Monday, September 12, 2016

Random Reads: "Hands Across the Water, Hands Across the Sky..." Everett, Gerber, and Kweskin

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Today's feature is from Sub-Mariner #58 (November 1972), and it's a doozy. The cover (by Gil Kane and Bill Everett--who did what? Pretty sure it's mostly Kane pencils with Everett inks--but Subby looks very, very Everett...) grabbed my attention right off, but the title, "Hands Across the Water, Hands Across the Sky..."intrigued me to no end (did writer Steve Gerber dig Paul McCartney?). Plus, I was a bit smitten by the orange alien amphibian Tamara (what fan-of-females wasn't smitten by Everett's elegant ladies?) ...so 20 cents later I was in the car reading this Bill Everett/Steve Gerber (with Sam Kweskin layouts) page-turner...hope you dig it!





















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6 comments:

  1. Charlie Horse 47September 12, 2016 at 9:50 AM

    groove, you hit MY sweet spot too! i got hooked on Subby too when Everett took over! didn't he also draw the first Sunfire for some issues of SM?

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    1. The Groovy AgentSeptember 14, 2016 at 5:47 AM

      Indeed he did. I've toyed with running them, but I'm a bit afraid that his very non-pc/WW II-era portrayal of some of the Japanese folk in the story would break the internet...

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    2. Charlie Horse 47September 16, 2016 at 3:33 PM

      I know... I actually survived reading Tom Sawyer but now the library keeps it behind the counter to protect our youth. Hey - did Everett draw any Invaders? Love his art on Subby and would like to see on other golden agers. Cheers!

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  2. hobbyfanSeptember 12, 2016 at 2:08 PM

    Actually, as you can see, Tamara was miscolored on the cover, as she's actually got red skin. How the colorist mixed up red & orange, I don't know. Speaking of said cover, it's clearly Kane pencilling virtually the whole thing, whilst leaving Namor for Bill Everett.

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  3. WilliamSeptember 13, 2016 at 12:22 AM

    Thanks for posting this Groove. I've long been a big fan of Bill Everett. I just really love his style. But I didn't even realize he was still active in 1972, so this was quite a treat.

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  4. keythd23September 24, 2016 at 8:58 AM

    Unfortunately Bill Everett didn't catch the vibe that Marvel was operating under when he took over The Sub-Mariner with issue 50. Much like Kirby with the Newsboy Legion over at DC, he tried to employ a 40s storytelling style for the 70s. Combined with his ongoing health issues and untimely death, Sub-Mariner became a hot mess, directionless with a constantly changing roster of creators for the last 22 issues. There was a last gasp effort to turn the character into the Savage Sub-Mariner and give him a really cool costume (which I always loved. I was sorry when it was abandoned) but by issue 72 it was all over. I don't have fond memories of this latter run of the title.

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