A short month made shorter by my continued reading of yet another Hollywood history book, Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties by Foster Hirsch, a 600-page behemoth that is fascinating nonetheless. So here’s what else I read in February.
Home to Stay! The Complete Ray Bradbury EC Stories
This sumptuously designed, large format, hardcover book from Fantagraphics is the ultimate version of their EC Artists Library. It collects all 35 of the EC stories adapted by writer/editor Al Feldstein and illustrated by quite possibly the finest group of artists ever assembled by one comics company, including Wally Wood, Al Williamson, Bernard Krigstein, and many more. Originally published in the tumultuous 1950s, these stories are—to me at least—a bit of a difficult read in the present day, but I still appreciate how beautifully illustrated they are, even if Feldstein was—to put it mildly—a bit verbose. In addition to the 35 stories reprinted here in glorious, large-size, black and white (one of which, “The Long Years,” is presented twice, including a version with scans of the original art for the complete story illustrated by Joe Orlando), there’s numerous essays and historical info (which is always the best part for me), plus a cover gallery that includes both the EC covers that featured Bradbury stories and the original Frank Frazetta paintings for the two 1960s Ballantine Books paperback collections, The Autumn People and Tomorrow Midnight. If you care about EC Comics and are a fan of Ray Bradbury, this is the ultimate book for you, an absolutely beautifully designed and printed art book.
February 1964 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, et al
This fourth Omnibus collection of an entire month of 1960s Marvel comics focuses on the premiere of Daredevil #1, which hit newsstands in February 1964. I love these collections, even though I’m not a big fan of the Omnibus format. My biggest problem with this particular edition, though, is the lack of historical content on the creation of Daredevil; it was one of Marvel’s biggest boondoggles. In fact, the “Special Announcements Section” in Amazing Spider-Man #12’s letter column (reprinted in this volume), Stan Lee even talks about it: “Putting that thing out was like a comedy of errors! We lost some pages of the script, we missed our first deadline, we couldn’t decide on his costume until the last minute, and we did the cover over a zillion times!” Marvel’s senior VP and executive editor, Tom Brevoort, has written about the creation of DD and the hole left in the schedule that created either Avengers #1 or X-Men #1 on an emergency basis (I’m in the X-Men camp), so why wasn’t something like that included, instead of reprinted intros to Stan Lee books from the 1970s, and a bunch of inappropriate to the topic at hand covers by J. Scott Campbell and Alex Ross created 30-50 years later? I love looking at the old Millie and Marvel Western titles published in the same month as DD #1, Spidey #12, FF #26, Avengers #5, and X-Men #5, but some more historical essays would be great. C’mon Marvel, stop being so lazy … the material is out there, pay to use it, and give these books some much needed historical context!
Batman: The Silver Age Omnibus, Vol. 1, by Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Sheldon Moldoff, and Dick Sprang
This new compilation collects an expansive run of DC’s Batman and Detective Comics in chronological order, starting with what the company regards as the start of the Silver Age of Comics for Batman: Detective Comics #233, July 1956, featuring the origin of “The Batwoman.” All in all, there are 25 issues of Detective (#233-257) and 16 issues of Batman (#101-116), from mid-1956 through mid-1958, two years worth. This is when Batman started to take a surprising (and unlikeable) turn towards science fiction, with stories like “The Alien Batman” (Detective #251, January 1958) and “Batman—The Superman of Planet X” (Batman #113, February 1958), featuring—for better or worse—a character who is still present in Batman comics today, Zur-En-Arhh . The bulk of the art is by Sheldon Moldoff and the great Dick Sprang (he pencilled the “Planet X” story), with scripts by Bill Finger, Edmond Hamilton, Dave Wood, Ed Herron, and Arnold Drake. This is not Batman’s finest hour, to be sure; in fact, it’s quickly approaching the character’s nadir, but there’s something charming and innocent about these stories. I hated them as a kid, but I find them kind of fascinating as an adult, and I sprang (pun intended) for this pricey omnibus just for a little bit of comics comfort food; I will more than likely do the same for the first Silver Age Omnibus volume of Superman next month. One bad point: There’s a lack of historical articles or art in this Omnibus, a sadly common trait between both DC and Marvel when it comes to producing these volumes; at least Marvel regularly includes some original art. Oh, and the rather pedestrian front and back cover designs is offset by a bizarre spine one, which seems like it came from a totally different designer, one who worships at the altar of Chip Kidd.
Hero by Thomas Perry
A January book by Thomas Perry has become a perennial read for me over the past few years. I’ve read Murder Book, The Burglar, The Old Man, and A Small Town, and enjoyed them all. Unfortunately, Hero not so much. It’s the story of professional security person Justine Poole, who finds herself a “hero” after defending an elderly, beloved Hollywood couple from being robbed (or worse) and becomes famous for just doing her job. She kills a couple of the robbers in the line of duty and the mastermind behind the robbery wants her dead to prove a point, so he hires a hitman, who Poole eludes constantly while the whole book descends into a cat-and-mouse game, that quite frankly—save for the climax—is kinda dull and drawn out. Perry has a way with strong female leads (like his series of Jane Whitefield books and the protagonist of The Burglar), and Justine Poole is almost there, but still kind of a cypher. Regardless, next January I’ll give the new Perry book a tumble, no doubt.
The Conspirators by G. W. Shaw
This the second standalone novel by G. W. Shaw, the pen name (or real name? … I dunno) of one of my favorite British writers, William Shaw. It’s another suspense thriller, and it has a lot in common with Shaw’s novel of last year, Dead Rich, in that they both feature a male protagonist thrust into a situation that he can’t control. It’s kind of a Hitchcock-like scenario, right down to its very own MacGuffin. This time, a translator named Jacob Meany is hired by a woman to help with negotiations for the sale of a fertility drug (the MacGuffin), but it’s all a scam to make a quick buck. Jacob gets caught in the middle of a war between Ukrainian and Indian mob bosses, and has to live by his wits to survive. It’s a bit of a page turner—Shaw is a great writer, no matter which author name he uses—but I found the ending a bit of a letdown. I’m looking forward to his next Alexandra Cupidi novel, The Wild Swimmers, which will be published in May. And can someone please get Cupidi into the BBC’s or ITV’s hands? She’s a gem waiting to be exploited on TV (this is a yearly plea for me!).
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