Comments on: Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #158

By: Dalton Silva

Dalton Silva — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 05:38:09 +0000

I've always thought that the Sting thing on John Constatine was a pum over the fact that Mr. Summer was engaged on Ecological Debates through the 80's, always visiting the Rain Forest and taking a Brazilian Indian to travel all over he world.

For me, John was a distorted Sting taking care of Exoteric Ecological issues with Mr. Alec Holland.

By: Brian Lyon Maged

Brian Lyon Maged — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 16:14:35 +0000

This CIA STUFF is upsetting. I was taken hostage by DR. CAMERON type doctors and subjected to various
interrogations about my creative deviency. Not funny stuff. Life messed up for a time but I rebounded out of such. Barry Geller is upset about this mischievous stuff and crap from this other scammer Canadian businessman Howard Halpenny who conveniently fired all his staff and replaced them by computers. Talk about science fiction!

We may be planning a conference on the idea of theme parks and the behind the scenes events at next year's WORLDCON. We'll mention some other Americans who tried a similiar thing in 1901 in Montreal and created Dominion Park. What happened to that and its connections with politics, the police, and the Trudeau
administration is also significant.

By: Barry Ira Geller

Barry Ira Geller — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:47:40 +0000

Thanks Marty, for you CIA link above. The story -- as it related to Kirby and Lord of Light -- is completely erroneous. In fact, a complete "deception." After he admitted to ripping off my script and Jack's art on public TV, he has since toned down all references. It was in fact, John Chambers who gave him the idea of doing a film company, as there was sudden turmoil with the LOL project and, rather than pull it (my script) off a pile of manuscripts, John expressly gave him my script as perfect as it was already being shot next door to Iran. Credit to Mendez for pulling it off, but the entire Film idea was John Chambers' -- who then later realized the project wasnt "dead" at all -- and this was probably the reason for the break in our friendship at the time. I wonder, perhaps armed with the Errol Gardner Interview video and the Wired Article, I can give Jack the last shit-eating grin, where ever he is -- by getting the CIA to place his artwork done for the Lord of Light Project, into the CIA Museum? Whatcha think? I like it. Barry Ira Geller

By: Rich Handley

Rich Handley — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:44:30 +0000

<> I'll try not to be hurt that my site didn't get mentioned as a Swamp Thing resource. <>

Rich Handley
Roots of the Swamp Thing
ttp://www.swampthingroots.com

By: Marty Busse

Marty Busse — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:51:23 +0000

The CIA's in house journal, Studies in Intelligence, put together an unclassified article on the Canadian facilitated escape from Iran back in late 1999. it doesn't mention Jack Kirby, but it has some other details you might find interesting.

By: Johnathan Munroe

Johnathan Munroe — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:32:52 +0000

Oh, lord. RR Duran mentions Wild Rose and I'm filled with regret that Gaimen didn't get to do the Phantom Stranger. I can't even imagine what might have happened to Mister Square. And Dr. Thirteen might have finally gotten his comeuppance!

What might have been...

By: Barry Ira Geller

Barry Ira Geller — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:00:19 +0000

Thanks, Comic Urban for a level-headed approach on the story of Jack Kirby's involvement -- in fact Jack never knew of it (neither did any of us) until about 8 years ago when the Mendez book came out and I gave the OK to a documentary TV show in Boston who was interviewing Mendez -- who blatantly stated he stole the drawings and script from the my film. Pretty amazing -- he thought no one would ever think twice, or even knew who Jack Kirby was! As you said, the full story of the background -- including about John Chambers who gave my script and production drawings to the CIA, is found on the Lord of Light website http://www.lordoflight.com.

Designing the pix with Jack was one of the great experiences I have had. On the website there are also stories about how each painting came into existence -- should anyone on this forum be interested.

Barry Ira Geller

By: Hondo

Hondo — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:10:42 +0000

Daredevil by Miller & Simonson ! WHY does stuff like this happen ?

I hadn't known about that Kirby Lord of Light thing until the last year. How wild !

By: Michael-Sensei

Michael-Sensei — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:49:38 +0000

If you want to delve deeper into the into the Canadian Caper to free the hostages, check out Escape from Iran from 1981. I never knew about the Kirby connection though...COOL! I fondly remember Sting as Feyd-Rautha in DUNE. (And the Police were great when I was in high school!) I too wish to add my kudos to this site. Great stuff.

By: RR Duran

RR Duran — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:22:46 +0000

Glad to see that question of mine clarified. Maybe I was reading too much into the similarity of the plots: Broderick Rune, Roderick Burgess; stolen heart, stolen power items; magic circles, magic societies; storytellers, Prince of Stories; Rose Walker, Wild Rose; wearing black, shining shadowed eyes, appearances changing according to the times, etc.

But, hey, wouldn't it have been also great if it had the Phantom Stranger all along?

By: Jim Kosmicki

Jim Kosmicki — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:37:53 +0000

the best part about the Matt Wagner Demon being reprinted in a trade paperback would be to finally see that art printed decently. The original is so dark and muddy that it's often very difficult to make out. IIRC, some of the fonts were ornate and printed poorly as well.

C'mon DC -- it's Matt Wagner. surely the sales on his Mage and Grendel books (not to mention Trinity for DC itself) would give you some sense that this TPB would do well?

By: taylor shawver

taylor shawver — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:25:55 +0000

these comic books are very exciting and can tell you alot about the past and how people changed there wrighting froms...

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:12:21 +0000

Basically - except not so much "deleted" as much as "put away until after the column goes up, then they'll be back!"

You guys both mentioned something that I figured WOULD be brought up if I mentioned one of the stories above, which is actually why I have held that story back until now, but it just fit this week's theme far too well not to use!

By: Matt Bird

Matt Bird — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:00:26 +0000

Just so's I get it, Brian, it seems you deleted comments by myself and "American Hawkman" (wouldn't that be awesome if that were his legal name as well?) because we mentioned an aborted storyline that you plan to write about in an upcoming column? If so, that's cool with me! I look forward to reading the column!

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:08:02 +0000

Brian, over the past week and a half or so Iâ€™ve read through the entire archive and learned not only lots of new things, but have had many things I was confused about clarified. You do a great job.

That being said, any truth to the rumors that one day, obnoxious people will stop replying to your well-research articles saying something to the effect of â€œI already knew that, so itâ€™s not really an urban legendâ€? Just curious.

Thanks for the kind words, Stephen (and all the other folks who said nice stuff!!).

That stuff is fine - critiques like that or a standard "I did not like this week's column" are to be expected if you're doing a column. The only stuff I ever chafe at is the belligerent stuff, which is thankfully quite rare!

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:05:32 +0000

American Hawkman and Matt, you'll have to forgive me - I was carefully choosing my words to avoid stepping on the toes of future installments, and that was exactly the route I was going.

By: acidhag

acidhag — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:16:24 +0000

It may be hard to see the merit of Sting and the Police now, but those guys were part of a huge shift in rock music back in the '70's. Sting brought several things to the table: a unique singing voice (try to sing that stuff at full voice, not falsetto, see how far you get); a pretty remarkable sense of phrasing on bass (by the way, after you try singing like Sting, now try to play his bass lines and sing at the same time), not to mention his tone, which always sounded great; a gift for writing catchy, memorable tunes that somehow managed to be memorable and crafty (music-wise) AND have lyrical substance. With the Police they somehow managed to bridge elements of punk, jazz, reggae and spearhead the New Wave movement, and make the whole thing look ridiculously easy. By the way, I'm not a huge fan of the Police, but I am a musician, and I'm just giving props where they're due. Did I mention that Sting's not a bad actor, by the way?

By: scott

scott — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:27:47 +0000

Yes, Michael Crawford did have a silly part in Condorman before becoming a Phantom/heartthrob to middle-aged women, but if you want a real "what were they thinking" moment, try to find Crawford in the cast album of the "Flowers For Algernon" musical adaption. Also, I was kind of surprised that with all the back-and-forth over Sting/Constantine only one person mentioned "Brimstone And Treacle". I had always assumed that Bissette and Totleben had just come back from a second run theater showing it when they suggested the character to Moore. The movie came out in 1982 and wasn't very successful. Back then there were a lot more movie theaters kicking around, enough to serve different audiences. Some would rent for cheap the movies that outlived their usefullness in the chains, hoping to catch people who missed them the first time around. ( Just a little exposition for those born in the cable/home-video age.) Sting's character in "Brimstone..." was a con artist who convinced a small town that he was a street-level mage much like Constantine turned out to be in the comics. The soundtrack is still out there on CD and worth keeping an eye out. As for why his music went so MOR, sometime after his second studio album, "Nothing Like the Sun", he got a chance to work with jazz legend Bill Evans. Sting had worked swing bands before the Police and probably was among those who thought Evans was wasted scoring the movie "Absolute Beginners". They did one album together and Evans died shortly after that. Most of what Sting has recorded since then has had one foot in jazz/pop standards and the other in rhythm but not committing to either. In fact, the last time I saw him play with any real conviction was the concert film "Bring On The Night". I'm guessing he had made further plans to work with Evans and had stuff he needed to do for creative reasons before he could go back to rock. Now he can't. I might be way out of line here, but what else could explain a near 20-year drought? He doesn't strike me as the substance abuse type. Constantine, on the other hand...

By: Kamino Neko

Kamino Neko — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:22:46 +0000

Mad Monkey, it was Billy Idol, not Sting, who swiped Spike's look.

By: unlimited lou

unlimited lou — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:46:38 +0000

I'll just my vote for the Wagner Demon mini ' brilliant, creepy take on the character
miles better than anything since - a lot closer to the Swamp Thing story than the Kirby stuff.