Saturday, July 20, 2013

LO, THERE SHALL COME AN ENDING!

“Zane Grey's RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE, No. 372." is what you willfind in the indicia of this Dell comic which hit the newsstands inmy December 1951 birth month.  However, most comics collectors andhistorians would refer to it as Four Color #372 [February-April,1952].  It’s just one of hundreds of one-shots released under that umbrella designation.  The cover painting is by Sam Savitt.“Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage” runs 32 pages and is drawnby Bob Jenney.  The Grand Comics Database says that the comic bookis “Adapted from the 1912 novel "Riders of the Purple Sage" by ZaneGrey. The adaptation is fairly faithful to the original, but allreferences to Mormons and religious conflict have been removed.”Can you imagine what Faux News would make of something like that intoday’s contentious society?The GCD also offers this synopsis:“Widow Jane Withersteen is being harassed by an unwanted suitor.She is protected when the gunfighter Lassiter shows up. BernVenters, one of Withersteen's men, tracks a rustled herd into acanyon and shoots a masked rider, who turns out to be a youngwoman. Beset by guilt for shooting a woman, Venters takes thewounded woman, Bess, to a remote valley to recuperate. EventuallyVenters returns to the ranch, only to find that Withersteen'senemies are planning an attack. Withersteen, Venters, and Lassiterescape, but the gang follows them. Venters and Bess lead the gangon a false trail, but the gang eventually tracks Lassiter andWithersteen into the valley and Lassiter has to make a last-ditchstand against the gunmen.”The inside front and back covers and the back cover have editorialmaterial on them.  The inside front cover has “Fast on the Draw”.Drawn by Jenney, the GCD describes it as:Facts about "quick-draw holsters" and a description of the actionof "fanning the Colt."On the inside back cover is a single illustration (artist unknown)and the lyrics to the traditional cowboy song "The Old ChisholmTrail."  The back cover has a larger version of the illustration.For one thin dime, the readers of 1951 received 36 pages of comicsand related material. That’s a pretty good deal, I says.******************************It was in January of 2012 I started writing about the comic booksreleased during my birth month.  Here’s what I wrote in the firstinstallment of that ongoing bloggy thing feature:Mike’s Amazing World of Comics is one of the coolest comics sitesonline and one of its coolest features is a search engine that letsyou see comic-book covers from any given month.  I recently checkedout the comics published in the month of my birth: December, 1951.I could’ve gone with comics cover-dated the month of my birth, butwent this way instead.The covers can be displayed in alphabetical order or by publicationdate.  I went with the former. After those simple steps, there were 153 comic-book covers shown.From time to time, I’ll post one of the covers and share whateverinformation I have on it.  I’m not sure if anyone other than myselfwill be interested in this, but it is my name in the title of theblog.  Yes, I’m pulling rank on you. As it turned out, many of you enjoyed seeing those vintage comicscovers and reading whatever information and commentary I could addto those covers.  It was a win-win, but that particular series hasreached its conclusion.Starting in early August, I’ll be presenting comic-book covers from another key month in the life of Tony Isabella.  It’s the month in1963 when I bought and read Fantastic Four Annual #1, the greatestcomic book ever published.  It was that comic that made me want tomake comic books when I grew up. You might recall that I’ve already written about some of the comicbooks from that month.  I’ll be writing about them again, but, inmost cases, with additional information and commentary.  I’ve evenmanaged to score some comic books from the month that I’d not readprevious to my recent acquisitions of them.  If you got a kick outof my writing about the comics of my birth month, I think you willenjoy this new series just as much.I’ll be back tomorrow with my last bloggy thing before I head offto San Diego and Comic-Con International.  When I return, I shouldhave all sorts of great convention stories for.See you tomorrow.© 2013 Tony Isabella
Source:http://tonyisabella.blogspot.com/2013/07/lo-there-shall-come-ending.html

LO, THERE SHALL COME AN ENDING! Images

JLA Classified #9 - LO! There Shall Come an Ending (And None Too Soon ...
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2000 AD: That Reminds Me Of This: Lo! There Shall Never Come An Ending ...
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Lo! There Shall Come Endings! "Gotterdammerung" by Goodwin and ...
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Lo! There Shall Come Endings! "Gotterdammerung" by Goodwin and ...
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