Heath Tunnels

If you go hiking in the southern Appalachians you will hike through a heath tunnel. All of the common heath plants (azaleas, mountain laurel, rhododendron) tend to grow thickly and create vast, woody barriers to hikers. Trails in such places are generally hacked through laboriously (sometimes based on bear trails). This almost always produces a tunnel through the vigorous growths of heath plants.

During the spring and early summer flowering season, it is a pure delight to hike through such a tunnel. Flame azalea, white mountain laurel, pink catawba rhododendron--they all lend blazes of color to the trails and environs. And when the plants are not in bloom, it's still a great pleasure to hike through the heath tunnels that mark the trails of our southern peaks.

Cool-ass rhododendron tunnel leading to the even cooler summit called Pickens Nose.

Black Mountain Crest Trail.

Trail to Mooney Falls.

I had to stop at that spot. Just beyond was a cliff (hidden by rhododendron) dropping hundreds of feet off Ridgepole Mountain in the Southern Nantahala Wilderness Area.

Rhododendron.

 

Boogerman Trail, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

 

Side trail in Panthertown Valley.

I don't even recall where I took this shot.

 

Panthertown Valley in the snow.

Mountain laurel.

Trail to Granny Burrell Falls in Panthertown Valley.

Southwest Virginia

Another of my favorite spots is the area in southwest Virginia. Carole and I used to go there periodically because it's close to where her land is located at the North Carolina/Tennessee border. The mountains there are relatively high so there's a great diversity in forest type. Plus, there are many streams and lots of waterfalls.

The place is also where a lot of cool towns have been built. One of the nicest is Damascus, Virginia, often referred to as "the friendliest town on the Appalachian Trail". It deserves the title, in my experience.

There is so much to do and see in this compact vicinity that even though Carole and I have been visiting it extensively for years, we feel that we've barely scratched the surface.

Backbone Rock, just across the Tennessee line near Damascus. Often called the world's shortest tunnel.

Just below the summit of Whitetop Mountain, the second highest peak in Virginia.

Typical scenery in southwest Virginia.

Wetlands at Beartree Recreation Area.

Waterfall along one of the highways near Damascus.

As I was crouched on a rock to take the waterfall photo, I looked down to see this fellow slithering under me.

Rage!

Forget about the lies and propaganda you've heard over the years about how the Marvel Universe was created. Set aside the legend of the company shill who put his name on everything so that the family-owned business could steal the intellectual property of the two men who actually did almost all of the creative work at Marvel Comics.

Fact: Jack Kirby created the lion's share of the characters at Marvel Comics between 1961 and the time he left the company to travel over to DC Comics. The characters that Kirby didn't create were manufactured by Steve Ditko. They had no co-creator, despite what you may have heard and read.

Which brings us to the two-story arc of FANTASTIC FOUR #68-69.

Kirby was an intelligent fellow. He had been reading the works of Ayn Rand and was mystified why anyone would be attracted to that dreck. So he set about writing a story based on the idea of men out to create the perfect human--an impersonal, objectivist human.He had definite ideas about what he wanted to do and say with the story.

But there was a fly in the ointment, that fly being his editor, Stan Lee, the company owner's nephew. No creator himself, all Lee could do when the art and scripts arrived from Kirby and Ditko and Heck and Ayers and the other artists/writers at Marvel was to punch up the dialog and alter the captions. As a rule he tended to do a decent job with this simple task. But, for some reason, on this story, he decided to take it a step further and completely change the temperament and direction by mainly ignoring Kirby's dialog and switch the impetus of the story.

It was bad enough that Kirby was creating books that were selling tremendously on the stands and not getting to enjoy that success beyond his page rate. It had to be infuriating to see his characters turned into toys and TV shows and yet not be involved in the licensing of those characters. And to write stories only to have another man take credit for that writing...I cannot imagine having to endure that.

But the total altering of the HIM storyline in FANTASTIC FOUR #66-67 was a new and terrible blow. To have the story wrecked by clumsy dialog that did not fit the theme of the tale...a new low.

And I think the insult of that experience resulted in the two-issue story arc of Ben Grimm going quite mad and rebelling against his comrade, Reed Richards.

In the past I've stated that, to me, Ben Grimm was Jack Kirby's alter-ego in comics. Some point out that Reed Richards bears a physical resemblance to Kirby, and that's true, but it was the spirit of the man that I saw in Ben Grimm that's the most important. Richards was from a well-placed family and college educated. Grimm was poor and had been brought up in the rough and tumble world of a tenement neighborhood in New York...just like Kirby had. In later years, when I saw the illustration of Ben Grimm dressed in tallit, yarmulke, and studdying Torah (by Kirby) I knew that Grimm was indeed Kirby's alter-ego.

So I've looked upon the "By Ben Betrayed" storyline as an exhibition of Kirby's righteous anger at being used and abused by Goodman and Lee. Here they were making millions from his creations, and not only was he not being suitably rewarded for that, he was being further insulted by having the intent of his work blunted by the manipulations of an editor.

I will assume that the only way he was able to put up with this state of affairs was that he wanted to keep drawing comics and making enough money to support his family. It was always the immediate needs of his wife and children that were his biggest concern--not a battle to capture the rights to his own property.

Grimm: Humiliated, used and abused.

In the very issue in which this story appeared, Kirby had to see an ad for a Saturday morning ABC Network cartoon show based on characters he had created, written, and illustrated. But not his to sell. Not his from which to profit.

Sub-conscious, or intentional?

The latest addition to my growing Jack Kirby FANTASTIC FOUR collection. More on this tomorrow.

Observe, if you will, the rage evident in the visage of one Mr. Benjamin J. Grimm.

FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #6

Every year the readers of FANTASTIC FOUR were treated to a special story from Jack Kirby. That story was always wrapped up within the ANNUAL issue. Marvel had been doing annuals for some of its titles since before superheroes took hold. It was a way of making money out of stories that had already been paid for and published. You wrapped them up and reprinted them in a larger king-sized format and turned an extra profit. Just about every comics publisher had been doing that same thing, or something very much like it, for decades.

But with Kirby you got something special. He would pitch the reader a story that went out of its way to be different, to be unique, to make the reader hand over 25 cents when they were accustomed to paying 12 cents. The annuals were still mainly reprints--Goodman was going to get his bargain in labor one way or another--but Kirby also served up a new cover and a new story within the annual.

And what great stories! Kirby gave us the FF's best antagonists in unexpected yarns that tweaked curiosity and expectations. He might throw in a gimmick like guest-starring every other Marvel superhero and supervillian. Or introduce new characters. Give us the marriage of Susan Storm and Reed Richards. Or the birth of their child. Each year Kirby found a way to write us a story to make us look forward to that King Sized Annual.

However, the last time he did that was FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #6. After that one, Marvel tended to lean on just reprints for the FF Annuals. Why? I can't say. Perhaps it was the fact that Kirby soon left Marvel for DC. Or maybe it was because sales didn't warrant new stories for annuals that would sell just as well with all reprinted contents.

But the last annual of FANTASTIC FOUR that Kirby produced for his fans was a great one. The birth of the child of Susan Storm and and Reed Richards, wrapped up with a battle with, and introduction to, one of the FF's most inhuman foes, Annihilus. I don't think Kirby ever used Annihilus in another story. Like all of Kirby's creations, he was utilized many times by many other comics creators working at Marvel. Just one more example of the sad theft of Kirby's intellectual property.

My copy of FANTASTIC FOUR Annual #6

FANTASTIC FOUR #51

This has always been one of my favorite issues of the FANTASTIC FOUR. Kirby had been writing and illustrating multi-part stories for quite some time and this issue represents a break from that pattern. The explosion of creativity that had been on display from issue #44 through #50 was taking a brief sabbatical. It was as if Kirby was just resting, taking a deep breath before dazzling the fans with the remainder of this eruption of new characters and concepts that would finally draw down in issue #53.

The story here is very simple. It's a story of jealousy and revenge. A brilliant scientist whose work has long been overshadowed by that of Reed Richards has developed a way to get even. This typical comic book mad scientist plot involves the scientist trading places with Ben Grimm by stealing the superhero's powers and physical appearance. In something of a stroke of brilliance, Kirby had the evil scientist be already similar in size and bone structure to the soon-to-be-victimized Grimm.

From there, the story continues as the bad guy plans exactly how he will do away with Richards now that he has gained entrance to the Baxter Building. The sudden appearance of the real Grimm, now in his human body, fails to convince Reed and Sue Richards that a change has taken place, and they accept the doppelganger in their midst as that old companion and reject the real Grimm. And soon after, the villain finds his chance to see Richards die as part of one of Mr. Fantastic's experiments.

Kirby was able to tell this story in a typical one-issue tale. He opens the yarn with a gorgeous splash page of Ben Grimm standing, forlorn and alone, in the midst of a pouring rain. The inks here are by the extremely talented Joe Sinnott, one of the best inkers the comic industry has produced, and the finest inker to be teamed with Kirby's pencils. Gone were the less talented inkers who had worked over Kirby's penciled pages. I am especially happy that Vince Colletta never inked any of the FF stories during this run. Lee had placed him with Kirby on the THOR title, so the FANTASTIC FOUR was spared his slapdash work.

And so, the run of new characters would recommence in just one more month, with the introduction of the first black superhero in the Silver Age: T'Challa, the Black Panther. But in issue #51 we were treated with a work of truly inspired pathos.

Another dramatic cover from Jack Kirby.

As soon as I cracked the cover, this no-dialogue illustration had me hooked.

The evil one steals Grimm's power and likeness.

The real Grimm tries to convince his team mates, but who can argue with the power of The Thing?

Kirby not only told the story in a single issue, he laid several full page splashes on us.

Another of the unique collages that Kirby was using in FF. Sometimes I think it was his way of competing with some of the innovations coming from Marvel's other superstar artist, Steve Ditko.

In the end, villain sees the error of his ways and becomes the hero whose abilities he had stolen.

STRANGE Additions.

I'm also slowly picking up all of the Ditko issues of STRANGE TALES. I mainly want these for the Dr. Strange stories. Again, I only want the issues that are by the man who created, wrote, and illustrated the character: Steve Ditko. I don't  care to see what was done with Dr. Strange after Ditko walked away from his creation, leaving it to the thieves who claimed ownership.

I'm always reminded of the fact that Ditko was never allowed to do a Dr. Strange cover of STRANGE TALES. He was, even then, making demands that he be given credit for the work he was doing on the characters that he had created. This was causing friction between Ditko and Lee who was stretching the concept of "writer" to ensure that he took home more of a paycheck. Since covers paid relatively well, Ditko was obviously denied the chance to do these for the title. In the meantime, the readers got stuff like this awful cover by, I assume, Bob Powell, who was at the end of his career (and his life) during this period, and whose talents had largely faded by this time.

Kirby Additions.

I've been busy working on completing my run of Jack Kirby's FANTASTIC FOUR. As with my Spider-Man collection, I only want the issues that feature the work of the man who created, wrote, and illustrated it. Therefore, I will buy the issues by Jack Kirby and no others. I hope to have the set completed by the end of 2013. We'll see.

I finally landed a copy of FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #1.

This was part of an ambitious story arc by Kirby, wherein Von Doom stole the cosmic power of the Silver Surfer and used it to try to destroy the Fantastic Four. I've always admired this cover, featuring as it does Ben Grimm duking it out with the mad Dr. Doom. It's illustrations such as this one that have always convinced me that Grimm was almost a part of Jack Kirby himself.

Cover featuring the character Blastaar. Even throwaway characters from Kirby were superior to the kind of thing other writers struggled to deliver.

Another fine cover from Kirby. I've been told that this version was delivered at the last minute as a replacement for art that was rejected by the editor, Stan Lee.

Panthertown Shelter

We had decided to spend the night at the A-frame shelter in Panthertown. It's a remnant from the Valley's days as a doomed place. Once upon a time it was slated to have been turned into a real estate development. Up to and including the damming of the Tuckaseegee River for a large lake, around which houses would have been built. Some of Panthertown's waterfalls would have been buried underwater, while others would have become the private property of the rich elite.

Fortunately, through an accident of failing finance for the people putting that venture together, the Valley first ended up in the hands of the rapacious Duke Power Company who rammed a transmission line down the center of the Valley and then gave all but the right of way to the Nature Conservancy who then handed the remaining 6,000 acres over to Nantahala National Forest. Duke Power got lots of favorable publicity out of the stunt, and the public got what was to have been a wilderness area but which is now two forests bisected by a hideous transmission line.

Still and all, it's better this way than being in the hands of a few private individuals. If you have the time and the will you can hike all around Panthertown and take in the views.

The shelter as we arrived. I'm not sure how old the shelter is, but I've heard that it's been there since the 1960s when the Valley was being planted in white pines as a Christmas tree farm. It has been repaired and renovated many times since.

Sign and good luck charm above the threshold. The cutting of live vegetation for campfires in the Valley is a problem.

Our stuff in the shelter. Later, we ended up pitching our tents in the shelter when blowing snow began to cover the floor (and our stuff).

The shelter as it looked as we were preparing to leave, after four inches of fresh snow had fallen after our arrival.

Crowded!

When I first started visiting Panthertown Valley it was a relatively unknown place. I could go there and not see anyone, even on the finest of hiking days. I once spent three entire days in Panthertown and never saw (or heard) another human. It wasn't quite wilderness (not with that Duke Power right-of-way scar running down the center of the 6,000-acre plot), but it was close.

On this visit, even though we were greeted with cold and wintery weather, the Valley was pretty damned crowded. I would not hesitate to guess that there were at least 100 people in the southern half of the Valley when we were there. We camped in the northern part of Panthertown and seemed to have that section to ourselves, but that's because of a deep creek crossing that we were willing to make, while others were not. (Take your shoes off and roll up your pants and try crossing a wide creek when it's 20 degrees out. It ain't fun.)

Because Panthertown's perimeters are easily accessible by auto, I supposed it's doomed to be a very popular destination from now on. Add in the fact that many of the trails are old roadbeds from when it was almost wrecked as a real estate development, and it's ripe for abuse from the hiking public. I saw at least one teenaged kid sawing down live trees to use as fuel for a campfire. And the forests were loud with human voices when in the old days all I'd hear was the water and the wind and the birds (and the singing coyotes in the evening).

Alas.

Panthertown Valley as seen from Salt Rock Gap.

The view from one of the cliffs on Big Green Mountain.

Big Green Mountain.

 

Panthertown is a moist place, for sure.

You can't quite see them in this video, but some of the nearby ridges across the Valley are covered in the houses of millionaires that have ruined the wild aspect of Panthertown.

Waterfall Videos

Just a few videos from the trip to Panthertown Valley.

Wilderness Falls

Schoolhouse Falls

Weird Little Falls

Another shot of Wilderness Falls

Panthertown Trip

I just returned from a two-day trip to Panthertown Valley in western North Carolina. I'll post details later. It has historically been one of my favorite places in the mountains, but I fear that it has become too popular. I go to such spots for solitude, and I'm not sure it can be found there these days. At least not as it was when I first discovered the valley.

Self-portrait taken at Frolictown Falls in Panthertown Valley.

The shelter where we spent the night.

Road Trip!

I'm not going to any of the places featured in these photos, but tomorrow I will be headed for the mountains of western North Carolina to one of my favorite high-country areas. Details when I return after two days of fresh air and mountain scenery:

Cedar Rock Mountain.

Linville Gorge Wilderness, Rock Jock Trail.

Little Lost Cove Cliffs.

Thorpe Creek Falls.