{"id":2654,"date":"2018-04-03T14:26:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T21:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=2654"},"modified":"2024-01-09T14:34:26","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T22:34:26","slug":"maggies-world-060-remember-mopee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/maggies-world-060-remember-mopee\/","title":{"rendered":"Maggie\u2019s World 060: Remember Mopee?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MAGGIE’S WORLD BY MAGGIE THOMPSON<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maggie\u2019s World 060: Remember Mopee?<\/h1>\n\n\n
Maggie Thompson<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Brent Frankenhoff posted on Facebook March 16, 2018, \u201cHad a dream that\u00a0Comics Buyer\u2019s Guide<\/em>\u00a0was back and we had revived the Mopee Awards (our annual Golden Turkey Awards for those comics stories of the \u201960s that just plain made no sense), but for modern-day stories. Maggie Thompson and I were working on page and cover design for the piece and even had a presenter lined up for an \u2018awards\u2019 ceremony at convention, but I woke up before learning who the \u2018winners\u2019 were and where we were going to have the ceremony. Isn\u2019t that weird, Craig Shutt?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Craig responded, \u201cWe would\u2019ve held it in Wauconda (Ill.), because it\u2019s nearly right but not quite, just like with Mopees!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Craig was involved, because it was Craig (also known to CBG<\/em> readers as Mister Silver Age) who had come up with the Mopees in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hats off to Mr. Silver Age! He set the stage for oddball nostalgia in\u00a0Comics Buyer\u2019s Guide<\/em>\u00a0#1360 (December 10, 1999) \u00a9 2018 F+W Among the Silver Age weirdnesses Mr. Age noted (but disqualified) was (shudder) the Captain Marvel of\u00a0Captain Marvel<\/em>\u00a0#1 (April 1966) \u00a9 2018 M.F. Enterprises, Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Some Stories Bewildered Readers<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

That first installment\u2014reprinted in his Baby Boomer Comics<\/em> (Krause Publications, 2003)\u2014ran in CBG<\/em> #1360 (December 10, 1999). He called attention to \u201cthe stories that left us with a tear in our eye, a lump in our throat, and a throbbing pain in our temple, as we tried to figure out what the heck was going on.\u201d Craig named the Mopee Awards \u201cfor the dweeby little elf from The Flash<\/em> #167 (Feb 67) who claimed to be the source of the lightning bolt that had given Barry Allen his powers.\u201d (The story was written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Carmine Infantino and Sid Greene.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who happen to have stacks of CBG<\/em>s sitting around may note that follow-up installments ran in #1410 (2000), #1462 (2001), #1514 (2002), #1567 (2003), #1600 (2004) #1613 (2005), #1625 (2006), #1637 (2007), #1649 (2008), #1661 (2009), #1673 (2010), #1685 (2011), and #1697 (2012).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mind you, Craig was demanding. He was looking for stories that met a number of requirements, including that the stories had to have been published during the Silver Age (a term to which he also devoted an article in that issue). They had to be from well-known series featuring well-known characters. (That technically disqualified Golden Age creator Carl Burgos\u2019 \u201cCaptain Marvel.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly two decades after Craig\u2019s first column on Mopees, it\u2019s still fun to consider comics that might be called the nadir of the art form. (Hey, there was actually a Golden Age hero named Nadir! He was a \u201cmaster of magic\u201d in DC\u2019s New Adventure Comics<\/em> in the 1930s, but anyway \u2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A lesser-known adventure hero was Rackman, shown here in\u00a0Airboy Comics<\/em>\u00a0Vol. 4 #3 (April 1947) \u00a9 2018 Hillman Periodicals, Inc. A different sort of oddity might be titled \u201cThe Department of You Had ONE Job\u201d: Gilberton\u2019s\u00a0Classics Illustrated<\/em>\u00a0#89 (November 1951) was\u00a0Crime and Punishment<\/em>. \u00a9 2018 Papercutz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Some Stories Were Just Freaky<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

What was up, for example, with Hillman\u2019s Rackman? He was a little person who walked on expandable leg contraptions, hidden by his trousers. But \u2026 why, exactly?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, while Gilberton\u2019s Classics Illustrated<\/em> series subtitled its output, \u201cFeaturing stories by the world\u2019s greatest authors,\u201d it was known to omit certain, um, essentials of those stories. Such as, in the case of Fyodor Dostoyevsky\u2019s Crime and Punishment<\/em>, the heroine and the point of the novel. Wups! Out of space! Read the doggoned book!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott Shaw! has a Facebook page titled Scott Shaw\u2019s Oddball Comics<\/em>. Among the most recent features are cover posts: of DC\u2019s Blackhawk<\/em> #230 (March 1967), when the World War II pilots were turned into \u201cunimpressive\u201d superheroes; of Harvey\u2019s Thrill-O-Rama<\/em> #2 (September 1966) with a villain whose brain went, \u201cSnap! Crackle! Pop!\u201d; and of Marvel\u2019s Power Man<\/em> #29 (February 1976), with a villain declaring, \u201cNobody laughs at Mr. Fish!\u201d\u2014whereas readers would clearly do just that. (Seriously, treat yourself to that Facebook page. Just saying.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Craig Yoe is another pro with a fascination for weird comics, as a look at his Yoe Books catalog makes clear. He\u2019s even produced a Weird Love<\/em> series, not to mention two Super Weird Heroes<\/em> projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a Ranker<\/em> website that includes ridiculous characters as a topic. (\u201cArm-Fall-Off-Boy\u201d seems to have led the voting for a favorite. He was introduced in DC\u2019s Secret Origins<\/em> #46, December 1989\u2014and bears a startling resemblance to Burgos\u2019 version of Captain Marvel. By the way, Fortress Lad deserved a nod. Just saying.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there\u2019s a Cracked<\/em> essay that pays tribute to such characters as The Black Condor (introduced in Quality\u2019s Crack Comics<\/em> #1, May 1940\u2014which also introduced Madam Fatal, who\u2019s another character of interest).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, heck, you don\u2019t have to go that far afield (though you\u2019ll have fun, if you do). Even classic comics characters could provide head-scratching concepts. Green Lantern\u2019s ring in the Golden Age couldn\u2019t help him against wood (or Solomon Grundy, blah, blah, blah, organic double-talk). But in the Silver Age? Yellow?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The right weakness can provide more story possibilities. But \u2026 Green Lantern\u2019s ring can\u2019t handle \u2026 yellow?\u00a0Showcase<\/em>\u00a0#23 (November 1959) \u00a9 2018 DC Comics And was it a weakness that Captain Marvel Jr. couldn\u2019t say his own name without turning back into Freddy?\u00a0Captain Marvel Jr.<\/em>\u00a0#2 (December 18, 1942) \u00a9 2018 DC Comics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Noted in passing: Some had problems that amounted to a mild inconvenience. Freddy Freeman couldn\u2019t easily chat with someone about Captain Marvel\u2014and Billy and Mary Batson themselves couldn\u2019t discuss the wizard who\u2019d granted them their powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guidelines<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Decades ago, as editor of Amazing Stories<\/em>, George Scithers provided would-be writers with a copy of Mark Twain\u2019s review \u201cFenimore Cooper\u2019s Literary Offenses.\u201d Twain set out rules governing literary art in adventure fiction. They included, \u201cThat a tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the challenges to comics writers, Twain\u2019s rules: \u201crequire that when the personages of a tale deal in conversation, the talk shall sound like human talk, and be talk such as human beings would be likely to talk in the given circumstances, and have a discoverable meaning, also a discoverable purpose, and a show of relevancy, and remain in the neighborhood of the subject at hand, and be interesting to the reader, and help out the tale, and stop when the people cannot think of anything more to say.\u201d [Twain said the requirement was ignored throughout Cooper\u2019s Deerslayer<\/em>.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storytellers who don\u2019t want to end up in a future \u201cMopee\u201d compilation might want to check out Twain\u2019s full essay. But maybe I digress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of Course \u2026<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

None of this answers Brent\u2019s original question: What would be a contender for a Mopee Award in one of today\u2019s comics?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I choose to suggest that there aren\u2019t any, because all of today\u2019s comics are flawless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But keep that Twain essay at hand. Just saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maggie\u2019s World by Maggie Thompson appears the first Tuesday of every month here on<\/em> Toucan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Written by<\/p>\n\n\n

Maggie Thompson<\/div>\n\n\n

Published<\/p>\n\n\n