Back In the Bronze Age: Marie Severin

Showing posts with label Marie Severin. Show all posts

Monday, October 15, 2018

Funny Books: Humor From the 'Big Two'...

Redartz: Marvel and DC; the "Big Two". Known for such heavyweights as Spider-man, the X-Men, Avengers, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Both companies delved into the horror genre with titles such as "Tower of Shadows" and "House of Secrets". Both had entries in the war genre, especially DC. But what about 'funny books? Well, neither company exactly filled the spinner racks with them, generally leaving the field open for Archie, Harvey, and Gold Key (although DC did have more such books during the Silver Age). Nonetheless, Marvel and DC both dipped some ticklish toes into the humor field. Today we look at some of those...

Not Brand Echh: Yes, not technically Bronze age, but certainly deserving of mention. Probably the best of Marvel's 'attempts at humor'. When you have the likes of Kirby, Sutton, Severin, Heck, Colan, and more at the drawing table, you can anticipate some good visuals. Superhero parodies abound; but later issues had more features piercing tv, movies, music, etc.

Spoof: Debuting only a year or so after "Brechh" departed, "Spoof" kept Marie Severin busy (along with numerous others, including Archie Comic's Henry Scarpelli) doing more parodies of popular culture. Dark Shadows, All in the Family, The Partridge Family, and other 70's attractions all ended up under the Spoof scope...

Plop!: DC mined some twisted comic gold with "Plop!" Running from 1973 to 1976, it contained a wealth of humor blended with a bit of the macabre. One big attraction to this title was the covers, often showcasing the talents of comic greats Basil Wolverton and Sergio Aragones.

Arrgh!: Marvel followed DC's entry into horror humor with "Arrgh!". This rather short-lived book ran from 1974 to1975, and again gave Marie Severin some fine cover opportunites. This book had both new stories and reprints from 1950's vintage "Crazy" comics. Incidentally, those reprints had art by the likes of Bill Everett and Carl Burgos. New work was seen by Ross Andru, Jerry Grandenetti, Mike Sekowsky and others...

Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew: In the Exciting Eighties, DC tossed superheroes, satire and funny animals into a blender and came up with "Captain Carrot". Humor maven Scott Shaw! gives life to the Captain, Alley-Kat-Abra, Fastback, Yankee Poodle, Pig Iron and more. One of the best arcs was the Zoo Crew's meeting with the JLA (that is , the "Justa Lotta Animals")...

Ambush Bug: Not one single title, but several mini-series, and numerous guest appearances (usually at the expense of Superman). Kieth Giffen skewered many superhero tropes, played with DC icons, and twisted both story and art. All the while hosted, guested, or devastated by the irrepressible Ambush Bug. He even managed a team-up in DC Comics Presents. One of my favorite AB gags involved him meeting Wonder Woman disguised as Mrs. Sappho; first name Suffern. WW was not amused, but I was...

I'm personally grateful to all these titles for keeping me chuckling throughout the Bronze age. Any of these, or any other books, tickle your funny bone?

Monday, March 13, 2017

Funny Books: Not Brand Echh!

Redartz: Good day, everyone! To help us face this Monday, we are taking a funny break today, and looking at a classic bit of Marvel satire. Between 1967 and 1969, Marvel produced Not Brand Echh. And yes, I know that doesn't fall in the parameters of our Bronze Age, but some of those stories found print during our focus years. Actually, Marvel had a brief series called Crazy that reprinted issues of "Brechh" (as it is fondly known) in the early 70's. Here we have the original cover as presented in Not Brand Echh 6 from 1967, and on the right the reprint in Crazy 2 from 1973. By the way, this series of Crazy predated the magazine version of the same name, by four months.

The stories and art were provided by some of Marvel's big guns: Kirby, Tom Sutton, Gene Colan, John and Marie Severin. Later issues featured work by John Verpoorten, Jim Mooney, and Frank Springer, among others. Issue Most of the covers were the work of Marie Severin, who really shows her vast artistic skills over the course of this series.

"Brechh" largely featured parodies of Marvel's own superhero stable, while also poking frequent fun at the Distinguished Competition. Here, a certain Darknight Detective and a Son of Krypton get the treatment...

Occasionally, still other companies' properties were 'seen', including Archie, Tower Comics and Gold Key (Archie, THUNDER Agents and Magnus, Robot Fighter, to be specific). And later issues, released in the giant 25cent size, also contained Mad Magazine-style film and television pastiches. Frankenstein, Bonnie and Clyde, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner could be found in the satirical klieg lights of Not Brand Echh.

This title has a special place in my heart, as one of the earliest comics I ever bought as a boy was Not Brand Echh #5. I didn't understand all the references, but I loved the book. Jokes, both verbal and pictorial, abounded. The Origin of Forbush-Man was hilarious, and the Thung/Bulk battle featured swipes from and nods to several classic Thing/Hulk meetings. And note the wonderful details inserted within the panels.

Not Brand Echh certainly owed a debt to Mad Magazine, and to the other similar publications of the day. Yet Brechh had a special look and feel, due to the presence of the Marvel Bullpen. Writers including Stan Lee, Roy Thomas and Gary Friedrich gave us some witty, pun-filled features, and we saw that Marvel was quite capable of laughing at itself. The whole book sometimes felt like an extension of the Marvel Bullpen Bulletins, with all the self-referential comedy. At any rate, Not Brand Echh was a special, humorous highlight of Marvel's Silver Age. Aside from the stories that appeared in Crazy, some stories have been reprinted in various 'Omnibus' editions. And for all the entertainment they contain, even today the back issues are a bargain. In closing, we present a few more covers and a few more samples...enjoy...

Thursday, February 9, 2017

The Quarter Bin: $1 Challenge of Hulk Artists and Hulk Covers

Martinex1: It is time for our $1 Challenge HULK style (it is HULK WEEK after all)! The green goliath has graced countless covers from the early 1960s through today, and along the way an eclectic group of artists have put their own spin on the character. Today we will see plenty of outstanding work from Herb Trimpe, along with Marie Severin, John Severin, Jack Kirby, Ed Hannigan, George Perez, and even Gene Colan and Walt Simonson, plus many more.

Take a look below for a selection of comics in our ever-rotating Quarter Bin that include Bruce Banner or his alter-ego on the cover. You will find a wide variety of titles; Avengers, Defenders, Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Fanfare, Tales to Astonish, and of course The Incredible Hulk are all here. This is the one place where we encourage you to judge a book by its cover!

Choose your favorite four and share your thoughts on the art, the artists, the evolution of the Hulk's depiction, and the stories within so that everybody at BITBA can expand their knowledge of the Hulk with a gamma irradiated upload!

A special thanks to the Mike's Amazing World of Comics site for making the research for today's post easy!

What do you like? And what doesn't get your blood pumping? Did any artists surprise you? I actually enjoyed the work of Ditko, Mignola, and Frenz, who wouldn't have been artists that first jumped to mind when considering the Hulk. There are some classics here and some lesser-known gems, so we welcome all of your "smashing" commentary and "rage-filled" critiques!