The History of Lupin the 3rd

Lupin the 3rd is a strange franchise, the series has been running almost without hesitation for over 50 years, but outside of Japan and Italy it’s an obscure series. Not to mention it’s an anime and manga sequel to french novellas. The series started in both Seinen anime and Studio Ghibli and that’s only the start. I guess Monkey Punch and Lupin the 3rd are the Velvet Underground of Anime.

So, what possessed Kazuhiko Kato (pen name Monkey Punch which he will henceforth be referred to as) to create this character? The first idea that probably came to your head was he was a fan of Maurice Le Blanc’s Novellas. But no, he had only glanced through a Japanese Language version of one short story collection. He wasn’t approached by Le Blanc’s estate to do a sequel, Japanese copyright law is very relaxed when it comes to fan work. He was simply hired to do some pages and short stories for a new anthology called “Weekly Manga Action” aimed at mature readers. Assuming that such a series would only last 6 issues, he decided to go full tilt satirising how violent western media was in particular the James Bond novels.

Lupin in his early appearances is far from the Gentleman thief he would become. Actually, he wasn’t even a thief, he was an assassin and a total bastard. The original manga run would introduce the core supporting cast to the series, so now is as good a time as any to introduce them (in the order they first appeared in Lupin the 3rd).

Inspector Zenigata, originally Heiji Zenigata the 7th or as Lupin calls him “Pops”. Debuting in the very first Lupin the 3rd story “The Arrest of Lupin the 3rd”. Monkey Punch once described him as the Tom to Lupin’s Jerry. Zenigata comes from a long line of police officers, descendants of the original Heiji Zenigata who starred in Japanese pulp novels set in the Edo period. Later renamed to avoid confusion to Koichi Zenigata. He’s a straight laced by-the-book police officer for Interpol determined to catch Lupin. He’s also been driven mad from the years of chasing Lupin.

Fujiko Mine, you can’t have a James Bond parody without the Bond-girl. Of course she has a pun for a name, Fuji being the Japanese for mountain and Komine being breasts (So she’s basically called “Big Tits”). Fujiko is a rival thief to Lupin, his love interest and member of his gang. Her hobbies include; making Lupin jump through hoops for her affection, convincing Lupin to steal things as “presents” for her and stealing Lupin’s treasure. All while Lupin has been “pricked by the thorn of her indifference”. They have an entirely unhealthy relationship, and different reasons to steal. Lupin steals for the challenge and thrill while Fuji-Cakes is entirely materialistic. 

Daisuke Jigen, is Lupin’s bodyguard and the closest thing he has to a friend. Everything about Jigen is designed to contrast Lupin. Lupin is Romantic, Jigen is cynical, Lupin dresses in flashy colours, Jigen only wears Black and blue. Lupin is wild, goofy and impulsive, Jigen is stoic. A former (and now blacklisted) mafia bodyguard, he is also “the world’s best shot” with his Magnum. 

Goemon Ishikawa is the last of the main cast to appear. He is the 13th in a dynasty of samurais and starts off as an antagonist to Lupin the 3rd being Fujiko’s ex-boyfriend. Goemon’s master ordered him to kill Lupin in a duel to prove that he truly is “the most dangerous man alive” (his master believing this to be Lupin). Lupin was told by Fujiko that Goemon was a rapist and a sadist so out of chivalry he agreed to duel Goemon. In the Duel Lupin used every trick he could and won, since then Goemon to restore his honour must be the one to kill Lupin. So until they duel again Goemon has to keep him alive or he can never regain his honour. 

In 1966 Masaaki Osumo, sent around a 10 minute pitch pilot to every network in Japan. The pitch pilot had been unseen by the public until 2013, and serves as a good introduction to all the Lupin characters. The series went unproduced until 1971, in the meantime Osumo had made his controversial entry into the Moomin series, the one with random gun play (a version that Moomins creator Tove Jansonn ordered to be destroyed and has never been rerun). Osumo now proved he had sensibilities unsuitable for children’s television but still being an animation director, they had to make his series about a thief. The network would soon regret this because his full pilot “Is Lupin Burning..?” would feature Lupin winning a formula one race against criminals but also mercilessly machine gunning down the members of Scorpion without a 2nd thought. Between pilots Lupin’s jacket changed colour, in Monkey Punches manga Lupin wore a Red Jacket with a yellow tie and Black shirt but for the ongoing series his jacket became green. Two theories have been formed to explain this change; Osumo wore a green jacket and wanted to be Lupin or Japanese TV’s made anything red blurry. With the excessive levels of sex and violence Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata were added to the series as directors (but Osumo was fired for refusal to comply).  

Miyazaki tried to emphasise the gentleman in Gentleman Thief and Takahata wanted to emphasise the Arsene Lupin in Lupin the 3rd. Ironically Takahata’s episodes are less historically relevant to Lupin the 3rd’s history because he focused more on his legacy as the grandson of the Gentleman Burglar, this is because TMS would try and get their series internationally known, but French copyright would hinder them from doing this until Arsene Lupin became a public domain character. 

When Osumo was removed from the series, Takahata and Miyazaki created certain rules to make Lupin a sympathetic character: 

1. Lupin has to earn what he’s stolen, (so he either steals from criminals or is awarded a prize for doing a good deed or can’t keep what he’s stolen). 

2. Lupin is a thief not a murderer. 

3. Lupin doesn’t hurt or steal from nice people. 

4. Lupin will always save someone in trouble.

Despite the revamp, Lupin the 3rd would be cancelled after 23 episodes. But Toho (yes the Godzilla people) would make a live action feature film based on the Manga called “The Strange Psychokinetic Strategy”. The inspiration for the film seems to be trying to capitalise on Peter Sellar’s Pink Panther films, but edgier because it was the first film Toho ever made with a sex scene albeit heavily censored (the manga would use the same way to censor sex scenes and was homaged in the Woman called Fujiko Mine series much later). It also visually looks nothing like Lupin the 3rd, I know in the 1970’s converting manga pages to live action would only be feasible with the budget of Richard Donner’s Superman but Lupin is in a white suit and has traded his Walther P-38 for a Walther PK. 

How does a series return from the dead, well if I knew I’d be a TV necromancer. Maybe Monkey Punch’s return to the manga after a hiatus. But thankfully Lupin came back with a new outfit (Red Jacket, Purple tie, Blue Shirt, Grey Trousers) and produced some of the most beloved of his run. The Part 2 Television series lasted 177 episodes, it’s easily the most watchable Lupin as it’s almost all one part stories, but due to the 22 minute runtime you tend to only get one twist per episode. The Music also got a huge upgrade, from the often hilariously bad stuff of Part 1 (seriously there's a song that’s used towards the end of the episode that consists of a guy saying “This guy Lupin, He’s a cool guy, but ya know he like gets sad sometimes”). Now with Yuji Ohno as composer, Lupin is scored by bombastic cool jazz (sounds contradictory I know). Each character has their own little theme and these would continue to be used from the Japanese Percussion for Goemon, or the “Zenigata March” or Lupin’s two themes Superhero (which is similar to the shows opening theme) that in one episode Lupin sings a version of all with lyrics about how cool he is and a romantic theme (also used as the closing music). Perhaps due to the sheer scope of the 177 episodes it has more supernatural elements than any other, whereas part 1 had possibly cursed artefacts (like the Joker’s deck of cards) and villains who created technology to fake having super powers like (Pycal the magician). Part 2 features Vampires (one of whom is Jesus’ little brother), The Loch Ness Monster, Ancient Egyptian curses (although that could’ve just been a ruse by Lupin), Yeti’s, Mermaids and Dragons (those last 3 were all in the one episode). There were still plots with strange technology like the infamously bad Ice Robot episode or Lupin vs Superman. But Miyazaki’s rules still applied, one of my favourite examples of karmic justice happening to Lupin is when he steals wine from the President of the USA only to find out it tastes horrible. 

While Part 2 was being aired on Japanese TV Lupin the 3rd had his first two animated theatrical films, the first being Lupin vs The Clone (later redubbed The Mystery of Mamo or Secret of Mamo depending on the distributor, this film has Lupin in his original Manga colours (Red Jacket and the rest the same as Part 1). Possibly because of the Animerama trilogy this outing for Lupin got to  be his sexiest and most violent adventure yet. In total contrast to Mamo, Miyazaki returned to directing Lupin the 3rd and made The Castle of Cagliostro. Lupin returns to his Part 1 colours to tell a story about an older, more mature Lupin. Lupin is at his most heroic and least selfish as he tries to stop a counterfeiter with aspirations of ruling a country from marrying a 13 year old girl. Miyazaki would also direct the last episodes of Part 2, Flight of the Albatross and Farewell my beloved Lupin where a Lupin in disguise as Zenigata tries to stop a bunch of criminals from destroying a city.

This’ll sound like a tangent at first but it’s important. Dragon’s Lair was a popular arcade machine, and when anything’s popular you’re going to get copycats. Stern Electronics wanted to copy to make their version of Dragon’s Lair but they didn’t want to spend the money to get new animation. They first tried to get the licence for Thunderbirds but Gerry Anderson declined, so they went to TMS Entertainment and used footage from Secret of Mamo and Castle of Cagliostro. Of course they couldn’t use the name Arsene Lupin in 1983 it was still owned by Le Blanc’s estate, so Lupin the 3rd became “Cliff Hanger”. The name was inspired by both the trope of a Cliff Hanger and the footage from Mamo of Lupin’s clone being hung (this was used as the death animation). With the film rights going to Sylvester Stallone, TMS thought they had a way into the US animation market but realising that Adult animation in the US was even more of a novelty than it was in Japan they couldn’t rework the series to be Cliff Hanger, a new series had to be made. So a pilot was made called Lupin the 8th for Japan and Cliff Hanger for the rest of the world. A new futuristic Lupin, this descendent of the Lupin family is no longer a thief but a private detective. Working with descendents of the other Lupin gang members who all conveniently have the same names just +5 at the end. My biggest question for this spin off is why is Fujiko Mine the 5th, the annoying little sister of Lupin the 8th. But alas the series was deemed too violent for US kids (so TMS made Inspector Gadget instead) and not sexy and violent enough for the Lupin the 3rd crowd (so part 3 happened). 

What can I say about Part 3, well you know how your mother said “if you can’t say anything nice”. Well if you want to follow that advice skip this section. Hoo-boy, well the nicest thing I can say is Yuji Ohno did the score, and that only slightly contributes to the total sensory overload that is Part 3. I genuinely think it was made out of gags too silly or violent for Inspector Gadget, not to mention the use of sticks of dynamite and anvils.The Colour palette consists of the finest pastels contrasting against the brightest neon colours your retinas can recognise. All the characters are in clashing colours even if it doesn’t fit, Jigen’s Orange shirt is an abomination. Lupin is apparently a shapeshifter as he changes between 3 forms on the fly (named Romantic, Goofy and Serious Lupin) whilst wearing a Pink Jacket, Orange tie and Teal shirt. Zenigata is now a bumbling oaf whose emotionally unstable crying at everything. He didn’t escape the clashing colours either but his faded green overcoat with a dark blue suit and red shirt almost works. Goemon and Fujiko are also there and mostly wearing pink. Part 3 was initially successful but has since gone on to be reviled by humanity, also the plots are all like Part 2’s Ice Robot or Lupin trying to marry Fujiko.

Part 3 of course had a tie-in movie, The Legend of Gold Babylon. Thankfully the colours have been toned down, so now you notice how angular and badly proportioned the characters are. Especially with the sub-plot of Zenigata teaming up with the contestants from Interpol’s beauty pageant (who are all national stereotypes more befitting a carry on film). The main plot of the film is something about aliens being gods to the Babylonians and making a pyramid of gold… It's as bad as it sounds. In a moment of clarity the film has Jigen say “Gods or Aliens I have a hard time believing in either one”. To anyone interested in this film Lupin wears a pink jacket, blue tie, black shirt and trousers.

After the backlash to Part 3 the next theatrical film would attempt to course correct; copying the designs as closely as they could to The Castle of Cagliostro, The Fuma Conspiracy would try and be a spiritual successor to that film. The film is divisive to western and eastern fans, because the all the roles being recast (it’s the only piece of Lupin media that Kiyoshi Kobayashi wouldn’t voice Jigen in), but Western fans used to the cast changing every time aren’t bothered by this (in fact the only western dub of it is the Rupan dub).  

The next film would be Farewell to Nostradamus (although I prefer the alternate name “Die, Die Nostradamus). At this point Lupin the 3rd would have an annual TV special and a couple more theatrical movies. The most notable thing about the film Lupin the 3rd Dead or Alive is it was directed by Monkey Punch himself (because nobody else was available). So because the animated specials can easily blur into one another let me introduce Lupin the 3rd Plot bingo.

Vladimir Propp Russian folklorist came up with 31 narratemes after analysing old fables, he noticed than one of 31 things always happens in a story and any number beyond 1 of his narratemes could happen in a story… but I say Lupin the 3rd has his own set, by saying this I’m not diminishing the series, but let’s have some fun with this:

1. Zenigata will attempt to arrest the Lupin gang as an opening set piece. Often employing an army of Interpol cops to catch them. (Bonus if Lupin says this is part of his plan).

2. Zenigata has a meeting at Interpol headquarters, where his superiors will chastise him for having not caught Lupin. (Bonus if a new police officer is assigned to the Lupin case).

3. The Lupin gang will have a gourmet banquet (usually juxtaposed with Zenigata eating a Ramen cup or the gang letter in the story eating Ramen cups).

4. Fujiko appears with either a new beau or using an alias and working undercover in a profession eg. Babysitter or News reporter (often in league with the villain).

5. Lupin reveals that what they’ve stolen is either worthless or is actually needed to find a greater treasure and that treasure was either sought after or owned by “Alexander the Great, Napoleon or Hitler”, always one of those 3.

6. Jigen will refuse to partake in the heist if Fujiko is involved only to change his mind right when Lupin is in danger.

7. Goemon will slice something in half and then say the target is unworthy of the blade.

8. The Villain(s) will hire assassins to kill Lupin.

9. The Villain(s) hold Fujiko hostage.

10. Lupin fakes his death.

11. Lupin’s plan looks like it’s falling apart then he does his “Smug-git laugh” and it turns out this was his plan all along.

12. One of the Lupin gang will be in disguise (their favourite disguises are each other or Inspector Zenigata).

13. Fujiko betrays the Villain.

14. Lupin disarms a Nuclear device.

15. Lupin explains the Villain's grand scheme (Bonus if Lupin says “there’s just one thing I don’t get”).

16. Villain monologue.

17. Either Lupin or Goemon have a duel with the Villain.

18. Lupin failed to steal any treasure but Fujiko did (and she won’t share).

19. Zenigata arrests the Villain as Lupin taunts old Pops.

I think I’m contractually obligated to mention the OVA Green vs Red. A new young imposter Lupin appears after the real Lupin has disappeared for a few years. The new imposter Lupin is cockier and less moral than his older Red Jacketed inspiration. The young pick-pocket is trained by a mysterious mentor implied to be Lupin the First, and the OVA ends with the Green Jacketed doppelganger replacing the original. This OVA is rarely spoken of, because it seems intent on solving a discrepancy of the material but ends up creating a series of bigger problems. Sure Part 1 Lupin is more thief than gentleman, but Miyazaki had Green Jacket Lupin in Castle of Cagliostro, also Green Jacket is Part 1, Red Jacket is Part 2. Part 2 opens with the Lupin Gang reforming, it’s forgotten because it’s easier than trying to make it fit into the canon only causes more headaches, a noble failure.

What’s not a failure is the 2012 limited series the Woman called Fujiko Mine. Sure it’s a prequel but it doesn’t stand on the toes of Part 1. The series tells the first time Fujiko met Lupin, Jigen, Goemon and Inspector Zenigata. It’s also the first piece of Lupin media directed by a woman and she becomes the focal character instead of Lupin. Lupin and Goemon never meet to keep the canon straight but it does tell the first time Lupin and Jigen teamed up. The series manages to balance individual episodes (a couple of which being adaptations of Monkey Punch’s manga) with a series long overarching plot (which does dominate the later episodes). The overarching plot is about a weird Owl-cult obsessed with Fujiko. The regular Lupin characters are portrayed differently to their regular series counterparts, except Jigen, Jigen is Jigen no matter who's framing the story. Lupin is more unstable, bouncing from devious mastermind to comedic buffoon even quicker than normal; he's also a lot more possessive of Fujiko, often treating her more like another piece of his collection. Goemon is now a shy schoolboy with a crush and then there’s Zenigata. Now I would say this is “the Lupin the 3rd” franchise’s version of “The Long Halloween” but Miyazaki is never allowed to watch this to see what Sayo Yamato (the series director) did to his favourite character. Zenigata is a corrupt cop, a misogynist, violent and cruel. He sees nothing wrong with cheating on his wife with a cheap floozy like Fujiko because “she’d be a cheap thrill and a quick ride”. We also have a new character Oska as Zenigata’s junior cop who's deeply in love with him and has a burning hatred of Fujiko. He hates Fujiko so much that he’ll cross-dress to frame her. I'm sorry to say Japan is still a very homophobic country (enter with caution). But it’s nice to see Lupin get dark, gritty, full of noir and a series long mystery is exactly what each season of the show needs. The Woman called Fujiko Mine would get 3 more spin-off movies with the same art style; Daisuke Jigen’s Gravestone, The Blood Spray of Goemon Ichikawa and Fujiko Mine’s Lie.

 

Lupin the 3rd after the series aired on Netflix (jp) got a theatrical short. It consists entirely of the character’s unmasking each other. Monkey Punch would also return to Animation directing to do some OVA specials that retell the stories of Part 1, these include Is Lupin Burning and Return of the Magician. 

New Lupin series, new jacket colour, this time light blue. Part 4 is set in Italy because the Lupin the 3rd Franchise is popular in Italy. The problem with Part 4 is it doesn’t really update Lupin, he’s still doing the same old heists but with a new Fujiko, while the old one is still around. The new characters introduced are Rebecca (the aforementioned new Fujiko) Lupin’s wife and thinly veiled parody of Paris Hilton, narratively she does everything Fujiko does but more annoyingly and Paris Hiltony. The other new character is a clone of Leonardo Da Vinci who wants to take over the world.

Part 5 does what Part 4 needed to do, Lupin the 3rd is now tech savvy with all new gadgets. His enemies are technocrats, aspiring world conquerors and the dark web. It’s probably the most fan servicey Lupin series (not that way, one of the OVA’s has a literal sex scene between Lupin and Fujiko) with 4 main arcs and flashback episodes. The first one has Lupin taking down the online Crime Syndicate “Marco Polo”, using Social Media and VR. This story arc introduces the new character Ami Enu, as a riff on the trope of Lupin saving princesses who fall in love with him. She’s a skilled Hacker (more skilled than the just adept Lupin) and has a backstory so tragic it’s probably best not to discuss. The same Arc introduced Goro Yatagarasu, a cop partner for Zenigata, he exists mostly for narrative persons (the cops need exposition sometimes too). The 2nd Arc has Lupin take on his own Mycroft Holmes, Albert. A former rival now trying to rule his own country (France) from the shadows. The 3rd Arc has Lupin steal a country from the CIA and the last Arc has Lupin fight a version of Facebook that threatens all the world’s freedoms. All the main arcs have Lupin in his blue jacket while the flashbacks are their respective jacket colour for the era they’re pastiching/parodying. 

Part 6 or Green Jacket 2 has two main arcs with stand alone episodes sprinkled throughout. The two arcs this time have names “Lupin vs Holmes” and “Gentleman and Witch”. Sherlock Holmes the 3rd previously appeared in Part 2 but as a purely comedic character or as a disguise for Lupin. The version in Part 6 is the BBC series version played by Benedict Cumberbatch, but nicer. This arc actually subverts the usual Lupin the 3rd story structure, normally they spend their time setting up how bad his antagonist is, this time they spend that time showing how much nicer and better Sherlock Holmes is. This arc also reeks of back door pilot, for a new anime with Sherlock the Holmes solving mysteries with Lily Watson. They even do a Marvel style post credit scene to set up James Moriarty. The other arc has Lupin in a game of 4D Chess with his former mentor and possible mother.

Of course Lupin is still going so I expect to have to update this in a year with Part 7. Judging by the Geographical pattern (4 Italy, 5 France, 6 The UK), set mostly in the USA with Lupin’s antagonist being thinly veiled versions of The Big Bang Theory and Batman characters.

The most recent series is a prequel Lupin the Zero. It’s about Lupin as a boy and has him being friends with Jigen, so we’re now verging on a multiverse of Lupin the 3rd.  

Now onto what I’ll call the Love and Theft of Lupin the 3rd. The series is clearly very influential to other anime creators, the 3 leads in Cowboy Bebop are basically a more serious Lupin, a friendlier Jigen and a less busty Fujiko. It’s also one of the first Seinen animes to become popular, not to mention it was worked on by Miyazaki who would found Studio Ghibli (and is often called the Japanese Walt Disney). 

The stranger part of Lupin the 3rd’s legacy (which I’ve deliberately avoided talking about) is the amount it either parallels western media or gets plagiarised. The most famous example is Disney’s Basil the Great Mouse Detective which recreates the clock tower fight from Castle of Cagliostro nearly perfectly. The Dreamworks movie The Bad Guys, the director cited Miyazaki’s Castle of Cagliostro as an influence and recreated an entire chase scene from The Fuma Conspiracy. Lastly I think this one is purely coincidence but in 2012 both the woman called Fujiko Mine and Scott Snyder’s run on Batman had conspiracies revolving around an Owl Cult. 

But Who is Lupin the Third? This is one of the central mysteries of the series. Any backstory he gives has more holes in it than Swiss cheese. The main one that he is the Grandson of Arsene Lupin doesn’t really work as the original Arsene Lupin was an effeminate germaphobe (and more than hinted at as Gay). When this backstory is expanded on in Lupin the Third his grandfather is a sadist with a harem. Part 5 also makes it clear that the name Lupin the Third is a title and this does make sense as Arsene Lupin was a nom de plume (Maurice Le Blanc actually coined this phrase). Interpol’s file for Lupin the 3rd says “Place of Birth Unknown” and because of anime art style we can’t actually tell if he’s of European or Asian ancestry. 

Lupin’s motives and moral code are often left as a mystery to the audience as well, but the answer to that has been hiding in plain sight. He’s an Anarchist, I’m not giving him that title glibbly or as a strawman as when it gets applied to the Joker. I’m saying it earnestly, he is an Anarchist he steals from the rich and crime syndicates, he does it for the challenge not for his own wealth. He also values his freedom and the freedom of others over any item (in the Fuma Conspiracy he says “no object has more value than a person’s life”).  He’s the 20/21st Century version of the Dandy Highwayman, he is an archetypal Byronic hero. He lives outside of society, but tragically needs what he rebels against to live his lifestyle. He needs to be rich and engage with capitalism to engage in his decadent lifestyle of drinking, chasing women and driving fast cars. He embodies what he hates which is why he’s so destructive and has such a death-wish. 

So why has Lupin the 3rd failed to steal the west? One reason has to be the Le Blanc estate and his grandpa not being public domain until the 2000’s but anime wasn’t a big export before that. Sure, there were some but it was never referred to as anime in casual conversation, I remember in 2001 people calling it Japanimation. I think there are two main reasons, one is that it’s not overtly a genre. The most successful Seinen anime outside of Japan is either really Sci-Fi or has Ninjas and Samurai as the focus while Lupin the 3rd is more like an R Rated Duck Tales. The other would be the post Gamergate Anime fandom is more Right-wing leaning, and with  Lupin the 3rd you sympathise with the criminal not the cop. The other factor of these Right-wing fans is they claim “plot twists are bad writing” and Lupin the Third is nothing but plot twists. Some episodes are just giant games of Calvin-ball. 

Is John Romita Jr a good or a bad artist?

 We all have our opinions, we have our favourite artists as fans and inevitably ones we value as lesser talents. But none are more divisive as the son of Jazzy John Romita. Some will put him on their personal Comic book Mount Rushmore while others think he’s a stain on his fathers lineage. So let's actually explore if he’s objectively good or bad…

Let's get some things out of the way, because it’s not just his line work that's controversial. He has signed on to do many NFT projects, is a constant collaborator with Frank Miller, sites as one of his hobbies “pwning the libs” and has produced 2 “passion projects” where the hero shows his “manliness” by raping someone (Kick-ASS and Superman Year One). But I’ll also mention I’ve hated John Romita’s artwork before I knew any of those things, but I’m going to try to be objective unlike his supporters who will just say “He’s a good artist” and leave like they’re the great auritor of artistic quality.

So speaking of great authorities on comic book art, did you know he was removed from being the artist on X-men because Chris Claremont didn’t like his art. Even stated he preferred the other artists who collaborated on the book, which would include; Barry Windsor-Smith, Dave Cockrun, John Byrne and Rob Liefeld did a single issue around this time. Chris Claremont isn’t a good enough authority for you, how about Stan Lee? On the Home Video series Talks with the Comic book greats, both Romitas show up and everything said by Jazzy John and Smilin’ Stan about Juniors art is a backhanded compliment (my favourite being from Romita Sr “If I knew my son was going to be a comic book artist I would have discouraged him more”).

Also when Chris Claremont said his art was bad it was when his Dad inked him and it looked like this

Of course the classic counter argument is to say well he drew Daredevil the man without fear or Spider-man Homecoming or any one of his high profile comics, but that’s not actually saying what’s good about the art. That's Stockholm syndrome, that he’s been around so long, you’ve convinced yourself he must actually be good to still be around.

I found a single image that captures the best and worst of JRjr’s art.

Look at the detail on the brick work, the naturalness of the fire escape. Look at anything other than the two expressionless gargoyles that are supposed to be the focus of the story.

I often see John Romita jr compared to Jack Kirby. But Jack Kirby wasn’t great at anatomy or consistency but he was great at storytelling and facial expressions. Romita is also known for sometimes having wonky anatomy, but just because Jack Kirby did doesn’t mean it works for you. A cursory glance at a Jack Kirby comic book panel you know what’s going through the characters mind.

Jack Kirby’s images almost don’t need the words to be understood, Stan Lee was almost superfluous. Every example the face and body tell the story.

And John Romita Jr… 

Look at the end, an almost readable expression. And that’s from looking online, I could scan in from my Spider-man collection any time a blank lifeless expression is drawn. It’s a good thing he mostly draws Spidey, a fully masked character, because then he gives the reader a break from rectangles emoting vaguely annoyed or shit their pants. Ok seriously in that Mary Jane example is she high, nauseous not the actress we’ve been led to believe she is? 

But the thing that gets me about John Romita jr is that his art gets worse not better… is he just going through the motions is that why his DC work all characters were the same height. The more practice you get you should get better, but to say his art evolved is wrong, it devolved into a cubist monstrosity with little in the way of action or momentum. I don’t care how detailed the backgrounds are, putting that much emphasis on backgrounds is a modern luxury as printing has improved (or webcomics no chance of ink smudging at the printers there). His artwork is just bad and getting worse, the argument “just look at it” works both ways. And if you can find an argument I haven’t said as to why he’s good please tell me because I really want to know how he’s gotten to the top of the industry other than nepotism. 

Oh I should say something nice, good buildings. Maybe he missed his calling John become an architect instead.

Star Wars fans want to ruin Star Wars

Star wars fans are a strange breed, who else wants to actively sabotage something they love? Who would take cinematic gold in the form of The Last Jedi and instead say nope I want rancid fish heads with The Rise of Skywalker. Why would you do that? Well let's explore what it could be.

Perhaps it’s a punk rock defense or gatekeeping. Before Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm Star wars was 6 films, 1 animated movie that confusingly shared its name with 2 other cartoons (all called Clone wars), 2 more cartoons not available on DVD (Ewoks and Droids), 2 TV movies about Ewoks, a Christmas special and an assortment of comics and novels. Everything but the movies had an entrance fee, you had to buy the comics or know a guy who bought them. You also only had 3 good movies, the other 3 movies made that made David Lynch’s Dune look like Sesame Street’s follow that bird (for film screenings of Dune the audience was given notes on the film because test screening audiences had no idea what they watched). So is it a form of gatekeeping? These Star Wars fans are saying to the more casual audience “you didn’t wear a Star Wars shirt when the prequels came out”. Maybe for some, and if that's the case grow the fuck up. Seriously, who cares if somebody just found out what a bantha is or how dangerous the sarlak pit is. You now have a bigger community to discuss how much cooler the Mandalorians are than the Jedi. 

A common complaint from these Star Wars fans against the new content is that Disney made it too political. This has come from Trump supporters trying to start a boycott on Rogue One or strange ramblings on how “it’s SJW” and Solo lost money. But have you seen the Star Wars movies? The original trilogy was about a bunch of scrappy rebels who take down fascism with the help of a space wizard. The prequels were about the rise of fascism, it being embodiment of the Benjamin Franklin quote “the cost of freedom is eternal vigilance”. I don’t think the problem is that the movies were political, it’s that they woke up one day and realised their favourite media doesn’t support their ideology, and instead of being introspective about this they lashed out. Got mad that Princess Leia became a figurehead of “Occupy Wall Street” instead of the correct response of “that's awesome”. Not realising that Leia Organa was always a badass, not just something to drool over when she’s in a gold bikini. They remember the gold bikini but not her choking out the disgusting slug who put her in the costume. Ignoring the context that set up that she was the only one who could defeat Jabba the Hutt (he was immune to Luke’s force powers and they were there to save Han Solo). I don’t see how that’s different to Leia in Last Jedi now using Force powers or Laura Dern now being a purple haired rebel leader.   

A more specific complaint I’ve seen is that they ruined Boba Fett. Umm before the Book of Boba Fett he was just a cool action figure or a guy who was exactly as strong as a clone trooper. I think you want to say Episode 2 ruined Boba Fett or the fact he lasts about 20 seconds in his only on screen fight. The expanded canon didn’t really do him any favours, the expanded canon was a mess of constant contradictions. One source claimed that Mandalorians were bird-like people who were complete pacifists that Jango Fett mercilessly slaughtered and now wears the armour of. Another obsession of these stories is to have Boba Fett fall back into the Sarlak pit, sometimes acknowledging that he’d escaped once before (I think one version claimed he escaped 4 times, I guess he left his keys behind or something).

But a more specific version is that they made him look weak, but his earlier movie appearances didn’t make him look like Hulk Hogan. For those who don’t know, Book of Boba Fett is about the Fett-man having escaped from the Sarlak pit, now being at the bottom of society with no home or money and making his way to the top of the underworld. It takes strength to pick yourself up from the bottom, and a lot more strength than to have everything handed to you. Also the more ethical way, to be unethical is easy. Trust is one of the hardest things you can do, it’s also one of the hardest things to get, to put yourself out there rather than submitting to total cynicism is much harder. And it’s harder to trust when surrounded by thieves, murders and other assorted scoundrels. Book of Boba Fett made Boba Fett more than a cool design, but what they wanted is a boring TV show were he just murders people.

An even stranger argument I’ve seen is “Subverting expectations is always bad”. This is just wrong, there would be no point paying attention to any story if it always did what you expected. You wouldn’t need to read anything new if you can predict all the stories. Also Star Wars did this sort of thing in the original trilogy, look at Yoda, he’s introduced as a silly comic relief muppet. It takes him about 10 minutes to reveal that he is in fact the Jedi master.

But “George Lucas had a vision and Disney is ruining it”, have you seen George Lucas’ plans for Episode 7? It was Fantastic voyage in Luke Skywalker's  bloodstream to learn what the midichlorians are (those things that retconned the force to not be mystical at all). 

If George had a great plan for Star Wars he wouldn’t have to go back to re-edit the original trilogy to try and make his prequels fit better. Also he only has a story credit on Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, 20th Century Fox had so little faith in him as a director that they hoped somebody else would direct the movies (their top choice was Ron Howard). 

So was The Last Jedi that good? Yes, it was. Thematically it was about how our heroes are people, flawed, imperfect and grumpy. About how growing up part of that is realising that. Becoming your own hero and making a better future means learning from the mistakes of the past. It was about how you don’t need to be part of a legacy to honour it or to continue it. That we are who we chose to be, not what destiny made us. But Rise of Skywalker undid all of that, and critics rightly lambasted it, not to mention that Emperor Palpatine exists purely to smooth over awful writing. 

Star Wars should be for everyone, not the weirdos that pretend to be the Sith or look up to them. Those people are weirdos, and Zack Snyder’s making for Netflix A New Hope from the Empires point of view so they should clamour to that, have that underperform like all of Zack Snyder's movies.

The Road to Hellboy

Sometimes I think Hellboy comics come from another reality. One where the Comics Code Authority and the moral panic around them never happened. A reality where Marvel didn’t have to pussyfoot around the horror genre and the Silver-Age had horror heroes instead of the angsty Fantastic Four and Hulk. Each volume of Hellboy feels like the best stories from a character with 60 years of history (well maybe a few exceptions). Now I’ve wanted to write about Hellboy for months, he’s even featured in the border to this blog but, what line do I take. Matt Draper already covered how the Hellboy saga is the story of a man rejecting his destiny only to find he has another choice. Instead, let's take a look at Mike Mignola’s pre-Hellboy stuff and see how he evolved into the creator of the series. 

Rocket Racoon

Every bio for Mike Mignola begins with “starting off at Marvel as a bad inker”. But they never seem to point out his first pencilling jobs were The Rocket Racoon mini series (the first one later redubbed “Tales from Half-World”) and 3 issues of The Incredible Hulk (published around the same time). Some may think this was a prestigious job but no, at this point Rocket was a no name character who had only been in a couple issues of the Hulk. 

The Artwork in the Rocket Racoon series less resembles Hellboy and more an episode of Ewoks. Although it does have giant worms (and they’re actually worms not giant caterpillars like the Conqueror Worm). The robot clowns do have a hint of the sinister to them, but nothing else I can really say on topic. Although MCU fans would probably be shocked to find out Rocket’s origin is that he’s a genetically engineered mental health care nurse. 

The Phantom Stranger

Cursed characters get brought up a lot, The role of Superman is said to be cursed and Plastic Man is also said to be cursed because of Jack Cole’s suicide. But is there such a thing as a “blessed character”? If so I’d like to make the case for the Phantom Stranger, he’s a lesser known character for sure but Mike Mignola worked on a mini-series for him this early in his comics career and Alan Moore earlier wrote his issue of Secret Origin. Could this be a coincidence well yes most probably but it’s more fun to think about then all the dead Superman actors.

As for the artwork, it’s starting to look like the Mignola we’d all recognize, the characters are more angular than in Rocket Racoon. Also this wasn’t Mignola’s doing but this comic has some of the worst lettering I’ve ever seen in a comic post-Golden Age. 

Probably more relevant is that Mignola drew his first (of 2) Namor short stories for Marvel Fanfare and these stories have the same feel as a Hellboy short. I should also mention Mike Mignola didn’t script a comic till the 2nd Hellboy mini series “Wake the Devil”.

World of Krypton

 

I wrote about these comics last year, but yes during the John Byrne era of Superman Mike Mignola was the Architect of the Planet Krypton. These stories are about as removed from his work on Hellboy as you can probably get with the exception of Action Comics 600. Which has a short about Man-Bat being afraid of Superman. 

The more important thing about this era is that he forged a mentor/mentee relationship with John Byrne at this time and Byrne is credited with scripting the first published Hellboy series “Seed of Destruction”.

Superman 23, Cosmic Odyssey and Gotham by Gaslight

I’ve separated Superman 23 from the other comics because it isn’t Krypton based, it’s fleshing out the back story to the villainess The Silver Banshee. Her origins are all about celtic mythology, something that many Hellboy stories would also borrow from most notably the fan favourite the Corpse. The characters are also now starting to take on Mignola’s famous Jack Kirby inspired stocky look but this is probably better showcased in Cosmic Odyssey. 

Alan Moore once described Mike Mignola's art as “German expressionism mixed with Jack Kirby”, and where better to show off your Kirby influence than a story that has his New Gods and his lesser known Etrigan the Demon. Etrigan in design almost looks like an early rough draft of Hellboy similar to Daredevil's yellow suit compared to his more iconic red suit. Cosmic Odyssey is a must read for any fan of either Mike Mignola or The New gods, also I think practicing drawing Darkseid is how Mignola came up with that granite look that his drawings tend to have.

The one thing Mike Mignola’s art is known for is his deep black shadows, but none of the comics here really have them. Perhaps we shouldn’t credit them to him at all, because Batman: Gotham by Gaslight is where they debuted. For all we know inker for the book P Craig Russell spilt his ink pot on the page and Mignola decided he liked the look. The story of Gotham by Gaslight is possibly one of the best from Batman’s history (so of course The DC Animated film is nothing like it insisting on adding Victorian versions of as many Bat-Rogues as they can). 

Also he drew the covers for “Batman a Death in the Family”

Triumph and Torment/ Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser

Triumph and Torment is actually my favourite Marvel comic storyline. Unfortunately for this article, it doesn’t really advance Mike Mignola’s style. You’d think Dr Doom tricking Dr Strange into helping him save his mothers soul from Hell would be more of an influence on Hellboy. But on a personal level I actually think Mignola’s Art is better in this book than in Hellboy. If only he hired Mark Badger to ink and colour his later work.

Mike Mignola’s actual favourite pre-Hellboy comic he worked on was Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Now the stories are actually an adaptation of Fritz Lieber’s work, rewritten to comics by Howard Chaykin. The Mignola collection is actually the 2nd time Chaykin worked on adapting these stories into comics, the first was in the 1970’s with Dennis O’Neil writing and Chaykin on Art. Now judging Mignola’s Art this one is a step towards Hellboy as the art is clearly evolving from Cosmic Odyssey. They’ve also taken on a more ethereal gargoyle like character possibly to get away from the homoerotic undertones that barbarian fiction has (even more so if it’s about 2 dudes who travel the world together).

Also check out some of the covers he did for X-men Classic (reprintings of stories from the Claremont era), they’re so Hellboy.

Wolverine Jungle Adventure, Batman Sanctum and X-Force 8

Both Wolverine Jungle Adventure and Batman Sanctum are Hellboy comics with the hero changed. I suppose that makes sense as DC’s editorial policy is if a story can have Batman in it, it will have Batman in it. Wolverine also shares some character traits with Hellboy, they both have a gruff exterior with a heart of gold, both are jaded and think they’ve seen everything, both are the main fighters in their team. 

Sanctum is almost a rough draft of Box full of evil (sadly no monkey with a gun). Jungle Adventure is Wolverine and dinosaurs, Marvel editorial nixed the idea that it would reveal Apocalypse as the mastermind behind the Weapon X programme so it’s now just a fun disposable comic.

X-force 8 is crap, Mignola’s art is good and it has dinosaurs but all of X-Force sucks. Rob Liefeld shouldn’t write comics for other people to draw, I remember something he said in Stan Lee’s VHS series “Talking with the comic book greats” (bit of a stretch for Liefeld). “I have no interest in writing because what would come out of their mouths would be gibberish” if only he took his own advice. X-Force 8 is the last comic Mike Mignola has made for Marvel (he has returned to DC for some Batman stuff mostly). 

What John Byrne did…

An often ignored fact about Hellboy is that he was co-created by John Byrne. John Byrne also scripted Seed of Destruction and the first two Hellboy shorts but he credits himself as “along for the ride”. But the John Byrne connection goes deeper, Darkhorse comics started a line of “creator owned comics” to compete with Image comics. For this venture they got the most A-list people they could, Frank Miller would make Martha Washington with Dave Gibbons and Big Guy and Rusty. Art Adams would create for Darkhorse Monkeyman and O’Brien and John Byrne now disgruntled with Marvel would make; The Torch of Liberty (Captain America knock off), The Next-Men (X-men but less powerful), Babe2 (She Hulk knock off) and Danger Unlimited (Fantastic Faux). John Byrne’s Darkhorse stuff is connected to Hellboy, The first story was a back-up in Next-Men 11, Abe Sapien guest starred in Babe2 and The Torch of Liberty witness the Birth of Hellboy in seed of Destruction (he was changed in the 2017 Hellboy movie with Lobster Johnson in the only good scene of the movie).