Spitfire Comics 1(1) The Spitfire -
The Spitfire's origin story. The eventual fighter pilot, eventually takes the same name as the airplane he flew, and yet it didn't come from the airplane, but rather from his unique talent of being able to literally spit fire (a talent he acquired from drinking volcanic water from a volcanic spring on a tiny island in the tropics ostensibly on the North American side of The Atlantic Ocean).
It already requires the reader to suspend a lot of his or her beliefs about how The World works. That gets even tougher to do, as we find out that that spring was "The Fountain of Youth" that Ponce de Leon sought back 200 years before. And our hero, an 18th Century English ship's captain falls asleep from breathing the gasses escaping from the volcanic geysers, and wakes up 200 years later, alive and well-preserved, as is his rowboat (preserved by those gasses). Actually, such gasses would be caustic, and would have deteriorated his clothing and boat, faster than the normal rainwater and biotic deterioration, alone. The reader is supposed to believe that those things and his life were extended by the gas. He leaves the lifeless island in his rowboat, and is encountered by a German submarine. It contains Nazi soldiers whose mission is to bomb The British naval base in The Scapa Flow area of The Orkney Islands of northern Scotland. What was the submarine doing in tropical North American waters IF its mission was located in thge seas north of The Scottish mainland? It seems that this writer was really reaching to weave "interesting elements" together in his story. But the logic just gets more obviously ridiculous with each added element. It gets worse.
When the Nazi Kommandant tells The Spitfire Germany and Great Britain are at war, and he will blow up the British ships, Spitfire blows out his breath (the hot, poisonous, concentrated gas he was breathing on the island for 200 years, which makes the German soldiers choke and pass out. It doesn't bother him, but asphyxiates others. Why didn't it do the same to him when he first breathed it? Spitfire had watched the Germans operate the submarine for several days, so he was able to operate it. (THAT I can believe). This happens when the sub is near the base in The Orkneys. The British cannoneers fire at the sub, so Spitfire beaches it, and runs along the shore dodging shells. British and German plans are having a dogfight above him. A wounded British bomber lands. Spitfire approaches him and speaks with him from very close range. Why doesn't his caustic breathing, so near to the man, make him pass out? Even if he doesn't blow it at him, continuing to talk so close would build up its concentration to a dangerous level. The man wearing 18th Century clothing and speaking 'Shakespearian English tells the wounded pilot he wants to take the man's plane up into the air sand fight The Germans. The pilot thinks nothing odd about Spitfire. He doesn't smell the volcanic gases. Spitfire The Man from 1741 gets inside the cockpit, fiddles around with the devices until he gets it to take off into the sky. Something that would take a normal person probably some instruction by a pilot. Unbelievably, he practises diving and other maneuvers all the while German pilots are bombing ground installations or firing machine guns at British planes in the air around him, but they leave him be while he trains himself to learn to operate his plane, one has to guess that is because it is "the sporting thing to do".
Spitfire knocks several German bombers and fighters out of the sky. He's become an "Ace" fighter in Jig Time! This makes the legends of Samson and Hercules seem like true stories, by comparison. His feats scare off the remainder of the squadron of bombers, who flee back towards The Continent. Spitfire chases them. He only fails to catch them by running out of petrol. Of course, he is able to land his plane perfectly, having had no instruction nor practice. A whole squad of German soldiers run towards him, but he blows his breath of fire at them. They report about the British Human Flame-thrower to their camp's Kommandant, who vows to capture him.
It was way too silly for me to enjoy it even at 8 to 12 years old. And I believe the writer could have kept all the adventure portions and made it a LOT less unbelievable, and so would allow the reader to move through the story at a decent pace not stopping to think about how silly each ridiculous logic problem is when they pop up, one after another. THEY aren't necessary to make the story interesting or adventurous. There still would be impossible things happening, but just less of them, and those that remain would be "less unbelievable" (or less obvious or easily recognised as impossible). For example the wounded pilot could have shown Spitfire how to operate the plane, and passed out at the end of doing that because he used his last energy in that process. I think the superpower of fire breath is different from the normal super muscle strength - which is good. But it has too many aspects making it too unbelievable.
I'd try to find a different "power" to replace it. Instead of sleeping for 200 years, which doesn't help the story in any way (except differentiating it from other "superhero stories"), I might have him being a Scottish teenager who wanted to join The RAF at the start of World War II, but was too young. Maybe having his power come from knowledge that almost no one else has, plus the use of a mineral from outer space that fell to Earth in meteorites, which was found by an old World War I flying ace, who is now a hermit, living in a cave near the top of Ben Nevis, who has discovered a hidden vein of that meteoritic Martian mineral, which can effect gravity, or propel things through the air very quickly, or act as a super-magnet attracting and repelling iron and steel very strongly. There are ways to make pseudo-science seem almost plausible if not thought about too deeply. Maybe this old hermit ex-pilot teaches young spitfire everything he knows and supplies him with the Martian mineral, and uses old friendships from The First War (who are high ranking RAF officers) to at least get the still underaged teen to be able to take a tour of an RAF base, where the lad sneaks into a hangar and takes off, showing the pilots and officers that he's a flying "Phenom". And a Luftwaffe attack comes, and during all the rush of pilots getting into planes, Spitfire gets into one and takes off joining thge battle. Maybe he had been watching the pilots ground training, learning how to operate their "modern" WWII spitfires, but had only first trained with the old hermit WWI pilot in his old WWI biplane. Did the old man steal airplane fuel from the nearest air base? To use to train the boy? Even solutions cause problems. But that's part of the enjoyment of creating stories.
(2) Fly-ManA heavyweight boxer whose name is "Fly-Man"? You'd think he'd be a Flyweight!!
What kind of father would ask his son to let him shrink him to 12 inches high, without knowing how to reverse the process? And I wouldn't do that just to help my father, if, all-of-a-sudden, he flipped his lid and went bonkers, and had no regard for my welfare. He would do that just to become famous. He'd alienate his whole family in doing so. Are readers supposed to respect Fly-Man for honouring his father's wishes? How can readers identify with, and cheer for, a main character (protagonist) who is an idiot? His father shrunk his own son to one foot long to FIGHT CRIMINALS???
The 2 12-inch long men are only about 1/4 taller than an apparently giant 9 inch museum door keyhole. Fly-Man throws a big knife with a lot of velocity on a perfectly horizontal trajectory. Yet it hits one of the 12 inch criminals in his back and rips through his abdomen and out front of him in a perfectly vertical trajectory. And I though t MY short-term memory is bad. And I'll bet the artist wasn't just about 80 years old......
Why would being that small help a man fight crime? On Page 7, Panel 3, we see Fly-Man taking off in a flying position, with both arms in the air straight forward (in Superman style). There are motion lines showing him moving upward and forward. He clearly has the power of flight. So the question above about the derivation of his Superhero name might relate to his flying power, rather than the insect. I can't think of any current fly species that average 12 inches in length. There probably were some even longer 300+ million years ago during The Carboniferous and Permian Periods, when the Griffinflies grew up to 28 inches long.
(3) The ClownThis is a well-crafted story with no holes I can poke through. The idea of a Cop using a clown-suit and a circus coming to town as a disguise and simultaneously a ticket to infiltrate an organised crime gang is a clever plot angle. And to also tie in the clown mask as a gas mask so he can use gas to disable the crooks is a masterly clever idea that makes the story work really well. Using the gas once inside the mob's headquarters, disabling the crooks so that they, and the evidence against them are available during a set-up police raid works perfectly.
However, I think this is a one-off and not usable to keep on using this character in follow-up stories in a series. The author would have to continuously come up with clever ideas to use the clown disguise and tie them into each new story without becoming too close to former plots, and thus, making it boring.
(4) The Buckskin BoysAnother story for young boys in which young boys have adventure that is extremely unlikely to really have occurred, and doing things that boys that young couldn't possibly have done in real life. That's to be expected, and a critic can't begrudge them of enjoying them pretending they can achieve what heroic grown men do.
(5) Gary Morgan - Foreign CorrespondentHere, I expect to find several researching errors because the writers of US-produced GA comics didn't take much if any time in researching their stories due to heavy deadlines and poor pay for comics writing, as well as most having little knowledge of foreign countries. As a Canadian who was around during the 1940s (albeit only the mid and late '40s, and only as a child, I find it hard to believe that a guard at a military installation would actually slug an American reporter for him merely protesting not being allowed inside its outer gate. I guess the artist neglected to show the reporter first physically trying to bull-rush the guard to get inside, or the reporter slugging the guard first. The reporter dashes through the gate and hides in one of the bomber planes to be shipped to The UK, because he knows the gate guard will send soldiers to root him out and physically escort him off the base. So, he set himself up to be shot as a foreign spy! Not a very intelligent reporter. This idiotic reporter, with a death wish, then introduces himself while the plane is in flight, and is surprised when the pilot tells him he'll need to turn him over to the military authorities in England, as a suspected spy. So, the reporter commits yet another crime, knocking out the pilot after they land, and stealing his clothing to use as a disguise. During an air raid, he interferes with two men grabbing a woman, and grabs her, to lead her to safety.
EVEN IF this reporter(Morgan) saves The UK from being conquered by The Germans, he should be returned to Canada afterwards, to serve a prison sentence for assault and battery of several victims, and illegally entering a maximum security military base. Maybe he should just serve a one or 2-month sentence and then be forced to do public service in Canada for 6 months to make sure he doesn't take the law into his own hands for frivolous irrational reasons. Or perhaps he should be examined by a psychiatrist to see whether or not he is mentally fit to conduct his life freely in society, or be institutionalised?
The woman tells him that her father was kidnapped by local Nazi agents and is being held for ransom. While the woman goes to The Police, Morgan goes to a local pub where he's seen by one of the two Nazi agents, who had grabbed the woman. The Nazi denounces Morgan as a spy! Morgan escapes, kills most of the Nazi agents, and likely called the police to come and arrest the few that are alive, after saving the woman's father from execution, and telephoning his story to his editor in USA. The ending has his editor making him their Foreign (WWII) Correspondent, stationed in Europe, because, otherwise, he'd be extradited to Canada to serve a prison sentence!!
Despite being a bit fanciful, it's actually a clever plot and good ending, and quite entertaining. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it, after thinking it was just another silly fantastic and illogical hero story. It is essentially that,
but the cleverness in the story idea and plot makes it a good read.
(6) The Magician from BagdadThis ought to be interesting, I like John Giunta's artwork, and as I resided in The Middle East (mostly Arab countries) for large portions of 15 straight years, and am familiar with The Kuran, Islam, and Arabic and Islamic Folklore, I'll be curious to see how The Jinn in this story is portrayed. I see from the splashpage, that Giunta is already on the right track by making "The Slave of The Lamp" look demonic, as many of The Jinn were demons (probably derived from previous demonic gods from Pagan, pre-Islamic times). I notice, already, that the author uses the Middle English familiar pronoun "Thou" to give the flavour of the distant past, but it makes no sense to use Middle English pronouns without using the proper Middle English verb forms and conjugations (using proper related declensions). On Page 1 Panel 3, Amud should be saying "Thou shalt die!", rather than "Thou will die!" At that time, "will" meant more "want to" rather than "absolutely will, with no doubt", which was expressed by "shall". The traitorous adviser to The King(Caliph?) of Bagdad is also a sorceror who wants to take over his Kingdom (Caliphate?). He sends The true King, (Nadir) to the future in another dimension (1990 in a Western country), and summons two Demons to kill him there. But Nadir summons up a flaming red Cross (crucifix), which destroys the Demons, dissolving them into nothingness (just as the Christian Cross is the bane of Vampires).
This is a religious representation that would no longer be allowed in to be printed in children's comics in Canada and USA, methinks; as both countries are dedicated to separation of Church and state. Is Church of England still the official religion of The UK, in which church members are still beholden to pay taxes to that church, and where other citizens of other religions are beholden to pay taxes to their churches, temples, or Synagogues?
The story was excellent, and I enjoyed it very much until that ending. It was too "Christian", and not very inventive, to my taste. And a bit repulsive to someone of Jewish origin half of whose recent family was murdered by a Christian society who still hated Jews from irrational hatred from almost 2000 years tradition, and who grew up with Holocaust survivors.
As Nadir wanted to become a sorcerer, to battle his traitor nemesis, I'd rather have had him come up with a clever or obscure magic spell he'd concocted, himself, just to fit his usurper's character or situation. Still, I enjoyed most of it enough to plan to read the following issue, to see what Nadir did next.
(7) Rurik, The Sea KingAs someone who has lived part time in Denmark for 35 years, and who has spent a lot of time in Sweden and Norway, whose brother lived in Sweden for 25 years, and who also was a European historian, and wrote a series of Donald Duck stories based on The Icelandic and Norwegian Viking Sagas, I can't wait to see how the Vikings are portrayed in this story.
The artist, Frank Frollo, portrayed The Danish Vikings wearing reasonable clothing, although in 851, they probably would have been sewn-together deer skins, rather than the tailored-looking fabric, looking more like cotton. And, of course, the archaeologists and historians didn't know that Vikings didn't have horns on their helmets. Frollo's artwork is fairly good. The ships are drawn well, as are the characters' figures. There is good action in the fighting scenes.
Rurik, the son of a petty Saxon king of one of the small kingdoms in England, fought with his father, who was killed in a Danish raid. He vows to get vengeance. He and a noble Knight kill 2 Vikings, steal their clothing, to infiltrate a Viking ship to take it over as new commander. Of course the new king speaks his Old English to The Danes, who speak Old Norse. They were partly intelligible languages at that time, something on a similar level to modern Hochdeutsch (standard national German and standard national Dutch. If they each spoke their own language slowly and distinctly they could make each other understood, not exactly, but each would understand the gist of what the other was saying, aided by hand gestures and facial expressions.
The Danes accept Rurik as their captain, because they hated their cruel leader, Bolden, and proceed to guide Rurik to Bolden's island harbor (probably in The Orkney Islands or Shetland Islands, north of Scotland). On the way, they spot a few Viking ships approaching their ship. They are Bolden's ships. The story ends with Rurik's crew setting fire to Bolden's boats, and watching them burn up sand sink. We know that the series will continue with Rurik and his knight continuing to pretend to be Vikings, and a ship captain, onward to further adventures. It was well drawn and interesting enough to hold my interest. Noithing terrifically memorable.
All in all, this book had very high to adequate quality artwork and several good quality stories. I enjoyed reading it. There was a lot less "silly science" and poor logic, and highly-noticible lack of research that affected the integrity of the stories than is usual in early GA US action-adventure genre comic books.
Author
Topic: Reading Group # 333 - At Random (Read 543 times)
