Merry Christmas from Tarzan!

Click to enlarge each image.

 

Have a Merry Tarzan Christmas!

Jack Kirby's Adaptation of THE BLACK HOLE (1979)

Following on from my last post, here is a look the second comic version of THE BLACK HOLE written by Carl Fallberg with fantastic art by the legendary Jack Kirby. This was published as a series of single page comic strips giving the story  an interesting, episodic structure. I think Kirby's version was first published in France and then later reprinted here in the states in 'Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales', but the dates I can find online seem to indicate that they might have been released almost at the same time. It seems odd to have two completely different comic adaptations and it may have been done to get the film's publicity out as fast as possible and in as many formats as could be covered. You could buy it off the comic book spinner rack or read it serialized in newspapers! 

As you would expect, the ending of the Kirby drawn version differs from the film but it is pretty similar to the Whitman comic - only better realized! Below are the last two strips and to read the entire series of 26 you can go to this fine webpage HERE. 

UFO (1970) - Art For Comics, Video Releases and Compilation Films

I'm taking a run through this Gerry Anderson series with an eye to finally seeing the entire thing. Now I wish I could lay my hands on the various comic strips and text stories that were produced as well! Time to hunt. 

Review - LUCKY, THE INSCRUTABLE (1967)

This is without a doubt one of my favorite Jess Franco movies. When I sit down for a Euro-Spy film I’m usually hoping for a serious espionage tale with a strong plot, great action, glamorous locations, beautiful ladies and a real sense of danger to the proceedings. But as I’ve watched more and more of the genre from its brief 1960s heyday, I’ve realized that what generally fuels these tales is a desire to not just play in James Bond’s sandbox but to kick the sand into the Bond franchise’s face. Even the most serious of the Euro-Spy films have at least a few moments in which they wink at the camera either in acknowledgement of the cinematic theft in progress or as a nod to what the audience might expect but that the smaller budget productions could simply not supply. If the film maintains a serious tone except for those few throwaway moments I can still fully enjoy the story and become caught up in the thrills. But if the film descends into silliness for the sake of cheap laughs I start to be distanced from the film and can only appreciate it at a much lower level. My general resistance to the overly humorous Spy thrillers is rarely overcome completely so when it IS overcome it’s a sign that (in my opinion) there is something really great being done by the filmmakers.

 

A good example of this is the brilliant relaunch of the French OSS:117 film series several years ago. Reimagined as a comedy thriller it managed to nail every target it aimed to hit while being both exciting and funny. But of the 1960s versions of spy comedies there are few that stand out as truly funny for me. I often wonder if they might have played better in their time as the Bond phenomenon swept the world than they do now. They almost had to, I guess. I suspect it’s similar to how the terrible/sad SCARY MOVIE franchise plays to big crowds on release but ages very poorly as the current events being mocked are left behind and forgotten.

But, back to LUCKY THE INSCRUTABLE! This film is great! Because I generally don’t like the overly humorous Euro-Spy movies I should not have enjoyed this at all but, against all odds, I did. Through some alchemy of filmmaking genius (yes- I said genius) Franco managed to make a funny, silly, witty, fast paced romp that, while never being credible in the least, is so damned amusing that I found myself being swept along. I swear I had a smile on my face for the whole film. I have no idea how well it would play in another language but the English dub is packed with quotable lines that more than once had me laughing out loud. 

Ray Danton is great as the smirking Secret Agent everyone knows (even when he’s in disguise) busy working his charms on ladies around the world as he attempts to track down counterfeit currency plates. The plot is, of course, just the thinnest of threads used to hang each gunfight, fistfight, romantic encounter, car chase or daring escape as we watch Danton and his co-stars have fun running through their various roles. Dante Posani plays a kind of sidekick accompanying our man Lucky on his adventure, Barbara Bold is present as a nice piece of tanned eye candy and the amazingly sexy Rosalba Neri shows up as a whip wielding Albanian General. Wow! Miss Neri’s character wasn’t needed in any way but I am SO glad she was present.

While the main target being skewered in this spoof/satire is clearly the Bond series Franco throws in a few other things too. Periodically there are still/posed shots with comic book-like word balloons commenting humorously on the action and when the film shifts location there is a full comic description (often in Italian so I’m not always sure what’s being communicated) to one side of the still moving image. It’s almost as if once things start moving, he didn’t want to slow down for anything. I suspect that if he had I would have focused on the silliness of the entire affair and had less fun. I also loved Franco’s two separate cameos – one as a man stabbed in the back who still somehow delivers his important message to Lucky and the second as a train hopping hobo who is found sleeping under a cow. You kind of have to see it to understand.

And did I mention the fantastic score by Bruno Nicolai? It’s a classic of the genre with a theme song I cannot get out of my head. I’ve known the music from this film for years from a Nicolai compilation CD but having the visuals finally linked to the sound is wonderful. Everything about this film says ‘We’re having a good time; we hope you are too’. 

Luckily, I found Lucky’s antics to be completely captivating and I can heartily recommend the film to the curious Euro-Trash enthusiast. I can honestly say that I laughed for almost the entire running time and I can’t say that about most comedies of any vintage. I really wish a good Blu-Ray of this film would get a release. The bootleg I watched is a passable way to see this gem but it deserves much more exposure.

Tarzan says Merry Christmas

Not a lot of snow in the jungle, but......

Comic Strip Monsters - Bizarro Frankenstein

John Carter of Mars Comic Strips

From 1941 to 1943 John Coleman Burroughs adapted his father's John Carter of Mars stories as a Sunday newspaper comic strip. You can see all of them at the ERBzine website as well as a number of excellent examples of other such strips. I recommend looking around there for some fun pulp reading as well as news about current comic adaptations and expansions of ERB's work.

Click on the images to enlarge. 

Video - Zero-X - Planet of Bones - Part 3

The birth of a whole new species! 

Here's the final part of this exciting Zero-X story in motion comic form. 

Is that genocide we're witnessing there at the end? 

Serial Time - TERRY AND THE PIRATES (1940)

At least once a year I dive into an old serial that I've never seen before. There's still quite a number out there that I haven’t watched and after stumbling across an illegal copy of the Columbia serial Terry and the Pirates (1940) in a stack of DVD-Rs, it got shifted to the top of the ‘watch’ pile.

This is an adaptation of the Milton Caniff comic strip of the same name. I don't know anything about the strip so I can't tell you if this is a serial that wraps itself around its subject matter effectively as an adaptation or whether it takes the basic idea or the characters of the source material and kind of shoves them into the serial format. I do know from the Wikipedia entry about this production that Mr. Caniff was not pleased. He is quoted from his autobiography as saying “ I saw the first chapter and walked out screaming.”

Regardless I'm three chapters in to Terry and the Pirates and so far, it's not too bad. It's not great but it's not an embarrassment and therefore it hits that sweet spot that I need classic cereals to land in. It also has the classic family structure that for me was cemented into place by the Jonny Quest cartoon series of the 1960s. You have the scientific father, the young son striving to be just as incredible as his dad and the macho badass pseudo father who is also the constant companion and protector of the young boy. If they had a dog you just might as well call it the Quest Family Adventures.

The most interesting thing so far is that the father character has proven to be a very action-oriented character. He has not been the kind of weak lamb scientist who has to be saved by the strong protector character or by the actions of his overly energetic son. Dr. Lee has often initiated fisticuffs and other types of violence when the villains have threatened him in some way. This is a nice switch from this type of character normally being a kind of male Damsel in Distress. But I have to say I was fairly annoyed by the serial until the third chapter because of the characterization of Terry. His incredibly irritating optimism and giant toothy smile served just to get on my nerves most of the time. That is until he became a take-charge ass-kicker in the third chapter and suddenly turned me around on him and the whole serial. Terry was involved in an extended fistfight that was a perfect example of the kind of sequence these short chapters were built to showcase. If he stays in this mode for the remainder of the run I'm going to turn into a major fan.

I think I also need to track down some of the comic strips see how they compare to this adventure on screen. Certainly, Milton Caniff deserves to have his creation evaluated from an example of his actual work.

Linus Van Pelt - Religious Fanatic

Seriously. He's about two steps away from 'Cult Leader'! 

It's Halloween time, folks!

I cannot tell you how much I identify with this comic strip. 

A Peanuts' Halloween

Because we all wait for the Great Pumpkin.