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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2014 20:59:46 GMT -5
Anyone else a fan of this series from the 50's? I thought it was goofy at first but my Dad told me to re read it again - this time picturing myself as a kid in 50's America (anti-communist during the Cold War with Russia). Then I loved the satire of the series.
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Post by coinilius on Aug 29, 2014 6:25:54 GMT -5
I went on a Fighting American binge recently and bought the Awesome versions and the original - still need to pick up the DC series from the 80's (?) - the original was an interesting series, though the satire seemed hit and miss to me - I think it would have been hilarious if the issue with the satanist demons in the mountains had been red-blooded Americans who hated Commies as well but that wasn't what happened (and probably couldn't have been a viable twist at the time it was written)
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Post by mikelmidnight on Apr 24, 2016 14:24:17 GMT -5
The character never rang true to me, and the humor always seemed to be a miss. I didn't understand the origin at all (the character never really seemed like an amalgam of two different people, so why bother with that convolution?).
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Post by coinilius on Apr 24, 2016 18:29:50 GMT -5
Truth be told, when I read through all the Fighting American material I found the first Rob Liefield-era mini series (and the 'Christmas' short story) to be the most entertaining of the lot, even more so than the Simon and Kirby material, which was always kind of flat. A big part of that, though, was probably because it was a look into what might have been, had Rob not left half-way through his Heroes Reborn Captain America run.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2016 20:57:34 GMT -5
I went on a Fighting American binge recently and bought the Awesome versions and the original - still need to pick up the DC series from the 80's (?) - the original was an interesting series, though the satire seemed hit and miss to me - I think it would have been hilarious if the issue with the satanist demons in the mountains had been red-blooded Americans who hated Commies as well but that wasn't what happened (and probably couldn't have been a viable twist at the time it was written) The DC series was forgettable.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Apr 24, 2016 23:45:32 GMT -5
Huh. I should read this. I (at least) like all the other S & K work from the '50s, and Boy's Ranch is flat-out one of my favorite comics.
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Post by coinilius on Apr 27, 2016 21:14:33 GMT -5
Huh. I should read this. I (at least) like all the other S & K work from the '50s, and Boy's Ranch is flat-out one of my favorite comics. I think it's still worth a read if you enjoy the Simon and Kirby work of the 50's - it's just a lesser work, IMO
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Post by Cei-U! on Apr 28, 2016 8:15:47 GMT -5
I was astonished (and more than a little appalled) to find that one of the Simon and Kirby Fighting American stories was pure plagiarism: not only was it a panel-by-panel remake of one of Jack Burnley's Starman stories from the '40s (with much of the same dialogue) but even some of the figures were obviously traced/lightboxed. A second episode in that issue (can't recall which one at this late date, sorry) ripped off the Manhunter story from the same issue of Adventure Comics as the Starman story but at least in that case the boys were stealing from themselves. To this day, I can't imagine what Jack and Joe were thinking. It also makes me wonder how many FA stories borrowed (to put it kindly) from comics I didn't recognize.
Cei-U! I summon the enigma!
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Post by Farrar on Apr 28, 2016 8:34:52 GMT -5
Yeah, I remember reading about that some years ago. Here are links to a couple of Kirbymusem.org columns, by Harry Mendryk, on the subject: Starman: kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/archives/2975Manhunter: kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/archives/1904Excerpt from the second link: "The art for “Deadly Doolittle” is generally attributed to Jack Kirby, and with good reason since many Kirby mannerisms can be found in the story. However as I have previously pointed out (Art of Joe Simon, Chapter 11) this story is actually a rewrite of a Manhunter story (Adventure Comics #75, June 1942, “Beware Of Mr. Meek”). In “The Comic Book Makers” Joe Simon describes how he and Jack got into hot water with Prize Comics for using re-scripted old romance art. While I have never been able to trace down the specific romance work in question (not that surprising considering the thousands of romance pages that Simon and Kirby produced) this recycling of an old Manhunter story occurred about the same time and was a similar cost saving measure..."
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2017 19:21:57 GMT -5
New series by Godon Rennie and Duke Mighten. From Titan Comics.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 20, 2017 20:45:00 GMT -5
Love the original and there is some very funny stuff in there, once they get in a groove. The first stories were completely serious and feel generic. Once they took it into parody and started to really stretch it, it gets very good. Humor is subjective, so your mileage may vary.
The 80s series is okay but is more satire as criticism, rather than satire as biting humor. It was rather ham-fisted in its attacks on consumer culture, government and modern politics. There was much better stuff out there, in the same vein. I think the characters could have been used quite well, during the Reagan years, in the right hands. Given Eclipse's political viewpoint, I'm surprised they didn't try to license it (or maybe they did and Simon said "no").
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Post by Batflunkie on Apr 20, 2017 21:04:03 GMT -5
Love the original and there is some very funny stuff in there, once they get in a groove. The first stories were completely serious and feel generic. Once they took it into parody and started to really stretch it, it gets very good. Humor is subjective, so your mileage may vary. The 80s series is okay but is more satire as criticism, rather than satire as biting humor. It was rather ham-fisted in its attacks on consumer culture, government and modern politics. There was much better stuff out there, in the same vein. I think the characters could have been used quite well, during the Reagan years, in the right hands. Given Eclipse's political viewpoint, I'm surprised they didn't try to license it (or maybe they did and Simon said "no"). One of my favorite titles is Barry Blair's Gun Fury, imagine the kitschy hijinks of Adam West Batman mixed with all the violence and mayhem of 80's B&W independent comics While half of the book is Blair and the rest of the crew at Aircel/Malibu giving Claremont crap for being an intolerable egomaniac (their words, not mine), it's still one hell of a ride
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 20, 2017 21:46:29 GMT -5
Love the original and there is some very funny stuff in there, once they get in a groove. The first stories were completely serious and feel generic. Once they took it into parody and started to really stretch it, it gets very good. Humor is subjective, so your mileage may vary. The 80s series is okay but is more satire as criticism, rather than satire as biting humor. It was rather ham-fisted in its attacks on consumer culture, government and modern politics. There was much better stuff out there, in the same vein. I think the characters could have been used quite well, during the Reagan years, in the right hands. Given Eclipse's political viewpoint, I'm surprised they didn't try to license it (or maybe they did and Simon said "no"). One of my favorite titles is Barry Blair's Gun Fury, imagine the kitschy hijinks of Adam West Batman mixed with all the violence and mayhem of 80's B&W independent comics While half of the book is Blair and the rest of the crew at Aircel/Malibu giving Claremont crap for being an intolerable egomaniac (their words, not mine), it's still one hell of a ride Just don't mention the title around anyone from The Comics Journal. Whoa, boy, they didn't like that one, at all!
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Post by coinilius on Apr 20, 2017 23:13:34 GMT -5
I didn't realise there was a new Fighting American coming out - thanks for the heads up, I'll have to look into it.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2017 8:40:39 GMT -5
I didn't realise there was a new Fighting American coming out - thanks for the heads up, I'll have to look into it. Ironically Titan is a British publisher! I believe the creative team did some work on Judge Dredd. No announcement on the release date.
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