Author: Rudy Panucci (Page 57 of 581)

The PopCult Comix Bookshelf

Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter: Coming of the Dragon!
by Dennis O’Neil, Ric Estrada, Wallace Wood and various
DC Comics
ISBN-13 : 978-1779508102
$49.99 (discounted at Amazon)

This collection of mid-1970s comics is a rare treat for yours truly. Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter: Coming of the Dragon! collects the entire run of a comic book that I did NOT regularly read or buy back in my early days of comic collecting. I think I only had three or four of the stories reprinted here before the volume was released.

This is remarkable because the book is largely the work of one of my favorite comic book writers, Dennis O’Neil, who passed away last year shortly before the publication of this book was announced. The art assignment was passed around to many diverse hands before landing with the overlooked and underappreciated Cuban master of comics art, Ric Estrada. We’ll talk about the art in a moment.

The story itself is a wild adventure yarn, with one foot planted firmly in the early-1970s Kung-Fu craze and the other in the world of gritty pulp novel series like Mack Bolan and The Destroyer. Richard Dragon is a teenaged thief who is taken in, trained in martial arts and put on the right track by O-Sensei. Later Dragon and his dojo buddy, Ben Turner, join an international crime-fighting and anti-espionage agency. Most of this is new to me, and it’s a real kick.

Richard Dragon was not created to be a comic book character. He starred in a single paperback novel, credited to “Jim Dennis,” but actually written by O’Neil and comic strip artist Jim Berry. When the paperback novel didn’t elicit a second volume, O’Neil sold the character to DC Comics, who were looking for a new comic book title to compete with Marvel’s Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu and Iron Fist comics.

It lent an air of credibility to the comic to have it “adapted from the novel by Jim Dennis” in the early issues, although it was actually O’Neil adapting his own book.

The stories themselves are top-notch globe-trotting martial arts adventure, presented for a mid-1970s comic book reading audience. There is no explicit sex or language, but there’s plenty of martial arts action and espionage intrigue to keep the action fun and entertaining, and O’Neil was a master at character development and direction.

Once we get past the adaptation of the original novel, O’Neil introduces concepts and supporting characters who have gone on to become major players in DC’s comics, movies and television programs. Characters like Lady Shiva and Bronze Tiger began their lives as supporting cast members of Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter. Dragon himself became DC’s go-to martial arts sensei, turning up in titles like The Question, Birds of Prey, Batman and others.

The art for Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter was provided by a rotating crew before Estrada settled in. The first issue was drawn by Leo Durañona, an Argentine artist known primarily for his horror work for Warren Publishing at the time.

The art for the second issue seemed like it was farmed out to Marvel, featuring pencils by Alan Weiss and Jim Starlin (creator of Thanos) and inks by Al Migrom. All of those artists had previously worked on Marvel’s martial arts comics, and it was really unusual to see them turn up at DC in 1975. I’d love to know more about the art for this issue, but alas, once again DC has skimped on the background info for an otherwise great comics collection.

Issue three was drawn by the legendary Jack Kirby and inked by his then-regular inker, D. Bruce Berry. This was one of the stories assigned to Kirby while he was still contractually obligated to draw four books a month for DC, but was near the end of this contract before his return to Marvel.

It ranks as possibly the least-inspired work that Kirby ever turned in, and it’s a bit odd that DC is stressing his contribution to this book so much, especially since any Kirby fan probably already has this story reprinted in a Kirby Omnibus from a few years ago.

With issue four, Ric Estrada began his run on the book, and he pretty much made it his own. The first five stories that Estrada drew were inked by the legendary and overpowering Wallace Wood. Wood ranks among the greatest comic book artists in history, but by this point in his career he was reduced to taking random inking jobs just to pay the bills. Wood loved working over Estrada’s pencils because he could take Estrada’s strong layouts and smother the finished art under his inks without having to substantially re-draw anything.

The end result was pure Wally Wood eye candy, but his style was so overpowering that it almost didn’t matter who the penciller was. The end result still looked like Wally Wood. It was spectacular, but the original penciller’s style would be buried, no matter if it were Estrada, Steve Ditko, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez or Walt Simonson, it all had that Wood slickness to it.

That’s not a complaint, but it’s a trip to be able to compare Estrada’s Wood-inked work to the stories where he provided finished art, or was inked by Jack Abel. It can give you a real appreciation for Estrada’s natural style, and also Wood’s ability to make everybody’s art look like Wally Wood.

In addition to the original run of Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter, this book also includes an issue of Brave & Bold, where Dragon teams up with Batman, and a “Whatever Happened to Richard Dragon” short story from the 1980s. The whole book is written by Dennis O’Neil, except for two fill-in issues of the original series, plus the Batman team up and “Whatever Happened To” story.

Text features in Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter: Coming of the Dragon! are scant. All we get are three profile pages reprinted from Who’s Who in DC Comics, and a single page with four bios of some of the creators, which is a bit of an annoyance. With so many contributors to this book, it’s understandable that they would limit the bios to four, but the creators they picked to spotlight make a person want to scratch their head.

We get short biographies of Dennis O’Neil and Ric Estrada, which makes pefect sense, as they are the writer and pencil artist on the bulk of the book. But after that we get the longest of the four bios for Jack Kirby, who only drew one issue of the original title, and didn’t appear to have put that much effort into it. We also get a bio for Jack Abel, who inked three of Estrada’s issues, and was reportedly a really nice guy, but he has less work in this book that Wally Wood, who is one of the most respected comic book artists in history.

Wood doesn’t get a mention, nor does Dick Giordano, another legendary artist, who provided most of the covers for the original series.

It’s a shame that DC is churning out so many great collections of terrific and overlooked comic books from decades past, but isn’t providing any historical context. There are a lot of questions that could be answered about this material, like “Who approached whom about DC buying the rights to the original novel?” and “Why was there a guest editor in the middle of the run?”

It would be nice to have a little more background.

Still, Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter: Coming of the Dragon! is a damned fine collection of martial-arts adventures comics. It’s a time-capsule of the Kung Fu craze of the 1970s and it has some excellent storytelling. That DC is still mining this series for movies, TV and cartoons is a testament to its timeless qualities.

You should be able to order this from any bookseller by using the ISBN code, or simply grab it at a discount from Amazon.

ToyLanta happens this weekend, and although your PopCulteer is among the folks who can’t make the trek to Atlanta for the fun this year, I’m going to tell you how you can enjoy a taste of the festivities from the comfort of your own home. Fans from all over the country will be gathering to indulge in the fine art of toy nutzoidism, and they will be masked up and social distancing, but not everybody can make it there this year.

Last year the folks who put on ToyLanta organized  VirtualToyLanta, an online substitute for last year’s canceled toy show. That Facebook Group is still around, and folks are already posting cool stuff in it. I believe the plan is to post new stuff at least once an hour during the show, so us folks who are still pandemic-grounded can see what we’re missing. You can join the Facebook Group to see way more cool stuff from the best toy show in the world.

One of the highlights of ToyLanta/JoeLanta is always the dioramas and custom figure contest. This is where the toy collectors show off their creativity and make incredible custom action figues, accessories, vehicles and scenarios. This year there is some epic stuff in the works, including an epic seafaring adventure scene from Mike Gardner, and Troy Baker’s amazing Jonny Quest diorama.

In this post we’re bringing you some videos that focus on the dioramas from past years at JoeLanta and ToyLanta. Plus we’ll have links to some of the photo essays that I’ve posted over the years.

Above is the video of 2019’s ToyLanta dioramas. You can find photo essays covering last year’s dioramas and custom figures HERE, HERE and HERE.

Here we have the raw footage from the 2016 JoeLanta Diorama room…

That year we had photo essays for Mike Gardner’s epic diner and garage diorama as well as the custom figures.

Photos from 2016 can be found HERE.  A 2017 photo essay looks at Mike Gardner’s Avengers diorama from that year.

I did a Diorama video in 2015, and you can see it below and check out the accompanying photo essay HERE.

2014 was the year of MIke Gardner’s massive “Zombie Horde at Yellow Jacket Creek” Walking Dead diorama, and it got its own two-part photo essay HERE and HERE.

There are a few photos of the 2013 dioramas scattered in posts HERE and HERE. It was my first time, and I was a little overwhelmed by the experience.

Check PopCult Friday as I attempt to compile an index to every ToyLanta/JoeLanta post that I’ve had in this blog. It’s one way you can enjoy the show, even if you can’t be there.

Hey! It’s Spring Break on The AIR this week! You know what that means, right?

It means reruns.

Basically, I had some routine computer maintainance to do over the last couple of days, and it took much longer than expected, so I didn’t have time to make new radio shows for this week.

Sorry about that, but you get what you pay for.

The plan next week is to return with new episodes of Radio Free Charleston, The Swing Shift, Beatles Blast, MIRRORBALL and maybe Curtain Call. We are expecting the return of new episodes of our Haversham Recording Institute programs from the UK sometime in April.

But this week it’s all reruns, so you can tune in at The AIR website, or on the embedded player over in the right-hand column to relive our recent past.

And check PopCult for new stuff every day, as always.

Our art this week is a semi-abstract digital painting based on a few photographs I took several years ago while riding in Business Class on Amtrak during an overnight run to Chicago. The car was mostly deserted and I decided to play with textures and abstract shading, and then painted over it digitally using my impasto brushes. I wanted attempt to capture the feeling of barrelling through the country in the dark, while safely enclosed in a passenger car.

It’s been over a year since I got to take the train anywhere, so this is me missing it a bit.

If you want to see it bigger, just click on the image.

Meanwhile, Monday at 9 AM on The AIR, we bring you the six most recent episodes of The Swing Shift, The AIR’s weekly collection of the best Swing Music from the last century, curated and hosted by yours truly.  You can tune into a recent episode of  Prognosis at 3 PM.

Due to the lockdown in the UK, the Haversham Recording Institute programs will be in rerun mode for the next few weeks.  Luckily we have a pretty extensive library of high-quality repeats to share with you.

You can hear Prognosis on The AIR Monday at 3 PM, with replays Tuesday at 7 AM, Wednesday at 8 PM, Thursday at Noon, Saturday at 10 AM and Sunday at 2 PM.

You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on the embedded radio player at the top of the right-hand column of this blog.

Every year that I’ve attended JoeLanta, and later ToyLanta, I’ve produced a wrap-up video to try to capture the energy and excitement of the experience. My first show was in 2013, which was at the tail end of my 20-year period as a family caregiver, when I couldn’t really travel for anything that wasn’t health-related.

That first year was a revelation. In the space of about three hours I met over fifty people who had been online-only friends for the better part of two decades. The JoeLanta crowd welcomed me and Melanie (now Mrs. PopCulteer) into the JoeLanta family, and the annual trip to Atlanta has been a big part of our lives ever since.  I’ve made a wrap-up video every year since our first, although in 2016 I didn’t get it finished until November (that was a bit of rough year for your PopCulteer).

When the show transitioned to ToyLanta a few years back we enthusiastically embraced the expansion, since it all goes to benefit the Cody Lane Memorial Toy and Diorama Museum, a dream that we are all still working hard to realize.

This year  I will not be able to attend the show, which happens next weekend. However, to raise awareness, I’m re-posting my wrap-up videos to give you a tiny hint of the cool stuff you can see if you’re vaccinated and can make the trip. We plan to be there next year, and our wrap-up video will be posted right here in PopCult. Until then, we have our memories…

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This post is a bit of an encore, reposted largely from last year, when it was part of VirtualToyLanta. Over the years  Radio Free Charleston brought you tons of footage of Radio Cult and friends that we shot at ToyLanta, and before that, JoeLanta. ToyLanta is the big toy convention that will return next weekend. You can read about it HERE.

Radio Cult is Bambi Lynn and Ricky Zhero, with Jay Jay Slotin on drums, and they tear through the hits of the 1980s and beyond, plus they have some pretty impressive originals, too. In the clip above, you’ll hear them do “Highway to Hell” and “I Love Rock N Roll.” Every year Radio Cult puts on a special Saturday night concert for the core JoeLanta/ToyLanta attendees. I believe that’s still in the works for this year, but I don’t know if they’ll be having guest musicans join in.

Above you see an RFC MINI SHOW starring Radio Cult. Below you’ll see a later RFC MINI SHOW with Radio Cult and guests, David Lane, Mike Gardner and Alex Massey. Below that, we have The Possum Kingdom Ramblers, which is a bluegrass supergroup with Bambi and Ricky, teaming up with Timothy Price and Jas Ingram, under the direction of Buddy Finethy. The Ramblers are seen performing on the dealer’s floor of JoeLanta.

Further on you’ll find some of the full Radio Free Charleston shows that have one or two songs from the band, some with surprise guests.

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The PopCulteer
March 12, 2021

ToyLanta, the Great Toy Show of The South, will take place next weekend. You may remember that last year’s show was cancelled right at the beginning of the Coronavirus Outbreak, and that resulted in what was one of the most difficult PopCulteer columns that I’d ever written.

The folks at the Cody Lane Memorial Foundation and ToyLanta are going to try to mount a show at their new location this year. Some people think it’s a bit early to be doing this, but they intend to enforce mask and social distancing protocols, and there was a risk of losing the venue if they delayed the show again, so they are soldiering on. Every effort will be made to hold a safe and healthy event.

I won’t be able to attend. I’m still waiting for my vaccination. A lot of the regular guests and attendees are unable to be there this year, but the show will have a full vendor’s room and several guests, and if you’re within driving distance of Atlanta and vaccinated, it’ll be hard to pass up. This is still the best toy show in the country for a lot of action figure collectors.

There will be lots of live-streaming happening at the show, and we’ll have links and more details next week.

For more information on attending the show, visit the ToyLanta website and check out the images below.

It was fifty-two weeks ago that I had prepared a huge preview of last year’s show in advance. Two days before I was to publish that post the dominos started to fall and the country began to shut down. I found myself revising the post all day Thursday and Friday, and was in the odd position of knowing that some guests were going to cancel before they’d had a chance to tell the event organizers. That’s how sudden the shutdown hit us all.

I think everybody knew that the show was not going to happen by Thursday evening. Atlanta was an early hotspot, and at that point, nobody had any clue how long the shutdown was going to last and how high the death total from the pandemic was going to rise. It took the organizers the better part of Friday to make sure they could pull the plug without violating any contracts with vendors and the venue, so I had to keep updating the post while being careful not to report any cancellations before the organizers knew about them.

The cancellation of last year’s show was a huge downer and a pretty rough time, even though the organizers managed to present a Virtual ToyLanta event that took some of the sting out of missing the in-person festivities. This year we find the country in a much more optimistic and hopeful place, and I hope this show is a big success and a harbinger of good things to come.

Over the next few days I’ll be sharing some videos of ToyLanta memories, and I’ll have an index post to all of our PopCult coverage sometime next week.

It’s great that the ToyLanta crew is keeping the show alive, and all signs point to next year being a triumphant return for yours truly and Mrs. PopCulteer. Last year was the first year that I didn’t go since I was invited down by Buddy Finethy in 2013. We’re looking forward to 2022 and sending our best wishes that they have a great show next week.

And that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for our regular features and special ToyLanta memories.

Friday afternoon we offer up a new episode of MIRRORBALL and encore a recent Sydney’s Big Electric Cat. The AIR is PopCult’s sister radio shation. You can hear these shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player at the top right column of this blog.

At 2 PM, Mel Larch uncorks a new MIRRORBALL! The AIR’s showcase of classic Disco music presents a line-up of classic tracks from the golden era of excess and intense dance floor fever. Just check the playlist for this bodacious bit of boogeymania…

MIRRORBALL 020

The Commodores “Machine Gun”
Grace Jones “Do Or Die”
The Brothers Johnson “Stomp”
Gloria Gaynor “Never Can Say Goodbye”
Eddie Kendricks “Goin’ Up In Smoke”
Tavares “More Than A Woman”
Linda Lewis “It’s In His Kiss”
Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes “Satisfaction Guaranteed”
Jean Carn “Was That All It Was”
The Trammps “Trusting Heart”
Instant Funk “I Got My Mind Made Up”
Jocelyn Brown/Larry Levan “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”
Ottawan “D.I.S.C.O.”

You can now hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays Saturday at  8 PM, Sunday at 11 PM, Tuesday at 1 PM and Wednesday at 7 PM, exclusively on The AIR. We will run a special encore of this episode Friday at 10 PM.

At 3 PM, Sydney Fileen graces us with an encore of an episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat from last fall, which you can read about HERE (scroll down). This is a pure Joe Jackson New Wave era special, and we haven’t replayed it since December.

Sydney’s Big Electric Cat is produced at Haversham Recording Institute in London, and can be heard every Friday at 3 PM, with replays Saturday afternoon, Monday at 7 AM, Tuesday at 8 PM, Wednesday at Noon and Thursday at 10 AM, exclusively on The AIR.

You can also hear select episodes of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat as part of the overnight Haversham Recording Institute marathon that starts every Monday at 11 PM.

Look for a new PopCulteer Friday afternoon.

The PopCult Comix Bookshelf

Amor Y Cohetes: A Love and Rockets Book
by Gilbert Hernandez , Jaime Hernandez , Mario Hernandez
Fantagraphics
ISBN-13 : 978-1560979265
$19.99

This is a new edition of a Love and Rockets book that was originally published in 2008. One never-before-reprinted single-page comic strip has been added for this printing.

Amor y Cohetes is the seventh volume in the “Complete Love & Rockets” series of compact, affordable paperbacks. I recommend all volumes of this incredible work. They are some of the best comics ever made, period. Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez are masters of graphic storytelling, and Mario is no slouch, either. I’ve praised their work in this blog since before the first printing of this book, and they still produce some of the best comics in the world.

However, since this collects some of the lesser-known works from one of the most important and influential comics of the 1980s, we’re going to take advantage of the new printing and revisit these gems. Amor Y Cohetes: A Love and Rocket Book collects together in one convenient package all the non-Maggie and non-Palomar stories by all three Hernandez Brothers from that classic first, 50-issue Love & Rockets series—a dizzying array of styles and approaches that re-confirms these groundbreaking cartoonists’ place in the history of comics.

People sometimes forget that there is a third Hernandez brother, Mario, who though less prolific than his siblings, is still a powerful storyteller. Because he never launched a long-form series within Love and Rockets, like Gilbert’s Palomar tales or Jaime’s Mechanics universe, he sometimes gets the short shrift. This book of short stories by the trio shows how good all three brothers are.

The book leads off with Gilbert’s original 40-page sci-fi epic “BEM” from 1981’s very first issue of Love & Rockets, featuring a very different Luba and a much looser, cheesy sci-fi inspired way of storytelling. This was Gilbert trying to be commercial, before finding his own voice and his calling as a storyteller. It’s a wild artifact of his early talents. Eventually, over the first 50 issues of Love and Rockets, most of the science fiction elements evaporated, leaving us with amazing stories with real human interactions.

Fantagraphic’s PR blurb describes the rest of the contents of this volume:

Other stories include Jaime’s charming “Rocky and Fumble” series starring a planet-hopping girl and her robot; stunning one-shots such as Gilbert’s Frida Kahlo biography and his shocking autobiographical fantasia “My Love Book”; Mario’s genre thrillers which take place “Somewhere in California”; Gilbert’s brutally dystopian “Errata Stigmata”; the playful “Hernandez Satyricon,” with Gilbert drawing Jaime’s characters, and “War Paint,” with Jaime trying out Palomar; Gilbert’s light-hearted “Music for Monsters” starring Bang and Inez; and even a fantastical “non-continuity” Maggie and Hopey story “Easter Hunt” by Jaime that didn’t fit into the other books.

I don’t think I really need to sell experienced readers on Love and Rockets. If you’ve read their other works, you know how great they are. This is a good introductory volume for new fans because the shorter stories will allow them to become acclimated to the Hernandez’s classic storytelling style without being intimidated by tons of backstory.

You should be aware that, if you get hooked, you’ll have to buy the entire Complete Love and Rockets series and you will be a fan for life.

Forty years after I bought the first issue of Love and Rockets at a comic convention in Huntington, I’m still delighted by their new work.

You should be able to order Amor Y Cohetes: A Love and Rockets Book from any bookseller, using the ISBN code, or you can find it at extremely hip comic book shops.

BTW, the band stole their name from the comic book, not the other way around. It sucked because Los Bros wanted to call their own band “Love and Rockets.”

The PopCult Toybox

Yesterday the folks at HESS Trucks unveiled their second plush truck, aimed and collectors and very young kids. Like last year’s Firetruck, this cute, cuddly cement mixer lights up and plays songs.

My Plush Hess Truck: 2021 Cement Mixer is now on sale exclusively at HessToyTruck.com for $29.99 with free standard shipping and Energizer® batteries included.

With its friendly eyes and smiling front grille, the 2021 Plush Hess truck is sure to “cement” a child’s first love for Hess Toy Trucks. The soft green Cement Mixer is safe for all ages with features that include squeeze-activated flashing LED lights, two new sing-along songs, an auto shutoff night-light, silent mode, and an easy-grab mixing drum.

The 2021 commemorative license plate and accompanying personalizable keepsake driver’s license tag follow the Hess Toy Truck collectability tradition.

The Hess Toy Truck, offered exclusively online at HessToyTruck.com, remains among the bestselling toys annually and a highly sought-after collectible and treasured holiday tradition that has been shared among families for nearly 60 years.

Last year’s debut Plush Hess Toy Truck sold out and this year’s model, with its distinctive HESS color scheme, will probably sell out even quicker, so you’ll want to get one of these soon, if you want one.

Here’s what the website tells us:

The My Plush Hess Truck series, the perfect start to the youngest fan’s Hess Toy Truck collection, is back and better than ever! A new soft and cuddly plush toy truck is released each year, created with the youngest children in mind. It’s more than a truck – it’s a playtime pal and a comforting face at night. It’s a collectable connection to the past and a gift they’ll handle with love and never want to be without!

My Plush Hess Truck – 2021 Cement Mixer is designed with soft, durable, multi-textured Hess green fabric with white accents and is stuffed with soothing softness. A pair of warm, friendly eyes and a smiling grille reveal the playful personality of this new and lovable construction character. This huggable buddy will ‘cement’ your child’s love for the Plush line of Hess Trucks.

The Cement Mixer offers playtime features such as squeeze activated flashing LED lights and two delightful song favorites – “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and “The Alphabet Song” – that will have your little one happily singing along, and learning too! The mixing drum, side exhaust pipes, and wheels are easy to grasp by little hands, making toting around their new best friend a cinch. And when it’s time to rest those sleepy eyes, a squeeze of the roof lights activates the nightlight mode with an auto shut-off 15-minute timer.

Crafted with love by the expert team that brought you nearly 60 years of the best-selling and highest quality toy trucks and the sold out My First Hess Truck Plush, this newest addition to the Hess Toy Truck family is made in highly limited quantities! My Plush Hess Truck – 2021 Cement Mixer is sold exclusively here for $29.99 plus tax. Energizer® batteries and free standard shipping are included.

Features:
Safety approved for ALL AGES including
baby-safe packaging
child-safe padded internal battery enclosure
Soft and durable outer fabric
Squeeze activated lights and sounds:
2 Sing-along songs: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes & The Alphabet Song
Ten (10) LED Lights that work in flashing or steady modes
Night light steady light mode with 15-minute auto-shutoff timer
Mute feature keeps things silent for rest time
Easy grab mixing drum
2021 commemorative year license plate
Personalizeable keepsake detachable gift tag
3 Energizer® ‘AAA’ batteries included, pre-installed and activated- REMOVE for storage
Overall size: 9.25” long x 7” wide x 7” high

Check out this short video…