Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Asian Avengers GREEN TURTLE "The Wrath of the Green Turtle!"

With all the negative "Yellow Peril" stereotypes in Western fiction about Asians like this guy...

...we're "counter-programming" by presenting heroic Asian and Asian-American characters in pop culture!
First up...The Green Turtle!
Created/written/illustrated by Chu F Hing, one of the few Chinese-American creatives in the Golden Age, The Green Turtle was the cover-featured character for the first four of the six issues of Rural Home's Blazing Comics anthology series.
Here's his premiere appearance (but not his origin) from #1 (1944).
May be NSFW due to mild racist stereotypes of Japanese characters common during World War II.
BTW, look carefully at Green Turtle's face throughout the story...
You may have noticed that The Green Turtle's face (even with his mask on) is never shown.
There's much speculation as to whether it was simply to create an aura of mystery about him or writer/artist Chu Hing's refusal to show him with White facial features rather than Asian.
His skin has the standard 25% Magenta/25% Yellow coloring used for Whites in comics while all the Asians have skin tones at 50% Magenta/50% Yellow.
At least the publisher didn't use the "Bright Lemon" 100% Yellow skin tone some other publishers used for Asians...
The Green Turtle WILL Return...
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Wednesday, March 17, 2021

St Patrick's Day Special NOT WHO YOU THINK: BANSHEE "Origin"

Before a certain Marvel villain-turned X-Man...
Art by Dave Cockrum
...acquired the name, there was this guy...who also used the name of a female Irish demon!
(And yes, I know Sean Cassidy's daughter now uses the name, but this is Hero Histories, not Heroines!)
Illustrated by Louis Cazeneuve, this premiere/origin of the Banshee plays more off the classic "Criminals are a cowardly, superstitious lot..." shtick with a costumed athlete than the later, sonic super-powered mutants from Marvel.
Of course I'm curious as to why a villain named "The Scorpion" is wearing a Devil mask instead of, say, a hood with an embroidered scorpion image.
Was he working on a really tight budget?
Debuting in Fox's Fantastic Comics #21 (1941) and continuing until the book was cancelled two issues later, the Banshee migrated to a new book, V... Comics, for it's brief two-issue run, then disappeared into comics limbo.
He didn't even appear in Dynamite's various Project SuperPowers series which brought back characters whose names had been co-opted by later, currently-trademarked (though totally-unrelated) characters like Daredevil and Yellowjacket.
(Blue Beetle is a whole 'nother story...)
BTW, HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY!
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(Even without The Banshee, if you're a Golden Age fan, it's worth reading)

Friday, February 5, 2021

SPIDER-MAN, STORM AND CAGE "vs SmokeScreen" Part 2: Where There's Smoke...

Luke Cage is mentoring a teen track team of kids representing every district in NYC.
He confides to photographer Peter Parker, who's covering the team for a human interest story, that one of them, Bret Jackson, isn't performing up to his previous levels.
But why?
As Spider-Man, Peter recruits the X-Men's Storm to trail a couple of suspicious fellows who are supplying cigarettes to Bret and other kids!
Though Ororo eludes detection by flying after the creeps, she's caught when entering their headquarters...
And if that sounds familiar, it's the synopsis I used HERE!
Now let's continue this twice-told tale...
What would you do, True Believer?
If you're still undecided, perhaps this back cover will sway you...
And, as a final treat, here's the inside front cover with some background about the heroine and heroes...
Talk about deja vu...sort of!
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Thursday, February 4, 2021

SPIDER-MAN, STORM AND CAGE "vs SmokeScreen" Part 1

If you read this tale...
...this one will sound familiar...but look quite different!

The Story Concludes...
Using the exact same script by a unknown writer we saw HERE, penciler David Tata and inker Norman Lee re-tell the cautionary tale originally-seen in 1982!
However, the page between chapters about "Window Shopping Fun" and "Classroom Activities" was not redrawn for this version!
The book is now titled Spider-Man, Storm and Cage instead of Spider-Man, Storm and Power Man, since Luke Cage had dropped the super-heroesque "code name".
Exactly why the book was "recreated" in 1998 after being reprinted that same year is unknown.
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Wednesday, February 3, 2021

SPIDER-MAN, STORM AND POWER MAN "vs SmokeScreen" Part 2: Where's There's Smoke...

Luke Cage is mentoring a teen track team of kids representing every district in NYC.
He confides to photographer Peter Parker, who's covering the team for a human interest story, that one of them, Bret Jackson, isn't performing up to his previous levels.
But why?
As Spider-Man, Peter recruits the X-Men's Storm to trail a couple of suspicious fellows who are supplying cigarettes to Bret and other kids!
Though Ororo eludes detection by flying after the creeps, she's caught when entering their headquarters...

Now that the story's concluded, the comic presents the reader with a quandry...
What would you do, True Believer?
If you're still undecided, perhaps this back cover by John Romita Sr, will sway you...
And, as a final treat, here's the inside front cover with some background about the three heroes...

Penciled by Herb Trimpe and inked by Joe Giella, Marvel's Spider-Man, Storm and Power Man (1982) was commissioned by the American Cancer Society to discourage 'tween and teen smoking.
Oddly, the writer is unknown, but is suspected to be an ACS staffer.
Now here's where it gets wild...
Years later, the American Cancer Society reprinted the comic.
But, within a couple of months, it commissioned Marvel to re-do it...using the exact same script!
See the Result...
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