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Week 46 - Buccaneers #23

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topic icon Author Topic: Week 46 - Buccaneers #23  (Read 3485 times)

MarkWarner

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Week 46 - Buccaneers #23
« on: November 19, 2014, 06:39:14 AM »

One thing that I think we all agree on about last weeks book is that the characters were old familiars from cartoon shorts just given a different name!

Anyway, after my dreadful disappointment with Son of Sinbad, I was contacted by a salty old sea-dog who suggested picking one of The Buccaneers series. After seeing first panel of issue #23 it had to be part of our reading material (if you look you'll see). Oh my, little changes in language and culture can add up! Lol :)

Buccaneers #23 can be found at https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=19921, and the story we are concentrating on is the first one "Cannons roar and battle flags fly ...".


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crashryan

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Re: Week 46 - Buccaneers #23
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2014, 05:32:41 AM »

Shiver my topgallants! I enjoyed the heck out of this book. The art is good, the stories are compact and well-plotted--with one exception, to be noted momentarily--and an attempt is made to capture the spirit of the times. Or rather, the spirit of movies about the times. There is more Hollywood than history here.

I liked the "Captain Daring" story exclusively because of Reed Crandall's beautiful artwork. Crandall was a master of period stories, and pirates seemed to have a special appeal to him. Historians dwell on Crandall's gritty horror and combat stories but seldom mention RC's knack for drawing sexy women. He pulls out all the stops for dear Tezca. I kept hoping the other shoulder of that shirt would fall, but doggone it...

The trouble is, the story is STUPID! The pirate on page 8 states the story's theme: "She's like any other silly woman, after all!" I mean, this tough pirate babe has known Captain Daring for maybe two minutes, and not only offers him a role as her co-star but sighs and moans and swears she loves him. Okay, she killed him first before deciding she loved him, but really. Two minutes! And at the end she commits suicide not so much because she faces prison, but because she couldn't score with Captain D. I know things have to move quickly in short stories, but Tezca's instant passion is a load of rubbish.

The "Spanish Main" story is the best in the book. It's a solid tale with good character and emotional interest. Maybe it's not the most original plot, but it's well-written, fitting neatly into six pages without feeling hurried. The art isn't as good as Crandall's, though obviously inspired by him. The artist makes an honest effort at local color and his characterizations are good.

"Eric Falcon" is okay, though I knew the secret of the "blank" page immediately. Probably because I read about lemon juice ink in Codes and Secret Writing when I was in junior high. The artist puts a good deal of work into this story, but the final product doesn't look as good as it could because of some awkward compositions. For some reason I get a Bill Ward vibe from this. It's the only story in the book in which the Quality house ink job is intrusive. The heavy inks actually look all right on the other three features.

I've read a couple of "Black Roger" stories before, and this one isn't as heavy on Muslim/Moslem-baiting as the others. The artist gives us a nice feel for the Firedrake's size. In fact, the entire art job is pretty good. Black Roger's mask looks like The Spirit's. One schtick in the other Black Roger stories that is missing here is Barty being alarmed by Roger's falling for some lovely lass--sometimes to the point of breaking up the romance. Quality's "Arizona Raines" westerns used the same device...Arizona's boy sidekick fears his pal will be trapped into "settling down." Plenty of room here for theories about the duos' relationships.

The text story was okay, though rather brisk.

As for the ads: Jerry Fasano's plea for better schools has a somewhat bitter taste in light of the current effort to dismantle America's public schools and turn them into profit-making entities dispensing substandard mush to those whose parents can't afford elite institutions. I've seen this PSA dozens of times and it always jars me how the kid's nose lines up with the corner of the room in panel one and the awkward way his chin gets mixed up with the lamp in panel two. Tangencies, we artists call 'em.

Not a lot of advertising--only four pages, three of them on the covers. Has anyone seen an Automatic Chord Selector? Maybe if I had one I could get a few dates, too.

Not one but two he-man ads, one after the other. Charles Atlas must have paid more; he got the back cover. There's a match to remember: George Jowett vs. Charles Atlas, fight to the finish. Atlas would win because he has the better name. "George Jowett"? And look, George cribbed Charles' bully-on-the-beach episode. Without the kicked sand.

Five years ago I was a four-stone apology. Today I am two separate gorillas.
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Mazzucchelli

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Re: Week 46 - Buccaneers #23
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2014, 02:36:00 PM »

Wow, this week
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paw broon

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Re: Week 46 - Buccaneers #23
« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2014, 03:15:52 PM »

Most enjoyable.  A good satisfying read with some nice art, particularly Crandall on that 1st story.  Very attractive female characters all the way through.  The first story with Captain Daring does have flaws in the plot with Tezca's strangely superspeed falling for Daring. But, the story, and Tezca, look good.
Marooned was a tasty read, even though Maroon's id stood out a mile and the blank parchment wax obvious but that's because the book is from 1950 and I've read that twist/mystery a few times over the years. 
I have also read a couple of Black Roger stories prior to this one, in British reprints, and anyway, I'm a fan of masked men stories.  Doesn't matter when the stories are set. So this one was a nice surprise.  Swashes are buckled, pistols are fired and there is a mysterious menace. 
I'm sorry that this genre faded away as I think nowadays it would make a welcome change from superhero stuff.  My fear would be that creators might give in to the temptation of making them very violent and  cruel. fun all round.
This was good fun all round.
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Captain Audio

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Re: Week 46 - Buccaneers #23
« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2014, 10:59:50 PM »

This reminds me of an artist complaining that after the comic book code came along the publishers started removing the cleavage lines from his drawings of females.
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narfstar

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Re: Week 46 - Buccaneers #23
« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2014, 01:06:20 AM »

Looking at Tezca was really the best thing about the first story. The dialog got on my nerves pretty quickly. The story was somewhat interesting when considering its original publication date. Overall that is enough of Captain Daring for me.
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Captain Audio

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Re: Week 46 - Buccaneers #23
« Reply #6 on: November 23, 2014, 04:10:24 PM »

Quote
Those were the days also when a super hot female girl, with amazing body would look plausible as a captain pirate of a pirate ship, commanding a bunch of ruthless seafarers. And she would fall in love and prove to be just a delicate flower in search of love in the end
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bowers

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Re: Week 46 - Buccaneers #23
« Reply #7 on: November 26, 2014, 12:00:46 AM »

I actually downloaded and read several issues of "Buccaneers" years ago. Guess it was about time for a re-read. Quite good art throughout this book although the writing was a bit weak in places. Still, for me, good art can carry a bad story while bad art can ruin a good story.
The Capt. Daring tale wasn't too bad, but I did enjoy both the Bluebeard and Black Roger stories a bit more.
As others have pointed out, this book is from a now defunct genre. I've noticed that three out of our last six books have also come from lost genres. Week 41- circus, week 42- aviation, week 46- piracy. (Four out of six if you count Son of Sinbad as a pirate comic as opposed to a sword and sorcery epic.) I can only think of one other long-gone theme we haven't done yet- boxing comics. Can anyone think of any others?
Enjoyed this one, a very good choice. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all! Cheers, Bowers
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narfstar

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Re: Week 46 - Buccaneers #23
« Reply #8 on: November 26, 2014, 02:33:48 AM »

Someone should suggest a Joe Palooka or Curly Kayoe for consideration, if anyone has a favorite.
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SuperScrounge

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Re: Week 46 - Buccaneers #23
« Reply #9 on: November 26, 2014, 04:24:09 AM »

Captain Daring - Kind of cliched, but otherwise an okay read. Art was nice.

The Spanish Main - Okay, but nothing special.

Eric Falcon Soldier of Fortune - I wonder how many kids reading this when it was on newsstands knew the secret of the blank parchment before the hero did? Oddly enough when it is revealed he reveals he knows of methods to make invisible ink, so why didn't he think of that before?

Priceless Cargo - How many ways can someone say Okay, but nothing special?

Black Roger - Well, this was a nice change of pace. Raising the average for the book as a whole.
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Captain Audio

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Re: Week 46 - Buccaneers #23
« Reply #10 on: November 26, 2014, 06:15:23 AM »

I wonder if Tezca ever showed up again in later stories.
No body recovered leaves the possibility that her suicide was a ruse to allow her to escape. We've seen similar in pirate movies, swimming under the ship and catching onto a trailing line or climbing up the rudder to get aboard and hide out till near land.
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MarkWarner

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Re: Week 46 - Buccaneers #23
« Reply #11 on: November 26, 2014, 09:34:10 AM »

As I mentioned at the beginning of this thread, the book was chosen by a piratical member of the reading group who assures me that this book can't fail! We'll see, and I just hope I enjoy it a WHOLE LOT more than Son of Sinbad.
 
So far the book is as I imagined, but way more so! There is camp and there is awesome Mardi Gras camp, and this book belongs on the winning float! Errol Flynn is a gnat compared to Captain Daring. Just a couple of one liners that I loved:
 
Quote


"Sink me, you'd be better suited to a Royal Ball than to the deck of a rascally pirate tub!"

"Shiver my topgallants ... it's a PHANTOM!"



Next story Bluebeard shows himself to be a reformed man and pardoned. Amazingly silly stuff, but not quite as silly as the next story featuring Eric Falcon. Oh who would have guessed that the puzzling blank piece of paper actually had a map drawn on it with invisible ink? A nice little one page text story leads us into the final lap with Black Roger and Barty and a windup giant.

Verdict: A hit! This book was much more fun than I thought it was going to be and SO MUCH better than the tedious and tiresome Son of Sinbad from a couple of weeks ago! Well done piratical reading group member!
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