Archive for February, 2008
Butterfly Orchid (leadership article) and Its Origins Olof Sw….
By Admin on February 28th, 2008
Butterfly Orchid and Its Origins Olof Swartz was the orchid enthusiast who probably named each one of them somewhere in 1800.
CRIMES PAST: Phillips talks New “Criminal” #1
On sale now, Criminal Vol. 2 #1 begins with three stand-alone issues set in the past. CBR News spoke with artist Sean Phillips about the book and his work on a DVD which should interest Criminal fans as well.
Pipeline
“Zorro” returns to comics. Alan Davis returns to “ClanDestine.” Augie returns to Asterix. And a look at some original art by Kevin Maguire. Reviews galore in this week’s edition of PIPELINE!
Oddball Comics: Four Color (I Aim At The Stars) No. 1148
Despite its title, Dell’s I AIM AT THE STARS is not a comic about a top paparazzi! Instead, read the life story of Dr. Wernher von Braun, the man who entered the USA into the Cold War’s Space Race, in this adaptation of a biographic feature film - starring an actor who would someday be much better-known as one of James Bond’s most fiendish foes! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that this week’s Oddball Comic aims to please!
So what’s so odd about this extremely rare Dell film adaptation? Well, this military story spans World War II and the “Cold War” between America and Russia, yet doesn’t feature a single battle scene, swastika or mention of Nazis or Communists!
Dr. Wernher von Braun (3/23/12 - 6/16/77) was one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology during and after World War II. Originally creating Germany’s deadly V-2 rockets, which devastated London during WWII, he eventually entered the United States though the then-secret “Operation Paperclip”. There, he not only became a citizen, but worked on America’s ICBM program and served as director of NASA. Dr. von Braun is generally regarded as the father of the United States’ space program.
The film I AIM AT THE STARS was a somewhat fictionalized account of von Braun’s youth, wartime experiences and rise to front-page prominence during the “Space Race” between America and Russia in the late 1950s and 1960s..
I AIM AT THE STARS (1960) was a Columbia Picture and a Morningside Production, produced by Charles H. Schneer and directed by J. Lee Thompson from a screenplay by Jay Dratler based on a story by George Froeschel, U. Wolder and H. W. John. It starred Curt Jurgens as Dr. Wernher von Braun and Victoria Shaw as Elizabeth Beyer, with Gia Scala, Herbert Lom and James Daly.
Comic books fans probably best know actor/director/journalist Curt Jurgens for his portrayal of James Bond’s foe, shipping magnate Karl Stromberg, in 1977’s THE SPY WHO LOVED ME. But interestingly, the career of the Munich, Germany-born Jurgens (12/12/12 - 6/18/82) echoed that of Dr. Wernher von Braun, being one of the first German-born actors to achieve Hollywood stardom the post-WWII western world. First appearing in German films in 1935, Jurgens was deported to a Hungarian concentration camp by the Nazis in 1944, declared “unreliable” by Dr. Joseph Goebbels. After the war, he returned to acting and directing, and in 1955’s THE DEVIL’S GENERAL, Jurgens portrayed a German WWII hero who renounces the Nazi creed, thereby attracting international attention to his performance. Other notable films that Jurgens appeared in include THE ENEMY BELOW (1957, in his first American production), AND GOD CREATED WOMAN (1956), LORD JIM (1965), THE ASSASSINATION BUREAU (1968), BATTLE OF BRITAIN (1969) and THE MEPHISTO WALTZ (1971), in addition to many others.
This 32-page adaptation of I AIM AT THE STARS was drawn by cartoonist Jack Sparling. It begins in 1925 Berlin, as young Wernher von Braun and his chubby friend Mischke visit a local planetarium:
PLANETARIUM LECTURER:
And someday mankind will reach out to these unknown planets, stars - these unknown worlds! For whatever man dares to dream, he will accomplish!MISCHKE:
Wernher, let’s go! You’ll catch a cold way out there in deep space without a sweater on!WERNHER VON BRAUN:
All right, Mischke, I - I’m coming! You’ll see, Mischke, someday man WILL get to the stars!MISCHKE:
You and your stars! If you want to get there, you’d better start growing tail-feathers!
As they leave the planetarium, Wernher and Mischke spot a poster for the Berlin Avus Speedway that advertises the “speed trial of Fritz von Opel’s rocket-powered automobile”, a concept that excites Wernher so much that he can’t even sleep that night — only daydream. (That is, if it’s possible to daydream at nighttime) The fact that his mother nags Wernher about his math class grades doesn’t particularly help things, either! The following day, at the speedway, Mischke introduces eager Wernher to his friend Anton Reger, who works at the Opel auto factory. When Wernher bombards Anton with questions about the operation of his rocker-powered racecar, von Opel recommends that Wernher read a book by Professor Hermann Oberth called ROCKET TO THE PLANETS. Soon, obsessed with his dreams of space travel, Wernher experiments with model rocketry; in the process, he winds up crashing a rocket into the neighbor’s greenhouse, earning his father’s ire:
MR. VON BRAUN:
Wernher, thanks to your experiments, I’ll have to pay for Becker’s greenhouse! What good are those rockets of yours, anyway?WERNHER VON BRAUN:
Father, what good is a newborn baby? You can’t tell until it grows up, can you?MR. VON BRAUN:
A good question! But anyhow, I insist that if a von Braun shoots off a rocket, it should go where it’s supposed to!WERNHER VON BRAUN:
I’ll try to remember that, sir!
Soon, Wernher receives his own copy of ROCKET TO THE PLANETS in the mail, he’s frustrated to discover that much of its contents are “a lot of mathematics and equations”. He decides to ask the aid of his school’s new math professor, never realizing that the new instructor is Dr. Hermann Oberth himself:
DR. HERMANN OBERTH:
Young man, I’ve checked your record! A boy who fails in Latin and math couldn’t hope to understand this book!WERNHER VON BRAUN:
Then I’ll study harder until I pass!DR. HERMANN OBERTH:
Tell me why all this means so much to you, my boy!WERNHER VON BRAUN:
Because rockets are important, sir! Someday they’ll take mankind to the stars! And someday they’ll build a statue to the man who wrote this book!DR. HERMANN OBERTH:
The man who wrote this book - most people call him a crack-pot! A mad scientist!WERNHER VON BRAUN:
Professor Oberth is a great man! A genius! How can they say such a thing?DR. HERMANN OBERTH:
Calm yourself, my boy. If I don’t mind those names, why should you? All right, Wernher, I’ll help you with your math! And just between us - I hated Latin, too!
As the years pass, Wernher becomes Dr. Oberth’s assistant. One evening, they prepare a rocket motor demonstration for the Rocket Society. While Dr. Oberth, Mischke, Anton Reger and their gorgeous friend Elizabeth huddle behind a wooden shield, Werner insists on risking his neck by their rocket full of liquid oxygen and igniting its motor by hand. The launch proceeds perfectly! Soon, Dr. Oberth introduces Mischke to Captain Dornberger, a German army official who offers to underwrite their further experimentation by providing “unlimited material, laboratory facilities and test equipment”. But as time passes, and Wernher von Braun continues his rocket experiments under Army auspices, the world outside is plunged into the chaos of World War II. But Wernher’s activities have not gone unnoticed outside of Germany. In the offices of British Intelligence, a Major Drummond expresses his suspicions regarding Germany’s “Peenemunde” area:
MAJOR TOFTOY DRUMMOND:
All our information says that enormous quantities of building materials are being poured into that sector! We’ve had persistent reports from Dutch, Danish ad Polish sources that the Germans are building a secret weapon there! I’ll order special photo reconnaissance missions at once, Major! We’ll photograph the Peenemunde area regularly!
Meanwhile, “at that very moment”, Wernher narrowly avoids getting blown out of the sky while flying a small plane to observe his rocket post-launch behavior up close and personal. Later that afternoon, Anton is putting romantic pressure on Elizabeth — who’s now Wernher’s personal secretary - but she’s not particularly receptive to his overtures:
ANTON REGER:
Elizabeth, ever since I got you hat job as Wernher’s secretary, you have almost no time for me at all? May I see you tonight?ELIZABETH BEYER:
You know I’m just as fond of you as ever, Anton! But - well, I just can’t see you tonight!
That night, after screening film footage of their latest rocket model, Wernher locks horns with a German army engineer named Neumann:
DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
The vapor trail shows a structural failure in the control vanes!A failure due to the poor quality of steel in the vane!NEUMANN:
We wouldn’t have so much difficulty getting the proper materials if we had closer contact with the S.S. and the heads of the Party!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
Look, Neumann, I’m a SCIENTIST! I couldn’t care less about Hitler and that Party stuff!NEUMANN:
It’s your attitude toward the people in power that keeps us from getting better materials and more money, von Braun!COLONEL DORNBERGER:
Wernher, this is the third year of the war! The High Command isn’t interested in your dreams of space flight! All they want is a rocket that can reach London!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
Colonel Dornberger, a rocket that can reach the stars can also be aimed at London - if they insist!COLONEL DORNBERGER (whispering):
Let’s build that rocket before Himmler and the S.S. move in on us! They’ve already planted Neumann here! He’d love to have your job!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN (whispering):
I know! If he wasn’t such a good engineer, I could really dislike him!
That weekend, Wernher returns home to help celebrate his mother’s birthday. There, he’s greeted by Maria, his lovely sweetheart, but they’re interrupted by a man named Weber, who badgers the young scientist about joining the “:Party”. (It’s interesting to note that, in this post-WWII Dell comic book movie adaptation, the word “Nazi” nor the image of a swastika are ever used even once!), But soon, Wernher and Maria are out in the garden, where she accepts his proposal of marriage. Later, after the party, Wernher’s mother inquires:
MRS. VON BRAUN:
Wernher, I heard Weber speaking o you! What are you going to do about joining he Party?DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
I don’t have much choice, Mother! Not if I want to stay at Peenemunde!MRS. VON BRAUN:
Long ago they said that witches made a pact with the Devil so they could fly their broomsticks!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
MY broomsticks fly without the Devil’s help! But if they didn’t I’d be willing to sign up with him!
In the weeks that follow, Himmler and his S.S. - particularly in the form of General Kulp - increase their pressure on Wernher von Braun. With each unsuccessful launch, Wernher’s efforts are dismissed as being mere “fireworks” by Kulp. One day, Dr. von Braun and his staff are issued an ultimatum from the High Command: “Unless there will be a successful launching within thirty days, Peenemunde will be closed!” With the pressure on them, the scientist and his staff work harder than ever, night and day. One afternoon, Anton Reger could swear that he sees his beloved Elizabeth using a lipstick-case-camera to photograph the plans for Wernher’s new rocket design!
ANTON REGER (thinking):
Strange! What’s Elizabeth doing at that drawing board?
But Wernher’s work proceeds, and soon, his latest rocket model proves to be a success, exceeding its maximum altitude and delivering a “hit with the force of 50 locomotives at full speed”. But summoned to a meeting with Himmler, Wernher refuses to cooperate with his Nazi (oops!) bosses:
REICH-FUHRER HEINRICH HIMMLER:
My congratulations, von Braun! You will want mass-production for your rockets, no doubt! For best results, I suggest you join my PERSONAL STAFF!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
I’d like to think about it, Reich-Fuhrer HimmlerREICH-FUHRER HEINRICH HIMMLER:
Hesitating, von Braun? Under the S.S., you’d be free of army stupidity and red tape!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
I already AM! Colonel Dornberger is an excellent superior! It was HIGH LEEL indifference that caused our difficulties!REICH-FUHRER HEINRICH HIMMLER:
Better think about it, Doctor! The S.S. runs Germany now - and what the S.S. wants, the S.S. gets!
Sure enough, the following day, Wernher von Braun finds himself under government arrest on charges of treason! Soon, he’s being interrogated by his old “pal”, General Kulp:
GENERAL KULP:
You should have been working on military weaponsyet you were wasting your time planning spaceships like this!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
But scientists MUST plan for the future, General Kulp! Or we’d all still be riding in oxcarts!
For his refusal to cooperate with the Nazi regime, Dr. Wernher von Braun is imprisoned. Fortunately, Colonel Dornberger pulls some behind-the-scenes strings to get his scientist friend released from incarceration:
COLONEL DORNBERGER (talking on the telephone):
I will talk plainly, my Fuhrer! The V-2 may be our last chance for victory! If you want that rocket, you need von Braun to build it!
Returning to Peenemunde, Wernher is soon overseeing production on the V-2 rockets, but confides to his fiance Maria that he has misgivings he’d prefer to ignore:
MARIA:
This rocket weapon of yours, how can you be sure it wouldn’t hit a children’s hospital when you fire it?DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
Maria, we’re fighting a WAR! Women and children are being killed on BOTH SIDES! We CAN’T let ourselves think about it!
Meanwhile, Wernher’s V-2 rockets are reducing London into rubble. One rocket lands near the British Intelligence office:
COLONEL TOFTOY:
That was close! That V-2 is quite a firecracker! I’d like to lay hands on the guy who thought of it!MAJOR TAGGART:
Don’t worry, Toftoy! We’re planning our own fireworks for those V-2 geniuses!
A week later, Elizabeth receives a mysterious phone message containing a signal for her to leave the V-2 factory before British bombers attack Peenemunde, flattening the rocket base. Wernher and Anton manage to survive, aiding the wounded however they can. Meanwhile, from a caf at the edge of town, Elizabeth beholds the awful destruction and - spy or not - she’s compelled to re-enter the base to help her co-workers. By the next morning, the death toll has reached over seven hundred people. In the middle of the ruins left by the bombings, Anton Reger confronts Elizabeth about her loyalties; she admits she’s been working for “the enemy”; she hates the Nazis (oops!) after the S.S. mistakenly murdered her husband in cold blood. Anton is tempted to turn her in, but since he still loves her, he can’t bring himself to do it. Meanwhile, as Germany’s defenses begin to crumble, the U. S. Army prepares to sweep into Peenemunde and grab all of their equipment before the Russians get it. They even have plans for the scientists who developed the V-2 rocket, whether or not they’re considered to be war criminals. Unaware of these plans, Wernher gathers his staff and makes a startling decision:
DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
If we remain here, we’ll be grabbed by the Russians! If we head south, the Americans will capture us! Let’s face it! Within a week we’ll all be prisoners! So I suggest we head south toward the American line!
Wernher’s staff agrees with his decision to surrender - all but Anton Reger:
ANTON REGER:
You can’t do this, Wernher! It’s treason!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
Reger, we can’t throw away all our years of work advancing rocket technology! We’ve got to make our knowledge available for others - and complete the job we started!ANTON REGER:
I’m sorry! I can’t follow your smooth reasoning! I’m a German! I stay here!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
Then, good-bye, Anton!
Soon, Wernher’s convoy of scientists are headed south, arriving at American headquarters to surrender - but they receive a very cold welcome:
MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
Von Braun, you developed the V-2 that killed thousands of innocent people! Don’t you consider yourself a war criminal?DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
In a war, everyone wants his country to win! War itself is a crime - and we are all war criminals!MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
If all you Germans had stood up together, you could have stopped Hitler and all his butchery!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
You never lived under a dictatorship, Major! Every man distrusts his neighbor and fears for his own life! In that respect I am guilty of being human!MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
You are guilty of putting an infernal weapon into the hands of the most evil government in the world! For that you will be TRIED and HUNG!
Fortunately, Wernher is made an alternate offer:
COLONEL TOFTOY:
Doctor, we recognize your achievements! If you want to go to the United States to continue your research, we have the resources!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
I’m happy to agree, sir! That’s why I surrendered! But I can’t make rockets by myself!COLONEL TOFTOY:
We have other volunteers, Doctor! You’ll all be sent to America on probation! You’ll have to face a lot of criticism!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
We didn’t expect to be received with open arms!
Wernher learns that this deal was based on the recommendation of one of an undercover U. S. agent, who’s waiting in the next room to identify him. After he’s gone, Wernher’s the topic of a heated conversation:
MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
Colonel, you don’t mean they’re not even going to put him ON TRIAL?COLONEL TOFTOY:
Bill, we’ve been friends for a long time! Try not to take this as something personal!MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
Listen! One of his V-2’s killed my wife and child in London! It’s downright immoral to use him! He’s our enemy!COLONEL TOFTOY:
Yet, when a man is as brilliant as von Braun, I guess he has a special kind of value of his own!MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
Colonel, as a newspaper man before the war I fought the von Brauns of this world - and I can’t stop fighting them now!
Next door, Wernher discovers that the “enemy agent” who’s saved him is none other than Elizabeth Beyer! As she checks off a list - which includes Dr. Hermann Oberth - she tearfully realizes that Anton Reger isn’t among them. Soon, plans are set in motion to relocate the scientist-prisoners:
COLONEL TOFTOY:
All right, Taggart, here are the orders to ship von Braun and his group to the White Sands proving grounds by plane!MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
I was going to suggest passage on a leaky boat, sir!
Accompanied by Taggart and Elizabeth, the captives arrive at White Sands and resume their rocket research. But first, Wernher’s former secretary attempts to clear the air between them:
ELIZABETH BEYER:
Gentlemen, we’re going to work together, so let us speak of the past and get it over with! It will be easier if we can be friends!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
We’re not blaming you, Elizabeth! The stupidity of war is not your fault or ours! You did what you felt you had to do!
Under the resentful observation of Major Taggart, Wernher and his transplanted staff soon make some significant advances with their rocketry development. But no matter what he achieves, Wernher is unable to impress Taggart of his sincerity:
MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
Staying late again, Doctor? I suppose you’re working overtime to earn your citizenship!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
Taggart, I can’t help how you feel about me, but I was brought here to build rockets, and that’s what I’m doing!MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
I hope that someday one of your rockets blows up and that you’re as close to it as my wife and kid were in London!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
I’m sorry about that, Taggart, but I’m not responsible for what happened!MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
Then who was responsible? Hitler? Himmler? Everyone but you, eh?ELIZABETH BEYER:
Bill! You’ve got to stop this!MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
These scientists! They hold the whole world in their hands, but men and women mean nothing to them! They have no loyalty to anything but their own research!ELIZABETH BEYER:
Bill, you just can’t go on living with this hatred!
But as the months pass, the general attitude toward the German scientists finally softens and their status legalized, which eventually leads to citizenship. Maria joins Wernher at White Sands, where he unsuccessfully asks for funding to build “the world’s first satellite orbiting the Earth”. In June, 1950, the Korean War necessitates that Wernher’s group transfers to a new army installation at Redstone Arsenal. Soon, Major Taggart pays a visit to Wernher and his new bride Maria:
MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
Your traveling orders, von Braun! Not long ago you made rockets to fire at us! Now you’ll be building rockets to fire at our enemy!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
Do you prefer that I sit back and do nothing, and allow American to lose?MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
How would that affect you, Doctor? You’d be right there working for the Russians!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
If you feel that way, why are you wearing that uniform?MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
I won’t be wearing it after today! I’ve got a job as a TV news commentator! But you’ll be hearing from me! I’ll be making it hot for you!MARIA VON BRAUN:
Taggart is right, Wernher! You’ll be making rockets for war again! You could REFUSE! Others have!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
Can’t you see? I must stay with my work! I can’t fall behind! Progress, research, knowledge are MY LIFE!
As Wernher’s work proceeds, he and his staff are commended for their design of the Redstone missile. But Taggart now uses his nationally televised forum to criticize Dr. von Braun’s goals:
EX-MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
Taxpayers must demand that their hard-earned dollars be spent for more hospitals, schools and higher salaries for teachers, rather than on a wasteful rocket program!
When the Korean War is over, the government cuts the funding for Wernher’s space research. In response, he accepts an invitation to appear on live television in a debate with William Taggart regarding the worth of the exploration of outer space:
EX-MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
Rocket experiments mean war! We must solve human problems before we think of conquering space!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
Our future lies in space! The country with the first satellite will capture the world’s imagination!EX-MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
Von Braun talks of pure science, but he is the man responsible for the bombing of London!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
Man must learn to live with atomic power and rockets, or he will perish!
When the Army missile program gets a new chief, General Medaris, they petition the Pentagon to participate in an attempt to collect and analyze samples of the upper atmosphere with a satellite. Things look good for Wernher and his staff, but they’re crushed when the Navy gets the gig instead. Taggart shows up to gloat over his old enemy’s defeat, but Elizabeth convinces him to instead offer his sympathies to Dr. von Braun, who reacts badly to Taggart’s obvious insincerity. In October, 1957, Wernher - and the entire United States - receives an even more bitter blow as Russia launches the first artificial satellite into orbit around the Earth! But a third stroke of bad luck turns out to be in Wernher von Braun’s favor when the Navy’s Vanguard missile - the one to be used in the space mission that they lost out on - explodes on the launch pad. Frustrated and embarrassed, the Pentagon turns to Wernher for help, asking him to initiate a crash program to enter the “space race” between America and Russia. At Redstone, Wernher and his crew work on a new satellite-carrying rocket, the JUPITER-C, which is launched into space on January 31st, 1958. The three-stage rocket blasts off and its operation performs flawlessly - with the exception of a six-minute lag — as it settles its satellite into orbit. Even Bill Taggart is impressed:
EX-MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
Well, you did it! You know, von Braun, I’ve almost grown to like you!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
I could say the same about you, Taggart, except that one never really likes one’s conscience!
Then Taggart gestures toward his heart:
EX-MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
But I’ll never really understand what have you scientists got in here - in the place of human values?DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
Concern for the future, perhaps! The universe is waiting for us - and we must explore it! That’s what makes us men - not vegetables!EX-MAJOR WILLIAM TAGGART:
Good-bye, von Braun, and good luck with the universe!DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN:
Thank you, Taggart! I’ll need it!
This film adaptation ends on an optimistic note, with a panel of Dr. Wernher von Braun observing another rocket launch:
DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN (thinking):
Well, we’re catching up at last! The great powers must ultimately be equal in space! It is this balance of power which will secure peace and allow mankind to reach the stars!
Also included in this issue of FOUR COLOR (I AIM AT THE STARS) are the following stories and features:
- An untitled, black-and-white, inside-front-cover introductory page, featuring still production photos from the feature film, I AIM AT THE STARS.
- “The Rocket In History”, a black-and-white, inside-back-cover educational strip drawn by Jack Sparling.
- “Types Of Rocket Propulsion”, an educational back-cover feature.
ODDBALL Factoid - Actor Curt Jurgens’ career had an unlikely comic book connection; he starred in 1973’s THE VAULT OF TERROR, an anthology film adaptation of stories originally published in EC’s notorious horror comics!
Bonus ODDBALL Factoid - I AIM AT THE STARS producer Charles H. Schneer also produced many of the classic sci-fi and fantasy films of Ray Harryhausen!
Yellow and White Spray
 Convey your condolences with golden yellow and pure white blossoms of carnations, cushion poms, button poms, monte casino, or similar flowers, in a traditional spray design. Appropriate for wakes, funerals, memorials, etc. |
|
Retail: $ 0.00 Your Price: $99.95 Buy/More Info |
Popularity: unranked [?]