"I have no stake in this. It's just my responsibility." Review of Trevor Von Eeden's Mysterious Traveler

The Mysterious Traveler enjoyed a long life on radio from 1943-1952. It was a decent radio program, offering tales of crime with the occasional supernatural or science fiction bend. Some scripts were resued on the shows The Strange Dr. Weird and The Sealed Book, although they had to trim scenes for time. I don't believe the series is one of the greats in its genre - Suspense, Escape, Lights Out, Quiet, Please and even Inner Sanctum Mysteries outstrip it in terms of quality scripts, performances and chills. Probably the best episode is "Behind the Locked Door," which I believe was the very first episode I heard.

The most memorable part of the show were the introduction and conclusion; set aboard a train, the Mysterious Traveler would introduce himself to the listener and promise to tell them a story to "thrill you a little and chill you a little." At the end he would always be in the midst of describing some further detail about the tale just told, only to interrupt himself and say, "But you have to get off here, I'm sorry, but I'm sure we'll meet again; I take this same train every week at the same time."

However, I am not blogging about the radio show today; instead, let's talk comics: Charlton published a Mysterious Traveler comic book from 1956-1959, with many stories illustrated by the great Steve Ditko. In these, the Mysterious Traveler was no longer aboard a train but still narrated the tales within, garbed in a hat and trenchcoat. It's remained an iconic work in Ditko's bibliography and he has self-published two new issues recently with Robin Snyder (more about them tomorrow).

In-between the 1950s Mysterious Traveler and 2010s Mysterious Traveler, we have the 2000s Mysterious Traveler, published by Moonstone Books. In the early-to-mid-2000s, Moonstone published a series of "Moonstone Noir" comics, offering reinterpretations of old-time radio characters which had lapsed into the public domain. Purist and snob that I am, I ignored them at the time, but recently I came across The Mysterious Traveler: Nobody Rides for Free, a trade collection of both of their Mysterious Traveler comics. Noting the art was by Trevor Von Eeden, I decided to give it a shot.

Von Eeden reinterprets the Mysterious Traveler (here, "John Smith") as an African-American man with a mustache wearing glasses, a hat and an overcoat, appearing to be middle-aged. The coat and hat recalls Ditko's Traveler, but the cover artists seem confused about how to draw Von Eeden's figure - in one cover (by Dennis Calero), he has no glasses or mustache and looks to be in his 30s; in another (the cover above by Michael Stribling) he has the mustache but wears sunglasses which again seem to youthen him.

Within the trade are three stories, the first two drawn by Von Eeden with scripts by Joe Gentile. In both tales, John Smith confronts a person aboard a train; the person is confused about why they're there and can't recall recent events in their lives. Smith begins telling them their past and by the end, he enacts vengeance upon someone(s) who has done wrong (not necessarily the person he's speaking to). The setting is the same as the radio show, but the character is basically enacting justice in the style of the 1972 Tales from the Crypt movie.

Von Eeden was in fine form (as usual) when drawing this series. Published in black and white, there are no colouring effects to enhance his art - but he didn't need them! It seems appropriate for him to have followed in Ditko's footsteps here, what with my discovery from a recent interview how Von Eeden is, like Ditko, an admirer of Ayn Rand (back down, boys! she's taken! also, dead). Von Eeden's art is helpfully enhanced through the tones provided by Ken Wolak (1st story) and Wally Lowe (2nd story). The art of tones is not one frequently commented upon and I'm not educated to the point where I could describe it helpfully, but I will say the shadows added by tones enhance the stories' feelings of uncertainty and mystery.

The final story is also written by Joe Gentile, but the art is provided by Walter Figueroa. In this short tale, new for the trade, Smith helps another person resolve their afterlife then has a discussion with the train's engineer in which the engineer informs Smith of the reason he's aboard the train. This tale doesn't quite match the others - not only because it's not by Von Eeden, but also is printed on pages with white borders rather than the black borders found throughout the earlier tales.

There is one very unfortunate part in this collection, and that is the introduction by Jim Salicrup. Salicrup had nothing to do with the production of these stories and seems to have been given the task because he was friends with the Moonstone staff. He knows nothing about the Mysterious Traveler, openly admitting he learned about the radio show on Wikipedia and the comic from Overstreet (I think even in 2009 a bit of internet searching would lead you to online copies of the radio show and scans of the Charlton comic). He has nothing to say about Gentile or Von Eeden and instead plugs his own work. Simply disgraceful. Moonstone should have sought someone who was either well-informed on the Mysterious Traveler, or who could speak about Gentile & Von Eeden from a personal or professional perspective.

Moonstone, I know you're still out there. You know who I am. Next time you need an introduction, ask me - you can absolutely afford my rates.

Unearthed: Secret Origins #48

In my previous Unearthed entry, I looked at an issue of DC Comics' Secret Origins which interested me because of the two characters who were featured; this time, I have an issue which features four characters in short stories - only one of which I had an actual interest in.

Secret Origins#48 assembles four stories which editor Mark Waid (yes, he was an editor circa 1990) helpfully places in context on the editorial page. There's nothing in particular which weaves Ambush Bug, Stanley & his Monster, Rex the Wonder Dog & the Trigger Twins together, but heck, why not cover them? While I'm a big fan of Ambush Bug - and sought this issue out to complete my collection - the other three I know only of primarily via their Who's Who entries. Let's learn their stories together!

There's not much point in describing the plot to an Ambush Bug story, but here we go...

We open with "The Secret Origin of Ambush Bug: We Thought Him Up," by the same team who delivered the Ambush Bug mini-serieses - Keith Giffen & Robert Loren Fleming. Here, the Bug is approached by an agent of the National Bureau of Origins (N.B.O.), who demand he comply with the laws of having a "credible origin story." The Bug sends the agent packing to Kansas to find a rocketship while Ambush Bug himself tries to dredge up memories of his origin. Instead, he finds himself before another agent who isn't fooled by his claims of being bitten by a radioactive spider. Ambush Bug tries again to remember his origin, this time by returning to the warehouse where he first fought crime with Cheeks, the Toy Wonder (his toy sidekick from Ambush Bug#1). Instead, the Bug finds the warehouse now full of leftovers from Giffen's recent Invasion! crossover and he has to scour every DC comic just to make sure Cheeks wasn't misplaced during a tie-in.

Ambush Bug finally concludes that the secret of his origin can only be found with Cheeks and that since Cheeks is dead (again, Ambush Bug#1), he'll have to find him in Heaven. To accomplish this, the Bug taunts one of the Lords of Order (from Giffen's Dr. Fate, I think) until the Lord of Order kills him. We then switch to "The Origin of Ambush Bug," drawn in Giffen's stick-man style, presenting Ambush Bug as a being sketched into life by Irwin Schwab who leaves the printed page in order to save Irwin's class from a rampaging dinosaur. From there, we move to "The True Origin of Ambush Bug" as Vril Dox (of L.E.G.I.O.N. - not sure why he's here) tries to interrogate Ambush Bug's charred remains. We switch again, this time to "The Honest-to-God, Swear-on-Our Mothers'-Graves, Real Origin of Ambush Bug," wherein a bat splatters itself on a window pane next to the Bug's ashen remains.

Meanwhile in Heaven, Ambush Bug finds out he's due to be sent into a new life and is routed back to Earth, landing in an alley (where a newspaper can be seen displaying: "Lord of Order Gets the Chair"). Ambush Bug realizes now that he's on a new life the N.B.O. won't be able to find him and he can have a new identity; unfortunately, that identity is as one of the "Big Fat Freakin' Frogs" (this was 1990, after all) and he's horried to discover "I've come back as the one thing even lower than a comic book character! I'm... merchandise!" Not unlike Giffen's own Rocket Raccoon, come to think of it. Anyway, the N.B.O. collect Ambush Bug and send him to Belle Reve, hoping he'll be sent on a mission with the Suicide Squad and quietly killed without having to deliver an origin story. Then we learn that Cheeks is still alive, and running the N.B.O.! It's a twist ending worthy of a 1990s comic book!

It's funny that Giffen often likes to take shots at comics fandom when he's perhaps the second greatest fan of DC's Silver Age in the business (the top spot belongs to this comic's editor). I don't always understand Giffen's references, though, as noted above, I have at least a hazy idea of who Vril Dox and the Lords of Chaos are (my main DC Universe interests are the Suicide Squad & Ambush Bug; I still don't know much about Invasion! and that's despite having read tie-ins). This story was best enjoyed by audiences in 1990 and even then it wouldn't have been to everyone's tastes. You've really got to love comics to enjoy seeing them mocked Giffen-style. Giffen evidently trusted that his readers - recognizing Ambush Bug was a character without a real status quo - wouldn't expect an origin and simply wanted another Ambush Bug tale; thus, so he did deliver.

The second feature is Stanley and His Monster, written & drawn by Phil Foglio. The story concerns a demon whom Lucifer has to expel from Hell because he "brings sno-cones to the souls in the inferno... knits mittens for those entombed in the plains of ice... sings hymns in the great wasteland of the TV evangelists" and spreads "Have a Nice Day" stickers everywhere. Lucifer's reasoning is that being amongst humans, the demon's true nature will be unleashed due to the cruelty humans heap upon each other. However, this doesn't work because the demon meets Stanley, a friendly and adventurous young boy who welcomes the monster into his home. It's a brief tale, but it's gentle and works well; Foglio revisited the characters in a 1993 limited series.

Next we have "The Birth of Rex the Wonder Dog" which, unfortunately, requires a few words. Written by Gerard Jones and drawn by Paris Cullins, the story opens in World War II (a strange place to start given that Rex dates back only as far as 1952) as Dr. Anabolus has designed a Super-Soldier formula; anyone with a smattering of comics knowledge will recognize this as a parody of Captain America, but we have no choice but to read through all 8 pages (or leave now! it's not too late! I warned you!!!), rather than Giffen's super hero origin parodies in the lead story which sometimes took up all of one panel (don't bring your weak sauce Captain America parody to an anthology with a Giffen lead feature; just don't). The one and only good gag in the story is the Airplane!-like bit above: "But where did you learn to draw so well?"

Anyway, all you need to know is that the Captain America origin is faithfully recounted, but with Rex the Wonder Dog in his place for some reason. If you find that inherently funny, please tell me before I have to sit next to you on an airplane. One Lt. Dennis (who looks vaguely like Bob Hope) brings Rex (and his son Danny) to Dr. Anabolus where the pooch is tranformed by Anabolus' serum into a Wonder Dog (complete with Kirby crackle, seen above). Dr. Anabolus is killed by a German agent and because he didn't write down his formula, Rex is a one-of-a-kind. Lt. Dennis suggests to Danny that after the war they could travel the globe: "We'll work for circuses and rope wild horses and solve strange crimes and find lost civilizations..." which Danny thinks is "a lotta hooey." The joke is that that's exactly what they wind up doing in Rex's 1952 adventure series. Get it? That's the joke! THAT'S THE JOKE! It's funny! You're supposed to laugh! It's hysterical because the ideas Lt. Dennis suggests are so unrealistic next to the entirely grounded and believable story we just suffered through. Ha. Ha. Much like Power Pachyderms, this story is comic book humour on life support. Even the writers of Spider-Ham knew there had to be a joke beyond "Spider-Man, but a pig!"

Gerard Jones would go on to inflict Wonder Man on readers, but I understand his Justice League was a cult hit and I know his various non-fiction books about comic books such as Men of Tomorrow are very good. Plus, I'm sure he'd hold the door open for you at the gas station.

The Trigger Twins close out the book with their origin, as presented in eight pages by William Messner-Loebs & Trevor von Eeden. There's very little I can say about it; twin brothers Wayne & Walter Trigger are followed through their birth to fighting in the US Civil War, to Walter becoming a gunfighter and sheriff of the town where Wayne works. Wayne helps out Walter in a gunfight by pretending to be him and from then on, they are the Trigger Twins. On the editorial page, Waid admits he was a great fan of the Trigger Twins stories, hence their inclusion here - they don't fit the humourous tone of the other entries. Von Eeden's art is totally solid - evocative of 1950-60s Gene Colan here in his silhouettes. DC could have printed this story in the 70s and no one would have batted an eye - I mean that as a compliment. After the previous 8-page tale, the Trigger Twins are more than welcome to close the issue out.

One great story, one lousy story and two okay tales; but really, if you're an Ambush Bug fan you won't care what's on the other pages.

Review: The Original Johnson, Book 2

Having looked at the Original Johnson volume one earlier, I knew I'd get around to the second half of this biography eventually. However, I have to say: I'm not impressed by some of the creative decisions.

In the continuation of Trevor Von Eeden's adaptation of the life of boxer Jack Johnson, the story resumes as Johnson's career soars, leading to a run of successful bouts and eventually to Johnson's victory over Tommy Burns for the title of heavyweight champion, then defending his title against Jim Jeffries, but years later he lost his title to Jess Willard. Along the way Johnson's relationships with various women are recounted with erotic detail.

I felt the first volume spent too little time on Johnson's boxing career so I'm pleased to see the second half gets into the sport itself, even providing a quick history of boxing, properly framing Johnson's ascension through the ranks. Further, the Burns and Jeffries bouts are depicted in great detail.

However, Von Eeeden's depiction of Johnson's love life continues to be an unwelcome distraction for this reader; pages and pages are devoted to Johnson's lovemaking. I still feel Jack Johnson's biography belongs in high schools, but Von Eeden's graphic sex scenes will ruin this particular version's chances. The most glaring bit of business is Johnson's relationship with Dominique St. John, a wealthy white female painter. I don't know if St. John was a real person or not, but the entire sequence (48 pages long!) reads like the first chapter of "the Erotic Adventures of Jack Johnson," not the continued narrative of Johnson's life. Further, Dominique is dropped from the story when the 48-page sequence is over.

Many of the scenes involving Johnson and his partners devolve into lengthy speeches as Johnson opines how much better he is than other people; it begins to feel as though Von Eeden is using Johnson as his mouthpiece for his own view of the world, rather than summarizing Johnson's own life. As to Johnson's life, Von Eeden's version is ultimately a very idealized interpretation. Johnson's achievements are lauded, but his negative aspects - like his deteoriating relationships, his reckless driving and his eventual defeat by Willard - are glossed over. In fact, when the defeat by Willard enters the story, Von Eeden doesn't relate the story as it happened (as he did earlier with Burns & Jeffries), but instead tries to "set the record straight." He tells the audience about "the famous photograph." What "famous photograph?" This is clearly your version of Johnson's life, Mr. Von Eeeden - all along, you've been our guide. Why the sudden assumptions that we came into this book with certain facts or prejudices about the Johnson-Willard fight? His writing here becomes hopelessly hyberbolic: "No one ever noticed this -- ever."

The Johnson-Willard fight is still a point of controversy - that is, did Johnson throw the fight (as he later claimed), or did he honestly lose the match. It's up for debate, which is to say, there's no clear answer. I'm reminded of a piece of dialogue from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, concerning how Davy Crockett died: "The only real question is whether you believe in the legend of Davy Crockett or not. If you do, then there should be no doubt in your mind that he died a hero's death. If you do not believe in the legend, then he was just a man, and it does not matter how he died." Thus, your informed perspective on the Johnson-Willard fight has more to do with your belief in Johnson's legend than anything; Von Eeden is firmly in the grasp of the legend.

I wish Von Eeden had delved more closely to the events of Johnson's life - in chronological order and with weight given to both his highs and lows - and that he'd let Johnson speak to us rather than Von Eeden speak through Johnson. But as this is the only graphic novel of Jack Johnson's life I know of, it is, by default, the best.

Review: the Original Johnson volume one

As I mentioned in my review of African-American Classics, Trevor Von Eeden's biography mentioned he'd created a graphic novel about Jack Johnson, the first African-American to win boxing's heavyweight champion title. I was instantly fascinated to learn of 2009's the Original Johnson, which tells Johnson's life over the span of two volumes. I have a passing familiarity and interest in Johnson, having seen Ken Burns' 2004 documentary Unbearable Blackness.

The Original Johnson (yes, the book's title is a double entendre) volume one was the only half available at my local comic shop, but I hope to obtain volume two in the near future. Most of the text is spent detailing Johnson's early years, which, since Burns' movie skipped over that part of his life quickly, is mostly new information to me. However, by the end of the volume, Johnson's boxing career is only just on the rise, meaning the second volume must cover his entire quest for the heavyweight title, his retirement from boxing, his ultimately tragic return to boxing and loss of his title, then his death. At this pace, I think the story needs at least four volumes, not two!

The novel contains a few sex scenes, emphasizing how Johnson's unashamed virility - and frequent white female partners - would eventually earn him a lot of enemies (amongst both whites and blacks). I feel the sex scenes are more graphic than they have to be - this book should be on the shelves of high schools, but the graphic sex will restrict its distribution.

Von Eeden's art shifts in style during the book; in many scenes, his art is smooth and ground like Brent Anderson, but delves into dream sequences with brush-like strokes evocative of Gene Colan. The dream scenes also enable Von Eeden to break from reality and let his imagination take flight, as in a scene where Johnson dons golden armour, strikes down white men and takes their women.

Strangely, the narrative approaches Johnson's life in non-linear fashion, travelling back and forth within his own life and flashing back to the struggles of African-Americans in the days of slavery. For me, it interrupted the momentum of Johnson's life - it feels as though the story halts and starts over again about three times. However, overall it's a pretty satisfying volume, thanks to Von Eeden's outstanding layouts and I will add the second tome to my collection eventually.

Review: African-American Classics

Traditionally, Wednesday is the day of the week when new comic books are released and I usually visit a local shop evey Wednesday; if not Wednesday, later the same week; normally I don't miss going to the comic shop unless I'm on vacation. However, I didn't go to the shop today; I don't plan to go this week; I expect there will be a lot of weeks like that in the future.

However, I'm far from being done with comics! Let's talk African-American Classics!

I've read a couple of these Graphic Classics books put out by Eureka, but they used to be comprised of unfamiliar creators in black & white on regular paper; African-American Classics, however, features creators like Christoper Priest, Kyle Baker and Trevor Von Eeden in full colour on glossy paper! Like other volumes in the series, the stories and poems are adapted from the public domain, this time bound together by the theme of African-American authors. The contents are:

"The Reward" (adapted by Mac McGill), "Two Americans" (adapted by Alex Simmons & Trevor Von Eeden), "On Being Crazy" (adapted by Tom Pomplun & Kyle Baker), "The Negro" (adapted by Stan Shaw), "Danse Africaine" (adapted by Afua Richardson), "A Carnival Jangle" (adapted by Lance Tooks), "the Castaways" (adapted by Glenn Brewer), "America" (adapted by John Jennings), "Lawing and Jawing" (adapted by Tom Pomplun & Arie Monroe), "Lex Talionis" (adapted by Christopher Priest & Jim Webb), "Becky" (adapted by Mat Johnson & Randy DuBurke), "In the Matter of Two Men" (adapted by Kenjji), "Sympathy" (adapted by Lance Tooks), "We Wear the Mask" (adapted by Larry Poncho Brown), "Buyers of Dreams" (adapted by Tom Pomplun & Leilani Hickerson), "the Bronze Legacy" (adapted by Keith Mallett), "the Goophered Grapevine" (adapted by Alex Simmons & Shepherd Hendrix), "Sanctum 777 N.S.D.C.O.U. Meets Cleopatra" (adapted by Tom Pomplun & Kevin J. Taylor), "De Cunjah Man" (adapted by Masheka Wood), "Filling Station" (adapted by Tom Pomplun & Milton Knight), "the Ghost of Deacon Brown" (adapted by Jeremy Love), "Aunt Chloe's Politics" (adapted by Titus V. Thomas), "Shalmanezer" (adapted by Lance Tooks).

Outside of Langston Hughes, I wasn't familiar with any of the featured writers, so I was curious to see what kind of stories were included. Of the entire pack, four stories really stood out:

"Two Americans" is a tale by Florence Lewis Bentley, telling of an African-American soldier in World War I who's reunited with the man who lynched his brother while on the battlefield of France. It's a somber tale about overcoming hatred first within yourself before tackling it externally. When the lead character sees his brother's killer lying wounded on the battlefield he first intends to leave him there, but his dead brother appears in a vision, pleading with him to save his own killer. It's ultimately a variation on the parable of the Good Samaritan. Trevor Von Eeden's artwork is tremendous, aided by Adrian Johnson's colours it's full of hellish blurs of fighting, fiery flames and glowing spirits. I was so taken with Von Eeden's work that I went out and bought his book the Original Johnson after reading this anthology.

I find I'm rather hit and miss with Kyle Baker, but I absolutely adored W.E.B. De Bois' "On Being Crazy" and how Baker brought it to life. It's strange that a story about racism could be so amusing; the protagonist simply goes about expecting to be treated as an equal, then responding to racists who bar his path by making simple observations. I love his reaction to a woman at a concert asking him if he enjoys being where he's not wanted: "I certainly want the music, and I like to think the music wants me to listen to it." Or when a man crosses into mud because he opines all Negroes are dirty: "So is the mud. Moreover, I am not as dirty as you - yet."

I was very surprised by Robert W. Bagnall's "Lex Talionis;" I knew anything with Christopher Priest's name attached to it would be worthwhile, but this particular story is something of a mystery/weird horror story which could have run in Weird Tales or Black Mask back in the day. It concerns a brilliant African-American scientist who's been dogged by a rival white man since their university days. When the bigot murders the scientist's sister, the scientist enacts a bizarre and grisly revenge. It's fine to see Priest's name in comic books again, having sat out of the medium for most of the last 5 or 6 years.

This volume contains a couple of stories by Zora Neale Hurston; the author biography in the back of the book reveals she was rejected by some African-American audiences because of how she wrote dialect. Certainly one of the stories, "Lawing and Jawing," reads like an old Amos N' Andy script. However, I was surprised at how well I enjoyed the second story, "Filling Station," set at a gas station on the Alabama-Georgia line. The story really comes to life when two motorists begin to feud over whose state is better, beginning by accusing the other's state of having more racists, then winding up with a ridiculous Chevy vs. Ford debate as they brag about how fast their cars can go; this rivalry and oneupmanship was actually a lot of fun to read, so I see why Hurston had her fans.

Overall I really enjoyed the book and appreciate the standard author & adaptor biographes in the back of the book, but I really feel like some sort of editorial is needed for this volume. That is, what is the theory behind this collection? Did the editor simply have a list of stories he wanted to adapt, sought out the best talent he could assign and so forth? Were the creators given free reign to choose whichever stories they want to adapt? As a Priest fan, I certainly wonder if he dug up "Lex Talionis" on his own, or if the editors presented it to him.