Pop Culture Chronicles

Free Comic Book Day 2011

Saturday, May 7 was this year's annual Free Comic Book Day. Publishers provide dealers with free promotional comics to give away. This allows readers to sample various companies, characters, and titles before deciding where to invest their entertainment dollars.

Some of the free books offered are simply glorified commercials without any real story or just a partial story that is continued to the regular comic series. But each year there are a few books that provide a decent self-contained story along with the commercial. This year's Captain America/Thor team-up was especially good as the two were thrown back in time to Camelot. I wonder why Marvel chose Captain America and Thor? Could that have anything to do with this year's movie offerings? Marvel is still the greatest when it comes to All Ages stories that are really for all ages and not simply juvenile. DC's Young Justice/Batman: Brave and the Bold also had some decent self-contained stories. The Batman story was a good short story teaming Batman with Flash as the opinions of society's upper crust are contrasted with the real Bruce Wayne.

The comic shop we patronized for FCBD this year really went all out. There were people in costume (most notably Green Lantern & Batwoman), a sketch artist, and photographs with the life-size Spiderman statue. A long table with free super-hero buttons and numerous FCBD offerings allowed patrons to choose up to five titles each. And this comic shop did not stamp the covers with their store name, although there is a place for it. I love it when the covers aren't stamped. Every serious collector knows better than to desecrate a comic in that manner. This shop even had a sidewalk sale with dollar comics and free coffee. I'm impressed! It was like a mini-convention.

In addition to my five free titles (which also included Green Lantern, The Misadventures of Adam West, and Amazing Spiderman) I also had to raid the dollar boxes resulting in a fairly good stack. These included one-shots of Batman and Captain America, the Superman: Last Family of Krypton series, and the Amazing Spiderman issues with the "One Moment in Time" story arc. So FCBD was a real event for our family this year. Thanks to those comic shop proprietors who go the extra mile.       

Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos

I have many fond childhood memories of reading Silver and Bronze Age comics. One of those is Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, a premiere war comic of that era. My Sgt. Furys were so beat up by the time of my adulthood that I sold them cheap in a garage sale. Well, I found some good condition copies cheap at another garage sale allowing me a return to those nostalgic retro days. Here is a survey of three issues I just read back to back which gives a good overview of what to expect in this series. 

Sgt. Fury # 51 - (1967) This one is from the Gary Friedrich / Dick Ayers run. Friedrich and Ayers both found their signature series on this book. I met Friedrich at a comic convention where some signed back issues were reasonably priced at his booth. I was unemployed at the time, but if that were to happen again I'd snatch them up. Anyhow, issue # 51 takes place in England, Germany, and the Middle East. In the latter location the Howlers must protect Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin from a Nazi assassin. This story explores some of the negative impact of the Nazi regime on German families during World War II. 

Marvel was ahead of its time on such stories with emotional and human interest appeal. Marvel was also the leader in sub-plot continuity which companies like DC typically lacked at the time. But in this issue we learn that a member of the Howlers is currently a P.O.W. in Japan and another is struggling with a break-up from his girlfriend. The stories were good enough for an adult to read, but without the gore and profanity you could expect today. They were also educational regarding WW II history. 

Sgt. Fury # 92 - Written by Al Kurzrok, this one deals with the plight of Japanese Americans during the War. While some fought heroically for their adopted country, others were confined to internment camps. This was quite an issue for an early 70s comic. But Sgt. Fury says to a Japanese family, "Someday...I guarantee you that most Americans will look back on these camps and hang their heads in shame." Fury shows that he was ahead of his time as a WW II caucasion American, but the comic published in 1971 was even long before compensation and formal apologies were given to affected families. 

A back-up story reprints one from the earlier Roy Thomas run in which the Howlers must rescue their Captain Sawyer from an S. S. stronghold in occupied France as the S. S. attempts to extract information regarding the upcoming D-Day invasion. I love the references in conversation to the stars of the day such as Johnny Weismuller and the Three Stooges.    

Sgt. Fury # 120- Pictured here, this was the final issue of new material before the exclusive reprint run going through # 167. This 1974 story features Larry Lieber on the story and Dick Ayers on the art. By this time Roy Thomas is editing. The story deals with the capture of Gabe Jones, the only African-American member of the Howlers. This special force was well integrated, also including an Englishman, a Jew, an Irishman, a Southerner, and fictional movie star Dino Manelli. Any of these guys would lay down their lives for the others. Troops weren't really integrated in this manner during the War, but the Howlers served as good role models for readers. in this issue, they plan a rescue from a concentration camp in Holland.   

Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos were good role models in an educational War era comic that is even fit for all ages. Back issues, especially from the reprint era won't usually break the bank and two volumes of Marvel Masterworks have been dedicated to the Holwing Commandos.             

Free Comic Book Day

I'm writing this post on the first Saturday of May. Our family has awakened on this date over the last several years in anticipation of the annual Free Comic Book Day. This "holiday" is celebrated by comic shops and bookstores around the country. Samples of offerings from various publishers are offered free of charge.

To demonstrate the variety and the broad appeal of each year's Free Comic Book Day, I will now give the break down of what my kids and I got this year:

12-year old son:

• Ironman / Thor (Marvel)
• Ironman / Nova (Marvel)
• G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero # 155 1/2 (IDW)
• Toy Story (Boom Studios)
• Shrek / Penguins of Madagascar (Ape Entertainment) 

10-year-old daughter:

• Archie (Archie Comics)
• Owly & Friends (Top Shelf)
• DC Kids (DC Comics) 
• Toy Story (Boom Studios)
• Shrek / Penguins of Madagascar (Ape Entertainment)

40-something-year-old dad (that would be me):

• Ironman / Thor (Marvel)
• Green Hornet (Dynamite)
• G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero 155 1/2 (IDW)
• War of the Supermen # 0 (DC Comics)
• Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom / Magnus: Robot Fighter (Dark Horse)

I'll let you know how some of these titles were after I've read them. So how was your Free Comic Book Day? Hope it was happy.

Maverick

Pictured is a gem I recently purchased at a comic book show. I've been hoping to find an affordable issue of Maverick in decent condition for a long time. If you've been reading this blog, you know I love westerns--especially the TV westerns of the 50s and 60s. While the big screen cowboys are okay, my first love is the TV western whose memorable recurring characters get to seem like old friends. 

Maverick is my favorite western and possibly my favorite TV show of all time. Not your typical horse opera, Maverick had complex plots, witty dialog, comedy relief, a reluctant hero, and excellent acting. 

The comic based on the series lasted 19 issues from 1958 to 1962. The first six issues were a part of Dell Publishing's Four Color series, while the seventh issue was published as Maverick # 7 and the numbering continued from there. Each issue featured photo covers and the one pictured below introduced Bart Maverick to comics (I recently purchased this one at a comic shop sale).  

Bret Maverick (James Garner) was originally to be the only Maverick, until Warner Brothers got behind on production of the TV series. Then Jack Kelly was introduced as Bret's brother, Bart Maverick. So now two episodes could be filmed simultaneously with two separate production crews with respective episodes featuring either Bret or Bart. The Bart episodes would alternate with the Bret episodes Sunday nights on ABC. The brothers would occasionally share an episode. 

Garner left the show after three seasons due to a contract dispute. Kelly continued as Bart and Garner was replaced by Roger Moore who played the Mavericks' British cousin, Beau Maverick. On an earlier episode, Moore had appeared as Jack Vandergelt III, a character very much like the Beau Maverick character. This historical episode was the only one in which Garner, Kelly, and Moore all appeared together. It would be great if someone made available some 8 x 10 stills of the three together from that episode.

Moore played Beau Maverick in only 13 episodes, citing mediocre scripts as his reason for leaving the show. Robert Colbert appeared as Bart's brother, Brent Maverick, in two episodes of Season Four. Publicity photos of Kelly, Moore, and Colbert together and in character still survive. While it was intended that the three appear together in the show, Moore left too soon for that to happen. An episode with Bret and Bart together also aired during Season Four, but was actually a hold over filmed during Season Three. So this makes Season Four the only season in which each of the four Mavericks appeared at least once. Only Kelly returned for the fifth and final season. His new episodes alternated with Garner reruns from earlier years. 

The comics stories always starred whatever Mavericks were currently on the TV show. The artist was Dan Spiegle who visited Garner on the set and took great pains to make his characters look like the actors. 

Maverick has appeared somewhere each decade of the last half of the twentieth century. The original series ran from 1957 to 1962. The 1970s saw a made-for-TV movie, New Maverick, with Garner, Kelly, and introducing Charles Frank as cousin Ben Maverick. His series, Young Maverick ran only 8 episodes on CBS with Garner making a cameo in the first show. 

NBC was the third network to pick up Maverick as Garner returned in Bret Maverick for the 1981-82 season. Kelly made a cameo as Bart in the final episode and would have become a regular player had there been a second season. Kelly also appeared as Bart Maverick in Kenny Rogers' 1991 The Gambler Returns: Luck of the Draw. 

The year 1994 saw the theatrical release of Mel Gibson's Maverick in which Gibson played Bret. Co-stars included James Garner and Jodie Foster. 

So where has Maverick shown up in the 21st century? In 2006, a Bret Maverick statue was unveiled at a ceremony with Garner present in his hometown of Norman, Oklahoma. The Encore Westerns cable network is currently airing the original series daily and in chronological order. My DVD recorder is set nightly and I've so far captured Season One. Maverick episodes can be viewed online for free by clicking here. High speed cable internet helps. And of course, Maverick occasionally shows up at a comic shop or show.                                        

My First Comics Convention (Sort of)

Our family was privileged to attend our first comiccon one day this past weekend. Well, at least the kids and I felt privileged. My wife came along to watch the kids since she knew my head would be in boxes the whole time. Having been raised by a red neck who would drag his whole family to gun and knife shows, I can imagine how boring this must have been to the love of my life.  

And they did call it a comiccon. But I'm sure it was small potatoes compared to the cons at San Diego, New York, or Chicago. There were no celebrity guests, although some local artists came demonstrating their talents and hawking their wares. Not only were there no celebrity guests, but no fans showed up in costume, and there were no panels with comics creators or movie stars. I would say this was more of a comic "show." 

I hope to make it to a big convention some day, but that doesn't mean I was disappointed with this event. It was awesome for what it was. My schedule would not allow me to stay beyond two and half hours (A very long time for my wife and a very short time for me). There were dealers from at least as far away as a two-hour radius all in a giant room with tables upon tables of boxes upon boxes of comics, old and new. There were trades and graphic novels, toys, t-shirts, all kinds of stuff.

I had a great time finding great deals to fill in some gaps in some very long runs of my collection. I bought Legends of the Dark Knight 100, which completes my first 100 issue run of that series. I love the Alex Ross painted cover. Batman 407 completed Frank Miller's Batman Year One story arc in my collection. I picked up Justice Society Secret Files and Origins #1, which I somehow missed back when they revived the JSA. And Legends# 6 completes my collection of that 80s mini-series. 

My most significant purchase was of a 1960s TV western comic with photo cover. I'll be sharing the cover image in a near-future post. 

But one of the most exciting things that happened to us is that we were door prize winners. My eight-year-old daughter actually had the winning ticket. The door prize included three comics signed by artists or creative teams with certificates of authenticity. Two Batman titles and Supergirl #1 from 1994. My daughter called dibs on Supergirl, which is who she was for Halloween. 

The door prize also included several first issues of recent series. Included were Bat Lash, Batman and the Outsiders, Green Arrow and Black Canary, Ultimate Iron Man II, X-Men: Kitty Pryde: Shadow and Flame, Death of the New Gods, and Salvation Run. This gives me a chance to sample some of what's been going on in comics lately since my pull list only consists of one ongoing title and five limited series. I read Green Arrow and Black Canary and Bat Lash last night. I really liked Bat Lash. I think I'll eventually get the rest of the series or the trade. 

Other winnings included X-Men:198 5, World War Hulk 3, Teen Titans 50, and some freebie sketch books. We also got a collected addition of Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four, which my eleven year old son is enjoying. Oh, and a Venom paperweight (just what everyone needs). 

So needless to say, I left feeling pretty good with all that free stuff. It was one of those weeks when I really needed something good to happen. 

My son bought a die cast Wolverine figure he had searched for quite a while and also picked up some cheap classic Star Wars back issues. My daughter got a Disney comic for 50 cents and both my kids impressed the vendors and artists with their vast knowledge of comic book super heroes. That's what happens when your dad is a pop culture geek.