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Home , Billy Dee Williams, Billy Graham (comics), Reginald Hudlin, Vibranium

MEANWHILE MARVEL’S AFRO-FUTURIST AVENGER, THE Jaime Hernandez 741.5 LEAPS FROM COMICS TO THE SILVER SCREEN! Hernandez PLUS... COMICS! FEB 2018 — NO. FOURTEEN AND...HENRY & GLENN FOREVER & EVER

Lemmy Rob Halford the Nuge

Nicole Claveloux

Claveloux

Donald Nicholson Smith

Simon & Kirby

Brubaker & Phillips’

Henry Rollins Glenn Danzig

Tom Neely Johnny Ryan J. Todd Dockery

The Comics & Bulletin of Hall & Oates The contributions of African- Exploding across the screens of American cartoonists have been grindhouse cinemas and drive-in overlooked too often in histories theaters across the nation, the film debuted in Marvel’s #52 July 1966. Originally dubbed the “Coal of comics. Now Dr. Sheena C. genre that quickly became known Tiger” by artist (with the colorful yellow-and-black outfit to go with the Howard shines a spotlight on Afri- as “blaxploitation” name), writer wisely renamed the character after the sleek and domi- can–American creators. Arranged was one of the hallmarks of nant apex predator, with a simple but elegant costume to match. The first su- alphabetically, Encyclopedia of pop culture. Movies like Shaft, The Black Comics (Fulcrum) covers a Mack and Cleopatra Jones both ex- perhero of African descent, T’Challa was the heir apparent to the throne broad range of artists and writers, pressed and, yes, exploited the en- of , an imaginary state in Africa. Wakanda maintained its independ- from pioneers of the funny pages ergy and agony of the black experi- ence thanks to the very thing that made the nation the target of exploitation: like Jackie (Torchy Brown) Ormes, ence in Nixonian America. Decades on, the aesthetics of Blaxploitation . This super-metal of the exists only in Wakanda. Brumsic (Luther) Brandon and Wee Pals’ Morrie Turner to con- still shape our cultural narrative, in That’s why its leaders had hidden their country from the outside world, becom- temporary stripsters like Keith film, music, even comics. ing a scientific wonderland thanks to vibranium, the inventiveness of the Knight, Robb Armstrong and Bar- African-Americans were as rare in the Wakandan people and the steady rule of generations of Black Panthers. (For bara Brandon-Croft. Comic books indie “black & white” self-publishing instance, T’challa’s daddy whooped himself when Cap came are well represented: Golden Age wave of the 1990s as they were in the greats get their due, like A.C. Hol- underground and punk movements of looking to strong-arm Wakanda into joining the Allied effort in WW2.) Begin- earlier decades. But that didn’t stop “R.D. Bone” and “Raw Dog” (writer ning with T’Challa’s challenge to the Fantastic Four, the Black Panther engaged H.P. McElwee and artist Lawrence Hub- with the world, joining the , mixing it up with Daredevil, marrying bard) from releasing Real Deal Comix. Bone & Dog called their savage bur- of the X-Men and eventually entering the , the secret group of bigwigs lesques of ghetto life in the Los Angeles that’s been running the Marvel Universe behind the scenes. It’s been a wild of the Reagan Era “Urban Terror”. Al- though tongue-in-cheek, their comics ride for T’Challa, King of the Wakandans, and it’s going to get wilder once the were still harsh and violent and NOT Black Panther hits the screen in the most anticipated superhero movies in years! for the kiddies. The hardcover from The upcoming feature film draws its inspiration from the entirety of the Pan- Fantagraphics collects all seven issues in one big beautifully ugly hardcover. ther’s four-color career. New items such as the Young Adult novel The Young Meanwhile, the look and style of Blax- Prince, the Black Panther Golden Book and the upcoming Ultimate Guide fill in ploitation gets updated in Loose Ends by the creators of Southern Bastards, Jason some of T’Challa’s history. But start with the comics, beginning with……………... Latour and Chris Brunner. The protago- nist—he ain’t no hero—is white, but Epic Collection:Panther ’s Rage. Serialized in the mid-1970s title Jungle Action, ...Rage was lives, loves and fights in that twilight written by Don Macgregor and mostly drawn by Billy Graham, one of the few African- realm of the eternal hustle where the American pros of comics’ Bronze Age. Many comics scholars call the saga of Erik Killmon- trailer park meets the projects. Latour’s ger’s super-powered rebellion against T’Challa’s reign Marvel’s first graphic novel. twisty tale of bad criminals and badder cops winds from Afghanistan to Miami Christopher Priest’s Black Panther: The Complete Collection comes in three volumes, with art Beach without ever leaving the gutter. by Mark Texeira. Formerly known as Jim Owsley, the writer got his start scripting other black Brunner’s art is that new school of car- lingsworth and the magnificent tooning that’s smell-it-real but jacked heroes such as the and the cast of the all-black imprint, Milestone Comics. Priest Matt Baker, whose slick, sensual with a Bugs Bunny buzz of exaggeration. brought a touch of international spycraft to his Panther, introducing US State Department artwork sold the likes of “Tiger And Rico Renzi’s colors pop like bombs. agent Everett Ross, played by Martin Freeman in the film. Girl” (see last issue) and Pictorial Benjamin Marra is not a natural car- Confessions (see “Meanwhile”). toonist. But Marra invests his work Reginald Hudlin’s Black Panther: The Complete Collection is another three volume set, written Modern contributors range from with the intensity of a true believer, by Priest’s successor, Reginald Hudlin. An established player in Hollywood, Hudlin wrote the the creators discussed page right his unflinching depictions of sex and Panther’s adventures while he was President of Black Entertainment Television. Hudlin to indie artists like Ron Wimberly violence making him the prime suc- brought T’Challa back to Wakanda. Invasions from without and enemies from within test the and Whitney Taylor. I do have one cessor of Spain Rodriguez. If Marra’s Panther, even as he finds a new ally—and bride. American Blood is a 42nd Street all- major complaint: where’s “Grass” nighter starring Billy Dee Williams, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet is the first story arc written by the Green? Richard Eugene Green Night Business is a straight-to-VHS author of the bestselling jeremiad Between the World and Me. The political turmoilthat has was the first black participant in thriller starring . A underground comics and the fan- been seething beneath the surface of Wakanda finally explodes in . The breathtaking masked maniac preying on strippers, zine movement of the 1960s. an hog-riding assassin in lingerie, a art of Brian Stelfreeze brings to life T’Challa’s desperate struggle to save his nation. Back when I toured conventions, cult of crazy rich white people, the “Grass” was often the only broth- one man who can stop the madness– er in the room. Where’s his entry? THAT’S BLAXPLOITATION! MEANWHILE rules of romance in comics. One of the most influential of those artists is Jaime Hernandez. Using his half of the fabled Love & Rockets title to tell the story of Maggie Chascarillo and her pals’n’gals, Hernandez created a multi-generational epic involving dozens of characters. His latest collection, Angels & Magpies (Fanta- graphics) compiles both the manic super- heroine free-for-all “God & Science: The Return of the Ti-Girls” and “The Love Bun- glers”, both still available as single albums from Central. The latter is an achingly real- istic slice-of-life that finally reunites Mag- gie with her on-again-off-again boyfriend is). Cameos by rock legends like Lemmy, Ray Dominguez, but only after a horrific Rob Halford and the Nuge himself add to With Valentine’s Day at its center, February incident connected to Maggie’s murky is, of course, the month of love. What better the yoks. Speaking of Heavy Metal—the time to read some of the original romance magazine, not the music—NNicole Claveloux comics that swept the nation into a lovelorn stood out from the early contributors to frenzy? Though long a staple of the pulp that ground-breaking comic with her odd market, love stories didn’t hit the comics and colorful art and sardonic, dream-like rack until 1948 with the debut of Young stories. Funny-strange, not funny-ha-ha, Romance. Within two years, there were so Claveloux’s comics finally get the Anglo- many romance comics such as My Love phonic attention they deserve with The Life, Heart Throbs and Teen-Age Tempta- Green Hand (New York Review Comics), tions swamping the stands, it triggered an thanks to Donald Nicholson Smith’s expert industry-wide crash. Read those original translation and re-lettering. Find it at tales of bliss and bathos in Young Ro- Beaumont. Meanwhile, did you know you mance: The Best of Simon & Kirby’s Ro- can request comics for the Library? One mance Comics (available from Tates such request was for Incognito: The Classi- Creek), Agonizing Love (Beaumont) and the fied Edition (Image). This king-size comp of various volumes of Yoe’s Weird Love Brubaker & Phillips’ superhero noir series (Northside and Tates Creek). Though the covers the first two story arcs of an ex-bad last official love title came out in 1977, guy who finds himself doing good while under protection. It’s available romance didn’t leave comics. It just youth. If you can read that last page with- from Northside, or go to lexpublib.org! changed its outfit. While mainstream fans out getting weepy, you’re tougher than me. swooned over the soap opera antics of X- But If you like your L-U-V with some laughs, Men, alternative cartoonists devoted to a check out Henry & Glenn Forever + Ever: more naturalistic approach re-wrote the The Completely Ridiculous Version (Micro- cosm). This book gathers the comic strips and illustrations of Henry & Glenn sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g —that is, former Black Flag vocalist, now talk show host Henry Rollins and former lead singer for the Mis- fits and all-around pompous ass Glenn Danzig. At first a internet meme trad- ed among punk rock fans, the idea explod- ed into a series of comic books, mostly written and drawn by Tom Neely, with fur- ther contributions from the likes of Johnny Ryan and Kentucky’s own J. Todd Dockery. Neely’s simple Peanuts-meet-Archie style hilariously details the ups and downs of the sturdy, studly Henry and the drama- driven Glenn and their Satan-hailing neigh- bors, Darryl and John (HHall & Oates, that