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Archive Page 58

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Jess Jodloman "The Sunken Pearls of Captain Hatch"
Although it was state of the art when built in 1948, by the 1970s the printing coming out of the comic book production plant at World Color Press in Sparta, Illinois, left something to be desired. Lousy newsprint paper and heavy color inks that obscured the blacks of intricate pen drawing did not help the collapsing comic book entertainment market. Just looking at the 1974 issue #10 of DC Comics Weird Mystery Tales gives me pause to wonder what DC thought it was paying for when it sent those checks out on its printing bill. And take a look at how careful the coloring is:

Jess Jodloman panel enlargement

In an era in which trends like Glam had shoved out the earthy hippy fashions of the late 1960s, the everything shiny-and-new look certainly doesn't coincide with how comic book pages looked. Though not the most important factor in the demise of the newsstand distribution system that at one time moved millions of comics each month, but it cannot have helped when the physical look of the product makes the word "shoddy" come to mind.

Well, whatever: it was a good 35 or so years ago and DC Comics uses an assortment of very nice (and expensive) printing methods now. The leap from junk-object to something like an art-object has been made. But underneath all that crappy printing of the past is some very nice artwork from Jess Jodloman, one of artists from the Philippines that worked on so many of the American comics of the 1970s (the last comics credit I see for Jodloman is 1986). (According Lambiek, Jodloman was born February 25, 1925).

You can see a photo of Jess Jodloman with Abe Ocampo and Tony DeZuniga at a January 2007 gallery opening for DeZuniga's "Superheros" exhibit at artist Garry Alanguilan's web site.

The "Sunken Pearls" storyline is a quintessential DC Comics mystery story. A greedy, evil pair of relatives for an old retired sailor plot to swipe the supposed sunken treasure that lays off of Matecumbe Key Island off Florida which only old "Captain Hatch" knows about. Enter Fran Lawrence, hired nurse who actually takes an interest in the old sailor's tales and the two strike up a friendship.

Of course, the two avarice-minded relatives are doomed; DC Comics didn't jump onto the the "evil pays" wagon until sometime after the huge success of the Halloween movie in 1978, so it was strictly an eye-for-an-eye moral universe ruling these earlier comics.

Click to enlarge to view pages (cover is by Luis Dominguez)

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Tuesday, July 8, 2008

What A Great Truck

I usually need a good sheen of rust to appreciate a truck, but when you've got body damage like this, I can forego mere rust.

Makes me miss my old Ford F150 (it was quite rusty)

Monday, July 7, 2008

Wonder Woman has always been a nearly invisable character to me, too bland to stand out despite all of the co-starring roles the character has had in thousands of DC Comics over the years. On the other hand, Frank Miller's take on the character certainly set her apart (much to the chagrin of some comics fans who hate the direction Miller has gone with DC Comics' big three - - Batman, Superman and WW). The panel below is from the Frank Miller 'Batman All Star' comic series with Jim Lee artwork:

Click to Enlarge to see full Panel with a deeply annoyed Superman:

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Welcome to the Future, Intelligentsia!

From the LA Times book review by Lee Drutman of "The Dumbest Generation":

The way Bauerlein sees it, something new and disastrous has happened to America's youth with the arrival of the instant gratification go-go-go digital age. The result is, essentially, a collective loss of context and history, a neglect of "enduring ideas and conflicts." Survey after painstakingly recounted survey reveals what most of us already suspect: that America's youth know virtually nothing about history and politics...

Things were not supposed to be this way. After all, "never have the opportunities for education, learning, political action, and cultural activity been greater," writes Bauerlein, a former director of Research and Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts. But somehow, he contends, the much-ballyhooed advances of this brave new world have not only failed to materialize -- they've actually made us dumber.

...today's digital generation is becoming insulated in its own stultifying cocoon of bad spelling, civic illiteracy and endless postings that hopelessly confuse triviality with transcendence. Two-thirds of U.S. undergraduates now score above average on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, up 30% since 1982, he reports.

...The natural (and anticipated) response would indeed be to dismiss him as your archetypal cranky old professor who just can't understand why "kids these days" don't find Shakespeare as timeless as he always has.

The book's ultimate doomsday scenario -- of a dull and self-absorbed new generation of citizens falling prey to demagoguery and brazen power grabs -- seems at once overblown (witness, for example, this election season's youth reengagement in politics) and also yesterday's news (haven't we always been perilously close to this, if not already suffering from it?).

...throughout "The Dumbest Generation," there are also some keen insights into how the new digital world really is changing the way young people engage with information and the obstacles they face in integrating any of it meaningfully. These are insights that educators, parents and other adults ignore at their peril.

The title/subtitle of the book really says it all:

The Dumbest Generation
How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future, or Don't Trust Anyone Under 30
By Mark Bauerlein
Tarcher/Penguin: 272 pp., $24.95

From what I have seen, each generation thinks it is the sum total of 'smarts' all of history has pushed forward to, and the "next generation is stupid" always seems self-obvious.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Bat-Man Mad-Man

Thursday, July 3, 2008

DC Comics and coordinating supervillain appearances.

Click to enlarge:

Mr. Schott uses the same barber, apparently, as Frank Miller's
Batman in All Star Batman and Robin.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Drawing:
Cell Phones of Richmond

Click to enlarge:

Did people have as much to say before cell phones?

Drawing:
Symmetry Experiment

Click to Enlarge:

Brush and Ink

Drawing: A Dancer

Brush and Ink Dancer

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Photograph: Poe Museum Building in Richmond Virginia

The collection of buildings making up the "Poe Museum" in Richmond, VA are all unique brick structures, except the main stone building that is the entrance and gift shop. It is said to be the oldest surviving structure in the entire city, dating back to (possibly) 1743. Above in the photo is the Memorial Building which houses an exhibit including manuscripts and various artifacts.

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