Saturday, July 22, 2017
JEFFREY MORGAN’S MEDIA BLACKOUT #584 JEFFREY MORGAN’S
MEDIA BLACKOUT #584.217! Dennis O’Neil & Curt Swan – DC Comics Classic
Library: Superman — Kryptonite Nevermore (DC Comics) :: In 1971, definitive Supes artist Swan and definitive
Green Lantern writer O’Neil teamed up to clean up a cluttered iconography by finally putting the kibosh on
a multicolored crutch called Kryptonite. It’s an exciting read that features Clark Kent during his TV reporter phase—a
gig he definitely didn’t dig, which only goes to show that even Superman once had a day job that really sucked. FemBots
– Calling Out (Weewerk) :: If Trent Reznor has formed the Velvet Underground, their first unbalanced album
would’ve sounded just like this. Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Jack Davis, Al Jaffee, and Arnold
Roth – Humbug (Fantagraphics Books) :: After they definitively defined satire for Bill Gaines’
MAD but before they refined it for Hugh Hefner’s Little Annie Fanny, unparallel parodists Kurtzman and Elder
ran rampant for themselves when they published these 11 exceptional issues of comic art anarchy. This two-volume hardcover
box set has been reproduced from the original art and digitally restored to make everything look even better than when it
first came out in 1957. This long-overdue definitive edition of Humbug is an essential slice of satire from the masters
of the genre. Mother Mother – O My (Last Gang) :: And if Lou Reed had formed Blondie, their first
unbalanced album would’ve sounded just like this. Ross Andru and Mike Esposito
– Get Lost! (Hermes Press) :: Andru and Esposito were no Kurtzman and Elder, but they sure gave it their best
shot with this short-lived comic book from 1953 that provided some direct competition to MAD—so direct, in fact, that
Bill Gaines tried to sue them out of existence. He lost, but by that time the damage had been done. Now see for yourself what
got Gaines’ goat in this gorgeously restored paperback that collects all three issues. SATIRICAL PLATTER OF
THE WEEK: Stan Freeberg – “St. George And The Dragonet” (Capitol) :: Three million copies
sold in three weeks in 1953? Hoo-hah, that’s one sizzling single!
Be seeing you!
Sat, July 22, 2017 | link
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