tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post9100124560522744040..comments2024-03-27T05:54:38.797-07:00Comments on <i>bare</i>•bones e-zine: The Warren Report Issue 64: June 1975John Scolerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14082147756474762000noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-7116778602945593092021-07-30T06:37:16.532-07:002021-07-30T06:37:16.532-07:00The 1987 Spirit movie is available on the Internet...The 1987 Spirit movie is available on the Internet Archive and I started watching it last night. Puh-zhelle is how they pronounce the name. The first 5 minutes are pretty bad but I'll stick with it. I do like seeing Speed from The Odd Couple as Commissioner Dolan.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-89771401551910673292021-07-29T19:03:33.406-07:002021-07-29T19:03:33.406-07:00I've never known his Flash Gordon, but Sam Jon...I've never known his Flash Gordon, but Sam Jones makes an entertaining Denny, both before and after he becomes the Spirit. Again, he's pictured as a sort of likably "priggish" good guy modeled a little on Adam West's Batman, and that part might not be considered faithful at all. (I've never known the comics well enough to really know.)Granthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09603892208775996594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-35737643155550207822021-07-29T13:30:42.596-07:002021-07-29T13:30:42.596-07:00I've never seen either version. I think I was ...I've never seen either version. I think I was too fond of the comics to subject myself to the TV or film adaptations. I read some of the updated comics and they were okay, but nothing can touch the originals.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-79679900057269453332021-07-28T21:07:02.303-07:002021-07-28T21:07:02.303-07:00I know I've mentioned it before, but I wonder ...I know I've mentioned it before, but I wonder if anyone here is familiar with the 1987 pilot for a TV version of THE SPIRIT with Same Jones, which I've seen more than once. It takes the sort of predictable Adam West BATMAN route by making him a comically straight-laced good guy facing a lot of witty bad guys, but even if the IDEA is predictable, it does it in a pretty clever way. (I've heard at least one person say that at the very least "Its heart is in the right place" compared to the ' 08 film version.)<br />I don't know about the whole thing, but a lot of excerpts are on YouTube. (The right excerpt could at least answer the question of how THAT version pronounces "P'Gell.")Granthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09603892208775996594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-43286804264838132462021-07-26T09:43:00.188-07:002021-07-26T09:43:00.188-07:00(cont)
As for the rest of the issue, yikes! A kil...(cont)<br /><br />As for the rest of the issue, yikes! A killer Easter Bunny is a hilarious concept, and I suppose as you say, the story can work as a parody, but overall I was just not a fan and the story ends way too abruptly for me. "Cult of the Dead" has for what is most of the story, a fairly good one, only for it to crash and burn in the end when the cops show up and shoot the villain, giving us for all intents and purposes the same ending two stories in a row. They could have gone in an interesting place with this story's concept in my eyes, heck this even would have worked as a possible series for Eerie, or at least a multi-part story, but they just completely pull the plug and end it super abruptly. "Angus Crow" gives us not only what is a very predictable ending, but also an ending that is for all intents and purposes the same as Fernandez' story from the prior issue, "Surprise, he was an alien!". A disappointing conclusion as this marks the end of Fernandez's original run of stories for Warren (a few inventory and rewritten stories of his will pop up years later). I will miss his art and writing quite a bit, well at least for those stories of his not involving aliens. Also, the cover by Ribas is too dark, making it really hard to tell what is going on with Vampi.Quiddity99https://www.blogger.com/profile/17809157926893454731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-88918261714304371172021-07-26T09:40:35.866-07:002021-07-26T09:40:35.866-07:00The all El Cid issue was better than I had remembe...The all El Cid issue was better than I had remembered, with fairly entertaining stories throughout. Although much like with the Luis Bermejo issue, in which I really enjoyed all the individual stories, the problem is the fact that having them all crammed into one issue gives too much of a sameness feeling. The magazine claims its a book-length epic, but in reality you've got one lengthy two part story and three stand alone stories. All five of these could have been spread across separate issues. I wonder if there was some scheduling problem at the time where they had a lot of inventory stories built up from certain artists and couldn't put out an issue with the regular variety, so they opted for these one artist ones. Anyway, the stories are fairly good for me (more entertaining than most of the Dax stories, which I think is the closest comparison). Mayo is a strong artist, and a lot of his work looks gorgeous, although at times he can also get way too over the top with the complexity, to the point where you have no idea what is going on. In fact among Warren's artists he may be tops in this department. It doesn't always show up, but when it does, its quite the weakness.<br /><br />With the Flaxman Loew era of Vampi over, we're back to more serialized-type story telling, with the Van Helsings and Pendragon's daughter back. Flaxman Loew had run his course, but I can't say I'm the most excited about a storyline where we think our characters are going to die but you question, as with any never ending serialized character, if they have the guts to eliminate anyone permanently. "The Wolves at War's End" is one of my top 5 Warren stories, and I recall it also being in the top 5 in the Warren Companion. One of the best art jobs we'll see in a Warren magazine and an excellent story too, although I will admit the pretentiousness from Budd Lewis is certainly there. I think its a good companion piece with the Apocalypse series and may have worked better for that series' entry for "The Plague", although as you mentioned, its not a Warren original, so its not like they could have just handed Jose Ortiz the script and have him do it instead. The original version of this story did get printed in Heavy Metal a few years later under its original title, "The Winter of the Last Combat". Despite his pretentiousness, I prefer Lewis' version. Beyond lacking the pretentiousness, the two other major differences are that in the original story the sorceress character isn't his sister, and the wolves are real, and had killed our protagonist's pursuers (and eventually him as the story ends).<br />Quiddity99https://www.blogger.com/profile/17809157926893454731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-33971360633664816192021-07-26T08:44:35.802-07:002021-07-26T08:44:35.802-07:00Of this week’s offerings, SPIRIT #8 is the only on...Of this week’s offerings, SPIRIT #8 is the only one I acquired fresh off the rack at the late, lamented Cork N Bib Liquor store (R.I.P. — *sniff*). I picked up the VAMPIRELLA and EERIE issues many years later, and don’t really recall them very well — the Vampi doesn’t sound too promising and I don’t have much desire to wade through an entire issue of Mayo’s Melty Madness and Mayhem at the moment. <br /><br />I agree that this is one of the most consistently excellent issues of Warren’s SPIRIT. There really isn’t a weak story in the bunch. For a ‘Theme Issue”, there’s a wide variety of story types and the ladies themselves all have very distinct personalities. Jack, I’ve often wondered myself about the pronunciation of “P’Gell”. In my head I’ve always tended to pronounce it “Pih-Zhell” (rhymes with “Michelle”). But I wonder if Eisner meant it to be a pun on “Pigalle”, the notorious red light district in Paris. <br /><br />Speaking of pun-names, the two Sand Saref stories are my favorites in this issue, quite possibly my all-time favorite Spirit stories, period. If The Spirit seems to be stepping out on Ellen here, keep in mind that these two stories started out featuring a detective named “John Law” — basically Denny Colt with an eye-patch instead of a mask — and were later turned into Spirit stories after Eisner couldn’t sell the John Law series. <br /><br />b.t.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-68111040580425262652021-07-26T08:24:12.775-07:002021-07-26T08:24:12.775-07:00I guess I'm lucky I've never read these ma...I guess I'm lucky I've never read these mags before--I don't have any rosy memories!Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-87431815102761162742021-07-26T06:00:10.780-07:002021-07-26T06:00:10.780-07:00While I like Mayo's art, after the first story...While I like Mayo's art, after the first story I had enough. It had at least a kind of plot, but the rest just limped along. I didn't expect much, but why do El Cid if Spain never is put on the page? This is generic fantasy as usual. It could have been Dax junior swinging the sword while looking like a model.<br /><br />Vampirella is a disappointment. Vampi's story was just a too long prologue which just ended. The rest was just the usual. Garcia did some nice illustrations, drowned in the usual pretentious and overwrought Lewis captions. A comparison with the original would be interesting. The two Boudreau stories had the same ending, cops guns them down. How boring. Fernandez delivered his usual talking heads.<br /><br />In my recollection these stories are so much better. Maybe the highlights like Wrightson, Corben and some of the Spanish artists left a strong impression and the rest were just merciful forgotten.andydeckerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01312309519462680892noreply@blogger.com