Scans_Daily

First Wave Special contrasting the Man of Bronze, the Bat, and the Avenger

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 01:23:50 GMT

Posted by: kamino_neko

For those not in the know, the First Wave universe is a recently created sub-line within the DC line. It's based primarily on pulps, although a few comic characters who fit into the pulpy universe - Batman, the Blackhawks, the Spirit, and nominally Black Canary (hasn't yet appeared) - are included. It's been shown in a Batman/Doc Savage special, a First Wave mini, and Doc Savage and Spirit ongoing series. This week another First Wave special came out, written by Jason Starr and drawn by Phil Winslade. Below the cut are a total of 4 pages out of 33, which I think do a fairly good job of contrasting the styles of the three leads of the book - Doc Savage, Batman, and Richard Benson, the Avenger.

( More blahblahblah from me, and the images under cut. )

If nobody else does, once it's old enough to be open for more posting by me, I'll post a few more pages, to give a better look at the three. Or at least Bruce and Benson (The scene with Doc and Ham before Bruce shows up isn't all that interesting, really.)

I'd really like to see them do more with First Wave Batman.

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May 2010 DC Solicits I like

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:19:57 GMT

Posted by: espanolbot

( Kind of a lot )

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Various DC Solicits, Including Batgirl 9

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:52:32 GMT

Posted by: espanolbot

( Artgerm is a nickname? )
title: batgirl
char: batgirl/robin/spoiler/stephanie brown

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Batman/Doc Savage Special #1

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:37:37 GMT

Posted by: superfan1.insanejournal.com

( First impression )

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More FIRST WAVE

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:05:37 GMT

Posted by: arbre_rieur.insanejournal.com

...at DC's Source blog.

( Doc Savage, by way of Azzarello )

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First Wave

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:30:37 GMT

Posted by: manofbats.insanejournal.com

( Doc Savage, the Spirit, and golden age Batman? I'm in. )

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Doc Savage meets Dracula, Godzilla, the Rocketeer

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:24:45 GMT

Posted by: dr_hermes.insanejournal.com

What an unexpected treat for Doc fans. Keith "Kez" Wilson has fabricated forty of these "What If" covers using art by the great James Bama from the Bantam paperbacks. In the original pulps, the seemingly supernatural menaces which the Man of Bronze faced always turned out to have a rational explanation. But imagine Doc coming up against the likes of the Wolf Man, or Count Dracula? Or science fiction threats like the Blob, the Creature from the Black Lagoon or Klaatu and Gort? The Doctor in his Tardis? Fu Manchu? IF these books were authorized by Conde Nast and someone like Will Murray was writing them, I'd cash in my life insurance to buy them if I had to.Wilson has also done clean-ups and make-overs on those Bantam Doubles where the Bob Larkin art was reduced to teeny little images. It's great to see how they would have looked as regular covers.

Thanks, "Kez!" I hope you realize how much your efforts are appreciated. It made my day brighter.

http://www.miscmayhemprods.com/doc/

( Read more... )

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Detective skills for super-heroes

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 00:47:35 GMT

Posted by: dr_hermes.insanejournal.com

See, this sequence is the sort of thing I would like to see Batman stories emphasise more. Observation and deduction are skills essential to solving mysteries and catching criminals. You don't see much of this lately, partly because it's harder for the writer to come up with than fight scenes and gore, but also because CSI-type gadgetry and doubletalk has taken over. One great aspect of the Doc Savage pulps was that (having been trained since infancy by experts),he was a multi-skilled genius with Olympic-level physical prowess ("Sherlock Holmes in the body of Hercules"). In one story, he ran up stairs with a full-grown man under each arm, then glanced into a ransacked room and could tell it had been searched twice-- because spilled liquids which dry at different rates were equally gelled. (This is one reason his fans say, "Doc Savage: adventure hero or THE adventure hero?").

This sequence is from Marvel's black & white DOC SAVAGE magazine, second issue from October 1975. Story by Doug Moench, art by Tony DeZuniga. Most of the story is a wild yarn about a huge cavern civilization of Reptilian people, a Mad Viking, lost treasure, that sort of thing. But to learn about this, the Man of Bronze casually shows some impressive detective ability. It's exactly the sort of engimatic clue that Lester Dent used to toss around in the pulps. What is that strange coin?

( Read more... )

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Rock Bottom Comics: DOC SAVAGE, 1966

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:39:03 GMT

Posted by: dr_hermes.insanejournal.com

Whew, this is just poor.In 1966, a Doc Savage movie was planned. This was the phase where the Batman TV series and the James Bond movies were at their peak of popularity. Chuck Connors was chosen to play the Man of Bronze, and he would have been a surprisingly apt choice. Check out the way he looks in the opening of BRANDED and you can see him doing a good job as Doc. THE THOUSAND-HEADED MAN might have started a new franchise. But the movie deal fell through because of a dispute over the rights, and all we have to show for it is a one-shot comic from Gold Key. Unfortunately (although it's a bit of a completist's collectible) the comic just isn't any good. ("Hey mister! I want my lunch money back, this funnybook stinks!")

( Read more... )

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Gallery in Bronze and today's mystery photo

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 22:43:24 GMT

Posted by: dr_hermes.insanejournal.com

This page by Doug Moench and Tony DeZuniga appeared before the story in the second issue of Marvel's black & white DOC SAVAGE magazine. This title appeared in 1974 to tie in with the George Pal movie starring Ron Ely as Doc, but that film didn't exactly kick off a new franchise as successful as James Bond. Actually, it was a dud. My theory is that it would have been decent Saturday afternoon fun but Pal was instructed by the powers that be to Camp it up (*ack!*). So it goes and too bad.I really like the way this page introduces Doc and his five aides, the layout is attractive and the prose is just bombastic enough. It's not as etched into my DNA as the back cover blurb to the Bantam paperbacks ("To the world at large, Doc Savage is a strange mysterious figure..."), but it's decent. I hope by putting it up here, maybe one or two browsers will be curious enough to pick up a Doc reprint and become still another fan of "the greatest adventure hero of all time."The magazine also featured some Doc interpretations by other artists as well.

( Ed Davis art, with the cast and some bad guys )

( Neal Adams, complete with the Doc Savage oath )

( James Bama, THE definitive portrait )

This appeared on the 1964 Bantam paperback of THE MAN OF BRONZE, starting a series of reprints that lasted until all 181 original novels had been put back into print, along with a handful of new adventures by Will Murray and Philip Jose Farmer

And then, today's mystery guest. What the heck, I'm not even going to provide any clues.

( not a fat balding middle-aged guy with a cigar )

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