The Mighty Tor!

In the year 1975 DC notices that Marvel's barbarian characters are doing quite well on the newsstands of the day, so they cook up some of their own and included in that is a revival of Tor. The debut issue features work that Kubert had done years before, which had already appeared in unfinished form in Alter Ego. Now Kubert has the chance to finish this tale from Tor's youth in which he learns about the harshness of life outside the confines of his clan. 

Tapping on veteran Joe Kubert to revive his 50's co-creation with Norman Maurer was savvy on the part of the DC editors. Tor has just enough weirdness to not become just a dreary caveman adventure. There's plenty of oddities to fuel the series had it continued beyond the reprint stage. Below are the new covers for stories taken from 1950's issues of One Million Years Ago, Tor, and 3-D Comics from St. Johns.  

DC then reprints the St. John Tor stories, the 3-D ones in color for the first time. Kubert creates some exciting new covers for this run on the character. Kubert likely thought he have a chance to add more stories to the canon, but the series was canceled after six issues. 

These stories are from the early 50's when after over a decade in comics Kubert teamed up his longtime friend Norman Maurer to launch some comic books of their own. They entered into an arrangement with St. Johns Publishing and Tor hit the stands under the title 1,000,000 Years Ago. Maurer for his part had happened to marry the daughter of one of the Three Stooges and comic adventures of that hapless trio was the team's other project. But then 3-D happened. Actually, Kubert and Maurer were key in developing their own approach to 3-D comics and the second and third issues of Tor were actually 3-D comics. Both are weirdly numbered issue two which is no end of confusing. 

Tor was inspired by Tarzan and Kubert makes no bones about that. But by setting the brutal and wild adventures of Tor in the fanciful days of mankind's prehistory the connection to the more modern wild man created by Burroughs was shaded over a bit. Tor was a caveman, but not a real caveman, he was one who confronted dinosaurs and other monsters. It was not realism but passionate romance that Kubert was after with Tor, a primitive man who fought constantly in a dangerous world to stay alive, but who had quite literally an evolved sense of justice and a profound empathy for his fellow human beings. He was compelled to help others and that made him a mystery to his tribe who banished him and even to others who he helped along his travels. 

For more detailed reviews of Tor comics check these links for the Collections. 

Rip Jagger's Dojo: Joe Kubert's TOR - Volume One!

Rip Jagger's Dojo: Joe Kubert's TOR - Volume Two!

Rip Jagger's Dojo: Joe Kubert's TOR - Volume Three!

Rip Jagger's Dojo: Joe Kubert's TOR - A Prehistoric Odyssey!

He might have been an enigma to his fellow tribesman of that savage era, but Tor's approach to life is a lesson to us in the modern world to be brave and face the "monsters" which roam our own landscape. 

Next time we Enter the Lost World of the Warlord. 

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The Best Of The Three Stooges Comicbooks Volume Two!

The Three Stooges are almost considered a guilty pleasure these days with shows which are riddled with violence such as theirs were are verboten in many households. Clonking your mate in the forehead with a claw hammer is seen as behavior that children should not be exposed to. I can see the argument, but then if I followed those rules I'd never has witnessed the lunacy of Curly when he becomes enraged by "Pop Goes the Weasel" or Larry when he thinks he's safe only to be cracked on the noggin by the backswing of Moe's ferocious blow. Moe himself administers the punishment but in grand Karmic order gets hoist on his own quite sharp petard from time to time too. The Stooges were violent, but they were also funny. People disagree about that, but I think they are funny. 

The second of two Papercutz volumes offers us the last two St. John Three Stooges comics from the hand of Norman Maurer, then the partner of Joe Kubert who was doing Tor for St. John. The duo brought a new 3-D process to St. John and it was a major winner for a very short time. But despite such fads comics were being dragged down by many factors, not the least of which was much public pressure on comics not to damage the precious American youth. Saucy covers like the one above probably didn't go very far to help arguments to the contrary, though I admire it mightily. 

Throughout all of the Stooges misadventures in the St. John books was a nemesis created just for the comic -- one Benedict Bogus who was a con man with more ambition than talent and who almost always suffered when he tried to snooker the Stooges. In fact some of the stories focus on Bogus with the Stooges being mere background players. L'l Stooge is not represented in these last few issues. There are some fun stories, even one which recapture to reprise that "Pop Goes the Weasel" yarn from the very beginning of the Stooges famous run in film shorts.  

There are also two more Dell issues of Four Color starring the Three Stooges. The artwork in these two issues is by Joe Messerli, another talent who worked both in comics and animation. Part of the third Stooges Dell Comic is also included with more work by Pete Alvarado. This story was pushed out of the first volume due to space I reckon. Again these lack the heft of the Maurer comics, but are fun breezy reads with some nifty gags. 

Following his work on the Stooges comics Norman Maurer became more involved with the Three Stooges in their film work and even attempted to get the trio onto television. At about the same time as these Dell issues were coming out, there were new feature-length movies with the Stooges prompted by the popularity of the trio on TV when their old film shorts started showing up. 

Maurer was a screenwriter for four of these movies and directed two of them. Frankly the ones he wrote and were directed by Edward Berndt are funnier than the ones Maurer directed himself. He's said in interviews that he didn't like directing. The gags are there but the pacing is missing.  Eventually the rigors of age and the fading of interest caused the The Three Stooges to hang up their spurs at last. 

But it was not quite over for Norman Mauer yet. In 1972 Gold Key came out with The Little Stooges, which ran for seven issues or so. It was written and drawn by Maurer and his son and featured the sons of the original Stooges who do have cameos. The sons are identical and go by the names of Moe, Larry and Curly just as their fathers had done. These are lively comics and Maurer's craftsmanship has not slipped. It's too bad Papercutz had not done at least one more volume, maybe two to get all of the Stooge comics back into print. 

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The Best Of The Three Stooges Comicbooks Volume One!

Like most everyone else in my generation I grew up watching the Three Stooges fumble job after job and bash themselves about  on a daily basis. In those halcyon days before children were transformed into precious objects to be protected from the whims of their environment, we were allowed to watch grown men bonk each other in the nose or pluck two fingers into one another's eyes. Like most of my generation we survived only to turn around and demand that our own children not be subjected to such degrading violent entertainment. What a crock! 

This collection from Papercutz (the first of two) features early issues of The Three Stooges by Norman Maurer. Maurer was a lifelong friend and colleague of Joe Kubert. The two grew up together and became comic artists together but Mauer eventually ended up in California and married to the daughter of Moe Howard, the notorious leader of the Three Stooges. One thing led to another and eventually Maurer partnered with Kubert brought a Stooges comic book to St. John along with Kubert's pet project Tor. 

Mauer produced seven issues of the comic for St. John, two of those being in the 3-D format. Sadly this Papercutz collection does not have the two 3-D issues, though you can find one Three Stooges story in Craig Yoe's 3-D collection from Yoe Books. 

What we get are exceedingly well-crafted stories by Mauer featuring the trio of Moe, Larry and Shemp. One of the stories "Up An Atom" will actually share plot details with one of the later Three Stooges feature films, specially The Three Stooges in Orbit. Maurer would produce four Three Stooges features and direct two of them at the end of the 50's and into the 60's. 

We also get a new feature called "Lil Stooge" about a single fellow who is disrespected by his peers and underestimated as well. His connection to the Three Stooges is unrevealed. 

In addition to the St. John material there are three issues of The Three Stooges from Dell, specifically issues of Four Color in which the daffy trio starred. It's notable that the photograph images of the Stooges for these issues were specifically posed by the team for Dell. 

These comics are drawn by Pete Avalarado, like a Maurer a talent who worked both in comics and animation. These comics from 1959 and 1960 feature the final ensemble of Stooges with Moe and Larry being joined by Curly Joe. While these comics lack the depth of Maurer's wonderful rendering, they are briskly pace and rather funny. 

We get most of the third Dell outing by the Stooges but we will have to wait until the second volume to get all of it as well as more St. John comics by Maurer. Maurer will also be represented with his last Stooges comic work -- The Little Stooges from Gold Key. We'll get  to that in a few days. 

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Joe Kubert's TOR - Volume Two!

In the second volume of Joe Kubert's Tor we get the final three St. John issues of the classic comic book. The 3-D fad nearly killed off St. John Publishing before the general calamity of the unfortunate early 50's fear-mongering thinned out the comic stands for other reasons. But before they went down, Joe Kubert and Norman Maurer pressed on. In Kubert's case, he came back with a somewhat more restrained product, less gleeful with a slightly more serious approach to the material. The light-hearted "The Wizard of Uggh" by Norman Maurer is gone for the pages of Tor (which is now actually called that) and while "Danny Dreams" continues it is also given a slightly more serious tone as the titular hero becomes trapped in his dreams of prehistoric times. For Tor's part, there seems on Kubert's part a desire to have his hero fight fewer dinosaurs and instead confront conflict with is fellow man more often. The dinosaurs become more of a background in the world in which Tor's evolved moral attitudes struggle to find a place. 

Beneath one of the greatest covers in all of comic book history issue three of Tor in the World of 1,000,000 Years Ago gives the reader three robust Tor adventures. The first has Tor venture onto the "Isle of Fire" where he finds a tribe of people much put upon by pale-skinned giants who seem to come from under the Earth. All that a volcano too. The second Tor tale is a two-page text yarn in which Tor battles for control of men eager to get away from a dangerous mountain snowfall. Every issue of Tor also has a nifty one-page visit with Joe Kubert and Norman Maurer who talk in this issue about theories of evolution and what inspires the tales in Tor. The third Tor story begins with a new gimmick dubbed "Panelrama" which merely means a two-page splash. In this story Tor protects a child from sacrifice and discovers a tribe of all women. He even battles a sabre-tooth tiger in this one. We get two more pages with infor on dinosurs before the book closes with another installment of "Danny Dreams", this one drawn by Alex Toth. In this story Danny again falls asleep and finds himself in prehistoric times, but when he seeks to wake up he discovers to his dread that he cannot. 

The pentultimate issue has a nifty cover too, but not a match for the previous one in dramatic effect. Tor's little ally Chee-Chee does get some good attention though. Tor finds a tribe suffering from extreme drought and a gang of men who are trading water for control and slaves. The heavens open in time to save them those who deserve it. Joe and Norman are back and this time the subject is how mankind faces up to extreme danger with is creativity even in times like the present filled with atomic threats. Tor makes an ally in the second story when he finds common ground with a mercenary named Barta in a struggle against some deadly '"Lizard Men" in the depths of a cavern. After a stunning panelrama splash Tor must fight for his life against a pack of wolves on the frosty peaks of rough and tough mountains. Always he must also struggle against people who are afraid and unreliable as well. The text piece this issue is about the bounty of the sea. Two more dinosaur pages before we get another "Danny Dreams" story, with Danny still in prehistoric past and this time he creates what we know today as the "Piltdown Man". Kubert has taken the artistic reins on this feature as well as the Tor stories. 

The final St. John Tor comic sports an energetic cover with Tor face to fang with a mighty sabre-tooth. The first Tor story has him come up against a mystery of meteors which seem to fall in only one valley on regular basis. He must seek that mystery and stop the medicine man who is using it to spread fear and keep power. Tor also meets and saves two boys named "Tik" and "Tok".Joe and Norman are back for a single page and this time the subject is what parents can expect from comic books and that they should use reason to find good ones. More treachery is afoot when Tor uncovers a plot by a devious couple to take power over a tribe but then these prove to be unfaithful. In a story which has the strongest Tarzan feel so far, Tor battles against a powerful tribe of apes. The "Panelrama" splash for this is mighty indeed. "Avenging Waters" is the text story this time and in it of all places we find Tor rescuing some of the same people who exiled him. They forgive him and welcome him back but Tor decides he's found his mission in life. It's a nice way to tie up the story since it will be come time before we see Tor again. After two more dinosaur pages we get the last "Danny Dreams" story and this time Danny finds a tribe of pygmies who also are quite sensitive to sound. He uses that knowledge to battle a giant and by the story's end Danny has awakened and is in the modern world again. 

This volume also sports an introduction by Kubert as well as another essay by Roy Thomas with background on the comics inside and more. Not to be missed is an extensive section with art by Kubert produced for Alter Ego and other fanzines as well as cartoons and elsewhere featuring his powerful caveman Tor. There is one more volume and in this one we leave the 50's and jet into the 70's and beyond. 

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Joe Kubert's TOR - Volume One!

Some say that Joe Kubert was the finest comic book artist of all time. I'm not willing to give him that status myself as I regard both Jack Kirby and Will Eisner as more significant to the form, but Kubert was an artist I greatly admired and considered him akin to master draftsman John Buscema. Both Kubert and Buscema were able to bring grace and power to their comic book pages, and both held the human form as noble. Kubert was perhaps more gutteral in his expression with more pure energy erupting from his best pages, but always the story was essential and telling that story was always key. The greatest story Kubert ever told arguably was one he dreamed up himself while sailing to Europe as  a soldier, for it was there in the cramped quarters beneath the decks of a warship that Joe Kubert first thought of Tor. 

Tor was inspired by Tarzan and Kubert makes no bones about that. But by setting the brutal and wild adventures of Tor in the fanciful days of mankind's prehistory the connection to the more modern wild man created by Burroughs was shaded over a bit. Tor was a caveman, but not a real caveman, he was one who confronted dinosaurs and other monsters. It was not realism but passionate romance that Kubert was after with Tor, a primitive man who fought constantly in a dangerous world to stay alive, but who had quite literally an evolved sense of justice and a profound empathy for his fellow human beings. He was compelled to help others and that made him a mystery to his tribe who banished him and even to others who he helped along his travels. 

In the early 50's after over a decade in comics Kubert teamed up his longtime friend Norman Maurer to launch some comic books of their own. They entered into an arrangement with St. Johns Publishing and Tor hit the stands under the title 1,000,000 Years Ago. Maurer for his part had happened to marry the daughter of one of the Three Stooges and comic adventures of that hapless trio was the team's other project. But then 3-D happened. Actually Kubert and Maurer were key in developing their own approach to 3-D comics and the second and third issues of Tor were actually 3-D comics. Both are weirdly numbered issue two which is no end of confusing. 

In the first volume of DC's Joe Kubert Library which reprints these adventures of Tor, the 3-D effects have been eliminated for the sake of clarity. But in these tales we see Tor and his companion Chee-Chee roam the rocky landscapes of those prehistorical days seeking food and shelter and safety from the monsters that roam that impossible land with them. Also included in these comics are two other features, one by Maurer titled 'The Wizard of Ugghh" in which a prehistory version of W.C.Fields is an incompetent magician and "Danny Dreams" by Kubert which tells the whimsical advenures of a young boy who slips off into slumber in class and is transported to the days of dinosaurs and cavemen. Add in some stunning poster shots of dinsoaurs and you have a powerful package which made an incredible impression on the readers of the time. 

While the Joe Kubert Library volumes only have a page or two of the 3-D effect, the first Tor story in 3-D is included in the Yoe book Amazing 3-D Comics. While the ravages of time have meddled a bit with my vision, by careful manipulation of the 3-D glasses beneath my prescriptions I was able to behold fully the wonder of the 3-D effects. Quite impressive. For the record there is quite a bit of wonderful material in the back of the DC volume which discusses Kubert's plans for Tor in television and as a children's book even. As we'll see, he never was quite finished with this powerful figure. 

More next week when we take a gander at the second volume.

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Summer Fun!

The summer is in full swing and to celebrate this hot sticky time of the year (I'm an Autumn guy myself) I'd like to stay inside next to the refreshing air conditioner and read comic books. (I'd be doing that pretty much anytime of year, but it feels like an oasis this time of year.) After some heavy theme months, I'm looking to keep it a bit looser here for the month and read a variety of things, some I've read many times before and some for the very first time. 

On the docket is one of the great creations in the whole history of the form -- Joe Kubert's Tor. Created by Kubert when he and Norman Maurier were trying to ignite things at St. Johns Comics in the 1950's Tor has had a much longer life than the 3-D craze that defined it in its earliest days. 

And in the returning "The Sunday Funnies" spot, I will be taking at pleasant read of Roy Crane's classic full-color adventure series Captain Easy - Soldier of Fortune. 

I'll be taking another savory glimpse of some old favorites here at the Dojo such as Charlton's E-Man and The Rocketeer from Pacific and Dark Horse among others. 

I looking forward to a number of highly distinctive classics by creators noted for their particular and highly crafted way of approaching the comic book page. 

Look for the initiation of a new regular feature called "Crime Alley" which will focus on those comics having to do with hardboiled dicks and other gumshoe types. 

And yet another ongoing feature will be "Girl Fridays" which I hope will please those in the Dojo audience who like a bit of cheesecake now and again to enrich their diets. 

And I've got a classic lined up for "Showcase Corner". Metamorpho  is book that simmer in that Silver Age goodness DC was so very good at.

I want to take a belated look at some of those wonky Ray Dennis Steckler movies too. All this perhaps and whatever else occurs to me if I have time, but one I do know is that's it's cool to read comics and in July that's literally so. 

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