tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post5036392674212450386..comments2024-03-28T11:09:29.081-07:00Comments on Marvel University: February 1967: Doomsday!John Scolerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15830334036783163702noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post-88570618799887073162012-06-05T10:32:58.601-07:002012-06-05T10:32:58.601-07:00Glenn: Having had some (minor) involvement in cre...Glenn: Having had some (minor) involvement in creating WACT, I am now basking in largely reflected glory.<br /><br />With you all the way on Colletta. I grudgingly admire his work on THOR some of the time, but usually his name in the credits just makes my heart sink when I see it.<br /><br />Re: DAREDEVIL, didn't they add insult to injury by never tying up that dangling plot thread of Spider-Man's letter?<br /><br />Re: those pesky but beloved reprints, I finally figured out why they seem to do worse damage in some books than in others. If I'm not mistaken, the typical split book of this period featured one 10-page story and one 12-page story, for a total of 22 pages, whereas the typical solo book had only 20. The Procrustean reprint mags, with a fairly consistent 19-20 story pages, simply lopped off whatever they needed to make the reprints from ASTONISH or SUSPENSE fit their cruel, cruel beds. And we were the unwitting victims. So MARVEL DOUBLE FEATURE and MARVEL SUPER-HEROES are by definition the worst offenders there.<br /><br />Thanks, as always, for your uniquely informed viewpoint.Matthew Bradleyhttp://bradleyonfilm.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post-51010258884925466252012-06-03T21:55:01.615-07:002012-06-03T21:55:01.615-07:00Glenn: You might as well give in and join Marvel U...Glenn: You might as well give in and join Marvel University; once Professor Pete gets his claws into you, it's just a matter of time!Jim Barwisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06621993116774388708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post-10555108526812246702012-06-03T15:58:57.419-07:002012-06-03T15:58:57.419-07:00Jim: It's interesting that the greatest TV sho...Jim: It's interesting that the greatest TV show ever made spawned "We Are Controlling Transmission" the greatest TV show blog ever made.<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />Glenn :)GlennMEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08536558149189057537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post-33741993316343949992012-06-03T10:32:13.223-07:002012-06-03T10:32:13.223-07:00(Professor) Glenn: How fitting that you consider T...(Professor) Glenn: How fitting that you consider The Outer Limits the greatest TV series of all-time! Professor Tom and myself were bloggers there before Peter invited us to come on board at Marvel University. I never thought of the current F.F. storyline as borrowing from OL (The Bellero Shield), but you're right, it has definate similarities. Interesting about Vince Colletta; I always thought of his scratchy lines as attention to detail, I didn't know he erased backgrounds at times. He certainly became sloppy at times, but I'm still a big fan.Jim Barwisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06621993116774388708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post-55128156964473602972012-06-02T16:40:27.164-07:002012-06-02T16:40:27.164-07:00Fantastic Four: I've been moving house for the...Fantastic Four: I've been moving house for the past few weeks, didn't have internet, but did check out Marvel University from work, without posting. At home, instead of surfing the net, I watched some classic TV. Actually I watched the greatest TV show ever made … The Outer Limits, and noticed something. The FF storyline where Victor Von Doom seemingly befriends the Surfer, causing him to drop his guard, allowing Doom to steal his powers is incredibly reminiscent of The Bellero Shield, where Sally Kellerman does the same thing to the Bifrost Alien, stealing his power to create an impenetrable shield. Plots from The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, and The Prisoner found their way into the Marvel Universe, why not a concept from The Outer Limits?<br /><br />Thor: I'm no fan of Vince Colletta. His generally slapdash work, and penchant for erasing backgrounds and figures ruined many pages of Kirby artwork. However, when he was good, he was very very good, as we can see in this page from Thor #137.<br /><br />http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/scans2/T137_Ulik.JPG<br /><br />Here, Colletta does everything right. We have holding lines, spotted blacks, attention to detail, and Collettas scratchy penmanship works to advantage here, giving Ulik a nice grungy appearance. Instead of working against Jack Kirby, he works with him. This page, and Gene Colan's outstanding Ditko homage in Iron Man made for some exciting reading back in the day. <br /><br />Daredevil: “Aw, c'mon Foggy. You've known me for years. I'm blind. How could I possibly be Daredevil? That letter must be from some prankster pretending to be Spider-Man.” <br /><br />This simple explanation could've spared us from the worst storyline in Marvel history. The less said about The Leapfrog, the better.<br /><br />Hulk: I'm a big fan of Gil Kane's work on Green Lantern, but I never did like his rendition of the Hulk. Kane's own scrathy thin line inking style can take some of the blame, but I'm not sure that Joe Giella or Sid Greene would've improved things to any great extent, had either of them made the trip to Marvel when Kane jumped ship.<br /><br />Matthew: I wonder who was in charge of Marvel's reprint department in the 1970s? They seem to have done a great job messing up the classics. I picked up a few Thor reprints to fill holes in my collection, only to find pages missing and storylines dropped.<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />Glenn :)GlennMEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08536558149189057537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post-9242284718691995642012-06-01T19:05:34.558-07:002012-06-01T19:05:34.558-07:00COVERED
Martin Goodman was interested in two thing...COVERED<br />Martin Goodman was interested in two things … sales figures and covers. There was a basic, unwritten rule for Marvel comic book cover design … get the hero and the villain on the cover, and have the hero face the reader. It's unclear if this dictate came from Goodman, or from Stan Lee, who, for most of the 1960s, acted as Marvel's Art Director. The rule was often bent, but rarely broken. Sometimes covers were altered or completely redrawn to conform to this “rule.” February 1967 is as good a place as any to examine the “rule” so let's take a look.<br /><br />Here's Don Heck's original cover for Avengers #37. <br /><br />http://p2.la-img.com/906/29548/11445877_1_x.jpg<br /><br />It breaks the basic rule. Cap, Goliath and Hawkeye have their backs to the reader. Gil Kane was asked to come up with a new cover, and he basically drew the same scene from the reverse angle, so that we can see everyone's faces.<br /><br />For FF#59, Jack Kirby has everyone facing the reader, but the villain is nowhere to be seen. Instead, the cover highlights Black Bolt, and the escape from the Great Refuge. We'll call this one “minor rule bending.”<br /><br />Thor #137 has a classic Kirby battle scene. Thor is shown side on, but dominates the cover. Another minor infraction.<br /><br />It's not hard to see why Stan liked John Romita. Since starting on Spidey, his covers have been near textbook examples of the rule, and #45 is a perfect example … the Lizard and Spidey against a simple yellow spider web backdrop, with superb coloring by Stan Goldberg. I can still remember how vividly this cover stood out on the news stand.<br /><br />Try twisting your upper body at a 90 degree angle to your lower body. That's what Cap is doing on the cover of TOS #86. It looks like Jack Kirby is literally making Cap bend to the rule, forcing him to face the reader. If drawn in correct alignment with his lower body, we'd see Cap's back, and the back of his head.<br /><br />The X-Men cover features the two villains slugging it out, with no heroes in sight. To avoid breaking the rule, the X-Men are added to a sidebar down the left hand side.<br /><br />No rule breaking on Daredevil #25, and just a minor hickup on Tales To Astonish #88 with Subby standing side-on. For Strange Tales #153, Nick Fury obeys the rule and hogs center stage, facing the reader.<br /><br />Check out your favorite Marvel covers, and see if they obey, bend, or break the “rule.”<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />Glenn :)GlennMEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08536558149189057537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post-28934665776782494022012-05-31T18:57:28.910-07:002012-05-31T18:57:28.910-07:00You, sir, have been No-No-Prized for letter of the...You, sir, have been No-No-Prized for letter of the week. It's only coincidental that I happen to agree with every one of your words!Peter Enfantinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04317575598411394944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post-60698062026398604772012-05-31T18:45:06.429-07:002012-05-31T18:45:06.429-07:00Good God, it's Mike Murdock, the absolute nadi...Good God, it's Mike Murdock, the absolute nadir of Marvel's Silver Age! Besides the utter inanity of the concept -- that Matt would dream up such a lame secret-identity-saving scheme, that Karen and Foggy are gullible enough to buy into it, that Lee and Colan actually thought this was an idea worth killing trees for -- it's the EXECUTION of the silly charade that's so gob-smackingly cringe-inducing. What I still can't figure out after all these years, did the creators/culprits actually think this is what a contemporary hipster would look and sound like? With his loud (but still VERY "square") clothes and "swinger" patois, he's like a refugee from a bad 1930s screwball comedy. I mean, the guy's a total DORK. That had to be intentional, right? And yet, Karen kinda gets a mini-crush on him over the next few issues! So -- What. The. EFF. <br /><br />Afraid DAREDEVIL just jumped the shark, big-time. Put on your life-jackets, ladies and gentlemen, rough seas ahead...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post-28594802443725020972012-05-30T14:00:48.701-07:002012-05-30T14:00:48.701-07:00This just goes to show that Marvel knew how to mil...This just goes to show that Marvel knew how to milk every last drop from its characters. I believe Millie was responsible, later on, for getting Karen Page hooked on smack and luring her into prostitution.Peter Enfantinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04317575598411394944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post-79225665665065769722012-05-30T13:52:15.029-07:002012-05-30T13:52:15.029-07:00And what of Hedy? Did she become a superhero? How ...And what of Hedy? Did she become a superhero? How about Millie? Did she get hit with radioactive eyeliner?Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830827465735526826.post-12382822574107839092012-05-30T11:06:40.605-07:002012-05-30T11:06:40.605-07:00Jack (and the rest of you Patsy-boosters) need not...Jack (and the rest of you Patsy-boosters) need not mourn her. It will be less than ten years until La Walker starts shaking things up as the Hellcat in AVENGERS #144, and a mere five until she first resurfaces in AMAZING ADVENTURES #13.Matthew Bradleyhttp://bradleyonfilm.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com