(although it looks to me like the change in artist was only for that month.)

December 1977 saw the first "limited color" installment in several years.  I wonder what was going on there?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 18, 2013, 02:18:38 AM
Jim Mooney on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN was doing either inks, "finishes", or pencils AND inks, but always, over John Romita's "layouts" (translation: John Romita was WRITING the stories, Stan Lee supplied the dialogue and "course-correction"). While Mooney brought much of his own talent to the series, he didn't get to shine doing his own layouts until he was teamed with other writers, like on MARVEL TEAM-UP, or on 2 short episodes of "Tales Of Atlantis" in the back of SUB-MARINER.  (Mooney did a ton of inks over a variety of pencillers on Subby, but ironically, never got to pencil Namor until one issue of MARVEL SPOTLIGHT.)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aSD46Z5tq8U/TwJBMrFv49I/AAAAAAAAA-o/La1_ezDEx8g/s1600/Spotlight+27_p01.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eubw9kA6kEA/TwJBQ0kyu2I/AAAAAAAAA_A/oqO5vG3hmg4/s1600/Spotlight+27_p13.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P714-HNrGlQ/TwJBUkwnnhI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/bRIPERmWAoA/s1600/Spotlight+27_p18.jpg

For a Romita-era Spidey comic where Mooney really got to shine, see SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #1, where Gwen & MJ almost start to look like they really were in an ARCHIE comic.

By the way, in the 60's, Mooney remains my 2nd-favorite LEGION artist (right after Curt Swan & George Klein).
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on April 18, 2013, 07:56:58 PM

FANTASTIC FOUR #10 / Jan'63

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-boE4n3NY54U/UWl72ulTTuI/AAAAAAAAKnc/zLqSa2ReD-I/s1600/FF+010_cc_BP_HK.jpg

Another one that took quite a few hours to clean up.  I could stil do a lot more, but, again, you have to know when to say "Enough!"

I look at something like the shading of Reed Richard's dark blue uniform and wonder, HOW the heck did Stan Goldberg DO that, without airbrush?




The colouring work is impressive. I'm a big fan of Jack Adler's work on the DC covers from the same time period. But as amazing as Goldberg and Adler were, what really astounds me is what I read some years ago in THE DC COMICS GUIDE TO COLORING AND LETTERING COMICS (Watson-Guptill, 2004). In the first few pages of that book, Mark Chiarello describes the process by which comics used to be coloured, where the production department was limited to between 63 and 124 colours, following a complex system of identification for the separator. What happened at the end of this process is what knocked me back, as Chiarello writes (p. 13):

The comic book company's production department would send out the coloring guides and original art boards to their separator, where a group of old ladies would sit around applying dark brown paint to acetate copies of the artwork. I swear it's true! A room full of women who were making minimum wage would darken in four sheets of acetate for each comic book page. Using the colorist's original color guides as a roadmap, they would apply varying shades of brown paint to the clear acetate, making camera-ready film that could then be photographed onto four metal printing plates. The four sheets would correspond to the four colors required for printing: one each for yellow, magenta, cyan, and black.

So it was really the painstaking work of these unsung women who made all these miraculous colours in our comics possible. Think about that the next time you pick up a vintage comic book.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 19, 2013, 12:29:39 AM
The alternative was doing it with that plastic stuff.  This is where the phrase "cutting colors" came from.  I had a bit of this in art school (1986-88), which was like, JUST before the entire computer revolution hit.  All the "mathematical" stuff I learned about typography also went right out the window as soon as you could do it on a computer.

I used to say coloring in Corel Draw was like that, except no plastic, or glue, or exacto-knives involved.  And MUCH more control.


The problem with Photoshop is, too many people who use it have no control over themselves. Dick Ayers referred to "overdone" color. He was right!

Of course, I use Photoshop now... and I STILL try to make it look like the 60's!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 27, 2013, 03:31:43 AM
BIBLE Stories,  1978

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/04/bible-stories-1978.html

The latest version of the story of "Moses" (the 6th time the BOYS' LIFE series had covered the material) continued all the way through 1978.  The pacing of the story is handled differently this time, with more focus on the initial confrontation with Pharaoh, but far less on the various plagues.

The April 1978 installment was done in 2-color printing. In addition, the September 1978 installment-- which lists THE TEN COMMANDMENTS--  was done in 1-color printing (B&W)!  I always wonder why they do that.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9Bufz1L_FYg/UXtCtJ9g2RI/AAAAAAAAKvc/tL9kSlBMFQY/s1600/Bible+1978+09++700.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 27, 2013, 08:45:22 PM
BIBLE Stories, 1979

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/04/bible-stories-1979.html


The latest version of the story of "Moses" (the 6th time the BOYS' LIFE series had covered the material) continued all the way through 1979.  The first 2 installments are entirely graphic, no illustrations at all, something the series had not done for some years.

I've read at Frank Bolle's website that he did work for BOYS' LIFE from 1978-1996 on various features, including the BIBLE.  Although I've usually taken note of changes in artists by differences in styles, in this case, the April 1979 installment was the FIRST time I've seen an artist's SIGNATURE on one of these-- albeit done rather sneakily-- since January 1964!!!  The April 1979 installment also happens to be the first one since May 1971-- and then September 1967 before that-- with an individual title listed (even if the new ones tend to feel more like a "description" than an actual "title").

I've had a growing suspicion that Al Stenzel was the one who decided to eliminate artists' names or signatures, from the time he took over the BL comics section account from Johnstone & Cushing.  As it happens, Stenzel passed away sometime in 1979 (BOYS' LIFE printed a memorial page in the September 1979 issue).  I suppose change was once more in the air.

By the way, from April-December I've been able to spot Frank Bolle's signature (FWB)... except in the July & August installments.  Can anyone spot his signature, or was it left out (or whited out) on those?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 28, 2013, 03:43:46 PM
BIBLE Stories, 1980
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/04/bible-stories-1980.html

The latest version of the story of "Moses" (the 6th time the BOYS' LIFE series had covered the material) concludes at the start of 1980, then, as usual, continues headlong into the story of "Joshua".

One thing which some may consider blasphemy for me to ask is, I sometimes wonder why every invading, conquering horde in history are considered evil barbarians... EXCEPT, the Israelites, when they storm across The Jordan, destroy the city of Jericho and kill almost everyone in it, then continue on to conquer the entire surroundng country and occupy it? POV?

This year saw some stories that had not been covered by the series before, including "Hannah" (Samuel's mother), and "The Ark" being captured by The Philistines.

Meanwhile, I've only been able to detect 3 Frank Bolle signatures among the 12 months (January, July & December)-- and I had trouble finding those.  Did someone tell him to stop including his signature, and he decided to get sneaky about it?

Also, does anyone know who's writing these, now that Al Stenzel had passed away?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on April 28, 2013, 05:41:44 PM
There were places where they wanted credit for the work to be "house" of course this was especially true for some licensed properties like Disney
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 04, 2013, 06:38:57 PM
I finally got the 2nd DAREDEVIL #7 restoration done. This was MUCH bigger (2,048 pixels wide), with MUCH sharper linework, and much better color which needed comparitively little color adjustment.  It just had a HELL of a lot of damage that required repair!!!

As happens so often with skin tones, especially with Sub-Mariner (for whatever reason), I had to copy the skin tones to a 2nd layer to adjust them separately, so as not to lose the color intensity when I cleaned up everything else.  In addition, I copied the skin tone HIGHLIGHT onto a 3rd layer, so i could adjust it much more carefully, and subtly.  Rather than making it "bright white", it left most of the dirt in, so the 3-tone skin tones would be a lot more subtle.


BEFORE
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-80xrRWOkcKk/UXhsSWHvXYI/AAAAAAAAKt0/Vw_OVgGqM88/s1600/DD+007_cc_BCS_HK++B700.jpg

AFTER
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L4coz8e3JtA/UYVQ5SNgNbI/AAAAAAAAK3M/elj_-a6bkuI/s1600/DD+007_cc_BCS_HK.jpg

Bring these up in 2 separate browsers, zoom in, and click from one browser to another to see exactly what was involved in cleaning this mess up!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 05, 2013, 04:26:15 PM
BIBLE Stories,  1981

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/04/bible-stories-1981.html

The latest version of the story of "Samuel" (the 6th time the BOYS' LIFE series had covered the material) continues into the stories of "Saul" and "David".

A number of these latest versions seem to cover their familiar ground in more detail than done in past installments.  Oddly, the August & September episodes seem to be variations of the SAME events, and do not seem (to me) to make sense to BOTH be included. Did Saul change his mind NOT to kill David, TWICE?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 05, 2013, 10:17:24 PM
TIM HOLT #24  /  Jul'51

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h3x1u_p_yF8/UYbUMHlQdeI/AAAAAAAAK4Q/DwomlDAO5ao/s1600/TH+24_cc_CBP_HK.jpg


Yep, I just did a restoration of a cover that's 61-1/2 years old!

I'd just polished off BIBLE STORIES, 1951 (all Frank Bolle art) when I got the urge to look over my TIM HOLT blog page.  There's a number of those I really wanna do upgrades of, and lots more I haven't even tackled yet.  Just for the heck of it, I did a Google search, and the biggest images that came up for #24 and #25 were both at the Comic Book Plus site (formerly Golden Age Comics site).  I wound up downloading both entire books-- first time since the site upgrade, and whatta ya know? NO TECHNICAL PROBLEMS anymore!  Wow.

The image was "only" 1061 pixels wide, but that was a HUGE improvement over the previous one which was only 337 pixels wide!!  As usual, after clean-up, I created a 700 pixels wide version for posting.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 07, 2013, 01:15:09 AM
TIM HOLT #25  /  Sep'51
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9TY_RYIKzqI/UYhTo7Xub7I/AAAAAAAAK5M/nPHSJR4Ug3E/s1600/TH+25_cc_HA_HK.jpg

The debut of The Black Phantom, the wild west's "answer" to Catwoman!

I originally had a miserably-small image at only 396 pixels (cleaned up from whatever was posted at the GCD-- bleh!).  I then found a much bigger image at the Comic Book Plus site, at 1,055 pixels... but it was a dirty, horrific mess. Just before I got started on it, I did another search, and lo and behold, found one at Heritage Auctions (they didn't have one when I looked there before!). This one clocked in at 1,619 pixels!!  We had a winnner.  Now "all" I had to do was seriously adjust the color (mostly using "levels"), clean up the left edge, and "fill in" a lot of detail at the bottom edge (the whole thing was seriously OFF-rotation before I started).
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 07, 2013, 03:48:13 AM
TIM HOLT #27  /  Jan'52

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wXhfl8wJF04/UYmzw556qCI/AAAAAAAAK6s/n1GIL8qRuWw/s1600/TH+27_cd_HA_HK.jpg


A FIRST for me!  In the last year-and-a-half, I've done quite a few re-coloring jobs on old comics interior pages, or brand-new coloring jobs on "rejected" covers.  But in this case, I was frustrated by not being able to find a decent-size and quality image of the published color.  I had one at 501 pixels that was a composite image assembled from a Mile High scan (for the top half) and a GCD scan (for the bottom half).  More recently, I found a 551 pixels scan at Comic Book Plus.  But while the figure of Redmask was sharper, the figure of The Strawman was fuzzier!


However, I did have an 851 pixel scan of the ORIGINAL INK ART from Heritage Auction.  Although it required quite a bit of clean-up, and some of the linework on Redmask was quite faded, I realized I'd stand a better chance of cleaning this up and then RE-COLORING the piece from scratch, basing the brand-new color on the original published color.  I started out by doing what I did with the scan of the inks for the rejected cover of X-MEN #10-- cranking the size UP to 2,000 pixels wide-- and then spent about an hour-and-a-half cleaning it up before moving on to the coloring.  The result, as I hoped, was MUCH sharper than the previous images, and almost impossible to tell from the "real thing".
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 10, 2013, 11:25:27 PM
TIM HOLT #32  /  Nov'52

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y38A9OnWFS0/UY2D6rJdiDI/AAAAAAAALBc/mowMtBC0iys/s1600/TH+32_cc_HA_HK.jpg

The entire left edge required reconstruction on this one.  Also, there was a lot of "glare", especially on the villain's jacket, due to this being photographed inside a plastic case.  (Don't you hate that sort of thing?)  MUCH better now!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 11, 2013, 10:06:04 PM
TIM HOLT #1  /  1948
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oPeZacJ3ri8/UY6uPoKptPI/AAAAAAAALIA/9bvAEYFg2wg/s1600/TH+01_cc_CBP_HK.jpg

This took a couple of hours.  Fairly "easy" for one of these, yet managed to be a HUGE upgrade from what I started with.

Now... can anyone identify the artist???


YES-- I did take this from the Comic Book Plus site!!!    :)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 12, 2013, 11:23:59 AM
Just got the following from Bill Black, the publisher of AC Comics whose reprints introduced me to so many western characters...

Frank Bolle drew every TIM HOLT and REDMASK (and BLACK PHANTOM) story at ME. Only exception were the couple Frazetta covers. He always signed his work except for TH NO. 1.

Sounds definitive to me!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on May 12, 2013, 04:21:41 PM
Yes it does. I would go with that.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: Yoc on May 13, 2013, 09:20:42 PM
Love the cover reworking you've done Professor!
:)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 14, 2013, 12:40:03 AM
BIBLE STORIES, 1982
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/05/bible-stories-1982.html

The latest version of the story of "David" (the 6th time the BOYS' LIFE series had covered the material, and thus far apparently the most detailed) concludes.  The stories of "Solomon", "Rehoboam", "Jeroboam", and "Elijah" follow.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 14, 2013, 06:36:48 PM
BIBLE STORIES,  1983
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/05/bible-stories-1983.html

The latest version of the story of "Elijah" (which was first covered in the BOYS' LIFE series back in 1955) wound up beng covered in far LESS detail this time than before.  "Elijah" was also covered in 1962 and, in the most detail to date, in 1971, where it took up 7 installments. As it concludes, it naturally leads into the story of "Elisha".

The stories of "Isaiah & King Hezekiah" and "King Josiah" follow.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 16, 2013, 02:00:58 AM
TIM HOLT #1  /  1948
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PQFKUZVkV2s/UZQ7oI15h6I/AAAAAAAALM0/0QUr8CP-Iu8/s1600/TH+01_cc_HA_HK.jpg

I hate doing the same job twice, but... 4 days after doing this one (from a scan found at the Comic Book Plus site), I found a MUCH larger (and cleaner!!) image at Heritage Auction.  I don't know why or how it didn't turn up before...  Anyway, the previous one was 957 pixels wide; the new one is 2,050 pixels wide!!  (More than DOUBLE the previous version!!!)  The biggest difference one might see in this is, the dust clouds at the bottom are more blue (less purple-ish "dirt" on the left edge), and, the faces of the 2 cowboys, the linework is MUCH sharper.  I couldn't NOT redo this tonight!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 16, 2013, 03:31:11 PM
BIBLE STORIES,  1984
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/05/bible-stories-1984.html

The story of "King Josiah" is followed by the most detailed retelling of the story of "Daniel" to date.  This was the 4th time the material was covered in the BOYS' LIFE series, having been previously touched on in 1956, 1962-1963 and 1972.

After this, we have a new version of the story of "Jonah", again, by far the most detailed to date.  This was the 3rd time the story had been covered, having been previously been done in Feb 1963 and Jan 1973.  Note that in each case, it was covered in a single episode, while this time, the same events take up 3 whole installments, with a further 2 covering what happened after Jonah actually reached the city of Ninevah.  One could say longtime BOYS' LIFE readers "only" had to wait 21 YEARS to read the outcome of this story!

Jonah strikes me as being a rather poor prophet.  Not only does he try to shirk his duty, putting other people's lives in danger as a result, but after he actually succeeds in the mission he was called to do, he resents the outcome!  (Nice guy.)

As twice before, the appearance of "Jonah" in the series signals that we're about to start over from the beginning-- AGAIN!  (Those stories that take place after Jonah's time-- including The Maccabees-- and even the life of JESUS-- don't seem to be very popular with the BOYS' LIFE Bible Stories series.)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 17, 2013, 02:46:02 AM
BIBLE STORIES,  1985
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/05/bible-stories-1985.html

For the 7th time since the BIBLE STORIES began in BOYS' LIFE in 1952, the series "starts over" from THE BEGINNING.  What I find interesting about this version is that artist Frank Bolle has included dinosaurs as part of "The Creation".  Clearly, those were very, very long "days".  (And, it's obvious Bolle has no problem reconciling "evolution" as PART of "The Creation".)

Oddly enough, this time around, things jump straight from "The Garden Of Eden" to "Noah", skipping "Cain And Abel".  Similarly, "The Tower Of Babel" is also skipped this time, the series jumping straight into "Abraham". One thing I appreciate about this new version is the inclusion of a MAP detailing the actual journey of Abraham, his nephew Lot, and his father Terah (who has never been mentioned in any of these before).  It reminds me of all those maps of "The Hyborean World" that Roy Thomas liked to include with CONAN THE BARBARIAN.

Frank Bolle's signature appears more regularly this year, turning up (that I can see) in the February, March, April, May, July, October, November & December installments.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 17, 2013, 06:29:41 PM
"Pappy" just sent me the following...

"Henry, I notice Bolle used the Twentieth-Century American model for his pictures
of Adam and Eve. I wrote this a couple of years ago about a book, Bible Firsts,
that also used that look."


http://paranoiastrikesdeep.blogspot.com/2011/07/sanitized-bible.html

Check it out, it's hilarious!

I remember back in 1966 thinking that most TV or movie or "storybook" depictions of the past had a clean look about them...  and then my Mom took me to see THE BIBLE: IN THE BEGINNING.  Now this was something else!!  This did not look like anything I'd seen on TV, or in any Catholic School Catechism book.  This was as if someone had found a working time machine, and actually gone back to the dim, distant, SAVAGE, BRUTAL past, and filmed the thing on location, as it really happened!

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lnXW_m3kQ3Q/UVkKQAb6erI/AAAAAAAAKUQ/ekOhsrpbiGw/s1600/1966++Bible++001D++A700.jpg

When I looked back on it decades later, I remember comparing it to CONAN THE BARBARIAN.  If I'm not mistaken, Dino DeLaurentis was involved with that film, too!

One of the most interesting parts of the film is the brief, 10-minute "Sodom And Gomorrah" sequence, right smack in the middle of the long, painful-to-watch, bordering-on-boring "Abraham" sequence (honestly, the movie with Richard Harris was so much better done than the episode with George C. Scott).  The way it's shot, you don't actually see anything... you have to fill in with your imagination.  But the ending, you'd swear it looks like an atom bomb went off.



I find this rather amusing, as just yesterday, I was thinking (and not for the first time) it might be (ahem) "fun" to do a "sci-fi" version of THE BIBLE.  I feel inspired by Lob & Picard's version of ULYSSES.

http://www.heavymetal.com/shm/product_info.php?products_id=4608
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 18, 2013, 02:39:23 AM
TIM HOLT #34  /  Mar'53

All 4 edges needed fixing on this, especially the left edge, which was really ratty.  But overall, it only took a couple hours.  Not bad!

BEFORE
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WpkD7NLyF38/UZZbDSy2KoI/AAAAAAAALQ8/kwdAl-2AEdA/s1600/TH+34_cc_HA_HK++B4.jpg

AFTER
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X0MwBF2oidI/UZbmx_Dk3ZI/AAAAAAAALRM/A2eHJ1sc3pc/s1600/TH+34_cc_HA_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: josemas on May 18, 2013, 01:32:31 PM
Frank Bolle also took over the Winnie Winkle comic strip from Joe Kubert about the same time as he was doing these Bible Stories strips in Boy's Life.   Some sources also have him already doing The Heart of Juliet Jones strip too.

Busy guy.

Best

Joe
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 18, 2013, 05:47:14 PM
1986
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/05/bible-stories-1986.html

The story of "Abraham" concludes. This time around, we get details about Sarah's burial (it almost reads like a look into the cemetery business).  As before, this is followed by Abraham finding his son a wife, Rebecca.  I keep trying to figure out based on who was related to who if any incest was involved.  Next are the stories of "Isaac", "Jacob and Esau".  It's noted this time that Esau seemed to care little for his "birthrite", but I still don't think that excuses the behavior of either Jacob, or their mother, Rebecca.

"The House Of God" is unusual, as it's the first time they've told this story without the illustrations showing "Jacob's Ladder".  I had to re-read "Jacob Meets Rachel" twice before I figured out that-- yes-- he married his 1st cousin. Is it just me, or does it strike anyone else that in "Jacob's Descendants", Joseph is just ASKING for trouble when he tells all his brothers-- who he must know by then hate him-- his dream?  I notice in the last 3 episodes this year, Frank Bolle makes a point of showing Reuben as, first, not taking Joseph seriously, then, clearly exhibiting dismay at the rest of his brothers' actions.  (I guess he was out-numbered... and considering he was surrounded by 10 brothers, all with murder in their heart, he was probably wise not to do anything to get on their "list".)

In addition... in the previous version of this story, something added that was not brought up before was that Joseph's brothers did NOT sell hm to the Ishmaelites, but rather, while they were argueing about what to do, some Midianites came along, grabbed him, and THEY sold him to the Ishmaelites.  Then when the brothers went back to look in the hole, Joseph was gone.  I admit, I haven't read The Bible in depth, but this almost seems like a way "out", to show that, yes, while they wanted to kill him, or at least, sell him into slavery ("Let us do him no harm"-- ARE THEY KIDDING???), they didn't... because someone else came along and did it behind their backs.

However, this version has a new wrinkle. It says (and I quote), "Midianite merchants sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites".  But, later in the same installment, it also says, "Meanwhile The Midianites had sold Joseph in Egypt to Pontiphar, the Captain of the Guard in Pharaoh's Court."  Well, WAIT a minute! How could the Midianites do this, when they had already sold him to the Ishmaelites?  Is this a slip-up? Wasn't the writer paying attention to his own work?

And further...in 34 years of this series (so far), it's notable they have never once mentioned that Abraham had 2 sons, not 1.  Impatient, and apparently not trusting The Lord, his wife urged him to have a baby with her servant girl.  But after Ishmael was born, Sarah finally got pregnant with Isaac.  And to prevent conflict, Ishmael and his mother were tossed out into the desert to fend for themselves!  While it would be poetic justice to have Isaac's youngest grandson in the hands of his disenfranchised relatives, it doesn't seem like enough time has gone by for the story to be so casually referring to "an Ishmaelite caravan".  (Unless of course, it consisted of all the Ishmaelites there are in the entire world at that time.)

Finally, I'd like to know what was going on behind-the-scenes at this point.  Once again, the artist's signatures have vanished. I could only find Frank Bolle's signature ("FWB") on 2 episodes, the ones for January and May 1986.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 19, 2013, 04:08:53 PM
TIM HOLT #35  /  May'53

The biggest image I could find was 972 pixels wide (at the Comic Book Plus site).  It was VERY dirty, and the left edge was a ragged mess.  But I've worked with worse before!

I wound up replacing the entire background with a series of subtle "blends", cleaned up most of the yellow areas, fixed the entire upper-left corner box, filled in the cliff area in the bottom-left (and bottom edge), and lightened up some of the greens, the dark blue, the dark red, and the skin tone on the girl's right arm.  Not bad!

BEFORE
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2jwECNE35mk/UZj2BPLNOBI/AAAAAAAALTk/CtD_Q3UEhjA/s1600/TH+35_cc_CBP_HK++B4.jpg

AFTER
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IIAtSpherk8/UZj2IITtbrI/AAAAAAAALTs/ukBd3ujTKMk/s1600/TH+35_cc_CBP_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 21, 2013, 03:27:04 AM
TIM HOLT #36  /  Jul'53

971 pixels wide from the Comic Book Plus site.  I had to do some very complex "fill-in" down the left and right edges, plus fix some creases along the bottom edge, and, replace the entire sky background with airbrush and some subtle "blends".  There was also some serious "glare" on the foreground figure which also required airbrush darkening up of the shadows.  Not bad!

BEFORE
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MybtZyab-jo/UZrmgCWZtZI/AAAAAAAALUM/U01gPUsgq08/s1600/TH+36_cc_CBP_HK++B4.jpg

AFTER
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-byI4_GdKgH0/UZrmnc7r5XI/AAAAAAAALUU/CTG_TSTpWgE/s1600/TH+36_cc_CBP_HK.jpg

By the way, I found out that Holt pretty much retired from movies by 1952, which no doubt explains why the "RKO'S WESTERN STAR" banner disappeared from the 1953 issues of his comic-book.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 22, 2013, 10:48:32 AM
BIBLE STORIES, 1987
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/05/bible-stories-1987.html

The latest retelling of the story of "Joseph" continues.  This time around, they skipped the reason Joseph wound up in an Egyptian prison (his master's wife had a thing for him, he turned her down, and she lied to her husband about him).

I find it interesting that while Reuben was the one who didn't want to kill Joseph earlier, it was Benjamin that their father Jacob wanted kept safe.  Meanwhile, I wonder, did any of them worry about Simeon, who was arrested and held captive-- possibly for MONTHS-- while, back home, they ate all they had bought? (Maybe Jacob didn't care that much about Simeon?)  What a family.

Once again, the story of "Joseph" leads into the story of "Moses". This marked the 7th time the BOYS' LIFE series would cover this material.

Frank Bolle's only signature appears 3 times this year-- February, March & September.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 22, 2013, 08:26:57 PM
TIM HOLT #37  /  Sep'53

958 pixels wide from the Comic Book Plus site.  This was REALLY dark before I applied "levels".  Afterward, it was still REALLY dirty.  I had to airbrush the entire yellow background!  In addition, as you can see, the entire left edge was really ratty, and the bottom edge was also quite a mess.  A combination of airbrush and "copy-and-paste-into" put that right. I also cleaned up the logo area, part of Redmask's costume, and a simple application of "contrast" brought up Frank Bolle's signature a lot better.  This took about 3-4 hours. MUCH better now!

BEFORE
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yg72GD9K1NA/UZz0DlSD9gI/AAAAAAAALWY/1kKN1CJ-88Q/s1600/TH+37_cc_CBP_HK++B4.jpg

AFTER
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XubjAF9SIL4/UZ0nrLlf2lI/AAAAAAAALWw/W9xRHJ5EuGQ/s1600/TH+37_cc_CBP_HK.jpg

I love how the villain is obviously just a normal human wearing a "man from space" costume to scare folks.  This is maybe a DECADE before Marvel's breed of western heroes faced the same kind of thing!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 25, 2013, 05:29:20 PM
BIBLE STORIES, 1988
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/05/bible-stories-1988.html

The latest retelling of the story of "Moses" continues.  This marked the 7th time the BOYS' LIFE series would cover this material.

I may be imagining things, but it seems to me Frank Bolle was putting more line detail into the strips this year.  Sadly, I couldn't find one Frank Bolle signature this entire year.  What is wrong with editors?

After nearly 10 years (assuming he started with the April 1979 episode), Frank Bolle finally tackles some of the most dramatic sequences in the entire Bible-- The Burning Bush, Passover, The Red Sea, and, of course, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.  Every time I look over them lately, I'm reminded that there's still important ideas in there that are being far too sorely neglected by too many in our society TODAY.  Especially those in charge, or who think they are.   

"Honor your mother and father."  "You shall not murder."  "You shall not steal."  "You shall not give false witness against your neighbor."  And the real kicker-- "You shall not covet your neighbor's house nor anything that belongs to him."

Any society that thinks it can live without these concepts is bound to COLLAPSE under its own corruption.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on May 25, 2013, 05:47:30 PM
Too true
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 26, 2013, 04:04:09 AM
BIBLE STORIES,  1989
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/05/bible-stories-1989.html

The latest retelling of the story of "Moses" continues.  This marked the 7th time the BOYS' LIFE series would cover this material.

Frank Bolle appears to be playing a bit with the visual format of the strip.  For the first time in ages, the narrative text began appearing INSIDE the frames, rather than entirely floating outside them.  Also, I wonder if they changed writers here, as several of these installments have titles that are not only shorter than usual, but slightly awkward in phrasing.  "Moses Shatters Tablets"-- not "Moses Shatters The Tablets" ??  Odd, to say the least.

With the July 1989 installment, Frank Bolle had come full-circle to the first episode he did back in April 1979.  I wonder how many artists on this series this happened with?  (If credits were more prevalent, this would be a lot easier to answer.  Once again, NO signatures for this entire year's worth of episodes.)  Note that while the art is new, the text is IDENTICAL to the previous version!

The same is true for the March 1979 and June 1989 episodes (although the format is slightly different, and studying the art, I don't believe the earlier one in this case is the same artist).  As far as I've noticed, this was the FIRST time in the entire series this kind of thing had happened.  (Once before, when "starting over", a version of "The Creation" had reprinted the artwork from an earlier version-- buit the text had been re-written.)

This trend of reused text with new art continued for the rest of 1989.  Considering the tradition of this feature since 1952, it seems to me SOMEBODY was getting awful LAZY here!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 28, 2013, 03:08:10 AM
BIBLE STORIES,  1990
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/05/bible-stories-1990.html

The latest retelling of the story of "Moses" concludes once more.  This marked the 7th time the BOYS' LIFE series would cover this material.  As before, the stories of "Joshua", "Hannah" and "Samuel" follow.

The trend from the previous year continues, of reusing IDENTICAL text from earlier installments, with new art.  To see what I mean, compare...

January 1990 with October 1979,   
February 1990 with November 1979,
March 1990 with December 1979,   
April 1990 with January 1980,
May 1990 with February 1980,   
June 1990 with March 1980,
July 1990 with April 1980,   
August 1990 with May 1980,
September 1990 with June 1980,   
October 1990 with July 1980,
November 1990 with August 1980, and 
December 1990 with September 1980.

(If you go to the blog page, you can click on the links to easily compare.)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 29, 2013, 01:28:19 PM
BIBLE STORIES, 1991
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/05/bible-stories-1991.html

The latest retelling of the story of "Samuel" continues once more, including the story of when The Philistines stole "The Ark of God".  This marked the 7th time the BOYS' LIFE series would cover this material.  As before, the stories of "Saul" and "David" follow.

The trend begun 2 years earlier continues, of reusing IDENTICAL text from earlier installments, with new art.  However, with the February 1991 installment, we began to get REDRAWN art that looked very much like (but not identical to) the earlier versions.

Go to the blog for more details and for LINKS to compare versions.


Personally, looking back, I think the story of Saul's "problem" with David was better told in the October 1970 and November 1970 installments.  The 1981 and 1991 versions make it seem like Saul tried to kill David right after David killed Goliath, rather than the resentment / paranoia building up over time.  And, there's no mention in the newer ones of David having MARRIED  Saul's daughter, Michal.

Further, the later versions inexplicably have David stealing Saul's cloak, AND stealing Saul's spear, indicating he had to "prove" himself to Saul not once, but TWICE.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 30, 2013, 12:53:38 PM
BIBLE STORIES,  1992
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/05/bible-stories-1992.html

The latest retelling of the story of "David" continues once more.  This marked the 7th time the BOYS' LIFE series would cover this material.  As before, the stories of "Solomon", "Jeroboam" and "Elijah" follow.

The trend of REUSED text and REDRAWN art continues.  Go to the blog for more details and for LINKS to compare versions.

This makes me wonder if Frank Bolle's schedule may have gotten in the way of his doing entirely new art on all of these.  He was doing a daily comic-strip at the same time.  Given that Ernie Colon was doing more and more features for BOYS' LIFE around this time, Bolle may have been slowly cutting back on his BL work.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 31, 2013, 12:12:35 AM
TIM HOLT #38  /  Nov'53

1,633 pixels wide image from the Heritage Auctions site.  The upper-left area required a bit of clean-up, and in general I used airbrush on the ENTIRE black background, which developed some heavy "glare" when someone scanned it (or photographed it, whichever).  I also cleaned up a lot of dirt on the rocks on the lower-right, and used airbrush on the entire logo area, as well as parts of the costumes of both Redmask & Black Phantom.  NICE!

BEFORE
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8idICiGMWQg/UaAsLe3bGZI/AAAAAAAALXo/WUedxbxYrH4/s1600/TH+38_cc_HA_HK++B4.jpg

AFTER
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gigfjJ7EfpI/UafoOOiko7I/AAAAAAAALg8/z5ww4A7V9As/s1600/TH+38_cc_HA_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 31, 2013, 07:52:52 PM
TIM HOLT #39  /  Jan'54

997 pixel image from the B-Western Cowboy Heroes site.  The version currently at the Comic Book Plus site is identical, except smaller, which suggests the BWCH site is where someone got it from.

This reminded me of all those TINY Spanish "Daredevil" cover images I cleaned up a couple years ago.  Maybe 80% of the finished image was the result of AIRBRUSH!  I did the entire blue background, and yellow background, and red circle in the logo.  The white text-- all of it-- was done with "fence" and "levels".  The surface of the cover was so "rough", the background color so uneven, I'm not even sure if it was supposed to be "smooth" or not... but it is NOW!  This took several hours.  I think the result is worth it (although I'd have preferred having a larger scan of a book in better condition to work with).

BEFORE
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Alf5MjpzRqQ/UagNuI9icLI/AAAAAAAALhI/0bBvLsNCfk0/s1600/TH+39_cc_BWCC_HK++B4.jpg

AFTER
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C8PWXqzJPrs/Uaj374ZHPUI/AAAAAAAALho/svk-yIGITBI/s1600/TH+39_cc_BWCC_HK.jpg

As you can see, this was the month Magazine Enterprises decided to toss their Stetson into the "3D" fad arena.  Only, WITHOUT the need for special glasses.  Crazy, huh?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 01, 2013, 09:50:38 AM
BIBLE STORIES,  1993
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/05/bible-stories-1993.html

The latest retelling of the story of "Elijah" continues once more.  This marked the 5th time the BOYS' LIFE series would cover this material.  As before, the stories of "Elisha" (4th version), "Isaiah and Hezekiah" and "King Josiah" follow.

The trend of REUSED text and NEW or REDRAWN art continues. Go to the blog to find the links where you can compare versions.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 01, 2013, 03:54:41 PM
Just for fun, I'm posting a link to the entire run of BREWHAHA, a beer-related newspaper strip done by my friend Mitch Scheele. Enjoy!

http://www.surfsumo.net/brewhaha/
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 02, 2013, 03:54:05 AM
TIM HOLT #40  /  Mar'54
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-guXhUVQIIlM/Uaq_9dE-BTI/AAAAAAAALj4/AGbL_q-wO9o/s1600/TH+40_cc_HA_HK.jpg

2,011 pixel wide image from Heritage Auctions.  This was the biggest (and sharpest-quality) one of these I've found n some time!

A relatively easy one.  The flat, graphic nature of the background made it simple to airbrush most of the dirt and color plate problems.  I used "color balance" to fix the red and green in the logo itself.  I'm not sure if the "tan" on those Indians shouldn't have been lightened up a bit more, it still seems a bit too dark to me...

Does it seem odd that with the advent of this "3D" gimmick that they replaced the "3D"-style logo with an entirely different, "flat" one?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 02, 2013, 03:25:12 PM
TIM HOLT #41  /  May'54
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3ZvM31Tl0e4/Uath-ew_2qI/AAAAAAAALko/OPBRW_K_L28/s1600/TH+41_cc_HA_HK.jpg

More Frank Bolle fun in "3-D"!  2,027 pixel wide image from Heritage Auction.  Some minor clean-up, and come "fill-in" around the edges.  A relative "quickie", for something this old!

Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 04, 2013, 11:32:39 AM
BIBLE STORIES,  1994
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-stories-1994.html

The story of "King Josiah" continues.  This marked the 2nd time the BOYS' LIFE series would cover this material.  As before, the stories of "Daniel" (5th version), "Jonah" (4th version), and, yet again,
"The Creation" (8th version) and "The Garden Of Eden" (7th version) follow.

The trend of REUSED text and NEW art continues. When you go to the blog, you can click on the links to compare.

This time around, "Nebuchadnezzar Destroys Jerusalem", "Nebuchadnezzar Orders The Death Of The Wise Men Of Babylon" and "Jonah Is Angry That Ninevah is Spared", were skipped.  Does it seem to anyone else that BL have been skipping the really "downbeat" episodes?  I strongly suspect some editorializing was going on somewhere, combined with some totally uncalled-for "political correctness".  The specific episodes SKIPPED are those in which characters in The BIBLE are shown in a BAD light.  It seems clear someone was trying to "clean things up" (or perhaps "water it down" would be a more appropriate description).

In addition, in the July 1994 issue there was no BIBLE STORIES episode, for the first time since 1974.  It seems particularly annoying for them to do this in the middle of a story...

Once more, we reach the story of "Jonah", and it's the signal to START OVER again from the beginning.  I can't help but wonder... aren't there any BIBLE STORIES considered worth telling after "Jonah"?  "The Maccabees" (the details of which I can never seem to remember, despite multiple readings on my part) have only been featured ONCE since the BOYS' LIFE series started in 1952, and stories of "Jesus" have been featured only on the rarest of occasions.  Even "The Nativity" hasn't been seen since 1964.

Above, I mentioned it looked like someone was trying to "clean things up".  "The Garden of Eden" is another example of this.  The text is IDENTICAL to the previous version, EXCEPT, the entire last paragraph is MISSING:  "And the man and the woman were naked.  But they were not ashamed." Can it be any more OBVIOUS that something is going on here???
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 05, 2013, 08:18:19 PM
BIBLE STORIES, 1995
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-stories-1995.html

The story of "The Garden Of Eden" concludes.  This marked the 7th time the BOYS' LIFE series would cover this material.  As before, the stories of "Noah's Ark" (8th version), and "Abraham" (7th version), including "Sodom And Gomorrah" (6th version), follow.

The trend of REUSED text and NEW art continues.  If you go to the blog page, you can click on the links to compare versions.

I "fixed" the skin tones on every episode for this year!  (They were too yellow before.)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 06, 2013, 03:24:14 AM
RED MASK #42  /  Jul'54
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p4P8UVS1gxk/Ua_-c_jJFuI/AAAAAAAALp4/Oc0rrJe8Jzc/s1600/TH+42_cc_HA_HK.jpg

The name of the comic was changed from TIM HOLT to RED MASK with this issue.  Otherwise, more of the same!

LOTS of airbrush on this-- the entire red background (including all around the small text!!!), and the green grass (which got totally screwed up due to some SEVERE color balance adjustment).  This was a horrific mess when I started, due to an AWFUL scan "worthy" of Mile High (heehee).  There was also some major color plate registration problems, most of which I fixed with copy-and-paste-into.  LOTS better now!!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 07, 2013, 08:53:42 AM
RED MASK #43  /  Sep'54
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0qt94YAS5Hc/UbGcMqnffOI/AAAAAAAALrI/NJX1gtDRywk/s1600/TH+43_cc_HA_HK.jpg

1,360 pixels wide image from Heritage Auctions.  This was another one that required a LOT of color adjustment, and I was rather surprised it came up as good as it did.  I airbrushed the entire white background, the "ME" logo and quite a lot of the heavier black lines (which had gone blue from using "levels").  I also got the lower-right corner from a separate, and much smaller scan.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 08, 2013, 02:56:30 AM
BIBLE STORIES,  1996
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-stories-1996.html

The story of "Abraham" concludes.  This marked the 7th time the BOYS' LIFE series would cover this material.  As before, the stories of "Isaac, Jacob and Esau" (6th version), and "Joseph" (8th version) follow.

I've read this before, but this time I got thinking...  Rebekah was "the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Milcah (who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor)."  Let me backtrack this.  Abraham's brother was Nahor; he married Milcah (who then became Abraham's sister-in-law); HER son was Bethuel (Abraham's nephew), HIS daughter was Rebekah (Abraham's-- what-- grand-niece?).  So, Rebekah was either Isaac's 2nd cousin, or, merely 2nd cousin BY MARRIAGE, depending on if Bethuel was ALSO Nahor's son, or if he was Milcah's son from a previous marriage.

You can see one reason why churches prefer marriages to be for life; it makes things LESS confusing for everybody!!!

The trend of REUSED text and NEW art continues. If you go to the blog page, you can click on the links to compare versions.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 08, 2013, 11:53:53 AM
RED MASK #44  /  Nov'54
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5gOSQHhp29M/UbMY_eahrvI/AAAAAAAALto/NokMdHyBsLk/s1600/TH+44_cc_HA_HK.jpg

Unfortunately, I could only find 3 images of this online, and 2 of them were terrible!  The best was also slightly smaller than the other 2... but sometimes you do what you can.  This one actually clocks in at 717 pixels wide, which is the size I'm posting it at, as, if I tried to shrink it down to my standard 700 pixels wide it would become slightly fuzzy, and this thing is fuzzy enough, believe me.

Given its size and inherent fuzziness, there was only so much I could do, or justify doing, on this one.  Even so, this is now the BEST version online (until a better, and hopefully much bigger, version turns up).

Seems like I saw a scene just like this in a Ron Ely episode of TARZAN...!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 09, 2013, 10:46:59 AM
RED MASK #45 /  Dec'54
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yq3B_du7HaA/UbRag7JU0rI/AAAAAAAALwA/hcQkEZssw6c/s1600/TH+45_cc_HA_HK.jpg

Another one where I couldn't find as large an image as I'd have liked.  This one was 703 pixels-- and from Heritage Auctions, yet!  I airbrushed the entire yellow background to smooth it out, and did a lot of "copy-and-paste-into" with the left, bottom and right edges.  Plus, I corrected some severe color plate registration problems, especially around the outstretched arm of the main figure, and a copuple of the Indians on the far left.  MUCH better now!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 09, 2013, 05:30:22 PM
BIBLE STORIES,  1997
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-stories-1997.html

The story of "Joseph" conctinues.  This marked the 8th time the BOYS' LIFE series would cover this material.  As before, the story of "Moses" (also 8th version) follows.

In the 1st installment this year, note the last line, "The Midianites had sold Joseph in Egypt to Pontiphar" has been corrected to "Joseph has been sold in Egypt to Pontiphar".  In the 1986 version, it said that the Midianites sold Joseph to Pontiphar, even though they had already sold him to the Ishmaelites!

The trend of REUSED text and NEW art continues. If you go to the blog, you can use the links to compare.

One noticable change this year is that with the February 1997 episode, they switched to using a COMPUTER font.  It vaguely looks hand-drawn, but is too cold & sterile to actually be. (There are better, more "natural"-looking fonts around than the one seen here.)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 11, 2013, 01:47:35 AM
RED MASK #46  /  Jan'55
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YXixCcWOhgs/UbZ_1PRIgOI/AAAAAAAALxs/r6-aCRnXbNc/s1600/TH+46_cc_HA_HK.jpg

A measely 717 pixels wide image from Heritage Auctions.  Unlike most, this was pretty "bright", yet still required a lot of clean-up.  I airbrushed the entire white background, the red and black of the logo, and did extensive copy-and-paste-into for the bottom and lower left AND riight edges-- the original comic was OFF-rotation when it was cropped back  in late '54! All fixed now!  What a COMPLEX image, both for the drawing and coloring.  But by comparison, I love how most of these Magazine Enterprises covers have such SIMPLE "design" work with the text, etc.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 13, 2013, 02:02:52 PM
BIBLE STORIES,  1998
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-stories-1998.html

The story of "Moses" continues.  This marked the 8th time the BOYS' LIFE series would cover this material.

The trend of REUSED text and NEW art continues. If you go to the blog, you can use the links to compare.

With the February 1997 episode, they switched to using a COMPUTER font.  However, with the January 1998, they switched to a different COMPUTER font, this one very MECHANICAL-looking.  It reminds me of nothing less than when Warren Publishing's horror comics replaced hand-lettered balloons with mechanically-lettered balloons.  It's cold, harsh, it creates a "separation" between the text and the illustrations, and, in this case, feels totally out-of-place considering the subject matter.  WHO makes decisions like this?  It can't be an artist doing it.  I use computer fonts ALL the time, but at least I have some sensitivity when it comes to "design".

Incredibly, starting with the June 1998 installment, they began including a credit:  "Illustration by Frank Bolle".  He had only been doing the series for more than 19 YEARS by then!!!

Incidentally, in a further design snafu... it looked okay when they added the artist credit next to a box with art.  But when they put it right next to a block of text, it just causes confusion to the eyes.  Further, in several installments, the right edge of the "Bible Stories" logo design is cut off.  WHO does production work that BAD?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 14, 2013, 12:06:36 PM
BIBLE STORIES,  1999
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-stories-1999.html

The story of "Moses" continues.  This marked the 8th time the BOYS' LIFE series would cover this material.

The trend of REUSED text and NEW art continues. If you go to the blog, you can use the links to compare.

It looks like only one of these had similar poses (and they were flipped).  As with the last several blog pages, I made a point of "fixing" the skin tones on every episode this year.  Looking back, I wish I'd taken the same trouble with the earlier (1989) versions, which otherwise tend to be better-designed.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 15, 2013, 03:49:54 PM
A late addition to the 1999 page...
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-stories-1999.html

An era comes to a close for BIBLE STORIES.  These 12 episodes were the final ones by Frank Bolle, who illustrated the series for 20-1/2 YEARS, longer than anyone else, and quite probably longer than anyone on ANY comics feature in the magazine.

In his time on the series, Bolle had done some of the most-detailed versions of most of the stories seen in the magazine-- and done almost all of them TWICE.  It's probably just as well he got off when he did.  A few more episodes and he would have been doing the same stories a 3rd time.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 15, 2013, 07:32:18 PM
BIBLE STORIES,  2000
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-stories-2000.html

STAR WARS & DOOM artist Don Punchatz takes over BIBLE STORIES-- if only for a measly 9 installments!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 16, 2013, 11:52:25 AM
BIBLE HEROES,  2001
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-heroes-2001.html

A whole new era, as BIBLE STORIES becomes BIBLE HEROES.  After decades of being done in "illustrated children's stories" format, the series reverts back to "comic-strip" format.  "Superhero" artist Anthony Castrillo takes over the art, no doubt in an attempt to attract readers of Marvel or DC Comics.  I'm not sure if this is any kind of good idea, or just one more misguided move further into the abyss.  (I take that back.  I'm sure.)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 17, 2013, 09:28:15 PM
RED MASK #47  /  Feb'55
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-auXUVjjZyIg/Ub83z8D4hKI/AAAAAAAAL7U/fohJ01kRxAg/s1600/TH+47_cc_CBP_HK.jpg

A 949 pixels wide image from the Comic Book Plus site.  This started out as a horrific mess, with creases, wrinkles & damage all over the place.  A TON of airbrush (the entire background & logo area), copy & paste (Red Mask, Black Phantom, the Indians, ground & trees) and some severe color adjustment (skin tones), and it's MUCH better now!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 19, 2013, 03:42:34 AM
BIBLE HEROES,  2002-2003
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-heroes-2002.html
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-heroes-2003.html

New versions of the stories of "Noah",  "Isaac, Esau & Jacob",  and "Joseph".  Artist Anthony Castrillo was either unable to manage more than 6 episodes a year, or some editor at BOYS' LIFE magazine decided to scale back BIBLE HEROES to only 6 installments a year.  I wonder which it was?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 20, 2013, 04:08:27 AM
BIBLE HEROES,  2004
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-heroes-2004.html

The story of "Joseph" concludes.  The latest version of "Moses" follows, the 9th time the material had been covered in BOYS' LIFE, going all the way back to February 1953.

The schedule of these things becomes even more absurd.  There were no BIBLE HEROES for the months of January, March, May, July, August, September (that's 3 in a row), or November.  After 3 years in a row of only doing 6 episodes per year, this year, Anthony Castrillo only did 5!

I'd pity anybody trying to follow this in the magazine as it was coming out... or, for that matter, at the BL "Wayback Machine" website, where I grabbed all of these (and cleaned them up EXTENSIVELY).
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on June 20, 2013, 11:52:30 AM
Thanks to you there is a nice version and a chronology for everyone to read. Have you gotten permission to run the post 1964 stuff since it is not PD?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 20, 2013, 11:31:31 PM
No. The year didn't cross my mind at all.

What did cross my mind was, the ENTIRE series is already posted online FOR FREE-- at THEIR website.  The problem is, the scans suck, and the format of the site makes it impossible to read.  (Heck, it's difficult even to just download and save properly!  I have to re-name every single file manually-- the entire file name, can't just change the date for example, as the only way to download is to grab "complete page" files which consists of about 280 image files at once, and only 3 of them at a time are full-size, and only if I manually ZOOM IN on those.)  I'm just re-posting what they already made available, except, at my blog, it looks nicer, AND, can be read with ease.

Every blog page has the copyright notices posted, as well as a link to their website.

SPACE CONQUERORS! (1952-72) has been up for over a year. No complaints from anybody.

There's quite a few BOYS' LIFE features I'd like to give this treatment to.  The BANK STREET CLASSICS have been fascinating.  Imagine trying to cram an entire novel into 16 comic-book pages!!  Crazy.  There's been 4 artists involved-- I forget who the 2nd one was, but the other 3 were Ernie Colon, Dan Spiegle and Mike Vosburg.  What I find funny (or just very fitting) was Spiegle doing SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, considering what he did for Gold Key in the 60's!

But the next thing I do from there will probably be KIT CARSON, which pre-dates the color section, and only ran about 2 years (I think).
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on June 21, 2013, 01:33:38 AM
Just want you to be safe. You may want to let them know what you have done and offer your improvements to them to run on their site also.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on June 21, 2013, 04:44:54 AM
I know that for CB+ we have to observe copyright, but for blog sites my understanding is that it's okay to post excerpts from the publications--so long as you don't put up all the contents from the publication. I'm not sure what the actual percentage is, but for review purposes I believe it's okay to put up a quarter of the content from what is in the publication.

If I'm wrong on that, then I'm in trouble, too. And so are most bloggers. Of course, there's some blog sites that put up the entire contents and seem to get away with it.

For myself, I restrict the amount to less than 5 pages from a regular size comic book. For public domain, of course, I don't put any restrictions on myself.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 21, 2013, 11:07:06 AM
For the sake of the BOYS' LIFE Bible series, we're talking about HALF a page from a 60-PAGE magazine!

It only seems like a lot because my blog feature is collecting all those half-pages (and in the early installments, full pages) from 1952-up.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on June 21, 2013, 12:46:45 PM
The comic market is so depressed it would not be worth paying their lawyers and filing the papers to come after most sites. And most companies realize that as well as the free advertising value of appearing on numerous sites. We got the blessing of THE SAINT copyright holder. I think that goes a long way in showing we are not competition. The value of most comic books is in the licensing anyway. We would actually increase the licensing value. I know I have tried to contact Street and Smith a couple times to let them know that but they do not respond.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 22, 2013, 08:38:52 AM
BIBLE HEROES,  2005
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-heroes-2005.html

The story of "Moses" concludes.  This was the 9th time the material had been covered in BOYS' LIFE.

As usual, this leads directly into the story of "Joshua".  This was the 7th time this material was covered, going back to April 1955.  For the first time, mention is made of the people in the city of Jericho being "evil" and a danger that the Israelites might turn evil themselves unless they are ALL killed.  (Sheesh)

"Solomon" (6th version, see August 1955) and "Elijah" (6th version, see October 1955) follow.

After 5 years of the series appearing on-and-off, 2005 became the first year to see 12 installments of the BL BIBLE series since Frank Bolle's final year in 1999.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 23, 2013, 02:06:59 AM
BIBLE HEROES,  2006
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-heroes-2006.html

This year begins with a new version of "Noah".  This was the 10th time the material had been covered in BOYS' LIFE.  The odd thing about this is, despite Anthony Castrillo only having done 5 years of the series so far, and 4 of those only consisting of half a year's worth of episodes each, this was already the 2nd time he'd illustrated this story-- the previous time being in 2002 (just 4 years earlier).  The previous version of "Noah" took 3 episodes;  the new version had 5.  The B.L. BIBLE series hadn't repeated something in this short a space of time since 1966, which redid stories done only 3 years earlier in 1963.

Castrillo's use of photographic backgrounds (particularly for the skies) increased dramatically this year.

Next up is the story of "Abraham", the 8th time this material was covered, going back to August 1957.  Something never mentioned in the BL series before, oddly enough, is that Abram started out as a warrior, and after many years of being so, and being childless, wondered who there would be to inherit his lands.  Another detail shown here for the first time is Abram having a dream that predicted the 400 years the Israelites would spend in Egypt between the time of Joseph and Moses.

As several times, before, this includes the story of "Sodom And Gomorrah", the 7th time that story has appeared in the BL series, going all the way back to July 1956.

I suspect the more this series "jumps around", the more confusing it's going to become for anyone trying to follow the history of the Jewish people.  Why can't they just adapt the book in sequence, like Andre LeBlanc did?

Finally-- and surprisingly-- the year ends with "Deborah & Barak".  This was in fact only the 2nd time this story had been told in the BL series, the previous time all the way back in May 1960.  One wonders, with all the detail lavished on the storytelling during the Frank Bolle years, why this story (and several others) were never tackled?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 23, 2013, 10:59:41 PM
BIBLE HEROES,  2007
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-heroes-2007.html

This year begins with a new version of "Gideon".  This was only the 3rd time the material had been covered in BOYS' LIFE, going way back to June 1960.  Seeing as the last time this was tackled was 1970, it would seem the BL series has decided to start doing some of the more obscure stories again.

I've also noticed that the Copyright for the book "Heroes From The Bible" disappeared some time ago, and this apparently coincided with the use of modern colloquialisms disappearing from the dialogue as well.  I guess BIBLE HEROES has actually returned to the earlier style, despite the modern ("generic superhero") art.

Next up is "Samson", the 5th time the story has been done in BL, going back to May 1955Anthony Castrillo had already done it 6 years earlier in 2001.  It's interesting to compare the two versions, for while Castrillo's art seems to have "calmed down" and become less cartoony, the coloring has gotten more "overdone" and over-powering.

"Samuel" (4th time going back to November 1960),  "David And Goliath" (8th time going all the way back to October 1952), and "David The King" (7th time going back to August 1953) follow.  Finally, in a surprising move, rather than continuing straight into "Solomon", instead, the year ends with the beginning of "Righteous Kings", which jumps far ahead to material being covered in this series here for the very 1ST time!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 24, 2013, 07:25:56 PM
BIBLE HEROES,  2008
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-heroes-2008.html

"Righteous Kings" continues.  Having begun the previous month with "Asa", it then covers the stories of "Jehosaphat", "Jehoram", "Joash", "Hezekiah" and "Josiah".  I'm frankly astonished that it took over 54 YEARS before the BOYS' LIFE series covered most of this material!  Only "Hezekiah" and "Josiah" had been covered before, in 1983, and 1993 (both times by Frank Bolle).

These stories, I have determined, take place between the stories of "Elisha" and "Daniel".  They'd been skipped over in 1962, 1972, 1983 and 1993.

Jehoram being inspired to murder his brothers, and one heir, Joash, surviving by being hidden, reminds me a lot of the story from Greek mythology of Jason, whose father was murdered by his uncle Pelias.  The difference here being, it was the murderer's WIFE who urged him to do it, rather than Zeus, king of the gods, and there doesn't seem to have been any sort of sea-going "quest" involved in the resolution of the problem, a generation later.  Jehoram's wife, Queen Athaliah, sure seems to have been an evil B****, doesn't she?  Amazing that the worst that happened to her was being kicked off the throne and exiled.

Next up is "Daniel" (the 7th time going back to 1956), "Jonah" (the 5th time going back to February 1963) and, finally, "Esther" (only the 3rd time going back to May 1956).

After 8 years on the BIBLE HEROES series, 2008 would prove to be Anthony Castrillo's final one doing the art.  A major change occured with the December 2008 episode, which is why I'm ending this page one month early.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 25, 2013, 12:20:37 AM
BIBLE STORIES,  2009
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-stories-2009.html

Another new era begins for the BOYS' LIFE series.  "Bible Heroes" reverts to its previous title of "Bible Stories", as new artist Graeme Hewitson makes his debut.  While Anthony Castrillo had made extensive use of "overdone" Photoshop coloring and textures, as well as photographic skylines, Hewitson does his art entirely in computer 3D modeling!  One only wonders why this didn't start in January to give it a clean break?

Otherwise, the series picks up right where the previous installment left off, with the debut of "The Exiles Return" and "Nehemiah", 2 stories that had somehow NEVER been covered in BL before this!

Then it jumps back again, and a brand-new version of "Joseph" follows, the 10th time this material was covered in BOYS' LIFE, going back to May 1953.  Strangely, it started with "Part 2".  When "Part 3" was published, a cartoon of the magazine's mascot "Pedro" was plastered on top of it, telling readers to go to their website to read the missing installment.  Putting this blog page together, I found that 4 years after-the-fact, it was still there.  And so, for the convenience of anyone reading this here, I've slotted it in sequence where it SHOULD have been in the first place.

I find it curious that in this new version, Pontifar's wife is said to try to tempt Joseph "to do wrong", but doesn't mention that she was ATTRACTED to him.  More modern-day censorship?  There sure seem to be a lot of scheming women in these stories (but then, the same goes for the men).

2 more differences in this version... Joseph is show revealing himself to his brothers immediately, rather than putting them through months of hell and uncertainty in repayment for the evil they did to him.  This makes him seem like a total sap.  Also, the new version describes the Egyptians "hating" Joseph's family on finding out they were "lowly shepherds". This has the effect of painting all the Egyptians as evil, rather than what happens generations later as being simply the result of one horribly misguided ruler.  Which is rather xonophobic (and rather "neo-con"-ish), to say the least.  I find these drastic changes in the retellings bizarre and somewhat disturbing.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 25, 2013, 09:02:01 PM
BIBLE STORIES,  2010
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-stories-2010.html

A new version of "Moses" takes up most of 2010.  This was the 10th time the material had been covered in the BOYS' LIFE series, going all the way back to February 1953.  As usual, the story of "Joshua" follows-- the 8th version in BL going back to April 1955.

More changes crop up in these latest versions of the stories.  One important one is, in this version of "Moses", it's the Plague Of Darkness that causes Pharaoh to finally let the Israelites go. What happened to the Death Of The First Born?

As I've discovered, Scottish artist Graeme Hewitson (and what a THICK accent he's got!) has made quite a career out of doing BIBLE-related material, and his art in BL barely scratches the surface.  His work only appeared in BL for 2 years, and as his last episode was the one for January 2011, I'm including it on this page to make things a bit more "organized".
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 25, 2013, 09:06:46 PM
BIBLE STORIES,  2011
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/bible-stories-2011.html

Another new era begins with the February 2011 episode, as Yugoslavian artist Tin Salamunic takes over BIBLE STORIES.  One might almost be tempted to call this a "retro" move, as not only do we once again have an artist working in "traditional" 2D line-art, but the coloring is also more "traditional" than anything seen on the series since Frank Bolle's last year in 1999.  Even further, while I'm sure the lettering is a computer font, it LOOKS more like a hand-drawn font, of the kind not seen since 1997!  Need I say...?  I like it.  Well, to be honest, I'm not all that crazy about the art style (which reminds me, in a very different sort of way than Anthony Castrillo's, or Japanese "manga"), but from a technical standpoint, I prefer it being done this way to the previous 3 whole eras.

New versions of "Gideon" (the 4th version going back to June 1960) and "Samson" (the 5th version going back to May 1955) take us to the end of the year.  Both had been most recently seen in 2007.

As of my setting this up, 2011 is the last year of BOYS' LIFE current set up at the magazine's website "Archives" section.  It's taken me 5 solid MONTHS to do this project, and frankly, I'm both amazed and relieved I've finally reached the end!  (For now...)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 27, 2013, 01:27:47 AM
I've barely finished my BIBLE STORIES project (in fact, I still want to go back and adjust skin tones on some of the episodes), when I've decided to start a new, 4th blog, which, in comic-book terms, might be considered a "reprint collection"...

Professor H Revisits The Bible !
http://professorhrevisitsthebible.blogspot.com/2013/06/in-beginning.html

Check it out... you'll see what I'm up to!   :)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 28, 2013, 02:06:22 AM
RED MASK #48  /  Mar'55
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4_fE-T1VHWY/UczuLEXYzSI/AAAAAAAAMeU/gm07rrmduJA/s1600/TH+48_cc_HA_HK.jpg

A 705 pixels wide image from Heritage Auctions.  Pretty small, pretty miserable.  But, you do what you can.  I picked this over a somewhat larger image at the Comic Book Plus site, because while smaller, this one looked MUCH better to start with.  I then cleaned up the logo area, and the top and right edges, plus a few spots of "drop-out' here and there.  Not bad... but if I could find a MUCH bigger one to start with, I could probably do even better.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 28, 2013, 11:03:10 PM
RED MASK #49  /  Apr'55
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NkJMMyjFYKA/Uc2dTI-NWYI/AAAAAAAAMfE/g5BA4aY90Cw/s1600/TH+49_cc_HA_HK.jpg

A 711 pixels wide image from Heritage Auctions.  I had to "fill in" the top edge (comparitively easy) and both left and right edges (trickier around the bottom), plus I airbrushed the entire white background and red and yellow in the logo area.  Also, the entire right edge was much darker (discolored) and required some tricky copy-and-paste and airbrushing.  Compared to some, this was almost a "quickie".


RED MASK #50  /  Aug'55
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yy-8mA_QoQ0/Uc4SKm9EhiI/AAAAAAAAMf0/vYPo_Ayl8Vc/s1600/TH+50_cc_CBP_HK.jpg

A 969 pixels wide image from Comic Book Plus.  I had to "fill in" all the way down the entire left edge (to avoid cutting off the left side of the company logo).  I airbrushed the entire sky background and logo area, and cleaned up the bottom edge as well.  Overall, a few hours at most.

This turned out to be Frank Bolle's FINAL cover for this series.  I've seen a couple more covers he may have done on turn up on some foreign reprints, but for the remaining issues in the US, Dick Ayers' Presto Kid was cover-featured.  Gee, it's kinda sad when a character gets sidelined in HIS OWN BOOK.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 01, 2013, 11:04:01 PM
RED MASK #51  /  Oct'55

Thanks to the B***S*** of the Comics Code, one of the most successful western characters of the 50's was cancelled.  In place of THE GHOST RIDER, came THE PRESTO KID.  Instead of stories that bordered on supernatural horror (but were mostly of the "Ghost Chasers" variety) was a stage magician who pretended to have real supernatural powers.  Go figure.  This only lasted 4 issues before Magazine Enterprises gave up the ghost... so to speak.

Let's keep this simple... the scan, a 968 pixels image from Comic Book Plus, was a HORRIFIC MESS.  Not anymore!

DICK AYERS rides again...!

BEFORE
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IRQZzIC1ebc/UdDO6to4r0I/AAAAAAAAMmc/nXGgy4Elts4/s1600/TH+51_cc_CBP_HK++A4.jpg

AFTER
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bl4TxS_9D7k/UdIIUDbl20I/AAAAAAAAMm8/cdWNa2hO9B8/s1600/TH+51_cc_CBP_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 04, 2013, 06:43:42 PM
RED MASK #52  /  February-March'56

Another horrific mess!  The 963 pixels wide image from Comic Book Plus required airbrushing virtually the entire upper logo area, plus the entire white background.  In addition, I adjusted the color for all the figures on a separate layer, and very carefully airbrushed in new skin tones for The Presto Kid's face.  I also did some addiitonal repair, but to tell the truth, I could spend several more hours on this one... I just DON'T feel like it! Sometimes you just gotta know when to stop.

BEFORE
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aIRpps1Lt_c/UdJC5-JKx1I/AAAAAAAAMnM/y4wV_RhENEU/s1600/TH+52_cc_CBP_HK++A4.jpg

AFTER
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6mc230fxVWc/UdW-703wXtI/AAAAAAAAMoY/q6jb3Fa4FGw/s1600/TH+52_cc_CBP_HK.jpg

Maybe I'll do more later... or maybe a better version (much larger) will turn up eventually.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on July 04, 2013, 09:27:19 PM
Nice I know how much work even a little touch up is.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 04, 2013, 11:45:46 PM
That wasn't anywhere near a "little" touch-up!    :)

A simple truth is, the bigger an image, and the better quality of the book scanned, the easier it is (usually) to generate one of these eye-popping "restorations". But sometimes, you have to work with what you got.  The 1st "Black Phantom" cover I posted was about 400 pixels-- a MUCH better one turned up at the Heritage Auctions site about 3 years later.

What I'm hoping, when I'm done with this set, is to upgrade the files currently posted HERE.  I've been adding links at my blog to each individual issue, and it's a bit shocking to go from bold, dazzling clean-ups to... well, what's here at the moment.  It's too much trouble to clean up the interior pages, but I figure, wouldn't it be nice at least to improve what we have, so anyone going to read the books can have an easier time appreciating how wonderful some of these old comics looked when they were NEW?

I haven't been able to make heads or tails of the technical instructions I've read (so far), but with so much else on my mind that's not surprising.  If anyone would be interested in replacing the files with versions with better covers, I can always send the HI-RES versions of the covers by e-mail (since I tend to create "700 pixels" versions for my blog).

I've also got about 5 or 6 BEST OF THE WEST covers done from a few years ago, and of course theres the 4 JET cover by Bob Powell (I just love those!).  And I've still got at least 4 more GHOST RIDER covers yet to process.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 05, 2013, 12:55:27 PM
RED MASK #53  /  May'56

This one wasn't so bad.  A 959 pixels image from Comic Book Plus.  I airbrushed the entire logo area and white background, the yellow text balloon, and the red, whte & skin tones on the Presto Kid and baddie.  I also adjusted the dark greens on a separate layer.  The trickiest part was cleaning up the photographic face in the logo area.  This one "only" took a couple hours!

BEFORE
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7_y5SJqY0AQ/UdYW69l3LaI/AAAAAAAAMoo/mRmhRfmYe4k/s1600/TH+53_cc_CBP_HK++A4.jpg

AFTER
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XJJyNYQLWTA/UdbAZtmZdnI/AAAAAAAAMo4/Yj1FZHqRY5E/s1600/TH+53_cc_CBP_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 06, 2013, 03:53:41 AM
RED MASK #54  /  September'57

Another mess... a 960 pixels image from Comic Book Plus, as usual, I airbrished the entire logo area & background, as well as bits of the bottom ground area.  I copied the horse onto a separate layer because I didn't want the pale blue to BLANK out due to use of "levels".  A few hours.

BEFORE
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I94rg8BTsms/UdchzUwvWYI/AAAAAAAAMpY/9Z4XlbCyj5s/s1600/TH+54_cc_CBP_HK++A4.jpg

AFTER
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5JOAgZCr0Y8/UdeSkoGrCwI/AAAAAAAAMpo/-fn16UOHNOM/s1600/TH+54_cc_CBP_HK.jpg

I wonder what was going on that this FINAL issue of TIM HOLT / RED MASK came out more than a YEAR after the previous one?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 11, 2013, 12:49:26 AM
Here's a huge improvement / expansion...

TIM HOLT #1-10 !!!
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2012/05/tim-holt.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 13, 2013, 01:16:24 PM
And now, something I've been wanting to do for years...  the 1966 BATMAN newspaper strip!

Weeks 1-2
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/batman-1966.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on July 13, 2013, 01:37:09 PM
I can't stress enough how happy it makes me to see these!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 13, 2013, 04:44:04 PM
Thanks.

If they'd have bothered to reprint them when they did the stuff from the 40's, I wouldn't be "having" to do this!   :)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 14, 2013, 02:18:06 PM
Just posted at CAPTAIN COMICS...

"...Did the strip launch on a Tuesday ???"

I wondered about the date.  I read the strip started on May 30, but the 5th strip I had was clearly from Saturday.

Here's the thing... Monday May 30 would have been Memorial Day.  I'm not sure if THE COURIER POST published a paper that day!  Keep in mind, back then, they only published 6 days a week.  No Sunday papers!  And while we did buy both THE PHILADELPHIA BULLETIN and THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER-- only on Sundays-- and mostly to get the color comics-- neither of them ran BATMAN, either.

I mention that because THE COURIER POST ran THE PHANTOM... and so did THE BULLETIN.  So I did get to read THE PHANTOM 7 days a week-- which was 2 completely separate storylines at any given time.  As was, I've found out, BATMAN.  Except to this day, I've never read any of the Sunday stories from that run.

I also wondered if there might have been a "teaser" strip for May 30, just to promote the new strip, without any actual story.

As far as I know, I managed to get EVERY one of the strips in the 1st story.

I also collected the 2nd & 3rd stories, but never got around to putting them in scrapbooks.  Also, I recall MISSING several episodes in the middle of the 3rd one-- possibly because we took a (rare) trip for us away from home for a few days.  I also have a strong feeling I never read the end of the 3rd story, either...  THE COURIER-POST long had a had habit of dropping adventure strips, and ALWAYS, I mean ALWAYS, in the middle of a story.  The feature editor was clearly an (FILL IN THE BLANK).

I don't remember ever seeing a SUPERMAN strip in our area... though I do (vaguely) remember THE WORLD'S GREATEST SUPER-HEROES strip... was that the name?  Late 80's or so?  Was never thrilled with the art (George Tuska?) or writing on that one.

I've been reading some blog articles by other fans, and it seems the 60's BATMAN strip got dropped by a LOT of paper before too long.  This may explain the repeated changes in artists.  If they were getting paid based on how many papers the strip appeared in, each drop in circulation might have been followed by a lower-paying artist taking it over.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 14, 2013, 07:42:04 PM
Well, whatta ya know?  Thanks to Steve Thompson ("Booksteve"), I found out the '66 BATMAN strip DID start on 5-30-66 after all-- and, he sent me a scan of the FIRST strip, which I have never laid eyes on until today!!!

Weeks 1-2
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/batman-1966.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 15, 2013, 12:13:58 PM
The latest illo.  No nudity this time!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j2C6S0pAa1Q/UePl7aw_ASI/AAAAAAAAM_o/lKF7yl243d8/s1600/W279__07+04++C700.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 16, 2013, 03:27:40 PM
TIM HOLT #14  /  February 1950

Now this was a real SONOFABITCH to clean up!!!  I started (3 years ago) with a scan from the GCD, which I cleaned up quite a bit.  But as with everything at that site, it was too small (400 pixels wide).

The biggest image I could find (for now) was at the Comic Book Plus site, clocking in at 968 pixels. Still smaller than I'd like, but a big improvement-- if only, size-wise.  Unfortunately, it was a HORRIFIC mess. And fuzzy. So even when I finished (and it took QUITE A FEW HOURS to fix), I'm still left with one where the sharpness and color isn't as good as the smaller one.  Oh well.

Anyway, here's the steps...

GCD after clean-up
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hKtMfq3G6zI/Ud4euCCFV_I/AAAAAAAAM14/Mg6lZSRMTvo/s1600/TH+14_cb_GCD_HK++C.jpg

CBP before clean-up
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WkKJcvukU5U/UeVgA6HkaAI/AAAAAAAANAI/zm1xyWGcPU8/s1600/TH+14_cc_CBP_HK++A4.jpg

clean-up in progress
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PFdmMsXWEA4/UeVgA9f_UxI/AAAAAAAANAY/lGwVBrkFZng/s1600/TH+14_cc_CBP_HK++B4.jpg

FINISH
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UvHWdoxRLeA/UeVgBFlYyoI/AAAAAAAANAc/0yzQ2pzCPWA/s1600/TH+14_cc_CBP_HK.jpg

Look now, because eventually, I'll be taking down the "in progress" versions.

If anyone can supply me with a MUCH-bigger and MUCH-better scan, I'd appreciate it!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 16, 2013, 06:50:26 PM
TIM HOLT, Part 2
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/06/tim-holt-part-2.html

Issues #11-19 plus GHOST RIDER #1-2, all stunningly restored!!!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 19, 2013, 07:20:49 PM
Just added to my Professor H Revisits The BIBLE blog...  all 10 versions of the story of "Joseph", from BOYS' LIFE magazine, back-to-back!
http://professorhrevisitsthebible.blogspot.com/2013/07/joseph.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 21, 2013, 03:42:04 PM
Just added to my Professor H Revisits The Bible blog...  all 10 versions of the story of "MOSES", from BOYS' LIFE magazine, back-to-back!  This took up so much space, it required 11 whole blog pages to do it!!
http://professorhrevisitsthebible.blogspot.com/2013/07/moses.html

As "M" once said... "This is the BIG one, 007!"
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 21, 2013, 11:09:11 PM
This is no doubt jumping the gun, but I figured I'd send this around anyway.  I just started a new blog page, which so far consists of ONE western cover, stunningly restored, and ONE Bob Powell cover, "in progress"

For the "in progress" cover, there were 2 TERRIBLE versions online (one at the GCD, another at Comic Book Plus).  Fortunately, Heritage Auction had 2 whopping big images... but BOTH were terribly off-rotation!!  I picked the best one, corrected the rotation (on both of them), then copied the "M.E." logo from the 2nd image and pasted it down on the 1st, getting the size just right before cutting out the parts I didn't need.

This should give you an idea of how I do cropping.  I wanted to make sure I had enough space for the ENTIRE "M.E." logo, and not lose any detail down the right side.  But I also cropped a lot of excess sky off the upper-right, and the entire bottom edge was cropped drastically, because there just wasn't anything down there except a mangled edge that otherwise would have needed cleaning up.  And as you can see, I have a lot to do as it is!

That helicopter is something else!  Man, Bob Powell was TERRIFIC back then.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on July 21, 2013, 11:13:59 PM
The cover pops but I would rather have the mangled corner than the cropped corner
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 22, 2013, 02:29:54 PM
It's often a choice between cropping and losing art detail, or "filling in" missing art so as not to lose anything important.

In this case, the only stuff I cropped was the upper part of the right edge, and the entire bottom edge.  IN both cases, there was NO detail to lose.  But you can see where I added a LOT on the lower right, the top, and especially, down the entire left side (mostly just so I'd have the "ME" log INTACT-- and I had to grab the left edge of that from a separate image, for reference, then "fix" it all with airbrush & copy-and-paste).

Now, isn't THIS better?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S9dzR7_oBU4/Ue1Dwaw-JVI/AAAAAAAANlA/7CB7lsHxLj0/s1600/A-1+130_cc_HA_HK.jpg

:)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 25, 2013, 03:13:59 PM
Just for you guys...  BATMAN 1966, week 3!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/07/batman-1966-pt2.html


Halfway thru this project.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on July 25, 2013, 03:28:19 PM
Thanks, as always, for putting these up. I don't recall having read that week's sequence in our local paper. I suspect that our paper skipped it so they could catch up with the series. If you read the continuity, there's not a lot that happens to advance the plot--so I wonder if that week was written deliberately as something that could be left out for those papers coming in late.

There's so much that's tongue-in-cheek in this strip. All in good fun.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 27, 2013, 03:27:04 PM
My favorite bit...

"How d'ya like the luxurious hideout we fixed up fer ya, Cat Woman?"
"It's crummy.  yawn..."


I'm reminded of a bit from ROCKY & BULLWINKLE...


"I's a BAD girl, I is!!"

;D
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 28, 2013, 03:07:54 PM
While upgrading the formatting on my various blog pages, I discovered I'd somehow MISSED the 1957 version of "The Creation" (art by Irv Novick).  FIXED now!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/03/tales-from-bible-1957.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 30, 2013, 02:10:35 AM
Another "naughty" pic from my FORBIDDEN ZONE blog.  Be warned!  Contains nudidity!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TG8Qyk9WnlM/Ufcf7boB5BI/AAAAAAAANtY/zl2lGZTI2fM/s1600/W279__08+04++C700.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 31, 2013, 12:36:58 PM
I must be the only guy I know who likes to go back and make changes to previously-posted blog pages.  While going back over this series, I finally found the exact point where the text began to be reused.  It was the February 1986 episode, which reused text from the December 1975 episode.  This actually makes me wonder, if this might have been the point where writer Al Stenzel was replaced?  I know he passed away in 1979, but it's possible he retired from the strip a few years earlier.  A new writer might have felt more comfortable reusing his own text.

It might also "explain" the inconsistencies that cropped up in the story of "Joseph", when, abruptly, instead of his brother selling him to Ishmaelites, it says some Midianites sold him to the Ishmaelites while they were arguing about what to do. And then, it says the Midianites sold him to the guy in Egypt.  They couldn't have sold him TWICE! Like, wasn't the writer paying attention to his own work?  This mistake went out twice, but was finally corrected the 3rd time that version of the text was used.

It's fun noticing things like this...
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 01, 2013, 04:04:44 PM
Just added to my Professor H Revisits The Bible blog...  one of the more obscure stories, "DEBORAH", which only appeared twice in BOYS' LIFE, in May 1960, and then not again until December 2006.  That's a gap of 46-1/2 years!!!

http://professorhrevisitsthebible.blogspot.com/2013/08/deborah.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 01, 2013, 06:22:20 PM
Just added to my Professor H Revisits The Bible blog...  the slightly-less-obscure story of "GIDEON".

This one has been done 4 times, with art by Irv Novick, Curt Swan, Anthony Castrillo, and Tim Salamunic.

http://professorhrevisitsthebible.blogspot.com/2013/08/gideon.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 01, 2013, 07:43:15 PM
Just added to my Professor H Revisits The Bible blog... the story of "SAMSON".

This one has been done 6 times, with art by Creig Flessel, Irv Novick, ??, Anthony Castrillo (twice!), and Tim Salamunic.

http://professorhrevisitsthebible.blogspot.com/2013/08/samson.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 02, 2013, 05:10:09 PM
Just added to my Professor H Revisits The Bible blog... the story of "DAVID".

http://professorhrevisitsthebible.blogspot.com/2013/08/david.html

This one has been done 8 times, with art by Creig Flessel (twice!), Irv Novick, ??, Frank Bolle (twice!), and Anthony Castrillo (also twice!).

I wish I could figure out who did the art for the 1970 version.  Earlier episodes look like Curt Swan, but by this point, I don't see his style anymore.  There are so many artists with similar styles, at times it's amazing anyone can recognize some of them.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on August 02, 2013, 09:38:10 PM
I am that way with most artists. How can people identify them
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 03, 2013, 02:37:47 AM
Just added to my Professor H Revisits The Bible blog... the story of "SOLOMON".

http://professorhrevisitsthebible.blogspot.com/2013/08/solomon.html

This one was done 6 times, with art by Creig Flessel, Irv Novick, Curt Swan (??), Frank Bolle (twice!), and Anthony Castrillo (very briefly).

Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 03, 2013, 02:46:07 AM
And now we get to some really obscure stuff...  Just added to my Professor H Revisits The Bible blog... the story of "REHOBOAM and JEROBOAM".

http://professorhrevisitsthebible.blogspot.com/2013/08/rehoboam-and-jeroboam.html

This one was done 4 times, with art by Irv Novick, Curt Swan (??), and Frank Bolle (twice!).

What follows is even less well-known...!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on August 04, 2013, 12:10:59 AM

I am that way with most artists. How can people identify them


I seem to have an eye for comic art. Maybe this is because I shunned Marvel Comics (which gave credits) and mainly read other publishers like DC that didn't give credits (not consistently)--when I first started reading comics. So I quickly learned to identify the artists that I liked--even if I didn't know their names.

On an old message board, Rich Morrissey told me that he used ears to identify inkers. It makes sense--while an inker might have to adjust his style, depending on the penciller, he's probably going to ink ears his own way no matter whose pencils he's working on. Now that might evolve over time, but if you have a page that you know was inked by Joe Giella in '63 and you have another page from '63 where you don't know the inker, you can see if the ears in both look the same--and then it's probably Giella. I've always noticed the weirdness of comic book ears. It confounded me as a kid, because the whirls in those ears don't look like anything in real life.

Still on the business of inkers and just for identifying Old Look Batman inkers, you look at the bat on the chest. Each inker had his own way of doing the bat, so you should be able to distinguish a Charles Paris ink job from a Sheldon Moldoff. I think Bob Hughes gave me this tip--also on an old message board.

This rule of thumb probably applies to other characters who have chest emblems (or back emblems in the case of Spider-Man and Superman).

Sid Greene, my favourite inker, has an unmistakable style. When he pencils a comic, he always tries to put Julius Schwartz somewhere in the scene. He didn't do this when he inked someone else's pencils, because he didn't think it was proper.

Other pencillers have their own idiosyncracies. I can spot a Carmine Infantino pencilling job from a mile away, because he has his own way of posing figures. Other artists are harder to spot, but if you study the work of a penciller for awhile, you get to know his favourite poses and those are a giveaway.

Unless, some other artist is swiping his style. That happens. In Captain Marvel Jr. adventures, the other Binder artists would swipe Mac Raboy poses. But these stick out like a sore thumb. In Raboy's own work, the poses were organic to the story, but in a non-Raboy story, Junior is striking this pose for no other reason than the artist wants to do a swipe. I think some weren't even swipes--I believe they would cut out Raboy figures and paste them on the page.

Anyway, even if you don't have an eye for art, just through sheer hard work it should be possible to make a good guess at artists, if you have a small number of suspects. Simply by tell-tale features in the art it should be possible to rule-out or rule-in the artists on your suspect list.

Lately my eyes haven't been up to this challenge. They quickly get tired, especially if I'm staring at a computer screen for more than a few minutes. Otherwise I would probably do some more detective work, but I've had to cut down on my computer time to save my eyes.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on August 04, 2013, 12:33:52 AM
Thanks for the tips. JVJ would tend to disagree but in terms of what works for him. He has said he more or less can feel/see the artist not so much a distinctive feature. I have seen some say that they recognize Alascia inks by the hands. I am not a very good art spotter and do not even try inks. I have a few artists I can spot but not a lot. Any that you have recognized that are not on GCD or need a note please do.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on August 04, 2013, 01:35:30 AM
I also feel artists by instinct. In my younger days, I always identified artists by my gut. But, that came from familiarity, too. I have a better sense for DC artists than Marvel artists. Still, I think my senses are really unconsciously seeing all those identifying details. If I really think about it, I realize that there are certain earmarks I'm seeing in the art. And using a more scientific method can help you catch wrong assumptions.

I always assumed that I could easily distinguish between an Anderson and a Giella ink job. But then some years ago, checking my assumptions, I realized I was wrongly identifying some Giella jobs as Anderson--once I compared details like ears, I realized these were Giella. I think the GCD had made the same mistake and around that time the credits were corrected. Now that the GCD has Julius Schwartz's payment records, they can verify what artists should get credit for those jobs (with some qualification).
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 04, 2013, 01:46:22 AM
And now, some EVEN MORE obscure stuff...  Just added to the Professor H Revisits The Bible blog...

Asa, Jehosaphat, Jehoram and Joash

http://professorhrevisitsthebible.blogspot.com/2013/08/asa-jehosaphat-jehoram-and-joash.html

That's a mouthful!  Each of these stories were covered exactly ONCE in the entire BOYS' LIFE series... from December 2007 to March 2008.  That's right-- it took over 54 YEARS before anyone tackled them!

If you like stories of intrigue and political corruption, THESE are the stories for you!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 04, 2013, 01:59:26 AM
Fascinating stuff, Jimmm.  I never picked up the "ear" thing as a habit, though I do find faces are usually a big thing, as well as poses.

I remember ages back thinking the 3-part CAP vs. the Red Skull story (reprinted in AVENGERS ANNUAL #3) didn't look consistent, though it said "Kirby & Giacoia" on all 3 parts.  Then a few years ago, ALTER EGO had an interview with Joe Giella, who revealed he'd helped his friend Frank Giacoia on many jobs... always uncredited.  WHOA!  When I did my re-reading of all my 60's Marvels, and got to the period when Giacoia started working for them, it was a real eye-opener.  I began to SEE so clearly which pages-- or parts of pages-- each of those 2 guys had done.  It was so glaringly obvious, once I knew, because unlike Wally Wood assistants or Vince Colletta assistants, Giacoia & Giella's styles don't look anything alike!!!

There's actually a SUB-MARINER issue in the early 70's where the inks are credited to Giacoia, but the book splits into 2 halves, which look NOTHING alike.

I also realized that the 1st CAP issue I ever bought with Sal Buscema-- #159 ("Turning Point"), though credited to John Verpoorten, had actually had its entire first HALF inked by JOE SINNOTT-- uncredited!  (No wonder my 1st impression of Sal was so damn good!  It was downhill all the way after that...)


I've never seen anyone who could pick out artists like Nick Caputo.  Although, there's been a few times where I've disagreed with him... and once in awhile, I got a kick when he agreed with me.  So I guess I'm not that bad at it, either...
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on August 04, 2013, 04:00:58 AM
Yes, I've read a few articles about Frank Giacoia and his deadline woes. Giella would be one guy who helped him out. Mike Sekowsky another. And a few others. Giacoia was probably a really nice guy, because his friends were always helping him.

I believe that he grew up with Carmine Infantino. In a few interviews, Sheldon Mayer told a story about two young guys who came to see him in his office (when he was an executive at DC/All-American), he looked at their work and told them they were good, but they should work on their art a bit before going into the business. He believed they needed time to work on their skills. One of those guys was Carmine Infantino--who took Mayer's advice and worked on improving his skills before breaking into comics. Mayer didn't identify the other guy, but he said this guy didnt' take his advice, went to work right away and never really fulfilled his potential as an artist, though he did all right as an inker. I think this was Frank Giacoia.

The habit of some other artists pitching in on work, though they weren't being paid (over the table) for it, makes me think that some of Julie Schwartz's payment records don't tell the whole story all the time.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 04, 2013, 06:52:56 PM
Arnold Drake told how he wrote the first 2 DEADMAN stories but only got credited & paid for the first.  (His editor managed to have him kicked off the brand-new title Drake had just created, so HE could write it instead.) Drake was later credited & paid for reprints on the 2nd chapter.

Meanwhile, I came to the conclusion that Arnold had NOT written the last 2 issues of CAPTAIN MAR-VELL he was credited for (except for the first 4 pages of the first one).  The writing style was completely different-- not to mention, the direction of the story abruptly changed, and the entire book looked like it had been done over a weekend (including writing and full artwork!).  Arnold told me he checked his records, and he had been paid for at least the 2nd of those... but the more I thought about it, the more I thought, that doesn't necessarily mean that what he turned in and was paid for was what got published.  Which also makes me strongly suspect there may be an entire issue of Don Heck pencils that never saw the light of day. Gary Friedrich got credited with 3 issues, but the 2 before those were CONSISTENT in style & content to the ones he had his name on.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 05, 2013, 02:41:43 PM
The latest restoration... this one took DAYS to clean up!

A-1 #22  /  DICK POWELL -- ADVENTURER!  (1949)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oVhWx8E93Zo/Uf-5GBFix5I/AAAAAAAAOCM/mKHCWgmRrF0/s1600/A-1+022_cc_CBP_HK.jpg

I dug out my copy of MURDER MY SWEET sometime in the middle of the job...   :)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 06, 2013, 01:02:00 AM
Just added to the Professor H Revisits The Bible blog...  ELIJAH (6 versions) and ELISHA (4 versions) !

http://professorhrevisitsthebible.blogspot.com/2013/08/elijah.html

http://professorhrevisitsthebible.blogspot.com/2013/08/elisha.html

Once again, these feature art by Creig Flessel, Irv Novick, Curt Swan, Frank Bolle & Anthony Castrillo.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 06, 2013, 02:22:02 AM
Here's a story I bet everybody knows... just added to the Professor H Revisits The Bible blog...  "JONAH"!

http://professorhrevisitsthebible.blogspot.com/2013/08/jonah.html

This was done in BOYS' LIFE 5 times, with art by Irv Novick, Curt Swan, Frank Bolle & Anthony Castrillo.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 07, 2013, 03:05:53 AM
It's amazing what you can find online. I've become aware of a large and growing number of illustrated or comics-style BIBLE series done over the years, some even quite recently. I suppose it might be called a "niche" market, but I suspect it's a huge one.


One series that goes wayyyyyyy back was done in the 1940's by EC Comics-- the same people who later became notorious for WEIRD SCIENCE-FANTASY and TALES FROM THE CRYPT-- also, MAD. This series has apparently been reprinted in hardbound.


Also, I was reminded that in the 1970's, there actually was an animated cartoon TV series entitled STORIES FROM THE BIBLE. I wonder if BOYS' LIFE changed theirs to simply BIBLE STORIES in the mid-70's to avoid confusion?


I had 2 other comics-style versions over the years. The first was a large harbound "illustrated" BIBLE, all B&W artwork. I've been looking for it lately, but can't be sure if someone around here might have given it away over the years. (You wanna save something, that'll be the thing your parents wanna get rid of, for no real reason.)


More recently, there was a digest-sized hardbound book-- but about 2 INCHES thick-- collecting the entire series illustrated by artist Andre LeBlanc (in color). I recently found out this was originally serialized in a monthly magazine (like BOYS' LIFE, but with more of a religious focus). I know this is one of many currently available online, at Amazon.com and other places. I've got it, and enjoyed it. It got me wondering why the BOYS' LIFE series kept jumping around so chaotically, instead of just starting at the beginning and working straight through without skipping things.


I've been going really hard on this today-- and just got all the way to the end of the Old Testament set up at the blog! Only 3 more sections left to set up. BOYS' LIFE did very little concerning Jesus in the last 61 years.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 07, 2013, 04:02:37 AM
Busy day today... just added to the Professor H Revisits The Bible blog...

Isaiah and Hezekiah
Josiah
Daniel
Ezra
Esther
Nehemiah
The Maccabees


...and that finishes out The Old Testament!!!

Unlike the way BOYS' LIFE actually published the series, I've managed to re-present all the stories in the correct chronological sequence, which makes it much easier to put each story in the proper historical perspective.

I'm only going to post the 1st link here... if you go to the blog, each story is linked in sequence so you can go from one to the next quite easily.

http://professorhrevisitsthebible.blogspot.com/2013/08/isaiah-and-hezekiah.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 07, 2013, 01:52:35 PM
Alright!  I just polished off the Professor H Revisits The Bible blog, the first one I've done that had a definite "end point" in mind.

The Nativity
The Parables Of Jesus
Easter


http://professorhrevisitsthebible.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-nativity.html

I feel real proud of this.  BOYS'  LIFE did not publish many of the stories in any sensible, chronological fashion, but I've managed to do just that.

Now I can move on to whatever the next project will be.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on August 07, 2013, 11:16:10 PM




One series that goes wayyyyyyy back was done in the 1940's by EC Comics-- the same people who later became notorious for WEIRD SCIENCE-FANTASY and TALES FROM THE CRYPT-- also, MAD. This series has apparently been reprinted in hardbound.





I imagine that you know before M.C. Gaines published PICTURE STORIES FROM THE BIBLE at Educational Comics Inc. (EC), he published PICTURE STORIES FROM THE BIBLE at All-American Comics Inc. I've never seen the inside pages for those comics and I wonder to what extent the AC version and the EC version were the same or different. Was Gaines able to take everything with him after he sold All-American to DC--and did he just simply do a new printing of those comics, using the old pages?

It also opens up a larger question of ownership. Presumably Gaines sold his rights to All-American and all its properties to DC--yet if he was able to take PICTURE STORIES with him, there must have been some special provision for that. Did he retain ownership of other All-American properties--such as MOVIE COMICS? And would DC be able to reprint the All-American version of PICTURE STORIES FROM THE BIBLE?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 09, 2013, 08:49:12 PM
I was reading the Wikipedia article about EC Comics the other day.  If memory serves, when Gaines sold AA to DC (after earlier splitting off from them), he kept PICTURE STORIES FROM THE BIBLE.

It appears there are 2 hardbound volumes available from Amazon Marketplace stores (some at fantastic bargain prices), one for Old, for for New Testament.

I was telling someone earlier today how after DC bought out AA, they treated the AA heroes as 2nd-class citizens.  When sales plumetted, DC kept Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and even 2 back-up strips, Aquaman and Green Arrow going.  All the "JSA" characters (Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Atom) got canned.  Later, because of this, when the characters were revived, it was in "all new" versions.  Right up to the mid-90's, the original AA characters were still being treated like 2nd-class citizens. I don't think this really changed until the sucess of "JSA", which itself came after SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE, STARMAN (James Robinson) and THE SPECTRE (John Ostrander).

Of course, these days, I think ALL DC characters are being treated badly by DC...
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on August 09, 2013, 10:40:00 PM
When I was putting together my list of comics that came out this month, for my blog, I saw that the first issue of PICTURE STORIES FROM THE BIBLE, from AA, came out on August 28 '42. So it was fresh in my mind.

I know that Gaines put out two trade paperback volumes from AA, one collecting the Old Testament and the other collecting the New Testament. So I wonder if those have the same content as the hardbound volumes you say are at Amazon Marketplace.

I share your thoughts about how the All-American characters were treated after it was absorbed into DC. Even Wonder Woman, though she faired better than the others, has suffered in part because of that (I think). She became marginalized and while her main book survived, she lost SENSATION COMICS. Which would be equivalent to Superman losing ACTION COMICS or Batman losing DETECTIVE COMICS.

And converting ALL STAR COMICS to ALL STAR WESTERN would be like converting WORLD'S FINEST COMICS to WORLD'S FINEST WAR STORIES.

Consider that if just SENSATION and ALL STAR had been kept alive--even if all the other AA books had been shuttered--that would have been two books where AA characters could continue to exist. Just like the second banana DC characters that survived in ADVENTURE COMICS, ACTION COMICS, DETECTIVE COMICS and WORLD'S FINEST COMICS.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 10, 2013, 12:37:30 AM
Interesting observation.  I wouldn't have even been aware of SENSATION if it wasn't for the WW ARCHIVES (I got the first 3). For once, DC did it right-- including the anthology episodes AND the solo book episodes together, chronologically.  I sure wish they'd done that with Superman and Batman.  I sure wish Marvel would have done that with Sub-Mariner!!!

As I understand it, SENSATION was a book that focused exclusively on female heroes.  Still, they could have changed the format.  I also imagine now, what if they'd stopped doing the JSA and changed ALL-STAR back to its original format-- an anthology?

The reference to ACTION, DETECTIVE and SENSATION reminds me that for Magazine Enterprises, GHOST RIDER's "regular" book was TIM HOLT!  GR began and ended there.  The GHOST RIDER comic-book (part of the rotating A-1 anthology, their equivalent of Dell's FOUR COLOR) was the "quarterly solo book".  By comparison, I guess BEST OF THE WEST was sort of like WORLD'S FINEST.

And in a completely unrelated bit (sort of), a friend sent me a 1955 issue of FOUR COLOR the other week.  Wow.  Immediately became one of the oldest comics in my collection.  The cover is in such terrible condition, it's UN-RESTORABLE (and for ME to say that, you KNOW it has to be BAAAAAAD!)  ...but, no prob.  I found a GREAT scan at Heritage Auction. The insides were perfectly readable (and scannable).

I have not done this at my blog (before, or yet), but I am considering the possibility of posting the entire story online.  But I worry I might want to keep it low-profile... since the copyright owners are notoriously (almost insanely) litigious.  (heh heh heh)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on August 10, 2013, 01:27:04 AM
Toward the end of its run, SENSATION morphed into featuring adventure women and then became a romance book, with a textpage where WW had a lovelorn column, before dropping WW and morphng into SENSATION MYSTERY, which only lasted for another year or so. But SENSATION began as a super-hero/adventure comic with WW as its head-liner. Famous Sensation features were Wildcat, Sargon the Sorceror, Mr. Terrific, the Black Pirate, Little Boy Blue, The Whip. It also had short-lived features that tied in with PICTURE STORIES FROM THE BIBLE--these were Picture Stories from Mythology and Picture Stories from History. There was also a feature close to the end times called Wonder Women of History.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 10, 2013, 07:37:31 PM
Just got the 2nd page of the BATMAN story set up!  2/3rds down...

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/07/batman-1966-pt2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on August 10, 2013, 08:10:53 PM
When I look at these, I always look to see if there's something to confirm that it is indeed Moldoff--as sources say--and not Giella as Joe's memory seems to indicate. After all, it's possible that Joe took over in the middle of a continuity and simply tried to match the style. Both Moldoff and Giella were good at aping other artists' styles. But looking at the strip for 6-25-66, I'm pretty convinced this has to be Moldoff. The second panel especially, showing the crook in close-up, is Moldoff. Only Moldoff, in his Bob Kane ghost style, would have drawn that crook that way. My gut tells me it's Moldoff.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 10, 2013, 10:27:24 PM
I find it's usually the faces or figure-work that tells me who did what, unless sometimes it's the line-rendering (that was the case with George Evans). I recall last year while doing SPACE CONQUERORS!, I figured out that Lou Fine took over at the point where the linework was thre same, but, the figure-work suddenly changed. I never would have known Fine worked on it, except several different sources said he did. I wound up figuring, if I knew it was Evans, or McWilliams, or Morrow, it was.  If I COULDN'T tell-- it was Fine! I also read how he was about the only guy at Johnstone & Cushing (later Al Stenzel Prod.) who hid his own style under "generic J&C house style". So if it didn't look like anyone in particular-- it was him!  (Although, there are strips where I recognize his work, either in faces, or figure-work. There's a shot of Abraham & Isaac where Isaac's figure just screams "Lou Fine!")

I recall when this story was in the papers, one of the man things I found strange was, WHY were Catwoman's henchmen dressed like "normal" gangsters, instead of the "cat" outfits on the TV show with the cat-ear hats?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on August 10, 2013, 11:21:23 PM
The strip is a weird mixed bag. You have elements of Old Look Batman in the Bob Kane style. Elements of the TV show. And elements of the New Look comic book.

The henchmen in plain clothes is a throwback to the Old Look (and still prevalent in most New Look stories by Moldoff).

The curious thing about that 6-25-66 strip with the henchman, is that you see Moldoff doing a bit of a swipe of New Look Infantino Batman in profile in the final panel. Other Batman profiles are the typical Bob Kane style profile.

So this mixture of different styles and poses is a bit of a stew.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 10, 2013, 11:50:06 PM
Twice in 3 weeks, they ran one of the strips out of sequence. The first time, the dates were correct, but they ran a Monday strip on Wednesday. Without realizing what happened, I glued it into my scrapbook in that order.  But I fixed it on the blog.  the 2nd time, the dates were wrong! Did they come that way from the syndicate, or did the local paper scribble in the dates? At any rate, the 2nd time, I caught it and pasted it down the right way, which is also how I posted it online (but with a note).

In one, they're showing off the death traps. The next day, one of the crooks says, "Wait'll you see 'em, C.W.!" 

Late n the 2nd season of the show, 2 Catwoman stories that actually had continuity between them were run in the wrong order-- and CONTINUE to be run n the wrong order in syndication, to this day!  But because the show was on when I was on the road when I taped it (around 1991), I had to copy-edit every single episode to get rid of the commercials.  I fixed several screw-ups like this while I was at it, compiling the "edited" tapes in the correct order. 

They'd also started with a Joker marathon on a Sunday, then skipped all those stories when they should have run them later.  AAARGH!  While I was ait it, I actually taped the feature film IN BETWEEN seasons 1 and 2, so if you just run the tapes, you can watch it IN SEQUENCE.  Of course, Catwoman's continuity doesn't seem to make sense if you do that... UNLESS you just accept that Juie Newmar and Lee Meriweather were playing two DIFFERENT villains, both calling themselves "Catwoman".  Hey, it happened in the comics al the time, right?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 18, 2013, 04:03:36 PM
The latest restoration...

FANTASTIC FOUR #12  /  Mar'63
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KfErSexLBDM/UhDs-CZYDiI/AAAAAAAAOnQ/aqicful23WE/s1600/FF+012_cc_BP_HK.jpg

This took a few hours.  I didn't want the edge of the price tag cut off, so I had to fill in some detail down the left edge.  But more, I didn't want the Comics Code stamp almost cut IN HALF, so I had to go to Heritage Auction and skim thru at least 7 different scans before I could find one that had enough detail down the RIGHT egde so I could use it as a guide to RECONSTRUCT the entire right edge on the BIG scan I did have, courtesy of Barry Pearl.

In addition to all that, I also had to crank up the color on the Hulk, his tights, the FF's costumes, any green lettering, and drastically adjust the skin tones (which were WAY too "pink" on the actual scan).  Plus the usual elimination of dirt, color drop-outs, some coloring mistakes, and filling in black areas.

MUCH nicer!  I've been wanting to do this one for years now.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 18, 2013, 04:17:57 PM
Just upgraded my HULK blog page, doing additional clean-ups to the extensive cover restorations there. I also just done doing one on FANTASTIC FOUR #12, which I've added to the page, as well as re-formatting the text the more closely go along with the images.

A look back at the earliest days of Marvel's most violent, destructive and unpredictable  "hero".

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2012/01/hulk.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 20, 2013, 04:10:57 PM
FANTASTIC FOUR #11 / Feb'63

I didn't wanna have done FF #1-10 and 12 without doing this one as well.

SEVERAL hours' work.  The whole right edge of this had to be filled in, there were creases all the way down the left edge, the skin tones went too pink, and the FF's uniforms had a hint of turquoise rather than dark blue.  Apart from that, this came out real nice!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xuZYgZQztb0/UhOSNrhXutI/AAAAAAAAOrE/976uKFtbKPM/s1600/FF+011_cc_BP_HK.jpg

Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 20, 2013, 10:46:32 PM
I'm sorry the BATMAN story is taking so long to process... but anyway, here's Week 5, all nicely cleaned up.  5 down, 1 more to go!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/08/batman-1966-part-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on August 22, 2013, 04:19:45 AM
Always appreciated these.

Everyone has their own sense of humor. I like Whitney Ellsworth's oddball sense of humour, which is different from the humour of the TV show and different again from the kind of thing you would see a comic book.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 24, 2013, 06:09:51 PM
The TV show had several different types of humor based on who was doing the writing. And the quality of the writing varied DRASTICALLY.

First up, you had (the infamous) Lorenzo Semple Jr., who apparently could have written for POLICE SQUAD! (IN COLOR).  Check out the intense, dramatic, tragic scene...  "Poor, deluded girl...  what a terrible way to go go."

I think it was Robert Butler (sorry if I don't feel like looking it up) who did the 1st Penguin story.  The humor there seemed more situational.  Like, Penguin & henchman in their prison cell, being "acclimated" to the outside world they're about to return to, by being allowed to wear their "civilian" clothes-- namely, their CRIMINAL costumes. This is "reform"?  Later, Penguin catches a man he believes is an "industrial spy" trying to "steal his secrets", and because he's planning to KILL Batman, he can't have anyone snooping around and interfereing... so he has this anonymous unknown guy DUMPED INTO THE FURNACE.  Not realizing, the guy on the conveyor belt heading for certain death is really Bruce Wayne.  See, that's an entirely different kind of hilarious.

The Mr. Freeze story (with George Sanders) almost seems to have walked in from some other tv series... because, it's played so "straight".  It's the closest they ever got to the feel of a GREEN HORNET episode.

Then you have Stanley Ralph Ross, who wrote most of the later King Tut and Catwoman stories.  This guy knows how to mix drama with SLAPSTICK and COMEDY.  When I was growing up, some of these used to make me squirm, but now, I give them a "pass", simply because... THEY'RE SO F***ING FUNNY!  The 2 "Shame" stories in particular feel like they wandered in from some other show... like, NIGHT COURT.  Would you believe this guy went on to "develop" the Lynda carter WONDER WOMAN for tv?

Then there's Charles Hoffman... he wrote both Mad Hatter stories, among other things.  Except for the odd moments (and those seem accidental), his stories weren't reallly "funny".  Just... "STUPID".  Naturally, executve William Dozier must have felt the show was "still too good" when it hit #1 in the ratings, so when Semple left, he promoted Hoffman, his WORST writer, to story editor, to oversee everyone else's scripts.

This explains how the "Sandman" story went from "the best script we've ever gotten!" (in Dozier's words) to the finished version which the writer had his name removed from.

The '66 BATMAN show continues to fascinate me... it had SO MUCH potential... "IF ONLY...!"
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 26, 2013, 08:07:31 PM
It's been months since I've posted anything at my "Zodiac Comics" blog (the one devoted to MY work).  Well, here's a new page, with some very old work on it. 

This is me trying my hand at inking Sal Buscema, Herb Trimpe, Frank Robbins, Gene Colan, and Carmine Infantino!  Enjoy.

http://professorhszodiaccomics.blogspot.com/2013/08/inking-samples.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on August 27, 2013, 02:16:29 AM
Really great looking work Henry. Some pencilers look much harder to ink than others and leave more to the inker
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 27, 2013, 02:04:15 PM
Thanks.  My experience as a drafting detailer came in handy with something like the MAN FRM ATLANTIS page, where about 75% of it was architecture and either straight or very precise curved lines.  The HUMAN FLY page was a lot of fun.  I wound up enjoying that more than anything from Frank Robbins I ever saw in THE INVADERS.  Also, Carmine Infantino was both fun and a challenge.  He really was the loosest with certain things, especially machinery.  That one piece of Kirby-tech he scribbled in, I had to redraw a lot of the lines to get the perspective correct on them.

Looking at these again yesterday, I can actually see myself learning as I go.  I forgt if I did these before or after art school, but I do know learning how to paint helped me loosen up a lot when it came to just inking in B&W.

The toughest part of doing these was doing them on the sort of paper that's semi-transparent, where the ink takes MUCH longer to draw, and you have to be extra-extra careful to avoid smears!  I'm not even sure exactly what I used to ink those.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 31, 2013, 10:25:11 AM
Here we go!  The 3rd (and for now, final) BATMAN page. This concludes the 1st story from 1966.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/08/batman-1966-part-3.html

A big "thank you" to Steve Thompson, who supplied me the missing 1st and last strips of this story. I never saw the 1st one, but I'm pretty sure I did see (and clip) the last one.  I haven't been able to locate the strips for the 2nd & 3rd stories, which I clipped, but never put in a scrap book.  (I'm also pretty sure I never read the end of the 3rd story-- as my local paper had the nasty habit of dropping adventure strips IN THE MIDDLE of stories.  Even in the 60's, it seems there was a certain contempt for comics, EVEN in the newspapers, BY the newspapers themselves!)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on September 03, 2013, 07:03:43 PM
Thanks again for putting all of these together. There's a lot there that I don't remember reading before--so I think our paper left it out.

The next continuity with the Joker would've been when Joe Giella started on the daily strip, I believe. That one is different again in its style of humour. It would probably be read as politically incorrect now. The main person of interest isn't the Joker, but his female accomplice who is a Jewish performer posing as a Native American--but with some made up name that sounds silly.

I don't think the Joker of either the '50s or the '70s would take well to how he was often upstaged in the '60s--Mister J. always needed to be the centre of attention.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 04, 2013, 05:10:29 PM
I've never done so much "research" for a blog-related project as I have for the one I'm working on now... and I'm still not done yet.

I was stunned this afternoon when I went looking for a pair of items in my collection I haven't set eyes on in many years... and found them, both in a relatively short space of time.  One was a "spoken word" LP (which I intend to listen to today for the first time in decades).  The other was part of my SMALL collection of "Classics Illustrated" comics-- the only one published by Dark Horse (not long after First Comics went belly-up).  I've already started re-reading that, first time in 21 years.  I knew I had these, and wanted to be able to scan them in so I could generate the BEST-possible images for the blog site.

This thing just keeps growing bigger and bigger as I go... even when I'm done, there'll still be quite a few items where I have no idea (yet) who did the artwork, so I'm looking forward to any feedback I get once it's up and running.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 06, 2013, 02:23:19 PM
The single most research-intensive blog project I've done to date--

"20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA"

FEAST your eyes!!!!!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/08/jules-verne.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on September 06, 2013, 04:42:02 PM
At the risk of adding more research which might cause you a stroke--I think there's one other comics-related adaptation of 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA.

The other day, I was looking for something else, but I remembered that there was a Sunday page by Disney where they adapted different movies and stories--as I recall, this part of the Sundays in our paper was replaced by the Batman series, so I had mixed feelings about losing it. I'm pretty sure I was cutting out these pages and saving them, but my parents must've tossed them out.

So when I went looking for that, I found the name of the series and a wikipedia listing. The series was called WALT DISNEY'S TREASURY OF CLASSIC TALES. Here's the wikipedia listing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney%27s_Treasury_of_Classic_Tales

You can see from that, that 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA appeared from August 1 '54 - December 26 '54. Just who did the art and if it was the same as the Dell comic, I don't know.

Sorry to add more to your burden, but I thought you should know about it, if you haven't heard of it already.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on September 06, 2013, 05:25:33 PM
Here's another page I was able to find using the links at the bottom of the other wiki page--this one gives you a few panels from the strip [but in French, because the panels are taken from the translated version]:

http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=ZT+007

Also you can see from that page that the script was by Frank Reilly and the art was by Jesse Marsh.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 06, 2013, 10:46:10 PM
Spiffy!  Thanks, Jimmm.  I'm afraid those scans are too smal for me to wanna include them.

There are, by the way, at least 2 OTHER adaptations, both quite recent.  I kept tossing it around whether I should include them or not.  I figured I was already pushing it including the 2 covers for the same version, from INDIA. ("Fireside Classics"-- doesn't sound Hindu, does it?)

There's a version from "Stone Arch", which looks very cartoony (I only have one TINY cover image), and there's another by some artist named Dan Ross, which looks not only cartoony, but very amateurish.

I still wanna go back to the wikipedia page and make some more additions.  They had several listings where all they'd say would be, "in this year, this publisher did another version".  NO more info.  I was able to add artist, sometimes writers, and, when something was reprinted, and if it WAS a reprint.  For example, they listed a 1990 Pendulum press book.  No mention it was a reprint of the 1973 Pendulum Press book (which, you'd think would have been obvious!).  Via a Google Search, I found a website page devoted to Vince Fago-- the guy who sat in for Stan Lee when Lee was in WW2.  HE started Pendulum (which explains why Marvel reprinted his stuff 3 years later-- see, there was a personal connection already).  Well, that blog had the 1990 book cover posted-- it was IDENTICAL to a 2010 cover, which told me, in one shot, that the 2010 book was a repring of the 1973 book.  Which, in turn, on ANOTHER site, I found, was itself a reprint, as the story had originally been serialized in WEEKLY READER magazine!!  Isn't this nuts?

Roy Thomas told me he liked Henry Kiefer's art better than I did, as it gave it a real "19th Century" look.  I pointed him toward Gary Gianni's version, which actually looks like it was created in the 19th Century.

All this started when I mentioned to Frank Thorne that I'd love to go looking for a copy of HIS version from 1954... and he MAILED me his "last copy"!!  I couldn't do a thing with the front cover, but I was able to find a good image at Heritage Auctions.  The interiors are fine, though, nothing I can't clean up.

I also loved posting ALL those links to other websites.  It's like, not only is my blog page a collection, it's also a springboard to lots more stuff.

And this is only ONE story by ONE author so far!!!    :)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on September 06, 2013, 11:49:49 PM
I tried to follow the links on that web page to other pages to see if I could find an American version of the Sunday pages, but I hit a dead end. Still I wouldn't give up on searching the internet for some scans. I am always surprised by what I can find on the net if I keep digging.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on September 07, 2013, 08:44:11 AM
Quote
When the distributor, Western Publishing, split from Dell Comics, and created their own imprint, Gold Key, many of the properties that had been licensed to Dell went with them.

As I understand it Dell put up the money and handled distribution, Western had the writers, artists, editors, printing facilities and signed most of the licenses, hence when "the divorce" happened Western kept their properties (Turok, Space Family Robinson, etc.) and the licensed properties (Disney, Warner Bros., etc.) since the license was signed with Western, not Dell.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 07, 2013, 03:21:04 PM
The latest batch of coloring for fun appears at Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine...

SALLY THE SLEUTH  /  Spicy Tales (1942)

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2013/09/number-1430-sally-and-dan.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 07, 2013, 03:28:18 PM
Thanks, SS.  You know the problem? I've read that story several times, and STILL can't keep it straight.


Much easier for me to make sense out of exactly WHO DID WHAT at Marvel in the 1960's.  There, every single thing makes perfect, CONSISTENT sense... if you simply allow for one simple, SINGLE idea... that the "editor" DID NOT WRITE anything apart from dialogue, except for AFTER-THE-FACT story mutilations, which happened MORE in the late 60's, rather than LESS, as most "MMMS" types would have you believe.

I had so much to try to find out, figure out and keep straight when I put that 20,000 LEAGUES project together... the intricasies of just the Dell-Western-Gold Key thing... oh well.  (Ever have that-- when some things just DO NOT WANNA go into your head and stay there?)   :P

Somehow the whole Vince Fago / Pendulum Press thing seemed more interesting! (And the only scan I've found of the interior came from the 2010 reprint, in color!)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on September 08, 2013, 09:09:20 AM
Quote
I've read that story several times, and STILL can't keep it straight.

Yeah it can get confusing. Comic Book Artist did a good issue (22?) on the Dell/Western split.

Quote
Ever have that-- when some things just DO NOT WANNA go into your head and stay there?

Usually I have trouble keeping important things in my head, pointless trivia on the other hand...  ;)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 08, 2013, 12:54:56 PM
Yeah, I read the CBA issue.  I loved that magazine... until it switched publishers and totally changed it format.

My best friend has often joked over the phone, "I know, it's embarrassing how much I know about some of this stuff..." (referring to comics, Japanese cartoons, horror movies...) Yet, as I point out, nobody seems to make fun of those who can quote baseball statistics and the like...
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 08, 2013, 02:08:57 PM
I added more to the Wikipedia page. They seem to leave my changes intact, unless I'm making any to pages related to Marvel series or characters... then it's like a massive conspiracy to maintain the FALSE information posted.

I still have quite a few items posted in the 20,000 LEAGUES post where the artists are unknown. If anyone can help identify these, it'd be appreciated!

Meanwhile, I seem to have nailed down every artist on STORIES FROM THE BIBLE... except for that period from 1974-79, in between Curt Swan & Frank Bolle.  There seems to be multiple artists in there, some only doing as little as a single installment.  Any help / ideas / suggestions would be very welcome.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 11, 2013, 09:41:47 PM
The latest restoration...

FANTASTIC FOUR #14  /  May 1963  /  Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko

This took about 3 days to do (filling in both left & right edges, a huge amount of intricate "copy-and-paste-into" work, extensive airbrush clean-up of the flat color areas, repairing creases & color drop-outs, fixing color registration problems, adjusting the dark blues & skin tones on separate layers).

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q7_Wnb9d0gI/UjDha-Z7P2I/AAAAAAAAPEY/ZJP-yNSoQWo/s1600/FF+014_cc_BP_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 14, 2013, 11:05:29 AM
The latest restoration...

FANTASTIC FOUR #15  /  June 1963  /  Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9zJa2p16M94/UjRA8dBI44I/AAAAAAAAPGo/2gvXJuqJJ4U/s1600/FF+015_cc_BP_HK.jpg

This had so many "drop-outs" it was ridiculous.  Not to mention color registration problems, and the usual color adjustments required (dark blues, dark reds, skin tones).  Another time-consuming clean-up, and it's not even one I particularly like.  Oh well, all done now!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 18, 2013, 04:01:21 AM
The latest restoration...

FANTASTIC FOUR #16 / July 1963 / Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VN4SzFBjJ8k/Ujkkivj5esI/AAAAAAAAPKA/Dy7ajlkHgPQ/s1600/FF+016_cc_BP_HK.jpg

Suffice to say... this took MUCH longer than I'd have liked to clean up. What a mess! Well, all fixed now!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 21, 2013, 03:04:41 AM
The latest restoration...

FANTASTIC FOUR #17 / August 1963 / Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

If memory serves, this was adapted as the 2ND Dr. Doom story on the 1967 Hanna-Barbera F.F. cartoon show, and certainly the most far-reaching, as this is the one with Doom's hovering fortress in the clouds, where he attempts to bring the entire United Nations to their knees!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VycUKt0xC-0/Uj0KUB9YyXI/AAAAAAAAPNI/B2RFDKpxXcE/s1600/FF+017_cc_BP_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 23, 2013, 03:21:02 PM
The latest restoration...

FANTASTIC FOUR #18 / September 1963 / Jack Kirby & Paul Reinman

The entire left edge had to be "filled in", also, a lot of color registration problems (most noticable around Reed & Sue), and a ton of color drop-outs on The Thing and in the logo area.

This was the 1st of the 2 SKRULL stories adapted for the 1967 Hanna-Barbera cartoons. As with The Mole Man, very odd they should choose to do the sequel and skip the original story-- although they wound up using the ending of the original as the ending for the cartoon. (Go figure.)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fWg2MHel6E0/UkBaOTI-aTI/AAAAAAAAPRo/UWqvPxuE48s/s1600/FF+018_cc_BP_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 25, 2013, 10:21:16 PM
Just finished the latest restoration...

FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #1 / September 1963 / Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zvds4mZKElw/UkNej1HhcOI/AAAAAAAAPTM/kzcSyUwDXe8/s1600/FF+A01_cc_HA_HK.jpg

This was a horrific mess to clean up, dirt, drop-outs, color specs and color registration problems everywhere. Plus, the scan I found was SO dark, I had to clean up the whites, yellows, reds, greens, grays, dark blues & skin tones separately. Namor's skin tones had "specs" all over the place, it took an hour or more just to clean up that area alone. Some of the dark blue-- including in the logo and other lettering-- was so dark, I had to do a major "color balance" adjustment before I could be SURE it wasn't just black.

Now, I ask you... WHAT kind of person decides to make the logo lettering RED, BLACK & BLUE??? (with yellow trim)

Further-- check out the red text box, with no less then 6 lines of text. (6 !!!) Did Sol Brodsky screw this up, or was that Stan's fault? I'm talking about how it was pasted down in place so that the right edge EXACTLY hits the tip of Namor's crown, AND the heads of one of the background figures. This is a "design problem" that could easily have been fixed by moving the box 1/4" to the left. These are working professionals, who got PAID to do a job this bad???

Oh, while I was at it, I noticed none of the background figures actually HAD any skin tones-- so I colored them in myself (pale blue). I know, hard to see, but trust me, it's there, now.

I almost forgot to mention the area at the bottom.  Bad, BAD, BAD!!! "design"... and once again, an "editor" who just doesn't know when to shut up and let the art work for him.

Meanwhile, after having REPLACED the entire pale blue background (it was very dirty, inconsistent, AND had specs all over the place), I STILL didn't like it.  But, as I'd done something I hadn't done in years-- generate an entirely NEW background, copy the art ON TOP of it, then REMOVE ("clear") the entire old background so it would show through FROM BEHIND... it was easy to then create an ALTERNATE background while I was at it.  Behold...

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jaD3hmpk-Z0/UkNex-a74JI/AAAAAAAAPTQ/SRZHEwCr4kg/s1600/FF+A01_cd_HA_HK.jpg

Now, they LOOK underwater!

STILL not perfect, but a major improvement.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 26, 2013, 03:55:24 AM
I have a question.  For the last couple weeks, I have been running into the WEIRDEST glitch on my blogs.  I find that I can upload 2 IDENTICAL files, and they show up looking different.  Sometimes I'll remove one version of an image with an updated one, and inexplicably, the new one will be MUCH darker, even though in other programs (Photoshop, Super JPG viewer) it looks the same.  I've even uploaded the IDENTICAL file onto 2 different pages of the blog, and they look very different.  HOW CAN THIS BE?  What the hell is going on?

It's getting so I can't even trust uploading an image to look at to doible-check what it "really" looks like anymore...
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 26, 2013, 01:14:38 PM
Last night I set up a new "Sub-Mariner" page which would collect all his early-60's cover appearances.  On a regular website (like Nick Simon's Silver Age Marvel, which has been down for 2-1/2 years), you'd have ONE version of any file, and it could appear anyplace you wanted when you wrote the code.  But with Blogger, as far as I know, you have to upload more than one copy of something to get it to appear on more than one page.  I'm wondering if somehow, this might be connected.

Right now, for example, FF #9 and DD #7 look perfectly fine on their respective pages, but on the Subby page, both are way too dark-- which is especially noticable in the graytones.  The B&W newspaper image on DD #7, the one on the Subby page you can barely see the picture.

Now I KNOW I'm not imagining things.  I just downloaded BOTH DD #7 images back to my computer (re-naming them as I did so I'd know which page I grabbed them from).  And they're NOT the same!  And yet, they were when I uploaded them.

Oddly enough, the middle of the image is almost the same, but all around the edges, it gets progressively darker as you move toward the outside.  Totally bizarre!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 28, 2013, 04:10:19 PM
The latest restoration...

FANTASTIC FOUR #19 / October 1963 / Jack Kirby & Paul Reinman

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w9Hiba8t7_w/Ukb7rdCOCNI/AAAAAAAAPZo/yXVYEMIu1As/s1600/FF+019_cc_BP_HK.jpg

You would not believe how nightmarish the color plate registration problem was on this. It's one thing when you're dealing with flat color (airbrush) but when 90% of it is dot patterns it requires extensive, tedius copy-and-paste-into to clean it up. In addition, there were creases all down the left edge, and some GASH ripped out of part of the logo. After that, adjusting skin tones & purples on separate layers was comparitively easy, as was cranking up the reds & middle blues. All done now!

I have to say, going in really deep and close to work on a thing like this, in my opinion, Paul Reinman was a REALLY LOUSY inker. He was not only sloppy, but his excessive use of thin lines robs a piece like this of any sense of depth, and also makes it much harder for me to do a clean-up. Give me Dick Ayers any day.  And to think, I was looking forward to this one...

"RAMA-TUT" was one of the classics adapted for the 1967 Hanna-Barbera F.F. show. The main change was eliminating Alicia, and substituting a search for a cure for Ben for a cure for her blindness.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on September 29, 2013, 12:14:38 AM
I was at the UBC library the other day, going through microfilm of newspapers to see if I could find some comics. Didn't have as much luck as I hoped and it takes a lot of time to load and hand crank those reels of microfilm--so I didn't have the time to look at as much as I wanted to--but I did briefly look at the Batman strip. And I realized that the strip in fact did start at the right time (end of May '66) in our newspaper. So my memory of missing some weeks must be wrong.

I'll have to go back and look at more microfilm when I have a chance, because there's some stuff I wanted to look at and photocopy that I didn't have time for this time.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 29, 2013, 10:28:07 AM
Steve Thompson was kind enough to supply me with the 1st and last of the Catwoman episodes.  I never saw the 1st one, but I have a strong feeling I have the last one... somewhere.  I cut all the dailies out, but only ever glued down the 1st story. So if the box with the others ever turns up, I'll probably scan in a new one and get a higher-resolution version put up.

The problem-- I'm sure-- is, even if they do show up (don't know where they vanished to, but it's that way with things decades old), is that I'm also pretty sure I DON'T have the end of the Penguin story.  Can't remember ever reading it.  And from accounts I've read just recently, it seems a lot of papers dropped the strip within the first 6 months!  Outrageous.  Well, THE COURIER-POST loved to drop adventure strips all the time-- and ALWAYS, in the MIDDLE of a story.  The comics editor must have been a real bastard.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on September 29, 2013, 02:29:24 PM
I believe our paper kept the Sunday BATMAN going for about a year, maybe a bit less. They got rid of the daily strip earlier than that. But I'll have to look at the microfilm again.

One thing that disappointed me is that when I went back to earlier microfilms (before '66), those didn't include the Sunday funnies section of the paper, so I couldn't look at the funnies I remembered reading from before then.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 02, 2013, 03:36:24 AM
The latest restoration...

FANTASTIC FOUR #20 / November 1963 / Jack Kirby & George Roussos

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6iLqH8HaTFY/UkuTn7QJTMI/AAAAAAAAPak/qa1cR9iWWEU/s1600/FF+020_cc_BP_HK.jpg

Another nightmarish clean-up.  In addition to "George Bell" inks making this look sub-par no matter what I do to it, the printer-engraver did a HORRIBLE job with Stan Goldberg's coloring work, resulting in color plate registration problems almost everywhere.  Not only that, but half of the "white" in Reed's hair was skin-colored. The thing was so far off-rotation, I had to do extensive "copy-and-paste-into" to fill in ALL 4 EDGES this time, adjust the dark blues, green and skin tones on separate layers, use an endless amount of airbrush to clean up the entire logo and the flashy text box, among other things.  I also had to outright copy the corner box faces of Ben & Sue from an earlier cover!

This is the first 21 F.F. covers in a row all done now.  I really need to take a break from these and switch off to something else...
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 19, 2013, 03:59:55 AM
The latest restoration...

STRANGE TALES #106  /  March 1963  /  Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E9A4gs5MlqE/UmIA5MIyYJI/AAAAAAAAPio/hUkZiaPCx5E/s1600/ST+106_cc_BP_HK.jpg

This turned out to be one of the most time-consuming clean-ups I've done in YEARS. Which is ironic, considering what a 5th-rate design the cover is.  Too much text, the main figures too small, and some very awkward business with the "acrobatics" on the part of the baddie, whose costume is uninspired, to say the least. No wonder people dismiss the Johnny Storm Human Torch series...

The background was SO dirty, I wound up having to copy the entire image and "clear" out the ENTIRE background, so I could replace it with a brand-new background BEHIND the rest of the art.  This itself took several DAYS to do, and it's something I haven't done in quite some time.

Once past that, and after using "levels" to adjust the colors in general, I then had to use airbrush AND copy-and-paste-into to fix some horrific color plate registration problems,  adjust the FF uniforms, the dark blue-purple of the villain's outfit, the skin tones, the grays and the pale blues EACH on separate layers.  Further, the right half-inch or so of the grays (and pale blues) were EXTRA-dirty, and required further separate adjustment.  Not to mention, the bottom and right edges required "copy-and-paste-into"-- which, compared to everything else, wasn't as time-consuming as it might have been.

I was ALMOST done-- I thought-- when I looked REAL close, and noticed there was a TINY HINT of green in the logo. OH, NO!!! That logo was so dark, it was actually COMPLETELY BLACK for about 98% of it.  But when I used "color balance" and cranked "lightness" up, increasing green to "100", TOTAL SHOCK!! There WAS color in there-- and BLACK outlines, as well.  I wound up having to very carefully, tediously "clear" the edges of the logo AGAIN-- fix a lot of "damage" in the green areas, and use airbrush on ALL the black and red areas.  Because the "STRANGE TALES" logo is probably the MOST COMPLICATED logo in all of 60's Marvel, this alone took me SEVERAL DAYS more to do. AAUGH!!

Well-- it's DONE now!!  The cover itself may still suck-- but this image of it is absolutely STUNNING!!!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 26, 2013, 06:41:08 PM
And now, something I've very proud of... I JUST set up a brand-new page at my blog, dedicated to THIS story. I did some (minor) additional work to the cover (which was originally cleaned up in 2008, with more work done in 2011), and just ran the interior pages thru "levels" so they don't look so dark & yellow.

The very 1ST story I ever read where Jack Kirby wrote his own dialogue!!! Enjoy.

CHAMBER OF DARKNESS #5  /  June 1970  /  Jack Kirby & Bill Everett
"...And Fear Shall Follow!"  /  story & art by Jack Kirby / inks by John Verpoorten

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/10/chamber-of-darkness.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 26, 2013, 08:50:28 PM
Here's an obscure classic from H.P. Lovecraft and Johnny Craig, which appeared right after Jack Kirby in CHAMBER OF DARKNESS #5 (June 1970). Enjoy!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/10/chamber-of-darkness-pt2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 29, 2013, 01:31:31 AM
The latest restoration...

STRANGE TALES #107 / April 1963
Jack Kirby & Sol Brodsky

Dirt everywhere, for the 2nd cover in a row I had to copy the art to a 2nd layer and then REMOVE the entire sky background in order to replace that smoothly. Tons of color plate registration problems, staples, filling in the right and bottom edges, creases... "the usual".

BEFORE:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FDHQ9M5Bn7U/UmMth5ns_rI/AAAAAAAAPi4/R41KNIhYpqM/s1600/ST+107_cc_BP_HK++A4.jpg

AFTER:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ubBDWMVOwwM/Um8OaUCz2CI/AAAAAAAAPmE/5Ma3pL2feg4/s1600/ST+107_cc_BP_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 03, 2013, 03:24:07 PM
Thanks.  Not surprisingly, this "Google" site thing is similar to the BOYS' LIFE site-- a real nightmare to use.  The images that come up initially are about 500 pixels wide.  Which is impossible to read.  You can use the "zoom" tool, then you get images that range from 1600 to 2560 pixels wide (except for the B&W scans, which are only 1400 pixels wide), but you can ONLY download them by clicking on the upper-left pull-down menu, "save page as" and downloading a TON of images with a new directly all at once.  Then you have to sort thru ALL the images and grab the ONE full-zie image you get at a time, move it into a new directory and RENAME the file in order to keep things straight.

Like I said, JUST like the BOYS' LIFE site.  I've been planning to remaster & post the Dell version, I may do the same with the Disney Treasury edition as well, especially as it's FAR more authentic to the movie than the Dell comic.  I don't understand how Dell did a movie adaptation with NEXT-TO-NO photo reference at all.  What's the point?  (I certainly don't blame the artist, Frank Thorne, for that.)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on November 03, 2013, 04:05:14 PM
Yes it's a bit tricky. Reading the pages off that site is not easy, so saving the jpegs allows better viewing. I didn't use the download on the site, but rather right clicked and saved with my computer.  It took me a few tries to save the jpeg for a Prince Valiant Sunday at the right size and not as a thumbnail.

For the Disney Treasury, I didn't find any of the ones I was looking for, unfortunately (those being Cinderella, the Three Lives of Thomasina and Lt. Robinson Crusoe). For each year, they're ordered alphabetically (because 20,000 is a number, however, it comes first in their order for that year). So you would have to go to the other site and see in what order the stories actually came out.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 03, 2013, 09:24:01 PM
It took about 30-45 min. to download all the pages, since as described above I had to do the "save page as" which meant downloading over 100 images at once, then going thru each set to find the ONE I wanted.  (the 2400 pixels wide versions)

Imagine magnifying this by ALL the various comics I was tryng to grab from BOYS' LIFE...  :o

Thanks again!  So many restoration projects in front of me... the early-60's Kirby covers are taking the longest, per image.



I'm also looking forward to doing the late-90's version with the fully-painted art by Ernie Colon.  ONLY one where Nemo actually looked like James Mason, and Arronax like Paul Lukas (even though it's an adaptation of the novel, not the movie).
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on November 03, 2013, 11:14:13 PM
Disney is not pd so I eliminated the link to the site with non-pd images
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 04, 2013, 01:47:15 AM
Thanks for waiting until I was able to use it.  ;D


A couple years ago, over at the Spidey-Jazz yahoo group, 2 of the members managed to find-- incredibly-- a set of Capitol library tracks, BURIED in several 100-track CDs at the KPM website.  They identified which cartoons the music (stuff recorded around 1958) had been used, and I (and several other people) were able to get copies from the site.  A few months later, somebody noticed ALL those particular tracks had mysteriously been REMOVED from the KPM site.  Good thing I grabbed 'em when I did.  They make up a big chunk of the 3rd disc I've been trading with other members ever since.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on November 04, 2013, 03:42:46 AM
It never occurred to me that there might be a problem with posting that link. Next time I'll be more cautious.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 04, 2013, 03:11:33 PM
"A pity there is no one here to appreciate my genius."
"I am here, master. I appreciate it."
"YOU??? You cannot appreciate the sheer TERROR I am capable of inspiring! YOUR feeble mind can merely TWITCH in AWE!"
"That's not FAIR, master, I can..."
"It doesn't matter.  I-- am my best audience. But I allow you to witness it all the same."
"Oh, THANK you, master!!!"



I appreciate it, Jimmm.  It may take awhile (maybe QUITE awhile), but I intend to put those up eventually.

Of course, you could always e-mail me direct...   ;)


"It has been said, that most true innovators, are never appreciated, until after they're dead.  You're dead now, Harry... and we appreciate it."
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 08, 2013, 03:21:06 AM
Another F.F. cover... well, okay, not quite...

STRANGE TALES #108  /  Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers  /  May 1963

For the 3rd restoration in a row, there was so much dirt, damage and color plate registration problems-- not to mention inconsistent background color-- I wound up REPLACING the entire background with a new, digital version (bye-bye, dot pattern).

That out of the way, I used airbrush on the red, yellow & white areas, and cranked up the dark blues, browns & greens on separate layers, plus used a lot of copy-and-paste-into to fill in the bottom and right edges.

WOW! Pretty good for such a 3rd-rate cover, hmm??

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ok0h4TZErvY/UnxXg_ePoAI/AAAAAAAAPoE/0cq16zyzpOo/s1600/ST+108_cc_BP_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 16, 2013, 05:06:13 AM
The latest restoration...

STRANGE TALES #109 / June 1963 / Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

Another "forgotten" story & cover by Kirby.  Although he returned to do 3 more Johnny Storm episodes, this was the last one he did regularly before Dick Ayers took over full-time.

Once again, another DIRTY image which required the ENTIRE background be removed & replaced.  In addition, the dark blue in the logo and the sorcerer, the purple, gray & brown monsters were all WAY too dark to see the linework, and required the color be cranked up using "color balance", each on separate layers.  On top of that, the sorcerer, part of the logo and several of the monsters all had DAMAGE which required "copy and paste" to repair.

WOW!  This sure looks NICER than I've ever seen it online.  Which is all the justification I needed to do it.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3cUuVQGcJow/UocAL0jqDxI/AAAAAAAAPpk/f2A4XBIB010/s1600/ST+109_cc_BP_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 17, 2013, 03:25:39 AM
The latest restoration...

STRANGE TALES #110  /  July 1963  /  Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

Considering the scan of this was so DARK most of the colors went BLACK, I'm amazed this turned out as good as it did, and, that it only took me one day to do it (while the last several have been taking almost a week apiece in my spare time).  The green in the corner box, the dark blue in the upper-right corner, the brown, green & blue areas of The Wizard & Paste-Pot Pete were impossible to see. Thank goodness for Photoshop!

This was one of my favorite Johnny Storm stories.  Paste-Pot Pete breaks The Wizard out of jail to form a partnership, then finds instead he's treated like a hired lackey by the raving egomaniacal scientist. As written by Dick Ayers, it's played for comedy, something Ayers clearly excels at.

You'd NEVER GUESS that Steve Ditko's brand-new creation, DR. STRANGE, MASTER OF BLACK MAGIC, made his debut in the back of this issue!!!  Was "Mr. Promotion" Stan Lee, comics' answer to a used-car saleman, TRYING to see Ditko fall flat on his face?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-90oEd6UbWkk/Uog1eS1_aYI/AAAAAAAAPqg/F68eMJO-YTg/s1600/ST+110_cc_BP_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 18, 2013, 04:11:21 PM
10 more extensive restorations of Jack Kirby covers!! These are probably among his most-forgotten, as far as "Marvel" fans go.

THE HUMAN TORCH

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2011/10/human-torch.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 22, 2013, 12:16:54 AM
The latest restoration...

STRANGE TALES #111  /  August 1963  /  Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

Another one where I decided it would be easiest to remove the entire background and "just" clean up what was left.  Good thing.  The left-edge building had endless damage to repair, while the lower-right building edge had to be "filled in".  Once I got all that done, I copied the grays to a separate layer and removed ALL the color before lightening them up.

In addition, the logo green had to be adjusted on a separate layer, and quite a lot of airbrush had to be used on the rd and yellow areas.

Other than that (hah!) the colors on this came up REAL nice with less effort than usual.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EeIBFalwxKc/Uo6gEJm2qpI/AAAAAAAAPrw/KW65GjMwdIw/s1600/ST+111_cc_BP_HK++CB6.jpg

Also, for no damn reason, since I had a new sky background, I decided to do an alternate "Ralph Bakshi" tribute version while I was at it.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q7u57POthk8/Uo6hU6tUKbI/AAAAAAAAPsI/98jbrT1I3g8/s1600/ST+111_cc_BP_HK++CC6.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 23, 2013, 04:34:02 AM
The latest restoration...

STRANGE TALES #112  /  September 1963  /  art by JACK KIRBY

Considering how DARK the scan was, this was surprisingly, a relative quickie.  After hitting "levels", the resulting colors required only minor lightening up.  After that, it was copy-and-paste to fill in the left edge and repair minor damage around the other 3 edges.  WOW!  This was the debut of The Eel.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dxuttop60xM/UpAvFPYOXKI/AAAAAAAAPsw/lY2mcIRapP8/s1600/ST+112_cc_BP_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 26, 2013, 04:12:38 AM
The latest restoration...

STRANGE TALES ANNUAL #2  /  [September 1963]  /  art by Jack Kirby & Sol Brodsky

I'd started a restoration on this several years ago, but had been unable to find a decent-sized one.  The other day I went looking again and found a nice selection at the Heritage Auction site.  I had to COMBINE 2 different scans to get the most detail, as I didn't want to lose anything along the right or bottom edges.  These areas required EXTENSIVE "copy-and-paste" and "airbrush" repair work to "fill in" what otherwise would have been lost.  I think it was worth the effort!

In addition, the yellow areas all needed to be airbrushed, while the green and DARK BLUE areas needed to be cranked UP in "color balance".  The detail on Spider-Man's dark areas had gone COMPLETELY black before I adjusted it!

Now-- FINALLY there's a decent image of this!!  One of the earliest major "team-ups" of the Marvel Age!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3b-pOFgurNo/UpQd6vDd0lI/AAAAAAAAPtk/brwppMjQ0eE/s1600/ST+A02_cc_HA_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 28, 2013, 03:54:46 AM
The latest restoration...

STRANGE TALES #113  /  October 1963  /  Jack Kirby & Don Heck

This one was so off-rotation, I wound up having to do extensive copy-and-paste-into on 3 edges (left, right and bottom).  In addition, I used airbrush for the entire red area at the top.  Further, the dark blues, dark greens and the yellow in the text box had to be cranked up in "color balance" on separate layers.

I continue to be surprised at how good some of these are coming up, considering the really MISERABLE, dark scans I've seen online.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gSAh92QilBM/Upa__t6VvOI/AAAAAAAAPuQ/AKADOy7bFxA/s1600/ST+113_cc_HA_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 03, 2013, 01:38:31 PM
The latest restoration...

STRANGE TALES #114  /  November 1963  /  art by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

Once again, there was so much dirt on this, plus the inside showing through, I started out by removing the entire background and replacing it with a new one.  There were countless specks of dirt, discolorations and drops-outs, and this required a lot of airbrush and copy-and-paste-into (the latter where color patterns were involved).  Then I had to fill in both the left and right edges. Finally, the dark green in the logo, the skin tones, and 2 different shades of blue had to be adjusted on separate layers.

MUCH better!!!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v5QOMEzGnrw/Up3cB2h8PYI/AAAAAAAAPvI/h-UWloVb82k/s1600/ST+114_cc_BP_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 07, 2013, 04:28:47 AM
The latest restoration...

STRANGE TALES #115  /  December 1963  /  Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko

The biggest problem here was the excessive dirt down the left-edge of the cover.  I had to clean up the "glass" in that area on a separate layer from the rest of the glass, so as not to blank out the pale blue.

Further, the left, bottom & right edges all needed extensive "fill in" with copy-and-paste. The worst part had to be the lower-left corner.

Beyond that there were creases, damage, drop-outs, specks, dirt, you name it.  "The usual".  I fixed this with copy-and-paste (where there was color dot patterns) and airbrush (where there was flat colors, or white areas).

Finally at the end fo copied the DARK BLUE ceiling onto a separate layer and cranked up the blue, so it wouldn't look almost BLACK.  I also added WHITE to The Sandman's eyes & teeth where there had been NONE.  Call it fixing a 50-year-old slip-up.

MUCH better!!!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oj_htF8_nVs/UqKitC19I-I/AAAAAAAAPvw/bxZqqoOZNHk/s1600/ST+115_cc_BP_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 19, 2013, 05:37:09 PM
The latest restoration...

STRANGE TALES #116  /  January 1964  /  Jack Kirby & George Roussos

I did a lot of copy-and-paste work on the sky background, but fortunately didn't have to REPLACE it as on several of therse recent ones. While I was at it, I also had to fix ALL 4 edges (top, left, right & bottom). I used airbrush to clean up the red areas of the lettering, as well as the color-plate registration problems on the figure of Alicia. I also added white to her eyes and teeth.

Finally, I adjusted the dark greens, dark blues & dark orange on separate layers.  MUCH better!

Still, nothing can help the REALLY LOUSY inking...  (Alicia & The Puppet Master, especially, are genuine nightmares.)

Before:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pLyetBjjrsI/UqP2yWtJ8hI/AAAAAAAAPwg/Rge50yR48dU/s1600/ST+116_cc_BP_HA++A4.jpg

After:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YILGSSfNCcA/UrMqrZpi93I/AAAAAAAAP3U/I0jxi9okys8/s1600/ST+116_cc_BP_HA.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 29, 2013, 04:13:38 AM
The latest restoration...

STRANGE TALES #117  /  February 1964  /  Jack Kirby & Sol Brodsky and Steve Ditko

This one was a NIGHTMARE. I hoped things would go easy, as for once, when I clicked on "levels", ONCE, all the colors-- ALL of them-- came up beautifully.  But there was a TON of damage down the left edge, plus dirt, and discoloration, and on top of that, endless specs of dirt and stray specs of ink EVERYWHERE.  What made it take forever was those damnable puffy clouds-- complex dot pattern blends which had to cleaned or replaced TEDIOUSLY, a bit at a time, and another bit, and another bit...  This is the kind of clean-up that would make me wanna take a break from doing any more of these for maybe 6 months.

Well... all done now...

BEFORE:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oHBqbiXmycE/UrOBWYQGIYI/AAAAAAAAP3k/1L6JdUMur1Y/s1600/ST+117_cc_BP_HK++A4.jpg

AFTER:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HAkF9JpBRTQ/Ur-gHdJkEeI/AAAAAAAAP4k/6CsTuDaSrsA/s1600/ST+117_cc_BP_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: giggle-ite on December 29, 2013, 04:54:44 AM
WOW!! Great job!! Love the touch-ups! Thank you for the accomplishment!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 29, 2013, 02:49:19 PM
Thanks.  This one wound up taking much longer that I would have liked.

By the way, it's come up that although Kirby & Brodsky did the bulk of the cover, for whatever reason, The Eel was pencils & inks by STEVE DITKO. Anyone know if a scan of the pencils is around anywhere?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 29, 2014, 06:14:33 PM
You've read the novel! You've seen the movie! Now-- read the comic!
  Dell's FOUR COLOR #614 (late 1954) presents...

Jules Verne's 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA

adaptation by Gaylord DuBois / art by FRANK THORNE!!!
Gloriously, painstakingly restored! (Trust me, folks, this looks BETTER than when the comic was NEW.)

Part 1 of 3:
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/01/jules-verne-part-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 10, 2014, 11:19:02 PM
This isn't exactly "finished"... but what the hey.

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/02/journey-into-mystery.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 14, 2014, 03:37:13 AM
Still in progress, but I've just added a new page to the blog...

BEST OF THE WEST !!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/02/best-of-west.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 23, 2014, 10:05:35 PM
The latest restoration...

A-1 #93 / BEST WESTERN #8

All-reprint collection  /  new cover by FRED GUARDINEER

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kVhehVBCpwQ/UwprfqMQrvI/AAAAAAAAQVc/X5QbNqG34Y0/s1600/A-1+093_GW+08_cc_HA_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 26, 2014, 03:59:19 AM
The latest restoration...

A-1 #105 / GREAT WESTERN #9  (April-June 1954)

All-reprint collection  /  new cover by FRANK BOLLE

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rfrvr-xLDoA/Uw1lYGUIAqI/AAAAAAAAQWM/YAs3OUQlm3g/s1600/A-1+105_GW+09_cc_HA_HK.jpg

A relative quickie, except for my having to do a huge amount of "copy-and-paste-into" on all 4 edges, especially the right edge, where I reconstructed about a 1/2" strip all the way down using a 2nd scan for reference.  To give you an idea of what was involved, there's 2 horses all the way over there, and the right one was completely missing on the big scan.  I'm always amazed when the finished result looks this good!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 03, 2014, 12:20:21 PM
The latest restoration...

A-1 #113 / GREAT WESTERN #10  (July-September 1954)

All-reprint collection  /  new cover by FRANK BOLLE

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hgmzlBoPdgA/UxRyKhqoBfI/AAAAAAAAQXc/1TILzGd82RY/s1600/A-1+113_cc_CBP.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 03, 2014, 12:24:14 PM
The latest restoration...

A-1 #103  /  BEST OF THE WEST #12  (April-June 1954)

cover by FRANK BOLLE

This was a real challenge.  The entire right edge was missing, and had to be reconstructed using a 2nd, much-smaller scan for reference.  The entire logo area had to be cleaned up with airbrush, the left, bottom & right edges required extensive copy-and-paste, there was a lot of color-plate registration problems (especially on the figure of Red Mask), and the greens in the villain had to be cranked up.  MUCH better now!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xGxdz7EkFuo/UxPwHTHvNvI/AAAAAAAAQXM/-zgnlHhhsVI/s1600/BOTW1+12_cc_HA_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 04, 2014, 04:27:21 PM
Just finished some stunning restorations on a set of "GREAT WESTERN" covers from the early 1950's. 1 by Fred Guardineer, the other 3 by Frank Bolle! They're posted on my "A-1" page. Enjoy!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 04, 2014, 04:35:00 PM
The latest restoration...

A-1 #127  /  GREAT WESTERN #11  (October-December 1954)

Another all-reprint collection, NEW cover by FRANK BOLLE

This one required me to airbrush the entire yellow background, plus the black and red in the logo, carefully trimming a bit off the bottom and adding more space at the top in order to get the entire "ME" and "ANC" logos in, plus some minor repair for creases & damage.  NOT BAD!

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5I_XrMAv4hQ/UxX6GuOKhXI/AAAAAAAAQX8/5ZJeje54MA4/s1600/A-1+127_GW+11_cc_CBP_HK.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 08, 2014, 04:48:08 AM
Not exactly the latest restoration, but I did just do some important "additional clean-up" on this...

THOR #126   (March 1966)
cover by Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BkdRZjKenrA/UxqgLcOgWKI/AAAAAAAAQYY/pXV2ikbWKZo/s1600/THOR+126_cc_HK.jpg

WOW!!!   :D

Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 14, 2014, 01:20:57 AM
The latest restoration...

A-1 #70  /  BEST OF THE WEST #6  (December 1952)

Originally, I cleaned up the scan found here at the Comic Book Plus site. However, I've since found a MUCH-higher quality scan at the Heritage Auctions site.  This was off-rotation, so it required copy-and-paste to fill-in ALL 4 edges, plus some minor clean-up, especially in the upper area.  MUCH better!!!!!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q24tALe9N9A/UyJYbNJ7yfI/AAAAAAAAQYs/2aO_MqIpwDQ/s1600/BOTW1+06_cc_HA_HK.jpg

And that takes care of all 12 issues of this series!!!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 14, 2014, 01:26:03 AM
Here we go, stunning restorations of ALL 12 issues of BEST OF THE WEST from Magazine Enterprises!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/02/best-of-west.html


And here's something to go with it...
One of my favorite songs of the last few years...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf6EvzdgFSw
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: paw broon on March 14, 2014, 03:40:26 PM
That's a great track.  Thanks.  At first, before the vocals, it sounded just like '60's guitar bands - Ventures, Shadows, Spotnicks. So, surprised to hear those vocals. 
You can hear (and see) The Spotnicks here:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVvGKZklugE

And from the dim and distant past, Bert Weedon (an unlikely pop star) Sorry Robbie:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3FkKWDV_gs

A bit off your topic but it seemed there were different styles of instrumental groups in the '60's.  The guitar bands - Ventures, Shadows, Nero and The Gladiators
Keyboard oriented groups e.g. Johnny and The Hurricanes, Tornados
and bands with sax players (and sometimes keyboard) Rockin' Rebels, Lord Rockingham's Eleven.
All producing great singles.  And even better, if your old 45's are in as bad nick as mine, they are mostly available on youtube.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 14, 2014, 08:56:07 PM
As it happens, since I updated my "Total Recorder" program (which allows me to record streaming media), I've been able to record audio off of Youtube.  This came in handy the other month, when I was trying to put everything I had by some bands onto CD, in places where my vinyl was in TOO TERRIBLE shape to clean up successfully.

My intro to "surf" or "intrumental rock" was LOS STRAITJACKETS back in Nov'95.  Since then I've found HUNDREDS of bands who do this stuff.  The Volcanos was one of ther more obscure ones, except, for their "side project", when they recoreded as The Hellbenders.  Earlier, I'd heard them on a various-artists comp titled SPAGHETTI: DUCK, YOU SUCKERS!  15 tracks by different bands, all doing that kind of stuff ("spaghetti western surf").  About a third of The Hellbenders' album has vocals. I love it!!!

I remember the day my friend "Palmyra Delran" walked out from behind the counter at Tower Records, walked me over to one of the aisles, grabbed a CD and told me, forcefully, "THIS is what you gotta buy NEXT!"  it was THE BEST OF DICK DALE & HIS DEL-TONES.  how's that for "suggestive selling"?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 14, 2014, 08:59:21 PM
2 of my favorite "instro" bands are both from Zurich, Switzerland-- THE MEN FROM S.P.E.C.T.R.E., and organ-driven 5-piece combo, and, STEREOPHONIC SPACE SOUNDS UNLIMITED, a studio-bound duet.

In the back of my mind, I always kinda figured I'd eventually do some music-related stuff on my blog... but I've been too busy with the comics stuff to ever get around to it yet!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 14, 2014, 09:03:47 PM
I've heard that Spotnicks song under a different name-- I'm pretty sure it was by The Space Cossacks (late 90's).  Ivan Pongracic, from Croatia, also Washington DC, is also in a band called The Madeira (middle-eastern surf), together with Patrick Connor, who previously fronted another of my fave bands-- Destination: Earth!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 16, 2014, 10:14:33 AM
And now, following a bit of a delay...

You've read the novel! You've seen the movie! Now-- read the comic!
  Dell's FOUR COLOR #614 (late 1954) presents...

Jules Verne's 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA

adaptation by Gaylord DuBois / art by FRANK THORNE!!!
Gloriously, painstakingly restored! (Trust me, folks, this looks BETTER than when the comic was NEW.)

Part 2 of 3:
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/01/jules-verne-part-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: paw broon on March 16, 2014, 06:04:08 PM
You mentioned surf and I suddenly remembered a '60's surf group who weren't the Beach Boys or Jan and Dean. The Rip Chords were around at the same time and I had one of their 45 singles. Actually, I suppose they were more a hot rod band.  But the music was the same type.  Obscure here in the U.K. but I'm sure you know all about them 8)
I found this article about them today.  All news to me!
http://zeegrooves.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/it-was-50-years-ago-today-hey-little.html
And here they are from you tube:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc6FmZCT0Zc
At the risk of boring the socks off you, I mentioned Nero and The Gladiators, so try this:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL-hRKqqRLU
Group X were an organ based band and their single had about the longest title of a British single:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPGMokiOTUc

Just to be silly and from a bit earlier, Lord Rockinghams 11.  I loved this when it came out:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wioh5qUj7fM

Just about to download, page by page, that excellent "painstakingly restored" Frank Thorne comic.  What a job!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 16, 2014, 06:13:06 PM
"Just about to download, page by page, that excellent "painstakingly restored" Frank Thorne comic.  What a job!"

10 more pages to go.  I'm putting WAY more effort into these than I normally do with interior pages.  But then, it is a special case.  It's probably one of-- if not THE-- oldest comics in my collection. And I got it for FREE.  I figured it was called for.

When I get done with this, I'm planning to clean up the newspaper version, which is another one of those where it's almost impossible to really appreciate the thing at the website it was already posted at.

I still can't believe HOW MANY different comics versions there are of 20,000 LEAGUES!! It's insane.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 20, 2014, 04:42:33 AM
I just started my 5th blog! This one will be a bit different, as it will be a (hopefully) permanent showcase for my REVIEWS.

Professor H Reads COMICS

http://professorhreadscomics.blogspot.com/2014/03/introduction.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 25, 2014, 12:33:38 PM
And now, here it is... THE EPIC CONCLUSION!!

You've read the novel! You've seen the movie! Now-- read the comic!
  Dell's FOUR COLOR #614 (late 1954) presents...

Jules Verne's 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA

adaptation by Gaylord DuBois / art by FRANK THORNE!!!
Gloriously, painstakingly restored!
(Trust me, folks, this looks BETTER than when the comic was NEW.)

Part 3 of 3:
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/01/jules-verne-part-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 29, 2014, 09:35:38 PM
My online tribute to Jules Verne continues!

What could be more perfectly fitting to follow up the Frank Thorne version of
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA than the Jesse Marsh version?  Oddly enough, as far as I know, this is the only comic in my collection by Marsh. 

Because of the various formatting done with newspaper strips, depending on which paper it appears in, or when it's collected in a magazine or book, some versions have additional or fewer panels than others, or have panels cropped or expanded.  The coloring also changes from version to version.  As I'm setting this up on my blog, I decided to follow the tradition and re-format it AGAIN, to best show off the art.  I'm also trying to include as many panels as possible.  Right now, the biggest, high-quality images I have also have the fewest panels, so I'm using that and taking the "extra" panels from the other, lower-quality versions.

In one instance, I had a high-quality version in French-- where I replaced the text with brand-new lettering I did myself in English!

I wanna give a big thank you to Jimmm Kelly for clueing me in about the existence of this version in the first place, as well as pointing me to the websites that had scans posted.  (If you're reading this, Jimmm, please let me have the links again, as I want to include them on the blog as I did with the BOY'S LIFE material.)

Here's the first 4 Sunday installments... enjoy!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/03/jules-verne-part-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 30, 2014, 01:10:35 AM
Now this is a bit maddenning.  Back in November, Jimmm Kelly told me about the 1954 newspaper strip version.  Took awhile, but he found a couple of websites it was posted at.

I downloaded all the scans I could, but hadn't had a chance to really look at it too close until now.

It looks like there were 22 weeks-- and at the moment, I'm missing 8 of them!!  (Weeks 7, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19 & 21)

It looks like I may have a few of these in Foreign editions-- but aside from not being able to read those, the foreign scans are at some site called INDUCKS, and the images I have access to are very small & low-quality.


So, anybody have any of this stuff?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on March 30, 2014, 02:09:13 AM
I'll have to do a bit of hunting around on the internet to find them. As I recall, I found them originally just by dumb luck while I was looking for something else. So I'll have to repeat my dumb luck and see what happens. If I turn up those links I'll either post them here or point to where they can be found.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 30, 2014, 04:47:57 PM
After seeing how many images I set up on the blog page to cover 4 Sunday installments, I decided to set up 5 whole pages in advance for this one story.  This way, all 5 will be together in the same month, in case anyone uses the blog "archive" section. Nice and organized.

It's looking like I may (at least for now) use some of the low-res Foreign scans to fill in for the missing English (U.S.) versions.  It's beginning to feel like one of those really old movies that's been cut to pieces over the years, pieced back together a bit at a time in a "restoration" process.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 01, 2014, 12:11:55 AM
20,000 LEAGUES by Jesse Marsh... PART 2!
This is getting like one of those film restorations where they have chunks missing, and have to assemble the most complete print they can from various sources.
"Collision speed... FULL!"

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/03/jules-verne-part-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: crashryan on April 01, 2014, 03:21:27 AM
It's great to see samples of this rare strip. This adaptation has some of the best Jesse Marsh art I've seen. I'm not crazy about Marsh; much of his work strikes me as hasty and clunky. Not this time. Marsh seems to have put special care into the project. I note that, like Frank Thorne, Marsh had plenty of reference for the submarine and other props, but was called upon to make up his own character designs.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 01, 2014, 11:56:32 AM
Having reached a point where I was completely missing a strip, I decided this was a good time to do a Google search and see if I could find anything.  A search for "Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales" brought up a lot, but nothing related to 20,000 LEAGUES, apart from a download site which required a "premium account", and a collector who was selling some of the original strips (including 4 I'm still missing). Nice, but both outside my range at the moment.

http://oldsundaycomics.com/sc1540.htm

A 2nd search, this one for "20000 Leagues Jesse Marsh" found a Frencxh website with several of the strips posted in nice 1,000 pixels wide images.  These include some panels I'm missing, or only had LOW-quality versions of!  Ironically, the top of their page has an image of the Frank Thorne Dell Comic issue, errnoneously attributed to having the Jesse Marsh version inside.  (Anyone who bought that would be disappointed, if only because it's NOT what they thought it was.)

http://mobilismobile.free.fr/oeuvres/fiche.php?id=99
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 01, 2014, 12:18:43 PM
Some of these panels I only have in B&W. I'm probably gonna replace them with the COLOR versions, while at the same time using the English lettering instead of the French. (I just love Photoshop!)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 01, 2014, 07:56:20 PM
20,000 LEAGUES by Jesse Marsh... PART 3!
This gets more frustrating as it goes.  3 out of the next 5 installments are currently MISSING.  This includes the entire battle with the GIANT SQUID, which is virtually the centerpiece of every version of this story, including most book covers and promotional artwork.  But I'm setting these up right now anyway, in the hope that the rest will turn up eventually.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/03/jules-verne-part-8.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 03, 2014, 02:06:19 AM
20,000 LEAGUES by Jesse Marsh... PART 4!

Annoying, 4 out of the last 8 Sunday sections are (as of 4-1-2014) MISSING.  But I'm going to finish setting these up anyway, and hope that the rest turns up eventually.

One terrific thing, Marsh's art looks SO MUCH better with the panels blown up to the size I'm presenting them here.  It's probably close to the size they were originally printed when a Sunday newspaper strip used to take up the full width of a regular newspaper page.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/03/jules-verne-part-9.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 03, 2014, 08:58:39 PM
20,000 LEAGUES by Jesse Marsh... PART 5!

I'm frustrated that 2 out of the last 4 episodes are currently MISSING... but at least I do have the FINAL episode, even if it is in B&W.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/03/jules-verne-part-10.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 04, 2014, 08:55:30 PM
I've been a been remiss in updating the ongoing threads in my Facebook group the last few days, but it's mostly because I've been racing like mad to get this Jesse Marsh project finished! Funny enough, as far as I know, I don't have even one Jesse Marsh comic in my entire collection! But I'm sinking all I have into making what scans of this one I found online look as STUNNING as possible.

20,000 LEAGUES by Jesse Marsh... PART 1!

Yes, having polished off the end of the story (give or take the ones I'm completely missing), I'm now going back and UPGRADING what I already have, in some cases adding new panels I didn't have and in others replacing B&W panels with COLOR ones from a Portuguese version (while at the same time replacing the Portuguese text with ENGLISH text, either from the B&W version, or in a few cases, with MY OWN lettering).

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/03/jules-verne-part-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 05, 2014, 07:23:28 PM
Okay, now I'm satisfied... well, at least for now.

20,000 LEAGUES by Jesse Marsh... PART 2!

I re-processed the 5th Sunday strip, which was a Portuguese scan, and replaced the English text to make it SHARPER.  Simply, this version is as good as it's gonna get, UNTIL I find some MUCH-better scans.  Enjoy!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/03/jules-verne-part-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: paw broon on April 09, 2014, 08:23:01 PM
This might only muddy the waters but there is a lovely adaptation of 20000 Leagues which appeared  in Look and Learn, a British weekly, in the '70's.  Art by Bill Baker.  The full story is available to read on Steve Holland's Bear Alley blogspot:-
http://bearalley.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/20000-leagues-under-sea-part-1.html
Steve has been very kind in allowing CB+ to use his scans of 2 Lesley Shane newspaper strip stories.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 09, 2014, 11:03:00 PM
Ah, thanks, but I got that one already (I forget who steered me that way).  You can find the sampling I posted in the 2nd half of the "overview" feature.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/09/jules-verne-part-2.html

It really is completely NUTS how many different comics versions there is of this one story!

Heck... there's (at least) 4 different comics versions just of the 1954 movie!   :)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: crashryan on April 12, 2014, 03:44:38 AM
Yet another 20,000 Leagues just appeared over on the site devoted to famous Swedish-American illustrator Gustaf Tenggren...artwork he did for a Danish Jules Verne series ;published in 1922. Here's the link:

http://gustaftenggren.blogspot.com/2014/04/rare-tenggren-books-discovered.html (http://gustaftenggren.blogspot.com/2014/04/rare-tenggren-books-discovered.html)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 12, 2014, 07:29:50 PM
Cool stuff.  I did include a set of paintings from an early version of the book, and a couple of other samples of illustrated versions of the book.  Mostly, though, I'm trying to focus on comics versions.

By the way, has anybody read CAPTAIN GRANT'S CHILDREN-- or seen the film adaptation?  As far as I know, it's only been filmed ONCE-- and by Disney!!  I actually managed to see it in theatres twice-- about 30 years between viewings, too.  (I was only about 4 when it came out!!)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on April 12, 2014, 09:03:43 PM
Never heard of Captain Grant's Children
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: crashryan on April 13, 2014, 04:29:31 AM
Disney made "Captain Grant's Children" as "In Search of the Castaways."
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 13, 2014, 09:00:20 AM
Yep.

It's a very difficult film to follow, plot-wise, because-- and a LOT of Disney films from the 60's are like this-- it's not so much a story that builds to a climax, as it is a series of almost completely-separate set-pieces, barely, loosely strung together. You have one sequence, then another, then another, it's hard to remember how they're even connected or how the characters got from one part of the story to the next-- and at some point, the film ends.

THE JUNGLE BOOK was also like that.

It's got some fabulous stuff in it-- I just remember watching it many years later, suddenly realizing WHY I couldn't remember the plot from when I was a kid.

There's a couple of visuals in the film that I am DEAD CERTAIN inspired Steven Spielberg, as he paid very blatent, obvious tribute to them in 2 of his INDIANA JONES films.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on April 13, 2014, 12:00:11 PM
Search I have heard of and probably seen
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 14, 2014, 03:25:38 PM
There's a shot in RAIDERS (I think) where a vehicle goes right off a cliff, and the visual made it look 10 times more dangerous than any such thing in the middle of a desert could have been.  And it made me think of the Disney film, since it was already well-known by that point that Spielberg was a big Disney fan and liked to include a tribute to some Disney film in every one of his movies (whether it fit or not).

But when I saw TEMPLE OF DOOM, and he did that completely ABSURD sequence with the people on the life-raft sliding down the side of the mountain, I just KNEW he was "doing" the bit with the ice sliding down the side of the mountain from IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS... except, it didn't make any sense in Spielberg's version.  (Then again, that entire movie-- every frame of it-- was a serious case of "overkill".)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: Captain Audio on April 15, 2014, 03:30:51 AM

There's a shot in RAIDERS (I think) where a vehicle goes right off a cliff, and the visual made it look 10 times more dangerous than any such thing in the middle of a desert could have been.  And it made me think of the Disney film, since it was already well-known by that point that Spielberg was a big Disney fan and liked to include a tribute to some Disney film in every one of his movies (whether it fit or not).

But when I saw TEMPLE OF DOOM, and he did that completely ABSURD sequence with the people on the life-raft sliding down the side of the mountain, I just KNEW he was "doing" the bit with the ice sliding down the side of the mountain from IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS... except, it didn't make any sense in Spielberg's version.  (Then again, that entire movie-- every frame of it-- was a serious case of "overkill".)


Actually a Russian airman fell through a huge gapblasted in the fuselage of his bomber and his forwards motion along with his first making contract on the reverse slope of a snow covered mountain top the aircraft was flying over resulted in him doing very much what the life raft did in the Temple of Doom.
He slid for thousands of feet down the steep slope and survived with only minor injuries.

In another odd case a P-51 Mustang pilot went into a power dive when his elevators failed after he dived to avoid an oncoming P-47 squadron. His aircraft broke the sound barrier before it suddenly recovered from the dive as the tail section began to come apart under the stress.
The aircraft then broke apart while traveling at near super sonic speed only a few yards above the ground.
The pilot was unconsious but his seat belt broke and his parachute pack was torn open.
His chute partly opened just as his body crashed through the limbs of an ancient oak tree. The canopy enveloped the limbs of the tree and this acted to decelerate the pilot before the cords snapped.
He ended up in a wheat field traveling parallel to the ground at a very high rate of speed, leaving a trail  hundreds of yards through the wheat stalks.
He survived with a few broken bones and some damage to his hips and shoulders from the wrenching of the
parachute harness. 

Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 19, 2014, 02:25:08 PM
You've seen the JESSE MARSH version!

You've seen the FRANK THORNE version!

Now-- bear wild-eyed witness to the wonder of the JACK KIRBY version!!!

FROM HERE TO INSANITY #11 (Aug'55)
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/04/jules-verne-part-11.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on April 20, 2014, 03:38:40 PM
Sorry, it took me awhile to get around to doing this. The internet connection I have at the moment isn't great, but I was able to trace back to the site I gave you for WALT DISNEY'S TREASURY OF CLASSIC TALES--I think this is the site you were looking for. If not let me know.

As I recall we're not supposed to link to those page on this website, because the Disney stuff isn't in the public domain. But if you go to the MY FAVOURITE FUNNIES blog, I've put a link on the AS YOU LIKE IT post [under DISNY TREASURY (sic)]--in the section of that post with the sub-title "the switch."

I'd do that soon, just in case our careful administrator decides that even this veiled reference could get Disney's legal department on our backs.

The strip for 20,000 apparently started running in late December of '54--timed to coincide with the movie release I guess. Mike's Newsstand has revised the sales date of the comic book to early January of '55. But for the strip the '54 date is what you need to know--even though most of it ran in '55.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 20, 2014, 09:08:15 PM
Thanks, Jimmm.  Do me a favor and send me an e-mail! Some things should be discussed off the board.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 20, 2014, 09:10:16 PM
The Jesse Marsh 20,000 LEAGUES ran from 8-1-54 to 12-26-54.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on April 22, 2014, 05:37:55 PM
Ah, okay.

This is the link to AS YOU LIKE IT (http://myfavouritefunnies.wordpress.com/2013/09/28/as-you-like-it/) (from September 2013--No. 11 of MY FAVOURITE FUNNIES (http://myfavouritefunnies.wordpress.com)) scroll down the page to the switch, where I talk a little (very little) about WALT DISNEY
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 22, 2014, 10:23:52 PM
Slightly less lost... but still no closer to finding the original links.

I did, however, run across an interesting article.  Seems The NEW YORK POST Syndicate briefly hit on the idea of packaging a comic-book insert to newspapers. This included Gilberton's CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED, which would be serialized, in 4-week installments, about a YEAR before the actual comic-book version would be published.

This included the Henry C. Keifer version of 20,000 LEAGUES.  Roy Thomas made the comment that he liked that version better than I did, partly for its "old-fashioned" look.  Well, the Gary Gianni version looks "old-fashioned", too, but his art is about ten times better!   :)

Anyway, here's the article, along with some CI samples...

http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2013_11_17_archive.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 24, 2014, 01:39:37 AM
THANKS for the link via E-MAIL, Jimmm.

That is another very WHACKED-OUT website-- or whatever the hell it it.

The images coming up all seem to be very small, and do not expand to larger size if you click on them, or try to "view image", or anything.  HOWEVER... if you hit "download", and go thru the 2-step process of doing so... WHOA!  Much-bigger versions wind up on your hard-drive.  Okay.

So far, a few of these do seem to contain material I did not have before, except for the FOREIGN versions where I copied-and-pasted Enlglish lettering (from a B&W image) onto the color version (which was in some other language).  I don't know if this is the exact same site you found before, or not.  It doesn't seem like it. 

So far, it also seems to be going "in and out".  That is, it's working... then, it ISN'T.  So this download may take awhile.

I haven't gotten to the point where I was completely missing anything yet, so I don't know if they have any episodes I don't.  We'll see.

The more I go on with this, the more I'm PROUD of the work I'm doing at my blog... if nothing else, I'm making it EASY for people to SEE, and READ, and APPRECIATE these old comics.

Some of these other websites are like the electronic equivalent of a "slabbed" comic.  Like, someone is saying, "OH! Look what I got here!"  But then, it's impossible to read it!   :(
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on April 24, 2014, 02:59:12 AM
Yes, I found that was the case when I loaded some Prince Valiant pages from that site for my blog on Canadian comics and creators. It's tricky what you save and how you save it, if you want a full image rather than a thumbnail.

It's possible some of their files have changed since the last time I looked at that site. And prior to that, many more months back, I had given you a few links for other Sundays I found on other sites, but these were mostly too small or foreign versions, as I recall, and weren't usable.

Whatever is out there in cyberland is constantly changing. Some sites get corrupted, images get taken down, things fall apart.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 24, 2014, 09:59:23 AM
When Art Lortie contacted me about the Fred Kida obituary, we both discovered the BOY'S LIFE website is currently experiencing a technical problem. That is, the "ZOOM" feature isn't working. Someone else even posted a comment on their site about it.  This means the entire website is currently WORTHLESS, until or unless somebody fixed that one thing.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 26, 2014, 01:06:37 AM
Well, I managed to download all 44 files from that site.  Most have 2 or 3 versions of the same strips. What is MADDENNING is, the 3-tier versions tend to have MORE art in EACH panel than the 2-tier versions-- yet, the 2-tier color versions are the biggest, most high-quality scans, the 3-tier B&W versions are smaller, and the 3-tier COLOR versions are the smallest.

ONE strip I was missing is only there as an 800 pixel wide image, which means, if I try to blow up the panels as I've done, they'll be fuzzy.

Also, ONE strip I was missing, mear the end, when Ned & the Mate fight, is either in a small, 3-tier B&W version, or the 2-tier version.


I can actually imagine trying to combine versions to get more complete ones, but as far as individual panels go, if I did this, I'd either have to shrink the big ones, blow up the small ones, or mix color & B&W within a single panel.  Sheesh.


I would swear this is NOT the same site I grabbed these off of before, as I don't recall this complex downloading situation.  Unless the site has been re-formatted in the last 6 months.


Obviously, this part of the project is NOT done yet.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 26, 2014, 05:07:25 PM
So far, there was one panel from a 3-tier version that I had to do the translation for myself, and now have the correct text in English.  Since my own lettering (done in Corel Draw) already existed, and was higher-quality than the lettering in the new image, I simply changed my own lettering and replaced it, rather than replacing the entire panel, or just the lettering.  (see panel 2)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AgfISk_q1rs/U1vkKydh-iI/AAAAAAAARRk/69aNJ0uIUaI/s1600/1954+TOC+20000_p02c++C700.jpg

Also, comparing the color versions of the Portuguese and English versions (which, oddly enough, used the SAME color schemes!), the difference in size is so slight, there's not much point replacing anything, since I already replaced the text from the B&W versions earlier. 

I've also come to the conclusion that most of the art on the left and right edges of the panels are not that important, as they were DESIGNED to be included-- OR NOT-- depending on whether newspapers used the 2 or 3-tier versions.  It's rather like comparing watching a movie on TV in "full screen" or "widesreen" versions.  YES, "widescreen" would be preferable... but, UNLESS or UNTIL I can find MUCH-BIGGER images of the "widescreen" version, I'm gonna stick with what I already have.  Too much work has gone into what's already up on my blog to switch it out for FUZZIER images.

So I'll be focusing on adding in those episodes I was completely missing, as well as, in some cases, replacing any B&W versions with COLOR versions.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 28, 2014, 04:19:29 AM
Now I'm starting to make some headway.  I just upgraded Sunday strip #005  /  8-29-54.

Initially, I had this one only in B&W.  But then I found a COLOR version in Portuguese. As before, I  copied the text from the B&W version.  But THEN, I found a hi-res scan of the 2-tier version.  So I replaced those 8 panels while retaining the 2 "extra" panels from the 3-tier version.

I'm almost tempted to put more than one version up for comparison, but frankly it wuld take up too much space and just make things more confusing.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/03/jules-verne-part-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 01, 2014, 02:31:03 AM
The 2nd page of the Jesse Marsh 20,000 LEAGUES adaptation has been upgraded!

Episode 5 has had 8 of its 10 panels UPGRADED with HI-RES versions.

Episode 6 has 2 "extra" panels added, albeit in low-res versions.

But best of all...  Episode 7, which I only had previously in a LOW-RES French version, I now have the COMPLETE episode, in English-- although, only in B&W.

Enjoy!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/03/jules-verne-part-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 10, 2014, 04:05:51 PM
Just uploaded 38 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN covers to the GCD.

"Editor"-- AND I USE THAT WORD LOOSELY-- "Ramon Schenk"-- rejected EVERY SINGLE ONE of them. 36 of them, he said, "No improvement". On the 2 that were MY restorations (as opposed to cleaning up the dark, dirty CRAP the GCD already had), he said, ""Watermarked. And we don't want restored covers, we want real ones."

This is why trying to contribute to the GCD is a COMPLETE waste of time.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 10, 2014, 04:06:53 PM
I told him so, too...

Hi Ramon,

    Thanks for making it very clear that trying to contribute to the GCD is a complete waste of time.



Henry
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 18, 2014, 05:45:50 PM
The 3rd page of the Jesse Marsh 20,000 LEAGUES adaptation has been upgraded!

Episode 10 has been re-processed from a higher-quality color version, and, the 2 "extra" panels have been added from a B&W version.

Episode 11, previously missing, has been added from a B&W version.

Episode 12, I've added the 2 "extra" panels from a B&W version.

Episode 13, previously missing, has been added from a hi-res color version, plus the 2 "extra" panels added from a B&W version.

Episode 14, previously missing, has been added from a B&W version.  I also have a low-res color version, purely for reference until a better one turns up.

ENJOY!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/03/jules-verne-part-8.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 21, 2014, 12:59:44 AM
The 4th page of the Jesse Marsh 20,000 LEAGUES adaptation has been upgraded!

Episode 15 has the 2 "extra" panels added from a B&W version.

Episode 16, previously missing, has been added from a 3-tier B&W version.

Episode 17, previously missing, has been added from a 3-tier B&W version.

ENJOY!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/03/jules-verne-part-9.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 27, 2014, 09:46:39 PM
The 5th page of the Jesse Marsh 20,000 LEAGUES adaptation has been upgraded!

Episode 19, previously missing, has been added from a hi-res 2-tier color version.

Episode 20, the 2 "extra" panels have been added from a B&W version.

Episode 21, previously missing, has been added from a hi-res 2-tier color version AND a 3-tier B&W version.

At last, the story is COMPLETE!!  ENJOY!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/03/jules-verne-part-10.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: Captain Audio on May 30, 2014, 08:07:35 AM
Some really great stuff on your site, I'll be visiting often.

The Classics Illustrated version of War of the Worlds has some great imagery, any chance of finding it online?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 30, 2014, 07:55:36 PM
I don't know.  The thing is, if you check my Jules Verne "20,000 LEAGUES" overview...

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/08/jules-verne.html

...you'll find the Gilberton CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED has been reprinted several times by different publishers since Gilberton went out of business.

Acclaim Entertainment (who bought out Valiant) did a series of reprints in 1996...

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0DBO4LI26p4/UinRblPpixI/AAAAAAAAO-0/xceyQXf-HNU/s1600/1996+CI+Acclaim+023_cc_GCD_HK.jpg

There may be a more recent version as well.


Then of course, there's also the Pendulum Press version from the late 60's, reprinted in the early 70's, early 80's, early 90's, and again since then...

...and the Gary Gianni version, intended for First Comics, put out instead by Dark Horse, and reprinted twice since then-- the 3rd time, IN COLOR, as originally intended.

I've just started considering scanning and posting the B&W version of the Gary Gianni version... since the currently IN-PRINT version is in COLOR...  (I'm trying to avoid "competing" with anything that's current IN PRINT.)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 30, 2014, 07:58:21 PM
I'm sorry, I posted all that, and only afterwards, noticed you said WAR OF THE WORLDS.

Still, what I said about Acclaim probably also applies.  I have a suspicion there may be another version since, I tell you, this project just keeps getting biggger and bigger... and I'm STILL "only" on the 1st STORY!!!

I'm tentatively planning to follow up 20,000 LEAGUES with JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH.  (The most authentic adaptation to date, of course, is the one by Rick Wakeman... heeheehee.)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 30, 2014, 08:06:23 PM
Now added to the blog: the complete art from the 1954 RCA 78 rpm "official album" of the film "20,000 LEAGUES", plus the covers of both the 1963 and 1971 LP reissues. This is the "kiddie-fied" version of the story.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/05/jules-verne-part-12.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 30, 2014, 08:08:43 PM
Now added to the blog: one of the COOLEST things I've ever seen,
the 1954 View Master version of "20,000 LEAGUES"!!! 
The images are the work of fellow fan Todd Popp,
as originally presented at the Selling Tourist Infosite blog.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/05/jules-verne-part-14.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 01, 2014, 01:32:15 AM
My research on this project continues. 2 different websites contained what I needed for the Dan Spiegle comics. "Voyages Extraordinaire"-- a Verne-related site-- gave a brief history on the series, but was MISSING some info. It also contained a link to the "Nemo Nautilus" blog, which was set up by a guy who does model-kits of the Disney Nautilus-- and, oddly enough, posted scans of the ENTIRE Spiegle series, but with no info connected to it whatsoever. Isn't that strange?

By the time I'm done, my blog will have EVERYTHING related to this, and more. For example, I found, at the GCD, by using a database search, that after "Walt Disney's WORLD OF ADVENTURE" was cancelled after only 3 issues, the 4th episode of "The Adventures of Captain Nemo" appeared in a TV-movie tie-in book called "The Horse Without A Head". NO, REALLY. (This was something the guy at "Voyages Extraordinaire" was apparently unaware of.) A few years later, "Walt Disney's COMIC DIGEST" reprinted the first 4 episodes in random issues, out of sequence... THEN, printed the previously-UNPUBLISHED 5th episode, 6 years after it was done. I mean-- WTF???

These scans are REALLY dark, but I've dealt with that sort of thing before...

Dan Spiegle became a favorite of mine when he did "BLACKHAWK" in the early 80s with Mark Evanier. To me, these comics deserve better than they've gotten.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 17, 2014, 11:34:57 PM
I've just finished cleaning up the 1st episode of "The Adventures Of Captain Nemo" from WALT DISNEY'S WORLD OF ADVENTURE #1 (April 1963), with art by DAN SPIEGLE!  The scans I found online were SO dark, I'm actually astonished I was able to get them to look as good as they do now.  Enjoy!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/06/jules-verne-part-16.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 28, 2014, 12:18:47 AM
Just finished coloring an entire book for Andre Campbell. Here's the cover & first 10 pages of AMERICAN SENTINELS #4, available soon!

http://professorhszodiaccomics.blogspot.com/2014/06/american-sentinels-part-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 19, 2014, 10:23:08 PM
JUST signed into the board again with my NEW ("rebuilt") computer.  The Windows Registry got screwed up on the old (8 years old) one), and while it's still working, so much is wrong with it, I've been kinda forced to now have to deal with WINDOWS 7... and so far, am HATING every single thing about it.

I'll probably KEEP using the old computer, if only for MICROSOFT WORD, as that program just makes sense to me, as does the FILING SYSTEM on the older Windows system. Any way I look at it, this is gonna be a B****.

Ah well,,, back to the coloring, THEN more CAPTAIN NEMO, I hope.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 12, 2014, 01:02:33 AM
Taking a break between 2 other projects, I got back on cleaning up the 2nd episode of "THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN NEMO", from WALT DISNEY'S WORLD OF ADVENTURE #2 (July 1963), with art by DAN SPIEGLE! Although the raw scans I grabbed from another website were not of the highest quality, I did what i could to make this look at nice-- and as readable-- as possible. Enjoy!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/06/jules-verne-part-17.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 12, 2014, 01:03:40 AM
 I've just finished cleaning up the 3rd episode of "The Adventures Of Captain Nemo" from WALT DISNEY'S WORLD OF ADVENTURE #3 (October 1963), with art by DAN SPIEGLE! Apparently, WORLD OF ADVENTURE didn't sell too well, as it ended with only 3 issues. I can't help but wonder if it might have sold better if the covers had placed more emphasis on CAPTAIN NEMO and less on just about everything else. Enjoy!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/06/jules-verne-part-18.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 14, 2014, 02:53:48 AM
I've just finished cleaning up the 4th episode of "The Adventures Of Captain Nemo", which appeared in-- of all places-- "Walt Disney's THE HORSE WITHOUT A HEAD" (January 1964), with art by DAN SPIEGLE! There was 1 more episode done by Dan Spiegle, but it wouldn't turn up for another 6 years. Enjoy!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/06/jules-verne-part-19.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 14, 2014, 02:55:43 AM
GOOD news!  Thanks to a Google search, I just found a blog containing-- at least-- the first 6 episodes (12 pages in all) of the UK revival of "THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN NEMO", that appeared in DONALD AND MICKY magazine in early 1972.

Clean-up and re-posting to follow...!!

http://m-a-w-h-light.blogspot.com/2012/07/finding-captain-nemo-episode-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on August 15, 2014, 01:48:55 AM
cool
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 16, 2014, 12:48:19 PM
I've just finished cleaning up the 6th episode of "The Adventures Of Captain Nemo", which was done for "Walt Disney's COMIC DIGEST" #36 (August 1972), again with art by DAN SPIEGLE, whose style has by this point evolved into the more recognizable style I remember from "BLACKHAWK" and so many other later comics. Enjoy!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/08/jules-verne-part-21.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 16, 2014, 12:51:34 PM
Last night got really nuts.

I found out the GCD was missing the info for "Isle of the Lost"-- which was actually in COMIC DIGEST #36.  (I found that out at the Inducks site.)  Which means I'm still missing Episode 5, "Mr. Malison's Mansion".  However, another Google search revealed that another fan, Robert Day, had also posted the same 5 episodes at the ALL SCI-FI message board-- and had, only about a WEEK ago, gotten ahold of a copy of COMIC DIGEST #26.  I'm hoping to get in touch with him to see if I can get raw scans of the story.  (The images he actually posted were much smaller than the ones Jonathan Leslie had.)

I'm registered at the site, but am still waiting to get an e-mail from them to activate my account.  (I hope that place isn't run by the same people who are running Captain Comics into the ground... THEY "permanently banned" me from there!)

This meant some shuffling around of my blog pages-- fortunately, before I'd gone too far.

While I was at it, I also found (at the same board) scans of PANIC #11, Wally Wood's parody of the 1954 movie, apparently done some months before Jack Kirby's version of the same thing.  I didn't even know about it until last night.

The longer I work on this project, the more stuff keeps turning up!!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on August 16, 2014, 03:25:16 PM
"At first, I thought the later one might have been sitting around unpublished for several years, but on closer inspection of the art, I've come to the conclusion it was actually done NEW just for the digest.  Dan Spiegle's art, which I could barely recognize before, has noticeably evolved into the style I'm familiar with here, and, he's only using 4 panels per page, which to me, strongly indicates the story was created specifically for the smaller digest format."

I'd guess you're right as it looks like the original stories he drew for the Mystery Comics Digests around the same time.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 17, 2014, 11:26:33 PM
I've been updating ALL the "Jules Verne" pages at the blog to add links and make them more consistent.  Here's something I added to the overview (which I probably should find a place to also add in to the later pages)...

"The construction and opening of the "20,000 LEAGUES" ride in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, in 1972, apparently inspired a number of promotional tie-ins, beginning with a 2nd U.S. re-issue of the film."

Just as the 1963 reissue of the film inspired Gold Key to reprint the comic-book adaptation, and do the "prequel" spin-off (and for Disneyland Records to do what may have been a remake of the "story" LP), my guess is the small burst of film-related merchandise, including the reissue of the film itself, may have been tied in to the Florida attraction. I can just picture it... "You've seen the movie-- now, RIDE THE RIDE!"
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 18, 2014, 06:30:57 PM
Just finished cleaning up the 1st of the ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN NEMO stories from IPC in England.  The art is by Jim Fair.  Apparently, there were only 2 of these stories done.  If anyone has the other one, please let me know!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/08/jules-verne-part-22.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 18, 2014, 09:59:06 PM
I'm on a roll this week! JUST posted, Fleetway's
1975 "Look And Learn" adaptation of "20,000 LEAGUES"
with art by Bill Baker.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/08/jules-verne-part-24.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 19, 2014, 02:55:59 AM
Totally out of left field...

From August 1979 comes "STAR", possibly one of the most OBSCURE stories ever done by the ever-delightful and bizarre STEVE DITKO. I scanned these pages in back in Dec'08, but it took me until TODAY to remember they were tying up space on my hard drive. Enjoy!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/08/questar-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 21, 2014, 11:35:53 PM
Just posted, from 1992, the longest and possibly most spectacular comics adaptation of "20,000 LEAGUES" to date, by Gary Gianni!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/08/jules-verne-part-26.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 22, 2014, 04:35:32 PM
Just posted, from the November 1996 issue of BOYS' LIFE magazine, the Bank Street Classics adaptation of "20,00 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA", with fully-painted art by Ernie Colon!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/08/jules-verne-part-31.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 29, 2014, 02:22:39 AM
And now, something to blow your mind! Just set up at my blog, an overview of Jules Verne's "JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH". As with "20,000 LEAGUES", this has been broken down into 2 pages, with the split being just about 1970. Enjoy!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/08/jules-verne-part-34.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 29, 2014, 06:57:47 PM
Just posted: the Seymour Reit & Ernie Colon version of "JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH", from the March 1995 issue of BOYS' LIFE.  Enjoy!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/08/jules-verne-part-36.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 04, 2014, 01:39:38 AM
Just posted: an overview of "THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND" !!!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/09/jules-verne-part-38.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 06, 2014, 10:00:40 PM
First, it was SPACE CONQUERORS!  Then, STORIES FROM THE BIBLE.

Now, from BOYS' LIFE magazine...  OLD TIMER TALES OF KIT CARSON !  True-life stories of the old west, by writer Stanley Pashko & artist Lee Ames.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/09/old-timer-tales-of-kit-carson.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 09, 2014, 10:11:19 PM
More senseless bloodshed & violence, from the official magazine of The Boy Scouts of America!

OLD TIMER TALES OF KIT CARSON, 1952

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/09/old-timer-tales-of-kit-carson-part-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 11, 2014, 10:42:04 PM
The final 5 KIT CARSON TALES from BOYS' LIFE magazine, early 1953.  I've also added links to other KIT CARSON comics to read online, including the ones at Comic Book Plus!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/09/kit-carson-tales-1953.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 15, 2014, 02:22:42 AM
Just posted, and taking a break from the westerns... BIBLE STORIES, 2012.

This features the 9th version of "David" in the BOYS' LIFE series to date. Unfortunately, I don't have the end of this version yet, as the BL site currently cuts off at December 2012.  Oh well, just have to wait until next year for the rest!  (How's that for a cliffhanger?)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/09/bible-stories-2012.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 16, 2014, 12:42:54 PM
Just posted from BOYS' LIFE magazine, FRONTIER TALES, 1953.  This anthology series replaced KIT CARSON, and, I suspect, didn't last very long.  Artist Lee Ames continued on, but left after 5 episodes.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/09/frontier-tales-1953.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 24, 2014, 06:55:07 PM
Just posted from BOYS' LIFE magazine...  MOG-AN-AH, THE MOUND BUILDER.  This short-lived, 10-episode series was based on a 1931 book by Irving Crump (who was BL's editor for many years).  However, there is no listing for the artist, and I'm at a loss to identify whoever it was.  Any ideas?

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/09/mog-ah-mound-builder-1952-53.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 01, 2014, 10:04:30 PM
At my Professor H Reads Comics blog, I've now posted all the reviews for 1965!  Enjoy...

http://professorhreadscomics.blogspot.com/2014/05/january-1965.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 08, 2014, 12:47:32 AM
Now this is cool... 10 CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED adaptations of Jules Verne's books,
all in one place!!!

http://jv.gilead.org.il/CI/
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 10, 2014, 03:08:10 AM
Witness how many comics adaptations there've been over the decades
of EDGAR ALLAN POE stories...

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/edgar-allan-poe.html


A look at the earliest POE comic (that I know of), an adaptation of
"THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE".

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1944-part-1.html


Charlton Comics brings us the earliest comics adaptation of
"THE BLACK CAT"!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1944-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 11, 2014, 02:02:17 AM
From YELLOWJACKET COMICS #3 (Nov'44)...
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM" !!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1944-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 12, 2014, 11:48:06 AM
From YELLOWJACKET COMICS #4  (Dec'44) is the 1st of many different comics adaptations of "THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER".

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1944-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 13, 2014, 10:11:36 PM
Just added:
from CROWN COMICS #1 (Spring'45):  "THE OBLONG BOX"
     art by Alex Blum

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1945-pt1.html

...and...

from YELLOWJACKET COMICS #6 (Dec'45):  "THE TELL TALE HEART"
     art by Rudy Palais

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1945-pt-2_13.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 15, 2014, 04:45:39 PM
A bit late, but here it is-- the earliest POE comics adaptation I've found,
from CLASSIC COMICS #21 (July 1944)-- "THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE" !!! 
     art by Arnold L. Hicks

This is from a CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED reprint, so it's missing 1 story page, but that's their fault, not mine.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1944-part-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 18, 2014, 09:07:33 PM
From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #40 (Aug'47), the 2nd comics version of
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"
     art by August M. Froehlich

This is the full, uncut (13-page) version.  Most reprints cut 1 page by combining pages 2-4 into pages 2-3.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1947-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 20, 2014, 11:58:22 PM
From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #40 (Aug'47), here's a Poe story I never even heard of before this week.  I'm reading it AS I'm doing the clean-ups...
"THE ADVENTURE OF HANS PFALL"
     art by Henry C. Kiefer

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1947-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 23, 2014, 11:05:08 PM
From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #40 (Aug'47), here's the 2nd half of...
"THE ADVENTURE OF HANS PFALL"
     art by Henry C. Kiefer

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1947-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 25, 2014, 04:08:43 AM
From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #40 (Aug'47), here's the 2nd version of...
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
     art by Harley M. Griffiths

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1947-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 25, 2014, 08:27:39 PM
From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #40 (Aug'47), here's the 2nd half of...
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
     art by Harley M. Griffiths

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1947-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 28, 2014, 03:59:09 AM
From CRIME SUSPENSTORIES #3 (Feb-Mar'51), here's the 1st comics adaptation of...
"THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO"
     adaptation by Albert B. Feldstein
     art by Graham Ingels
     cover by Johnny Craig!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1951-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 30, 2014, 05:56:20 PM
From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #84 (Jun'51), here's the 1st comics adaptation of...
"THE GOLD BUG"
     art by Alex A. Blum

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1951-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 31, 2014, 06:29:27 PM
From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #84 (Jun'51), here's the 2nd comics adaptation of...
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"
     art by ??

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1951-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 01, 2014, 08:40:03 PM
From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #84 (Jun'51), here's the 2nd half of their comics adaptation of...
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"
     art by ??

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1951-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 04, 2014, 05:22:49 AM
From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #84 (Jun'51), here's the 2nd comics adaptation of...
"THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO"
     art by Rudy Palais

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1951-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 04, 2014, 07:17:02 PM
From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #84 (Jun'51), here's the 2nd half of...
"THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO"
     art by Rudy Palais

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1951-pt-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 06, 2014, 12:00:24 AM
From TALES FROM THE CRYPT #24 (Jun-Jul'51), here's the 1st comics adaptation of...
"THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR"
     adaptation by Albert B. Feldstein
     art by Graham Ingels
     cover by Graham Ingels!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1951-pt-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 06, 2014, 04:18:55 PM
This is an unusual blog entry page, in that it's based on unverified information.  According to Trent's Poe Comic List (www.houseofusher.net), there is supposed to be a Poe adaptation in this particular Marvel / Atlas publication.  However, the GCD has NO information on it, and there is NO clue which story-- if any-- is or might be Poe-related.  Oh well.  At any rate, just in case there is a Poe-related story somewhere in there, here's the cover...

SPELLBOUND  2  /
cover by BILL EVERETT   (Marvel  /  April 1952)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7b0B7jb-iTw/VFueDNqdQNI/AAAAAAAAUcs/KC2ZAJuZ43g/s1600/1952a%2BSB%2B02_cc_HA_HK.jpg

Now, as it happens, by an amazing coincidence (??), the TV series SUSPENSE ran a Poe adaptation on April 29, 1952.  And someone has posted it on Youtube!

And so, not one to waste a blog page (or an opportunity like this, here is the SUSPENSE tv adaptation of...  "THE PURLOINED LETTER" !!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHcM9DdYJhk
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: Captain Audio on November 08, 2014, 07:37:20 AM

From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #40 (Aug'47), here's a Poe story I never even heard of before this week.  I'm reading it AS I'm doing the clean-ups...
"THE ADVENTURE OF HANS PFALL"
     art by Henry C. Kiefer

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1947-pt-2.html


I remember reading this one when I was very young. For some reason this story came to mind a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for finding it.

"The Gold Bug" is one of my Favorite Poe stories. By reading it I learned to read cyptograms as if they were printed in plain English. Been a long time since I tried this but I think I remember how.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 09, 2014, 04:54:30 AM
From BEWARE #10 (Jun'52), here's the 3rd comics adaptation of
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"
     art by Doug Wildey !!!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1952-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 11, 2014, 05:02:49 AM
And now for something a bit classier...

From NIGHTMARE #2 (Fall'52), here's the 4th comics adaptation of
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"
     art by Everett Raymond Kinstler !!!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1952-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 13, 2014, 03:00:37 AM
Tired of reruns? Why bother? HERE's why...

From CHILLING TALES #16 (Youthful / Jun'53) comes the comics adaptation of
"THE CURSE OF METZENGERSTEIN"
     art by Vince Napoli

These scans were originally by "Karswell" and have appeared on 4 DIFFERENT sites before this, but I have done my usual ADDITIONAL clean-up work on them, making my presentation superior to all the previous ones.  (It's not bragging if it's true.)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1953-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 13, 2014, 04:19:03 AM
Watch the 1953 Columbia animated short
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"
narrated by James Mason!!!

http://www.openculture.com/2010/10/edgar_allan_poe_the_animated_tell-tale_heart.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 13, 2014, 07:30:48 PM
From CHILLING TALES #17 (Youthful / Oct'53) comes the 1st comics adaptation of
"MS FOUND IN A BOTTLE"
     art by E. Allgor

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1953-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 14, 2014, 05:20:22 PM
From NIGHTMARE #11 (St. John / Feb'54) comes the 1st comics adaptation of
"HOP FROG"
     artist unknown, but it reminds me a lot of Joe Maneely

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1954-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 14, 2014, 08:01:32 PM
Okay, be honest, you KNEW this was coming...

From MAD #9 (EC / Feb-Mar'54) comes the 1st comics adaptation of
"THE RAVEN"
     Adaptation & layouts by Harvey Kurtzman
     Art by Will Elder

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1954-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 15, 2014, 06:35:53 PM
From NIGHTMARE #12 (St. John / Apr'54) comes the 2nd comics adaptation of
"THE BLACK CAT"
     artist unknown...  any ideas / suggestions?

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1954-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 15, 2014, 09:31:08 PM
From BOYS' LIFE magazine (Jul'54) comes the 2nd comics adaptation of
"THE GOLD BUG"
     art by Henry Sharp

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1954-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: josemas on November 16, 2014, 03:01:30 PM
Henry,

Here's a bunch of radio adaptations of Poe that you can listen to while you're researching the Poe comics.

https://archive.org/details/POEonOTR

Best

Joe
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 16, 2014, 04:54:53 PM
Oh wow, COOL!

And speaking of... you just ain't gonna believe this!

From MAD #55 (EC / Jun'60) comes the 2nd comics adaptation of
"THE RAVEN"
     Adaptation by Paul Laikin
     Art by Mort Drucker

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1960-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 17, 2014, 03:05:20 AM
My very 1st full-fledged MOVIE REVIEW blog page!!
From 1960, Roger Corman's "HOUSE OF USHER"

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1960-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 20, 2014, 05:06:13 AM
From STRANGE TALES #83 (Apr'61) comes the 1st (VERY LOOSE) comics adaptation of
"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"
     Story & art by Steve Ditko

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1961.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on November 21, 2014, 05:52:34 AM
Except for a party and the "it's not a mask" reveal it has nothing in common with Masque of the Red Death. Unless one of the creators said it was inspired by Poe, I'd consider it a coincidence.

I'd say you're correct about Cora being based on Bette Davis. I could sorta see Lucille Ball in a few panels, but Bette was stronger.

BTW this story was featured in a Comic Book Legends Revealed installment a while back. Apparently the Comics Code took offense at the Devil appearing in a story so those final two panels were added afterwards (without Steve's approval or help).

Nothing to do with this particular "version", but something that bugs me about most adaptations of Masque is how they usually give Death a red mask, despite the fact that 1. masque refers to the party, not an archaic spelling of mask, & 2. the description in-story has him wearing a white outfit & mask splattered with red.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 21, 2014, 10:48:20 PM
Thanks for the comments.  Somebody steered me toward that one, and I figured, why not.  The 1975 reprint cover actually has "The Masque of the Black Death" as a blurb.  Hmm.  Meanwhile, editor Len Wein managed to BLOW the ending of the story-- right there on the cover.  It takes a certain kind of incompetence to do that!

I've noticed in recent years that many comics artists based characters on real people.  The thing is, with "cartoony" styles (Kirby, Ditko, Heck, etc.) this may not always be so obvious.  Plus, when you have multiple artists doing the same characters over the years, and fans generations removed, most poeple wind up unaware of the "models".

While Kirby often used then-current actors, I've noticed Ditko had a liking for those 20 years earlier.  (Like Ronald Colman as Dr. Strange.)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 21, 2014, 10:51:57 PM
From Poe's TALES OF TERROR (Dell / Feb'63) comes the 2nd comics adaptation of
"THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR"
     Art by George Evans

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1963-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 23, 2014, 01:45:39 AM
From Poe's TALES OF TERROR (Dell / Feb'63) comes the conclusion of the 2nd comics adaptation of
"THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR"
     Art by George Evans

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1963-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 25, 2014, 08:30:20 PM
From Poe's TALES OF TERROR (Dell / Feb'63) comes the 3rd comics adaptation of both
"THE BLACK CAT" and "THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO"
     Art by Fran Matera

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1963-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 26, 2014, 06:31:45 PM
From Poe's TALES OF TERROR (Dell / Feb'63) comes the 1st comics adaptation of
"MORELLA"
     Art by George Evans with George Wunder

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1963-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 27, 2014, 05:51:29 PM
A bit late finding this, but...
From THE THING #2 (Charlton / Apr'52) comes the 1st comics adaptation of
"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"
     Art by Bob Forgione

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1952-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 30, 2014, 08:22:10 PM
From Poe's THE RAVEN (Dell / Sep'63) comes the 3rd comics adaptation (MORE OR LESS) of
"THE RAVEN"
     Art by Frank Springer

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1963-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 02, 2014, 05:55:52 PM
From Poe's THE RAVEN (Dell / Sep'63) comes the 2nd part of their comics adaptation (MORE OR LESS) of
"THE RAVEN"
     Art by Frank Springer

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1963-pt-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 03, 2014, 09:42:27 PM
From Poe's THE RAVEN (Dell / Sep'63) comes the 3rd part of their comics adaptation (MORE OR LESS) of
"THE RAVEN"
     Art by Frank Springer

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/11/poe-1963-pt-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 05, 2014, 04:52:35 PM
From Poe's THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (Dell / Aug-Oct'64)
comes the 3rd comics adaptation of
"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"
as well as the 2nd comics adaptation of
"HOP FROG"
     Art by Frank Springer

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/12/poe-1964-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 06, 2014, 09:35:10 PM
From Poe's THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (Dell / Aug-Oct'64)
comes the 2nd part of their comics adaptation of
"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"
including the 2nd comics adaptation of
"HOP FROG"
     Art by Frank Springer

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/12/poe-1964-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 08, 2014, 02:03:15 AM
From Poe's THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (Dell / Aug-Oct'64)
comes the 3rd part of their comics adaptation of
"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"
including the 2nd comics adaptation of
"HOP FROG"
     Art by Frank Springer

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/12/poe-1964-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 12, 2014, 11:47:10 AM
The BEST of the Dell Movie Classic POE adaptations...
"THE TOMB OF LIGEIA" (Dell / Apr-Jun'65)
     Art by John Tartaglione & Vince Colletta

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/12/poe-1965-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 13, 2014, 04:12:54 PM
Part 2 of the BEST of the Dell Movie Classic POE adaptations...
"THE TOMB OF LIGEIA" (Dell / Apr-Jun'65)
     Art by John Tartaglione & Vince Colletta

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/12/poe-1965-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 14, 2014, 05:28:34 PM
Part 3 of the BEST of the Dell Movie Classic POE adaptations...
"THE TOMB OF LIGEIA" (Dell / Apr-Jun'65)
     Art by John Tartaglione & Vince Colletta

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/12/poe-1965-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 16, 2014, 12:40:42 AM
Here comes the LAST of the Dell Movie Classic POE adaptations...
"WAR-GODS OF THE DEEP" (Dell / Jul-Sep'65)
     Art by John Tartaglione & Dick Giordano

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/12/poe-1965-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 16, 2014, 10:33:10 PM
Continuing with the 2nd part of the LAST of the Dell Movie Classic POE adaptations...
"WAR-GODS OF THE DEEP" (Dell / Jul-Sep'65)
     Art by John Tartaglione & Dick Giordano

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/12/poe-1965-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 17, 2014, 10:53:29 PM
Concluding with the 3rd part of the LAST of the Dell Movie Classic POE adaptations...
"WAR-GODS OF THE DEEP" (Dell / Jul-Sep'65)
     Art by John Tartaglione & Dick Giordano

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/12/poe-1965-pt-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: Captain Audio on December 18, 2014, 03:33:31 AM
"1. masque refers to the party, not an archaic spelling of mask,"
While masks weren't always worn the Masque dated to an earlier festive occasion where friends of a nobleman would show up unexpectedly at his home wearing masks and shower him with gifts.
It was a sort of surprise party.
No telling how often these crowds of revellers were mistaken for gangs of bandits and the noblemen set their guards and hounds on them.

The Masque of the Red Death indicates the party was supposedly in honor of the plague that the revellers thought themselves to be safe from behind high walls. Sort of thumbing their noses at death itself.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 19, 2014, 01:22:24 PM
With a special thanks to "Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogspot"...

From LAWBREAKERS ALWAYS LOSE #10 (Marvel / Oct'49)
comes a story apparently inspired by the 1932 FILM version of
"THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE"...

"THE KILLER WHO WALKED LIKE A MAN!"
     Story & Art by ??   (any ideas???)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/12/poe-1949.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 21, 2014, 04:04:33 AM
ALRIGHT, people! Prepare to have your MIND BLOWN!!! After covering the first 20 years, my POE project now kicks into HIGH GEAR!!!

From CREEPY #3 (Warren / Jun'65)
comes the 3rd version of
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"
     art by Reed Crandall

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/12/poe-1965-pt-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 23, 2014, 04:49:18 AM
From CREEPY #6 (Warren / Dec'65)
comes the 4th version of
"THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO"
     art by Reed Crandall

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/12/poe-1965-pt-8.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 24, 2014, 05:00:24 PM
From CREEPY #11 (Warren / Oct'66)
comes the 3rd version of
"HOP-FROG"
     art by Reed Crandall

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/12/poe-1966.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 25, 2014, 04:13:29 AM
From EERIE #11 (Warren / Sep'67)
comes the 1st comics version of
"BERENICE"
     art by Jerry Grandenetti

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/12/poe-1967-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 27, 2014, 02:49:20 AM
From EERIE #12 (Warren / Nov'67)
comes the 4th comics version of
"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"
     art by Tom Sutton

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/12/poe-1967-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: Captain Audio on December 31, 2014, 11:57:56 AM
An excellent job of colorizing, very nice.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 01, 2015, 05:47:04 AM
Thanks! As I like to say, I have strange ideas about "fun".

Been awhile since I've colored anything just for fun.  Tom Sutton's 1967 art really inspired me.  The 2nd page was really tough, because I don't think I've ever seen that much detail in any of his stuff like that.  As you've seen, I'm posting them as I get each page done, and as I'm typing this, I've still got 1-1/2 more to go.

Come to think of it, the 1st page I recall coloring like that (although it was from a much smaller scan, and in Corel Draw), was a Sutton VAMPIRELLA page.  I did that mainly for contrast because my Mom had gotten ahold of the story originally in a MEXICAN reprint, which had some of the WORST coloring I've ever seen!  The art was designed for B&W, but I thought it would be cool to see what it could look like with "proper" coloring.  ;D

Ahh, here we go...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1mftCDusfqw/TrnEyQedHLI/AAAAAAAAARY/4XVLxsDoND4/s1600/VR+008_p11_Sutton_r.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 08, 2015, 05:13:52 AM
Heading into the COLDEST night of the season so far (a low of 8 DEGREES), I've just finished cleaning up another minor masterpiece...

From EERIE #20 (Warren / Mar'69)
comes the 3rd comics version of
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
     art by Tom Sutton

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/01/poe-1969-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 09, 2015, 03:21:05 PM
From WIN A PRIZE #1 (Charlton / Feb'55)
comes the 3rd comics version of
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"
     Adaptation, layouts & framing sequence art by Jack Kirby
     Illustration unknown

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/01/poe-1955.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 13, 2015, 11:21:48 AM
From CHAMBER OF DARKNESS #2 (Marvel / Dec'69)
comes the 5th comics version of
"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"
     art by Don Heck

For ETHICAL reasons, I have SURGICALLY REMOVED the "host" from this story
(there are certain things I simply CANNOT allow at my blog),
and replaced him with one of MY OWN characters,
adding new text & credits to match.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/01/poe-1969-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 17, 2015, 05:18:21 PM
From CHAMBER OF DARKNESS #3 (Marvel / Feb'70)
comes the 5th comics version of
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"
     art by Tom Palmer

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/01/poe-1970.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 18, 2015, 06:34:33 PM
From WITZEND #8 (Wonderful Publishing Company  /  Summer 1971)
comes an "illustrated" version of
"THE CITY IN THE SEA"  (well, SOME of the art anyway)
     art by Frank Frazetta  (possibly done quite a few years earlier for something else)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/01/poe-1971.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 19, 2015, 05:42:35 AM
From PSYCHO #7  (Skywald  /  Jul'72)
comes this tribute to Edgar Allan Poe and
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"
     art by Pablo Marcos

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/01/poe-1972-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 20, 2015, 05:39:51 AM
From NIGHTMARE #12  (Skywald  /  Apr'73)
comes the 1st comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE PREMATURE BURIAL"
     art by Juez Xirinius

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/01/poe-1973-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 23, 2015, 03:00:03 PM
From CHAMBER OF CHILLS #4  (Marvel  /  May'73)
comes John Jake's sequel to Poe's "THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO",
"THE OPENER OF THE CRYPT"
     art by Frank Brunner

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/01/poe-1973-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 25, 2015, 03:31:44 AM
Another one added out of sequence...
From BLACK MAGIC #28  (Prize  /  Jan-Feb'54)
comes the 3rd comics adaptation of
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
as well as the 1st comics adaptation of
"THE PREMATURE BURIAL"
     art by Steve Ditko

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 27, 2015, 02:20:21 AM
From SCREAM #2  (Skywald  /  Oct'73)
comes the 5th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"
     art by Ricardo Villamonte

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/01/poe-1973-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 30, 2015, 05:39:31 AM
From SCREAM #3  (Skywald  /  Dec'73)
comes the 5th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
     art by "Maro Nava" (whoever that may really be)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/01/poe-1973-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 31, 2015, 02:31:16 PM
From SCREAM #4  (Skywald  /  Feb'74)
comes the 2nd comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE OBLONG BOX"
     art by "Maro Nava" (really, JERRY GRANDENETTI !!)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/01/poe-1974-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 01, 2015, 07:00:30 PM
A request for help now... I'm currently looking for the following POE stories. Some of these may turn up online, but I haven't found them yet...

WITZEND #8 (Summer'71) -- "The City In The Sea" / illustrations by Frank Frazetta (10 pages)

TALES OF VOODOO v5 #4 (Jun'72) -- "MS. Found In A Bottle" / art by Ezra Jackson (7 pages)

SCREAM #6 (Jun'74) -- "Ms. Found In A Bottle" / art by Alphonso Font (6 pages)

SCREAM #8 (Aug'74) -- "The Tell-Tale Heart" / art by Ricardo Villamonte (8 pages)

WEIRD v8 #4 (Aug'74) -- "The Dead Live" / art by Cirilo Munoz

SCREAM #9 (Sep'74) -- "Metzengerstein" / art by Luis Collado (6 pages)

SCREAM #10 (Oct'74) -- "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" / art by Cesar Lopez (12 pages)

PSYCHO #21 (Oct'74) -- "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" / art by Jose Cardona (7 pages)

That brings me up to the beginning of 1975. Warren got back into Poe big-time right then, I'll have to check my collection and look around online for most of that before I update the list again.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 01, 2015, 09:14:35 PM
From SCREAM #5  (Skywald  /  Apr'74)
comes the 5th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO"
     art by "Maro Nava" (really, JERRY GRANDENETTI !!)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/01/poe-1974-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 03, 2015, 05:35:06 PM
From PSYCHO #18  (Skywald  /  May'74)
comes the 1st comics adaptation of Poe's
"A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM"
     art by Cesar Lopez Vera

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/02/poe-1974-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on February 03, 2015, 09:50:31 PM
"Poe had certain obsessions that repeated themselves in several of his stories.  In this case, I know of at least 4 different stories he wrote involving sailing ships, and in EACH one, the ship goes down in a storm."

Obsession or a genuine source of fear & unease of the time?

A few weeks ago I was looking up info on the Kingston Trio Song MTA & learned it was based on an older song The Ship That Never Returned. Back in the 1800s there were no ship radios, the only way to learn what had happened to a ship was if there was a survivor or witnesses to the event. People would get on a ship, sail away and nobody would know what happened if they never returned.

So for someone writing stories of terror, a ship at sea in the pre-radio era seems a natural setting.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 03, 2015, 11:13:30 PM
I know that song!   ;D
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 03, 2015, 11:15:58 PM
Another missing item turns up, thanks to fellow fan Don Bearden!

From CLASSIC COMICS #17  (Gilberton  /  Jan'44)
comes the 1st comics version of Poe's
"ANNABEL LEE"
     art by ??

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/02/poe-1943.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 05, 2015, 03:39:38 AM
This one will knock your eyes out!

From CREEPY  #62  (Warren  /  May'74)
comes the 4th comics version of Poe's
"THE BLACK CAT"
     art by Berni Wrightson

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/02/poe-1974-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 06, 2015, 11:33:40 AM
From BERNI WRIGHTSON: MASTER OF THE MACABRE #1  (Pacific Comics  /  Jun'83)
comes the 4th comics version of Poe's
"THE BLACK CAT"
     art by Berni Wrightson / IN COLOR!!!!!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/02/poe-1974-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 07, 2015, 04:19:53 AM
From NIGHTMARE #19  (Skywald  /  Jun'74)
comes the 1st comics adaptation of Poe's
"WILLIAM WILSON"
     art by Alfonso Font

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/02/poe-1974-pt-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 07, 2015, 09:13:05 PM
From SCREAM #6  (Skywald  /  Jun'74)
comes the 3rd comics adaptation of Poe's
"MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE"
     art by Alfonso Font

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/02/poe-1974-pt-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 08, 2015, 05:42:26 PM
From PSYCHO #19  (Skywald  /  Jul'74)
comes the 2nd comics adaptation of Poe's
"LIGEIA"
     art by Jesus Duran  (are we SURE it isn't Tony DeZuniga???)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/02/poe-1974-pt-8.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 11, 2015, 07:10:39 PM
From SCREAM #7  (Skywald  /  Jul'74)
comes the 2nd comics adaptation of Poe's
"BERENICE"
     art by Ricardo Villamonte

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/02/poe-1974-pt-9.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 14, 2015, 01:13:16 AM
From PSYCHO #20  (Skywald  /  Aug'74)
comes the 6th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"
     art by Ricardo Villamonte

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/02/poe-1974-pt-10.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 15, 2015, 11:18:50 PM
From NIGHTMARE #20  (Skywald  /  Aug'74)
comes the 5th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE BLACK CAT"
     art by Ricardo Villamonte

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/02/poe-1974-pt11.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 20, 2015, 02:46:27 AM
And now, a SPECIAL TREAT!!

A story intended for TRINCA #8 (Doncel / Spain / 1971)
but not published until 1976 (by The Club of Friends),
here's the 3rd comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR"
     adaptation & art by Carlos Giminez
     with brand-new English translation & lettering by ME!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/02/poe-1971-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 20, 2015, 03:44:50 PM
And now, something a bit different...

From TALES OF VOODOO v5 #4 (Eerie Publications / Jun'72)
comes this illustrated story version of Poe's
"MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE"
     art by Ezra Jackson

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/01/poe-1972-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 20, 2015, 11:20:47 PM
From SCREAM #8  (Skywald  /  Aug'74)
comes the 6th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"
     art by Ricardo Villamonte

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/02/poe-1974-pt12.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 27, 2015, 04:33:57 AM
From SCREAM #9  (Skywald  /  Sep'74)
comes the 2nd comics adaptation of Poe's
"METZENGERSTEIN"
     art by Luis Collado Coch

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/02/poe-1974-pt14.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 03, 2015, 02:27:47 AM
From SCREAM #10  (Skywald  /  Oct'74)
comes the 3rd comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE"
     art by Cesar Lopez Vera

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/02/poe-1974-pt15.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 06, 2015, 12:18:08 PM
From PSYCHO #21  (Skywald  /  Oct'74)
comes the 4th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR"
     art by Jose Cardona

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1974-pt16.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 07, 2015, 03:13:58 AM
From WEIRD vol.8 #4  (Eerie Publications  /  Aug'74)
comes the 6th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
as well as the 3rd comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE PREMATURE BURIAL"
     art by Cirilo Munoz

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/02/poe-1974-pt13.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 08, 2015, 04:41:57 AM
From CREEPY #67  (Warren Publications  /  Dec'74)
comes the 4th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE RAVEN"
     art by Richard Corben  (his 1st of MANY Poe adaptations!)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1974-pt17.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 08, 2015, 08:52:06 PM
From PSYCHO #23  (Skywald  /  Jan'75)
comes the 1st comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE MAN OF THE CROWD"
     art by Ferran Sostres

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1975-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on March 09, 2015, 02:00:38 AM
Took a long time for that one to see print. Easy to see why. It does not lend itself to be the most exciting of stories.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 10, 2015, 01:55:16 AM
Warren did the 2nd version only 3 months later!! However, with the schedule I'm doing, I have 8 other stories to get to before I get to that.  It's the 2nd story in CREEPY #70.

I'm still missing scans for...

"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" -- Jose Ortiz
"The Man Of The Crowd" -- Luis Bermejo
"The Cask Of Amontillado" -- Martin Salvador
"A Descent Into The Maelstrom" -- Adolpho Abellan

...all from CREEPY #70.

After that, the next POE story currently missing is "The Inheritance Of Rufus Griswold", by Manuel "Spain" Rodriguez.  This appeared in ARCADE: THE COMICS REVIEW #7 (Fall'76), and has been reprinted in GRAPHIC CLASSICS #1 (2001), GRAPHIC CLASSICS #1 (2004 / expanded edition), and GRAPHIC CLASSICS #21 (2011).
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 13, 2015, 03:40:15 AM
From CREEPY #69  (Warren  /  Feb'75)
comes the 6th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"
     art by Jose Ortiz

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1975-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on March 14, 2015, 02:11:12 AM
While not an adaptation, I can't imagine the Adam Strange story, The Planet and The Pendulum (Showcase #17), even existing without Poe's original to "borrow" from. Is it going to get a mention?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 14, 2015, 02:33:22 AM
From CREEPY #69  (Warren  /  Feb'75)
comes the 4th comics adaptation of Poe's
"PREMATURE BURIAL"
     art by Vicente Alcazar

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1975-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 14, 2015, 03:52:45 AM
Well, I just got ALL 4 missing stories from CREEPY #70, courtesy of Jim Ludwig (scans taken from the Dark Horse Archives-- reminding me I have to add those reprints to ALL the later Warren stories).

This means I now have ALL 24 Warren POE adaptations!!! Alright!!


Still wanted:

ARCADE: THE COMICS REVIEW #7 (Fall'76) --
"The Inheritance Of Rufus Griswold" / by Manuel "Spain" Rodriguez (3 pp.)

3 new items added to the current "wanted" list:

MARVEL CLASSIC COMICS #28 (1977)
"The Pit And The Pendulum" / Rudy Messina (24 pp.)
"The Tell-Tale Heart" / Yong Montano & Rod Santiago (15 pp.)

KING CLASSICS #14 (1977)
"The Gold Bug" / Antonio Calmerio Tomas (?? pp.)

STAR*REACH #17 (Jul'79)
"The Raven" / Jeff Bonivert (7 pp.)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 15, 2015, 08:51:03 PM
The search continues! Check this out...

CrashRyan:
"Hey, Prof. H--

While browsing the "Atlas Tales" site I stumbled across a Poe item I didn't see in your lists. It's a 6-pager from "Spellbound" #2, Apr 1952. Here's a link to the entry:

http://www.atlastales.com/issue/3689

Unfortunately they show only the first page, but it's clearly adapted from (or perhaps just inspired by) "The Pit and the Pendulum."


Thanks! This answers a mystery that's been hanging around for almost 5 MONTHS now.

There was a website, "Trent's Poe Comic List", that listed SPELLBOUND #2 (Apr'52) as having a Poe story. But, no clue as to what that story might be. Just to be on the safe side, I found a decent scan of the Bill Everett cover (from the Heritage Auctions site) and did a nice restoration of it, and posted it at the blog, hoping that a story might turn up at some point.

However... a couple MONTHS later, from some other source (no single source I've found has had EVERY Poe comic listed!!), I ran across THE THING #2 (Apr'52), which it turned out, had the 1st adaptation of "The Masque of the Red Death". Since it had the same cover date (and same issue number) as SPELLBOUND #2, I figured, maybe "Trent" made a mistake.

GUESS NOT!!!

What I did was, I removed SPELLBOUND #2 and posted THE THING #2 in its place. This is the problem with blogs-- they're designed to be "journals", and I'm trying to use mine as if it was a "website". But you can only add things in the order you add them. It gets confusing, but when I add stories out of sequence (as I've had to do multiple times by now), I make up for it by fioxing the "continued in" and "continued from" links at the tops and bottoms of the pages, so anyone reading from the earliest can go right thru and read all of them in chronological sequence, even if the pages are not located sequentially.

The other problem is the blog page titles I come up with. At the moment, there are only 2 "1952" pages-- "Part 1" and "Part 2". SPELLBOUND should be either 1 or 2, not 3. The alternative (which I've done at least once) would be to make it "1951 part 8".... (if you see what I mean).

Then again, it's my blog, I can "play" with it as I like.

In the "1965" listings, I put CREEPY #3 after WAR-GODS OF THE DEEP, just so all the Dells and all the Warrens would be together, when, in fact, CREEPY #3 came out before WAR-GODS.

Since there are no interior pages currently available to post (the 1st page is maybe 100 pixels across-- worthless for my purposes) I'm not gonna interrupt the 70s Warrens I'm doing right now for anything. Maybe later when it turns up. I will add it to my index, but I don't think there's any point updating ALL THE "PIT" pages with the new info, until I have scans to go with it. (Did you know there are 6 AUDIO versions I have posted? 1 dramatic reading and 5 radio episodes-- 4 of those using the IDENTICAL script with different casts! What also cracks me up is 2 of the radio actors-- Jose Ferrer, and Tony Roberts-- were together in one of my favorite movies, A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT SEX COMEDY, as 2 men in love with the same woman. How's that for a wild connection?)

I'll bring this up in the "horror" Facebook group I'm in. You never know who might have scans sitting around.
Thanks again!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 16, 2015, 05:46:50 PM
From CREEPY #69  (Warren  /  Feb'75)
comes the 7th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
     art by Santiago Martin Salvador

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1975-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 17, 2015, 10:09:53 PM
From CREEPY #69  (Warren  /  Feb'75)
comes the 1st comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE OVAL PORTRAIT"
     art by Richard Corben

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1975-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 18, 2015, 11:34:35 PM
From CREEPY #69  (Warren  /  Feb'75)
comes the 4th comics adaptation of Poe's
"MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE"
     art by Leo Sommers

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1975-pt-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 21, 2015, 01:16:30 AM
From CREEPY #69  (Warren  /  Feb'75)
comes the 5th comics adaptation of Poe's
"FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR"
     art by Isidro Mones

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1975-pt-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 22, 2015, 01:33:43 AM
From FAMOSOS "MONSTERS" DEL CINE  #2  (Editoria Garbo, SA  /  1975)
comes the 5th comics adaptation of Poe's
"FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR"
     art by Isidro Mones  /  IN COLOR!!!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1975-pt-8.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 22, 2015, 04:58:56 AM
From SCREAM #11  (Warren  /  Mar'75)
comes the 5th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE RAVEN"
     art by Peter Cappiello

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1975-pt-9.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 22, 2015, 07:52:52 PM
From CREEPY #70  (Warren  /  Apr'75)
comes the 4th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE"
     art by Jose Ortiz

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1975-pt10.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 24, 2015, 01:07:34 PM
From CREEPY #70  (Warren  /  Apr'75)
comes the 2nd comics adaptation of Poe's
"MAN OF THE CROWD"
     art by Luis Bermejo

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1975-pt11.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 24, 2015, 09:25:05 PM
From CREEPY #70  (Warren  /  Apr'75)
comes the 6th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO"
     art by Martin Salvador

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1975-pt12.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 26, 2015, 05:02:28 PM
From CREEPY #70  (Warren  /  Apr'75)
comes the 1st comics adaptation of Poe's
"SHADOW"
and also the 7th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"
     art by Richard Corben

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1975-pt13.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 27, 2015, 10:49:51 AM
From CREEPY #70  (Warren  /  Apr'75)
comes the 2nd comics adaptation of Poe's
"A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM"
     art by Adolpho Usero Abellan

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1975-pt14.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 29, 2015, 02:51:44 PM
From CREEPY #70  (Warren  /  Apr'75)
comes the 3rd comics adaptation of Poe's
"BERENICE"
     art by Isidro Mones

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1975-pt15.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 31, 2015, 02:11:55 PM
Just identified 6 more comics with POE stories in them-- 1 from Portugal, the other 5 from Brazil. I've been able to find & download 4 of them, still need the other 2...

SPEKTRO #3 (Oct'77)
"Berenice" / ?? (?? pp.)

SPEKTRO #6 (Jul'78)
"A Mascara Da Morte Rubra" (The Masque of the Red Death) / ??
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 01, 2015, 02:35:06 AM
From CREEPY #76  (Warren  /  Jan'76)
comes the 1st comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE"
     art by Luis Bermejo

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1976-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 04, 2015, 01:00:42 AM
From CLASSIC COMICS #18  (Gilberton  /  Mar'44)
comes the 1st comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE BELLS"
     art by Louis Zansky

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/04/poe-1943-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 05, 2015, 01:50:12 AM
From VAMPIRELLA #49  (Warren  /  Mar'76)
comes the 3rd comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE OBLONG BOX"
     art by Isidro Mones

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/03/poe-1976-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 05, 2015, 09:12:04 PM
From CAVALEIRO ANDANTE #453 
(Empresa Nacional de Publicidade (ENP)  /  September 3, 1960)
comes the 3rd comics adaptation of Poe's
"O ESCARAVELHO DE OURO"
     art by Fernando Bento

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/04/poe-1960-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 11, 2015, 07:49:45 PM
From CAVALEIRO ANDANTE (KNIGHT ERRANT) #453
(Empresa Nacional de Publicidade (National Advertising Company)  /  September 3, 1960)
comes the 3rd comics adaptation of Poe's
"O ESCARAVELHO DE OURO" ("THE GOLD BUG")
     art by Fernando Bento
Now translated for the 1st time into ENGLISH, and with NEW color added!!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/04/poe-1960-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 15, 2015, 03:06:21 PM
From JOYAS LITERARIAS JUVENILES  88  /   KING CLASSICS  14
(Editorial Bruguera  /  Spain  /  1973)
(Editorial Bruguera  &  King Features Syndicate  /  1977)
comes the 4th comics adaptation of Poe's
"EL ESCARABAJO DE ORO" ("THE GOLD BUG")
     art by Antonio Calmerio Tomas

This was the 1st NEW comic I've bought in over 4 years, and the 1st new addition to my comics collection since Frank Thorne gave me a copy of Dell's "20,000 LEAGUES"!!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/04/poe-1973-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 18, 2015, 03:07:17 AM
From KING CLASSICS  #14  (Editorial Bruguera / King Features Syndicate  /  1973 / 77)
comes the 4th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE GOLD BUG"
     art by Antonio Calmerio Tomas  /  PART 2 !!!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/04/poe-1973-pt-6.html



Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 22, 2015, 12:56:57 AM
From KING CLASSICS  #14  (Editorial Bruguera / King Features Syndicate  /  1973 / 77)
comes the 4th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE GOLD BUG"
     art by Antonio Calmerio Tomas  /  THE CONCLUSION !!!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/04/poe-1973-pt-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 23, 2015, 12:17:29 AM
From CRAZY #7  (Marvel  /  Oc'74)
comes the 7th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"
     art by Mike Ploog

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/04/poe-1974-pt18.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 26, 2015, 04:46:35 AM
From CLASSICOS DE TERROR #12  (Editora Outubro  /  Brazil  /  1960)
comes the 2nd comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE PREMATURE BURIAL"
     art by ? ? ?
Now for the first time translated into ENGLISH and IN COLOR!!!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/04/poe-1960-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 30, 2015, 01:00:28 AM
From CLASSICOS DE TERROR #14  (Editora Outubro  /  Brazil  /  1960)
comes the 3rd comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE BLACK CAT"
     art by Luiz Sandenberg

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/04/poe-1961-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 06, 2015, 01:24:37 AM
From CLASSICOS DE TERROR #14  (Editora Outubro  /  Brazil  /  1960)
comes the 3rd comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE BLACK CAT"
     art by Luiz Sandenberg
Now IN COLOR and translated into ENGLISH!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/04/poe-1961-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 08, 2015, 01:18:02 AM
From ALTER LINUS #9  (Milano Libri Edizioni  /  Italy  /  Sep'75)
comes the 8th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"
     art by Alberto Breccia
Now for the 1st time in ENGLISH!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1975-pt16.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on May 09, 2015, 02:06:01 AM
Wow, this guy just went whole hog overboard on the copy & paste.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on May 09, 2015, 03:18:44 AM
Henry have you seen that IDW is accepting submissions? It would not hurt to give it a go.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 09, 2015, 07:50:52 PM
From my blog-- in reference to Alberto Breccia's "TELL-TALE HEART" (1974-75)...

"As I worked on this, it slowly started to dawn on me that this single 11-page story is probably the very thing that "inspired" Keith Giffen to imitate, BADLY, from the panel layouts, to the miminalist drawing, to the lighting, to the repetitive panels and their "timing", when he was working on the infamous "Five Years Later" run of DC's LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES. I cannot for the life of me envision anything LESS appropiate for a utopian future science-fiction series. Would to GOD he had never done such a horrible, misguided thing. It's over 25 years ago, and the wretched horror of those issues still haunts me. Oh well.

But, back to Breccia... "
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 09, 2015, 07:52:59 PM
From HAUNTED #28  (Charlton  /  Apr'76)
comes the 6th comics adaptation story based on Poe's
"THE RAVEN"
     art by Steve Ditko

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1976-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: crashryan on May 09, 2015, 08:59:03 PM
Right you are about Giffen; the remainder of his style came from Jose Munoz.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on May 10, 2015, 03:23:56 AM
I have never understood the love people have for work of Keith Giffen. His early art when he was trying to draw was just okay, but when he switched styles... ugh, and what kind of drugs was he on when he drew Trencher???

*shakes head*

When it comes to related, but not exactly Poe stories, have you ever read The Hangman story in Pep Comics #35, The Raven?

If I've got the link right this should lead right to it. (https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=22394)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 10, 2015, 03:49:21 AM
My running joke about Keith Giffen is, he's probably the only comics artist who is on some fans' "most loved" list-- and "most hated" list-- AT THE SAME TIME.

;D

I slowly grew to enjoy his stuff on THE DEFENDERS, partly because of David Kraft's writing, and partly because, although he was doing a really CRUDE, STIFF take-off on Jack Kirby, at the time, he seemed to be one of the FEW artists working for Marvel who actually seemed to know how to lay out interesting FIGHT scenes.

He dropped out of site for awhile after getting fired from blowing some deadlines.  When he was trying to put his career back together, he'd begun "channeling" Phillipe Druilet, of all people.  You can see this in his Dr. Fate back-up in THE FLASH (inked by Larry Mahstedt), and his earliest episodes of LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES.  Within about 6 months on LEGION, he began to simplify his work a lot, and it struck me as almost being in a strange sort of way a "modern" version of Curt Swan.  but then he simplified it EVEN MORE (following a 6-month stint on OMEGA MEN, which he says he felt "burned him out"-- doing 2 books a month for all that time), and suddenly he was "channeling" Alex Toth.

I'm still not sure who Jose Munoz is, though I bet I've seen his stuff.  This Breccia story was downright eerie, the way he seemed to borrow SO heavily from it.

When he returned to LEGION after a long stretch, with LEGION #50 (the issue where they defeated The Time Trapper in the far, far future), he seemed to have gotten his thing back together.  But the next issue, he began "channeling" Kirby again-- only, with excessively-FAT faces.  Then, when they switched from Mike DeCarlo to Al Gordon, it began to go downhill, and when he got to the "Five Years Later", he was actually "channeling" the look of Kirby-ROUSSOS, which I have long felt was the ugliest period of Kirby's art ever.

And then you had that TRENCHER crap.  So, as you can see, his art has really been schizophrenic.

I think the BEST damn thing any editor ever did with him was when Andy Helfer realized how good he was writing stories and laying out out pages, and got SOMEONE ELSE to do the finished art.  For 5 years, JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL was one of DC's best books.  It also had Giffen's "upside down" mentality at work.  He killed Dr. Fate, who'd been immortal.  He turned the JLA into a comedy.  And he turned the LEGION's utopian future into a hopeless, depressing, violent nightmare.  2 out of those 3 things NEVER should have happened, if his editors had just told him, "NO.  We're NOT doing this."

After JLA, Giffen never should have been allowed to do "full pencils" on a DC book ever again.  I often think he NEVER really learned how to draw. And if it were up to me, he'd NEVER be allowed anywhere near the LEGION, ever again.  The book has NEVER, in my view, really recovered from what went on between him, Mark Waid & Mike Carlin (2 reboots in 2 months-- only 5 issues into a run-- followed by an even bigger reboot 4 years later that happened as a direct result of the earlier ones).

You reach a point where "enough is enough".  I try to have patience and sympathy for my best friend, who keeps saying things like, "But I REALLY like the characters!"  Well... SO DO I.  But sometimes, SO MUCH damage has been done... I reach a point where I don't EVER want to read a new story about some characters-- EVER AGAIN, no matter WHO does it.  I'd rather just go back and read the earlier stories... WHEN THEY WERE GOOD AND FUN.

I hope one of these days to spend more time reading the stuff at THIS site.  There is an INFINITY of fun stuff here, so much one could spend the rest of their life reading this stuff and never run out of books.

Of course, I've just spent the last 7 months reading nothing but POE comics... the overwhelming majority of which, I have NEVER read before!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 10, 2015, 04:02:39 AM
Found it on Wikipedia...

"His style is characterised by a sharp line, heavy chiaroscuro, and exaggerated, sometimes grotesque, faces and figures. His work has had a strong influence on Argentine Alberto Breccia, his teacher. Also British artists Dave McKean and Warren Pleece, and US artists Frank Miller (for part of his Sin City style [1]) and Keith Giffen."

Hmm.  My influences seem to include Herge, Tom Sutton, Gene Colan, and Paul Gulacy.  I like mine better.   :)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: jimmm kelly on May 10, 2015, 01:21:52 PM
You've articulated for me a lot of things I thought about Keith Giffen but never could put into words.

However, I still like Ambush Bug. Giffen doesn't deserve soul credit for creating the character, but Ambush Bug seems to be his outlet for whatever he's going through at the time. And because of how the concept works, whatever Giffen is going though in his art has a place in the Ambush Bug reality.

I never quite understood why DC is always out to shut down Ambush Bug--but mabye this is just in Keith's imagination. I don't see the character as a threat to any DC Universe, since his fourth wall status exempts him from being taken too seriously. Even when Giffen attacks DC management in these stories it seems to be just harmless fun.

Maybe they should give Giffen his own Henry Boltinoff spot in every DC comic--with a half-page Ambush Bug gag each month.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 10, 2015, 03:20:32 PM
Yeah, I like AMBUSH BUG, too.   :)

One of the most surprising moments I can remember was when Topps was doing their ZORRO series, written by Don McGregor (whose intense love & care comes across in every episode).  They had a stellar crew of "guests artists" doing the covers, and one of them was by... I couldn't believe it... Keith Giffen.  And it was done in that "UGLY" style he used in "Five Years Later".

But the thing is... it was inked by JOE SINNOTT.  I couldn't stop staring at it.  Sinnott managed to take CRAP and make it look STUNNING.  Wow.

I had done a tribute to that era in KLORDNY, showing what I thought it SHOULD have looked like... and I tried to do a page that looked like Giffen inked by Sinnott.  And then that thing came along, FOR REAL.  Amazing.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: crashryan on May 10, 2015, 07:04:17 PM
Here's an example of Munoz from "Alack Sinner," one of his big successes.

(http://www.artribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/alack_sinner_02.jpg)

He could do stuff with black and white that was simply brilliant, but the basic ugliness of his work always defeated me.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 14, 2015, 05:42:18 AM
From MARVEL CLASSICS COMICS #28 (Marvel / May'77)
comes the 8th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"
     adaptation & layouts by Don McGregor
     art by Rudy Mesina

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1977-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: crashryan on May 15, 2015, 04:47:52 AM
It's interesting seeing Marvel's "Pit and the Pendulum." I missed this when it came out.

However I'm puzzled by your suggestion that the prevalence of the "Marvel Method" of scripting was somehow connected to making Stan Lee look good. Or did I misread you? If so, my apologies in advance.

From all I've read and heard the Marvel Method was a tool to facilitate production. With it a relatively small writing staff could fill an ever-growing list of titles. In the time he'd have spent writing one full script a writer could turn out 4 or 5 synopses, putting 4 or 5 issues into the pipeline simultaneously. Breakdown chores were shifted from writer to artist (without extra pay, usually). When the art came in, if the original author was swamped, dialogue could be assigned to whomever was available. It's the same concept as separating artwork into layout/penciller/inker. Spreading each job over several people lessens the risk that any one creator's messing up might cause a missed deadline.

The Method makes it harder to write tight, coherent stories. However I confess it can work. When I was working with Roy Thomas I was impressed by how much structure he could put into a 4-5 page synopsis. Roy has an uncanny knack for pacing. He broke his synopses into segments with notes suggesting how many pages each would fill. I was free to lay the story out as I wanted, but the final product almost always ended up paced as Roy predicted. This underlying structure encouraged dialogue which worked with the art rather than fighting it, as happens in so many Method comics. Admittedly, on our books Roy wrote his own dialogue, so he didn't need to guess what the writer had in mind.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 15, 2015, 11:29:02 AM
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Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 16, 2015, 04:37:30 AM
From MARVEL CLASSICS COMICS #28 (Marvel / May'77)
comes the 8th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"  /  PART 2
     adaptation & layouts by Don McGregor
     art by Rudy Mesina

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1977-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: Captain Audio on May 19, 2015, 01:48:41 AM
Theres a story I read many years ago that may have been in a small way inspired by Poe's pit and the Pendulum, though theres actually very little in common between the two except the hopeless dread of a prisoner of a regime that has absolute power over them.

Any way the prisoner is placed in a cell that it carved into the radius of a huge stone wheel in a matching round pit. Each day the wheel is unlocked for a certain period of time and the prisoners must pull on a rope, their combined efforts making the wheel turn one notch per day, bringing freedom to at least one prisoner per day.
Only problem is one complete turn of the wheel would take many years.
Thats not the end of the prisoner's problems of course. Its a pretty horrific story all told.
I think the author was French.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 20, 2015, 04:01:10 AM
From MARVEL CLASSICS COMICS #28 (Marvel / May'77)
comes the 9th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"
     adaptation & layouts by Don McGregor
     art by Yong Montano & Rod Santiago

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1977-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 23, 2015, 07:53:21 PM
From MARVEL CLASSICS COMICS #28 (Marvel / May'77)
comes the 7th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO"
     adaptation & layouts by Don McGregor
     art by Michael Golden

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1977-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 24, 2015, 03:58:34 PM
From SPEKTRO #2 (Editora Vecchi  /  Aug'77)
comes the 10th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"
     art by Vilmar Rodrigues

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1977-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 26, 2015, 05:12:31 AM
From NOW AGE BOOKS  64-2693 / THE BEST OF POE (Pendulum Press / 1977)
comes the 9th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"
     art by Gerry Talaoc

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1977-pt-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 26, 2015, 12:43:55 PM
From NOW AGE BOOKS  64-2693 / THE BEST OF POE (Pendulum Press / 1977)
comes the 8th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
     art by Nestor Redondo

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1977-pt-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 26, 2015, 07:22:17 PM
From NOW AGE BOOKS  64-2693 / THE BEST OF POE (Pendulum Press / 1977)
comes the 8th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO"
     art by Noly Zamora

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1977-pt-8.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 27, 2015, 01:40:45 AM
From NOW AGE BOOKS  64-2693 / THE BEST OF POE (Pendulum Press / 1977)
comes the 6th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE"  /  Part 1
     art by E.R. Cruz

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1977-pt-9.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 27, 2015, 06:50:57 PM
From NOW AGE BOOKS  64-2693 / THE BEST OF POE (Pendulum Press / 1977)
comes the 6th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE"  /  Part 2
     art by E.R. Cruz

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1977-pt10.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 27, 2015, 08:16:12 PM
From NOW AGE BOOKS  64-2693 / THE BEST OF POE (Pendulum Press / 1977)
comes the 6th comics adaptation of Poe's
"THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE"  /  Part 3
     art by E.R. Cruz

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1977-pt11.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 28, 2015, 10:58:16 PM
From SPEKTRO #8 (Editora Vecchi / Nov'78)
comes the 1st comics version of Poe's
"THE SLEEPER"
     art by Cesar Lobo
and the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"THE OVAL PORTRAIT"
     art by Mano

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1978-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 29, 2015, 04:07:31 AM
From STAR REACH #17 (Star Reach / Jul'79)
comes the 7th comics version of Poe's
"THE RAVEN"
     art by Jeff Bonivert

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1979-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 30, 2015, 09:20:37 PM
From CREEPY #110 (Warren  /  Aug'79)
comes the 11th comics version of Poe's
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"
     art by Jesus Blasco

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1979-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 03, 2015, 07:41:09 PM
From EL PENDULO #2 (Ediciones De La Urraca / Argentina / Oct'79)
comes the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"WILLIAM WILSON"
     art by Alberto Breccia

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/05/poe-1979-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 06, 2015, 05:02:47 AM
From AVENTURAS MACABRAS #12 (Bloch Editores / Brazil / 1979)
comes the 8th comics version of Poe's
"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"
     art by Flavio Colin

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/06/poe-1979-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 06, 2015, 01:14:26 PM
Thanks to "Crash Ryan" pointing me in the right direction, a search has turned up the following (with help from Google Translate):

Dino Battaglia was confronted often during his long career as a cartoonist with some great writers of the nineteenth century especially with the work of the master of atmosphere horror / Gothic Edgar Allan Poe, which he adapted in a masterly manner, sometimes reinterpreting in part, some of the most famous tales.
Lady Ligeia Battle
A disturbing picture of Lady Ligeia

Most dellle stories was published for the first time in the magazine Linus, between 1968 and 1973, in a version in black and white, or rather in shades of gray (only later we were made of versions of the same color comics with coloring by the author's wife, Laura Battaglia, for the magazine Corto Maltese). These are stories inspired by Poe gothic and supernatural.
Linus, comic magazine cultured and sensitive, allowed the author to confront stories challenging and appropriate for a mature adult audience and making possible the realization of these little jewels of Gothic comic who could hardly find space in other comic magazines of the period .

The author's style goes well with the atmosphere that evokes Edgar Allan Poe in his writings, managing to bring in the tables environments so disturbing and yet so basically normal, the horror suggested by elegant play of light and shadow, from one unmistakable style and evanescent, that leaves the reader, as in the work of Poe, the ability to imagine what is not shown.
Battle cleverly plays with the composition of the table that breaks the regular patterns using cartoons of different shapes and sizes, for images cropped, sometimes simple shilouette; using special design techniques to get images often indefinite, scratched, faded, mysterious and always preferring image to word, reducing the essentials of the original text.

The last story from Poe, of lighter flavor and fantastic, was published for the first time on the children's magazine The Newspaper, a few years later, in 1981.

In all the adaptations that Battle draws on the stories of Poe are 8 and are as follows (in parentheses are reported the journal in which were published the first time and its date of publication in the journal of which have been published in color for the first time with its release date):

- King Pest (Linus n. 45, December 1968 - Corto Maltese n. 5, May 1985)
- The Fall of the House of Usher (Linus n. 50, May 1969 - Corto Maltese n. 8, August 1984)
- Lady Ligeia (Linus n. 55, October 1969 - Corto Maltese No. 2, February 1985)
- Hop-Frog (Linus n. 81, December 1971 - Corto Maltese n. 12, December 1986)
- The bet (Linus n. 85 April 1972 - Corto Maltese n. 6, June 1986)
- The Masque of the Red Death (Linus n. 91, October 1972 - Corto Maltese # 7, July 1988)
- The system of dr. Tar and prof. Feather (Linus n. 101, August 1973 - Corto Maltese n. 3, March 1990)
- The extraordinary adventure of Hans Pfall (The Newspaper no. 12, March 1981)

Some episodes are very faithful to the original (Ligeia, The Fall of the House of Usher), other times Battaglia takes more freedom (as they bet or The Masque of the Red Death); in any case the author always works the reductions and simplifications of the plot and characters to bring them back a few pages, being able to take advantage of the ability to recreate the atmosphere of the lyrics through his wonderful paintings.
Image from Plague King of Battle
The grotesque characters of King Pest

In some cases Battle takes only the initial idea and, not infrequently, move the place and time in which the narrated events are set, the original Poe.
One of the stories is openly horror / Gothic (The Fall of the House of Usher, Lady Ligeia, The Masque of the Red Death) where Battle is best expressed by creating the atmosphere and charm of unquestionable effect; other times the author plays the card of the grotesque (King Pest, Frog Hopper, The system of dr. Goudron and Professor. Feather) contaminating situations in itself certainly not happy with touches of macabre humor; the most obvious case is that of King Pest where the same characters are drawn in a less realistic and more caricatural.
Another exception is that of The extraordinary adventure of Hans Pfall, story definitely more weird and wonderful and so drawn with less need to black and the darker tones.
The stories are all very short, from 7 pages of The Masque of the Red Death at 13 La straorinaria adventure Hans Pfall.
The protagonist of the last story in Poe is called Hans Pfaall, for this very often version of Battle is reported as the extraordinary adventure of Hans Pfaall (with two) but in fact the title used by the author simply reports one a.
Volume Poe - Dino Battaglia - Grifo Edizioni
The cover of the book published by Poe Grifo Edizioni

The publication of the tales of Poe's Battle was quite uneven over time, the original black and white on Linus over six years the stories were then re-proposed color magazine Corto Maltese (but again without a specific rule between 1984 to 1990), who also repeated Hans Pfall.
All the stories were later published in various books dedicated to the work of Dino Battaglia. An almost complete collection of comics drawn by Poe has had on the bulletin Totentanz books published by Editions Milan in 1972. In this volume, as well as other stories, they were attended by all the adjustments to the Gothic tales of Poe; the only adaptation was missing then the extraordinary adventure of Hans Pfall.
In 1999 the publisher Lo Scarabeo has published the book Edgar Allan Poe and Dino Battaglia. Eight unpublished stories that collects all the stories from Poe including the extraordinary adventure of Hans Pfall (although of course the stories are not unusual) and most recently, in 2007, the same operation was carried out by Grifo Edizioni with the publication of volume Poe.

Dino Battaglia was definitely one of the great cartoonists who has dealt better with the work of Poe managed to make the most of the atmosphere without altering the content, even when he 'dared' to take liberties in adapting the story.
Among the other great writers who discussed so strongly with the author, and the number of comics realized that as the quality of the works, worth mentioning Richard Corben, who perhaps has diverged a bit 'more original tales but is still a risucire find its way very valuable and extremely effective.

http://www.slumberland.it/contenuto.php?id=65
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 10, 2015, 02:20:04 AM
Good news-- persistence pays off! A couple weeks back, I found out there was a POE story in MACABROS #17. It took some time to find out the artist's full name, but although I ran across a site that had a download listed, I got a message saying "permanently moved".

Tonight, I did ANOTHER search for the same book. After going thru several dozen websites on MULTIPLE pages of a Google search, I suddenly ran across one that had it listed-- and THIS time, it connected me to "Uploaded.Net", where they had MACABRO #17-20 (4 issues) in one .RAR file, of 117 MB size. For whatever reason, this took almost a HFL-HOUR to download... but I HAVE it now!

The site in question is actually "Remostav.Ru"-- which means, I just got ahold of 4 Spanish comics-- from a site in RUSSIA !!!!! Cool.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 10, 2015, 04:28:00 PM
From AVENTURAS MACABRAS #12 (Bloch Editores / Brazil / 1979)
comes the 6th comics version of Poe's
"THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR"
     art by Julio Shimamoto

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/06/poe-1979-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 22, 2015, 09:03:03 PM
From AVENTURAS MACABRAS #12 (Bloch Editores / Brazil / 1979)
comes the 5th comics version of Poe's
"MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN A BOTTLE"
     art by Jordi Martinez

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/06/poe-1979-pt-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 27, 2015, 08:13:24 PM
From AVENTURAS MACABRAS #12 (Bloch Editores / Brazil / 1979)
comes the 3rd comics version of Poe's
"WILLIAM WILSON"
     art by Jose Menezes

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/06/poe-1979-pt-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 06, 2015, 04:01:25 PM
And now, a quartet of "place-holders" for stories I don't have yet...

From MONDIAL AVENTURES #29 (Soci
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 08, 2015, 04:43:49 PM
From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #84 (Thorpe & Porter / UK / Jul'62)
comes the 4th comics version of Poe's
"THE GOLD BUG"  (Part 1)
     art by Mick Anglo

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/07/poe-1962-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 09, 2015, 03:34:17 PM
From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #84 (Thorpe & Porter / UK / Jul'62)
comes the 4th comics version of Poe's
"THE GOLD BUG"  (Part 2)
     art by Mick Anglo

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/07/poe-1962-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 09, 2015, 07:33:04 PM
From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #84 (Thorpe & Porter / UK / Jul'62)
comes the 4th comics version of Poe's
"THE GOLD BUG"  (Part 3)
     art by Mick Anglo

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/07/poe-1962-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 12, 2015, 08:46:00 PM
From CORRIERE DEI PICCOLI  1964 #23 & 24
(Corriere Della Sera / Italy / Jun 7 & 14, 1964)
comes the 5th comics version of Poe's
"THE GOLD BUG"
     art by G. Renna

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/07/poe-1964-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 12, 2015, 08:55:45 PM
And now, another "place-holder" for a story I don't have yet...

From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #5 (Editora Taika / Brazil / 1967)
comes the 4th comics version of Poe's
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
     art by ??  /  cover by Nico Rosso

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/07/poe-1967-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: Captain Audio on July 14, 2015, 05:44:31 PM
Great to see the Gold Bug story.
I read this in a hardback anthology many years ago and after learning the rudimentary decyphering technique I began working cryptograms in the local newspaper. i got so good at it that for awhile I could read cyptograms as easily as if they were printed in plain English.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 16, 2015, 09:05:04 PM
From CALAFRIO #1 (Editora D'Arte / 1981)
comes the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"MORELLA"
     art by Eugenio Colonnese
(done in 1967 but unpublished when the publisher went bankrupt)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/07/poe-1967-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 27, 2015, 01:47:59 AM
From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #3 (Editora Taika / May'73)
comes the 3rd comics version of Poe's
"BERENICE"
     art by Ignacio Justo
(reprint from the late 1960s)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/07/poe-1968-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 01, 2015, 07:51:44 PM
From CLASSICOS DE TERROR #5 (Editora Taika / Jun'73)
comes the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN A BOTTLE"
     art by Osvaldo Talo
(reprint from the late 1960s)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/07/poe-1968-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 03, 2015, 03:12:21 AM
My jaw is dropping right now. My friend In Brazil, Toni Rodrigues, just came through in a manner and to an extent to which I never even dreamed of, and which exceeded any possible expectations I might have had.

He just e-mailed me-- in ONE go-- the contents of 4 different Brazillian comics, containing no less than 8 POE stories I didn't have before! 8 !!!!!!!!!! I'm absolutely astonished.

Among them was the Manoel Ferreira "RED DEATH", possibly the single story I have done more online searches for than any other, since I first learned of its existence.

This is just incredible. At the rate I'm, going, I won't even get to the stuff from Italy until September... at the earliest.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 07, 2015, 06:08:35 PM
From CLASSICOS DE TERROR #5 (Editora Taika / Jun'73)
comes the 1st comics version of Poe's
"WILLIAM WILSON"
     art by Osvaldo Talo
(reprint from the late 1960s)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/08/poe-1968-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 15, 2015, 04:11:09 AM
From CLASSICOS DE TERROR #1 (Editora Continental / 1960)
comes the 3rd comics version of Poe's
"A CASK OF AMONTILLADO"
     art by Gedeone Malagola

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/08/poe-1960-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 18, 2015, 03:08:28 PM
The following was addressed to Mike Cannon, who runs the "horror" group... but I decided to share it here.

Okay, so, in addition to this "Agata" person (fake name, her real name is "Gloria"), the other day this "Wong" guy (who looks like he can't be more than 15-- typical smart-ass teenager) posts in my "POE IN PROGRESS" thread. He joined your horror group, hadn't posted a single comment, and out of the blue, posts in MY thread, just to tell me everything I'm doing is wrong.

Says he prefers the art in B&W, as color makes the linework go "fuzzy". Now, if he'd been around more than a couple of months, he might have known my opinion is that about 98% of the underage halfwits who do Photoshop coloring have NO IDEA what they're doing, do what Dick Ayers called "overdone" coloring, with excessive amounts of brightness, DARKNESS, SHADOWS, and airbrushed renderings all over every square inch of everything, to the point where you can't even SEE the linework!!! It's an INSULT to the artists' work, and appears to be saying, "HEY! Look at ME! LOOK AT ME!!!!"

I don't do that.

In fact, on this particular story (the Malagola "Amontillado"), more than any previous story I worked on, I pondered for DAYS whether or not I should add color, as my goal is to "enhance", not "overpower". Since I'd already decided to color ALL the Brazillian comics, I decided to take a crack at it. BOY was I glad I did. If you look at the story AT the blog-- on a full-size computer screen-- you can SEE every single detail of the linework. Not one bit of it was "obliterated".

I also have seen ONE instance where lines actually did get "blurry"-- it was on the Tom Sutton "Red Death". A solid RED color somehow made the black lines go fuzzy. My way to fix this was simple-- I saved the final reduced image at the HIGHEST quality. That did it, nice and SHARP. No loss of detail at all.

Then he starts wondering if I used "software" to clean up the yellowed scans to make them white. And "if not", he suggests I use a particular software I've never heard of. Says "with one click" it does it "automatically".

I DON'T DO ANYTHING "automatically".

Something somebody at Kirby-L explained to me was "levels". You click on an area that should be white, and every single part of the page, it removes yellow. But it is VERY tricky, and takes a delicate hand to know where to touch it, and how much adjustment to make.

There's an "auto-levels" button. I never use it. IT'S CRAP.

It reminds me of this "option" Blogger added WITHOUT telling anybody. 'Auto-enhance". When you upload images, it "enhances" them for you-- automatically. Now, imagine this. A person spends minutes-- or hours-- OR DAYS (!!!!!) adjusting an image to get it "just-- right". And this "auto" feature FUCKS IT UP for you. FUCKS it!!!!! And the ASSHOLES who added this feature left it TURNED ON by default.

Somebody in the Google Blogger "help" message boards had to explain to everybody else where to FIND the options, so you could SHUT THE GOD-DAMNED THING OFF.

Fortunately, I only had 2 weeks of images uploaded that needed to be RE-uploaded.

Anyway, this "Wong" guy, to me, must be an IDIOT. The very first thing he says, he's trying to undercut ALL the MONTHS of love and hard work I'm pouring into this project, he talks to me as if I DON'T KNOW what I'm doing, and on top of everything else, suggests I use something that will clean the pages "automatically".

If he had ever worked with 55-year-old scans, he would KNOW you CAN NOT "clean" them with "one click", NO MATTER WHAT the hell kind of software you've got.

I mean, geez... it took 2 WHOLE DAYS for me to clean that last Jayme Cortez PAINTING!

I pondered for a whole day whether to engage this "Wong" guy in conversation. Then I decided... NAAAAH! And I just hit the "BLOCK" button. He doesn't DESERVE to see updates on my project.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 20, 2015, 02:07:34 PM
From CLASSICOS DE TERROR #8 (Editora Continental / 1960)
comes the 1st comics version of Poe's
"BERENICE"
     art by Flavio Colin

This is still only an excerpt... but another page did turn up, and that inspired me to color all 3 that I have so far. Still not completely sure what comic it appeared in, but it seems a reasonable guess, by process of elimination. The scans were lousy, but, you do what you can!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/08/poe-1960-pt-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 26, 2015, 04:18:19 PM
From CLASSICOS DE TERROR #9 (Editora Continental / 1960)
comes the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"
     art by Manoel Ferreira

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/08/poe-1960-pt-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 03, 2015, 12:54:46 AM
From CLASSICOS DE TERROR #9 (Editora Continental / 1960)
comes the 6th comics version of Poe's
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"
     art by Gedeone Malagola

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/08/poe-1960-pt-8.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 17, 2015, 05:49:44 PM
From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #5 (Editora Taika / 1967)
comes the 4th comics version of Poe's
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
     art by Osvaldo Talo

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/09/poe-1967-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 12, 2015, 08:03:10 PM
From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #7 (Editora Taika / 1967)
comes the 3rd comics version of Poe's
"THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR"
     art by Ignacio Justo

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/09/poe-1967-pt-4.html

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/10/poe-1967-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 01, 2015, 05:19:26 AM
Jumping back to the early 1950s for a bit now...

From THE HAUNT OF FEAR #15 [1]  (EC / May'Jun'50)
comes the 2nd comics versions of Poe's
"THE BLACK CAT" and "THE TELL-TALE HEART" in one story!
     art by Johnny Craig

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/11/poe-1950.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 03, 2015, 12:07:49 AM
From ADVENTURES INTO WEIRD WORLDS #4  (Marvel / Spring'52)
comes the 1st comics versions of Poe's
"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"
     art by Bill Everett

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/11/poe-1952-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: narfstar on November 03, 2015, 02:01:15 AM
Strange, seems like that would have been one of the first
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 04, 2015, 01:18:43 AM
Research is funny that way.  A whole YEAR in, and about 8 stories, all from the early 50s, suddenly turned up.

Because of the nature of blogs, I've spent the last couple days setting up new versions of pages from a year ago, in order to insert all the "new" stories discovered since them (which includes a number of them over the last 12 months) so they'll appear in the "archive" and editing pages in sequence.  (Otherwise, the more I add out of sequence, the more difficult it becomes to find each one for future revisions-- and I'm revising ALL THE TIME.)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 05, 2015, 01:02:53 AM
Something a bit different...

From FANTASTIC Vol.1 #3  (Ziff-Davis / Nov-Dec'52)
comes an illustrated version of Poe's
"THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO"
     art by Virgil Finlay
and an illustrated sequel in the same issue!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/11/poe-1952-pt-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 05, 2015, 11:55:57 PM
You know, it's one thing to do a blatent SWIPE of a Poe story, but it's quite another to do a blatent SWIPE of somebody else's SEQUEL to a Poe story-- and only 3 months after said story was published!

From STRANGE FANTASY #4  (Ajax-Farrell / Feb'53)
comes a sequel to Poe's
"THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO"
     art by the Iger Shop

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/11/poe-1953-pt-1.html

Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on November 06, 2015, 08:54:43 AM
How does the saying go?

"Geniuses create! Talented writers are inspired! Comic Book creators get it off the back of a truck, no questions asked."  ;)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 07, 2015, 01:32:57 AM
 ;D

It was a surprise to me.  My friend Mike Cannon Jr. pointed me at that story, then e-mailed me images to clean up.  I did research, found when it had first been published.  And then I read it... and suddenly realized how SIMILAR it was to another comic done in 1973.  So I did research on that, and discovered the short story that one had been based on... was published only 3 MONTHS before the earlier comic sequel.  WILD!!

So of course, I eventually decided I had to set up pages for BOTH, back-to-back, despite not having any art from the original short story sequel.  (Sometimes, things turn up.. later.)



Now if only someone could identify who did the "Iger Shop" art...
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 13, 2015, 12:57:07 AM
From SHOCK SUSPENSTORIES #8  (EC / Apr-May'53)
comes the 4th comics version of Poe's
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"  (more or less)
     art by the George Evans  (3 pages of it anyway)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/11/poe-1953-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 13, 2015, 03:46:02 AM
From THE HAUNT OF FEAR #20  (EC / Jul-Aug'53)
comes the 5th comics version of Poe's
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"  (more or less)
     art by the Graham Ingels

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/11/poe-1953-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 23, 2015, 05:45:52 AM
From DARK MYSTERIES #23  (Master Comics  /  May'55)
comes the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"METZENGERSTEIN"
     art by the Jon D'Agostino

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/11/poe-1955-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 26, 2015, 05:39:49 AM
From TERROR ILLUSTRATED #1  (EC / Nov'Dec'55)
comes the 4th comics version of Poe's
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
also including the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"THE PREMATURE BURIAL"
     art by George Evans

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/11/poe-1955-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 26, 2015, 11:44:52 AM
From MAD #46  (EC / Apr'59)
comes the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"THE RAVEN"
     art by Wallace Wood

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/11/poe-1959-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 09, 2015, 10:02:43 AM
From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #40  (Gilberton / Aug'47)
comes the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"
     art by August M. Froelich  (MAJOR clean-up of the scans!!!)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1947-pt-1.html

Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 15, 2015, 01:26:03 AM
From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #40  (Gilberton / Aug'47)
comes the 1st comics version of Poe's
"THE ADVENTURE OF HANS PFALL"
     art by Henry C. Kiefer 
(Now with 1 previously-missing page restored, and MAJOR clean-up of the scans!!!)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1947-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 24, 2015, 12:19:25 AM
From CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #40  (Gilberton / Aug'47)
comes the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
     art by Harley M. Griffiths
(Now with 2 previously-missing pages restored, and MAJOR clean-up of the scans!!!)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1947-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 30, 2015, 07:54:57 PM
From CLASSICS COMICS #21  (Gilberton / Jul'44)
comes the 1st comics version of Poe's
"THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE"
     art by Arnold L. Hicks
(Now with MAJOR clean-up of the scans!!!)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1944-part-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 12, 2016, 06:44:00 PM
I'm hoping this is the LAST one of these "upgrades"...

From YELLOWJACKET COMICS #1  (Charlton / Sep'44)
comes the 1st comics version of Poe's
"THE BLACK CAT"
     art by Bill Allison
(Now with MAJOR clean-up of the scans!!!)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/10/poe-1944-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 01, 2016, 02:08:41 PM
From PAGINAS SINISTRAS #3  (Editora Outubro / Brazil / 1966)
comes the 6th comics version of Poe's
"THE BLACK CAT"
     art by Juarez Odilon

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/03/poe-1966-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 15, 2016, 03:17:19 AM
From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR # 3  (Editora Taika / Brazil / 1967)
comes the 7th comics version of Poe's
"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"
     art by Nico Rosso

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/03/poe-1967-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 20, 2016, 05:51:38 AM
From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR # ?  (Editora Taika / Brazil / 1967)
comes this not-quite Poe story...
"NEVERMORE!"
     art by Luis Meri

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/03/poe-1967-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on March 20, 2016, 09:34:58 AM
Yeahhhhhh... Nevermore seems more "inspired" by Poe, than adapted from Poe.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 22, 2016, 12:13:45 AM
From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR # 3  (Editora Taika / Brazil / 1967)
comes the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN A BOTTLE"
     art by Osvaldo Talo  /  page 1 drastically improved

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/03/poe-1967-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 06, 2016, 04:29:49 AM
From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR # ?  (Editora Taika / Brazil / 1967)
comes the 1st comics version of Poe's
"SHADOW"
     art by Nico Rosso

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/03/poe-1967-pt-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 06, 2016, 09:27:16 PM
From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR # ?  (Editora Taika / Brazil / 1967)
comes the 5th comics version of Poe's
"THE RAVEN"
     art by Nico Rosso

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/03/poe-1967-pt-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 30, 2016, 07:05:14 PM
From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #4  (Editora Taika / Brazil / 1967)
comes the 1st comics version of Poe's
"THE OVAL PORTRAIT"
     art by Osvaldo Talo

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/03/poe-1967-pt-8.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 12, 2016, 05:48:07 PM
From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #4  (Editora Taika / Brazil / 1967)
comes the 7th comics version of Poe's
"THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO"
     art by Osvaldo Talo

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/03/poe-1967-pt-9.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 14, 2016, 03:26:47 AM
At last!  This one's MONTHS overdue for getting finished...

From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #7  (Editora Taika / Brazil / 1968)
comes the 8th comics version of Poe's
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"
     art by Nico Rosso

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/03/poe-1968-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 30, 2016, 01:30:38 AM
From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #7  (Editora Taika / Brazil / 1968)
comes "ULALUME"
     w/ a gallery of illustrations from 1847-2016 !

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/03/poe-1968-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 14, 2016, 01:37:52 AM
From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #7  (Editora Taika / Brazil / 1968)
comes the 1st (and longest) comics version of Poe's
"A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM"
     art by Edegar & Ignacio Justo

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/06/poe-1968-pt-8.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 23, 2016, 05:24:09 PM
From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #7  (Editora Taika / Brazil / 1968)
comes the 3rd comics version of Poe's
"MORELLA"
     art by Flavio Colin

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/07/poe-1968-pt-10.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 23, 2016, 08:39:14 PM
From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #7  (Editora Taika / Brazil / 1968)
comes "THE VALLEY OF UNREST"
     w/ a gallery of illustrations from 1900-2015 !

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/07/poe-1968-pt-11.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 28, 2016, 04:23:47 AM
From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #7  (Editora Taika / Brazil / 1968)
comes the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"ANNABEL LEE"
     art by Edegar & Ignacio Justo

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/07/poe-1968-pt-12.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 12, 2016, 02:09:30 AM
From LINUS #39  (Milano Libri Edizione / Italy / June 1968)
comes the 3rd comics version of Poe's
"THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE"
     art by Guido Crepax

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/08/poe-1968-pt-17.html

I'm really proud of this one!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 02, 2016, 09:11:30 PM
From I CLASSICI A FUMETTI  #7
(Gino Sansoni Editore  /  Italy  /  July-September 1968)
comes the 4th comics version of Poe's
"THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE"
     art by Gino Dauro

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/08/poe-1968-pt-18.html

This is a LONG one-- 88 pages-- and is going to take some time to plow through.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 07, 2016, 06:12:35 PM
From SHOCK SUSPENSTORIES #8
(EC  /  April-May 1953)
comes the 4th comics version of Poe's
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"
     art by George Evans  (now complete!)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/11/poe-1953-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 06, 2017, 05:57:56 PM
FINISHED at last-- currently my FAVORITE comics version of this story!!!!!

From I CLASSICI A FUMETTI  #7
(Gino Sansoni Editore  /  Italy  /  July-September 1968)
comes the 4th comics version of Poe's
"THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE"
     art by Gino Dauro

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/08/poe-1968-pt-18.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 21, 2017, 06:42:41 PM
FINISHED at last-- another one of the biggest stories in this project...

From MONDIAL AVENTURES #29
(Soci
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 01, 2017, 03:19:09 AM
From ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #8
(Editorial Taika  /  Brazil  /  1968)
comes the 1st comics version of Poe's
"HELENA"
     art by Juarez Odilon

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/07/poe-1968-pt-14.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 05, 2017, 04:13:34 AM
From WITZEND #8
(Wonderful Publishing Company  /  Summer 1971)
comes the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"THE CITY IN THE SEA"
     art by Frank Frazetta
     with Gallery of Illustrations

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/01/poe-1971.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: josemas on May 07, 2017, 09:07:48 PM
If I remember correctly, these illos were originally done by Frazetta for one of EC's Picto-Fiction magazines in the mid 1950s but when the whole line was cancelled Frank just held onto the original art he had completed.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 30, 2017, 05:04:19 PM
One of my favorite entries in this entire project to date...

From CLASSICOS DE TERROR #24
(Editora Outubro  /  Brazil  /  1962)
comes the 1st comics version of Poe's
"BERENICE"
     art by Flavio Colin
     with bonus Roger Corman feature

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/01/poe-1961-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 17, 2017, 01:38:30 AM
Does anybody have this?

SUNDAY PIX #1-14
(David C. Cook / May 1-Jul 31, 1949)
I only need hi-res scans of the FRONT pages...

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S98t8iLk9v8/WGX0-cSGVVI/AAAAAAAAgWQ/AklzUdApyY0NFgSyXRxyEb5va2VP0vQ0gCLcB/s1600/1949%2BDCC%2BSP%2Bv1%2B02_cc_GCD%2B%2BB.jpg (https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S98t8iLk9v8/WGX0-cSGVVI/AAAAAAAAgWQ/AklzUdApyY0NFgSyXRxyEb5va2VP0vQ0gCLcB/s1600/1949%2BDCC%2BSP%2Bv1%2B02_cc_GCD%2B%2BB.jpg)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 24, 2017, 06:35:58 PM
My favorite art of the various adaptations of this story...

From EL MONJE LOCO #40
(Editorial Temporae / Revistas Populares  /  Mexico  / 
          September 4, 1968)
comes the 7th comics version of Poe's
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"
     art by Ruben Lara Romero

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/11/poe-1968-pt-22.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 17, 2017, 06:35:08 PM
Another favorite, from my very 1st comic bought from Brazil!

From COLECAO OPERA BRAZIL #10:  FILHO DO URSO
(Editora Opera Graphic  /  Brazil  /  November 2002)
comes the 7th comics version of Poe's
"METZENGERSTEIN"
     art by Flavio Colin

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2017/07/poe-1992.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: paw broon on August 17, 2017, 06:49:50 PM
That's a great piece of work.  Thanks.  I'm hooked.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 05, 2017, 03:13:27 AM
The 1st of several Edgar Allan Poe BIOGRAPHIES...

VIDAS ILUSTRES #195
(Editorial Novaro  /  Mexico  /  October 1968)
"EDGAR ALLAN POE  EL MAESTRO DEL TERROR"

featuring the 1st comics version of Poe's
"THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FEATHER"
and the 7th comics version of Poe's
"THE BLACK CAT"
     writer & artist unknown

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2017/08/poe-1968-pt-25.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 17, 2017, 03:59:58 AM
From LINUS #45
(Milano Libri Edizioni  /  Italy  /  December 1968)
comes the 1st comics version of Poe's
"KING PEST"
     art by Dino Battaglia

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2017/09/poe-1968-pt-27.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 17, 2017, 09:23:51 PM
From MAD #125
(EC  /  Mar'69)
comes the 6th & 7th comics versions of Poe's
"THE RAVEN"
     art by George Woodbridge

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2017/09/poe-1969-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 02, 2017, 09:06:07 PM
From EL MONJE LOCO #74
(Revistas Populares / Novaro  /  Mexico  /  April 30, 1969)
comes the 4th comics versions of Poe's
"BERENICE"
     art by Carlos Moro

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2017/09/poe-1969-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 12, 2017, 08:55:29 PM
From LINUS #50
(Milano Libri Edizioni  /  Italy  /  May 1969)
comes the 8th comics version of Poe's
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
     art by Dino Battaglia

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2017/12/poe-1969-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 23, 2018, 01:34:32 AM
Here's one I just discovered tonight which blows my mind, because I have never heard anyone even mention this over the years. It's a 1947 adaptation of "THE BLACK CAT", an episode of a radio series called "Mystery In The Air"-- and it stars... PETER LORRE !!!!!

You can understand why this would freak me out. When Lorre appeared in "TALES OF TERROR", about 15 years later, it was at least the 2nd time he'd done the story!!! This one is MUCH more authentic to what Poe wrote.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdjfv6tc5s4
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 23, 2018, 01:38:04 AM
From I CLASSICI A FUMETTI #17
(Gino Sansoni Editore  /  Italy  /  September 1969)
comes the 8th comics version of Poe's
"THE BLACK CAT"
     art by Gino Dauro

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2017/12/poe-1969-pt-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 13, 2018, 04:42:22 AM
From I CLASSICI A FUMETTI #17
(Gino Sansoni Editore  /  Italy  /  September 1969)
comes the 9th comics version of Poe's
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"
     art by Gino Dauro

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/01/poe-1969-pt-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 07, 2018, 05:58:13 PM
From I CLASSICI A FUMETTI #17
(Gino Sansoni Editore  /  Italy  /  September 1969)
comes the 9th comics version of Poe's
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
     art by Gino Dauro

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/02/poe-1969-pt-8.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 18, 2018, 01:57:26 AM
From LINUS #55
(Milano Libri Edizioni  /  Italy  /  Oct 1969)
comes the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"LIGEIA"
     art by Dino Battaglia

Plus bonus Gallery of Illustrations!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/03/poe-1969-pt-9.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 19, 2018, 02:34:22 AM
And here we have a MASSIVE upgrade of the scans!

From CHAMBER OF DARKNESS #2
(Marvel  /  December 1969)
comes the 8th comics version of Poe's
"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"
     art by Don Heck

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/03/poe-1969-pt-11.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 21, 2018, 09:29:25 PM
THE GOLD BUG and other TALES of MYSTERY
(Classic Press, Incorporated  /  San Rafael,  California  /  1969)
Gallery of Illustrations
     art by Al Davidson

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/03/poe-1969-pt-12.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 14, 2018, 03:21:54 AM
From THE GRAPHIC CANON  Volume 2
(Seven Stories Press  /  October 2, 2012)
"THE MESSAGE FROM MOUNT MISERY"
     by Frederick Douglass  /  art by Seth Tobocman

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-message-from-mount-misery.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 20, 2018, 12:23:00 AM
Starting a whole new phase of the project... here's the oldest book in my entire house and collection.

THE BELLS
(Porter & Coates  /  Philadelphia  /  1881)
"THE BELLS"
     art by R. Riordan, Charles P. King, F.O.C. Darley, S.G. McCutcheon, A. Frdericks, Granville Perkins  &  Miss C.A. Northam

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/04/poe-1881.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 28, 2018, 06:34:13 PM
THE RAVEN
(E.P. Dutton & Company  /  New York  /  1883)
"THE RAVEN"  /  Version 1
     art by William Ladd Taylor

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/04/poe-1883.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 01, 2018, 12:18:02 AM
Okay, THIS one blows the previous one COMPLETELY out of the water!!!

THE RAVEN
(Harper & Brothers  /  New York  /  1884)
"THE RAVEN"  /  Version 2
     art by Gustave Dore

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/04/poe-1884.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 03, 2018, 01:27:02 AM
LENORE
(Estes & Lauriat  /  Boston  /  1886)
"LENORE"  /  Version 1
     art by Henry Sandham

w/ Gallery of Illustrations (by various artists)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/04/poe-1886.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 07, 2018, 02:34:56 AM
THE RAVEN, ANNABEL LEE & THE BELLS
(The Reilly & Britton Company  /  Chicago, IL  /  1910)
"THE RAVEN"  /  Version 3
"THE BELLS"  /  Version 2
"ANNABEL LEE"  /  Version 1

     art by John Rea Neill   (excerpts over 3 blog pages)

An original of this is going for around $350.00 online.  Way out of my budget!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/04/poe-1910.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 17, 2018, 03:42:29 AM
THE RAVEN
(Dodd, Mead & Company  /  New York  /  1930)
"THE RAVEN"  /  Version 4
     art by Ferdinand Huszti Horvath

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/04/poe-1930-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 19, 2018, 08:57:12 PM
"THE RAVEN"  /  Gallery of Illustrations
     by various artists

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/04/poe-1930-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 25, 2018, 06:40:24 PM
from CLASSIC COMICS #17
(Gilberton  /  January 1944)
cover the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"ANNABEL LEE"
     art by Rolland Livingstone  /  REMASTERED plus Gallery of Illustrations!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/05/poe-1944-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 27, 2018, 09:01:54 PM
from CLASSIC COMICS #18
(Gilberton  /  March 1944)
cover the 3rd comics version of Poe's
"THE BELLS"
     art by Louis Zansky  /  REMASTERED plus Gallery of Illustrations!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/05/poe-1944-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 29, 2018, 06:52:18 PM
from CLASSIC COMICS #21
(Gilberton  /  July 1944)
cover the 1st comics version of Poe's
"THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE"
     art by Arnold L. Hicks  /  REMASTERED!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/05/poe-1944-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on May 31, 2018, 09:03:17 PM
"THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE"  / 
Gallery of Illustrations   by various artists

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/05/poe-1944-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 05, 2018, 12:26:01 AM
"THE BLACK CAT"  /
Gallery of Illustrations   by various artists

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/05/poe-1944-pt-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 10, 2018, 02:55:57 PM
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"  /
Gallery of Illustrations
   by various artists

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/05/poe-1944-pt-8.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 12, 2018, 08:41:02 PM
Incredibly, another even older one turned up...

from HARPER'S MAGAZINE  (1880)
cover the 1st comics version of Poe's
"THE RAVEN"
     art by James William Carling

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/06/poe-1880.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 17, 2018, 05:07:44 PM
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"  /
Gallery of Illustrations   by various artists

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/05/poe-1944-pt-10.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 20, 2018, 08:47:02 PM
"THE OBLONG BOX"  /
Gallery of Illustrations   by various artists

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/05/poe-1945-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 23, 2018, 11:57:34 AM
"THE TELL-TALE HEART"  /
Gallery of Illustrations   by various artists

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/05/poe-1945-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 29, 2018, 09:28:06 PM
"THE ADVENTURE OF HANS PFALL"  /
Gallery of Illustrations   by various artists

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/05/poe-1947-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 04, 2018, 11:12:49 PM
from SUNDAY PIX  1-14  (David C. Cook  /  May 1-Jul 31, 1949)
"THE GOLD BUG"  /  Version 1
Adaptation by David S. Piper (?)
     art by Joseph Wirt Tillotson

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/05/poe-1949-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on July 05, 2018, 03:10:48 AM
At the GCD if you click on the View Change History, look for the Change History For Cover Scans, click the link, that'll take you to a page showing the dates of cover uploads, click on the date, that will take you to a small scan of the cover, but below that is a link for Full Uploaded Cover, click that expand the image that forms and download that.

It's a bit cumbersome to go through all those links, but it will get you a proper sized scan. Here's the direct link to the cover for v1#2 https://files1.comics.org//img/gcd/covers_by_id/1041/uploads/1041854_20151112_161951.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 12, 2018, 05:59:05 PM
That doesn't work.

I've got a better idea.  Since the editors at the GCD pissed me the living hell off TWICE over the last 10 years, could you instead possibly DOWNLOAD the full-size scans yourself and e-mail them to me?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 12, 2018, 06:22:07 PM
Long overdue!!!!!  Here it is at last...

from THE VAULT OF HORROR #13  (EC  /  June-July 1950)
comes the 3rd comics version of Poe's
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
Adaptation by Gardner Fox  / 
Art by Harry Harrison & Wallace Wood

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/06/poe-1950-pt2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 12, 2018, 07:49:47 PM
"THE GOLD BUG"  /
Gallery of Illustrations   by various artists

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/05/poe-1949-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 15, 2018, 10:16:42 PM
"THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO"  /
Gallery of Illustrations   by various artists

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/06/poe-1951-pt7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 19, 2018, 05:55:23 PM
"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"  /
Gallery of Illustrations   by various artists

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/06/poe-1952-pt-3a.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 21, 2018, 10:32:44 PM
THE RAVEN
(The Harwell-Evans Company  /  New York  /  1906)
"THE RAVEN"  /  Version 4
     art by Galen J. Perrett

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/07/poe-1906.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 25, 2018, 08:55:40 PM
"METZENGERSTEIN"  /
Gallery of Illustrations   by various artists

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/06/poe-1953-pt-3a.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 28, 2018, 11:12:38 PM
from TOMB OF TERROR #10  (Harvey  /  July 1953)
comes the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"HANS PFALL"
     Art by Howard Nostrand

I ran across this completely by accident at the CB+ site!!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/06/poe-1953-pt-3b.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 30, 2018, 11:56:56 PM
"MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN A BOTTLE"  /
Gallery of Illustrations   by various artists

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/06/poe-1953-pt-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 04, 2018, 06:09:17 PM
"HOP-FROG"  /
Gallery of Illustrations   by various artists

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/06/poe-1954-pt-2a.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on August 08, 2018, 02:00:10 AM
While it's not a comic, the Yours Truly Johnny Dollar episode The Casque of Death Matter (https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=63983) has a Poe-inspired ending.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 12, 2018, 10:35:53 PM
Thanks! I'll have to give that a listen.  I've been trying to include links to POE stories read by the likes of Vincent Price or Basil Rathbone, or certain radio shows-- THE WEIRD CIRCLE, THE CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER, etc.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 12, 2018, 10:41:42 PM
from CAVALEIRO ANDANTE  #453
(Empresa Nacional de Publicidade  /  Portugal  /  September 3, 1960)
comes the 4th comics version of Poe's
"THE GOLD BUG"
     Art by Fernando Bento   (NEWLY REMASTERED!)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/04/poe-1960-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 30, 2018, 10:18:29 PM
from CLASSICOS DE TERROR #14
(Editora Outubro  /  Brazil  /  1961)
comes the 4th comics version of Poe's
"THE BLACK CAT"
     Art by Luiz Saidenberg   (NEWLY REMASTERED!)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/01/poe-1961-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 11, 2018, 10:19:52 AM
from TESORO DE CUENTOS CLASICOS #51
(Editorial Sea  /  Novaro  /  Mexico  /  November 1961)
comes the 5th comics version of Poe's
"THE GOLD BUG"
     Art by unknown

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/10/poe-1961-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 02, 2019, 01:20:32 AM
from TESORO DE CUENTOS CLASICOS #72
(Editorial Sea  /  Novaro  /  Mexico  /  August 1963)
comes the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"ARTHUR GORDON PYM"
     Art by unknown

https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/10/poe-1963-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 11, 2019, 11:04:50 PM
MAJOR upgrade of scans!!!!!

from TALES OF TERROR
(Dell  /  February 1963)
comes the 1st comics version of Poe's
"MORELLA"
     Art by George Evans

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/10/poe-1963-pt-1.html

Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on February 12, 2019, 07:56:24 AM
Thank you for posting this. Wonderful scans too. there are possibly 4 other Dell EA Poes, ' Masque Of The Red Death' #33, ' The Raven' # 46', 'Tomb of Ligeia' # 56, and 'War Gods of the Deep # 61' which is listed as ' adapted from EA Poes ' City in the sea '. You would be able to tell me if this is a genuine Poe adaption or not.       You may have posted them on your site already. They are post 1963 so probably not out of copyright and therefore not on CB+. There are other EA Poe Adaptions on CB+, some I think you haven't filed yet. From now on when I find one, I will comic-mark it, so I can remember it and bring it to your attention. The Dell adaption I really would like to find tho, is not a Poe one but a Hitchcock. I believe there was an adaption of Hitchcock's film, 'ROPE" which seems quite difficult to locate. Thanks again.     
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 12, 2019, 04:41:17 PM
If you go down to the bottom of the blog pages, there's a link to my POE index for the blog, where you can scroll thru every story I'm aware of, with direct links to all the ones posted-- which currently is from 1880 up to 1979.

I have, as far as I know, all the Dell POEs, taken from various blogs and massively cleaned up.  The "TALES OF TERROR" book came from 3 different blogs-- but all of them, the scans were not so hot.  Which is why, late last year, I BOUGHT a copy (for around $30.00) and am right now painstakingly cleaning up my own HIGH-RES scans!

A number of the early (1940s) stories came from this site, and a few of them are in the worst shape.  The Charlton version of "THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER" is one I would most like to be able to upgrade.  There's only so much one can do if the original scans are lousy enough (heh).  If anyone can help in this regard, ideally scans should be 300 dpi with NO adjustment at all-- I can do that part myself.

One of the biggest shocks I got in this project was about 3-1/2 years ago, when fan & artist Toni Rodriguez, down in Brazil, e-mailed hi-res scans of 8 stories from down there all in one go.  The difference in quality of some of them, from what others had posted for free on blogs, was mind-boggling, and I was almost afraid to touch some of them, for fear of losing any visual detail.  But I did!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 04, 2019, 04:44:59 AM
It's a good thing I still have a few "regular" websites where I can do this, plus a growing E-MAIL list where I can directly send notifications.

just sent to FB:

For the last 4 years, I've been working on a massive blog project, where each time I get a new page finished, I post a link to it in several related groups.

All of a sudden, ALL the links to my blog have been REMOVED, allegedly, for being "in violation of community standards".  Under some of these, is a link that says, "This is not spam".

If it was "copyright violation", I'm supposed to be alerted of it. I HAVE NOT.  Therefore, if it's considered "spam", I'd like to know HOW.

All the links were being systematically shared in a very organized fashion with other fans of the material ("horror comics").  How can this possibly be considered "spam"?

Facebook is step-by-step becoming less and less useful to anybody.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on March 05, 2019, 12:42:11 AM
The big question is - have you got all of your material saved off-line? :o

The internet is fast becoming a place where you can't assume that you can trust someone.
I don't use Facebook, because I don't want to give de facto approval to some of their policies. I don't blog on Google or use Explorer or Chrome because I want to minimize the amount of my data that gets harvested. Use a reliable browser, [search to find evaluations before you make a decision] Also a VPN.
What many don't realize, and I don't consider myself to be paranoid, I believe that if you use certain words, typed or otherwise, you can be flagged and shut down, regardless of context. I hope you can get answers and solve the problems.   
Please though, don't be discouraged from commitment to your enterprise. Keep going with it.

Cheers!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 07, 2019, 10:47:55 PM
One thing I know-- the alleged issue was "spam", not Copyright.

I've been working on my POE project since October 2014. That's almost 4-1/2 years now.

In all that time, only TWO people have EVER brought up the question of "Copyright".

The first was George Warner, who was buying-- and destroying for the sake of creating "restorations"-- a set of Skywalds. After first offering to help, he then pulled a "180" and DEMANDED that I remove "his" scans from my blog, which included his clean-ups of various Skywald covers. This caused Patrick Ford to interject, that Warner could have no real claim of Copyright on art he HAD NOTHING TO DO with the creation of. And, that Warner's entire objection stemmed from his learning, in the comments section of a COMICS JOURNAL interview with Jack Kirby, how I felt about S*** L**. No, REALLY.

The second was my brother, whose ONLY comment on my showing him my project was... "What about copyrights?" Geez.

Well... thanks to the "Killer Kittens From Beynd The Grave" blog... I have a DEFINITIVE answer to this BULLSHIT. Here it is, from the "COPYRIGHT.GOV" site:

"107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use40

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 07, 2019, 10:50:16 PM
MAJOR upgrade of scans!!!!!

from TALES OF TERROR
(Dell  /  February 1963)
comes the 5th comics version of Poe's
"THE BLACK CAT"
     Art by Fran Matera

https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/10/poe-1963-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on March 08, 2019, 01:10:50 AM
Very tasty!

Fran Matera  put a lot of heart into his work on this one!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 21, 2019, 02:58:56 AM
 I recently started a POE thread at the "CLASSIC COMICS FORUM". After several days, one of the moderators sent me a message saying that a group of moderators had noticed I was posting links to my personal blog in nearly every post, and they considered this behavior "SPAM". Right. they requested I remove the links and any mention of my blog.

MY response:

"Okay. DONE.

There are several message boards I'm a member at where I've posted threads that consist entirely of links to the stories, with NO images, but nobody there has ever accused it of being "spam".

Seeing as I do NOT make any money doing this project (NOT ONE CENT), I do have a bit of trouble comprehending how it could be considered "SPAM", but, okay......
"



That doesn't sound too sarcastic, DOES it?   ;D

The message boards I started doing this at were "COMIC BOOK PLUS" (which actually has a section specifically devoted to "blogs") and "LEGION WORLD" (a site initially set up by people who got offended by how anti-social the old "DC COMICS MESSAGE BOARDS" had become).

I guess unless someone sends me any MORE objections, I'll continue posting IMAGES. There is already a "horror covers" thread there where one guy (mostly) posts almost nothing but covers, with nearly-no "discussion".

Makes me wonder who the HELL the "moderators" at that place actually are, and if any of them are also moderators at "CAPTAIN COMICS", where I was UNANIMOUSLY banned from several years ago.

Oh yeah.  "Friendliest Message Board", they said.  RRRRRRRIGHT.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on March 21, 2019, 09:23:37 AM
Well. I for one, enjoy seeing your stuff here and I hope you continue to post here. Their loss!
Cheers!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 11, 2019, 01:59:08 AM
I decided to continue that thread at the CLASSIC COMICS FORUM, by posting comments, along with the covers, splash pages and last pages of the stories.  It's actually working out okay.

I also figured out what to post on Facebook that could be copied and pasted into a Google Search and thereby get around their BANNING direct page links to the blog.  It just means anyone who wants to see the blog pages has to do a LITTLE extra work.  (Some people online want you to do everything FOR them... heh.   ;D )
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 11, 2019, 02:01:00 AM
MASSIVE upgrade of scans!!!!!

from TALES OF TERROR
(Dell  /  February 1963)
comes the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR"
     Art by George Evans

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/10/poe-1963-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: positronic1 on April 11, 2019, 10:28:06 PM
Just checked out your blog, Henry. Some might call it overly obsessive, but I call it mighty impressive. You're clearly highly focused on some very specific things... which is a good thing. It's quite a leap from Edgar Allen Poe to Space Conquerors, but what other site can lay claim to these attractions?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: positronic1 on April 11, 2019, 11:04:10 PM

'War Gods of the Deep # 61' which is listed as ' adapted from EA Poes ' City in the sea '. You would be able to tell me if this is a genuine Poe adaption or not.


British title was City Under the Sea (close enough to Poe's poem title), but American-International released it in the U.S. as War Gods of the Deep (a better title to my mind) on a double-bill with Beach Blanket Bingo. From what I can remember of the film, it seemed to cadge more of its tropes from H.P. Lovecraft than from Poe. Not bad as it goes, but not quite a cult classic either.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 12, 2019, 06:39:50 PM
Thanks for the compliment!

"overly obsessive / mighty impressive"

I'd say.... BOTH.   ;D

"WAR-GODS OF THE DEEP", it has been suggested, was an offshoot of the "retro-future" fad of Jules Verne & H.G. Wells films that probably was jump-started with Disney's "20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA" (after all these decades, still my vote the the greatest live-action adventure film that studio ever did).

Unfortunately, the story doesn't live up to its potential... and Vincent Price's "Captain" is NO Captain Nemo... or even Robur The Conqueror.  My 2 main beefs with the film are that Price's character CANNOT be reasoned with... and, the geography and how the various areas of the undersea complex are related MAKES NO SENSE.  (Some years ago I wrote a story set in a small town in my area, and I scouted locations before I wrote one word, so I'd KNOW where each spot was in relation to the others.)  Just last year I finally got around to watching a "good" print of the thing in WIDESCREEN... which usually helps.  In this case, it didn't.

This doesn't even get into David Thomlinson's annoying character with the pet chicken.

Leading lady Susan Hart is a cutie, but appears ot have gotten the part mainly as she was married to AIP owner James H. Nicholson. 

Meanwhile... Basil Rathbone's book-on-tape reading of the poem has become one of my favorites.  He's the only person I know who's even better at reading Poe than Vincent Price!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZdWe5w3K7Y
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 12, 2019, 06:48:01 PM
"TALES AND POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE"
(The Macmillan Company  /  1963)
Gallery of Illustrations   by Russell Hoban

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2019/04/poe-1963-pt-10.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: crashryan on April 13, 2019, 12:07:48 AM
Speaking of Vinnie's movies, Master of the World was a big influence on my high school retro-future comics. Loved that airship! It's been so long since I saw the movie that I've no idea how the story holds up. Perhaps best to leave it in the rosy glow of memory. I also liked Les Baxter's score. I still have the soundtrack album among my dusty LPs.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on April 13, 2019, 04:39:08 AM
I didn't see the movie till recently on YouTube but I read the Classic Illustrated versions of Jules Verne's  'Robur the Conqueror' and 'Master of the World' and have never got that image out of my mind. How many people realize that Robur's airship is obviously the template for Jack Kirby's Shield Helicopter?
'a huge, battery-powered, multirotor gyrodyne called the Albatross, which has many vertical airscrews to provide lift.' Hello?
Incidently, the movie is basically the first book. In the book 'Master of the World'  He designed and travelled in the Terror. It is ten-meter long vehicle, capable of operating as a speedboat, submarine, automobile, or aircraft. It can travel at the (then) unheard of speed of 150 miles per hour on land and at more than 200 mph when flying. You never saw it, just heard it coming and then going. Now, that movie I'd like to see!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_the_World_(novel)
 
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: paw broon on April 13, 2019, 04:26:12 PM
"David Thomlinson's annoying character with the pet chicken"

Actually, I think he was always a bit annoying, with or without the chicken.

Crash, The Terror sounds a bit a variation on Supercar:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercar_(TV_series)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: crashryan on April 14, 2019, 12:35:56 PM
There was an hout-long animated cartoon adaptation of Master of the World (1976) produced in Australia by API. You can find it (in parts) on YouTube. The production is unimpressive but it makes an honest effort to tell the original story without the addition of comic relief characters, romantic subplots, and the like. Here's a link to the first part:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm3H63A8Gd0
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on April 14, 2019, 01:21:33 PM
Paw. I thought of Supercar about 5 minutes after I posted and signed out. too late to add it.
Cheers.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: paw broon on April 14, 2019, 03:41:24 PM
Crash mentioned youtube for Master of The world, and thanks for that, and here are some Supercar episodes:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzlRveC9sFA

Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: positronic1 on April 14, 2019, 07:06:11 PM
Was that the one done for Hanna-Barbera Studios? I've read where they farmed out to animators in Australia for a short time during their peak period in the 1970s. Alex Toth was sent over to supervise and do designs, and had some stories, IIRC...

I really liked the 1961 American-International version, with Vincent Price and Charles Bronson.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 16, 2019, 12:46:46 AM
"TALES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE"
(Golden Books  /  1965)
Gallery of Illustrations   by Ati Forberg

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2019/04/poe-1965-pt-9.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 05, 2019, 10:15:16 PM
At last, I've finished another story.  This one, the actual comic was MISSING 2 pages-- and I decided to create BRAND-NEW pages to replace them!!

from ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #3
(Editora Taika  /  Brazil  /  1967)
comes the 4th comics version of Poe's
"HOP FROG"
     Art by Ignacio Justo & "Edegar"   
(now seen INTACT for the first time ever!!!)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/03/poe-1967-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 17, 2019, 11:21:41 PM
from ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #3
(Editora Taika  /  Brazil  /  1967)
comes the 8th comics version of Poe's
"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"
     Art by Nico Rosso   
(now REMASTERED from HIGH-RES scans!)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/03/poe-1967-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 18, 2019, 12:55:23 AM
from ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #3
(Editora Taika  /  Brazil  /  1967)
comes Poe's
"SILENCE -- A FABLE"
     plus Gallery of Illustrations

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/03/poe-1967-pt-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 03, 2019, 07:35:20 PM
from ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #3
(Editora Taika  /  Brazil  /  1967)
comes the 2nd comics version of Poe's
"MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN A BOTTLE"
     Art by Osvaldo Talo
(now REMASTERED from HIGH-RES scans!)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/03/poe-1967-pt-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 04, 2019, 10:18:02 PM
"THE OVAL PORTRAIT"  /
Gallery of Illustrations   by various artists

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2019/08/poe-1967-pt-8a.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on August 21, 2019, 11:59:59 PM
Was changing channels and came across the John Wayne movie El Dorado and while the story has nothing to do with Poe, the character of Mississippi does recite the poem throughout the film (one or two lines at a time).

I checked the GCD, and Dell did have a comic book adaptation of the movie. However there isn't a scan of the book here so I couldn't see if the poem appeared in the comic or not.

It's a bit of an oddball for your project, but you might want to keep an eye out for it.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 01, 2019, 04:26:28 AM
Would you believe, the CHEAPEST copy of that on Ebay right now is $53.50 (including shipping)??  That's like TWICE what I paid last year for Dell's TALES OF TERROR !    :o

I guess there must be more John Wayne, Robert Mitchum and James Caan fans out there than Edgar Allan Poe and Vincent Price fans.   ;D

It might be fun, but I'd rather see the MOVIE itself.  The film, reportedly, is a REMAKE of "RIO BRAVO", one of my all-time favorites, which I still don't have a copy of.  While it might be fun to see, I'd rather spend my money getting a good copy of the REAL film, not the pale imitation, regardless of how many good actors might be in the later one.

Maybe I can find it to watch for free online..........................

YEP, it's on Dailymotion.  Now BOOKMARKED to watch sometime soon.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on September 01, 2019, 04:53:59 AM

Would you believe, the CHEAPEST copy of that on Ebay right now is $53.50 (including shipping)??

Yikes!

The film, reportedly, is a REMAKE of "RIO BRAVO"

While there are similarities (same star, same director, same writer, same genre) there's really only one scene copied and that's because Wayne and Ford insisted that Leigh Brackett reuse it because they thought it was funny. I like both films myself.

Probably my favorite bit o' dialogue is
Bull: I was tryin' to figure out what was on this feller's head.
Mississippi: It's called a hat.
Bull: I'll take your word for it.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 08, 2019, 01:24:16 AM
I'm doing an overdue "project maintenence" right now which is turning out to be bigger and more time-consuming than anticipated.  But as soon as I get things straightened out, I have 3 more Taikas to process (2 for the 2nd time as I now have the original comic to do HIGH-RES scans from), before moving on to a "brand-new" 1968 book from France (bought from a store in Switzerland).
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 13, 2019, 10:08:12 PM
from ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #6
(Editora Taika  /  Brazil  /  1968)
comes the 1st comics version of Poe's
"WILLIAM WILSON"
     Art by Osvaldo Talo
(now REMASTERED from HIGH-RES scans!)

https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/03/poe-1968-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 17, 2019, 12:05:39 AM
One of the most STUNNING upgrades of a previously-posted story to date!

from ALBUM CLASSICOS DE TERROR #6
(Editora Taika  /  Brazil  /  1968)
comes the 3rd comics version of Poe's
"BERENICE"
     Art by Ignacio Justo & "Edegar"
(now REMASTERED from HIGH-RES scans!)

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2016/03/poe-1968-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on November 17, 2019, 03:01:56 AM
Well Done!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on November 23, 2019, 03:57:00 AM
Hi Prof From Time to time across Poe material on CB+ where you would least expect it.
This book [Mysterious Traveller]
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=28370
Has a version of 'The Tell-Tale Heart' you might not know about.
Cheers!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 08, 2019, 10:41:07 PM
Thanks, but, as a matter of fact... that's a reprint of one I grabbed from this site more than 5 years ago.  Not sure how the scans on the reprint compare with the original (swiped from this very site!) but I did SO MUCH clean-up on them, the orignal comic is on my "wanted" list to do an upgrade... if I could ever AFFORD a copy of the damned thing.

I see the coloring is VERY different.  It might be worth my time to download the scans of the REPRINT, just to see what might be done with them.......................... though unquestionably, getting my hands on the original 1945 comic so I could do my own HIGH-RES scans (300 dpi) would be the best option.

I'm just about to start some (hopefully minor) upgrades to my favorite version of this story, by artist Nico Rosso from Brazil in 1968.  (That's out of DOZENS, each by a different artist!!!)

YELLOWJACKET COMICS  6
(Charlton  /  December 1945)
"THE TELL TALE HEART"  /  Version 1
Adaptation by ??  /  Art by RUDY PALAIS with Arnold Hicks

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/05/poe-1945-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 08, 2019, 10:48:39 PM
Running a bit slow here, but... here's several brand-new "Galleries of Illustrations"!

"THE PREMATURE BURIAL"
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2019/11/poe-1954-pt-1a.html

"MORELLA"
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2019/11/poe-1963-pt-1a.html

"THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR"
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2019/11/poe-1963-pt-3a.html

"WILLIAM WILSON"
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2019/11/poe-1968-pt-1a.html

"A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM"
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2019/11/poe-1968-pt-9a.html

Enjoy!

Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on December 15, 2019, 04:45:08 AM
Anyone-- ANYONE-- who defends the alleged thought processes or actions of Wikipedia "editors" can just go blow their brains out. I give up. These idiots can go **** themselves.

"Removed; please be more intentional here. This should not a be an attempt at a complete list but a representative selection of notable examples"

W--T--F-- does "intentional" mean, in this context?

A minimum of an hour-and-a-half of work carefully, tediously, accurately adding a list, and they REMOVE it outright.

Wikipedia is becoming, more and more, a complete WASTE of anyone's time.


I will be systematically REMOVING links to Wikipedia from my blog articles.


Having spent YEARS compiling information, and repeatedly being told not to "editorialize" at the site, I did not feel it my place to DECIDE which listings were "notable". I suppose, given the ENDLESS STREAM of total lies and misinformation that appears at the site concerning comics history, they would prefer that one only list "Marvel" stories... and maybe a "Warren" or two.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 09, 2020, 12:11:14 AM
This is HUGE.  I've just polished off the FINAL story from Taika.  After this, if I tackle any more Taika stories, they'll either be if I get ahold of a pair of comics I currently have fuzzy scans of, or, if I decide to translate some "Dracula" episodes.  I've been working on Taika, off-and-on, for over 4-1/2 YEARS, ever since I first found Luiz Saidenberg's version of "The Black Cat".  Toni Rodrigues really helped kick it into high gear when he e-mailed me 8 complete stories, all HIGH-RES scans from the original 60s comics.  It'll be great to FINALLY be able to move forward, to other things, from other countries.

This turned up as a reprint from 1973 at the Banca Dos Gibis Brazucas blog, thanks to Flavio Barbier.  If anyone can help me identify where it was ORIGINALLY published, you'll have my thanks (and credit at the blog).

from (currently unknown)
(Editora Taika  /  Brazil  /  1968)
comes the 1st comics version of Poe's
"THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE"
     Art by Ignacio Justo & "Edegar"

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2019/12/poe-1968-pt-29.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: Andrew999 on January 09, 2020, 05:19:31 AM
All praise - all praise indeed to the Good Professor and his epochal work in re-creating these Poe masterpieces. I say re-creation because this goes beyond mere restoration with the addition of colour and crisp reproduction. The Professor's work will echo down the eons.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 09, 2020, 06:48:39 PM
 ;D
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 09, 2020, 06:50:01 PM
"THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE"  /
Gallery of Illustrations   by various artists

https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2020/01/poe-1968-pt-30.html



Okay, NOW I can send out the e-mails....
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: paw broon on January 09, 2020, 08:00:08 PM
That's great work.  Difficult to believe how much effort you've put into this.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on January 29, 2020, 03:08:36 AM
Been waiting to get to this since last summer (which isn't anywhere near as long as some of the items I'm looking forward to tackling)...

from 3 HISTOIRES EXTRAORDINAIRES
(Editions Serg  /  France  /  January 1973)
comes the 7th comics version of Poe's
"THE GOLD BUG"
     Art by Alexis-Thomas Hinsberger

https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2020/01/poe-1968-pt-31.html

Created in 1968 but not published until 5 years later!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on January 29, 2020, 11:55:15 AM
Great stuff!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 09, 2020, 10:32:32 PM
from 3 HISTOIRES EXTRAORDINAIRES
(Editions Serg  /  France  /  January 1973)
comes the 8th comics version of Poe's
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
     Art by Alexis-Thomas Hinsberger

https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2020/01/poe-1968-pt-34.html

2 stories down, 1 to go!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 18, 2020, 05:55:04 PM
from 3 HISTOIRES EXTRAORDINAIRES
(Editions Serg  /  France  /  January 1973)
comes the 3rd comics version of Poe's
"METZENGERSTEIN"
     Art by Alexis-Thomas Hinsberger

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2020/02/poe-1968-pt-36.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 07, 2020, 06:23:34 PM
This one's about 5-1/2 YEARS overdue...

from THE SPIRIT
(Register & Tribune Syndicate  /  August 22, 1948)
comes the 3rd comics version of Poe's
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
     Art by Will Eisner & Jerry Grandenetti

https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2020/02/poe-1948-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on March 08, 2020, 03:53:05 AM
Surely its more likely that Grandenetti based the Narrator on the image of Poe himself?
I don't ever seem able to post an image here,but look at these iconic ones.
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffnt&q=Edgar+Allen+Poe&atb=v165-1&ia=news
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 15, 2020, 07:23:34 PM
The earliest POE biography comic just turned up...

from ENCHANTING LOVE  2
(Kirby Publishing  /  November 1949)
"THE BEAUTIFUL ANNABEL LEE"
     Art by Bill Draut & Bruno Premiani

https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2020/03/poe-1949-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on March 15, 2020, 11:55:36 PM
Very Nice. Great Find!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 22, 2020, 09:39:55 PM
SEVERAL years overdue...

from SPELLBOUND #2
(Marvel  /  April 1952)
comes the 3rd comics version of Poe's
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"
     Art by Russ Heath

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/11/poe-1952-pt-2.html

Maddeningly... THE DAY after I got this finished, fan Richard Gagnon pointed me at MUCH-BETTER scans of the story... which I am now working on.  I've cleaned up stories twice... but not, twice back-to-back!  (Done!)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 01, 2020, 01:14:16 PM
The single longest story in this entire project so far:

LE AVENTURES DE GORDON PYM
(Collection LeRuban Rouge  /  Librairie Arth
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on August 01, 2020, 02:18:16 PM
Prof,

In your absence, this thread was created on CB+. Unlikely to be anything there you don't know about tho.

https://comicbookplus.com/forum/index.php?topic=18266.0 


Cheers!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 15, 2020, 02:37:37 AM
UNEXPECTED good news.

I just spent the usual half-hour scrolling thru Ebay for "Novelas Inmortales", where seller "Bob Drake" (NOT his real name, heh) posted about 8 more issues I've never seen before, none of which are POE related.

And, once again, not one single "Joyas De La Literatura".

But then I looked at my general wanted list...

The 1910 John Rea Neill POE book has dropped in price from $435.00 to $420.00.  (Hah, hah.)

But... the 1944 "YELLOWJACKET COMICS" #4 from Charlton... which someone sold on Heritage Auctions (before I had a chance to even know about it) for $42.00...   and which is currently going for $75.00, $85.00 and $97.50 (different copies from different sellers...

...just turned up-- in a COVERLESS copy-- for $13.81 (including shipping & tax).

ORDERED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This contains the earliest comics verison of "Usher"... and the scans I was forced to deal with at the Comic Book Plus site were HORRIFIC.  Now, it doesn't matter if I don't have the cover (I already have an image at the blog).  All that matters is being able to SLAP this baby down on my SCANNER and do MY OWN HIGH-RES SCANS !!!!!!!!!

:D
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on August 15, 2020, 04:06:15 AM
I can see the smile on your face from here!
I hope that scan shows up on CB+ eventually! Just sayin'!

Happy Hunting!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 29, 2020, 02:31:58 AM
Now here's a huge difference. I think you should be able to open each of these in separate browswer windows, and quickly compare "BEFORE" and "AFTER".  The difference is SHOCKING!

BEFORE:
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZwaVM1Hif-M/WvZPHt4q1GI/AAAAAAAAlGo/5qVmtGOfcYUmBatiIfqfVj1iMGoMx7ZnwCLcBGAs/s1600/1944%2BCh%2BYJ%2B004_p30c_CBP%2B%2BD700.jpg

AFTER:
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-68VgAe2xsGY/X0m5_t8vkAI/AAAAAAAAuYY/N2Y7zIPx-1ktrUUvKGCoX3eABRKSqdXRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/1944%2BCh%2BYJ%2B004_p30%2B%2BC700.jpg
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: Andrew999 on August 29, 2020, 06:17:39 AM
Nice work - I prefer the second but I recognise that others might prefer the first because of the texture and feel
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 05, 2020, 10:37:21 PM
Possibly the single most time-consuming "upgrade" I've ever done...

from YELLOWJACKET COMICS #4
(Charlton  /  December 1944)
comes the 1st comics version of Poe's
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
     Art by Gus Schrotter

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2018/05/poe-1944-pt-9.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on October 05, 2020, 10:51:32 PM
Quote
Possibly the single most time-consuming "upgrade" I've ever done...


And well worth it Prof! A credit to you!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on October 06, 2020, 02:59:25 AM
Thanks!  Only when I'm able to do my own HIGH-RES scans right off the book itself (or, when somebody e-mails me scans of similar quality) is it really worth putting in THAT much excessive effort.  And the thing is, I know there's a LOT MORE I could still do... but... you GOTTA know when to say, "THAT'S ENOUGH!" (It's mostly color plate registration problems... the red was off in one direction, the blue was off in the OTHER direction.)

It's so much easier when I'm cleaning up B&W art... and then I can add color myself from scratch.

:)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 01, 2021, 05:28:18 PM
from Larry Ivie's MONSTERS & HEROES #1:
(M & H Publications / 1967)

"TEMPLE OF EVIL"
"INTRODUCING ALTRON-BOY"


https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2021/02/altron-boy-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 07, 2021, 03:49:39 PM
from Larry Ivie's MONSTERS & HEROES #2:
(M & H Publications / Sep'67)

"DRAGON SLAYER"
"ALTRON-BOY AND THE ISLE OF MONSTERS"
"SECRET OF THE ALTRON BOY"
"IN THE CITADEL OF VOLTAR"


3 chapters by Larry Ivie, plus the very 1st published story from Louise Jones & Jeff Jones!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2021/02/altron-boy-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: paw broon on February 10, 2021, 03:26:13 PM
This is good stuff Prof.  I remember the Dragon Slayer story which I read many years ago, but I don't think it was in Monsters and Heroes.  That's not a title I'm in any way familiar with.  It must have been reprinted somewhere else but frustratingly, I can't figure out where.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 12, 2021, 02:48:47 AM
It's been like pulling teeth to get my best friend (who I talk to on the phone every week) to even LOOK at my blog pages, which can be annoying, as we both used to be in the same comics A.P.A. (and he's still in it).  He loves comics, and he loves HORROR... but in the last 6 years, I haven't heard ONE WORD from him about my POE project!  (Wouldn't that drive you up a wall?)  I get more response from people in Mexico, Brazil and Canada!

But when I mentioned "superhero", he promised he'd look.  His main comment was that Ivie's art reminded him of Golden Age work.  I can sort of see that.  Ivie's interest in Edgar Rice Burrough, Tarzan, old movie serials and the like is so strong, it wouldn't surprise me if he wasn't influenced by the likes of Alex Raymond.  (I'm pretty sure there's a Frazetta swipe in the 2nd issue... but then again, I have a feeling the panel I'm thinking of may have been swiped from an EVEN earlier source.)


Crazy enough, that ONE panel inspired me to write 4 pages of heavy-duty "story notes" with a ton of dialogue.  I have NOT been able to focus at all on writing for the last several years (it's like some kind of post-traumatic stress syndrome thing), but staring at a panel of Larry Ivie art KICKED something in my brain into gear.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 16, 2021, 07:09:16 PM
from Larry Ivie's MONSTERS & HEROES #3:
(M & H Publications / Mar'68)

"ALTRON-BOY AND THE MONSTERS OF ASGARD"
"ALTRON-BOY AND THE EXPERIMENT OF DOOM"


Story & art by LARRY IVIE!

https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2021/02/altron-boy-pt-3.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 05, 2021, 10:18:41 PM
from Larry Ivie's MONSTERS & HEROES #4:
(M & H Publications / Mar'69)

"LEGENDS OF CREATION: OLYMPUS"
"SWORD OF ALTRON-BOY"


Story & art by LARRY IVIE!

https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2021/02/altron-boy-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 16, 2021, 08:06:12 PM
from Larry Ivie's MONSTERS & HEROES #5:
(M & H Publications / Jul'69)

"ALTRON-BOY TRAPPED!"

Story & art by LARRY IVIE!

https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2021/02/altron-boy-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 21, 2021, 03:24:52 PM
from Larry Ivie's MONSTERS & HEROES #6:
(M & H Publications / Oct'69)

"ALTRON-BOY AND THE FUMES OF TERROR!"

Story & art by LARRY IVIE!

https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2021/02/altron-boy-pt-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on March 22, 2021, 01:30:22 AM
This is my introduction to Larry Ivie's work, so thank you. Visually he is certainly a talented man.

Cheers!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 02, 2021, 03:46:24 AM
from Larry Ivie's MONSTERS & HEROES #7:
(M & H Publications / May'70)

"THE JOURNEY BEGINS!"

Story & art by LARRY IVIE!

Plus LOTS of EXTRA FEATURES!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2021/02/altron-boy-pt-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 09, 2021, 10:56:32 PM
Check out the LARRY IVIE Gallery of Illustrations!

https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2021/04/larry-ivie.html


from SATA #11:
(Bill Pearson / Jan'60)

"CAPTIVE BRIDE OF THE APE MEN"

Art by Larry Ivie AND Bill Pearson!

https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2021/04/larry-ivie-1960.html


from SATA #14:
(Bill Pearson / Apr'63)

"THE LAST WAR"

Art by LARRY IVIE!

https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2021/04/larry-ivie-1963.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 11, 2021, 04:53:48 PM
from HEAVY METAL Vol.26 No.6
(HM Communications Inc. / January 2003)

"TRIPPING OUT"

Story by Arnold Drake / Art by LUIS DOMINGUEZ

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2021/04/tripping-out.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on April 28, 2021, 02:50:26 AM
G'day Prof.

I have sent you two PM's - personal messages, in the last fortnight. The first one needs a reply so I can make a decision. Sometimes when you email someone for the first time, the message goes into the Spam file, that may be what happens. Also, if you look in the middle of the CB+ page Just above where the Icon of your avatar is, there is a small yellow menu with 7 tabs on it.
Check the 'My messages' Tab - if there is a number against it, that means you have a PM (or 2) Just click on the link and you can read and respond to the message.

Cheers!         
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 28, 2021, 07:43:44 PM
Done.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 15, 2021, 03:52:45 PM
from SUNDAY CITIZEN  /  SUNDAY EXTRA
(Co-Operative Press, Ltd.  /  London  /  England  /  April 24, 1966)

"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"  /  Version 7

Art by FRANK BELLAMY

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2021/08/poe-1966-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: crashryan on August 15, 2021, 10:21:38 PM
This was a new one on me. Had no idea Bellamy had drawn Poe. The entire story in 9 panels...talk about "breathless pacing."
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on August 15, 2021, 11:55:36 PM
Nice one Prof! There are a few Bellamy fans on CB+ who will enjoy this.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on August 16, 2021, 12:55:45 AM
That only turned up a couple weeks ago.  When it did, I commented, "Oh, IF ONLY this had turned up a while back."  Due to the "chronological" nature of blogs, I've been struggling to get past the 1960s for the last few YEARS so I can finally move back onto the 70s, where a TON of new items have turned up since I last set up stories from that decade.  I was working on the last "new" item from 1969... in fact, I STILL AM (damned thing is taking way, WAY too long).  I just ran out of pages (my doctor friend in Mexico, who's very over-worked these days, still needs to scan and send me the last part of the book).  So I decided to set this one up now.

Following some research, I found the scan I used (up to now, the ONLY scan of it online!!!) had been posted at a Frank Bellamy blog.  A comics fan, Paul Duncan, re-posted it at a FB group dedicated to English comics.  He also re-posted it at the FB page of Paul Gravett, who I recently added to my FB friends list.

Paul Duncan was actually looking for info and scans by one of the OTHER artists who'd worked on that newspaper's "classics" feature.  But the Bellamy age was all he'd seen.  Good for me.  But it caused me about 3 WHOLE DAYS worth of work on the blog, for that SINGLE image!!!!!

It was rather low-res (72 dpi).  First I did some minor clean-up.  Then I confirmed that the text, at that size, on my blog, was UNREADABLE.  So I had to cut it up into 3 horizontal tiers, and re-do the text.  Once I'd typed it in, I did 4 different versions, each with larger text, before I was satsified I could read it easily on the blog.  ONLY THEN did I decide... yeah, go ahead and COLOR it.  It was only at that point that I realized that due to the difference in dpi betrween the 2 programs I was using, I had to make some technical adjustments to the size in Photoshop.  This took a few tries to get it right.  It wasn't that much work... but, it was CONFUSING.  (WHY doesn't everyone just scan at 300 dpi-- and SAVE as "JPG" format?)

Anyway, there appears to only be 2 of these Poe stories in that newspaper's "Classics" feature.  The other one, "Amontillado", has art by Roger Martin.  And I have NO IDEA who that is.  Suffice to say, it has NOT turned up yet.

Now I have to move the other 2 "1966" stories so they'll all be in sequence.  I'm sure a lot of people would say this project is TOO "organized".   ;D


Oh, by the way, I don't know if anybody has ever noticed this... but in EVERY Poe story I color, I try to use certain colors for some things as a standard thing.  Like, curtains, furniture, and candles.  Yes, those oddly-colored MAGENTA candles are that color because... that's what's Corman used in his movies.  (I never would have picked such a color for those things on my own.)

It saves me some time if I don't have to come up with colors for every single thing all the time.  I started this when, after coloring Tom Sutton's "RED DEATH" adaptation, I then used the SAME color scheme for 2 other versions of the same story!  I've also done SEVERAL different versions of "USHER" with the same color schemes for the house, and people's clothing.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on August 16, 2021, 01:29:19 AM
Quote
I don't know if anybody has ever noticed this... but in EVERY Poe story I color, I try to use certain colors for some things as a standard thing.  Like, curtains, furniture, and candles.  Yes, those oddly-colored MAGENTA candles are that color because... that's what's Corman used in his movies.  (I never would have picked such a color for those things on my own.) 


I have probaly noticed that sublimilary, not consciously, in that it has always seemed to me that there is  a 'house style' of some kind to what is featured in your blog. And no bad thing.

Cheers!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on November 18, 2021, 02:27:53 AM
Prof,

I am currently reading 'My Last Breath' a biography of Luis Bunuel, whose work I love.
At one point he talks about the director Jean Epstein.
And among other things he writes,
' After [his film] Mauprat, Epstein began The fall of the house of Usher, starring Jean Debuccourt and Abel Gances wife, Marguerite. He took me on as second assistant.'

Gance as you undoubtedly know is considered a genius on the strength of his film on Napoleon.

This would have been a silent film. Do you know if any copies still exist?

Cheers.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on November 18, 2021, 07:45:14 AM
There is an IMDB page for this. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018770/?ref_=fn_al_tt_7

Apparently it is on DVD, but really expensive.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on November 18, 2021, 05:50:09 PM
I saw that film-- and another short film made the same year-- on Youtube a couple years ago.

That certainly wasn't the only time someone combined 2 (or more) short stories to create a feature film "adaptation".  In this case, the combined "Usher" with "The Oval Portrait" as a way of explaining her illness.

I'm slowly closing in on the tail-end of the longest clean-up I've done for this project so far, a 1969 version of "Usher" done as a "mini-comic".  Much smaller than a digest, these things can fit in your shirt pocket.  I don't see the appeal, but what the hey. Because the art was SHRUNK so much in the printing stages, the resulting linework is more fuzzy than usual... and I've been inspired to go way overboard to actually RE-INK all the faces and such. 

At any rate, one unusual thing about this Mexican comic is, as far as I know, it's the only comics version of "Usher" loosely based on the Roger Corman film, not Poe's short story!  But, typical of Mexican comics adaptations, they've added a lot that wasn't in the movie.  Specifically... GHOSTS.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: Captain Audio on November 19, 2021, 10:01:32 PM

There is an IMDB page for this. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018770/?ref_=fn_al_tt_7

Apparently it is on DVD, but really expensive.

Found it on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-xx4f_y5D8
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on November 20, 2021, 05:18:06 AM
Thanks Captain.
Thats a strange reconstruction tho.
Modern Subtitles, colorization and and updated soundtrack. The soundtrack works I think.

But the AI worked wonders in bringing this up.

Edgar Allan Poe -- The Fall of the House of Usher -- Short Story Film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVSSYkGaV5M

And
An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe - Starring Vincent Price
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzyYzK94UU4

A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss (Part 1 of 3) Frankenstein Goes to Hollywood
https://comicbookplus.com/forum/index.php?action=post;topic=5983.675;last_msg=83851

A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss (Part 2 of 3) Home Counties Horror
https://comicbookplus.com/forum/index.php?action=post;topic=5983.675;last_msg=83851

A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss Part 3 of 3 The American Scream
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhgEE1kwRl4

Enjoy!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: paw broon on November 21, 2021, 01:51:22 PM
Prof and anyone else who's interested, those Mexican comics represent a big part of that country's comics production. As a fan of Mexican superhero wrestlers I collected some on visits to L.A. Nowadays, some of the titles are  more adult orientated.
But tiny comics aren't only found in Mexico.  The Netherlands had beeldromans, the size of a cigarette packet, often 1 illo per page, and Italy had tiny square shaped comics.   Often  it was because of paper shortages or what presses were available, as in the British pocket libraries.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on February 02, 2022, 10:48:20 PM
To date, the single MOST time-consuming part of this project:

from MINI TERROR  #132
(Editorial Argumentos, S.A.  /  EDAR  /  Mexico  /  May 10, 1969)
comes the 11th comics version of Poe's
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"
     Art by Juan Reyes

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2020/11/poe-1969-pt-6.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on February 09, 2022, 10:35:54 PM
Probably outside the scope of your Poe project, but because of your project I can't help but notice Poe stuff when it pops up in odd places.  ;)

The Midsomer Murders episode Death and the Divas features a scene of an in-story movie version of The House of Usher. I checked imdb.com and it appears to have been filmed for the episode, not reused from an old movie or TV show.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on March 11, 2022, 03:34:02 AM
I hate doing anything twice, let alone THREE times, but here we go...

from STRANGE FANTASY  4
(Ajax-Farrell  /  February 1953)
comes this sequel to Poe's
"THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO"
     Story & Art by [IGER SHOP] / NOW IN COLOR!!

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/11/poe-1953-pt-1.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 20, 2022, 05:42:27 PM
from TIT-BITS  1991
(Editorial Manuel Lainez S.A.  /  Argentina  /  August 1947)
comes the 1st illustrated story version of Poe's
"THE GOLD BUG"
     Art by AMADIO

https://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2020/07/poe-1947-pt-7.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on April 20, 2022, 11:33:03 PM
Quote
Legrand, in this version, seems modelled on actor Warren William!


Well spotted!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 21, 2022, 03:20:48 AM

Quote
Legrand, in this version, seems modelled on actor Warren William!


Well spotted!



I'm glad you appreciated that!

My picking that particular photo (with the skull-designed abacus) only emphasized the point.  (I've seen that movie, but I forget which one it was.)

I've had this growing suspicion there's a lot more of that that goes on in comics than most fans are aware of.  I probably first noticed it with Paul Gulacy, then later Steve Rude... but in the last 15-20 years, I've seen it in more "cartoony" stylists like Kirby, Ditko, Heck, where it's not as noticable.

Here's another one, where the 1954 "Gold Bug" by Henry Sharp looks to have based Legrand on actor Victor Jory... 2 years BEFORE Jory played Legrand in the very loose adaptation of "Gold Bug" called "MANFISH".  Those eyes!!

(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZJy1v737uwI/Wx_UUSimfRI/AAAAAAAAmfk/qOQSypS2Wl0rGZ_-4r4OR5-xIzetcpPLgCLcBGAs/s1600/1954%2BGold%2BBug__1956%2BManfish.JPG)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 21, 2022, 03:29:16 AM
Thern there's Italian artist Gino Dauro, whose simple style reminds me of Dick Ayers.  His 1968 "RUE MORGUE" was very close to the original story, only with a sequence at the beginning that made it feel like a "movie" adaptation.  And by the time I finished cleaning it up, it struck me he may have modelled some characters on actors...

C. Auguste Dupin / William Powell
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pIZQPAuc9eM/Xf_aOcsy7_I/AAAAAAAAsMs/fi-SHa5kw6YCvUekDKFr68_e9jXz-pkuQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Dupin%2B%2B003%2B%2BA.jpg)

The Narrator / David Frankham
(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-42O_OQaIQL0/WJlWiTH5RcI/AAAAAAAAglk/8Q8htD-Ck6EusT1Jax7jlv1zd1Yuiq2xQCLcB/s1600/Narrator%2B%2B001.jpg)

The Policeman / Dick Miller
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SCnbdebkrVc/Xf_9Pg3y3II/AAAAAAAAsM4/c4KsaCE5rOQsCo7v142f_21VYsJy4ttbwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Policeman%2B%2B002%2B%2BA.jpg)

The Prefect / Albert Finney
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EWzlO7XDTN8/WJlY-VyodQI/AAAAAAAAgl0/uMNWbtfNE1Ep6iy4XH-07EvtOsPo9XoBACLcB/s1600/Prefect%2B%2B001.jpg)

Dauro's is my favorite of all the versions of "RUE MORGUE" I've found to date!

The thing that most impressed me about Dauro's version was how he was able to have so much expression in the poses, facial expressions and HAND gestures, to make DOZENS of consecutive pages of 2 people just standing around TALKING visually interesting.  (I've tried that sort of thing myself over the years, which is probably why I noticed and appreciated it so much.)

Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on April 21, 2022, 09:53:48 AM
Quote
I've had this growing suspicion there's a lot more of that that goes on in comics than most fans are aware of.   

Oh, most definitely1
Back in the -I think early 80's - The Comics Journal - doing what comes naturally to many journalists, creating controversy - made a thing about exposing artists who were 'swiping' - they particularly went after Keith Giffen, who in the early part of his career gave us a very good Jack Kirby imitation.
Journalists, not being artists, don't get it that that isn't laziness, its flattery. Artists look to the work of other artists for inspiration and many of the best also work from models.
Alex Ross has posted pictures of people he has used for models. His model for [the Fawcett] Captain Marvel is Fred MacMurray ,an excellent choice.
Quote
In 1939, artist C. C. Beck used MacMurray as the initial model for the superhero character who became Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_MacMurray
Personally I love looking at drawings and thinking, 'where have I seen that face before?' and working it out.
Sometimes, to amuse themselves, the artists draw a familiar face on a minor character in the background. 
Recently, [I can't remember where] i saw a comic character who was clearly based on Robert Mitchum.
And by the way, drawing a recognizable face is harder than you would think. Try it and see.
Lots of Kirby's work referenced the movies, particularly Gangster and Cowboy movies.
Oh Yeah! In writing this post and trying to remember Keith Giffen's name, I made a momentous discovery.
There really is an insect known as 'Ambush Bug!'
But if you are from the US, you may know that!
Also known as 'Assassin Bug'. Now there is a comic character if I ever heard of one. Be my guest.

Ambush Bugs
Phymata spp. and others in subfamily Phymatinae (ambush bugs)
https://education.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/ambush-bugs

cheers!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on April 21, 2022, 11:03:25 AM
Artists using actors for models could probably be it's own thread. There's so many examples.

There really is an insect known as 'Ambush Bug!'
Also known as 'Assassin Bug'.

Ambush Bug actually started off as a Superman villain who was an assassin, basically he was supposed to be Superman's equivalent of the Joker. After one or two appearances someone realized that Joker-like villains don't work very well with Superman and they started treating him more like a joke and turned him into the fourth wall breaking character who makes fun of comic tropes that most people think of him as.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 21, 2022, 12:39:30 PM
I recall during hs run on CATWOMAN, Paul Gulacy made Slam Bradley look like Robert Mitchum.  Gulacy was having a problem around that time, as there'd been a big stink about certain artists using too-recognizable likenesses of celebrities without authorization / licensing / FEES... so he was trying to do likenesses (as he always did) WITHOUT them being too recognizable.  It got awkward at times.

Early in my time at the Classic Comics Forum, the FIRST guy I had to block there kept arguing with every single thing I would post, including when I'd bring up likenesses, insisting LOUDLY "No, YOU'RE WRONG, it's not based on THIS person, it's based on THIS person!!!" It was about Tony Stark.  I would hope by now everyone realizes Kirby based the character of Stark on Howard Hughes, who was a rich industrialist with a secret medical problem.  But the lead artist who took over after Kirby wrote the first 3 episodes, Don Heck, CLOSELY modelled Stark's face on Errol Flynn. It was painfully obvious, yet this one clown insisted it wasn't Flynn. (This is what happens when people have been brainwashed by decades of S*** L** BS.)

Usuaully, with corporate characters, you have to go back to the original artist who created the characters, and then find real people from that era-- OR, BEFORE.  As with Errol Flynn, Steve Ditko would base characters both on then-current peole, but also from decades before.  While Dr. Strange initially looked like Vincent Price (this was NOT obvious to me at all until someone else pointed it out), later on he slowly evolved to look more like Ronald Colman.  This was interesting, as several other characters in the series all were modelled on actors who'd been in the movie "LOST HORIZON"-- Sam Jaffee (The Ancient One), H.B. Warner (The Ancient One's business manager), and Jane Wyatt (Clea!).

What a laugh when I realized Dr. Strange debuted almost exactly 3 months after the release of Roger Corman's "THE RAVEN".  That can't be a coincidence.

It really cracked me up when I realized the sleazy private eye who became The Scorpion was based on Ralph Meeker, who'd played a sleazy private eye in the nasty, viscious film "KISS ME DEADLY".  And then there was the day I was watching the 1946 "THE BIG SLEEP" for about the dozenth time... and suddenly, looking at Lauren Bacall, I yelled at the TV-- "Oh my God-- it's GWEN STACY!"  (Ditko's Gwen, NOT Romita's.)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: crashryan on April 21, 2022, 07:25:17 PM
Using likenesses of movie stars in comics is a long-standing tradition. It's always fun to run across a "guest appearance" by this or that actor. Usually it's a tribute by the artist to an actor they especially like. Alex Toth put Errol Flynn into I don't know how many strips, not to mention making him the star of Bravo for Adventure. The quality of the likeness varies. Not all artists who draw well are also good at capturing a likeness. It's more difficult yet if the artist has to draw the character from an angle not covered by his reference photos. You see this in movie adaptation comics, where a character's likeness drifts in and out depending on how much reference the artist had. It's much easier now that you can capture frames directly from a movie.

I'm not especially good at likenesses, as my stint on Dallas demonstrated. That job was particularly difficult because I was given only a handful of publicity stills of the principals, all of them frontal shots with the actors wearing broad smiles. Nearly useless for storytelling purposes. Occasionally I've put movie actors into my stories. I pencilled an Infinity, Inc. story for Roy Thomas in which some 1930s gangsters are transported into the present. For the hoods I used Victor Jory, Mike Mazurki, and William Bendix, three guys with great "character faces." The end results varied (Dick Giordano inked), with Bendix coming out best. In the Captain Comet story for Secret Origins was a scene where CC busts through a police roadblock. For the head cop I used Broderick Crawford, a favorite since childhood when I watched him in Highway Patrol. I pencilled a great Crawford and Bruce Patterson absolutely nailed it on the inks. Best panel in the story.

Franco Caprioli, a Golden Age Italian artist, often cast Hollywood actors in his stories. He even gave some continuing supporting roles. He must have been a big Noah Beery fan. Beery was the hero's sidekick in several Caprioli series.

Licensing is a whole different kettle of fish. We all know about the debacle with the cover of His Name is Savage, where the cover painter reproduced a still of Lee Marvin. Living stars have always had a say in the use of their likeness. Alex Toth told me that Dell instructed him not to draw John Wayne in their Wings of Eagles adaptation because Wayne had refused permission. So he drew someone who looked almost exactly unlike John Wayne. But sneaked tributes and "guest shots" in unrelated comics stories never seemed to make waves. Nowadays though, given the IP feeding frenzy, I can imagine some lawyer frothing over a comic artist casting a real person even if  only in a throwaway scene. To me the very notion that someone who wasn't even born when an actor became a public figure can claim the right to control the actor's likeness (so they can profit from it) is preposterous. But that's part of my copyright rant. I'll spare everyone from listening to that again.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on April 21, 2022, 08:21:23 PM
Gil Kane used Paul Newman for Hal Jordan and Ray Palmer was based on an actor who's name I forget, it was actually mentioned in a text article in Showcase that was reprinted in the Showcase Presents The Atom collection.

The funniest likeness was a villain in an issue of The Atom I had as a kid. Growing up I would read that story and think the guy was too ugly to be a real person. Decades later I saw a photograph of Gil Kane. Oh my! He was using a mirror to draw that villain.  :o
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: crashryan on April 21, 2022, 10:43:41 PM
Yeah, Kane put a lot of famous faces into his art. On one memorable occasion the villain was drawn to be Lyndon Johnson! From this i infer that Kane was a Republican.

Edit to add: Come to think of it, it was during the Vietnam War period, and LBJ was unpopular with a lot of Democrats, who were unhappy with the War. Maybe that's what Kane had in mind when he cast the guy. Politics hadn't yet devolved into the "with us or agin' us" blood sport it is today...though people were working on it.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on April 22, 2022, 12:36:53 AM
Quote
during hs run on CATWOMAN, Paul Gulacy made Slam Bradley look like Robert Mitchum 

That's the one. I was a few days ago looking at that Catwoman run.
Incidentally, I never understood why Marvel didn't give S.H.I.E.L.D. to Paul Gulacy.   

Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 22, 2022, 05:03:59 PM
There's at least 3 instances I can think of where Steve Ditko-- a VERY "cartoony" stylist-- clearly based characters on known celebrities, but only bothered do draw them RECOGNIZABLY as such, maybe once apiece.  After that, he was just doing his "impressions" of them, not really bothering with recognizable likenesses.  But those single likenesses he did were eye-opening, when it came to his inspirations for those characters.

Gwen Stacy -- Lauren Bacall
Mac Gargan / The Scorpion -- Ralph Meeker
Major Glenn Talbot -- Lee Van Cleef

The entire character of Talbot suddenly made perfect sense to me once I saw that panel (in his first appearance) and made the connection.  And Van Cleef had played an almost-identical military character in the Corman film "IT CONQUERED THE WORLD!"




I've repeatedly heard about Gil Kane basing Hal Jordan on Paul Newman.  the thing is, between his art, a variety of inkers, and the stories, I've never really been able to see any resemblence in either the face or the personalities.

Well, with maybe ONE exception.  Reggie the burnt-out divorced hockey coach in "SLAP SHOT" (my favorite Newman film) does kinda remind me of the burnt-out Jordan of the 70s and 80s, after dozen of DC writers & editors SCREWED over his life and career repeatedly.

(Honesty, Jordan ALWAYS seemed to get far more respect in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA than in his own book.)

I probably need to see more more of Newman's early films.  There's might be something in those I'm missing.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on April 22, 2022, 08:44:55 PM

I've repeatedly heard about Gil Kane basing Hal Jordan on Paul Newman.  the thing is, between his art, a variety of inkers, and the stories, I've never really been able to see any resemblence in either the face or the personalities.


I could see it, but looking back at some Newman photos from the 1956-1958 time period I was surprised to see the wrinkles I associate with the older Newman. Also interesting to see that Newman had different hairstyles in those older TV shows/movies. The Long Hot Summer seems to have a Hal Jordan type hairstyle. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051878/mediaviewer/rm2088932353/)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on April 22, 2022, 11:23:04 PM
That's the thing about comic-book characters.  So many members of the Silver Age / Earth-1 JLA debuted in the late 50s.  You gotta go back at least as far as characters' debuts, or earlier, to look for real influences.   :)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 11, 2022, 06:42:12 PM
This one's really "different"...

from HORROR #5:
(Gino Sansoni Editore / Italy / April 1970)

"IL FARO"  ("THE LIGHTHOUSE")

Story by Edgar Allan Poe & Robert Bloch
Art by GINO BATTAGLIA

AND, from FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #53
(Warren Publications / January 1969)

Photo-illustrations supplied by Forrest J. Ackerman

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2022/06/poe-1970-pt-2.html


And while I'm at it... here's the "Gallery Of Illustrations"
by various artists from 1953-2022

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2022/06/poe-1970-pt-3.html

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiO6CRPcmersx7G7OHzd5wNaDWa1GjeKXfnGIQxARX7YvFUzrTLYZg3oSmDWGnx_TqkAh0kcEmxsfy6TDqd_r8nWS7xqDMwmNIwy62dRKezUu9KCoecPOKhozTlyMWd9TbS_4IppaVGUGmUDOVUmMLVo6lD28iwi938c8f2opiAK6K4xREclJPm-6R/s16000/1970%20GSE%20H%2005_cc_FO%20%20F6.jpg)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: paw broon on June 11, 2022, 07:07:07 PM
Aw, great.  Thank you for the excellent Battaglia art.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 11, 2022, 08:19:14 PM
Sometimes you gotta put up an incomplete blog page.  If any more from that feature turns up, I can always update it!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 15, 2022, 10:17:42 PM
This one's entirely thanks to the help of Canadian fan Richard Gagnon...

from PROMETHEAN ENTERPRISES #2:
(Promethean Enterprises / May 1970)

"THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH"

Art by ROBERT INWOOD

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2022/06/poe-1970-pt-4.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: Captain Audio on June 16, 2022, 01:23:33 PM
Masque of the Red Death is one of the very best stories for an illustrator to try his hand at. The visualization provoked by the prose and the details of each of the rooms is almost an instruction book for film set designers.

People have always been fascinated by skulls. The skull is about the only truly easy to recognize of skeletal remains as of definite human origin. Any other bone is just a bone, but one look at a skull and you know someone once lived there. The illusion of past life carries over to decrepit buildings, which are often depicted with a skull like visage of empty windows as eye sockets and doorways like gaping maws
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on June 16, 2022, 07:18:31 PM
I know you'll get a kick out of this.  At last count-- 46 comics versions of "RED DEATH".

46 !!!    :o

I only have 12 up so far at the blog!

And you know what?  My favorite is still TOM SUTTON's.  It was the first one where I was inspired to add COLOR to a B&W version.  I'd say my whole method of coloring these was figured out on this one story.  "Flats" and "pastels", minimal airbrush or blends.  Nothing to get in the way of the LINEWORK.  And 3 tones of the SAME color for clothing-- helps "organize" the visuals while subtly adding detail.

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/12/poe-1967-pt-2.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on July 26, 2022, 03:02:31 AM
Getting back to Hal Jordan based on Paul Newman I'm just watching a TopTenz video The Real People That Your Favorite Superheroes Are Based On (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV7kQXyX3JE) and #9 is Green Lantern (both the original and Hal) interesting tidbit of info on why Kane chose Newman.  ;D
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on July 26, 2022, 05:26:50 AM

Fascinating stuff, but until recently, it simply had never occurred to me that most superheroes were based on or inspired by real people. Have to say though, that the references, in Superman, to Jewish traditions and vocabulary were always too obvious to be ignored.
I think you can trace a lot of Kirby's 'forth world' concepts, and obviously, Mr Miracle, to the same source material. 
And the video does forget Captain Marvel and Fred MacMurray. And apparently Mary Marvel was based on Judy Garland.
Here is a list.
Marvel Family Inspiration
http://marvelfamily.com/faq/mfinspiration.aspx 
Kurt Busiek used Fred MacMurray again in Astro City for his character, 'The Gentleman
Mandrake was based on a real magician. Anybody know if Flash Gordon was based on a real person?
Also, how many mystery anthology hosts are based, conceptually, on Rod Serling?
Fascinating!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 26, 2022, 02:16:43 PM
Mystery hosts go back a HELL of a long way before Rod Serling!

I wonder how many anthology radio shows there were?  My introduction to the format, of course, was THE CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATRE, created by Himan Brown, hosted by E.G. Marshall.  As I learned recently, Brown had previously done INNER SANCTUM MYSTERIES, while the "host" was similar to THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER and THE WHISTLER.

And then of course there's EL MONJE LOCO (The Mad Monk) in Mexico, who started on radio around 1940, before branching out into comic-books and a movie or two.  El Monje Loco dressed identical to EC's The Vault Keeper -- who did not debut until a DECADE later!

I haven't seen it yet, but I just got my hands on THEATRE MACABRE, a 1971-72 TV series from Poland (!!), hosted, oddly enough, by Christopher Lee, apparently picking up where Boris Karloff left off with THRILLER, which itself was spun off into BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY at Gold Key Comics.  (I had no idea when I read those as a kid that the series began life as a licensed TV series comic-book.)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 26, 2022, 02:30:28 PM
I probably first became fascinated with comics characters based on real people via the art of Paul Gulacy, who did very photo-realistic depictions of people, and once said he based characters on real people as a "tribute" to them.

In high school at the time, I took that a step further, and would "cast" real people as characters, taking not only their faces (which made it easier for me to draw different , distinguishable faces), but also their personalities and speech patterns (which, again, made it easy to have people NOT all talking alike-- if you can "channel" someone, the dialogue practically writes itself).

Decades later, I bcame more and more interested in who many characters might have been modelled after, as most comics artists had more cartoony styles where it wasn't always OBVIOUS. And then of course, many times, you'll have someone who's a composite of one person's personality witrh another person's face.  An obvious example of this is Tony Stark, who was based on Howard Hughes, but who Don Heck made a dead ringer for ERROL FLYNN.

Another Kirby character was Darkseid, who while being a representative of every evil boss in creation, was mostly based on Richard Nixon-- with Jack Palance's face.

MOST fans-- and comics creators-- who come along later, seem to have NO CLUE about most of this, which is why the likenesses and connections get totally lost.

There's been some fans I know online who've been really helpful with this, pointing out examples to me that I was completely unaware of, or just never noticed.

And then of course, I've run into some people-- like this one really arrogant A-HOLE at the "Classic Comics Forum" (yeah, I'm NEVER gonna let go of this one) who made it a point to ARGUE and CONTRADICT every single thing I would say at that board... as soon as he found out my opinion of Marvel's 1960s "editor".  (I think "lying thieving scumbag" is being polite.)
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on July 26, 2022, 02:41:03 PM
Given your opinion of the man, you would probably have fond memories of Kirby's 4th World character, 'Glorious Godfrey' who was pretty obviously Jack's payback .
Corrected post. see my next post for explanation. 
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: SuperScrounge on July 26, 2022, 10:13:18 PM
Funky Flashman in Mister Miracle was also based on Stan Lee and apparently a one-shot villain called The Gasser (Dingbats of Danger Street?). So how many Kirby villains were based on Lee?  ;)

Are there any Stan Lee-esque villains in Steve Ditko's post-Marvel catalog?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 26, 2022, 11:22:06 PM
Many years back I used to see Kirby fans talking about "Funky Flashman" and had no idea what they were talking about.  And I'd read MISTER MIRACLE back in the early 80s.  But when I re-read all my early-70s Kirby comics... HOLY S***.  I got it.

I also re-read the issues of SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS that I had issues of.
#7 (Jun'77) was titled "Luthor's League Of Super-Villains", and features an intense rivalry between Luthor and Funky Flashman.  Yep, both guys in the same comic.

At the end, Funky yanks his toupee off.  Sound familiar?

Someone else had suggested this before it crossed my mind... but when I saw THAT comic, my jaw dropped.

Writer Tom Mankiewicz said in an interview that he thought the Salkinds had "NO IDEA" what the hell they were doing when they made SUPERMAN (1978). 

All of a sudden, I had the strong suspicion, that someone involved in that film had seen SSoSV #7-- and gotten the villains CONFUSED.

Yep.  Gene Hackman was playing FUNKY FLASHMAN.  Which means...
Gene Hackman was playing S*** L**.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on July 27, 2022, 12:49:47 AM
The perils of posting late at night!
I had meant to refer to 'Funky Flashman' whose 'secret identity' is obvious.
But 'Glorious Godfrey' [forever people #3] is perhaps an even nastier hatchet job.
Read it and think about it!
Glorious Godfrey
https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Glorious_Godfrey_(New_Earth)
Quote
An orator with incredible persuasive powers. 

Quote
Those who opposed Godfrey's position were hunted down and dealt with by members of his personal army called the Justifiers. These were generally Earthmen who had been swayed by Godfrey's preachings, then completely mind-controlled by the special helmets they all wore.

Justifiers? -The MMM? And how many fans attempt to 'justify' SL? 
cheers!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: crashryan on July 27, 2022, 01:52:32 AM
Just sayin', I clicked on the link to Glorious Godfrey and got this:

There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs, but you do not have permission to create this page.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on July 27, 2022, 03:26:23 AM
Very Weird!

I clicked on the link I posted.Got the blank page.
Clicked on search for this  page title
Clicked on Posts 'Gorious Godfrey'
Got the page of info!
This is the address
https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Glorious_Godfrey_(New_Earth)
Same as the first link.
This time it worked.
If not use the navigation above.
Weird!

Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: crashryan on July 27, 2022, 04:36:05 AM
I see what happened. The original link was missing the final parenthesis [ (New Earth ] rather than [(New Earth)] and this confused the poor little computer on the other end.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 27, 2022, 07:57:51 PM
Neither one worked for me.

Try this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorious_Godfrey

Wikipedia has gotten increasingly unreliable (that's my experience, anyway), and their "editors" are IMPOSSIBLE to deal with. (Translation: they're excessively pro-corporate, talk like lawyers, and act like S*** L** fanatics).

Every single "Marvel" page is filled with untruths, and characters pages both go on WAY TOO LONG, describing "later" histories I just DON'T GIVE A S*** about, and, they insist on sticking "flavor of the month" artists at the top of every page, when, in my view, the TOP illo should always be by any given character's ORIGINAL CREATOR.

Of course, if they did that, half the illos would be by Jack Kirby.

Funny enough, this one DOES have a Jack Kirby illo at the top.  Of course, it's a DC page, not Marvel.  Wonder if that has anything to do with it?

Anyway, it says there:

"In 1971, an article in The New York Times Magazine about "relevant comics" described "a handsome toothy character named Glorious Godfrey, a revivalist. Godfrey is drawn to look like an actor playing Billy Graham in a Hollywood film biography of Richard Nixon starring George Hamilton"."

Weird.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on July 27, 2022, 11:27:05 PM
What we need to understand is that the Marvel and DC that we grew up with, just don't exist any longer.
Marvel is a division of Disney and DC is a division of Warner Brothers.
Quote
The parent company of Warner Bros. is Time Warner. Time Warner, was acquired by the US telecom company AT&T. AT&T is an American Telephone &Telegraph Company based in Dallas, Texas. After being acquired by AT&T it was rebranded as Warner Media in 2019. There were minor tweaks made in the logo as well as the intro music and, this was first used in Nolan?s Tenet. As of 2021 Warner Bros. is owned by AT&T.

Neither company gives a rats ..... about integrity as far as comics go, and the comics take a back seat to the films. They just don't care.
What particularly upset me is that Chadwick Boseman who played the Black Panther and seemed like a nice guy, just before he himself passed away, said of Stan Lee, that he owed him a lot since Lee created the Black Panther. I doubt that he had even heard of Jack Kirby.
As we know, all the concepts for Wakanda and Black Panther were in Jack's head and on paper for the Harvey company long before that. 
Right now these two companies are pumping out "Superhero movies' like Sausages because they don't have anything else to get the punters back to the theaters. Over the last 2 years, most of them have not made money, the audience is dwindling, the quality is not what it used to be and corporate interference with the concepts keeps the traditional fanbase away. They are two hours of special effects [CGI] and not much attention to characterization or believable plot details. All politics and propaganda and no fun. Not that you would know this if you watch the trailers on IMDB [owned by Amazon, as are many other sites] or the many 'fan-based' internet news sites.
 
The last of these I enjoyed were SHAZAM and then the fairly independent BLOODSHOT
There is nothing out there now or about to be released that I intend to go see.
Also, the comic book characters change to suit the film versions in many cases. But that's another story.               
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on July 27, 2022, 11:34:54 PM
Sobering informatiion!
Who Owns Warner Brothers? ? Know More
https://howigotjob.com/parent-company/who-owns-warner-brothers-know-more/ 

Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: crashryan on July 28, 2022, 12:49:57 AM
This is somewhat off-topic, but exactly what is "How I Got the Job," the site you linked to for the Warner Bros. article? The writing of the essay is startlingly poor. It has next to no structure and abounds with odd grammar and editorial glitches. I realize coherent writing isn't always an Internet feature, but still--! Take the paragraph on Warner characters. It bounces from "the Looney Tunes" to the Powerpuff Girls without mentioning any other characters. It says Looney Tunes "aired" from 1930 to 1969, capitalizes Black and White but not Technicolor or Cinecolor, and offer contorted sentences like:

The Wizarding World created by J.K. Rowling is owned by Warner Bros. Apart from this, they had also distributed the movies launched such as the Harry Potter series and the spin-offs.

The whole thing sounds like those AI-written aggregators that pop up every time you try to Google something.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 28, 2022, 03:30:53 AM
the comics take a back seat to the films. They just don't care.

I very much noticed this at the last comic-book convention I went to, in center-city Philadelphia (the new convention center), more than 15 years ago.  The "Marvel" and "DC" tables, there was NO HINT that either company published comics!!



What particularly upset me is that Chadwick Boseman who played the Black Panther and seemed like a nice guy, just before he himself passed away, said of Stan Lee, that he owed him a lot since Lee created the Black Panther. I doubt that he had even heard of Jack Kirby.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  That really is painful to read.

Of course, there's more.  Someone pointed out to me how Kirby was inspired by the real-life situation in "Katanga", which was over-run by CIA-backed mercenaries in the early 60s intent on stealing the country's natural resources.

There's a scene in FF #52 were the Panther refers to the "underground technical jungle" as having been built "for a lark".  It was built to DEFEND the country against MURDEROUS INVADERS!!! That M***** F***** S*** L** (excuse me, I'm trying to be polite, but it isn't easy) had NO G** D*** idea what Kirby was doing, and kept repeatedly dumbing down KIRBY's stories, because he couldn't understand, or wanted to remove anything controversial that "the kids" might not understand.  (As a friend of mine suspects L** was a CIA "asset", it could be it was removed DELIBERATELY... the same way the Sean Connery film "WRONG IS RIGHT" was yanked from theatres after one week by orders of the CIA.)

When I mentioned the "Katanga" thing at the Classic Comics Forum, this arrogant A-HOLE "CodyStarbuck" posted an ENTIRE PAGE of text he copied from Wikipedia, in order to "prove me wrong".  I blocked his sorry A**.

When I mentioned the "Katanga" thing on DON McGREGOR's Facebook page... the arrogant A-HOLE who he has running his page for him, BLOCKED me, after first posting, "I can't wait to get rid of this guy."

And here we have the LEGACY of S*** L**. A guy who, when he was in the military in WW2, worked for the Army Signal Corps-- in other words, the department of PROPOGANDA and MISINFORMATION.




Oh, and by the way... althought I saw BP in theatres twice and enjoyed it immensely both times-- being amazed that (apparently) somehow hads managed the impossible-- SYNTHESIZING a story from 2 of the most diametrically-different writers in comics history (Kirby and McGregor!) , the more I thought about it, the LESS the whole story made any sense at all.

It was IDIOTIC for T'Challa to accept a challenge to the throne from a KNOWN TERRORIST, and EVEN MORE IDIOTIC that after he lost, half the country would INSTANTLY declare loyalty to a KNOWN TERRORIST and MURDERER.

But more-- they made a CIA guy one of the heroes.  The F****** CIA!!!  One of the most EVIL organizations on the planet, and, the ones behind the invasion and mass-murder that went on in Katanga, which inspired Kirby to create Wakanda in the first place!

That is SO DAMNED WRONG... it has to be DELIBERATE.



As we know, all the concepts for Wakanda and Black Panther were in Jack's head and on paper for the Harvey company long before that. 

I know a lot of Kirby's ideas were things he reused himself over the decades.  Could you please relate this?  I don't seem to remember this particular story.



Speaking of "off-topic"... hey, could you guys PLEASE consider starting a separate thread for all this?  I'm still doing POE translations, but it's slow-going, and it's bound to get lost in all this other interesting stuff.

;D
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: Captain Audio on July 28, 2022, 06:20:26 AM
Prof you seem very emotional about Katanga. Would you mind letting me know your primary sources of information on this subject?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on July 28, 2022, 07:06:23 AM
If you are unaware of this source for Kirby's ideas, this will amaze you.
The Harvey title, ALARMING TALES features concepts Kirby did not use again until after he left Marvel, and pretty-well thought out.
Look at the cover for #1 and go on from there.
You will find concepts he used in Forth World, Kamandi, and the secret six saga.
Alarming Tales
https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=1354.
I'm now annoyed at myself. I thought that the Story that clearly anticipates the Black Panther tech jungle and the Eternals was in Alarming Tales. It is in a Harvey book of the same period, so I will look till I find it.
But what does it tell you that Jack never used most of these concepts again - Until he had left Marvel the first time!
OK Found it!
We are looking at the several issues of BLACK CAT MYSTIC
Black Cat 58
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=36491
Has a story re-used as an Early FF plot.
But the Motherlode is
Black Cat 59
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=40525
and the story The Great Stone Face
And there we have the true origin of the Black Panther mythology and the Celestials.
Thanks to CB+ for preserving these.
Why more people haven't twigged to this, I don't know.
Blew me away when I discovered it.
There may me other relevant concepts in the BLACK MAGIC SERIES which I haven't looked at in detail yet.
[That was a Simon and Kirby title, but for Prize.]   
Clearly, this period was a very fertile one for Kirby!     
cheers!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 28, 2022, 12:26:01 PM
I wish I could tell you where I first ran across this thing.  If it was on Facebook (probably), it's LONG since vanished down the "FB rabbit hole").

And since I was permanently banned from the CCF, I can't look up my own comments there.

However, a quick search now finds this:

Katanga Province:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katanga_Province

Congo Crisis:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Crisis



It's the whole "CIA" thing that pisses me off, and in how it relates to that scumbag posing as a comics editor all those years.

That, and the way that, starting in the 1970s, SHIELD was repeatedly portrayed LIKE the CIA, when they're supposed to be anything BUT. Allegedly attempts at "realism" have NO PLACE in regard to an organization created as a POSITIVE fantasy.  By smearing SHIELD, by extension, they're smearing KIRBY, although, his editor had already done a job SEPARATING Kirby from his creation, as most people have no idea Kirby created SHIELD, and WROTE every single episode... until Jim Steranko took over from him in ST #154.




And I don't want to seem like I'm bad-mouthing Steranko... but he wasn't HALF the writer Kirby was. He might have become one eventually... but you-know-who DROVE HIM AWAY from comics.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 29, 2022, 12:28:32 PM
After I went to work yesterday, I remembered it must have been Chris Tolworthy, who wrote a book about all the stories JACK KIRBY wrote in the 1960s that were MUTILATED by his editor.  Most "Marvel" fans have no idea they were ROBBED of what should have been MUCH-BETTER comics for an entire decade!!
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 30, 2022, 01:16:15 AM
At the time the movie came out, there were a LOT of reviews online. Several pointlessly made a point of bad-mouthing Kirby's writing on the late-70s BP comics, apparently unaware that he was the character's creator, and had written his early appearances in FF (before his editor dumbed those down at the dialogue stage).

But ONE review-- can't remember whose-- bad-mouthed the FILM for making black Africans look stupid. It took me a while to figure this out... but the guy was RIGHT.

I saw the film in a SELL-OUT showing where I may have been the only non-black in the audience, and the reception was overwhelmingly positive (which I can understand). But those "wrong" elements I spoke about were VERY DEVIOUSLY snuck into the story. It didn't need to be that way. But they would have had to have (GASP!) actually followed the stories Kirby & McGregor wrote to avoid such B.S.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on July 30, 2022, 01:19:55 AM
Before the film came out, I envisioned how I would have done a BP film. A "first" film would have perhaps dealt with his conflict with Klaw (the "terrorist" element) followed by his decision to get out into the world (as seen in his earlist adventures, and, his late-70s book-- the stories in which, presumably, Kirby came up with IN THE MID-60s-- it was suggested in the magazine itself at the time, that the book would make far more sense if viewed as "retroactive continuity"-- that the stories should take place between his debut in FF #52-53 and his becoming an Avenger).

A 2nd movie would be a straight adaptation of McGregor's "PANTHER'S RAGE". Don described having the job tossed at him. "Hey, Don, wanna write BP?" "Sure!" "Okay. First episode's due Monday." (It was late Friday.) Decades later, Don found out Roy Thomas HELD HIM IN CONTEMPT for not writing "Marvel Method", and handed him the assignment expecting and hoping he'd fall flat on his face. Instead, Don started getting more fan mail than all their other comics combined.

Don read all BP's previous appearances, and noticed something VERY wrong. It may have made sense for the King of a country to go out and have occasional globe-hopping adventures. But it made ZERO sense for him to move permanently to NYC, join a super-hero group, and then set up a secret identity as a school-teacher in Harlem. Don's entire story was CREATED in a direct rebuttal of Roy Thomas' STUPID fanboy decisions regarding the "JSA" and the movie "To Sir With Love"!!!!!

When T'Challa went home, he assumed he'd fix whatever was wrong in 2 weeks. But it took 2 YEARS. He had ABANDONED his country-- and it fell INTO CHAOS!! Eric "Killmonger" was a good friend of his while they grew up. Eric felt BETRAYED-- and angrily determined it would never happen again. It wasn't a civil war that erupted-- but merely a ragtag group of rebels deciding that their King had FUCKED UP, and deserved to be REPLACED, no matter who else got killed in the process.

Don became one of my favorite writers as a result of that story, and remains so to this day... despite my having been BLOCKED from his FB page by a follower of S*** L**. Don is barred from bad-mouthing anything Marvel does, in order to get any tiny "benefits" from his involvement in the BP movie. That's SICK. God-damned corporations.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on July 30, 2022, 01:28:00 AM
There is a new BLACK PANTHER movie dud November. Marvel being totally WOKE at the moment, it focuses on the females of the Ruling Family, The comics have already had a female Black Panther, so that is what I expect.
Totally against african tribal traditions, I believe, but they don't really care about Africa.     
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: Captain Audio on July 30, 2022, 02:21:16 AM

There is a new BLACK PANTHER movie dud November. Marvel being totally WOKE at the moment, it focuses on the females of the Ruling Family, The comics have already had a female Black Panther, so that is what I expect.
Totally against african tribal traditions, I believe, bu they don't really care about Africa.   

There have been Black African matriarchal cultures, mainly on islands off the coast. Female warrior queens with armies of highly skilled amazon warriors are known into the 19th and 20th centuries.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on July 30, 2022, 05:01:43 AM
I said, 'I believe,' not I know, because there are exceptions to rules.
However, can you give references and details to that statement?
What islands?

What tribes?   
Quote
known into the 19th and 20th centuries.

References?
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: Captain Audio on July 30, 2022, 05:46:29 AM

I said, 'I believe,' not I know, because there are exceptions to rules.
However, can you give references and details to that statement?
What islands?

What tribes?   
Quote
known into the 19th and 20th centuries.

References?

https://historyofyesterday.com/african-amazons-give-frenchmen-a-dressing-down-b0dcfb117f41
http://mmstudies.com/matriarchies/west-africa/
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/g28565280/matriarchal-societies-list/

Quote
Yaa Asantewaa was queen of the prosperous Ashanti Empire, also called Asante, in now modern-day Ghana. As queen, she was the official protector of the empire?s most sacred object, the Golden Stool. Made of solid gold and believed to house the soul of the nation, the stool represented the royal and divine throne of the empire. When British troops invaded in 1886, and demanded possession of the sacred object, Asantewaa refused. Instead, she led an army against them.

?I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight the white men. We will fight until the last of us falls in the battlefields,? Yaa Asantewaa famously said.

https://www.history.com/news/african-female-warriors
https://clearwest.org/2017/03/23/african-warrior-women-queens/

The Island civilizations are a complex subject.
Starting here you can trace back to possibly the earliest civilization on the islands
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranavalona_I
The Vazimba who were often ruled by women.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vazimba

The history of these island cultures is just too much to unpack here.
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: profh0011 on September 10, 2022, 04:27:03 PM
ALRIGHT, back ON-TOPIC:

from DOSSIER NEGRO #16:
(Ibero Mundial De Ediciones / Spain / July 1970)

"LA CAIDA DE LA CASA USHER"

Art by MIGUEL GOMEZ ESTEBAN

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2022/06/poe-1970-pt-5.html
Title: Re: Professor H's Wayback Machine
Post by: The Australian Panther on September 11, 2022, 12:27:02 AM
Very nice work!