ZZ Top: The Comic

Previously:

Nolan Ryan: The Comic Book  - -  Tom Landry: The Comic Book

"Rock 'N Roll Comics" was a comic book series in the late 80s/early 90s that retold band origins in comic book format.  They were biographies of groups like Guns & Ross, KISS, Iron Maiden and other hard rock groups from that era. 

For their 25th issue they decided to tell the story of legendary Texas rock/blues band ZZ Top, tracing each member's story from a young age to rock & roll stardom. 

The comic starts out by showing how the thee 'Tops" began their love of music and how they got started.  As is typical in these types of stories, there are many failed attempts to get started and a lot of bands being formed, re-formed, losing members, gaining members and breaking up.  There's an effort to show which other musicians influenced the boys and some of their early collaborations and successes.

Several more versions of the band come and go until Billy gets legendary manager Bill Ham involved.  There's then a few more comings and goings but finally we get to what will eventually become the ZZ Top we all know and love. 

More clubs dates lead to bigger venues and higher profile gigs which lands them a record deal.  After recording their first album, they end up playing with bands like Deep Purple and the Doors.  After their second, they tour with the Rolling Stones.  They extra success means they need to keep touring and keep recording...which leads to the need to do a little "research:" for a particular song:

More albums were recorded and bigger venues played.  With this success, it was time to develop ZZ Top's unique style.  By embracing their roots and pushing the boundaries of showmanship, they began turning their concerts into something a little more unique...almost a stage show:

The road to fame is long and windy.  After a grueling touring and recording schedule, the boys take some much needed down time to recharge their batteries and have a little fun.  During this vacation, shaving didn't seem to be a top priority so when the group got back together, their signature look was born:

More albums, more touring, more success...the boys were a genuine hit!  But there were still worlds to conquer.  The 1980s brought about MTV and the rise of the music video.  With their cool swagger and penchant for casting attractive women, ZZ Top became known for their music videos.

After a few divorces, a gunshot wound, custom cars and a run for president, the band kept on keepin' on.  More albums, more tours and more fame allowed the boys to call the shots and be the group they wanted to be.  The comic ends around the early 90s but as we know there was still plenty of story left to tell about that Little Ol' Band From Texas.  Rock & Roll Comics may be gone but rock & roll music will never die!

Mission Accomplished

Previously:

Houston Heroes  - -  Launch Time

A big piece of Texas/Human history got cleaned, polished, buffed and looks shiny and new!  The original Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston got the makeover treatment over the past six years and I was fortunate to be one of the people who got to see the unveiling recently. 

The project was done by a company called GRAVitate which, among other things, works on historical restoration projects.  Over the course of several years every part of Mission Control was cleaned and refurbished or completely refabricated to an exact match (or just about) from fifty years ago.  This included not just the consoles, but the wall paper, carpet, ash trays and coffee cups.  Here's a few close up looks at the work areas:

This was the last time anyone would be allowed to get this close to the consoles.  They're now roped off with an alarm so feel free to be jealous.  You'll notice that the screens and buttons are illuminated.  These are recreations of what you would see during the Apollo missions. 

The viewing room has also been restored.  A lot of people felt it necessary to take "souvenirs" like fabric from the chairs and the tops of ash trays in the back of the chairs.  Replacements for those tops were 3D printed to be an exact match.  But there were other things that guest felt compelled to leave behind...

Here's a great big bag of gum that was scraped off the Mission Control viewing room chairs.  It's all part of the glamorous life of a historical preservationist.  This was on display as a part of the exhibit for the Ribbon Cutting ceremony.

Manning the giant scissors are Jim Thornton (Project Manager), Mark Geyer (JSC Director), William Harris (CEO Space Center Houston), Milford Wayne Donaldson (Advisory Council of Historic Preservation), Sandra Tetley (JSC Historic Preservation Officer), Ed Fendell (Apollo Flight Controller) and Gene Kranz (Apollo Flight Director...he is the real life guy that Ed Harris played in the film Apollo 13).  This was a "big deal" kind of crowd so I almost wanted to see a bigger pair of scissors.

My thanks again to Adam, Natalie and the rest of the team at GRAVitate for letting me attend this historic event and shoot video!

Launch Time

Previously:

McDallas  - -  The Shoe Maker

One of the biggest draws in Houston, TX is the Johnson Space Center, home of NASA.  To get into the spirit, and appeal to tourists, several local businesses have embraced a space motif.  It's not uncommon to to see rockets and spacemen as a part of the neighborhood's decor.  Even the gang with the Golden Arches get in on the fun with a special ambassador welcoming hungry guests:

The fry-clutching astronaut statue has been on the roof of this McDonald's for at least 15 years (around the first time I saw it) and was created by a local Houston artist.  NASA is just down the road from this Micky D's so I like to think it's been frequented by real live astronauts, mission specialists and just rando goofballs from off the street like me.

The theme continues inside.  Sure, I would have liked to see a spaceship themed playground and/or the employees dressed as bleep-blorp aliens but I had to settle for 2-D decor.  All your favorite McDonaldland characters are decked out in their finest space gear in extensive murals along the walls of the play area.

I think it's also worth noting that the "Mac Tonight" guy also makes an appearance.  I'd like to think they added him specifically because he fits in with the celestial theme but my best guess is that the short lived 80s mascot was included because these murals were painted when he was at the height of his "popularity" (and, yes, I felt the need to put the word "popularity" in quotation marks).

Further dating the artwork is this tribute to the crew of the Challenger.  It's a somewhat melancholy adornment for a playground yet it feels strangely appropriate.

Morose reminders of national tragedies notwithstanding, it's still a unique enough place to stop in after a a long day of touring NASA to pick up a Big Mac and Space Fries...although I guess they just call them fries.  Anyhoo, more themed McDonald's please!

The Red Headed Stranger

Previously:

Follow the Leaders  - -  Tour of Duty  - -  Under the Dome

My Spidey Sense in Jingling  - -  The X-Men Visit the State Fair

 Texas Marvels  - -  Check Please  - -  Houston Heroes

We've seen several comic book characters visit the Lone Star State over the years, especially the gang from DC and Marvel.  But it was only a matter of time before the kids from Archie Comics wanted to get their piece of the action...which brings us to 1991's Veronica #17.

The story begins with Riverdale rich girl Veronica Lodge on a plane headed to DFW Airport to visit her father who is already there on business.  She passes the time by reading a paperback adventure of "Dusty Marlowe, Rodeo Star."  When a bit of turbulence gives her an old school, sitcomy konk on the head, naturally she gets the type of amnesia where you believe yourself to be the character you were just reading about...very common stuff..

Armed with the confidence that comes with a brand new persona, Veronica (or "Dusty" as she now calls herself) then proceeds to lasso a wild bucking bull who was loose in the airport (They really gloss over the whole "bull is loose in an airport" element of the story) like a champ.

The bull's owners, father and son rodeo organizers, Harry and Matthew Chase, offer her a job in their rodeo which she promptly accepts.  They even seem to be okay with giving the amnesiac teenage girl they just met a ride in their truck.

One bottle of red hair dye later, Matthew starts laying on the charm by taking Veronica out to dinner at whatever the restaurant at the top of Reunion Tower was called in the early 90s.  Check out artist Dan Parent's take on the Dallas skyline:

The house style for Archie comics might seem somewhat simplistic but if you take a minute or two to examine the drawing above you'll see several details of the Dallas skyline were included and not just the obligatory Reunion Tower cameo.  At this point in the story we get into a tour of Texas landmarks.  Since we're starting in downtown Dallas, let's do some side-by-sides from that area:

One of the first sights is the JFK Memorial, a.k.a. the JFK Cenotaph which is unfortunately mostly covered by word balloon.  Making matters worse is that the Old Red Courthouse Museum is featured prominently in the panel but the artist didn't seem to have a good reference pic to work from so the resemblance is not very accurate.

Veronica notices that Dallas founder John Neely Bryan's log cabin was not necessarily matching its downtown Dallas surroundings.  The cabin has been moved around and refurbished several times over the years and always seems to get attention.  You may remember that a few years back another comic book tourist noticed it when Spider-Man teamed up with the Dallas Cowboys.

After a while it was time for the traveling rodeo to start traveling and it was southbound to Houston.  Amnesiac teenager "Veronica/Dusty" continued to tag along and nobody seemed too weirded out about it.  And the tour continued!  This time at NASA in Houston.

While all this is going on there's a few subplots in the story trying to keep the queso spicy.  One involves a pair of rodeo clowns planning to steal from the Chase Rodeo's box office.  Another involves Veronica's father hiring a private detective (who's always eating something for some reason) and Veronica's mother hiring a psychic (who, like all psychics, is faking it til she makes it) to track down their daughter.

And, of course, the tour continues!  This time it's a Texas history lesson at the San Jacinto Monument.  Either Veronica is genuinely interested or she's doing a great job of faking it.  But there's no time to bask in Texas Independence...it's time to head to Austin!

Like most tourists, one of the kids' first stops is the Capitol Building.  It's an impressive sight (and a great drawing) but I can't help but stare at the mustache bro who's looking right at the reader:

Yeah, this guy knows what's up.  He's got a secret...a dark secret.  But that's a story for another day.  Unfortunately, our fate is to continue following Veronica and Matthew on their tour of famous Texas sites:

The last stop on the tour was a quick swim at Hamilton Pool.  Looks like there wasn't a postcard handy for the artist to use as a reference because this one was a little off too.  The real thing is more of a grotto than what you'd think of as a traditional water fall but it was still pretty cool that a natural landmark was included in the issue.  Now all that's left is the wrap up.

The rodeo clown robbers were foiled, Veronica got her memory back, her parents finally caught up with her and they all celebrated with some BBQ and some Texas two-stepping.  All in all, a pretty standard trip to Texas.

The Shoe Maker

Houston is known for its Art Cars of a variety of shapes, sizes and overall wackiness. One of the biggest and brightest puts its best foot forward at parades and charity appearances throughout the year.  Ronald McDonald's Big Red Shoe Car was made by Texas artist Jason Barnett and I had a chance to ask him about his ultimate clown car.

Texas Pop Culture: How did you get involved with the creation of the Shoe Car?

Jason Barnett: In about April of 2002, a friend of mine was one of the local Ronald McDonald's that made appearances at McDonald's events. He came to me and said that the Texas Gulf Coast McDonald's were looking to have a promotional vehicle made is the shape of a Ronald McDonald clown shoe and that they were going to have some of the local art car parade guys bid and build it. My friend Bill (Ronald), told me of a meeting that was to take place the next day in Houston about the shoe car idea and if I wanted to get a bid in that I had better have something ready by that morning. I immediately did a quick sketch of my idea and built a remote control model of my idea using a PT Cruiser remote control car that I bought and removed the body from.


JB: I worked all through the night and at about 5 am the remote control car was finished. The problem was, at the time I lived in Midlothian and it was a 4 hour drive to the meeting. I drove all the way down to Houston and handed over the car sketches and the remote control model. Bill is the ultimate in presenters and showmen. He waited for the meeting to start with all of the board members at their giant table and then flung open the doors and drove the remote control car into the room. Instantly my phone was ringing and the board wanted to meet. Over the next few months we went back and forth over the design and over a year later I received a check to get started.


TPC: How long did it take to design and build?

JB: The actual construction process involved about two years of hard labor and itching from the fiberglass body. I had underbid the project so badly that I had to take on other jobs to fund the project. If not for that blunder, it would only have taken about a year to complete. As I was building the car, improvements were made to its design. The first thing was that I decided to make the entire nose of the car flip forward to access the engine and I decided to have suicide doors.


JB: The car was about 8ft wide in the front and narrowed down to about 4ft wide at the rear. It would have been very difficult to get to the engine with a normal car style hood. Originally the car was to be built on a 2003 Chevy1/2 ton truck chassis with a 6 cylinder engine. When I went down to buy a truck from the dealership, they made me a better deal on a truck with a V8 and cruise control. I have personally driven the shoe car well over 100mph!

TPC: What was your favorite part of the process?

JB: As far as my favorite part of building the car goes. I would have to say that was when I got the fiberglass body back in from the workshop that hand laid the fiberglass. We didn't use molds. I carved the shape of the car out of huge blocks of foam and then coated them with layers of drywall mud to fill in the imperfections. The giant mock-up was sprayed with latex paint to create a barrier from the fiberglass. Once the fiberglass was laid up on the mockup and cured, I popped the new fiberglass body off of the foam. I still had a lot of hand work to do to the body, but at that point the car was coming to life. Anytime a new part was added- doors,hood, hatchback,etc., it was necessary to drive it around to test for problems and rattles. There was nothing like watching kids and adults freak out as I drove past in the 23 ft long shoe.


JB: I had it in my head from the beginning that I was going to be able to pull this off entirely by myself. Luckily for me, I had a lot of friends and family that volunteered and spent endless days and nights to make this project a reality.

Check out Jason's website for more of his unique work:

http://www.jasonbarnettartist.com/

He's a very talented guy and we hope to cover his upcoming projects so check back soon for more details!

Matchbook Memories: Under the Dome

Previously:

Big Texas Steak Ranch  - -  Buckhorn Saloon  - - Pig Stand

Texas Sesquicentennial Wagon Train

Houston's pride and joy (or at least it used to be) has been called the "Eighth Wonder of the World" and was home to a legendary Texas Team.  But the Astrodome has been known for a lot more than just the Astros.  Here's a quick look at a few of the times it's popped up in pop culture:

Starman V1 #25 (DC Comics, 1990)

Starman never caught on the way so many other DC characters did.  Every so often the publisher tries to make a go of the guy and when they do they usually create a character to be the "new" Starman.  That's a common practice in comics and is sometimes used to create conflict.

I mention all that because the plot of this issue involves the son of the original Starman getting pissed at the current (at the time) Starman and challenging him to a fight.  Guess where...

Anyway, during the fracas, the new guy takes a pretty good smack which launches him sky high and gives the artist (Dave Hoover) an opportunity to draw a bird's eye view of the Astrodome:

West Coast Avengers V1 Annual #2 (Marvel Comics, 1987)

Yeah, the Avengers are bi-coastal.  Typically the New York team is made up of A-listers like Iron Man, Thor and so forth.  And the L.A. team has...other people...that being said, occasionally the two groups indulge in some good old fashioned team building exercises like an annual softball game!  Guess where...

This has to make the stadium's insurance rates go way up because the whole gang isn't shy at all about using their powers to win the game.  So when Thor uses his hammer to take a swing at Wonder Man's fastball, he sends it flying straight up to the roof.

That thing "comin' back again!" is the Silver Surfer who is heralding some crazy nonsense and as soon as ya know it, the whole gang is whisked away and are forced to fight each other or somesuch.  But since none of that takes place in Texas...eh.

The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (Paramount Pictures, 1977)

The sequel is fairly forgettable and really only know for two things: 1. There's no Walter Matthau and 2. The kids play at the Houston Astrodome for some reason.  The film does do a good job of showing off what an impressive structure it was.

If you watch the movie, keep an eye open for cameos from some of the Astros at the time.  If not, then just Google it. 

There's lots more fun that's been had under the dome but it'll have to wait until I track down those particular comics and/or movies.  Once I do, let's meet back here.

Lightnin' Strikes

Previously:

Jim Reeves Memorial  - -  Willie Nelson Statue

There's no shortage of Texas music legends.  But some of them have flown under the radar despite the efforts of those who try to keep their music and their spirit alive.  Such efforts to preserve the memory of a lesser known musical icon have manifested in memorials in at least two different cities.  So today we're going to take a look at monuments dedicated to the late great blues musician Lightnin' Hopkins.

While Hopkins was born in Centerville and was widely known for playing in Houston, it's the town of Crockett that wanted to honor him with a statue.  It sits across from the Camp Street Cafe, a local live music venue, and was erected in 2002.

A more abstract monument can be found in Dallas along others honoring with fellow Texas music legends Buddy Holly, "Blind" Lemon Jefferson and others. It's a part of the "Texas Music Alley" in the Dallas Alley of the once great (but now kind of dried up) West End.

While the tributes are great, nothing honors a musician more than keeping their music alive so, before you go, sit back and have a listen to Hopkins belt out the "Katie Mae Blues":

Texas Marvels

 Previously:

Peter & Frank Do Dallas    - -    The X-Men Visit the State Fair   - -  Tom Landry: The Comic Book

Houston Heroes  - -  Spidey Visits Dallas  - -  Check Please

As you can see above, it's not uncommon for this blog to highlight comic book issues that take place in, or feature, the great state of Texas.  But sometimes there's not enough in the issue to warrant a full blown blog entry.  So here's a couple of quick hits from our pals at Marvel:

We start with Frank Castle, the Punisher.  He visited the Lone Star state awhile back with his pal Spider-Man but this time he's going to have to eat his barbecue by himself.  But that's okay, that's the way he likes it.  There's a reason they call it a "One Man War on Crime."   And this time...it's gonna be a massacre:

When he hears about a bad hombre in Houston who's pulling the old S & L scam in Houston, Frank decides it's time to head south to dish out some punishment.  Unfortunately, he and his sidekick have a fairly limited understanding of Texas geography:

Well, as you can imagine, with the Punisher there's always plenty of bang bang punch punch.  Suffice it to say, the bad guys were thoroughly punished.   Our next stop takes us to Big D for less violence and more moodiness.

This issue of X-Men took a break from the usual action packed melodrama for some non-action packed melodrama.  The main story primarily takes place while Storm (from the movies) convalesces in home/offices of Forge (not from the movies).  And where might that be?  The fictional Eagle Plaza in the non-fictional city of Dallas:

Most of the story takes place indoors but occasionally you get a peak at the skyline.  Most comic book artists skimp on skylines and just add one or two recognizable buildings in.  So when you see a comic story taking place in Dallas, you can be sure that, at the very least, you'll get a few shots of Reunion Tower:

And sometimes that can be enough.  We head east for our next stop but there's a little bit of a set up.  You remember the movie Logan's Run, right?  Well, as happens from time to time, it got a comic book adaption from Marvel.

You may remember that we covered how the film was shot in the North Texas area and it made use of unique settings like the Fort Worth Water Gardens.  Here's what they normally look like:

And here's what it looks like in the movie:

And, you guessed it, here's what it looked like in the comic:

So there's a quick trip around Texas via the funny book pages.  You never know when your town will be the backdrop for a vigilante dispensing justice or a sci-fi struggle.  So be careful out there.