One thing you have to love about the 60's is that even when things weren't very funny, they were sure frantic:
So, are you wondering who these hepcats are? Not really? Well, too bad. I had to learn, and so do you:
Now, I'm not sure this is artistic license or meant to be taken literally, but by their second appearance, Jangle had gone from being just a noisemaker like the guy from the Police Academy movies to a bona fide shapeshifter:
This was never explained. I think we were just supposed to appreciate the zaniness of it all. I'm also pretty sure we were supposed to have consumed copious amounts of marijuana before reading these things.
Anyway, here are the other two guys:
Yes, I know. They're dull as dishwater, but what can you do? At least they were better than this chick!:
Normally, I would caution you that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being married to a female miser. I've made it work for nearly two decades. No, my young friends, the problems don't come from being married to a thrifty gal. The problems come from gals who want to be thrifty with their money whilst being fast and loose with yours:
To their credit, the makers of The Maniaks did nothing to try and paint her in a positive light:
.... although it isn't very funny. Ha ha ha! She didn't want to marry the billionaire just in case he became poor later! Isn't that a riot?
And cue the obligatory pleas from readers to keep this train wreck going.
There is another issue, but I haven't read it yet. Just in case it only ends in my tears, I'll hit you with Maniak trivia: The gold-digger apparently doesn't play her cards right, because she appears 30 years later in the Power Company limited series as a personal assistant to the leader of that team. And in the very recent Blackest Night annual big-event crossover, a character said that his dream as a child was to grow up and "play bass for the world's greatest band, the Maniaks." Don't believe me? Check out Power of Shazam #48.
See? We learned something today, didn't we?
See you Monday!
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9 comments:
"See? We learned something today, didn't we?"
Yep.
10 Even people who remember and enjoyed the Monkees in the '60s (including me) thought this Showcase tryout was $#!+, despite the Sekowsky art!
2) EVERY strip, not matter how lame, has at least one fan who turned pro! (Whoever wrote Power of Shazam #48)
3) Those of us who didn't go to San Diego (which includes me, and anyone else reading this blog) is truly desperate for entertainment this weekend!
I mean, c'mon! I'm reading this at 2 in the morning when I should be doing something constructive...like downloading porn...
So.....that bloke's just blown half his head off? This is like the bit in the X-men movie where Wolverine slices through Mystique's claws. Did he slice off her fingers or what? Can anyone explain this?
LadyBlack
I love it when the comic companies, often run by guys kicking around since the 40s, took notice of the pop cultural trends of the day and just mocked them. It leads to a lot of funny comics back at the time. "We think the Monkees are stupid, so our readers must think it, too." Though, I guess it's somewhere between a parody and a rip-off of the Monkees. It's like in the '70s when they tried to be trendy and start focusing on black characters, but then gave us well-intentioned but slightly racist dialogue and characters.
Sekowsky did a great job on these Showcase "auditions".... it makes me wonder why his work on Justice League was so terrible....
"...it makes me wonder why his work on Justice League was so terrible..."
That's easy.
Inker Bernie Sachs!
Think Vince Colletta with a thicker line.
When you see later JLA issues inked by Joe Giella, Sid Greene, or even George Roussos, you realize how much penciling Sachs left out of the finished pages (like Colletta did, especially with Jack Kirby)!
In fact, Sekowsky penciled some of the early covers inked by Murphy Anderson!
Sorry, hit the "send" button before I finsihed...
In fact, Sekowsky penciled some of the early covers inked by Murphy Anderson!
And don't they look GOOD???
A few thoughts, if you can all them that.
1) as a viewer of america's got talent, I'd kill for a rockband that had an acrobat, mod, rube goldberg, that guy from police acdemy feel to it. Better than the bald, black, opera singing, hat knitter any day.
2) The Mod Miser would have been a great foil or assistant to the Mad Mod.
Lazarus Lupin
http://strangespanner.blogspot.com/
art and review
That first panel looks less like a stadium than a backyard where they built a mini stands and filled it with gray people figures the size of garden gnomes. Weird.
Wow. I've never even read this comic, but I'd really like to take a poo and wipe my butt with the pages. Has a comic book company ever been able to cash in on a fleeting fad without it turning out to be something that would embarrass them for decades?
On a side note, I'm glad to see this blog is still going strong. I tend to read these comic book blogs in phases, and I've been reading this one for at least a few years now. I don't know how you do it.
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