Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Follow up posting!!!



Not One, Not Two, Not Three, but 12 full stories in this book!!!

Yes, that's right, 12 stories. From D82 to D93(or is it D145 to D156?). From 30 Jan 1967 to 30 Aug 1969, nearly two and half years of Al Willamson treat, page after page. Yummy!!!

Let me start describing the book, page by page, section by section.

It has a solid feel just like the Rip Kirby hard bound books, only better this time. Beautiful dust jacket and if you remove it what you will get. This!!!




You have already seen the book with dust jacket inside the shrink wrap.

Info on the dust jacket.

Front(A brief resume about this book)



Back(A brief resume of Al Williamson and Archie Goodwin)



Page 3 has this design



Page 4 is for credits



Mark Schultz starts his Intro from Page 5 and ends it in page 8.






Page 9 points the way to the strips, using a pistol as pointer.



Main story starts from page 10, with three strips per page, so facing pages cover one full week. For example, page 10 has the strips from 30 Jan 67 to 01 Feb 67 and the facing page 11 has the strips from 02 Feb 67 to 04 Feb 67.

The quality of the strip reproduction is much better than the Rip Kirby strips, mainly because these were reproduced from Al Williamson's own personal proofs.

Here are the list of stories:




D082 Marine Operation 30/01/1967- 08/04/1967





D083 Death In The Caribbean 10/04/1967- 01/07/1967





D084 Blood For A Key 03/07/1967- 09/09/1967





D085 Conditioning Process 11/09/1967- 02/12/1967





D086 A Jewel For Blackmail 04/12/1967- 17/02/1968





D087 Army Contraband 19/02/1968- 04/05/1968





D088 Hell At Eagle Bend 06/05/1968- 27/07/1968





D089 Information Leak 29/07/1968- 12/10/1968





D090 Sophia's Twin                                          14/10/1968- 04/01/1969





D091 Madame Lei                                            06/01/1969- 15/03/1969





D092 The Fugitive                                             17/03/1969- 14/06/1969





D093 Pirate Submarine                                      16/06/1969- 30/08/1969




I'm not sure about the daily story numbers. It varies from source to source. This list is compiled is by Dr 7, so I use it as it is.

First page from Marine Operation



First page from Death in the Caribbean



First page from Blood for a key



First page from Conditioning Process



First page from A jewel for blackmail



First page from Army Contraband



First page from Hell at eagle bend



First page from Information Leak



First page from Sophia's Twin



First page from Madame Lei



First page from The Fugitive



First page from Pirate Submarine



The treat continues till page 279. As I can observe from the book, the quality of the art work inproves with each passing week. It may be that he has refined the art work or the quality of reproduction is better in the later weeks.

Page 280 gives a glimpse of what is to come in the next volume(I Just can't wait)



Bruce Canwell talks about 'The Not-So_Secret agent' from page 281 to 285.







Cover artworks for the other strips published by IDW and The Library of American Comics occupies page 286 and 287.





Detailed resume of Al Williamson and Archie Goodwin adorns the page 288.


Overall the book is damn good, something every comics collector should have in his collection.

Some of the stories have already appeared in Tamil.

Mekala # 5 had two stories



D86 A Jewel for Blackmail has appeared in Mekala under the title '

ஓட ஓட விரட்டப்பட்ட சீனத்து ஒற்றன்'



In case you are wondering why the first page of the English original and this varies, it is becasue the Mekala version starts almost 3 weeks after the original starting of the story(but story is covered by the Kathai Surukkam)



D87 has appeared as 'புதைபொருளும் புதைக்கப்பட்ட பொருளும்'



Mekala # 6 had one story.



D88 has appeared as 'கழுகுப் பார்வை'



 But I'm sure some more stories also have appeared in Tamil(only guessing).

Some of these stories have already appeared in Pioneer Comics and Comics Art Showcase before.

What I felt as the main difference between the Rip Kirby books and Secret Agent was that I could immerse immediately in the story. As Vedha pointed out there was something missing in the Rip Kirby books, which I feel is the art work. As we are not used to Alex Raymond art work, it is difficult to get involved. Just my 2 cents!

Well, that's all for now.
Happy Reading!!!

21 comments:

King Viswa said...

வந்துட்டோம்ல, மீ தா முதலாவது கருத்து சொல்பவர்.

சூப்பர் பதிவு.

பயங்கரவாதி டாக்டர் செவன் said...

அடச்சே! ஜஸ்ட்டு மிஸ்ஸு!

மீ த செகண்டு!

இருங்க! இருங்க! பதிவ படிச்சுட்டு வந்து உங்களை கவனிக்கிறேன்!

தலைவர்,
அ.கொ.தீ.க.

King Viswa said...

Amazing post and makes me to wait for the day till i get this book in my hands.

I Will read this book in one go (even if i had to take leave fro this).

By the way, //But I'm sure some more stories also have appeared in Tamil(only guessing)// am not sure about the appearance of other X-9 Stories in Tamil.

The only Black hole is the few missing books from TCU's collection of AFI (The largest AFI Collection amongst Tamil comics collectors). Hence we can say that those 9 stories of Agent X-9 are yet to appear in Tamil.

The book is a MUST BUY for a true comics lover.

பயங்கரவாதி டாக்டர் செவன் said...

அதிகாலைப் பொழுதை ஆனந்தமயமாக்கிய இந்தப் பதிவை இட்ட நண்பர் முத்து விசிறிக்கு மனமார்ந்த நன்றிகள்!

நாட்டு மக்களுக்கு ஒரு நற்செய்தி!

இந்தியாவில் இந்த புத்தகத்தை சகாய விலையில் வாங்க விரும்பும் காமிக்ஸ் ரசிகர்கள் கீழ்காணும் சுட்டியை பயன்படுத்தவும்!

http://www.nbcindia.com/Descriptions.asp?6v6yr_vq=IDJFGDL&Book=X-9-Secret-Agent-Corrigan-Volume-1

இந்த வலைத்தளத்தில் flipkart-ஐ விட ரூ:890/- வரை விலை மலிவாக இப்புத்தகம் விற்பனைக்குள்ளது!

அனைவரும் இப்புத்தகத்தை வாங்கி காமிக்ஸ் பேரின்பம் பெறுமாறு கேட்டுக் கொள்ளப் படுகின்றனர்!

நான் ஏற்கெனவே ஆர்டர் செய்து விட்டேன்! அப்போ நீங்க?!!

சமூக நலன் கருதி இப்பின்னூட்டம் வெளியிடப் படுகிறது!

தலைவர்,
அ.கொ.தீ.க.

பயங்கரவாதி டாக்டர் செவன் said...

இந்த புத்தகத்தில் டாக்டர் செவன் இல்லையா?!!

தலைவர்,
அ.கொ.தீ.க.

Vedha said...

12 stories!

Thats it. am buying this without any second thoughts.

Thanks to Dr 7 i can buy it at a lesser price.

Vedha said...

//In case you are wondering why the first page of the English original and this varies, it is becasue the Mekala version starts almost 3 weeks after the original starting of the story(but story is covered by the Kathai Surukkam)

megala comics has a habit of doing such things. i found it in another story as well (believe that you've done a posting on that as well).

still, they were doing a mighty fine job with comics by bringing back corrigan to Tamil after a gap of 2-3 years.

Vedha said...

Dear muthu fan,

//What I felt as the main difference between the Rip Kirby books and Secret Agent was that I could immerse immediately in the story. As Vedha pointed out there was something missing in the Rip Kirby books, which I feel is the art work. As we are not used to Alex Raymond art work, it is difficult to get involved. Just my 2 cents!//

exactly. you've took words out of my keyboard.

i have yet to complete the 1st story of rip kirby, even after 2 months.

Cibiசிபி said...

Hmmmmmmmm

Me the 4th

.

Cibiசிபி said...

ரொம்ப தேங்க்ஸ்பா தலைவரே
இவ்வளவு பெரிய பதிவ போட்டு கலக்கியதுக்கு
மற்றும் எங்களின் ஆவலை
உடனடியாக தீர்த்து வைத்ததுக்கும் :))
.

Cibiசிபி said...

// நாட்டு மக்களுக்கு ஒரு நற்செய்தி! அனைவரும் இப்புத்தகத்தை வாங்கி காமிக்ஸ் பேரின்பம் பெறுமாறு கேட்டுக் கொள்ளப் படுகின்றனர்! சமூக நலன் கருதி இப்பின்னூட்டம் வெளியிடப் படுகிறது! //

அ.கொ.தீ.க.

தலைவரின் இந்த சீரிய சேவைக்கு பரிசாக ..........

பரிசாக ..........

பரிசாக ..........

எங்களின் உள்ளம் கனிந்த வாழ்த்துக்கள்
.

Michael Evans said...

Excellent post -- I remember when these strips were NEW!
One of the high points of Comic Art.

Have you seen my blog post about X-9 and Corrigan?
http://michaelexile.wordpress.com/2010/08/29/dash-it-all-dashiell-hammett/

BN USA said...

My order at Amazon just shipped today. I paid $31.49 (No tax/ free shipping) which is approx Rs. 1434.21.

Some of these stories appear in the Menomonee Falls Gazette.

CAPTAIN HECHAI said...

மிக அற்புதமான பதிவை இட்டு ,நம்மை எல்லாம் ஆனந்த கடலில் நீந்த விட்ட முத்து விசிறி அவர்களுக்கு, மிகுந்த நன்றிகள். மேலும் காரிகன் காமிக்ஸ் கதையை விரும்பாதவர் யாருமுண்டோ?
அல் வில்லியம்சன் படங்களையும்தான்!!!!
அன்புடன்
கேப்டன் ஹெச்சை

BN USA said...

I got my copy by fedex today. Book is so heavy, worth the money I paid for it (a bit too expensive though).

BN USA said...

>> King Viswa
>> TCU's collection of AFI (The largest AFI Collection amongst Tamil comics collectors)

Any plans to scan/share them with us? :)

King Viswa said...

//BN USA said...
>> King Viswa
>> TCU's collection of AFI (The largest AFI Collection amongst Tamil comics collectors)

Any plans to scan/share them with us?//

Would Love to do so. However, the legal constraints on the copyright matters prevent me from doing so.

However, will do a post on the number of issues published, various publications involved, characters etc very soon.

BN USA said...

King Viswa,

No problem. Thank you for the reply.

BN USA said...

Volume 2 has already been announced:

X-9: Secret Agent Corrigan Volume 2 [Hardcover]


Product Description:
This second volume of X-9: Secret Agent Corrigan collects Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson's classic adventure comic strip - that's over 800 comic strips, from September 1, 1969 through April 8, 1972. Each strip is beautifully rendered with delicate precision by master craftsman, Williamson, and elegantly scribed by master wordsmith, Goodwin.


Product Details

* Hardcover: 304 pages
* Publisher: IDW Publishing (February 2, 2011)

Radja said...

Wish you a happy birthday!
Regards,
Radja

Vijayan said...

Hi Folks,

This is Vijayan of Lion/Muthu Comics. Please do spare time to read my blog www.lion-muthucomics.blogspot.com.

Thanks !