Monday, November 30, 2009
Narramore Years Part 23
Israel Dig Part 3
One of the things I learned while there is that while
these archeologists are careful scientists using techniques
of investigation perfected over the past century or more
—archeology is an inexact science. Much speculation,
guesswork and conjecture goes into the conclusions that
these individuals that these individuals come up with.
Often the archeologists disagree among themselves
concerning the meaning of the data. At our particular
site the younger scientists often disagreed with the
conclusions of the older archeologists. They also
disagreed on how the organization and operation of
the dig should be ran. Certainly there were egos in
conflict and the stuff of real human drama present
this summer at Tel Beth Shemesh. We often thing of
scientists as being completely objective and
dispassionate about their work. Such is not the case."
During the time at the dig I met many interesting people.
The dig volunteers were made up of many group. There were
independent diggers such as myself as well as undergraduate
and graduate students from Indiana University (Bloomington),
Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia) and Princeton Theological
Seminary (Princeton, New Jersey). I was able to get acquainted
with a number of them which enriched my time there. We did
take a weekend tour of the Negev desert I southern Israel
and visited the Ramon crater, the excavations at Avdat and
some very interest canyons similar to those in Utah or Arizona.
We visited the mud baths at Ein Gedi on the Dead Sea and the
fortress at Masada. After I left the dig I spent several days
in the old city of Jerusalem and walked around the city walls,
visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, walked down the
Via Dela Rosa, went to the Wailing Wall, the Stepping Stone
structure in the City of David, the Israel Museum and a Sunday
church service at the Garden Tomb.
Soon it was time to leave Israel and I fly back to Amsterdam
and then back to Los Angeles. Oddly I had picked out some sort
of flu bug that dogged me during my time in Israel and after
I got home. However, I wasn't going to allow this to slow me
down to much and I persisted (God gave me the strength) during
my time in Israel.
This was a wonderful one of a lifetime experience
that I'll never forget.
One of the things I learned while there is that while
these archeologists are careful scientists using techniques
of investigation perfected over the past century or more
—archeology is an inexact science. Much speculation,
guesswork and conjecture goes into the conclusions that
these individuals that these individuals come up with.
Often the archeologists disagree among themselves
concerning the meaning of the data. At our particular
site the younger scientists often disagreed with the
conclusions of the older archeologists. They also
disagreed on how the organization and operation of
the dig should be ran. Certainly there were egos in
conflict and the stuff of real human drama present
this summer at Tel Beth Shemesh. We often thing of
scientists as being completely objective and
dispassionate about their work. Such is not the case."
During the time at the dig I met many interesting people.
The dig volunteers were made up of many group. There were
independent diggers such as myself as well as undergraduate
and graduate students from Indiana University (Bloomington),
Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia) and Princeton Theological
Seminary (Princeton, New Jersey). I was able to get acquainted
with a number of them which enriched my time there. We did
take a weekend tour of the Negev desert I southern Israel
and visited the Ramon crater, the excavations at Avdat and
some very interest canyons similar to those in Utah or Arizona.
We visited the mud baths at Ein Gedi on the Dead Sea and the
fortress at Masada. After I left the dig I spent several days
in the old city of Jerusalem and walked around the city walls,
visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, walked down the
Via Dela Rosa, went to the Wailing Wall, the Stepping Stone
structure in the City of David, the Israel Museum and a Sunday
church service at the Garden Tomb.
Soon it was time to leave Israel and I fly back to Amsterdam
and then back to Los Angeles. Oddly I had picked out some sort
of flu bug that dogged me during my time in Israel and after
I got home. However, I wasn't going to allow this to slow me
down to much and I persisted (God gave me the strength) during
my time in Israel.
This was a wonderful one of a lifetime experience
that I'll never forget.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Narramore Years Part 22
Israel Dig Part 2
"The next day started with a 4:10 Am knock on the cabin door.
After dressing and having an early morning snack (saved from
the previous night), the volunteers boarded the bus (with
buckets and other dig paraphernalia)for a fifteen minute bus
ride to the dig site. When we arrived at Tel Beth Shemesh we
walked up a dirt road to a base camp where the tools were
kept in a large storage shed. This sled came complete with
its own Arab guard who slept on the roof! Then I was assigned
to a supervisor who had his own "square." Archeology in Israel
is accomplished by squares. Each site is divided up and excavated
by a series of 8 meter by 8 meter squares. Each square is
separated by a meter of earthen wall. The earth is removed very
carefully by towels or more vigorously by a special shovel that
looks like a hoe on steroids. The famous archaeologist "spade"
was nowhere in evidence at this dig. I don't think our archaeologists
believed in them.
The artifacts uncovered were pottery shards, animal bones (very few
pig bones were found indicating it was an Israelite city during
the Iron Age), stone cooking and grinding areas and architectural
structures such as large stone walls. In one of the adjacent
squares a large water cistern (underground water reservoir) had
been discovered. It was hot, sweaty and dirty work. While some
excavated dirt from the squares, others would place the dirt in
wheelbarrows and transport it to a dump site near the dig. Perhaps
the most exciting thing we found during the first week was a live
scorpion under the sand bags that ringed the top of our square.
The scorpion was quite different from the ones I encountered in
Colorado years ago. We captured it and took it far away from the
squares and released it unharmed.
We worked from about 5:30 AM to 8:30 AM and has a half hour
breakfast (bread, milk, cereal, apples, dark chocolate spread,
jam, hard boiled eggs, and the ever present tomatoes and cucumbers)
and then went back to the dig and worked until 12:30 PM. At that
time we returned our tools to the storage shed to be housed until
the next day. Then we boarded the bus and travel back to the
kibbutz. Most of the volunteers went to the major meal of the
day—lunch (which was already half over) and then back to the cabin
for a shower, rest, study or nap until "pottery washing' which
started at 3:30 PM. This lasted for about an hour or more and
was a time when the pottery shards from the dig were washed and
cleaned by the volunteers using hand scrubbers. After the washing
was completed, there came a time of "pottery reading" where the
site archaeologists, Shlomo Bunimovitz and Zvi Lederman, would go
through the sacks of pottery shards from the previous day and
evaluate them in terms of their age and over all quality. Pottery
is one of the ways the excavations in Israel are dated. The pottery
fragments we unearthed dated mostly from the 8th and 9th centuries BC.
This would place them sometime after the beginning of the Divided
Kingdom (after Solomon).
These shards were from the Iron Age II for the most part. The
Iron Age started about 1200 BC and lasted until 586 BC when the
Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar invaded and destroyed Judah.
Iron Age I is from 1200 BC to 1000 BC and Iron Age II is from
1000 BC to the late date. Beth Shemesh also has an earlier
Bronze Age history going back to 2200 BC or more but the work
i was involved in was Iron Age. Beth Shemesh was probably destroyed
during the time of the Assyrian invasion under Sennacherib in
701 BC and was never fully occupied as a city. The tel at bet Shemesh
has gone through two other extensive archaeological excavations,
one in 1911-13 and another in 1928-1933. The current excavations
under Bunimovitz and Lederman started in 1990 with dig seasons each
summer since then.
After the pottery washing came dinner around 6:30 PM where lectures
from 7:30 PM until about 9:00 PM. These lectures were given by
the site archaeologists and visiting archaeologists. These lectures
involved slides and helped get us better acquainted with the
overall history of the region. Perhaps the most memorable one
was of Ashkelon, a major Philistine city on the Mediterranean
coast of Israel.
"The next day started with a 4:10 Am knock on the cabin door.
After dressing and having an early morning snack (saved from
the previous night), the volunteers boarded the bus (with
buckets and other dig paraphernalia)for a fifteen minute bus
ride to the dig site. When we arrived at Tel Beth Shemesh we
walked up a dirt road to a base camp where the tools were
kept in a large storage shed. This sled came complete with
its own Arab guard who slept on the roof! Then I was assigned
to a supervisor who had his own "square." Archeology in Israel
is accomplished by squares. Each site is divided up and excavated
by a series of 8 meter by 8 meter squares. Each square is
separated by a meter of earthen wall. The earth is removed very
carefully by towels or more vigorously by a special shovel that
looks like a hoe on steroids. The famous archaeologist "spade"
was nowhere in evidence at this dig. I don't think our archaeologists
believed in them.
The artifacts uncovered were pottery shards, animal bones (very few
pig bones were found indicating it was an Israelite city during
the Iron Age), stone cooking and grinding areas and architectural
structures such as large stone walls. In one of the adjacent
squares a large water cistern (underground water reservoir) had
been discovered. It was hot, sweaty and dirty work. While some
excavated dirt from the squares, others would place the dirt in
wheelbarrows and transport it to a dump site near the dig. Perhaps
the most exciting thing we found during the first week was a live
scorpion under the sand bags that ringed the top of our square.
The scorpion was quite different from the ones I encountered in
Colorado years ago. We captured it and took it far away from the
squares and released it unharmed.
We worked from about 5:30 AM to 8:30 AM and has a half hour
breakfast (bread, milk, cereal, apples, dark chocolate spread,
jam, hard boiled eggs, and the ever present tomatoes and cucumbers)
and then went back to the dig and worked until 12:30 PM. At that
time we returned our tools to the storage shed to be housed until
the next day. Then we boarded the bus and travel back to the
kibbutz. Most of the volunteers went to the major meal of the
day—lunch (which was already half over) and then back to the cabin
for a shower, rest, study or nap until "pottery washing' which
started at 3:30 PM. This lasted for about an hour or more and
was a time when the pottery shards from the dig were washed and
cleaned by the volunteers using hand scrubbers. After the washing
was completed, there came a time of "pottery reading" where the
site archaeologists, Shlomo Bunimovitz and Zvi Lederman, would go
through the sacks of pottery shards from the previous day and
evaluate them in terms of their age and over all quality. Pottery
is one of the ways the excavations in Israel are dated. The pottery
fragments we unearthed dated mostly from the 8th and 9th centuries BC.
This would place them sometime after the beginning of the Divided
Kingdom (after Solomon).
These shards were from the Iron Age II for the most part. The
Iron Age started about 1200 BC and lasted until 586 BC when the
Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar invaded and destroyed Judah.
Iron Age I is from 1200 BC to 1000 BC and Iron Age II is from
1000 BC to the late date. Beth Shemesh also has an earlier
Bronze Age history going back to 2200 BC or more but the work
i was involved in was Iron Age. Beth Shemesh was probably destroyed
during the time of the Assyrian invasion under Sennacherib in
701 BC and was never fully occupied as a city. The tel at bet Shemesh
has gone through two other extensive archaeological excavations,
one in 1911-13 and another in 1928-1933. The current excavations
under Bunimovitz and Lederman started in 1990 with dig seasons each
summer since then.
After the pottery washing came dinner around 6:30 PM where lectures
from 7:30 PM until about 9:00 PM. These lectures were given by
the site archaeologists and visiting archaeologists. These lectures
involved slides and helped get us better acquainted with the
overall history of the region. Perhaps the most memorable one
was of Ashkelon, a major Philistine city on the Mediterranean
coast of Israel.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Narramore Years Part 21
Israel Dig Part 1
One of the areas of interest I've had over the years
was in archaeology—specifically in Biblical archaeology.
Perhaps this is related to my belief in the trustworthiness
of the the divine origin and transmission of the Old and
New Testament scriptures. The Bible makes lots of historical
claims or historical reports. The Bible speaks of places like
villages, cities and regions and individuals, people groups,
and nations that existed and left remains of their presence.
I have read and purchased books on the subject of Biblical
archaeology trying to see how this historical science has
been used to confirm the scriptures. I also came across a
popular magazine called the Biblical Archaeology Review
(BAR) that presents excavation data in a mostly layman
friendly manner. BAR is a often interesting and often
frustrating read as many of its contributors do not have
a high regard for the trustworthiness of scripture. Most
of them see some worth in the Old and New Testaments
as documents reporting on events that took place in
ancient times. However many deny well recorded Biblical
events such as the existence of the early patriarchs,
the Exodus, the Conquest of Canaan and other events.
It seems as if part of the problem has to do with
correlation of Biblical and non-Biblical chronologies.
Non-Biblical chronologies seem to be taken as the standard
to which the Biblical chronologies are judged and have to
adhere rather than the other way around. Other
chronology-related issues have to do with the physical
evidence left behind where it is or should be.
Through the influence of BAR I decided to take a trip
to Israel and go on an archaeological dig. This dig was
at Beth Shemesh about 15 miles or so west of Jerusalem.
I stayed in the Kibbutz Ha'rel near the dig site with a
number of other excavation workers. Here are some
excerpts from an account of the dig (in June 1997)
that I wrote shortly after my return from Israel.
One of the areas of interest I've had over the years
was in archaeology—specifically in Biblical archaeology.
Perhaps this is related to my belief in the trustworthiness
of the the divine origin and transmission of the Old and
New Testament scriptures. The Bible makes lots of historical
claims or historical reports. The Bible speaks of places like
villages, cities and regions and individuals, people groups,
and nations that existed and left remains of their presence.
I have read and purchased books on the subject of Biblical
archaeology trying to see how this historical science has
been used to confirm the scriptures. I also came across a
popular magazine called the Biblical Archaeology Review
(BAR) that presents excavation data in a mostly layman
friendly manner. BAR is a often interesting and often
frustrating read as many of its contributors do not have
a high regard for the trustworthiness of scripture. Most
of them see some worth in the Old and New Testaments
as documents reporting on events that took place in
ancient times. However many deny well recorded Biblical
events such as the existence of the early patriarchs,
the Exodus, the Conquest of Canaan and other events.
It seems as if part of the problem has to do with
correlation of Biblical and non-Biblical chronologies.
Non-Biblical chronologies seem to be taken as the standard
to which the Biblical chronologies are judged and have to
adhere rather than the other way around. Other
chronology-related issues have to do with the physical
evidence left behind where it is or should be.
Through the influence of BAR I decided to take a trip
to Israel and go on an archaeological dig. This dig was
at Beth Shemesh about 15 miles or so west of Jerusalem.
I stayed in the Kibbutz Ha'rel near the dig site with a
number of other excavation workers. Here are some
excerpts from an account of the dig (in June 1997)
that I wrote shortly after my return from Israel.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
2009 Tucson Comic Con Report
Photos: Top: Daniel Bradford of Blacklist Studios
Top (Right) Game player
Second Row: Boba Fett and more Star Wars characters.
Third Row: Sand Person from Star Wars. Also
Mike Oliveras (Tucson Convention organizer),
Don Ensign and Brent Hofstra
Bottom Left: Don Ensign at the CCAS table.
For the second year the CCAS had a table at the Tucson Comic Con on Saturday, November 7, 2009. The convention was held in a larger venue at the Hotel Arizona in downtown Tucson. Last year according to the Convention organizer there were between 300-400 and this year three were around 1500. There were many more vendors (and artist tables) than last year with at least 56 vendors participating in the dealer's room. We arrived shortly before the official opening time of 10 AM and stayed until around 6:30 PM. We had a table next to James Babcock who was presenting his Unbelievables. Have you ever wanted to become a custom made super hero? Well, James can do that for you.
I asked a friend (a non-comics man) from my local church to help me with the table this year. Brent Hofstra proved to be a very valuable co-worker on this outing. I spent time with him the day before showing him the tracts and other comics material we were making available at the table. Also since this was his first Comic Con I emphasized the unique aspects of Comic Cons and the various types of people who he would see there. Brent, who has ministry responsiblies, did very well adapting to the Con environment and saw the spiritual hunger of so many at the convention.
The convention had leggy girls on roller skates buzzing around the dealer's room telling visitors of upcoming community events. A tall young man dressed in black with a long lime colored tie walked the floor with wireless mic in hand. On the hour he would announce the winners of a door prize drawing with gifts provided by many of the vendors. A sizable crowd gathered around him whenever he announced the winners. A number of people came in costume. A local Arizona Star Wars group fielded Darth Vader, Empire Storm Troopers and there were a whole troop of Boba Fetts in various sizes and color schemes. Perhaps the best costume was that of a year and a half year old girl decked out in a Wonder Woman costume complete with mini cape.
Several vendors stood out. One was called Body & Blood. I talked with a man who was manning the table (not one of the creators) and he told me the premise behind the series. In an alternative reality after the Resurrection Jesus did not ascend into heaven but stayed on Earth to become the ultimate vampire. The visual images were disturbing (and disgusting). While I try to be as toleratant as possible I had to tell the man that this concept was blasphemous. He, not being on of the creative people, actually agreed with me.
Daniel Bradford of Blacklist Studios was there (I had previously meet him at the Phoenix Comic Con) and I had a chance to chat with him. He and Tom Hall, both Christians, have done various comics including King (an Elvis-look-alike zombie slayer). Bradford's work is highly professional and somewhat resembles Mike Mignola's work.
A lot of young people came up to the table. Some of the tween and teenage girls picked up one or more of the color tracks. We also had copies of Eric Jansen's Christ of Prophesy displayed prominently and many picked up copies of those. Some of the young girls would look at it and somewhat mocking smiles and giggles would come on their faces. Some would replace the comic while others took it. Perhaps for some gospel tracts are like forbidden fruit. We gave out many tracts including Homeless Harry, Vengeance is Mine, Lonely Lady, Betrayed, Paraman Vs. Terriflex and others.
One gentlemen came up to the table who sported a white tee shirt with the EC Comics logo emblazoned on it. He seems to be somewhat acquainted with Christian Comics and the conversation turned on a short discussion of Jack Chick. He apparently was a dealer as he needed to return to his table.
Another one was a group from the Arizona Paranormal Research Society that was filming the various vendors. I gave a mini interview (on camera) saying that we as Christians are supernaturalists. We may perceive unseen phenomena from as dfferent perspective than they do but we believe that the material world is not all there is.
As far as sales were concerned it seems as if Christians were by and large the people who who buy materials from the table. That probably makes sense within the niche market that makes up the comic Cons. Christian comics tend to be a niche within a niche. One lady came up and made a large purchase for gifts to family members. Another woman who was very concerned about her nephew (with behavior problems and whose faith was wavering) asked for material that might be of help to him. In all truth the material we have is of a a more general nature from entertainment with a message to tracks to various Bible adaptations. Her nephews needs probably are beyond the scope of what we were offering at the table.
After a full day Brent and I visited a local Buffet where we eat and talked about the happenings of the day. Overall a good experience and a great place for seed planting.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Narramore Years Part 20
Comics Researcher part 2
Captain Marvel, Jr.
In 1967 I became aware of a comics fanzine being published
in Washington State called Concussion. It was published for
around two years by Mike Robertson who lived in Maple Valley.
It was an article mimeo zine which meant it contained no
amatuer comic strips though it did have spot illos. The articles
ranged from commentary on currently published comic books,
to opinion pieces and to historical articles covering different aspects
of comic book characters. It was at least a second tier fanzine put
out by enthusiatic comic book fans.
It boasted articles by future pros like Mark Evanier (who was very
prolific as a fan writer and later as a pro) and some pro future artists
like Klaus Jansen. I started contributing to Concussion what came
to be a series of articles on an obscure 1940s magazine called
Dynamic Comics. The several issues that I obtained contained
characters like Dynamic Man, Dynamic Boy, Mr E, Lucky Coyne,
Dan Hastings and others. Under the series title of Glimpses of the
Golden Age I wrote brief accounts of these characters giving as much
analysis of the strips as I could (not having a complete run). While
these articles were better than a random single issue review they left
a lot of questions that only a more complete inspection of the series
would answer.
During this time I purchased via mail order for a number of 3/4 cover,
post-1945 issues of Captain Marvel, Jr. and Master Comics. The term
3/4 covers were issues that the retailer tore off the title cover logo of
unsold copies and sent the logos back to the distributor for credit.
These copies were meant to be discarded (not sold) but some of them
did survive over the years. My plan was to do a fairly comprehensive
article on Captain Marvel, Jr. I wanted to find out why the Fawcett
characters (especially the Marvel Family) were so popular in the 1940s.
On a visit to Portland, Oregon in 1963 (or 1964) visiting my brother
LeRoy we stopped by a secondhand book store and I purchased two
copies of Captain Marvel Adventures (circa 1946). The issues were in
good condition and I took them home and read them. I wasn't as
impressed as I should have been as I'd heard and read such wonderful
things about Captain Marvel. The artwork was cartoony and simplistic
and the stories were, well frankly, corny and cheesy. My first impressions
of the World's Mightiest Mortal wasn't a good one. These comics were
from another generation and they were from different from what Stan Lee,
Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Gardner Fox, John Broome, Gil Kane, Carmine
Infantino, Murphy Anderson, Russ Manning and others were doing
currently.
However the Fawcett Marvel Family comics held and maintained a
certain mystery and intrigue about them. Why were they so popular
in the 1940s that DC Comics forced Fawcett into a 12-year long court
battle over copyright infrigement. I decided to explore Captain Marvel's
official knockoff, the blue boy, Captain Marvel, Jr. When I received the
issues in the mail I probably read a few of them and thought I'd get
around to doing the article within a few weeks or months. However,
about that time Mike Robertson ceased publishing Concussion and I
did a lenghty study (sort of a swan song to my fanzine writing) on the
1950s Atlas Comics jungle heroine, Lorna which was published in
another zine called Comicology (1970).
At that time my life was taken up with college studies and after graduation
with working with Campus Crusade and eventually moving to Southern
California. The CMJ article got put on the back burner for many years.
Over the next several decades those issues of CMJ and Master Comics
traveled with me on my many moves in Southern California and eventually
to Texas. Finally in the fall of 2001 I pulled these issues out and started
writing summaries of each of the stories. I felt this would help me to become
familar with the character. I began writing the article in 2002 and mentioned
it off hand in an e-mail to PC Hamerlinck . PC is the editor of the Fawcett
Collectors of America section in the fanzine Alter Ego. Alter Ego was perhaps
the most well known super hero fanzine from the 1960s and was originated
by Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas. Thomas regained the ownership of the title
in the late 1990s and started publishing it again under the Two Morrows Imprint.
PC asked if he could publish the Captain Marvel Jr article after it was written.
The article centered on the post-war era of CMJ. Most articles about CMJ
center on his early Master Comics issues because they were drawn by the
outstanding draftsmen Mac Raboy.
The issues that I had were from 1946 and later so I decided to use this post
World War II period as a jumping off point to explore the Junior saga
in depth. I had enough stories in these issues to come to some general
conclusions about the character and what made him as popular as he was.
First he was a knock off of one of the most popular heroes of the Golden
Age of Comics. he was also a boy's hero that presented a character who
young readers (especially tween and young teen boys) could readily identify.
Also care was taken by the editor and writers to give a great variety of themes
and genre within the stories. There were human interest, fantasy, science fiction,
crime, horror, mad scientist, crime, super villain, war, and many other genres
were explored. While Captain Marvel Jr never attained the circulation heights
of the Big Red Cheese (Captain Marvel) he produced around 600 stories and
lasted until Fawcett ceased publishing their super hero books in 1953. Of any
of the fan writing that I'd done this was probably the best and most satisfying.
It was published in four parts in Alter Ego #19-22 (December 2002, January,
February, March 2003). Having this published in a resurrected Alter Ego was
like I had finally made it in fandom after 35 years.
Captain Marvel, Jr.
In 1967 I became aware of a comics fanzine being published
in Washington State called Concussion. It was published for
around two years by Mike Robertson who lived in Maple Valley.
It was an article mimeo zine which meant it contained no
amatuer comic strips though it did have spot illos. The articles
ranged from commentary on currently published comic books,
to opinion pieces and to historical articles covering different aspects
of comic book characters. It was at least a second tier fanzine put
out by enthusiatic comic book fans.
It boasted articles by future pros like Mark Evanier (who was very
prolific as a fan writer and later as a pro) and some pro future artists
like Klaus Jansen. I started contributing to Concussion what came
to be a series of articles on an obscure 1940s magazine called
Dynamic Comics. The several issues that I obtained contained
characters like Dynamic Man, Dynamic Boy, Mr E, Lucky Coyne,
Dan Hastings and others. Under the series title of Glimpses of the
Golden Age I wrote brief accounts of these characters giving as much
analysis of the strips as I could (not having a complete run). While
these articles were better than a random single issue review they left
a lot of questions that only a more complete inspection of the series
would answer.
During this time I purchased via mail order for a number of 3/4 cover,
post-1945 issues of Captain Marvel, Jr. and Master Comics. The term
3/4 covers were issues that the retailer tore off the title cover logo of
unsold copies and sent the logos back to the distributor for credit.
These copies were meant to be discarded (not sold) but some of them
did survive over the years. My plan was to do a fairly comprehensive
article on Captain Marvel, Jr. I wanted to find out why the Fawcett
characters (especially the Marvel Family) were so popular in the 1940s.
On a visit to Portland, Oregon in 1963 (or 1964) visiting my brother
LeRoy we stopped by a secondhand book store and I purchased two
copies of Captain Marvel Adventures (circa 1946). The issues were in
good condition and I took them home and read them. I wasn't as
impressed as I should have been as I'd heard and read such wonderful
things about Captain Marvel. The artwork was cartoony and simplistic
and the stories were, well frankly, corny and cheesy. My first impressions
of the World's Mightiest Mortal wasn't a good one. These comics were
from another generation and they were from different from what Stan Lee,
Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Gardner Fox, John Broome, Gil Kane, Carmine
Infantino, Murphy Anderson, Russ Manning and others were doing
currently.
However the Fawcett Marvel Family comics held and maintained a
certain mystery and intrigue about them. Why were they so popular
in the 1940s that DC Comics forced Fawcett into a 12-year long court
battle over copyright infrigement. I decided to explore Captain Marvel's
official knockoff, the blue boy, Captain Marvel, Jr. When I received the
issues in the mail I probably read a few of them and thought I'd get
around to doing the article within a few weeks or months. However,
about that time Mike Robertson ceased publishing Concussion and I
did a lenghty study (sort of a swan song to my fanzine writing) on the
1950s Atlas Comics jungle heroine, Lorna which was published in
another zine called Comicology (1970).
At that time my life was taken up with college studies and after graduation
with working with Campus Crusade and eventually moving to Southern
California. The CMJ article got put on the back burner for many years.
Over the next several decades those issues of CMJ and Master Comics
traveled with me on my many moves in Southern California and eventually
to Texas. Finally in the fall of 2001 I pulled these issues out and started
writing summaries of each of the stories. I felt this would help me to become
familar with the character. I began writing the article in 2002 and mentioned
it off hand in an e-mail to PC Hamerlinck . PC is the editor of the Fawcett
Collectors of America section in the fanzine Alter Ego. Alter Ego was perhaps
the most well known super hero fanzine from the 1960s and was originated
by Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas. Thomas regained the ownership of the title
in the late 1990s and started publishing it again under the Two Morrows Imprint.
PC asked if he could publish the Captain Marvel Jr article after it was written.
The article centered on the post-war era of CMJ. Most articles about CMJ
center on his early Master Comics issues because they were drawn by the
outstanding draftsmen Mac Raboy.
The issues that I had were from 1946 and later so I decided to use this post
World War II period as a jumping off point to explore the Junior saga
in depth. I had enough stories in these issues to come to some general
conclusions about the character and what made him as popular as he was.
First he was a knock off of one of the most popular heroes of the Golden
Age of Comics. he was also a boy's hero that presented a character who
young readers (especially tween and young teen boys) could readily identify.
Also care was taken by the editor and writers to give a great variety of themes
and genre within the stories. There were human interest, fantasy, science fiction,
crime, horror, mad scientist, crime, super villain, war, and many other genres
were explored. While Captain Marvel Jr never attained the circulation heights
of the Big Red Cheese (Captain Marvel) he produced around 600 stories and
lasted until Fawcett ceased publishing their super hero books in 1953. Of any
of the fan writing that I'd done this was probably the best and most satisfying.
It was published in four parts in Alter Ego #19-22 (December 2002, January,
February, March 2003). Having this published in a resurrected Alter Ego was
like I had finally made it in fandom after 35 years.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Narramore Years Part 19
Comics Researcher Part 1
There is part of me that enjoys systematizing data. Perhaps it is
like other people who like figuring out crossword puzzles or putting
together jigsaw puzzles or solving murder mysteries. One place where
that came into being was in my fascination with comic books. One of
the currents that found expression in the newly emerging comics
fandom in the early 1960s was a thirst for compiling data on the
old comic books and their creators. Jerry Bails, the father of
comics fandom, was an incurable data buff. He coined the term
"panelologist" for people with a bent toward gathering information
about the Golden Age comics in particular and all comics in general.
Besides the many lengthy articles and indices were compiled,
Bails himself indexed his favorite, All Star Comics and somewhat
later the super hero DC Comics from the 1940s. Others put together
indices on the MLJ comics and others companies. Toward the end of
the decade Bails published his Collector's Guide: The First Heroic Age
(a comprehensive Guide to the appearances of costumed heroes
in the 1940s). I contributed a small amount of data to this Collector's
Guide. Seeing my name in the acknowledgement section nestled
among many professional editors, artists, writers as well as prominent
fans and collectors was for a 21 year-old kid was a heady experience.
Howard Keltner's Index to Golden Age Comic Books came out in
the early 1970s as did the Who's Who of American Comic Books
edited by Bails and Hames Ware. About that time the first Comic
Book Price Guides started making their appearance. How could I
make a unique contribution to this facet of the comics hobby?
When I began reading the Green Lantern comic in the early 1960s
I noticed the writers (and editor) constructing a complete world
(actual a universe) centered around the exploits of the characters
appearing in this comic book. Green Lantern is a super hero who
uses a "power ring" (a super weapon) to accomplish all matter of
weird and wonderful things by sheer will power. He is basically
a cosmic police man. I began writing down the names of the
characters (major and minor) and which issues they appeared in.
I also included the places (cities, towns, countries, planets, etc)
where the adventures took place and included objects like weapons,
artworks and so forth. While this may have been an exercise in
trivia generation it was also an enjoyable past time. As the 1960s
progressed I had little time for this type of project (with college studies),
however I picked this up again in the late 1970s and did more of it.
I continued working on it off and on during the 1980s. I had followed
the Green Lantern comics and had pretty much of a complete run of
the issues to work from.
My early involvement with Alpha-Omega provided a place to
publish this information that I had been compiling over the years.
Sections of my first 10 or so contributions for Alpha-Omega
(1985-1986) contained parts of this index/glossary. I doubt that
many of the original contributors to Alpha-Omega really cared
that much about all this Green Lantern data but it was heartening
to actually see the material printed somewhere after spending a
couple of decades collecting it. For several years this information
sat in those obscure early Alpha-Omega issues. When the producing
Valiant Efforts the Green Lantern Index was put on the back burner
in the early 1990s. Once Valiant Efforts had ran its course I decided
to dust of the Green Lantern Index glossary and through more
research I updated the material and self-published it as
Emerald Light: An Index and Glossary to Green Lantern 1959-1994.
This came out in 1995 and I sold copies of it through Bud Plant's
(a comic book speciality seller) mail order catalog and also another
small distributor. I basically sold out my small print run.
This was a another very gratifying experience.
This is a project that had been gestating for around 30 years and
there was a real sense of accomplishment in seeing it to completion.
There is part of me that enjoys systematizing data. Perhaps it is
like other people who like figuring out crossword puzzles or putting
together jigsaw puzzles or solving murder mysteries. One place where
that came into being was in my fascination with comic books. One of
the currents that found expression in the newly emerging comics
fandom in the early 1960s was a thirst for compiling data on the
old comic books and their creators. Jerry Bails, the father of
comics fandom, was an incurable data buff. He coined the term
"panelologist" for people with a bent toward gathering information
about the Golden Age comics in particular and all comics in general.
Besides the many lengthy articles and indices were compiled,
Bails himself indexed his favorite, All Star Comics and somewhat
later the super hero DC Comics from the 1940s. Others put together
indices on the MLJ comics and others companies. Toward the end of
the decade Bails published his Collector's Guide: The First Heroic Age
(a comprehensive Guide to the appearances of costumed heroes
in the 1940s). I contributed a small amount of data to this Collector's
Guide. Seeing my name in the acknowledgement section nestled
among many professional editors, artists, writers as well as prominent
fans and collectors was for a 21 year-old kid was a heady experience.
Howard Keltner's Index to Golden Age Comic Books came out in
the early 1970s as did the Who's Who of American Comic Books
edited by Bails and Hames Ware. About that time the first Comic
Book Price Guides started making their appearance. How could I
make a unique contribution to this facet of the comics hobby?
When I began reading the Green Lantern comic in the early 1960s
I noticed the writers (and editor) constructing a complete world
(actual a universe) centered around the exploits of the characters
appearing in this comic book. Green Lantern is a super hero who
uses a "power ring" (a super weapon) to accomplish all matter of
weird and wonderful things by sheer will power. He is basically
a cosmic police man. I began writing down the names of the
characters (major and minor) and which issues they appeared in.
I also included the places (cities, towns, countries, planets, etc)
where the adventures took place and included objects like weapons,
artworks and so forth. While this may have been an exercise in
trivia generation it was also an enjoyable past time. As the 1960s
progressed I had little time for this type of project (with college studies),
however I picked this up again in the late 1970s and did more of it.
I continued working on it off and on during the 1980s. I had followed
the Green Lantern comics and had pretty much of a complete run of
the issues to work from.
My early involvement with Alpha-Omega provided a place to
publish this information that I had been compiling over the years.
Sections of my first 10 or so contributions for Alpha-Omega
(1985-1986) contained parts of this index/glossary. I doubt that
many of the original contributors to Alpha-Omega really cared
that much about all this Green Lantern data but it was heartening
to actually see the material printed somewhere after spending a
couple of decades collecting it. For several years this information
sat in those obscure early Alpha-Omega issues. When the producing
Valiant Efforts the Green Lantern Index was put on the back burner
in the early 1990s. Once Valiant Efforts had ran its course I decided
to dust of the Green Lantern Index glossary and through more
research I updated the material and self-published it as
Emerald Light: An Index and Glossary to Green Lantern 1959-1994.
This came out in 1995 and I sold copies of it through Bud Plant's
(a comic book speciality seller) mail order catalog and also another
small distributor. I basically sold out my small print run.
This was a another very gratifying experience.
This is a project that had been gestating for around 30 years and
there was a real sense of accomplishment in seeing it to completion.
