Happy hearts and flowers, Groove-ophiles! Today is indeed Valentine's Day, and you know what that's all about! Love! Yep, l-o-v-e! Well, Ol' Groove knows how much you love Jack Kirby. How much Kirby loved to write and draw stories about gangsters rubbing each other out. How much gangsters love to rub each other out (especially on Valentine's Day). So, thought I, why not squeeze all that love into one post? How to do that? Why, by presenting some classic Kirby comics depicting rascals rubbing one another out from the legendary In The Days of the Mob #1 (Fall, 1971).
In the Days of the Mob had one of Kirby's wildest premises by having the stories narrated by Hell's Warden, Warden Fry! Check this out...
Makes Apokolips look kind'a tame, don't it?
Now, here's Ol' Groove's valentine to ya: Kirby's take on a legendary dinner with Al Capone called "Bullets for Big Al!" Enjoy, Groove-ophiles!
Showing newest posts with label crime comics. Show older posts
Showing newest posts with label crime comics. Show older posts
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Cheap Detectives Week: Atlas/Seaboard's Police Action
Martin Goodman's short-lived Atlas/Seaboard Comics was a factory for fad-based comics, to put it mildly. While editors Larry Lieber and Jeff Rovin used Goodman's ample wallet to hire much of the the best talent of the Groovy Age, the publisher stuck to his tried and true policy of "give the public what they want until they cry 'uncle'!" (Hey, he'd kept the original Timely/Atlas/Marvel afloat that way from the 40s through the 60s.) Goodman was cagey enough to know that there was a world outside of comics, so instead of just ripping off other comics, he wanted his editors to rip off other popular media, as well. Detectives and Cops were hot in the movies and on TV in the mid-70s, so it was only natural that he'd want to try to capture some of the heat in his comics. Thus was born Police Action (sounds more like the title for a Korean War mag, doesn't it?). P.A. gave us two cops: Sam Lomax of the NYPD and Luke Malone, Manhunter a San Francisco-based P.I. as its stars.
There's been speculation that Lomax's name was designed to cash in on the then-enormously popular Kojak TV show. Lomax was probably given the headline position in the mag for the very same reason. However, Lomax was much more like Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry in attitude and love of using firearms. The first story was very violent, written by the elusive Russ Jones under the pen-name of "Jack Younger", the other two stories, by Gary Friedrich toned the violence down--a little. What really made the strip kinda groovy was the art team of Mike Sekowsky and Al McWilliams. They're styles meshed really well and gave the strip a slick, realistic look that would have fit right in to a Sunday comic strip page. Here's a Lomax story Ol' Groove just can't resist sharing with ya, "...One Hot Dog with Murder, Please..." (Police Action #3, March, 1975). I mean, c'mon, ya have'ta admit that title's a (wait for it) gasser, man! (Okay, I deserve any hate mail I get after that one...)
Luke Malone, Manhunter, is a far-out, noir-ish strip created by the always amazing Mike Ploog. The best of the Malone stories was the first one, written by Ploog, himself (the other two stories were written by Gary Friedrich--of course!). The only downside to the strip was the overpowering inks of Frank Springer, who nearly obliterated Ploog's Will Eisner influenced pencils. Here's Ploog's premiere Malone story, "Requiem for a Champ", from Police Action #1 (November, 1974)!
Like most of the Atlas/Seaboard line, the mag only lasted three issues, but they were well done and quite unlike anything else on the spinner rack.
There's been speculation that Lomax's name was designed to cash in on the then-enormously popular Kojak TV show. Lomax was probably given the headline position in the mag for the very same reason. However, Lomax was much more like Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry in attitude and love of using firearms. The first story was very violent, written by the elusive Russ Jones under the pen-name of "Jack Younger", the other two stories, by Gary Friedrich toned the violence down--a little. What really made the strip kinda groovy was the art team of Mike Sekowsky and Al McWilliams. They're styles meshed really well and gave the strip a slick, realistic look that would have fit right in to a Sunday comic strip page. Here's a Lomax story Ol' Groove just can't resist sharing with ya, "...One Hot Dog with Murder, Please..." (Police Action #3, March, 1975). I mean, c'mon, ya have'ta admit that title's a (wait for it) gasser, man! (Okay, I deserve any hate mail I get after that one...)
Luke Malone, Manhunter, is a far-out, noir-ish strip created by the always amazing Mike Ploog. The best of the Malone stories was the first one, written by Ploog, himself (the other two stories were written by Gary Friedrich--of course!). The only downside to the strip was the overpowering inks of Frank Springer, who nearly obliterated Ploog's Will Eisner influenced pencils. Here's Ploog's premiere Malone story, "Requiem for a Champ", from Police Action #1 (November, 1974)!
Like most of the Atlas/Seaboard line, the mag only lasted three issues, but they were well done and quite unlike anything else on the spinner rack.
Labels:
1970s comicbooks,
al mcwilliams,
atlas/seaboard,
crime comics,
frank springer,
gary friedrich,
luke malone,
mike ploog,
mike sekowsky,
police action,
russ jones,
sam lomax
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Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.
All other commentary and insanity copyright GroovyAge, Ltd.
As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!
All other commentary and insanity copyright GroovyAge, Ltd.
As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!