tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post7132846935527487234..comments2024-03-27T05:54:38.797-07:00Comments on <i>bare</i>•bones e-zine: EC Comics! It's An Entertaining Comic! Issue 37: August 1953John Scolerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14082147756474762000noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-22886560769447810182017-08-03T07:26:53.937-07:002017-08-03T07:26:53.937-07:00Thanks, Jim! I'm right there with you in lovin...Thanks, Jim! I'm right there with you in loving Wally Wood's art.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-9335532805168988442017-08-02T11:59:03.335-07:002017-08-02T11:59:03.335-07:00I like TFT #34 quite a lot. With Kurtzman about to...I like TFT #34 quite a lot. With Kurtzman about to move on from the war titles, it continues the transition towards becoming an adventure comic that began with #33, and this time the effort is quite successful. I'm extremely fond of Severin's New Two-fisted Tales run from issues 36-39, and you can really see the seeds of that run and of the even better run of Valor that ultimately succeeds the title in TFT #34. "Trial by Arms" is fantastic, and it anticipates the great art that accompanies the medieval stories in Valor. Severin always does a good job with the soldiers of the Empire, and the script is much better than those in the Turbridy stories. It is terrific to see Davis do a cowboy story after all that time in Korea; it is fitting that he went back to the genre with which he had begun his work for Kurtzman back in TFT #20. I don't love his cover, but he does much better with the Civil War cover in the next issue.<br /><br />While TFT stayed strong pretty much to the end of the line, I have never been a big fan of the last five issues of its companion title, and by issue #13 Frontline was pretty much done. George Evans's historical stories have great (and legendarily accurate) airplanes, but other than the upcoming "Yellow" at the end of the TFT run, they don't do much for me as stories, and they're sort of the focus of the last few issues of FC. While "Guynemer" in TFT #34 is the least interesting story in the book, "Frank Luke" is arguably the most interesting story in FC #13. The only things that really grab me about this issue are Wood's contributions; "Wolf" is, as always, beautiful, and I think all three of his Frontline covers are a cut above the two he did for TFT.<br /><br />JimAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-22501546875028798842017-08-02T06:16:50.200-07:002017-08-02T06:16:50.200-07:00Oops! I guess that story wasn't in The Martian...Oops! I guess that story wasn't in The Martian Chronicles. Well, whatever collection it was in, I haven't read it in 40+ years!Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-70283705531498717042017-08-01T15:15:47.834-07:002017-08-01T15:15:47.834-07:00Thanks, guys! I haven't read The Martian Chron...Thanks, guys! I haven't read The Martian Chronicles since I was in junior high school (as middle school was once called), so I don't remember how the tone of the story compares with that of the comic. One of the most interesting things about doing this project, at least for me, is the feeling that the horror comics were, in general, the weakest of the EC line, and the war and crime comics were the strongest. That's just my opinion, but it runs counter to what I had always assumed. I just read Seduction of the Innocent by Max Allan Collins and never realized till now that the EC crime comics (and the hosts of the horror comics) owe a big debt to Crime Does Not Pay.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-69715986359081872282017-08-01T13:12:52.335-07:002017-08-01T13:12:52.335-07:00I know he wrote stories of almost all kinds, but I...I know he wrote stories of almost all kinds, but I was surprised by the description of "I, Rocket," because of the gung ho, "glories of war" attitude the rocket seems to have, considering that it's Ray Bradbury.<br />And also going by the description, the war has a real black and white "good guys vs. bad guys" image, which is especially strange when you think about The Martian Chronicles.<br />Is the original story like this version when it comes to that?Granthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09603892208775996594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-44770576768455840862017-07-31T16:28:35.411-07:002017-07-31T16:28:35.411-07:00The Automaton is easily the best story for this mo...The Automaton is easily the best story for this month's Weird Fantasy, and one of my faves of the few remaining issues we have for the title. That the ending is a disappointment or predictible I don't think is the point; the true horror of the story is just how terrifying such a future is where the state owns even your life and brings our protagonist back to life over and over no matter how many times he tries to kill himself. I think the story is a clear inspiration for Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream", and Ellison was clearly reading EC's around this time as he actually writes a story from them in an upcoming Weird Science-Fantasy issue.<br /><br />As for the rest of the issue, the lead story is a decent one, but I can't help but be disappointed by the two middle stories. After some terrific Bradbury horror stories in your last entry (The Lake and The Handler) both this month are quite mediocre and just don't come off as good comic book stories to me. Would have preferred Feldstein going with something else!<br /><br />A weaker issue than usual for Haunt of Fear although I've got no complaints for Ingel's artwork as you have, it is as good as it usually is here, albeit in a rare Ingels story that features no rotting corpses, vampires or other monsters. Overall the issue comes off as EC trying to "up their image" and get away from their common house plots and the over the top gore that is a thing for EC around this era. Terror Train which is a lot more psychological in nature seems like the logical choice for a reprint if they were to go for one. At least it gives us a new Feldstein drawing of the Vault Keeper! This is the first time in quite a while EC reprinted a story but it is not the last; we will see another reprint in just a few months in Crime #19.<br /><br />A fairly strong issue of Weird Science this month aside from that Bradbury story; as good as The Automaton is, The Loathsome is even better, being quite a sad and touching story with excellent Wood art. In fact probably the best story we have remaining in Weird Science/Fantasy. The story was actually inspired by a real life incident, although Feldstein added in the atomic mutant element. The Reformers I enjoyed a bit more than you guys did (although I never really understood the usage of Satan at the end), and simply amazing art for 50 Girls 50, which is also a decent story as well.<br /><br />Including several "shock endings" which weren't always Kurtzman's thing, this issue of Two-Fisted Tales comes off more like a Feldstein edited title than a Kurtzman one; the illness that Kurtzman had that caused that fake Gaines biography in Mad #5 apparently carried over here as he was well enough to only write one story for this issue. I didn't mind the Davis story as much as you guys did; he will write a better story in similar style a few months from now in a Haunt of Fear issue. I'd agree that En Crapaudine is the peak of the issue, and that Severin's quality isn't as good for whatever reason in this story. George Evans does a great job at these World War I ace stories, which we get both for Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat here. As for Panther Jet, I feel that the usage of the colors was likely influenced by what the lights actually look like as Kurtzman was obsessed with accuracy in his stories.Quiddity99https://www.blogger.com/profile/17809157926893454731noreply@blogger.com