Mister 8

Classics Illustrated - Dr. No

As has been noted by a number of my other COBRAS comrades (including new COBRAS member[s] The HMSS Weblog — more on this shortly), actor Joseph Wiseman, who played the titular character in 1962′s Doctor No, and thus became the first James Bond film villain, passed away this week. In his honor, we here at Mister 8 want to look at some of the adaptations of Ian Fleming’s Doctor No, starting today with a comic that was published in multiple places, including the British Classics Illustrated, Detective Series (supposedly — I’ve not seen any online evidence of this, and will check my copy of James Bond: The History of the Illustrated 007 when I get home tonight), and DC Comics’ Showcase series.

Comics creator / historian / anecdotalist Mark Evanier discusses this issue in an entry at his site on the history of DC dropping the ball on the one franchise in the world bigger than Superman or Batman (or, I suppose, Mickey Mouse, who currently owns their rival, Marvel Comics):

The first Bond film, Doctor No, debuted in England in October of 1962. To coincide with that release, the British publisher of the Classics Illustrated comic book series issued an adaptation that was drawn by Norman J. Nodel. It was not, by the way, a terribly precise adaptation, at least of the movie, which Nodel does not appear to have seen when he drew the book. It has been suggested that the publisher had the right to adapt the screenplay but not necessarily the film based on it. The likeness of the lead character makes it seem like Nodel was told to draw a Bond that looked a lot like Sean Connery…but not exactly.

In any case, the company that arranged the adaptation wanted to have it published in America when the movie was released here the following May. The American publisher of Classics Illustrated was in no position to do so. They had a marketing program that avoided most of the main newsstand outlets — the obvious place to sell such a book — and concentrated on classrooms and other educational venues. The Bond people, not wanting to miss an opportunity, tried to arrange to publish the Doctor No comic book themselves. They approached the largest comic book distributor, Independent News, which was owned by the same folks who owned DC Comics.

Independent said no, they would not handle a one-time publication from a new publisher…but they would buy the rights to publish an American edition and issue it as a DC Comic. The Bond licensing people liked this deal or at least accepted this deal. They did like the idea, which was briefly discussed, of DC publishing an ongoing James Bond comic book if this first one did well. The contract when it was concluded included an option clause that would allow DC to do a regular series for a modest fee.

Bob Brown drew the new cover for the DC Showcase issue, which was the March-April 1963 issue of the series. Thanks again to user Woollsey, who sent the following images along with a bevy of spy comics scans from the golden / early silver age of comics that have not been republished. I’m not sure where rights issues currently stand with this, but I imagine they’re fairly murky and this issue is unlikely to be reprinted. Copyright holders, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, and I’ll take these images down:

James Bond Jr. Episode 6

Today’s piece is subtitled, “Is it just me, or is this kind of racist?”

In 1967, a still unidentified author going by the name R.D. Mascott wrote a successful book called 003½: The Adventures of James Bond Junior. A quarter century later, Murakami-Wolf-Swenson resurrected the concept of James Bond Junior…though for some reason, in this incarnation, he’s 007′s nephew…for an animated show that I rushed home to see every day after school.

A few of the Bond villains crossed over into the cartoon, including Jaws, Odd Job (who dressed like a member of Run DMC), and Dr. No, who looked not like the Joseph Wiseman portrayal, but yellow-skinned with a long Fun Manchu mustache that apparently grew from his nostrils.

This version of No also appeared in the Marvel Comics adaptation of the series, serving as the star villain of issue #9. Story is by Dan Abnett, art by Mario Capaldi.

…Speaking of illustrations, here are a few Dr. No-related images from a pair of accomplished comic artists. First up is Adam Hughes, who has become renowned for his depictions of women both on comic covers and highly sought after convention commission art. He did this Dr. No piece for a lucky friend:

Dr. No by Adam Hughes

Hughes writes of the piece on his DeviantArt page:

Here’s a rare excursion into REAL PAINT. Hands inside the vehicle, children – we’re in the wild country.

This was done as a Christmas gift for a friend, who loves this era and the James Bond of that period specifically.

Done on illustration board with acrylic paints. All kinds. Liquitex, Holbein, anything I had laying around that wasn’t drier than a pharaoh’s tomb.

I think I went with the blue & orange complimentary color theory on this one simply because they were the paints that were still wet enough to use. Seriously.

Next up is a pair of images from Francesco Francavilla, a rising star in the comic industry, and one of my personal favorites. He’s worked on The Black Coat, Zorro, and the outstanding spy comic Left on Mission. He did these pieces at his sketch blog.

Dr. No poster by Francesco Francavilla

Dr. No by Francesco Francavilla

I believe that a print of the poster is available for purchase from Francavilla….

Today’s concluding post on Dr. No in comics was assisted by my two all-time favorite sites on art and illustration in James Bond media. The images were kindly provided (after I searched high and low, but could not find my copy of the collected strip) by newest COBRAS member Peter @ The Illustrated 007, which is a treasure trove of all sorts of Bond-related art, from book covers to comics to posters to international representations.

The text uses as its source an archive of the sadly now-defunct site called The Art of James Bond, whose author, “Red Grant,” provided a history of the Bond book covers, posters, comic strips and production art.

The first strip of the Dr. No series appeared in the Daily Express on Monday, May 23, 1960, having followed, as the novel, five 007 stories before it. This was the first and only Bond comic story to be written by Peter O’Donnell, who of course later went on to create his own secret agent comic strip in Modesty Blaise. Unlike previous stories, O’Donnell, with artist John McLusky, kicks right into the story, with Bond giving up his trusty Beretta to his boss, M, and shortly thereafter launches into the Jamaican / Crab Key adventure.

John McLusky Dr. No

The story is fairly faithful to the Fleming novel, with all of the familiar faces — Quarrel (who first appeared in Live and Let Die), Honey Rider, and the villainous Dr. Julius No himself. Bond would not debut on film for another two years, and No is presented here with a more rudimentary set of pinchers than those seen in the movie version. There are other differences too — McLusky presents his Honey with the broken nose that Fleming writes her with in the novel, for instance — but it is surprising how much of the visual imagery of the comic strip eventually made its way into the film, including the scene where Honey rises from the ocean. And as always, it’s interesting to note the visual similarity of McLusky’s Bond to the eventual casting of Sean Connery.

Probably not the strip you'd hoped to see, eh?

Dr. No was originally conceived as a television project by Fleming, and therefore ventures more into the realm of fantasy than the previous stories, including a climactic battle with a giant squid and the eventual death of the villain as he’s crushed under tons of guano. The series concluded on October 1, 1960, having run 114 strips total, and has been collected three times so far — in The Illustrated James Bond, put out in 1981 by the James Bond 007 Fan Club, in Titan’s 2005 reprinting of the series, and in Titan’s more recent James Bond: Omnibus Volume 001 which collected the first ten comic stories, from Casino Royale to Thunderball.

Danish Dr. No comic

…I feel obligated to mention that there are a handful of other Dr. No comic-related things in existence, but I know next to nothing about them.

The best I can do is point you to the archives of Peter’s Illustrated 007, where you’ll find a Danish 007 comic (seen at left), and The Dr. No Talking Storybook, amongst hundreds of other James Bond related artwork.

If you have other additions to the list, let me know through email, or through commenting!

Rani Comics #19 - Dr. No

While looking through the statistics of Mister8.com recently, I came across a page written in Tamil that linked to one of our Dr. No in comics posts. I can’t read Tamil, sadly, but it appears as though there are a few items they discuss there that we hadn’t even heard of here at Mister8, including the amazing looking version of Dr. No for Rani Comics seen at left.

Check out the long post on Dr. No at akotheeka, and if anyone knows Tamil, please translate for me!

I am amazed that I’ve had the attention span to make it this far! And as I discussed in our one-year anniversary round-up the other day, there’s plenty of stuff that I have yet to cover.

I couldn’t figure out what to post for my 200th post. I’ve got a few other posts that should be forthcoming — a look at Hitchcock’s three not-really-spies-on-the-run films, a tablature for the wedding theme in You Only Live Twice, and a look at the Kommissar X films, starring the late Tony Kendall, which I’d already planned to watch tonight.

In the end, though, I found it fitting to return to the reason I made this site in the first place — that dagblasted failure-so-far of a comic. Here’re some sketches that I’ve worked on lately, trying to figure out who exactly this character is. I think one of my biggest mistakes was jumping right in, thinking that things would click into place as I drew each chapter. But as early as week two, I already had major regrets about what I should have done differently for the sake of the story, characters, etc.

Jack Carnehan:

Simon Crewe:

Sarge Steel Logo

Dick Giordano art from Charlton Portfolio

In the mid-1960s, the editor job of a little publishing company out of Derby, Conn., was accepted by a man named Dick Giordano who took the company’s superhero comicbook line and cut the “super.” In doing so, he created the famous Charlton Action Heroes — with names like Blue Beetle, Judo Master, Peter Cannon (Thunderbolt!), Peacemaker and the Question. Together with Cold War holdover Captain Atom and his sidekick Nightshade, the characters Giordano edited established the silver age of Charlton Comics and, although they were quickly canceled at the time, they now enjoy a home at DC Comics (with the exception of Peter Cannon) and a cult fanbase.

“With the exception of Captain Atom, not one of the Action Hero line had a power,” Giordano said in a 1998 interview with Comic Book Artist. “They weren’t super-powered characters but were people who had something: Blue Beetle had the bug, Judo Master knew martial arts, Sarge Steel had a steel fist and a gun, Fightin’ Five were just highly-trained military personnel, even the Question just had the ability to cover his face up with a mask that couldn’t be ripped off. The concept of super-heroes, then and now, wasn’t terribly exciting to me.”

Giordano edited these books, some of which featured creators like Steve Ditko, Frank McLaughlin, Pete “PAM” Morisi, Pat Boyette, Steve Skeates, and the prolific Joe Gill. But Giordano only lent his amazing artistry to one of the action hero books — Sarge Steel.

In addition to establishing the new age of superheroes, the mid-60s was also the era of the jet-setting master of espionage. With the debut of the cinematic James Bond in 1962′s Dr. No, combined with a new age of tension between the East and West and tales of real-life spies, the private detectives and police who jumped from the pages of Spillane evolved into dapper globetrotters who carried shoulder holsters under their three-piece suits. Soon, the films and television were filled with the exploits of The Avengers, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Saint, The Prisoner, Get Smart and others.

This fad carried over to the comic books where, most notably, Sgt. Nick Fury who led the Howling Commandos during Marvel Comics’ fictional World War II years (the actual title was begun in 1963) became Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. in August of 1965. Charlton had their own spy character, Sarge Steel who debuted in “Sarge Steel: Private Detective #1″ in December of 1964 — a whole seven months before Fury. Though Steel (a Vietnam vet whose battle with Communist saboteurs cost him his hand, later replaced with a solid steel prosthetic fist) was called a private detective, from the espionage-filled first issue it is apparent that he’s something a little more than your average P.I. As gumshoe aficionado Jim Doherty writes on the Thrilling Detective website: “The problem was it got started in the mid-60s, during the 007 craze, and PIs were passe, so, in each and every issue, Sarge got involved in an espionage plot instead of a more typical PI plot. By the last two issues, they weren’t even pretending to be a PI book anymore.”

Be he P.I. or be he spy, one thing could be ascertained — Sarge Steel kicked ass. With the first few issues featuring complete thin-lined cinematic artwork by Dick Giordano and solid scripts by workhorse Joe Gill, Sarge Steel was established as a force to be reckoned with. And he was, for 10 issues of his own title (first called Sarge Steel, then Secret Agent for the last two issues) and as a back-up in Judo Master for eight issues.

Sarge Steel regularly appears now in DC Comics as a gruff government man in charge of creating conspiracies and keeping an eye on the superhero population. But this week, we’ll be celebrating the original Sarge Steel — the ‘Iron Man with the Steel Fist.’

Here’s a scan of an article from an old fanzine, Comic Fandom Monthly, an issue (I forgot to note which) from 1972:

Sarge Steel Commission piece by Dick Giordano

As I said in my initial post on the passing of Dick Giordano, I’ve been planning a Sarge Steel Week since starting Mister 8. I wrote to Giordano in February of last year to inquire as to the possibility of an interview. He responded favorably, and provided answers to a first round of questions. But soon, it was convention season, and the last round of questions I submitted went unanswered. I never pushed the subject, but I wish I had now.

In any case, what follows is an all-too brief email exchange with Dick Giordano on the subject of Sarge Steel, conducted in March of 2009:

Mister 8: Sarge Steel is credited as a Pat Masulli creation, and I’m struggling a bit to place the timeline here. Had Masulli been promoted to general manager, with you taking on the role of managing editor at this point?

Dick Giordano: No, I believe Pat’s title at the time was still Managing Editor and I was a staff artist given the assignment. He became General Manager much later and I took his position as Managing Editor. Neither title is correct in publishing circles and were assigned to people who handled the business of publishing, not the creative.

M8: How much of the character concept was Masulli’s, and how much was the work of you and Joe Gill? Did Masulli approach the two of you with, “I’ve got an idea for a character,” and you ran with it from there?

DG: Pat wrote the first script, loosely in pencil, as I recall.  The steel fist was his idea and Sarge Steel and Bess were his names.  I was responsible for the design of the characters including the Y-shaped scar at the bridge of Sarge’s nose and his brush cut and style of dress.  I designed Bess with an eye to satisfying my desire to draw good looking, sexy female characters. She was never developed as a strong character, which I would insist on doing now.  She was, unfortunately, just eye candy.  Like every supporting  female character of the times.

I don’t recall how the assignment got to Joe Gill’s typewriter but I do recall Pat saying that he couldn’t do it regularly.  Joe and I discussed it briefly and I was given carte blanche to make alterations I thought would make the story better.  Joe, Pat and I were on staff and did most of our work in the same office in normal business hours so consulting with each other never presented a problem.

M8: How do you see Sarge Steel fitting in with the (for the most part) non-powered “Action Heroes” line that also featured Blue Beetle and (my all-time favorite comic character) The Question? He shares an enemy with Judo Master, so he’s certainly part of the shared universe, but how does he fit thematically with the other costumed heroes?

DG: He didn’t have a costume but he WAS an Action Hero, no?  After a while he was delegated to the back-up slot in Judo-Master.  I’ve never been a big fan of continuity and it never reared it’s ugly head at Charlton.  Sarge was in the Korean conflict (I think  [Dick remembers wrongly here -- Sarge was in Vietnam; according to Max Allen Collins, he was the first P.I. who was a Vietnam veteran]), where he lost his left hand and Judo Master was active in WW ll.

M8: How did you define the look of Sarge? Did he have a physical model, like an actor, to influence his appearance? Was the tall, crooked nosed, dark-haired, well-dressed version that we see in the comics the first version you developed?

DG: Actually, he was patterned somewhat after me.  I made him taller, older and heavier, and traded in my pompadour for a crew cut.  Sarge was wishful thinking on my part…I wanted to look ( and BE ) like him.  I used myself as a model on some of the art. I was well dressed in those days wearing a jacket and tie to the office every day ( the plant we worked in was NOT air conditioned) and wore cuff links and a tie bar.

M8: How did you go about deciding on the style of the book. Though Sarge is, especially at first, a throw-back to P.I.s of the days of film noir, his visual style is all 60s-era secret agent. He has to be the most well-dressed comic book character…maybe ever. And he drives that beautiful Jaguar XKE / E-Type. Did you go in with a sense that you wanted Sarge to be a very modern, contemporary character?

DG: He was originally a combination of Mike Hammer and Sam Spade, my favorite tough guy private detectives. Later, we added a bit of the secret agent mystique when 007 was a rage. Someone of authority at Charlton ordered the change to make Sarge a secret agent to hop on the James Bond bandwagon. I stopped drawing it at that point.

The Jaguar roadster was my favorite car of the time and I bought a model car to draw from.  I still have the model.  I wanted him to be suave and honest and tough…and very contempory.

—

And sadly, that’s as much as we finished. I’d hoped to talk next about the legendary and prolific Joe Gill, and the factory-like process at Charlton, but alas, it was not meant to be.

I will respectfully disagree with Giordano on the subject of Sarge Steel’s attire. Other comic book heroes and villains wore off-the-rack suits, but Sarge was one of the few who you could tell wore bespoke suits. In looking at pictures of Giordano at the time, one suspects the style came directly from the artist.