Voyage to DEAAAATH!!!

I love the sound of that train!

Hey, just thought I'd share an old Werewolf story with you from a really old... Werewolf comic. Look these scans were laying around on my hard drive, dammit.

Okay okay, so this story is from issue 3 of  Weird Tales of Werewolves, an Australian comic book produced by Gredon, in... ahh... the 1970s. They're reprints of what appear to be Spanish comic stories. If you look at the first page right at the bottom it says, "Editorial Vilmar -- Barcelona -- the Illustrated".

More than that, I can't actually tell you at this point, the comic has no creator credits. But damn it's a rollickin' good story.

There were a tonne of these books put out in the 70s here in Australia. I'll be getting more of them, I'm sure. In the meanwhile, enjoy the voyage.


THE VOYAGE TO DEATH.

The Queer Case of the Gay Joker

First off, given the potentially volatile content related herein, I apologize in advance for the pun-title of my post. I don't mean any harm by it, but likewise could not resist referencing The Queer Case of the Murdering Butterfly.

I've had this nugget of information for a while, but only recently got the relevant scans done to illustrate that I didn't make it up, given the evidently obscure nature of the info. I don't want to misrepresent anything, so this post will take a little bit to get to the point. But, please, read on.

I've owned this one Batman book called the Comics Files Magazine Spotlight On Batman Files for a few years. It was published in 1986 by an independent group called Heroes Publishing Inc., who also put out guides to other comic properties along with sci-fi and horror TV shows. To the left and right are the front and back covers to their Batman book - click the thumbnails to enlarge.

The book describes Batman's history up to the time of publication, with chapters about the Golden Age, the New Look, the "Englehart/Rogers Age" and "the Miller Revolution". It covers creators who worked on the series, supporting cast members and villains, and includes interviews with Steve Englehart and Frank Miller (who gives insight into his "upcoming" Batman: Year One project).

But one factoid contained in the Batman Files book has always held my attention, and I've been curious about it ever since I first read it. It's buried in the introduction, which talks about what influenced Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson and Bill Finger. You can read it - highlighted - below.

Dennis: Hates his dog, Has no neck.

This is from the 1968 Dennis the Menace (US) comic book "Dennis The Menace: Pet Parade". It was printed by Fawcett.

--Andrew S.
(Still doesn't explain why he has no goddamn neck.)

Jughead and Sexuality: The Brain Campaign.

I hate those damned menaces to romance!

If you've ever watched Chasing Amy -- and if you're a geek you probably have -- then you've seen that scene where a gay guy tries to convince a guy of ambiguous sexuality that Archie comics are gay. He chooses Jughead as the main thrust of his argument -- clearly Jughead is the dom and Archie is his bitch.

Okay, that's utter bull crap, and the movie even admits it's utter bullcrap. Archie is, at its heart, a story about straight sexual relationships. Highly disturbing straight sexual relationships a lot of the time. Except... there's Jughead.

Jughead is a self-avowed "woman-hater". He has no interest in girls whatsoever. So, what is his sexuality then? Is he gay? Is he straight, but he just hasn't discovered women yet? Well, honestly... answering that question fairly is nearly impossible to do with Archie comics. You see, Archie comics aren't really into continuity like super hero comics. Rather, Archie characters are like actors cast in different roles according to the needs of the story.

The Sal Buscema Punch

(Spectacular Spider-Man #149, written by Gerry Conway, art by Sal Buscema)

Sal Buscema has basically drawn everything at this point. If Marvel published a book in the '70s or '80s, Sal Buscema probably penciled or inked an issue of it. He's always been one of my favorite artists - he draws the angriest Hulk, the craziest Green Goblin, and the punching-a-guy-in-the-face-iest Spider-Man. The fights in a Sal Buscema book are invariably crazy - people hit each other so hard there's a little explosion at the point of impact, all while screaming at each other with characteristically angular, over-the-top facial expressions. And when that fight's coming to an end, Spider-Man's going to punch a guy so hard that the guy's gonna flip backwards, a gape-mouthed expression of shock on his face. This happens a lot - so much that I have dubbed it the Sal Buscema Punch.

I wonder if he stenciled the name on himself...

Hasbro, I have seen the Captain America Off-Road Avenger and the Strikefire Transport. Surely there is a place in your action figure line-ups for Thanos in a hilariously tiny helicopter. I can take or leave The Cat.

(From Spidey Super Stories #39, art by Win Mortimer and Mike Esposito.)

WHO THE HELL ARE -- ALPHA FLIGHT?

I bet any number of comic fans think they could answer this question right off the bat. Alpha Flight are Canada’s super hero team! Right?
 

Well, yes. That is technically true, but it is a very superficial answer to the question. Almost every super team tends to have something of a concept to it. The Fantastic Four are the first family of Marvel – adventurers and heroes, who act as a family. The Defenders are the non-team, a bunch of guys who do stuff as a team without ever formally being a team. The X-men are mutants who hate and fear a world that seeks to protect them… there’s concepts for every team.
 
These concepts are the root of the stories that are told about the team, and how much you like the concept drives how much you enjoy the team.

Alpha Flight’s concept is simple. They’re the most fucked-up bunch of misfits ever, trying to pretend to be a team. Or to put it another way – a bunch of dudes build a team and bad shit happens to the team.

SOGGIES MAY RULE