One Small Step

It's easy to talk about the moon landing of APOLLO 11 forty years ago this very day and forget that in a way, the entirety of the sixties led us up to that exact moment. The science fiction films of the fifties such as DESTINATION MOON became a reality when Sputnik was launched into orbit and the space race between the US and the Soviet Union began. When president Kennedy made his famous speech about landing on the moon, it was impossible for some older Americans to believe. Simply impossible. It was beyond their scope of understanding that it could ever actually be accomplished. A lot of younger Americans, however, took it to heart and throughout the sixties as the real-life space program hit its stride, pop-culture representations of astronauts and space ships were at an all-time high. There were toys such as BILLY BLASTOFF and MAJOR MATT MASON. TV astronauts were on I DREAM OF JEANNIE, IT'S ABOUT TIME and LOST IN SPACE while STAR TREK began its deep infiltration of popular consciousness. Movies such as THE ASTRONAUT and MOON ZERO TWO competed with more fanciful depictions of astronauts such as in PLANET OF THE APES and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Science Fiction novels became mainstream for the first time and in comics, THE FANTASTIC FOUR gained their powers in an attempt to be the first astronauts to land on the moon.

In real life, we were watching all the countdowns and splashdowns and ticker tape parades for Gemini and Mercury space heroes such as Col. John Glenn. The first book report I ever did in school (5th grade) was on a book entitled WHAT COL. GLENN DID ALL DAY (or something like that). When Apollo 8 actually orbited the moon at Christmas of 1968 the world seemed to just stop for a few moments when the astronauts read passages from GENESIS. If you were there you know what I mean and if not, you could never fully understand. Just for a brief few seconds in that turbulent decade, there seemed to be hope.

Then came Apollo 11. From liftoff, we watched every almost unbelievable moment. Walter Cronkite on CBS and Frank Reynolds on ABC were both equally fascinated as they reported it all to us in long uninterrupted news coverage that pre-empted regular TV schedules. I remember thinking it seemed like an absolutely endless amount of time before they landed and then again before Neil Armstrong stepped off the LEM and took that "giant leap for mankind." But I saw it. I SAW the first human ever step on the moon and I saw a million fantasies become reality in that moment.

After that it was all Nixon and moon rocks and space pens and Tang and the moon landings became, if you can believe it, routine. Jack Kirby and Stan Lee revisited the concept in FANTASTIC FOUR # 98 some months after the lunar landing. The issue found the FF actually going to the moon (where they had been several times before by that point) in order to fight a menace that threatened to prevent Apollo 11's landing! Even as a child, that made no sense. When the Red Ghost and the Human Torch had already been on the moon, what difference did it make for Neil Armstrong to go. Reality and fantasy had become one and comics would learn to steer clear of too many real world developments after that. It just didn't work.

Later still came the questioning, the conspiracy theories, the politics that kept us from returning to the moon or beyond, the admission by NASA of just how close the landing module came to crashing, astronaut Buzz Aldrin's admissions of alcoholism, Col. Armstrong's refusal to discuss the most historic moment of the century. Reality again. Maybe we've backslid. Maybe we haven't progressed as well as we'd expected. Maybe, as some say, we don't even have the technology to get to the moon today if we wanted to. None of that matters in the end because those of us who were there that day know that it happened! Those of us who were there had the best head trip the sixties ever offered!

Seen here is ONE SMALL STEP, a book put out ten years ago for the 30th anniversary of Apollo 11. Unlike most books on the moon landing, this one swaps detail for perspective and presents a lot of the pop culture influence on the space program as well as the space program's influence on pop culture. Check your local library.

Casper at Sixty

Like many folks my age it seems, I have always counted BATMAN # 180 ("Death Knocks Three Times") as the first book of my official comic book collection. Long before that, however, my dad would bring me a handful of CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST comics every time he would happen to see them on sale anywhere. Maybe it was because CASPER was also one of my favorite cartoon series but I've always had a special affection for the little guy. Turns out he turns sixty this year and Dark Horse will be celebrating later in the year with this special reprint. In the meantime, head over to Jon's Random Acts of Geekery at http://waffyjon.blogspot.com/2009/07/by-10s-friendly-ghost-casper-part-1.html to catch some CASPER by the tens! While you're there, congratulate Jon on his newly adopted daughter! Seen here is my own son about ten years ago at approximately age three proudly absconding with a couple favorite titles from my background longboxes!

Prey of the Jaguar

Not sure how they managed to get a superhero movie with Linda Blair past me but I had never heard of this flick until this week! 1996's PREY OF THE JAGUAR is hardly a high spot in Linda Blair's career but it is a mildly entertaining--if not the least bit original--superhero picture. Maxwell Caulfield, 1982's "next big thing" that never was, stars a s a former government agent now in the witness protection program after a drug dealer threatened to kill him if he ever got out of prison. Drug dealer escapes, kills Max's family and Max becomes the super-heroic Jaguar (so named for no apparent reason) in order to exact revenge. There's a little more to it than that, of course. Also cliches, mind you. There's also the aged oriental sensei, the mysterious government organization, the guy playing both sides of the fence, the sympathetic cop (Linda) and the curmudgeonly old guy who makes the hero's weapons. All of this is presented in a rather straightforward manner with the exception of the action scenes which are nicely handled. If only the cameraman hadn't been obviously tipsy during the whole thing as the images are constantly wiggling, shaking, shifting and spinning. It was enough to give me a headache by the halfway point!

The surprisingly good cast includes the late boxer/actor Trevor Goddard (MORTAL KOMBAT) as the bad guy and he's suitably evil and slimy. Stacy Keach gives the best line delivery as the supposedly dead government agent who turns up at the beginning and the end. The equally late director/actor/cult figure Paul Bartel does well with his little more than a cameo as the toymaker. The also late Paul Regina, the straight actor who starred in Showtime's BROTHERS in the eighties, the first openly gay character in a sitcom, is miscast as the turncoat agent but seems to be having fun with it. Maxwell, while never living up to expectations after the flop of GREASE 2, is suitably tight-lipped and square-jawed throughout. His suit is undefined mish-mash of high tech and war paint with a crossbow as weapon. As a superhero, he is definitely an also-ran. Linda Blair looks and acts her age and except for a few thrown away lines gives a nice, sympathetic performance as a police detective who ends up helping our hero. Again, an okay way to kill 93 minutes but don't go counting the merchandising revenue on the Jaguar.

Jimminy and the Magic Book

MORE FUN COMICS was incongruously one of DC's bloodiest and most violent comics during the peak World War II years. The sometimes almost sadistic adventures of Jerry Siegel's SPECTRE could be found here along with those of DOCTOR FATE and later JOHNNY QUICK, AQUAMAN and GREEN ARROW. After the war, however, trends changed and these features all faded away or moved into other titles leaving MORE FUN COMICS once again...fun!

In 1947, beginning in issue 121 of the long-running title, we find the first appearance of JIMMINY AND THE MAGIC BOOK. A forgotten traesure of a series, it chronicles the whimsical adventures of a little boy named Jimminy Crockett and a book of fairy tales, myths and legends he finds in his attic. The book, you see, can bring things in it to life! Unfortunately, real-life fairy tale characters are not always a good thing and Jimminy is warned by his father--who had enjoyed the book before him--to always keep his wits about him.

For seven issues--the final seven issues of the title--Jimminy has adventures with pirates, polar bears, talking animals, trolls, kangaroos and even discreetly topless mermaids(!). All of this is presented in beautifully drawn and colored pages by artist Howie Post. To say that Post's work is reminiscent of Walt Kelly would be an understatement. Although his own developing style shows through at times, for much of the run even a reader very familiar with Kelly might swear this was him. In fact, in a COMIC BOOK ARTIST interview a few years ago, Post tells the story of how Kelly and Dell comics honchos picked him to ghost the successful POGO comic book after Walt had moved on to the syndicated daily POGO strip. Unfortunately, he found he could make more money continuing to work for DC so that never happened. After Jimminy, Howie Post continued to work under the radar in comics, returning to a bit of prominence in the late sixties with the short-lived but well-remembered ANTHRO. After that he moved into newspaper strips himself with THE DROPOUTS.

According to GCD, all of the appearances of JIMMINY AND THE MAGIC BOOK were written by Jack Mendelsohn, a writer/artist who later created the bizarre syndicated strip JACKY'S DIARY and even later was one of the credited writers on the Beatles' animated feature YELLOW SUBMARINE.

If one is mining for undiscovered gems in DC's back catalog, I'd put this one up with SCRIBBLY as one that deserves a trade paper reprinting. Unfortunately, I'd also put this up with SCRIBBLY as something we're not likely to have see the light of day in the current comics market. Sigh. Look for cheap back issues of MORE FUN #'s 121-127 at your local comic shop. Since there are no costumed heroes in them, you might be able to find good deals.

The covers seen here are from the entire run and come from GCD. Note Superman's cameo on one issue!

Marvel Mystery House Ad-1942

RIP-Dallas McKennon

These days I sometimes wonder why Filmation didn't get actor Bob Hastings to recreate his ARCHIE radio role for their cartoons. It can't be because he was too old. Just a couple years earlier he was the voice of SUPERBOY for them and he was younger than the guy they eventually DID get to do that squeaky voice. Most people who care about such things are fairly familiar today with the fact that Ron Dante was the singing voice of ARCHIE on the records and in the old Filmation cartoons that began in the late sixties. Since his is the only name ever mentioned, I've heard of some who still think that he also did Archie's speaking voice! But no. I remember the first time I figured out that Archie's voice was, in fact, done by the old Gabby Hayes type guy who played on the DANIEL BOONE TV series! Cincinnatus! Looking back, that "old guy", actor Dallas McKennon, was younger then than I am now! As usual, Mark Evanier has a nice tribute/obit today at http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2009_07_14.html#017432

Superman Belt and Buckle

Here's a 1956 Kellogg's Corn Flakes tie-in ad from DC. Show everyone you're a SUPERMAN fan, it says. I don't know...why do I think the more likely scenario would be that some bully sees your belt buckle and says, "So you think you're as tough as Superman, huh?" and it all goes to hell from there? Oh and did no one notice that Superman's belt is actually yellow...not red? Or would a yellow belt have looked even wimpier?