PEOPLE WITH ISSUES Episode 27

I'm guesting on the latest episode of People with Issues, discussing comics with Mr. McGroovy. Amongst the topics are Blade Runner by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson, Fantastic Four Pocket Book and Hulk Pocket book by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Hate by Peter Bagge, Justice League by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, Spleenal by Nigel Auchterlounie, and Star Wars Weekly! Have a look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QezxzLHCZ8k

MARVEL STAR WARS EXPLORERS: The Return of Ben Kenobi

I'm guesting on the latest episode of this fun podcast, discussing the newspaper strip story, The Return of Ben Kenobi, by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson, with hosts Brian Rudloff and Sam Stovold.

Have a listen here.

NEVER IRON ANYTHING: Star Brand & the New Universe

On this episode, Tony Esmond and I discuss Star Brand by Jim Shooter, John Romita JR, and Al Williamson.

Have a listen here.

THAT COMIC SMELL: Dinosaur comics

The latest episode is online now.

From the website:

"In a distant time (earlier this year) 4 friends embarked on a Skype journey to chat... Dinosaurs!
Come and listen to us prattle on about bloody dinosaurs. There’s no deeper meaning here. No messages of any kind. Just a good long look and talk about comics that have kool dinosaurs in them.
This and all the usual comics chat on…
That Comic Smell!
Follow us on Twitter & Instagram @thatcomicsmell
Get us on…
Soundcloud: tinyurl.com/y8vzeh3c
Spotify: tinyurl.com/y2qtu2cs
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Apple Podcasts: tinyurl.com/hwbqxab
Podbean: tinyurl.com/yxvecykj
and most places you find podcasts.

Boring (Noah Van Sciver)
One Dirty Tree (Noah Van Sciver)
A Matter of Life (Jeffrey Brown)
Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)
King-Cat No.80 (John Porcellino)
Eye of the Majestic Creature Vol.2 (Leslie Stein)
Blat! #1 (Mat Greaves)
Crossover Classics (Various Marvel and DC)
Bravo for Adventure (Alex Toth)
Jurassic Park (Gil Kane, George Pérez, Walter Simonson)
Tyrant (Stephen Bissette)
Dark Horse Classics Godzilla (Randy Stradley, Art Adams)
Creature features (Art Adams)
Ray Bradbury Comics (Richard Corben, Al Williamson)
Gon (Masashi Tanaka)
The Flash #269 (Cary Bates, Irv Novick)
The Cartoon History of the Universe (Larry Gonick)
Devil Dinosaur (Jack Kirby)
Steve Ditko Reader
Cretaceous (Tadd Galusha)
The Avenging Spider-Man in the Savage Lands (Cullen Bun, Gabriele Dell'Otto)
Predators (Various Accent UK Creators)
Tommysaurus Rex (Doug TenNapel)
Dinosaurs for Hire (Tom Mason)
Dreadlands (Andy Lanning, Steve White, Phil Gascoine)
The War that Time Forgot (Bruce Jones)
Tor (Joe Kubert)
2000 AD: Flesh (Pat Mills, Carl Critchlow)
The Real Prehistoric Beasts (Mike Sedakat)
Marvel Fanfare (Michael Golden, Chris Claremont)
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (Amy Reeder, Brandon Montclare, Natacha Bustos)
Axe Cop (Ethan Nicolle, Malachai Nicolle)
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (Mark Schultz, Craig Elliot)
Dinosaur Comics (Ryan North)"

THAT COMIC SMELL: Read Me Forever!

The new episode is online now.

From the website:

"On today’s episode we covers those pages/comics in which we constantly come back to. The ones we set aside even though we have a huge reading pile to get through. The ones that we jumps to when thinking about comics. The show offs. The utter loves. The ones that are FOREVER!
We also go into quite a large list this time of comics that we have got a hold of, bought or have been reading recently.
This and all the usual comics chat on…
That Comic Smell!

Get us on…
Soundcloud: tinyurl.com/y8vzeh3c
Spotify: tinyurl.com/y2qtu2cs
YouTube: tinyurl.com/yajnxcno
Apple Podcasts: tinyurl.com/hwbqxab
Podbean: tinyurl.com/yxvecykj
and most places you find podcasts.

Star Trek DC (Mike Barr, Tom Sutton, Ricardo Villagra)
This Was 2020 (Peter Conrad)
Batman: Strange Apparitions (Steve Englehart, Marshal Rogers, Len Wein, Walt Simonson)
Bubbles Fanzine #9 (Brian Baynes)
Please Don't Step on my Jnco Jeans (Noah Van Sciver)
King-Cat Classix (John Porcellino)
Tarzan (Burne Hogarth)
King Kirby: Jack Kirby y el mundo del cómic (José Joaquín Rodríguez)
Bone (Jeff Smith)
Watchmen (Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons)
Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back (Al Williamson, Archie Goodwin)
The Incredible Hulk (Stan Lee, Jack Kirby)
Spider-man/Venom (Todd McFarlane)
Transformers: Stargazing (Simon Furman, Jeff Anderson, Stephen Baskerville)
Hellblazer: Original Sins (Jamie Delano, John Ridgway)
Thor: Blood Oath (Scott Kolins, Michael Avon Oeming)
X-MAN (Steve Skroce, Terry Kavanagh)
Battle Angel Alita (Yukito Kishiro)
Fued (Mike Barron, Mark Nelson)
The Hulk vs Doc Samson: Marvel Annual (John Byrne
Dragonball Z vol.2 (Akira Toriyama)
One Piece Vol.1 (Eiichiro Oda)
Excalibur (Chris Claremont, Alan Davis)
V for Vendetta (Alan Moore, David Lloyd)
Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)
Blacksad (Juan Díaz Canales, Juanjo Guarnido)
The Death of Superman (Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern & various)
Follow Me In (Katriona Chapman)
CYDO (John Tucker)"

ZINE LOVE - SMALL (PRESS) OAKS

 
Iestyn Pettigrew asked me questions about my influences and inspirations over at Zine Love website.

I mention Peter Bagge, Blade Runner, Bugs Bunny, Comic Books are Burning in Hell, Danger Mouse, Steve Howe, Tim Kelly, Jack Kirby, James Kochalka, The Police, Treehouse, Carol Tyler, and Al Williamson.

Have a look here.

STAR WARS: EPISODE 9: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Because Star Wars is a money making franchise which has to continually be kept running, Disney has been busy training everyone to understand that Episode 9, rather than being the end of Star Wars, is more accurately the end of “the Skywalker Saga” - a subset of Star Wars which sits alongside all the other shows like The Madalorian and spin-off movies like Rogue One. However I understand it in the context presented to me in 1979 - it's the final episode of the 9 movie Star Wars saga.

Here's an excerpt from the very enjoyable book "Once Upon a Galaxy" by Alan A.Arnold:

"Alan A. Arnold: Tell me more about the overall concept of the Star Wars saga.
George Lucas: There are essentially nine films in a series of three trilogies. The first trilogy is about the young Ben Kenobi and the early life of Luke's father when Luke was a little boy. This trilogy takes place some twenty years before the second trilogy which includes Star Wars and Empire. About a year or two passes between each story of the trilogy and about twenty years pass between the trilogies. The entire saga spans about fifty five years."

The Star Wars adaptation comics have been a mixed bag. The first three have sterling work from Roy Thomas / Howard Chaykin, and Archie Goodwin / Al Williamson. By the time we got to the comic of The Last Jedi last year, I found I enjoyed that more than the movie. I was able to swallow the events of that story more when presented as a comic (which I could pretend was an expanded universe type of thing).

As far as I’m aware a comic for The Rise of Skywalker hasn’t been announced, but with this last trilogy, the adaptations have been coming out a year after the movies, so we’ll see.


In any case, tomorrow sees the culmination of the promised 9 part saga. Obviously a lot of things have changed along the way (Lucas’ non-involvement is a deal-breaker, truth be told). But it is what it is, and it feels like a momentous occasion to me.

Goodbye, Star Wars p2 from Break the Cake, 2018.

THAT COMIC SMELL 36: Giant Size 2019 Annual (Bronze Age Top 3)

The new episode of That Comic Smell is now online.

Have a listen at iTunes, Soundcloud and YouTube.

From the web:
""Look out Gotham! The Joker’s back in town!"
We're back and bigger than ever! After a large bout of sickness, festive down time and technical problems we come to you with this Bumper Giant Size Episode. We begin by answering some VERY interesting twitter questions from listeners. Which takes us nicely into showing off our Christmas pressies/swag to each other. Some have more than others and we go all out to try and make each other jealous.
If that wasn’t enough for you, we even had a main topic of our Top 3 Bronze Age comics! As we find out though, we barely scratch the surface on such an iconic and defining era in comic history. That doesn’t stop us completely smothering ourselves in bronze-age goodness and sharing some incredible favourites.

This and all the usual comics chat on the only comics podcast that one day would love to be sponsored by a biscuit. I mean I think we eat enough…

That Comic Smell!"

THAT COMIC SMELL 27: Top 3 Creators

The new episode of That Comic Smell is now online. A discussion on some of our favourite comics creators.

Have a listen at iTunes, Soundcloud and YouTube.

From the web:
"TOP 3 CREATORS. GO!!
Is exactly what we did to our guest on episode 27 of That Comic Smell.
We were joined by the oh so amazing Olivia Hicks! (2000AD writer, Betty & Veronica and Cloak & Dagger Lover)
We all bring our own top 3 creators to the table and one by one present them and discuss some of the works that really made us decide that they were the ones for us.
There is also many a usual wild tangent and what we have currently been reading.
All that and so much more on the only podcast that can be understood by household pets and various wild birds.
That Comic Smell!
Follow us on Twitter & Instagram @thatcomicsmell
Get us on…
Soundcloud: tinyurl.com/y8vzeh3c
YouTube: tinyurl.com/yajnxcno
iTunes: tinyurl.com/hwbqxab
Don’t forget to Like, Share, Subscribe, Rate & Review.
You can also find us on the Podbean app.
Thanks again for listening and supporting the podcast
Here are some of the titles mentioned:
Nando:
John Byrne - Hulk, Fantastic Four, X-men
Moebius - Lt Blueberry, The Incal, Silver Surfer
Paco Roca - Wrinkles, El Invierno del disbujante, Los Sucos del azar
David:
Sam Henderson - Magic Whistle, Humour can be funny
Mary Fleener - Life of the Party, Slut Burger
Al Williamson - Star Wars
Mike:
Akira Toriyama - Dragon Ball, Dr Slump
Bill Finger - Batman
Walter Simonson - Thor
Olivia:
Kate Beaton - Hark a Vagrant
Katie Skelly - My Pretty Vampire
Kathleen Jacques - Band vs Band
Giuseppe:
Sergio Aragonés - Groo the Wanderer, M.A.D, Bogie Man
Bryan Talbot - The Tale of one Bad Rat, Grandville
Darick Robinson - (w/Warren Ellis) Transmetropolitan (w/Garth Ennis) The Boys
Tom:
Derf - Trashed, My Friend Dahmer, The City
Daniel Clowes - David Boring, Ghost World, Wilson
Bill Watterson - Calvin & Hobbes
Some Honourable Mentions:
Tony Millionare - Maakies
Todd McFarlane - Spider-man/Venom
Garth Ennis - Preacher
Kate Leth - Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat
David Robertson - Dump I, II & III, Zero Sum Bubblegum, Wow! Retracted, Berserkotron"

THE STAR WARS PHENOMENON IN BRITAIN

This new book covers the cultural impact the first three Star Wars films had on the UK. The author was a young kid living through it.

Many aspects of the merchandise available are covered in depth - toys, records, books, etc. All lovingly covered in detail.

The comics are discussed too. The Marvel UK series, and the newspaper strips by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson, as published in The Sunday Express Magazine.

I was pleased to see I am quoted regarding the latter, talking enthusiastically about the cuttings I took from these.

I've still got them. A really nice wee collection...

SOME OLD COMIC BOOK PAGES

I bought a new magazine on Star Wars related artists yesterday.

Flicking through, I came to the image above. This is the caption:

"Randy is a great fan of mixed media - yes, that background behind Leia really is some old comic book pages"

I have never seen Al Williamson's art from the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi comic adaptations referred to in such an offhand way before. This statement lazily - and I would imagine unintentionally - belittles Williamson, and comics themselves. It seems they are not artworks by a particular artist, but are just some old things an artist finds lying around and can stick in the background of their artwork.

Such ignorance from any source - but especially from a magazine purporting to be about Star Wars artists. They show no signs of knowing who Williamson is. He is arguably the top Star Wars comic artist ever, and also influenced Lucas before he'd put the film together.

I must add that I have no idea what Randy Martinez's take is on Williamson - he is not asked about him. Nor is Williamson mentioned anywhere in the article.

"...some old comic book pages"

It's just a little thing, a caption, but it really pissed me off. It actually made me sorry that I'd handed over money to justify such ignorance.

AL WILLIAMSON

[I put up the following piece at the time of Al Williamson's death in June, 2010. It has disappeared off my blog, so I am reposting.]

Al Williamson has died.

He worked in comics since the 1950s, when he was part of the legendary EC comics stable. His longevity has meant that he has had an impact on many generations. I became aware of him when he did the Marvel Comics adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back:

Back then I could instinctively tell that this artwork was superior to other stuff being published. It’s classical style clicked with me, and coupled with the excitement about a new Star Wars, it was irresistible.

Williamson drew some of the spin-off Star Wars comics Marvel published too. This is from 1981, issue 50:

He’d been well known for drawing Flash Gordon in the 1960s too, taking on the mantle of artist from Alex Raymond – himself a big influence on the young Williamson. The Flash Gordon movie of 1980 certainly had a different tone than the comics, but the adaptation was handed over to Williamson to draw, a choice which delighted fans:

I first saw Blade Runner on video in 1983 and was excited about a new film with Han Solo in it. However I quickly grew tired of it and went off to play with my cousins instead. A couple of years later Return of the Jedi Weekly in the UK began running Williamson’s Blade Runner adaptation as a back up strip. Wow – what artwork once again by this guy. I had to see the film again to re-evaluate it. The comic is beautiful:

By 1983 Return of the Jedi was ready to come out. The comic was advertised showing parts of Williamson’s artwork. Again, it’s dynamite:

So he’s done Empire and Jedi, but not the original movie. If only he could have a go at adapting the original Star Wars I thought to myself. There was another Star Wars comic by Williamson in Star Wars issue 98 in 1985. Bonus greatness:

I got my first taste of Williamson’s original Flash Gordon work in one of Alan Class’ UK black and white collections. These were little treasure troves with plenty of prime Ditko, Kirby and other great little stories from the 50s and 60s. But what did I spot in the newsagent one day in the mid 80s? An Amazing Stories of Suspense cover featuring Flash Gordon which was unmistakably by Williamson:

An Art of Al Williamson book was released in 1983. I finally got a hold of it years later. It contained something I didn’t know had existed. Unpublished Star Wars strips drawn in 1977 chronicling the first movie:

After the Empire adaptation, Williamson got the job of doing the Star Wars newspaper strips. I cut a bunch of them out of a huge pile of Sunday Express magazines that were sat in the back on my biology classroom in the late 80s. They really are beautiful:

In the early 90s, Dark Horse Comics re-jigged and reprinted the strips, editing them so as to fit a standard comic book format, with Williamson expanding on his artwork and sometimes drawing entirely new pictures. So, for instance, the preceding Sunday strip became a two pager:

Beginning in the late 80s Williamson put more time into inking comics. He made everybody he inked look better. Williamson’s work with John Romita JR. on Daredevil is generally regarded to be the latter’s best.

In 1995 Marvel put out a new Flash Gordon two part series by Williamson. Great stuff once again:

The last published new work by Williamson that I’m aware of was a Sub-Mariner story from last year:

Great to still see those evocative lines in the sea background, and lithe figure work too.

Another strip he drew for many years was Secret Agent Corrigan, which is all going to be collected soon. Here’s a nice moody three panels:

I’ve picked up other Williamson comics over the years. As much as I could growing up in a town without a comic shop.

Here’s a nice page from Alien Worlds in 1984:

This is a 1990s reprint of Sound of Thunder from 1954:

There have been many more books on Williamson since The Art of in 1983. There has also been a collection of all his Flash Gordon work which looks tremendous. I’ve mock-complained with my friends that every time I turn around, someone else has brought out a book on Al Williamson! Didn’t stop me buying and enjoying them though…

I had just ordered The Al Williamson Archives which is due out in September. It’ll be a bittersweet experience looking through it now.

For many years my admiration of Williamson was such that I thought the best word to describe his work was “impossible”. How could anyone draw entire comic books to that standard? It just seemed impossibly good. As I got older I realised that it came down to bloody hard work. Williamson didn’t have a magic paintbrush that produced this stuff, he had talent and had to sit down and put the hours in to make it all look so good.

I was paralysed in my own drawing by Williamson. For a long time, I thought I had to measure myself against him. I could never reach that level (no-one did), so I was stuck. I finally had to throw him away completely from my thinking when drawing my own stuff, which finally liberated me.

Now I’m free to enjoy and marvel at the beautiful artwork that is still there on the page.

Thank you, Al Williamson.

CHRISTMAS COMICS: DAREDEVIL

One thing you don’t want to do if you’re in New York in a 1980s Daredevil comic is dress up as Santa Claus to raise money for charity.

Daredevil is Matt Murdock - a blind man with radar; like a bat. He is therefore able to do gymnastics and fight with supervillains and stop bank robberies. His most ridiculous power is that his sense of touch is so sensitive that he can read newspapers by feeling the ink. Isn’t that great?

I like Daredevil. I first read him when he was into his stint by Frank Miller. Miller wrote and drew Daredevil in a gritty nasty fashion.

One of the most celebrated storylines of the 80s finds Murdock the victim of The Kingpin Wilson Fisk, who has had Murdock be disgraced and lose his job; blown up his house, and then tried to kill him.

It’s all taking place at Christmas!

This comic had ads for M&Ms and MASK toys. And fabulous art by David Mazzucchelli.

Miller was a very influential and popular writer and when he left Daredevil his were a difficult pair of shoes to fill. Ann Nocenti stepped in and did a great job. Her writing has characters who are rather philosophical, always thinking through the rights and wrongs of what they're doing and what’s going on around them. I’d previously read her on the Star Wars and Longshot comics and enjoyed those.

In this story, Daredevil encourages a group of kids to do the right thing, only to have a twist at the end anyway...

As you can see, Todd McFarlane is starting to get work at Marvel Comics here. We were quietly entering the next phase of superhero comics. From Mazzucchelli to McFarlane in less than a year.

McFarlane moved on to The Hulk as a regular gig, and stepping in to Daredevil was John Romita Jr. 

Picking up the story as charity street Santa is being robbed…

Inking there by the tremendous Al Williamson. The comics look great, and are still continuing with Nocenti’s moral philosophising.

As with all superhero comics, Daredevil appeared in titles other than his own. He’s in the first issue of Marvel Fanfare – a title with glossy paper throughout. Here’s the opening to a story by Roger McKenzie and Paul Smith…

Merry Christmas!