Our favorite geek year: Marvel comics milestones

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It’s a staggering thought: Many of the Marvel comics characters that dominate modern movies were created, by a handful of talented artists and writers, within the space of little more than a year about five decades ago.

Sure, everybody knows Marvel of the early 60s was an a creative hothouse. But it’s truly impressive how quickly the staff turned out one soon-to-be classic comic and character after another.

It started with Fantastic Four No. 1, with a cover date of November 1961. An important word about cover dates: Then, as now, comics and magazines were given cover dates that were slightly in advance of the period they were actually available. I’m guessing that if you went to a newsstand (remember those?) today, in early October, you’d find November or December or even January editions of many monthly magazines. The practice was (is?) aimed at making comics and magazines look like they have a longer shelf life (literally). So while FF was dated November 1961, it was in the hands of fans weeks before that.

Writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby (with inker George Klein) introduced Reed Richards and the rest of the FF in that November 1961 issue and Marvel published several issues until, six months later, the first issue of The Incredible Hulk came out in May 1962. To create just the Fantastic Four would be an accomplishment for any two men. But for Lee and Kirby to create the Hulk within weeks or months is truly impressive.

Then things got crazy.

August 1962 saw the publication of Amazing Fantasy No. 15, which fans know introduced Spider-Man and his mild-mannered alter ego, Peter Parker. Lee and artistic genius Steve Ditko get the credit here for creating one of the world’s most enduring superhero characters.

That same month, August 1962, saw Journey into Mystery No. 83, with Lee and his brother, Larry Lieber, behind the plot and script and Kirby and inker Joe Sinnott introducing none other than Thor.

(Now keep in mind that during this time, Marvel continued to produce follow-up issues of FF and Hulk.)

In September 1962, Lee, Lieber, Kirby and Dick Ayers gave the world Tales to Astonish No. 35, introducing scientist Henry Pym, better known as Ant-Man.

Remember, by this point, we’re still not a year past the introduction of the FF.

By March 1963, another major character was introduced when Iron Man debuted in Tales of Suspense No. 39. Lee and Lieber and artist Don Heck were the men behind the future Avenger.

That same month, the unexpected response to Amazing Fantasy No. 15 led to the debut of Amazing Spider-Man No. 1, by Lee and Ditko.

The Marvel era was firmly in place in September 1963 with the debut of Avengers No. 1, featuring characters from the recent Marvel comics teaming up. Lee and Kirby and inker Ayers were reacting to – but actually topping – DC’s Justice League.

So, in the space of less than two years – little more than a year if you’re counting only the debuts of most of these characters – Lee, Kirby, Ditko and their cohorts gave us characters that not only entertained many readers but laid the foundation for the biggest movie hits of today.

Today in Halloween: Creepy trick-or-treaters

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You may have seen some of these scattered around the Interwebs or you might not have; they’re not as ubiquitous as awkward family photos.

As an occasional feature here during Halloween season, I’m going to show some of the best, creepiest, in some cases most nightmarish old Halloween costume photos I found online.

There’s some pretty creepy trick-or-treaters among these. Most of them are vintage and black and white, which only adds to the spooky appeal.

Kicking off our series is this early 20th century kid in a jester costume. Hmmm. He’s not especially creepy … oh dear god, he’s holding a human head! And he’s looking to collect treats in it!

 

Today in Halloween: Good candy and bad candy

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During the Halloween season, I’m looking at some of the things that make Halloween … Halloween.

There’s a pecking order in the world of Halloween candy. At least there is in my household.

Hard, relatively flavorless candy like Tootsie Rolls and Bit-O-Honey rank very low on the list, just above the kind of generic candy that people can buy in bulk at discount stores.

Really, has any kid in the past 30 years been excited by the prospect of getting a Tootsie Roll tossed in their bag?

The middle-ground is held by a variety of treats, including some that don’t really get distributed much anymore. when I was a kid, people made popcorn balls and handed them out to trick-or-treaters. But many parents discourage consumption of homemade treats these days, so popcorn balls have faded in popularity. A few years ago I discovered that some company actually made and wrapped popcorn balls for Halloween distribution.

The best case scenario – realistically speaking – for trick-or-treaters is probably the “fun size” versions of popular candy like Twix and Snickers. They’re recognizable candies and actually welcome in a treat bag – and on the kitchen table back at home.

The top of the line, given out only by only some households in some neighborhood, is the stuff of legend: Full-size candy bars.

Each year I tease my wife that we’re going to take any trick-or-treaters we’re responsible for to the ritziest neighborhood around, where legend has it they give out the full-size bars. I’m not sure that such a practice actually exists because she always pooh-poohs the idea.

But a lifelong appreciator of trick-or-treating can dream, can’t he?

Classic TV: The finale of the ‘Mary Tyler Moore’ show

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Along with “All in the Family,” “The Bob Newhart Show” and a handful of other series, “Mary Tyler Moore” helped usher in a new era of situation comedy on television.

Let’s not forget that “MTM” premiered in 1970, the same year the campy “Flying Nun” show ended its three-year run. And when “MTM” wrapped up in 1977, “Cheers” was only five years away. I’d argue that “MTM” paved the way for smart, adult shows like it. TV moved a lot closer to “Cheers” than “The Flying Nun” over the course of those few years and I’d maintain that “MTM” was a big reason why.

“MTM” wasn’t groundbreaking, especially compared to “All in the Family,” but did seem, at the time, to perfect the three-camera, live before a studio audience, form of the genre.

Set at a Minneapolis TV station, the show followed the antics of Moore, playing 30-something single woman Mary Richards, and her co-workers. The series featured some of the best and, for their time, funniest, episodes of any sitcom, including the legendary funeral for the TV station’s kid’s show host, Chuckles the Clown.

Unlike some bloated, extended finales, the last episode of “MTM,” airing in 1977, stuck to the half-hour format that served the show so well.

The show opens with Mary, Lou and Murray worried that the new TV station owner will fire Ted, the dumb and pompous anchorman for the station’s newscast. But very quickly they find out that they’re the ones whose necks are on the chopping block, along with man-hungry “Happy Homemaker” Sue Anne (Betty White).

Some random observations:

The staging of the show was always spot-on, complete to the group shuffle over to Mary’s desk to get tissues.

Likewise, the comedic timing of the cast is perfect, with everyone tossing off their lines with fine-honed glee.

My god, how did I forget that Ted and Georgette had adopted Cousin Oliver (Robbie Rist) from “The Brady Bunch” as the show wound down?

And how gimmicky and annoying was Cloris Leachman, beloved from “Blazing Saddles,” as Mary’s friend Phyllis? It’s hard to imagine they built even a short-lived spinoff around the character, who returned for the “MTM” finale.

And Valerie Harper’s Rhoda character – who also came back for the final show – wasn’t a lot better. Both characters made Moore and her character seem like models of low-key comedic restraint.

iPhoneography: Halloween at the dollar store

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It’s hard to believe we’re about a month out from our favorite holiday. So it’s a good time to take a look at some iPhone photos of Halloween stuff.

This time: Halloween at the dollar store. Because of the “everything for a dollar” pricing of dollar stores, Halloween masks, costumes, accessories and decor are decidedly more limited. But what these items lack in scope they more than make up for in creativity.

Take the product above for example. Body parts! And they’re artificially flavored. Uh … thank you?

Halloween and superheroes go together. And now you can buy candy cigarettes just like Superman and Batman smoke. Although I believe the candy cigarettes like Shaggy smokes are only available from specially licensed sellers.

How about these Boogers? They’re tangy!

And the box tells us the flavors! Mmmm … Snottermelon!

Okay, if you’ve had enough candy, how about some decor? I really rather like these little perched figures.

Last but not least, a staple of Halloween items at the dollar store, the bloody cloth. Although if you spend enough time digging for Halloween boogers, you can probably produce your own bloody cloth.

‘Til next time!

‘Fantastic Four,’ ‘X-Men’ movies getting back on track?

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We’re accustomed by now to how Marvel’s in-house movie process works – and how well it works. With “The Avengers” done and Marvel’s big-screen “phase two” on the calendar, leading up to an “Avengers” sequel in 2015, the comic characters controled by Marvel seem on track.

This week, news broke of moves that could help ensure some continuity for other Marvel characters that don’t fall under Marvel’s control.

No surprise here, really, but “Amazing Spider-Man” director Marc Webb and star Andrew Garfield will return for a sequel and Emma Stone is likely to return as Gwen Stacy.

There were a number of things to like about Webb’s first shot with the character. While the Lizard wasn’t a compelling antagonist, Garfield and Stone were well-cast and had great chemistry. The tone of the movie was right, although the story failed in its (I think) misguided efforts to build some mystery into Peter Parker’s past.

But the movie was pretty entertaining and a sequel – without the burden of having to explain the origin story yet again – could be fun.

Maybe more importantly, 20th Century Fox announced this week that they’ve signed longtime comic writer Mark Millar to consult on future film adaptations of Marvel comics like “Fantastic Four” and “X-Men.”

Millar’s Ultimate X-Men comic forged a new direction for the longtime super team and his Ultimates take on the Avengers influenced the movie version.

Millar has plenty of experience writing comics, but more importantly he might be a creative decision-maker not unlike Joss Whedon has become for Marvel’s in-house movies.

Marvel movies producer Kevin Feige provided the structure and strategy that led to Whedon’s “The Avengers.” Whedon might also help shape the future of Marvel movies. It’s the kind of long-term cohesive thinking that Warner Bros. wishes it had with its DC adaptations.

It’s too much to hope for, but Millar’s role in both these properties might also lead to some cross-over on film.

Unsung actors: Victor Buono

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We come to praise King Tut, not to bury him.

Likewise, Count Manzeppi.

If you’re hep to the character actors we loved to watch on TV in the 1960s, you know I’m talking about Victor Buono, who received an Oscar nomination for “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” in 1962 but is best remembered among some of us for his TV roles.

In “Batman,” he played a mild-mannered professor who, upon getting hit on the head, became the Egyptian-themed crime boss King Tut. Every guest-starring turn ended up with King Tut getting hit on the head again and reverting to his kindly professor persona.

And on “Wild Wild West,” he was the aforementioned count, foil to Secret Service agents Jim West and Artie Gordon.

Buono had a second act, of sorts, in the 1970s as a talk show guest, usually on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson.

Buono was a witty fellow and often read his poetry while on the Carson show.

Here, from online sources, is his magnum opus, “The Fat Man’s Prayer.”

I think that I shall never see… my feet.

I think it only proper to end this portion of our discussion with a prayer.

Lord, my soul is ripped with riot,

Incited by my wicked diet.

We are what we eat, said a wise old man,

And Lord, if that’s true, I’m a garbage can!

I want to rise on Judgment Day, that’s plain,

But at my present weight, I’ll need a crane!

 

So grant me strength that I may not fall

Into the clutches of cholesterol.

May my flesh with carrot curls be sated

That my soul may be polyunsaturated.

And show me the light that I may bear witness

To the President’s Council on Physical Fitness.

 

At oleomargarine I’ll never mutter,

For the road to hell is spread with butter.

And cake is cursed, and cream is awful,

And Satan is hiding in every waffle.

Mephistopheles lurks in provolone,

The devil is in each slice of bologna,

Beelzebub is a chocolate drop,

And Lucifer is a lollipop!

 

Give me this day my daily slice –

But cut it thin and toast it twice.

I beg upon my dimpled knees,

Deliver me from Jujubees.

And my when days of trial are done

And my war with malted milks is won,

Let me stand with the saints in heaven

In a shining robe – Size 37!

 

I can do it, Lord, if you’ll show to me

The virtues of lettuce and celery.

If you’ll teach me the evils of mayonnaise,

The sinfulness of hollandaise

And pasta a la milanese

And potatoes a la lyonaise

And crisp fried chicken from the south!

Lord, if you love me, SHUT MY MOUTH!

 

Buono, who cut a hefty figure, died of a heart attack in 1982. Luckily we can remember him from his movie and TV roles and his funny and good-natured poetry.

 

Classic TV: ‘Night Gallery’

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“Night Gallery” has, since the day it debuted as an irregularly recurring series on NBC in 1970, gotten a bad rap. During its three-year run, critics – and many viewers – alike judged it as Rod Serling’s unworthy follow-up to his ground-breaking anthology series “The Twilight Zone.”

And to be fair there aren’t many episodes of “Night Gallery” that have reached the iconic status of many episodes of “The Twilight Zone.” I recently watched “TZ’s” classic 1960 episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” and found its compact tale of paranoia and mob mentality still compelling, especially in these times.

But I’ve always loved “Night Gallery,” probably in part because it aired during my formative TV-watching years. I was devouring any kind of genre material in those days – movies, TV, comic books, novels, short stories – and “Night Gallery” fit a couple of those categories.

The show, hosted by Serling, just like “Twilight Zone,” and frequently featuring episodes he wrote, was as satisfying, to my young eyes, a presentation of the weird and the spooky as anything airing back in the day.

The pilot episode, which aired in 1969, was directed by Steven Spielberg and featured Joan Crawford, for goodness’ sake.

And how can we not love Serling? The gifted writer passed on in 1975, just two years after “Night Gallery” ended. He wasn’t much satisfied with the show by the end but that’s probably understandable. Serling’s talents no doubt made him less an artist and more a commodity to TV executives.

I’ve watched a couple of classic episodes recently on Hulu and thoroughly enjoyed them.

“They’re Tearing Down Tim Riley’s Bar,” from 1971, was written by Serling and comes across as more of a “Mad Men” story of corporate desperation than a spook story with William Windom as a business executive who’s been left behind in the rat race and longs for a past that lives on only in a shuttered neighborhood bar.

 

And bonus: Bert Convy plays Windom’s smarmy, conniving underling/usurper.

Much more straightforward, slow-burn horror could be found in “Pickman’s Model,” an episode I remembered quite well. Bradford Dillman played a turn-of-the-century artist who literally “paints what he sees.” The problem? He’s painting horrifying scenes of a monstrous ghoul that climbs out of the sewers and snatches people off the streets in a bad part of town.

From Larry Hagman to Leslie Nielsen to Victor Buono to Vincent Price, “Night Gallery” had an amazing rotating cast.

And presiding over it all was Serling, looking more dated in his shaggy haircut and mod jackets than he had as the buttoned-down host of “Twilight Zone,” but a welcome presence to be sure.

Check out Hulu’s collection of “Night Gallery” episodes. They’re also airing on MeTV, a nostalgia channel. “Night Gallery” was an immensely enjoyable follow-up to “The Twilight Zone” and, for me anyway, a fond send-off for Serling.

Cool new ‘Avengers’ poster

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How cool is this? Artist Matthew Ferguson created this poster, part of a promotional set of four available in connection with the purchase of “The Avengers” on DVD.

There’s something kind of reminiscent of the end credits of “The Incredibles,” here, a Saul Bass kind of vibe.

Beautiful.

Check out Ferguson’s site here.