 Archive - March 2010 |
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| Hembeck.com Contents Page | Links A'Plenty |
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| March 30th, 2010 | |
| Okat, I'll admit it--I couldn't quite figure
out a way to make an umpteenth illo of the
JLA look fresh!! So, I decided to just go RANDOM!! Below are my first two attempts, followed by a couple of themed pieces--see if you can GUESS the theme... |
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| SUPERMAN, SPIDER-MAN, The HULK, GREEN LANTERN, CAPTAIN AMERICA, ROBIN, INVISIBLE WOMAN, WOLVERINE, and DR.FATE!!! |
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| WONDER WOMAN, LUKE CAGE, PUCK, CHAMELEON
BOY, SUB-MARINER, BLUE BEETLE, and DR. STRANGE!!! |
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| BLACK WIDOW, BLACK LIGHTNING, BLACK KNIGHT, BLACKHAWK, BLACK TERROR, and BLACK ORCHID!!! |
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| BLACK CANARY, BLACK BOLT, BLACK PANTHER, BLACK CONDOR, BLACK CAT, and The BLACK RACER!!! |
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| A closer look is available via your computer's
mouse--simply click the above images. And here's a direct route to our current list of Ebay auctions. More soon!! |
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| March 29th, 2010 | |
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| It's been just over three weeks since I last
directed you over to our film capsule
commentary
page, Hey, Did I Tell You About That MOVIE I Saw Recently?... Didja think I stopped watching flicks? Far from it--I just stopped WRITING about 'em!! Y'see, daughter Julie was home for Spring Break recently, and well, SOMETHING had to give--and it WASN'T gonna be the watching!! Fact is, I almost abandoned the whole idea of sharing my reactions to these freshly lensed classics, but then I sat down two days back and got on a roll, churning out two dozen (admittedly shorter than usual) quick comments!! Add the six I've written since and the ten longer ones done beforehand (but after my last tip-off here on the blog back on March 7th), and that's an amazing (and yes, obsessive) forty reviews!! I'm not gonna list 'em all here--just keep reading down until you get past "The Big Shot" to "Girls On The Road", which is where we left off last time (which starred the lovely Ann Dvorak, pictured above, also the lead in two of the pics on the list, including one of my two favorite surprises, "Heat Lightning" (the other being "Johnny Eager'--I'd never heard of either before tuning in, but recommend 'em both)). So go take a look at a list that includes our three most recent visits to the local $1 theater, Boris Karloff's last role before having immortality bestowed upon him, a French film hailed as a masterpiece which I though was pretty awful, the first Bowery Boy entry, and lots and lots of George Brent starrers (gee, it sure was nice of TCM to celebrate his birthday, wasn't it?)!! More soon--trust me on THAT!!! |
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| March 27th, 2010 | |
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| I was very sad to hear of Dick Giordano's
passing. In my younger years, I mostly ignored Charlton Comics, picking up only the occasional Steve Ditko illoed issues of KONGA or GORGO (though artist Giordano's wonderful cover for an otherwise unremarkable issue of something called GUNMASTER AND BULLET THE GUN BOY once prompted me to fish an extra twelve cents out of my pocket--it's still a favorite of mine). By the mid-sixties, though, shortly after Dick Giordano was made editor of the entire line, I began to take notice of this perennial publishing also-ran--and not simply of their justly lauded line of "Action Heroes" (THUNDERBOLT, PEACEMAKER, JUDO MASTER, BLUE BEETLE, and holdover CAPTAIN ATOM)--I began buying EVERYTHING Charlton was cranking out, short of their romance comics and hot-rod books (though in truth, I DID sample an issue or two of the latter). War, western, ghost--I bought 'em all, including oddities such as the ALL AMERICAN SPORTS one-shot and the GO-GO teen satire mag. And all because I'd come to expect that if a book had Giordano's editorial stamp on it, it was likely to have not only sometimes inspired work from long-time pros such as Pete Morisi and Steve Ditko, but also enthusiastically exciting material created by such fresh names as Steve Skeates, Denny O'Neil, Willy Franz, Pat Boyette, and Jim Aparo. So when the costumed characters were cancelled, while I was disappointed, I knew there were still plenty of other great Charlton books left to follow, such as GHOSTLY TALES, ARMY WAR HEROES, HERCULES, CHEYENNE KID, and CHARLTON PREMIERE, to name but a few. For a brief and magical moment there, I could genuinely call Charlton Comics my favorite comics company--and it was all pretty much due to Giordano's stewardship. And then he left that position to take on a similar one over at DC. I was bummed, true, but I was happy, too: DC sure needed a shot in the arm at the time, and Dick's line of books--AQUAMAN (the Sea King's best run ever), STRANGE ADVENTURES featuring "Deadman", TEEN TITANS, HAWK AND DOVE, BEWARE THE CREEPER--more than fit the bill. I was bummed once again when he subsequently left a few short years later, but it wasn't like he disappeared from the field--there never seemed to be a surfeit of his fine artwork to be found on the comics rack, whether it be his thoroughly professional pencilling, or more often than not, his wonderfully classic embellishing. What an absolutely tremendous talent. I never worked with the man--in fact, I only ever met him briefly twice, and never had the chance to fully explain just how much he meant to me. Guess I got a little flustered--that'll happen when you're around someone you admire deeply, I suppose. He's gonna be missed by an awful lot of people who knew him far better than I did, but that's the funny thing about the books he worked on--Dick Giordano always put so much of himself in 'em, I almost feel as if I actually DID know him. |
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| March 26th, 2010 | |
| Three more! | |
| The INFERIOR FIVE!! | |
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| THUNDER Agents!! | |
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| The X-MEN!! | |
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| Bigger? Click yer mouse on 'em! Ebay auctions here! Later, dudes! |
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| March 23rd, 2010 | |
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While it was an undeniably big deal when
Julie Schwartz took over from Jack Schiff
and gave us the New Look Batman in The Caped
Crusader's own title and DETECTIVE COMICS,
Mort Weisinger's ascension to the WORLD'S
FINEST COMICS editorship also gave those
Superman-Batman team-ups an extra zing back
in 1964--at least for the first year or so,
before the Edmund Hamilton scripts veered
off into Bizarro-land and silly Imaginary
stories. But oh, that Curt Swan/George Klein
art was always a treat for the eyes! Here, from the esteemed Arthur Chertowsky collection, is my version of one of their early triumphs--click the image to see both the original and get a larger look at my take. (And in the department of useless information, make note of this: of all the many, many cover redos I've done over the years, this is--so far--my one and only go at a WORLD'S FINEST. Ah well--fun characters, but tough, tough logo...) |
| March 20th, 2010 | |
| Welcome to this, the very first day of Spring--geez,
I thought it'd NEVER get here!! It's also the last full day of daughter Julie's Spring Break--along with friend Alec, she'll be heading back up to school tomorrow. We'll miss you as always kiddo, but we sure had our share of fun this past week, didn't we? As I wipe away a single tear from my cheek, why don't you fine folks out there take a gander at the latest batch of illos I currently have up for grabs?... (Snif...) |
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| WARRIORS THREE (plus THOR)!! | |
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| The X-MEN--Neal Adams' Era!! | |
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| MARVEL FAMILY vs. SIVANA and BLACK ADAM!! | |
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| The Original TEEN TITANS!! | |
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| The DEFENDERS!! | |
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| SPIDER-MAN and The BLACK CAT vs. THE FLY!! | |
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| JSA, group a!! | |
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| JSA, group b!! | |
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| To see 'em larger, just click on 'em!! And to bid on 'em, go to my current list of Ebay auctions here!! Later, gators!! |
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| March 19th, 2010 | |
| I'd be remiss if I didn't give you fair warning: Coming to your local comics shop courtesy of Marvel this Wednesday, March 24th is PETER PARKER #1, featuring "Storms Warning", an 8 page "Petey: The Adventures of Peter Parker LOOONG Before He Became Spider-Man" featurette by yours truly. The premise? At the last minute, Petey's regular baby-sitter has to bow-out, so she has a visiting friend fill-in for her. A friend named Susan. With a tag-along younger brother named Johnny. Here's a couple of preview panels... |
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| The folks at Marvel have another completed
8 page episode in the can, as yet unscheduled.
In that one, Petey and Johnny compete at
a school science fair--though the latter's
entire motivation is to allow older sis Sue
the opportunity to meet one of the judges
she has a crush on, a grad student named
Reed (who's accompanied by a grumpy fellow
grad student named Victor...). I'll let you
know when that one's heading your way! My dream? A full length sequel to my long-ago Assistant Editor's Spider-Man story featuring The Fly escaping through one of Dr. Doom's carelessly forgotten time machines--followed by Spidey and The Black Cat--back into Petey's milieu!! I'm still in there pitching it, and if I keep pounding away, maybe someday I'll wear 'em down!!! By the by, if you missed my interview with the guys over at Where Monsters Dwell, worry not--you can download it (and plenty of other even more interesting chatfests) over at their site; just follow the link. And, oh yeah--I discovered after the fact that "NB" doesn't always stand for Nebraska. Sometimes it stands for New Brunswick--y'know, like in Canada? My mistake fellas--hey, a geography major I'm not... |
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| March 17th, 2010 | |
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| Happy St. Patrick's Day all!! And a quick head's up--which I shoulda clued you into earlier and woulda yesterday if my Verizon Fios combo of phone, cable, and internet didn't conk out for nearly 12 hours cuz of some nearby, non-weather related accident; thanks Verizon--I'm gonna be on the radio tonight, interviewed for the lucky 92nd episode of Where Monsters Dwell! And if you're not in the Fredericton, Nebraska area to catch me and buddy Todd Dezago (albeit together separately) on 97.9 FM CHSR, you can listen on the internet (assuming Verizon hasn't conked out on you too) by going here starting at 9:30 eastern standard time It should be a lot of fun--especially when you take into account that this is the day I always have my annual bottle of beer as part of our traditional meal of corned beef and cabbage! Who knows? I may just chime in with a chorus or two of "Danny Boy"! Guess you'll have to tune in to find out!... |
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| March 14th, 2010 | |
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Hey! Wanna see my version of a Wonder Woman bondage cover? One done back when she'd traded in her the bright star-spangled uniform for a simple white outfit--and one originally illustrated by the noted fantasy artist, Jeff Jones? Well, if you do, you're in luck, cuz all you gotta do is follow the link over on that thumbnail pic to get a wide-screen view of the goods!! (Would you please look if I axe you nicely?...) |
| March 10th, 2010 | |
| Here's another quartet of freshly minted
illos, including, amazingly, my first EVER
go at The Inferior Five!! (Yeah, I don't know how it took me so long to get to 'em, either!...) |
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| SPIDER-MAN, KA-ZAR, SHANNA, KRAVEN!! | |
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| JLA!! | |
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| POWER GIRL, WONDER GIRL, KATMA TUI, and The HUNTRESS!!! | |
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| The INFERIOR FIVE!!! | |
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| Click on 'em to see larger versions. And here's the accompanying Ebay auctions--I bid thee, bid!! Back before ya know it!! |
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| March 9th, 2010 | |
| Hiya folks!! We got more art to show ya today, so without further ado... |
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| The FANTASTIC FOUR and SPIDER-MAN!!! | |
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| The Original AVENGERS!!! | |
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| The Original X-MEN!!! | |
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| WORLD'S FINEST vs. WORLD'S WORST!!! | |
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| Click on 'em to see 'em larger! Follow this link should you be inclined to bid on any of our current Ebay auctions! More anon! |
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| March 8th, 2010 | |
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Millie the Model at the 1964 New York World's
Fair? Yup! It really happened, thanks to
Stan Lee and Stan Goldberg--and thanks to
my long-time patron, Arthur Chertowsky, I'm
able to offer up my own version of the estimable
Stan G's cover! Click the accompanying image to see the original cover and a couple of even larger-sized Hembeck scans! (I have great memories of attending the Fair maybe a half dozen times during it's two year run--even if I never DID bump into the lovely Ms. Collins even once!...) |
| March 7th, 2010 | |
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| It's Oscar day--what say we look at an even
dozen new reviews over at... Hey, Did I Tell You About That MOVIE I Saw Recently?... Including a movie I've been waiting my entire life to see, Humphrey Bogart in the title role of "The Return Of Dr. X"!! (I'm SO excited that I just HAVE to share the film's trailer with you, via the YouTube--please note, several scenes included therein didn't make the final cut, and sadly, there's no footage of pale-faced Bogie stroking his white rabbit, my absolute favorite moment of the film...) What ELSE we got? Well, scroll down to Bogie and Pat O'Brien starring in "San Quentin", and work your way up through... "The Champ" (the original) "Pennies From Heaven" (der Bingle croons!) "Wild In The Country" (Elvis acts!) "Smilin' Through" (forgotten romance classic) "You Can't Get Away With Murder" (Bogie leads Billy Halop astray) "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (the original) "Between Two Worlds" (on a cruise ship between life and death) "Brother Orchid" (Edward G. Robinson, mob boss turned monk) "Crash Landing" (Gary Merrill does his best Captain Sully impression) "Girls Of The Road"(Ann Dvorak goes undercover with female vagrants) ... and the aforementioned Doc X, natch! More soon!! |
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| March 4th, 2010 | |
| 4 more 4 U! | |
| The AVENGERS, Line-up Two!!! | |
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| The AVENGERS, Line-up Three!!! | |
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| GREEN LANTERN, Friends and Foes!!! | |
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| MONSTERS!!! | |
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| Bigger? Click! Ebay? Here! More? Later! |
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| March 2nd, 2010 | |
| Here's a trio of new illos for your tired and weary eyec gaze upon... | |
| JUSTICE LEAGUE of AMERICA!!! | |
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| The Original AVENGERS!!! | |
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| The FANTASTIC FOUR!!! | |
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| Want a larger look? Graze yer mouse across
any of the above images. Care to bid? Here's our current Ebay auctions!! More soon! |
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