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!
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
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.
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.
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