The full title of this series is called Stuart Taylor in Weird Stories of the Supernatural. It's about a college student who travels to the past and sometimes the future, with one of his science professors and his daughter Laura, whom happens to be Stuart's girlfriend. In their adventures, the trio meet Shakespeare, experience the tragedy at Pompeii and jump ahead to the far out future of 1975!
I've only got one question about this series- does time travel, when done with a time travel machine, count as an element of the supernatural? Yes, time travel can be quite weird. But supernatural?! I guess in the 1930s and 40s, time travel was supernatural. But it's more science fiction than ghost story or horror tale.
I looked to see if earlier tales involved a supernatural slant. And while Stuart and friends did visit Icabod Crane, Sinbad and Thor is some of those stories- that's just a handful of the 140 issues written and illustrated by Curt Davis. Only one such story, involving the 1,001 Arabian Nights and a flying carpet, even comes close to being classified as supernatural in this volume. And even then, I'd call that one a fantasy yarn.
By The Way- There is no Curt Davis! That was just 1 of several pseudonyms used by comics legend, Jack Kirby! I didn't learn this until after I completed this book. It's definitely a product of it's time, with some racial stereotypes, archaic history lessons and how people though the world of the future was going to turn out. But it was also ahead of it's time with the battle of the sexes between Stuart and Laura and of course the innovative framing techniques that Kirby pioneered.
Oh, and one more nitpick. Whenever Stuart travels in the future, his blue suit transforms into some kind of trapeze artist leotard. But Laura and her father's clothes never change. I'm not sure why this is and not having a answer kinda bothered me. Maybe the costume change is explained in earlier volumes. I just don't know.
As for why I started with volume 3- well, that's easy. Gwandanaland Comics was having a clearance sale and this was on very steep discount. As an amateur comic book historian and collector who just can't pass up a bargain, when I had the chance to buy this, I just couldn't pass up a bargain!
A fun early look at some of the forgotten (and unclaimed) works of Jack Kirby. Now that I know that this is a work by The King, I very well might search out the other 3 or 4 volumes in the series. I may not have enjoyed the stories that much based on the incorrect title. But I love Kirby that much to collect the rest!
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment