[MarkWarner]

After last week's somewhat obscure Tormented winning a collective thumbs up from the group, I was pondering how to follow that up. Then I realized that we have not yet read an Indian Chief!

So, this oversight will be now be corrected. I plumped for the last one after reading this comment from wooly

Behold the amazing John Buscema! My all time favorite artist. Enjoy!

Indian Chief #33 can be found here https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=38040, and we will concentrate on the first story "The Earth Trembles" (all 20 pages of it).

[Captain Audio]

Is this the same artist who did Turok Son of Stone?

[crashryan]

No, most of the Turok's were drawn by Alberto Giolitti. The very first artist was Rex Maxon. Indian Chief is drawn by legendary Marvel artist John Buscema (pencils and inks).

[Morgus]

Great book. the story moves along at a good clip, and the art is wonderful. A golden age comic that is as good as you remember it.

[Captain Audio]

Excellent artwork and decent stories.
The First People story was outstanding.
All in all a quality product.

[narfstar]

I had quite a run of these until I donated them to an Indian Museum. I always loved the covers and the stories were always good read reads. This issue is no exception. Yes it is dated and stereotypical but it portrays Native Americans in a good light when most movies at the time were not.

[SuperScrounge]

The Earth Trembles - Not bad.

Triumph - Okay.

Fangs of Fury - Not bad.

The Mystery Walls of Baboquivari - Interesting.

[crashryan]

This comic is a winner! It shows how fine Dell comics could be: solid, well-written stories and good (in this case, excellent) artwork.

"The Earth Trembles" does have some stereotypes, mostly in the dialogue. The refreshing thing is that the Native Americans are depicted in the context of their own world, not as elements of the White Man's history. Decent story, good action. My only gripe is the excess of exclamations like "Wagh!" and "Hohee!"

I liked "Fangs of Fury" even more because of its unique take on prehistoric men. And I say "men" advisedly because Red Wing's tribe doesn't seem to have any women in it.

Now the art. Fabulous! It's amazing how much John Buscema matured in the five years since Indian Chief #13. Though there's still plenty to like in "White Eagle and the Hostage," Buscema's staging and posing were often awkward and his anatomy was just a little bit off. In this issue, though, he's in his prime. Assured, vibrant figures; crisp inking, strong posing. In fact, the main difference between this and his later Marvel classics is that Buscema stages everything at eye-level rather than changing camera angles. My single quibble: the men's faces tend to look alike (though varied costuming ensures we always know who's who).

Thanks, Mark, for recommending this read.

[bowers]

I've read some of these before, but not this issue. I definitely agree that this title was one of Dell's better efforts and a joy to read.

"The Earth Trembles" was quite well written- a minimum of stereotypes. Good research using the California/Oregon volcanic activity to create an effective plot. If I recall correctly, the last battle of the Modoc War was fought in a lava bed.

"Fangs of Fury" was also pretty good, although I did prefer the previous story. An interesting, if somewhat fanciful, take on early man's hunting and interactions with animals. Still, a very fine effort.

The superb art topped this issue off and made it a surefire winner!

I haven't had much chance to read recently- lost my hard drive and about 500gbs of comics,  pulps, etc., in late June. The cost of data recovery was prohibitive, so I just got another computer and started over! I HATE WINDOWS 10! Been busy combing through old discs, flash drives and a very old external drive and I had managed to save quite a lot. Still have a ton of downloading to do. A word to the wise- back everything up, twice!

Hope to be back full time soon. Cheers, Bowers

[paw broon]

Although I'm a fan of western comics, particularly some Dell westerns, I don't really enjoy Native American titles and avoid Tonto and other such comics.  But I read this one and it simply solidified my feelings towards them.  Now I have to commit some heresy.  I don't like Mr. Buscema's work that much - it just does nothing for me.  Yes I'm sure the art is " fabulous" but to me it's all a bit boring.  Spiderman was one of my favourite reads when it started but after the change to Mr. Buscema's art, I gave it quite a few issues but couldn't get enthusiastic for that version, so stopped reading it.
So, coupled with my lack of enthusiasm for what we termed when I was a lad, " Indian comics", and my lack of enthusiasm for the art, this didn't float my boat.
I'm sure I'll get letters

[SuperScrounge]

Paw, I basically have three categories for artists: the guys I love; the guys I hate; and the guys in the middle. For me Buscema falls in the middle. I don't hate his stuff, but it doesn't grab my eyes the way the artists I love do. It's there, it does the job, but that's it.

[MarkWarner]

Due to stupid work type stuff I am very late on this parade, so here goes.

Even though I am not into western / Indian comics I am rather looking forward to reading this, mainly because the Indian Chief covers always look so good.

The main story, The Earth Trembles is a really excellent read.

"AAAIEEE The fire god must be appeased."

And indeed he was (sort of).

There is a good story line. It, and the dialogue both avoided being too corny. The main form of verbal abuse was being called a "squaw". Maybe not so politically correct nowadays.

Triumph is a great one pager. "To lose a hunt is to loose little, but to lose honor is to loss everything." Very true.

Next up Fangs of Fury. A nice feel good story. That is, unless you were the bear or one of the wolves trapped in the cave.

We finish up with a non-fiction The Mystery Walls of Baboquivari one pager sandwiched between two great Daisy Rifle advertisements. Coolio! 

Verdict: A slightly surprising, but very welcome hit. I enjoyed every single page.

[narfstar]

Most seemed to enjoy this and I have enjoyed the others that I read. I predict that those who enjoyed this will also enjoy Ben Bowie. So as a later reading group choice, or on your own, you may want to give Ben a try. I think of it as a more major version of Tomahawk.

[bowers]

Absolutely right, Narf. Ben Bowie is a pretty straight-forward frontier comic. Well drawn and written, with no distractions such as giants, dinosaurs, or magic medicine men. Although I really love Tomahawk, sometimes these devices wore a bit thin. Cheers, Bowers

[crashryan]

For those who do like John Buscema, a friend just pointed me to a site specializing in his "lost drawings"-- the sketches he often drew on the backs of his comics pages. The site features hundreds of drawings, most reproduced nice and large. An amazing show it is, showcasing a spontaneity that was often missing from Buscema's later Marvel work.

https://buscemalostdrawings.wordpress.com/