Author: Robert Greenberger

[[[The Horror! The Horror! Comic Books the Government Didn’t Want you to Read]]]
By Jim Trombetta
Abrams ComicsArts, 304 pages, $29.95

Comic book fans certainly know enough history to understand that the comics industry bowed to public pressure and created the Comics Code Authority to clean up its image. It resulted in countless professionals losing their livelihoods and publishers dropping like leaves during autumn. We know that it also shuttered the great EC horror comics and forced [[[Mad]]] to evolve from comic book to magazine.

But just how horrid were these stories? Were the drawings that graphic and lurid to cause parents to ban them from the house? Was Dr. Fredric Wertham right that they contributed to psychological disease? Was Senator Estes Kefauver correct in considering the comics a cause of juvenile delinquency?

A few years back, we got David Hadju’s nicely researched [[[The Ten Cent Plague]]], which gave us the tenor of the times but now we have Exhibits A-Z. Jim Trombetta has carefully researched hundreds of comic books and organized them by theme to present modern day readers with a glimpse into the past. The Horror! The Horror! is an oversized, handsome package that lets us clearly look at the artwork and read a handful of the stories to give us a sense of what terrified the populace during the 1950s.

Comic books evolved rapidly in the wake of World War II’s conclusion. Readers no longer needed super-heroes to defend the American way, but they craved entertainment so new genres sprouted up including the western, romance, and crime comics. Horror titles grew in importance and became a prevalent genre found on newsstands. Every publisher used different standards in terms of the quality of the writing and artwork and just how graphic their horror can get.

Overall, despite familiar names here from Charles Biro and Don Heck to Lee Elias and Steve Ditko, much of the work here is pretty bad. The artwork is generally poor and the writing overwrought or poorly constructed. As a result, Trombetta’s thoughtful essays probably give these lost titles a little too much credit. In a style that is engaging and scholarly without being dry, he breaks the horror titles down into categories including [[[The Magic Code]]],[[[ the Werewolf]]], [[[The Dead Don’t Die]]], [[[The Hunger]]], [[[The Grin]]], and [[[Death and the Maiden]]] among others.

Each section features a variety of covers to illustrate his point with credits where the talent is known and offers up a sample story or two to show how the theme played out back in the day. From today’s perspective, a lot of these images are run-of-the-mill or tame, but viewed through the prism of a conformist American society, these were unseemly concepts, not at all appropriate for the children.

The book is a wonderful time capsule to an era that would have collapsed under its own weight had Congress butted out. Proving the point is the bonus DVD, included with the book. After the hysteria died down and the Code came in and cleaned house, [[[Confidential File]]] aired a special on the threat of these comics. The October 9, 1955 is an alarm signaled after the fact and a cultural curiosity, nicely restored and a real treat.

Overall, the book does a fine job exploring what all the fuss was about, making it a fine companion to Hadju’s history.

Before he was canonized as a futurist, Gene Roddenberry was a failed Hollywood producer, having watched two series crash and burn after short-runs on prime time television. He began shifting his focus from[[[Star Trek]]] during the series’ third season, working for his buddy Herb Solow at MGM. In 1970, Solow asked Roddenberry to take on a problematic script, an adaptation of a novel by Francis Pollini called[[[ Pretty Maids all in a Row]]]. It was to be the American film debut of director Roger Vadim, fresh off his pop culture hit [[[Barbarella]]].

The story of a series of murders at a California high school was blended with sexual hijinks as one story featured a guidance counselor who was bedding as many comely teenagers as possible and a sexually frustrated student who couldn’t stop getting excited at all the braless wonders in their teasingly short skirts. For a major studio production, it was one of the first to freely feature copious amounts of onscreen nudity and can be seen as a precursor to the sexual romps seen in the smarter [[[Animal House]]] and raunchier [[[Porky’s]]].

Roddenberry wrote and produced the adaptation, which was a good fit for the randy man who also had a well-known eye for a pretty face. Matched with Vadim, who shot his cast lovingly, this should have been an intelligent, funny bit of entertainment instead of a vapid train wreck. The movie, released this week for the curious by Warner Archive, can be seen as a cult favorite or as a glimpse into Roddenberry’s skills before his unsuccessful string of pilots that marked his 1970s (and all of which are now out from Warner Archive).

The film has an A-list cast fronted by Rock Hudson and the gorgeous Angie Dickinson as faculty and a pre-Kojak Telly Savalas as the investigating detective. The cast also includes familiar faces like Roddy McDowell, Keenan Wynn, and for the Trekkies among us: William Campbell and James Doohan. ComicMix fans can check out the future Isis, JoAnna Cameron in an early role. William Ware Theiss was unfettered for the costume design and he made sure to show off the sexiest, skimpiest contemporary fashions that few high schools at the time would have ever allowed.

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Ruby-Spears was a strong competitor to Hanna-Barbera and Filmation when they arrived during the 1970s. For ComicMix fans, their brightest moment may have been the imaginative and visually interesting [[[Thundarr the Barbarian]]], which aired a mere 21 episodes. But, boasting the designs of Jack Kirby and Alex Toth, along with the writing prowess of Steve Gerber, Martin Pasko, and others, the show has remained a fan favorite.

We were reminded of the show’s potential when the first episode was included in the [[[Saturday Morning 1980s]]] set from Warner Home Video. Now, their sister division, Warner Archive, has released a complete four disc set of the series. Amazingly, though, Lords of Light! an eighteen minute piece all about the creation and enduring appeal of Thundarr the Barbarian that was on the former set, is missing here.

The series ran during the 1980-1982 seasons, on ABC. Thundarr is a nomadic barbarian (aren’t they all?) who meets up with the sorceress Princess Ariel and the mutant being Ookla the Mok in a post-apocalyptic Earth circa 3994 A.D.. The odd trio wander the ravaged planet and have many exciting exploits as we slowly try and piece together what may have happened to the Earth.  What’s left has been divided into territories with a variety of powerful rulers, all coveting power and more land. Nearly two millennia later, there are enough visual artifacts still extent to cue the viewer that this remains our world, after the worst imaginable has happened. The writers and animators wisely send the heroes around the world to show that the devastation was not merely limited to the United States.

The strongest example of the world’s cataclysmic events may be the constant visual of the moon, broken in half, which we’re told happened in 1994 when a rogue comet passed by. It was the shattering of the moon that altered the tides and the weather, beginning the changes that continue to mark the planet.

There were changes to the people and animals too, leading the rise of the Moks, a cross between lions and humans. Ookla was enslaved until freed by Thundarr and the grunting companion was forever loyal thereafter. Thundarr seemed to know the Mok language, at least enough to comprehend Ookla’s intentions.

The state of science fiction in the late 1970s can be felt here such as Thundarr’s sunsword which looks remarkably familiar. Toth’s lead character designs are his typical strong work while Kirby lent his pencil to the opponents, both human and non-human, in subsequent episodes. As a result, scholars look for links between Thundarr and Kirby’s own post-apocalyptic Kamandi.

The key difference between the series was that in Thundarr’s world, magic was a part of the world. Ariel was the daughter of the evil wizard Sabian and she was highly educated, knowing much of Earth’s pre-apocalyptic history. She was throughtful and kind, a strong companion to Thundarr but never really a romantic interest.

The stories were a cut above their competition thanks to the strong staff, led by Gerber, Pasko, Buzz Dixon, and even the nascent writing team of Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway. They brought their comic book storytelling sensibilities to the series and it benefitted. Watching the shows today, you have to remember that this was during a period when direct violence was limited and action rarely involved any hand-to-hand combat. They are at worst, diverting and at best, highly entertaining.

The transfers are fine although some clean up would have been nice. Overall, this is a nice artifact from a bygone era.

Imagine if you will that we’re all living in the time of King Henry V. His court would be the A list, their comings and goings the subject of gossip at every tavern and pub in England. They were the celebrities of their day, at a time when England was still a small power, finding their voice and charting their destiny.

For four years, Michael Hirst has been delivering a taste of what it might have been like in the Showtime series, The Tudors
. Now, the fourth and final year, covering the final two wives and his death, has been collected on a four disc set released from CBS Home Entertainment.

The show’s success was attributable to the lush visuals, from the costuming to the locations. John Rhys Meyers was a lusty, virile king, craving a dynasty and constantly thwarted. He was a man of voracious appetites, far beyond food, but history denied him greatness. The first season covered his unhappy first marriage to his dead brother’s wife, Catherine, and his true love, Anne Boleyn, challenging the Pope for his freedom. In the end, he broke from the Church, established the Church of England and found himself challenged at every turn.

Hirst took liberties with characters, characterizations, and sequence of events so don’t use this for your homework, but for a sense of what the time was like and players, this is darn good entertainment. The seasons rolled through his loves and losses, with some of the wives coming to life and others barely sketched out. The fourth season suffers a bit from compressing so much into a mere ten episodes.

His quest for a male heir led him to Katherine Howard then the unhappy final wife, Katherine Parr. Age and illness (the dreaded gout) robbed him of his strength and appeal, letting the upper class maneuver for favor or power.

We open in 1540, thirty years into Henry’s reign and he remains strong as he gets to know his fifth and youngest wife, Katherine, a mere 17 years old. While Henry and Katherine are cordial, Thomas Culpepper covets Katherine while currying favor with the king, a subplot that plays out in the early episodes. Henry also gets a chance to realize what he may have missed during an encounter with wife number four, Anne of Cleves, who compares more favorably than does young Katherine. While Katherine and Culpepper play, Henry and Anne clandestinely reunite. It’s certainly good to be the king.

His rages are legendary and Meyers handles the explosive emotions quite well, especially when Katherine’s affair and sordid past come to light. Also, his rocky relationships with his daughters comes to the fore at mid-season as he restores Princesses Elizabeth and Mary to the line of succession. At the same time, politics and religion clash as the Reformation is weakened when Henry takes the Catholics’ side in matters of state.

We rush through his final wife, Katherine Parr, who is closer in age to the now ailing Henry. Clearly, Hirst could not end the series without covering all six legendary wives but one wishes for more  We also get a truncated war with France before illness finally claims the king. Nicely done was a final dream sequence as the dear departed former wives (Maria Doyle Kennedy, Annabelle Wallis and Natalie Dormer) all appear and have final words for their husband.

The show looks wonderful on disc but one wishes the same attention to detail in extras from the first three sets was given to this final set. Instead, there are no extras of any sort but a collection of sampler episodes from Showtime’s other series. A sad way to take our leave of Tudor England but the show is well worth a look.