Introducing… SCOTT SHAW! SATURDAYS Presents ODDBALL COMICS
Another new weekly feature here at 13th Dimension…
SCOTT SHAW! SATURDAYS! By SCOTT SHAW! If you loved the Swingin’ Sixties, the Sizzlin’ Seventies, and Women’s Lib, but never partook in the more controversial side of the counterculture, this is the funnybook for you… or your grandkids. Whenever Western aka Gold Key ventured into the counterculture, it was entertainingly, ridiculously lame concepts, like The Modniks, Mod Love, Mod Wheels, and Zody the Mod Rob, which I wrote about in the first issue of RetroFan. (Yeah, someone at Western was convinced that the word “mod” was a sales-getter.) Western already knew how to create comics, so they were in a much better position to thrive. It hung on to most of the licenses, determined what it would publish, and all under a new imprint, “Gold Key,” which had a much more “modern” approach to cover designs and top-quality material between those covers. Indeed, from June 1962 to 1964, Gold Key had some of the hippest cover designs in the history of comics. The ones that came out of the NYC office also had needless full-color panel borders… but not for long. In fact, within two years, the hip approach was abandoned and replaced with simple gag covers like Dell had always asked for. From that point on, although Gold Key published hundreds of great comics, none of it was anything you might consider hip. So how does one create a fun and innocent character for kids who exists in a world teeming with sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll? Snappy dialog, great character designs, outrageous situations and innovative layouts seemed to fill the bill. It’s very possible that The Close Shaves of Pauline Peril was originally conceived by Del Connell and Jack Manning to be a syndicated comIc strip for newspapers. “Women’s Lib” was a fairly new concept of feminism that was sweeping the country and all forms of its media. TV shows such as 1966’s That Girl (ABC) and 1970’s The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS) were both series with that underlying theme, albeit softly. The Perils of Pauline – originally a silent film in 1914, with new versions in 1933 and 1947, came back in 1967, as a new feature film starring Pamela Austin as “Pauline,” Pat Boone, and Terry-Thomas. It was originally shot as a television series, which explains why its co-stars included noted character actors...
The first installment of SCOTT SHAW! SATURDAYS! — Welcome 13th Dimension’s latest weekly columnist — Scott Shaw! with SCOTT SHAW! SATURDAYS Presents ODDBALL COMICS, the newest iteration of his popular humor-mixed-with-history feature, which dates back to the ’70s. Scott, as I’m sure you know, created the beloved Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew; has a lengthy history in comics and animation; is the winner of four Emmy Awards and an Eisner; and was among the founders of San Diego Comic-Con. He’ll be here every week! — Dan — By SCOTT SHAW! Considering that NBC’s Saturday Night Live recently celebrated its existence for half a century in many ways, I thought this would be an appropriate choice for my first of many Oddball Comics from my personal collection. I’ve been doing my Oddball Comics Live! Shows since the 1978 San Diego Comic-Con and eventually, at comic conventions across the country, online, in Hollywood’s comedy theaters, in a boxed trading card set, and even as a calendar. I usually ad lib comments about each vintage comic book cover, from the late 1940s into the 1980s, but here at 13th Dimension every Saturday, I plan to add more information than before, at least whenever the funnybook of the week merits it. I hope you dig these as much as I do. After six years, Marvel Team-Up in 1978 seemed like it had used all of its popular superheroes, and most of its more obscure characters, to team up with Spider-Man multiple times (a few issues were different teams not featuring Spidey). They also needed something that was different from the usual fare, to get readers interested to continue following the title. That’s when writer Chris Claremont came up with an interesting idea: how about the “Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Players,” aka the cast from NBC’s Saturday Night Live? It was SNL’s third season, still new-ish, hip, cool and still somewhat obscure to the general public, much like Marvel at the time. Chris’ clever suggestion had the potential to positively affect both outfits. But could they interest SNL in something like this, especially since it would be written and edited outside the show itself? Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter told Chris that the only way they were going to learn was to call SNL… and it was Chris’ job to contact Lorne Michaels’ office to pitch his concept. Whoever...
Another new weekly feature here at 13th Dimension…