By Beau Smith I’m like a lot of other comic book writers. I grew up reading and collecting comics. I pretty much read and bought most any comic book I could find. When I was a kid the outlets for comics were many, grocery stores, drug stores, department stores, gas stations, the kindness of a grandmother, but the chances of finding continuing issues were not always that good. I can remember buying Daredevil issue 4 and issue 5, then not finding another issue of Daredevil until issue 9. By then he had changed costumes and I was left wondering for a few years how that happened.  Some of you out there that keep up with comics and most of all you Guy Gardner readers, know that some of the above mentioned characters have been swept under the DC carpet, killed or just forgotten. One of them that stuck was Lady Blackhawk. I’m very thankful to my friend Gail Simone for grabbing the torch for this character and not letting it get snuffed out. Gail not only put Lady Blackhawk in Birds Of Prey, but she gave her some major page time. In Birds Of Prey, Gail treated Zinda Blake (Lady Blackhawk) with respect and dignity. She stayed true to the character as a middle of the century adventurer that was always a Lady, but could bust heads with the boys any day of the week. Gail also made sure to show that even though Zinda was out of her former time and without the rest of the Blackhawks, she didn’t have to go on Oprah or Dr. Phil to whine and cry about lost times. She bucked up and found her a place within the ranks of Birds Of Prey.  Recently, Tony Bedard has taken over writing Birds Of Prey and is doing his best to make sure that Lady Blackhawk continues to get some page time. In issue #112, Tony dedicates an entire issue to Lady Blackhawk as she toasts a tribute to her recently fallen comrade, Big Barda. (Another favorite character of mine now taken from the DC spotlight for no real good reason.) In “The Warrior Wake Of Zinda Blake”, Tony starts off things with Lady Blackhawk in a bar room brawl and breaking beer bottles over the heads of those that need it. Our .45 auto totin’ girl in black/blue leather is bound for California to take care of business and she persuaded a Taxi driver to get her there not knowing there are assassins tailing her looking to do her in.  It’s an action-packed road trip with loads of shooting and fighting. Zinda Blake at her best even when she’s three sheets to the wind. The only annoying snag in the story is too much PC jibber-jabber is placed on her Pakistan cab driver, Masoud. He whines all the way across country making you wanna just skip his word balloons. David Cole and the great inker Doug Hazlewood do a extra fine job on the art with some straight ahead story telling that makes this book a pleasure to look at and read. The best part of this story is that it’s a good old-fashioned stand-alone story. We’re not treated to many of those these days at Marvel and DC so it was really nice to have a good one.  I highly recommend that you try and find this issue and read it. It’s fun and it’s well worth the $2.99. While you’re at it you might want to let DC know that you’d love to see more of Lady Blackhawk. She’s a great character and deserves to be seen more. You might also want to thank Gail Simone and Tony Bedard next time you see them at a con for keeping the character alive and kicking those shapely legs. Folks need to be thanked for the little pleasures in life. Next time you see me at a con, make sure you ask me about how I would like to bring back all the Blackhawks. I may not be able to raise the dead, but I can sure try and make em’ proud. Busted Knuckles Manly Cover Of The Week  Captain Marvel Adventures #139 Fawcet, December 1952 Here’s a cover that goes to prove that Captain Marvel was never afraid to get his boots dirty. In 1952 he trudged through the mud to bust knuckles with the vicious Red Crusher. A great manly cover as Captain Marvel marches through a spiked mine field to get the job done. This is a classic 50s cover that makes you wish there were posters and lithos to buy. Busted Knuckles Babe Of The Week   Odette Yustman - actress You’ve seen her as a kid in Kindergarten Cop way back in 1990, but see her today and don’t feel creepy as she stars in Cloverfield, Transformers and some prime time soap opera that I would never watch called South Beach. It was even rumored she was going to be in the now shelved Justice League movie. I guess we’ll never know what role she was up for now. The Roundup Whenever I get the spare time, which isn’t often, I like to go through my HUGE collection of comics and look for stuff that may entertain, amaze or just disgust you. Sometimes you can find an innocent comic book panel and with the power of your filthy imagination make it something REALLY creepy. I did just that when I was reading a copy of G.I. Joe #12 from Ziff-Davis 1951. The story was really great and even though today’s reader might make something really pervy out about this panel, in the real story these G.I.’s saved the young girls from the dirty red army. I guess this panel was a sign of things to come in comics. I think they call it Manga.  Okay, that was my low blow for this week. I hope you enjoyed it. I also hope you like the new look here at comicsbulletin.com. I think it looks sharp and professional. It’s as close to sharp and professional as I get these days. Jason Brice and all the guys at Comics Bulletin worked a lot of overtime to make this the best possible. I think the boys pulled it off. I hope you can find the time to drop Jason a note and let him know. He’s a pretty good guy…for a Kiwi. Your amigo, Beau Smith The Flying Fist Ranch P.O. Box 706 Ceredo, WV. 25507 beau@flyingfistranch.com http://www.flyingfistranch.com |
