V #1 (February, 1985)
"City on the Edge"
Writer - Cary Bates
Pencils - Carmine Infantino
Inks - Tony DeZuniga
Letters - John Costanza
Colors - Michele Wolfman
Edits - Marv Wolfman
Cover Price: $0.75
I remember V being one of the things my parents were excited for back in the long ago. They didn't often look forward to things on TV, but V was definitely one of those times. I, personally, remember very little about it. I'm sure I didn't watch the whole thing back then (or honestly, ever since), but it did affect me, and there there are a handful of scenes that stick with me to this day.
I think I was in second grade... and, me and my buddy Marc had the great idea that we'd be Visitors for Halloween. Now, we were just a couple of dummies, and so we created our "costumes" out of... paper. We made a pair of paper masks, one green and scaly, the other, like a normal human's. Or, whatever the second-grade approximation of a normal human mask might've been. They didn't quite live up to our expectations... and, sadly, we could only "tear off" the human mask once before having to make another. Kids are dumb...
As for the movie/mini-series, the main scene I remember (besides the initial lizard-skin reveal, of course), was one during which some kids were playing with Visitor action figures. I thought that was the coolest thing ever... and I really wanted them!
Now, for the comic. I've... never read it! Not til today. I don't have the foggiest idea what to expect. Is this going to be a faithful adaptation of the movies? Was it going to be something altogether new? Not sure... all I know is this series has been on my to-read stack for years now, and we're finally going to look at it now.
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We open in a "Neutral Zone" in Los Angeles, and from the looks of it, the Visitors have already made their presence felt. Hmm... wasn't expecting this to start this deep into the story. Anyhoo, members of the Resistance are having themselves some drinks at the Club Creole. They are Chris, Ham, Mike, and Juliet. A trio of trenchcoated Visitors enter the joint... and, even though there's a strict no-firearms policy in the Neutral Zones, the aliens start blastin' anyway!
There's a brief firefight, during which, either by blast or fallen debris, Chris takes a bang to the shoulder. One of the baddies snags a hostage, to which Ham blasts the bugger right in the face, revealing his reptilian face. The remaining Visitors rush outside to inform one of their patrols that there's a a gunfight goin' down... and, the humans started it. Uh-huh. Nice try.
Our Resistance members are separated, and we first follow Mike and Juliet as they lead some other humans into a secret headquarters located below the Club Creole. Ham and Chris are hiding out inside a dumpster outside the joint.
Inside the Club, the Visitors check in with a fella named Lorne, who is confident that this is just a temporary set-back, and the members of the Resistance won't elude them for long.
We catch back up with Mike and Juliet, who have arrived at an old Hollywood movie lot. There, they meet up with a man named Willie... who has been attempting to repair one of the Visitor's SkyFighter ships. Once that's done, our pair recruit two men named Boyce and Hart to take on their maiden voyage.
Meanwhile, Ham's eating garbage as he and Chris barrel down the Santa Monica Highway in the back of a garbage truck. They hop out when the gettin's good, and flag down an ambulance in order to forcibly get Chris' arm fixed up.
We zip up to space, and check in with the Visitor Commander Lydia, who is reading her Second-in-Command, Diana the riot act for disregarding the "Neutral Zone" treaty and allowing the Club Creole incident go down. Diana just takes it... she doesn't have any excuses.
We next head over to the Science Frontiers Offices, where that guy Lorne from earlier is meeting with a man named Bates... probably not Cary. We learn here that this Mr. Bates took out the Club Creole "hit", and paid for those trenchcoated visitors to take out Ham Tyler.
Speaking of that guy... Back in the ambulance, Ham is driving while the Paramedics tend to Chris' wounded wing. It's not long before they are spotted by some jet-pack-packin' Visitors.
We rejoin the rest, as they're flying in their stolen SkyFighter. Soon, they are confronted by a Surveillance Craft that demands them to identify themselves. It's here that they enlist their "Voca-Simulator", which makes it sound like their ship is full'a Visitors.
Back with the other two. They (and the medics) bail out of the ambulance and allow the baddies to blow up their ride. This way, the Visitors will assume they died in the blast. I guess this works... if we don't think too hard about it. I mean, didn't the jetpacked aliens see them get ou... er, nope... not gonna think too hard.
Ham and Chris bid their drivers adieu, and then hijack a boat at the Vista Marina. Well, they try to, anyway. They find themselves held up by an armed individual. Even though they outnumber the one guy... and are both armed, they surrender.
We rejoin Mike and the rest, as they land their craft by a small village. They are greeted by some very happy (and gift-bearing) people. That is, until they realize that the passengers of this rig are not the Visitors. Hmm... Anyhoo, they drop their gifts... and we get a glimpse of what might be inside. Some creepy critters indeed!
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So... I'm thinkin' you've kinda got to have a working knowledge of V in order to best appreciate this one. Going into it "fresh" really doesn't do you any favors.
I was kind of hoping this would serve as a "primer" to the V Universe... and sort of ease us into the concept and trappings of the world. I was also hoping to take a few steps back, and maybe not instantly reveal the Visitors as lizard-skinned baddies. Was really looking forward to seeing the paranoia angle played up... where the Earthlings didn't quite know what to make of their visitors. I wanted the Resistance to sort of "bubble up", as peoples' suspicions grew, ya know?
This feels kind of like a "worst of all worlds" sort of scenario. We don't get a reveal, we don't get a backstory, we don't get a reason to invest... unless we've already seen a great deal/all of the V media. Now, I'm usually the first guy to give a book "props" for not holding the readers hand... for rewarding "loyalty", knowledge, and research. But this? I mean, we're shifting mediums from moving picture to static image... and, there's an expectation that the reader be highly familiar with the source material.
I'm sure had I been more familiar with V... I'd probably have liked this better. Fact of that matter is, I'm not. It's been well-over 30 years since I've seen any of it... and, well... this issue didn't do all that much for me.
Let's look at the art. Holy smokes did Tony DeZuniga do a wonderful service to Carmine Infantino's pencils! If you've followed this site for awhile, you might know that Carmine in the 80's is some of my least favorite stuff. When I saw his name in the credits, I kinda cringed... but, hot damn... DeZuniga really pulls this one out!
Overall... if you're a more knowledgeable V fan than I, I bet you'll really dig this. If you only have a passing remembrance of the stuff... this might not be for you.
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(Not the) Letters Page:
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Rima the Jungle Girl #1 (April-May, 1974)
"Spirit of the Woods"
"Four Tombs"
Writers - Robert Kanigher (?) & Jack Oleck
Art - Nestor Redondo & Alex Nino
Letters - Esphidy Mahilum
Edits - Joe Kubert & Alan Asherman
Cover Price: $0.20
So... what's Rima the Jungle Girl? I'm not ashamed to say... I haven't the foggiest idea. I couldn't tell you if this was an old licensed character, or an actual citizen of the DC Universe. Well, I've done some (admittedly, shallow) research... and can happily report: yes... to both!
Rima would first appear in Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest (1904) by William Henry Hudson... which seems like a rather odd place to find an eventual comics property, dunnit? What's more, Green Mansions would eventually be adapted into a film (1959)... wherein, Audrey Hepburn would play Rima? Dang! Dude from Psycho plays the male lead... and, ho-lee smokes, does he ever not look like a complete creep?!
That's the smile of a man with a refrigerator full'a body parts. Anyhoo, with all that having been said... the story we're about to look at apparently takes place on Earth-1! What's more, Rima was even on the SuperFriends cartoon?! This probably isn't all that mind-blowing to many reading this, but SuperFriends is definitely one of my DC "blind spots". I never really watched it! I think it might've been just a hair before my time, and I never made it a priority to seek out.
There she is chatting up Batman in SuperFriends. Not to be confused nor conflated with Hanna Barbera's Jana of the Jungle...
So yeah... Rima, right? This Jungle Girl has herself a pretty crazy little backstory... let's take a look at her first (to my knowledge) four-color outing!
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We open on a man frantically wandering through a Venezuelan Jungle... poisoned from a snakebite. He thrashes about and calls for help from anyone that might hear him. Unfortunately, he's, ya know, way deep in the woods. Fortunately... that same blonde from the cover hangs out there. Next thing we know, our man wakes up... safe and sound... inside the hut of an old man named Nuflo. He wants to know what this strange white man is doing in this (literal) neck of the woods.
Our man figures, heck... the old man saved my life, the least I can do is tell him what brought me here... and so, we hop right into flashback land. This fella's name is Abel... and he was a rebel against Venezuela's military regime during the Venezuelan Revolution. He and his fellow rebels... well, didn't quite stack up to the military's firepower, and as such, went down like dominoes. Abel's friends were all put before a firing squad, with Abel only getting away by virtue of being severely wounded on the battle field. He'd flee into the jungles.
Abel would follow the shores of the Orinoco River, hoping to stumble across a mythical treasure which he felt might turn the tide in the revolution. The days passed on, and he'd finally find his way into a small village. Lucky for him, these were friendly folks. They'd even teach him some of their own ways. Their only warning to Abel was to stay out of Tabu... the Evil Place. Which is to say, the place is called "Tabu"... or, it's, ya know, "taboo" to go there? Whatever the case... Abel is told to stay out.
Naturally... he does not. That night, after the village has gone to bed, Abel sneaks over to the taboo Tabu... and is overcome by the sound of a bird's song. As he wanders deeper, he feels the presence of... someone... watching over him.
He heads back to the village, where the stink of the Evil Place is just allllll over him. Runi, the villager, and Abel's friend calls him a fool for letting his curiosity get the best of him... and warns of a "witch" who lives deep in them thar woods. One who can transform from human to beast, and back again. Those villagers who dared enter before... never returned!
The villagers decide to give Abel another chance... but, again... warn him that he's kinda playing with bad juju in Tabu. Naturally, Abel only stays put for another day. The following morning, he's back in the green... following the strange, exotic, bird song.
He finally finds himself stood before a snarled old tree... and can really feel the magic of the area. Then... Rima! Rima walks out toward him... and, well, doesn't say anything. She's almost playing "hard to get here". Every time Abel approaches, she playfully prances away. Our man takes this as a sign that she's "beckoning" him to follow... and so, he does.
They arrive at a thick brush, and Abel spies a poisonous snake coming dangerously close to Rima's bare leg. Our hero lunges in to push Rima away from the snake, which only causes the wriggler to latch onto his own leg! Ya see, the snake was protecting Rima... a fact that isn't lost on Abel.
This takes us back to the beginning... with poisoned Abel stumblin' all over the place. Back in the present, he thanks the old man for saving his life... only to be corrected. It wasn't Nuflo that drew the poison from Abel's wound... it was Nuflo's granddaughter: Rima!
Our back-up story features the creatively-named Space Voyagers! They are Armando, Bartt, Melong, and Nolan... and, well... as the name might imply, they're voyaging through space. They decide to stop on an uninhabited planet to see if they might procure some actual food (rather than their normal "food tablets"). Upon hitting the ground, they spy a set of footprints leading into a weird forest, and figure they might be worth a follow. Yeah, what's the worst that can happen?
What they find is... the owner of those prints, an old man... who is just about to be gobbled up by a giant green insect! The Space Voyagers attempt to blast at the thing, only to find that their weapons are powerless against it.
They decide to outsmart the thing, by making it give chase. When this happens, the poor bug winds up impaling itself on some of the spikier parts of the forest.
The old man pulls himself back up to his feet, and beckons the gang to follow him. Wow, two "beckonings" in one issue! You sure got your two-dimes worth back in '74! Anyhoo... he leads them into a weird Mausoleum... and inside, are our titular "Four Tombs"... which look to contain... them!
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Lemme tell ya... if not for this site, this is definitely not the sort of book I'd ever subject myself too... which, is another reason to be happy to have the site. I really, really enjoyed this!
I'm not going to pretend to be some sort of Rima expert or anything, or suggest that I've read more than like a paragraph and a half of the Wikipedia synopsis of Green Mansions... so, we're just going to look at this as a comic book. As a comic book, I found that this story had a wonderful "flow" to it. It really felt as though I was being kinda "swept" into it. So often, it feels like our creative teams attempt to show and tell... which makes the read feel a little bit overbearing at times. This, was relatively light, and almost played out like a movie. For all I know this was a direct retelling of the first bits of the 1959 film... but, for whatever it's worth, I really enjoyed the way this played out.
There were no credits in this issue... though, many of my research haunts attribute it to Robert Kanigher. Couldn't find any concrete confirmation, but the speculation appears to be in agreement... though, Nestor Redondo is given credit in "expanding" Rima's role. Considering this version of the Jungle Girl is only around for this seven-issue series, I'm not sure how much actual "credit" is involved.
Worth noting, that Rima was nyoinked outta the mothballs for the 2010 DC FirstWave stuff, which featured pulpy characters like Doc Savage and the like.
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| Art by Rags Morales |
This issue also came with a back-up feature I suppose we could spend a few lines talking about. It... was fine. Definitely my kind of back-up, in that it didn't attempt to overwhelm the lead story... and was rather breezy to get through. I didn't feel overwhelmed by a load of characters (I'll probably never see or think about again) dropped in my lap, and having to keep straight. This was a pretty boilerplate space adventure, with some action, and a pretty cool twist of a cliffhanger. Good stuff.
Overall, definitely enjoyed this more than I thought I would... and I'm really glad I finally got around to reading it.
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Showcase #71 (November-December, 1969)
"What Swings, Fiddle Strings?"
Writer - E. Nelson Bridwell
Pencils - Mike Sekowsky
Inks - Mike Esposito
Edits - Jack Miller
Cover Price: $0.12
See, toldja I'd get to the Woody issue before long! Even though, from the looks of it, not many people on these internets care all that much about the Maniaks, I'm gonna cover it here anyway!
This was actually the Maniaks story I wanted to cover all along... not so much for the story, but so I could share a (rather dumb and wildly self-indulgent) Woody Allen anecdote.
Ya see, back in the long ago... back before my spirit was crushed and I still had hopes that I could make something of myself... I fancied myself something of a writer. I wrote all the damn time... it was like I couldn't get the words onto paper (or a screen) fast enough.
Now, anyone who has read this site for any amount of time, likely knows, a) any talent I had for writing was fleeting, and b) I'm not much of a "movie guy". I'm not just talkin' comics movies... but, movies in general. I have trouble sitting still long enough to watch movies... always have!
There are a few instances, however, where a movie will cause me to stop in my tracks! It doesn't happen often... but, it does happen. One of those movies was... Annie Hall. I still consider AH to be among my favorites... and, seeing it actually inspired me to try writing a screenplay for the first time. But, what would it be about?
Ya see, I first saw Annie Hall right out of high school... and, a few months later, I started dating this girl. She was the first girl I saw after moving across country, and the first time I went over to her place, I noticed that she had a "Glamor Shot" on her wall. Y'all remember "Glamor Shots"?
Anyhoo, she went into her room to change clothes so we could head out, which left me all to my lonesome in the living room. I wandered over to the Glamor Shot to get a better look, and upon doing so... suddenly... Woody Allen's voice was in my head. It said, "There must have been enough Vasoline on that lens to have been taken rectally."
I cracked myself up for a minute (not that it's all that humorous)... and from that single line, spun an idea for that screenplay. Fast-forward like... a week later, and I had over 200 pages of script written, for a feature I tentatively called "Fish Heads". Naturally, nothing ever came of it... and, I'm sure it's still sitting on a thumb-drive somewhere in my house.
So yeah, "Fish Heads" has been intrinsically linked to Woody Allen in my head ever since, and I can never think of one without the other.
I apologize for makin' ya read the previous several paragraphs... but, if'n ya did... I appreciate it! Now, let's rejoin the Maniaks!
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As the Maniaks wrap up another rock show, a stage hand rushes in to inform them that they have a very special guest... Woody Allen! He's here with a business proposition, ya see? He's got a stage show he's looking to put together, and he has need for some songs... and stars. It's going to be a Civil War era story, and pretty much evvvvvverybody involved is going to have a punny name. For example, Flip is going to play "Rhett Buttons" (a play on Rhett Butler from Gone With the Wind), Jangle's going to play General Molasses S. Granite (not Ulysses S. Grant), and so on. Often, puns and wordplay don't feel "cheap"... this sadly isn't one of those times.
We then meet the rest of the players involved in the production, Jeannette Punchinello (Annette Funicello), Rock Hutsut (Rock Hudson... though there's not much of a resemblance), Marjorie Maim (Marjorie Main... that's hardly a pun!), and Grubby Haynes (George "Gabby" Hayes). Finally, we're introduced to the leading lady of this play... the "Mod Fashion Model", Twiggly (another very lazy bit of name-play there). Naturally, Woody is going to play the leading man.
The Maniaks all start making fun of Twiggly's pipe-cleaner limbs, and her thick accent. She's supposed to be a Southern Belle... but is very, very British. First order of business is to bust the Brit out of her voicebox... and, it mostly works... unfortunately, her "accent coach" winds up speaking with an English accent after the session.
Woody's mind turns to costume design... but, never fear they've got Carnaby Rudge to put the threads together. I'm guessing this is another very simple/lazy reference... but, I cannot figure out who they're referring to here. Anyhoo, lickety-split, the costumes are created... and everyone looks right-proppa' Southern.
We jump ahead to Boston, Massachusetts where the play is scheduled to open for some try-outs. Woody is greeted by a fella named Floyd, from the Tigers Motorcycle Club. This leads into a very... strange little story, that has absolutely nothing to do with anything. Flip asks how Woody knows Floyd, and we learn that Floyd was his childhood bully... who, one time killed his pet dog ant.
The next day, the reviews are in on the try-out... annnnd, they stink! Woody assures the gang there's nothing to worry about, ya see... he's done called in a Play Doctor. Enter: Dr. Milo Hackencouph (based on Groucho Marx's Dr. Hackenbush). Woody soon realizes he called the wrong kind of "Play Doctor". We're only seven pages in at this point, folks.
Part I of our story wraps up on opening night for this Woody Allen Broadway production... Confederate Yankees! The panel comes complete with our actual ticket... so, let's punch that sucker and hop into the show!
Um, so yeah... the entire rest of this comic is... the play. And, it's... a musical. There's some fun bits here, but... lemme tell ya, the joke gets played out long before the story ends. The jist of the thing is, a Rhett Buttons is a Confederate Spy, who is in love with Annette Funicello...
... Twiggly is also a Confederate Spy, but is posing as a Schoolma'rm. They're supposed to gather intel from a Union Fort. Thus ends, Act I.
Between Acts, Woody is nervously chatting up some of the cast members... he probably realizes this comic (and blog post) are rapidly running off the rails.
Act II fires up, and Twiggly reveals that she's in love with Captain Jack Strongheart (Woody's character, naturally). This is overheard by Silver Shannon's Salome Rand... who, of course, is also in love with Woody's character. Here's the rub though, it's here that Silver/Salome finds out that Twiggly's nothin' more than a rotten Confederate spy! And so, she turns her (and Rhett) in to the authorities!
We jump ahead to the prison, where Rhett and Twiggly are being held. Woody visits, clicks his heels, and says that this story will either end with a wedding or an execution. Annette Funicello arrives to check in with Flip, and says she's relieved that he's just a treasonous Confederate, rather than a dirty cheater.
We jump ahead to the trial... and, holy smokes... there are like skatey-eight eleventy-hundred words on these pages. It's all set to music... and, wow, is it a slog and a half. Rhett and Twiggly are both found guilty... but, here's the thing. A Courier blows through town with some news... ya see, the Civil War's over. Actually... it's not just over, it's been over for a year at this point... and word just never made it to this town! So, no harm, no foul! Rhett and Twiggly couldn't have been spying for a government that no longer existed!
And so, everything ends... happily ever after.
We wrap up our visit with the Maniaks while they, and Woody wait for the reviews to start pouring in. Actually, the Maniaks are more worried about the reviews for their run in Showcase to start rollin' in... ya see, they don't know when (or if) they'll ever grace the pages of a comic book again! Welp, I come from the future... and I've got some baaaaaaad news, gang.
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So...
If you're trying to get your Showcase feature picked up and given it's own ongoing series... do ya wrap up your "pitch" with a wildly experimental story that features your characters (who we still don't know all that well) playing different roles? Do you fill two-thirds of the (silent) issue with musical numbers?
Well if you're me... no, you don't do any of that. I mean, what do I know, I'm just an idiot with a blog... but, this just doesn't seem like the smartest "pitch". What sort of expectation are you setting with a story like that? Would an ongoing Maniaks series be rife with pop-culture puns and be predicated on putting the cast into odd roles, rather than actually fleshing them out? Really, all we know about these kids is... the "inch-deep, mile-wide" that we get in the introductory captions. Why would we ever have a pressing desire to see 'em again?
Honestly, the "gag" of this story was played out about two pages in... unfortunately, the horse would continue to be flogged for an additional twenty. It's too bad. I really enjoyed the previous Maniaks story... but this... uh-uh. The joke overstayed its welcome, and the "musical" portions were a real pain to get through. I feel like I had to read each balloon at least twice to keep up with the story. I may be denser than most, but it's not often I'm this out of the loop.
All that having been said, however... I mean, you don't buy the Maniaks/Woody Allen team-up for the story... this is 100% pure novelty value. If you happen across it for a few bucks, I'd definitely recommend nabbing it, just so you can add a little weird flavor to your personal library. This issue, unsurprisingly, doesn't look like it's been made available digitally at this time.
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(Not the) Letters Page:
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Cap's!
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