Blog 2.0

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

Feb. 15, 2011 -- Many retailers wouldn’t sell sexy Vampirella magazine to minors when it debuted in 1969. They believed they were protecting kids, and they were – from terrible stories.

Vampirella Archives Vol. 1 ($49.99) has arrived from Dynamite Entertainment, collecting the first seven issues (1969-70) of Warren Publishing’s third black-and-white horror magazine, after Creepy and Eerie. Like the first issue of Vampirella itself, the cover of the first Archives volume is the famous Frank Frazetta painting which introduced the voluptuous, scantily clad vampire.

That’s pretty much where the quality ends. When Vampirella debuted, Warren Publishing was going through hard financial times. And the once high-quality publisher was using second-rate talents in the late 1960s, and even a core cadre of up-and-comers (Ernie Colon, Tom Sutton, etc.) wasn’t enough to save the book from clichéd stories, amateurish art, poor spelling, malapropisms and erroneous homophones.

I was also looking forward to learning more about the origins of the title character, now a headliner at two different publishers (long story). But it seems Vampi wasn’t originally the star of Vampirella – she was simply the host of a horror anthology, similar to Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie in their magazines. And she poses a lot, theoretically exciting to adolescent boys (although, with the crummy art, I doubt it).

There is a story in the first issue giving her origin, but it isn’t written by a professional author. It is instead by Forrest J. Ackerman, the world’s most famous horror-film fan, who was the nominal editor of Warren’s Famous Monsters of Filmland. And it is painful.

Vampirella (her real name, implausibly) lives on a planet of vampires called (sigh) “Draculon,” where water is made of hemoglobin. U.S. astronauts arrive, whom Vampi promptly sucks dry, then steals their ship and goes to Earth, where, inexplicably, she has an evil, blonde cousin named (sigh, again) “Evily.” They briefly fight, and Vampi is apparently the good guy, albeit a blood-sucker who kills innocent people.

There are a couple more stories like this, each more excruciating than the last. The regular horror stories aren’t much better. I really can’t recommend this book.

Fortunately, Warren’s quality improved in the 1970s, before they went out of business altogether. So later volumes of Vampirella should be better. Also the series, and the character, improved greatly at later publishers, stories which are being reprinted as Crimson Chronicles by Harris Publications, and Vampirella Masters by Dynamite. Those I can recommend.

Elsewhere:

* DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns can apparently do no wrong these days. He just finished re-imagining Green Lantern to critical and financial success, and now has turned his sights on the Fastest Man Alive, with promising results.

The Flash: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues ($19.99) collects the first seven issues of the Scarlet Speedster’s rebooted title, plus two stories from the Flash Secret Files and Origins 2010 one-shot. Not only do these stories lay the groundwork for the new series starring the resurrected Flash of 1956-86 (as a superhero forensics expert), not only do they tell you everything you need to know about the major characters, villains, background and milieu of the series, but they tell a whopper of a tale as well. Johns combines the innocent charm of ‘60s Flash stories with the hard-nosed storytelling of today’s CSI franchises in a time-travel whirlwind using most of the Crimson Comet’s rogues gallery. That’s a lot to pack in, but Johns does it effortlessly for a story offering revelation, mystery, thrills and charm. No wonder he’s CCO!

* NBM has released Salvatore Vol. 1: Transports of Love ($14.99), the first in a series of anthropomorphic-animal graphic novels by Nicolas De Crécy (Glacial Period) and … I’m really not sure what to make of it.

Salvatore is a master mechanic dog who steals parts from his clientele to build a Rube Goldbergian vehicle to travel to South America to reach his true love (a well-bred terrier). Inexplicably, he only eats fondue. Meanwhile, Amandine – a pregnant and extremely near-sighted hog – has a Mr. Magoo-like adventure where her car lands on an airplane, where she gives birth, and loses one of her piglets in the sewers of Paris, where it is adopted by a Goth cat. Thus ends volume one.

I know Salvatore is supposed to be funny, but mostly I found myself baffled by this adventure/comedy/travelogue. I am intrigued enough to continue, so maybe the second volume will give me more context.

Contact Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics@aol.com.

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

Jan. 18, 2011 -- Original graphic novels are hitting bookshelves like a tsunami these days, but DC’s Vertigo Crime line is always welcome. They’ve released another winner, Noche Roja ($19.99), that is nerve-wracking from first page to last.

Writer Simon Oliver (The Exterminators) wisely placed his story in one of the most genuinely lawless and frightening places on Earth: northern Mexico, near the U.S. border. One glance at Google will attest to how law enforcement there is virtually non-existent, how hundreds of young women continue to disappear annually and how narcotraficante gangs battle each other with military-grade weapons. Northern Mexico is one location where ‘30s-style crime noir stories continue to work well, because it is similar to the U.S. settings of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler: places that fake being civilized but are incredibly dangerous.

As is typical of crime noir stories, our “hero” is a cynical outsider with a dirty past and a lousy present. Jack Cohen is an ex-policeman and occasional private eye who sells security systems to McMansion owners, and stays drunk to quiet his nightmares. He’s hired by a Mexican social worker to investigate a series of murders of maquiladoras (female factory workers) that are even more brutal than usual. Cohen’s trip south of the border is a Conradian journey into the heart of darkness – his own, and the political conspiracies, brutal class structure, powerful drug cartels and sexual perversion he finds there.

Jason Latour’s art is more stylized than I like in a book where it’s important to see expressions, postures and subtle movement, but it’s still clear (and gritty) enough to do the job. This “Red Night” will be a chilling one for the average reader on the safety of the couch.

NBM is another publisher whose original graphic novels (often imported from Europe) are usually among my favorites. But Miss Don’t Touch Me Vol. 2 ($14.99), by Hubert and Kerascoet of France, was something of a disappointment.

Maybe it’s because I had so much fun with the first Miss Don’t Touch Me, which introduced the naïve but courageous Blanche, whose poverty consigns her to a whorehouse in early 20th century Paris – but by dint of her determination remains a virgin. This is achieved by Blanche becoming a dominatrix who does not allow the customers to touch her, a curious sexual niche that becomes a sensation and the whorehouse’s biggest draw. This farcical narrative was buttressed by a murder mystery, all of which came to a happy ending, turning the novel into a sort of 1930s-style screwball comedy.

However, the second volume is more Oliver Twist than Thin Man, where Blanche is buffeted by economic and social forces beyond her control, compounded by losing her heart to a gay man. She is no heroine here, but merely a victim. Add the return of her selfish, alcoholic mother, and Miss Don’t Touch Me Vol. 2 is more tragedy than farce.

Hopefully this is merely a second act, and there will be a third Miss Don’t Touch Me that will allow our heroine to prevail. As it stands now, the second volume is just depressing.

REPRINT ROUNDUP

Most people know Our Army at War as the DC title that introduced Sgt. Rock, and later took that name. With Showcase Presents: Our Army at War Vol. 1 ($19.99), we can see what it was like in its infancy.

Our Army began in 1952 during the Korean War, but also during what many consider the highlight of war comics: Harvey Kurtzman’s Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat at EC Comics. Interestingly, the stories reprinted in this black-and-white behemoth (OAAW #1-20, 1952-54, 512 ppg.) only occasionally tip their hat to Kurtzman, especially in the use of the three-panel zoom (mostly by writer Robert Kanigher, who used the technique promiscuously the rest of his career).

Most of these stories are fairly by the numbers, with heroic Americans learning life lessons during combat adventures that often border on the absurd (first in the Korean War, then after the 1953 armistice mostly in WWII). But it was interesting to see so many familiar names, especially Ross Andru, Gene Colan, Jerry Grandenetti and Irv Novick, and even more interesting that due to the consistent house-style inking – mostly by Joe Giella – how amazingly similar these divergent artists were made to appear.

Conclusion? This book is valuable for the comics history it reveals, but don’t expect much excitement.

Contact Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics@aol.com.