August 2009 Archives

I’m usually a news monger on most days, but today was a very busy one at the office.  I was stunned to come home and read that Marvel was being acquire by Disney!  There’s been tons of speculation from pros to fans to Stan Lee about how all this will play out.  I’m hoping it’s going to do for Marvel what Warner did for DC Comics, and not affect the publishing line too much.  I found Marv Wolfman’s comments quite insightful—he’s worked for Marvel, DC, and Disney Publishing in his career.

What was really entertaining about today were all the Tweets.  If I were constantly checking twitter all day, I would have known earlier.

Joe Quesada, of course, started off today with a bang:

“G' morning, Marvel U! Welcome to this moment in history. Everyone relax, this is incredible news and all is well in the Marvel U.”

“Everybody take a deep breath, all your favorite comics remain unchanged and Tom Brevoort remains grouchy.”

Then Warren Ellis chimed in:

“Why is everyone at Marvel making quacking noises today? It's horrible.”

“so I got this phone call from Joe Quesada and it was just the sound of him rubbing himself with money and now I am confused.”

Quesada replied:

“Hey, @warrenellis I hope you're wearing your mouse ears as we agreed upon when you post that.”

Ellis fired back:

“@JoeQuesada Yes. Am wearing the mouse ears. AND NOTHING ELSE.”

Stephen Wacker:

“Deadpool is now called Alivepool.”

“Scarlet Witch Mountain.”

My favorite Wacker quote gets in another dig at the fans upset by One More Day: “Y'know I never thought Cinderella and Prince Charming shoulda gotten married...hmmm.”

Tom Peyer:

“Stan Lee Presents Walt Disney's Spider-Man.”

"THIS MAN, THIS MUPPET!"

Jason Aaron:

Can now officially have the Punisher target the entire cast of "Hannah Montana."

Please do Jason, my nieces torture me to death with that show!

BRIANMBENDIS:

if this merger has taught us anything is comedy writing isn't for everyone :)

GailSimone:

OH MY GOD MAKE THE MARVEL/DISNEY JOKES STOP.

For some sobering thoughts, listen to Gerry Conway:

“This can't be good news. RT @TVWriterCom: Disney buying Marvel for $4 bil? I'm completely stupefied”

“Re Disney buying Marvel: Any time a small creative operation (which Marvel is, still, in general terms) is bought by a large corp, bad news.”

“Disney is a huge enterprise, Marvel is a small one; Disney will swallow Marvel's creative culture, whatever's left of it.”

“Being purchased by Warners was bad for DC for many many many years, and still is, in terms of movies made from DC properties.”

“Look how long it's taken DC to get many of their properties into film production because Warner is the sole gateway.”

“If Warner doesn't want to do a DC project, they can make certain it doesn't get done anywhere else, and they do.”

“Howard the Duck. RT @A_Daly: @gerryconway The possibility of Donald Duck appearing in the Marvel universe surely can't be a bad thing =D”

“Good example of the Disney/Marvel problem: Howard the Duck would never have happened. Never.”

Great point!  Disney did sue Marvel to make them change Howard the Duck’s outfit…I think they made Marvel promise to have Howard wear pants.  Steve Gerber’s MAX series had Howard changed into a rat to avoid the terms of the settlement.  But on the other hand…if Disney owns both Howard and Mickey…maybe they’d let Howard come back in his original form?

“Guarantee: If Disney had owned Marvel, no "Death of Captain America." Can't mess with a valuable corporate asset.”

Not too sure about that.  Warner Brothers let DC do Death of Superman.  Although they would not have allowed DC to stretch it out 2-3 years.

“And with $4 bil invested, no way is Disney going to be a "hands off" silent partner, letting the kids do what they want. Civil War? Ha!”

To close out on a more cheerful note, there’s always Brian Reed with a handy zinger:

"Face it, Tigger, you hit the jackpot!"

At least, Marvel’s shareholders certainly have!  For the fans of the comic books, we’ll have to wait and see a few years down the line.  What happens whenever Joe Quesada leaves the company?  I’m a bit concerned if that happens in a new corporate environment—Joe’s been a rock of stability for nearly a decade.  Nuff said.

When Ms. Marvel’s debuted in 1976 with this John Romita (I assume) designed costume,  I kind of took it for granted.  But like Spider-Woman’s costume, I kind of think it’s pretty nifty now!

You can see in the original model an effort to make it look like Captain Marvel—with the star emblem on her chest and the diamond shaped mask.  Instead of a cape, she had these impractical sashes running down her back.  The open midsection, revealing Carol Danvers perfectly flat abs, is a classic Romita touch.  He used that same design on the Femizons and Satana,

Apparently someone decided the open belly look wasn’t all that hot.  By 1977, artists had started drawing the costume top as one piece.  It’s like a mash-up between Baywatch and superheroes.

Dave Cockrum redesigned Ms Marvel’s costume into the black version that we’ve known for over 30 years.  John Byrne once make a joke about how much this costume resembled Storm’s.

But old costumes never really die…eventually they find a way back!  Dark Reign provided the perfect opportunity for Karla Sofer (Moonstone) to don the classic outfit in her impersonation of Ms. Marvel.  The past few issues of Ms. Marvel have featured one titanic super-powered catfight between the old and new versions.  I’ve been enjoying this decompressed battle in all its misogynistic glory…and not feeling at all bad about it!

I’m amazed by how sexy the old costume looks now.  But it’s not strictly the old version.  The boots, which used to be smaller, now are thigh high boots.  Her gloves are as long as a formal evening gown—going 3/4 of the way up her arms. 

Romita’s costume looks good from every angle—front, side, and back!  Especially in this shot from behind and just above a scene where Karla throws a guy to his death just for kicks.  I’ve always liked Moonstone, no matter which series she’s appeared in, for her utter ruthlessness and conniving.

I think this butt thong look was always there, but modern artists can really accentuate it.  Notice that the rotating artists on Ms. Marvel can’t draw the costume consistently.  Here the boots and gloves are much shorter, like the original design.

Mike Mayhew has done a recent commission featuring the classic costume.  I love this piece in black and white. 

I think seeing the original costume has reminded us again how great John Romita’s original designs were.  It’s like Spider-Woman’s costume.  For years no one gave a shit about it.  Then we see David Finch drawing it and suddenly it’s one of the greatest costumes of all time!

Should the classic costume stick around, even after War of the Marvels and Dark Reign?  I like to see a way for that to happen.  I’m almost wishing that Karla wins in the end.

If you haven’t had enough of classic Ms Marvel today, check out a risqué parody from Photon Torpedoes: Ms. Marvel’s Quest For Liberation!  Nuff said.

The Marvel Bullpen Bulletins had whipped me up into a frenzy in anticipation of the Avengers new larger than 20 cent title back in 1974.  At first they were going to co-star in a rotating wheel title called Giant-Size Super-Teams (along with the Defenders and Fantastic Four).  A month or so later, the BB announced they were going to be in a title called Avengers Super Giant.  But when it finally arrived it was, like everything else, GIANT-SIZED!

The cover by John Romita Sr. is certainly dynamic, despite the sidebars, word balloons, and logos.  You’ve got the big three—Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man—plus the central characters of the Avengers—the Vision and Scarlet Witch—in the background.

In an issue of FOOM, we got an inside look at the making of this cover.  John Romita (1st and final one) and Rich Bucker (last two concept ones) did these sketches of three possible covers.  Notice that two of them have the Super-Giant title.  From what I gather, Romita took some of Buckler’s sketch (#2) and made Thor even more centrally prominent to draw the reader’s attention.  Of course, the FOOM proofreaders took a break the day this page went to press…spelling GIANT as GAINT.

I don’t have a scan of the original Romita black and white art to Giant-Size Avengers #1.  If you do, please send it to me and I will add it here!

The story in Giant-Size Avengers #1 was by Roy Thomas, who brought back some of the Golden Age characters, most notably, the Whizzer.  The art was by Rich Buckler, who drew the Avengers in epic Kirby-esque proportions.  Most of them look fantastic, except for Mantis, who looks like a sumo wrestler instead of a svelte Kung Fu expert.  While it was an interesting story, I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t tie in directly with the main Avengers book.  For that event, we’d have to wait until issue #2, when regular writer Steve Englehart took over.  Nuff said.

One of my favorite inkers of all time is Tom Palmer.  Palmer has a superlative inking style, but he is also a wizard of coloring--especially in the old days using the four color process.  No one could make colors more vibrant (without using computers) than Palmer.  His credits are too numerous to mention, though you can look them up on Comic Book DB.  I'll always remember his inks on Neal Adams (Avengers, X-Men), Gene Colan (Doctor Strange, Tomb of Dracula), and John Buscema (Avengers).

Back in the 1980s, fans always wondered how well Palmer would work with the superstar of that period: John Byrne.  We finally got to find out in a special double sized event issue: Silver Surfer #1, V2, circa 1982.

I think the cover to this special is one of the most glorious Silver Surfer covers of all time.  All for the big price of $1, the story (plotted by Byrne and dialogued by Stan Lee) resolved a number of dangling plot threads strewn throughout various Fantastic Four stories.  Shalla Bal, who had been kidnapped by Doctor Doom and forced to live with amnesia, was finally discovered by Norrin Radd.

I made a recent discovery myself--John Byrne's original pencils to the splash page of this special.  The Surfer dissolves into one of his usual bouts of self-pity, among the wreckage of a long lost Himalayan civilization.  Streams of light arc diagonally towards the Surfer, drawing your attention down to his figure.  I am really impressed by how tight Byrne's pencils are on this page.  He was really quick during this period.  Did he knock this one out in a day?

Here's the finished page with inks/colors by Palmer.  You can see he kept all of Byrne's original lines intact, but Palmer also added his own remarkable style.  The color design is fabulous--the muted tones of the ruins really make the Surfer's white body stand out in the scene.

I was under the impression that this was the only Byrne/Palmer collaboration, but I see they also worked on X-Men The Hidden Years.

Tom Palmer continues to work in comics today, most recently on Kick Ass with John Romita.  Nuff said.

I’ve started ordering again from MMComics, and noticed this nifty new Bowen Designs bust in the new catalog.

Johnny Blaze, Ghost Rider, in his Elvis-inspired motorcycle jumpsuit.  I had previously sworn never to order any new statues or busts…but this is my kryptonite.  I’ll have to get it.

Here’s one that I missed from back in June: Simon Garth, Zombie!  Man, this is obscure and for the hardcore geeks like me.  Nuff said.