Marvel Comics: February 2009 Archives

Drawing a cover for a team book is a unique challenge.  In Adam Kubert’s variant cover for New Avengers #50, the characters are not all clustered together.  Here’s the pencil rough:

Each hero is charging toward the reader, posed in a unique way that describes their character.  Kubert’s left out certain details, like Spidey’s webbing that he’s going to add himself in the inked version:

I like Spider-Woman’s pose here, for some reason that really reminds me of her old school roots.  Now let’s see the finished product with color and logo:

Notice how the colorist added the sun sparkle around Ms. Marvel’s hands where Kubert had indicated.  The shadows and highlights really make this cover pop.  Nuff said.

Adam Kubert kind of silently migrated back over to Marvel Comics (while his brother Andy is staying put at DC Comics).  I am glad he is back, because we are getting some great covers.  Like this one from Wolverine #73…

I like the design of this cover, with the perspective of Wolverine shot from below the motorcycle.  The speed lines are drawing your attention into Wolverine’s figure.

The color version really pops when you notice those sparkle-reflections from Wolvy’s claws as he hurtles toward this prey. 

This cover gave me an idea.  Wouldn’t Jason Aaron and Adam Kubert produce a kick-ass comic if they worked together?  Nuff said.

An eerie sense of déjà vu possessed me when I looked at the May 2009 Marvel previews.

All New Savage She-Hulk #2 by J Scott Campbell.  She Hulk faces off against the spawn of Thundra and the Hulk!  Add Skaar to this mix and you have a Hulk family reunion.

This shot from behind a woman's legs, facing down her opponent seemed familiar to me.  Where have I seen this before?

Oh yes.  1981.  James Bond.

This movie poster: For Your Eyes Only.  Terrible movie, classic pose.  Loved this a teenager.  Would be better if Roger Moore had been removed.

Swipe or inspiration?  I am sure this isn't the first time someone used the For Your Eyes Only pose.  Nuff said.

Step into the shoes of Nick Fury, leader of S.H.I.E.L.D.

You’ve got thousands of agents, Helicarriers that constantly seem to fall from the sky, Life Model Decoys, and lots of super-gadgets to pay for.  Who pays for that?  Tax-paying True Believers!  And once in a while, Nick Fury has gotta do something great to show our government how these well these billions are actually spent.

In 1971 (Captain America #144), Fury gave President Richard Nixon, Vice President Spiro Agnew, and Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird this little show.

Presenting the newest S.H.I.E.L.D. squad, Femme Force One!  Led by Sharon Carter, Captain America’s girlfriend.  It’s her big chance to prove that women are as valuable to S.H.I.E.L.D. as men, in their skintight super-suits.  Diamondback was never this ambitious.

It sure doesn’t hurt that John Romita drew Femme Force One.  Right on, Sisters!  These girls look like supermodels! It only lasted for two panels, but it made me forget about the Femizons for a while.  Keep in mind, the Wonderbra had not been invented at this point in time.  Right on Sisters!

Nixon’s grinning from ear to ear, but he makes one thing perfectly clear to Fury, by explaining how the government really works.  I really didn’t like Nixon after reading this—he’s treating Fury like a high school dropout!  Basically by the time this proposal makes it through all stages of government, Nixon’s out of office and it’s dropped like a hot potato.

Defense Secretary Melvin Laird also insults Nick Fury in this panel.  You can see why these guys lost the war in Vietnam, they are totally ignoring the dude who saved our bacon time after time.  Spiro Agnew, however, appears to be so sexually excited that he is speechless!  What a horndog he appears to be, grinning from ear to ear.  Hopefully these images were a comfort to Agnew after he resigned in disgrace.

I wonder if Quentin Tarentino read this issue of Captain America?  Uma Thurman makes a reference to a fictitious TV show called “Fem Force Five”. 

I’ll bet anything that John Romita voted for George McGovern.  Nuff said.

I had to struggle to think for awhile about who was my favorite African-American Superheroine.  Misty Knight?  Photon/Captain Marvel?  There aren’t that many major players in this category.  Then the answer hit me, so obvious: Storm (Ororo) from the X-Men!

I really like this cover to Classic X-Men #3 by Arthur Adams.  This was a month in which all Marvel Comics featured a character portrait on the cover.  Adams, who was always great at drawing Storm (more later), captures her nobility and innocence at the same time.

In the early adventures of the new X-Men, Storm was a supporting character.  Sure, we knew she could fly, zap bad guys with lighting bolts and exclaim “Goddess!” when the shit hit the fan.  What I liked was Storm’s inhibitions.  She would come home to the X-Mansion and immediately shed her clothes.  Hey, I was going through puberty, and scenes like this one in X-Men #109 with Peter at the lake helped out a lot.  You can tell what Peter is looking at and thinking about in this scene.  No wonder he has no words to describe his homeland, he’s thinking about doing the nasty with Storm!

After reading this issue, I kept expecting Storm to have a romance with Colossus.  That never happened.  The X-Men thrived on romance triangles, and I was surprised that Claremont never put Storm in this situation.

Storm had a few weaknesses to overcome: mainly her naiveté with city-life and claustrophobia.  She could have been written off as simply eye-candy.

But Chris Claremont loves strong female characters, and had a bigger character arc in mind. 

Storm started to come into her own character after the death of Phoenix.  Scott Summers left the team and Ororo took over as leader.  I remember all the guys in my local comic shop hated this idea with all the intensity of Rush Limbaugh’s dislike for Bill Clinton!  Yet this led to Storm’s defining moment in X-Men #170 (1983) when the team was trapped in the lair of the underground Morlocks.

Callisto, the leader of the Morlocks, was holding Kitty Pryde hostage.  There ain’t nothing more you can do to piss off Storm than to threaten Kitty.  Callisto challenges Storm to a knife fight, with Kitty as the prize.  This fight was well choreographed by artist Paul Smith.  Callisto, who looks like she learned knife fighting in Brazil, gets in a few slices on Ororo.  Then Storm displays a cold-blooded streak of intelligence when she stabs Callisto and calmly walks away, proclaiming herself the leader of the Morlocks!

After this event, we would no longer view Storm as a naive young woman.  We knew she would go to any lengths to protect the mutants on her team. 

This was all happening during a great era for the X-Men.  Claremont and Smith were firing on all cylinders.  We were shocked when this led to Storm’s transformation in X-Men #173 when she became a punk!  Again, most of the guys in my LCS hated this punk look, with the mohawk haircut, leather outfit, and studded collar.  I secretly thought it was totally kinky and hot.  I just love the 1980s and this was one of the highpoints of that decade.

Paul Smith mentioned this remake in an interview done for Marvel Spotlight Uncanny X-Men 500 issues celebration:  Oh my god, that was just a bad joke gone too far!  I knew they were gonna cut the hair, so I did a number of head sketches with varying short hair sytles and as a joke—as a joke—I put a Mr. T Mohawk on her.  Louise Simonson (the editor) looked at it and said, “You know we’re gonna get hung no matter what we do, so let’s commit the crime!”  So we went with the Mohawk.  I went ahead and switched to the Wendy O. Williams (of the Plasmatics) style instead, more free flowing.  But once you get into that, you had to get into the whole leather and stud thing.  So it was just a bad joke that got way out of hand.

Mohawk Storm was used to great affect in the Uncanny X-Men Annual #9 in 1985.  This was the second half of the great Asgardian two-part epic (that began in New Mutants Special #1) drawn by Arthur Adams.  The cover features Storm swinging an Asgardian hammer in a very Kirby-inspired Thor-like pose.  Notice how Storm’s mohawk works so nicely in the middle of that winged helmet.

Storm is the object of Loki’s master plan in this storyline, seducing her with power and brainwashing her to fight her fellow mutants.  Loki creates an Asgardian hammer for Storm, which she wields in this sequence, where Adams competes with another Asgardian artist—Walt Simonson.

There are many other adventures of Storm, but for me, these early ones really stand out in my memory.  There was a backup in Marvel Team-Up #100 (1980) featuring Storm meeting the Black Panther in her youth.  This was later used as the spark to get these two married.  Ororo’s profile in the X-Men universe has diminished somewhat as a result, but it’s interesting to see her working with the team again in Astonishing X-Men.  Nuff said.

Fantastic Four had a great run during the mid-1970s, when Roy Thomas wrote the series and was joined by artists like Rich Buckler and George Perez.  During one of these stories, the Thing lost his powers and reverted back to Ben Grimm.  Who replaced him in the FF?

You got it baby: Luke Cage, PowerMan!  Hired at a really good hourly rate by Reed Richards to fill out the team’s roster.  You’d think Ben Grimm would have been happy about getting a break and being able to schwing with his girlfriend, Alicia Masters.  Oh no!

Ben’s feeling left out and jealous when the FF goes off to fight the Wrecker.  It’s kind of ironic, in this 1975 story, Luke Cage fights the Wrecker for the second time (the first was in Defenders #17-19 in 1974).  In New Avengers #7-8 he helps defeat the Wrecker once again, but steals his Asgardian forged crowbar, which he uses to escape the Dark Avengers in New Avengers #49.

Luke Cage only stays with the FF for three issues.  By issue 170, Cage is under the thrall of the Puppet Master and fighting Ben Grimm, who is inside a robot suit that resembles his former rocky self.

There’s gotta be great What If or Exiles material in here somewhere.  What If Cage stayed with the FF and Reed Richards was killed and Cage married Sue Storm?  What If Cage stole Alicia Masters from Ben Grimm?  What If Cage Became the Herald of Galactus?  Sweet Christmas, it’s time to get off this planet!  Nuff said.

When Luke Cage first appeared in 1971, it was such a big event that Stan Lee highlighted the character in his Bullpen Bulletins Soapbox column:

When I think of Luke Cage, I also remember Richard Roundtree and Isaac Hayes.  Shaft.  The one movie I wanted to see, because it looked so damn cool in those movie posters, but I couldn't get in because it was rated R.  Then there was Shaft's Big Score, Shaft Goes to Africa, and eventually Shaft came to CBS in a series of TV movies.  But I digress. 

Shaft had taken off, and Marvel wanted a character who could claim some of that glory.  Hero for Hire #1 premiered.  Despite some great stories by Archie Goodwin and Steve Englehart, the sales must have not been as great as Marvel hoped.

In 1973, we saw this ad in Marvel Magazines...

I think the fact checkers at Marvel were out to lunch when this ad was being pasted together.  The "first and still greatest black superhero of all"?  We all know that the Black Panther appeared in 1966, making him Marvel's first black superhero.

Perhaps Marvel thought that "Hero for Hire" was way too mercenary sounding.  Luke Cage needed to be seen as more of a superhero.  His title was renamed "Luke Cage, POWERMAN!" with issue #17.

This bombastic cover by Gil Kane really shows off Cage's invulnerable steel-hard skin.  To make it even more of a re-launch, this issue featured Cage fighting Iron Man.  Steel-hard skin against Iron-clad armor!  Of course, they kissed and made up by the end.

There is a funny story behind this name change. 

Stan Lee had a gentleman's agreement with DC Comics never to infringe on copyrights by making an opposite-sex version of a character.  Wonder Man, who seems like a male version of Wonder Woman from the sound of it, appeared in Avengers #9.  He was killed off by the end and Stan Lee assured DC he would never come back.

Power Girl first appeared in 1976 in All Star Comics #58.  It was not a one-time appearance, this was an ongoing character!  Stan was mad, the gentleman's agreement was off, and Wonder Man came back to life in Avengers #152.

Mark Gruenwald did this gag in What If #34 as an in-joke to this controversy, with a female version of Power Man--Marvel's Power Girl!  I kind of think she looks better in that outfit than Cage!

I have been surprised and pleased by Brian Bendis' love for Luke Cage, highlighting the character in Alias, the Pulse, and in New Avengers.  Bendis has given the character a great arc, from relative obscurity to a leader of superheroes..  And there is no need for tiaras or silly code names.  You can't have a name cooler than Luke Cage!  Nuff said.

In the 1970s, there were a number of Marvel Comics writers that I idolized.  Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, Steve Gerber, Marv Wolfman, etc.  Yet perhaps none was more revolutionary than Don McGregor, who I first encountered when I picked up the seemingly innocuous Jungle Action #6, the first all-new solo title featuring the Black Panther!

What a shock this issue was to a reader accustomed to seeing the Panther fighting alongside the Avengers in New York City.  Don McGregor took the Panther back to his kingdom—Wakanda—the seemingly glittering nation full of Vibranium and people with advanced engineering degrees.  But this facade is pulled back, and we discover—due to his long periods in the United States (with the Avengers)—the Panther was close to being usurped by a powerful Wakandan named Killmonger.  In the first chapter, Killmonger thrashes T’Challa with a spike-studded strap and throws him down the aptly named Warrior Falls!

McGregor was joined in the first few chapters of Panther’s Rage by an artist well suited to draw his stories—Rich Buckler.  Many of Buckler’s pages had a cinematic feel, and he did incredible things with logos—like this one for the issue titled, Malice by Crimson Moonlight.

As a dyed-in-the-wool Marvelite, I kept waiting for the Fantastic Four or the Avengers to show up and help T’Challa out.  They never did; this was an internal fight for T’Challa, a spiritual battle as well as a physical one.  Instead, McGregor created an all-African cast of supporting characters and made them come alive: W’Kabi, Taku, and his American girlfriend, Monica Brant.  And most of the villains were black as well: besides Killmonger, we had the super-spear throwing Malice, Baron Macabre, Karnaj, Sombre, and my favorite, Salamander K’ruel.  The only white guy I can think of was the Killmonger’s lieutenant, Venomm.

Buckler left the series, Gil Kane did a nice guest spot, and then the series really kicked into high gear when Billy Graham came onboard.  I had enjoyed Graham’s work on Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, but his work on the Panther were simply at a higher caliber.  Perhaps being one of the few African-American professionals in the comic book industry, he was inspired by the Panther as well as McGregor’s scripts?  I’ll never forget his work on Panther’s Rage, particularly Jungle Action #13 with the chapter titled “The God Killer”.  In the opening sequence, the Panther, who has been badly injured and stranded in the cold winter mountains of Wakanda, comes across two armed thugs working for Killmonger.  The Panther’s running on fumes, but he defeats them in an amazing sequence.

Another issue had T’Challa reuniting with his girlfriend Monica after nearly dying a few dozen times while chasing Killmonger.  The title, “All Our Past Decades Have Seen Revolutions”, is a hard one to fit on a comics page.  Billy Graham made it part of the mountain leading into the sea!

There’s a sweet moment in Jungle Action #16 for a little intimacy, which I thought Graham depicted in an unusual way.  I think very few romantic scenes in superhero comics are touching.  This is one of the rare ones.  I suppose it was made more romantic by their situation in Wakanda—the people there did not approve of T’Challa mating with a foreigner.

I didn’t know until I read Billy Graham’s Wikipedia page that he had passed away.  What a loss!

At this point in time, Marvel Comics usually did 1-2 issue storylines.  I kept expecting the Killmonger storyline to wrap up in 2 or 3 or 6 issues.  It did not!  By Jungle Action #9, we learned that this story—Panther’s Rage—was a saga that was going to continue for a while.  It began in Jungle Action #6 in 1973 and concluded in Jungle Action #17 in 1975.

The series was bi-monthly, sometimes quarterly due to delays (the Dreaded Deadline Doom) as I remember, but the hardcore fans who knew this was something exceptional and stuck with it.  In the letters pages you can find missives from a young Ralph Macchio (later editor at Marvel), Peter B Gillis (future writer of Strikeforce Morituri) and Dean Mullaney (later publisher of Eclipse).

Don McGregor continued the Panther’s adventures in Jungle Action, pitting him against the Ku Klux Klan.  That storyline was terminated midway in Jungle Action #24…with the stunning news that Jack Kirby would take over the character!  Black Panther #1 debuted shortly thereafter, with story and art by the King.  Take about dramatic changes—I thought the editors at Marvel had been lobotomized to make this change! 

Kirby’s Black Panther was 180 degrees different than McGregor’s take on the character.  I am sure Kirby never read any of McGregor’s stories and didn’t bother to incorporate any of the supporting cast.  Now I can see it from a different perspective: Jack Kirby must have felt like he owned that character as he co-created the Black Panther in the Fantastic Four!   

Well, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did give birth to the Black Panther, but it was Don McGregor, Rich Buckler, and Billy Graham who gave him a soul.  Nuff said.

He's not exactly a monster, but it is Black History month, and this week we are going to feature as many Marvel characters as we can!  Can you believe that Brother Voodoo, as infamous as he is, never had a first issue all to himself?  His first appearance was in Strange Tales #169 in 1973:

Great cover by Johnny Romita.  This issue, very well executed by Len Wein and Gene Colan, sets up the origin of Brother Voodoo, aka Jericho Drumm, which is pretty much the same origin as Doctor Strange!  You see, Dr. Jericho Drumm has little time for spiritual matters and wants to completely forget that he was born in Haiti.  But his dying brother, Daniel (always associated this series with Elton John's song), brings him back home and to the world of voodoo.

Brother Voodoo appeared in Strange Tales from 169 to 173.  The series was probably cancelled due to low sales, but the good Brother was operating with one hand tied behind his back--by the comics code.  The code did not allow for the living dead to appear in color comics.  Zombies could not be used in a comic with Voodoo in the title!  Unfortunately, his series was cancelled right in the middle of a cliffhanger!  The second part of the story appeared in the black and white magazine, Tales of the Zombie #6.

Brother Voodoo appeared a second time in Tales of the Zombie #10, in a story by Doug Moench and Tony DeZuniga.  Since then, Brother has had notable guest appearances in Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and the New Avengers.

Fred Hembeck made a running joke out of Brother Voodoo in various Marvel Age strips.  Somewhat unfairly, I thought, but it kept the character in memory throughout the 80s.

Oliver Tull, the co-host of Fanboy Radio, loves Brother Voodoo more than anyone.  He has often talked about his pitch to revitalize BV for Marvel.

As for me, I have a dream...that one day we will be able to buy Brother Voodoo #1 at a comic book store!  Nuff said.

Of all the Edgar Rice Burroughs characters, I’ve always preferred John Carter.  Apparently so did Marv Wolfman, who jumped at the chance to do a John Carter comic for Marvel in 1976!

Looking at this comic, in this quality of the story and artwork, I have to believe it was a labor of love for all the creators involved.  Wolfman made an interesting choice to use first person narration for the scenes involving Carter, and third person narration for everything else.

Dave Cockrum’s inks over Gil Kane’s pencils just seem magical to me.  If you loved their cover to Giant-Size X-Men #1, imagine seeing 20 pages of their work together!  Unfortunately, Cockrum only inked this first issue, then Rudy Nebres took over.

Cockrum apparently did a lot of character design work before the first issue was published, as you can see in this editorial.  He designed John Carter, Dejah Thoris, Tars Tarkus, and many other elements of Barsoom.  Of course, this being Marvel, the title of the editorial has to reference something in pop culture: Welcome Back Carter references Gabe Kaplan’s TV show, Welcome Back, Kotter!

John Carter was published by Marvel from 1976 to 1979, including 28 issues and 3 annuals.  Gil Kane lasted for about 10 issues, Marv Wolfman stayed on until issue 15 and was replaced by Chris Claremont.  The series had some great artists later on: Carmine Infantino, Walt Simonson, and a young Frank Miller.

Dave Cockrum did return for issue 11, a special origin story for Dejah Thoris!  Now here’s something about Dejah Thoris’ costume.  Doesn’t it bear some resemblance to Leia’s slave girl costume in Return of the Jedi?  Cockrum designed this in 1976 or earlier; ROTJ premiered in 1983.  Don’t let this slave outfit fool you—Dejah was an accomplished swordswoman who had some incredible fight scenes during the series.

I don’t believe Marvel’s John Carter has ever been reprinted in a trade collection.  What a shame, I’d love to see this artwork re-colored.  Nuff said.

Back in 1971, there was one month where all the Marvel Comics went from an astounding price hike: from 15 cents to 25 cents!  Sheesh, you guys think $2.99 to $3.99 is terrible?  Ten cents was a big deal back then.  Marvel even wrote a special apology to their readers:

Of course, Marvel justified this by telling readers they were getting two comics in one, since all the 25 centers were double sized!  The lead story was increased from 20 to 34 pages and the rest of the mag had a reprint story.  Marvel only did this for one month; with the next issue, all comics went down to 20 cents.  There are two explanations for this.  One was that Stan Lee played a sneaky trick on DC and forced them to put all of their comics at 25 cents a pop, which lasted for a year.  During that time, Marvel gained market share as their comics were 5 cents cheaper.

I tend to think this wasn’t the result of a sneaky Grandmaster chess move.  I think that the artists couldn’t cope with drawing 10 extra pages a month for the lead story!  Which brings us to Thor #193…

The Silver Surfer joined Thor for this special 25 cent square-bound issue.  While the cover is not as iconic as Silver Surfer #3, plenty of Marvelites scooped up this comic, hungry for any appearance of Norrin Radd.

He makes quite an entrance on this splash page!  Note that Sal Buscema inked his brother John on this issue, just as he did on the Silver Surfer series.  In the story, Balder recruits the Surfer to help Thor battle Durok the Demolisher in Washington DC.  The Surfer has just about had it with humanity, but Balder’s selfless devotion to Thor changes his mind.

Whenever I re-read Thor or Conan, I am astounded at the quality of John Buscema’s work.  This man could layout and draw incredible pages on 2-3 series at a monthly rate!  Only people with the work ethic and skill of Kirby, Buscema, Romita, or Kane could produce such pages.  Look at this next splash page…

Sif is prepared in an Asgardian regal wedding gown, ready to marry…Loki!  Who is of course behind all of the dastardly events in this issue.  Just the composition of this page is astounding.  The angle of the shot, the expression on Sif’s face, how great Sif looks in that dress.  Now, this is something that the Thor movie can capitalize on if Kenneth Branagh is smart…Thor has a lot of babes in his world!  Sif, the Enchantress, Hela, Jane Foster, etc.

Keep in mind that Thor #193 was only one of the Buscema books that appeared that month.  There was also Fantastic Four #116, another 34-page tale that I will revisit soon.  Nuff said.

Wow, I was totally blown away by Agents of Atlas #1.  Take a look at this double page spread by Carlo Pagulayan.

His depiction of all the characters is really great, but I am especially blown away by Namora.  The drawing and the coloring really make this character pop.  BTW, I’m always getting confused between Namora and Namorita.  This Wikipedia article states that Namorita was Namora’s clone.  Namorita died in Civil War #1.  Namora was revived in the first Agents of Atlas series.  She’s as strong as her cousin, Namor the Sub-Mariner.

Jeff Parker really gets the first issue off to a great start.  The AoA get into a big power play with Norman Osborne, Venus uses her powers on the Sentry, and Man Mountain Marko leads an ATF team against our heroes.  Man Mountain Marko!  Never thought I’d see that guy again!

Marvel’s really got a good streak going with new titles lately: Captain Britain, Deadpool, and now Agents of Atlas.  Can’t wait for issue #2.  Nuff said.

This Marvel house ad announced the coming of an actual book—as in to be sold in real bookstores—called Origins of Marvel Comics.  This hit Marvel fans like me right in the gut.  You see, at that time, actual book collections of comics weren’t available in bookstores or anywhere.  Outside of Jules Ffeifer’s Great Comic Book Heroes, or perhaps Steranko’s History of Comics, or reprints of Dick Tracy, Peanuts, and Little Orphan Annie, superheroes were really scarce.  And I know.  I looked for them every week!

Stan Lee would reveal the secrets behind creating the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Hulk, etc., and reprint their first appearances with the best printing we had ever seen to that point.  I waited months until this finally appeared in the bookstore.  I think when it did finally come out, Stan appeared on the Today Show, which my Mother took note of.  Yeah, comics were finally legit!  Well, not really, until years later with the Spider-Man and X-Men movies.

The bottom half of this ad features a collectible I wish I still had: the Mighty Marvel Calendar for 1975.  That one had great illustrations by Romita, Starlin, Ploog, and others.  Anyone have scans of this calendar?  Nuff said