tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post2859662116103648667..comments2024-03-28T11:09:29.081-07:00Comments on Marvel University: June 1975 Part One: Look Out Axis! Here Come The Invaders!John Scolerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15830334036783163702noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post-37095494031739242742015-01-27T19:24:19.621-08:002015-01-27T19:24:19.621-08:00thanks Grant -- I originally saw the "Golden ...thanks Grant -- I originally saw the "Golden Age of Ballooning" episode over 35 yrs ago, and it still glides majestically thru the sky for me to this day. C V Blakenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post-38208015829858876252015-01-19T06:29:56.408-08:002015-01-19T06:29:56.408-08:00I immediately got the "It's an AIRSHIP!&q...I immediately got the "It's an AIRSHIP!" reference, but that's partly because I'm more of a fan of those final episodes than you're expected to be.Granthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09603892208775996594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post-18459222882193366402015-01-15T20:27:04.159-08:002015-01-15T20:27:04.159-08:00Once again, I missed the G-S Avengers when it came...Once again, I missed the G-S Avengers when it came out and only read it decades later. To say it wasn't quite worth the wait is putting it mildly. My nomination for worst drawn Avengers story ever. Back in those days they did have to make sure that a mag scheduled to be print actually got printed or the Earth would shatter into tiny bits or some such thing, but what saw print was just horrid, even granted that it was a rush job and Heck was well past his prime by this point, although he did do a much better job on G-S Defenders #4. Otherwise, Colan's work on Dr. Strange rises to his usual high standards and storywise, my favorite was the latest segment in the Defenders clash with the Sons of the Serpent. Not counting the tie-in with Marvel Two-In-One that began Gerber's run, this is first epic on the title and I found it enjoyable enough. In this storyline, it seems to me Gerber is mixing in the sort of moral outrage the EC masters expressed in some of their best suspense tales with the typical Marvel superhero mashups against costumed goons with a lot of fancy gadgets and incredible hideouts that must have cost a lot of money -- and Gerber would pull a surprise by showing us where that money came from. And while the Serpents' closest real life counterparts, the KKK, was a relative shadow of its former very powerful self by the mid-70s, they hadn't entirely withered away. Alas, decades later, they're still around, but more like worms than serpents.Fred W. Hillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07602124919964053532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post-30215751241615063332015-01-15T06:28:57.860-08:002015-01-15T06:28:57.860-08:00Always wondered if GS-Dracula wouldn't have be...Always wondered if GS-Dracula wouldn't have been better if there had been at least one issue with decent art. It is hard to compete with Colan/Palmer, still this ranged from blah to awful. I don't mind the writers, these books seemed to be a kind of try-out for new writers sometimes, and Claremont sure earned his merits here.<br /><br />Artwise this wasn't a good month for Marvel. If you see this monthly output presented in its chronological form, it is quite baffling how they were so successful. Of course problems do arise in the production, but when I read the culmination of Engleharts Mantis-Saga for the first time in the Essential version I was surprised how you can miss so spectaculary. Of course the earlier art on Avengers was not great either, but I wonder how one would rate this story if it had been done by Starlin, Buckler or John Buscema. Something at least a tiny bit inspired and not this terrible dud. <br /><br />I know the editorial philosophy at the time was quite different then today, nobody cared a lot about little endings in Major storylines. They didn't even curb the worst excesses of writers like McGregor or Moench – I am fan of Moench, still he is sometimes virtually unreadable -, which only could have been better with some editing. I won't deny that this approach also had its good sides. Content like the Gerber books for instance never did pass Editorial in later years.<br /><br />Still, arcs like the Celestial Madonna could have been so much better.<br />AndyDeckerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12806906746754478064noreply@blogger.com