Monday, December 17, 2012

THE LONE RANGER "He Finds Dan Reid" Part 1

You may know that Dan Reid is both The Lone Ranger's nephew...
...and The Green Hornet's father.
But do you know he appeared in both characters' radio shows and comic books, making Dan one of pop culture's first "crossover" characters?
Will The Lone Ranger's uncanny aim enable him to save the officer without killing the Apache?
Will he find any clues as to where his nephew is...or even if Dan is alive?
You'll find the startling conclusion, along with background info and other goodies, Tuesday, at our "brother" blog...
Adapted from a radio show episode of the same name, this story from Dell's Lone Ranger Golden West #3 (1955) was pencilled by Tom Gill, but the inking looks a lot like John Severin, not Gill himself.
This entry is part of our Retroblogs™ Masks Marathon, celebrating the new Dynamite comic series Masks which combines, for the first time, the major masked mystery men of pulps and comics including The Green Hornet, The Shadow, The Spider, Zorro, The Black Terror, The Green Lama, and Miss Fury (ok, a masked mystery woman), among others.
Though The Lone Ranger hasn't been listed as participating, The Green Hornet (and by extenssion, Dan Reid), are in the story.
(Besides, Zorro is making an appearance, so there's always a possibility...)
We'll be presenting more never-reprinted stories featuring these characters throughout the month of December.
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Thursday, December 13, 2012

ZORRO "Mark of Zorro" Conclusion

Don Diego Vega, secretly the masked man known as Zorro, battles oppression of the middle and working-class citizens of Los Angeles while romancing (as the dashing Zorro), Lolita, the beautiful daughter of caballero Don Carlos!
However, corrupt Captain Ramon lusts for Lolita, and when spurned by her, orders her family's arrest on trumped-up charges!
This book-length tale in Dell's Four Color #228 (1949) was adapted from the novella "Curse of Capistrano" by Johnston McCulley.
(The title "Mark of Zorro" was first used for the 1920 silent film adapting "Curse" and starring Douglas Fairbanks as Zorro/Don Diego.
Since then, when the story is reprinted, it tends to use the "Mark of Zorro" title instead of "Curse".)
The writer of the comic adaptation is unknown, but the artist is Bill Ely, who has several hundred comic stories from 1937 to 1967 to his credit.

Dell Comics continued this series of Zorro one-shot tales on an irregular basis in Four Color until the debut of the Walt Disney Zorro TV series, which they began adapting into comic books.
In an early example of rewriting continuity, the later stories ignore the fact that Zorro's secret identity is now known to the other residents of Los Angeles!

This entry is part of our Retroblogs™ Masks Marathon, celebrating the new Dynamite comic series Masks which combines, for the first time, the major masked mystery men of pulps and comics including The Green Hornet, The Shadow, The Spider, Zorro, The Black Terror, The Green Lama, and Miss Fury (ok, a masked mystery woman), among others.
We'll be presenting more never-reprinted stories featuring these characters throughout the month of December.
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Monday, December 10, 2012

ZORRO "Mark of Zorro" Part 1

Here's a fascinating version of the classic story...
...which is not based on either the 1920 or 1940 movies, but the original (1919) novelette, "Curse of Capistrano"!
The story continues at Hero Histories™ tomorrow!
This book-length tale in Dell's Four Color #228 (1949) was adapted from the novella "Curse of Capistrano" by Johnston McCulley.
(The title "Mark of Zorro" was first used for the 1920 silent film adapting "Curse" and starring Douglas Fairbanks as Zorro/Don Diego.
Since then, when the story is reprinted, it tends to use the "Mark of Zorro" title instead of "Curse".)
The writer of the comic adaptation is unknown, but the artist is Bill Ely, who has several hundred comic stories from 1937 to 1967 to his credit.

This entry is part of our Retroblogs™ Masks Marathon, celebrating the new Dynamite comic series Masks which combines, for the first time, the major masked mystery men of pulps and comics including The Green Hornet, The Shadow, The Spider, Zorro, The Black Terror, The Green Lama, and Miss Fury (ok, a masked mystery woman), among others.
We'll be presenting more never-reprinted stories featuring these characters throughout the month of December.
at No comments:

Monday, December 3, 2012

Pariah...It's Not a Person, It's an Entire Town!

It's our 100th post, so we thought we'd do something a little different...

..instead of presenting a classic Western comics tale, we'd look at an upcoming one!
If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know of my love for cross-genre Westerns, either horror/fantasy or sci fi like Space Western, Wander, or Original Ghost Rider, and this upcoming series looks like a worthy addition to the oeuvre.
It's currently being presented on KickStarter to get financing for production and printing.

Here's what the creators say about the project...
1857.  
Pariah, Missouri is a riverboat boom-town and a haven for the unscrupulous.
The charismatic Hy Buchanan works undercover as a foppish cheat, and creates a rag-tag team to ferret out evil, both the corruption of man and the supernatural.
His first challenge is the arrival of a duo of thespians, whose intentions are not to entertain.

Pariah Missouri is a western (set right before the Civil War) with a supernatural twist.
Think of it as Deadwood meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 
It leans on mysticism and folk-magic and if you enjoy settings that are heavily researched with complex characters this is for you! 
Our first story will be four 22-page issues.
This Kickstarter campaign focuses on the production of the first two issues printed as one double-sized issue (~50 pages).
Currently issue one is completed and we are in the middle of finishing issue two, which is on schedule for the end of December.
After this campaign, the team is scheduled to complete issues three and four by spring of 2013 and begin additional story lines in Pariah.
This is more than one story, this is the beginning of a rich world that is being created, and YOU get to be a part of it!

Illustrator Jose Pescador has a gritty, semi-realistic style well-suited to the genre (both Western and supernatural).
The art has a European comics "feel", giving it a kool Lt Blueberry/Lucky Luke look...
Multi-talented writer (and probably layout artist) Andres Salazar served as an assistant to Howard Chaykin when he wasn't doing stand-up comedy or filmmaking.

Trivia: This was a TV series proposal that, unfortunately, didn't sell, so writer Salazar decided to make it into a graphic novel.
Ironically, if it sells well (and I hope it does), it could be optioned as a TV series or feature film!

Judging from the 20-page sample available HERE, both the storytelling and rendering are easily on a par with the material from the big companies. (In fact, it looks better than some of the stuff the biggies are currently offering!)
It's well-worth checking out HERE, and there are some really nice benefits if you contribute.
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Monday, November 26, 2012

RIFLEMAN "Score to Settle" Conclusion

Cover for Four Color #1009. The caption refers to the other story in the issue.
The rambunctious Reagan family blames Lucas McCain for crippling their father in an incident that the Regans themselves caused!
One son has already been wounded attempting to out-draw The RifleMan, but the others have sworn vengeance...
The script for this tale from Four Color Comics #1009 (1959) was penned by Eric Freiwald and Robert Schaefer, while the art was provided by Dan Spiegle, one of the primary illustrators for Dell (and later, Gold Key) movie/tv adaptations due to his knack for rendering likenesses of actors.

After this appearance, The RifleMan received his own comic book, which had an 19-issue run beginning with #2, for a total of 20 issues.
(The Four Color issue was considered to be #1.)
After #12 was published, Dell Publishing ended it's contract with Western Publishing, who handled the editorial (writing and illustrating) duties on Dell Comics, while Dell handled newsstand and store distribution.
Western created Gold Key Comics, which continued to publish the already-existing movie and tv comics,while Dell maintained the Dell Comics name with a new line of comics featuring original characters (including Lobo) and newly-licensed movie/tv/newspaper strip series.
The RifleMan continued from #13 to #20 at Gold Key, with the same writers and artists who did the earlier stories.

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Monday, November 19, 2012

RIFLEMAN "Score to Settle" Part 1

It's been a while since we visited Lucas McCain and his son Mark...
...so let's go by the old homestead as their friend, local marshal, Micah Torrance stops by...
Seems peaceful enough, but the Reagan clan has plans for revenge against Lucas, as we'll see..next week!
The script for this tale from Four Color Comics #1009 (1959) was penned by Eric Freiwald and Robert Schaefer, while the art was provided by Dan Spiegle, one of the primary illustrators for Dell (and later, Gold Key) movie/tv adaptations due to his knack for rendering likenesses of actors.

Oddly, though, regular supporting character Marshal Micah Torrance looks nothing like actor Paul Fix!
Whether this is due to the artist not having photo reference or the actor not allowing his likeness to be used in licensed products is unknown.

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