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DEBUT SHOWING September 3, 2005, 7:30 PM on People TV Atlanta Comcast channel 24 | ||||||||||
| Continuing from the previous episode, the presentation for the "Art and Visual Culture" largely covered the Silver Age comics heroes, with a smattering of what was to come. Attention was particularly made of how comic books began to adapt to the times (particularly of the late '60s/early '70s), sometimes to ludicrous results though more often, to stunning results. | |||||||||||
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As this was the era when I began reading comics, it was one I was much more familiar (no matter what some smart ass friends will claim, I was NOT around for the Golden Age heroes' debuts. The revivals/rebirths of the Flash and the Green Lantern, along with other DC notables such as the Legion of Super-Heroes, were given their due. And no discussion of the '60s could not possibly exist without attention to the rise and eventual supremacy of Marvel Comics.
Most of the class were unaware of these heroes other than the recent movies (or possibly, reruns of the '60s animated series on one of the Noggin/Boomerang channels). The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, the Silver Surfer, the X-Men... they are many other characters were presented. This was also the time the "Marvel style" of scripting began, when artists had much more input into the stories by working over plots instead of movie-like scripts. Before I launched into the groundbreaking series such as Denny O'Neill's/Neal Adams'/Dick Giordano's run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow and the many 9/11 tribute books, I couldn't resist spotlighting some of the "jump on the trend" (often years after the trend) books that came out, along with those that were just too inexplicable to categorize. |
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| Chris Companik tells of the origin of the Legion of Super-Heroes (his favorite super-team of all time), but he's not doing the Legion Pledge in this scene. | |||||||||||
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| The Silver Surfer, as explained, began as an unexplained background character drawn into the background of Fantastic Four, during the story arc known by fans as "The Galactus Trilogy." | |||||||||||
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| Fund-raising gems like the many 9-11 books (above) were discussed, hopefully to wash the bad taste out of the students' mouths after a round of the silly and sublime books of the time, such as Spider-Man teaming up with Saturday Night Live's Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Players and Prez, the first teen president of the U.S.A.
They weren't spared, but you are (you can thank me later) of the issue where Lois Lane decides she's Native American so she can adopt an abandoned Indian baby. (And those who know of it -- the issue where Lois actually becomes African-American -- wasn't ignored, but pops up in the next part of the presentation. |
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| Production credits for Episode 11: Chris Companik: Director, Producer; Todd Spainhour, Michael Tucker: Camera/Audio | |||||||||||
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GIANT SIZE COMIC BOOK SHOW is © Chris Companik and airs on People TV Atlanta on Comcast Channel 24, 7:30 PM every 4th Saturday night. All comic book/strip characters shown on this site as well as the show are © their respective owners.