The Roots of Genndy Tartakovsky's PRIMAL (2019)

Q: How many giant, blood-red, mutant bats does it take to carry an adult T. rex into the cave of a humongous spider-god?

A: Is that an African or a European giant, blood-red, mutant bat?

Actually, the answer is ‘two’.

From this intro you can tell that I’ve finally caught up with PRIMAL, the latest series from Genndy (Samurai Jack) Tartakovsky on the Cartoon Network. The first five episodes of the first season aired last Fall and ended on a cliffhanger (spoiler – I’m betting that the T. rex is still alive).

Spear and Fang

The show’s premise is simple – in a cartoon version of prehistory where only such things are possible, a caveman (‘Spear’) is befriended by a Tyrannosaurus rex (‘Fang’) and together they fight for survival.

The premise is not new or novel. Pop culture is clogged with hominids of some sort or another living in a world where both dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals all coexist.

The most famous is probably the long running and much repeated, THE FLINTSTONES (1960). Like Primal’s Spear, Fred Flintstone has a pet dinosaur, Dino, who I always thought must be some sort of prosauropod. But, The Flintstones, as great as it was, is just a variation on Jackie Gleason’s The Honeymooners (if that means anything to kids these days) and its prehistoric milieu is just a parody of modern society.

Primal’s earliest, best-known antecedent would be the comic strip, ALLEY OOP, featuring the caveman of the same name. Created by V.T. Hamlin back in 1932, Alley Oop lived in the mythical prehistoric land of Moo and got into all kinds of hijinks with his cavemen buddies, his pet dinosaur, Dinnie, and his girlfriend, Ooola (as in Oh la la!). Primal’s Spear even shares Oop’s thick body build, although not Oop’s Popeye-like upper arms and legs.

Next up is Vaughn (Cheech Wizard) Bode’s, THE MAN, featuring the adventures of a melancholic and confused-by-his-prehistoric world caveman. Broadly modeled after Alley Oop, The Man is alone in his world except for his beloved stick (called ‘Stick’) to which he voices his inner thoughts and fears. In his neanderthal brain (not a slur), The Man perceives Stick as being as ‘alive’ as he is and even risks his life to save it when it is in danger.

Primal’s Spear shares a similar relationship to his own ‘Spear’ and goes to great lengths to retrieve it when it is lost.

Vaughn Bode's The Man

The Man’s existence is sad, lonely, scary, and desperate, and it is not at all your traditional comic strip. Spear’s adventures and almost suicidal despondency over the misery that is life in Primal’s first episode could easily be seen as a homage to what may be Bode’s most mature and poignant work. The Man was originally created in 1965 for Syracuse University’s student newspaper (Bode was just a sophomore!), the Daily Orange, and deserves to be better known. The Man can be found in a 1972 reprint by Print Mint or in Schizophrenia, an anthology of Bode’s work published by Fantagraphics in 2001.

Which brings us to Jack (The King) Kirby’s, DEVIL DINOSAUR, which is what PRIMAL is in all but name.

In 1970, Kirby left Marvel Comics after creating or co-creating almost their entire roster of super-heroes. Lured to DC with the promise of editorial control and presumably better pay, Kirby created his much praised, interconnected ‘Fourth World’ series (New Gods, etc.), only to have them abruptly cancelled by unsupportive overseers (I’m looking at you, ghost of Carmine Infantino!). Kirby replaced these books with new (even better IMHO) characters (The Demon, OMAC, Kamandi) before giving up on DC and returning to Marvel in 1976.

Going back to Marvel must have been hard, but Kirby had a family to feed, so he swallowed his pride and returned to The House That Kirby Built. He went on produce some of his best work, including an oversized ‘treasury’ version of 2001: A Space Odyssey that is a thing of beauty to behold. But perhaps his most notable creation (at least to this palaeontologist) is the curiosity that is Devil Dinosaur, his last hurrah for Marvel. Only running for nine issues (but since recently revived), it featured the adventures of the blue ape-man, Moon Boy, and his red T. rex, the aptly named Devil Dinosaur.

Just like the world of Primal, Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur lived in chaotic mixture of prehistoric beasts and danger, and featured adventures that only Jack Kirby could have conceived. Fans were never surprised when marauding aliens turn up or when Devil Dinosaur time traveled forward to the modern world.

Tartakovsky's Primal embraces all things Jack Kirby, only differing in its beautifully muted colour design and lack of dialogue (bravo for that stylistic choice – that must have been a tough sell to the network executives). As the series progresses, Spear and Fang battle progressively weirder protagonists until we finally fully arrive in Jack Kirby’s universe by episode 4. The giant mutant bats from this episode bear an uncannily resemblance to giant bats from his Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth #9 (1973). The giant spider from the same episode was seen in Devil Dinosaur #2 (1978). And finally, Primal’s cliffhanger episode delivers the Clobberin’ Time punch of the giant wearing the Triceratops skull mask (above) from DD #3 (1978) battling one of Kirby’s first creations for Marvel, The Incredible Hulk.

Yes, you read that right – THE INCREDIBLE HULK.

To beat the giant ape-thing wearing the Triceratops skull and save his T. rex buddy, Spear drinks a potion that turns him into a giant (giant!), raging, out-of-control green blue hulk. At this point the series has admitted that anything goes! I fully support Tartakovsky engaging his inner Kirby as the series moves forward. I will be disappointed if I don’t soon see robotic Recorders from another galaxy, Spear’s spear turning out to be a magic hammer when slammed on the ground, and a time machine that takes Spear and Fang to downtown Manhattan! At a minimum.

Note the famous log from King Kong (1933)

Is Primal Worth My Time: A big five stars for entertainment value and I refuse to poke holes in its premise by wearing my palaeontologist field cap. I can even believe the events that lead to Spear and Fang teaming up. But I will point out that only a ‘plot device’ could have Spear building his soon-to-be-eaten family’s hut in the middle of a plain full of carnivorous dinosaurs and not up on a safe cliff somewhere. Or, maybe, you know, being a caveman, why not put them in a nice defendable cave? 

Not every episode is over top adventure. The David Krentz storyboarded episode (#3) with Spear and Fang battling a winter storm and a herd of mammoths is touching and exciting at the same time. And kudos to the brilliant design and colour palate of the series, and the fine music and sound design that is all the more noticeable for the lack of dialogue (although there IS a lot of grunting, screaming and roaring).

Availability: Wherever you can watch the Cartoon Network.

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Ray Bradbury on The Man: "The Man by Vaughn Bode is very sad and very touching and full of the loneliness that must have been beast/man's long before we knew more of love and what it could do to save us from the uncaring universe, and, often, ourselves." 

Contender for the greatest single frame in animation history

Joe Dante's Top 50 Worst Horror and SF Films

Read his 1972 article from Famous Monsters of Filmland over at the AS FB page

Curse of The Abominable Snowmobile

A classic from the brain and pen of Larry Todd (Brain Fantasy #2, Last Gasp).

James Cagney is the Picture Snatcher (1933)

Although it’s not considered an essential Pre-Code Film, Picture Snatcher (1933) may be the quintessential Pre-Code Film.  The presence of James Cagney, whose popularity continues to transcend generations, and its snappy script certainly makes it a great introduction to the world of Pre-Code movies for the novice.

Pick a category that the Code objected to and Picture Snatcher has it. Watch Cagney navigate through, or participate in:  gangster shot outs, executions, police abusing their power, women in lingerie, sexually aggressive women, violence against women, children shot at, the seduction of underage girls – and the list goes on!

Picture Snatcher has a demise that seems ripe for a Netflix or HBO series. Head-of-his-mob Danny Kean (Cagney) gets out of Sing-Sing after taking a 3 year rap for one of his gang. But, rather than return to a life of crime he decides to go straight and get into the newspaper business. He kisses off his old pals and takes his share of the loot (with interest; apparently his gang was nice enough to invest his money while Danny was out of circulation).  Although he’s going straight, the slippery Danny’s not above using his ill-gotten gains to set himself up – after all, he’s earned it!

Cagney and Ralph Bellamy

Cagney convinces Al McLean (Ralph Bellamy), the alcoholic editor of the scummiest newspaper in town to set him up taking the scandalous photos that no one else can get. He’s then off and running (no one can move or talk faster than Cagney), but never fast enough to shake off the women that are drawn to him like honey.

Cagney and Alice White

Within minutes of turning in his first big photo, the Women’s Page reporter, Allison (the saucy Alice White - “I’m too much woman for any one man”) has dragged him into the back of the Women’s bathroom. He doesn’t object until he later finds out that she’s McLean’s main squeeze. Allison forces herself on Danny again only to suffer worse than Mae Clarke did in Public Enemy (1931). Danny later sweeps a former moll off her feet (“I’m going to put on some silk so good that you can see right through it”) and throws her onto a bed – only to leave her angry and frustrated when he instead walks out on her (he’s only using her for information).

Cagney, Patricia Ellis and Robert Emmett O’Connor

The real girl for Danny is sweet Pat Nolan (Patricia Ellis), described as ‘jailbait’ by Allison (Ellis could not have been more than 16 years old when the movie was shot). Unfortunately, her father Casey, played by Robert Emmett O’Connor - who was born to play Irish cops - is the officer who sent Danny up the river. When Casey first sees Danny, he chases him into the street in full uniform firing at him with his police revolver. Danny shrugs this off, but today Casey would be arrested for attempted murder (at least in some jurisdictions).

Lights out in Sing-Sing

Cagney eventually gets his big break by surreptitiously taking a photo of a female convict being electrocuted. This will give him the raise he needs to marry Pat, but it also means demotion and public humiliation for her father, Casey, whose good word let Danny join the other journalist observers at the execution. Just as in his old criminal days, Danny only ever thinks of himself. Self evaluation only comes when he hits rock bottom after losing his job and his girl. Can Danny redeem himself in the final act and win back Pat?

Let’s just say that, other than a few bullet-ridden bodies, almost everyone ends up happy. Except for Allison who ends up walking the streets. Tough break kid. Didn’t you know that even in a Pre-Code film the sexually aggressive woman has to end up either married or in jail? Unfortunately, Alice White’s life mirrored that of her character in Picture Snatcher. She had a moderately successful career in silent films, often being compared to Clara Bow, but her work in the talkies was derailed by a 1933 sex scandal involving her boyfriend, Jack Warburton, and producer, Sy Barrett.

Is Picture Snatcher Worth My Time?: Yes. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, it’s an entertaining romp that careens from serious melodrama to farce. Cagney almost seems to be spoofing himself here, performing and delivering lines at such a breakneck speed that you except the film’s 77 minute running time to be half of that. Ralph Bellamy is a great foil for Cagney, and your heart has to break a little for feisty Alice White who just wants what she wants, but is not destined to get it.

Availability: Picture Snatcher is available as part of the Warner Gangsters Collection, Vol. 3.

Yes, Alice White, you are in a Pre-Code Film!