Black Heroes Matter!

It's Black History Month in these United States and we need that annual period of reflection more than ever in this struggling democracy. Racism has of course been a mainstay element of United States history from its very beginnings and shaking off that curse required a civil war. But the racism which quickened slavery and made it palatable has not gone away with the loathsome legal practice of owning other people. Black Americans were second class citizens officially in many if not most of the states of the Union until federal legislation in the 1960's made such distinctions illegal. But despite that sweeping change (which has been somewhat pushed back in recent years sadly) the underlying attitudes which empowered it remained but did soften somewhat it seemed. 

So much so that America was able to elect a black President over a decade ago now. But that very act of healing only made those who still harbored ugly feelings stiffen their backs and grow more vocal in their objections to equality throughout the land. They muffle their rhetoric with lots of gimmicks and tricks, but the old ideas are still there, that white folks and in particular white men are the ones who have been chosen (by God I guess they imagine?) to lead this nation and the world too I suppose. This of course will change with time and demographics and the white power worshippers will slip into the minority, but until then, there will be a fierce struggle that gnaws at the timbers of the country itself as supporters of racism rationalize attacks on legally elected governments and endorse open insurrection as "patriotism". 

But enough of my speech. Above is the first comic book series Lobo (all two issues of it) which featured a black main character and hero. It was published in 1965 by Dell Comics. It was the idea of artist Tony Tallarico (who just passed away this past January) and writer D.J. Arneson and they produced the first issue and sent it on its way and went to work on the second. But there was a snag, the news vendors in the land weren't quite ready yet it seemed, and many bundles returned to Dell unopened. The series was ended after just two issues. But it didn't matter, the times they were "a-changin'"and soon black heroes were to spread throughout the pop culture of the American scene and help shape and redefine what the scene was. This month I want to look at some of the comics and movies that brought about those changes. 

The mainstay read this month will be the three volumes of Brothers of the Spear from Dark Horse. This back-up series from Tarzan of the Apes by Gaylord Dubois, Jesse Marsh and later Russ Manning was groundbreaking in the sensitive way it portrayed the relationship between Dan-El and Natongo who were "brothers" literally as a result of Dan-El's adoption. Dan-El was from a lost white tribe in Africa but he and his black brother Natongo battled together against many threats for many, many years. A remarkable series that showed many a comic book reader how the color of skin is not a significant and limiting consideration in how humans should interact with one another. 

I also want to read yet again the early adventures of Luke Cage Hero for Hire. Produced in the early 70's in the heat of the "Blaxploitation" era this comic brought a black hero front and center demanding spinner rack space alongside his fellow supertypes. Eventually he teamed up Iron Fist and the pair not unlike the Brothers of the Spear showcased a way that men could work together in spite of the limits society seeks at times to put on them. In these early Hero for Hire stories though, Luke Cage is very much like Richard Roindtree's portrayal in Shaft -- street smart and channeling a rage about how the larger society attempts to put limits on him. 

Another focus will be Tony Isabella's Black Lightning. This street-level superhero was a late Bronze Age addition to the DCU, but proved a sturdy one over the decades. I'll be pulling these posts and others as well from Rip Jagger's Other Dojo, a blog I operated for a time some years ago when this location became difficult for a bit. Look for Lightning each Wednesday. 

Marvel has had some remarkable black heroes over the decades and Falcon and Black Panther are among the most successful, both thriving in the new Marvel movies. I want to look at some of their early struggles against oppression. Expect to see other heroes from Marvel as the month tumbles along. Again Rip Jagger's Other Blog will supply these posts with a fresh perspective at times.  

"Showcase Corner" will feature Men of War, a later Bronze Age addition to DC's remarkable war stable of comics. It's notable in that its cover feature was Codename: Gravedigger which starred Captain Ullysses Hazard, a black soldier during WWII. This was DC's last new WWII hero from their classic period of great war stories. 

And I want to take a glimpse at some classic "Blaxploitation" horror flicks such as Blacula, Blackenstien and suchlike. These also will be exported from my other now defunct blog. Look for "Soul Cinema" on Fridays this month. 

And in keeping with that "Blaxploitation" theme I'd also like to take a gander at two of Marvel's 70's horror titles which played into the trend -- The Living Mummy and Brother Voodoo!  

And "The Sunday Funnies" returns as once we again focus our attention on those vintage Tarzan comic strips, these by Burne Hogarth who had the difficult job of following Hal Foster's definitive act. The story literally picks up where Foster left off. Hogarth added a whole new dynamic dimension to the Tarzan universe.

It's going to be a full if short month. And remember that black heroes and black lives matter, not just this month but every month. 

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Monsters In The Dell!

There was a moment in the 1960's when two fads bonded and caught hold at the comic book publisher Dell. The classic monsters of Universal had caught fire thanks to magazines like Famous Monsters from Filmland and shows like The Munsters. Superheroes were all over thanks to the rollicking success of upstart Marvel. Dell reached out with both hands and grabbed monsters in one and superheroes in the other and produced some of the wackiest comic books ever to grace the racks. We got Frankenstein, Dracula and Werewolf, the first two bizarre misfit superheroes and the third a super-spy (yet another fad).  These series burned brightly and burned out swiftly. Thanks to the talents of Tony Tallarico and Bill Fraccio these heroes came to "life" and will always be with us.

But what if there had been others. Certainly Universal made more monster movies. Karl Heitmueller Jr. gives us a peek at Tough Guy Goods and Services. Take a gander above at what might have been, enjoy and look for more. You'll be glad you did.

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Hero-A-Go-Go!

I knew I wanted this one when I first clapped my eyeballs on it. Twomorrow's Hero-A-Go-Go explores the zany stuff that was rolling around on the spinner racks when I was a wee fan first snapping up comics. My notion of what a superhero is has always been pretty broad, because the heroes of this era span quite a broad spectrum. We have fully outlandish and absolutely absurd and brazenly bizarrely strange, but also exceedingly cool. The book takes a lovingly nostalgic look at some of my favorite comics, many dubbed by the "critics" as really really bad. But to my thinking these are comics which are so bad (in some instances) that they pop out the other side of the continuum of criticism and pop out the other end as in fact good.  Normally Michael Eury digs into the Bronze Age, that period after Kirby left Marvel and many of the publishers of the 60's had pulled back if not completely disappeared, but here it's the Silver Age which gets his full and undivided attention. Your mileage will greatly vary greatly depending on tastes, but to give you a notion of the wildness and utter weirdness contained in this hefty tome, check out the covers below.

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