Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Decent Comics: "The Crime of the Black Orchid" by Fleisher and Redondo
Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! We're back with another Black Orchid back-up. This time, co-creators Sheldon Mayer and Tony DeZuniga aren't on hand to tell the tale of "The Crime of the Black Orchid," as writer Micheal Fleisher and artist Nestor Redondo fill in for an ish. Redondo would actually provide the art for the next couple stories since DeZuniga was finished with the strip (probably buried under inking work at Marvel). Fleisher would write several more BO back-ups, and Ol' Groove can't help but think that this experience would prepare Fleisher for his stint on Marvel's Spider-Woman (issues 21-32). Whaddya say let's head on back to May 1974 and flip through Phantom Stranger #32...
Nestor Redondo drew this just before his run on Swamp Thing. Steranko recently opined on Twitter that Redondo was the best artist of '70s comics. That's high praise from one of the most innovative designers in comics.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Chris A.
For years I used to wonder about the "script continuity: Russell Carley" credit in some of DC's mystery mags, such as in this Black Orchid story. At first I thought someone at DC was taking issue with the Filipino artists' (fine) storytelling, but that wasn't it at all. I saw the same thing on a Frank Thorne-illustrated tale in House of Mystery 221. The common element with these Carley credits were Michael Fleisher's scripts. It turns out that Fleisher only wrote straight prose in those days, & asked his friend Russell Carley to break down the scripts into panel descriptions for the artists to work from.
ReplyDeleteBest regards,
Chris A.
This is an interesting prelude to the 3-part Legion of the Black Orchid story that rounded out this series. There must be more to Pete Martin than there appears, otherwise how did he and Myrna pull off this impersonation? It takes more than just some wire work.
ReplyDeleteThanks!