Beautiful Works by Nestor Redondo

I am pretty certain the first time I encountered the art of Nestor Redondo was in the pages of the lone issue of Rima the Jungle Girl I ever owned. Even as a then 7-year old, his work was lush, the backgrounds beautiful. Seeing it in color was one thing... seeing the original art is quite another. About a year ago I read (for the first time) the seminal issues of Swamp Thing. Redondo replaced Bernie Wrightson on the book. I was immediately taken back to that appreciation of his work I'd had over 40 years earlier. One of the masters.

Guest Writer - Thoughts on Eerie 9, with Simon

Doug: We're in for a treat today, friends. Going back several years, the Bronze Age Babies regularly featured guest writers. When I started this new blog, I knew there would be times when I wouldn't be able to meet my goal of publishing twice weekly. So right from the top, in pre-blog publicity to friends who'd stood by us at the BAB, I made an offer to all writers with an idea - bring it, try it, I'll make it happen. Today I'm quite pleased to feature the thoughts of Simon, he of The Glass Walking Stick. Simon's been a contemporary and friend of ours for many years. We now interact primarily on Twitter, and I think you'll find him thoughtful and right in line with the love of Bronze Age comics we all share.

Doug: In one of the stories featured below, you'll see a Holocaust-era tale by Archie Goodwin and Gene Colan. That story is reprinted in a book I purchased in the spring: We Spoke Out: Comic Books and the Holocaust, by Rafael Medoff, Neal Adams, and Craig Yoe. It's a wonderful collection - quite thought-provoking as you'd imagine. It's also an effective survey of just how that event has been handled from shortly after the War to the near-present. Simon has inspired me to give my own spin to "Experiment in Fear!" at some distant time.

Doug: Now, enough from me - let's get to the work of today's guest writer.

Eerie 9 (May 1967)
Warren Publishing

Simon: Hello. First of all, many thanks to Doug for kindly inviting me to do a guest post here at Black & White And Bronze! One of the most significant aspects of the B&W comics of the Silver and Bronze Ages is that they allowed artists to break out from the restrictions of the four-colour comics. The lack of Comic Code approval meant stories could be more adult (or adolescent at least...), while artwork could be presented on larger pages (typically 11" x 8.5" instead of 10" x 6.5") and the B&W format allowed for more artistic experimentation. The leader in the larger-format market was Warren Publishing who struck (monochromatic) gold with their horror mags Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella. Although Marvel, Skywald and Atlas attempted to replicate this success they never came near to Jim Warren's creepy creations. I'm going to spotlight an issue of Eerie, #9 from May 1967, which may be stretching the definition of the Bronze Age, but which is a great example of the artistic delights of the format. Behind a suitably, er, eerie cover by Dan Adkins, this issue contains some sterling work by top comics creators Archie Goodwin, Neal Adams, Steve Ditko, Gene Colan and Adkins himself. We'll start with Sturdy Steve...

Simon: "Isle Of The Beast" is a self-aware twist on that hoary old chiller, "The Most Dangerous Game", in which a hapless shipwrecked sailor finds himself pursued across a desert island by a sadistic big-game hunter. For those familiar with Ditko's super hero and fantasy work for Marvel and Charlton this must have been a revelation as the artist used the freedom of the B&W format to work in a beautiful "wash" style, with varying shades of grey and black achieving masterful effects. This painterly approach is evident on this splash page as Ditko creates wonderful three-dimensional landscapes with nary a "hard" inked line in sight. See the contrast between the dark, devilish form of the villain, the delicate impressions of jungle foliage and the Eisner-esque folds and creases in the sailor's clothes. These effects simply wouldn't have been possible in a colour comic, given the printing capabilities of the time.

Simon: By contrast, Gene Colan's artwork for "Experiment In Fear!" shows how these techniques could amplify the realism of Archie Goodwin's hard-edged script. Colan was an artist who always worked superbly with light and shade in his pencil work - something many of his inkers struggled to convey in the finished product. As seen on this splash page, Colan inks his own pencils here and also adds wash tones which give the faces of the main characters a palpably three-dimensional feel. This is suitably ironic as these characters are Nazi officers whose cruel experiments on Jewish prisoners mark them out as more inhuman than any of the supernatural antagonists in the rest of the magazine. The realism of the artwork makes this story, for me, the most chilling piece in this issue.

Simon: Finally in this trilogy of terror, we meet "The Wanderer" in a moody fantasy from Goodwin and Dan Adkins. This eerie, eschatological tale of a man's soul trapped between life and death takes us on a journey through a black and white limbo. Adkins' work was often oddly static but here it seems appropriate as the main character floats helplessly through a hellish afterlife. The interplay of light and shadow on the unnamed man's face perfectly conveys his wonder and horror, while the final panel beautifully evokes the heat and turmoil of the fiery pit... and all in monochrome.

Doug: My thanks to Simon for his analysis and presentation today - all images are scans of the magazine itself. And it looks to be in great shape, even 50-some years later! Now for your part - please feel free to leave a comment with your own impressions.

Evolution's Nightmare - a Review from Planet of the Apes 5

Planet of the Apes #5 (February 1975)
"Evolution's Nightmare"
Doug Moench-Ed Hannigan/Jim Mooney

I read this story for the first time about two weeks before Christmas, at the back of the Planet of the Apes Archive, volume 4. It was the final Apes story reprinted in those fabulous hardcovers from Boom! Studios. And I'll say that while I was "Meh..." about the inclusion of all of the articles in the Deadly Hands of Kung fu Omnibus, I really missed them in the recent PotA Archives. I can recall, as a child, generally skipping the comics within the PotA mags and skimming the articles at the grocery store. Stills from the films, especially those dealing with production aspects of the make-up, etc. were enthralling to my young eyes. But as was my condition back then, I was allergic to black & white comics... Dumb me.

I wondered as I read through the four PotA Archive collections how it was arrived to organize the books as they did. At times I felt, and I suppose this is the most practical way, stories were fit into the page allotments of each volume. Sort of like working a literary jigsaw puzzle. Today's offering is a case in point - first appearing in the 5th issue of the PotA magazine, it was the last tale to be included in the the hardcover series. One might argue they saved the best for last, though, as it is a pretty good story. Let's check it out --

100-Word Review:

War rages on the Planet of the Apes in a time long before Taylor’s arrival. Armed humans on one bluff, equally-equipped Apes across from them, with a Forbidden Zone valley the site of what will become near-complete carnage. Yet two survive the drenching of blood – Jovan the human, and Solomon the gorilla. Mutually disabled post-battle, they are forced to collaborate for survival. Setting off in a symbiotic relationship, they encounter the mixed-breed hermit Mordecai. A man-ape of thought and good will, Mordecai nurses the former combatants back to health. But once healed, their hatred still burns. Will it consume them?

The Good: What can I say about Doug Moench's tenure as scribe of these Apes adventures that others have not already said? I certainly was aware of Moench's various writings when I was a child (and onward), but I don't know that I comprehended just how prolific he was - and especially in the B&W mags. Having taken the complete tour of the PotA magazines over the past two years, I think I've elevated Moench in my personal rankings of the pantheon of comics writers. What an imagination, and a true mastery of pace, plot, and parlance. This story is certainly no exception. While the theme is borrowed, that of two former combatants forced to rely on each other for survival, Moench throws this into the apes/humans dichotomy with that extra flair that resonates with the watcher/reader of the PotA mythos. I found myself on the edge of my seat, waiting to see how these sworn enemies would resolve their foundational issues. I was not disappointed, even though the morality play conclusion seemed predictable. 

The introduction of the hermit Mordecai proved pivotal, and it was a stroke of genius to craft the character as a human/ape hybrid. Of course, that raises all kinds of other issues (moral, biological, and so on), but maybe that's the point: If Mordecai could grow from a union that would undeniably be considered taboo among the races (nay... species) of his parents and be a fount of virtue, then surely good could come to our combatants if they would but tolerate one another.

As an aside, Andrew E.C. Gaska delved into various ape/human and ape/ape hybrid possibilities in his highly recommended (by this reader) Death of the Planet of the Apes novel. Get a copy!

Ed Hannigan and Jim Mooney were solid on the artwork. Mooney seemed a bit out of his element, as those "Mooney eyes" are perhaps better placed in a Spider-Man or especially Supergirl comic. But for the most part I could get past the inks and enjoy Hannigan's pencils. This team did an excellent job of pacing Moench's script. While the inital battle scene seems long in retrospect, on my first read it was appropriate in length. Moench wanted to establish a) how brutal was the fighting and b) that it could only end in extinction of one side by the other. Yet, when that did not happen, the table was set for the main course. Hannigan and Mooney showed the scope and scale of Moench's desired carnage. I was reminded of another battle that raged to an equally-dreaded conclusion. That panel appears below, by John Buscema and Tony DeZuniga, and comes from Thor Annual 5. Overall, Hannigan chose a pretty straightforward panel layout, but as you can see from the samples I've provided, he did occasionally burst the conventional bounds.

The Bad: I don't have much to say in this box, other than the perplexing implications of Mordecai's parentage. My mind wandered to Dr. Zira's rebuke of Taylor's kiss, telling him, "You're so damned ugly!" Indeed...

The Ugly: And speaking of "ugly", I'd just say that while well done and effective, the previously-mentioned length of the opening battle had a "make it stop!" quality. So while brutal in its telling, Moench achieved his goal. 

If you've never read any of the PotA Bronze Age magazines, I'd heartily encourage you to seek and obtain the four Archive hardcovers. They are a treasure. A pricey treasure, but nonetheless I am happy to have provided them a warm home. These are books I'll return to over and over. As mentioned above, I do wish they'd included the letters pages and articles, but it is nice to have access to the comics. As we move on during the life of this blog, I'll hope to bring reviews of some of the other material from those books - the roster of artistic talent is beyond compare. 

Thanks for reading, and don't hesitate to leave me a comment below, if you're so inclined.

Mike Ploog's Werewolf by Night Splash Pages

Last month I featured some Monster of Frankenstein work by Mike Ploog. Today we'll take a gander at some of his Werewolf by Night splash pages. Enjoy - especially when you get to the final exhibit! Ploog Power, indeed!

Vampirella of Draculon - a Review

Vampirella #1 (September 1969)
"Vampirella of Draculon"
Forrest J. Ackerman-Tom Sutton

First-time Vampirella reader here, kids! Talk about "forbidden fruit"... I've mentioned before that I never had a single black & white magazine as a kid growing up in the 1970s, and I guarantee you if I had it would not have been an issue of Vampirella. You think Mom was going to let a mag like this get into the grocery cart? Think again. I recently purchased the Vampirella: The Essential Warren Years trade, just so I could begin to bring some reviews of this well-known (by everyone but me, apparently) material. It's titillating, to say the least. And the art - fabulous from cover to cover. But we'll perhaps get to some more of that later. Let's check out Vampi's 1st appearance now.

That dialogue box... To say it is rife with double entendres would be overstating the obvious. Are you struck with a sense that facially Vampirella looks like she's about 13 years old? That may not be unintentional...

100-Word Review:

Drakulon is a planet where blood flows as water does on Earth. And as Earthlings need water to survive, so do the inhabitants of Drakulon require blood. A world of vampires, we’d call them, Drakulon’s people have fangs, wings, the power to turn invisible – the whole vampiric nine yards! One day a spaceship crash lands, and Vampirella goes to investigate. Attacked by the astronauts, Vampirella bites back. Discovering that the men are basically founts of blood, she kills her assailants. But upon entering the ship she spies several men in a hibernation tank… and a feeding frenzy commences!

The Good: Wow. Not sure where to begin with this review. Usually I'm overflowing with praise when I write these things, but I can't say that here. I'll give a nod to Tom Sutton's art, which is pretty nice (for many reasons), but I'm afraid most of my time is going to be spent in the two categories that follow. I thought it was interesting, from an evolutionary standpoint, how Sutton drew Vampirella as some sort of dark, insatiable sprite. My guess is that for most readers, our mind's eye images of the character run more akin to the Frazetta painting on the magazine's cover. The images here seem more suitable for Playboy. Speaking of Sutton's art - I usually don't provide scans of complete stories, but as this one is so short it is presented here in its entirety. And no inker was listed, so I have to assume that we're seeing the whole Sutton enchilada.

The Bad: Now I have some room to move. I'm unsure of what I just read (I'm writing this on 12/20/18 while home from school caring for my wife after some foot surgery she had). Was it an origin story? Was it just a teaser to hook the reader, designed to make said reader bloodthirsty for more? Was it softcore porn? Or... am I choosing D) All of the above? Yes! - x4. Forrie Ackerman would have been about my age when he wrote this story; if I didn't have access online to his biographical information to make that determination, I'd have assumed the writer of this comic was a flowering adolescent, not a 53-year old man. This story, as you can see, is an odd mixture of T&A and vampires, with the fantasy of a beautiful dhampir attacking a man. From the opening partially-nude scene to the low-rise leggings and back dimples, this tale just oozes sex and sexual gratification. I'm not sure I'd have been in the market for this even when I was a flowering adolescent (oh, who am I kidding? I would have been). But to read it now with 52-year old eyes, I see it for what it was. That aside, the script is very crude - and I don't mean in content. The quality is low - some of that dialogue is of the quality you probably wrote in your notebook in study hall when you were in the 9th grade. Which makes me think all the more that plot and payoff were secondary to presentation - presentation of all that T&A. I'm writing most of this tongue-in-cheek, but overall it's just not a good story and was written very sophomorically.

I also found the pairing of vampires and sci-fi astronauts a bit odd in this case. Call me out for categorizing the suspensions of my disbelief, but I felt it was a strange series of circumstances. This coming from a guy who's read his fair share of Steve Gerber yarns. However, given that there was no pretense that this was a superhero mag, the genres represented (horror and scifi) seem a fair enough mashup.

The Ugly: There's not really anything to add here - "Vampirella of Draculon" most likely isn't the worst thing I've ever read. So I'll just leave one more quibble, simply for the sake of filling this space. As you see in the title, Draculon is spelled with a "C". However, once you get to the actual story it is spelled with a "K". Just seems sloppy to me. Sloppy like a vampire's kiss on your neck...

In fairness to that one bad day we've all had, that first impression that went awry, I'll be back to this collection. My curiosity is now piqued concerning the duration of popularity of Vampirella. This beginning could not be as bad as I've perceived. A future reading seems a must - especially given the quality of the art, as stated above. I'll be sure to report back with further thoughts, once that happens.