posted March 10, 2003 04:38 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by profh0011:

Sy Barry / Dan Barry-- OY! Now, one of those guys did an INDIANA JONES mini for Dark Horse, which was gorgeous (in a "traditional" sort of way, as opposed to far too many of the "flashy young turk" stylists of the time).

---

posted March 11, 2003 03:46 PM               

I THOUGHT the art looked like Williamson, but with it shrunk so tiny and cut up like it was, it was a bit hard to tell. On closer inspection, here's what I have...

Vol.1 / c 1974, 1975, 1979
Adventure In Greece (1974-75)
The Return Of The Dahlmeister (1975)
Return To The Water World Of Mongo (1975)

Vol.2 / c 1971
Adventure In Neptunia (1971)

Vol.3 / c 1971
The Planet Of Death (1970-71)

Vol.5 / c 1976, 1978, 1980
(2 stories, untitled, the first w/ The Hawkmen, the 2nd w/Ming / both from 1975)

Vol.6 / 1975, 1980
(untitled w/ Ming's return to power / 1978 / credited to Dan Barry & Bob Fujitani)
The Robot War (1976)

As you can see, this was a very tacky set of books thrown together without rhyme, reason or care. the copyright dates in the front don't even match those in the stories, which are clearly newspaper strip reprints. And they't even done in any logical sequence! The art on Vol.1-3 looks taken from the interiors, but Vol.5-6, which probably came out around the time of the DeLaurentiis movie, have a new logo similar (buit not indentical to) the film logo, and have PAINTINGS done for the covers. Vol.5 has no credit, but Vol.6 is singed by "Meltzer".

"Dan Barry did Indiana Jones for Dark Horse."

Yeah. It sure looked a HELL of a lot better than anything he had his name on with FLASH GORDON-- didn't it??

"Buster Crabbe also starred in a serial Red Barry."

posted March 11, 2003 07:56 PM               

When I dug out my small stack of my oldest comics (not including Marvels & DCs, which had been filed separately ages ago) I unearthed BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY #32 / Nov'70. The 1st story is "The Eyes Of the Monster". At first glance, it reminded me of that Italian guy who did GOld Key's STAR TREK. On closer inspection, however...

The figure work, the panel layouts, the clothing details, the way foregrounds & backgrounds are set up, camera angles... I'll be DAMNED if this doesn't look EXACTLY like what could be early work by PAUL GULACY!! --or, possibly, very early CRAIG RUSSELL. (One episode of KILLRAVEN inked by Jack Abel shocked me when I realized that when they started out, Gulacy & Russell's work looked almost identical-- BOTH were "doing" Jim Steranko! --but they each "evolved" in totally different directions, stylistically.)

posted March 11, 2003 08:25 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by profh0011:
...I unearthed BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY #32 / Nov'70. The 1st story is "The Eyes Of the Monster". At first glance, it reminded me of that Italian guy who did GOld Key's STAR TREK. On closer inspection, however...

...I'll be DAMNED if this doesn't look EXACTLY like what could be early work by PAUL GULACY!! --or, possibly, very early CRAIG RUSSELL. (One episode of KILLRAVEN inked by Jack Abel shocked me when I realized that when they started out, Gulacy & Russell's work looked almost identical-- BOTH were "doing" Jim Steranko! --but they each "evolved" in totally different directions, stylistically.)

This is not that long before both guys debuted at Marvel, so it's a possibility. Anyone have info on these things?

---

posted March 11, 2003 08:39 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by James Friel:
Got any Frank Miller Twilight Zones?

---

posted March 12, 2003 02:37 AM               

About 2 -3 years ago, I finally put together a collection of KILLRAVEN. Apart from the shocking inconsistency early on (including Don McGregor's debut, my vote for the WORST script he ever wrote in his life-- heehee) it was fascinating to FINALLY see Craig Russell's art evolve from issue to issue. I'd placve the DR. STRANGE ANNUAL (which I know was done over a long period of time) around the point JUST before Craig did "A Death In The Family", where his "new style" suddenly exploded. The DS ANNUAL was just too crude and "experimental" looking by comparison-- as a couple of KILLRAVENs had just before he "got it". Of course, since then Craig REALLY developed, and instead of a multitude of flowery lines everywhere-- like Wally Wood, he began using FEWER lines, and BETTER ones. When I saw the early-80's KILLRAVEN graphic novel, it was like-- WOW!!! And he's been there ever since. (The recent REMAKE of the DS ANNUAL-- completely redrawn and re-dialogued from scratch-- was a MAJOR improvement. And, since I can't believe a character would experience the EXACT SAME ADVENTURE twice in his career, and I like the later one better, my "explanation" is that the earlier ANNUAL-- shoved awkwardly between issues of a rambling, multi-parter where Strange was dimension-hopping-- was a bizarre "hallucination", looking forward to a FUTURE adventure, which didn't get published until 20 years later. (How's THAT for a "no-prize"???) After all, this is comics-- you can't get away with what Ralph Bakshi was doing on the later, 3rd season SPIDER-MAN cartoons...!!!

posted March 12, 2003 01:17 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by vinylchair:
James Friel,

Thanks for the info on Rip Kirby.

---

posted March 12, 2003 02:06 PM               

Steranko's PREVUE once had a "debate" of sorts, in the form of several letters from Craig Russell & Marv Wolfman, argueing over "what went wrong" behind the scenes on that Annual. I was so pissed off at the time over Steve Englehart's ABRUPT departure mid-story (Gene Colan must have been, too, he & Tom Palmer left with the same issue) followed by Marv's decision to not only derail Steve's last intended 4-parter midway, but also de-power Doc and take the whole series into a rambling storyline that went NOWHERE (which marv LEFT in the middle of-- the ultimate lack of caring).

Craig was so inspired about Dr. Strange, which he'd done some early work on during PREMIERE, that all on his own, he came up with the story that appeared in the Annual. Because it was being done "on spec" and hadn't been commissioned, he had to work on it in his spare time, whihc is why it took so long. It was intended as a stand-alone story, but when Marv decided to make use of it, he insisted on JAMMING it right in the middle of his meandering non-epic, where all it did was INTERRUPT the ongoing mess even worse than it had interrupted the Englehart run. And to make matters worse, because of the page count determined for the Annual, a PILE of pages had to be CUT from Craig's story at the last minute. And to throw gasolene on the fire, Marv's dialogue was so OVERLY-WORDY and inappropriate in places, it made reading the thing extremely painful.

Unless I'm confusing it with some other story, I believe Craig also detailed how someone in Marvel's production department had WHITED OUT the areas of the art where the word balloons and lettering were supposed to go-- even though they were pasting down word baloons created on overlays-- instead of whiting out the BACKS of the balloons themselves!!! When Craig got the originalo art back and saw the butcher job they'd done to his art, he carefully peeled the balloons off the art pages, put them in an envelope and MAILED them back to the production department, saying "I believe this is yours." There was so much animosity at that point he had trouble getting work at Marvel for a couple of years after that.

When I read the prestige one-shot 20 years later, I pulled out the old Annual and compared the 2 versions side-by-side, page-by-page. MY GOD!!! What an improvement. This is why I prefer to think of the original as an extended "dream sequence" rather than something that-- supposedly-- happened TWICE! (The original really didn't belong where it was published in the story sequence, anyway.)

posted March 12, 2003 08:04 PM               

Whereas I enjoyed the HELL out of all 6 issues. But then, I've bought damn near everything Gulacy has done since the 70's, and have been waiting for a MOKF reunion for a long time.

The one irritating thing about the mini was the attitude of that one team leader. By the end (when he got his stupid self killed) I figured Doug & Paul were doing their "take" on Arnold Schwarzenneggar & Sharon Stone and all the "ultra-macho ultra-violent" stories of the last 18 years (ever since THE TERMINATOR came out).