FANTASTIC FOUR #22 and #23

Another couple of bits of my childhood arrives in my collection. This time it's very nice copies of FANTASTIC FOUR #22 and #23. Written and penciled by Jack Kirby, they have inks by George Roussos who, for some reason, also worked under the pseudonym of George Bell. Roussos/Bell was a fine inker and had a wonderful reputation in the comics industry. But when I was a kid he was not my favorite inker, especially on Kirby's pencils. But he was a good comic artist whose work among Kirby inkers is highly regarded.

When you look at the comics from this period at Marvel, you can easily see that it was the artists who were actually writing the books (and not the editor who was taking credit for writing). For instance, some artist/writers were very good storytellers. Kirby and Ditko of course were the best, and their stories, while sometimes very silly, were typically far more coherent and imaginative than those of the lower tier artist/writers. If you read a story from Dick Ayers, it was going to be much more child-like and simple than something from the imagination of Kirby. Just compare stories created at the same time by the two artists to see the huge difference in writing abilities. Lee didn't seem to know what to do when he was tinkering with the dialog in an Ayers yarn, but easily understood what he should do when modifying the captions and word balloons for a Kirby adventure.

My very nice condition copy of FF #23

My equally nice copy of #22.

Typical back cover ad on a Marvel book from this period.

Dream-like

Like something from a fantastic dream.

Another Glorious Day in the Weminuche

Continuing fine photographs taken in the Weminuche Wilderness Area.

VAST!

The willow was almost as brilliant as the aspens.

Gorgeous tortured terrain.

Hiking through willow sucks ass.

We take a break on the tundra.

Weather forming over the high peaks.

Another of the many glacial lakes we passed.

Bob Johnson.

The Rio Grande Pyramid. A genuinely beautiful mountain. On the right you can see the odd geological formation known as "The Window".

It wasn't all open tundra. Here we passed through a forest of Englemann spruce.

And everywhere the glacial tarns below the great summits of the San Juan Mountains.

Continuing the Weminuche Saga...

Descending from the first big pass.

It's good to visit such a place. Everyone needs to understand how small they really are.

Weminuche Wilderness Highlights

More photos from the most fantastic mountain scenery in which I've ever walked: the Weminuche Wilderness Area in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado.

One reason Andy set the time for this trip was because there was a good chance it would coincide with peak Fall colors for the aspen trees. And he was right. We hit it right on the mark.

As we moved up or down the mountains we would encounter trees hitting peak color on different days. This was the first day.

This was the view from one of our campsites.

Big mountains, the likes of which I had never seen.

This is the kind of country I'd wanted to see all of my life.

Algae growing in a stream as we climbed toward a high pass.

Andy hiking up the mountain. I took this photo to highlight the huge dike of hardened rock standing like a pillar to our right.

If you look closely you can see the interminable switchbacks that had to be climbed to gain the pass.

Looking back down the trail.

Here you can see the switchbacks that had been climbed.

At the pass. About 12,700 feet above sea level.

Looking around at the even higher country that surrounded us.

Autumn Glory in the Weminuche Wilderness

My pal Andy took these photos.

This was near our campsite early one morning. What a day!

Same day. The aspens were at the height of their Autumn glory.

Latest Addition:

Latest addition to my collection is a John Stanley classic, LITTLE LULU & TUBBY ANNUAL #1. I also bought a #2 of that book but it hasn't arrived yet.

Stanley was a brilliant writer and artist. He knew what kids liked to read and how to tell them a good story and a funny one. He is missed. We have no one like him working in comics today.

Front cover. The condition is about very good. It's a nice, solid copy with a square spine that is intact and unbroken. It's hard to find the square-bound comics in good condition.

The back cover.

Mule Deer

When I was in Yellowstone I never got a decent photo of a Mule deer. I'd see them, but none cooperated in allowing me to take a good photo. So I was hoping to get a good photograph of a Mule deer while in Colorado.

And we did see them in large numbers. They were everywhere we went. In fact, they were probably the most common mammal I saw, not counting the bothersome ground squirrels.


So, I finally did get some photos of Mule deer, but not very good ones, I'm afraid.

I saw this deer at the Amphitheater Recreation Area above Ouray, Colorado.

  

In the Weminuche. Where the Mule deer roamed in great numbers while we were wandering around. But my photos of the deer we encountered totally suck. Alas.

Shuttered!

We are the richest nation on Earth, and yet our priorities are skewed almost beyond believing. We fund things that are destructive on an incalculable level and we give money to vast corporations who don't need any help. Those same corporations are allowed to set our national agendas, and part of that agenda is the gradual and seemingly unstoppable dissolution of our public lands.

Parks are for things that cannot be measured in terms of dollars. We need our parks and wild lands for reasons far beyond the collecting up of material wealth. Our National Parks are a service and as such do not need to show a profit. The very idea that they should be the source of income for any corporation is a truly disgusting concept.

Currently, there are places where one can lodge in our National Parks that are operated by outside companies. These "concessions" have been a part of some of our National Parks almost since the creation  of those Parks. If that's the way they need to be operated, I don't necessarily have a problem with the idea. However, when a concessionaire doesn't want to bid on such an operation because it's too difficult to turn a profit, then that concession should be re-absorbed into the National Park system and operated as a civil service. Damn the profits. Give the jobs to people who want them and allow their employer to be the Park Service.

One of the best lodges where Carole and I like to stay from time to time is the one at Peaks of Otter. It's a concession operated by a private firm but on property built and owned by the National Park Service. That is, it's owned by the citizens of the USA. The concession has not been renewed because the firm who has been operating there claims that they can no longer turn a profit. Therefore, the Park Service is going to shutter the properties (Peaks of Otter Lodge, Mabry Mill Cabins, Doughton Park Lodge). At that point, no one will be able to lodge there and the buildings will remain dark.

What is going on? If the concessionaire doesn't want to operate the lodges, then the government needs to step up and do the right thing by operating them and employing local people to work there. Smaller government? If seeing our National Parks suffer and come apart at the seams is a part of so-called "smaller government", then to Hell with that pea-brained slogan.

One of the main draws...the most spectacular of the three Peaks of Otter.

View of the lodge from the lakefront.

I took this one from just outside our room.

Panorama of the lake and part of the lodge from the lawn leading down to the lake.