Monday, May 18, 2009

The Spirit Magazine #1 (1974, Warren Publishing)

I recently purchased and re-watched (I'd already caught it during it's theatrical run) Frank Miller's directorial effort, the film adaptation of Will Eisner's immortal THE SPIRIT...

While I'm still out on the fence as to what my opinion about Miller's movie is, I figured it'd be a good time to share how I discovered the character with my blog-reading friends...

Like many fans my age (who grew up in the late 1970s and 1980s), I first discovered both Eisner's work and his creation Denny Colt in the Warren Publications magazine of the mid-1970s.

Again, with the Wikipedia stuff:

Warren Publishing and later Denis Kitchen's Kitchen Sink Press published extensive reprints, first as large black-and-white magazines (the Warren part of the run eventually having a color section), then as trade paperbacks. The magazines often featured new Eisner covers.

Two new stories were written during this period "The Capistrano Jewels", a 4-page story published in the second issue of the Kitchen Sink reprints in 1972; and "The Invader", a 5-page story (reprinted in The Will Eisner Color treasury).

In 1976, an oddity called "The Spirit Casebook of True Haunted Houses and Ghosts" was published. The Spirit plays the EC host, introducing "true" stories of haunted houses. The Spirit makes a cameo in Vampirella #50.


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The Spirit Magazine #1 CBZ file

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Super Goof #1 (Gold Key, 1965)


Being a big fan of the funny animal superhero parody/ satire, this book became a favorite during my youth. During the last few years, I've been working towards tracking down a complete run of all 74 issues. The final issue, #74, holds the distinction of being one of the last Disney licensed books that the great Dell/GoldKey/Whitman empire published prior to ceasing all comic book publication in April 1984.

From Wikipedia:

Super Goof (also Super Pippo) is a fictional character, the Disney character Goofy's superhero alter ego. He gets his power by eating Super Goobers (peanuts). His powers are similar to Superman's. Goofy became the first Disney character to get a career as a superhero, but several would follow — notably Donald Duck as Paperinik, whose reliance on gadgets and the night made him more of a Batman figure.

Super Goof first appeared in The Phantom Blot #2 (February, 1965) by Del Connell (story) and Paul Murry (art), where he was just imagining that he was a super hero. He made his first appearance as an actual superhero in Donald Duck #102 (July, 1965), in the story "All's Well that Ends Awful", also by Connell and Murry. In his third appearance, "The Thief of Zanzipar" from Super Goof #1 (October, 1965), the origin of his powers is meteor-irradiated peanuts. In later stories, Super Goof not only encountered the Phantom Blot, but also such adversaries as Black Pete, the Beagle Boys, Emil Eagle, and Mad Madam Mim.

Super Goof's secret identity is known only to his nephew Gilbert who also calls himself Super Gilly on occasion. His favourite "shout" is Ta-Dah. Comic relief in the stories would spring from the fact that Super Goof's powers would "wear off" at the least opportune moments, such as when he was flying or in need of super strength. Goofy always kept a few Super Goobers in his hat, but would occasionally forget to restock, leading to situations in which he would have to get out of trouble without the super powers. In a crossover story, Huey, Dewey and Louie found a Super Goober plant sprouted by a dropped goober, and "borrowed" Super Goof's powers; after doing a round of super deeds, the ducks' powers faded, and they had to be rescued by the Junior Woodchucks.

Super Goof had his own comic book series from 1965 to 1984 with a 74-issue run from Gold Key Comics. Reprints appeared in Walt Disney Comics Digest, one of the Dynabrite deluxe comics issued by Western in the late 1970s, and Disney Comic Album #8 (1990) from Disney Comics. The first release in the German-language Heimliche Helden book series by Ehapa published Oct. 2005 was devoted to Super Goof. Gemstone reprinted a story drawn by Jack Bradbury for the Studio Program as a backup in their 2006 release Return of the Blotman with the rescripting handled by longtime Super Goof aficionado Joe Torcivia. He also appeared in one episode of House of Mouse.


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Super Goof #1 CBR file

Saturday, May 2, 2009

In Search of Steve Ditko- BBC Documentary


Excellent BBC production hosted by Jonathan Ross...I absolutely adore the Alan Moore interviews....

I've been a HUGE Ditko fan since discovering his work as a child in the Marvel reprint title Marvel Tales during a period in the early 1980s in which they were reprinting the entire Lee/Ditko run of Amazing Spider-Man....





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Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8