I made the mistake of looking up The Dazzler—my memory isn’t what it used to be and my attention span for ancient comic book characters was never that long to begin with. But holy Toledo! What a mess.
The biggest thing I remember is that Marvel, with its ear to the rails sense of timing, planned the “DISCO” Dazzler at the end of the 70s. Now, disco will never die (thinking of a tattoo…) but the marketing department is in a constant churn. At least, according to several online pages ending or beginning with “wiki,” there were other corporations with their own marketing departments involved. So the blame can be spread around.
As can the blame for the creation of this poor character. Don’t get me wrong; any character no matter how overtly weak can be elevated to noble heights. In one of those flip-book-like wiki entries, I see she became President of the United States. This gal apparently had more lives than twin-kittens—I have no idea what she’s up to now. And I’m keeping it that way.
When I was rattling around the office, the Dazzler talk was that Tom DeFalco was dreaming up the story line for young women. Now, right there—the jokes can be made but Tom is a helluva pro and something like a different gender and dozens of years of age difference can be steam-rollered by excellent plotting, super-powers and superlative dancing. (Little known fact: Tom was Champion Lindy Dancer in the 60s. Or was that Limbo? Whichever, the man is light on his feet. You should see him chase after pickpockets.)
Let’s see, super-powers: turns sound into light. So when she burps it’s like turning on Christmas Tree lights. Keep your sunglasses handy the day after the Mexico Lindo all-you-can-eat burrito lunch special…
But I kid the Disco Dazzler!
Over her lifetime, there were enough pencilers, inkers, writers, plotters and buttinskies to screw up any great idea. Seems like everybody got to write something over the decades—except me! Oh, waitaminnit, I did write her “powers” in the Marvel Universe… Not checking, I’m sure it made more sense back then (those lunch special burritos can affect memory!).
Why, I even heard that they brought in The Man, The Myth, The Legend John Buscema to nail the likeness of movie star Bo (“10”) Derek! I, ahem, actually heard it the day it happened and ran around with my camera to find John. I call him ‘John’ because I attended a little chalk-talk he gave about penciling and story-telling. One of Shooter’s higher concepts for any freelancer or staffer to come in and check it out.
What I learned was that John can out-draw anyone, ever, even when drawing behind him with chalk on a blackboard while talking to us at the same time.
To me, John Buscema was the paradigmal artist who enjoyed the relative convenience of comic art. He was able to quickly and easily hit those perfect lines that told the inker all that person needed to know. Over the years, I was privileged to see many of the big names draw (ink) but John was so fast, he seemed like he was making mystical passes above the board. But no, look again and see a perfectly rendered panel. Remarkable.
I believe John preferred the peace and seclusion of his Long Island aerie to practice his art. When Editor In Chief Jim Shooter needed a favor, John would come into town. There might have been a wagon-load of money involved—which is sheer speculation on my part.
Where exactly we were on the tortured course of the Dazzler’s story or who was doing what to whom is beyond the scope of this article. What I do know is that I managed to get some pictures of John Buscema drawing.
This series seems to have been shot in John Romita Sr’s office. John Sr had such neat piles of books all over the place. I must have looked on at John’s light pencils and my heart sunk—that explains the varying quality of light on John! Alas, it did not seem to bring up the visibility of the pencil lines.
Two points of interest:
There are several set stills of Bo Derek in view.
At the top of the art board John is working on is the “name:” JohnFredo RomiCala Jr. An obvious reference to the number of people involved in the page on which it appears OR merely the letterer having a little fun!
MEXICO LINDO!