Monster Monday: Infernal Man-Thing covers by Art Adams

Next month Marvel is publishing a three-issue mini-series with Steve Gerber's last Man-Thing script, a sequel to the classic "Song Cry of the Living Dead Man" that appeared in MT #12 (1974).  Who is doing the covers for this new series?

Art Adams!  A natural choice since he has done many great commissions of Manny over the years.  This is the cover to Infernal Man-Thing #1.  It reminds a bit of Mike Ploog, with the water and slime dripping down his head.

Infernal Man-Thing #2 shows the swamp creature reaching out to touch someone, probably because they are afraid!  Whosoever Knows Fear...Burns at the Man-Thing's Touch.

Infernal Man-Thing #3 shows the creature ready for action.  This is very similar to the cover for Thunderbolts #154 from last year.  Great covers for a character that is finally getting some attention here and in Jeff Parker's Thunderbolts series.  Nuff Said!

Strange Sunday: Doctor Strange montage by John Byrne

I can spend hours looking at scans of John Byrne commissions that he has done over the past few years.  This one of Doctor Strange will make any fan of the mystic master pay attention...

Doc's most vital scenes played out in this fantastic montage: the Ancient One, Clea, Dormammu, Baron Mordo, the Defenders, etc.  Priceless!  Nuff Said.

Polaris commission by Mike Mayhew

Earlier this year I featured Mike Mayhew's re-creation of Steranko's famous X-Men 50 cover with Polaris.

Here's another take on the green goddess using her magnetic powers to save the day.  Reminds me of a panel in one of Neal Adams X-Men issues.  Check out Mayhew's deviantART page for more spectacular artwork!  Nuff Said.

Thing Tuesday: Cigar Chomping Ben Grimm by Walt Simonson

Walt Simonson draws a great rendition of the Thing in this piece...you have to love the cigar...which is not allowed in comics anymore!  Nuff Said.

Thoughts on Thanos and Jim Starlin

I hate to spoil anything for someone who hasn't seen the Avengers movie yet, but if you haven't, please read no further!

All long-time Avengers fans must have been thrilled to see that Thanos was the mystery villain behind Loki's invasion of Earth and attempt to snatch the Cosmic Cube.  I had guessed at his identity early on but was surprised to see they actually animated his face and trademark ruffled chin in the post-script.  There is an article over an SlashFilm where Kevin Feige and Joss Whedon talk about how they arrived at using Thanos.

Like most of us, Whedon was a giant-size geek who was into Jim Starlin's early Marvel work.  Everyone who read both Captain Marvel and Warlock had to buy Avengers Annual #7 where both heroes united with the Avengers to stop Thanos from destroying the universe.  I still own that issue along with the conclusion in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2.

Seeing Thanos on the big screen was really cool, because with Whedon we have a film-maker who is basically a geek like all of us.  He grew up reading comics in the 70s and this helped form his tastes as a writer.

At the same time, it's a bittersweet feeling regarding Jim Starlin, who probably won't receive any remuneration for Thanos or any of his Marvel characters, since they were created work-for-hire.  Some of this is discussed in Starlin's recent interview with Geoff Boucher on Hero Complex.  While it is true that Marvel doesn't legally have to do anything, you would think at the least they could invite Starlin to a premiere.  The classiest move ever was by Paul Levitz after Batman Begins arrived in theaters--he gave a bonus to Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and others who had created the characters used in the film.  Marvel and Disney don't have to do it, but wouldn't it be great if they did? 

Check out Jim Starlin's profile on Facebook, where many of these Thanos commissions originally appeared.  Nuff Said!

Keep on FOOMin with the Hulk

Here's an illustration from one of the early FOOM fanzine issues.  Can you guess the name of the artist?

It's by Jim Steranko!  Featuring the Hulk strutting down the street with a FOOM membership card in hand.  Steranko was doing a take-off on another famous image that originally appeared in 1968.

Robert Crumb drew Keep on Truckin as a one page strip in Zap Comics #1.  You've probably seen this on various truck decals and mud flaps over the years.  According to this Wikipedia article, Crumb never made much money from his creation.  Nuff Said!

How I Became An Avengers Fan

I have been an Avengers fan since the early 1970s.  I used to dream of a day when Marvel's most popular heroes would star in their own films.  The biggest wetdream of all was an Avengers movie--a near impossible dream as it seemed back then!  But today the film has finally arrived and from the reviews it looks to be freaking cool.

This was my first Avengers comic, issue #102 from 1972, with the Vision taking front and center.  At this point I had probably been a Marvel fan for a few years, but always had stayed away from this supergroup.  When I was younger I preferred the early Justice League and Legion of Super-Heroes tales, a lot of good fun there, great for a kid.  You have to imagine when I bought this comic, I had no idea who the Vision was, no idea about Wonder Man or the relationship to the Grim Reaper.

So why did I buy this comic?  The X-Men made me do it.

X-Men #68 (from 1971) was a giant-sized reprint of one of their most important stories, the first clash with the mutant-hating Sentinels!  This issue and the next were so packed with plot and dynamic visuals, I must have re-read them 100 times.  The Sentinels, created by Bolivar Trask to protect humanity and detect mutants, gave the X-Men one of their toughest battles.  It ended with Trask dying to stop his creations.  It was tragic and almost Shakespearean.  I was floored.  Then a year later I read that the Sentinels would return in Avengers #102!

It was a great reason to jump onto a super-team book that seemed so foreign compared to the wholesome Justice League!  Just take a look at this great splash page by Rich Buckler and Joe Sinnott.  The Vision looks pretty alien walking down the dirty street at night, as a mugger lurks in the background.  The Vision, like Cyclops in the X-Men, was an introverted, brooding character, pining away for the girl he loved.  Unable to take a risk for love, like so many teenagers!

A little while later we were treated to this awesome double page splash of the Sentinels rocketing out of the Sun's orbit.  Now keep in mind, at this point I had no idea about continuity--that this was a sequel to Roy Thomas and Neal Adams X-Men story where the robots had made their second appearance.  It was a cool visual to have the Sentinels coming out from the far side of the sun.

If that wasn't enough, the Avengers had the romance love triangle as well, between the Vision, Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye.  This was my introduction to Wanda.  I love the silhouette that the artists used here.  To me, the Vision was Mr Avenger and Scarlet Witch was Ms Avenger. Despite all of her romantic problems, she needs to start worrying about the return of the Sentinels.

And then there was Wanda's brother, Quicksilver.  After the Avengers fail to stop the Sentinels and they take off with his sister, Pietro goes ballistic.  He backslaps Captain America and calls all of his teammates a bunch of losers!  I couldn't believe it.  This sort of thing never happened in the Justice League!  A lot of people hate Quicksilver and I can't understand why.  You put Quicksilver, Hawkeye, Vision, Scarlet Witch alongside the Big Three (Cap, Iron Man, Thor) and you have a team ripe with drama.