While Karen and Doug are on vacation in January, our readers have been entrusted with carrying on the daily conversations. Today's "Spotlight On..." is a do-it-yourselfer. As we've done in the past, the first commenter gets to pick today's topic of conversation.
Generally speaking, "Spotlight On..." is for single creators. For example, in the past we've started conversations on Rich Buckler, John Romita, and Joe Sinnott. We'd appreciate conversations that lean toward the positive side of things; rip jobs should be avoided. This is not to say that we don't tolerate honesty, but let's try to keep the focus on the meritorious aspect of a life spent in comics.
Thanks for holding it down for us!
How about E. Nelson Bridwell? Didn't he select the material for the Super-Specs? He really promoted Kid Eternity and the Quality heroes in the early 70s.
ReplyDeleteLater in the decade, he created the Global Guardians with Ramona Fradon. Characters like the Seraph, Jack O'Lantern and Green Fury are, for my money, on a par with the Schwartz/Fox/Broome revivals of the Silver Age.
I loves the Super Friends comics, still have the complete series. It's got better art and stories than the concurrent (and current) Justice League comics, that's no lie.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to suggest that our readers with more of a DC bent step up to the plate on this one. While I've certainly heard of E. Nelson Bridwell, I'd have to do some research to make an intelligent comment about him.
ReplyDeleteCorrect me if I'm wrong -- wasn't he considered at one time DC's "continuity cop"? If I'm thinking of the correct writer, Bridwell allegedly had encyclopedic knowledge of the DCU.
If I could offer an ever-so-gentle tangent, I'd say we could discuss Bridwell's work in the extra-context of creators almost-exclusively known for their tenures at one of the Big Two -- an never crossing over. It might be a pretty small list. And hey -- I could be wrong right off the bat, but I don't know that Bridwell ever did any work for Marvel.
Doug
Doug, I believe Bridwell was indeed DC's walking encyclopedia and continuity maven, kind of like Gruenwald was for Marvel. And while you're right that Bridwell never crossed over to Marvel, I think he got his start working for Mad Magazine.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, if for nothing else, Bridwell deserves a big hats off for creating and writing the Inferior Five (c'mon DC, where's the collected edition?).
And I share Matt's love for Super Friends, of which Bridwell was the main writer. That was such a thoroughly enjoyable series - fun all ages stories that never insulted the reader's intelligence. And speaking of collections, I'd love it if DC reprinted the entire series in a set of three or four digest-sized books (somehow that seems like the perfect format for it).
Nerd makes good, at a time when nerds weren't the toast of the times as is the case today.
ReplyDeleteAlong with Roy Thomas, Bridwell is the first of the fans gone pro, the second wave of talent which utterly changed the way comics began to think about themselves in the Bronze Age and beyond.
The Inferior Five screams for a reprint!
Rip Off
I remember Bridwell on a few Superman stories, and I think he did the odd Legion tale as well. Was Bridwell DC's "Answer Man" (who used to answer readers' questions in a regular column in the monthly comics) or was that Rozakis?
ReplyDeleteMike W.
Mike --
ReplyDeleteI remember that being Bob Rozakis, but that doesn't mean Bridwell didn't do it earlier.
Doug
PS: By the way, I received Back Issue! #62 in the mail yesterday, with the theme "Superman in the Bronze Age". Bridwell and many others are either featured or quoted in the various articles.
Nelson also co-created and wrote Secret Six. I particularly appreciate his Captain Marvel stories that ran in World's Finest. Magnificently drawn by Don Newton, these stories spring from, and build on the original Fawcett Cap stories, while still being of their time (late 70's-early 80's). I encourage you to seek out any of these stories. Bridwell had that (vanished?) comics skill of writing 8-10 page self-contained stories with charm.
ReplyDeleteWardHill Terry --
ReplyDeleteIf you want my opinion, any of the trade paperbacks from Bendis' run on New Avengers could have been condensed from 120-page tomes to 8-10 page self-contained stories...
Seriously, omitting the 75 instances of "...the hell?" and "Oy!" would at least cut the page count in half.
OK, back to Mr. Bridwell.
Doug
Those Captain Marvel stories from World's Finest are indeed magnificent. There's something else screaming for a reprint...
ReplyDeleteQuestion on the tangential side of things:
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of reprints, do any of our readers have a copy of the DC Library: Kryptonite Nevermore? After paging through the Back Issue! I mentioned above, my curiosity was piqued. However, when looking through the reviews on Amazon, I was dismayed at the number of comments about the coloring. My question is -- is it bad, or is it the new, somewhat muddy recoloring that many books have undergone when being reprinted (like the Conan stuff and anything Neal Adams gets his hands on)?
Thanks,
Doug
Doug,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for putting this site together. Seriously, this is an amazing collection and gathering - it allows me to transport myself into my childhood years, emotions, images, etc.
J
I'd buy an Inferior Five reprint in any format...though I'd prefer color. Same with Super Friends. The two reprint volumes were nice but woefully incomplete.
ReplyDeleteJalRod --
ReplyDeleteI'd say "you're welcome", but I really have to deflect your praise over to my partner, Karen. It was originally her suggestion to start a blog about comics we enjoy. And to be honest, I was reluctant at first to do it!
So we hope you've found a "home" and will stick with us. Even today, I can tell you we're both at home, watching some college hoops (at least I am) and writing up some reviews and other posts for when we "return" on and after February 1. Stay tuned!
Doug
Let me second Doug's welcome and hope that you'll stick around, JalRod. We have a lot of fun here.
ReplyDeleteAnd actually, I wasn't watching basketball, I was getting my hair done. I may be a comics geek, but I'm still a woman! Tomorrow however, I will be glued to the TV, hopefully watching my 49ers demolish Atlanta!
Karen
I had forgotten about the Inferior Five. You would not believe how long it took me to realise that not only were they parodying the JLA but the name itself was a joke about the FF.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see the Joe Kubert Presents revival of Angel and the Ape. Maybe it's time for the I5!
Now you have totally won me over - in addition to being a fanatic of Bronze Age Marvels, I am a huge fan of the 49ers!
ReplyDeleteDougie, Inferior 5 parodied everything - that fact that Bridwell got his start at Mad really came to the fore here. He used the series to poke fun at the superhero genre, and the marvelous competition. One of the original Showcase issues they appeared in featured a spoof of the X-men - I think they all attended "Prof. Egghead's Academy."
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of revivals, I recall reading somewhere that Steve Gerber wanted to do a revival of Interior 5 for the Vertigo imprint as a kind of antidote to the prevailing grim 'n' gritty fare, but the higher-ups rejected his proposal. Too bad, that would have been awesome...
Yes, the first I5 story I ever read was "Darwin of the Apes", an ERB parody. The second was the early 70s reprint of their origin.
ReplyDeleteNot so long ago ( before new 52) they had a team-up with the Legion of Substitute Heroes.
Thank goodness they rejected Gerber's I5...I never found his "humor" up to the task.
ReplyDelete