I often tell my close, personal friends like Don Fellman that I am mentally retarded! And yeah, in my own cornballus suburban slob way I must admit that I am proud to tell 'em so. However, it's not like I'm one of those kind of low IQ types who have to be institutionalized complete with a drool cup or the kind who lope around the neighborhood where the kids can beat 'em up, but one whose mind is permanently stuck at age thirteen which makes me more or less an overgrown adolescent gosharootie than it does a full grown slob trying to meet up with his turdler funtime roots.
Yes, this old corpsie that I reside in is but a vessel for a guy who never really made it outta fifth-grade hygiene class alive, a guy who for the most part thinks all gals are ikky (and considering the gals I usually hafta put up with, why not?) and one who would rather spend an evening watching fifties tee-vee and reading old comic books than going to the local bar to eyeball flatsie gals who think they've got Mae West all beat trying to do their best to shake their tater tot toogles!
CASE IN POINT...just this past week I got hold of the Gwandanaland collection of what is purported to be the entire run of DR. OCCULT, the pre-SUPERMAN Jerry Seigel and Jerome Schuster character that sorta set the stage for the entire DC universe what with his mystical powers and dabblings in an underworld of the forbidden that predated a whole slew of comic heroes who were more magician than muscleman. So what did I do on a rather cool weekend when I shoulda been out raking leaves and acting like the productive member of society that I'm supposed to be? Nothin' but sittin' in my bedroom reading the entire run of this much-needed obscurity with the same intense voracity that I would had I got hold of this 'un during my early comic book reading days almost a half-century back!
An' boy, even in my advanced stages of mental decay did I feel swell! Almost like it actually was the early-seventies and like I was that nerdo goofoff doof once more only my cyster's AM radio was not blarin' from the other room and dog Sam wasn't sneakin' around when nobody was lookin'. Yeah, I felt GREAT once again, 'n in that early-teenbo sorta way when things like music and comics and sneak peaks at NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC pearl diver issues really had a strong, life-reinforcing hold on ya!
But enough of that and on to Dr. Occult. Some blabs have mentioned him as being the first costumed crime fighter but since the Phantom did precede him and besides he only wore a costume in one adventure I'll toss that 'un off. However Dr. Occult was a pretty on-target hero, part Dick Tracy detective and part Dr. Strange (or better yet Dr. Droom what with that trench coat 'n all) who uses his knowledge of the hidden realm to solve some of the stranger mysteries to hit the pages of 1930s comicdom. And considering the vampires and other bugaboos he comes up against well, he sure better have a good handle on how to take care of these demonic threats which seem to be enveloping his world week after week!
These sagas have also got that good ol' Jerry Schuster art ya also got with SLAM BRADLEY an' of course those early SUPERMANs (not forgetting those S/M works with a suspiciously-looking Man of Steel ' n Lois all tied up like roast beef in the butcher shop) and if you do squint your eyes a bit especially during the episode where Occult dons a caped costume the guy even LOOKS like an early Superman prototype right down to the li'l curl on his forehead.
And with galpal Rose Psychic resembling the early Lois well, all I gotta say is that if your mind tends to flash back to early takes on well-known comic book tropes the way wags like me see all sorts of pre-Marvel Age of Comics precursors in the early Lee/Kirby/Ditko monster/fantasy stories well, you'll be up to your subconscious finding future hints of ideas that would eventually be padded out AND MAKE MILLIONS FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED EXCEPT FOR JEROME SEIGEL AND JERRY SHUSTER!
A few "caveats" exist what with some of the poor source material, some so bad that bold text had to be added to word balloons and captions, plus some of the stories that were "to be continued" just weren't, leaving Our Hero in a most precarious state that woulda had me chewin' my nails down to the knuckles had I read these as an overemotional kid!
A few "caveats" exist what with some of the poor source material, some so bad that bold text had to be added to word balloons and captions, plus some of the stories that were "to be continued" just weren't, leaving Our Hero in a most precarious state that woulda had me chewin' my nails down to the knuckles had I read these as an overemotional kid!
Despite this, true blue comic book fans will definitely glom over these various "setbacks" in order to enjoy some good pre-pretentious and non-boggled comic sagas. And now they're presented for our enjoyment without the threat of National's lawyers bearing down on the people who presented this to us in the first place!
lol looks pretty lame lol try elfquest lol it's actually... good lol
ReplyDeleteSorry, off-topic: We know Epstein isn't dead because there's no record of him voting for Biden.
ReplyDeleteNot rackin' up the comments here, boy!
ReplyDeleteThey can't ALL be gems.
ReplyDeleteSheesh, boy.
ReplyDelete