Long lost T. Rex found at last

Marking the anniversary of the tragic death of Marc Bolan, the Times UK has unveiled a previously lost piece of performance footage (available here) where he can be seen silently mugging to the camera and the assembled crowd of fans below.

Ever since I was introduced to Bolan and his band T.Rex, I felt that the sounds I was hearing came from an inspired and innovative musician grooving to his own private melody and in touch with some strange otherworldly sound that only he could hear.

You can say that about almost any musician, but Bolan was something else. Gifted with a kind of inner sight, he was able to see his success in ways that allowed him to brazenly enter a music executive’s office and demand to be recognized as a genius. When his first album premiered, he was attacked by the press for his ‘lamby’ voice, but those critics soon ate their own words as he rose to the stardom Marc knew he was worthy of.

An innovator and musical maverick, Marc was one of a kind from the beginning. As a teenager,he thought of himself as a professional model and walked around London in zoot suits performing to the world at large. The dubious glam film Velvet Goldmine depicted a very ‘Marc Bolan‘-esque character as a kind of Oscar Wilde/Green Lantern who held a power from beyond the stars.

Well, Marc would probably agree with that.

Solid Gold Easy Action -Live 1972

His early career was more fantasy/folk oriented as Tyrannosaurus Rex, but his unique wailing guitar sound embodied the 70’s Glam in ways that made many feel that he had been around all along.

While a trailblazer of music trends as the herald of the Glam movement, he was not above recognizing that tastes change and toured with The Jam and The Damned as the new wave and punk sounds took hold of British youth.

Many know the stories of Marc’s rivalry with David Bowie (how could Marc equate the brilliance of David’s music with his own genius?), but in truth Marc felt a deep kinship with the Thin White Duke. Shortly before he died, Marc had David as a guest on his show simply entitled ‘Marc.’

The story goes that Bowie had met a ‘witch’ who told him that he was one of a trinity of gifted seers, the other two being Hendrix and Bowie. At Marc’s funeral, David soberly remembered that this made him the last of the three… and promptly recorded ‘Let’s Dance,’ ‘Tonight’ and ‘Never Let Me Down’ to shake off the attraction of any demons sniffing out artistic integrity.

… but never mind.

The footage below shows Marc fall on his ass shortly before the duo were to perform together. As you can see, this was shot after Bowie cleaned up his act and quit his drug use after taking the ‘cure’ in Berlin. It was also shot during one of Bowie’s many stages of re-invention (the art-rocker of Station to Station), which is ironic since Marc shows signs that he is deeply under the influence.

‘Marc’ 1977

Marc Bolan died at the age of 29. A ‘cosmic dancer’ to the end, his sound and influence can be found in New Order, Pink Floyd, The Smiths, and Oasis.

Rather than feel blue or treat the day as a bummer, I urge you to ‘find a little Marc in your heart’ and groove on through the day.

yeah.

Suggested everything:

T-Rex & Roxy Music – The Best of Musik Laden Live
Born to Boogie
Marc Bolan 1947-1977: A Chronology
Electric Warrior

Avengers / Invaders

I recently wrote about a comic referred to as ‘The Return’ by Alex Ross (this is the post), but had no idea that the project featured the return of not only Captain America, but his entire WWII super group, The Invaders.

For those not in the know, the Invaders (originally called The All-Winners Squad) is a super hero tram that operated during WWII and featured Captain America and Bucky, the original android Human Torch and his sidekick Toro, and Prince Namor the Submariner. Published as All Winners Comics in the 40’s, the Invaders series was much later put into print by Marvel Comics in the 70’s by Roy ‘the boy’ Thomas and Sal Buscema.

Marvel Comics has since clarified that the team of Jim Krueger (Foot Soldiers, Justice), Alex Ross (Marvels, Kingdom Come) and interior artist Steve Sadowski (JSA) will be uniting for a 12 part series featuring a time-crossed meeting between the Avengers and the Invaders.

Not a one-off or a stand-alone story, Marvel promises that the series will take place in continuity (a first for Ross and Krueger who’s Earth/Universe/Paradise X series knitted together the many strands of the Marvel Universe yet took place outside of the restraints of continuity).

While the series has been in the works for over a year, many things have happened that make the story not as cut and dry as it could have been, chief amongst them the death of Captain America. But the team view this as an opportunity rather than a hindrance, choosing to instead use the appearance of a younger Cap as a kind of ghostly reminder of what has been lost.

With the current Avengers split into two titles (New Avengers and Mighty Avengers), there has been some question as to which team the Invaders will meet up with. Ross and Krueger, ever anxious to use every single toy in the box, promised that both teams will be represented. Sadowski, a fan of Ross‘, looks forward to the challenge of drawing his favorite character Union Jack and many more of Liberty’s Legion and other WWII characters.

The series will premiere in 2008.

Below is a drawing of the Invaders meeting the JSA (the WWII team of DC Comic) from Wizard Magazine… it’s common for super heroes to fight when they meet. In fact, it’s a great insult to not jump at another hero, rays firing and fists flying.

Recommended reading:

Invaders Classic, Vol. 1 (Marvel Comics, Avengers)
JSA: Return of Hawkman (Book 3)
Earth X TPB (New Printing)

Sergio Aragones – New writer of The Spirit

DC Comics recently announced that popular humorist Sergio Aragones will be taking over the writer’s reigns from Darwyn Cooke on Will Eisner’s The Spirit.

Best known for his long-running Groo The Wanderer series,  Aragones is a man with a spectacular past straight out of comic books. Born in Spain, Sergio studied as a clown under the astounding Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky (Holy Mountain). His American cartooning started with Mad Magazine, but his work really took off after Groo was introduced as a back-up feature in Destroyer Duck by Jack Kirby (co-creator of the Marvel Universe) and Steve Gerber (creator of Howard the Duck).

During his career, Sergio has won the Harvey Special Award for Humor several times over and is recognized by the National Cartoonists Society for his work in comics. But aside from all that, I meet more fans of his work than any other creator at each comic book convention I go to. His innocent yet practiced line work and sense of humor have won over more non-comic book readers than any other cartoonist I can think of.

I’m very surprised to hear that Sergio will be taking over from Cooke, but think that not only will it bring in new readers but it will also bring a brand new perspective to the series as a whole.

There has been no announcement as of yet for the role of artist on The Spirit after Darwyn Cooke and Jeff Bone leave the title.