 |
| Val Mayerik/Dave Cockrum |
The Invincible Iron Man 101
"Then Came the Monster!"
Story by Bill Mantlo
Art by George Tuska and Mike Esposito
Colors by Don Warfield
Letters by Gaspar Saladino and Bruce Patterson
Having sent O’Brien back in the Quinjet, Iron Man is returning home under his own steam when he stumbles on a Red Chinese airbase, and is allowed to commandeer a ride by an officer who realizes that “a jet is a small price to pay for his service in having rid us of the Mandarin.” Setting its auto-pilot, he dozes off while Jasper follows Krissy and Key as they depart S.I. with a mysterious dummy briefcase; over the Yugoslav-Greek border, IM is rudely awoken when the plane is mistaken for the possible attack to which O’Brien had alerted NATO, and despite escaping the burning jet, he is knocked out by SAMs. Crashing into a forest in the Swiss Alps, he is borne off by dwarfish beings, led by none other than the Frankenstein Monster.
Fearing “The Other,” who also wears a metal mask, the grotesque “children” want to destroy Iron Man, but the Monster, hoping that he might be an ally, carries him to Castle Frankenstein for the verdict of their “Mother,” the Daughter of Creation. Astonished at the nature of his captors when he revives, Iron Man (who endures a savage pummeling from the Monster in page 22, panel 2) nonetheless tries not to hurt them, and learns that the Other holds their mistress “to insure [sic] good behavior on your part…” Announcing that “I think I’d like to meet this ‘Other,’” he gets his wish when he is felled—a bombardment of ionic force and metallic energy-discs overloading his armor—by the Dreadknight, who rides a bizarre, coal-black winged horse... -Matthew Bradley
Matthew Bradley: After the complex storyline that just finished, with the Krissy/Key/Jasper subplot still unfolding, Mantlo wisely starts this two-parter slowly with the trials and tribulations of IM’s homecoming; nice scene with Major Wu. Bill is apparently picking up threads he had to leave dangling in the last issue of the Monster’s own book (#18), which Conway didn’t address in Marvel Team-Up #36-37, but while the “gnomes” seem to follow a little too hard on the heels of those leprechauns from Cassidy Keep, Tuskosito gives the Monster a welcome gravitas. They also do well with the wordless sequence of Iron Man’s crash-landing on page 14, and deliberately or not, the silhouette in page 16, panel 4 reminded me of Bergman’s famous “Dance of Death” from The Seventh Seal.
Chris Blake: A pretty bizarre pairing, isn’t it? It’s been years since the Monster’s own mag was folded up and put back in the closet – was Archie hoping that the Monster’s return could spark new interest in the character, or something? It’s really hard to figure. My best bet is that this story idea had been shelved when Monster of Frankenstein was cancelled, and is placed here to give Bill a chance to figure out the title’s next direction following the completion of the Guardsman/Mandarin storyline. I have no basis for this theory – call it simple supposition.
Pages 14-16 provide most of our visual highlights. First, good decision to allow IM to plummet to the earth, without intrusive captions to tell us how fast he is falling, the certainty of death once he hits the ground, etc (p 14); next, the Monster’s impressive appearance, as he stares from the page at the reader (p 15 – although, I wonder what those four doves are supposed to be doing there); lastly, the Monster thoughtfully inspects the armored stranger’s metal hand, then carries him off into the twilight (p 16).
 |
| Al Milgrom |
The Invincible Iron Man Annual 4
"The Doomsday Connection!"
Story by Bill Mantlo
Art by George Tuska and Don Perlin
Colors by Phil Rachelson
Letters by John Costanza
"Death Lair!"
Story by Roger Stern
Art by Jeff Aclin and Don Newton
Colors by Nel Yomtov
Letters by Howard Bender
Supposedly killed by the Yellow Claw in #75, MODOK is reported alive by S.H.I.E.L.D., and “an enormous outpouring of unmistakeable [sic] mental energy” leads Iron Man to a giant—but empty—support cradle in Nevada. He quickly deduces that the robots and tank he destroys were just to delay him, and that MODOK has left the base, whose sole purpose was to relay enough stolen energy to black out the West Coast. Seeking aid from the locally based Champions, whose members include two former teammates, IM has a dust-up with Ghost Rider before they agree to split up and check out three California sites where S.H.I.E.L.D. has detected A.I.M. activity…at one of which MODOK is likely testing his presumed super-weapon.
In Redwood National Forest, Hercules is about to voice unspoken emotions to the Black Widow when they and Angel are captured by blue-suited A.I.M. agents, while under San Francisco Bay, GR, Iceman, and Darkstar are set upon by mutated sea-life. In the Mojave Desert, IM fights the biologically restructured Stryke in a Franciscan mission, but flies off on realizing that the trap is another delaying action, and summons the other teams—one shamming, the other escaping with an injured Laynia—to Nevada. MODOK had made himself invisible while still drawing energy for his Doomsday Chair, and brings the mountain down on our heroes, yet IM also takes power from the cradle that shields them, vaporizing the mountain and causing fatal damage to the chair.
-Matthew Bradley
As long as this is, it might have benefited from, and made better use of, the five pages devoted to the back-up story featuring Shang-Chi’s masked foster brother, Midnight, disfigured as a baby when soldiers destroyed his African village. Written by Roger Stern, with art by Jeff Aclin and Don Newton, the snippet is set in Singapore in 1971, prior to M’Nai’s debut ’n’ death in Special Marvel Edition—later Master of Kung Fu—#16. On behalf of his adoptive father, Fu Manchu, he tries to recruit Half-Face (an obscure Iron Man villain who, coincidentally or not, appeared in Tales of Suspense #94, wherein MODOK also fought Captain America), but the scientific genius, little dreaming how much they have in common, declines, leaving M’Nai with much to ponder…
Matthew: Notwithstanding its frustratingly abrupt climax, this is a pretty solid tale, and one that combines a bunch of elements I like: Shellhead, Champs, MODOK, A.I.M. Strangely ubiquitous as their book approaches cancellation, the Champions are well used here, with Bill not only capturing the subtleties of intra-group tensions (it’s never stated how the sub-teams are chosen, yet interesting that Darkstar joins those with the strongest feelings for and against her) but also introducing a new wrinkle with the possibility of a Herc/Tash romance. Although Tuska is nobody’s favorite, he draws a nice MODOK, and the establishing shots of the aquarium of horrors on page 19 are effective; as usual, action is his strongest suit, and Shellhead gets plenty to smash along the way.
The notion that all the Champions are playing possum, as they expect to be carted in defeat to Modok himself, is a bit of a stretch; admittedly, it makes for a surprising development in the story. But the thing I really can’t explain is how a flying Modok could possibly only travel a few feet from the flattened mountain; Herc stabilizes their space under the rubble, Iron Man soups up his suit, and then blasts his way clear to the surface, and yet there’s Modok, close enough to be struck by scattered debris. Modok: next time, be sure to save your radio presets before you take off, so you don’t waste precious time hovering in mid-air, and fiddling with the settings, when you really should be making your escape. (The other question will be for Claremont to explain how Modok re-appears in New York in an upcoming issue of Ms Marvel – not sure if that’s adequately addressed . . .).
The M’Nai story is pretty random, isn’t it? I can’t help wondering where it had been intended to appear; why schedule a story about a deceased non-hero, anyway? The fact that Stern wrote the script tells me that it probably hadn’t been sitting around too long, since he’s still a relative newcomer to the bashful bullpen. The ending tells you that, should M’Nai ever return somehow (after all, they’re doing remarkable things with reconstructive surgery these days), he might be on the side of the Good Guys.
 |
| Dave Cockrum/Al Milgrom |
“Snowfire”
Story by Chris Claremont
Art by John Byrne and Dan Green
Colors by Janice Cohen
Letters by Annette Kawecki
While patrolling New York City at night, Iron Fist is ambushed by a shadowy assailant who has a similar dragon tattoo — albeit without the wings. The man manages to get the young martial artist in a bear hug and drains some of his strength before slipping away. Back at his mansion, a weakened Danny Rand receives a message from Colleen: she needs his help in Calgary, where she is working as the bodyguard of Jeryn Hogarth. He’s been investigating some financial mischief in the Rand-Meachum corporation and has received threats. And since Misty Knight is undercover in the Caribbean, she needs him as her backup. When they arrive at the lawyer’s chalet high in the frigid Rocky Mountains, they discover that the powerful mercenary Sabretooth and his gunmen have captured Hogarth and his skilled staff of female assistants. But Rand and Wing make their escape on a Sno-Cat, two of Sabretooth’s men hot on their snowy trail. While Wing is wounded when a bullet grazes her temple, they manage to subdue the assassins and don their insulated suits as disguises. The Living Weapon and Wing make their way back to Hogarth’s hideaway — a strange helicopter that looks somewhat familiar to Rand is just arriving. Colleen races off to free the women as Iron Fist faces off against Sabretooth. As Wing and Hogarth’s femme fatales burst out of the chalet with guns blazing, the fearsome furry runs off. Iron Fist quickly follows, only to be temporarily blinded by the unexpected sunrise that reflects off the glittering snow. Sabretooth presses the advantage on his sightless victim, slashing his chest and back with razor-sharp claws. But remembering his blindfolded training under the tutelage of Lei Kung the Thunderer, Fist manages to defeat his opponent. Bruised and bloodied, he returns to Colleen’s side: the gunmen have been dispatched and the odd helicopter destroyed.
-Tom Flynn
-Tom Flynn
Chris: Claremont doesn’t provide much justification to bring Danny and Colleen together (Colleen says only that she needs “backup,” even though Hogarth has a whole crew of bodyguards), but it provides an opportunity for them to discuss Danny’s recent rift with Misty. Their instances of working together prove often to be, shall we say, eventful – this time fits that bill – so it’s good to have them on the same caper again.
This is our second single-issue story, after a string of multi-parters. Was Claremont possibly preparing for the possible fall of the axe, and trying not to leave Danny stranded in a continuing story? Well, we are dolefully informed on the letters page that IF #15 will be the final bow. The case of IF’s cancellation is unusual, though, as Claremont promises an upcoming Iron Fist appearance in MTU (which, no doubt, will settle the continuing Davos storyline), and then, he says, “who knows?”
 |
| Gil Kane |
John Carter, Warlord of Mars 3
"The Air Pirates of Mars, Chapter 3:
Requiem for a Warlord!"
Story by Marv Wolfman
Art by Gil Kane and Rudy Nebres
Colors by Janice Cohen
Letters by Irving Watanabe
The tables turned, Carter is now the captive of Stara Kan—confirmed as such—who can induce pain when the prince tries to break his chains, and tells Dejah that he was a dwar (captain) in the Zodangan army when the city was pillaged. Shoulder pierced by Carter’s sword, he was disgraced by losing without being honorably slain, sentenced to life imprisonment during the war-crimes trial; vowing vengeance, Kan escaped into the desert, was found by the Great One, and is now a member of the Council of Five, assigned to terrorism. With his Earthian strength, Carter at last shatters a link, proclaiming “I still live!” before he is confronted with a banth, the ten-legged Martian “lion” whose neck he snaps with his own chains.
Matthew: Nebres has once again bludgeoned Kane’s pencils into submission almost as total as Carter’s, yet the layouts occasionally show tantalizing hints of Gil-grandeur, or a trademark up-the-nose shot, and we close with a one-page portfolio “drawn by the wildly talented Alex Nino [whose name, interestingly, is unaccented on his own site] for an as yet unprinted Barsoomian tale.” This isn’t a failing per se, but aside from Kan’s origin, this entry could be summed up in a single, succinct sentence: “Kan forces the captive Carter’s compliance by threatening Dejah.” It seems strange that they felt the need to credit ERB with “Inspiration,” since his name is plastered all over the cover and splash page, but why not; all that’s missing is Carter bellowing a Shatnerian “Kan!!!!”
 |
| John Buscema/ Dave Cockrum |
"The Altar of the Flaming God!"
Adapted by Roy Thomas
from the novel Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Art by John Buscema and Tony DeZuniga
Colors by George Roussos
Letters by Joe Rosen
Leaving Tarzan’s plantation, Werper dismisses his guides on a pretext, sends word to Achmet Zek to capture Jane, and follows Tarzan, who leads fifty Waziri to Opar. A perilous ascent brings them to a secret passage cut through granite into Opar’s forgotten treasure vaults, but after Tarzan has sent the Waziri ahead, each with two gold ingots, he and the unseen Werper are trapped by an earthquake that dislodges a rock, striking Tarzan’s head and inducing amnesia. Finding a stairway to the surface, Werper is grabbed by the ape-like Oparian priests and placed on the Altar of the Flaming God for sacrifice by the high priestess; Tarzan arrives just in time to save him, but does not remember La, and a tense standoff ensues as he steals her sacrificial knife. -Matthew Bradley
Matthew: Here beginning a four-issue stint, Filipino Savage Sword of Conan mainstay de Zuniga (sic) reminds us how much even the best penciler’s work can be enriched by a dedicated inker, sharpening the already exquisite figures and embellishing (adding?) backgrounds. For his part, Roy sticks with Burroughs pretty much right down the line in this entry, and his decisions to compress and/or simplify TATJOO’s digressions—e.g., the lengthy descriptions of Werper and Tarzan wandering through pitch-black tunnels—are eminently logical. Although Opar was a colony of Atlantis, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for the respective estates to allow any ERB/REH tie-ins; the novel's hot-pants high priestess certainly made an indelible impression on a 12-year-old future professor.
Gilbert Colon: Professor Matthew stated, “Although Opar was a colony of Atlantis, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for the respective estates to allow any ERB/REH tie-ins,” raising an intriguing topic.
Leading Howard scholar Rusty Burke, culling from REH’s personal correspondence for “A Short Biography of Robert E. Howard,” writes that “[f]or the Kull stories, Howard, for the first time, created a ‘Pre-Cataclysmic’ age of the earth, an age long before the dawn of recorded history. Atlantis and Lemuria had not yet vanished into the seas, but they were inhabited not by the advanced, utopian civilizations claimed by the occultists, but by savages. It was the Thurian continent that boasted grand civilizations, as well as mysterious pre-human races.” In other words, this is not the Atlantis of Plato’s Timaeus or Critias, or of Burroughs for that matter.
Yet Howard’s vision does maintain some similarities with the Atlantis backstory of his contemporary Burroughs (who was writing earlier than the younger REH but outlived him). ERB’s Atlantean outpost in Africa, Opar, endures long after the sinking of its mother country, but is now “inhabited by half-human fiends.” In REH’s short story “The Moon of Skulls,” one of prehistoric Atlantis’ settlements survives on the Dark Continent until at least the Elizabethan Age. In that story, “the last son of Atlantis” tells the Puritan adventurer Solomon Kane:
“Our cities banded the world; we sent our colonies to all lands to subdue all savages, men of all colors, and enslave them. They toiled for us in the mines and at the galley’s oars. All over the world the people of Atlantis reigned supreme.”
That was before “[n]ew lands rose from the deep and Atlantis and Mu were swallowed up by the gulf ... The empire of Atlantis vanished and was forgotten, passing into the everlasting gulf of time and oblivion. Likewise the colony cities in barbaric lands, cut off from their mother kingdom, perished. The savage barbarians rose and burned and destroyed until in all the world only the colony city of Negari remained as a symbol of the lost empire.”
Howard, writing in his “Hyborian Age” essay (1936), writes that besides the Picts and Lemurians, “[t]he barbarians of that age [Kull’s] were...the Atlanteans, who dwelt on a small continent between the Pictish Islands and the main, or Thurian Continent.” Before “Atlantis and Lemuria [and s]ections of the Thurian Continent vanished under the waves,” Howard’s “Atlanteans founded a kingdom on the mainland [that] escaped the common ruin.” Eventually this remnant was “swarmed [by] myriads of beasts and savages—apemen and apes,” and “the outnumbered Atlanteans were hurled back into a state of savagery [and] the squalling chaos of junglebestiality from which ages ago their ancestors so laboriously crawled.”
These “apish Atlanteans” sound much like Opar’s “ape-like men,” described in the novel Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar (1916) thusly: “When Atlantis...sank into the sea long ages since, she took with her all but a handful of her colonists working the vast gold mines of Central Africa. From these and their degraded slaves and a later intermixture of the blood of the anthropoids sprung the gnarled men of Opar.” Other words for them in the story are “demi-men” and “half-human attackers--.”
In “Moon of Skulls,” it is said that the Atlanteans “depended upon the slaves [and t]hey mixed with each other more and more... Rulers sat on the throne of Negari who possessed little of the blood of Atlantis, and these allowed more and more wild tribesmen to enter the city... These savages are not like the other natives of the region. A latent insanity lurks in the brains of every one. They have tasted so deeply and so long of slaughter and victory that they are as human leopards, forever thirsting for blood. On their myriad wretched slaves they have sated all lusts and desires until they have become foul and terrible beasts, forever seeking some new sensation, forever quenching their fearful thirsts in blood.”
It is entirely possible that Howard drew from Burroughs – it is the opinion of many REH scholars ranging from Don Herron to L. Sprague de Camp that Burroughs was one of Howard’s many influences. It is equally possible REH and ERB were drawing from common sources for some of their fantastical anthropology and Atlantean mythos.
There is a consolatory ending of sorts for the vestiges of REH’s doomed Atlantis. “[T]he apish Atlanteans are beginning the long climb upward[,] hav[ing] completed the cycle of existence [and] hav[ing] long forgotten their former existence as men.” Eventually it is “the Cimmerians, ferocious savages, untamed by the invaders [who are] advancing rapidly ... [T]hey are the descendants of the Atlanteans, now progressing more steadily than their old enemies the Picts, who dwell in the wilderness west of Aquilonia.” The rest is history – Conan the Cimmerian’s history, Conan of Aquilonia’s history.
Maybe Philip José Farmer’s Khokarsa novels Hadon of Ancient Opar, Flight to Opar, and The Song of Kwasin, set in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Opar of 10,000 B.C., bridge these two Atlantean pulp myths. If so, they may be the closest one gets to any “ERB/REH tie-ins.”
This issue is titled “The Altar of the Flaming God!,” and in “the Temple of the Flaming God!” it is Albert Werper who is laid on the stone slab and ready to be made “the human sacrifice-- in some obscene bloody ritual old as time!” In “Moon of Skulls,” Howard writes: “For the remnants of Atlantis secretly kept alive the old worships of Valka and Hotah, Honen and Golgor, long forgotten and not to be understood by these savage people whose ancestors died screaming on their altars.” Roy Thomas must be making these same connections because the pagan High Priestess La “chant[s] an ancient incantation...” not in Burroughs’ novel Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar that begins, “KLO YARADA VALKA!” More about that in – “ESCAPE FROM OPAR!”
 |
| Ernie Chan/Rudy Nebres |
Kull the Destroyer 22
“Talons of the Devil-Birds”
Story by Don Glut
Art by Ernie Chan and Yong Montano
Story by Don Glut
Art by Ernie Chan and Yong Montano
Colors by Don Warfield
Letters by Condoy
Kull and Ridondo ride upon three ancient sorcerers chanting around a shapely warrior woman tied to a post. One raises a grizzled hand: his ring begins to glow and a giant devil-condor suddenly materializes. When it swoops down on the fearful woman, Kull leaps on the big bird’s back and drives his battle ax again and again until it dies. As the hooded wizards slink away, they wonder if the former Valusian king is the one they have been seeking. The grateful woman embraces Kull in thanks, revealing that she has no memories and cannot even remember her name. But the raven-tressed swordswoman can recall that she once loved a warrior like him but lost the man to a life of violence — so she could never be the woman of one such as Kull. After the new traveling companions bed down for the night, Ridondo is awakened the next morning by Kull and the woman, now calling herself Laralei after the legendary sea siren, who are frolicking in the pond below — not only is he jealous, the minstrel is dumbfounded since he never heard the monarch laugh before. Suddenly, the three sorcerers appear again, and the one with the ring emblazoned by the icon of the devil-condor begins to summon another hellish bird. Kull rushes forward and lops off his hand with a sword: but it is too late and the feathered fiend materializes. The royal barbarian manages to protect Laralei but Ridondo is borne aloft by the bird’s huge talons. Gripping the severed hand of the sorcerer, Kull vows to rescue his friend. -Tom Flynn
 |
| Paul Gulacy |
"The Ages of Death!"
Story by Doug Moench
Art by Mike Zeck and Jim Mooney
Colors by Phil Rachelson
Letters by John Costanza
Two assassins steal into the Savoy suite of Black Jack Tarr. Shang-Chi has been bunking there for the past two days; he overpowers his would-be attackers, and wrests from them the identity of their contractor: Han Sung, a former teacher of S-C’s when he was a youth in training. Han Sung revealed to S-C how Fu Manchu has relied on elixir vitae to extend his long life; Han imagined such immortality for himself, and vowed one day to steal Fu’s elixir. S-C determines that Han must have succeeded in stealing the solution; now, Han has been in flight from a vengeful Fu. Han had expected S-C still to be loyal to his father, and had sent his own assassins to prevent S-C from coming after him. The assassins reveal that they were to meet Han at the Limehouse to collect their payment. S-C fights off other men who claim loyalty to Han, and then discovers Han himself in a back room at the bar. Han has become a withered old man; Fu had learned of Han’s treacherous plan, and subjected him to biological experiments in preparation for the resurrection of Shaka Kharn (which means, muses S-C, that Fu had planned for “almost a decade” to revive his ancestor). Han reveals that he had hidden the elixir he had stolen; while Fu was at his heels, Han realized there would be no point in taking the elixir if he were only to be killed soon after. Han resolves to take the elixir now, at least to fix his age where it is now, and age no further. S-C attempts to reason with Han, stating there is a “hidden side” to the quest for immortality, and that Fu’s “one truly noble act in life … has been in refusing to share it.” Han cannot accept that S-C is not still loyal to Fu; he is able to escape to collect the elixir, while S-C is held up in further fighting. S-C catches up to Han at Waterloo Bridge, and tries once more to reason with him: if the elixir he has stolen is Fu’s personal serum, it could mean death for Han (S-C reflects on having overheard Fu state that he has developed a tolerance for the elixir, and therefore requires a more potent dosage!). Han insists on his right to preserve the bit of life he has left, takes the serum, and quickly perishes. -Chris Blake
I wouldn’t blame fans for getting a bit restless, as they wait to see how this new story might develop; still, it helps that this title has built-up so much good will. This issue includes many elements we expect from a good Shang-Chi story: intrigue, betrayal, action, and an occasional appeal to reason. Since S-C had lived so much of his life in the tender care of Fu Manchu, those eighteen years provide a rich assortment of influential people and experiences; even if Fu might be dead (ya wanna bet -?), there still is every reason for his influence to continue to be felt by S-C to the present day.
Chris: Three interesting aspects of the splash page: 1) Archie Goodwin is credited as editor, but also co-plotter – since Steve Englehart left the series, there have been very few people other than Doug who have received storytelling credit; 2) the mood-setting splash page motif continues, as we see a man’s face, drawing thru time, to reach its end as a skull; and 3) we have the debut in these pages of Prof Tom fave Mike Zeck – I didn’t realize his first art-credit was this early. Zeck moves the action along with tightly-wound panels (sort of a requirement if you’re working on this title, isn’t it?), and Mooney offers a decent effort on the inks, but Zeck will bring much more to the art in his future efforts.
Mark Barsotti: Another dramatic Paul Gulacy cover is the star attraction here. The interior art, by newcomer Mike Zeck, is fairly pedestrian, but since Zeck is destined to go on to an acclaimed run on the series, we'll assume that (1), Jim Mooney's inks don't help here, and (2) Zeck's work will evolve quickly, just as his acclaimed predecessor did.
Mark Barsotti: Another dramatic Paul Gulacy cover is the star attraction here. The interior art, by newcomer Mike Zeck, is fairly pedestrian, but since Zeck is destined to go on to an acclaimed run on the series, we'll assume that (1), Jim Mooney's inks don't help here, and (2) Zeck's work will evolve quickly, just as his acclaimed predecessor did.
Han Sung had set his larcenous sights on Fu's "Elixir Vitae," a.k.a. an immortality portion, since he and S-C were teens. Knowing Sung's intentions, Fu had prematurely aged him as punishment. Now H-S is free, in London, and preparing to chug-a-lug the potent potable, despite Shang's "Danger, Will Robinson!" warnings.
After a fairly ho-hum chase & fight through nighttime London, Han Sung drinks up from atop Waterloo Bridge, promptly croaks and goes ker-splash in the icy Thames below. A typical tale of avarice leading to a bad end, spiced with a dose of Chop Fuey along the way.
Not bad, but certainly not approaching the high bar set by the title's more memorable installments.
 |
| Jim Mooney/Joe Sinnott |
Ms. Marvel 8
"The Last Sunset...?"
Story by Chris Claremont
Art by Jim Mooney and Joe Sinnott
Colors by Don Warfield
Letters by Gaspar Saladino and John Costanza
Paying off a debt to Carol, Larry Rogers calls in S.H.I.E.L.D. teams to check out Alden’s, but they leave empty-handed with irate employee Elliot threatening legal action and Carol unable to reveal that her informant is Ms. Marvel. An A.I.M. agent gloats that “our deflectors blocked S.H.I.E.L.D.’s portable sensors, and Agent Elliot’s performance got rid of them—before they could bring up more sophisticated equipment.” Not knowing she is targeted by A.I.M., the incensed Carol refuses a ride from Gianelli and keeps a rendezvous with Theresa Burke, former top photojournalist and recovering alcoholic, but after hiring Tracy as associate editor, Carol is overcome by seventh-sense images of a beach, a radar station, and an explosion...
When thugs Ziggy and Jacko shatter the trance, Carol nearly kills them, controlled by her Kree persona; walking on Montauk Point with Michael the next day, she sees the station, investigates, finds the guards out cold, and changes to Ms. Marvel. Stumbling upon Grotesk, she realizes that the research lab hidden there is testing a military laser cannon, which he is firing into the crystal to create a warp energy implosion to destroy the Earth. He tears loose a pipe of liquid hydrogen, blowing them onto the beach, and tries to drown her, leaving her for dead to control the matrix interface, but she survived with Kree biofeedback training and judo-throws an enraged Grotesk into the laser—forcing a premature implosion that leaves her alone in a circle of heat-fused sand. -Matthew Bradley
Matthew: While this issue didn’t grab me quite as strongly as the prior two did, I’m damned if I can put my finger on any specific problem, unless you count the vicarious pain of Carol’s humiliation in the opening sequence. Certainly nothing to complain about in the art department, with Sinnott doing his usual superb job on both the striking Pollard cover (from which the annoying “This female fights back!”-type bursts have lately and mercifully been removed) and the Madman’s competent pencils. Nice to see some closure regarding Grotesk, including Carol/Ms. Marvel’s regret at his apparent death; always good to get some more information regarding her Kree background; and Tracy appears to have interesting possibilities...so if you ask what’s not to like, I honestly dunno.
The prospect of Carol dating her therapist is creepy (and unethical, on Mike’s part). I can’t believe I’m saying this, but perhaps we need more supporting characters for this title, so at least Mike and Carol can maintain a professional relationship, without walks on the beach and steak dinners at a beach house … and such.
So now we’re done with Grotesk, after a one-issue break, so that we can resume battling next issue with Modok, after not seeing him for one issue. Alternating odd-and-even issue-numbered villains -?
Matthew: What's extra-weird is that Mike was Carol's boyfriend first, and then started treating her, although I doubt that's any less ethical.
Matthew: What's extra-weird is that Mike was Carol's boyfriend first, and then started treating her, although I doubt that's any less ethical.
 |
| Gil Kane/Joe Sinnott |
The 3-D Man in
"Code Name: The Cold Warrior!"
Story by Roy Thomas and Don Glut
Art by Jim Craig and Dave Hunt
Colors by Don Warfield
Letters by Joe Rosen
The Skrull posing as DJ Doc Rock activates a strange metal device that has a sister inside singer Vince Rivers' guitar. Rivers, thinking it's a portable radio, turns it on, and the sound from the crazed fans outside blows out the wall, where a couple of hoods pick him up in the star's car. The Skrull spots 3-D Man racing across the rooftops, towards Rivers' car, which he inadvertently causes to crash and explode, but he finds the "augmatron" device and heads back to Hal's glasses, zapped by the Skrull's energy glove as he reunites with his brother, which makes him feel "different." The Skrull shifts into the form of Vice President Nixon (!) and visits a Prof. Sinkovitz, working on a secret freezing suit that Skrull-Nixon helps him complete, turning him into The Cold Warrior and sending him after 3-D Man! As it starts to rain, the device goes off in Hal's hands, so he changes into 3-D Man, only now he has Hal's mind, not Chuck's! Following the signal to Santa Monica Pier, the triple threat hero finds Cold Warrior waiting to put him on ice. Thanks to some quick thinking—like using a plank as a bat to smash a giant ice ball—as well as determination against supreme cold beams, 3-D Man manages to push Cold Warrior into the water, ruining the freeze suit, then swims away in triple time, thwarting the Skrull's evil plans.--Joe Tura
Matthew: And they said we wouldn’t have Nixon to kick around any more, but I’m sure that especially for a writer of Roy’s generation, with Tricky Dick’s Presidential resignation less than three years in the rear-view mirror, it was just too tempting to make the then Veep into a heavy of sorts. Existing alongside Iceman, Jack Frost, and Blizzard, the Cold Warrior isn’t the most original character ever conceived, but his name and his misdirected anti-communist attitude toward our hero are eminently topical. Otherwise, the continued reduction in recaps and heavy-handed period references (although I Was a Teenage Werewolf would not have been first-run in 1958) helps this three-part debut end on a satisfactory note, with Hunt bringing up Craig’s game.
 |
| Al Milgrom |
Marvel Presents 12
The Guardians of the Galaxy in
"The Shipyard of Deep Space!"
Story by Roger Stern
Art by Al Milgrom and Bob Wiacek
Colors by Phil Rachelson
Letters by Irving Watanabe
As Ogord mourns the loss of the children (and a universe), the Guardians fight their way back to the commandeered Kammar with the critically weakened Starhawk, and take their leave of Arcturus-IV, having “routed the home guard, broken the high commander—and decimated the fleet!” Charlie sends out a distress call, and is astonished at the source of the reply: Drydock, the immense Federation starship-yard where he spent most of his basic training, “reported lost during the war!” Its automatic docking cycle still functioning, the Guardians are welcomed to the “derelict” by a crew that conducts Marty and Yondu to sick bay with Starhawk, and the others to auto-valet chambers where Charlie and Nikki, if not Vance, obtain new threads.
The c.o.—revealed to be a fellow Jovian, Hollis-12—recounts that when the Badoon attacked, they had used an experimental warp-drive to blast Drydock out of the solar system, but it burned out, stranding them in the middle of nowhere. Alas, he is also a hologram, who gasses Nikki and Vance as Charlie narrowly survives a fall into a utility shaft; Hollis explains that after a radiation overload killed the crew, the computer, “designed to serve man,” created replacements about to dissect and clone Nikki and Vance, having put the others in cold storage. Eluding the defense systems with an EVA, Charlie trashes the hologram circuits, learns that Starhawk is on the mend, and observes that Drydock’s “endless possibilities…could even build us a whole new starship!” -Matthew Bradley
Matthew: That my beloved Guardians’ criminally short-lived first strip ends on such a singularly high note is all the more remarkable when you consider that this came in the form of what is effectively a tidy, even moving, done-in-one, rather than at the climax of (or, worse, partway through) some interstellar saga. It came without Gerber. It came without Sal. It came without packages, boxes or—sorry, wrong story. Stern’s script is excellent, and I’ll give Milgrom credit where it’s due, while noting the aptness of Wiacek’s inking the interiors of both cosmic books’ last issues this month. The cover is impeccably accurate, down to Charlie’s new costume (which I like; Nikki’s tutu, not so much) and the doc-bot, while the two-pager of Drydock on 6 and 7 is quite stunning.
Chris: If it weren’t for the fact that we cover Marvel on a month-by-month basis, I wouldn’t have realized both this title and another team book, The Inhumans, folded in the same month. Between the two titles, this one had less of a chance to reach its potential; so much time had gone into the establishment of Starhawk’s character that there wasn’t time to build on that and develop a new team-centric storyline.
This is yet another flea-market purchase, complete with the original owner’s name scrawled on the cover, right above the title (in case he ever wants it back). Since I read and re-read this issue multiple times without having read MP:GotG #11, the significance of the deaths of Starhawk’s children really didn’t resonate until, years later, when I finally was able to read the entire series. It’s unfortunate that Sterno elects not to provide a single line of dialog from Starhawk – not even a thought balloon! – to clue us to how this loss is affecting him. The choice to blow off his critical injuries doesn’t help; Vance simply announces on the last page that Starhawk “will be back on his feet in no time!” Well, that was easy.
If there’s any good news to come from this title’s quiet end, it’s that the Guardians are about to drop into a major storyline, as promised at the bottom of page 31; in Thor Annual #6, we’ll be re-introduced to Korvac, and then – watch out.
 |
| Dave Cockrum/Al Milgrom |
Spider-Man and The Wasp in
"A Matter of Love... and Death!"
Story by Chris Claremont
Art by John Byrne and Dave Hunt
Colors by Don Warfield
Letters by Gaspar Saladino and Joe Rosen
As Capt. DeWolff (and, per the MCDb, an unidentified Lt. Scarfe) moves the SWAT team into position, Jan dismisses Jean’s sympathy and rashly attacks Equinox, with Spidey saving her from death. Back on the bridge, after Margay’s device fails to neutralize his powers by stabilizing the thermic transitions, they take her to the Baxter Building, since the lab at Avenger’s (sic) Mansion is being rebuilt. En route, Spidey learns that she is the Dr. Sorenson in charge of natural science at Bard College, and that her physicist husband, David, specialized in thermo-dynamics, but became an embittered drunk in his obscurity, and died when his jury-rigged hardware exploded, the blast transforming 17-year-old Terry as he tried to save his father.
Invoking end-of-the-world (“For me, in a way, it is.”) Code Omega status, Jan is granted access to the lab by the absent FF’s computers, yet Equinox causes a blackout, and the back-up units do not recognize Jan, locking her out as the others race to modify the stabilizer. Running a gauntlet of defenses, Jan is astonished at her own speed and strength, deactivating the system as Spidey rigs up a harness that should work if placed in direct contact with Equinox, who arrives just then. After an ornately carved wand falls from a stasis safe in mid-battle, Yellowjacket appears, urging Jan to stun Equinox with her sting so he can use the stabilizer; he explains that he rode the blast at insect size but blacked out, and had secretly given Jan a serum triggered by an adrenalin surge. -Matthew Bradley
The computer stuff is well thought-out and adds an interesting wrinkle, while Hunt’s work on this title continues to dazzle as, like any good inker, he brings out the absolute best in John’s pencils. Highlights include the tense Margay and restrained Spidey in page 3, panels 4 and 7; the effective mini-montages in page 7, panel 2 and page 10, panel 5; the blackout sequence on page 14; and the shadowy Y.J. in page 27, panel 1. For the more detail-oriented among you, Hank’s serum “modified the effects of the original ‘Wasp’ formula as a birthday present, harnessing the energy involved in her shrinking…so that the smaller she gets, the more powerful she gets—and I redesigned her stings to tap her heightened body-energy.” No questions? Class dismissed.
Chris: As I re-read these flea-market finds of mine (this being among the last of them), I notice that I recognize images from the art (especially when it’s first-rate), and I remember certain lines and plot-points, but I rarely recall the outcome. So, with an issue like this one, I follow along, and check off assorted “okay!” moments as I encounter something familiar; by the end, though, it could result in an “oh wow,” or an “oh really …,” depending on how well the elements tie together, without necessarily having the benefit of nostalgia. MTU #60 happens to be a very satisfying re-read, as we get a fair assortment of action, lab-work, and determination (plus the first-rate art I mentioned earlier).
First off, I draw your attention to the adult-themed details on page 7. Dr Sorenson describes years of marital strife, professional frustration, domestic violence, alcohol dependence, and finally separation and untimely death. How many of these themes were fodder for back-story among the competition’s characters -? I can say that Marvel’s (sometimes) unflinching inclusion of these weighty matters in their funny books was a clear selling point for me. I didn’t feel talked-down-to, as if I could appreciate (on some level) these aspects of real life; this was a significant part of Marvel’s appeal over the others.
Chris: You know I’ve got art highlights; many of my choices are dictated by clear recollections from long-ago repeated readings. Here goes: Equinox winging the metal block at Jan (p 2); Equinox strikes a classic super-villain pose (p 6, pnl 3); the Equinox origin on p 10, especially as his face changes from frightened child to angry young adult; Byrne’s clever devices, which gain access to the Baxter Building (p 11); the eerie prescience of the midtown blackout, as NYC would have a nasty looting-rife blackout that very summer (p 14, last pnl); Jan’s astonishment as she pulls the grille free (p 17, pnl 5); Equinox slags the heavy metal staff Spidey thinks to clout him with, then pins Spidey’s arms in ice and delivers some punches of his own (p 26).
Joe: The second part of the Spider-Man and The Pyms story is another fine performance from the creative team of Claremont/Byrne/Hunt, propelling Team-Up into must-read status for anyone perusing the spinner rack. Equinox shows off some major powers, but is ultimately defeated because Mother knows best…and he's a bit of an arrogant hothead. While also cool as ice. (Yeah, that was an easy one, sorry…) Wasp also debuts improved strength and stingers, which is probably not the birthday present she was expecting, but I guess that's what works when you're an Avenger. Getting by the Baxter Building defenses was fun, as was the reemergence of Yellowjacket, but my favorite moment of this excellent issue was a small one on page 3, when Wasp says to Spidey "What do you know about agony, mister?! Who've you ever lost?!" And in a thin panel that almost looks squeezed in at the last minute, he thinks "Gwen…" then answers softly "Someone very close." But of course, Equinox returns before Wasp can share her grief with Spidey, and the roller-coaster ride continues.
 |
| Rich Buckler/Al Milgrom |
Marvel Two-In-One 30
The Thing and Spider-Woman in
"Battle Atop Big Ben!"
Story by Marv Wolfman
Art by John Buscema and Pablo Marcos
Colors by Janice Cohen
Letters by Gaspar Saladino and Irving Watanabe
As Kort tries to help Deathlok and Alicia returns to the hotel to freshen up for a visit to the Tower of London, Ben is on his way back from buying cigars when he hears an explosion at Westminster Abbey. Their diversion enables Trevor and Chauncy to pry up a specific gravestone, and although caught red-handed, they flee when Spider-Woman attacks Ben, but finds herself inexplicably unable to kill him. He is brought to Scotland Yard for a video-call from Fury, who has deduced that she is back under Hydra’s control after escaping it in Spotlight #32, and asks Ben to find her—in one piece; meanwhile, the stolen silver plate is combined with a map from Dickens’ house and a scepter from the National Gallery into a new map, for treasure.
Just as the lovers reach the tower, Spider-Woman returns, yet her new target is Alicia, and as she flies off with her captive, Trevor and Chauncy arrive and gas Ben, who is convinced they are in cahoots. Leaving behind the Crown Jewels—whose protective cases were opened for Alicia’s benefit—they take a plate that will provide the final clue, and escape a revived Ben’s wrath only by convincing him they know nothing of Spider-Woman. Having delivered Alicia to Hydra, she heads for Big Ben, which its rocky eponym reaches via a commandeered hydrofoil tour boat, but as he ascends to the top and is staggered by a venom blast, the clock face is shattered by Trevor and Chauncy’s latest blast, propelling the unconscious Ben and Spider-Woman into the Thames. -Matthew Bradley
Chris: Marv keeps the action moving swiftly, as two possibly-unrelated storylines – the daring thievery of Chauncy and Trevor, plus Hydra’s ongoing beef with Ben – converge and overlap. Marv maintains the pace by keeping the tired-old “I don’t know why Alicia would love me – I’m just a hideous pile of orange rocks” bit to a minimum (a few panels on page 2), then we’re mercifully spared further wool-gathering and can get on to the action. Marv also plays up the intrigue, as we’re left with several questions: what exactly are the two thieves seeking, that could be worth more than England’s crown jewels; how does Hydra maintain control over Spider-Woman; and what devious plan does Hydra have in place for poor Alicia?
The art is par for the course with this title, with Ben looking a bit clumsy at times. On a separate note, we see again (in the second appearance by this character) that Spider-Woman’s costume is significantly different from Marvel’s other adventurous arachnid – this isn’t “Ms Spider-Man” we’re seeing here, right? Buscema’s hand is not terribly evident; this must’ve been a layout assignment for him, as he fills in for Wilson, with Marcos embellishing more than straight inking. I do like the panel where Chauncy’s eyes are visible from under the lampshade (p 16, last pnl).
 |
| Ron Wilson/Ernie Chan |
Luke Cage, Power Man 46
"Countdown to Catastrophe!"
Story by Marv Wolfman and Roger Slifer
Art by Lee Elias
Colors by Janice Cohen
Letters by Gaspar Saladino and Denise Wohl
Still searching for the cobalt bomb hidden by the recently deceased Mace, Luke Cage realizes he's running out of time! A thorough search of the city turns up nothing but distractions: a kindly old mugging victim and a lunatic sniper. Power Man saves the old woman from a brutal beating by muggers but then feels duty-bound to get her home safely. The sharpshooter is ostensibly picking targets at random but, as it turns out, he's a jilted husband looking to even things up with his newly upper crust snob of a wife. Meanwhile, some boys playing football in the park come across a strange, metallic dome. Knowing Cage won't find the device in time without help, Burgundy "borrows" one of Mace's helicopters and begins combing the city, magically eying the boys and their new discovery. She then swoops down to pick up Luke (who has just quashed the sniper's plan to put a big hole in his wife's forehead) and heads back to the park. On the way, our Hero for Hire notices that old lady's apartment building is on fire and senses somethin's up. He leaps down, saves the old woman a second time (she'd had a heart attack while warming up some milk), and then pops back into the helicopter for the ride to destiny. When he gets to the field, Cage tries to defuse the bomb but it begins ticking, a sign that he's sped up the process. Luckily for him, two cops show up and point out the really big DEACTIVATING MECHANISM on the side of the weapon and, with one finger, they save the city. The next day, at police headquarters, the head of the bomb squad informs Luke that the device was nothing but a phony and that Luke's day was wasted. "A waste?" Cage muses as he remembers all the good will he spread. -Peter Enfantino
 |
| George Perez/Frank Giacoia |
"...Like a Tiger in the Night!
Story by Bill Mantlo
Art by Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito
Colors by Phil Rachelson
Letters by John Costanza
Spider-Man swings to Empire State University, only to discover President Dwyer is shutting down Night School for monetary reasons, despite the protesting mob outside. Prof. Vasquez from Ethnic Studies claims racism, bringing up the "multi-million dollar bid for the Erskine Manuscripts." As the demonstration breaks up, Peter has a short confrontation with a Hispanic student we later find out is Hector Ayala, who follows Peter and a "pack of pistoleros" into the library at night... after he transforms into The White Tiger, that is! But when Peter gets to the library, White Tiger is there, stealing the manuscripts and bounding out a window! Out in the hall, the green-clad crooks are waylaid by White Tiger, who tosses Peter aside and escapes into the darkness.
Spidey "visits" the Daily Globe to get the lowdown on the Tiger, seeing snapshots (from the Dean's fave, Deadly Hands of Kung Fu) of battles with the Prowler, Jack of Hearts, Iron Fist & Shang-Chi, plus Harlem detective Nathaniel Alexander Byrd, aka Black-Byrd. Spidey swings uptown to meet Byrd, and the two hop in a gypsy cab; Byrd tells the cabbie to "goose the juice" to Empire State U as he spills the beans about White Tiger to the wall-crawler. (But faithful students can just go back and re-read Deadly Hands #20-32…if they dare!) Byrd says Hector decided to try night school to make something of himself, then leaves Spidey at the college, where "El Hombre Araña" stumbles upon "El Tigre Blanco" accosting Prof. Vasquez, who has the manuscripts in his office!--Joe Tura
Overall, there's a lot to like here, including more excellent Sal B action-packed art, and a decent story. This issue leaves me with a lot of questions, though, mostly about little details. Does Peter just happen to have a set of clothes on the building across from night school? Where's the famous web-bundle of duds? And does Peter read the Daily Globe, where he claims to know the White Tiger from, just to keep up with the competition, or does he not want to actually read the Bugle? Does Mantlo really have a student on page 2 say "Hey! It's Prof. Vasquez from Ethnic Studies!" Man, that's like Little Rascals-lazy. And why have one of the "pistoleros" yell "Blue Blazes"? That's like Nova-lazy. And we know the MARMIS at the end will be cleared up. Well, if we skip ahead that is…
Matthew: Succeeding Goodwin, Mantlo begins his first of two stints on the book, a rarely broken 34-issue run, although interestingly, the current MTU’s lettercol reveals that this was intended as a two-part fill-in. Bill seems determined to establish a beachhead for Deadly Hands of Kung Fu characters, since it not only marks the four-color debut of the White Tiger—whom he and George Pérez created in #19—but also includes a two-page recap featuring the Sons (and Daughter) of the Tiger, the Prowler, Jack of Hearts, Shang Chi (sic), and Iron Fist. The glut of exposition regarding both the Tiger and ESU’s financial woes retards forward motion, but as usual, Buscemosito’s art goes down like a cold drink on a hot day.
The White Tiger’s a fairly interesting character, but there’s not much to his hero-profile (ie powers, abilities, etc) that sets him apart from other crime-fighters. This might be the character’s full-color premiere, but as I recall, this debut doesn’t lead to him ever becoming a mainstream Marvel guy (at least, not during the Bronze era). He and his alter-ego will appear in this title fairly often; in fact, I’d be willing to bet that the majority of White Tiger’s credits are from the pages of PPSS-M.
 |
| Keith Giffen/Frank Giacoia |
Dr. Doom and Sub-Mariner in
"When Walks the Warlord!"
Story by Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen
Art by Keith Giffen and Don Perlin
Colors by Don Warfield
Letters by Gaspar Saladino and Bruce Patterson
Bound by oath to cure Namor’s subjects—which he is confident he can do after countering his inability to retain moisture—Doom is accompanying him to Atlantis, in a craft that turns the undersea pressure into a propellant force, when Namor is attacked by an army of outcasts, Lemurians, soldiers of Byrrah and Attuma, even surface-men, led by Warlord Krang. Knowing that if Krang makes good on his threat to kill the Atlanteans, he cannot fulfill his oath, Doom seals his armor and enters the suspended animation chamber as their battle rages, firing four projectiles that release a violet mist over the sleeping thousands. He succeeds where Reed Richards and Dr. Henry Croft failed, and bids the revived Atlanteans to help their monarch.
Meanwhile, sensing the tide of battle turning against him, Krang blows the trumpet-horn of the ancient Atlanteans, yet Namor, who sounded it long ago, knows that he may have doomed them all by summoning an uncontrollable, “blasphemous horror from the bottomless depths!” He gains the strength to escape its grip when he sees his people alive, and creates a maelstrom that propels it into the abyss as Doom duels Krang, seemingly to the death (“Eeeyagghhh!”), but “the blade dealt only a neuro-shock,” leaving Krang alive. Namor celebrates the fulfillment of Lord Neptune’s prophecy (“The realm shall fall, only to rise again at the forefront of nations”), while Doom departs, reflecting that his power is derived from strength, and Namor’s from his people… -Matthew Bradley
Matthew: As with Marvel Presents, this penultimate issue—at least as a bimonthly series—could serve as a fitting conclusion, even if the tone of its ending is the polar opposite of Starhawk’s tragedy. Mantlo resolves not only Namor’s oft-nominal alliance with Doom, which has formed the spine of this dual-successor strip since its giant-size debut, but also the ongoing plight of his people, which has been dragging on for almost four years since the death-throes of his own book. Doom proves himself a man of honor once again, and however often his promises to aid Namor seemed like a dodge, his scientific prowess remains unequalled; his fake-out of Krang is also satisfying, because facing Namor may be worse than death, and besides, who wants to waste a good villain?
Chris: In this, their last pairing in these pages, Namor and Doom finally are willingly working towards the same purpose. For longtime Marvel readers, it’s a bonus that the conclusion of the Namor/Doom association coincides with the re-awakening (finally!) of the Atlantean people. Solid characterization as Namor (draped in his waterproof ermine) literally turns his back on Doom, without a single hint of thanks. If this title had been designed as a limited series, the two characters’ unsentimental separation would’ve made for a fitting final image.
 |
| John Buscema/Joe Sinnott |
"Even an Immortal Can Die!"
Story by Len Wein
Art by Walt Simonson and Tony DeZuniga
Colors by Glynis Wein
Letters by Joe Rosen
The two aliens K'ril and N'gil, collectively known as the Soul-Survivors, have captured Thor, Sif and Fandral. Holding them fast by shackles even Thor cannot break, the duo sees fit to tell the Asgardians their story. Once the Doomsday Star was known as Templeworld, and it was the most gleaming and magnificent of a number of planets together called the Confederation. Their world's power was supplied by a being they called the One Above All, in exchange for their unending worship of him. One day the Confederation was attacked by an armada of vessels that included races from Badoon to Skrull. Most of the planets perished, but the One Above All constructed an impenatrable wall around Templeworld that protected them, and destroyed the invaders as they attacked. The effort had exhausted their god however, and he soon perished. Thus began a long line of beings who provided them with energy to power their planet. The latest (and one of the greatest) of these providers is none other than the object of the Asgardian quest, mighty Odin himself. When the Soul-Survivors bring Thor and friends to see their monarch, he soon perishes from the energy drain. Thor is devastated and furious beyond words. Afraid of the Thunder God's wrath, K'ril, with his brother's help, enters the energy they had stored from Odin into what they call the Spirit-Mold. In short, it is a giant shell animated by the two aliens, and powered by Odin's energy. -Jim Barwise
I enjoy the art best when I can spot Simonson’s hand thru the DeZuniga fog; I miss Ernie Chan already, but if Ernie were here, then he wouldn’t be inking John B on Conan – I know, I know. Here are a few of those moments: armor blasted to shrapnel (p 6, pnl 3); Hogun, laying on the mallet (p 11, pnl 3); the power-draining Odin-throne (p 14); the perilous climb of the Warriors Three – minus one, plus Recorder (p 17, 1st pnl); Hogun swats a carrion bird toward the reader (p 22, 1st pnl); Thor does likewise to battle-suited Doomsdayers (p 27); and of course the K’rill as the embodiment of the “Odin-force” (p 31).
 |
| Gil Kane/Frank Giacoia |
What If? 4
The Invaders in
"What If the Invaders Had Stayed Together After World War II?"
Story by Roy Thomas
Art by Frank Robbins and Frank Springer
Colors by George Roussos
Letters by Joe Rosen
Recapping the events of Avengers #4 and #56, Captain America and Bucky burst into Baron Zemo's hanger, only to be knocked out by an android and strapped to a drone plane that Zemo activates right after a version of Cap's shield releases their bonds. Bucky hops onto the plane, but before he can stop it…well, you know the rest. The Watcher lets us know the Invaders may have gone their separate ways, but Human Torch and Toro found Adolf Hitler and burned him to death; Namor fights off Japanese subs in the Pacific; and Spitfire & Union Jack halt an assassination of Churchill. The heroes are all gathered at Big Ben in London to hear the news of Cap and Bucky's heroic deaths, and are asked to fly to the White House in the USA. There, new President Truman asks the heroes to remain as the Invaders and declares that "Captain America must live on!"—which leads to Cap and Bucky entering the room! But they're really masked crusader Spirit of '76 and batboy Fred Davis, and are joined by Miss America and The Whizzer, to continue the war in the Pacific.
But what is the reason for this issue existing? And is it really a "What If" story or more of a fill-in? Well, my digital copy (the actual comic long sold off—yeah, that old sob story is back) doesn't have the Roy text page alluded to in some footnotes, but Prof. Matthew fave Bronze Age Babies explains for us: "On a text page inside, Roy Thomas explains that he'd always wanted to write about how there was a Captain America from 1945 to 1963—just not the original, Steve Rogers. He'd tossed that idea off to new Cap writer Steve Englehart in the early 70s, and of course Englehart penned the classic story of 1950s, Commie-hating psycho Cap versus our own Cap. But Roy really wanted to look at what happened right at the end of WWII and just after. There was no place to put it though - since it depicted the end of the war, it couldn't be in Invaders. And Roy wasn't writing Cap. So - why not What If?"
Well, there you have it. I loved this one as a young, much more impressionable lad, especially being such a big Invaders nut. I guess I've always had a thing for these "alternate reality" stories, even when DC started their "Elseworld" stories in the late 80s. Not that I don’t appreciate the regular continuities, but my the-road-not-taken mind is always thinking what could be different, even in my comic book heroes. That's why I'm such a sucker for these What If? comics, no matter if they don't stand up after 40 years. This one does, however. But I do apologize for the super-long synopsis of each one so far (I doubt it will change). It's just that there's so much going on, and so many little things that contribute to the differences and the plot, that I'm trying to capture the whole of the book for you students. And revisit some old friends at the same time. (Cue the maudlin music!)
Matthew: In retrospect, I should have offered to tackle this myself, because its subject matter and Thomas/Robbins/Springer creative team mark it as a kind of “lost issue” of Invaders (in his lettercol essay, Roy notes that it contains references to events in the current #19 as well as next month’s out-of-sequence annual). Unusual for this series, it is accepted Marvel Universe canon rather than an imaginary—uh, excuse me, alternate-universe story. Roy is at his dot-connecting, hole-filling zenith here: not only were there two other Caps before Englehart’s other Other Cap, but his Crusader and Liberty Legion analogs, the Spirit of ’76 and Patriot, both get a shot; Fred Davis returns; the Torch torches Hitler; and we learn whatever happened to Phineas T. Horton…
Often enough, the payoff to one of these speculative tales involves a Dire Consequence or an Unexpected Development to transpire in the alternate reality. Instead, we have the inspiring idea that other heroes would rise to continue the legend of Captain America; we’ve encountered this notion before in Cap’s own mag, that “Captain America” is as much a concept as it is a character, but Roy takes this possibility one step further as he demonstrates how Cap’s continuation could be put into practice. Again, it’s a solid idea, but not necessarily so reality-altering that it necessitates placement as a “What If?” story.
"What If the Invaders Had Stayed Together After World War Two?" works in fine fashion, mixing in original Torch inventor Professor Horton and a would-be pol, subbed into that slot in place of his older brother, killed in the recent war, named "Jack" Kennedy. Harry Truman himself not only drafts Miss America and the Whizzer into the ranks of the Invaders, but rechristened them, post VJ-Day, the All-Winners Squad. Which rings true, since only a politician - or maybe an over-worked and not yet smiling Stan Lee, circa '46 - would come up with such generic blandness. Frank Robbins brings his era-appropriate Stretch Armstrong energy to the graphics and it's all entertaining enough except...
Roy's retro passions aren't necessarily those of Marveldom Assembled, then (1977) or now. And while I really enjoy the Invaders (and rue having to drop them from my class load), they have - as Roy acknowledges on that letter page - no collective history, the All-Winners Squad even less, and thus the fans have no collective memory to be mucked about with.
So this one gets an A for execution, a C- (at best) for emotional impact.
 |
| Gene Colan/Tom Palmer |
"The Last Traitor!"
Story by Marv Wolfman
Art by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer
Colors by Marv Wolfman and Michele Wolfman
Letters by John Costanza
Anton Lupeski kicks his "Kill Dracula and Rule the World" campaign up a notch by enlisting the vampire hunters. Our gang isn't completely convinced this is the way to go but a troubled Quincy Harker concedes that this may be the best chance they have of ridding the world of the Lord of Vampires, whether they trust Anton or not. The plan is to surprise Dracula and stake him at a feast being held for Janus, the vampire's infant son. When the time comes, the vampire hunters bust in amidst the celebration and start blasting the Count with silver bullets. One of Lupeski's bullets passes through Drac as he's transforming into mist and strikes Janus, killing him. Enraged, the Count tears Lupeski limb from limb. When he turns his attention to the hunters, Domini intercedes and demands that there be no more killing this night. Dracula obeys but then flies off into the night in a huff. -Peter Enfantino
Peter: There's a scene where Drac ventures out to "feast" and he chooses a Boston College teacher, who is being sexually harassed by one of her students. The vampire scares away the predator and then sups on the grateful woman. What was the point of this sequence? Why would Drac take the chance of invading a school to dine in front of witnesses? Wouldn't it be wiser to snatch someone off the street? That scenario has become a cliche in this series and it's refreshing that Marv wanted to change things up and added a bit of back story to what is essentially a throw away scene. I liked the story overall and the accidental murder of Janus is handled well but what I come away with from the climax is that these vampire killers have been in the same room as Dracula approximately 43 times and nothing ever gets done. There's always a reason to put off the staking. I never knew that a vampire can avoid death by turning into mist (and voiding silver projectiles). I'll have to note that in my journal.
Ever the manipulator, Lupeski not only recruits Harker's crew as extra triggermen for his presumptive coup, he supplies their guns and silver bullets. The fearless vamp hunters know they're being used, but the common cause of Drac's demise trumps their distaste with throwing in with a scummy Satanist.
Dracula having to feed is the one brief diversion from the pell-mell plot. I hold it up, class, as an example of Wolfman's unmatched gift for instant, intense characterization, here concerning Emily Arthurs, night school instructor at Boston College, about to be sexually assaulted after class before Drac comes to her - alas, temporary, pre-vein opening - rescue. Finishing his meal, Dracula instructs the expiring Ms. Arthurs to return to class a week later, and bestow her own bloody kiss upon her would-be rapist. It's a compelling slice of life (and death), served up in less than two pages. Masterful.
Lupeski's kill-plot is to culminate at a feast honoring Drac's and Domini's new son, Janus, whose brief life is taken by the cult leader's errant bullet. Dracula's bone-by-splintered-bone vengeance is all the more horrific by being (visually) left to the reader's appalled - and, face it, somewhat if squeamishly satisfied - imagination.
That would have been a riveting enough ending, but Marv digs deeper. Domini, emboldened by the painting of Christ the Count found impossible to remove from his dark, desecrated church, forbids Drac from slaughtering Quincy and co. in his homicidal, dead-son fury.
Then Domini asks him to embrace both her and - a tougher go - the gentle Galilean. Dracula refuses of course, but with none of his usual God-mocking, blasphemous bravado. Instead he cries - while taking bat-wing to flee wife and dead son - "Lord help me...I can't!"
That's the first time the haughty, undead aristocrat has not just bemoaned his fate, but, more tellingly, expressed a yearning for another path, forever denied him.
And that's one of most chilling moments I've ever read in a comic, tingling down the spine not because Dracula is a blood-sucking monster, but because he is all too human, unable to escape his fate.
Just like the rest of us.
Chris: It’s become impossible to know what to expect from an issue of ToD anymore. Each of the past four issues has had a different focus, with little-to-no-attention toward Harker’s hunting crew. Now, Harker & Co step back to the forefront, and put a serious hurt on Drac – although, the silver bullets don’t kill him, for some reason.
Marv handles the set-up well, as members of the group express their reservations about working with Lupeski; rightfully so, they suspect a hidden motive. It’s no surprise that Lupeski doesn’t survive the attack on Drac; although, Marv’s suggestion of the gruesome nature of his death, as Drac practically tears him apart, is this title’s most chilling moment in some time. The best, though, is saved for the very end, as we finally learn Domini’s secret: she believes that Dracula can be saved, by the grace of God. Then, a twist: Dracula reacts not with contempt, but with anguish as he states that – due to his having become the creature he is – he cannot follow the path Domini offers toward redemption; “Lord help me,” Drac calls as he flies away, “I can’t!”
The art this time is a cut above, as compared to recent issues; in other words, it’s much closer to the standard Gene & Tom had established years ago. Highlights: spinster professor Emily Arthurs cringes as Drac swoops over her (p 10, pnl 4); Drac’s eerie entrance to the feast, as he seems to materialize after flying in (p 14, pnl 2); Drac hands twisting into claws at the sight of Frank Drake (p 15, bottom of pnl 2); Frank takes aim, from Drac’s POV (p 16, last pnl); Drac’s ghoulish transformation (which gave me a chilly smile – p 26, last pnl); Domini’s offer, again from Drac’s POV (p 31, pnl 4).
 |
| Dave Cockrum |
The X-Men 106
"Dark Shroud of the Past!"
Story by Chris Claremont and Bill Mantlo
Art by Dave Cockrum, Bob Brown, and Tom Sutton
Colors by Andy Yanchus
Letters by Joe Rosen
Xavier watched as – moments before – the X-Men disappeared thru a star-gate, in pursuit of the captured Princess Lilandra; since her abduction by Eric the Red, Xavier feels he’s lost a part of himself. As Misty tries to offer help, Xavier’s mind drifts back to when the troubling dreams and visions of Lilandra had begun, and Moira MacTaggart had responded to his request for help. Around this time, there had been an incident in the Danger Room, when the original X-Men had appeared to have returned, and threatened to destroy the new team. Throughout the furious battle, Scott had felt something amiss about their opponents, despite their skills and appearances matching those of his former teammates; Wolverine had similar reservations, as if the people he had been fighting, somehow, were not truly there. Scott finally accused the apparent Angel of being an “image;” at that moment, Xavier had arrived in the training room, and stopped the battle by simply popping the illusions of ex-team members out of existence. An evil version of Xavier then appeared, and threatened to destroy the team himself, until Xavier dismissed his evil persona. Xavier reflected at the time that his ability to control the “Mr Hyde” part of himself, which might seek to use his formidable powers for his own gain, had broken free once his dreams of Lilandra interfered with his personal mental controls. -Chris Blake
“Bob penciled it two years ago, off Bill Mantlo’s plot,” as one of Marvel’s standard fill-ins held in inventory for just such occasions. Absent solid evidence either way, and despite my selective admiration for Bill, I’m going to take Chris’s wording literally and assume that he not only wrote the Cockrum-drawn framing sequence, which cleverly puts this into continuity—presented as a flashback to events occurring shortly after #96—but also scripted Bill’s plot, since the result is so quintessentially Claremontian, and ties in so closely with the other issues. He and then-editor Marv also concluded that Bob, inked here by Sutton, would be a perfect replacement for Dave if he ever left the book, and while I won’t go that far, I’ll admit that he does a pretty creditable job.
 |
| Rick Hoberg/Tom Palmer |
"Six Against the Galaxy"
Story by Roy Thomas
Art by Howard Chaykin and Steve Leialoha
Colors by Steve Leialoha and Carl Gafford
Letters by Tom Orzechowski
Luke Skywalker is unconscious, with Sandpeople standing above him, ready to kill the young farmer. Before that can continue, they are scared off by a strange howling coming from an approaching robed figure. Now alone with Luke and Artoo, the figure is revealed to be Ben Kenobi. When Luke comes to, he asks if there’s a connection to this “Obi-Wan” Artoo is referring to. To Luke’s surprise, Ben admits it was a name he used when he was much younger. They find a damaged Threepio and take him back to Ben’s home to repair him. There they see the entire message Artoo is carrying; Princess Leia pleads with Kenobi to bring the plans of the Death Star, hidden in Artoo, to her father, Viceroy Bail Antilles on Alderaan. They discuss Luke’s father, a great pilot and Jedi knight who was betrayed and murdered by Ben’s former pupil…Darth Vader. Ben gives Luke his father’s light saber and offers to teach Luke the ways of “The Force” on their way to Alderaan. Luke declines, saying he promised to stay and help his uncle, especially since the Empire is “so far away.” He and Ben take the droids and begin the journey back to Luke’s farm.
On the Death Star, Vader tortures Leia to get the location of the rebel base out of her. She refuses to talk, but Moff Tarkin is able to get the information by threatening to destroy Alderaan. Not wishing to see her home planet obliterated, she finally gives him the location. Smiling, Tarkin orders the destruction of Alderaan to go ahead, as the planet Dantooine is too remote to be effective a target. Leia watches in horror as her home, her family and her former life is completely wiped out of existence by the awesome power of the Death Star.
Later, as Luke, Ben and the droids board the Falcon, Stormtroopers arrive. Han takes off quickly, but they meet laser fire from Star Destroyers in orbit. Before they can take a fatal hit, the Falcon disappears into hyperspace. -Scott McIntyre
The art is much better this issue, the inking much more concise and less sloppy. Characters are recognizable and the whole issue is pleasant to read. There are a few minor changes; Leia’s father is Viceroy Bail Antilles rather than Senator Organa; after Han kills Greedo, he tosses the barkeep a single coin to make up for “the mess.” Ben’s light saber strike is much more dramatic here and more effective, honestly. From here on, the story, as in the film, kicks into high gear. As it stands, it’s been an uneven pair of issues, but this was a huge jump in quality. The cover is laughably over the top, but then Marvel never truly “got” Star Wars. The comic lasted as long as it did because of the hunger for material, especially between films. Next up: Inside the Death Star!
Crazy 28
Kid Colt Outlaw 219
< Marvel Tales 82
Spidey Super Stories 25
THOSE MARVEL-OUS MAGAZINES
The Rampaging Hulk 4
Cover Art by Jim Starlin and Daina
“The Other Side of Night”
Plot and Pencils by Jim Starlin
Script by John Warner
Inks and Finishes by Alex Nino
Letters by Annette Kawecki
“Gallery of Villains”
Text by David Kraft
Illustrations by Keith Giffen
Tones by Michele Brand
Letters by Jim Novak
“Return from Oblivion”
Story by John Warner
Art by Val Mayerik and Sonny Trinidad
Letters by Jim Novak
We are still in 1963, as Bruce Banner, Rick Jones and the alien Bereet are exploring an abandoned Krylorian weapons testing base. Suddenly, the doctor is transported to a ravaged planet galaxies away by a benevolent wizard named Chen K’an. Banner quickly transforms into his enraged alter ego but K’an weaves a calming spell that gives the Hulk an extra dose of intelligence. The mage explains that he used to be the ruler of this once flourishing paradise. But, when he was once in a deep meditation, the evil eldritch witch Lyissa banished his astral form to another dimension. Eons later, K’an managed to return to his home only to find it stripped of beauty and life by Lyissa and her demonic minions. The only hope is to steal back the Star of Catalax from the witch’s citadel of terror — and since his powers have been weakened, K’an needs the help of the Hulk’s immense strength. Along the way, the wizard and his brutish companion are attacked by waves of Lyissa’s nightmarish army: trolls, demons and the behemoth Gyrahn. But Jade Jaws manages to defeat them all. Finally, the determined duo reach their destination. Lyissa reveals herself from a high tower, cackling that Chen K’an no longer has the power to defeat her. She fires a deadly eldritch bolt but the wise wizard turns it back at her, surprisingly destroying the hateful hag. K’an reveals to the Hulk that the reports of his weakness were greatly exaggerated and that their quest to Tyroc was merely a ruse to gauge Lyissa’s strength. Chen K’an returns the incredible hero to Earth and then uses the Star of Catalax to destroy his planet: while its body is dead, its soul can now fly free.
At 30 pages, “The Other Side of Night” delivers the cosmic goods that Starlin fans demand, just in the form of the Hulk instead of Captain Marvel or Warlock. In fact, you could have written any of those characters into the proceedings and none would have been the wiser. We do have to put up with some of the usual drivel from the typewriter of John Warner, but that’s easy to ignore. Admittedly, the plot is fairly lightweight, almost shaggy dogish. But Jim’s perfect pencils deliver the heft. I wouldn’t have imagined that Alex Nino would be a good match, but it actually makes sense. Nino always excelled at the fantastic, and he really complements Starlin’s strange sensibilities. There are loads of big, energetic panels and a dazzling two-page spread that is worth the price of admission alone. I haven’t read this series before, but I must imagine that “The Other Side of Night” was the high point when all was said and done.
And, of course, the Ulysses Bloodstone back-ups must be the lows. In “Return from Oblivion,” Bloodstone and Brad Carter fly away from Centurius’ exploding island in a S.H.I.E.L.D jet — Iron Man blasts off as well after radioing his goodbyes. Meanwhile, in Geneva, a group of Interpol agents launch an investigation into the immortal mercenary. Then, after landing on Bloodstone Island, Carter is surprised when Bloodstone offers Samantha Eden a job as his public relations coordinator. In New York City, a group of men gather over the hospital bed of the comatose Killer Shrike. One claims that, legally, they cannot unmask the Shrike but when he comes to, they must convince him that they know everything. Back on Bloodstone Island, Ulysses enters his meditation chamber: after nightmarish visions, he emerges and proclaims that he now knows the secret of The Conspiracy. When Samantha Eden returns to her apartment in Marseille, she finds a bowler-hatted figure named Domino waiting in the shadows.
What’s that now? John Warner tries a new twist and turn on nearly every other page but it’s still fails to engage any interest on my part. The whole “meditation chamber” drools over five pages of this 19-page chapter. I guess we are supposed to be impressed by all the psychedelic images but it made no nonsense. Interpol? Domino? Public relations coordinator?!? And don’t ask me about the guys in New York City. Not sure if they are cops or part of The Conspiracy. And why can’t the Killer Shrike be unmasked? He’s in a hospital and in a coma. I assume that doctors must have worked on him at one point. They wouldn’t have removed his mask? “Ahhh, don’t worry about examining his face. I’m sure it’s fine.” And sad to say, things start off with a reprint of the fabulous Marshall Rogers pin-up from issue #2. Considering Rogers did such little work for Marvel in the 70s, why waste him on this crapola?
 |
| Blood-y Awful! |
Lastly, we have “Gallery of Villains,” five pin-ups of bad guys from The Incredible Hulk #1 to #6: the Gargoyle, the Toad Men, the Circus of Crime, Tyrannus and the Metal Master. We’ve already seen Gargoyle and Metal Master in the pages of this magazine. The art by Keith Giffen and Michele Brand (tones?) is stone cold Kirby, a cheap ploy but I guess fitting. David Kraft writes bio blurbs for each villain and they are confusingly comical. For example, the Gargoyle is “an emotional simpleton, despite his sizable scientific knowledge, he also held down a second job at a local Asian eatery as, you guessed it, a head waiter!” Somehow that feels racist to me. -Tom Flynn
The Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian 21
Cover Art by Earl Norem
“The Horror from the Red Tower”
Story by Roy Thomas
Art by John Buscema and Sonny Trinidad
“What the She-Devil?”
Text by Mario A. Cavallini
While it’s far from a stinker, this is easily my least favorite issue of The Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian so far. Why? Well, Conan is basically a guest star in his own magazine. The 50-page “The Horror from the Red Tower” plays out in two parts. The first features a bland and blond Aquilonian warrior named Amalric — the Cimmerian’s powerful presence is only really felt in the second half. The source work was left unfinished by Robert E. Howard: L. Sprague de Camp finalized the story and it was first published in the 1966 collection Conan the Adventurer as “Drums of Tombalku.” Not sure if Amalric appeared in either version but that name did pop up in Howard’s “The Hour of the Dragon,” which ran over five issues of Weird Tales, from December 1935 to April 1936. There, Amalric was a Nemedian general, so a much different character. This is a long — as well as rambling and talky — affair, so I’ll try to streamline.
The story opens with Amalric and two dark-skinned Ghanatain thieves drinking from a pool in a desert oasis. Their leader, a big bald man named Tilutan rides up, a beautiful blond maiden slung over his saddle: he found her stumbling through the smoldering sands. When the Ghanatas start to argue over who should rape her first, Amalric kills all three after a fierce and exhausting battle. The grateful woman, Lissa, tells the Aquilonian that she ran away from her home, a mysterious desert city called Gazal, weary of the eternal monotony. Amalric in turn tells how he used to be a mercenary in an Argossian legion that was routed by a superior Stygian force: he managed to escape along with a mighty Cimmerian named Conan. After days of riding through the desert, they encountered a group of Tombalku bandits. While the barbarian was captured, Amalric once again escaped. Afterwards, he reluctantly fell in with the Ghanatas.
After riding across the desert, Conan and his companions arrive at Tombalku. The Cimmerian tells the kings how Amalric killed the ghoul in the red tower. That night, Askia, Sakumbe’s magician, betrays his master and conjurers a spell for his rival, Zehbeh. Askia then bursts into Sakumbe’s tent and proclaims that Zehbeh’s supporters are rebelling, enraged that Amalric has “murdered” Ollam-Onga, one of their gods and the creature in the tower. Conan, the black king and his trained guards rush outside and engage the raucous rebels: the fat Sakumbe is soon slain. Meanwhile, Amalric and Lissa are on a nearby rooftop, talking of their future when a hideous, bat-like dinosaur swoops down from the sky and attacks — it is the monster summoned by Askia’s spell. From his vantage in the middle of the melee, Conan notices the winged creature. Refusing to see another friend fall that night, he abandons the fray and rushes off to save the Aquilonian and his mate: the Cimmerian kills the prehistoric predator with a blade through the mouth.
Yup, told you this one was long! It also seems very disjointed as the Gazal sequences don’t really seem to mesh with the later action in Tombalku. We go from what is basically a horror story to one of political intrigue and betrayal. Amalric is fairly nondescript: as someone once said of Oakland, California, there’s not much there there. He’s just some blond guy. And don’t ask me about the seven, skull-faced riders who suddenly appear: have no idea what they were all about and why they disappeared so quickly. I miss the inks of the great Alfredo Alcala but Sonny Trinidad does a solid job enhancing the pencils of Big John. Trinidad is talented but still a few cuts below Ernie Chan. Fifty pages are a bit of a waste on a middling story like “The Horror from the Red Tower.”
The text piece, “What the She-Devil?” is a treat however. Originally appearing in Venue, the magazine of New Jersey’s Glassboro State College, and written by Mario A. Cavallini, it’s a fun fluff piece on the first Sonja Con, which took place in November of 1976. It’s filled with photos of scantily clad woman dressed up as the Hyrkanian heroine for a costume contest, including one Wendy Pini. Pini had already appeared as a character in Ghost Rider and would go on to create Elfquest with her husband, Richard. But the best part is all the vintage images of Marvel staffers, including Frank Thorne, who looked just as I hoped: a roadie for the Grateful Dead. Long greasy white hair, big bushy beard and fat bandana wrapped around his head. We also get shots of a nerdy Roy Thomas, Dick Giordano, Pablo Marcos and others I didn’t recognize. If you had attended, you could have picked up a copy of Fantastic Four #1 for $190. For some reason, the first issue of Sub-Mariner would have set you back $750. Oh, and Wendy won the costume contest by the way. I would have voted for Linda Behrle.-Tom Flynn
 |
| Why does Roy always stand out as the "What's Wrong with this Picture?" |
"They must have been given some visual references by Lucasfilm..."
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you seen this already, but if you haven't, pop over here...
http://therealcharleslippincott.blogspot.com
and scroll down to the appropriate entries for the full story on the origins of the Star Wars comics, as told by the fellow who did the deals on Lucasfilm's behalf (as well as lots of other interesting stuff about the films as they were originally).