Monday, February 25, 2013

TEX GRANGER "Showdown with Luke Conway"

...you gotta love it when the comic itself synopsizes the plot!
Now, back to the story...
This never-reprinted tale from Parents Magazine Institute's Calling All Boys #11 (1947) was written by Charles Spain Verral and illustrated by Lorence Bjorklund, both long-time pulp magazine creators who were making the transition to comics as pulps died out.
Eight issues after Granger's premiere, Calling All Boys became Tex Granger, dropping most of the text features to make room for more Granger stories in each issue.
The title only lasted seven issues.
Two inventory stories were published in the back of the final two issues of Parents' longest-running comic, True Comics, then Tex Granger disappeared into the mists of history...but not before leaving behind a cinematic legacy...
 Within a year of his debut, Granger was made into a movie serial...

...but not without some major changes, including giving him a secret identity as "Masked Rider of the Plains"!
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Monday, February 18, 2013

LOBO "Showdown" (And THE END of Lobo!)

 After "The King's" plan to frame Lobo (in order to trick the local sheriff into hunting and killing the hero) fails, the crazed criminal is forced to do his own dirty work...
But Lobo didn't return...
This was his last appearance...anywere!
(There's never even been a reprint trade paperback.)
As to why, artist Tony Tallarico explained in a 2006 interview...
I approached D. J. Arneson and he brought it in and showed it to (Dell Comics editor-in-chief) Helen Meyer. ... She loved it.She really wanted to do it.
Great, so we did it.
We did the first issue.
And in comics, you start the second issue as they're printing the first one, due to time limitations. ...
All of the sudden, they stopped the wagon.
They stopped production on the issue.
They discovered that as they were sending out bundles of comics out to the distributors (that) they were being returned unopened.
And I couldn't figure out why.
So they sniffed around, scouted around and discovered (that many sellers) were opposed to Lobo, who was the first Black Western hero.
That was the end of the book.
It sold nothing.
They printed 200,000; that was the going print-rate.
They sold, oh, 10-15,000!
That's why it's up to you, dear reader, to spread the word!
Link to this blog's entries on Lobo!
Tell others of the FIRST Black character to have his own comic book!
Let the Lobo legend live!

And, don't forget your Lobo comic collectibles, including t-shirts, mugs, and other goodies at...
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Monday, February 11, 2013

LOBO "Posse"

Lobo interferes with the plans of "The King", a rich landowner with delusions of grandeur who's attempting to drive local ranchers off their spreads in order to claim the "abandoned" land for himself...without paying a cent!
Next Week: Showdown!
The FINAL Chapter in the Saga of Lobo!
This tale from Dell's Lobo #2 (1966) was written by D J Arneson and illustrated by Tony Tallarico.

Don't forget your Lobo comic collectibles, including t-shirts, mugs, and other goodies at...
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Monday, February 4, 2013

LOBO "King of the West"

Before Django...there was Lobo!
Landing a job as a "drover" with a cattle drive, an ex-Union soldier tries to be accepted as just another cowboy.
But a cruel Fate has other plans for him, as he is framed for murder.
But, the man who actually committed the killings dies before confessing to the authorities!
Now known as "Lobo",  he seeks to clear his name...
Next Week:
Written by Don "DJ" Arneson and illustrated by Tony Tallarico, two guys who were well ahead of their time!
And, don't forget your Lobo comic collectibles, including t-shirts, mugs, and other goodies at...
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