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Comic And Book Related => Comic Book Plus Reading Group => Topic started by: MarkWarner on November 04, 2015, 07:54:54 PM

Title: Week 95 - Cisco Kid Comics #1
Post by: MarkWarner on November 04, 2015, 07:54:54 PM: I think one thing that (or is it which) we all agreed on was the cover for last week's Thrills of Tomorrow #17 was top rate. Also, the consensus was that it went a little bit down hill from there.

This week's book I have just found on a really old and over looked list, I believe it was one that I picked out, if it was someone's choice I apologize. So here is https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=31639 (https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=31639). The main story we are concentrating on is the first untitled one that GCD labels as "It isn't every day that the sheriff gives a send-off to anyone like this"

(https://box01.comicbookplus.com/images/readinggroup/Cisco_Kid_1.png)
Title: Re: Week 95 - Cisco Kid Comics #1
Post by: Morgus on November 05, 2015, 05:25:04 AM: Really nice. The gals looked good and the story had a nice flow...now, my imagination, or did the t.v. show Cisco NOT used a gun? ....FAUST was good too...right up there with the CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED line...wonder who did it???
Title: Re: Week 95 - Cisco Kid Comics #1
Post by: SuperScrounge on November 05, 2015, 07:22:01 AM: First story - Cute. Couldn't help but imagine the TV show's actors saying the lines, but as I understand it this is supposedly based on the Cisco Kid from the O. Henry stories, not the TV show. Hmmm...

Killer's Nemesis - Short, but not bad.

Super Baby - I do think it is a crime, to read a story all in rhyme.

Xmas in Mexico - A rewrite of Gift of the Magi.

Faust - This summary seemed rushed and odd.

You'll Die Laughing... - If only the detective had a sharp object, or a gun to shoot, he wouldn't have died.

Funnyman - Uh-huh... basically the Joker without a Batman to stop him.
Title: Re: Week 95 - Cisco Kid Comics #1
Post by: crashryan on November 06, 2015, 07:33:17 AM: There's a lot to like in this comic, but as a package it's rather strange. I'm used to anthology titles offering several types of story. However these features are so different from one another that they don't seem to belong in the same magazine. Curious, I checked out the other Baily one-shots. All are the same: mishmashes of odd features. The overall impression is that Bailey either tossed out everything he could think of hoping something would connect; or else he had a pile of unrelated stories which he stuck into his comics at random. In a book named after the Cisco Kid I expected more of Cisco, or at least an overall western theme.

Anyway, by themselves each feature has something going for it. In the case of the Cisco Kid, it's Charles Voight. His art is almost slapdash. Yet the panels are so lively and well-drawn that I'll even forgive him the most outrageously fake guitar I've ever seen. His senoritas are lovely and his old men are bursting with character.

The story doesn't do much for me. I confess I was confused; at first I thought the old men were fighting over the girls! I haven't much patience with stories about guys who are irresistible to women (like Don Juan in an earlier group read). The concept isn't funny, just stupid.

"Killer's Nemesis" packs so much into a single page that you hardly notice the ace detective doesn't do any detecting. Because the bodyguard's hat and suit are the same colors as Darrell's it looks as if the G-man is knocked off in the splash panel.

"Super Baby" is fun. I like the character, the story and the artwork. Unfortunately the rhyming dialogue wrecks everything. If the writer had used standard technique I think Super Baby would have made a good second feature.

"Xmas in Mexico" rips off "Gift of the Magi" with Cisco and Pancho the sacrificing lovers. Weird.

"Faust" is a reasonable, if hasty, adaptation. It's well-drawn. But what the heck is it doing in this comic?

"You'll Die Laughing" and the "Funnyman" comic story both strike me the same way. What a mean-spirited piece of work! Our hero is an escaped Nazi torturer. Unlike other strips starring villains this one doesn't offer a good-guy nemesis, leaving the impression we're expected to admire this guy. Strange and nasty. John Giunta shows his strong points, especially in his use of blacks. His rendition of Funnyman's face is truly unsettling. One could compare this guy to The Joker, but he's more like the present-day joker, a complete psychopath. Not a typical 1944 character.

The confusing story doesn't work at all. All the action turns out to be a fairy tale Funnyman tells to some guys hanging out at his barber shop. Why is he running the shop and not his criminal empire? The opening lines suggest he's been a barber for some time. Did he really set himself up in the job because he was sure someday the feds would come to ask him about Funnyman? I'm not quite sure how Funnyman's true face is revealed. I guess he is wearing makeup which the kid scrapes off with his razor. Giunta further confuses things by not showing clearly that "Dead Pan" has fallen asleep in a barber chair. Even so, would the criminal mastermind really sleep through the kid draping him and lathering his face?

The bad taste "Funnyman" left made me forget the better stuff in the issue. I can't imagine a greater contrast than that between this guy and Jerry Siegel's "Funnyman" from a couple of years later.
Title: Re: Week 95 - Cisco Kid Comics #1
Post by: MarkWarner on November 11, 2015, 06:53:54 AM: This is my choice. Well, not quite, I have a confession. I saw a few comments about the coolness of the art work in this book so I jumped on the bandwagon. Western comics are not really my bag so I am not sure sure how this is going to pan out! I am also intrigued to find out who "Super Baby" is!

Well, the art work really was TOP NOTCH! Even a dumbo like me can see when things are good. It was a rather silly meandering story, which is fine by me. I found the "fake" Mexican lingo a tad annoying, but it wasn't so bad.

Killer's Nemesis was most weird. A one page whistle-stop detective story. Very peculiar. Correction: Not at all peculiar. The following story Super Baby is, in SPADE FULLS. It is majestic on its quirkiness. A MUST READ!!! We have a hit!

One page text story was OK. Ah .. now what do we have "Illustrated Stories of the Operas - Faust". Blimey! That was very good. I didn't know the story and it was very powerful.

I just read the Funnyman text story and I got confused. But turning the page I see that this is a different Funnyman and not the one by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. And I am back to confusion. I didn't understand at all what went on!

Verdict: A hit. As predicated the Cisco Kid artwork was great, Super Baby was (good) bizarre and I even learned something with the Faust story.
Title: Re: Week 95 - Cisco Kid Comics #1
Post by: paw broon on November 11, 2015, 02:01:24 PM: I think the art was what saved the Cisco story because the kid-on Mexican patter was more than a tad off-putting. The story was not typical of a western comic and was an attempt at a comedy to my mind. Unfortunately, it didn't quite come off. At least I enjoyed looking at the pictures.
The one-pager was interesting and packed a lot in. This is something older British comics fans will recognise as this idea of one and two-pagers occurred in some of our comics. Not info. fillers, but attempts to entertain in a very confined space.
Super Baby was different and, again, British fans will recognise this idea of telling the story in rhyme. I wasn't thrown by a baby becoming super powered as DC have done Superbaby and there have also been Superhorse, Beppo, Supercat and Krypto. It's an odd, somehow endearing idea and I didn't mind it.
Faust is the non-comic, comic story, being a no word balloon attempt. But with the placing of the dialogue as done here, it isn't a true text strip either. Telling what I understand is a very powerful story in this hurried way certainly hampered the effect.
Funnyman is a nasty story and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Title: Re: Week 95 - Cisco Kid Comics #1
Post by: bowers on November 11, 2015, 10:23:29 PM: This is the first non-Dell Cisco comic I've read, and it's pretty good. His outlaw background is still alive in this story, unlike the sanitized character we grew up with on TV and Dell comics. Reminds me a bit of the 40's Cisco Kid movies. Fast paced writing and great art in the Cisco tale.

The rest of the book was a strange mix, but mostly enjoyable. The one-pager was good and I enjoyed the Super Baby story with the rhyming script. Faust wasn't bad but Funnyman was just a bit too much for me.

A decent comic for the most part. Definitely a thumbs up. Cheers, Bowers
Title: Re: Week 95 - Cisco Kid Comics #1
Post by: betaraybdw on November 12, 2015, 03:47:49 AM: Thumbs down, solidly

could not get through any of the stories
Title: Re: Week 95 - Cisco Kid Comics #1
Post by: narfstar on November 24, 2015, 10:48:15 PM: Oops didn't comment on this one. Of course it was not much worthwhile to comment on. Cisco looked OK but the story just did nothing for me.