An Unfortunate Career

For years I considered writing a book about a singer named Jimmy Ellis. I even had a hardback press interested in the project, but I found it tough sledding to gather necessary material for a decent-sized biography. It's possible I'll go back to it someday, unless someone finally releases a good book about him.

Yeah, they actually released this morbid piece of shit cover.

Ellis was a singer whose voice was uncannily similar to that of Elvis Presley's. If he wanted to, he

could sound so much like Presley that even Presley's biggest fans found it difficult to tell them apart. He was signed to a number of labels, mainly smaller ones, before finally ending up at famed Sun Records. Alas, he was convinced to put on a silly fucking mask and perform as a guy named "Orion" who, it was said, was actually Elvis Presley--or perhaps some kind of resurrection of the King. It was a sad decision and a terrible mistake on the part of Ellis and his management team.

Ellis as a clown.

The worst part of all of this is that--in his prime--Ellis had a very remarkable voice. At some point he finally stopped chasing the brass ring and retired to run a business in his native Alabama. And was murdered by an armed robber at that place of business.

I put up this video on YouTube because all other versions of this song were rather murky from a listening perspective. He cut this tune for the TV series McCloud, which starred the late Dennis Weaver. Weaver's patented catch phrase on the show was "there you go". The production company commissioned a song, and Ellis was chosen to put voice to it. It was even released as a 45rpm record and, as I recall, did manage to chart, but never got very high on those charts. Which is a shame because it's a pretty good tune that deserves a wider audience.

"Far from the Galactic Hub"

Years ago I would sell short-shorts to various markets  What they refer to these days as "flash fiction". There was a market then...I haven't even looked to see if there is anymore.

Here is one that failed to find a home back in those old days. It's just been sitting in the proverbial trunk gathering dust. A little dark science-fiction tale.

"FAR FROM THE GALACTIC HUB"
by
James Robert Smith

     He'd been forced from the herd long ago. And so he'd been drifting the outer reaches for many cycles, far from the Hub. He was alone. 
      
     And then. 
     
     He heard her. He listened to her plaintive call, the unmistakable sigh of first yearning. Initially, he thought that he was mistaken, that he had been alone for so long that he was imagining things. But the sigh came again, that quick burst and the faint prickling of her desire tickled across his receptors so that he turned toward her, spinning his mass effortlessly in the void so that he could seek her out.

     With a slow pulse he thrust himself toward that place where she waited; and he wondered how she could have come so far from the Hub. This was not a normal thing in the life of a female, but his lust and desire for companionship overruled that curious fact.

     For many cycles he wondered if he were not deluding himself. But as he continued to pulse, to increase the velocity of his mass, he felt time and again her call, each more intense than the one before. Truly, this female yearned for him as fiercely as he for her. He tacked away from the Hub, farther than he ever had, and he pushed past lonely systems, aiming for a certain yellow point of light that grew as he surged toward it. She was calling.

     In a while, after traveling through this desert void, but feeling her calls, her sighs that grew sometimes to panting moans, he saw her, small and perfect against the mass of this backwater star around which she was anchored: so tiny and perfect and blue.

     He corrected his path and pulsed again, sending his great mass toward her. How would she receive him? Would she accept his advances?

*

     In a desperate effort, the men of Earth launched an armada of nuclear missiles at the Texas-sized mass that seemed to be coming toward Earth. They could not destroy it, they feared, but perhaps it could be deflected away. In the skies, ten thousand megatons detonated against its gray mass as it broke the plane of the orbit of Mars. 

 *

     Ah, he needn't have worried. He heard her call, felt the soothing glow of her lust as he came within a unit of her. She wanted him, her thrusting foreplay was exciting. Such a teasing, delicate kiss! Excellent. He would reciprocate.

     He opened his gills and loosed his passion. The ladies always enjoyed a big, sloppy one.

BLOOD ON THE PLAINS

My old friend Roy Aiken's book is about to appear from Severed Press. I predict it's going to be a huge hit. If you like apocalyptic horror fiction then you'll enjoy this one. With the bonus that BLEEDING KANSAS is far more literary than your average zombie novel.

Keep your eyes peeled for the book at your favorite online bookseller!

Derek Grace is so far out on the edge of foreclosure and homelessness he can’t afford to kiss his wife goodbye. Too much is riding on this second interview in Kansas City. Yet every third person seems to have what Claire has, a nasty cold that gets nastier—and so widespread that services and infrastructure, including the airlines, are down shortly after Whitman’s arrival.

When that same pestilence reanimates the dead to seek living flesh Derek Grace is 600 miles from the last two people in the world he cares about, trapped in a city ruled by the hungry dead. All of Kansas stands between Derek Whitman and home.

Times like these a man can’t help but make a name for himself. Derek Grace loses a career and finds a calling in BLEEDING KANSAS.

Coming Soon from SEVERED PRESS.

Coming soon from Severed Press: BLEEDING KANSAS by Lawrence Roy Aiken.

Who Created. Who was the Thief?

Who created what is widely regarded as "The Marvel Universe"?

The amazingly simple answer is this:

Most of it was created by a man named Jack Kirby. Nobody helped him. He sat at his drawing board and created, wrote, and illustrated almost every superhero at the company that came to be known as Marvel Comics. He created (with no help from anyone else):

The Fantastic Four (which did contain a re-imagined version of The Human Torch which was created by Carl Burgos).

Iron Man.

The Incredible Hulk.

The Mighty Thor.

Ant Man (who later became Giant Man).

The Wasp.

The X-Men.

The Avengers.

Sgt. Fury/Nick Fury.

The Silver Surfer.

Captain America (co-created with Joe Simon).

And all of the associated characters that went along with each of those main characters and titles.

It could even be argued that he created the Marvel version of Daredevil. The character's name was stolen from Lev Gleason (a company that had gone out of business). But the character images and concept was by Jack Kirby. The first issue and its origin story was written and illustrated by Bill Everett.

It's said that Kirby first suggested a character named Spider-Man, but his concept was rejected.


The other major creator at Marvel was Steve Ditko. He created, in those early days, the few things that Kirby did not. These were:

The Amazing Spider-Man. Once Kirby's version was rejected, the name was handed to Ditko who conceived, wrote, and illustrated the comic character we came to know as Peter

Parker/Spider-Man. No one helped him. He didn't need any help.

Dr. Strange. Again...no one helped Steve Ditko create Doctor Strange. He did it on his own with no help whatsoever from anyone.

Steve Ditko also revamped the character Iron Man when he was briefly assigned the comic when Kirby was too busy to do it. In the very brief time Ditko was there, he created Iron Man's sleek, re-imagined gold and red armor. This is the iconic Iron Man that has remained largely unchanged since that time (well over 50 years ago).

And, of course, Steve Ditko created all of the associated characters who surrounded both his Spider-Man and Doctor Strange creations.

There is no "co-creator" for these men. Their ideas were basically stolen from them. Billions of dollars of profit have been generated from their works. If we can't properly credit them as the sole creators of that work, at least the party that now controls those properties can do the right thing and acknowledge that they have rights to a respectable portion of the vast sums of income generated from their work.

CHARLTON ACTION #11!

I picked up the first part of Ditko's STATIC book from Charlton. This was one of the last comics that Charlton published before they ceased operations and robbed Ditko of a reliable publisher. This was also one of the last relatively coherent books that Ditko would create. There was a hiatus after Charlton closed when the character did not see print, but eventually Ditko would see the adventures continue at Eclipse Comics.

The only time the book was published in color was during the two issues it appeared in CHARLTON ACTION COMICS #11 and #12. Having seen the character presented in both black & white and color, I have to say that I prefer it in color. I've already written a deeper essay on the character and the series, so I'll let that stand for now.

Two of the last superhero comics from Charlton.

Peaks of Otter Lodge reopening.

Well, sometimes we get some good news in the world. One of our favorite National Park lodges in the south is reopening. It closed in the Fall of 2012 when the concessionaire refused to renew its option on the property. The National Park Service put the concession up for bids and there were several takers, one of which will be chosen to reopen the lodge this summer.

Carole and I have always enjoyed our stays at the lodge. It was sad to see it close its doors, and I really do wish that the Park Service would stop leasing these properties to concessionaires and just run them as part of the Park Service with Park employees. That way, we wouldn't have to see the kind of situation that we witnessed with the Peaks of Otter Lodge last year.

The last time we stayed there it was in the winter. The weather that weekend was cold with alternating rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow...you name it. I had a great time hiking the mountains and wandering around looking for waterfalls while Carole relaxed at the lodge.

It will be good to get back there again some time.

Rear of the lodge and the edge of the lake.

The view of one of the three "Peaks of Otter". They are Sharp Top, Flat Top, and Harkening Hill. Two of them (Sharp Top and Flat Top are over 4,000 feet in elevation. All are fun to hike and I've done the trio.

The upper reaches of Sharp Top coated in ice and sleet.

Here I was at the nearby Apple Orchard Falls. Well worth the drop into the gorge and the steep climb back to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Just a short distance from the lodge.

Appropriately, we drove through a fierce ice storm on the way home. This was at one of the overlooks and high points along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Park rangers were closing up the Parkway behind us each time we wen through a gated intersection. It was a good thing we had four-wheel drive.

Nice Memories

I really like Reedy Creek Park. It's not quite the same place it was when Carole and I were young parents, but it has seen few changes since those times. We spent many, many days in this park when our son (Andy) was very young. It had (and still has) great playgrounds. Plus wide grassy fields, several lakes, miles of trails, and even things like historical ruins of old farmhouses from the early 1800s, a nature museum, grills, picnic pavilions, and lots of forests and streams. It's pretty darned big as county parks go--almost 800 acres. So there's plenty of room to spread out and roam.

Every now and again I like to stop by the old park and have a look around. Sometimes the memories are nice and make me happy. And sometimes the memories are sweet, but make me terribly sad.

Violets in the forest loam.

Redbuds bursting out.

A little stray azalea just getting ready to unfurl.

  

 The main lake at Reedy Creek where we would take Andy when he was a little boy.

The big field where Carole, and Andy, and I would lay out a blanket and have a picnic in the grass on a nice day like this one. Sometimes there would be people flying kites, or dogs playing, and other families with their kids, too.

Telephoto shot from across the lake. Carole and I would always stop to rest at that bench on our two or three-mile hike through the park. It was (and still is, I suppose) a great place to rest and listen to the wind.

Spring is here. Life goes on.

Where my tiny family and I spent many and many a day.

Great Movie?

I tend to judge all movies harshly. The only time that I'll ever cut a movie any goddamned slack at all is when its producers don't try to present it as something that it's not. If a movie is a mindless stinking action flick with no redeeming social value whatsoever and if it presents itself as such, I'll hold my tongue.

So I'm a very hard man to please when it comes to either literature or art. Despite that, I'm always out there looking for the perfect illustration, the most flawless novel, the best movie.

One thing I look for in a movie is a line of logic that is presented, accepted, and followed throughout. To that end I am ready, willing, and able to suspend disbelief and take at face value something that is, on the outside, completely illogical if the creator of the film follows that wobbly line of logic and adheres to it.

So that we all understand one another, I have only seen one perfect movie in my entire life, and that movie is the original 1933 version of KING KONG. We are led to a vast island whose natural resources have not been raped to the bare rock and where not only primitive humans live, but also dinosaurs, and also a giant ape named King Kong. I'm game if you are, and historically the American public (and the world's public) is very cool with this story.

KING KONG faces its dinosaurs and giant gorilla and the movie follows that line to its logical conclusion, all the while delivering decent characterizations and a fine story without screwing up. If you can find me a more perfect film than KING KONG, let me know about it, because by Jove I would like to see it. I've been looking...haven't found it yet.

However, there is a modern movie that I do look upon as nearly perfect and equally as entertaining as KING KONG. And that movie is GROUNDHOG DAY.

I love everything about this film. The characters are all lovely--every damned one of them, including the initially lousy person and talented TV weatherman, Phil Connors (portrayed

flawlessly by Bill Murray). And the romantic object in the movie is the painfully lovely Rita (played by Andie McDowell). Around them we are ringed by all manner of sweet, annoying, and funny supporting characters. Maybe Phil is King Kong and Rita is Ann Darrow. Hell...I, don't know!

The movie introduces the main players and the setting (an idyllic

Punxatawny, Pennsylvania) and then hits us with the illogical logic: Phil is stuck in a time loop, reliving the same day over and over and over. During the course of the movie this time loop becomes normal to us. We see Phil Connors horrified by this development; then depressed by it; then enraged by it; then humbled by it, before finally accepting it. We see the endless Groundhog Day slowly transform the asscrack TV weatherman until he becomes a decent human being worthy of winning the woman (and the day).

I always enjoy this movie. It's like a handful of other movies that hold me and force me to watch them whenever I pass a screen airing them: PATTON, SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, THE GODFATHER...movies of that caliber. Even though I own the damned thing on DVD and can watch it anytime I please, and have seen it probably a dozen times, I will stop if I see it on TV and just watch it until the end.

It may very well be the best movie I've ever seen. It's funny. It's pleasant. It makes me feel good. It's full of attractive characters (in spirit if not in body). I love GROUNDHOG DAY. (For what it's worth, I actually consider it to be a Christmas movie. It has that kind of vibe.)

One thing that does give me just a little chill at the very end. The last line, uttered by Bill Murray.

"At first we'll rent."

As if the writer is giving us the slightest hint that the old, asshole Phil is already peeking out of the

shell of goodness he'd learned while stuck in his time loop. Dictating to the woman whose love he'd so painfully won.

I like that. I like the doubt.

Another perfect movie? Maybe.




Whatever happened to Nancy Taylor, anyway? (Now we know.)
 

Uncooperative Birds

I only take my cats outside when they're leashed. I don't want them getting hurt of course, but I also don't want them preying on songbirds. After I took the cats back in, the back yard was packed with birds. So I figured I could get my SLR and telephoto lens and tripod and get some great photos of some of the cool birds I was seeing out there.

And what happens? They all vanish. Where before they had been landing all around me, singing and chirping doing their bird-things, suddenly they were gone.

I got two lousy photos. I think one was a starling (an invasive species) and the other a common robin.

The robin. Always reliable for a little local color.

Starling? Not sure. He flew off before I could use the manual focus to get him in a clearer shot.

The Final Issues (Amazing Spider-Man #36-#38, Annual #1 and #2.

And here they are, the last of my copies of The Amazing Spider-Man, by Steve Ditko. Although the character as here seen was created by Steve Ditko, written by Steve Ditko, Penciled by Steve Ditko, and inked by Steve Ditko, ownership of this property was stolen by his publisher. Today, it generates--quite literally--billions of dollars in profits. Of that, the character's creator receives virtually nothing. Most people who read the modern comics and see the films starring the character are unaware of who Steve Ditko is, much less that he was the man who created the character they so adore.

Yes, I know that there are greater crimes committed in this world. But this is a crime, and the fact that it goes not only unpunished, but is rewarded only increases the injustice of it.

Continued from #30-#35.

I'm not sure what was going on with the issues directly after the Master Planner storyline. However, it seems relatively clear to me that Ditko was going out of his way not to create much in the way of new characters for Marvel Comics. I will assume that he had decided to take his leave of Goodman and Lee, but may have been hedging his bets and hoping that they would do the right thing. (No chance.) In this story we are yet again greeted by a cookie-cutter villain, the Meteor Man. This guy gets super strength due to his exposure to a pocket of mysterious gas trapped inside a meteor that he is examining in a museum (where he works). He does have an added gadget of a helium balloon in a backpack that he can activate and escape from the scene of a crime. Spider-Man kicks his ass and turns him over to the cops.

Recall what I said about Ditko hedging his bets? Well, with this one he was turning his hand to deepening the mystery of the Green Goblin and was hinting at future developments and giving us more clues as to who he might really be. And the Goblin's genius henchman here has developed some advanced robotics that he uses to try to defeat Spider-Man, including an amoeba-like robot that has to be one of the coolest ever created for comics. But apparently between this issue and the next, the proverbial shit hit the fan and Ditko was ready to walk.

Ditko didn't even deliver a cover for this, his final issue of The Amazing Spider-Man. Or if he did, perhaps Lee rejected it and it was never used. However, I've always thought that this was a pretty darned cool cover and it attracted me like crazy when I saw it on the newsstand at the local drugstore in my neighborhood in Decatur, Georgia. So much so that I bought it instead of waiting to get it for free from my dad's bookstore. They created the cover by taking images and panels from interior Ditko illustrations and putting them on the cover. It works. I did an essay on this book once before, but I may do another one.

 

This book is pure fun. And it was a really HUGE comic book. The heft of it is impressive when compared to annuals from later years. They really packed it with great material, most of it new. Ditko delivers lots of pinups and various inside information about Spider-Man and Peter Parker. Plus the new story wherein Spider-Man battles six of his most dangerous foes.

Although a brief story, the new one in this annual is one of my favorite Spider-Man yarns. It guest stars Dr. Strange, Ditko's other major creation for Marvel Comics. Even the thief who helped to steal all of Ditko's work at Marvel admits that he had nothing whatsoever to do with the creation of Dr. Strange. And, yet, somehow, his name is all over the character as "co-creator". If you're not disgusted, you're either a moron or without a sense of right and wrong.

The Amazing Spider-Man #31-#35.

We're approaching the home stretch for Ditko's final months on the comic book character he created for Marvel Comics and which was stolen from him by the publisher and the editor. From all accounts, Ditko was getting fed up with the way he was being treated. The personal philosophy that he followed to the letter precluded him from putting up much of a fight for his creator rights, but he was coming close to the only option allowed him by the dogma that controlled his outlook: walking away.

But until that point, he was creating some of the finest superhero comics of his day and actually did concoct what--to me--is the single finest superhero story ever to grace the pages of a periodical. I've already written one essay on the Master Planner story arc, but it's such a fine work that I may be forced to revisit it with a critical eye and do yet another essay.

Continued from #26-30.

This is yet another brilliant cover from Ditko. When the folk in the office allowed him, he could come up with stuff that was just purely brilliant--like nothing else in comics in those days. Here he was incorporating some themes and ideas that must have been percolating through the culture via spy movies (such as the Bond films). With this issue, he began the Master Planner story. Once more Spider-Man is faced with a criminal force that is being directed by a foe he cannot name or recognize and which is also a mystery to the otherwise omniscient reader. It didn't get any better than this in superhero comics, and it still hasn't been matched.

This was Spider-Man! Because he often battled villains who were not much more than regular guys with guns or hyped up weaponry, the fans sometimes forgot just how physically powerful and overwhelming Spider-Man could be. In this issue, with Aunt May's life on the line, Spider-Man has had all he can stand from the criminal element and by Jove he's not going to take it anymore. Here he roams around the city hitting at the criminal underbelly, terrorizing the thugs to get the information that he needs to save his aunt.

The best single superhero comic book ever done. Created by Ditko. Written by Ditko. Penciled AND inked by Steve Ditko. Possibly spurred by Wally Wood's inability to be bullied and taken advantage of by Stan Lee and Martin Goodman, Ditko had finally demanded that he--at the very least--receive plotting credits for the book. Since Lee was altering the dialog and acting as editor, Ditko obviously relented and allowed Lee to keep stealing the "writer" credits. But at the very least he was letting fandom know who was really concocting the stories: STEVE DITKO!

Ditko brings back Kraven the Hunter for the last time during his tenure. After the emotionally exhausting work of #31-33, Ditko returns to a typical superhero slug-fest with this one. The story is fun, but nothing like the intellectual yarn he had told in the previous three issues.

And another return engagement from Ditko's the Molten Man. In many ways, this story is similar to the previous issue. Not much going on here other than a big superhero/supervilain fight. However, Ditko was beginning to plant more seeds that hinted at another great story arc that would feature a final confrontation with the Green Goblin. Alas, we never got to see that, since Ditko would leave the company before he could complete that tale. This issue is also interesting because it's another example of Lee interfering with the cover art because he didn't like seeing Spider-Man's butt cheeks. He had someone in the bullpen alter the Spider-Man figure to erase the offending anatomy.

Here is the cover generally conceded to be the version that Lee killed.

Amazing Spider-Man #25 through #30.

The next five issues from my collection are on display here. Ditko was becoming more and more ambitious in his storytelling. He was not only expanding what had been the limitations of the classic comic book panel, he was also pushing the limitations of what had been the formulaic superhero script. Much has been written about the angst of the Ditko Spider-Man stories (credit going to someone other than Ditko on that). This was heartfelt material from the artist/writer--material so powerful that not even a pushy editor could screw up the emotional power of Ditko's storytelling.

(Continued from: 21-25.)

I've mentioned this issue in other essays. Here we have the Crime Master, another of Ditko's villains whose secret identity is even secret from the reader. We find the Crime Master and the Green Goblin at odds over which of them is going to rule the underworld turf. With Spider-Man caught in the middle.

Spider-Man at the mercy of the villains and their henchmen! But this is the old Spider-Man who was one of the most physically powerful characters in the old Marvel Universe. Back then, only a handful of super-powered dudes were stronger than Spidey--Hulk, Thing, Thor...that was about it. Battleship chain? That would slow him down, but ultimately...something he could break!

Good grief this is a brilliant cover. And not just a brilliant cover, but an inspired super-villain. The Molten Man was a fellow given super powers by accidentally getting drenched in a metallic alloy that was liquid at room temperature. The stuff is absorbed by the guy's body turning him the same golden hue as the metal, and giving him both super-strength and a measure of physical invulnerability. As with the Scorpion, it's stated that he's probably even stronger than Spider-Man, so the hero has to really use his wits to defeat him. Because of the black cover, this issue is almost impossible to find in the highest grades (even the slightest crease or blemish is spotlit against that ebony background). Thus, it's in very high demand as a collectible comic in grades higher than fine. I settled--as I generally always do--for a lesser condition copy. As I like to say, I actually read my old comics.

Another issue I've written about. Once more Spider-Man has to face off against a villain who is stronger than he. And once more Parker has to use his wits to find something that gives him an edge. The Scorpion costume is one of the best villain uniforms Ditko ever created. He took the basic segmented appearance of the arachnid animal and incorporated it brilliantly into the costume. No one was better at this kind of iconic thing than Ditko.

This is actually not one of my favorite Spider-Man covers. It's almost ineffective in many ways. I'm not quite sure what Ditko was after with this one, but it made it past the editor. Ditko was constantly trying to pit Spider-Man against foes who were human. The Cat was one of the most human of his early villains. No super powers whatsoever. Just a highly trained burglar with some weapons at his disposal. Of course some explosives can cause a lot of trouble for even a guy who can pick up 12 tons and cling to walls.

This Movie Needs Extra Love.

I just read the announcement that George A. Romero is going to remake the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. This mystified me for mainly one reason:

The film was remade in 1990 with Romero producing and Tom Savini directing. Why would Romero want to remake it yet again? To cash in on the zombie craze that he created? Hard to say.

But the thing is, that remake is one of the single most effective horror films I've ever seen, and it gets only a fraction of the respect that it deserves. By now, everyone is familiar with the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD directed by George Romero with screenplay by John Russo and George Romero. That film is a classic of paranoid fantasy and one of the most psychologically effective horror movies ever made. That it was filmed on a shoestring budget in black and white actually enhances the effectiveness of the movie.

However, because Romero, Russo, and company were inexperienced in dealing with distributors, they were ripped off and saw almost none of the massive profits that the movie generated for its eventual distributor. Thus, they all felt the need to remake the movie with a bigger budget in 1990 so that they could all, at long last, actually see some profits from the sweat of their brows.

I very much admire the remake. It is similar enough to the original to make it a powerful social statement, just as the first one did. And it was different enough to make further social and political statements in ways that make it different enough from the original for each to remain unique. The movie has a number of exceptional performances and is absolutely brilliantly directed by Tom Savini. After I saw this movie on its initial run, I figured that the door would be opened for Savini to direct many movies and receive funding for any number of projects to which he would be attached as director. His vision for the movie was just about flawless.

However, while the movie apparently did moderately well, it did not break any records, did not end

up making the producers much wealthier; and, worst of all, it was not the beginning of a long line of Savini-directed features.

Well, shit. There ain't no justice.

If you've never seen the 1990 version of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, give it a look. It's a truly creepy and effective horror movie. The film deserves a wider following, and Savini deserves a lot of respect and a lot of credit for the excellent work he turned in as director.

They're coming to get you, Barbara.