June 2009 Archives

In Foom issues 6 and 7 (circa 1974), we were treated to a series of pin-ups from a new artist who had joined the ranks of Marveldom:  Dave Cockrum!  These nifty pin-ups featured the Avengers.  I think they showcase these classic Marvel characters well, and Cockrum's artwork is top-notch.

Thor and Iron Man.  Buddies, way before Clor!

Captain America and the Vision.

Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.

Clint Barton as Hawkeye, Clint Barton as Giant-Man.  Black Widow.

Mantis and Swordsman.  Cockrum was very familiar with these characters--he had drawn Giant-Size Avengers #2 the issue that featured the death of the Swordsman.  Nuff said.

A while back I mentioned how much I loved the early Marvel calendars from the mid 1970s.  A number of fans wrote back and clued me in on where to buy these (on eBay).  Now I have several of them--your feedback was much appreciated!

One month in particular I remembered was November 1976...that one featured this juicy pinup by Jim Starlin and Alan Weiss.

The Silver Surfer, with Adam Warlock one one side and Captain Marvel on the other, against a very cosmic outer space backdrop.  (I wish I had a better scan; this one was taken from a PDF found on Alan Weiss' site.)  I was a big fan of both Warlock and CM, mainly because of Starlin's fantastic artwork and stories.  Weiss was a friend of Starlin's and a wonderful inker--but I felt like we never saw his work often enough!  On seeing this pinup, I hoped that Starlin would one day work on the Silver Surfer.  He did, years later, in the 1980s.

Check out Alan Weiss' website, Surreal Deal.  Nuff said.

Amazing Spider-Man has never been better since Brand New Day.  There's been a number of Internet fans upset over One New Day, but I think Joe Quesada is a saint for pulling that off.  Erasing Peter Parker's marriage to Mary Jane was long overdue, but the masterstroke that no one saw coming was bringing back Harry Osborn.  I didn't think too much of it at the time, but Harry's conflicts have become as much a part of the drama as Peter's.  Harry is constantly tempted by his girlfriend and father to return to a life of insanity and evil.  In Marc Guggenheim's Character Assassination, Peter wouldn't have survived his battle with Maniac unless Harry had intervened.  Harry finds inner sources of strength to do the right thing, which, given his troubles in the past, make him even more impressive than Peter.

Amazing Spider-Man #598 is the next chapter in Harry's evolution, as he finally learns the truth about what Norman Osborn and Lily have really been up to all this time.  I enjoyed the side of the story that centers around Harry; the one surrounding Spider-Man doesn't seem that great to me.  There's something inconsistent about that black costume Reed Richards whipped up for Peter to impersonate Venom.  The costume can repel a gunshot fired at point blank range to his head.  Yet in issue #597 it did not appear to repel Bullseye\Hawkeye's arrows.  Why didn't Peter's Spider-Sense kick in and allow him to dodge those arrows anyway?  Peter was just too easily captured in that chapter.  He's tortured pretty badly by Bullseye in this chapter--at least he has trouble running away at the very end.

The Adventures of Harry Osborn part of the story is getting me through American Son.  What the heck, l am buying this book no matter what.

The cover to Dark Avengers #6 was very enticing.  I have to say it's one of the best covers I've seen in a while:  Captain Marvel (Noh-Varr, Marvel Boy, whatever) hunted down by the Void.  Wow, this is the moment when Marvel Boy finally becomes a man and a force for good.  I've waited a few years for this.  It should be amazing, right?

Well, it's not, because the scene on the cover doesn't take place inside this issue.

Not that Bendis doesn't tease you a little.  Marvel Boy slept with Moonstone\Ms. Marvel in the previous issue, and she blurted out the truth (the new Avengers are really villains) to him in bed.  He seemed stunned by the news.  In this issue, as the team gathers for breakfast, Noh-Varr is AWOL.  He never shows up at all.  I'm curious why they had this cover made when the event never happens.  Although I shouldn't be surprised--New Avengers #50 was the same deal.

What does happen in Dark Avengers #6 is still interesting--we're seeing Norman Osborn slowly become unglued with each chapter of this series.  After a rogue Atlantean splinter cell attacks Los Angeles, Osborn assembles the Dark Illuminati--including the Sub-Mariner--to discuss how to fix it.  Osborn screams at Namor, who doesn't take kindly to orders from a human.  It was exactly as Doom predicted in the Dark Illuminati special.  Osborn takes steps to correct the situation without their help, using the Sentry as his weapon.  Osborn appears to be able to communicate with both the Sentry and the Void, but it's a delicate negotiation--one mistake and the Void could be unleashed against the Dark Avengers.

I'm very curious to see what happens over the next few weeks and months.  Namor is going to be really pissed off at Osborn.  But we've already seen Namor on upcoming covers with the Dark X-Men.  How do these two events get reconciled?  Since Matt Fraction is writing the next few Dark Avengers issues, there has to be a reason.

Thor had a tremendous giant-sized anniversay issue #600, where Loki's greatest scheme paid off big time.  Thunder God was stripped of his Monarchy and exiled from New Asgard.  While Balder has become the new King and led his people to Latveria (with some bad advice from Loki), Thor is dealing with the unthinkable-- a broken Uru hammer. 

In Thor #602, he gets help from the one person who can help--of course--Doctor Strange.  Strange can repair Mjolnir, but it will cost the Thunder God the Odinforce he inherited after his father's death.  This is kind of cool in a way--I've been thinking that Thor is way too powerful anyway.  He can't be threatened by the Absorbing Man if he can move Asgard around like it's nothing.  In another way, it's bringing Thor's world back around to the status quo--before Ragnarok, before his monarchy.  I wouldn't be surprised now if Odin eventually comes back.  Most changes in comics get reset back eventually, don't they?

By the end of the issue, the dangling plot thread with Sif (trapped in a dying woman's body) is finally resolved.  It's not that unusual--what is great is that Thor sacrificed a tremendous amount to get her back.  It feels a bit rushed in the execution.  It seemed like this took plotline took forever, because of this title's uneven publication history.  

The big news this week is that JMS is leaving Thor in September 2009.  His last issues will be Thor #603 (in August) and a Giant-Sized special in September.  In his exit interview at CBR, he drops some tantalizing hints about Marvel's next big event that involves the Thunder God.  Possibly the end of Dark Reign and the start of something new?  At any rate, I am sure Thor will be published more frequently when a new creative team comes on board.  My vote for a new writer:  Matt Fraction.  He did a great job on that Thor God-Sized special.

Not to mention this lineup of Liltin' Landmarks: 

New Avengers 54:  I was really, really prepared to hate this issue.  Taking my beloved Brother Voodoo and making him Doctor Voodoo seemed dumb.  But the execution in this story makes the change fun and exciting.  Any story that brings together Doc Strange, Brother Voodoo, and the Son of Satan together is pretty cool in my book.  I enjoyed this joke that Spider-Man made over Daimon Hellstrom's doom and gloom warning:  You...should write greeting cards.  Really.  Made me laugh out loud.

Daredevil 119:  The Kingpin looks to be double crossing Daredevil and getting himself back in position to become New York City's crimelord.  Matt Murdock, how could you be so naive?  All changes in comics get reset back eventually.  Nuff said.

Back in the 1970s, we had no internet or Marvel Wikia to give us the data on all of Marvel’s published comics.  What we did have was the Marvel Comics Index series, published by George Olshevsky.  He painstakingly listed each issue of a title, providing a snapshot of the cover and listed the title/credits for each one.

He had some great cover artists for this index series, but my favorite cover was this one featuring Captain America by Jim Steranko.

What a cover!  It could be a movie poster.  Steranko highlights everything great about Cap’s World War 2 history with Bucky, the Invaders, Professor Erskine, the Red Skull, Hitler, Zemo, and Baron Strucker.  Thrown in some American fighter planes dropping off paratroopers and the Sands of Iwo Jima flag raising for even more patriotic fervor.  Nuff said.

Here are a couple of Steranko covers that I didn’t even know about until I did some research!

Tex Dawson, the Marvel cowboy who faded off the face of Earth 616.  Apparently his big gimmick was that he had a white German Sheppard (Lightning) and a black stallion (Whirlwind).  Steranko’s cover is really nifty, full-on Wild West glory.

Here’s another cover, to Western Gunfighters #14.  Apart from Matt Slade—who might have been in Steve Englehart’s Avengers time-travel story—I don’t recognize these dudes either.  Nuff said.

My pick of the week is pretty surprising--a comic that wasn't originally on my radar at all: the Young Allies 70th Anniversary Special.  A lot of these Golden Age tributes have been pretty good, but this one is outstanding.  It's written by Roger Stern, one of my favorite Marvel writers who worked on Spider-Man, Avengers, Captain America, and countless other characters.

The Young Allies consisted of a gang of kid characters that fought together in World War 2, with Bucky and Toro as the headliners, and some other kids known as the Sentinels of Liberty.  Think of them as Marvel's version of Kirby's Newsboy Legion.

This Anniversary story takes place in current Marvel time, as Bucky visits Arlington Cemetery and remembers his former team-mates.  Bucky tells the story in first person narration.  One of the great things about having Bucky back is that we get a whole new perspective on a man displaced out of time--who relates more to octogenarians from WW 2 than anyone else.  Bucky recalls an earlier adventure with the Allies and manages to locate a couple of the remaining survivors.  There's a cool post VE-Day tale set in Paris where the Allies encounter a rogue group of Nazis hell-bent on implementing Hitler's plan to engulf the city in flames.

But this comic isn't cool because of the action.  It's great because of Bucky's inner monologue and the comradeship he experiences with his friends.  It's very touching and sentimental.  The score from Band of Brothers played in my head as I read this comic.  I'm a sucker for this type of story.  If the credits had been left off the title page, I would have said that Brubaker or even Brian K. Vaughn had written this story.  That's no insult to Stern, just a testament that he's a great writer.  This is the guy who wrote The Kid Who Collected Spider-Man.  I hope Marvel continues to give him more work.

Captain America #600 made the news headlines on Monday.  Marvel had telegraphed this in advance, and I could predict that this had something to do with Steve Rogers returning.  I wasn't able to buy the issue until Wednesday.  I rushed out to Jeffrey's Toys in downtown San Francisco and managed to snag one of the last copies with this fantastic Alex Ross cover.  I love it--the cover alone justifies the cover price for me.  It should be a poster.

It's a good solid story that weaves together many plot threads from Brubaker's run and elsewhere in the Marvel Universe: WW2 flashbacks, the Red Skull, the 1950s Captain America, Crossbones, the Falcon, Hawkeye and Norman Osborne's Dark Avengers.  The Bucky from Heroes Reborn shows up to pal around with Patriot from the Young Avengers.  The main excitement is in Sharon Carter remembering more details about Steve Rogers' death, that there was a special weapon involved and it might lead to his revival.

Brubaker is great at when it comes to executing these fake-outs that make you think he's killed a major Marvel character.  He didn't get me with Steve Rogers.  He did get me with Foggy Nelson.  After Nelson was revealed to be alive and in FBI custody, Brubaker wrote in a Daredevil letter column: C'mon, you didn't think I'd really kill Foggy, did you?  After that, I can't believe Brubaker will kill any character in his Marvel series.

The excuse to bring back Steve Rogers is a bit flimsy, but it's well done nonetheless.  I don't think the big question is how Steve Rogers comes back.  The big deal is what happens to Bucky as Captain America.  He's just cooler than beans, with that shiny costume and gun.  I really liked having him face his demons from the past, teaming up with Namor, and leading the New Avengers.  The only resolution to this situation would be to have two Captain Americas.  DC Comics is facing the same problem with Barry Allen and Wally West.

It seems like it took a long time for Deadpool #11 to arrive!  It's been about six weeks since we read the first part of this current arc, which ended with Dark Hawkeye (Bullseye) shooting Deadpool through the skull with an arrow.  Deadpool has been one of my favorite titles since it started, and Daniel Way has proven himself to be one of the funniest writers around.  I often laugh out loud reading each issue.

Part 2 of the big showdown is loaded with bizarre jokes and gags.  Bullseye calls a radio therapist to discuss a personal problem:  why he just can't bear to kill Wade.  Torturing him is just too much fun, as it turns out.  Deadpool stumbles around with the arrow stuck in his head, which makes him even dumber than usual.  He recovers and eventually faces Bullseye again, and comes up with a cunning device of self-defense.

Two words I'll always remember from this issue:  Meat Suit.  I'll say no more. 

Deadpool and Bullseye are the Martin & Lewis comedy team of the Marvel Universe.  Way is a twisted genius. If you're not buying this comic, you're really missing out.

Not to mention this lineup of Liltin' Landmarks:

War of Kings Ascension #3:  Darkhawk learns more about the Raptors and why Talon has suddenly returned.  We also see the assassination attempt on Lilandra in War of Kings #4 from Darkhawk's POV.  Darkhawk is now fully immersed in the central conflict of this war.  I haven't read such a fun and well coordinated event since the Avengers-Defenders war.

Mighty Avengers #26: Hank Pym teaches Reed Richards a thing or two after he invades the Baxter Building to regain Bill Foster's Wave Inducer.  Robot fetishists will love the scene between Pym and Yocasta.  Next issue promises to reveal a new Avengers base--can't wait to see what that is.

A good week.  Make Mine Marvel!  Nuff said.

You may know that Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan began in the pulp magazines.  Ka-Zar actually first appeared in the pulps as well.  And if a man can run around in the jungle half naked, why can't a woman?  The pulp stories had women as supporting characters in Tarzan and Conan, but it took a comic book series to make a headline character.   Sheena, Queen of the Jungle was the first female character in comics to have her own title--appearing in 1942 three months before Wonder Woman.  Since that time, there's probably been more jungle queens running around than men.

Marvel decided to create their own jungle girl in 1972 when Shanna the She-Devil was published.

And A Jungle Queen Is Born!  One of the greatest covers Steranko has ever executed.  The cover, and the character, harkens back to the 1940s covers featuring Sheena.  Shanna's design is just classic, with the leopard skinned bikini that she runs around in, the claw bracelets on her legs/arms, and that wild red hair.  She's leaping out of the trees, towards the hunters, but also leaping at the reader.

Ka-Zar has his sabretooth tiger Zabu as his best bud.  Shanna has her pet leopards, Ina and Buri, who will do anything to protect her.  I thought this was a great idea, it made Shanna an animal lover and protector.  Unfortunately, Ina and Buri were killed by a villain in Savage Tales #9.

Our current era has a lot of artists who draw sexy women.  Adam Hughes, Terry Dodson, and Frank Cho immediately come to mind, although Amanda Conner is in that mix as well.  I like all those artists and their women are fantastic. 

But I think our collective senses are all too dominated by Maxim magazine.  The cover to Shanna the She-Devil #2 shows another way to draw a sexy woman.  Make her toned, athletic, and sensual with a classic face and flowing hair.  Shanna's breasts are normal sized and her ass isn't jutting out of a thong, but she's wildly appealing.  When I hit puberty, this cover was better than most Playboy magazines.

The women back in the 1970s that I liked were more normal.  Linda Carter, Victoria Principal, Catherine Bach, Heather Thomas, Markie Post, Bo Derek, Valerie Bertinelli.  I also liked Adrienne Barbeau, Raquel Welch, Ursula Andress, Loni Anderson.  Did the latter group have breast implants?  It's possible since those were developed in the 1960s.  Even if they did, those gals didn't appear too unreal.

Don't get me wrong, not everyone in comics draws unreal women.  There are lots of exceptions.  I just think Steranko has shown how a strong, lithe woman is sexier than heck.  Nuff said.

EXTRA!  Steranko's Jungle Queen on Comic Collector box.

Jim Steranko wrote extensively about two characters in the pulp magazines--characters that were the early prototypes for Superman and Batman.  Doc Savage and the Shadow.

I had already bought several Doc Savage paperbacks (with beautiful James Bama covers) before Marvel announced they would publish a comic book based on the character in 1972.  It was a pretty good series with nice art by Ross Andru.

Steranko drew the cover of issue #2, set against a Mayan backdrop.  The first two issues were a retelling of Doc's origin, which I had read in the first paperback.  Doc's father is killed and he traces the murderer back to Central America--the source of the Savage's great wealth.

Steranko's Doc uses the Bama design (as did the Andru art inside), with the skull-cropped hair, vest, and boots.  That was the version I always had in my head reading the paperbacks.  In the History of Comics, you can see that Doc was portrayed on those covers with blond hair and normal clothes--kind of like a muscled Robert Redford.

I love how different properties get "Marvelized".  In the logo, SAVAGE reins above everything else.  Which is funny, because Doc isn't Savage, he's like Brainaic 5 with superior fighting skills.

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Doc Savage #3 started a new storyline with the cult of the Silver Death's Head.  Doc's creator, Lester Dent, always created great names for the bad guys in his stories.  This cover features the villain standing on a map of the world he intends to conquer, while Doc faces off against his army of silver goons.  Pretty wacky.

This series only lasted eight issues, but it wasn't the Bronze Man's last appearance at Marvel.  He guest starred in Giant-Size Spider-Man #3, and later had his own black and white magazine--which also lasted eight issues!

Steranko would go onto to express his love for the pulps by painting a series of paperback covers for The Shadow.  I'll always admire Steranko for turning me onto the great history of pop culture and characters like Doc Savage.  Nuff said.

Jim Steranko's two volume History of Comics was my favorite history book ever.  I read it as a kid and learned about the origins of comic books, which actually started before comics were even published--in the Pulp Magazines.  Magazines like Weird Tales, where Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian appeared, had great cover paintings.

Steranko's barbarian covers recall the glory of the pulp covers, but add his own inimitable style.

Creatures on the Loose #1 featured Gulliver Jones standing over a princess he's just rescued, right after he slaughtered an entire army.  Pulp covers often portrayed men in their grittiest moments, while the woman on the cover was left in pristine form.  I love the color scheme on this cover.  The dead warriors in the foreground are red, the planet in the background is blue.  Was Steranko drawing Gulliver Jones or John Carter?

Thongor made his first appearance in the next issue, Creatures on the Loose #22--another way for Marvel to cash-in on the barbarian craze that Conan had ignited.  The pulpish influence can be seen in the form of the woman on the steps--lying unconscious, with her backside facing the reader.  I swear I've seen that same pose in either a pulp magazine or a Frazetta cover.  Again, the hero is standing above the heroine, ready to hack and slash anything that comes to attack her.

Great covers!  Steranko advertised his own creation, Talon, in his magazine ComicsScene.  I was really excited about that, but if I recall correctly, it was never published.  Please tell me if I am wrong.  Nuff said.

EXTRA!  Steranko's Talon on Comic Collector box.

By the time I started reading Marvel Comics, around 1970, I had missed Steranko's great runs on Captain America and SHIELD.  I first encountered Nick Fury in the pages of the Avengers and Captain America.  I thought he was ultra-cool, to say the least, the first time I saw the Helicarrier in Cap's book.  During the Kree-Skrull war, Cap and the Avengers met with Fury in a space-orbital carrier.  Fury had all the toys a boy could want, a radical girlfriend in Val (with her crazy Bride of Frankenstein hair), and his best friend was called Dum Dum Dugan.

I was primed for a SHIELD solo title.  Nick Fury and his Agents of SHIELD in 1972 was my first.

Steranko's cover was amazing to me.  Fury and the other agents were in underwater gear, attacking a base full of crazed AIM agents in glass-enclosed secret base.  I had seen Diamonds Are Forever the year before and just gotten in James Bond.  This cover brought that Bondian style into comics, shaken and stirred with a Marvel twist.

The stories inside were Jack Kirby and Don Heck reprints.  Sure, it was a bit disappointing that the cover artist didn't draw the stories inside.  But I was thrilled to learn the early history of Nick Fury.  Whenever I read a Marvel reprint book, I felt like an archeologist opening up an undiscovered Egyptian tomb.

The cover to Nick Fury and his Agents of SHIELD #2 was a bit more in the classic Steranko mode.  In addition to Fury, I was able to learn about SHIELD's supporting cast: Gabe Jones, Clay Quartermain, and my favorite, the bookish Jasper Sitwell.  Sitwell's rallying cry, Don't Yield, Back SHIELD!  still rings in my memory.  I can't figure out why Sitwell has dropped of the face of Earth 616.

This reprint title only lasted five issues, not long enough to cover Steranko's Strange Tales run.  Years later I would discover Steranko's 1960s work and be blown away once again.  Nuff said.

My Dad, after he retired, hung out in the garage a lot.  Didn’t matter if it was winter or summer, if he wasn’t playing golf, Dad was in the garage.  He worked on projects once in a while, but most of the time, he read novels.  Any good two-fisted book was good solid entertainment: Louis L’Amour was his favorite, but he also liked John D. MacDonald.  He’d read a few books a week in that garage.  I always wondered what was so great about reading in there.

Well, today, on my birthday (48th), I finally know.  Because my Marvels (and my entire comic book collection) have migrated to the garage.

This wasn’t how I pictured things going when I was young.  I saw a picture in an early issue of FOOM, from a kid who had a “FOOM room” with Marvel mania posted over each inch of his bedroom.  There was a gigantic Green Goblin picture right about his bed.  It wasn’t a poster that Marvel sold, it was either something this guy drew or it was a blow-up of a panel.  It was ultra-cool.  I swore on my copy of Giant-Size Super-Stars #1 that I would one day have a FOOM room as well.

My wife’s always put up with my Giant-Size nerdiness without too much trouble.  She let me buy as many comics or posters or toys as I wanted.  I’ve kept a good number of long boxes for the past 15 years, and they’ve moved with us to six different locations.  Up until now, I’ve been fortunate.  The comics have always had their own room, a room that was meant for me, and no one else.  My wife might wander in from time to time and ask, What is the theme of this room?  I’d just laugh and say, My religion: Comics!  Even with an entire room, I had to stop collecting monthly comics in favor of getting trades.  I simply didn’t have more room for long boxes.

This year, I’ve lost the great battle to keep the comics inside.  Our new house is a bit smaller than our previous ones, with fewer bedrooms.  Something had to go in the garage, and that was the comic collection.  Fortunately, we have a pretty good sized garage, enough room for two cars and plenty of stuff.  The long boxes are stacked against one wall where I can easily get to them.  (Nothing too valuable, mind you, so don’t go thinking I’ve got FF #1 in there.)  On the wall, I’ve hung my little Alex Ross Marvel poster shrine.  The first one is the MARVELS poster by Alex Ross, which he did shortly after the Marvels mini-series in 1994.  It has all my favorite characters from the Bronze Age.

Next is another Ross poster, Marvel Universe: Classic Seventies.  Over ten years had passed between the previous poster and this one, which is executed with a lot more skill than Ross had in 1994.  I absolutely love it, all the off-beat 1970s characters are here: Captain Marvel, Iron Fist, Punisher, Moon Knight, Master of Kung Fu, Ms Marvel, etc.  Even Howard the Duck is there at the bottom!

At the end I have a poster that Ross worked on with John Romita Sr,  Spider-Man versus the Green Goblin. It’s taken from a great angle, the perspective is from the ground looking up at this battle raging among the skyscrapers.

Now all of the long boxes are assembled here, with the Alex Ross Marvel gods looking over them.  One of my friends from the Comics and Comix store in Citrus Heights (where I worked in the early 80s), JW Chapman, always described his retirement this way:  I’ll crack open the long boxes and start reading from the A’s.  I have the same dream, I just hope I will be able to retire one day.  One thing we never thought of, though, was how hard it is to haul the long boxes around when you have a bad back.  You don’t have this issue with digital comics.  But digital comics don’t have that sweet aroma a long box does when you crack it open.

Instead of a FOOM room, I have a FOOM garage.  I think what I pictured as kid, people like Alex Ross or Mark Waid have achieved, given the pictures of their homes that I’ve seen on CBR.  I wanted that, but I couldn’t have it.  I have to accept that, it’s just part of getting older. 

My destiny was to be like my Father before me, a man who explores his dreams in the garage.  Nuff said.

Beginning...a week of covers by the legendary Jim Steranko!

However, these aren't necessarily his most famous covers from the 1960s.  No, most of these covers were published in 1972, the year I first encountered the work of this impressive artist.

There were times when I could impress my elementary school teachers with my knowledge of Greek mythology (derived from Hercules in the Avengers), Norse mythology (Thor, of course), and classics like the Invisible Man, from Supernatural Thrillers #2 in 1972.  Steranko sells this cover beautifully.  It transports you back to a 19th century English pub with all the background details.  I was intrigued by the Invisible Man unraveling his bandages, removing his glasses, etc.  The adaption inside was well executed, recapturing the essence of the story in one issue.

Steranko also drew the cover to the first issue of Supernatural Thrillers, featuring an adaption of Theodore Sturgeon's short story, IT!  A few years later in Astonishing Tales, another character called IT! (a 30 foot tall stone giant) would take over that book.  Marvel recycled the IT! logo that you see here.  When I started to read science fiction stories a few years later, I sought out the writers I knew about from Marvel: Sturgeon and Harlan Ellison in particular.

There's one more Marvel horror cover that Steranko did in the 1970s, and it's infamous--because Stan Lee rejected it!  Tower of Shadows #1 featured a short story by Steranko, and he drew this cover along with it.  This was obviously a bone-headed decision on Stan Lee's part.  Steranko's cover is awesome and if he had let it go, surely Tower of Shadows #1 would have been a collector's item.  You can read on Wikipedia about Steranko's disagreement with Lee over this cover.  Nuff said.

I'm always looking back on the Bronze Age of my childhood, but I read modern comics as well.  I tried initially to write new reviews here and failed miserably.  I just can't review each and every comic that comes out each week.  But I can review three comics that I read which made an impact on me.  They won't necessarily be from the past week, just the ones I read recently.

The War of Kings has absolutely floored me ever since it spun out of Secret Invasion in January.  It elevates one my favorite teams, the Inhumans, to super-star status in the Marvel Universe.  It brings together the Starjammers, Lilandra, the Imperial Guard, Havok, Ronan the Accuser, Darkhawk, and Vulcan in a summer blockbuster that Hollywood would never be able to film.  This issue ratchets up the action with Lilandra making a bid to take over the throne on the Shi'Ar homeworld.  But things go terribly wrong and Guardian proves that sometimes he is indeed fallible.

There are quieter character moments in this series that make it better than average.  Crystal was forced into marriage with Ronan the Accuser, who she once thought repellant, but now her emotions are changing.  The Inhumans are trying to find a way to use the Terrigen Mists on the Kree--think of David Brin's Uplift novels--but this plan seems to have failed.

War of Kings has sucked me into the rest of Abnett and Lanning's star-spanning Marvel mythos.  The Darkhawk mini-series and War of Kings: Ascension has brought Talon into WoK #4.  Talon is a fellow Raptor who has pledged his services to Vulcan, who he believes serves the "Great Purpose" to keep the Shi'Ar Empire strong.  Now I am catching up Guardians of the Galaxy and the past Annihilation issues as well.  Great stuff.

I've liked lot of the things Dan Slott has brought to Mighty Avengers.  He's brought back a lot of classic Avengers elements (Jarvis, Vision, Quicksilver, Hercules, etc) while twisting them for the current Marvel universe.  He really faked me out big time with the Scarlet Witch in the first three issues--who turned out to be Loki in disguise.  That's a con that goes way back to Avengers #1.  While Slott's stories have been good, I haven't really cared for the artwork.  It's a shame.  Bendis has been given superlative art on the other Avengers titles.  I think Slott's run would really pop with better artists.

Another thing I don't care for: Pym calling himself the Wasp.  It seems stupid.  I'll always prefer Yellowjacket.  What are they going to do when Janet Van Dyne returns from the whatever limbo she's residing in?

Despite the art, the story in issue #25 kicks off a new storyline gives us a lot of fun that only Slott can bring.  Pym's incredible new Avengers Mansion (or his super fantastic new lab), which exists outside of time and space, is losing it's connection to Earth when the Avengers escaped from Norman Osborne in the previous issue.  Pym can fix the problem if he can get Bill Foster's Wave Inducer, which is in the possession of Reed Richards--the MacGuffin for this arc.  Richards refuses to give it to Pym, because of his past mental problems.  Even more insulting, Richards tells him, I know more about Pym Particles than you.  Pym replies, It's on, bitch.  And then he goes about designing a full-on invasion of the Baxter Building and how his merry band of Avengers will take on the Fantastic Four.  I always like to see two super-teams fight each other, no matter how weak the excuse!

Matt Fraction has revitalized Uncanny X-Men since he took over, but it always seems one taco short of a combination plate.  I must confess that I am lost in the current Return of Madelyn Pryor arc.  I thought she kidnapped Psylocke to take over her body, but apparently she really wanted to inhabit Jean Grey's dead corpse?  I don't get it at all.  I find Greg Land's artwork very disorienting during the actions scenes.  The fight scene (where Pryor's Sisterhood team invades the X-headquarters) in last month's UM #510 very hard to follow.

I know Marvel thinks having Land and Terry Dodson on the art puts two of their best super-stars on the title.  But it's really strange going back and forth between them.  Land's X-men seems to take place in a world resembling Vogue magazine.  Dodson's X-Men takes place in the world of Maxim and Stuff magazine.  One month Storm is built like Angela Bassett, the next month she's got the body of Vivica Fox.  I like each woman, but call me old-fashioned, I'd just like a little consistency.

The current issue, Uncanny X-Men #511, was a little bit better and gives me hope for the future.  There are two terrific battles which are well executed.  Storm, the White Queen, Karma, and Dazzler take on the Sisterhood's HQ in San Francisco.  Cyclops, Wolverine, and Colossus head to the X-Men's old hangout in Westchester to stop Pryor before she unearths Jean Grey's body.  If all of this wasn't enough, Domino shows up as well!

What is really good about this issue is the soap opera elements.  Cyclops and Wolverine aren't talking after the revelation that Logan kept a lock of Jean Grey's hair in his room.  The dialogue between Madelyn and Scott is perfect: You always wanted me to be Jean all over again.  And when all the fighting is over, Hank McCoy pierces the thin bubble surrounding the secrets kept by Scott and Emma Frost.

Those are steps in the right direction.  The X-Men isn't an action comic, it's a soap opera drama.  Nuff said.

Here's a great black and white version of a pin-up that Alan Davis drew of Norrin Radd:

As Elton John once said, it's lonely out in space.  Nuff said.

If you grew up in the 1970s, you probably watched The Electric Company on PBS.  It was an educational show for the kids who got past Sesame Street.  Spider-Man appeared on the program, along with Morgan Freeman, who played Easy Reader.  As part of the deal with PBS, Marvel published Spidey Super Stories from 1974 to 1982.  The stories in this comic were aimed at much younger kids than Marvel’s usual audience. 

It was a gateway drug for Marvel!

The merry pranksters Roger Stern and John Byrne cooked up this faux Spidey Super Stories cover where Spider-Man says to the audience:  “Hey Kids!  Meet My Pal—The Punisher!”  As he blasts the guts out of a goon, the captions reads:  Bloody Death Scream the Guns of the Punisher!  Easy Reader says, Ouch!  Nuff said.

What if all the major Marvel Kung-Fu heroes were women?  That’s what John Byrne asked in this early 1975 gag from FOOM #9.

Shang-Chi would have been called Shang-She, Iron Fist morphed into Iron Fist, and even Fu Manchu trans-gendered into Su Manchu.

Perhaps these characters exist on the same Earth as Marvel’s Femizons along with Thundra.  Nuff said.

What’s it like for Jarvis, butler to the Avengers, on a quiet day that is bereft of attacks by Skrulls and Masters of Evil?  The cover to Foom #6 in summer 1974 allowed us a peak into the life of the greatest butler in the Marvel Universe.

For Jarvis, it’s a day happily spent in the laundry room, polishing Captain America’s boots, washing costumes, and ironing the Vision’s cape.  The Avengers have left little notes on the cork-board. 

“My good man, there is entirely too much starch in my cape.”  The Mighty Thor

“Send autographed picture of me to Senator Buckley.”  Captain America.

“HELP!”  Your President.  Nixon.  I started to doubt the Captain America Secret Empire story after seeing this.

No idea who drew this cover.  Marie Severin or Paty?  Nuff said.

Here’s another gem from Foom #10 (1975) by Paty Cockrum.  The 1970s Marvel Bullpen as the original X-Men!

Len Wein is the Beast.  Marv Wolfman is Iceman.  Duffy Vohland as Angel?  Paty as Marvel Girl.  And Stan the Man in Professor Xavier’s chair.  Nuff said.

Dave Cockrum was a master of costume design and among his many creations were the outfits for Storm and Ms. Marvel.  John Byrne, after he took over the X-Men, made this observation...

From the booklet for the 1978 Comic Art Convention.  Nuff said.

I found this while researching the launch of the new X-Men in 1975.  Foom #10 had a special X-Men issue, and Marie Severin drew this great cartoon:

Severin drew Len Wein, Chris Claremont, and Dave Cockrum getting roasted alive by Marvel's fans--for replacing the classic X-Men team in Giant-Size X-Men #1.  They were indeed apprehensive about kicking out Angel, Marvel Girl, and Iceman!  No one could foresee the tremendous success that would befall upon the new and improved X-Men.  Nuff said.

Strange Tales #170 was Brother Voodoo's second appearance in the Marvel Universe.  Brother's first cover was by John Romita, by this one was drawn by Gil Kane:

There's nothing like snakes to sell a cover, although you usually see this sort of thing on Conan or Ka-Zar or Shanna the She-Devil.  Brother Voodoo looks like he's pretty scared of them, too.  Nuff said.

There are many classic Marvel comics covers that are iconic.  Amazing Fantasy #15, Fantastic Four #1, and Hulk #1 are in that treasured line-up.  When it comes to the X-Men, while the first issue by Jack Kirby in 1963 has a place in history, it is the cover to Giant-Size X-Men #1 by Gil Kane and Dave Cockrum that remains supreme.

It is hard to imagine the impact of Giant-Size X-Men #1 for a fan of Marvel's mutants.  The last new X-Men was published in X-Men #66 in 1970, although the X-Men title continued publication with reprints of the Stan Lee and Roy Thomas stories.  Through those reprints, a new generation of Marvel readers became fans of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, the Beast, Iceman, and the Angel.  From 1970-1975, the X-Men made a few guest appearances--most notably in Marvel Team-Up #4, Avengers #110-111, and the Beast's series in Amazing Adventures #11-17. 

I snatched up my copy of GS X-Men #1 the instant I saw it.  If the X-Men weren't enough, I knew that Dave Cockrum was the artist.  He had already knocked me out with the superb job he did on Giant-Size Avengers #2, and the art in GS X-Men #1 was even better.  With Len Wein as the writer, I immediately recognized Wolverine on the cover from his debut appearance in the Hulk.  All of the other mutants were incredibly new and mysterious.  I couldn't figure out why Cyclops was just behind Wolverine--in the new team--and also in the faded background with the old X-Men.

The cover to Giant-Size X-Men #1 features a classic Gil Kane motif of having the heroes running toward the reader, exploding out of the comic book page.  Kane's cover to Giant-Size Defenders #1 is almost identical.  Gil Kane's pencil layout for this cover is shown above.  Looking at this, you can see Cockrum kept the essence of Kane's figures, but adding his own take on the characters.  Kane drew Colossus with pupils and Cockrum executed it with white eyes--the way he's drawn in the comic. 

Cockrum's costume design for Storm, Colossus, Thunderbird, and Nightcrawler were visually stunning.  It's interesting that on this famous splash page, Cockrum is showcasing his original creations front and center--with the pre-existing Banshee, Sunfire,and Wolverine hanging in the background.

This comic has one other special place in Marvel history--it's the first all-new series that was introduced within the Giant-Size Marvel line.  The other titles (like Giant-Size Avengers, Defenders, etc) were extensions of a well established monthly series.  This revival was designed for the Giant-Size format, the story in issue 1 is 35 pages.  The next chapters in X-Men #94-95 were clearly designed for Giant-Size X-Men #2, and split into two when it was decided to resume new stories in the X-Men title.

Giant-Size X-Men #1 was the best 50 cents I ever spent in the 1970s--probably the best two-bits ever in my entire life!  Wein and Cockrum concocted a near-perfect story that introduced us to a new generation of mutants, but they acknowledged the team that came before and treated them with respect.  Sadly, I sold my copy of this comics when I was 20 and needed money for something frivolous.  Haven't we all thrown away precious comics like this for a song?  Nuff said.

Looking back at Gil Kane's career at Marvel, he never stayed on any series for a long time, unlike his long runs on DC Comics' Green Lantern and Atom.  Probably his longest association was with Spider-Man and Marvel Team-up.  He did many Team-Up covers, here are some of my favorites...

I've always enjoyed the dynamic figures of Captain America and Spider-Man on the cover to Marvel Team-Up #13.  John Romita obviously inked this cover--the line work on Grey Gargoyle and the two heroes is unmistakable.  The positioning of the characters and the camera angles are pure Kane.

Marvel Team-Up #3 featured Kane's co-creation Morbius, attempting to bite Spidey once again.  Curses, foiled by the Human Torch!  This was the first issue of a two part story.  Spidey and the Torch subdue Morbius and take him to Professor Xavier's school, in search of a cure for the vampire.

Marvel Team-Up #4 was a landmark issue, because it featured the X-Men.  You have to put this issue into historical context--the X-Men's own title was effectively cancelled with issue #66.  The X-Men title was kept alive with reprints from issue #67 to 93.  But the mutants had been missing from the Marvel Universe for a few years until the Beast appeared in Amazing Adventures and this guest spot in MTU #4.  You had to be hardcore if your followed the X-Men at this point in time, and this issue was a real treat.

They tried something new to make the X-Men more exciting and dangerous--by putting them in street clothes instead of costumes!  Cyclops wore a suit, Jean Grey wore a sweater, and Angel stripped off his shirt when he needed to spread his wings.  They really did look cool and hip in the 1970s fashions, especially with Kane's art style--he did the interior art as well as the cover.  Nuff said.

There are many great inkers who worked very well with Gil Kane's pencils:  Tom Palmer, Klaus Janson, and Kevin Nowlan.  My favorite inker was Dave Cockrum.  I already wrote at length about their Marvel-ous collaboration on John Carter Warlord of Mars #1.

This cover to John Carter Warlord of Mars #2 was another standout.  Cockrum added his own style, but kept the essence of Kane's pencils.  Nuff said.

The sad news hit the internet today that David Carradine is dead.  Some reports are saying that he hanged himself in a Bangkok hotel room, which is even more tragic.

David Carradine was one of my heroes growing up.  I watched Kung Fu every week.  Even though I loved the slow motion action, I also loved the flashback scenes in China and Caine's philosophy of peace that he tried to teach savage Americans.  I asked my brother-in-law to take me to see Death Race 2000 because I was such a fan of Carradine.  I was disappointed when he faded into obscurity after Kung Fu's demise, but I was really thrilled when Quentin Tarentino cast Carradine as the Big Bad in Kill Bill.  Carradine proved his acting chops when he delivered that Superman/Clark Kent speech that Tarentino wrote.

Naturally, being a Marvel Comics addict, my memory flashes back to this 1974 Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #4 cover...

Neal Adams did an awesome job of recreating Carradine's likeness as Caine. 

Rest in Peace, David Carradine.  Nuff said.

It took a while for The Inhumans to break out in their own self-titled series, but it finally happened in 1975.  Doug Moench and George Perez were the creative team, and it was solid book, but it lasted only 12 issues.  Gil Kane drew this terrific cover to Inhumans #8 (1976).

Having a group of super-heroes charging at the viewer is a theme you see often, but Kane makes it really dramatic by putting everyone in a dynamic pose.  Black Bolt is flying toward the reader, Gorgon and Triton are at his side, even Lockjaw is galloping behind them, while explosions are set off in the background.  Dan Adkins inked this Kane cover.

The original black and white version is even more impressive than the full color cover.  I found this over on ComicsFun's gallery, where you can find the original art from Kane, Kirby, etc.  Nuff said.

Mighty Marvel Western was a reprint title, featuring the western triple threat of Kid Colt, Two Gun Kid, and Rawhide Kid.  When Gil Kane started doing some covers in the 1970s, the comics were worth collecting for that alone.

I got turned onto this cover to Mighty Marvel Western #44 by one of the Two Morrows magazines.  I can't help but think it's one of the most brilliant covers I've ever seen.  Rawhide Kid looking up at an ambush--his attackers are reflected in the pool he's drinking water from.

The Rawhide Kid is featured on Mighty Marvel Western #40 freeze framed during a shootout in a small town.  An unseen enemy targets his rifle on the Kid from the roof above.  No problem, the Kid's got eyes behind his back.

On the cover to issue #41, the Kid displays his solution to a showdown by shooting the guns out of out his adversary's hands.

There are a lot of logos on these covers...how did Marvel's staff ever fit them all?  LOL!  Nuff said.

Marvel Comics' superhero, Captain Marvel, first appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 (1967) and launched his own series soon afterward.  Captain Marvel was a Kree soldier named Mar-Vell and came to Earth wearing a white and green uniform.  After sixteen issues and fading sales, a fashion emergency was called.  Gil Kane drew the cover to Captain Marvel #17 (1969) that proclaimed one of the most extreme makeovers in comics history:

I think Captain Marvel's read and blue costume design is one of the greatest in the world of comics.  The yellow exploding sun in the center of his chest, the mysterious nega bands around his wrist, and the weird half-mask that exposes his hair--every detail just makes him visually unique and unmistakable.

More than just the costume design--it was the way the Gil Kane drew the character.  Don Heck had briefly drawn the new costume at the end of issue #16 and it wasn't nearly as exciting.

Besides the new costume, Captain Marvel #17 has a story that focuses not on Mar-Vell, but perennial sidekick Rick Jones.  After Rick's brief stint as Captain America's all-new Bucky ends, he leaves Avengers Mansion feeling destitute.  Holographic visions of Captain America lead him to a secret base, where he discovers the nega bands.

After donning the nega bands and clanging them together, Rick Jones exchanges places with Mar-Vell, who had been trapped in the Negative Zone.  It seemed like kind of a raw deal to me, but Jones was excited to be back in the superhero game.  Gil Kane really makes Mar-Vell explode back into Earth's dimension in this full page splash.

Roy Thomas crafted this pairing of Rick Jones and Mar-Vell to become the Marvelized science-fiction version of CC Beck's Captain Marvel character.  Rick Jones slamming the nega bands together is akin to Billy Batson saying the magic word, Shazam!  After DC Comics had acquired the rights to Beck's Captain Marvel, they never published a comics series featuring the character.  Their rights to a comic book series with that title had lapsed.  Marvel Comics had latched onto the opportunity, which made perfect sense--here was a Captain named after the company.  But it completely shutdown any future comics from DC with the title Captain Marvel or Captain Marvel Jr--two comics that had a long publication history in the 1940s and 1950s.  One of the smartest landgrabs in the world of comics.

Rick Jones and Mar-Vell basically had a timesharing arrangement as far as "Earth-time" was concerned.  One stayed on Earth, while the other one watched his partner's activities from the Negative Zone.  They remained in telepathic communication, giving each other advice, or in Rick's case, making a lot of jokes.   Years later, Gerry Conway would partner up Firestorm's Ronnie Raymond and Professor Stein with a similar device.

Regardless of this nifty costume change and the Rick Jones gimmick, Captain Marvel was cancelled with issue #21.  Mar-Vell and Rick would go on to play a big role in the Avengers Kree-Skrull war saga.

While Captain Marvel #17 was a landmark issue, it wasn't the first one I bought.  DC Comics revived the Billy Batson Captain Marvel in 1972, in a comic titled Shazam!  I read that one first, but a short time later, Marvel announced they were reviving their character.  I bought Captain Marvel #22 when I saw it on sale at 7-Eleven during the summer in Phoenix, Arizona.  I couldn't quite understand why there were two Captain Marvels, but the cover to issue #22 by Gil Kane really made Marvel's version more attractive.  Mar-Vell's flying in a typical Kane pose and you've got that dude in the foreground where you can see his nostrils.  Nothing says panic like a Kane nose shot!

The cover blurb said:  He's back!  The Hero Who Wouldn't Die!  There you go, I was hooked.  Billy Batson was buddying up with Talky Tawny and exclaiming Holy Moley on every page.  Steranko's History of Comics had explained to me why kids in World War 2 went gaga over CC Beck's creation, but in the 1970s, that seemed weak to a kid raised on Star Trek and Spider-Man.  Mar-Vell had a cool costume and had returned from the dead.  There was no competition in coolness, Mar-Vell had won me over.  Nuff said.

Gil Kane drew his share of Marvel Monster covers during the 1970s.  Here are a few favorites:

Tomb of Dracula #26 always brings a chill down my spine.  The perspective of this scene, taken right below the girl’s waist, is just perfect.  She’s walking alone down the streets of London, obviously afraid, knowing that someone is following her.  She looks around, but there’s no one behind her.  Her senses are working fine—Dracula is stalking her from the rooftop!

Tom Palmer inked Kane on this cover.  I always liked the end product when these two artisans worked together.  To my knowledge, Palmer only inked Kane on covers, never on an interior story?  If you know of one, drop me a line.

Another Kane/Palmer cover, which I’ve gushed over previously, featured Morbius on Adventure into Fear #23.  Kane’s covers to Amazing Spider-Man #101 and Giant-Size Superheroes #1 are pretty kick ass, too.

A fan on the Comic Book Resources message board suggested I take a look at the cover to Where Monsters Dwell #17.  It reminds me of those Hammer horror films.  Nuff said.