Thursday, August 27, 2015

Manley S! Melmon- Worlds greatest Comic Book Writer

- MANELY S! MELMON WORLDS GREATEST COMICBOOK WRITER.

MANLEY S! MELMON STARTED HIS WRITING CARER AT SKIDMORE PUBLISHING IN LATE 1963 and SHORTLY AFTER  he was a key player in THE ILL FATED COMICS CODE CONTROVERSY THAT HAD SOILED  THE INDUSTRY. IN AN ATTEMPT TO PUT TOP Sellers Skidmore and ERrIONIOUS COMICS OUT OF BUSINESS THREE OF THE FIVE TOP COMIC BOOK HOUSES CONSPIRED WITH CRACK POT PSYCHOLOGIST DR. PHIL WORSENING TO STIR UP SOME resentment AGAINST THE THEN POPULAR, SCIENCE COMICS. CLAIMING THEY WERE IN ACTUALLY A CLEVER INDOCTRINATION TOOL PROMOTING SECULAR HUMANISM AND THUS UNDERMINING THE STATE RELIGION OF CREATIONISM. AND THAT WAS A NO NO. EC HARDLY HELPED THEIR CAUSE BY PUBLISHING STORIES LIKE THE FAMED- CHRIST ON A CRUTCH - AND THE NOW CLASSIC- FOR THE LOVE OF PETE! IN THEIR COMICBOOK 'PICTURE STORIES FROM THE forbidden books of cain'.
SO THIS BREW-HA-HA WAS THE CLIMATE INTO WITCH MANLEY S! MELMON HIT THE FUNNYBOOKPAGES,,,,,


the first few years were unremarkable for melmon. he ground out bland scripts for the sanitized books under the the thumb of the newly appointed comic code authority. a hodge podge of do gooders and anti-intellectuals who were  CLEARLY WAY TOO thrilled and overwhelmed seeing their ugly mugs on television and meddling in other peoples affairs. these groups of publicity whores were way overly concerned ABOUT the well being of america's youth. deciding what children can and cant read clearly opens the door to the hideously unamerican practice of censorship and the crimes of these neo-fascists would be dealt with accordingly in a few years but for the mid sixties it was only the children and weird old dudes in their 40 and 50's that still read comic books.

The kids hated the books..... so did the artists and writers. and it showed. kids didn't want minski the model or Vince Lombardi's TALES OF victory comics......they wanted science! cold hard scientific fact. illustrated in a style SO CLEAR that even their parents could understand.......and not dispute!
some pretty far out science fiction was starting to pop up around college campus' in the mid 60's and experimental young writers like memon were prone to try new and exciting formulas to elivate comics back to the artform status THEY once had. the kids could see right thru the ruse.......thankfully! science fact. disguised as science fiction. melmon had hit a winning formula. His Abraxis run, first illustrated by h.g. liberman ( a man who seemed born to be in the comics industry in one way or another) was a good start! the cosmically charged Abraxis seemed ripe with the possibilities.
old man skidmore himself, THE ORIGINAL ARTIST gave his blessings and was even convinced to draw up a pin-up page for the new saga.

The inaugural"tomorrow ends today" story arc was nothing less than a masterpiece from the poison pen of Melmon, IT WAS NOTHING MORE THAN an indictment of the comics code and the corrupt society that it thrived in. all thinly disguised as a mystery man story with harmless science fiction undertones. and no one ever read it. kids by that point were so over the boring comics of the period that it wasn't even recognized. it was the art of 'the chairman" jake klineberg that would ultimately bring some attention to manely s! melmon. "the dance of 1000 clowns" along with the short story "while i was drunk" both illustrated by klineberg  in adventures into weirdness #121 were the tipping point for melmon. after a slew of stories for g'won......call the cops. skidmore laid to rest their last remaining crime comic. and maneley s! melmon could not have been happier. together with top new talents like neal adkins and brothers sammy and jim bucerra, he would set the four color world of comics on fire......


"The day we put a monkey on the moon" FROM BALLISTIC COMICS #73 took one giant step forward in COMICS FOR the fight against creationist thought.......the code put up a fit! especially over the last panel where VETERAN COMCIS LEGEND Steve Dio depicted, in his intimitable style, a crucified monkey crying on the moon.....as the earth explodes to smithereens in the eternal black BACKDROP of space! powerful stuff. it won the first Eisenhower award.

'the grey flannel felon' in the new improved spidora stories, only added insult to injury for the comics code. after that story was published first term republican senator and avowed comics fan Richard TUSKAgeegee, began introducing wildly radical charges against the comics code. in print and on radio and tv,,,, the code was under attack!


no one had heard the term science-hero before 1966. Melmon came up with the monicker in issue 16 of '5 star fantasy' (may 1966) in those pages  in no less than three different stories Melmon created an atmosphere so dense in science theroy and fact that it stymied the censors. in the first tale-  'come again?'  isiac rebak the de-evolution man stared as  an unlikely hero in a tale of  time travel and adventure in the earths near past and future. first Reback travled to the far flung future of 1997 to meet the future family. in a dystopian society where creationist thought reigned as torental acid rains, pollution and overpopulation plagued the earth. thru a series of misadventures reback and the future family are thrown back in time to a picture perfect post ww2 america and the cause of earths problems in 1997...... that cause was the military industrial complex who would eventually parlay it's power and join forces with big business to enslave the world! i don't wan't to spoil the ending for anyone who has never read it, but i can tell you that in a strange twist of fate, the people of dystopian 1997 and the future family themselves......do not even realize that they have been enslaved! fantastic stuff!
the second tale- 'after the accident' wove a tale of mystery and intrigue centering around a wheelchair bound rogue physicists who ends up creating a vicious black hole that nearly destroys northern europe. it ends up taking the entirety of the mystic knights of the mystery school plus the cosmic power of of the recently introduced starlight society to put a stop to an out of control partical colider and save the earth! the hidden messages were there if you looked for them. a scene that featured miss miracle and her explanation of string theory in priceless! sure it was a mystery man book but it was coming awful close the old tru-science comics of a decade before.  and that made the censors very uneasy!
but the most amazing story of the issue was hidden in the back pages where no one would notice. that was the introductory origin of "the entirely creditable human genome" the genome became a major hit for skidmore comics and set them far and above their competition with the introduction of this "science hero" veteran artist osbourne whitly was the perfect choice to illustrate this tale of suspenscience as the genome was later dubbed. the sixities were in full swing as 5 star fantasy hit the newwstands and the college kids loved it! two issues later a letter column appeared called, let's rap with melmon! in which melmon and staff artist GIL KAGE took turns pontificating on the troupes of theoretical arts and science. it was a wild departure from the run of the mill horror books that were still overwhelming the comic racks across america.


and it was in that psychedelic atmosphere that melmon wrote the classic "my stars" for horace woodly and the story that finally blatantly broke the
 code........"judgmental dave" about an astronaut sent to pass  judgement on a planet ruled by robots, computers and other forms of artificial intelligence. electronics were still a big no no as far as the code was concerned. and giving an artificial intelligence a right to choose it's own fate seemed sorely sac religious to many. but the real message of the story was intolerance and bigotry toward scientific advancement, the idea of an anti-Utopian conspiracy was first put forth in this story.....something that melmon would greatly expound on in the pages of the adam o'blivion series after the ugly death of the comics code.


the spring of 1972 brought manely s! melmon and comics in general smak dab into the age of irrelivency. it was an era of comics that somehow seems totally misinterpreted today. a prime example of this seems to be mysterio diablo jr. comics  #67 - 72. the story was an early cross over event with  jake klinberg's micro world.....sure there were loads of social issues covered in the series. for one episode "en el bario" mysterio diablo jr, laments the fate of his drug addicted brother loco diablo while demolis the destroyer from the microverse raps to the kids about rebuilding low rider engines using nano technology!  i know it's hard to understand now. but the 1970s were  a really weird time in america. unfortunately due to the passage of time, no one now can really ever understand what phrases like "Right on" or 'far out' really meant. it was one big lsd inspired mess.......psychedelia was in the air....... and from the way they read today, most likely in the water supply too! even the most average of the squares under the influence of psychedelic drugs, could talk or write or draw about anything for hours on end,,,,,with amazingly enuff, not really saying anything! are you down? power to the people!...... can you dig it man?.........sock it to me! that was the age of irrevelancy in comics! and it wasn't just the young turks of cartooning either. old pros like jake klinebeg with his innovative micro-verse line of short stories was just as likely to drop a bit of psycho babble as melmon or even fab british import barlington windheim smythe ! and he could babble on forever, with out ever really saying anyhing at all! sheeesh!
LtoR Melmon, Bill Bollingwaether, Ashford Simpson, Barlington Windheim Smythe and Hanzel Zoff, in Melmon's office circa 1973

the college lecture circut beckoned and melmon was more than happy to oblige. getting down and rapping to the kids was really what skidmore comics were all about, well that and sales. Mainly the sales now that i come to think of it. that all culminated in a spectacular event at new york's famed VOCATIONAL SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS, WHERE FOR ONE MAGICAL NIGHT ONLY ITS STAGE WAS  TRANSFORMED INTO A CELEBRATION OF ALL THINGS SKIDMORE!  SCIENCE-HEROES, SOLILOQUY'S, AND SOUL POWER WERE IN THE SKIDMORE SPOTLIGHT, THAT EVENING AND SKIDMORE WAS CERTAINLY IN THE PUBLIC EYE!  THE EVENING WAS TOPPED OFF BY SKIDMORE STAFFER AND PRODUCTION WHIZ, SOL GRODZECKI LEADING AN ALL SKIDMORE ROCK AND ROLL BAND IN A 45 MINUTE RENDITION OF INNAGODDA DIVITA. IT WAS A HIT!
                                   
Lto R Rusty Stubbs, Bill Bollingweather, John Razina, Manley S! Melmon, Hanzel Zoff (seated)


AS A SIDE NOTE, IT IS WORTH MENTIONING THAT NATIONALSTIC COMICS PUBLISHER MeRVIN GLOOKMAN, AFTER HEARING ABOUT THE RESOUNDING SSUCCESSOF THE SKIDMORE SHINDIG.  IN A SHOW OF ONE UPS-MANSHIP,  DEVELOPED AND PRODUCED AN OFF BROADWAY MUSICAL ENTITLED "ROCKETS rOBOTS AND RAY-GUNS!" HOPES WERE HIGH BUT AS FATE WOULD HAVE IT, IT TURNED INTO A CATASTROPHIC FAILURE. Which FORCED GLOOKMAN TO EEVENTUALLYSELL OFF THE NATIONALISTIC DYNASTY TO MEDIA MAGNATE TIMLEY-WORMER THUS FOREVER CHANGING THE BRAND NAME TO TIMELY COMICS.
THEY WERE NEVER THE SAME AFTER THAT AND CEASED ALL PUBLICATIONS AS OF 1980.


AS THE SEVENTIES WORE ON MORE TITLES WERE INTRODUCED BY MELMON, 'THE GODLESS SAVAGES' WAS A WINNER RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE. 'SHA-LA-LA-LA THE SHAMBLER' TOOK SOME GETING USED TO. WITH A NOD TO PULP FANTSAY WRITER H.P.HATEFULL AND MOD SIXTIES GIRL GROUP THE SHANGRA-LAS, IT WAS A WEIRD HYBRID OF GODS AND MONSTERS TRAGICALLY INTERTWINED WITH THE LIFE OF A RUNAWAY TEEN AGE GIRL NAMED ramona AND HER BOYFRIEND "SPAIN". THE LEADER OF THE PACK!   IT LASTED FOR SIX ISSUES BEFORE IT WAS REPLACED ON THE SCHEDULE BY 'THE CLAWS OF THE CAT-GIRL' BY HORACE WOODLY.


CLAWS OF THE CAT-GIRL WAS ANOTHER EXCITING NEW TREND IN COMICS IN THE 1970'S. SCIENCE-HEROES FOR GIRLS, DRAWN BY DIRTY OLD MEN! ALL TO OFTEN THE COMICS FOR GIRLS HAD BEEN SUBJUGATED TO THE GHETTO OF LOVE-GONE-WRONG BOOKS AND THE TYPICAL TEENAGE HUMOR GENRE. WITH "CLAWS" THE FORMULA WAS ONCE AGAIN FLIPPED ON IT'S EAR! EDITOR ROYCE TOMPKINS WAS HOT TO TRY SOMETHING NEW AND DIFFERENT AND WITH THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION OF 1970 AT IT'S CUSP. THOMKINS PULLED TOGETHER A TEAM OF OLD PROS AND YOUNG LIBERTINES ALIKE, TO PRODUCE A NEW SCIENCE-HERO COMIC FOR THE FEMALE MARKET. PUBLISHER HARRY FLYNT OF RUSTLER MAGAZINE FAME WAS BROUGHT IN TO PACKAGE AND DEVELOP AN ENTIRELY NEW CONCEPT IN COMICS FOR GIRLS! GONE WERE THE DAYS OF FASHON DESIGN, CARDBOARD CUT-OUT DOLLS AND FAKE ADVICE TO THE LOVELORN. THE CLAWS OF THE CAT-GIRL WAS A ROLLICKING 1970's BRALESS ROMP THRU THE STREETS AND SKYSCAPES OF MANHATTAN, WITH JUST ENUFF  PSUDO-LESBIAN-FEMINIST IDEOLOGY TO KEEP IT INTERESTING. TIMES WERE A-CHANGING ONCE AGAIN AND WITH THE NEW LIBERATED WOMAN ON THE MOVE IT WAS NO WONDER THAT THE  TEENAGE GIRLS OF THE 1970'S MOVED FROM THE KITCHEN STRAIGHT INTO THE Topless BARS of the eighties! OH..... DON'T BE FOOLED. THE BOYS LIKED IT TOO! IN 1974 NEWSWORK REPORTED THAT "THE CLAWS OF THE CAT-GIRL #1" SPILLED MORE seeds THAN LINDA LOVELAKE AND MARYLAND CHAMBERLIN COMBINED!  THERE WAS NO REASON TO KEEP THAT ONE IN A PROTECTIVE MYLAR BAG, IF YOU GET MY DRIFT! ,,,,,,SHE'S A SWINGER BABY!

MELMON HIMSELF WAS NON PLAUSED BY THE SUCESS OF CLAWS OF THE CAT-GIRL. TO HIM IT WAS JUST ANOTHER $1.53 PER PAGE SCRIPT, MANLEY S! MELMON'S HEAD WAS IN THE CLOUDS AS AMERICA'S BI-CENTENIAL QUICKLY APPROACHED. HE WAS PLANING SOMETHING BIG FOR THE COUNTRY'S BIRTHDAY. NOTICING THAT YOU COULD  WRAP A FLAG AROUND A TURD BACK THEN AND SOMEONE WOULD WAN'T TO BUY IT, MELMON'S HEAD WAS SPINNING WITH POSSIBILITIES.

MELMON HAD ACHIEVED THE POST OF EDITOR OF SKIDMORE COMICS IN january OF 1975 AND THE FIRST OF HIS SWEEPING CHANGES WAS IN DESIGN AND PACKAGING.  THE RESULT WAS BUNTING, LOADS AND LOADS AND LOADS OF RED WHITE AND BLUE BUNTING! AS SOON AS THE CHRISTMAS EDITIONS FOR 1975 WERE OUT,,,,,BUNTING WAS IN! YOU COULDN'T SWING A STICK IN A 1976 SKIDMORE COMICBOOK WITH OUT ENTANGLING YOURSELF IN BOATLOADS OF THE STUFF. IN KEEPING WITH THE NEW PATRIOTIC THEME. MELMON RE-INVENTED ANOTHER OLD FAVORITE, "NICK FURROR-THE UGLY AMERICAN!"
THE TIME WAS RIPE FOR SOME SERIOUS FLAG WAVIN' AND NOBODY DID IT QUITE AS SHAMELESSLY AS SKIDMORE! THE NOW CLASSIC COVER OF THE UGLY AMERICAN #1 DRAWN BY JOSE LuiZ SANTANA WAS SPOT ON! IT FEATURED NICK FURROR AND PRESIDENT NICK DIXION, INTERRUPTED FROM PLAYING A GAME OF PING PONG AND GIVING THE OLD ONE-TWO PUNCH TO NOne OTHER THAN CHINEESE LEADER, poppa om mau mau, SENDING HIM CARTWHEELING OVER THE GREAT WALL! ALL WITH THE PRE REQUISIT BUNTING ADORNED OVER EVERY THING THAT WASN'T A NEEDLESS COVER BLURB! IT WAS A PROUD MOMENT FOR MELMON!


THE ARTIST FOR THE UGLY AMERCAN WAS OF COURSE NONE OTHER THAN "THE CHAIRMAN' JAKE KLINEBERG WHO HAD BEEN WRAPING UP TURDS IN THE AMERICAN FLAG SINCE COMICS BEGAN,AND WOULD CONTINUE TO DO SO UNTIL HIS DEATH. IF YOU WANTED NEEDLESS PANDERING AND HOOPLA...... YOU NEEDED KLINEBERG! AND MANELY S! MELMON KNEW THAT WELL. THEIR SPECIAL, major disaster BI-CENTENIAL BATTLES TREASURY  EDITION WAS A THING TO BEHOLD! KLINEBERG'S ART WAS CHANGING IN MID SEVENTIES, BECOMING DISTORTED AND SCRATCHY, MUCH OF THIS CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO KLINEBERG'S INKER OF CHOICE VINCENT (BLIND VINNIE) STILETTO..... HOWEVER YOU CAN SEE THE CHANGES CLEARLY IN THE PENCIL STAGES OF HIS ART, SOMETHING WAS GOING ON IN THE HEAD JAKE KLINEBERG. SOMETHING THAT THE WORLD JUST WAS NOT READY FOR YET, WELL EVERYONE BUT MANLEY S! MELMON.

WORKING IN THE PATTENTED SKIDMORE METHOD OF
 STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE, IT WAS MELMON  WHO WAS QUICK TO SUGEST TO KLINEBERG THAT A BOOK FULL OF PIN UP PAGES, DIAGRAMS OF SECRET HIDE OUTS AND PUZZLE PAGES COULD CUT HIS TIME IN HALF AND NOT SERIOUSLY ENDANGER THE SALES OF ANY KIND OF GIANT SIZED OR ANNUAL COMIC BOOK. IT WAS A REVELATION FOR KLINEBERG. TO PITCH IN MELMON WROTE ONE OF THE MOST DISJOINTED..... TWISTED, CIRCLUARLY ILLOGICAL SCRIPTS OF HIS CARRER. A TRICK THAT "THE CHAIRMAN" WAS QUICK TO PICK UP ON AND USED TO GREAT EFFECT ON HIS NEXT PROJECT- "THE NOCTURNALS"

TRUTH BE TOLD ON THE NOCTURNALS,  KLINEBERG MANAGED TO OUT-MELMON, MELMON  BY STICKING IN LOADS OF EXCLAMATION "POINTS" AND "QUOTATION" MARKS! IN ALL THE WRONG "PLACES"!!!! GIVING THE STORY THAT, WOUND WAY TOO TIGHT, CRACKPOT "MANIFESTO" FEEL THAT KLINEBERG WAS ALWAYS TRYING TO ACHEVE in his work.


THE KIDS ATE IT UP!
 BUT INTERNALLY THERE WERE PROBLEMS AT SKIDMORE COMICS. AFTER THE DEATH OF MEL SKIDMORE IN 1973. ALL SKIDMORE PROPERTIES WERE CONSOLIDATED INTO THE SKIDMORE FAMILY TRUST. SKIP SKIDMORE WHO HAD BEEN DIRECTING THE FORTUNE COOKIE INSERT DIVISION OF SKIDMORE NOW WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COMICS DIVISON AS WELL.
IN 1978 THE TRANCE-LUX ANIMATION STUDIO WERE WINDING DOWN THEIR PRODUCTION ON THE SATURDAY MORNING ABRAXAS CARTOON, AND WERE EAGER TO START PRODUCTION ON A NEWLY REVAMPED VERSION OF THE ONCE SUCCESSFUL SPIDORA SUPER STORIES. UNEARTHLY TALES OF ABRAXAS HAD SEEMED TO RUN IT'S COURSE AND ANOTHER REVAMPING OF SPIDORA WOULD AT LEAST SEEM NEW AND ORIGINAL TO A FOREVER GROWNG ARMY OF 8 YEAR OLD SKIDMORE FANS. DETAILS ARE STILL SKEThCHY AT BEST BUT BY ALL ACOUNTS SKIP SKIDMORE WOULD SIGN ANY PAPER THAT YOU PUT IN FRONT OF HIM. HE WENT FINANCIALLY OVERBOARD WITH A LINE OF MICRO WORLD STICKERS AND TRADING CARDS AND LUNCH BOXES. TO WHICH JAKE KLINEBERG NEVER SAW A DIME OF, AND THRU A SERIES OF LEGAL ENTANGLEMENTS LOST CONTROLLING INTEREST IN THE SKIDMORE COMICS LINE TO A SERIES OF FLY BY NIGHT OPERATORS AND MIDDLE MEN.

just before the slow and ppainfulfive year death spiral of skidmore comics, Melmon wrote what many consider a minor classic. in the revamped, New IMPOSTERS! With Melmon's take over of the book from writer, Bill Bollingwather, Melmon introduced mOnsieur Excelsior's new rag tag team of science heroes and celebrity impersonators who's mission was to destroy the propaganda machine of the Anti-Utopian Conspiracy and save america itself from the clutches of commercialitic consumerism! they did all right for a while, infiltrating many top television shows and comicbooks of the day. however the team did eventually succumb to the typical traps that ensnare hollywood and the rot and decay infested the team and even Skidmore Comics it's self! Skip Skidmore's  licensing deals were growing out of control! By late 1978 only the rock group KISS would out do Skidmore in their attempts to ccommercializeevery piece of property they owned. the vultures were circling over Skidmore. One could almost see and feel the Implosion coming, it was a really greedy time for comic books, cerial makers, toy manufactures and rock bands alike. We can only thank God that we survived it!

MANELY S! MELMON HAD BOXED SEATS TO THE WHOLE DEBACLE, AND HE COULD SEE THE WRITING ON THE WALL. AFTER  SOME DISCUSSIONS WITH TRANCE-LUX STUDIO (WHO NOW ON PAPER OWNED PRACTICALLY HALF OF THE SKIDMORE PROPERTIES) HE QUIETLY WRAPED UP HIS RUN ON THE SWORD AND SANDAL EPIC 'THE BALEFUL BITCH-SLAP OF BLACK BATHSHEBA' AND EXITED THE DOORS OF SKIDMORE COMICS FOREVER.
Final Days at Skidmore Melmon and Colorist Cindy Snowjob

SKIDMORE WOULD CONTINUE TO PRINT CERAL BOXES AND CHINESE FORTUNE COOKIE INSERTS along with a few reprint comics UNTIL 1983 BUT THE OLD P.K.DICK PRESSES BECAME OLD AND UNRESPONSIVE WITH OUT THE NIGHTLY RITUAL OF PRINTING COMIC BOOKS, TOWARD THE END OF THEiR DAYS IT IS SAID THAT THE MACHINES HAD DEVELOPED A MIND OF THEIR OWN AND WOULD SPIT OUT RANDOM OLD COMIC PAGES UNEXPECTEDLY SENDING THEM CAREENING ACROSS THE SKIDMORE WAREHOUSE FLOOR WITHOUT RHYME OR REASON AS THEY SHORTED OUT wireing AND CAUSED ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS FOR BLOCKS AROUND THE SKIDMORE PLANT.

MANLEY S! MELMON KICKED AROUND THE UNDERGROUND COMIX COMMUNITY FOR A FEW YEARS AFTER THE DEMISE OF SKIDMORE AND MANY OLD FANS FOLLOWED. BUT BY THE END OF THE 1980'S MELMON HAD, HAD HIS FILL OF COMICS. HE RETIRED TO ARIZONA AND NOW WRITES CRIME FICTION NOVELS UNDER THE PEN NAME CARY BATES.

Real World Disclaimer

Real World Disclaimer.......for readers on Earth prime, Earth primate, and Earth X-X-Dumb.

We've gotten a hell of a lot of disturbing mail lately, where folks are asking me just where the heck they can get their Skidmore comics? Seasoned collectors, who should really know better, claim they don't remember them and a few people out there have even accused me of simply putting these comics into photoshop or something and screwing around with the covers of obscure foreign comics! Nothing could be further from the truth! I don't even know how to work the photoshop program that well and really just prefer the standard paint box program that comes on all PC's. That being said this whole Skidmore comics Blog is really just and artistic excersise in Bunkum, Bull DaDa and Tom Foolery with a bunch of Weird Old Comic Books! And a minor theme of this story happens to the asking of the age old science-fictional question, that even comic book publisher to this day are asking themselves; 'just what is copyright infringement, and when does the universal laws of PARODY over ride such nonsensical laws and become basically a get out of jail FREE card when you go up against a corporate media giant in fedral court'? It's a tough question.Especially when all the lawyers  for corporate giants go out to lunch at the country club with the judge and well um.... hopefully that won't happen now!  For chumps like me ARTISTIC EXPRESSION is about all we got, and a big part of ARTISTIC EXPRESSION around here includes an ungodly amount of PARODY. because really if you can't laugh at it all you'd probably just sit around all day reading old Marvel Two-In-One comics and questioning your own sanity! I've been there, it's no fun! Except for when The Thing started to clobber the shit out of Ghost Rider! That was kinda fun.
So my advice to you my friend is to just sit back, read your blogs and forget all about collecting Skidmore comics! Really! For one thing they are hard as hell to find in this dimension! Forget E-bay. they banned all Skidmore comics related material years ago! Stick to REAL COMIC BOOKS..... the kind kids (and 50 year old men) Like! And save yourself the headache of never being able to complete your whole run of REVENGE SQUAD or even the French version of Monsieur Excelsior! You should all realise by now that the whole comic book collectors market is a total sham to begin with and free your minds from such mundane completest exercises in anal retention! but if you happen to find a copy of FATMAN The Human Flying Saucer #3 let me know, quick! It had low distribution.

Other then that, I would like to remind you that below every post there is a comments section that you can click on to. You don't have to fill up my damn mailbox with inane questions like "Who's Stronger, The Savage Sub-Hu-Man of Major Disaster?" (The Sub-Hu-Man is technical Stronger but that doesn't necessarily mean he would win a battle with Major D or anything! Don't you know Nuthin' Kid?)
Lastly, is that even a word? Lastly? Well it is now!  Let me clue you in to some spectacular super science features that are bound to come up on the blog (after I get done with all the artist and writers bio's)
Skidmore's "OF THE APES" series was and extremely popular run of comics all through the seventies and that will soon be dealt with extensively. From Manny Stallman of the Apes, to the final days of ARTIE SIMIK of the Apes! You can even expect a full explanation for the mysterious John Teshla -Time Traveler! Also a full review of spin off series Kamanchi The Last Girl on Earth! Look for it soon, then remind me I once said all this!

A whole lot of masked detective work has gone into tracking down the Bootleg Skidmore Comics from around the world! See how poor coimc bookless countries from arouond the world uniquely  interpet copyright infringement laws and guffaw at the clueless treatment for some of Skidmore's Best Selling Characters!
The French Invasion! A comprehensive essay on the influence of some of the French bootleg Skidmore comics!, on the REAL Skidmore comics! The Origin of Monsieur Excelsior!  What's Up with The Westchester Weirdo's?  Who is Doc Puzzler? Find out as soon as I can think of more funny French Jokes!
And a look at Skidmore's Distinguished Competition, Nationalistic Comics! It's gonna have Mervin Glookman in it and everything! Everything you wanted to know about GOOBERMAN! and WET-WILLY of the NYPD. wow!
Plus bio's on Inker Sally Tane! Jake 'the chairman" Klineberg, and a visit with Skip Skidmore circa 1977.plus a whole bunch of stuff I forgot about.
Other then that keep those Cease and Desist Orders coming! They make excellent rolling papers when I run out of them here in international waters, where I post this stuff.

Now go get a san'wich and get ready for Manley S! Melmon, Worlds Greatest Comic Book Writer.......or if your reading it backwards get ready for The Incredibly Strange Saga of Bill Tso! either way it kinda works. but the sandwich part is essential! trust me.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

the Big Build Up for The Incredibly Strange Saga of Bill Tso

Bill Tso was a strange man. brilliant, but a strange man. his first writing credits began to appear around 1949 and for the most part he wrote a pretty decent crime-noir comic. in top selling crime comic, 'g'won.......call the cops!' tso made 'em grim and bloody. his stories swam in coruption and sweat. moody thrillers that centered around dive bars and opium dens, written with the voice of one who knew all too well the unsavory addictions of these nefarious vices, and the crimes they breed.


born in Shang hi, tso emigrated to the united states shortly after ww2, alegidly as a stowaway aboard a Scandinavian freighter! bill tso was a man of many talents not only a good writer and accomplished competitive eater, bill was a master robot builder. yet some say sadly, shunned by the world of science. his first robotic creation dubbed by Tso, Anihila-tron 5000 was destroyed by a public out cry and riot in july 1950. the world simply was not ready for bill Tso.

well if america and the world of robotic engineering was not yet ready for Tso, there was always the comics! yet there again tso met with a bitter crushing defeat. 1n 1952 Skidmore began with their 'new decision' line of books. titles like scintillating science stories and strange physics were made for bill Tso! his knowledge of the subject matter was was boundless and his design skills were impecible. if a kid could read in between the lines of these stores he could almost build his own thermo nucular device! and they practically did! comics were selling as hot as newly minted transistors to the teenagers across america. with a shop bench in the garage and a copy of strange physics, kids began soldering away with reckless abandon. constructing hoover cars, ray guns, chemical bombs and self replicating artificial intelligence with dangerous regularity. in 1953 a boy in san diego  california built and deployed a dangerous robot called Killbot, that he lost control of after annihilating  his local high school.the national guard had to be called in, early 1954 saw a 16 year old youth in new orleans built a death ray gun that took out a quarter of the krewe of mokus parade during mardi gras. later that year five boys were killed by a rocket explosion in a garage in dayton ohio. numerous other lab accidents and near misses were reported, all had been influenced by the science comics!



the comics themselves were very good sellers and enjoyed by all walks of life.  praised by the country's top scientists and astro physicists, who themselves were pounding away at the same problems during the early days of the space race. but there were grumblings too, do gooder and safety groups were getting irate and with the assistance of crackpot psychologist dr. phil worsening, managed to stir up enough to public out cry to eventually ban science comics in late 1955. tso was heartbroken. he muddled thru the late fifties writing Abraxis in adventure into weirdness. the tone of the stories began somewhat subdued due to strict comics code enforcement, but bill tso slowly turned a now earthbound abraxis into a comedy gem that is still remembered fondly by some fans today. others, eh,....not so much.

however tso could not leave robotics alone, he secretly began construction of a new version of his anilhlitron design. new developments in transistors along with tso's advanced research in micro processing proved successful once again.   Tso along with his robotic assistants created an outstandingly superior version of the anihilitron. the result was challenges from the illegal robot death match contenders. outlawed virtually world wide, robot death matches were clandestinely held in havana cuba once a year. 1959 was the year that saw bill tso win the competition with his anihilitron 10.000 but it also was the year he decided to give up making robots forever and concentrate on his comicbook writing. after the escape of the anihilitron unit during shipment back to the united states. bill decided it was best to let such things go and return to comics wholeheartedly. after all the mystery men were getting popular again!

'Meet the strangers' was one of bill tso's better creations, a dark and creepy metaphysical tale about the psychic explorers of atlantis and the worlds they tamed! yet it is nowhere near as well known as  his run on, Mister Wolverbone- werewolf by rights! featured in SHOWBOAT comics, starting in the fall of of 1959. it won him several fan favorite awards and the series is remembered for the introduction of his icy cold villain, Ripsaw!




As the sixties began Bill Tso began to hit a stride.
bill's tenure on mystic knights of the mystery school is among some of the best storytelling in that titles long history. the science-heroes were taking off and Bill Tso took off right with them. he seemed to really get into the whole spirit of things with, the incredible mister richter! geology was always an interest of tso and with all those huge underground caverns that Richter plowed thru Tso came up with some mighty big props to showcase in science-hero trophy rooms forever! to this day science heroes and fans alike cherish those giant penny's and little bottled city's that clutter up diagrams of secret hideouts! yes Bill Tso was on a roll!


by the mid 1970's Bill Tso's interest turned to competitive eating, he was a familiar  face at the fourth of july national hot dog eating championship each year and even won in 77' and 79' other milestones for tso include a couple of chili cook offs in texas and monstrous five pound hamburger that he encountered outside of Richmond va. few had been able to finish the burger but bill packed it away with a few Irish beers and had some pie for desert! Skip Skidmore even worked up a sponsorship deal with Hostall, the makers of Twinkels and the all the fruit pies, where bill would not only write all the fruit pie advertisements in the skidmore comics but he would also set the record in eating them! no small feet. having the world record holding fruit pie eater writing the ad's would give a  competitive edge to the lack luster fruit pie industry and really give it a  shot in the arm that it desperately needed!
all that eating was all fine and well but there were comicbooks to be written and the science-hero was never done better than in this period by tso, when tso went into his wild and humorous explanations on say, partial psychics or rocket technology. it was fascinating! Tso had an inate understanding of the stuff and it showed. no one really knows what happened to Bill Tso, he disappeared as mysteriously as when he arrived. last seen bill tso had ballooned up to 400 pounds, and was winning a pinball tournament in times square, just before Skidmore went to the all classic re-print format. then he seemed to disappear.

there are many great strips written by Bill Tso. over half of which are uncredited, but they are easy to pick out if you are looking for them, he had his own unique voice that put Skidmore in the major leagues of comics and left it there until it's demise due to poor licensing deals.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015


An interview with mel skidmore-1972 transcribed from a cassette tape found in the old offices of the skidmore fan club. unfortunately the first 15 mins. of the tape was recorded over with the first side of an Emerson Lake and Palmer record (and it wasn't even that good!)We pick up the conversation in mid conversation with Mel Skidmore speaking.....

well it wasn't always like this,,, these days the fortune cookie presses are running most of the time. if not them were  printing up cereal boxes, we run the comics at night now. where they wont offend our more sensitive employees. when we had the plant over the bowling alley in the old days it was the comics! comics! comics!..... none of this damn inteulectual egghead stuff like today either. good old mystery men......ghosts, goblins, demons and the undead! ya know comics that kids could really sink their teeth into.....something to inspire em to give there kid brother a good whap inna head, or inspire a kid to give out a  good old fashoned indian sun burn or swirlee!......sure we gave em that month after month. and you know what? it sure toughened em up!.....you could always tell a comic reading kid from the dopes who always had their  nose in some schoolbook! they just seemed to carry themselves different or something........

q; i understand that back in the day you used to write a few abraxis tales yourself.


a; write em? hell i invented em! we used to sell almost a million copies of the old equonox quarterly's at a clip! but ya gotta remember that things was different then, this was before the war and then it was just like printing money. they were sold before they even went to press. today..... i dunno, i can't even understand what the hell is going on with the goddamn zeta beams and cosmic rays and whatnot. i let melmon figgure it out. he speeks the kids language. what the hell do i know anymore?

q; and you drew a bit in early days too didn't you? i've tracked down some examples that have been puzzeling historians for years.......(shows him full page splash from sub zero #4 )

a; jeeze .....yea it looks like mine. probably had to be done at the last minuite cuz of some old hack slackin' off........now this spot illo. i remember doin' over the bowlin'alley when we used to have bill tso over here......musta been around 43? 44?.......i dunno comics was different then. not as science-y as today. our only real competition was sha-zoom that forcett was putting out. and i sued the hell out em! then sha-zoom went to sha-zit!.... for a time there cease and desist orders were flying out the door more often than the amazing avian! don't remember that one? well yea....it was a long time ago. before the new decsion books even.
an we finaly bought out the sha-zoom character when the forcett brothers quit the comics buisness alltogether.


q; I wanted you ask you about the new decision books.....you were.....

a; oh the new decision titles were just a product of their times. as much as all thoes old horror books are loved to this day.......it was the damn true science books that nearly did us in. I blame in on influence of the college crowd, who were getting into comics at the time, some these long hairs and over educated shit heads had some mighty wild ideas about what kids wanted to see, of course the crime comics were doing extreemly well then, but they were meant for an older crowd......some thing for a boy about 15 or 17 .......something they could enjoy after a night of knocking off the corner liquor store or mabey while they was in prison or juvie....... boy you wouldnt believe the subscriptions to prisons alone on thoes books! they did have a certain appeal......no denying that!

q; but the science books...... they were really scapegoated.....they....

a; oh the goddamn science books....i'll never hear the end of it! thing is today they seem almost reviered. who can tell whats going to be popular.....or when. i can remember a time we were hedging our bets toward, true tales of hobo's! addiction, alcholism.....insanity....whores......general madness .....stuff like that. we had this writer once named henry chinaski.......swore up and down that these kinds of stories would click...... where is he now? writing for one of thoes underground newspapers in l.a. last i heard.......probably still drunk......i doubt he'll ever amount to anything.......but at least there was no damn science in it...... and he was kinda good in his way......damn shame.


q; the horror books went on to achieve  financial and critical sucess, how do you think that came to be?

a; well i can tell you a couple of things that the horror comics got that most other comics don't......and thats death.....and lots of it! gore! bloodshead......decapitations! the general fear of the unknown.....even the mystery men comics had that,,,,,we just expanded on that idea. the one that really put us over with that one was- "a corpse is a corpse, of course, of course!" we published in an issue of screaming bloody murder comics. they even made a tv pilot out of that one......but by the end of it.... it turned into a comedy about a guy and a horse...... i shit you not.

q; many renound artist worked on "screaming" along with the romance title 'revoltin' developments' ........ i was wondering if you wouldn't mind commenting on some of the finer talent that came thru the doors .....

a; sure,,,,what about em?


q; well..... horace woodly for one,,,,,,

a; woodly,,,,,, sheesh! yea he was a real talent......but allathe time with the space stuff,,,,, he was real a nut about it, with all of the knobs and dials,,,dynamc lighting,,,,the whole schmere.......thing about it though he never quite understood that leather spacesuits would just disentigrate in space....... made for a helluva pichter though....... and could he draw a female ass! hips.....boobs, they was right there where they were supposed to be......thats what probably sold all thoes tru-science comics.......not the skeematics and wireing and nuts and bolts and whatever the hell else was in there.......good ol' tits and ass......who who would imagine it would sell.....crazy goddamn world!


q; steven dio, did some time at skidmore......i understand he has recently returned to revamp doctor dreadnaught.......

a; yea! dio's back! and skidmore has him! steve is really like the last of the old school comic artist, very professional very philosophic,,,,, you can put anything down in front of steve and he'll bat it out of the park...... no matter what the subject matter is! lets see they just brought the new dreadnaught comic down yesterday.......oh yea....i got it here......."a real turned on swinger for the super seventies.......take a trip with.........doc dreadnaught!".........well...ummmm.....                       i guess.........ummmmm.....i guess i haven't seen this one in a while........ what the hell?..... i think i'll be having a confrere with steven dio soon....... very soon.


Q; you were one of the prime motovaters for the creators code a few years back.....could you expand on the workings of that movement?

a; well the creators code came about because we were saddled with these damn corner boxes that you see on all of the comics.....it never occured to us that you simply don't need them......you could really get rid of them if you wanted to...... but.....yea, i know ......hindsight!.......well for some time we were kind of between a rock and a hard place with the original comics code being investigated for rackettering and un-american activities in general. they was giving the industry a black eye. so's we got this big blank box up inna corner of all our comics, ya see......it just wasn't very appealing. we tried puttin the price in there.....tried putting a close up of mysterio diablo in there at one point......but nothing seemed to work quite right. we were confounded! only that official looking stamp of imaginary government approval seemed to look right.....and they (the code) were being raked across the coals in kangeroo court,,,,,,the poor bastards.....but they brought it on themselves, especially dolt comics. with their mcginnty mouse in dolt whizney's comics and stories!
so like i said it was the talk of the industry,,,,,, what the hell are we going to do with these damn empty boxes on the covers? nobody could figgure it out, well ledgend has it that one night while drawing a cover for nationalistic's iron sam comic, jake klineberg slyly inserted the name of the then unknown creators code up there in that stupid little box that we are so used to on our comics. after that was published .....then...... the meetings were held.....unions organised and the general quality of comics went up a notch again....... it was more than just a pledge to quality and craftsmanship....... it was a promise to the parents of america that their childrens reading material would never be watered down again!...... and so far it's worked! not to mention it solved the problem of filling up thoes little boxes...... but thats what good comicbook artists do......fill boxes! same could be said true of undertakers.....i guess.



and on that note our visit with mel skidmore would end. by the end of the year he would be dead at the age of 72. the family soldiered on for 10 more hectic years under the leadership of son skip skidmore but after going to an all classic reprint series for the last 8 months, one could see the writing on the wall......the age of skidmore was more than in decline, it was as dead as doctor dreadnaught! over the years there have been many a court battle over ownership of the skidmore properties due to skip's many licensing deals, even the spidora character was made into a saturday morning cartoon for girls and foolishly bartered off in a toy/made for tv movie deal in 1978. currently there are 27 active lawsuits against skip skidmore and an investigation is pending due to an unexpected fire at the old skidmore wherehouse. where it is reported that hundreds of thousands of pages of original art have gone up in flames

Monday, August 17, 2015

the total indifference of the colorist

  BUNNY ODEMS  WORKED AT GLOBE COLORING AND CHEMICAL PLANT IN DERBY CONN. (WHERE NATIONALISTIC COMICS AMONG OTHERS WERE PRINTED) SHE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GREAT COMICBOOK SCARE OF 1963 IN WHICH 55 GALLONS OF STRONTIUM WAS MIXED INTO THE LIGHT PURPLE INK! NORMALLY IT WOULDN'T MATTER THAT MUCH AS THE AMOUNT OF LIGHT PURPLE WAS MINIMMUMLY USED IN MOST COMICS, BUT THAT DAY AT GLOBE THEY WERE PRINTING NATIONALISTIC'S BEST SELLING JUNGLE COMIC, CONNIE OF THE CONGO. THAT ISSUE ( #36) HAD TAKEN PLACE IN THE DEEPEST DARKEST PART  OF AFRICA, WAKOMBA! THE AMOUNT OF AFRICAN NATIVES IN THE COMICBOOK WAS OFF THE CHARTS, REQUIRING AN UNGODLY AMOUNT OF LIGHT PURPLE INK! THE COMICBOOK WAS NEARLY GLOWING WITH LIGHT PURPLE AND HIGHLY RADIOACTIVE RAYS BY THE TIME IT WAS BOUND AND TRIMMED JUST BEFORE SHIPPING OUT!

ONLY THE PRELIMINARY TEST PRESSINGS MADE IT OUT OF THE PLANT, TO NATIONALISTIC COMICS. MERVIN GLOOKMAN LOOKED OVER THE BOOKS QUICKLY AND THEN RAN DOWN TO THE NEWSSTAND ON THE CORNER. NEVER MISSING AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A QUICK BUCK, GLOOKMAN WOULD SELL ALL OF HIS TEST PRESSINGS TO HIS BUDDY RUPERT MERDICK WHO RAN THE NEWSSTAND, FOR HALF OFF OF THE COVER PRICE. ABOUT 50 COPIES OF CONNIE OF THE CONGO MADE IT OUT TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC WHEN THE RADIATION SICKNESSES BEGAN TO POP UP AROUND DERBY AND MANHATTAN. THE C.D.C. WAS QUICK TO TRACK DOWN THE SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM AND ONLY 2 KIDS DIED FROM THE SLIGHT OVER SITE. STRANGE THING IS THAT EVERYONE WHO WAS ASSOCIATED WITH THE PRINTING OF THE BOOK OR WHO HAD EVEN GLANCED THRU IT WAS AFFECTED. THE RESULT WAS THEIR SKIN BECOMING A LIGHT PURPLE FOR ABOUT A MONTH! GLOOKMAN HIMSELF WAS A DISTURBING SHADE OF MAUVE FOR ABOUT SIX MONTHS IN 1963 AS THE BOOKS SAT ONLY ABOUT A FOOT AWAY FROM HIM ALL DAY ON THE EDGE OF HIS BIG EXECUTIVE TYPE DESK, THAT HE NORMALY ONLY PLAYED DESKTOP FOOTBALL ON OR SET UP SOME ARMY MEN FOR A BIG BATTLE, IN BETWEEN YELLING AT VARIOUS MEMBERS OF HIS COMICS BULLPEN.
AS A RESULT OF ALL THIS COMICBOOK RADIATION POISONING, A COMICBOOK SCARE BEGAN. FUELED BY THE PUBLISHERS OF SLICK MAGAZINES AND SENSATIONAL TELEVISION REPORTS AND "DOCUMENTARIES" A NATIONWIDE PANIC WAS INSTITUTED BY ANGRY MOTHER GROUPS AND DO-GOODERS OF ALL STRIPES, AGAINST THE COMICBOOK INDUSTRY! THE COMICS CODE OF THE TIME WAS QUICK TO STEP IN TO THE DEBATE AND MANDATED THAT PEOPLE OF THE NEGRO PERSUASION WOULD NOW BE COLORED IN VARIOUS SHADES OF BROWN AS GOD INTENDED INSTEAD OF A LIGHT PURPLE, THAT THEY HAD BEEN COLORED IN SINCE COMICBOOKS BEGAN! OF COURSE BUNNY LOST HER JOB AT GLOBE COLORING AND CHEMICAL OVER THE WHOLE MESS. IT REALLY DIDN'T MATTER THAT MUCH TO HER THOUGH. SHE WAS ITCHING TO GET OUT OF CONNECTICUT AND MOVE TO NEW YORK CITY (WHERE LIFE WAS REALLY HIP!) IT ONLY TOOK HER 2 DAYS TO BE HIRED ON AT NATIONALISTIC COMICS AS AN IN-HOUSE COLORIST! A NOW TOTALLY FUCHSIA MERVIN GLOOKMAN HIMSELF HAD HIRED HER, ALL THE WHILE COMPLAINING ABOUT THE COLORING AT GLOBE! IT WAS UNBEKNOWNST TO GLOOKMAN FOR YEARS THAT HE HIRED ON THE CAUSE OF ALL THE RADIATION SICKNESS AND LAWSUITS. SHE DIDN'T LAST LONG AT NATIONALISTIC THOUGH. ABOUT 6 WEEKS INTO HER EMPLOYMENT SHE QUIT AND JOINED THE STAFF OF SKIDMORE COMICS (WHERE EVERYBODY KNEW HER SECRET BUT DECIDED TO JUST KEEP QUIET ABOUT IT. REALLY MIXING IN RADIOACTIVE STRONTIUM IN WITH LIGHT PURPLE INK COULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE WHO WORKED IN A COMICBOOK COLORING-TOXIC CHEMICAL PLANT.) A FEW YEARS LATER WHEN SOMEONE FINALLY CLUED IN MERVIN GLOOKMAN IN, AS TO WHAT REALLY WENT DOWN IN 1963, HE WAS FURIOUS! IN A FIT OF RAGE HE PRODUCED THE BUNNY ODEMS ADVERTISEMENTS AND BOUGHT AD SPACE IN EVERY SKIDMORE COMIC FOR SIX MONTHS! HE VICIOUSLY RAN THE AD IN SKIDMORE AND NATIONALISTIC COMICS AND MADE  A SHIT TON OF PRANK PHONE CALLS TO THE COLORING DEPARTMENT OF SKIDMORE IN AN ATTEMPT TO GET EVEN WITH BUNNY ODEMS! SHE DIDN'T GIVE A RATS ASS ABOUT MERVIN GLOOKMAN AND WAS KIND OF AMUSED OVER THE WHOLE THING BY THE TIME GLOOKMAN STARTED UP WITH THE PERSONAL ATTACKS. TO HER HE WAS JUST ANOTHER SQUARE FROM DELAWARE, AND REALLY.... HE KINDA WAS!
AFTER THE BREW HA HA DIED DOWN, SKIDMORE RELEASED AMY WARHOL- THE COLORIST! A COMICBOOK INSPIRED BY THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF BUNNY ODEMS! AND YOU THOUGHT COLORISTS HAD A BORING JOB. HUH?

AS A SIDE NOTE IT IS WORTH SAYING THAT CONNIE OF THE CONGO #36 IS NOW A HIGHLY DESIRED YET DEADLY PRIZE COMICBOOK ON THE COLLECTORS MARKET TODAY! COMPLETES ARE REGULARLY DRIVEN NUTS OVER THE RARITY OF THIS HIGHLY COVETED AND STILL HIGHLY RADIOACTIVE COMIC! FIVE KNOWN COPIES ARE KNOWN TO EXIST, KEPT IN LITTLE MYLAR AND LEAD COMICBOOK TOMBS, HERMETICALLY SEALED FOR YOUR PROTECTION. STRANGE FACT ABOUT THAT BOOK IS THAT NO ONE NOW CAN REMEMBER IT'S CONTENT! THE ONE COLLECTOR THAT ACTUALLY BROKE THE SACRED SEAL ON HIS 9.3 RATED COPY OF CONNIE, TURNED BRIGHT PURPLE AND DIED WITH IN MINUTES OF READING THE COMIC, TAKING THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOK TO HIS GRAVE WITH HIM. NOW THAT'S A DEDICATED COMICBOOK FAN!


Saturday, August 15, 2015

by 1940 skidmore had a bonafied hit with doctor dreadnaught, a grim, ghostly vengance driven corpse of a crime fighter. the book seemed to tap into the current quazi-mystical experience that was en vouge shortly after the great depression in america.                                                                                                            for whatever the reason, (as this is still a highly debated topic ) the country began to gain strength and comfort from these idealized theological power fantasy's.
soon ancient tomes like the bardo thodal and i ching, were selling like hotcakes!
more conservitive members of society were enthusiastically entrenched with the workings of  aliester crowley and his church of thelema, or the theosiphist society.......as this this type of philosophy was in essence judeo-christian based and therefore much easier to digest.
but it was the comics that made skidmore into the empire it became. soon even more of those mystical mystery men were flooding the  newstands and corner stores across america. titles like mysterio diablo and spidora were good solid sellers. adventures into weirdness was skidmore's second best seller featuring the man from the forbidden dimension, abraxas!

at this point mel skidmore was still enthusiastic about the comics. he even penned the first half dozen abraxis tales in the big (96 page, squarebound) cosmicly supercharged, equonox quarterly comics. along with the illustrations that went along with the text pieces that were then required in all comics.

what set skidmore publishing apart from the rest of the field was the sheer power of the art. with a stable of artists such as horace woodly, jack chamberlin and franz feringetti, you couldn't go wrong. soon others joined
in like "the abominable" gregg ingress and old pros such as steven dio and h.g. lieber ( who had been drawing comics since there inception in 1938) filled the ranks.

but it was the acquisition of the man known as "the chairman" jake klineberg, that set the industry on fire in 1956.

1956 was a booming time in comics. the mysterymen died out a natural death, and horror, crime and true science titles were capturing the hearts of post ww2 america.

with comics quickly recognized as a unique american art form sometimes called "the baby brother of jazz" for it's syncopated beats and visual flights of imagination and whimsy, the public loved the horror and crime books! no doubt, they sold in the millions. some minor publishers such as forsett and aac comics flooded the market. even going so far as to publish "tales of the tormented" as a weekly for a short period of time,

but those calling for censorship in the comics were most disturbed by the "true science" variety.

paranoia over a fascist plot was a strong motivational factor in banning the science comics of the mid 50's.

what started out so well with the theologically based mysterymen books and the recent best selling and critically acclaimed horror comics was soon to be forgotten, as the furor over these divisive and socialy repugnant "science" comics hit the stands and began to soar in sales.

for one thing these comics encouraged kids to distain things like sports and rugged hooliganism an favor of things like research and scientific study. it was feared that a nation of eggheaded intellectuals would soon inherit the earth. whats more is that this line of thinking would render the heart felt and beloved metaphysical beliefs of most Americans merely a moot point, if one were inclined to pursue this line of thinking to it's logical conclusion.

everyone seemed to have a different opinion about it and the debate raged on until the eventual ban on all science comics in 1955.

a short lived title...."the cosmic crusades" [ a group of scientifically advanced knight templars thrust into space] was published by skidmore as some kind of appeasement to public opinion, but the kids hated it and it only lasted 3 issues. being neither fish nor fowl, it is now known as skidmores greatest failure and nearly bankrupt the company. after this mel skidmore became disillusioned with comics and started to spend more time with the cereal box division of his printing and publishing empire.

1963 was the year that mel skidmore hired a brash young writer named manley s! melmon. in 63 and 64 he was still learning the ropes, but by 1970 he would virtually own the industry with his defiant "Science Hero" comics.

but first you must know about the short and ill fated comics code and it's eventual collapse in 1966.( giving birth to the now coveted, creators code that still rides on the inside covers of bootleg Skidmore comic books to this day)

magazine articals like 'something funny is going on in the comics' in the ladies home urinal companion and 'who's laughing now?' in bitter homes and publishing,  began to appear, deriding comics. it's interesting to note that mundane and utterly banal, slick magazines were in their death throws anyway and had nothing to lose by demonizing comicbooks who were now selling in figures they could only dream of.

in fact on the cover of what turned out to be the final issue of timely, an old skidmore pin-up of doctor dreadnaught smashing the laboratory of his arch foe professor nemesis was repourposed...with the headline ...."what ever happened to all americas heroes?......why the comics aren't fun anymore."

never the less do-gooder groups and knee jerk politically correct conservatives aligned behind closed doors with the powers that be, to concoct a general atmosphere of anti-intellectualism that pervaded thru out the nation.

but with the on set of 1966 that became of little concern. scientific thought had gained a grudgingly respect in thoes short months of ww3 by perfecting and weponizing atomic energy. what had once been only a safe and effective fuel source had now become a massively destructive weapon. a weapon that cut our time at war down to months after the fire bombing of hiroshima, and nagasaki again and finally rome. the real cause of all of humanity's problems.

after the war america seemed nostalgic for the simpler times and comics went right along with the trend by re-inventing the old heroes of the mysterymen days. mysterio diablo jr. was first presented in showboat comics 58  feb. 1966.
although religated to the back pages for nearly a decade, doctor dreadnaught was still dead and well in adventures into weirdness. and over in, into oblivion comics a new thinly disguised scientific hero was gaining popularity. his name was adam o'blivion.

science was still a respected tabu in the comics field and it was still technically illegal to have the word science on the title of a comic.

in ways this created better writers, as they learned  circumlocution and disguise scientific based fact into the innocuous terror tales of the literally dieing horror comics and coyly intruduced them into the new mysterymen books. a talented writer like bill tso could make an incredible mister richter comic read like a geological text  book if you learned how to read between the lines.

but the writer most responsible for the eventual collapse of the comics code was our guy, world's greatest comicbook writer, manely s! melmon. in a throw away issue of sub-zero and frosty he introduced a diminutive hero that would turn a nation if not the world on it ear. the hero started out as a villain, in accordance to the mood of the times. melmon took that old chestnut of an idea.......the science-villain, and worked it into something more than what it ought to be, that character was, the human genome.
melmon packed the strip with so many indisputable scientific facts that no one could argue. after a few appearances in mystic knights of the mystery school, were it was explained that genome was merely a misunderstood spirit from the realm of light, skidmore publishing hit the jackpot again with the new, entirely creditable human genome #1.

the comics code nearly had kittens! under their watch comics had gone from the upper eshelons of art to the pits of despair. books like tru-adventures of douglas mcarthur and vince lombardi's tales of victory were deemed to be cutting edge. they did have a crime element woven into them if you looked hard enough, but kids began shuning them in droves once "the science rebellion" started.

turns out that the old cronies of the distribution arm of the comics universe were not going to be told what and what not to distribute to a free society by a nefarious self appointed group of censors, the 1960's were in full swing and there were still billions of dimes to be made off of the comics! as it worked out every publisher (except dolt comics) abandoned the code and soon senate hearings were looking into this, inquiring about funding for such an enterprise (turns out dolt comics thru a subsidiary was behind all the unnecessary censorship and anti-trust lawsuits drove them out of business shortly in 1968}



when the old code failed after being vastly discredited, several top named artists and writers began what we now know as the creators code. as jake klineberg once exclaimed, 'we already had the stamp there on the cover, we were used to it......well, we had to fill it up with something!" and thus the creators code was born.

and it is in this atmosphere that our story really begins, with the comics code in shambles and special non-descpript black buses
showing up and whisking away censors to secret government re-education facility's located in a hollowed out mountain underneath of west virgina, the comics industry began to flourish again!


Thursday, August 13, 2015

welcome to the world of SKIDMORE COMICS !

welcome to the new home of skidmore comics! Right now a vastly expensive coffee table type book is in the works so this blog will probably have all the stuff it that wasn't good enough for the book but was just sitting around anyway.... so I'll put it up on this blog-thing and call it exclusive web content of something. You know how it works, I'm sure! no really I'm planing to post a few teaser chapters up here soon and pretty comprehensive history of the company up here soon but as I'm just getting started here we will just have to look at some of the awesome art from Skidmore over the years. see you soon!