This DC house ad from June 1961 showcases two features that relied on the considerable talents of artist Carmine Infantino.
The Flash 121 gave us a return engagement with the merrily villainous Trickster, who’d been introduced a year before in Flash 113 (Danger in the Air!, June-July 1960).
Believe it or not, he was walking on air — and usually mocking the earthbound speedster. The blond, harlequin-costumed super-criminal drew my brightness-fascinated young eye and therefore my dime. The Trickster was caped, yellow-clad, flying — three things I loved.
Mystery in Space 68 was the first issue of that title I bought. I was fascinated by the Infantino-Murphy Anderson cover scene, which showed a horned alien tiger springing even as a colorful rocket-belted hero with a ray gun was teleported away, leaving behind a damsel in distress.
Much too much to resist.
And inside, even more! The issue introduced Strange’s recurring foes the Dust Devils — sentient, sinister, semi-anthropomorphic whirlwinds perfectly designed to inhabit the dreamlike mental landscape of a child.
Adam Strange was the thinking man’s superhero of the late 1950s, rendered with a sleek, space-age elegance by Infantino and written with a reassuring respect for intelligence by Gardner Fox.
But we were, in fact, approaching the end of an era, and Adam Strange’s loss would be Batman’s gain. In early 1964, Infantino would move on to revamp the flagging Batman titles, leaving Strange behind. By 1967, when Infantino also left the Flash feature, the best years of both characters were clearly behind them.
In June 1961, of course, we readers didn’t know it was the end of an era. But then, one rarely does.
Joel Blashka wrote, "Lee Elias, an excellent artist, was a bad fit for Adam Strange. And the stories were not up to Gardner Fox standards. And don’t get me started on the choice of Andru and Esposito to take over the Flash. Again, they were very good on Metal Men, Wonder Woman and the DC war comics, but a total fail on Flash. By the time they had Irv Novick ( a much better fit) take over the strip, they had lost me."
ReplyDeleteJohnny Williams wrote:
ReplyDeleteDan, it’s funny that you showcased those two particular covers because they both are very strong examples of a thing that was good about the Silver Age. It’s something that the boy me came to call, ‘the predicament cover’. In both instances our two heroes, or in one case his lady fair, are facing imminent peril and you are almost Compelled to buy the book Just to find out what happens. This was especially true if your vendor was of the ‘no browsing through the comics’ type. 😂
I remember both of those covers well for that very reason. To be honest, youthful Johnny was more concerned with Alanna’s fate than Barry’s. I already knew of a super speed trick that Flash could use to save himself, but I didn’t see any holster on her belt and was actually scared for her. Lol.
You are right about Carmine’s leaving signaled the end of an era, and that sadly, we Had seen the titles best days already. Your words evoke a certain nostalgic sadness.
Vincent Mariani wrote:
ReplyDeleteAlthough Adam Strange had the "thinking man's hero" name, all of Editor Julius Scwartz's heroes played the game. So many Green Lantern, Flash, or JLA adventures were resolved with the hero or heroes outthinking an adversary. The obligatory sock in the jaw was usually an anticlimactic finishing touch to a battle of wits. This carried over to the diminutive Atom, the Atomic Knights, and Space Museum tales as well. Even the more physical Hawkman, armed with the most gruesome ancient weapons, would usually outsmart rather than outbrawl villains. And the protagonists in one-shot science-fiction stories in Strange Adventures generally followed the "thinking man's hero" model.
This was a direct reflection of the Kennedy era's "Best and Brightest," facing a "New Frontier"; with handsome, well groomed young (white) men meeting all challenges in a cool and reasoned manner.
I replied:
Vincent Mariani Well observed. And, as others have noted, the stories displayed a considerable respect for intelligent career women. And of course, unlike the others, Adam's ONLY "power" was his reasoning ability.
Bob Doncaster wrote:
ReplyDeleteTrickster was another of my favorite Flash villains. Maybe it was the costume, I also love the GA Green Lantern's.
Stéphane Beaumort wrote:
ReplyDeleteAdam Strange was my first DC series and is still arguably one of the very best of the Silver Age. Anderson on his own looked stiff (Atomic Knights, which I nevertheless loved), and Infantino inked by others could look sketchy (Giella, for instance) but Infantino and Anderson were a perfect match for each other, the way Colan and Palmer or Byrne and Austin were later on. To me they epitomize the Silver Age DC better than any other artist, except perhaps the Gil Kane-Sid Greene team on the Atom and Green Lantern books.
Paul Zuckerman wrote:
ReplyDeleteAs Dan notes, Schwartz books had respect for intelligent career women and all of the women in his books were bright and capable, even Sue Dibny, who had no career and was the one who seemed most like the stereotype of an empty-headed heiress but in fact was not. While neither Sue nor Ralph needed to work, all of the other Schwartz women did --- Jean Loring, an attorney, news reporter Iris West Allen, museum curator Sheila Hall, corporate president Carol Ferris! No one really knew what Alanna did though...🙂
Early on, there was seemingly pressure on the women to prove themselves before they got married (except for Hawkgirl, who maintained her real job as a policewoman long after she married Katar) -- Jean Loring wanted to prove herself before she would marry Ray; even Carol had to forego relationships so that she could run Ferris Aircraft. Iris was the only one who never seemed to doubt that she could and would continue working after marriage.
As for the thinking man: heroes that used their heads instead of their fists were still pretty common in those days. Maybe the climax of TV shows would involve an all-out fight, and there was always action, but the endless fist fights that soon became a hallmark of Marvel comics were still in the future. DC's response to the increased violence of Marvel is what led, I believe, to the diminishing of DC's stories in the mid 60s.
One thing about the Trickster and most of the other members of the Rogue's Gallery: while they often tried to kill the Flash using the most outrageous and complicated methods, one never really felt that they meant it. It seemed always a game to them and that they would never really hurt anyone. The more violent and brutal versions of today are sadly a far cry from those earlier ones where it seems that the game was the thing.
Vincent Mariani wrote:
ReplyDeleteI think that when younger Marvel readers took the slugfests as the essence of the product, it led to a formula that replaced the old Schwartz style gamesmanship. More physicality, based on Jack Kirby's drawing. More characterization. But less elegance and apparent subtlety.
Paul Zuckerman wrote:
ReplyDeleteTrickster was one of my favorite Flash foes. Broome infused each of the rogues with different personalities. Here, James Jesse tries to live up to his reverse-namesake, Jesse James!