I’ve been reading & re-reading a lot of THUNDER Agents tales of late. By way of hopefully starting a trend of longer reviews, this is my thoughts on the seventh issue…
Out of the first eight issues of THUNDER Agents, #7 definitely stands out as the best to me. Is it, perhaps, also the best issue of the entire 20-issue run? It must be in the running.
I have been thinking about, and assessing, the content on this blog, as part of a general overhaul of the Website (the various sections will be upgraded somewhat soon; right now it’s just the thinking stage). The blog has been running since December 2000, believe it or not, although the first ten years of content has been offline for a while… for now, I’ve decided to remove all the archives before 2020, and even then I’ve deleted a number of short or disposable postings from the last three years that just weren’t very interesting. (Like this posting, probably!)
I’d just like to refocus my efforts on making longer and better quality postings, I think, such as reviews and the like. The “viewing” postings are fine; the artwork postings are OK when it’s good quality work. And so on.
Before we list the first quarter’s viewing for 2023, a quick catchup on what we watched in the last quarter of ’22.
As usual: the previous viewing entry is here…
The Fugitive season 1 (DVD)
The Munsters season 1 (DVD)
The Invaders season 1 (DVD)
Bat Masterson season 1 (DVD)
The Phil Silvers Show season 4 (DVD)
The Box of Delights (1984 serial) (DVD)
The Day of the Triffids (1981 serial) (DVD)
Quick commentary…
I am indeed a Three Stooges fan, although I like Laurel & Hardy better—but for some reason have never drawn L&H. Go figure. Must rectify this soon. Anyhow, this is just finished on my drawing table, in the newly revamped studio space. Which, BTW, is actually helping my work quite a bit. Let’s not talk about the cramped working conditions I had previously! It wasn’t good, but I’ll leave it at that.
So, this is a mixed media piece, and a first (but it won’t be last) attempt at a slightly different approach. I thought perhaps the pen & ink portraits just look quite comic booky, and pencil-only is a pretty common approach, and a lot of people do it better than me… but this, I think works a little better for me. The basic outlines are done using my trusty Uni brush pen, but I kept it to a minimum. I left a lot of the toning & modeling out. The background is simple ink-on-sponge—something I have not done in about thirty years! Finally, the tones are done with grey watercolour pencils. (Mostly a couple of darker ones.)
Due to recent, extended absence, let’s cover six months of archive TV (and some classic film) viewing at Chez Chrissie! The previous entry is here…
The Rifleman seasons 2-5 (DVD)
Law of the Plainsman season 1 (download)
Naked City seasons 3-4 (DVD)
Johnny Ringo season 1 (download)
Branded seasons 1-2 (DVD)
Mike Hammer (1958) season 1 (download)
Doctor Who serials “The Space Museum” and “The Chase” (DVD)
For a while, we’d been letting Tikki go on ‘dates’ with other Westies. Finally, early in May this year she met a lad named Ollie and there was a successful pairing. We just wanted Tikki to have the experience of motherhood the one time, and intended to keep at least two of the litter so she’d have a couple of companions.
Tikki & Ollie, May 2022.
LOL, as they say. This is my third try at this Marie Portrait concept, done last December… I think I’ll leave it at that now! Please! No fourth tries!!
(NOTE: Marie is one of my characters, late of Club Vamporama [RIP], and, forthcomingly, Adventures of M.)
Previous attempts below, from 2019 and 2011 respectively…
This is a portrait of one of Tikki’s Westie Twitter friends from Ireland, who sadly passed away recently, a month or so after his 14th birthday.
Really, really sad to hear about the passing of Neal Adams. I think most of us can agree that he’s a highly significant figure in comics history.
I thought Neal was sure to be around for another 10-15 years, and producing decent art more or less till the day he died. The latter is virtually true—he was working on commissions as recently as ten days ago—but sadly, he had been fighting the effects of a sepsis infection for the past 11 months. That’s a tough battle at any age.
His later work is probably the stuff that will come to mind for some folks, and that’s… well, a small part of the story!! Neal’s art, for the past 30-35 years, has been generally solid and consistent, sometimes quite beautiful, if seldom a match for his peak stuff from the late ’60s through mid-’70s. But, it might be his increasingly eccentric writing that’s gained the most attention in recent years.
Batman: Odyssey, from 2010-11, which ran for 13 issues over two mini-series, had a lot of people scratching their heads. The distinctive and occasionally stunning visuals were a given, but Neal’s writing—barely flirting with conventional structure or internal logic—made the series something of a cult item. His writing only got weirder and more esoteric later on!
OK, so it’s 2022’s first-quarter viewings… Q4 of 2021 can be viewed here.
Have Gun Will Travel seasons 5-6 (DVD)
The Rifleman season 1 (DVD)
Batman and Robin 1949 serial (DVD)
Atom Man vs Superman 1950 serial (DVD)
Radar Men from the Moon 1952 serial (DVD)
A bit low on completed season viewings, but a very fond farewell to Have Gun Will Travel—things won’t seem the same without Paladin on the screen several times a week. On the other hand, Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain in Rifleman is a great stand-in… currently two-thirds through season 2, whilst also working through the spin-off series starring the excellent Michael Ansara, as Marshal Sam Buckhart—Law of the Plainsman. (You can view both series in their entirety on YouTube, if you’re so inclined.)
Chuck Connors with co-star Johnny Crawford—publicity still for THE RIFLEMAN (1958).
And movies! We’ve watched some movies.