|
Post by Hoosier X on Jul 14, 2021 16:37:21 GMT -5
"Sigerson" was also the name of the title character in the 1975 movie The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother. Sigerson Holmes was portrayed by Gene Wilder, who also scripted and directed the film. Yeah, I almost brought that up; but stuck with the literary references, since the film series mostly departed from the stories. That film messed me up in Scholastic Bowl, as the question of Holmes' smarter brother came up and I gave the answer of Sigerson, based on the film, since I hadn't yet read the stories. Royally ticked me off when we lost points! That’s hilarious. But but but it’s the title of a movie.
|
|
|
Post by Prince Hal on Jul 14, 2021 19:19:58 GMT -5
"Sigerson" was also the name of the title character in the 1975 movie The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother. Sigerson Holmes was portrayed by Gene Wilder, who also scripted and directed the film. Yeah, I almost brought that up; but stuck with the literary references, since the film series mostly departed from the stories. That film messed me up in Scholastic Bowl, as the question of Holmes' smarter brother came up and I gave the answer of Sigerson, based on the film, since I hadn't yet read the stories. Royally ticked me off when we lost points! William S. Baring-Gould in "Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street: A Life of the World’s First Consulting Detective," his very entertaining 1962 "biography" of Holmes, was the one who first proposed that there must be a third Holmes sibling. Baring-Gould thought that of course there must have been an elder brother to Mycroft, because Mycroft did not live at the Holmes family's estate, meaning that the oldest brother must have inherited it and lived there. He dubbed the ret-conned brother "Sherrinford," which was somewhat of an inside joke/ primeval Easter egg, as that was one of the names Conan Doyle had thought of for Holmes before he settled on Sherlock.
|
|
|
Post by tarkintino on Jul 14, 2021 22:12:18 GMT -5
The Joker #1Creative Team: Denny O'Neil-story, Irv Novick-pencils, Dick Giordano-inks, Julie Schwartz-editor I've always loved Novick's Batman work; he's rarely credited for really being the artist (before Adams) to bring the visuals of the Batman world to the serious, adult look that would put a nail in the coffin of Moldoff's work. This issue's creative team was one of the all-time best for anything associated with Batman's end of DC.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Jul 16, 2021 23:12:32 GMT -5
The Joker #7Joker vs Lex Luthor! Creative Team: Elliot S! Maggin-story, Irv Novick-pencils, Frank McLaughlin-inks, Julie Schwartz-editor Any time Elliot Maggin is writing Lex Luthor, I am there! Synopsis: At a theater, showing a documentary about the world's most dangerous criminals, a disguised Lex Luthor observes footage of Joker hitting the camerman with a pie, laced with Joker venom which kills the man. Luthor notices that the maniacal laughter he hears is not just coming from the film and he follows a figure out of the theater and catches the Joker, himself..... The theater manager calls the cops, while Luthor and Joker leave together, with Joker telling jokes that Luthor doesn't get. They go to a burger joint and have lunch, when the fuzz turns up. luthor thrusts a watch, with Superman's face on it, and tells him to turn the nose to get out of trouble, while Luthor bolts out the back. Joker follows instructions and some kind of force field envelops him and protects him from being touched or shot. Luthor uses a hologram distraction to escape and heads for his secret penthouse HQ. On the way out, Luthor gives Joker a hand up, as he flies overhead, with jet propulsion he devised from old soda bottles, paint chips and various chemicals in the restaurant kitchen, creating a liquid fuel rocket. he drops Joker on a rooftop and then runs off down the stairs, to escape. Joker thinks Luthor would be alright if he'd get a sense of humor and decides to get him to laugh, since he owes him one. Luthor is in his camouflaged penthouse, overseeing his latest operation, as he uses a device to suck out Green Lantern's will power, from wherever he is, in Coastal City. Joker had followed him and climbs up the side of the building, with suction cups, and is able to spy on him and listens in. He crashes through a window and grabs a helmet, altering Luthor's machine.... The end result is they have swapped personality's and a maniacal Luthor jets off, leaving behind a genius Joker, who is going sane with understanding of the world. Joker climbs back down the building and forces a cab driver to take him to a warehouse, where he picks up his Jokermobile and heads for the Ha-Hacienda. His troops are soon to arrive and he has to fake madness, so he adds more lipstick to appear crazier, then plays up loopy behavior to the goons, who think he was acting a bit strange, even for the Joker! Luthor goes out and commits random crimes for the sheer fun of it, dropping stollen money on the streets and destroying priceless diamonds, for kicks. Joker uses his genius to build a tracker and locates Luthor, on top of the Chrysler Building (or the Metropolis equivalent, assuming Lex's penthouse HQ is in Metropolis, as in Superman comics). He rides the elevator up and surprises Luthor, relieving him of his weapon belts. He offers a proposition, but Luthor shoves him away without listening and takes flight. joker downs some pills from the belt he pulled off of Luthor and gains temporary super strong legs and leaps out, catching Luthor's ankle. He bulls off his boot, with its jet and is able to operate it via the switch inside the boot (usually operated by a toe) and lands on a building. Luthor follows to get his boot back and Joker tackles him and they struggle. Luthor likes his insanity and Joker must slip some headphones on Luthor to swap personalities back. Joker activates the device and it knocks both of them out, with the feedback... A bright flash draws out a beat cop, who becomes a hero, by collaring both the Joker and Lex Luthor, unconscious in the alleyway. The pair wake up, with their old personalities, in prison and Arkham. Thoughts: Well, Maggin only got to demonstrate his Luthor a little,; but, the premise of swapping genius for insanity is pretty good. Joker gains the genius to create gadgets to do what he needs, but also gains a perspective he long left behind. Luthor finds a path to happiness, in enjoying the sheer chaos, rather than wallowing in hate for Superman. At the end, he is on the verge of an epiphany that only the Joker's insanity could let him see, but Joker's interruption with the mobile mindswapper puts an end to the insight. Joker saw the world more clearly, understanding the genius of Einstein and Mozart. Elliot Maggin wrote the best Luthor, ever, for my money. His Luthor used his genius for crime and other endeavors, operating a vast organization from a camouflaged penthouse, in Metropolis. he slept in an old sarcophagus, lined with Snoopy sheets, with pads of paper and pens upon which he would sketch off ideas for advanced machinery and vehicles, concoct cures for diseases, rewrite the knowledge of physics, or create masterpieces of music. He adopted secret identities to fund his endeavors and hide his inventions, such as an eccentric art collector, whose collection is put on public display, allowing Luthor to hide an advanced starship as a modern art installation. He takes on a cover identity of a globetrotting doctor, who shows up in epidemics and develops vaccines and treatments for the victims, then disappears. He wasn't pure evil or evil for evil's sake, or even jealous. he secretly hid the knowledge that Superboy, in extinguishing the fire that destroyed Luthor's hair, actually killed a protoplasmic lifeform that Luthor had created. Luthor hated him for killing his "child;" but, would never give Superman the satisfaction for revealing his true grudge against him, because, deep down inside, he knows that Superman would try to atone and he would have to forgive him. The hatred drives him. In Maggin's novels, Last Son of Krypton and Miracle Monday, released as merchandising for Superman The Movie and superman II, Luthor tries to pull off schemes, that bring Superman into his sphere again and finds himself having to aid his enemy. over the course of the stories, Maggin gives us glimpses into their shared adolescence, as young Lex's genius makes him an outsider, really only accepted for himself (and understood) by Clark Kent. They end up as lab partners and Lex uses Clark as a bit of a stooge, but he secretly yearns for what Clark has, loving parents who let him be who he is. Lex's teachers are intimidated by his brilliance and his drive to create things pushes beyond ethical boundaries, leading to petty crimes, in support of something greater, leading to brushes with the law. Through it all, Clark is true to Lex, even if Lex thinks he is a drip. As adults, Superman keeps making appeals to Luthor, to use his gifts to help people, not knowing that Luthor actually does, via his alternate personas. Lex idolizes Einstein and the first novel has him stealing papers Einstein left locked in a vault, at Princeton, only to find they are ins some kind of code. They are stolen by an alien and he has to aid Superman, to get them back, in exchange for a full pardon. He actually saves Superman's life, but he finds a way to commit a crime not covered by the pardon, to continue their dance, sabotaging his own freedom. Luthor needs this feud to drive his intellect. In Miracle Monday, an escape plan of Luthor's allows him to cross through dimensional barriers, releasing a demon, though Lex made sure it had no power over him. However, he ends up helping Superman find the way to beat the demon and gain freedom from its realm, for all mankind, for eternity. That day ends up becoming a global celebration, annually, into the future. Maggin's Lex can take ordinary objects and create weapons, synthesize vaccines, create new communication devices or just pull pranks. In prison, he knows he can use the glue in his legal pads and the ink from his pen to synthesize a solution that would eat through the bars; but, knew if he used it and was caught, they'd never let him have his pads to write his ideas. Maggin's Lex was Da Vinci, Tesla, Einstein, Mozart, Turing and many other geniuses, rolled into a very complex ball. Sadly, no one else could write him that way, until Grant Morrison borrowed that depiction for All-Star Superman.
|
|
Josh
Full Member
Posts: 111
|
Post by Josh on Jul 17, 2021 12:26:05 GMT -5
Decided to break out the Bronze Age Joker omnibus and finally read this series, and while I’ve only read the first two issues and the Sherlock issue, I must say it’s far more enjoyable than I would’ve expected. I feel like I could read this Joker forever. It’s so much more enjoyable than evil Joker.
I also want to say, Hoosier X, that the Scarecrow issue being the first Scarecrow story you read is kinda blowing my mind. I guess that I just always assumed you had always been really into the Bat-books, given the Bat-splainin’ thread and your excellent Catwoman avatar.
Edit: Forgot to mention, I’m also surprised this is O’Neil. I’ve always associated him with more “serious” work, but he seems have a really good grasp on this lighter series.
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Jul 17, 2021 12:41:09 GMT -5
I also want to say, Hoosier X, that the Scarecrow issue being the first Scarecrow story you read is kinda blowing my mind. I guess that I just always assumed you had always been really into the Bat-books, given the Bat-splainin’ thread and your excellent Catwoman avatar. I started reading super hero comics in the mid seventies when I was eleven. And it took me a while to read more than the occasional DC comic. The last three issues of the Joker was the first time I got three consecutive issues of a DC comic.
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Jul 17, 2021 12:41:53 GMT -5
HOW OLD DO YOU FOLKS THINK I AM
|
|
Josh
Full Member
Posts: 111
|
Post by Josh on Jul 17, 2021 12:53:11 GMT -5
I guess I worded that oddly. I didn’t mean to imply anything about your age. I just found it interesting that you hadn’t read a Scarecrow story before this series, which I thought was mid-80s, not mid-70s.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Jul 17, 2021 13:14:11 GMT -5
HOW OLD DO YOU FOLKS THINK I AM Older than dirt, slightly less than water. Hell, I remember when I read my first comic, The Great Mastadon Hunt, by Oog and Ragrkarg. You had to really be invested in the story to turn those stone tablets over!
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Jul 17, 2021 13:44:37 GMT -5
I guess I worded that oddly. I didn’t mean to imply anything about your age. I just found it interesting that you hadn’t read a Scarecrow story before this series, which I thought was mid-80s, not mid-70s. LOL. No worries. The Scarecrow's first appearance was reprinted in one of those oversized Limited Collector's Editions in the mid-1970s. I read it at a friend's house so it wasn't new. I might have read that first.
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Jul 17, 2021 13:49:29 GMT -5
HOW OLD DO YOU FOLKS THINK I AM Older than dirt, slightly less than water. Hell, I remember when I read my first comic, The Great Mastadon Hunt, by Oog and Ragrkarg. You had to really be invested in the story to turn those stone tablets over! My favorite arc was the one where they raided the devil's fossil factory. The one where they infiltrated Vandal Savage's army during the war with King Kull and the Beast Men was also good.
|
|
|
Post by Calidore on Jul 17, 2021 22:32:58 GMT -5
HOW OLD DO YOU FOLKS THINK I AM Older than dirt, slightly less than water. Hell, I remember when I read my first comic, The Great Mastadon Hunt, by Oog and Ragrkarg. You had to really be invested in the story to turn those stone tablets over! The Sunday comic section back then was worse--you had to have friends come over to help flip those pages.
|
|
|
Post by EdoBosnar on Jul 18, 2021 7:28:39 GMT -5
Man, you guys are old. I started reading comics in the Bronze Age (right at the height of the Urnfield explosion - good times, until the damn Hallstatt implosion). Don't have any of my original collection, though - those pots they were printed on really took up space, and they ended up in the communal waste pit...
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Jul 18, 2021 20:38:09 GMT -5
Man, you guys are old. I started reading comics in the Bronze Age (right at the height of the Urnfield explosion - good times, until the damn Hallstatt implosion). Don't have any of my original collection, though - those pots they were printed on really took up space, and they ended up in the communal waste pit... Not to mention the Spartan witch hunts destroyed the industry.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Jul 20, 2021 23:55:06 GMT -5
The Joker #8The Joker vs The Scarecrow Probably fighting over Scarecrow being in the Legion of Doom and not The Joker (as originally intended). Creative Team: Elliot S! Maggin-writer, Irv Novick-pencils, Tex Blaisdell-inks, Julie Schwartz-editor Man, why wasn't Maggin writing last issue? Oh well, better late than never! Synopsis: Joker and his hoods are tooling around in his Ho-Home on Wheels (a Winnebago), when the vehicle starts swerving around and the Scarecrow appears and scares the lemonade out of Southpaw and Tooth... The Scarecrow is actually the joker, in disguise, having some fun, which he intends to employ elsewhere. So, do you think the Joker would meet up with Billy Batson and Mentor, at an RV park? Anyway.....At STAR Labs, they get an alert that the Scarecrow has broken out of jail and they are a likely target, since they are working on a fear gas of their own (MUST be a military project). Sure enough, the guards go down, laughing and then the Scarecrow breaks into one of the main labs and demands the chemical, while everyone shivers and wets themselves. The Joker takes off his mask and leaves a Joker playing card and dives out a window, to a catch-net below. The researchers realize he psyched them out with their own expectations of the Scarecrow. The cops turn up to take statements and suddenly feel funny, as a bird seems to be peppering the area with droppings of some sort other than the usual kind. The cop and the researcher are then confronted by the Scarecrow, in his own mini-helicopter (What, does everyone have one of these? Batman have a garage sale?). He then tries to scare the location of the fear gas out of them, only to learn the Joker already hit the place. Scarecrow gets the details and if a cloth sack could frown, his would. Scarecrow later meets up with one of Joker's ex-henchmen and pays him for info about the location of the Ha-Hacienda. he needs the dough, but he doesn't want to end up dead because he ratted out the Joker. Scarecrow reneges on the cash and sprays him with fear gas. he gives up the location, in a whisper, then keels over laughing. At the Ha-Hacienda, Joker hears a radio report about Sonny November's (the goon) death and tells the other two that's what happens when you squeal, since he imposed a post-hypnotic suggestion to die laughing, if you mention the location of the Joker. He figures it was the Scarecrow and paints a message, before they leave the joint. Meanwhile, Jonathan Crane is at a local university, where he uses a fear inducer to scare people away, while he uses the lab. Back at the ranch...er hacienda, the joker and the boys leave, in a delivery truck, before Scarecrow turns up and finds the message to meet joker in the zoo. Joker and the boys barrel through a gate, at the zoo. Joker has his goons work on stealing a hyena, when a cop turns up to cite them for driving on a sidewalk and 17 other moving violations (expired plates, operating a motor vehicle with intent to commit a pun, failure to yield to rhinos, ect, etc....) They show the cop something and open the doors of the truck, and the Jokermobile roars out... Joker releases moths, coated with the fear chemical and everyone panics. He takes down the cops and the goons continue cutting into the hyena cage. it turns out that the Joker doesn't want the animal, just the mural on the ceiling of the cage, showing the hyenas on the savannahs of Africa. then, Scarecrow turns up in is Crow-Copter (or whatever he calls it) and it's on! Scarecrow vows to kill Joker for killing his raven, but the bird is okay, just covered in cake and icing. The Scarecrow tries his fear gas, but Joker has nose filters. He tries the spray he used on Sonny November, but Joker hits him with freeze juice, which ices up the atomizer. Scarecrow retaliates by sicking his raven, Nightmare, on the Joker and the bird clamps his beak on Joker's nose, dislodging his nose filters. While Joker makes jokes about Poe, Scarecrow follows up by using the acid he whipped together, at the university lab, to eat through the fear chemical canister on Joker's back, releasing the gas. Joker gets a snoot-full; but, the effect is a little different... The Joker substituted his laughing gas, which takes down the Scarecrow and he swipes his mini-helo and escapes, for the police to find and arrest the stricken Scarecrow. He then sneaks back into his secret mini-Ha-Hacienda, underneath Arkham, and back into his cell, for the guards to find, while he laughs at the joke he pulled on them! Thoughts: This was great! Maggin has a great handle on both Joker's lunacy and Scarecrow's own madness, with his fear obsession and research. He also concocts a pretty good caper, as Joker frames Scarecrow to entice him to come match hysteria with the hysterical! He sets up clues as to what is about to happen, then pays them off later, which is a trait lost on too many modern writers (such as Joker looking at moths in the Ha-Hacienda, like he collects them). There is a bit of artistic confusion, at the zoo, as it isn't exactly clear that there is a mural on the roof of the hyena cage, based on the way Irv drew it. It looks like the hyena is hovering above the cage! I think modern coloring could have helped the effect, or use of zip-a-tones or other graphic effects to better suggest the metal (or whatever material) roof of the cage. Joker's mini-Ha-Hacienda was shown in the previous issue, when the Joker removes padding from his cell and presses a button, which opens a hidden door into the room, so that he can watch Johnny Nevada's (think of a city in Nevada) late night talk show.
|
|