February 2010 Archives

I don't talk about modern comics very much--there's tons of other blogs that do everyday much better than I can.  But I do get a box every month from Discount Comic Book Service, and Amazing Spider-Man is always in there.  I think one of the most talented artists working at Marvel these days is Marcos Martin. 

Marcos Martin brings a crazy, kinetic style of energy on Spider-Man that hasn't been seen since the days of Steve Ditko.  Coupled with Dan Slott's high-energy mania, this is a creator marriage made in comic-book heaven.

I was particularly bowled over by the above splash page, where Spidey is standing over a craps table.  The story title and credits are cleverly laid out along the table grid.  A very clever idea!

I really find Martin's innovative use of logos (such as the blood dripping off Spidey's masthead on issue 619) to be very much in the vein of Will Eisner.  Eisner did all kinds of things with the Spirit's logo (or logo-forms as Alan Moore called them) by shooting them with bullet holes and having all kinds of liquids dripping from them.

The cover to the forthcoming Amazing Spider-Man Annual #37 does another twist on the logo, by turning it into a neon sign.  Again, this cover seems very Eisner-like to me, with Spidey and Cap standing on different levels of a building.

You have to dig the old-fashioned shout-out to "Collector's Item Classic" here as well!

Marcos Martin has also done outstanding work on Dr Strange (The Oath mini-series with Brian K. Vaughan) and the Captain America 70th Anniversary special.  Here's the black and white version of a page where Cap addresses the troops on a WW2 aircraft carrier.

There's a cool interview with Martin over at The Beat by Michel Fiffe.  Like his fellow countryman, Carlos Pacheco, Marcos Martin appears to have respect for the creators who made these characters great.  Nuff Said!

What was hot during the Marvel Age?  The Marvel Age wasn't an era, it was a comic magazine--Marvel's way of keeping fans informed during the 1980s.  Here are some of the offbeat characters that were showcased.

Cloak and Dagger burst free of supporting character status into their own mini-series in 1983.  I always thought that both Bill Mantlo and Rick Leonardi did some of their best work ever on this title.

I remember buying a really cool Cloak and Dagger poster that Leonardi and Terry Austin drew.  Does anyone have a decent scan of that?  It was a great image and I'd like to feature it here.

The Micronauts were red-hot as well, even after Michael Golden left the series.  Jackson "Butch" Guice came along and injected new excitement into the characters.  After the X-Men became popular, it was only natural that Marvel would produce a limited series featuring the two teams getting together.

You have to love Storm's mohawk and biker-girl outfit in this one.  Wolverine's supposed to be front and center, but that mohawk is like a vortex.

I believe Arcturus (Commander) Rann is making a comeback in the current Son of Hulk mini-series.

Alpha Flight made a big splash in 1983 when it received a solo title, the first Marvel series created, written, and drawn by John Byrne (who started his Fantastic Four run around the same time).  This image was also used as a promotional poster.

Fans were excited--Alpha Flight always gave the X-Men a run for their money, and the series sold well but eventually ran out of steam.  The scene I'll always remember is the conclusion of issue #12, where Vindicator dies trying to disengage the circuitry in his costume.  That was well done, Byrne totally disrupted reader expectations with that one.  Nuff Said!

This 1982 Amazing Heroes cover by Paul Smith appeared during his spectacular run on X-Men.  Marvel fandom cheered when Smith took over the series—and cried when he left nearly a year later.  In the middle of a double-sized issue of X-Men, no less!  Nuff Said!

When Conan became such a blazing success in Marvel’s magazine line, the editors asked themselves, how else can we capitalize on this trend?  The answer was: give Thor his own black and white magazine and sell it to the barbarian loving hordes. 

I believe that Marvel was at one point primed to publish a bi-monthly THOR magazine, as I can trace about 3 full length stories commissioned in this format.  This decision must have been reversed and the material appeared in places such as Marvel Preview #10.

Ken Barr’s 1977 cover tries to evoke Conan and Frazetta rather than Jack Kirby, doesn’t it?  I think there was a miscalculation here, that Conan fans would also be interested in Thor.  If you bought this issue expecting to see Thor skewering enemies on a battlefield, there would have been massive disappointment.

The interior story by Len Wein opens with an Asgardian bar fight with the Thunder God backed up by the Warriors Three.  Jim Starlin provided the layouts, with finishes by Tony DeZuniga.  The usual hijinks with Loki ensues after a while—the most tired plot of all comicdom.

Marvel had to differentiate this series.  The Thor stories in this format took place before Thor had been merged with Dr. Don Blake—and before he learned any kind of humility.  Perhaps a more interesting series would be called Teen Thor?  Nuff Said!

This John Severin pin-up of King Kull standing by his army appeared in Kull and the Barbarians #1, 1975.  Severin helped launch the King Kull color comic, and most notably worked on the Sgt Fury and Hulk.  Nuff Said!

Also in this series:

King Kull, Red Sonja, Solomon Kane by Neal Adams

Red Sonja Pinup by Howard Chaykin

Solomon Kane by Berni Wrightson

Barry Windsor-Smith first bid Marvel adieu in the 1970s after he left the Conan series.  But he returned from time to time, working on special projects, such as his contributions to Epic Illustrated.

This particular cover for the August 1981 issue, featuring a warrior about to enter a walled city, shows that Smith still retained his mastery over all things sword and sorcery.

The February 1983 cover depicts an "epic" crash landing in a lush pond and surrounding forest. 

Epic Illustrated was the Marvel Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, edited by the late legendary Archie Goodwin.  While Epic featured occasional stories of Marvel characters like Galactus and the Silver Surfer, it featured independent work by creators.  It was a first for Marvel, to publish stories where creators retained the ownership and copyright.  This paved the way for Goodwin to start the Epic line of comics, where an incredible array of creator-owned comics were published--Dreadstar, Coyote, Moonshadow, Groo, and many others.  Nuff Said!

Here’s a 1989 Marvel Age cover by Moebius featuring the Silver Surfer.

This issue promoted the two issue “Silver Surfer Parable” story that Stan Lee and Moebius did together.  It wasn’t very successful story-wise, but seeing Moebius doing his version of Norrin Radd and Galactus was cool.  Nuff Said!

Every comics company loves to give their heroes a new look from time to time.  During the Shooter-era of the 1980s, the Marvel heroes were re-designed with new looks and costumes.

Spider-Man: Black costume from Secret Wars, sans the symbiote.

Iron Man: Tony Stark designed this red and silver armor in Iron Man #200.

Hulk: Grey Hulk from Peter David’s tenure on the series.

Thor: Walt Simonson designed this new battle armor and let the Thunder God grow a beard.

Captain America: Steve Rogers put on this costume and became a free agent for a while.  Later on, US Agent wore this costume whenever a team needed a third-rate Captain America—like the current Mighty Avengers series.

Were these Marvel makeovers as bad as shoulder pads and mullets?  I liked the Grey Hulk the best out of this lineup.  Nuff Said!

Thor brings down the thunder and lightning in this 1977 pin-up that appeared in Marvel Preview #10, by Jim Starlin.

Starlin's black and white drawings during this period were unworldly good.

I've run out of steam on Thing Tuesday.  Henceforth, let Thursday now be known as Thor Thursday!  Nuff Said!

Here is an interesting factoid from Marvel fan Klaus Nordby: Heh! Maybe it'll console you to know that the English "Thursday" is etymologically derived from "Thor's day". Here in Norway, it's called "Torsdag" -- for we spell his name "Tor". Our Wednesday is called "Onsdag" -- which is derived from "Odin's day".

Marvel Age Annual #1 from 1985 featured this crowded wraparound cover by Kerry Gammill.

Virtually all of Marvel's characters from this period are featured here.  Two of the wackiest are the Beyonder (on the right) in his zoot-suit from Secret Wars II and Magneto (in the middle) in his reformed period leading the X-Men.  Whoever designed that stupid new costume for Magneto with the giant "M" on his chest should have consulted Tim Gunn first.

There's one character I can't identify, in-between Colossus and Storm in the middle section.  Who the heck is that?

Can you name all of the rest?  Reply in the comments if you can.  Nuff Said!

This poster by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott for the 1975 Marvel Convention features all the stars of that era.

Not only do the big superstars look great, but so do the “B” players (Ka-Zar, Luke Cage Powerman, Shang-Chi, etc) and the Marvel monsters (Ghost Rider, Frankenstein, Dracula, etc).  There are even two licensed characters, Conan and Doc Savage.  What a diverse world the 1975 Marvel Universe was!  Nuff said!