3 posts from August 2009

Invaders #28 is one issue that I’ve always been aware of after seeing it my friends’ huge Marvel collection back in the late seventies because it featured the first appearance of Bucky’s fellow sidekick-aged counterparts in an interesting group called the KID COMMANDOS.

  That particular issue’s cover made an impression on me because of two things: One, there was a cute oriental gal in the group, and Two, there was a black kid wearing what I considered to be one of the ugliest costumes to come out of the Bronze Age! I remember thinking, wow, that girl’s got that oriental kimono thing down good, but that dude looks like he just broke out of prison!

  Well, it wasn’t until years later that I actually got down to buying that issue of the Invaders, and reading it I was even more amazed to find that the costumes the kids wore weren’t even made for them- they were “just some old theatre costumes that had been left behind”(!) Funny how they found ones that fit their powers/codenames so nicely- then again, maybe it was just luck that Gwenny Sabuki got to choose her costume before David Mitchell, otherwise, who knows? SHE might have been stuck with that green striped shirt! AHAHAHAHAHA!

 But as we know, she got her hands on the Golden Kimono first, and thus was born the blazing GOLDEN GIRL, possessor of energy light powers and cheerful disposition!

 I was hoping to read lots more stories featuring Gwen and the rest of the commandos, but after their battle against Agent Axis (who turned out to be that tricky Namor) I was disappointed to find they were largely regaled to “supporting cast”, at least in the issues I managed to get ahold of. 

 One thing that surprised me reading those issues was how YOUNG Gwen was… all those years staring at the cover of Invader #28, she always seemed to be eighteen or nineteen years old. But reading the stories as penciled by veteran artist Frank Robbins, she looked decidedly underage- more like 11 years old…(well, they WERE called the KID Commandos, after all…not the TEEN Commandos!)

 I’ve always thought that Gwen’s GOLDEN GIRL character would have been a great one to revive somehow, though I wasn’t sure just how they would bring “up-to-date” a character that was a teen in World War Two… so I was very interested to find that they HAD brought her back (in a way) in the pages of THUNDERBOLTS, as part of the V-Battalion. Not that I have any inkling what that was all about, except for what Wikipedia tells me-

 "Gwenny Sue later helped found the post-war organization the V-Battalion. Gwenny eventually changed her superhero name to Golden Woman, before she died in 1961. Her daughter and her granddaughter became the superheroines Golden Sun and Goldfire, respectively, though Golden Sun died when her own daughter was five years old."

Not bad for a sidelined secondary support character, eh?

 

Gwenny Lou Sabuki

First appearance: Invaders #26

Created by: Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins

 

Though there always seemed to be comics in our house growing up, it was of the Archie / Richie Rich variety and it wasn’t until my friend Jas living across the street introduced me to all the comics he was collecting that I finally got to see what all the hubbub was with those mysterious MARVEL and DC comics lining the racks at our corner candy store.

  Up until then, Marvel and DC comics were strictly for “big Kids”, and whenever I’d take a glance inside one of the books, I was confused and overwhelmed by the pages of seemingly never-ending dialog and utterly incomprehensible storylines. I mean, sure, I’d heard of Spider-Man and Superman, but somehow the stuff I saw in cartoons and television seemed so easy to understand, reading the actual comic seemed like reading an encyclopedia!

 He laid out some of his comics and explained to me that the comics were part of an ongoing storyline that continued from issue to issue, and that even though it might seem confusing at first, once you’d read a couple, the story would start to make sense!

 I understood. It made sense, and looking at Jas’ monthly purchases, (among them HULK and CAPTAIN AMERICA as well as BATMAN and his all time favorite, GREEN LANTERN) I thought it might be interesting to try and begin collecting a title myself! But where to start? To be truthful, I didn’t much care for costumed heroes at that point in my life. I was more won over by my friend’s enthusiasm more that any actual comic hero…but then my eyes spied a comic featuring Godzilla. GODZILLA? The famous Japanese monster whose movies I stayed up many nights and endured many “Monster Weekends” to catch? Now THAT sounded cool!

GODZILLA #12 

The Godzilla issue that I picked up that fateful afternoon was issue #12, and as luck would have it, happened to be the first chapter of a new story! The story was a tale of Godzilla being abducted and asked to battle on the behalf of an alien race against three deadly creatures called the Mega-Monsters who were due to arrive on Earth! WOW! This story was everything I’d HOPED it would be- big kaiju monsters slugging it out and even one of those giant transformer robots (a la MAZINGER Z) that I loved so much- what more could a kid ask for?! And this time, when I got to the end of the comic and it said “TO BE CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE”, I knowingly nodded, feeling very mature now that I was reading BIG KID comics, and even showed it to my mother, saying, ‘You See, unlike Richie Rich and Archie Comics, THESE comics are an ongoing series, and so they continue from issue to issue…!”

But my Mom dismissed it with a wave of her hand, saying, “Ahhh, they’re only trying to get you kids to buy more comics!” D’oh!

 

GODZILLA #13

 Three or four weeks later, I happened to be in the candy store to buy some snacks after school, and was JOLTED when I absent-mindedly glanced at the comic spinner and saw the new GODZILLA issue on the rack! Honestly, I had forgotten all about Godzilla and collecting comics, but taking one look at the cover of Godzilla fighting the Mega-Monsters and the story and excitement came rushing back to me in a flash!

The previous issue was merely a setup for the confrontation ahead. THIS issue was the BATTLE ITSELF and oh how it delivered! A city-leveling slugfest began with Godzilla versus the three Mega Monsters all culminating in a devastating end where Godzilla’s giant robot partner Red Ronin is beheaded by one of the alien Beasts! This time when the comic went to “To Be Continued”, I FINALLY understood what a “cliffhanger” was, and I was simply BESIDE myself with desire to read what happened next!!!

GODZILLA #14

I couldn’t contain my excitement when I saw the NEW issue on the stands! There on the cover stood Godzilla bravely trudging on solo against the Mega Monsters, as Red Ronin’s severed head smoked in the foreground!

 There was something special I felt seeing this cover. In a way, it was like the first time I really knew that I was actually passionately collecting this story, not because I wanted to be like my friend or because it seemed cool, but because I truly loved the strip. There was a sort of sense of pride I felt looking at that cover and already knowing EXACTLY what was going on, I felt proud to say to my cousin, ‘Look, Godzilla is fighting Krollar from the planet Mega- and that head is Red Ronin- he got his head sliced off by Triax!!!”

 Well, I ran home with THAT one, and it concluded with a big bang, with Godzilla systematically destroying all three Mega-Monsters and winning the praise of the dying Alien race who now knew their home planet would be forever safe from the evil Megs-Monsters! WOW! What a story!

It was here that comic collecting firmly took ahold of me and has never let go!

 

GODZILLA #15-16

Back in these days, I wasn’t really COLLECTING comics so much as readin’ them for enjoyment, so after I’d read the new issue, I’d just toss it wherever happened to be convenient. Then, whenever a new issue would come in, I’d have to hunt around the house and dig out the old issues.

One might be under the bed. One might be behind the television. One might be in the entertainment center stuffed in the drawer with the ‘45’s!  When issue #15 came out, I was able to find all three of them, but I wasn’t so lucky when issue #16 came out. Try as I might, only issue #12 and #13 turned up. After weeks of searching, I realized my mother had probably thrown the tattered issue #14 out! After that sobering lesson, I made a special place for my Godzilla comics- I cleared out a space on the middle shelf right next to our encyclopedias, made a little stack, and there each new issue would go, and be returned to!

 Though issues #15 and 16 (story where Godzilla heads out to cattle country and gets involved with rustlers!) weren’t as interesting as the Mega Monsters arc, by then reading the latest Godzilla Comic was like stepping into a pair of comfortable shows- a regular part of my life…little did I know my favorite storyline of them all was coming up next!

GODZILLA #17

When I first laid eyes on the awesome cover to issue#17, I didn’t give it too much thought. I simply thought the cover was being symbolic, about how S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Dum Dum Dugan was forever hounding Godzilla like an ominous presence lording over his life.

 

But when I read the issue and they ACTUALLY SHRUNK GODZILLA, you could have knocked me over with a feather! Holy Cow, Who came up with such a NEAT story?! (Well, that would be writer Doug Moench and artist Herb Trimpe, but you know how kids are…they think comic stories grow on trees!)

 

But when this issue concluded, Godzilla was INDEED shrunken, about the size of a small chicken, and BOY! My mind raced with all the possibilities that could happen in subsequent issues! So off they were to New York, with a little Godzilla in tow!

GODZILLA #18

HOLY CRAP, when I saw this cover, I just about flipped! While waiting that long, agonizing month for the next installment, my mind raced at what the next issue’s cover would look like. All I knew was that Godzy was shrunken and going to the Big City. Then Issue #18 came out, and right off, that cover just ROCKED MY WORLD!

 

I remember taking this issue to Jason’s house to show it off, I loved it so much. I remember babbling to him, “OF COURSE Godzilla would be in the sewers fighting Rats! Now that he was reduced to their level, Rats are the “monster” equivalents of the city right?!” Bonus was the fact that it was “Battle Beneath Eight Avenue”…the name of the street that I lived on! Why, I could imagine this going on right beneath me…!

 

Well, reading it we find out that Godzilla’s friend Rob Takiguchi (the boy who’d controlled the robot Red Ronin before its’ demise) had fiddled with the latch on the cage containing Godzilla, and when the cage was accidentally dropped, the box sprung open and Godzilla had escaped into the bay!

 

He'd made his way into the sewers and battled off the rodent vermin as the desperate crew split up and tried to recapture him before he could get into more mischief. Attracted by the familiar voice of Rob Takiguchi, Godzilla emerged from the sewers, but just as Rob was about to approach him, the gas stated to wear off, and Godzilla suddenly shot up to a human-sized 7 feet!

 

GODZILLA #19

I remember when I saw this issue on the stands, I reached into my pockets and came up with about 18¢, a far cry from the 37¢ needed to buy the comic! Luckily for me, I lived right next to this empty lot where people would toss their beer cans and trash, and I kicked up two 10¢ deposit bottles and ran back to the store, turned in the bottles, got my dimes, and with my grand total of 38¢ was able to purchase my GODZILLA comic!

 

After all that work, I took a well-deserved break to delve into that new comic- and it didn’t disappoint! With Godzilla now a big 7 feet tall, Rob tries to quietly get him back aboard the ship, but when Dum Dum and the others see him, they panic and rush at him, and before you know it, the lot of them are trading fists and kicks, before Godzilla gives a final solid punch and runs off again.

 

GODZILLA #20

I think I made it clear above that at this time, I really didn’t care much for costumed heroes, and was waiting for more villains like the Mega-Monsters to show up. Instead, I got…The Fantastic Four?!

 

Yes, since Godzilla was loose in New York, somebody called in the good guys, and so it was that the Fantastic Four came to crash S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Godzilla hunting Party. I just didn’t like this invasion of my favorite comic… it took the cat-and-mouse relationship between Godzilla and Dum Dum out of their hands and basically turned it into the hot-headed Thing wrestling and irritating Godzilla against the advice of everyone!  Finally someone has the good idea to use Doctor Doom’s time machine to send Godzilla back where he came from, and I hoped that would be the end of the superheroes for awhile!!

 

GODZILLA #21-22

 Sent back in time, Godzilla teams up with Jack Kirby’s Devil Dinosaur. This comic obviously meant to tie up loose ends of Devil Dinosaur’s canceled strip, and I felt like I had come in halfway through a movie with all these new characters and pre-existing storylines! Not only that, I didn’t care for Moon Boy taking Rob Takiguchi’s place. I thought there was only ONE BOY who could befriend Godzilla that way.

 

And it didn’t matter anyway, for once the task was done (and all loose ends were tied up) Godzilla was bounced back to present time, (an effect I NEVER saw happen in any of the prior (or Subsequent) “Doc Doom Time Machine” stories) once again giving Dum Dum and gang the problem of what to do with him.

 

Funny thing about issue #22- when I went up and paid for it, I placed 37¢ on the counter, grabbed my comic, and started to leave, when the lady behind the register stopped me and said, “That’s not enough. Your total is 42¢!” HUH? I hadn’t noticed that the price had finally gone up. Comics were no longer 35¢, they were 40¢!! So I had to borrow the rest of the money from my cousin, who insisted I pay her back that nickel later!

 

GODZILLA #23

Yag! More Marvel Heroes, this time Yellowjacket and the rest of the freaking Avengers. Funny how much I loved Costumed Heroes later, at this time I just couldn’t STAND them being in the Godzilla comic! But there they all were, like gnats bothering an ox!

 

After being sent back to the Stone Age, you would have thought we’d be through with New York super-beings, but it was not to be. Pretty soon it seemed like all the heroes in the city showed up for the punch-out. Using all their powers together, they use brute force to herd him to the oceanfront, but all they end up doing is pissing him the hell off!

 

GODZILLA #24

And then in the summer of ’79, Godzilla came to a close, though I did not know it.

 

Issue #24 was the final chapter in the “Godzilla Shrinks” storyline, ending when young Rob Takiguchi finally gets the Avengers to buzz off, and gently persuades Godzilla to return to the Sea. Rob gives a tearful goodbye as Godzilla walks out to the ocean, and as the sun sets, the heroes stand by silently as Godzilla growls a final farewell before departing for good.

 

And for the first time, the comic didn’t say “To Be Continued”…all it said was “Fin.”

 

“WOW!” I thought at the time. “What an Awesome ending!” I wonder how they’ll top that in the NEXT issue! But there was to be no “Next Issue”.  Because of Toho’s hefty licensing fee and lukewarm sales, Marvel had decided to cancel the book. But I didn’t know about any of this, and after this, spent MONTHS waiting at the candy store for a next issue that never came! It seemed ironic timing that just as I was about to get into more “older” comics, my beloved Godzilla was coming to a close.

 

When school began again that September, I ran across one of my classmates from Elementary School. We got to talking about what we were up to, and he said he was collecting comics, too! When I told him I collected GODZILLA, he nodded, “The Marvel one? Yeah, I read some of those.  Hey, I can give you my old issues!” COOL! We made plans to go to his house after school, and walking home that afternoon, I asked, “Say, Godzilla is my favorite comic, but what ‘s yours?” “Ah, it’s this really cool comic called X-MEN! I gotta let you see some of those!” And he did, but THAT’S a story for another time!

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

One thing we’d always loved back then were the HEMBECK strips that appeared at the back of all the DC Comics in the “Daily Planet” section, and what better way to celebrate my comic-reading childhood than to have Fred Hembeck himself recreate one of my favorite Godzilla covers?! When commissioning this piece from Mr. Hembeck, I was happy to find that HE was a big fan of Godzilla, too, AND in particular, that same “Shrinking Godzilla” that I loved!!! FANTASTIC!

 

 

  California alt rock group Concrete Blonde are such terrific songwriters that their take on other artists’ tunes are largely overlooked- Unlike some other groups who merely “do” covers, this group takes songs they like and lovingly transform them into true Concrete Blonde masterpieces!

 Songs like George Harrison’s “Beware of Darkness”, Thin Lizzy’s “It’s Only Money” and Tommy James’ “Crystal Blue Persuasion”…Listening to any one of their covers and it is obvious that the band has given the same amount of time and crafting to these tunes that they’ve given to their own songs!

Of all these cover tunes that the band has produced, (and there have been many, many…!) the song that stands out in MY mind as one of their very best is their take of Roxy Music’s THE END OF THE LINE, featured on their incredible 1993 album MEXICAN MOON.

 There are lots of reasons why this cover works so well, but a large part of is that by the time Mexican Moon came out, vocalist/bassist Johnette Napolitano and Guitarist Jim Mackey were seasoned pros; after travelling across the world a zillion times in as many tours, their experience shows through in their sound-No one croons like Napolitano with her low, growling whispers and powerful wailing, and when you add in the lush, layered guitars of Jim Mackey, you are left with pure perfection!

 The End of the line was originally off Roxy Music’s 1975 SIREN album, and though I liked the song, I always thought of it as the opening to the avante-grade third track “Sentimental Fool” (since they were essentially connected) and never thought of its potential as a “single” type of song. WOW, how the Concrete Blonde version has changed my mind!

Over the years, I have made quite a few Concrete Blonde cassette mixes for people, and almost ALL of them have concluded with “End of the Line”… Just listening to Jim’s  echoing reverb as he picks out the  resounding notes on his guitar- with double-tracking and a guitar synthesizer, he’s created this beautiful guitar harmony , and then laid over this is the incomparable Johnette’s heartfelt singing- She sings with such passion, you really feel like the lyrics are hers, and when she hits those notes…MAN! Just awesome!

 

The End Of The Line

(Bryan Ferry)

 

Take a walk out in the rain

Called you time and time again

Everything is wrong-

You´ve gone

 

Reached the point of no return

The more I see the more I stand alone

I see the end of the line

 

Were you ever lonely?

Mystified and blue?

Realising only

Your number´s up

You´re through

 

Had my share of winning

Now´s my turn to lose

After a fair beginning

The game´s up

You’re through

 

Think I´ll walk out in the storm

Got no love to keep me warm inside

I see the end of the line

Now´s the time to take a dive

Take a magic carpet ride

Everything is wrong

You´ve gone

 

If you ever miss me

If I should cross your mind

You know where to find me

I´ll be waiting at the end of the line